Chess from Malcolm Pein Chess Thursday May 10th 2007

Michael Adams returns to the board today as one of the eight players in the 2007 MTel Masters being played at Sofia. Former Fide champion and world number two Veselin Topalov heads the field and former Fide finalist Gata Kamsky of the USA returns.

The competition is slightly weakened by the absence of both Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand the world number one. The latter played in 2005 and 2006. Nevertheless, this is still one the year’s elite events with three players in the world’s top 10.

                            Rating               World ranking
Veselin Topalov             2772     Bulgaria     2
Shakriyar Mamedyarov        2757     Azerbaijan   6
Michael Adams               2734     England     10
Gata Kamsky                 2705     USA         19
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu      2693     Romania     23
Krishnan Sasikiran          2690     India       25

Here is the wild fifth game between Kramnik and Levon Aronian from their recent match that the Armenian won 4-2.

Kramnik,V (2772) - Aronian,L (2759) [A60]
Rapid Match Yerevan ARM (5), 06.05.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 b5 6.Nd2 Nxd5 7.Bg2 Nc7!? [An amazing idea. Black gets a pawn, white square control and a great structure for the exchange. An alternative was 7...Bb7 when 8.Qb3 c4 9.Qxb5 Bc6 10.Qxc4 Nb6 attacks the queen and bishop and Black has a huge advantage after 11.Bxc6 Nxc4 12.Bxa8 Bb4 13.Ngf3 Qa5 but; 7...Bb7 8.Qb3 c4 9.Nxc4 Na6 10.Nd6+ Bxd6 11.Bxd5 Bxd5 12.Qxd5 Nb4 13.Qxd6 Nc2+ is unclear] 8.Bxa8 Nxa8 9.b4 [Kramnik takes action against the Black pawns, if 9.Ngf3 d5 10.0-0 Be7] 9...c4 [9...Bb7; 9...Qf6!?] 10.a4! Bxb4 11.Qc2 Bb7 12.Ngf3 a6 13.axb5 axb5 14.Qb2 Qf6 15.Qxb4! Returning the compliment 15...Qxa1 16.0-0 White has big threats on the dark squares for the two pawns 16...Qa6 17.Bb2 f6 18.Ba3 d6 19.Nd4 Nc7 20.Rb1 0-0 21.Nxc4 bxc4 22.Qxb7 Qxa3 23.Qxc7 Qc5 24.Rb7 Qxc7 25.Rxc7 White's initiative is enough to regain the pawn but he should not be better 25...d5 26.Nf5 Na6!? [26...Rf7] 27.Rxg7+ Kh8 28.Ra7 Nb4 29.Rc7 h5 30.Kg2! Re8 31.e3 Nd3 32.f4!

Fine play, Black's pieces are restricted and Kramnik's king is ready to advance 32...Ra8 33.Kh3 Ra5 [33...Ra2!? 34.Ne7 Rd2!] 34.Kh4 Rc5 35.Rd7! Kg8 36.Kxh5 Kf8 37.Nd6 The Black king is going nowhere 37...c3 38.Kg6 Rc6 39.Kxf6? [39.Rf7+ Kg8 40.Re7 mates] 39...Kg8!! Astonishing, now there is no mate 40.Kg6 Kf8 41.Kf6 Kg8 42.g4? But Kramnik thinks there might be 42...Nc5 43.Rd8+ Kh7 44.Kf7 Rc7+ 45.Kf6 Rc6 And in mutual time trouble Aronian forces a draw but [45...c2 46.g5 Nd7+! wins. The players had anticipated (46...c1Q 47.g6+ Kh6 48.Rh8+ Rh7 49.Rxh7# mate) ] 46.Kf7 Rc7+ 47.Kf6 Rc6 1/2-1/2