The 1st International Chess Tournament Barclays took place in the beginning of September in the capital of Italy. Despite of several last-minute withdrawals the field was quite impressive: 15 GMs, 9 IMs and 3 WGMs amongst 68 players including German Champion Igor Khenkin (2624) and few participants of World Cup who arrived to Rome directly from Khanty-Mansijsk.
Yuri started with a disappointing draw against Israeli IM Lederman (2266). Having a healthy extra pawn in the endgame “Solo” began to play inaccurately and let his opponent to escape. But after two ordinary wins Yuri joined the group of leaders. Next four games were played in classic way: wins with White and draws with Black.

One fragment from the game Solodovnichenko-Arutinian: White won with a help of spectacular 30.Bd6!

But in penultimate round hungarian GM Berczes (2557) interrupted the calm life of Yuri. Playing White he chose very agressive setup against Slav Defence and sacrificed a pawn. Sow the wind – reap a storm! The rest of game went under Black’s pressure and in time trouble Berczes cracked – unexpected blunder finished a game immediatly. “Solo” went to the last round as a sole leader, made a draw and became a winner of the tournament!

Tournament table

Official website