The 8th round of 2008 Pearl Spring Chess Tournament Nanjing, China finished today at Pearl Spring Hotel, Nanjing. Chinese player Bu Xiangzhi, controlling black pieces, lost to Svidler and got his first loss. Topalov defeated Ivanchuk and takes the lead alone with 5.5 points.
Bu Xiangzhi Lost for the First Time
Bu Xiangzhi played against Svidler by controlling black pieces today. Svidler used king’s pawns all along but changed to queen’s pawns this time, which shunted the preparation of Bu Xiangzhi.
Entering middle game, Bu Xiangzhi slacked off a little, so loopholes appeared. But Svidler gave up the choice of winning by one move. So white pieces have only a little ascendancy
Then, Bu Xiangzhi defensed rather passively, providing chances for white pieces again. Though Bu defensed hard in the end game he still failed.
Topalov Defeated Ivanchuk
Topalov played against Ivanchuk by controlling white pieces in this round. They started with Sicilian defence. Topalov made moves actively and he gave up half a piece in the middle game when making attack on king’s wing. Ivanchuk didn’t accept it but white pieces were still taking advantage.
Later, Topalov kept the steady manner in attack. He chose variants without risks. To our surprise, Topalov who used to like attack and complexity took initiative to exchange the queen and led the game to advantageous end game steadily. He finally won this game.
Movsesian Stopped Continuous Losses
Movsesian who had lost twice in succession played against Aronian by controlling black pieces in this round. And he made new moves in Slav denfence. But it didn’t bring him any benefits but set him in passive position.
Then after many exchanges, Movsesian successfully led the situation to power-balanced end game. Aronian seemed not keen to continue the game. They soon stopped varying and drew the game.
After reviewed the game, Movsesian left the venue while Aronian went to his girlfriend at the auditorium and watch the game with her.
Now 8 rounds of games have completed. Topalov took the lead alone with 3 victories and 5 draws, scoring 5.5 points. Bu Xiangzhi and Aronian both scored 4.5 points. Svidler scored 4 points. Movsesian scored 3.5 points. Ivanchuk scored 2.5 points.
The 9th round of the tournament will start from 15:00, December 20th. Groups are arranged as follows:
Svidler VS Topalov
Bu Xiangzhi VS Aronian
Movsesian VS Ivanchuk
Source: www.weiqi.cc
