GM Denis Lazavik became the sole leader before the last round in the 23rd Karpov Memorial

On Wednesday, April 15, after a day off, the XXIII Anatoly Karpov International Tournament continued in the Ugra Chess Academy in Khanty-Mansiysk.

 

In the seventh round, Aleksey Grebnev beat Ilia Iljiushenok as Black in a fiercely contested and dramatic game. After the game, the winner briefly talked about the match:

– I think that I didn’t play the most popular line in the opening, and everything transposed into the Nimzo-Indian Defense. It was a fighting position. At some point, I should have been completely winning. I tried to calculate something, but, apparently, I need to remember that it’s already better not to calculate anything (laughs). After that, the game somehow took a turn for the fiercer, and there wasn’t enough time. Then the position equalized, and, as it seems to me, the opponent thought that the resulting endgame was drawn, so he simply began to play “by hand” and ended up in a hopeless position.

 

Denis Lazavik and Benjamin Gledura, the leaders of the tournament, tied pretty quickly, playing with Raunak Sadhwani and Lu Shanglei, respectively.

 

Draws were recorded in the games of A. Nesterov — S. Vokhidov and I. Zemlyanskii — A. Hakobyan.

 

In the penultimate eighth round, Denis Lazavik defeated Ivan Zemlyanskii as White and became the sole leader of the tournament, because Benjamin Gledura drew with Aleksey Grebnev.

 

Denis Lazavik tells: “We played the Benoni Defense without a tempo for White. As a rule, this opening rarely appears, but then I decided that maybe the opponent wouldn’t expect it, even though I had played like this once. Ivan had been playing the Gruenfeld Defense during the tournament. I expected it, so I chose this setup. It turned out that he ended up in my variation. Nothing special, but it so happened that I knew it almost up to the 25th move — that’s rare. I sacrificed a few pawns, and a arose such position where either I had messed something up and would resign, or it’s easy because there’s only one line to follow.

 

The important moment came when I played 35. Kh1 (here he was like: “What are you doing?”), then I absolutely blundered the move 26…Rg6 after 35…axb4 36. Ke4. But then, 38. Ng3 was later found by pure chance — usually I’m not so lucky. I don’t know if he could have saved himself in time trouble, but it’s obvious that he didn’t see 38. Ng3 like me. After that, his position collapsed swiftly. Maybe he could have gone for the queen swap variation, and we would have played this two‑on‑two endgame for a long time with me having the extra piece. As it was, he blundered 41. Qf6+, and that was the end of It”.

 

Playing Black against Lu Shanglei, Arseniy Nesterov sacrificed a pawn during the middlegame, securing compensation thanks to the White bishop being tied down to its initial position. The opponents fought a maneuvering battle in a closed position, where White advanced on the kingside, and Black broke through on the opposite side of the board. After the exchange of pieces, a rook endgame arose, and there Nesterov made a decisive mistake, capturing the wrong pawn and allowing the opponent’s king to break through into his rear. With precise play, the rating favorite Lu Shanglei achieved his first victory in the tournament.

 

The games between S. Vokhidov — R. Sadhwanі and A. Hakobyan — I. Iljiushenok both ended in draws.

 

Standings after Round 8:

 

  1. Denis Lazavik — 5.5
  2. Benjamin Gledura — 5
  3. Aram Hakobyan — 4.5

4-7. Raunak Sadhwani, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, Aleksey Grebnev, Ivan Zemlyanskii — 4

  1. Lu Shanglei — 3.5
  2. Arseniy Nesterov — 3
  3. Ilia Iljiushenok — 2.5

 

Round 9 pairings:

 

А. Nesterov — B. Gledura, R. Sadhwani — Lu Shanglei, I. Zemlyanskii — S. Vokhidov, I. Iljiushenok — D. Lazavik, А. Grebnev — А. Hakobyan

 

The final ninth round will be held on Thursday, April 16, with the game starting at 1 PM local time.

Final Ranking after round 8

Last update 15.04.2026 15:56:30
Rk. Name FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4
1 GM Lazavik, Denis BLR * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 5.5 22.5 3 0 4.5
2 GM Gledura, Benjamin HUN 0 * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 5 18.5 3 0 3.5
3 GM Hakobyan, Aram ARM ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 4.5 17.5 1 0 2.5
4 GM Sadhwani, Raunak IND ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 4 15.75 1 0 3
5 GM Grebnev, Aleksey FID ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 4 15 1 0 2
6 GM Zemlyanskii, Ivan RUS 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 1 ½ 4 14.5 2 0 1.5
7 GM Vokhidov, Shamsiddin UZB 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ 1 4 14 2 0 2
8 GM Lu, Shanglei CHN ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ 3.5 13.5 1 0 2
9 GM Nesterov, Arseniy FID ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ 3 12.25 0 0 2.5
10 GM Iljiushenok, Ilia FID 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 2.5 9.5 0 0 1.5
Ranking crosstable after Round 8

Chess-results: here

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