Aronian second in Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament

In Round 7 of the 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, held in Nice, France, Armenian Levon Aronian ended in draw with Vladimir Kramnik in the blindfold game and was defeated in the rapid one.

In Round 8 playing against Teimour Radjabov, Aronian won against the adversary in the blindfold game and ended in draw in the rapid one.

After Round 8, Viswanathan Anand has taken the sole lead with 10,5 points after gaining a victory over Kramnik. Magnus Karlsen and Levon Aronian come 2-3 with 10 points. Kramnik ends fourth with 9,5 points.

Round 9 will be held tomorrow. The pairings are as follows:

Topalov-Anand
Morozevich-Aronian
Kramnik-Ivanchuk
Karjakin-Carlsen
Redjabov-Leko
Wang Yue-Kamsky

Round 7

Vladimir Kramnik - Levon Aronian, blindfold game 0,5:0,5

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Rc1 Qa5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Nf3 Rd8 11.d5 e6 12.Be2 exd5 13.exd5 Nd7 14.0-0 Nf6 15.c4 Qxd2 16.Nxd2 b6 17.h3 Re8 18.Bd3 Nd7 19.Rfd1 Ne5 20.Bf1 Bd7 21.Nb1 f5 22.Nc3 Nf7 23.a4 g5 24.a5 f4 25.Bd2 Nd6 26.axb6 axb6 27.Rb1 Reb8 28.Re1 Ra3 29.Re7 Bf5 30.Rc1 Rb7 31.Rxb7 Nxb7 32.Nb5 Ra1 33.Rxa1 Bxa1 34.h4 h6 35.hxg5 1/2-1/2.

Levon Aronian – Vladimir Kramnik, rapid game 0:1

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 Bd6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Re8 8.d3 h6 9.Qc2 c5 10.e4 Nc6 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Nb4 13.Qb3 Bf5 14.Ne1 Qc7 15.Qc4 Rab8 16.a3 b5 17.Qc3 Na6 18.Nc2 c4 19.dxc4 bxc4 20.Nd4 Bd3 21.Re1 Be5 22.Rxe5 Qxe5 23.Bf4 Qf6 24.Bxb8 Rxb8 25.b4 Nc7 26.Rc1 Re8 27.h3 Qe5 28.Qa1 Nxd5 29.Nb5 Nxb4 30.axb4 Qxb5 31.Qxa7 Qxb4 32.Bd5 Re7 33.Qd4 Qd2 34.Rxc4 Qe1+ 35.Kg2 Bf1+ 36.Kh2 Bxc4 37.Bxc4 Re4 38.Qd8+ Kh7 39.Bd3 Qxf2+ 40.Kh1 Qe1+ 41.Kg2 Qd2+ 0-1.

Round 8

Levon Aronian – Teimour Radjabov, blindfold game 1:0

1.c4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.0-0 cxd4 10.cxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 Qxd4 12.Rb1 0-0 13.Be3 Qc4 14.Bd5 Qa6 15.Qb3 Qxe2 16.Bc5 Be6 17.Bxe6 Qxe6 18.Qxe6 fxe6 19.Rxb7 Rf5 20.Rc7 Be5 21.Rxe7 Bxg3 22.hxg3 Rxc5 23.Rb1 a5 24.Rbb7 Rh5 25.Rxe6 Rd8 26.Ree7 Rc8 27.Ra7 Rd8 28.Kg2 Rf8 29.a4 Rb8 30.g4 Rh4 31.f3 Rf8 32.Rxa5 h5 33.gxh5 Rxh5 34.Rxh5 gxh5 35.a5 Rf6 36.Rb7 h4 37.Rb3.

Teimour Radjabov - Levon Aronian, rapid game 0,5:0,5

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 Be7 7.Bb3 0-0 8.Nbd2 Nh7 9.Nc4 Ng5 10.Nxg5 hxg5 11.Qh5 Be6 12.Ne3 Bxb3 13.axb3 f6 14.h4 Qe8 15.Qg4 Qc8 16.Nf5 g6 17.Nxe7 Nxe7 18.Qxc8 Rfxc8 19.hxg5 f5 20.g3 Kg7 21.Kg2 Rh8 22.Be3 a6 23.f4 Rad8 24.Rae1 Nc6 25.b4 Rd7 26.Rh1 Rxh1 27.Rxh1 Rf7 28.Rf1 Rf8 29.Bd2 Re8 30.Re1 Kf7 31.c4 fxe4 32.dxe4 Nd4 33.Bc3 Ne6 34.Rf1 Ke7 35.Bd2 Rg8 36.Be3 Ke8 37.Rh1 Rf8 38.Rh4 Rf7 39.b3 Kf8 40.Rh8 Kg7 41.Rb8 b6 42.Bd2 Rf8 43.Rb7 Kg8 44.Ra7 exf4 45.gxf4 Nxf4 46.Bxf4 Rxf4 47.Rxc7 Rxe4 48.Rc6 b5 49.Kf3 Rh4 50.c5Rxb4 51.Rxd6 a5 52.Rxg6 Kf7 53.Ra6 a4 54.bxa4 bxa4 55.Ke3 Rc4 56.c6 a3 57.Kd3 Rc1.