Tuesday 19 March 2013

2013 Candidates, Round 4: Aronian-Svidler

After the rest day, "half a rest day". This was Peter Svidler's characterisation of his fourth round game with Levon Aronian. It was very much like round one, with 31 moves and a near symmetrical finishing position.

It was a victory for the Svidler preparation as he played a sideline of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Press officer Nastya Karlovich asked Aronian if he had expected the largely innocuous sideline which the six-times Russian champion had prepared for him. He didn't get a chance to answer as Svidler interrupted with a wisecrack: "don't tell me it was in your top ten or I'll start looking for spies!"

Later, Peter had to field the usual diet question. He told us organiser Andrew Paulson had warned him not to be too quick to discard his larger-fitting, pre-diet clothes. "Sooner or later you will need them again." He was asked about the colour and variety of his shirts and dealt with this hot sartorial question with great good humour. Nastya turned to Aronian to ask his comments on the same subject. "Hopefully people will ask about my style at the board", to which Peter shot back "not a chance!"

Personally, I'm all in favour of this Hello! Magazine style questioning, particularly as I know next to nothing about the Queen's Gambit Accepted and it didn't strike me as a very interesting game anyway. But, for those interested, here are the moves...



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