1st ACP Rapid Chess Tournament

The 1st ACP (Association of Professional Chess Players), Rapid chess tournament took place at Odessa, one of the most important cities of Ukraine, from the 4th to 8th of this month. Although some of the sheen of this tournament was lost due to the absence of the 3 top most players, Topalov(former World Champion) , Anand (a specialist in rapid games) and Kramnik (the present World Champion) ; the quality of play from the rest of the participants was excellent.

Of the 16 participants, Grand Masters Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Gelfand, Leko stood out as the favourites to win, so also was the fiery Grand Master Shirov. The young brigade was led by Radjabov , Nakamura , and India’s own Pentala Harikrishna.

The tournament lived up to the expectations of the audiences world-wide and as anticipated, Leko and Ivanchuk , after the very arduous elimination rounds, entered into the finals.



With his habitual “not so furious” and solid style, the Hungarian Grand Master Peter Leko proceeded to neutralize the first game with black pieces and , later to took maximum advantage with white pieces to win the championship.

Let us see how he did it….

Leko, Peter (2749) - Ivanchuk, Vasily (2750)

Title Match : 1st ACP Rapid chess tournament , Odessa, 2007

1.e4 Nf6 [Although Ivanchuk is a player who prides himself of having a great diversity in his openings and defenses, the Alekhine’s defense is one which he uses very rarely. His favourites being 1… c5; and 1… e5]

2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 [This is not a well known move in theory. The move which enjoys a better reputation being 5… exd6]

6.Nc3 g6 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Rc1 0-0 9.b3 a5 [One of the main lines here is 9 … e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.c5 N6d7 13.Bc4 with a negligible advantage for black.]

10.Be2 Na6 11.Nf3 Bd7 12,0-0 Rc8 [This is a new move by Ivanchuk. The book move played on several occasions being 12 … e6 and after 13.Qd2 with idea of Bh6, white obtains an advantage.]

13.Qd2 a4 14.Rfe1 axb3 15.axb3 Re8 16.Bh6 Bh8 17.h4! [ With this move white tries to attack in the King side, where the Black’s defense is weak. In order to avoid this Ivanchuk will have to open up the center, which is indeed what Leko is hoping for.]

17… e5 18.dxe5 dxe5 19.Bg5 f6 [ This is a Forced move and further weakens the defense on the King side for black. If Black were to play 19… Qc7 20.Nb5 Bxb5 (If 20… Qb8 21.Nd6 loses a rook for a knight) 21.cxb5 Nc5 22.b4 and white gains a piece. ; Or if 19… Bf6 20.Bxf6 Qxf6 21.Ne4 Qe7 22.Nd6 again gaining a rook for the knight.]

20.Be3 [White is already in an overwhelmingly strong position.]

20… Nc5 21.Bxc5 Rxc5 22.b4! Rxc4 [With this sacrifice black tries to free himself of some of the pressure which he is being put under. Worse would have been 22… Rc8 23.c5 Na8 24.Ne4]

23.Bxc4+ Nxc4 24.Qd5+ Be6 25.Qxb7 [The game is already decided by now.]

25… Qb8 26.Qc6 Bf7 27.Nd5 Nd6 28.Nc7 Rd8 29.Red1! Qxb4 [If 29… Nf5 30.Rxd8+ Qxd8 31.b5 and it will be difficult to stop the ‘b’ pawn]

30.Na6 Qa3 31.Qc7 Rc8 32.Qxd6 Rxc1 [ And Ivanchuk resigned at the same time in view of 33. Qxa3 ] 1-0.

Category: Articles , Chess