[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Daily Update: Aronian wins the Karen Asrian Memorial; Carlsen running away with Foros

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Daily Update: Aronian wins the Karen Asrian Memorial; Carlsen running away with Foros
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1213542647.shtml


   Peter Leko had been undefeated and leading for most of the [1]Karen
   Asrian Memorial; today, however, he lost the first game of his
   mini-match with Alexander Morozevich (on the White side of a Byrne
   Attack Najdorf) and lost. Levon Aronian, also undefeated by half a
   point behind going into the round, quickly dispatched Michael Adams
   and thereby leapfrogged into first. As both players drew their second
   game of the day, the upshot was that Aronian had won the tournament,
   half a point ahead of Leko and a point ahead of Morozevich and Boris
   Gelfand. (Ironically, Gelfand had the fewest draws in the tournament -
   by far! - with just five peaceful outcomes in 14 games.)
   Final Standings:
   1. Aronian 8.5 (of 14)
   2. Leko 8
   3-4. Morozevich, Gelfand 7.5
   5. Bu Xiangzhi 7
   6. Sargissian 6.5
   7. Adams 6
   8. Akopian 5
   Now back to the main event, the [2]Aerosvit tournament in Foros. The
   big news is rapidly ceasing to be news: Magnus Carlsen won yet again,
   confidently dispatching Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu on the black side of a
   Dragon Sicilian. That gives him 6 out of 7 and a gaudy 3021 TPR, and
   might also vault him past Anand on the July rating list. (Or would,
   were the event to be rated in time. The normal FIDE cutoff for a
   rating list is one month before that list's publication, but they also
   make exceptions for at least some super-GM events. I remember that a
   few lists ago, when Anand was going to top the FIDE rating list for
   the first time ever, some of his fans cried "conspiracy" when such an
   event initially failed to be included in time; will they say the same
   thing when it benefits Anand by delaying Carlsen's trip to the
   summit?)
   Back to the event: Dmitry Jakovenko defeated Loek van Wely with the
   white pieces, while Pavel Eljanov wielded the sable forces to defeat
   Alexander Onischuk. Meanwhile, three games saw 1.e4 e5 and quick
   handshakes: Volokitin-Svidler was a Marshall Gambit, Karjakin-Ivanchuk
   a Petroff and Alekseev-Shirov a Giuoco Piano.
   Standings after Round 7:
   1. Carlsen 6
   2-4. Volokitin, Karjakin, Eljanov 4
   5-7. Svidler, Ivanchuk, Shirov 3.5
   8-9. Alekseev, Nisipeanu 3
   10. Jakovenko 2.5
   11-12. van Wely, Onischuk 2
   I hope to present a couple of games later today - check back later!

References

   1. http://www.chessgiants.am/
   2. http://www.ukrchess.org.ua/aerosvit2008/index_e.htm