Grand Prix #2 Begins in Sochi, Russia

Players this time around:

01	Ivanchuk	Vassily	UKR	2781
02	Radjabov	Teimour	AZE	2744
03	Svidler	Peter	RUS	2738
04	Aronian	Levon	ARM	2737
05	Grischuk	Alexander	RUS	2728
06	Karjakin	Sergey	UKR	2727
07	Kamsky	Gata	USA	2723
08	Gelfand	Boris	ISR	2720
09	Gashimov	Vugar	AZE	2717
10	Jakovenko	Dmitry	RUS	2709
11	Wang	Yue	CHN	2704
12	Cheparinov	Ivan	BUL	2687
13	Navara	David	CZE	2646
14	Al Modiahki	Mohamad	QTR	2556

Round 1 Results

Grischuk (2728) - Karjakin (2727) [D43]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 h5 10.h4 g4 11.Be2 Bb7 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.b3 cxb3 16.axb3 0-0 17.Bg3 c5 18.e5 Nd5 19.Nxb5 cxd4 20.Nd6 Rb8 21.Qd2 Nc3 22.Bd3 a5 23.Ra3 Bd5 24.Bc2 Rb6 25.Re1 a4 26.Qd3 f5 27.exf6 Rxf6 28.Nc4 Bxc4 29.bxc4 Qe7 30.Qxd4 Qxa3 31.Qxb6 e5 32.Qd8+ Qf8 33.Qa5 e4 34.Bxe4 Nxe4 35.Rxe4 a3 36.Re3 Qf7 37.Qxa3 Qxc4 38.Qa5 Qf7 39.Re5 Rh6 40.Qd8+ Kh7 41.Re7 1-0

Radjabov (2744) - AlModiahki (2556) [A07]
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.c4 Bxf3 5.Bxf3 e6 6.Qc2 Nf6 7.0-0 Be7 8.d4 0-0 9.Rd1 Nbd7 10.b3 Rc8 11.Nc3 c5 12.cxd5 cxd4 13.Rxd4 Bc5 14.Rh4 exd5 15.Bb2 Ne5 16.Qf5 Ng6 17.Ra4 d4 18.Nb5 a6 19.Rc4 Ne7 20.Qg5 h6 21.Qc1 d3 22.Bxf6 d2 23.Qc2 axb5 24.Rxc5 Rxc5 25.Qxc5 d1R+ 26.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 27.Kg2 gxf6 28.Qxe7 Kg7 29.Qxb7 Qd2 30.a3 Qb2 31.Qxb5 Qxa3 32.Qc4 Qd6 33.b4 Rb8 34.b5 Qe5 35.Bc6 Qe7 36.Qg4+ Kf8 37.Qf4 Qe5 38.Qxh6+ Ke7 39.h4 Qc7 40.Qd2 Qe5 41.Qd7+ Kf8 42.b6 Qe6 43.Qxe6 fxe6 44.b7 Ke7 45.g4 Kd6 46.Bf3 Kc7 47.Kg3 Rg8 48.Bg2 1-0

The other five games were drawn.

Tournament website: http://sochi2008.fide.com/

Dortmund Round 7 (Final) - Leko wins it

Van Wely,L (2677) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [D38]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Qc2 h6 8.Bh4 0-0 9.e3 c5 10.Bd3 c4 11.Bf5 Nb6 12.g4 g5 13.Bg3 Bxf5 14.gxf5 Ne4 15.Nd2 Qe7 16.Ke2 Nxd2 17.Kxd2 Qe4 18.h4 g4 19.Qxe4 dxe4 20.h5 Kh7 21.Rh4 Rg8 22.Rg1 Nd5 23.Be5 f6 24.Bh2 Rac8 25.Rhxg4 Rxg4 26.Rxg4 Rc6 27.Rxe4 Ra6 28.a3 Bxc3+ 29.bxc3 Rxa3 30.Re6 b5 31.e4 Ra2+ 32.Ke1 Nxc3 33.e5 Ra1+ 34.Kd2 Nd5 35.exf6 c3+ 36.Kd3? Rd1+ 37.Ke2?? 38.f7 Kg7 39.Rxh6 Kxf7 0-1
(Wow, this has not been Van Wely's tournament - underperforming by 300 points he ends in last place with the truly terrible score of +0 -5 =2, two full points behind the next competitor.)

