Pearl Sparing Chess Tournament 2008 - Nanjing - China: Round 7 & 8

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Na ronda 7 Svidler e Aronian ganharam, Bu-Topalov empataram em 70 lances ! A ronda 7 ficou ainda marcada por um acidente com Ivanchuck...

Round 7: Thursday, 18 December 2008
Bu Xiangzhi	½-½	Veselin Topalov
Sergei Movsesian	0-1	Peter Svidler
Vassily Ivanchuk	0-1	Levon Aronian
Games – Report

Ivanchuk,V (2786) - Aronian,L (2757) [A20] Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (7), 18.12.2008
1.c4 e5 2.g3 f5 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Nbd2 Nf6 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0-0 Bc5 8.Nb3 d6 9.Nfxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 0-0 11.Nc2 Qe8 12.b4 Bb6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Nxe3 f4 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.Qxd5+ Kh8 17.Rfe1 Rf6 18.Rad1 c6 19.Qe4 Qf7 20.Rd4 Bg4 21.Qd3 Rf8 22.Qd2 h5 23.Bf3 fxg3 24.hxg3 Bxf3 25.exf3 Rxf3 26.Re2 c5 27.bxc5 dxc5 28.Rd8 Qxc4 29.Rxf8+ Rxf8 30.Re5 b6 31.Rxh5+ Kg8 32.Rh4 Qe6 33.a4 a6 34.Rh5 c4 35.Qd4 Qf7 36.Rd5 c3 37.Rd6 b5

Ivanchuk has been struggling, but after 38.axb5 axb5 he can hope to hold the position to s draw. Not, however, after 38.Rxa6?, which hands over the point on a platter to Aronian: 38...Rc8 39.Qg4 Qc4 0-1.

An accident during the game (not the one at move 38): Ivanchuk's chair collapses

A flimsy Chinese chair for a strapping Ukrainian GM? Not such a good idea...

Na ronda 8 Veselin Topalov ganhou a Vassily Ivanchuk e ficou agora 1 ponto à frente de toda a gente ! Peter Svidler impôs ao GM chinês a sua primeira derrota.

Round 8: Friday, 19 December 2008
Veselin Topalov	1-0	Vassily Ivanchuk
Levon Aronian	½-½	Sergei Movsesian
Peter Svidler	1-0	Bu Xiangzhi
Games – Report

Topalov,V (2791) - Ivanchuk,V (2786) [B45] Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (8), 19.12.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Ndb5 Bb4 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 d5 9.exd5 exd5 10.Bd3 0-0 11.0-0 d4 12.Ne2 Bg4 13.f3 Bh5 14.Nf4 Re8

15.Nxh5. The new move. The only previous game we have been able to find continued 15.b4 Qd6 16.Nxh5 Nxh5 17.Qd2 Re7 18.b5 Ne5 19.a4 Nxd3 20.cxd3 Re3 21.Qf2 Rxd3 22.Qh4 Qg6 23.a5 Nf6 24.Ra4 Rd8 25.b6 axb6 26.axb6 h6 27.Bf4 Re8 28.Re1 Rxe1+ 29.Qxe1 Qf5 30.Be5 Re3 0-1 Koepke,C (2457)-Lantzsch,C, playchess.com, INT 2008]

15...Nxh5 16.f4 Nf6 17.Qf3 Nd5 18.Qh3 g6 19.f5 Ne3 20.Qh6

20...Qe7. 20...Nxf1 21.fxg6 hxg6 22.Bg5 threatening Bf6 followed by mate on g7. 21.Rf4 gxf5 22.Bd2 Rad8 23.Bxf5 Nxf5 24.Rxf5 Rd6 25.Qf4 Rg6 26.Rf1 tripling on the f7 pawn. 26...Qe2 27.g3 Rf8

28.Rf2. 28.Rxf7 Qxf1+ 29.Qxf1 Rxf7 30.Bf4 is also good for White. 28...Qe6 29.h4 Ne7 30.Re5 Qd7 31.h5 Rg7 32.Rg5 f5 33.Rxg7+ Kxg7 34.Qe5+ Kg8 35.Bh6 Nc6 36.Qf4 Rf7 37.g4 d3 38.cxd3 Kh8 39.gxf5 Qxd3 40.Kg2 Qd5+ 41.Qf3 Ne7 42.Qxd5 Nxd5 43.Rc2 Rc7 44.Rxc7 Nxc7

This is a winnable endgame, and Topalov is the one to win it: 45.Kf3 Kg8 46.Ke4 Ne8 47.Ke5 Kf7 48.Bg5 Nc7 49.h6 Nb5 50.Be3 b6 51.a4 Nc7 52.Kd6 Na6 53.Kc6 Nb4+ 54.Kb7 Nd5 55.Bg5 a5 56.Kc6 Nb4+ 57.Kxb6 Nd3 58.b3 1-0.

Peter Svidler played another very fine positional game, gaining a small advantage and then slowly developing it into a full-point advantage.

Faltam agora 2 rondas para o final:

Round 9: Saturday, 20 December 2008
Peter Svidler	-	Veselin Topalov
Bu Xiangzhi	-	Levon Aronian
Sergei Movsesian	-	Vassily Ivanchuk
Round 10: Sunday, 21 December 2008
Veselin Topalov	-	Sergei Movsesian
Vassily Ivanchuk	-	Bu Xiangzhi
Levon Aronian	-	Peter Svidler

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