Jermuk R11: Inarkiev wins again, Cheparinov loses again
21 August 2009, 21.55 CET | Last modified: 15:31 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Grand Prix
After beating Dmitry Jakovenko in a spectacular game, Ernesto Inarkiev said goodbye to his last place in the standings today. That spot is now taken by Ivan Cheparinov, who lost again, this time to Eljanov.
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 11
Do we need to start worrying about Ivan Cheparinov’s health? The tournament website doesn’t mention anything, and Ivan doesn’t look ill at all on the photos, so we’re probably just dealing with a terrible lack of form. After a good start the Bulgarian scored half a point out of the last seven games but just like Inarkiev, he never goes down without a good fight.
Yesterday’s game against Eljanov was a spectacular King’s Indian in which the Ukrainian went for the rare but interesting sideline 11.g4, followed by Rf1-f2-g2. Don’t miss that amazing rook sacrifice on g5 to which Cheparinov had to reply by giving up his queen, which in the end was not enough to hold everything together.
In a similar pawn structure, Jakovenko also tried a g2-g4 against Inarkiev’s Breyer/Zaitsev hybrid. Things spiced up even more when Inarkiev started to march his king back to the centre (and eventually all the way to b8) and his courage paid off once again!
The game between the co-leaders Kasimdzhanov and Leko was theoretically relevant; the Hungarian’s 20…Qd6 was a deviation from Aronian’s 20…Qc5 with which the Armenian top GM eventually lost to Kasim. The subsequent queen sacrifice which led to a perpetual must have been on both players’ boards before – or should we say computer screens?
Levon Aronian, who had beaten his compatriot Vladimir Akopian in Nalchik, came very close to doing the same in Jermuk and thereby joining the leaders at the top of the standings. However, on move 31 he blundered the win (31…Ne5! 32.Kf2 Nxf3! is curtains).
Round 11 games
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Jermuk Grand Prix 2009 | Round 11 Standings
Jermuk Grand Prix 2009 | Schedule & results
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That was really an interesting game by Inarkiev. The march of king to b8 reminded me of Petrosian, but the nature of the game was very sharp. Fight for the top is always gripping, but lets’ keep an eye for this fighter. Two more rounds to go…
what is going on with Cheparinov …. 6 losses in 7 games. Is that the worst losing streak of a top GM?
if you can tell he is a top GM … although the rating suggests he is
I agree with T.Goto – very nice game of Inarkiev. As I love Spanish both as white and black, I am always happy to see the game like this.
Two rounds to go and I think Ivanchuk should do it. He will have the “easiest” opponents, but you never know… But I believe in him
pete: It happens even to such strong players as Cheparinov is…. That’s the beauty of chess, right? Ehm, but it can’t happen to us
))
@Petr: “He [Ivanchuk] will have the “easiest” opponents …”
It depends … . Maybe Leko and Aronian playing each other today have an easy (!!??) opponent: If both want to win the game they may have to concede winning chances to their opponent – hence there is a higher probability for a decisive result one way or the other. And is Aronian’s last-round opponent Inarkiev an easy one? He finally arrived in the tournament – in the sense that he does not merely get winning positions, but actually ends up winning the game.
For Aronian it depends whether he really still wants to win the tournament, or whether he gives, say, 50% priority to securing his spot in the candidates tournament (third place would be enough).
But it seems you are aware of this, putting “easiest” in quotation marks.
Thank you for your comment, Petr. I wish I can say the same thing about Spanish; this whole opening has been a beauty I have only admired from afar. For the most part, Spanish and Petroff are a bit beyond me. It is nice to follow the displays of Apollonian harmony, except when it ends very short. I thought Inarkiev’s play was very original in bringing Dyonisian spirit into normally subtle Spanish. A great fight from Inarkiev and Jakovenko!
Long live Nietzsche and his “Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik”
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