Aronian, Shirov, Gelfand Win Exciting Tie Break

Sunday, 03 June 2007 00:00

In today`s tie break games, Levon Aronian of Armenia beat Magnus Carlsen of Norway 4:2, Alexey Shirov of Spain won over Michael Adams of England 2.5:.5 and Boris Gelfand of Israel tallied a similar 2.5:.5 score over Rustam Kasimjanov of Uzbekistan to qualify into Round 2 of the Candidates Matches. Shirov won the first two Rapid chess games and drew the third. Gelfand also needed only three games. Aronian had a diffcult time against wunderkind Carlsen and had to win the blitz games. Watch games live at the official site. Read photo report. In today`s tie break games, Levon Aronian of Armenia beat Magnus Carlsen of Norway 4:2, Alexey Shirov of Spain won over Michael Adams of England 2.5:.5 and Boris Gelfand of Israel tallied a similar 2.5:.5 score over Rustam Kasimjanov of Uzbekistan to qualify into Round 2 of the Candidates Matches. Shirov won the first two Rapid chess games and drew the third. Gelfand also needed only three games. Aronian had a diffcult time against wunderkind Carlsen and had to win the blitz games. Watch games live at the official site.

Photos by Casto Abundo. Charts from Chessbase

Player	T1	T2	T3	T4	B1	B2	Tot.
Magnus Carlsen	0	½	½	1	0	0	2.0
Levon Aronian	1	½	½	0	1	1	4.0

Boris Gelfand	1	½	1				2.5
Rustam Kasimdzhanov	0	½	0				0.5

Michael Adams	0	0	½				0.5
Alexei Shirov	1	1	½				2.5

Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	TB	Tot.	Perf.*
Magnus Carlsen	2676	0	½	1	0	1	½	4.0	7.0	2759
Levon Aronian	2759	1	½	0	1	0	½	2.0	5.0	2693

Peter Leko	2749	½	1	1	1	-	-		3.5	2973
Mikhail Gurevich	2635	½	0	0	0	-	-		0.5	2400

Ruslan Ponomariov	2717	½	½	0	½	½	½		2.5	2622
Sergei Rublevsky	2680	½	½	1	½	½	½		3.5	2775

Boris Gelfand	2733	½	½	½	½	½	½	2.5	5.5	2677
Rustam Kasimdzhanov	2677	½	½	½	½	½	½	0.5	3.5	2733

Gata Kamsky	2705	½	1	1	1	-	-		3.5	3047
Etienne Bacrot	2709	½	0	0	0	-	-		0.5	2367

Alexander Grischuk	2717	1	½	½	1	½	-		3.5	2826
Vladimir Malakhov	2679	0	½	½	0	½	-		1.5	2570

Judit Polgar	2727	½	0	½	0	1	½		2.5	2585
Evgeny Bareev	2643	½	1	½	1	0	½		3.5	2785

Michael Adams	2734	½	½	½	1	½	0	0.5	3.5	2699
Alexei Shirov	2699	½	½	½	0	½	1	2.5	5.5	2734

*Performance only calculated for the long games

In the Rapid Chess tie break, players do not have to record. Arbiters take down the moves as IA Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh of Iran does above. Pahlevanzadeh and Deputy Chief Arbiter Takis Nikolopoulos pointed out after the game that Aronian could have ended the match on the fourth Rapid Chess game had he claimed a draw by repetition after moves 46, 48 and 50.

Players may refer to the scoresheets of the Arbiters to claim a draw by repetition or by the 50 move rule. Above, Abdulrahim Mahdi of the United Arab Emirates is the Arbiter for the Shirov-Adams game.

IA Viacheslav Namruev does the Ariber`s duties for the Kasimjanov-Gelfand game.

Former world champion Boris Spassky thrilled spectators in the lobby with his running commentary.

In the game broadcast control room, from left, Casto Abundo, Gennady Rakhvalov and Vova Kukaev of the Elista FIDE Office.