Staunton Memorial Rd.8: To the bitter end

Submitted by FM_Eric_Schiller on Sat, 08/16/2008 at 3:30am.

Round 8
Wells 1/2 Adams
Speelman 1/2 Cherniaev
Sokolov 1/2 Short
Van Wely 1-0 Wade
Smeets 1/2 Timman
Werle 1/2 L'Ami

Round 9
L'Ami vs. Wells
Timman vs. Werle
Wade vs. Smeets
Sort vs. Van Wely
Cherniaev vs. Sokolov
Adams vs. Speelman

Talk about playing it out to the end! Short played until king and pawn stalemate against Sokolov, while Smeets made Timman defend rook vs. rook and knight until he had just a few seconds left before agreeing the draw. Study the game to see how to defend perfectly! Werle and L'Ami followed intersting theory until there was almost nothing left, though the game didn't take long. Wade had just a slight weakness but that's all a superstar like Van Wely needed. Why Speelman agreed the draw wit Cherniaev is a bit of a mystery, though Jon insisted Black had a good game despite Cherniaev's usual inability to castle. Adams had a great game but couldn't find a way to take Wells down.