IVANCHUK, LEKO LEAD 5TH GRAND PRIX
By Dylan Loeb McClain
New York Times
August 14, 2009, 4:09 pm
After five rounds, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Peter Leko of
Hungary lead the 5th World Chess Federation Grand Prix, with 3.5 points
each. Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, Boris Gelfand of Israel and
Levon Aronian of Armenia are a half point behind while another four
players are sitting at 50 percent with 2.5 points each.
As co-leaders, Ivanchuk are Leko are stylistically like Neil Simon’s
Odd Couple. Leko is the Felix Unger of the two – steady and risk
averse. Ivanchuk is Oscar Madison – mercurial and unpredictable.
The tournament is being held in Jermuk, Armenia, a small resort city
known for its hot springs and mineral waters. The Grand Prix is a
series of six tournaments to select two challengers for the world
championship cycle. Currently, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and
Alexander Grischuk of Russia are the points leaders, with Aronian
just behind them in third. However, since the final standings will be
based on the three best results, Aronian is an excellent position to
advance in the cycle, as he won the 2nd Grand Prix in Sochi, Russia,
and the 4th in Nalchik, Russia.
Unlike the four previous Grand Prix tournaments, the current one
is also named for someone – in this case, Tigran Petrosian, the
former world champion from Armenia, who was born 80 years ago. Often
underestimated, even today, he was perhaps the best defensive player
in history.
Given the stakes in the Grand Prix, the previous tournaments have
all been hard-fought, with a surprising number of wins and losses,
at least when so many elite players are involved. The current Grand
Prix is no exception. In Round 5 on Thursday, five of the seven games
were decisive. Ivanchuk was the only one to win with Black, beating
Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria in a wild and imaginative game. It was
Ivanchuk’s second consecutive win, having dispatched Evgeny Alekseev
of Russia in Round 4 with an otherworldly and brilliant mating attack.
Leko’s path to the front was less spectacular. In Round 1, he beat
Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia, who is badly out of form, having secured
only two draws so far. It was a typical Leko victory in which he
outmaneuvered his opponent and took advantage of his mistakes to
arrive at an endgame where Inarkiev was completely tied down. In his
desperation to save himself, Inarkiev walked into a nice combination
in which he faced either the loss of a rook or checkmate.
Leko’s other victory was in Round 4 when he beat Sergey Karjakin of
Ukraine in a well-known variation of the Queen’s Indian Defense. In
that game, Karjakin overlooked a simple tactical trick and Leko won
a pawn. The game simplified into an ending and Karjakin, facing a
discouraging position, threw in the towel, though there was still
some play left.
Round 6 is on Saturday.