You have to wait a couple of weeks for a great chess tournament and then three come along at once. Running concurrently there is a Rapid Chess challenge between world champion Vishy Anand and Peter Leko at Miskolc in Hungary, an elite all play all tournament in Siberia and the annual Sigeman and Co tournament in Malmo where Nigel Short participates and won his fist two games convincingly

Anand took a 1.5-0.5 lead on day one, winning with the white pieces and drawing with black but it was the 5th Karpov tournament at Poikovsky that provided the most entertainment. I can barely recall such a swashbuckling approach from twelve players in one round. White won five games and Black scored a solitary draw with some remarkable play. Zahar Efimenko plays the Berlin Wall in the style of Vladimir Kramnik and steadfastly refuses to develop any pieces bar a knight. Don't try this at home.

E Sutovsky - Z Efimenko

10th Karpov Poikovsky (1)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 a5 11.Ne2 a4 12.Rd1 h6 13.g4 Ne7 14.Ng3 c5 15.Nh5 Nc6 16.Nh4 a3 17.b3 Nd4 18.c3 Ne2+ 19.Kh2 Nxc3 20.Rd3 Ne2 21.Be3 Be6

(Finally, but Black is fine here, his bishops work and his king's rook is about to enter game in an oblique sort of way)

22.Rad1 c4 23.bxc4 Bxc4 24.R3d2 b5 25.Nf5 Rh7!

(25...g6?? 26.Nf6#)

26.g5 hxg5 27.Bxg5 f6 28.exf6 Rxh5 29.fxg7 Kf7 30.gxf8Q+ draw.

Black is at least equal in the final position

Ernesto Inarkiev defeated Alexei Shirov with a fine sacrificial attack.

E Inarkiev - A Shirov

10th Karpov Poikovsky (1)

Ruy Lopez

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.a4 Rb8 9.d4 Bb6 10.Na3 Bg4 11.axb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 0-0

(A well known pawn sacrifice, the knight on b5 is misplaced, the d4 pawn under pressure while the knight on f3 is pinned and e4 attacked if 13.d5 Ne7 coming to g6 and h4 with the attack; 13.Be3 Dominguez-Shirov 2009)

13.Bc2 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nh5

(White returns the pawn to remove the pressure on his centre)

15.f4! Nxf4 16.Bxf4 exf4 17.Qg4 Qf6 18.b4 g6

(18...Ne7 19.Na3 Ng6 20.Nc4 Bxd4 21.cxd4 Qxd4 did not work out well in Leko - Shirov 2007)

19.Kh1 Nd8

(Black wants to free his bishop but never manages it)

20.Bb3 c6 21.Na3 c5 22.Nc4 cxb4 23.Ra6! Bc7 24.Nxd6! bxc3 25.e5 Qg7 26.Nf5!

Position after 26.Nf5!

26...gxf5 27.Qd1 Kh8 28.Rg1 Bxe5 29.dxe5 Qxe5 30.Rh6

Black's three extra pawns cannot save him

30...f3 31.Qf1 Qg7 32.Rxg7 Kxg7 33.Rxh7+ 1-0

Position after 33.Rxh7+ and if 33...Kxh7 34.Qh3+ Kg7 35.Qg3+ Kh7 36.Qxb8

A double exchange sacrifice destroys Black's defences

A Naiditsch - Al Onischuk

10th Karpov Poikovsky (1)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 c5 9.Nc6 Qd7 10.Na5 Qb5 11.Bd2 Bg4 12.f3 Be6 13.c4 Qb6 14.Bc3 Be7 15.Nd2 0-0 16.f4 Ng4 17.f5! Ne3 18.Qh5 Nxf1 19.Rxf1 Bd7 20.f6! Bxf6 21.Rxf6 Rae8 22.Qg5 Re7 23.Re6 1-0

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