Astrakhan Grand Prix, Round 9: Eljanov Wins Again, Leads Again

When it comes to Ukranian #1 Pavel Eljanov's chess, Black is OK! For the fifth straight game, Black won in his games, and since he had Black this time it was good news for him. In a game that was fairly even for a long time, Eljanov started to take the upper hand just before the time control, and slowly but surely ground Radjabov down in the endgame.

Five games were drawn, four in typically dull Astrayawn fashion. The one non-lame draw was extremely well-played, though, with Ponomariov torturing Akopian for 96 moves before giving it up. Akopian's defense was fantastic, and reminds me of why he was able to get to the FIDE k.o. finals in 1999. (One minor but nice example of his defense was seeing that 57.b5 did not win: after 57...cxb5 58.axb5 Black plays 58...Rxb5! 59.Nc7+ Kb7 60.Nxb5 Kc6, regaining enough material to draw.)

The only decisive game other than Eljanov's was Inarkiev - Mamedyarov, also won by Black. It was an imbalanced game generally in Black's favor, but it only turned deadly for White after 39.Qd2? Qe7.

Tomorrow is the second and last rest day; round 10 (of 13) will be Friday.

Standings After Round 10:

1. Eljanov 5.5

2-5. Jakovenko, Gashimov, Mamedyarov, Leko 5

6-9. Gelfand, Alekseev, Ponomariov, Wang Yue 4.5

10-13. Svidler, Ivanchuk, Inarkiev, Radjabov 4

14. Akopian 3.5

Tournament site here.

Comments

[Thomas]

Interesting that some players who cannot qualify for the candidates tournament any more have (relatively) many decisive games, whereas those who do have chances seem to play it safe:

Eljanov has six non-draws, Inarkiev has five, Alekseev, Ponomariov (replacing Anand second Kasimdzhanov for one GP event) and Akopian have four decisive games either way.

Gashimov, Leko and Jakovenko "cruise" at +1=8 - Gashimov and Leko had their wins in rounds 1 and 2, respectively. They all might speculate that one win in the final rounds could create a significant gap with their competitors in terms of GP points (if several others tie for places below in the tournament standings). Radjabov may have tried something similar, but of course didn't plan to lose yesterday.

Regarding qualification for the candidates event: In the remaining rounds, Leko and Jakovenko have the advantage of the black pieces against Eljanov. Key games might be:

Gashimov-Radjabov in round 12: If Radjabov wins, he might keep his overall lead in the GP standings. On the other hand - as I pointed out before - if Gashimov wins, both Azeris may end up in the candidates event (as Radjabov would get the wildcard).

Leko-Gashimov in the final round 13: "Even Leko" may get winning chances against Gashimov's beloved Benoni - but Leko often failed to win or draw on demand in a final round ... .