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World Championship Candidates Semi-Finals Elista 2007. Round 4 30th May 2007. Comments by Mark Crowther. Flash game notes by IM Malcolm Pein. Today was definitely moving day with just two draws out of the eight matches. It seems very possible there will only be four matches going after round 5 is concluded tomorrow as Grischuk only needs a draw against Malakhov and Bareev only one draw against Polgar. Off the board the Bulgarian Chess Federation has made strong representations to FIDE on behalf of Veselin Topalov for an extra place to be made for the Bulgarian in the Mexico City tournament. Bulgarian Chess Federation on Topalov. On the face of it it seems extraordinary that the winner of the last match tournament, and until April the world number one, isn't playing in Mexico City, especially considering the contortions FIDE went through in the past to accommodate Anatoly Karpov when the justifications were much smaller. But these aren't ordinary times. The lack of a place for the loser of the Topalov and Kramnik match was noted well before it took place. It seems Topalov or his team were extremely confident that Kramnik would be the one to miss out and indeed they wanted him to do so. They were surely in a better position to insist on both playing in Mexico at the time Topalov agreed to the match, a point in time where their stock was at its height. In fact things are a lot worse. Topalov's ridiculous accusations against Kramnik brought the game into disrepute and damaged Topalov's reputation immeasurably. In addition to accusing Kramnik of cheating he also accused FIDE, and its President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov of aiding the cheating, yet these are the very people in a position to get him into the Mexico event. From a position at the start of the match where he had many supporters in the chess world he now has very few friends at all.  Photo © Casto Abundo [http://www.fide.com] Gata Kamsky polished off his match against an off colour Etienne Bacrot with a third win in a row. Kamsky played a Stonewall System against Bacrot's Catalan and ended up with a passive looking position but one which was pretty solid. Once again it looked like Bacrot struggled to find the right ideas and once Kamsky broke through his position collapsed like a pack of cards. Bacrot may have been trying to find some winning tries but it looked like he'd really had enough of the match. This point seems to be confirmed by the statement on the official site that he asked for transport home as soon as possible. Bacrot,E (2709) - Kamsky,G (2705) [E08] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Bf4 Nbd7 9.Qc2 a5 10.Rd1 [10.Nbd2] 10...Ne4 11.Nc3 f5 Why not, pushing the f pawn worked last time 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Nd6 14.Bxd6 [14.c5 Nf7 15.Bf4 Bf6 =] 14...Bxd6 15.e3 Rb8 16.c5 [16.Rac1 b5 =] 16...Bc7 17.f4 Bd7 18.a3 Be8 19.b4 b5 Slightly risky opening the side of the board where White is pushing. The immediate [19...g5 was possible] 20.cxb6 Bxb6 21.Na4 axb4 22.axb4 Rf7 23.Qc3
