GM Mikhail Golubev  annotates games

Round 1

Van Wely - Shirov

A long theoretical line of the Gruenfeld Defence earlier occurred, for example, in the game Harikrishna - Sutovsky, Montreal 2007. Van Wely's 16.Rc3 seems to be a good idea but anyway Black preserved reasonable compensation for the pawn. After Van Wely's a bit strange 20.c6 Black regained the pawn immediately. After 24...Qd6! Black was clearly better because of the useless position of the White knight on e2. On the next move Shirov refused to play 25...Qxd3 which looked very tempting. Probably, it would win faster, but Shirov's move proved to be sufficient for a victory as well.
0-1

Eljanov - Svidler

A so-called Anti-Gruenfeld system with 5.Qa4+ in the English Opening. With a new move 11.Rd1 White deviated from the Kottnauer's game, played as long ago as in 1942. After 12.Ng5 Bd5 13.e4 e5 an extremely sharp position arose. On the 16th move Eljanov refused to make a brave but self-weakening advance 16.f4 and played 16.h4 instead. Black answered precisely, 16...Qe8, after which White could not take the black bishop with a pawn because of the mate in one (17.exd5?? Nf3x). After 20.Qb3 Nd2! extreme complications begun. 21.Qxb7 and instead of 21...Rf7!? Svidler had the alternative 21...Nxe4 22.Nxd5 Rf7! 23.Nc7!? with unclear consequences. Another option was 21...Bxe4 which Svidler rejected because of remarkable line 22.Kxd2 Rb8 23.Qxa7 Rxb2+ 24.Ke3 Bd5+ 25.Kf4 Rf7 26.Nxd5!. Later Svidler had an alternative 23...Nxe4 24.Nxd5 Ng3+ 25.Ne3 Nxh1 with a complex position, which he, however, disliked. In the game Black could have had some problems with his bishop on h5, but everything ended successfully for him: a draw!
0.5-0.5

Carlsen - Ivanchuk

The most intriguing pair of the round: the tournament's ELO favourite and wordl's number five, Carlsen plays against the Ukrainian number one, Ivanchuk - who as it is expected, will be the world's number four in the next (July 2008) rating list. Somewhat unexpectedly, Ivanchuk goes for a topical line of the King's Indian Bayonet Attack. A biggest expert in this line is the Azerbaijani grandmaster Radjabov. Carlsen made a rare move 13.b5, which in 2007 was twice tried by grandmaster Ricardi from Argenina (against the same opponent, IM Lemos). A sharp play has begun. On the 17th move Ivanchuk decided to sacrifice an exchange for the pawn. Carlsen's 19.c5!?, giving away a second pawn for exchange, looks unnecesary. Neverteless it was White who deviated from the repetition of moves on the 27th move. After that Ivanchuk transferred his c5 knight to h5 via d7 and f6. Perhaps, it was not the best idea. After 35.Rc2 Black had serious problems and the exchanging operation 35...d5?! 36.Bxd5 Bxg3 did not help.
1-0.

Alekseev - Karjakin

Another intriguing pair. The young Russian star, Alekseev plays in Foros for the first time (as well as Carlsen, while other 10 players already participated in the 2006 or/and 2007 tournaments). Karjakin, who lives in the Crimean main town, Simferopol, is a big hope of Ukrainian chess. Alekseev, not for the first time in his career, used a relatively modest move 6.g3 against the Najdorf System in the Sicilian. White's 16th move, 16.Nf5 is a novelty. White developed the initiative. After some interesting fight everything ended in a draw.
0.5-0.5

Nisipeanu - Volokitin

In the Petroff Defence, White opted for a most aggressive line with 5.Nc3, which became popular after two Shirov's victories in the Russia vs The ROW 2002 rapid chess match. Nisipeanu repeated a move 11.Bd3!? which he used in his 2007 game against Karpov. White developed some initiative. But 16.Ng4?! Bd6! (with the idea of 17.Nxh6+ Kf8) resulted in a promising position for Black. Nisipeanu defended accurately and saved half a point.
0.5-0.5

Onischuk - Jakovenko

Quite a calm variation of the Meran System of the Slav Defence. After the precise 16...c5! White had no advantage. The draw was agreed on 31st move in the steril endgame.
0.5-0.5