Draws are more than enough
17 June 2008 20:36 PM CET | Last modified: 20:39 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Match
For Magnus Carlsen, draws are more than enough at the moment. Yesterday and today he agreed to quick draws against Onischuk and Jakovenko and so he’s almost sure of another tournament victory now. New games with comments.
Magnus can’t really use the excuse of Euro 2008 anymore: by now there’s no reason to leave the chess board early to watch the football instead, because by now these games don’t start before 21:45 local time!
But of course, for the moment he has enough reason to be satisfied with half points. OK, his formidable two-point lead over his closest (all Ukrainian!) rivals Karjakin, Eljanov and Ivanchuk was reduced to a 1.5 point gap with Eljanov, who won today, but still Carlsen just needs another half point tomorrow, with White against Volokitin, to secure at least a shared tournament victory. And so his last-round encounter could be irrelevant but it’s interesting nonetheless, since it’s against his somewhat under-exposed colleague Sergei Karjakin.
Aerosvit 2008 Round 9 Standings
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| 1 | Carlsen,M | 2765 | +159 | * | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 7.0/9 | |||
| 2 | Eljanov,P | 2687 | +100 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.5/9 | |||
| 3 | Ivanchuk,V | 2740 | +13 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5.0/9 | 20.50 | ||
| 4 | Karjakin,S | 2732 | +13 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0/9 | 20.50 | ||
| 5 | Svidler,P | 2746 | -37 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5/9 | 20.50 | ||
| 6 | Alekseev,E | 2711 | +4 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | * | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 4.5/9 | 20.50 | ||
| 7 | Jakovenko,D | 2711 | +4 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 4.5/9 | 20.00 | ||
| 8 | Volokitin,A | 2684 | -13 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 4.0/9 | 16.50 | ||
| 9 | Nisipeanu,LD | 2684 | -2 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | 4.0/9 | 16.50 | ||
| 10 | Van Wely,L | 2677 | -46 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | 0 | ½ | 3.5/9 | 15.25 | ||
| 11 | Shirov,A | 2740 | -108 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | * | 3.5/9 | 14.75 | ||
| 12 | Onischuk,A | 2664 | -67 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 3.0/9 |
Carlsen-Onischuk: the former comfortably drawing his way to tournament victory, the latter satisfied with half a point as the tailender
Ivanchuk, concentrating, just playing his own tournament, as always
Svidler, on seven draws, a win and a loss now, against Karjakin, now on six draws, two wins and one loss
By the way, today was Svidler’s birthday - the grandmaster from St Petersburg was born 32 years ago
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Carlsen has to win his next two games to overtake Anand as world no.1. However, I think he will agree quick draws in his next two games to nail first place in the tournament. This result would also retain him the second spot on the world rankings if the Aerosvit tournament is included in the July FIDE Ratings.
I think Ivanchuk will take clear 2nd place after smashing Eljanov and either drawing/beating Van Wely.
The Carlsen-Ivanchuk game in round 1 has turned out to be the decisive game of the entire tournament…had it been a draw, Carlsen would only be leading by half a point had he agreed quick draws in the previous 2 rounds, making the tournament much more interesting.
If Ivanchuk wins the next 2 games, he will be 3rd in the world on the FIDE ratings for July!
Btw, what are the chances of the tournament being on the July Rating list?