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Kramnik,V (2788) [C42]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Nxd4 12.Qd1 Ne6 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Bb5+ c6 15.Nxd5 cxb5 16.Qh5 0-0 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Qxb5 Rfd8 19.Be3 a6 20.Qb3 Rac8 21.h3 h6 22.Rad1 Rxd1 23.Rxd1 b5 24.Rd3 Rc6 25.Qd5 Qe8 26.Rd2 Qc8 27.b3 Rc3 28.h4 a5 29.Rd1 Rc2 30.Qxb5 Rxa2 31.h5 Nf8 32.Rd4 Qc7 33.Rd1 Rb2 34.Rc1 Qd7 35.Qb8 Rc2 36.Ra1 Qf5 37.Qd8 Qxh5 38.Rxa5 Qg4 39.Ra4 Qd7 40.Rd4 Qb7 41.b4 Rb2 42.Bd2 Rb1+ 43.Kh2 Qb5 44.Qd5 Qe2 45.Be3 Ng6 46.Qf5 Qf1 47.Kg3 Rb3 48.Re4 Nf8?? 49.Rf4! 1-0
(And with that defending champion and eight-time winner Kramnik finishes next-to-last with a -1 score.)

Nepomniachtchi,I (2634) - Gustafsson,J (2603) [C77]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.Nc3 d6 8.Nd5 h6 9.c3 Be6 10.Nxf6+ Qxf6 11.Be3 Bxb3 12.axb3 Bxe3 13.fxe3 0-0 14.0-0 Qe6 15.Nh4 Ne7 16.Nf5 Kh7 17.b4 Ng8 18.Qc2 g6 19.Ng3 c5 20.bxc5 dxc5 21.d4 c4 22.Rf3 ½-½
(Thanks for at least showing up.)

Leko,P (2741) - Naiditsch,A (2624) [C89]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d3 Bd6 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Bxd5 cxd5 17.Qxd5 Rad8 18.Qg2 Qxg2+ 19.Kxg2 Bxd3 20.Be3 Be4+ 21.f3 Bc6 22.Nd2 Rfe8 23.Bd4 Rxe1 24.Rxe1 f6 25.Kf2 h5 26.Ne4 Bf8 27.Re2 Kf7 28.Nc5 Bxc5 29.Bxc5 Rd7 30.Bd4 a5 31.b3 ½-½
(Leko's +2 is enough to win it.)

Dortmund Round 6 - Leko takes lead from Gustafsson

Naiditsch,A (2624) - Van Wely,L (2677) [B90]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Nc5 10.Qe2 Be7 11.0-0-0 0-0 12.Bg3 Qc7 13.e5 dxe5 14.Bxe5 Qa5 15.Kb1 Bd7 16.f4 b5 17.g4 b4 18.g5 bxc3? 19.gxf6 gxf6?? 20.Nf5 exf5 Qd8 22.Qh5 Kh7 23.Rhg1 Qe8 24.Rg3 Rg8 25.Bxf7 Rxg3 26.hxg3 1-0
(Bad tournament for Van Wely - two thumpings from lower rated players in consecutive rounds)

Gustafsson,J (2603) - Leko,P (2741) [E15]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.dxc5 bxc5 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Rd1 Qb6 11.Bf4 Rd8 12.Rd2 d6 13.Rad1 Ne8 14.e4 Bc6 15.Qc2 Qb7 16.Qb3 Qxb3 17.axb3 f6 18.Ne1 Nd7 19.Ra1 Rdb8 20.Ra3 Rb7 21.e5 Nxe5 22.Bxe5 Bxg2 23.Bxd6 Nxd6 24.Kxg2 Nf5 25.Ra6 Nd4 26.Nf3 Nxb3 27.Rd3 e5 28.Rd5 Rd8 29.Rxd8+ Bxd8 30.Rd6 Be7 31.Ra6 Nd4 32.Nxd4 cxd4 33.Nb5 d3 34.Kf1 Bc5 35.Rc6 d2 36.Ke2 Rd7 37.Nc3 Bd4 38.Kxd2 Bxf2+ 39.Nd5 a5 40.b3 Kf7 41.g4 Rb7 42.Ke2 Bd4 43.h4 e4 44.h5 Rxb3 45.Rc7+ Ke6 0-1

