Game of the Week: Matlakov, Eljanov

Pavel Eljanov was first among equals at the Chigorin Memorial, besting ten other players on tiebreak with 7/9. Eljanov is a solid player, which we will see in his approach from this week’s featured game. But when his opponent, the strong young grandmaster Maxim Matlakov, is lulled into a false sense of security, Eljanov strikes with a lightning attack. It just goes to show that to play attacking chess, one does not necessarily need to steer into sharp channels in the opening.