Aronian Grabs Lead In Sochi Grand Prix

Submitted by SonofPearl on Tue, 08/12/2008 at 1:01pm.

Round 11 was another exciting round at the Sochi Grand Prix with Lev Aronian (pictured) benefitting from a blunder by Boris Gelfand to win their game and take the sole lead on 7/11 with just 2 rounds of this closely fought contest to go.

Dmitry Jakavenko finally ended his sequence of 10 draws so far in the event to beat Vugar Gashimov in a King and Pawn ending.

Ivan Cheparinov lost for the second round in a row, this time to Sergey Karjakin, as he slipped up in a complex endgame.

Finally, Peter Svidler recovered some ground by winning against Al-Modiahki, who is, as expected, struggling against the strong field.

The results in round 11:

Aronian, Levon	- Gelfand, Boris	1-0	26	E15	Queens Indian
Wang Yue	- Kamsky, Gata	½-½	44	D80	Gruenfeld 4.Bg5
Karjakin, Sergey	- Cheparinov, Ivan	1-0	54	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Jakovenko, Dmitry	- Gashimov, Vugar	1-0	52	A61	Benoni
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Radjabov, Teimour	½-½	37	E61	King's Indian Defence
Navara, David	- Grischuk, Alexander	½-½	55	B43	Sicilian Paulsen
Al-Modiahki, Mohamad	- Svidler, Peter	0-1	42	B12	Caro Kann Advanced

The standings after round 11:

1	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2737	7
2	Wang Yue	CHN	2704	6½
3	Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	2727	6½
4	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2744	6½
5	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2709	6
6	Kamsky, Gata	USA	2723	6
7	Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	2717	6
8	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2781	5½
9	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2728	5½
10	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2687	5½
11	Svidler, Peter	RUS	2738	5
12	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2720	4½
13	Navara, David	CZE	2646	3½
14	Al-Modiahki, Mohamad	QAT	2556	3