Dortmund Round 5 - Gustafsson in sole lead

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Naiditsch,A (2624) [D37]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.a4 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 Be7 9.dxc5 Qxd1 10.Rxd1 Bxc5 11.Bd2 b6 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.Ne4 Be7 14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Rac1 0-0 16.Be4 Rfc8 17.b3 Na5 18.Bxb7 Nxb7 19.Bb4 Bb2 20.Rxc8+ Rxc8 21.Rd7 Na5 22.Bxa5 bxa5 23.g4 h6 24.Kg2 Bc3 25.g5 Rb8 26.Rd3 Rc8 27.h4 hxg5 28.hxg5 Kh7 29.Kg3 Kg6 30.Kf4 Rc6 31.e4 f6 32.Kg4 fxg5 33.Nxg5 e5 34.Nf3 Kf6 35.Kh5 Ke7 36.Nh4 Kf6 37.Rf3+ Ke6 38.Nf5 Kd7?! 39.Rd3+ Kc7 40.Nxg7 Be1 41.f3 Rc3 42.Ne6+ Kc6 43.Rxc3+ Bxc3 44.Kg6 Kd6 45.Kf5 Kc6 46.f4 exf4 47.Kxf4 Bf6 48.e5 Be7 49.Ke4 Bh4 50.Kd4 Bg3 51.Ng5 Bf4 52.Nf3 Bg3 53.Kc4 1-0

Van Wely,L (2677) - Gustafsson,J (2603) [D31]
1.c4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Na6 9.Ba5 b6 10.Qd6 Bd7 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 12.Bc3 f6 13.Bf3 (Van Wely - Shirov, Monte Carlo 2002, continued 13.b3) Qxc4 14.Be2? (Bick-Balazs, Budapest 2006, continued 14.Qa3) Qxa2 15.Nf3 Nc5 16.Ne5 Ne4! 17.Bc4 Qa1+ 18.Kc2 Qa4+ 0-1

Dortmund Round 4 - Leko, Gustafsson, Nepomniachtchi in Lead

Nepomniachtchi,I (2634) - Van Wely,L (2677) [B90]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.f4 Ng4 11.g3 Nxe3 12.Qxe3 b5 13.Kb1 Qb6 14.Qe2 b4 15.Na4 Qc6 16.f5 Bxf5 17.exf5 Qxa4 18.Bg2 0-0 19.Bxa8 Rxa8 20.g4 Qc6 21.Na5 Qc7 22.Nc4 a5 23.Nxd6 Bxd6 24.Qd3 Nf6 25.Qxd6 Qxd6 26.Rxd6 Nxg4 27.Rg1 Nxh2 28.f6 g6 29.Rg2 Nf3 30.Re2 h5 31.Re3 e4 32.Rxe4 g5 33.Rd3 g4 34.Rd5 Ra6 35.Rf4 Re6 36.a4 Re1+ 37.Ka2 Rh1 38.Rxa5 Kh7 39.Rd5 Kg6 40.a5 Re1 41.a6 Re8 42.a7 Ra8 43.Ra5 Nh2 44.Rxb4 g3 45.Rb8 Rxa7 46.Rg8+ Kxf6 47.Rxa7 Ng4 48.Ra3 1-0

Dortmund Round 3 - Leko, Gustafsson in Lead

Naiditsch,A (2624) - Kramnik,V (2788) [C42]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Nxd4 12.Qd1 Ne6 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Bb5+ c6 15.Nxd5 cxb5 16.Bf4 Nxf4 17.Rxe7+ Kf8 18.Re5 Qd6 19.Qd2!N Ng6?! (19...Qxe5) 20.Ree1 f6 21.Rad1 Kf7 22.Qe3 Rhe8 23.Ne7 Qxe7 24.Qb3+ Kf8 25.Rxe7 Rxe7 26.Qxb5 Rae8 27.g3 Ne5 28.Kg2 Nc6 29.b4 a6 30.Qb6 h6 31.a4 Ne5 32.Qc5 Kg8 33.b5 axb5 34.axb5 Nf7 35.h4 Kh8 36.Rd2 Kg8 37.Kh3 Kh8 38.f4 Kg8 39.h5 Kh8 40.Qf5 Nd8 41.Rd7 Ne6 42.Qd5 1-0

FIDE Rating List

Given the massive rating inflation of recent years, I will no longer be posting all GMs over 2700 in my quarterly list. I will only be publishing those with ratings above the average of this group.

