Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian continues to top the standings in the Amber Chess Tournament held in Moscow from Mar. 11–24.
In the third round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Aronian and Magnus Carlsen have taken the joint lead. Their direct encounter ended in a 1-1 tie after a rollercoaster rapid game, which was enough to shake off yesterday’s co-leader Alexander Grischuk. The Russian lost ½-1½ to his compatriot Sergey Karjakin. After three rounds Aronian and Grischuk top the blindfold standings, while Carlsen is first in the rapid competition, according to the tournament’s official website.
The blindfold game between the leaders Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen was a rather uneventful affair. Aronian regretted his plan with 9.Bc3 and 10.Bb2, which led to a “very boring game.” They played on till move 37 and then, as “there were no breaking points” (Carlsen) they agreed on a draw (0.5–0.5).
The rapid game was a draw of a completely different nature. John Nunn rated it high on Aronian’s swindle scale and Carlsen could only shake his head in disbelief and compare the game to a similar experience he had against the same opponent two years ago. After 44 moves the players decided that the rook ending was a draw (0.5–0.5).
Currently, Aronian at 2.5 points, is in first place in the blindfold standings (along with Alexander Grischuk) and sharing second place (with Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov) at 2 points in the rapid standings. The Armenian Grandmaster has a combined score of 4.5 points and shares first place with Carlsen.
Today, Aronian will play white in the blindfold game and black in the rapid game against Vasily Ivanchuk.
Photo: Association Max Euwe