Gashimov and Motylev lead in Poikovsky
11 June 2009, 1.48 CET | Last modified: 10:21 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags:
With two more rounds to go, Vugar Gashimov and Alexander Motylev are leading the Karpov tournament in Poikovsky with 5.5 out of 7. Interestingly, the two still have to play each other. So far poor Alexei Shirov has collected just two draws.
The 10th edition of the Karpov tournament, a 10-player round-robin, takes place June 3rd-12th in Poikovsky, Russia.
In our previous report we focused on Alexei Shirov’s bad start of 0/3 and unfortunately for the winner of the 2009 M-Tel Masters it didn’t get much better.
Shirov also lost in round 4, then drew twice and today he lost once more, against Onischuk. Right when he seemed to have stabilized his chess again, and on the same level that he’s been mostly playing at during the last two decades, things go terribly wrong in Poikovsky. It makes you wonder – is he ill? There must be something else, not chess related, going on.
In the meantime, Gashimov and Motylev kept their lead, and they still have to play each other, in the penultimate round which is today. Besides their mutual game, Gashimov will meet Efimenko while Motylev plays Bologan in the last round.
We know by know that Gashimov is a very strong player but Motylev, who worked as a second for Kramnik and Svidler, also makes a very good impression so far. As our editors of ChessVibes Openings wrote this week, “for many years he‚Äôs been around the 2650 mark, but finally his hard work together with the world‚Äôs best seems to pay off.” The Russian GM even managed to score a nice win with Black playing the Petroff, against Sutovsky. Many more good games below!
10th Poikovsky 2009 | Round 7 Standings
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | ||||||
| 1 | Gashimov,V | 2730 | +189 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5.5/7 | 16.50 | ||
| 2 | Motylev,A | 2677 | +241 | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5.5/7 | 16.00 | ||
| 3 | Inarkiev,E | 2676 | +123 | ½ | ½ | * | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4.5/7 | |||
| 4 | Sutovsky,E | 2660 | +83 | ½ | 0 | 1 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 4.0/7 | |||
| 5 | Naiditsch,A | 2700 | -6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.5/7 | 8.50 | ||
| 6 | Onischuk,A | 2684 | +19 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.5/7 | 8.50 | ||
| 7 | Bologan,V | 2690 | -42 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3.0/7 | |||
| 8 | Rublevsky,S | 2702 | -108 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 0 | ½ | 2.5/7 | |||
| 9 | Efimenko,Z | 2682 | -157 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | * | 2.0/7 | |||
| 10 | Shirov,A | 2745 | -362 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 1.0/7 |
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At his best, Motylev is (for many years now) as good as the very best. He has been unstable, that’s the problem. If that becomes slitly better, he’ll belong to the very best (those who — we know! — can also be somewhat unstable)
By the way, are the 2 leaders playing each other on the 8th round or on the last?
It’s in the 8th, today; yesterday I couldn’t find it on the tournament website but this morning I could.
Motylev just beat Gashimov’s Petroff, putting him in a good place to win the tournament. Very impressive considering how well Gashimov has been playing this tournament.
I think Shirov is a bit unstable too, the poor guy.
@Meppie
2 flash questions about your sentence:
1. A bit??
2. Poor??
These weeks’ oppening lesson:
Petroff – The great dynamic defense of our time!
hehehe
[...] took place June 3rd-12th in Poikovsky, Russia. From our previous reports on rounds 1-3 and rounds 4-7 we already know that Gashimov and Motylev were doing well, and Shirov [...]