León Masters: Gelfand vs Aronian in the finals

XXIII Ciudad de León Masters

The XXIII Ciudad De Leon is taking place from June 3rd to 7th 2010 in the Spanish city of León. There are four players in this three-day event:

The players: Francisco Vallejo, Boris Gelfand, Levon Aronian and Leinier Dominguez

In the first semifinal on Friday Boris Gelfand of Israel beat Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo 3.5-2.5,
after four rapid chess and two blitz playoff games (all but the first of the two blitz games were drawn).

The winner of the first semifinal: Israeli GM Boris Gelfand

	Nat.	Rtng.	R1	R2	R3	R4	B1	B2	Tot.	Perf
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	½	½	½	½	1	½	3.5	2760
Francisco Vallejo	ESP	2703	½	½	½	½	0	½	2.5	2684

In the second semifinal Levon Aronian of Armenia beat Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez 2.5-1.5...

... after drawing the first three rapid games and then winning the fourth

Aronian,L (2783) - Dominguez Perez,L (2713) [D27]
XXIII Rapid KO Leon ESP (1.4), 05.06.2010

The decisive fourth rapid chess game had (would you believe it?) 161 moves. After maneuvering around in a queen + opposite colored bishop ending for 120 moves Levon Aronian has managed to pick up two pawns. How to proceed?

157.Kg4! Excellent – 157.Be3 would have made the task more difficult. 157.Kxb6 158.Kf4 Kc5 159.Ke5 Kb4 160.Kf6 Be4 161.g6 1-0.

Winner of the second semifinal: Armenian GM Levon Aronian

	Nat.	Rtng.	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot.	Perf
Levon Aronian	ARM	2783	½	½	½	1	2.5	2808
Leinier Dominguez	CUB	2713	½	½	½	0	1.5	2696

The final between Gelfand and Aronian takes place on Sunday. All games are being broadcast live on Playchess.

Photos by Nadja Woisin

Links

The games were broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.