Karabakh super-tournament has ended

I was reporting earlier about this event. Since Veselin Topalov started to play for draws in World Chess Championship, my attention was focused to Nagorno-Karabakh. After few weak results, Armenian top rated player GM Levon Aronian is back in shape. He won this strong tournament with 6 points out of 9 rounds, losing only to GM Vassily Ivanchuk. His rating performance was 2786.

Second place was tied by young US champion GM Hikaru Nakamura and "low rated", but tough, Armenian GM Ashot Anastasian. GM Vassily Ivanchuk, who scored 4 points only, is obviously tired after being very active in the last few months.







Final standings:
1. Levon Aronian (ARM 2724) 6.0
2-3. Ashot Anastasian (ARM 2596) and Hikaru Nakamura (USA 2662) 5.5
4. Ivan Sokolov (NED 2696) 5.0
5-8. Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR 2748), Karen Asrian (ARM 2645), Viktor Bologan (MDA 2682), Bartlomiej Macieja (POL 2592) 4.0
9-10. Alexey Dreev (RUS 2694), Bu Xiangzhi (CHN 2637) 3.5



Hikaru Nakamura 2662 - Alexey Dreev 2694
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Ne5 Nbd7 12. Nxg4 Rg8 13. O-O b4 14. Na4 Nxe4 15. Bxc4 Qa5 16. Rc1 O-O-O 17. Bh2 Bd6 18. Bd3 Bxh2+ 19. Nxh2 Ndf6 20. Bxe4 Nxe4 21. Nc5 Nxc5 22. Rxc5 Qxa2 23. b3 Qb2 24. Nf3 Rg4 25. Rc2 Rgxd4 26. Nxd4 Qxd4 27. Qh5 Qd3 28. Rc4 Qxb3 29. Rfc1 Kb8 30. Qxh6 Qb2 31. Qf4+ e5 32. Rxb4 exf4 33. Rxb2 Kc7 34. Rc4 f3 35. Rf4 Rd1+ 36. Kh2 fxg2 37. Rxf7+ Kd6 38. Kxg2 Ba6 39. Rxa7 Bc4 40. f3 Ke5 41. h5 Rd8 42. h6 Bd3 43. h7 Rh8 44. Rbb7 c5 45. Kf2 Kd4 46. Rd7+ Kc4 47. Ke3 Bf5 48. Rf7 Bb1 49. Kf4 Kd5 50. Kg5 c4 51. f4 Be4 52. Rfd7+ Kc5 53. f5 c3 54. Rac7+ 1-0

Bartlomiej Macieja 2592 - Levon Aronian 2724
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nc6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. c3 a6 7. Bf1 Bg4 8. d3 e6 9. h3 Bh5 10. g4 Bg6 11. Nh4 Qc7 12. f4 O-O-O 13. Nd2 d5 14. e5 Nd7 15. Ndf3 Be7 16. Bg2 Kb8 17. Be3 f6 18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. d4 cxd4 20. cxd4 f5 21. g5 Rc8 22. Re2 Na5 23. Rc1 Qb6 24. Rxc8+ Rxc8 25. Rc2 Nc4 26. Bc1 Rc6 27. Bf1 Na5 28. Kf2 Bd8 29. Be3 Nc4 30. Bxc4 Rxc4 31. Rxc4 dxc4 32. d5 Qxb2+ 33. Kg3 Bb6 34. Bxb6 Qxb6 35. Qa4 Nc5 0-1