Bacrot gets short of time and falls apart again. He has just looked totally out of form [23.Nxb6 Rxb6 24.Rdb1 Rfb7 25.Qc5 Qb8] 23...Rfb7 24.Bf1 g5 25.Ba6 Rg7 26.Rd2 h5 27.Rg2 Bc7 28.Nc5 Qf6 29.Bf1 Bd6 30.fxg5 Rxg5 31.Ra7 e5? 32.dxe5 Bxe5 33.Qb3 h4 34.gxh4 Rxg2+ 35.Bxg2 Qxh4 36.Nd3 [36.h3 Qe1+ 37.Bf1 Rxb4] 36...Bxh2+ 37.Kf1 Qc4 38.Qa3 Bg6 39.Bf3 f4 0-1  Photo © Casto Abundo [http://www.fide.com] Peter Leko also finished his match today. He had the biggest ELO advantage of any of the matches over his opponent Mikhail Gurevich and it showed. Leko didn't have to work very hard to take advantage of the gulf in strength and he won a third game in a row to close things out. Gurevich,M (2635) - Leko,P (2738) [E32] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 b6 7.Bg5 Bb7 8.f3 h6 9.Bh4 d5 10.e3 Nbd7 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Bxd8 Nxc3 13.Bh4 Nd5 14.Bf2 I find it odd that Mikhail chose to enter a line his opponent must have analysed in minute detail 14...c5 15.e4 Ne7 16.Ne2 [16.0-0-0 ?! game 1] 16...f5 The same idea as in game one but this time Gurevich manages to maintain his pawn duo and avoid all the white squares falling into Black's hands. 17.Ng3 fxe4 18.fxe4 cxd4 19.Bxd4 Rac8 Black must use his extra development to negate White's bishop pair. ideally he would like exchange light squared bishops and get his knights into squares like d3 and b3 20.Rd1 Rfd8 21.Bc3 [21.Bb5 Nf6 22.e5 Ne4 gives Black too much activity] 21...Ng6 22.Bb5 Nc5 23.0-0 Ba6! [23...Nxe4 24.Nxe4 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Bxe4 26.Bd7 +/-] 24.Bxa6 Nxa6 25.Rxd8+ Rxd8 26.b4 Nc7 27.a4 b5! = Avoiding any possibility of b5 by White fixing a7 as a target for his bishop 28.a5 Ne8
29.Ne2?! [29.Rf2 Rd1+ 30.Rf1=] 29...e5 30.Rc1 Nf6 31.Ng3 h5! -/+ 32.h3 a6 33.Kh2 Rc8 34.Bd2 Rxc1 35.Bxc1 h4 36.Nf5 Nxe4 37.g3 hxg3+ 38.Nxg3 Nxg3 39.Kxg3 Kf7 40.Kg4 Ne7 0-1  Photo © Casto Abundo [http://www.fide.com] There has been only one match where the players have shared wins. This may be to do with the seeding system which generally pitted the 1st seed against 16th, 2nd against 15th etc. Levon Aronian was a bit of a loser under this system because his opponent Magnus Carlsen has improved rapidly since the seedings were made. Only a game after conceding an equaliser Aronian came out and re-established his lead with quite a smooth posiitonal performance against Carlsen. Aronian had a very pleasant positional edge but I think it was probably Carlsen who was mostly the author of his own demise with some very strange manoevers which were very cleanly exploited. Aronian,L (2759) - Carlsen,M (2693) [E14] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 b6 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Bb7 7.e3 0-0 8.b4 d5 [8...Ne4 9.Qc2 d6 10.Bb2 f5 is standard when Black attacks on the kingside] 9.Bb2 Nbd7 10.Bd3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 c5 12.0-0 Rc8 13.Qe2 Qe7 14.Rfc1 cxd4 15.Nxd4 += h6 16.Ba6! A typical theme. Although this relinquishes the advantage of the two bishops it serves to expose the c6 square and the a7 pawn 16...Bxa6 17.Qxa6 Rxc1+ 18.Rxc1 Nb8 19.Qc4 now White is clearly better 16...Bxa6 17.Qxa6 Rxc1+ 18.Rxc1 Nb8 19.Qc4 now White is clealry better 19...Rd8 20.h3 Ne8 21.b5 Rd5 22.Qe2 Rc5 23.Rd1 Rc8 [23...Nd6 24.a4] 24.Qf3 Rd8 [24...Nf6 25.e4] 25.Rc1 Nd6 26.a4 e5 27.Nf5 Nxf5 28.Qxf5 f6 29.Qe4