1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2798	2	1969
2	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2788	20	1977
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788	0	1975
4	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2781	25	1969
5	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2777	10	1975
6	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2775	16	1990
7	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2744	31	1987
8	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2742	23	1985
9	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2741	11	1972
10	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2741	0	1979
11	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2738	32	1976
12	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2737	11	1982
13	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2735	20	1971

Dortmund Round 2 - Three Wins

Gustafsson,J (2603) - Naiditsch,A (2624) [D37]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Bxd7+ Nxd7 13.0-0 a6 14.Rb1 Qc7 15.Qh5 Ke7 16.f4 Qxc3 17.Rfd1 Rab8 18.e5 Qe3+? 19.Kh1 Rhd8 20.exf6+ Ke8 21.Nxe6 Nxf6 22.Nc7+ Ke7 23.Qh4 1-0

Leko,P (2741) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [B46]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Qf3 Be7 10.Qg3 Nh5 11.Qf3 Nf6 12.e5 Nd7 13.Qg3 g6 14.Bh6 c5 15.Na4 c4 16.Be2 Bb7 17.b3 Bc6 18.Nb2 Rb8 19.Nd1 Nc5 20.Ne3 Ne4 21.Qh3 Ng5 22.Qg4 c3 23.a3 Bb5? 24.Bxb5+ axb5 25.f3 Qb6 26.Rae1 d4 27.Nd1 d3+ 28.Kh1 dxc2 29.Nf2 Bc5 30.Nd3 Be3 31.Bxg5 Bd2 32.Re2 0-0 33.Nc1 b4 34.Bxd2 cxd2 35.Rxd2 bxa3 36.Rxc2 Rfc8 37.Qe4 Rxc2 38.Qxc2 Qd4 39.Na2 Qxe5 40.b4 Rd8 41.h3 h5 42.Rb1 Qe3 43.Rd1 Rd5 44.Qb1 Qe2 45.Re1 Qd2 46.Rc1 Rd8 47.b5 Rb8 48.Rc3 h4 49.b6 Qd6 50.Rb3 Rb7 51.Nc3 Qc6 52.Rxa3 Qxb6 53.Qxb6 Rxb6 54.Ra4 g5 55.f4 Rb3 56.Ne2 Re3 57.Ng1 1-0

Kramnik,V (2788) - Van Wely,L (2677) [D11]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.b3 Nbd7 6.Bb2 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.Ne5 Qe7 11.Qf3 Rfd8 12.Qh3 h6 13.f4 Bb4 14.Ndf3 Ne4 15.Nxd7 Rxd7 16.Ne5 Rc7 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.c5 bxc5 19.a3 Ba5 20.dxc5 Qxc5 21.b4 Qb5 22.Qg3 Bb6? [22...f5] 23.Nd7 g6 24.Nf6+ Kf8 25.Be5 Rcc8 26.Qh4 h5 27.Nh7+ Ke8 28.Bd6 Rc7 29.Rfd1 1-0

Nepomniachtchi-Mamedyarov was a draw

Dortmund Round 1 - Four Draws

Jan Gustafsson	½-½	Vladimir Kramnik
Arkadij Naiditsch	½-½	Ian Nepomniachtchi
Shak. Mamedyarov	½-½	Peter Leko
Vassily Ivanchuk	½-½	Loek van Wely

MGP3 - Petrosian

So, I read My Great Predecessors 1 and 2, and they have all these great games where you see the world champions whoop butt on their opponents. Now I'm reading the first chapter in volume 3 on Petrosian, and ...

• Game 2 (Zurich CT 1953) - Reshevsky has strong pressure all game but Petrosian defends well and gets the draw (by the way, in this same line at Zurich, Taimanov soundly thumped Petrosian and Smyslov had a won position although that game was drawn)
• Game 3 (USSR Ch 1958) - Tal has strong pressure all game but Petrosian defends well and gets the draw
• Game 4 (Varna Ol 1962) - Gligoric has strong pressure all game but Petrosian defends well and gets the draw
• Game 5 (San Antonio 1972) - Portisch has strong pressure all game but Petrosian defends well and gets the draw
• Game 8 (Amsterdam CT 1956) - Colorless draw with Bronstein

Given that only 22 games (excluding the losses to other players featured in the book and the two wins against Kasparov) were needed, surely Kasparov could have found sufficient GOOD games by Petrosian to fill up the required number of slots rather than giving us this slop.

