ASRIAN MEMORIAL: ARONIAN CATCHES LEKO IN THE FINAL ROUNDS
Chessbase News
d=4701
June 15 2008
Germany
15.06.2008 – The Karen Asrian Memorial rapid chess tournament in
Yerevan ended today with a clear victory for Armenia’s top GM Levon
Aronian, who defeated Michael Adams 1½:½ in the last two games;
while Peter Leko, who had been leading most of the time, lost ½:1½
to Alexander Morozevich. The draw average in this event was 65%. Final
report.
The "Chess Giants Yerevan 2008" rapid chess tournament was originally
scheduled to be held in Yerevan, Armenia, from June 9th to 15th,
2008. Due to the sudden and tragic death of top Armenian GM Karen
Asrian on June 9th, 2008, at the age of 28, the Armenian Chess
Federation decided to interrupt the event for a few days, and then
rename it to the "Karen Asrian Memorial". This will be the name it
will bear in the future. In addition, the rapid open scheduled to
have been played in parallel to the main tournament from June 12-15,
was cancelled.
Final report Before the last two rounds of mini-matches on the final
day Peter Leko was leading with 7.5/12 points, with Levon Aronian half
a point behind. In the first game of the day Leko, with the white
pieces, fell victim to an unusual Sicilian and a vicious attack on
his king, which was castled queenside. In the meantime Levon Aronian
played the following miniature against England’s top GM Michael Adams:
Aronian,L (2763) – Adams,Mi (2729) [E17] Karen Asrian Mem Yerevan ARM
(13), 15.06.2008 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0
0-0 7.Re1 Na6 8.Ne5 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Nc3 c5 11.dxc5 Nxc5 12.Be3 Re8
13.Nd3 Ne6 14.Rc1 Ne4 15.Qa4 Bf6 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Red1
17…exd3? 18.Bxb7 Nd4. Adams was certainly not eager to get tied
down with 18…Rb8 19.Rxd3 Qe7 20.Rd7 Qf8 (yes, the queen has no
other squares) 21.Qxa7. 19.Bxd4 dxe2 20.Re1 1-0.
In the final games Leko conceded a 27-move draw with black against
Morozevich, while Aronian got his with black against Adams in 23
moves. The Armenian champ was the overall winner, followed by Leko
and then, half a point behind, Morozevich and Gelfand.
–Boundary_(ID_rQMYeVOxC/DPUU45Eyh98w)–