NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Akopian wins third game

Vladimir Akopian, playing white, won the third game of the six-game final of the FIDE World Chess championship against Russian Alexander Khalifman in 84 moves.

After Tuesday's match, the two finalists were locked with 1.5 points each.

Khalifman won Sunday's first game in 57 moves. The second, on Monday, ended in a draw. The match is to last six games, with the winner being the first to reach 3.5 points. Each victory is worth one point while a draw is worth half a point.

The winner will succeed Russian Anatoly Karpov, who held the FIDE title from 1975-1985 and since 1993, until he boycotted the current championship games because of a disagreement with the federation.

The third game was a very long affair, lasting nearly 7 hours. The players will be happy that today is a free day.

Akopian played the same Sicilian opening he had faced against Mikhail Tal in the last tournament the former World champion participated in, Barcelona 1992. Only the colours were reversed. It didn't bother the Armenian player as he pressurised Khalifman from the beginning with a temporary pawn sacrifice. When Akopian won his pawn back he had a nice positional advantage, his Knight was stronger than his opponent's Bishop and Black had an ugly doubled pawn.

Black's pawn structure had been so damaged that Akopian had no trouble in consuming Black's h-pawn on move 28. Then a long time of maneuvering followed where Akopian was trying to find the best squares for his pieces. The exchange on move 51 of Black's Bishop versus White's Knight was classified in the press center as a controversial decision.

The opinion if Akopian would be able to win this third game was divided amongst the GMs and journalists present. The Armenian showed his technique by just continuing to squeeze his opponent. Stopping the threat of White's h-pawn from Queening as well as keeping White's King out was too much for Black. Khalifman head to bow his head for the first time in his career against Akopian.

It took 84 moves. With three games left the score is equal. Khalifman has the advantage that he has two games with White left.

Game 3:
White: V. Akopian, Black: A. Khalifman
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. c3 Nf6 6. Re1 a6 7. Ba4 c4 8. d4 cxd3ep 9. Bg5 Ne5 10. Nbd2 Bxa4 11. Qxa4+ b5 12. Qd4 h6 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. a4 Rb8 15. Nxe5 dxe5 16. Qa7 Ra8 17. Qb7 Qc8 18. Qd5 Rb8 19. axb5 axb5 20. Qxd3 h5 21. Nf1 Qd7 22. Qe2 e6 23. h4 Bc5 24. Ng3 Ke7 25. Red1 Qc6 26. Rd3 Rbd8 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. Nxh5 Rg8 29. Ra5 b4 30. Qb5 Rc8 31. Ng3 bxc3 32. bxc3 Qxb5 33. Rxb5 Ba3 34. Ne2 Bc5 35. g4 Kd6 36. Kg2 Kc6 37. Rb2 f5 38. f3 Rh8 39. Kg3 Be7 40. h5 fxe4 41. fxe4 f5 42. Kf3 fxg4+ 43. Kxg4 Rg8+ 44. Kh3 Rh8 45. Ng3 Bg5 46. Rh2 Kc5 47. Kg4 Bf4 48. Rh3 Kc4 49. Nf1 Rf8 50. Nh2 Rg8+ 51. Kf3 Bxh2 52. Rxh2 Kxc3 53. h6 Kd3 54. h7 Rf8+ 55. Kg3 Rh8 56. Rh4 Ke3 57. Kg2 Kd3 58. Kf3 Kd4 59. Ke2 Kc5 60. Kd3 Rd8+ 61. Kc3 Rh8 62. Rh5 Kd6 63. Kb4 Rb8+ 64. Kc4 Rh8 65. Rh1 Kc6 66. Rh2 Kd6 67. Kb4 Kc6 68. Kc4 Kd6 69. Ra2 Ke7 Ke7 70. Kc5 Rc8+ 71. Kb6 Rh8 72. Rh2 Kd6 73. Rd2+ Ke7 74. Kc7 Kf6 75. Rh2 Kg5 76. Kd6 Kf6 77. Kd7 Kf7 78. Rh3 Kf6 79. Rh1 Kf7 80. Rh4 Kf6 81. Rh1Kf7 82. Rf1+ Kg7 83. Ke7 Ra8 84. h8Q+ 1-0