Alexey Shirov's book of his best games is entitled Fire on Board but he has crashed and burned at the Poikovsky tournament at Siberia. Shirov has yet to win a game and is bottom of the table on a miserable 1.5/8

The leaders Alexander Motylev and Vugar Gashimov met in the eighth round with Motylev winning a nice positional game in which he nurtured a slight edge against the Petroff Defence. We have seen Motylev play some brilliant sacrifices but he can play patiently when required. We pick up the game on move 60. Motylev has penetrated with a rook and moved his king over to the queenside. Black is tied down to c6.

60.Kb4 f5

(waiting is not an option 60...Kf7 61.Ka5 Kg7 62.Nb4 Rc7 63.Bg6 Kf8 64.Rb8 Kg7 65.Kb6)

61.Bxf5 Bxf5 62.gxf5 Nxf5 63.Ka5

(Black cannot hold c6 and White creates a strong passed pawn supported by his king)

63...Nh4 64.Nb4 Nxf3 65.Nxc6 g4 66.Ne5 Nxe5 67.dxe5 g3 68.c6 Rf7 69.e6 Rf2

(69...g2 70.exf7 Kxf7 71.c7 g1Q 72.c8Q; 69...Re7 70.Kb6 g2 71.Ra1 Rxe6 72.Kb7)

70.Ra7+ Kf6 71.e7 Ra2+

(71...Kf7 72.c7)

72.Kb4 Re2 73.c7 Re4+ 74.Kb3 Rxe7 75.Ra6+ 1-0

As reported yesterday Magnus Carlsen won the Leon Rapid tournament but needed an Armageddon blitz game to defeat Vasily Ivanchuk in the final. Here are the full results.

Semi finals

Ivanchuk v Morozevich 1-0, draw, draw, draw, Ivanchuk wins 2.5-1.5.

Carlsen v Wang Yue draw, 0-1, 1-0, draw, draw, 1-0, Carlsen wins 3.5-2.5

Final

Carlsen v Ivanchuk draw, draw, 0-1, 1-0, draw, draw, 1-0, Carlsen wins 4-3.

Here are two sharp draws from the semi finals.

A typical Nimzo-Indian White has the bishop pair but Black is ahead in development and has more active pieces.

A Morozevich - V Ivanchuk

XXII Rapid KO Leon (1.4)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 b6 7.Bg5 Bb7 8.e3 d6 9.Ne2 Nbd7 10.Qc2

(Avoiding Nf6-e4)

10...c5 11.Rd1 Qe7 12.d5 exd5 13.cxd5 Rae8 14.Nc3 Qe5 15.Bxf6

(Now Black must stand well as White relinquishes his bishop but if 15.Bf4 Qxf4 or 15.Bh4 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 Bxd5 17.Qd3 Bc6 18.Qxd6 Qe4 19.Bg3 Ne5 with very active pieces)

15...Nxf6 16.Bc4 Bc8 17.Be2 Bf5 18.Qb3 Ne4 19.0-0 Nxc3 20.bxc3 Be4 21.Bb5 Re7 22.c4 Qf5 23.Rd2 Bxg2

(This forced the win of the match as there is no way to avoid the draw)

24.Kxg2 Qg4+ 25.Kh1 Qf3+ 26.Kg1 Qg4+ 27.Kh1 draw

Position after 15.Bxb7!

Tit for tat White wins back the exchange in all lines and emerges a pawn up

15...Bxc1 16.Qxc1 Rb8 17.Bxd4 Qxd4 18.Nc6 Qd6 19.Nxb8 Rxb8 20.Bc6 a4 21.Qe3 Bb3

(Protecting his asset, if 21...a3 22.Ra1 will soon pick up the pawn as Ra8 is ruled out)

22.Ra1 h6 23.Qc1 Rd8 24.Qa3 Qe5 25.Rc1 h5

(White is a clear pawn ahead so Black tries to create confusion and because he is Alexander Morozevich he succeeds admirably)

26.Bf3 h4 27.Qb4 Rd4 28.Qf8+ Kh7 29.g4 Rf4 30.Qd8 a3 31.Qxh4+ Kg8 32.Qd8+ Kh7 33.gxf5 a2 34.Nxa2 Bxa2 35.Rxc7

(35.Qxc7! Qxf5 36.Be4 Rxe4 37.dxe4 Qg4+ 38.Kf1 Qxe4 39.f3 should win but must have looked risky as both players were short of time)

35...Bd5! 36.e4

(Baling out, if 36.Bxd5 Rg4+ 37.Bg2 Qa1+ and mate)

36...Rxf3 37.Qh4+ Kg8 38.Qd8+ draw

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