US Championship Winners

1. Shulman, Yuri GM 2606 - 7 - New US Champion
2. Onischuk, Alexander GM 2664 - 6½
3. Kudrin, Sergey GM 2549 - 6

Women's Tournament: Zatonskih, Anna IM over Krush, Irina IM on tiebreaks.
After two Game/15 games and two Game/5 games were split, a remarkable Armageddon game determined the result of this grueling finale. The rules called for one player to name the times (with black having draw odds) and the other to chose which color she wanted. Krush had white with 6 minutes, while Zatonskih had 4½ minutes and the draw odds. A tense game ensued and both players entered severe time trouble. But Anna’s draw odds were a big advantage here – she could blitz out moves hardly thinking (just moving the piece nearest to the clock), while Irina actually had to do something with her moves since she had to win. Krush lost on time with 0:01 left on Anna’s clock! It doesn’t get any closer than that.

ETA (6/1/08): Whining by Irina Krush at http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8475/456/. She claims that Anna Zatonskih cheated.

My opponent, seeing herself on the verge of losing on time, began playing moves before I had completed mine. She made her moves before I hit my clock, and as soon as I pressed the clock, it was punched back at me. [...] People have pointed out that I should have registered my protest during the game, or immediately after. Unfortunately, while I was certainly in disbelief as I watched my opponent complete 3 moves with her last remaining second and saw myself lose on time despite starting out with a large time lead, during the game and immediately after, I had no clear grasp of how she had accomplished this. [...] I’d also like to address my reaction at the end of this game, when I knocked a piece off to the side of the board before walking out of the room. This may seem like poor behavior to some, but I believe that my reaction was nothing compared to the aggression leveled at me by my opponent during the end of this game. Knocking off a piece and storming away had no power or intention to take away anything my opponent had been working for during this tournament. When my opponent moved on my time, however innocuous that may appear to be, I believe that she was committing one of the worst transgressions possible: depriving me, through unfair means, of the just rewards of my labor.

This last paragraph is idiotic nonsense. If she didn't think that her opponent was cheating until well after the game ended, why did she throw a piece then? And even if you are going to file a protest, there is still no need for a professional to throw a piece anyway. Leave that sort of behavior to the amateurs.

An amazing website

http://www.worldchesslinks.net/

Too much information even to scratch the surface here, but I've poked around the site a little bit and aside from the amazingly huge number of links

• Opening Theory, with links to content broken up by ECO code
• Grandmaster websites

There's also a great deal of original content:

• Historic Tournaments, including cross-tables and games
• World Chess Championship, including all games back to 1834

Remaining Major Events in 2008

Mexico City (June 21 – July 6) - A new event that will be part of the Grand Slam series; format and participants not announced yet as far as I know.
ETA (6/21): Apparently this tournament is not happening after all. Chess version of vaporware, I guess.

Dortmund 2008 (June 28 - July 6)
1. Vladimir Kramnik (RUS 2788)
2. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE 2752)
3. Peter Leko (HUN 2741)
4. Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR 2740)
5. Loek Van Wely (NED 2676)
6. Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS 2634)
7. Arkadij Naiditsch (GER 2623)
8. Jan Gustafsson (GER 2603)

Grand Prix Tournament in Sochi (July 30 – August 15)

Bilbao (September 2-13) - which will feature the winners of Corus (Aronian, Carlsen), Linares (Anand) and Sofia (Ivanchuk). ETA (8/17): Additional participants are Topalov and Radjabov. Format is a double round robin.

Most important of all is the Anand-Kramnik world championship match (October 14 - November 2)

And of course there's the Olympiad (November 12-25).

And finally the Grand Prix tournament in Qatar (December 13-29)
ETA (11/24): Qatar dropped out; this event will be held in Elista; ChessBase reports that some of the players may drop out. As usual, FIDE has fubared the whole thing.

Sofia Round 10

Ivanchuk wins M-Tel with +6=4 score, 1.5 points ahead of Topalov!

Cheparinov,I (2696) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [B48]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Bb4 9.f3 Ne5 10.Nb3 b5 11.Bd4 Be7 12.Qf2 d6 13.g4 0-0 14.g5 Nfd7 15.Rg1 Bb7 16.Kb1 Rfc8 17.Rg3 b4 18.Na4 Bd8 19.Nc1 Bc6 20.b3 Bxa4 21.bxa4 Nc6 22.Be3 Qb8 23.Rh3 Nb6 24.Qh4 h6 25.Qg3 Nxa4 26.Rxd6 hxg5 27.Bd3 Bf6 28.e5 Bxe5 29.Rh8+ Kxh8 30.Qh3+ Kg8 31.Qh7+ Kf8 32.Rd7 Nc3+ 33.Ka1 Nb5+ 0-1

The other two games are in progress.

