After some jockeying for position Mamedyarov found a neat manoeuvre to activate his knights. Then he sacrificed them both for rook and a couple of pawns. Leko was unable to find good squares for his minor pieces while the Azeri tactician carved open the position for his rook pair. Leko resigned as he was faced with serious material losses.
Name | Rating | Country | Result | Name | Rating | Country | No. of Moves | Opening |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2761 | AZE | 1-0 | Peter Leko | 2734 | HUN | 39 | English Opening |
Arkadij Naiditsch | 2684 | GER | 0.5-0.5 | Le Quang Liem | 2681 | VIE | 35 | Caro-Kann (Advance Variation) |
Vladimir Kramnik | 2790 | RUS | 0.5-0.5 | Ruslan Ponomariov | 2734 | UKR | 37 | Queen's Indian Defence |
A solid main line of the Queen's Indian was played in active fashion by Ponomariov. Kramnik won a doubled pawn in a 'major piece only middlegame' but couldn't hold onto it. The resulting rook ending was drawn.
Naiditsch's aggressive reaction to the Caro-Kann led to a forcing line and simplification. At the end of which a double-rook ending resulted, where both sides had weaknesses, which proved to be evenly balanced.
Posn. | Player's Name | Wld. Ranking | Nation | Rating | Points |
1st | Ruslan Ponomariov | 14 | UKR | 2734 | 4.5 |
2nd-3rd | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 6 | AZE | 2761 | 4 |
2nd-3rd | Le Quang Liem | 55 | VIE | 2681 | 4 |
4th | Vladimir Kramnik | 4 | RUS | 2790 | 3.5 |
5th | Arkadij Naiditsch | 51 | GER | 2684 | 3 |
6th | Peter Leko | 16 | HUN | 2734 | 2 |
Mamedyarov's win has taken him back to equal second with Le Quang Liem.
For more information (and further photos!) see the Official site