GM Mikhail Golubev  annotates games

Round 9

Ivanchuk - Dominguez

Lately the opponents played many games each against other: as many as four in 2006, and in 2007 they already met in May at the Cuban tournament. Their overall score before the game was +1 in Ivanchuk's favour (but we also know that in Barcelona-2006 Lenier nicely won a decisive last round game against Vasyl). In the present game occurred a relatively calm variation of the Sicilian Najdorf. The move 11.Qd2!? looks unusually, but it was not a novelty (Grandmaster Galkin already played in such a way). After 18.Na4 it may seem that White developed some initiative. But after the precise 18...Nd7! Black created the threat of 19...Qc6 -+, winning the knight. It followed 19.Nd2 d5! with a free play for Black. After the complex struggle Ivanchuk sacrificed a queen for a rook and knight on the 28th move and obtained a decent positional compensation. For a long time the position seemed to be more or less equal. After 56...Bc5?! Ivanchuk obtained some chances for a victory, but not really much. He tried his best until 136th move.

0.5-0.5

Jakovenko - Shirov

The opponents repeated a long and acute line of the Sicilian Sveshnikov, which for the first time occurred in the game Topalov-Leko, Linares 2005. (This game is widely known, it was analysed in many chess publications). On the 26th move Jakovenko deviated from the Topalov-Leko game by playing 26.Kb1 (what was already tested in the game Lahno-Voiska, Turin OL 2006). Jakovenko's move 28.Kc2 was new (after 28.Rxa5 as Lahno played in her game, Black could have tried 28...Bxc3 29.Ra7 Qf6). White preserved sufficient compensation for a pawn in the complex position with the opposite coloured bishops. On the 36th move Jakovenko decided not to repeat the moves. Gradually he got the worse position. Shirov preserved his extra pawn and won in the endgame. It was third Shirov's win with Black!

0-1

Onischuk - Svidler

These days Svidler is one of the very few top Grandmasters who regularly employ the Gruenfeld Defence as Black. Onischuk opted for a pawn sacrifice which lately was used by White quite successfully in other games, including Onischuk-Sutovsky, Poikovsky 2007. On the 14^th move Svidler deviated from that game, and after 16.Ne5 (also known are several other moves) Peter deviated from his own game against Babula (Bundesliga 2002/3) by playing 16...Bxe5 (instead of 16...Nd7). White preserved compensation for a pawn in the complex position. On the 22nd move after quite a long think Onischuk played 22.Bg4, allowing a queen sacrifice 22...hxg4 23.Rxd4 Qxd4 24.Be5 Qxe5 25.Rxe5 Rec8!?. But Svidler preferred 22...Nf5. It was not a bad choice - in the position after 26...Qg6 only Black, as it seems, can fight for a win. After the long fight, Onischuk defence succeeded: a draw on the 48th move.

0.5-0.5

Sasikiran - Karjakin

In the Moscow Variation of the Slav Defence Sasikiran opted for 8.Qc2 (which is not the main move) and a bit later made a new move 11.h4!? instead of the common continuations 11.0-0 and 11.b4. Karjakin sacrificed a pawn (15...Ne4) and obtained a good compensation. On the 23rd move, being already worse, Sasikiran decided to give away an exchange. On the 31st move Karjakin made a big mistake, 31...b6? (instead, 31...Qa2 was very good for Black), and after the strong 32.Qg6! (as Sasikiran played) the "natural" 32...Re6? loses to 33.Nf6 Rxe3+ 34.Kc2. Another line is 32...c5 33.Nf6! Bxf6 34.Qxf6+ Rg7 35.Rg1 Qf7 36.Qxh6+ Rh7, with approximate equality. After the long think Karjakin played 32...Rf8 with double-edged position. Later he made dubious 37th and 38th moves and after 39.Rf3! White was clearly better. Sasikiran missed a forced win: 40.Nd6 Rxe3+ 41.Rxe3 Qxd4+ 42.Kc2! Qxd6 43.Re8+. In the mutual time trouble the fight became complex and unpredictable. After the spectacular but possibly wrong 60...Ra2? White missed probable wins after 62.Nd6 Rxb3+ 63.Kxb3 Qa4+ 64.Kc3 Ra3+ 65.Kd2 Ra2+ 66.Ke1 (it is hard to calculate such lines, indeed) or two moves later 64.Qe6. At the very last stage of the game Sasikiran was always better, but he did not manage to win. It was quite a crazy game.

0.5-0.5

Nisipeanu - Van Wely

A line of the Najdorf System, which for the first time occurred in the game Fischer-Najdorf, Leipzig 1960. Instead of the Fischer's move 10.Qd2 Nisipeanu played 10.h4, which is more common nowadays. Opponents followed the game Gyugyi-Szappanos, Balatonlelle 2006. After some think Nisipeanu agreed with exchange of queens and transition into ending which looks somewhat more pleasant for him. Eventually the game ended in a draw. According to Van Wely, 18...f6 would have equalised more easily.

0.5-0.5

Eljanov - Rublevsky

A calm line of the Chebanenko Slav, which looks slightly more promising for White. On the 13th move instead of 13.cxd5 exd5 14.Bc3 (Navara-Dreev, Greece 2006) Eljanov played 13.Bc3 at once. After 16.Qb2 Rublevsky began to think for a very long time: almost 50 minutes. He might have considered 16...Bxe5 with the idea of ...Ng4, but he played 16...cxd4. Soon it turned out that Rublevsky decided to sacrifice a knight. After 21...Rxc4 it was Eljanov's turn to think long, his main options seemed to be 22.Ne2 and 22.Rac1. Pavel's choice (22.Rac1!) seems to be right: after 22.Ne2?! Rec8 Black would attack: 23.fxg7 (or 23.Rac1 Qe3+!) 23...Qe3+ 24.Rf2 Rg4! (stronger than 24...Rxc3) 25.g3 Qe4 26.Kf1 Qh1+ 27.Ng1 Bd5, etc. In the game Rublevsky was forced to go for a somewhat worse for him ending. Eljanov played not very well afterwards and gradually lost the important h2 pawn. To begin with, 31.Ne2 was probably better than 31.Kf3 as White played.

0.5-0.5