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Levon Aronian vs Loek van Wely
Corus Group A (2009), Wijk aan Zee NED, rd 8, Jan-25
Slav Defense: Quiet Variation (D11)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jan-25-09  benjinathan: Good position for an endgame study.
Jan-25-09  benjinathan: I guess it is a draw; trade the rook for the last pawn.
Jan-25-09  Marmot PFL: After Ra1 Kg5 Rg1+ nothing for either side to do
Jan-25-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  chessgames.com: That's it for today. Thanks to everybody for participating. Remember, Monday is a rest day. Games will continue with round #9 on Tuesday at the same time (7:30am USA/Eastern). Hope to see you then.

Jan-25-09  Bondsamir: Dear CGs community,thank you very much for the great and wonderful efforts to take us live to the event.I'm so grateful
Jan-25-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Stonehenge: According to Loek he should have played 18...Na6.
Jan-25-09  Eyal: <Against Van Wely, Aronian stuck to his favorite c5 advance in the semi Slav, only to be surprised by Loek's 6...g6 (Nd7 was the expected line). The Armenian still knew his way, playing quickly, and it was the Dutchman who sank into deep thought after 11.a4. In the post mortem, Van Wely said he felt uncomfortable after 14.h4, but it was Levon who thought for nearly an hour before playing 15.h5!. Taking the material after 15...Bxh5?! would have been highly dangerous, so black had to come up with the tricky 15...Bf5 and 16...Qd5 idea. Later black had to try 21...Bxe5! dxe5 22...e6, and try to use his Ra8 on a7 to defend the seventh rank, because the way he played was nothing but trouble. Loek didn’t know what to do after 29.f4, and in the press conference said he was reduced to "gambling and coffeehouse chess". His 30...Nd4?! was "looking for cheap tactics", and luckily for him, due to time trouble, Levon did not cash in any of the several golden opportunities he had. As any analysis engine would show, Bxe7! would have won on moves 31 and 32. Even more winning would have been 36.h6!, but it was only around 39.Rxd4+? that the win was gone for good.> (http://www.coruschess.com/report.ph...)
Jan-26-09  notyetagm: 36 ?


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(VAR) 36 c5-c6!


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http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/fil...

<34.h7 Rh8 35.Rh6 Kf5 36.Bxe7? Three pawns! Fortunately, the last pawn is just a loaner. <<<[36.c6! Ke4 37.Rhh3 Rc5 38.Bxe7 Rxc6 39.Bf6 is very easy.]>>>>

36 c5-c6! was the key move that Aronian missed, <DENYING> the d7-square to the Black d5-rook to prevent the maneuver ... ♖d5-d7.

Compare to the actual game continuation in which Black played 37 ... ♖d5-d7, <SKEWERING> the <UNDEFENDED> White e7-bishop and the 1-1 <LOOSE> White h7-pawn, gaining a draw.

The final position of the winning variation given above is shown below.


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Jan-26-09  notyetagm: http://www.chessok.com/broadcast/?k...

<34. h7 Rh8 35. Rh6 Kf5 36. Bxe7 ? <<<(36. c6 !Rybka Aquarium (0:00.11) )>>>>

Jan-26-09  Eyal: Van Wely's press conference: http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/c...

And a video of moves 35-38 where Aronian misses the win, having to play at blitz speed in time trouble: http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/c... (at about 1:15-2:00)

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