Game of the Week: Aronian vs Tiviakov, Corus Chess Tournament 2007


In this edition of Game of the Week, I conclude the Corus chess tournament series, and what better choice than a game which gained the winner a share of first place.

Round 13 began with Veselin Topalov and Teymour Radjabov sharing the lead with 8/12 and playing each other in the final round. Not surprisingly, it was quite a cautious affair, and ended up drawn quite safely.

Elsewhere, Armenia's Levon Aronian, (trailing the lead by a half point), faced Sergey Tiviakov, whose choice of solid openings were proving quite unbreakable. Aronian, upon seeing the result of the leaders, was within reach of a share of first.

The game was a scrappy affair, but with the importance of it, that was understandable for sure. White seemed to get a little off track, with the pawn push h2-h4-h5, and black seemed fine. However, on Tiviakov's 23rd, he would go wrong with ...Ng4, and Aronian severely punished him.

I hope you enjoyed this game as much as I did, and that you will join me for the next 'Game of the Week', Monday 5th March 2007!

Please feel free to send your comments (or future Game of the Week suggestions) to gameoftheweek@chessgateway.com I apologise that I may not be able to respond to all, but I will do my best, and the best comments will be added to this page over the coming week.