A nice move that serves to emphasise White's dominance. If Black could get his knight to a decent square he would be alright but this cannot be organised 29...Qf7 [29...Nd7 30.Rc7 Qd6 31.Rxa7] 30.Ba3 Kh8 [30...Qb3 31.Bd6 Rxd6 32.Rc8+ Kf7 33.Rxb8 Qd5 34.Qxd5+ Rxd5 35.Rb7+ Kf8 36.Rxa7 is a won endgame] 31.Kh2 Kg8 32.Bd6! Qd7 [32...Rxd6 33.Rc8+ +-] 33.Bc7 Rf8 34.Rc2 Re8 35.Rc4 Qf7 36.Bd6 Rd8 37.Rc7 Nd7 [37...Qe6 38.Be7 Re8 39.Qb7 +-] 38.Qc6 Qe6 39.Rxa7 Kf7 40.Qxb6 1-0  Photo © Casto Abundo [http://www.fide.com] Michael Adams survived a scarey sacrificial variation of the Queen's Indian in order to win against Alexei Shirov. Shirov sacrificed the exchange and that turned into a whole rook at one point but Adams carefully set about returning the whole lot. Shirov probably didn't like the look of the bishop ending but in trying to avoid a tricky ending he blundered the exchange. Adams finished things quickly to take a one point lead. Shirov,A (2699) - Adams,Mi (2734) [E17] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 Adams has recently been playing Ba6 and seeks to avoid Shirov's preparation 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.d5 Shirov goes all in when he did not really need to. Mamedyarov has scored some nice wins recently in this line which was resurrected by Kasparov but then subsequently fell out of favour. 7...exd5 8.Nh4 c6 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nf5 Nc7 Anticipating e2-e4 and allowing Black to strike back in the centre 11.e4 d5 12.Nc3 Bf6 13.exd5 [13.Bf4 Kasparov-Karpov WCC Moscow 1984] 13...Nxd5! A move which has been largely ignored but seems entirely reasonable. Black wants to exchange pieces. 14.Nxd5 cxd5 15.Bf4 Nd7 [15...Bxb2 16.Rb1 Bf6 17.Nd6 Ba6 18.Bxd5 looks dangerous] 16.Nd6 Ba6 17.Qxd5!? Bxf1 18.Kxf1 Rb8 19.Rd1 Nc5 20.Nxf7 A typically deep Shirov combination but Adams sees he is well placed at the end of the tactics 20...Rxf7 21.b4 Qxd5! [21...Na6 22.Qb3 Qf8 23.Bxb8 Nxb8 24.Bd5 g6 25.Rc1 looks promising for White] 22.Bxd5 Rd8 23.bxc5 bxc5
24.Be3? [24.Bxf7+ Kxf7 25.Rxd8 Bxd8 Is slightly better for Black but in trying to avoid this Shirov blunders] 24...Kh8! Simple as that, Black emerges rook for bishop ahead 25.Bxf7 Rxd1+ 26.Ke2 Rd7 27.Bb3 Bd4 28.Bf4 Re7+ 29.Kf1 g6 30.Bh6 Rc7 31.Bf4 Rc6 32.Bd5 Rb6 33.Bb3 Rc6 34.Bd5 Rb6 35.Bb3 c4! This leads to the white king being trapped on the back rank and forces the win 36.Bxc4 Rb2 37.h4 Rxf2+ 38.Ke1 Rc2 39.Bb3 Rh2 40.a4 Kg7 The Black king advances to f6 when Be5 will force either an exchange of bishops into a trivially winning position or the win of a kingside pawn. Adams needs to hold with black to win the match. 0-1  Photo © Casto Abundo [http://www.fide.com] Vladimir Malakhov played a fairly rare variation of the Semi-Slav and this allowed Alexander Grischuk to at least equalise and probably get a little more just out of the opening. When Malakhov traded queen's Grischuk's advantage increased and 9 moves later he had to resign. Grischuk now is two up with two to play. Malakhov,V (2679) - Grischuk,A (2717) [D43] 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Avoiding the argument after 5.e4 5...c6 6.Qxc4 b5 7.Qd3 Nbd7 8.e4 b4 9.Na4 Qa5 10.b3 c5 11.Be2 Bb7 12.e5 Ne4!? Aggressive and risky. Malakhov's second Alexey Dreev has played Nd5 here 13.Be3 Rd8 14.0-0 a6 Deliberately complicating, this prevents Qb5 15.Rac1 Be7 16.Qc2 0-0 17.Bd3 cxd4 18.Bxe4 Rc8 [18...Bxe4 19.Qxe4 dxe3 20.Qxe3 Rc8= again Grischuk wants to fight] 19.Bxh7+ Kh8 20.Qd3 Rxc1 21.Bxc1 [21.Rxc1 Bxf3 22.Bxd4 looks better, dxe3 is no threat because of Qxd7] 21...Bxf3 22.Qxf3 [22.gxf3 Nxe5 23.Qe4 f5! 24.Qb7 Kxh7 25.Qxe7 Nxf3+ 26.Kg2 Qd5 wins] 22...Kxh7 23.Re1 Kg8 24.Qg3?! [Wasting time, better 24.Qe4 ] 24...f6 25.exf6 Rxf6 26.Qd3 Qd5!
