Vasily Ivanchuk stayed a point clear with one to play at the Tournament of Kings at Bazna in Romania as all round nine games were drawn. Two were rather attritional as players tried to exploit very small advantages to no avail although Gelfand missed a study like win near the end, see below.

Gelfand had forced an advantageous but drawish endgame where his advantage of the extra pawn was negated by the presence of opposite coloured bishops but he had made significant progress by advancing his king and the h7 pawn cannot be defended. The game ended

58.a4 Bxa4 59.f5 Bc2!

(This forces a draw)

60.fxe6 fxe6 61.Kxe6 Bb3+ 62.Kf6 Bc2 63.e6 Bd3 64.Bg3 Bc2 65.h5 gxh5 66.g6 Bd3 67.Bh4 Kf8 68.e7+ Ke8 69.Kg7

(If 69.g7 Bh7 and Bg8 with a blockade)

69...Bc2

(White can play his king to h7 but then the g6 pawn is pinned)

70.Kh6 Bb3 71.Kxh5 draw

However from the position above there was a win involving the sacrifice of four pawns.

58.f5!! with the following lines 58...gxf5 59.h5 with a second passed pawn and wins; 58.f5!! exf5 59.e6 Bxe6 60.h5 gxh5 61.g6 fxg6 62.Kxe6 reaching the position below where the black king is cut off from the queening square on a8. Then after 62...g5 63.a4 f4 64.a5 f3 65.a6 f2 66.a7 f1Q 67.a8Q is mate.

Ivanchuk more or less assured himself of tournament victory with a draw against Gata Kamsky who managed to block the position. However the game between Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Teimour Radjabov was much more interesting, the latter sacrificed first rook for bishop and then his queen for three pieces. The resulting positions were very hard to assess.

LD Nisipeanu - T Radjabov

III Kings' Tournament Bazna (9)

Sicilian Dragon

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0

(White dispenses with Bc4 but this gives Black another option)

9...d5 10.Kb1 Nxd4

(10...dxe4?? 11.Nxc6 Qxd2 12.Nxe7+)

11.e5 Nf5 12.exf6 exf6 13.Bc5 d4!

(Black controls the dark squares after the sacrifice and his knight gets into e3)

14.Bxf8 Qxf8 15.Nb5 Ne3 16.Re1 f5 17.f4

(17.Nxd4 f4 with good compensation)

17...Qc5 18.c3 Nxf1 19.Re8+ Bf8 20.Qxd4 Qxb5 21.Qd8

( Black has three pieces for rook so he must be prevented from unravelling)

21...Nd2+ 22.Kc2 Qa4+ 23.Kc1

(23.Kxd2 Qxf4+ 24.Kc2 Qh6 25.Rhe1 f4 forces 26.R1e4)

23...Qxe8 24.Qxe8 Ne4 25.Rd1 Nf6 26.Qe5 Nd7 27.Qe8 Nf6 28.Qd8

(Still playing for a win)

28...Ne4 29.Rd7

(29.g3!?]

29...Bxd7 30.Qxa8 Bc6 31.Qxa7 Nc5 32.g3 Nd3+ 33.Kb1 Be4

(Black's pieces are well anchored and active so he holds the balance comfortably and White has to force perpetual)

34.Ka1 Bc5 35.Qb8+ Kg7 36.Qd8 Bg1 37.h4 h5 38.a4 Bf2 39.a5 Bxg3 40.Qd4+ draw

The draw is forced after 40.Qd4+ Kf8 41.Qd8+; 40.Qd4+ Kh7 41.Qd7 Kg7 42.Qd4+

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