Leko vs Ivanchuk match

A small town in the west of Ukraine became a traditional place for the match that has not had any analogues in Ukraine before. And that is not only due to its good geographic position though it is almost possible to find the most suitable place for ¬the best chess players from Hungary and Ukraine. The local chess club “32×64” founded by J.Resh a year ago has organized a great number of different chess competition beginning with children’s ones to such big circle tournaments in which the winners can fulfil the rate of an international chess master.

The time limit of the match envisaged 6 games with time control of 25 min to each player plus 10 sec for the move. Universal Event Promotion the company which is organized the match promised to make us happy not only with the depth of the chess though but with a rich and cultural program.Two chess players who are going to meet in an intellectual “duel” have already played 59 games with different time-control. The first meeting took placed in Belgrad in 1995. Since that time P.Leko has got 12 victories, V.Ivanchuk has won 11 times and in 36 meetings they where equal.

Peter Leko was born 8.09.1979 in Subotiza. He became the youngest grandmaster in the history of chess in 1994, at 14 years of age. He made the draw in the final match for world chess crown against World Champion Vladimir Kramnik (Switzerland, 2004). FIDE rating 2751, 7th rank in the world list.

Vasyl Ivanchuk was born 18.03.1969 in Kopychyntsi, Ternopil Region. Olympic Champion (1988, 1990) of the Soviet Team and of Ukrainian one (2004). Europe Champion in 2004. He played the final match in FIDE World Championship (Russia, 2002). FIDE rating 2762, 4th rank in the world list.

GM Ivanchuk (2779) – GM Leko (2751) [A46]
Chess Match, 03.01.2009 – Game 2

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.c4 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 dxc4 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.a3 Bd6 8.Qa4 0–0 9.Qxc4 e5 10.d5 Ne7 11.Bg5 Nd7 12.0–0 h6 13.Be3 Nf6 14.Bc5 Bxc5 15.Qxc5 Qd6 16.Qxd6 cxd6 17.Nd2 Rd8 18.Nc4 Ng6 19.Rfc1 Ne8 20.Nb5 Kf8 21.e4 f5 22.Rc3 fxe4 23.Bxe4 Ne7 24.Rac1 Bh3 25.Na5 Rd7 26.f3 b6 27.Nc4 Rb8 28.Ne3 Rbb7 29.a4 a6 30.Na3 Nf6 31.Nac4 b5 32.axb5 Rxb5 33.Ra1 Rd8 34.Rxa6 Nexd5 35.Nxd5 Nxd5 36.Rd3 Nf6 37.Rdxd6 Rxd6 38.Rxd6 Ke7 39.Rb6 Rc5 40.Rb7+ Kf8 41.Bd3 Rd5 42.Be2 e4 43.f4 Bg4 44.Kf1 Bxe2+ 45.Kxe2 Rh5 46.h4 g5 47.fxg5 hxg5 48.Rb5 gxh4 49.Rxh5 Nxh5 50.gxh4 Nf4+ 51.Kf2 e3+ 52.Kxe3 Ng2+ 53.Ke4 Nxh4 54.b4 Ke7 55.b5 Kd7 56.Kd5 Ng6 57.b6 Ne7+ 58.Kc5 Nc6 59.Nd6 Nd8 60.Kd5 Nc6 61.Ne4 Nd8 62.Kc5 Kc8 63.Kb5 Kb8 64.Nc5 Nb7 65.Nd7+ Kc8 66.Ka6 Nd6 67.Ne5 Kb8 68.Nc6+ Ka8 69.Ne5 Kb8 70.Nd7+ Kc8 71.Nf6 Kb8 72.Nd7+ Kc8 73.Ne5 Kb8 74.Nd3 Ka8 75.Nb2 Kb8 76.Na4 Ka8 77.Nc5 Kb8 78.b7 Nxb7 79.Nxb7 Game drawn ½–½

Click here to replay the game. After 2 games, the score is 1-1 with both games drawn.

Official website: www.ivanchukleko2009.com