Ivanchuk's called upon his experience to find the right line to reduce losing chances to a minimum. He chose a steady line of the English where he induced an early exchange of queens, and with a symmetric structure the minor pieces followed. The draw was inevitable and kept him ahead of his main rival.
White | Rating | Country | Result | Black | Country | Rating | No. moves | Opening |
Vassily Ivanchuk | 2741 | UKR | 0.5-0.5 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2695 | RUS | 18 | English opening |
Leinier Dominguez Perez | 2713 | CUB | 1-0 | Evgeny Alekseev | 2700 | RUS | 55 | Catalan opening |
Nigel Short | 2685 | ENG | 1-0 | Lazaro Bruzon Batista | 2668 | CUB | 48 | Sicilian Najdorf |
Those lines of the Sicilian Najdorf involving 6.Bg5 are generally considered to be some of the sharpest theoretical lines around. This game however was a quiet manoeuvring game where theory wasn't important! White's advantage consisted of the fact that castling was always going to be a delicate operation for Black. Bruzon delayed this until move thirty (when he had ran out of useful manoeuvres) but his monarch still came under pressure. Bruzon survived for a while, but Short won a pawn and kept up a decisive attack on Black's king even after simplification.
Dominguez won his first game after a temporary piece sacrifice in the early middlegame led to Alekseev having the most vulnerable king. The Russian gave up a pawn to activate in the queen and rook pseudo-ending, but Dominguez carefully consolidated before reverting to a direct attack to finish the game.
Position | Name | Country | Official Rating | Highest ever Rating | Virtual Rating before Havana | World ranking | Age | Final points tally | Rating change |
1st | Vassily Ivanchuk | UKR | 2741 | 2787 | 2726 | 12 | 41 | 7 | +13 |
2nd | Ian Nepomniachtchi | RUS | 2695 | Actual | 2695 | 42 | 19 | 6 | +11 |
3rd-4th | Leinier Dominguez Perez | CUB | 2713 | 2721 | 2713 | 28 | 26 | 5.5 | +3 |
3rd-4th | Nigel Short | ENG | 2685 | 2712 | 2683 | 48 | 45 | 5.5 | +8 |
5th-6th | Evgeny Alekseev | RUS | 2700 | 2725 | 2711 | 37 | 29 | 3 | -20 |
5th-6th | Lazaro Bruzon Batista | CUB | 2668 | 2677 | 2668 | 63 | 28 | 3 | -15 |
So the positions remain the same after the final round.
In terms of rating points, Ivanchuk's gain more-or-less negates his recent dissappointing performances.
Nepomniachtchi goes above 2700 for the first time.
Alekseev loses this status after a poor result.
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