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Round 8 (May 19, 2006)
Kamsky, Gata - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 39 C68 Ruy Lopez Exchange
Topalov, Veselin - Ponomariov, Ruslan 1-0 65 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Svidler, Peter - Bacrot, Etienne 1/2 37 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Mtel Masters Sofia BUL (BUL), 11-21 v 2006 cat. XX (2745)
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1 2 3 4 5 6
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1 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2671 ** 0. 1= 1. 1= =1 5.5 2896
2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2804 1. ** 01 =0 =. =1 4.5 2786
3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2803 0= 10 ** =. 1= 1. 4.5 2773
4 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2743 0. =1 =. ** == 10 4.0 2746
5 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2708 0= =. 0= == ** =. 3.0 2660
6 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2738 =0 =0 0. 01 =. ** 2.5 2602
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The eight round of the Mtel Masters took place on Friday 18th May 2006. With a point lead in the tournament over his opponent Gata Kamsky was obviously looking for a draw against Viswanathan Anand. He played the Ruy Lopez Exchange variation and then kept things very solid. Pieces came off without Anand getting even a sniff of an advantage leaving the players as they were before the start of the round. Kamsky,G (2671) - Anand,V (2803) [C68] Mtel Masters Sofia (8), 19.05.2006 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 Revealing that Kamsky's ambitions don't lie much beyond a draw and with a point lead over Anand, why should they? 4...dxc6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.h3 h5 7.d3 Qf6 8.Nbd2 Ne7 9.Nc4 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Qxf3 11.gxf3 Ng6 12.Rd1 c5 13.Kf1 Bd6 14.Ke2 f6 [14...Nf8 15.Be3 Ne6 16.c3 Ke7 17.a3 a5 18.a4 Rhd8 19.Rd2 f6 20.Na3 Rd7 21.Rad1 Rf8 22.Nc4 b6 23.Rg1 Kf7 24.Rdd1 Be7 25.Kd2 Rfd8 26.Kc2 h4 27.Bc1 g5 28.Be3 Kg6 29.Rg2 Kf7 30.Rgg1 Kg6 31.Rd2 Kf7 32.Rdd1 Kg6 33.Rd2 Kf7 34.Rdd1 1/2-1/2 Sebag,M-Qin Kanying/Ekaterinburg RUS 2006/The Week in Chess 593] 15.c3 Kf7 16.Be3 Rhd8 17.a3 a5 18.a4 b6 19.Rdc1 Rd7 20.b4 cxb4 21.Nxd6+ cxd6 22.cxb4 axb4 23.Rcb1 d5 24.Rxb4 d4 25.Bd2  There is very little left in the position. 25...Rda7 26.f4 Nxf4+ 27.Bxf4 exf4 28.Kf3 b5 29.Rxb5 Rxa4 30.Rb7+ Kf8 31.Rg1 g5 32.h4 Ra1 33.Rxa1 Rxa1 34.Rb5 Securing the draw. 34...gxh4 35.Rxh5 Ra3 36.Rxh4 Rxd3+ 37.Ke2 Ra3 38.Rxf4 Ke7 39.Rf5 Ke6 1/2-1/2 Peter Svidler's improvement over the game Ponomariov - Aronian against Etienne Bacrot didn't look very impressive. Pawns and then pieces were quickly exchanged and a completely drawn position was quickly reached. Svidler,P (2743) - Bacrot,E (2708) [C88] Mtel Masters Sofia (8), 19.05.2006 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.Nf1 Bc8 14.c3 Be6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.b4 Qd7 17.Ng3 [17.Qb3 Rfb8 18.Bd2 a5 19.Ng5 axb4 20.axb4 cxb4 21.Nxe6 d5 22.Ng5 bxc3 23.Bxc3 b4 24.Bb2 Na5 25.Qd1 dxe4 26.Bxe5 Rb5 27.d4 b3 28.Qe2 Rc8 29.Ne3 Nd5 30.Nxd5 Bxg5 31.Rxa5 1/2-1/2 Ponomariov,R-Aronian,L/Khanty Mansyisk RUS 2005] 17...a5 18.bxc5 dxc5 19.a4 b4 20.Be3 c4!  