Kramnik attacks but loses

Arkadij Naiditsch downed Vladimir Kramnik as the Russian took too many risks and the other two games were drawn.
Ponomariov keeps his lead after calming down Mamedyarov who was in a gambit-mood!

Ruslan Ponomariov had to face an ambitious rival today as Mamedyarov lashed out with an early g2-g4 in the Queen's Gambit. A wild attempt to destabilize the leader, especially as White then happily jettisoned this pawn for vague attacking chances. Ponomariov's defence stayed solid and he steered the game into an opposite bishop scenario where he wasn't worse.

No holds barred from move five! @ official site

Le Quang Liem had a typical isolated queen's pawn against Leko, but in pressing on the queenside sacrificed a pawn but never recovered it. He then spent the next ninety-odd moves defending! However, despite Leko's best efforts, as all the remaining pawns were on one flank (with the unfavourable rook and bishop each) one always felt that a draw was the most likely result.

119 moves but only a draw @ official site

Here is a summary of the penultimate round.

NameRatingCountryResultNameRatingCountryNo. of MovesOpening
Le Quang Liem2681VIE0.5-0.5Peter Leko2734HUN119
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov2761AZE0.5-0.5Ruslan Ponomariov2734UKR43Queen's Gambit Declined 5.g4
Arkadij Naiditsch2684GER1-0Vladimir Kramnik2790RUS34Pirc Defence

Kramnik took some risks by playing a Pirc and then by sacrificing a pawn in order to seek complications. He induced Naiditsch to walk his king away from trouble, but although he maintained the initiative for some time his offer of a piece was perhaps a little optimistic as the German defended soundly and diffused the attack.

Posn.Player's NameWld. RankingNationRatingPoints
1stRuslan Ponomariov14UKR27346
2nd-3rdShakhriyar Mamedyarov6AZE27615
2nd-3rdLe Quang Liem55VIE26815
4thVladimir Kramnik4RUS27904
5thArkadij Naiditsch51GER26844
6thPeter Leko16HUN27343

So Naiditsch's win has enabled him to catch Kramnik in the standings with one round remaining.

For more information (and further photos!) see the Official site


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