Schenectady Gazette, NY
Aug 24 2008

Levon Aronian rallies to win in Sochi, Russia

By Jack Peters, International Master
August 24, 2008

Position No. 6017: Black to play and win. From the game Ivan
Cheparinov-Vugar Gashimov, Sochi 2008.

Solution to Position No. 6016: White wins with 1 Nd6!, threatening 2
Ndf7+. Both 1 . . . Qxd6 2 Nf7+ and 1 . . . cxd6 2 Nxc6+ Kd7 3 Nxb8+
cost Black his Queen.

Grandmaster Levon Aronian of Armenia came from behind to win the first
prize of 30,000 Euros (about $44,700) in the second Grand Prix
tournament in Sochi, Russia. With three wins and a draw in his final
four games, Aronian scored 8 1/2 -4 1/2 , edging Teimour Radjabov of
Azerbaijan, who finished second at 8-5.

The only undefeated player, Wang Yue of China, tied with former
U.S. champion Gata Kamsky for third place at 7 1/2 -5 1/2 . Kamsky’s
only loss came when he fell into time pressure and botched a winning
position.

Russian star Peter Svidler transformed a poor result into a
respectable tie for fifth place at 7-6 by winning his last three
games. On the other hand, early leaders Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria
and Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan suffered the opposite
fate. Cheparinov plummeted with three losses and a draw in his last
four games, while Gashimov, "+2" after 10 rounds, lost twice in his
last three games.

The World Chess Federation plans to award 300,000 Euros to the top 10
scorers in the six-tournament Grand Prix. Wang Yue, who shared first
place in the May tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, now leads the series.

World Junior

The most prestigious age-group tournament, the World Junior
Championship, brought 109 players, ages 20 or younger, to Gaziantep,
Turkey. The field included 24 grandmasters. The surprising winner was
19th seed GM Abhijeet Gupta, 18, of India, who scored 10-3. He
overcame two losses by winning his final five games.

The silver medal went to 15-year-old GM Parimarjan Negi of India at 9
1/2 -3 1/2 . Five players finished at 9-4, with International Master
Arik Braun, 20, of Germany receiving the bronze medal on tiebreak
over, among others, Hou Yifan, the 14-year-old Chinese girl who is
already the world’s fourth-highest rated female.woman.

American representative Tyler Hughes, 17, of Colorado finished with
6-7.

Dronavalli Harika, 17, of India led the 68-player World Junior Girls
Championship with 10 1/2 -2 1/2 . Four players tied for second place
at 9-4. Tatev Abrahamyan, 20, of Glendale tied for 14th place with 7
1/2 -5 1/2 .

Local news

The Southern California Open, the state championship open to everyone,
will be held next weekend at the Pasadena Hilton, 168 S. Los Robles
Ave. in Pasadena. Details of the tournament and side events are posted
at scchess.com.

The invitational state championship concludes today in Century
City. Favorites IM Andranik Matikozyan and IM Enrico Sevillano led the
first weekend with scores of 3-1. See scchess.com for the finish.

The San Diego County Championship, held Aug. 9-10 at the San Diego
Chess Club, attracted 80 players, an excellent turnout. Grandmaster
Melikset Khachiyan scored 4 1/2 – 1/2 to win the tournament, while
Peter Graves tied for second place and earned the title of county
champion.

Michael Yee, a 13-year-old expert, won the Summer Swiss at the West
Valley Chess Club. Ed Isler and Robert Abrosini won other sections of
the 60-player tournament. The club runs tournaments continuously on
Thursday evenings in the Jewish Community Center, 22622 Vanowen St. in
West Hills. Contact Jerry Yee at (818) 915-5572 or at
jyee6@socal.rr.com for information.

