Chess
By Lubomir Kavalek
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, August 18, 2008; Page C10
Levon Aronian won the second FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Sochi, Russia, on Thursday. The Armenian grandmaster scored 8 1/2 points in 13 games, edging Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan by a half point. The American Gata Kamsky shared third place with Wang Yue of China, each finishing with 7 1/2 points.
Great Dragon Wall
Radjabov moved into second place with an epic last-round victory over Ukraine’s Sergey Karjakin in the Dragon Sicilian. Sacrificing both rooks, Radjabov built a wall with his light pieces, blunting white’s attack. It came down to an endgame, reminiscent of the 1972 Spassky-Fischer world championship 13th game, where Spassky’s rook fought successfully against the black pawns, but a little slip allowed Fischer to win the game. Karjakin made a similar error with a draw in sight.
Karjakin-Radjabov (Sochi Grand Prix)
Click here to see the full analysis.
Who’s better? Radjabov or Carlsen?