Aronian wins 2nd FIDE Grand Prix in style

In an excellent last round, Levon Aronian became the glorious winner of the 2nd FIDE Grand Prix Tournament in Sochi, Russia. And he did it in style, defeating Alexander Grischuk in a fine positional game. In a crazy game Radjabov beat Karjakin to finish clear second, followed by Wang Yue and Kamsky who share third place. Final report.

After Al-Modiahki and Gelfand had played a few obligatory moves they called it a day, and nobody really blamed them. Is life getting tougher for the veteran of the group? Who knows. Is elite play tough for the grandmaster from Quatar? Absolutely.

The winner of the second game of the round was also the glorious winner of the 2nd Grand Prix tournament: Levon Aronian. After a solid first half, he started to play even better in the second half and slowly but surely he climbed up to what became first place after round 12 already. In the last round he finished in style, with a clear and convincing win over Grischuk.

After trying it for a while, Ivanchuk suddenly was content with a draw again, also in his last round game against Wang Yue. The Chinese player again played a very good tournament and he’s actually leading the general Grand Prix standings right now. Of course we cannot draw any conclusions before the third event, in December in Doha, has finished, and all participants have played at least one event (Pelletier and Leko are the last to appear).

Then Navara-Kamsky finished, and unfortunately Caissa decided that the Czech player hadn’t had enough bad luck yet. He avoided a move repetition and instead… David blundered material. In both Grand Prix’s he’s lost rating points now and we really hope he’ll do better next time.

The last three games were three very interesting endings. First, Jakovenko finished his game in study-like style against Cheparinov.

Then, after a crazy ending from a highly theoretical Dragon, Karjakin missed the draw in a very difficult position, where Radjabov probably had given away a win before.

In the very last game of the tournament, Peter Svidler again won a long ending (this time his knight vs knight) but this time it was clear that Gashimov could have drawn, as the tablebases showed.

Round 13 Results
Navara - Kamsky 0-1
Aronian - Grischuk 1-0
Karjakin - Radjabov 0-1
Jakovenko - Cheparinov 1-0
Gashimov - Svidler 0-1
Al-Modiahki - Gelfand ½-½
Ivanchuk - Wang Yue ½-½

Grand Prix Sochi 2008 Final Standings

					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1	Aronian,L	2737	+79	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	1	1	1	1	1	8.5/13
2	Radjabov,T	2744	+43	½	*	0	½	0	½	1	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	8.0/13
3	Wang Yue	2704	+58	½	1	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	7.5/13	48.50
4	Kamsky,G	2723	+38	½	½	½	*	½	½	½	1	½	½	0	½	1	1	7.5/13	46.00
5	Svidler,P	2738	-5	½	1	½	½	*	1	0	0	1	½	0	½	½	1	7.0/13	45.00
6	Jakovenko,D	2709	+26	½	½	½	½	0	*	½	½	1	½	1	½	½	½	7.0/13	44.75
7	Karjakin,S	2727	+6	½	0	½	½	1	½	*	½	½	0	1	½	½	1	7.0/13	43.50
8	Ivanchuk,V	2781	-78	1	½	½	0	1	½	½	*	½	½	½	0	½	½	6.5/13	43.50
9	Gashimov,V	2717	-9	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	½	*	½	½	½	1	1	6.5/13	39.25
10	Grischuk,A	2728	-47	0	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	*	0	½	½	½	6.0/13	38.75
11	Cheparinov,I	2687	-3	0	0	½	1	1	0	0	½	½	1	*	½	½	½	6.0/13	37.50
12	Gelfand,B	2720	-66	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	*	½	½	5.5/13
13	Navara,D	2646	-73	0	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	*	0	4.0/13	26.25
14	Al Modiahki,M	2556	+23	0	0	½	0	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	1	*	4.0/13	23.25

Below you’ll find the games of the eighth round (with commentary by GM Sergey Shipov and myself), followed by videos by Robert Fontaine and Gérard Demuydt of Europe-Echecs, and below some more photos (all © Mark Gluhovsky), of the closing ceremony.

Almost alll players during the closing ceremony, with Ivanchuk behind (between) Ivan Cheparinov and CEO of Global Chess Geoffrey Borg; on the far right organizer Alexander Bakh

One, two, three: Aronian, Radjabov, Wang Yue (third because he drew against Kamsky and his SB was higher)

Many more photos at the tournament website, or at the ChessVibes Flickr page on the Sochi Grand Prix!

Links:

• Official website
• Games in PGN