Rapid Chess Match 26 - 28 October 2007
Mukachevo (the Ukraine)

The small West-ukrainian town Mukachevo was at the end of October the venue of a very attractive chess event. Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Peter Leko (Hungary) competed in a rapid chess match consisting out of 12 games. The number one in Hungary against the number in the Ukraine - the two neighbour countries sended their best players to Mukachevo. The event was organised by Universal Event Promotion. The founder of UEP, Josef Resch, was glad to welcome this two world class players. He celebrated this year his 50th birthday and due to his anniversary his wish for a special chess event was implemented promptly.

The duel of the two Top Ten players fulfilled the great expectations. After Ivanchuk and Leko competed for three days without a winner the match had to be decided in the tiebreak. Vassily Ivanchuk had the better start in the match: The number two in the worldranking surprised his opponent with some novelties and could win two games in the first two days. But Leko showed his great fighting skills and could equal the match in the last day with two wins with the white pieces. The winner of the event had to be determined in the tiebreak. The first blitz game ended in a draw but in the second blitz game Ivanchuk could overcome Lekos resistence and finally win this exciting match in Mukachevo.

Final score:

Rapid Chess (12 games): Vassily Ivanchuk - Peter Leko 6:6
Tiebreak (two blitz games): Vassily Ivanchuk - Peter Leko 1,5:0.5