GM Mikhail Golubev  annotates games

Round 10

Dominguez - Eljanov

'The Berlin Wall' of the Ruy Lopez: queens are exchanged early and the long positional fight can be expected. However the game developed in a forced way and many other pieces were exchanged quickly. (Eljanov's 14...a5 was a novelty). After 20.Nf4 it became evident that Black loses a pawn. Still it is too early to speak about the White's advantage: Eljanov played very quickly, it is possible that he is still in his preparation. After all, Dominguez made the most obvious move 22.Kd2 (maybe he considered also 22.Bd4). After that Eljanov went into the deep think. After approximately half an hour he made the interesting move 22...g6!?. Black got certain compensation for the pawn, still White's chances were somewhat better as it seems. Or maybe much better! Having already bed position, Eljanov possibly missed the idea 37.Nd5+! Bxd5 38.Be5+ after 35...Kc7 36.Nxb6 c5. After the long fight Black was lucky to save half a point in the really hard for him game. Well, no one can say that Eljanov had too much luck in the previous rounds.

0.5-0.5

Shirov - Ivanchuk

Through a bit unusual move order in the classical Ruy Lopez (e.g. instead of Shirov's 9.Re1, more popular is 9.h3) a system with an early d4 for White appeared. Shirov spent quite a long tome for making the theoretical moves. On the 16th move Shirov opted for the ambitious 16.g4 (this is still a known move). Ivanchuk's 17...a5 was a novelty. A complicated position arose; it seems that Black is doing well. Instead of 23.Bf2 Shirov could have tried 23.Ne5. Ivanchuk made an interesting move 23...h5!?. Shirov spent a lot of time for his next move, probably calculating the ultra-acute continuation 24.f5 hxg4 25.hxg4 g6. One more option was 24.Nh2. Shirov played 24.Qg6 and after 24...Re4 25.Rxe4 dxe4 26. Nh2? (better was 26.Ng5) Ivanchuk delivered the nice blow 26...Nxd4!!. After 27.cxd4 Bxd4 28.Rb1 e3! Black's position is winning. Ivanchuk made one more excellent move, 29...h4!. An impressive win by Ivanchuk and one of the best games of the whole tournament. It seems that Shirov made only one serious mistake.

0-1

Svidler - Jakovenko

Before the game the chief arbiter Leonid Bodankin congratulated Jakovenko with his 24th birthday. A calm line of the 3.Bb5 (Rossolimo) Sicilian. After 14.Bg2 (a novelty) Black refused to accept the pawn sacrifice. Possible variations were: 14...Qxd3?! 15.Qxd3 Bxd3 16.Nce5; 14...Bxd3 15.Nce5 (15.Nfe5 Bxc4!) 15... Be4 16.Qxd8+ Nxd8 (16... Rxd8?! 17.Nxf7! Kxf7 18.Ng5+) 17.g5 Bxf3 18.Bxf3 Nd7 19.Nc4!?. A curious opportunity for Svidler was 20.a4 Rxd4 21.axb5 Rxc4 22.Bxb7 axb5 23.Ra8+ but his move 20.Nd6+ seems to be simpler and stronger: after it White is clearly better. After 25.Ba3! White's position is obviously winning: he has a strong pair of bishops while Black is underdeveloped. Jakovenko managed to organise resistance, but it was not possible to change the outcome. It was the first decided game for Svidler in Foros-2007!

1-0

Karjakin - Onischuk

The Anti-Marshall system of the Roy Lopez has a reputation of the quite boring opening. Taking in account importance of the game Karjakin hardly should try to risk much. After the opening White was a bit better; at least it is easier to play such positions with White. At some point Onischuk sacrificed a pawn and later reached the draw in the position with the opposite coloured bishops.

0.5-0.5

Nisipeanu - Sasikiran

An interesting and topical line of the 4...Nd7 Caro Kann. On the 13th move Sasikiran deviated from his 3rd round game versus Jakovenko: this time he played 13...Bb7 instead of 13...c5. Black equalised without many problems. It is hard to judge who tried to play for a win in the absolutely equal middlegame, but this fight did not last for long. The draw was agreed after White's 33rd move.

0.5-0.5

Van Wely - Rublevsky

An acute line of the Chabanenko Slav. On the 14th move Van Wely deviated from his 2006 Bundesliga game versus Bacrot and played 14.Bg5 instead of 14.h3. Rublevsky's 15...Rb8 probably was new. The complicated fight in the middlegame followed. 18.e5 would have been interesting. After the exchange of queens Black was at least not worse. When Van Wely played 21.Ne5 he could have missed that after 21...Rd2 22.Bb3 Bxe5 23.Bxe5 Nxc5 24.Nxc5 Rxe5 25.Nxb7 he has a problem with his knight and loses at least a pawn after 25...Bc8!?. Black obtained chances for a win. Still, after some suffering White managed to hold the endgame.

0.5-0.5