In the 1st round of Grand Prix fifth series tournament, which started in Jermuk on August 9, Armenian chess players Levon Aronyan and Vladimir Hakobyan agreed to a draw with their rivals Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Evgeni Alekseev (Russia).
Effective games during the first round were between pairs Ernesto Inarkiev – Peter Leko and Ivan Chaparinov-Dmitry Yakovenko, with Leko and Chaparinov topping the list.
Thus, after the first round, Hakobyan and Aronyan share the 3rd-12th positions of tournament table.
During the 2nd round, Hakobyan and Aronyan will play with white figures against Alekseev and Inarkiev respectively.
Games are scheduled on August 9-13, 15-18 and 20-23. Rest days: August 14 and 19
First round games: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) – Levon Aronyan – 1.5-1.5
Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia) – Peter Leko (Hungary) – 0:1
Evgeny Alekseev (Russia) – Vladimir Hakobyan – 1.5-1.5
Ivan Chaparinov (Bulgaria) – Dmitry Yakovenko (Russia) 1:0
Gata Kamsky (US) – Etienne Bacrot (France) – 1.5-1.5
Rustam Kasymdjinov (Khazakhstan) – Sergey Karyakin (Ukraine) -1.5-1.5
Boris Gelfand (Israel) – Pavel Elianov (Ukraine) – 1.5-1.5
Tournament position after 1st round: Leko, Chaparinov – 1; Hakobyan, Aronyan, Ivanchuk, Alekseev, Bacrot, Karyakin, Kamsky, Gelfand, Elianov, Kasymzhanov – 0.5, Inarkiev, Yakovenko.
