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Evgeny
Bareev vs. Alexei Shirov 5.1
A tense position - white wants eventually
to drive away the knight on e5 and claims
black's queenside pawns are a liability -
black wants to show his active pieces are
compensation. 27...a3 A natural continuation,
but this leads to a bit of helpful
simplification for white. 28.Rb1! axb2
29.Rbxb2 Rxb2 30.Rxb2 Ra3 31.Rb7+ Kd6 32.Kd2
(see next diagram)
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Now
Black really has to cope with f4, and... doesn't.
32...Kc5? 32...Kc6 had to be tried,
to remove the pressure from f7. 33.f4 gxf4
34.gxf4 and now Shirov tried to stop the
rot with 34...Rxc3 but this was insufficient
and he resigned on move 41. |
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Qin
Kanying-Alisa Maric 5.1
The passive bishop on c8 is a concern for
black. She found an interesting solution.
26...e5!? 27.fxe5 Be6?! This invests
time and hope in the doomed a-pawn. A better
option was 27...Re8 (or ...Re6) in order to
annex the e5 pawn when black should be OK.
28.Ka2 Rc8 29.c4 Rc5 30.Bd5 Ra5 31.Rc1
and white had gained control, and the passed
c-pawn proved a decisive trump. |
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Michael
Adams-Veselin Topalov 5.1
Black has a basic problem in this position
- the pawns on a6 and e6 are weak, particularly
so if the white knight ever gets access
to the inviting c5 square. Adams uses his
control of the c-file to make these factors
add up. 33.Qc6 Rd8 34.Bxd6 Rxd6 35.Qe8!
Black must misplace his pieces now to neutralize
this invader. 35...Qd8 36.Qxd8 Rxd8 37.Rc6
Nf4 And now Adams paints a nasty picture
of the basic drawbacks of black's position:
38.Nc5 (see next diagram) |
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38...Rxd4
39.Rxa6+ Kb8 40.Nxe6 Nxe6 41.Rxe6 Rf4 42.Rb6+
Ka7 43.Rxb5 and white converted his advantage
to a point with smooth technique. |
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Viswanathan
Anand vs. Alexander Khalifman 5.1
The players agreed a draw after white's last
move, 31.gxf4. White can meet the rook
lift 31...Rf6 with 32.Ra8+, and the interesting
31...h6!? giving the king a safe square and
renewing the threat of ...Rf6 can be met by
the witty defense 32.Qg4 Rf6 33.Ra6! and white
defends (33...Rxa6 34.Qc8+). |
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