I'm no grandmaster but Aronian-Bu has simplified to a R+N vs R+B ending which is probably drawn.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.h3 0-0 7.Bd3 c5 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Re1 Nb4 10.dxc5 Nxd3 11.Qxd3 Bf5 12.Qe2 dxc4 13.e4 Be6 14.Ng5 Qd3 15.Qxd3 cxd3 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Be3 Nd7 18.Rad1 Rfc8 19.Na4 b5 20.cxb6 axb6 21.Rxd3 Ne5 22.Ra3 b5 23.Nc5 Nc4 24.Rxa8 Rxa8 25.Nxe6 Bxb2 26.Nc7 Rxa2 27.Nxb5 Ra5 28.Nc7 Nxe3 29.fxe3 Ra4 30.Rb1 Bf6 31.Kf2 Rxe4 32.Kf3 Ra4 33.Nd5 Kf7 34.g4 Be5 35.Rb7 Bd6 36.Nc3 Ra5 37.Ne4 Ke6 38.h4 h5 39.g5 Be5 40.Rb6+ Kf7 41.Rb1 Ra3 42.Rd1 Bc7 43.Rb1 Be5 44.Rd1 Bc7 45.Rb1 1/2-1/2

Topalov-Radjabov appears to have some life still left in it.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 b5 8.Nd5 Nf6 9.c4 b4 10.Nxf6+ Qxf6 11.Nc2 Qg6 12.Ne3 Be7 13.g3 Nd4 14.Bg2 Bb7 15.Nf5 Qxf5 16.exf5 Bxg2 17.Rg1 Bf3 18.Qd3 d5 19.cxd5 Rc8 20.Be3 Nc2+ 21.Kf1 e4 22.Qxa6 0-0 23.Rb1 Nxe3+ 24.fxe3 Rc2 25.h4 Rd8 26.Qb7 Kf8 27.a4 Rd2 28.Rc1 R2xd5 29.Rc8 Rd1+ 30.Kf2 R1d2+ 31.Ke1 Rd1+ 32.Kf2 R1d2+ 33.Ke1 Rd1+ 34.Kf2 R1d2+ 1/2-1/2

ETA - remaining moves

Sofia Round 9

Bu Xiangzhi (2708) - Topalov,V (2767) [D23]
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Qc2 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 6.g3 Nbd7 7.Bg2 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Re1 h6 11.e4 Bh7 12.Bf4 Rc8 13.Qe2 Re8 14.Rad1 b5 15.a3 a5 16.Ne5 Nxe5 17.Bxe5 Qb6 18.a4 Nd7 19.Bf4 b4 20.Nb1 Nf6 21.Be5 c5 22.Nd2 cxd4 23.Nb3 Qc6 24.Qb5 Qxb5 25.axb5 a4 26.Nxd4 Ng4 27.Bf4 g5 28.Bf3 Nxf2 29.Kxf2 gxf4 30.Nc6 fxg3+ 31.Kxg3 Bf8 32.Rd7 Bg6 33.e5 Bc5 34.Rc1 Be3 35.Rc4 a3 36.bxa3 bxa3 37.Ra4 Bc5 38.Ra6 a2 39.Rxa2 Kg7 40.Ra6 Rb8 41.Nxb8 Rxb8 42.Bc6 h5 43.Ra8 Rb6 44.Rdd8 h4+ 45.Kf4 Bh7 46.Be4 Be7 47.Rdb8 1-0

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 7
Topalov - 6
Radjabov - 5

Dominguez (no relation) wins Capablanca Memorial

Lenier Dominguez Perez, Cuba's highest rated GM at 2695, won with an undefeated 6/9, a half point ahead of Amonatov and Khenkin, both also undefeated at 5.5/9. (Of course, Ivanchuk, the winner of the last three events was not there this year.)

