Aronian pushes ahead

The Candidates tournament came alive in round three,with three of the four boards providing decisive results on Sunday. Levon Aronian registered his second win in as many games to maintain his lead,while victories for Magnus Carlsen and Peter Svidler meant that the Armenian did not get out of sight. Aronian is currently on 2.5 points while Carlsen and Svidler follow closely behind on 2. Vladimir Kramnik8217;s draw against Alexander Grishchuk meant both ended the first set of matches on 1.5 points each.

Vassily Ivanchuk,who went down to Teimour Radjabov yesterday,continued on the downward spiral losing on time once more. Playing white,Ivanchuk opened with the Trampowsky attack,and took up an aggressive stance through the initial phase. Aronian calmly weathered Ivanchuk8217;s king side attack and once white8217;s threat fizzled out,black not just had a promising position but was also up on time. Ivanchuk,having to make 19 moves in eight minutes,let his position slip steadily. Aronian had several crushing moves at his disposal,but instead kept the position complicated,hoping to either win on time or elicit a blunder from the hard-pressed Ivanchuk. Eventually,though down on material,Aronian breached Ivanchuk8217;s defences,cleaning up on the queen side to bear down on white8217;s king. However,he could not complete the formalities,as Ivanchuk8217;s flag had already fallen.

Radjabov,playing black against Svidler,went for the Samisch Variation of the King8217;s Indian defense. Inaccuracies in the opening saw Radjabov go behind on time and material.

Magnus Carlsen pulled out a typical win,as he kept things tight and drew a fatal error from Gelfand deep in the end game.