[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: MTel Masters, Round 3

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
MTel Masters, Round 3
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1210468822.shtml


   Today's round was rather funny. Ivanchuk defeated Bu Xiangzhi easily,
   as a series of bad moves (which formed a single idea, so perhaps we
   can award a shared '??' to the series as a whole) left Bu with a
   totally lost game after White's 9th(!!) move. Objectively, the young
   Chinese star could have resigned at that point, but no one wants to
   lose such a ridiculously short game. So, after 46 minutes thought, he
   continued, but although he lasted to move 32 his position was never
   anything but completely lost.
   That kept Ivanchuk perfect at 3/3. In clear second with 2/3 is
   Topalov, who showed good judgment against Cheparinov, his regular
   assistant. Topalov got a fair-to-lousy position against Ivanchuk's
   Classical French yesterday, which suggested that Team Topalov's prep
   in that variation was somewhat lacking. Accordingly, Topalov chose the
   Black side of that opening today, and Cheparinov too avoided the
   normal 8.Qd2. Yesterday Topalov played 8.a3 and got nothing; today,
   Cheparinov chose the even more unusual 8.Ne2 and also got nothing. On
   the other hand, he wasn't worse, and on move 26 he could and should
   have forced a draw with 26.Bc5. Failing to do so, he was objectively
   lost, and despite a move repetition a few moves later Topalov pretty
   confidently reeled in the full point.
   The third game, Radjabov-Aronian, was drawn. Their game was the
   ever-popular Anti-Moscow Gambit, and although Radjabov achieved a
   threatening-looking position, it's not obvious that there was ever
   anything concrete. After a flurry of exchanges, the players reached a
   dead drawn ending after 37 moves, and 19 moves later they reached the
   deadest of all drawn endings: K vs. K.
   Standings after Round 3:
   1. Ivanchuk 3
   2. Topalov 2
   3. Cheparinov 1.5
   4-5. Aronian, Radjabov 1
   6. Bu Xiangzhi .5
   Pairings for Round 4:
   Radjabov - Topalov
   Ivanchuk - Cheparinov
   Bu Xiangzhi - Aronian
   Tournament site [1]here, video reports [2]here, games with my comments
   [3]here.

References

   1. http://www.mtelmasters.com/
   2. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4623
   3. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/mtel2008_rd3.htm