Complete History of the Capablanca Memorial Tournament

1962 Miguel Najdorf (Argentina)
1963 Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union)
1964 Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union), Wolfgang Uhlmann (East Germany)
1965 Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)
1967 Bent Larsen (Denmark)
1968 Ratmir Kholmov (Soviet Union)
1969 Alexey Suetin (Soviet Union), Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union)
1971 Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia)
1972 Anatoly Lein (Soviet Union)
1973 Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)
1974 Ulf Andersson (Sweden)
1975 Ulf Andersson (Sweden)
1976 Boris Gulko (Soviet Union)
1977 Oleg Romanishin (Soviet Union), Guillermo García González (Cuba)
1979 Evgeny Sveshnikov (Soviet Union)
1980 Alonso Zapata (Colombia), Lubomir Ftacnik (Czechoslovakia)
1981 Vitaly Tseshkovsky (Soviet Union)
1983 Lev Psakhis (Soviet Union)
1984 Jesus Nogueiras (Cuba)
1985 Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia)
1986 Carlos García Palermo (Argentina), Julio Granda Zúñiga (Peru)
1987 Carlos García Palermo (Argentina), Denis Verduga (Mexico)
1988 Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Soviet Union)
1989 Amador Rodriguez (Cuba)
1990 Adelkis Remón (Cuba)
1991 Valeriy Neverov (Soviet Union)
1992 Henry Urday Cáceres (Peru)
1993 Mark Hebden (England)
1994 Loek van Wely (Netherlands), Tony Miles (England), Alonso Zapata (Colombia)
1995 Tony Miles (England)
1996 Tony Miles (England)
1997 Peter Leko (Hungary)
1998 Robert Hübner (Germany), Ivan Morovic (Chile), Yaacov Zilberman (Israel)
1999 Tony Miles (England)
2000 Alexander Volzhin (Russia)
2001 Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain)
2002 Lázaro Bruzón (Cuba)
2003 Julio Granda Zúñiga (Peru)
2004 Lenier Domínguez (Cuba)
2005 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
2006 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
2007 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)

Sofia Round 8

Aronian,L (2763) - Radjabov,T (2751) [E97]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 a5 11.bxa5 Rxa5 12.Nd2 Nf4 13.Bf1 c5 14.a4 Ra6 15.Ra3 Nh5 16.Nb5 Nf6 17.Bb2 Ne8 18.Nf3 h6 19.g3 f5 20.exf5 Nxf5 21.Nd2 Nf6 22.Bd3 Rf7 23.Bc2 Bd7 24.Qb1 Rf8 25.Rf3 h5 26.Ne4 Nxe4 27.Rxe4 Ra8 28.Re1 Rc8 29.Bc1 Ra8 30.Bd2 b6 31.Be3 e4 32.Rf4 Nxe3 33.fxe3 Bh6 34.Nxd6 Bxf4 35.gxf4 Qh4 36.Re2 Bg4 37.Rg2 g5 38.f5 Bxf5 39.Rg3 Bh3 40.Bxe4 Rf1+ 41.Qxf1 Bxf1 42.Bf5 g4 43.Be6+ Kh7 44.Bf5+ Kh8 0-1

Topalov,V (2767) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [D90]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Nb6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 N8d7 9.a4 a5 10.e4 e5 11.d5 c6 12.Bg5 Bf6 13.Be3 Qe7 14.d6 Qe6 15.b3 Bg7 16.h4 f5 17.Ng5 Qf6 18.b4 f4 19.Bxb6 Nxb6 20.bxa5 Nd7 21.a6 Kh8 22.Nb1 Bh6 23.Nf3 bxa6 24.Rxc6 Bb7 25.Rc7 Bxe4 26.Rxd7 Qf5 27.Rc7 Bxb1 28.Ng5 Bg7 29.Bc4 Bc2 30.Qd5 h6 31.Rf7 Qc8 32.Rxg7 1-0

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 6.5
Topalov - 6
Radjabov - 4.5

Sofia Round 7

Radjabov-Bu
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. c5 g6 7. Ne5 Bg7 8. Be2 O-O9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 a5 11. a3 f6 12. Nf3 f5 13. Bd2 Nf6 14. Be1 Kh8 15. Bh4 Be616. Ne5 Qc7 17. Qe1 Nbd7 18. Bg5 Nxe5 19. fxe5 Ne4 20. Nxe4 fxe4 21. Qh4 Rxf1+22. Rxf1 Re8 23. Bg4 Qd7 24. Rf7 Bxg4 25. Bf6 exf6 26. Rxd7 Bxd7 27. exf6 a428. fxg7+ Kxg7 29. Kf2 h6 30. Ke1 Re6 31. Qg3 Be8 32. Kd2 g5 33. Kc3 Kf8 34.Kb4 Bf7 35. Ka5 Kg7 36. Kb6 Kf8 37. Kc7 Kg7 38. Kd7 Kf8 39. Qf2 Rg6 40. Qf5 h541. g3 1-0

