Alekseev only winner in round 3 Jermuk
11 August 2009, 21.56 CET | Last modified: 10:53 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Grand Prix
Evgeny Alekseev was the only winner in the 3rd round in Jermuk – the Russian GM beat his compatriot Ernesto Inarkiev. The standings of the 5th Grand Prix tournament didn’t change much: Aronian, Cheparinov and Leko lead with 2/3. Full, pictorial report.
The 5th tournament in the FIDE Grand Prix Series takes place in Jermuk, Armenia. It’s a 14-player round-robin with Aronian, Jakovenko, Leko, Gelfand, Bacrot, Kamsky, Karjakin, Eljanov, Alekseev, Akopian, Ivanchuk, Cheparinov, Inarkiev and Kasimdzhanov. More info on the GP and Jermuk in our preview.
Round 3
As we’ve seen in previous Grand Prix events, the drawing percentage is quite high with such a big number of strong grandmasters who level each other closely. A draw with Black is almost always a good result, and with 13 rounds, every player can use one or two semi-restdays. However, despite the fact that there was only one decisive game, this third round was a good one.
Evgeny Alekseev, who had lost the day before, survived another lost position and eventually even defeated Ernesto Inarkiev. Black’s piece sacrifice for two central pawns looked very interesting and immediately Alekseev decided to give back an exchange, but after 29 moves he was still in dire straits. However, with 28…R8c2 Inarkiev allowed his rooks to be exchanged for the queen after which it was suddenly very unclear. On top of that, with 33…Qf8? he blundered a very important pawn, missing the idea 38.Nxe4! Bxg1 39.Ng5. Poor Inarkiev got half a point out of two winning positions in the last two rounds.
Having a drink together: Alekseev defeated Inarkiev in round 3
The quickest draw lasted a mere 30 minutes, between co-leaders Cheparinov and Aronian, who followed mutual preparation in a topical line of the Anti-Moscow. Not long after that Kamsky and Akopian entered the press room, probably not having much to say about their Petroff.
After lots of slow manoeuvring in a 5.Bf4 QGD that had some Chebanenko tendencies, Kasimdzhanov suddenly threw in the very interesting 38.d5!? against Jakovenko. It seems the Uzbek GM then got confused as 41.Qxb5 looks quite promising.
Gelfand-Bacrot was another good game, which luckily didn’t end in an early move repetition. White’s new opening set-up left Black with the long-lasting problem of how to develop the queenside, and it needed all of Bacrot’s creativity, who found 19…d3!?. After Gelfand decided to pick up that pawn at a later stage, the Frenchman then sacrificed an exchange in return for a strong knight protecting that passed pawn. An excellent idea, Gelfand thought as well, and the Israeli immediately changed back the material which left the position completely equal. According to GM Petrosian the immediate 19.Qd3! would have been better for White.
Online commentator GM Tigran Petrosian
These days the main line of the Latvian Gambit of the Semi-Slav (7.g4) seems to be the moves 7…h6 8.h3, but they take the sting out a bit. In Ivanchuk-Leko, White suddenly started playing positionally again, eyeing the d4 square and castling kingside! After all minor pieces were exchanged Leko finally found away to profit from White’s weakened kingside, but it wasn’t more than a perpetual.
Leko still thinking where he lost his advantage, and Ivanchuk listening to press officer Lilit Mkrtchian
The game between Eljanov and Karjakin, now a “UKR” vs “RUS” (although officially Karjakin cannot play for the Russian Federation yet), was another long and good fight. White’s new move 14.Bh3!? was a success since he enjoyed a slight plus after the opening. However, Karjakin defended well all the way into the rook ending.
Round 3 games
Click on the pairings at the top of the board to reveal a drop down list of all the games. More info on our new game viewer can be found here.
Game viewer by ChessTempo
Jermuk Grand Prix 2009 | Round 3 Standings
Jermuk Grand Prix 2009 | Schedule & results
Picturesque Jermuk
Two chess fans having their own thoughts
A little break for the 'movers'...
...and for the Bulgarian team, consisting of Ivan Cheparinov and his second Aleksander Delchev
Leko and Ivanchuk pondering on the position
Kamsky watching Aronian's position
Cheparinov and Aronian, in the press room about 30 minutes after the start of the game
Adding another '1/2' - assistant head of the technical team, Angelina Mkrtchyan, is all smiles
GMs watching the Jakoveno & Kasimdzhanov press conference
...and the same GMs (Lputian & Gligoric) at the piano
Commentators Petrosian and Yegiazarian (responsible for the Amernian language) analyzing live
 Arshak Petrosian with some words of advice for Leko.jpg)
Coach (and father-in-law) Arshak Petrosian with some words of advice for Leko
OK, one more pic of the newly weds
All photos © Arman Kharakhanyan
Links
 Print
|
Any video reports from Jermuk by Peter and Co.? Would love to watch’em.
Pour Ernesto: 0.5 points from 2 winning positions…
Peter,
Do you have any idea what happened with Morozevich in Zurich ?
All of a sudden, he disappaered from the pairings of the 5th round ?!
Steven
Not only Morozevich, but also a few other GMs, who… decided to take a bye which is possible there.
What is this “deciding to take a bye” crap? Who’s bright idea is this?
Bizarre, i’m watching now live game Sandipan – Morozevich. Or one may take a bye for round 5 and keep on playing later? what a crap
FYI, it is the norm to allow byes in open tournaments in the U.S…whether it is a bright idea is another question…
This “bye” is like a timeout on the very last second of american football. But we play chess, huh?
“FYI, it is the norm to allow byes in open tournaments in the U.S”
I know that, but why does the rest of the world has to take up all the crap americans invent? What do americans know about chess? I mean really, what do they know about chess?
In the first and maybe second round, a bye might make sense – if players cannot arrive at the start of a tournament due to travel problems. About ten years ago, I missed the first round of a weekend tournament in The Hague, I came from abroad at the time and simply couldn’t find the playing hall in time …. . The organizers generously “put me on bye” (of course I had been pre-registered). Then in the second round, I got a free point – my paired opponent had arranged for a first-round bye and then didn’t show up at all. If I remember correctly, thereafter I played three ‘OTB draws’ for a “final score” of 3/5.
In the “Zurich case”, Morozevich and others presumably didn’t like the idea of a double round, with the first game of the day starting at a ‘cruel’ 9:30AM. And another extreme was the recent (American) World Open: Nakamura finished the tournament with two byes in the final(!) rounds because he already had to leave for the San Sebastian tournament. He finished shared first, but missed out on some prize money because he couldn’t play the blitz or Armaggedon playoff.