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August 26, 1999
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Akopian wins third gameVladimir Akopian, playing white, won the third game of the six-game final of the FIDE World Chess championship against Russian Alexander Khalifman in 84 moves. After Tuesday's match, the two finalists were locked with 1.5 points each. Khalifman won Sunday's first game in 57 moves. The second, on Monday, ended in a draw. The match is to last six games, with the winner being the first to reach 3.5 points. Each victory is worth one point while a draw is worth half a point. The winner will succeed Russian Anatoly Karpov, who held the FIDE title from 1975-1985 and since 1993, until he boycotted the current championship games because of a disagreement with the federation. The third game was a very long affair, lasting nearly 7 hours. The players will be happy that today is a free day. Akopian played the same Sicilian opening he had faced against Mikhail Tal in the last tournament the former World champion participated in, Barcelona 1992. Only the colours were reversed. It didn't bother the Armenian player as he pressurised Khalifman from the beginning with a temporary pawn sacrifice. When Akopian won his pawn back he had a nice positional advantage, his Knight was stronger than his opponent's Bishop and Black had an ugly doubled pawn. Black's pawn structure had been so damaged that Akopian had no trouble in consuming Black's h-pawn on move 28. Then a long time of maneuvering followed where Akopian was trying to find the best squares for his pieces. The exchange on move 51 of Black's Bishop versus White's Knight was classified in the press center as a controversial decision. The opinion if Akopian would be able to win this third game was divided amongst the GMs and journalists present. The Armenian showed his technique by just continuing to squeeze his opponent. Stopping the threat of White's h-pawn from Queening as well as keeping White's King out was too much for Black. Khalifman head to bow his head for the first time in his career against Akopian. It took 84 moves. With three games left the score is equal. Khalifman has the advantage that he has two games with White left.
Game 3:
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