Ivanchuk goes to the final after winning a match against Shirov
Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Spaniard Alexei Shirov 3-1 in the second semifinal of the XXI Ciudad de León chess tournament.
In the first game Ivanchuk, playing with the White pieces, obtained only a small advantage after the opening, but a mistake by Shirov, 18…Bd8? led to a difficult position for Black.
With 19.f4! Ivanchuk got a clear advantage, then a strong attack, and finally an easily winning endgame with Queen against 2 Rooks.
In the second game Shirov repeated his well known game against Anand, in the Najdorf variation, from Linares Morelia 2008, but Ivanchuk did not play 12…Rc8, preferring 12…Be7.
At first White’s attack looked promising, but with several strong moves, Ivanchuk demonstrated that his attack was faster, and gained big material advantage, so Ivanchuk obtained a critical lead of 2-0.
Press conference after the match
The third game followed the previous Carlsen – Shirov from Linares of this year, Ivanchuk varied with 18.Kh1 instead of 18.Ra6.
The game was about equal after the opening, however Shirov tried very hard to win, and even with very few pieces he could win the game, but he overlooked the winning move 56…Rb1+!, so Ivanchuk won the match before the last game.
In the last game Shirov wanted to play for a win, but Ivanchuk got a decent position right after the opening, and the game finished in a draw by repetition of moves.
In the press conference Ivanchuk mentioned several interesting lines of the games, the majority of them were the best lines suggested by the engines.
Vassily Ivanchuk explaining posible variations
In the first game Ivanchuk expected 18…f5, instead of 18…Bd8? in the second game analyzed complex lines after 22.Bh6 and then 24.Bh6, but he didn’t arrive to a clear evaluation.
In the third game he mentioned 43.Nxc7!? this could lead to an interesting ending with several pawns for a piece.
Shirov was satisfied with the interesting games he had played in the match, and he regretted his 7…Be6 move in the first game, that led to a position where concrete solutions have to be found, and with no much time it is very difficult.
Alexei Shirov
The final match between Viswanathan Anand and Vassily Ivanchuk will take place on Sunday, June 1st. Ivanchuk is scheduled to host a 25-boards simul exhibition on Monday.
Report by GM Zenón Franco Ocampos
The main sponsors of the tournament are: Ayuntamiento de León, Junta de Castilla y León, Diputación de León, Universidad de León, Caja Duero, ALSA, Editorial MIC, and SP Technology.
