Download PGN of February '09 1 d4 d5 games
Chebanenko System [D11, D15]
Carlsen - Karjakin: Sergey played well in the opening and he achieved the better chances after some impatient play from his opponent. Then a moment's relaxation cost him too much and he immediately got into serious trouble. However, rather unexpectedly, Magnus missed several ways to score a full point and the draw in this game turned out to be one of the most important results that contributed to Karjakin's overall success in this event.
Aronian - Movsesian: Levon Aronian confidently outplayed his opponent in the ending but it seems Black would have got reasonable counter chances with more precise play.
Aronian - Van Wely: Here Aronian again proved White's superiority in his pet line with 6 c5:
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but he eventually failed to score a full point.
Queen's Gambit Accepted [D21-29]
Wang Yue - Ivanchuk: Both players tried to be very creative from the first moves but it caused some serious mistakes. At first Wang Yue found himself almost losing on move 9 but Ivanchuk soon returned the favour. The position become very unclear but not for long - White blundered again and was severely punished for that.
Moscow Variation [D43]
Werle - Motylev: Alexander Motylev scored two impressive victories in the Anti-Moscow Gambit with Black using a similar idea - he postponed the development of his light-squared bishop in favour of some more concrete play:
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Here is his first win.
L'Ami - Motylev: Another Motylev success. Here Alexander played a rare but very interesting idea to counter a recently popular White set-up and confidently scored a full point without even a single inaccuracy.
Botvinnik Variation [D44]
Van Wely - Smeets: Loek van Wely and Jan Smeets resumed theoretical dispute which they began 4 years ago in a deep line of the Botvinnik:
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This time Black came up with a good novelty and comfortably solved all the problems in a line in which he was recently under pressure.
Werle - Volokitin: Andrey Volokitin played a recently popular set-up, but Jan Werle replied ambitiously and proved somewhat the better chances. However, Black's position remained solid and it required something more creative to pose real problems.
Catalan Variation [E01-09]
Aronian - Adams: Levon Aronian came up with a rare but very interesting idea in a well-known line, 9 Nc3!? and maintained the better chances:
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Then Michael Adams failed to show his usual persistence and lost an ending with reasonable drawing chances.
Volokitin - Navara: A complex line could have led to a position with a small advantage for White but Andrey Volokitin preferred a more complicated approach, which was at least unclear. After some inaccuracies it become favourable for Black but David Navara was also sidetracked by some interesting tactics which were not well-thought-out and eventually led to problems.
Ruslan
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