Grischuk played an early Qc2 in the Queen's Gambit, and Aronian handled it like a Tarrasch with an early ...c5 accepting an isolated pawn. Black's lead in development ensured that he had the time to liquidate to comfortable equality.
Yesterday, the game was more critical. Grischuk struggled as he didn't obtain enough for his pawn sacrifice in the Grünfeld. In a long endgame Aronian made good progress, but with time running short, he couldn't find a win. This missed opportunity may cost the favourite dear as there are only two Classical games left and everything is possible.
| Nom | World rank | Pays | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Levon Aronian | 3 | ARM | 2808 | ½ | ½ | |||||||
| Alexander Grischuk | 12 | RUS | 2747 | ½ | ½ |
Two solid games in this match. A Queen's Gambit yesterday was followed by a Catalan today, and in neither case was White able to obtain anything much from the opening. Although Kramnik tried for quite a while in their second game, with all the pawns being on one wing he never looked like breaking down Black's defences.
| Nom | World rank | Pays | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teimour Radjabov | 13 | AZE | 2744 | ½ | ½ | |||||||
| Vladimir Kramnik | 4 | RUS | 2785 | ½ | ½ |
Gata Kamsky was not impressed by Veselin Topalov's early queenside castling. He organized his pieces for a counter-attack, avoided castling, and was able to demonstrate that White had no real threats. As the game progressed White's king became badly exposed.
Yesterday in their first game, Topalov made a positional exchange sacrifice for a pawn and some dark squares which was enough to give him practical compensation.
Now however, after a loss with White, the pressure is on Topalov, as he has to win one of the next two games to stay in the match.
| Nom | World rank | Pays | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gata Kamsky | 18 | USA | 2732 | ½ | 1 | |||||||
| Veselin Topalov | 7 | BUL | 2775 | ½ | 0 |
In their second game, Mamedyarov, playing black in a Semi-Slav, solved his development problems by ceding the bishop pair for activity. Later he even sacrificed a pawn, when an awkward pin on the c-file enabled him to obtain sufficient play and steer the game into an equal endgame.
In the first game yesterday, it was Gelfand who gave up a pawn for compensating activity with the same result.
| Nom | World rank | Pays | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 9 | AZE | 2772 | ½ | ½ | |||||||
| Boris Gelfand | 16 | ISR | 2733 | ½ | ½ |
Otherwise another useful source is the FIDE site:
Fédération Internationale des Échecs
To watch the games live : http://kazan2011.fide.com/live-games.html
The games will start at 3 pm local time
This means 1 pm in Paris & Madrid
12 noon in London
7am New York
4am Los Angeles
