Akopian is the former world under-16 and under-18 champion who made his way to the final of the FIDE championship in 1999 only to lose to Russia’s Alexander Khalifman, 3.5-2.5. Akopian was also on the Armenian team that won gold at the 2006 and 2008 Olympiads. Early in 2007, Akopian topped the Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar with a score of 7.5/9. The world’s former no. 20, he is now ranked 34th in FIDE’s latest rating list.
As for young Maxime, he became a GM at age 14 years, 4 months, in 2005. Two years later, he won the Paris and the French championships and is now the world’s no. 23 with a 2718 rating.
Asked about his chess style, he replied: “I would describe myself as a pure calculator: I almost exclusively calculate lots of variations during my games. However, I have improved my strategic and technical play, but I am still stronger in very complicated positions, and when I need to calculate in endgames. One of my strength (or weakness, I still don’t know) is that I may take great risks, but they are very carefully calculated, meaning I can hardly bluff: if I am sure a sac is wrong, even if the refutation is far from being obvious. On the other side, I am more confident when I take risks.”
Describing this week’s game, Informant’s IM Sasa Velickovic said:
“It seldom happens that one plays a normal continuation in a tranquil position and then sees a series of beautiful and unexpected moves that cause ‘consternation.’ However, when that happens, you peacefully accept a loss as an inevitable truth. That must have been how the upcoming star Vachier-Lagrave felt when confronted with an avalanche of ideas from grandmaster Akopian during the Dresden Olympiad.
“Everything that can be experienced in a game can be seen in this duel, and both players enjoyed it, without regard to the final result, as they offered the chess world the enjoyment of yet another memorable game. The Chess Informant jury found it remarkable as well, given that it beat out the fifth match game from the Anand-Kramnik match in Bonn to be chosen as the Best Game of Volume #104.”
Game of the week. I. Rogers annotates.
White: Vl. Akopian (2679)
Black: M.Vachier-Lagrave (2716)
Sicilian Scheveningen
Dresden Olympiad 2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.Be2 Qc7 8.a4 b6 9.f4 Bb7 10.Bf3 Nbd7 11.Qe2 g6 12.0-0 e5 13.Rad1!! [a novelty] Be7 [13…Bg7 14.Ndb5! ab5 15.Nb5 Qb8 16.Nd6 Ke7 17.Qd3 Rd8 (17…Bd5!? 18.Nb5 Bc6 19.Qa3 Kd8 20.Nd6 Ra4 21.Nf7 Kc7 22.Qd6 Kb7 23.fe5 and White is winning) 18.Qa3! Nc5 19.fe5 Ra4 20.Bc5! Ra3 21.Ba3 with attack; 13…ed4 14.Bd4 a) 14…Bg7 15.e5 de5 (15…Bf3 16.Qf3 and White is superior) 16.fe5 Ng8 17.Bb7 Qb7 18.Ne4 with attack; b) 14…0-0-0 15.e5 de5 16.fe5 Ne8 17.Bb7 Kb7 18.Rf7 with attack; c) 14…Be7 15.e5 de5 (15…Bf3 16.Qf3 and White is superior) 16.fe5 with attack] 14.fe5 Ne5? [14…de5! 15.Nd5!? Nd5 16.ed5 0-0 (16…ed4? 17.Bd4 Rg8 18.d6 and White is winning) 17.Nc6 Bd6 and White is slightly better] 15.Bh6 Bf8 16.Bf8 Kf8 17.Qe3! h6? [17…Kg7 only move 18.Be2 (18.Qg5 Qc5! 19.Kh1 Nf3 equal) Rhe8 (18…Qc5 19.Kh1 and White is slightly better) 19.Rf6!? Kf6 20.Qh6 Ke7 unclear; 19.Rf4 and White is slightly better] 18.Bh5!! Qe7 [18…Kg7 19.Bg6! Ng6 (19…Kg6 20.Qg3 Nfg4 21.h3 Rag8 22.hg4 Kh7 23.Rf4 and White is superior) 20.Nf5 Kg8 21.Nd6 Ng4 22.Qg3 h5 23.h3 N4e5 24.Nf7! Qf7 25.Rf7 Kf7 26.Rd6! with attack] 19.Bg6! Ng6 [19…fg6 20.Rf6 Qf6 21.Rf1 Qf1 22.Kf1 Re8 23.Nf3 Nf3 24.gf3 and White is superior] 20.Nf5 Qe5 21.Qb6 Be4 [21…Ng4 only move 22.Qd6 Kg8 23.h3! Qd6 24.Nd6 Ne3 25.Nb7 Rb8 26.Nd6 Nd1 27.Nd1 and White is superior] 22.Qd6 Qd6 23.Nd6 Bc2 24.Rf6! Ra7 [24…Bd1 25.Rf7 Kg8 26.Nd5! and White is winning] 25.Rd2 Kg7 26.Rf3! [26…Bb3 27.Nf5 Kh7 28.Rh3 and White is winning] 1-0
Puzzler.
White — Ka4, Ba6, Nb8, Nc6, Qc1, pawns on e3 and h4
Black — Kd5, Nd6, Rf7, Bh7, Rh3, pawns on b3, c4, c7, d4, e6 and f3
White to play and mate in four.
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