Autoplay:
Autoplay:
Ivanchuk is still leading with only two rounds left to play but Topalov is relentless in his in his pursuit - the gap between them is half a point only. After a miraculous escape against Bu, today the Ukrainian has to face the other participant without win so far. During the last years we got used that Aronian is always finishing among the first 3 in any tournament he takes part in. Every time he happened to lose a game, he as a rule was victorious in the very next. In this even things a quite grim for him - not only had he lost 4 times but couldn't win win a single game. Would today be his lucky day or Vassily is going to keep his leading position. Both are showing signs of some tiredness playing every game till the very end and errors began to appear. Nevertheless the slight drop in quality, the games became even more spectacular, so we may expect to witness another fascinating chess battle in this excellent tournament.
1.d4 Obviously Ivanchuk prefers to play against Slav Defense and not the Marshall Attack.
1... d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 (4... Bf5 was played in there previous game here with reverse colors.)
5.h3 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 e6 7.Bd3 (7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.Bd2 Bb4 9.Bd3 is much more popular.)
7... Nbd7 8.O-O Bd6 9.Nc3 (9.Nbd2 was played several days ago by Bu in his game against Aronian. Black managed to equalize.)
9... O-O 10.Bd2 ( As 10.e4 will be met by 10... dxc4 11.Bxc4 e5 , White's purpose is to deploy his pieces in the center before going e3-e4.)
10... Re8 11.Qd1 Queen isn't well situated on 'f3'. With the 'c' pawns exchanged the ideal square is 'b3', else 'c2' comes into consideration. Having played rapidly the opening moves, Levon is thinking over the last move for 15 minutes. He has to decide what his game plan should be. (11.Qd1 e5 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Qb3) plays on Ivanchuk's hands, while opening the center by (11.Qd1 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nb6 13.Bb3 e5) increases the potential of the light squared Bishop. If just sit and wait White may simply centralize his Rooks.
11... dxc4 After 25' the decision is made.
12.Bxc4 a6 Prepares b7-b5 and c6-c5.
13.a4 Prophylactics against b7-b5.
13... c5 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Qc2 Ivanchuk didn't get any obvious dividends from the opening but with such structure the Bishop pair could potentially become strong.
15... Rc8 16.Rfd1 Qe7 17.Rac1 'Rooks belong to the open files' is well known. How to amplify the scope of the light-squared Bishop is the really hard task.
17... Rc7 18.Be1 Rec8 19.Be2 h6 Aronian seems to have completely neutralized opponent's Bishops and the position is roughly equal.
20.Bf3 Ncd7 21.Qb3 Ne5 ( A logical step in Levon's strategy but entering tactical complications after 21... e5 deserves considering as well.)
22.Be2 Bb4 23.Rc2 Nc6 After the 'c' file is more or less under control, this Knight goes for the weakened queen-side squares.
24.Bf3 Ne5 25.Be2 Nc6 26.Bf3 Ne5 Draw. Aronian convincingly equalized and if he were in aggressive mood could aspire for more. Being behind on the clock probably was one of the reasons to repeat moves prudently and to consolidate after yesterday's defeat.
1/2-1/2