Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran squandered a winning position to allow top seed Peter Svidler escape with a draw in the eighth round of the Aerosvit International Grandmasters chess tournament in Yalta, Ukraine.

Sasikiran played the Breyer defense against the Spanish opening. His superb handling of the opening and early middle game saw him grabbing the initiative.

However, he got into time trouble and made some slips, missing an excellent opportunity on the 35th move. Soon it was Svidler who held the advantage and Sasikiran appeared in danger of losing. He fought back resolutely and managed to save a half-point with stubborn and accurate defense in the queen endgame.

Meanwhile, Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, who has been chasing tournament leader Sergey Karjakin for the last few rounds, finally managed to catch up with him.

Ivanchuk scored a hard-fought victory over Grandmaster Sergei Rublevsky while Karjakin had to be content with a draw against Romanian Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.

The two leaders are now a full point ahead of third-placed Alexei Shirov of Spain, who split points with Alexander Onischuk.

Dutch Grandmaster Loek Van Wely improved his standing with a victory over Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine. Van Wely joined Grandmasters Svidler, Onischuk, Dominguez and Jakovenko in the fourth spot with four points. The game between Jakovenko and Dominguez ended in a draw.

Sasikiran is at the bottom of the table with three points along with Eljanov.

Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk scored over Sergei Rublevsky in an exciting game. Rublevsky played the sharp Sozin attack against the Najdorf and the position became wildly complicated after the players castled on opposite wings. The existing battle of attack and counterattack saw Ivanchuk emerge with the advantage in the Queen ending.

Rublevsky did not put up the best defense in the endgame and Ivanchuk scored a creditable victory with masterly technique.

GM Sergey Karjakin could not make much of his white piece advantage in the Scheveningen variation of Sicilian defense and drew against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu after a short but explosive battle.

GM Alexei Shirov clearly held the upper hand in his game against American Grandmaster Alexander Onischuk but could not crack Onischuk's defense.

Shirov played the Catalan Opening and obtained the superior endgame with an extra pawn. Onischuk had some counter play and he used his threats well to prevent Shirov from consolidating his position. Shirov lost back the pawn and conceded a draw after 42 moves.

Loek Van Wely defeated Pavel Eljanov in a hard-fought game to improve his standing in the tournament. The game was complicated and unclear for a long time but Van Wely came up with an interesting exchange sacrifice in the endgame which carried him to victory.

Results (Round 8):

Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 5.5) beat Sergei Rublevsky (Rus, 3.5); Sergey Karjakin (Ukr, 5.5) drew Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom, 3.0); Alexei Shirov (Esp, 4.5) drew Alexander Onischuk (USA, 4.0); Peter Svidler (Rus, 4.0) drew Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 3.0); Lenier Dominguez (Cub, 4.0) drew Dmitry Jakovenko (Rus, 4.0); Loek Van Wely (Ned, 4.0) beat Pavel Eljanov (Rus, 3.0).

The moves

Peter Svidler  Krishnan Sasikiran

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.00 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 00 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Ng3 g6 15.b3 c6 16.Bg5 Bg7 17.Qd2 Qe7 18.a4 Qf8 19.Kh1 Rac8 20.axb5 cxb5 21.Bd3 h6 22.Be3 exd4 23.cxd4 d5 24.e5 Ne4 25.Qb2 f5 26.exf6 Qxf6 27.Rac1 Ndc5 28.Bb1 Nxg3+ 29.fxg3 Ne4 30.Bf4 Qb6 31.Kh2 b4 32.Be5 Rc3 33.Rf1 Bxe5 34.Nxe5 Qxd4 35.Ng4 Rf8 36.Rcd1 Qg7 37.Bxe4 dxe4 38.Qd2 Rd3 39.Qxb4 h5 40.Nh6+ Qxh6 41.Qxb7 h4 42.Rxd3 exd3 43.Qd5+ Kh8 44.Qd4+ Kg8 45.Rxf8+ Qxf8 46.Qxd3 hxg3+ 47.Kxg3 Qf6 48.Qd5+ Kh7 49.Qb7+ Kg8 50.Qc8+ Kh7 51.Qc7+ Kg8 52.h4 Qb2 53.Qd8+ Kg7 54.Qe7+ Kg8 55.Qe6+ Kg7 56.Qd7+ Kh6 57.Qf7 a5 58.Kf3 Qa1 59.Qf8+ Kh7 60.Qe7+ Kg8 61.Qd8+ Kh7 62.Qc7+ Kg8 63.Qc4+ Kh7 64.Ke4 Qe1+ 65.Kd5 Qd2+ 66.Kc5 Qxg2 67.Kb5 Qd2  Draw Agreed.

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