Ivanchuk wins again, and so does Topalov

In the third round of the Mtel Masters Ivanchuk scored his third point; his opponent Bu Xiangzhi blundered already on move seven. Topalov beat Cheparinov and Radjabov-Aronian was drawn.

The last time Ivanchuk won a game like this must have been at some simul in Cuba. In a kind of Réti, Bu blundered already on move 7 which was refuted by the temporary sacrifice 9.Bxb5. What followed was a bit surreal and even slightly embarrasing, which Bu could all have prevented by resigning much earlier but clearly he didn’t want to be remembered as the little fish that left the aquarium within ten minutes. By the way, 20.e4+! was mate in thirteen (copyright Rybka).

Against Cheparinov, Topalov chose the French Defence, and at the press conference he said he was inspired by yesterday’s game. Cheparinov went all or nothing with 22.f5!?, which would have been strong combined with 23.Nf3! Qd6 24.fxg6! followed by 25.Ng5. Then he also missed a direct draw with 26.Bc5! Bxc5 27.Rxe8! and White gives perpetual.

The Anti-Moskow story is still far from finished, Radjabov and Aronian made clear today. 18…c5 was Levon’s improvement of Inarkiev-Cheparinov, Baku GP 2008, and then there followed some more mutual preparation until 24…Ra7!, the first “human” move. Radjabov could have played 25.exd7 Raxd7 26.Qc1 Rxe1 + 27.Qxe1 Qxe1 + 28.Rxe1 Rd2 29.Rb1 but it’s not clear if White can win it. In the game the players followed an interesting route to a draw.

Mtel Masters 2008 Round 3 Standings

				1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Ivanchuk,V	2740	+802	*	1			1	1	3.0/3
2	Topalov,V	2767	+86	0	*	1	1			2.0/3
3	Cheparinov,I	2696	+50		0	*	½		1	1.5/3
4	Aronian,L	2763	-145		0	½	*	½		1.0/3	1.25
5	Radjabov,T	2751	-134	0			½	*	½	1.0/3	0.75
6	Bu Xiangzhi	2708	-258	0		0		½	*	0.5/3

Pairings round 4:

Radjabov, T - Topalov, V
Ivanchuk, V - Cheparinov, I
Xiangzhi, Bu - Aronian, L

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Links:

• Tournament website
• Games in PGN