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 6
Topalov - 5
Radjabov, Cheparinov - 3.5

Sofia Round 6 - Ivanchuk human after all, draws

Bu Xiangzhi (2708) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [D45]
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.b3 Nbd7 6.Bb2 Bd6 7.Nf3 0-0 8.Be2 Ne4 9.Nd2 f5 10.0-0 Qh4 11.f4 Nxd2 12.Qxd2 Nf6 13.a4 Rf7 14.a5 g5 15.g3 Qh3 16.Bf3 gxf4 17.exf4 Bd7 18.Na4 Ne4 19.Bxe4 fxe4 20.Nc5 Be8 21.Ba3 Qf5 22.a6 b6 23.Nb7 Bxa3 24.Rxa3 Rg7 25.Nd6 Qf6 26.f5 Bh5 27.fxe6 Bf3 28.cxd5 cxd5 29.Nf7 h5 30.Ne5 h4 31.Nxf3 hxg3 32.b4 Rf8 33.h3 g2 34.Re1 exf3 35.Qf2 Qf5 36.Kh2 Qf4+ 37.Kg1 Qf5 38.Kh2 Qf4+ 39.Kg1 Rg3 40.e7 Rxh3 41.exf8Q+ Kxf8 42.Rxf3 Rxf3 43.Re2 Kf7 44.b5 Kf6 0-1

Topalov,V (2767) - Aronian,L (2763) [D47]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.a3 Bb7 11.h3 e5 12.Qc2 Re8 13.Bd2 Qe7 14.Ng5 h6 15.Nge4 Bc7 16.Rfe1 Bb6 17.Ng3 Rad8 18.Rad1 Qf8 19.Nce2 a6 20.b4 h5 21.Bc3 h4 22.Ne4 Nd5 23.Nc5 Nxc5 24.dxc5 Bc7 25.Bb2 Bc8 26.Bh7+ Kh8 27.Bf5 Bxf5 28.Qxf5 Qe7 29.Nc3 Nxc3 30.Bxc3 Kg8 31.Qe4 Qe6 32.Qxh4 Qb3 33.Rc1 Qxa3 34.Qe4 a5 35.Qxc6 axb4 36.Bxb4 Qxb4 37.Qxc7 Rc8 38.Qa7 Re6 39.Red1 Qe4 40.Qd7 Rec6 41.Qb7 b4 42.Rd7 Qf5 43.Rd5 Rg6 44.Kf1 b3 45.Qxb3 Qg5 46.g3 Qf5 47.Kg2 Rf6 48.Rd2 Qf3+ 49.Kh2 Rd6 50.Qa2 Rxd2 51.Qxd2 Rc6 52.Kg1 Rh6 53.Qd1 Qc6 54.h4 Rf6 55.Qg4 g6 56.h5 Kg7 57.e4 Kh6 58.hxg6 fxg6 59.Kg2 Kg7 60.Qe2 Rf7 61.Rc4 g5 62.Qh5 Qf6 63.Rc2 Qd8 64.c6 Qd3 65.Qxg5+ Kf8 66.Qh6+ Kg8 67.Rd2 Qxe4+ 68.Kh2 Rf8 69.c7 Qf5 70.f3 1-0

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Radjabov,T (2751) [B33]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7 11.Bd3 Ne7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.c3 f5 14.Nc2 0-0 15.0-0 Rb8 16.exf5 e4 17.Be2 Bxf5 18.Nb4 Qg5 19.f4 exf3 20.Bxf3 Rbe8 21.Nc6 Be5 22.Nxe5 dxe5 23.Qc1 Qxc1 24.Raxc1 Be6 25.Rfe1 f6 26.Rcd1 Rd8 27.Bb7 a5 28.Bc6 b4 29.cxb4 axb4 30.a4 Rxd1 31.Rxd1 Rc8 32.Be4 f5 33.Bd5 Bxd5 34.Rxd5 Rc2 35.b3 Rc3 36.Rxe5 Rxb3 37.Rxf5 Ra3 38.a5 b3 39.Rb5 Kg7 40.h3 b2 41.Rxb2 Rxa5 1/2-1/2

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 5.5
Topalov - 4.5
Cheparinov - 3 (amazing that +0 is good enough for third place)