GM Mikhail Golubev  annotates games

Round 7

Onischuk - Dominguez

A theoretical discussion is the Queen's Indian Accepted with 3.e4. All opening moves were made by the opponents quite quickly. Instead of Onischuk's 10.Bg5, the move 10.Bb5 was tried more often. A move 18.Ne3 is a novelty (instead, in several earlier games White tried 18.Nh6+). White obtained a slightly better endgame. Step by step Black equalised. On the 38th move Onischuk should have played 38.Nxf7 with a very probable draw. After 39...c6! Black won a pawn. White was lucky enough to escape for a draw in the end.

0.5-0.5

Sasikiran - Shirov

An extremely long theoretical line of the Queen's Indian, which was tested in several games earlier this year, leads to an endgame, where Black is somewhat worse but should be able to achieve a draw with precise play. After 30...a5 the move 31.Qc6 was a new (31.Qc5 was tried in the Ivanchuk-Aronian, Monaco rapid 2007) 31...Qxc6 32.Rxc6 a4 33.Ke2 b3 34.axb3 axb3 35.Kd2 Rfe8 and here White terribly blundered: 36.Ba6?? (a move, which Ivanchuk missed in similar but not the same situation on the 37th move of his game) and lost by force after 36...b2 37.Kc2 Re6 -+. Even worse for Sasikiran, he missed a direct win: 36.Bxc8 Rxc8 37.Kc3 Kf8 38.Kxb3 Ke7 39.Kc4 Kd7 40.Kd5 Rxc7 41.Rxc7+ Kxc7 42.Ke5 Kd7 43.Kf6 Ke8 44.f4 +- Kf8 45.f5 gxf5 46.Kxf5 Ke7 47.Kg5 Ke6 48.Kxh5 Kf5 49.Kh6 Kg4 50.h5!. A dramatic loss of the Indian Grandmaster.

0-1

Nisipeanu - Svidler

Svidler opted for the Pirc Defence, which he used only seldom in the recent years. Nisipeanu's ultra-aggressive move 7.g4 is rare (normally White plays 7.Nf3). Svidler answered with the interesting 7...Qa5!? (another idea is 7...d5). After 14 moves the opponents agreed for a draw in the approximately equal position. After the game they analysed 11.f4 (instead of 11.fxe6) 11...fxe5 12.dxe5 (or 12.fxe5 c5 13.Bxe4 dxe4 14.dxc5 Rd8 15.Qb1 Be6 16.b4 Qc7) 12...Nxc3 13.bxc3 Nd7 with unclear play.

0.5-0.5

Karjakin - Van Wely

In the Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be3 e5 the leader of the tournament instead of 7.Nb3 (as he usually plays), opted for a solid line 7.Nf3. On the 13th move White deviated from the game Anand-Topalov, Morelia-Linares 2007 and played 13.Bc1. As it seems, Van Wely managed to equalise. However, Loek's 20...Na5 was inaccurate (according to opponents, better was 20...Ne7). After 24.Qh5! Black was in trouble, 24...Rf8 allowed White to finish a game with a brilliant combination. "I was lucky today!", commented Karjakin after the game.

1-0

Jakovenko - Rublevsky

Rublevsky repeated a rare line of the Scheveningen, which was tested in the game Ponomariov-Nisipeanu, Aerosvit-2006. One the 12th move Jakovenko deviated from that game by playing 12.Bf3 (instead of 12.f5 where Ponomariov was only marginally better after 12...Bb7 13.fxe6 fxe6 14.Qc4 Qxc4 15.Bxc4 d5 16.exd5 Nxd5 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.Bxd5 exd5 19.Rxf8+ Rxf8 20.Kg1 Bc5). It led to a double edged middlegame. By move 27 the position became sterile and the players agreed for a draw.

0.5-0.5

Ivanchuk - Eljanov

A topical variation of the Queen's Indian with a White's pawn sacrifice, which occurred in several recent games. 5.Qc2 Bb7 (deviating from 5...Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.e4 d5 Nisipeanu-Eljanov, Round 3) 6.Bg2 c5 7.d5 exd5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 Be7 10.Rd1 Qc8 (the alternative is 10...Nc6, Shirov-Aronian, Elista 2007) 11.Qf5 Nf6 12.Nc3 0-0 (12...Nc6 Gelfand-Leko, Odessa ACP rapid 2007) 13.Bg5 d5 (13...d6 Gelfand-Ivanchuk, Sochi 2007) and here Ivanchuk made a new move 14.Nh4!? (instead of 14.Qxc8 Rxc8 15.Nh4 Nbd7 Khalifman-Khairullin, Sochi 2007). White seems to be somewhat better. Essentially, Black is fighting for a draw. After 14...Nc6 (Black has other options as well) 15.Qxc8, instead of 15...Rfxc8 (as Eljanov played) there were two other lines: 15...Raxc8 16.Nf5 and 15...Bxc8 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nxd5 Bxh4 18.Nxb6 Rb8 19.Nxc8 Bf6 20.Nd6 Rxb2 21.Bxc6 Rb6 22.Rac1 Rxc6 23.Ne4 c4 24.Nxf6+ gxf6 25.Rc3. On the 17th move, quite a natural attempt was 17.Bxf6, but Ivanchuk preferred 17.Nb5 (possibly, with the idea 17...d4 18.e3!?). White developed the pressure: on the 27th move 27...Kf7? would have been answered by 28.Bxc5!. Deserved attention 33.Re5 or 34.Re5, but anyway Black's defence remained very difficult. Around moves 47-50 both adversaries made some mistakes. Finally, Ivanchuk won.

1-0