The (Belated) Daily Update: Svidler Still Leads, Spassky Catches Up
Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 2:20AM In the Russian Championship, Peter Svidler maintained his half point lead over Alexander Grischuk by drawing with him, while Dmitrij Jakovenko also remained half a point back after drawing with Evgeny Tomashevsky. The other three games featured winners and losers, as Khismatullin returned Sjugirov to a -1 score, Alekseev kept Riazantsev firmly in the cellar by winning on the black side of the ever-popular Ragozin, and Vitiugov wore down Timofeev in a technically interesting bishop ending. (Games and further info here.)
Meanwhile, the Korchnoi-Spassky match took an unexpected turn as Korchnoi got demolished with White in, of all things, a sort of reversed Hedgehog. As "Viktor the Terrible" has expressed his loathing for that opening for many years, it's bizarre to see him take it up and somehow fitting that he would lose disastrously trying it out. The match is now tied at 2.5 points apiece; three games remain. (Game and info here.)
If I have a little extra time tomorrow (read: later today), I'll present the Vitiugov-Timofeev and Korchnoi-Spassky games with some notes.
Reader Comments (3)
Check out today's game Timofeev - Khismatullin, knight+3 pawns wins against 2 rooks - La Bourdonnais would be proud.
Yes, it was a dazzling game, and I'll present it later. But while La Bourdonnais is fine, don't forget Monokroussos! (Look at my 2002 game with Yudasin.)
I remember you presented that game and it was great!
It's ironic that for a long time (up to move 40) everyone watching this round's games was dismissing this game as a dead draw.