Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 12. Brief comments by Mark Crowther. Notes by Malcolm Pein

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Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 12

Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 12 Brief comments by Mark Crowther. Notes by Malcolm Pein

Round 12 (March 8, 2006)

Leko, Peter              -  Bacrot, Etienne          1/2   41  C42  Petroff's Defence
Topalov, Veselin         -  Ivanchuk, Vassily        1/2   37  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Svidler, Peter           -  Aronian, Levon           1/2   20  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Radjabov, Teimour        1/2   45  B30  Sicilian Rossolimo

XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (MEX/ESP), 18 ii-11 iii 2006cat. XX (2732)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Leko, Peter              g HUN 2740 ** =. =. 1= == 1= == 1=  7.5  2817
2 Aronian, Levon           g ARM 2752 =. ** =0 1= 1= 0= 1. =1  7.0  2785
3 Topalov, Veselin         g BUL 2801 =. =1 ** 0= 01 1= =1 0.  6.5  2755
4 Radjabov, Teimour        g AZE 2700 0= 0= 1= ** =. =1 1. ==  6.5  2764
5 Svidler, Peter           g RUS 2765 == 0= 10 =. ** 0. 1= 1=  6.0  2729
6 Ivanchuk, Vassily        g UKR 2729 0= 1= 0= =0 1. ** =0 =.  5.0  2679
7 Bacrot, Etienne          g FRA 2717 == 0. =0 0. 0= =1 ** =1  5.0  2678
8 Vallejo Pons, Francisco  g ESP 2650 0= =0 1. == 0= =. =0 **  4.5  2652
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Malcolm Pein comments: All four games were drawn in the twelvth round at Linares so Peter Leko remained half a point clear with two to play. There was only one short draw as second placed Levon Aronian used an opening novelty to neutralise Peter Svidler’s Ruy Lopez although the position could have been played on. Possibly the players are feeling the effects of fighting chess, long games and transatlantic travel.

Leko tried hard to extend his lead and pressed Etienne Bacrot in a well analysed endgame in the Petroff Defence but the French number one just held on using a novelty played on the 21st move.

The game between Francisco Vallejo Pons and Teimour Radjabov was a difficult one for the spectators to understand. With clever play the Spaniard built up a significant advantage in a knight ending but then missed his winning chances and agreed a draw. At first sight the position was actually in Radjabov’s favour but it was in fact a draw. It would have been nice for the spectators had they played it out but I have explained it below.

Vallejo Pons,F (2650) - Radjabov,T (2700) [B30]
XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (12), 08.03.2006

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4 Be7 5.d3 Nf6 6.Nd5 d6 7.Nxf6+ [7.a3 Nxd5 8.Bxd5 Be6 9.c3 Bxd5 10.exd5 Nb8 11.b4 Nd7 12.Be3 Rc8 13.Qa4 cxb4 14.Qxb4 Qc7 15.0-0 0-0 16.c4 h6 17.a4 a5 18.Qb5 b6 19.Rab1 Bd8 20.Nd2 f5 21.f4 exf4 22.Bxf4 Bf6 23.Kh1 Rfe8 24.Bg3 Bg5 25.Nb3 g6 26.Nd4 Nc5 27.Rbd1 Re3 28.Qb1 Nxa4 29.Nb5 Qd7 30.Nxd6 Rf8 31.Nb5 f4 32.Bf2 Re2 33.Rde1 f3 34.gxf3 Rb2 35.Qd1 Qh3 36.Re6 Kh7 37.Qe1 Qxf3+ 38.Kg1 Bh4 39.Re7+ Bxe7 40.Qxe7+ Rf7 41.Qe3 Qf6 42.Qg3 Nc3 43.Nxc3 Qxc3 44.Be1 Qd4+ 45.Rf2 Rbxf2 46.Bxf2 Qf6 47.Qe3 a4 48.Qxb6 Qg5+ 0-1 Votava,J-Antoniewski,R/CZE 1998] 7...Bxf6 8.c3 0-0 9.0-0 Rb8 10.a4 b6 11.Re1 Be6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.b4 Qd7 14.Bd2 Kh8 15.h3 Rf7 16.a5 b5 17.a6 cxb4 18.cxb4 Bd8 19.Qe2 Bb6 20.Rab1 Rbf8 21.Be3 Qd8 22.Rec1 Bxe3 23.fxe3 Qb6 24.Ng5 Rf6 25.Rf1 Qd8 26.Qg4 Rxf1+ 27.Rxf1 Rxf1+ 28.Kxf1 Qf6+ 29.Ke2 Nd8 30.Qh5 Qg6 31.Qxg6 hxg6 32.d4 exd4 33.exd4 d5 34.Kd3 Kg8 35.h4 Kf8 36.exd5 exd5 37.Kc3 Ke7 38.Nf3 Kf6 39.Ne5 g5 40.h5 Kf5 Black is now more active and white has to be accurate to draw. 41.Kd3 Kf4 42.Ng6+ Kg3 43.Ne7 Kxg2 44.Nxd5 Kf3 45.Ne7 g4

A sample drawing line. [46.Nf5 g3 47.d5 g2 48.Nh4+ Kf2 49.Nxg2 Kxg2 50.Ke4 Kg3 51.Kf5 Kh4 52.Kg6 Kg4 53.Kxg7 Kxh5 54.Kf6 Kg4 55.Ke7 Kf5 56.Kxd8 Ke5 57.Kc7 Kxd5 58.Kb7 Kd6 59.Kxa7 Kc7 60.Ka8 Kb6 61.a7 Kc7] 1/2-1/2

[MC] Vassily Ivanchuk held Veselin Topalov easily enough in a Ruy Lopez where he played a Breyer Defence-like Nb8 novelty on move 10. They traded to a bishops of opposite colours ending wth a pair of rooks on which was completely drawish.

Round twelve results:

Vallejo Pons draw Radjabov, Sicilian 3Knights 3. ...e5, 45 moves;
Topalov draw Ivanchuk, , 37;
Leko draw Bacrot, Petroff’s Defence, 41;
Svidler draw Aronian Ruy Lopez Anti Marshall,20 ;

; Scores: 1 Leko (Hungary) 7.5/12; 2 Aronian (Armenia) 7; 3-4 Topalov (Bulgaria), Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 6.5; 5 Svidler (Russia) 6; 6-7 Bacrot (France), Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 5; 8 Vallejo (Spain) 4.5;

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