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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
 Five grandmasters scored two points in the first three games at the Astrakhan FIDE Grand Prix. All games of the third round ended peacefully.
The longest game was played between Ernesto Inarkiev and Peter Leko. The Hungarian, playing Black, demonstrated a deep home analysis and not only equalized the game, but even managed to obtain a slight plus in the endgame. Inarkiev had to play accurately, but he solved all the puzzles and made a draw on the 56th move.
Vladimir Akopian and Peter Svidler made a relatively quick 23-move
draw. The Armenian grandmaster was unable to get an advantage in the
English Opening, and did not object repeating the moves.
Vugar
Gashimov created some problems for Boris Gelfand in the Petroff Defense.
The Black’s king looked unsafe in a complicated endgame, however, White
suddenly sacrificed a rook and forced a draw by move repetition.
Evgeny
Alekseev also obtained an advantage against Ivanchuk’s Petroff. The
Ukrainian transposed to a worse rook ending; White’s king broke to the
enemy pawns on the queenside, but Alekseev lost the pace of attack, and
Ivanchuk managed to build a fortress, fixing the kingside pawn
structure, and not allowing the enemy rook to help its monarch.
Ruslan
Ponomariov played White against Teimour Radjabov and created unpleasant
pressure at his position. In the Reti Opening Ponomariov tried to work
against Black’s queenside weaknesses, but Radjabov reacted energetically
and resolved the tension with a temporary pawn sacrifice. After the
series of exchanges the players proceeded to a drawn endgame.
Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov could not create any opening problems for Pavel Eljanov.
Black obtained a very solid position, and the players started repeating
the moves before the first control.
Wand Yue was close to a
victory against Dmitry Jakovenko. The Chinese had only a minimal
advantage early in the game, but then the Russian failed to find a
proper defensive plan, and his opponent created a very unpleasant
pressure on the queenside. The players proceeded to the endgame, in
which White had a dangerous passed pawn. However, Jakovenko’s inventive
defense brought him success: Wang Yue missed the best continuations
twice and allowed a draw by perpetual.
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