The Ukranian chess player Vasily Ivanchuk, who keeps climbing in and then being thrown out of the world’s top ten, gives a splendid performance in the following game.
He defeats Levon Aronian, the Armenian superstar who of late was believed to have been invincible when playing his favourite line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined.
Ivanchuk exchanges pieces into a slightly favourable endgame in which Aronian’s Bishop is badly placed, obstructed by an isolated Pawn. Such positions are usually tenable but Aronian fails to play with the requisite accuracy and soon loses a Pawn.
Ivanchuk,V (2750) –
Aronian, L (2744)
XXIV SuperGM Morelia/
Linares MEX/ESP
Tournament
Round Seven
02-25-2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Qc2 c5 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.e3 0-0 12.Be2 b6 13.0-0 Bb7 14.Rfc1 Rac8 15.dxc5 (Recapturing with a piece leaves Black with an isolated pawn and taking with the pawn creates hanging pawns on c5 and d5 which might be vulnerable to attack.)15…Qxc3 16.Rxc3 Rxc5 17.Rcc1! (Ivanchuk wants to avoid the exchange of all four rooks.) 17…Rfc8 18.Rd1!! Rc2 19.Bb5 Nf8 20.Rab1 (The Black rook will be evicted )20…R2c7 21.Ba4 Ne6 22.Bb3 Kf8 23.h3 Rc5 24.Kh2 Ke7 25.Rd2 Rb5 26.Ba2 Rbc5 27.Ne1 a5 28.Rbd1 Rd8 29.Kg3 Rb5 30.f3! (DIAGRAM)
(Guarding e4, preparing Kf2 and preventing d5-d4 followed by Rg5+). 30…Rc8? (Effectively the losing move .After 30…Rc5 31.Nd3 Rcc8 32.Nf4 Nxf4 33.Kxf4 and the d5 pawn is weak and should probably be jettisoned for activity ). 31.Nd3( Intending 31.a4 trapping the rook) 31…d4 32.Bxe6 Kxe6 33.Nf4+ Ke7 34.Rxd4( Ivanchuk finishes the game off very efficiently) 34…Rc7 35.R1d2 Rbc5 36.e4 Rc4 37.Rd6 R4c6 38.e5 Rc2 39.Rxc2 Rxc2 40.Rxb6 Bc6 41.b4 g5 42.Nh5 axb4 43.axb4 Bd5 44.Ng7 Re2 45.Nf5+ Ke8 46.Nxh6 Be6 47.Rb5 Rb2 48.Rb8+ Kd7 49.Rg8 Black Resigns! 1-0.
