It was their second match up at the Candidates Matches and both – Kramnik and Aronian find themselves licking their wounds at this stage in the Tournament. Both determined to show some form and both standing almost nothing to lose at this point in the tournament, save a miracle!
An anticlimax of an ending for an exciting game after a costly oversight.
Round 10 showcased an exciting match up between Kramnik, playing White this time against Aronian. Aronian tried to surprise Kramnik in their first match up in Rd 3 daring Kramnik into the Berlin Wall only to find himself run into a brick wall on move #7 with 7…Rg8!? Playing the Giuoco Piano Aronian decided to sidestep the normal continuation after move #5 and clearly showed intentions of not hesitating to enter the sharp lines away from the standard and often studied lines. Perhaps Levon was already rolling up his sleeves. Both players showed tremendous energy and enthusiasm at the board and the game was poised with exctiting chances for both of them when Aronian made the fatal blunder on move 36…Qc7? This put an abrupt end to the game and after 37.Ne8+ with a mate in two following, Aronian resigned. Here’s the game with analysis by GM Bojkov.
Levon finds it hard to reason with Kramnik’s evaluations at the post game press conference. He was pretty sure he was the one taking the chances to make the game sharp.
The game above was accented by a solid draw down to the two Kings between Mamedyarov and Caruana. Playing White Mamedyarov respected Fabi’s preparations and didn’t go for any sharp lines. Both players played solid chess with clarity. The other two games were also drawn and this probably puts Levon in a position to create the upset of the tournament playing from the unenviable position of having nothing more to lose but everything to gain in giving others a run for their money.
