Astrakhan Grand Prix, Round 7: Eljanov Reclaims the Lead

Another honest day's work by the Astrakhan crowd, with the shortest game coming in at 37 moves. Only two games were decisive, but the round was reasonably entertaining just the same. Here's a quick summary:

Leko - Ivanchuk: A long draw (67 move) in the Cozio Ruy (3...Nge7), but a large chunk was Leko trying to make something happen in a routine R+3 vs. R+2 ending.

Alekseev - Akopian was an old-fashioned Chigorin Ruy, Rubinstein Variation. Generally White builds on the kingside and tries to break through there, but Akopian's 23...Qxc4 (rather than 23...bxc4) opened the floodgates on the opposite side of the board. White was pleasantly better until 30...Nh5(?); then he was simply winning.

Radjabov - Jakovenko was the last game to finish. The game was a Bogo-Catalan (as in both rather than a hybrid; what your computer will label it depends on the move order by which one gets there), and the locked pawn structure made everything take a long time. A long, long time. Radjabov enjoyed a very slight advantage and the nominally good vs. the nominally bad bishop, but couldn't break through.

Ponomariov - Gelfand was a 4.e3 Slav. It threatened to be interesting when the players castled on opposite sides, but hey, this is the Astrakhan Grand Prix. Liquidation and a draw ensued, of course.

Wang Yue - Mamedyarov was a Gallagher System Fianchetto King's Indian. White managed to plant a beautiful knight on d5, Black obtained two good bishops, and neither side could do a thing with their assets: draw.

Gashimov - Svidler: A Breyer Ruy that reached an opposite-colored bishops ending that was slightly favorable to White, but nowhere near favorable enough to win.

Inarkiev - Eljanov was a battle between the then-current leader (Inarkiev) and the early leader (Eljanov). Eljanov played a sharp line of the Caro-Kann popularized by Morozevich, and it paid off. While it's not too hard to find improvements for White, Eljanov was practically winning by move 20, and he nursed his extra material to an an endgame win.

Thus Eljanov is back in first with 4.5/6, but five players are just half a point behind: Leko, Inarkiev, Alekseev, Gashimov and Jakovenko.

More here, including a link to the tournament site.