CHESS

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

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.Kb1 a6 13.h4 h5 14.g4 hxg4 15.h5 Nxh5 16.Rdg1 Qa5 17.Bh6 Bf6!? (Radjabov plays the exchange sacrifice three days after it was suggested in this column. Does the young Azerbaijani read The Washington Post?) 18.fxg4 (The computer suggestions 18.Bxf8 Kxf8 19.f4 and 18.Qd1 need a second look.) 18...Bxg4 19.Bxf8 (Black should be fine after this. The seemingly illogical 19.Bf4 is more dangerous.) 19...Kxf8 20.Qe3 (Karjakin prepares 21.Nd5 that could have been prevented by 20...e6. But Radjabov comes up with an astonishing solution.) 20...Rxc3!? (The sacrifice of the second rook defies chess gravity as long as the white rooks are prevented from falling into black's camp.) 21.Qxc3 (21.bxc3 is hardly better.) 21...Qxc3 22.bxc3 e6 23.Bc4 Nxc4 24.Rxg4 Be5 25.Rg2 b5 (Black maintains a defensive wall.) 26.Rf2 Kg8 27.a4?! (Seeking counterplay at all costs.) 27...bxa4 28.Ka2 Nf6 29.Re2 d5 30.exd5 Nxd5 31.Rh3 Bxd4! (Simplifying into a winning endgame.) 32.cxd4 Nf4 33.Reh2 Nxh3 34.Rxh3 g5 35.Rg3 f6 36.Rc3 Nd2 37.Rd3 Ne4 38.c4 Kf7 39.c5 g4? (Incredibly, Radjabov gives white chances to save the game brilliantly. He should have stopped the c-pawn first with 39...Ke7! since after 40.Ka3 g4 41.d5 Nxc5 42.Rd1 f5 43.Kb4 Ne4 44.dxe6 g3 45.Kc4 Kxe6 46.Kd4 Ng5 47.Ke3 Ke5, followed by 48...f4+, black wins.)

40.c6! (A prelude to a drawing path.) 40...Ke7 41.d5! exd5 42.c7 Kd7 43.Rxd5+ Kxc7 44.Rf5 (As a result of forced play the black pawns on the kingside are vulnerable.) 44...g3 45.Rf4 Kd7!? (Trying to confuse Karjakin. White draws either after 45...f5 46.Rxf5 g2 47.Rf7+ Kc6 48.Rg7!; or after 45...Nc3+ 46.Ka3 Ne2 47.Rxf6 g2 48.Rf7+ Kd6 49.Rf6+ Ke5 50.Rg6 g1Q 51.Rxg1 Nxg1 52.Kxa4 and the last pawn falls soon.) 46.Kb2? (Missing a draw. After 46.Rxe4! f5 47.Re1! f4 48.Rg1! the black kingside pawns are stopped and white draws by bringing the king quickly to the kingside, for example 48...Ke6 49.Kb1 Kf5 50.Kc2 Ke4 51.Kd2 Kf3 52.Rf1+ Kg4 53.Rg1! a3 54.Ke2 f3+ 55.Ke3 f2 56.Ra1 a2 57.Rc1 Kh3 58.Ke2 and black can't make progress. White moves his rook on squares a1 and c1.) 46...Ke6 47.Rxe4+ Kf5 48.Re1 Kg4 49.Kc2 g2 50.Kd2 Kg3 51.Ke2 a3 52.Ra1 a2 (Black wins by marching his f-pawn down.) White resigned.

Solution to today's study by P. Leepin (White: Ke7,Nc8,P:g4; Black: Kh6,P:d3,g6): 1.Nd6 d2 2.Kf8! d1Q (or 2...g5 3.Nf5+ Kg6 4.Ne3!) 3.Nf7+ Kh7 4.Ng5+ Kh8 5.Nf7+ draw.