Today’s games

IM Alvaro Blanco Fernandez (Mexico)-IM Enrico Sevillano (U.S.A.),
U.S. Open, Dallas 2008: 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 d5 4 d4 dxc4 A common
position in the Catalan Opening. 5 Bg2 Bb4+ 6 Bd2 Be7 7 Qc2 a6 8 Qxc4
b5 9 Qc2 Bb7 10 0-0 White has the edge. He should fight for control of
e4 or c5. Be4 11 Qc1 0-0 12 a3 Black would not mind 12 Nc3 Bb7. Nc6 13
e3 If 13 Nc3? Nxd4 14 Nxd4 Bxg2 15 Nxe6 fxe6 16 Kxg2 c5, Black
controls more of the center. Bd6 14 Bc3 Another promising line begins
14 Nc3 Bd3 15 Rd1 Web only: (threatening 16 Ne1) Na5 16 Nxb5. White
gets adequate compensation from 16 . . . Nb3 17 Qc3 Nxa1 18 Nxd6 Be2
19 Nb7! Qb8 20 Rxa1 or 16 . . . axb5 17 Bxa5 Be2 18 Ne5! Bxd1 19 Nc6
Qd7 20 Qxd1. a5 15 Rd1 Qe8 16 Be1?! Meek. White must have feared 16
Nbd2 Bd5 17 Qc2 b4, but 18 e4 bxc3 19 bxc3 is fine for him. Ne7 17
Nbd2 Bd5 18 Bf1?! More timidity, ceding e4. White could keep equality
with 18 Ng5. Qb8! To meet 19 Qc2 by 19 . . . Qb7. 19 Ne5 c5 20 e4
Welcoming 20 . . . Nxe4? 21 Nxe4 Bxe4 22 Nd7. Bb7 Leaving White’s
center very shaky. 21 Bxb5 The defensive 21 Nef3 cxd4 22 Nxd4 is
uncomfortable too. Black can take the initiative with 22 . . . Rc8 23
Qb1 b4. cxd4 22 Nd7? He should settle for 22 Nec4 e5 23 Qc2. Nxd7 23
Bxd7 Ng6 24 f4?! His last hope is 24 Nc4! Ne5! 25 Nxe5 Bxe5 26
Qc2. Rd8 25 Ba4 Nxf4! Turning a maneuvering game into a ferocious
attack. 26 gxf4 Bxf4 27 Qc5 After 27 Qc2 Bxh2+ 28 Kg2 Qe5 29 Qd3 Bf4,
Black will soon obtain five passed pawns for the piece. And 27 Bg3
loses quickly to 27 . . . Bxg3 28 hxg3 Qxg3+ 29 Kf1 f5. Be3+! 28 Kg2
Qf4 29 Qh5 White cannot reinforce e4 by 29 Bc6 Rac8 or 29 Bc2 d3. Bxd2
30 Rxd2 Qxe4+ 31 Kf1 Or 31 Kh3 Qe3+ 32 Kh4 d3, intending 33
. . . Rd4+. Qh1+ 32 Ke2 Qg2+ 33 Bf2 As 33 Kd3 gets mated by 33
. . . Qe4+ 34 Kc4 d3+ 35 Kb3 Bd5+. d3+ 34 Rxd3 Rxd3, White Resigns.

Richard Rapport (Hungary)-IM Sandor Farago (Hungary), Budapest 2008: 1
d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 cxd5 cxd5 5 Bf4 The Exchange variation, a
safe but not harmless treatment of the Slav Defense. Nc6 6 Nf3 e6
Theory also deals with the symmetrical 6 . . . Bf5 7 e3 e6 8 Bb5. 7 e3
Bb4?! The Bishop belongs at d6 or e7. 8 Bd3 White can afford to ignore
the pin. Qa5 9 0-0 Bxc3 Black might as well grab a pawn. After 9
. . . 0-0 10 Nb5! a6, White reaches a winning endgame by 11 Bc7! b6 12
a3! axb5 13 axb4 Qxa1 14 Qxa1 Rxa1 15 Rxa1 Nxb4 16 Bxb5. 10 bxc3 Qxc3
11 Bd6 Now Black will have to struggle to castle. Qa5 12 Ne5 Qd8 13
Ba3 Bd7 The natural 13 . . . Ne7 14 Qc2 0-0 does not solve Black’s
problem, as 14 Rfc1 Bd7 15 Nxd7 Qxd7 16 Qc7 recovers material. Even
the improvement 13 . . . Ne7 14 Qc2 Bd7 is not completely satisfactory
because of 15 Rab1 Rc8 16 Qe2 Bc6 17 Nxc6 bxc6 18 Rb7 Rc7 19 Rfb1 0-0
20 Qb2 Re8 21 Rxc7 Qxc7 22 Qb7, picking off the a-pawn. 14 Rb1 Qc7 No
better is 14 . . . b6 15 Nxd7 Nxd7. White would mobilize his entire
army with 16 Qa4 Ne7 17 Rfc1, when 17 . . . 0-0? drops a piece to 18
Bxe7 Qxe7 19 Rc7 Rfd8 20 Bb5. 15 Qb3 Rb8 16 Rfc1 Black is lost. His
first worry is 17 Nxc6 Bxc6 18 Rxc6! Qxc6 19 Bb5. a6 17 f4 All right,
but White could win immediately with 17 Nxc6 Bxc6 18 Rxc6! Qxc6 19 Rc1
Qd7 20 Bxa6. A possible finish is 20 . . . Qd8 21 Bb5+ Nd7 22 Qb4 Ra8
23 Rc7! Rxa3 24 Bxd7+. Ng8 18 Nxc6 Bxc6 19 Rxc6! Opportunity knocks
twice. Qxc6 20 Qb4 Kd8 If 20 . . . Kd7, then 21 Rc1 a5 22 Qb2 traps
Black’s Queen. Or, if 20 . . . Rc8, then 21 Qf8+ Kd7 22 Rxb7+!
foresees 22 . . . Qxb7 23 Qxf7+ Kc6 24 Qxe6+ Kc7 25 Qd6 mate. 21 Qf8+
Kc7 Useless is 21 . . . Qe8 22 Qd6+. 22 Qxf7+ Kd8 23 Qf8+ Kc7 24
Qxg7+, Black Resigns. The winner is 12.

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