[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Poikovsky, Round 6

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Poikovsky, Round 6
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1216089902.shtml


   The players came back from the rest day the right way: full of fight.
   No less (but no more) than four of the five games saw a winner, and
   even the draw was interesting.
   Wang Hao essayed the McCutcheon French against Emil Sutovsky, and it
   worked perfectly. They reached an endgame with equal material and
   opposite colored bishops (but with other pieces, too), but with all of
   White's pawns isolated and weak, Black was able to win.
   Alexei Shirov's win over Alexander Onischuk was a salutary reminder
   that the Marshall Gambit does not guarantee Black a draw;
   occasionally, an extra pawn really means something.
   Perhaps the most exciting game of the day was Vugar Gashimov's win
   over Andrei Volokitin, a 6.Bg5 Najdorf which saw Gashimov start by
   sacrificing and conclude by collecting. An impressively savage
   performance by the Azeri GM.
   The one draw was a Rossolimo Sicilian between Sergei Rublevsky and
   Ernesto Inarkiev. The play was "correct" throughout, and Black did a
   nice job of gradually neutralizing White's possibilities.
   Finally, Dmitrij Jakovenko's played well against Viorel Bologan (26.f4
   was ingenious), but Bologan's 29...Re8 (instead of 29...Rd7) and
   especially 31...h5 (instead of 31...Bc8 followed by 32...Bf5) cost him
   the game.
   Standings after Round 6:
   1-3. Rublevsky, Jakovenko, Shirov 4
   4-5. Gashimov, Wang Hao 3.5
   6-8. Sutovsky, Bologan, Volokitin 2.5
   9. Onischuk 2
   10. Inarkiev 1.5
   Games can be replayed [1]here.
   Two postscripts: (1) Do check out the [2]"best-of" post from the first
   five rounds of the Poikovsky event - the games are very entertaining.
   (2) Please [3]vote in the poll!

References

   1. http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html#news764
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1216087801.shtml
   3. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1216058908.shtml