Ivanchuk beats Morozevich, takes over lead
Alexander Morozevich could enjoy his number one ranking for just one day. In the seventh round of the Tal Memorial, he lost to Vassily Ivanchuk, who now leads in Moscow with half a point.
Photo ?Ǭ© Mark Gluhovsky
His new status might have given Morozevich a "king of the world" feeling. It seems like he was a bit too optimistic yesterday, as he sacrificed one pawn after another. To a certain extent this is the way to play the Gruenfeld, but at some point you have to start winning them back, which Ivanchuk didn't allow his opponent.
The Ukrainian now leads with two rounds to go, and with his compatriot Ponomariov and number last Shirov as opponents in the last two rounds, he has very good chances to win his second super tournament of the year.
Mamedyarov's and Shirov's openings looked suspicious and their opponents Alekseev and Ponomariov showed no mercy - nice examples of both initiative and forceful endgame play. Kamsky erred in the early middlegame; probably the American missed a tactical nuance somewhere. Gelfand-Kramnik was quite an interesting draw.
Ponomariov - Shirov 1-0
Ivanchuk - Morozevich 1-0
Kamsky - Leko 0-1
Alekseev - Mamedyarov 1-0
Gelfand - Kramnik ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
[TABLE=364]
Videos by Europe-Echecs:
Two more rounds to go:
Ponomariov - Ivanchuk
Morozevich - Kamsky
Leko - Gelfand
Kramnik - Alekseev
Shirov - Mamedyarov
Pairings round 9, August 27, 2008:
Ivanchuk - Shirov
Kamsky - Ponomariov
Gelfand - Morozevich
Alekseev - Leko
Mamedyarov - Kramnik
Links:
Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.
Comments
Ben
3 years 5 months ago
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Isn't Ivanchuk virtual #1 now?
ChessGirl
3 years 5 months ago
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I see you have no faith in Ponomariov or Shirov as possible winners against Ivanchuk... maybe I can?Ǭ¥t blame you, but you know that in this kind of tournaments anything can happen! I still can?Ǭ¥t believe that Mamedyarov lost 3 games in a row, for example. And note that Pono was very close to kicking Chucky?Ǭ¥s ass today, so who knows what Mr. Shirov can come up with tomorrow. Whatever happens, I really enjoyed this tournament, there has been a lot of fighting and winds have changed so much in every round.
semipatz
3 years 5 months ago
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"Isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t Ivanchuk virtual #1 now?"
No, #2. Carlsen, at #4, is only 1.3 points further back!
Lajos Arpad
3 years 5 months ago
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Very, very nice tournament. We can see that the Sofia rules aren't needed to make chess entertaining.
ALF
3 years 5 months ago
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Dear Peter,
Thanks for the excellent site that I follow every day.
In the game Ivanchuk - Morozevich 12. Bd7 was played in the rapid game Ioseliani,Nana (2499) - Qin Kanying (2489) [D85] SUFE Cup 2nd Shanghai (12), 04.06.2001 and the game went 13.Bxd7 cxd4 14.cxd4 Qxd7 15.Rc1...and white won after 29 more moves
All the best
ALF
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