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Lev Aronian Triumphs In Sochi Grand Prix

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Submitted by SonofPearl on Thu, 08/14/2008 at 12:59pm.

After a quiet penultimate round, which produced only one decisive game (which didn't affect the leaders), there was great excitement in a dramatic final round as Lev Aronian won against Alexander Grischuk to hold onto his half-point lead and emerge victorious in the second FIDE Grand Prix in Sochi.

Teimour Radjabov finished in second place after defeating Sergey Karjakin with the Sicilian Dragon, winning an amazing and picturesque ending of Knight and Four Pawns versus Rook!

Gata Kamsky moved up the field into a share of third place (with Wang Yue) by beating David Navara.  Well done Gata!  He now travels to Moscow to compete in the Tal Memorial event starting 18 August - as do Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand.  Look out for a preview of this exciting event soon!  I hope Gata is collecting loyalty points for all these air miles! Laughing

Peter Svidler beat Vugar Gashimov to leapfrog him in the standings and Dmitry Jakovenko finished with a win against a fading Ivan Cheparinov.

The results in round 12:

Radjabov, Teimour - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 26 C45 Scotch Game
Wang Yue - Navara, David ½-½ 69 D86 Gruenfeld Simagin
Kamsky, Gata - Gashimov, Vugar ½-½ 47 A30 English Symmetrical
Svidler, Peter - Jakovenko, Dmitry 1-0 80 D37 QGD 5.Bf4
Grischuk, Alexander - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½-½ 25 E21 Nimzo Indian 4.Nf3
Cheparinov, Ivan - Al-Modiahki, Mohamad ½-½ 74 B67 Sicilian Rauzer
Gelfand, Boris - Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ 26 E35 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2

 

The results in round 13:

Aronian, Levon - Grischuk, Alexander 1-0 42 D47 Queens Gambit Meran
Jakovenko, Dmitry - Cheparinov, Ivan 1-0 50 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Karjakin, Sergey - Radjabov, Teimour 0-1 52 B78 Sicilian Modern Dragon
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Wang Yue ½-½ 41 C43 Petroff's Defence
Gashimov, Vugar - Svidler, Peter 0-1 75 C92 Ruy Lopez Chigorin
Navara, David - Kamsky, Gata 0-1 40 D87 Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Al-Modiahki, Mohamad - Gelfand, Boris ½-½ 20 B51 Sicilian Rossolimo

 

The final standings in the Sochi FIDE Grand Prix:

1 Aronian, Levon   ARM   2737 *   ½   ½   ½   ½   ½   ½   0 ½   1 1 1 1 1 8½  
2 Radjabov, Teimour  AZE  2744 ½  *  0 ½  0 ½  1 ½  ½  ½  1 1 1 1 8
3 Wang Yue  CHN  2704 ½  1 *  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  1 ½  ½  7½ 
4 Kamsky, Gata  USA  2723 ½  ½  ½  *  ½  ½  ½  1 ½  ½  0 ½  1 1 7½ 
5 Svidler, Peter  RUS  2738 ½  1 ½  ½  *  1 0 0 1 ½  0 ½  ½  1 7
6 Jakovenko, Dmitry  RUS  2709 ½  ½  ½  ½  0 *  ½  ½  1 ½  1 ½  ½  ½  7
7 Karjakin, Sergey  UKR  2727 ½  0 ½  ½  1 ½  *  ½  ½  0 1 ½  ½  1 7
8 Ivanchuk, Vassily  UKR  2781 1 ½  ½  0 1 ½  ½  *  ½  ½  ½  0 ½  ½  6½ 
9 Gashimov, Vugar  AZE  2717 ½  ½  ½  ½  0 0 ½  ½  *  ½  ½  ½  1 1 6½ 
10 Grischuk, Alexander  RUS  2728 0 ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  1 ½  ½  *  0 ½  ½  ½  6
11 Cheparinov, Ivan  BUL  2687 0 0 ½  1 1 0 0 ½  ½  1 *  ½  ½  ½  6
12 Gelfand, Boris  ISR  2720 0 0 0 ½  ½  ½  ½  1 ½  ½  ½  *  ½  ½  5½ 
13 Navara, David  CZE  2646 0 0 ½  0 ½  ½  ½  ½  0 ½  ½  ½  *  0 4
14 Al-Modiahki, Mohamad  QAT  2556 0 0 ½  0 0 ½  0 ½  0 ½  ½  ½  1 *  4

 

So a great result for Aronian, but the winner of the Grand Prix series will be the player with the best three scores from their four appearances.

So far there are eight players who have played in both of the first two events, in Baku and Sochi, and the standings are as follows:

Wang Yue 15.5
Vugar Gashimov 14.5
Teimour Radjabov 14.0
Alexander Grischuk 13.5
Peter Svidler 13.5
Gata Kamsky 13.5
Ivan Cheparinov 11.5
David Navara  9.5

 

So Wang Yue of China is setting the pace.  Many congratulations!  The next Grand Prix event will be in Doha, Qatar, from 13-29 December.

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| 1077 reads | 6 comments |
1 vote:
 

Comments:

by rfs - 3 months ago
mandaluyong city Philippines
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 39

Fantastic win by Radjabov using the dragon. This is the pet defence of his closest rival Carlsen. Karjakin seems helpless especially in the endgame. Dragon's pawn sructure is very solid. Pawn formation similar to the kings indian defence in d4. Congrats Radja.

by davidetal - 3 months ago
Tarragindi Australia
Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 1200

Is it just me, or do others see Radjabov as one of the most exciting players around these days? I always go to his game first.

In the game above, he first gives away a R for a B (17...Bf6). Then, the very next move, he exchanges a R for a N (18...Rxb3). Having exchanged his two Rs for minor pieces, with his next move he simpifies with an exchange of Queens!?

I assume he judged his two pawn advantage, and much better pawn structure, would win the day. And it did, with the help of what looks to me like a blunder by Karjakin (31. Rh3) But sheesh, such insight, and such, um, goonas.


by hicetnunc - 3 months ago
Neuilly-sur-Seine France
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 871

It's really incredible to see Radjabov taking on the Dragon as black a few weeks after being unable to beat Carlsen's dragon as white...

That's what I call adaptation !

by eternaloptimist - 3 months ago
Orange Beach, AL United States
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 253

Aronian has played very well the last few months after his meltdown @ the M-Tel Masters trnt. where he tied for last place. His move 14Nd2!? intrigues me - a very interesting move indeed. This move should create some big waves in the chess circles. Grischuk never got in the thematic ...c5 break that is normally played in the Semi-Slav (Meran Variation). Consequently, his Bb7 was "biting on granite" because his c6 pawn blocked the long diagonal. Aronian's move 19Bc5! is a good move because it prevented ...c5 permanently. This is a nice technical game by Aronian.

by LDSSDL - 3 months ago
Tinton Falls United States
Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 169

Jakovenko had real guts in that last game and it really paid off

by Waldemar - 3 months ago
Amsterdam Netherlands
Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 94

A video analysis of Aronian - Grischuk can be found here.

 
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