At least equalises for black. 21.dxc4 Qxd1 22.Rexd1 bxc3 23.c5 Stopping Bb4 23...c2 24.Rdc1 Nb4 25.Ne1 Rfc8 26.Nxc2 Bxc5 27.Nxb4 Bxe3 28.Rxc8+ Rxc8 29.fxe3 axb4 30.Rb1 Rb8 31.a5 Ra8 32.Rxb4 Rxa5 A draw is inevitable. 33.Rb6 Kf7 34.Rb7+ Kg6 35.Rb6 Kf7 36.Rb7+ Kg6 37.Rb6 Kf7 1/2-1/2 Veselin Topalov was in agressive mood after his win with black against Anand in the previous round. Here he met Ruslan Ponomariov who has been in particularly bad with black in this event with 0/3. Here his aggression appeared to be backfiring as Ponomariov took charge of the board and won the exchange. Topalov found a fine attacking idea which Ponomariov missed and which forced the Ukranian to give up his queen. The resulting ending offered some defensive chances but Topalov made fairly light work of the task. He has now caught Anand and is a point off the lead. Topalov,V (2804) - Ponomariov,R (2738) [C88] Mtel Masters Sofia (8), 19.05.2006 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a4 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nbd2 Nd7 [12...Nc6 13.Nf1 Nd7 14.Ne3 Nb6 15.Nf5 Bc8 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.Bg5 Qc7 18.Nh4 Be6 19.Nf5 c4 20.dxc4 Nxc4 21.b3 Nb6 22.c4 bxc4 23.bxc4 Nd7 24.Qxd6 Qxd6 25.Nxd6 Nc5 26.Be3 Nd4 27.Rad1 Rab8 28.Bb1 Nxa4 29.Bxd4 exd4 30.Rxd4 Rb2 31.e5 Nc5 32.Bf5 a5 33.Bxe6 1/2-1/2 Anand,V-Kasimdzhanov,R/Linares ESP 2005/The Week in Chess 538] 13.Nf1 Nb6 14.Bd2 b4 15.c3 bxc3 16.Bxc3 Nc6 17.a5 Nc8 18.Ne3 N8a7 19.Nf5 Bc8 20.Nd2 Rb8 21.f4 Bxf5 22.exf5 exf4 23.Qg4 Nd4 [23...Ne5 24.Qxf4 (24.Rxe5 dxe5 25.Bxe5 Bf6 26.Bxb8 Qxb8 27.Nc4) 24...Bg5 25.Qe4 Bxd2 26.Bxd2 Re8 (26...Rxb2 27.Bc3 Rc2) ] 24.Ne4 Nab5 25.Bd2 Very sharp or pretty desperate. Black is going to win material. [25.Rac1] 25...Nc2 26.Bxf4 Kh8 [26...Bf6] 27.Qh5 Nxe1 28.Rxe1 Qxa5 29.Ra1 Rbd8 [29...f6 30.Kh2 d5 31.Bxb8 Rxb8] 30.f6! gxf6 31.Kh2 d5?!  Missing the point. [31...Rg8] 32.Nxf6! Bxf6 33.d4 Black has to give up his queen in order to meet Bb1. 33...Qxa2 34.Rxa2 Nxd4 35.b4 [35.Rxa6] 35...Ne6 36.Be5 Bg7 37.bxc5 Rc8 38.Bd6 Rfd8 39.Ra5 Kg8 40.Rxa6 Rd7 41.Qxd5 Bf8 42.Qf3 Bxd6+ 43.cxd6 Rcd8 44.Qd5 Ng7 45.Ra8 The only remaining question is can black set up some kind of fortress with knight and rook. It doesn't look likely. 45...Ne6 46.Rxd8+ Rxd8 47.g4 h6 48.h4 Rb8 49.Kg3 Re8 50.Kf3 Nf8 51.Qd2 Kg7 52.Qd4+ Kg8 53.Qf6 Re6 54.Qe7 White has broken through. 54...Kg7 55.Qc7 Kg8 56.d7 Nxd7 57.Qxd7 Kg7 Now black is trying to hold the line with his rook only. These can be tricky but ultimately here is will be futile almost certainly by a trade into a winning rook and pawn ending. 58.Qd4+ Kg8 59.Kf4 Rg6 60.Kf5 Re6 61.Qd7 Rg6 62.h5 Rg5+ 63.Kf6 Kh8 Its all over. 64.Qe8+ [64.Ke7] 64...Rg8 65.Kxf7 Transposing into a trivially winning King and Pawn ending. 1-0 |
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 Kasparov Books |
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 Giant Chess Sets |
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 Chess Computers |
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 Chess Assistant |
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 Books 2000/1/2/3 |
