Chess from Malcolm Pein Chess Saturday April 28th 2007

Vladimir Kramnik has scored the only win of seems destined to be a closely contested Rapid Match against Peter Leko at Miskolc in Hungary. At the halfway stage Kramnik leads 2.5-1.5 after winning the third game.

The World champion was close to lost in the second game but produced a trademark queen sacrifice and created a fortress but Leko will be kicking himself for missing an opportunity to reach an endgame with excellent winning chances.

Kramnik,V (2772) - Leko,P (2738) [E15]
Rapid Match Miskolc HUN (3), 26.04.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.0-0 Rc8 13.e4 A highly ysed variation. White tries to take the initiative in the centre and to expand the range of the bishop on g2. Black must counter 13...c5 14.exd5 exd5 15.dxc5 [Not 15.Bxd5 Nf6 16.Bg2 cxd4 or; 15.cxd5? Bxf1] 15...dxc4 16.c6! This passed pawn is more than worth the sacrifice that follows of rook for knight 16...cxb3 17.Re1 b2 18.Bxb2 Nc5 19.Nc4 Bxc4 [19...Qxd1 20.Raxd1 Bxc4 21.Rxe7] 20.Qg4 The threat of mate on g7 regains the piece 20...Bg5 21.Qxc4 Nd3 22.Be5 Nxe1 23.Rxe1 Bf6 [23...Re8 24.Bh3] 24.Bxf6 Qxf6 25.c7 This leads by force to a position where only White has winning chances, a very clever choice for a rapid game as it is much harder to defend accurately when playing at a faster time limit 25...Qd6 26.Rc1 b5 27.Qc2 b4 28.Bb7 Winning back the rook for bishop 28...g6 Making a space for the king 29.h4 [29.Qc5 Qxc5 30.Rxc5 Rfe8 31.Kf1 Kf8 32.Bxc8 Rxc8 33.Ke2 Ke7 34.Kd3 Kd6 35.Kc4 Rxc7 36.Rxc7 Kxc7 37.Kxb4 Kb6 38.f4 f5 39.h3 h6 40.Kc4 Kc6 41.a3 a6 42.Kd4 Kd6 43.a4 a5 44.Kc4 Kc6 45.h4 h5 1/2-1/2 Bacrot,E (2729)-Lutz,C (2616)/Gothenburg SWE 2005/The Week in Chess 561] 29...Rfe8N [The first new move of the game, 29...h5 has been played with two draws resulting in GM games but I don't trust it for example 30.Kg2 (30.Kf1 a5 31.Qc5 Qxc5 32.Rxc5 a4 33.Ke2 b3 34.axb3 axb3 35.Kd3 Rfe8 36.Kc3 Kf8 37.Kxb3 Ke7 38.Kc4 Kd6 39.Bxc8 Rxc8 40.f4 Rxc7 41.Rxc7 Kxc7 42.Kd5 Kd7 43.f5 Ke7 44.Ke5 f6+ 45.Kf4 gxf5 46.Kxf5 Kf7 1/2-1/2 Ivanchuk,V (2750)-Aronian,L (2744)/Monte Carlo MNC 2007/The Week in Chess 647) 30...Kg7 (30...a5 31.Qc4 Kg7 32.Bxc8 1/2-1/2 Beliavsky,A (2654)-Hracek,Z (2612)/Bremen GER 2001) 31.Qc6 Qxc6+ 32.Rxc6 and the Black king is restricted while the white king heads for the queenside after 32...f6 33.Kf3 Kf7 34.Ke4 Ke7 35.Bxc8 Rxc8 36.Kd5 a5 37.Kc5 Black needs to create a diversion so perhaps; 29...a5!? 30.Qc5 Qxc5 31.Rxc5 a4! 32.Bxc8 Rxc8 33.Rb5 Rxc7 34.Rxb4] 30.Qa4 Qd2 31.Qc6 a5 32.Bxc8 Rxc8 33.Kg2 Kg7 34.Rc2 Qd3 35.Rc5

Virtually decisive. Black was hoping to create a passed pawn and deflect White from the defence of his giant passed pawn but now this is impossible 35...a4 36.Qxa4 Qe4+ 37.Kh2 Qd4 38.Qc2 h5 39.Kg2 Qd6 40.Qb2+ f6 41.Qc2 Kf7 42.Qc4+ Kg7 43.Rc6 Qd7 44.Qc5 Kf7 [In view of 44...Kf7 45.Rd6 Qxc7 46.Qd5+ Kg7 47.Rd7+] 1-0

Leko equalised easily in game one and in the final position he was slightly better although without any serious winning chances. Black can advance his central pawns supported by his king but White should hold easily by exchanging one pair of rooks.

Kramnik,V (2772) - Leko,P (2738) [A33]
Rapid Match Miskolc HUN (1), 25.04.2007

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.e3 Qa5! 8.Bh4 Ne4! 9.Bxe7 Nxc3 10.Qd2 Nxe7 11.Nb5! 0-0 12.Qxc3 Qxc3+ 13.Nxc3 b6 14.0-0-0 Rd8 15.Be2 Bb7 16.e4 f5! 17.exf5 Nxf5 18.Rhg1 Rac8 19.Rd2 Kf8 20.g3 Ke7 21.Re1 Nd6 22.b3 b5 23.Red1 Ne4 24.Nxe4 Bxe4 25.Kb2 1/2-1/2

Sixteen year old prodigy Magnus Carlsen completed his predictable domination of the Gausdal Classic in Norway with victory over world number 42 Michal Krasenkow.

Final scores:

1 Carlsen (Norway) 7/9; 2-4 Krasenkow (Poland), Portisch (Hungary), Rozentalis (Lithuania) 5.5; 5 Kulaots (Estonia) 5; 6-7 Dreev (Russia), Krush (USA) 4.5; 8 Lie (Norway) 4; 9 Jones (England) 2.5; 10 Moskow (USA) 1