27.Qe4? It is not apparent now but the ending turns out to be dangerous for White, perhaps 27.Nb2 27...Qxe4 28.Rxe4 e5! 29.Nb2 Rc6! 30.Nc4 Nb6 31.Rxe5 Bf6 32.Ra5 Nxc4 33.bxc4 Rxc4 White has back rank problems and he cannot coordinate to prevent the d pawn going. 34.Bf4 d3 35.g3 Rc2 36.Rd5 Rxa2 37.Rxd3 Ra3 The pawns romp home 0-1  Photo © Casto Abundo [http://www.fide.com] Evgeny Bareev went 4/4 in advantageous openings against Judit Polgar with a huge position, probably winning, by move 18. Polgar had a resignable position but did fight on into an ending where she appeared to at least improve her position but in the end she could not hold the game and also went two down with two to play. Bareev,E (2643) - Polgar,Ju (2727) [E19] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 An odd choice when you are a point down in a short match 8.Qc2! Opting to keep some tension [8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.Ne1 is often the precursor to a short draw but Judit would neveraccept anyway] 8...Nxc3 9.Qxc3 c5 10.Rd1 d6 11.b3 Nd7 12.Bb2 Nf6 [12...Bf6 is standard when Black is solidly placed. Now Bareev gets a favourable Benoni for several reasons. The bishop on e7 is not well placed, the bishop on b7 is not well placed, Black's queenside pawn advance does not hit a knight on c3 and White's pieces are good.] 13.d5! exd5 14.cxd5 Re8 15.e4 Bf8 16.Nd2 b5 17.a4! b4 [17...a6 18.Qd3 is embarassing because if 18...Qd7 19.Bxf6] 18.Qc2 g6 19.a5 Making the c4 squares unassailable 19...Ba6 20.Bf1! Bxf1 21.Rxf1 Now White has a free hand in the centre and just prepares the thematic e4-e5. Black's pawns on the queenside are going nowhere 21...Bh6 22.f4 Bg7 23.Rfe1 Qd7 24.Nc4 Nh5 25.Rad1 Bxb2 26.Qxb2 Ng7 27.Qg2 Rad8 28.g4 f6 29.h3 g5 Trying to prevent e5 30.fxg5 fxg5 31.e5! dxe5 32.d6 Qf7 33.Qd5 e4 [33...Qxd5 34.Rxd5 wins a pawn] 34.Qxg5 [34.Qxf7+ Kxf7 35.Rd5 looks winning] 34...Qf3 35.Qd5+ Re6 36.Re3 Rdxd6!
Brilliant defence but White is still much better 37.Rxf3 Rxd5 38.Rxd5 exf3 39.Kf2 Re2+ 40.Kxf3 Rc2 [40...Ne6 41.Kxe2 Nf4+ 42.Kf3 Nxd5 43.Ke4 Nc7 44.Ke5 +-] 41.Rd8+ Kf7 42.Rd7+ Kg6 43.Rxa7 Ne6 [43...Rc3+ 44.Ke4 Rxb3 45.Ne5+ Kf6 46.Nd7+ Kg5 47.Nxc5 +-] 44.Ke4 Nd4 45.h4 Rh2 46.a6 Nxb3 47.Kd5 Kf6 48.Rxh7 Ra2 49.a7 Nc1 50.Ne5 Rd2+ 51.Kxc5 Ra2 52.Nd7+ Kg6 53.Nf8+ Kf6 54.Kxb4 1-0 Sergey Rublevsky played a fairly circumspect variation of the Sicialian Ruslan Ponomariov which was sensible with his one point lead. Pieces were traded off and they played on a knight and pawn ending a lot longer than some might before the inevitable draw.Rublevsky,S (2680) - Ponomariov,R (2717) [B87] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5 [7...Nbd7 8.Bg5 Qa5 Game 2. Black missed his chances in that game which was drawn] 8.0-0 Be7 9.Qf3 Qb6 10.Be3 Qb7 11.Qg3 b4 12.Na4 Nbd7 13.f3 [13.Qxg7 Rg8 14.Qh6 Rg6 15.Qh3 Qxe4 16.Rae1 Bb7 =+] 13...0-0 14.Rac1! Black is peculairly vulnerable down the c file 14...Rb8 15.c3 bxc3 16.Rxc3 Ne5 17.Rfc1 Bd7
18.Qe1 [The computer likes 18.Nb6 Qxb6 19.Nxe6 But its hardly appropriate when you are one up in a short match] 18...Bd8 19.Qd1 Ba5 20.R3c2 Rfc8 21.Rxc8+ Rxc8 22.Rxc8+ Qxc8 23.Bd2 Qc7 24.Bxa5 Qxa5 25.Nc3 Qc5 26.Kf1 a5 Now Black has an edge due to his dark squared control and knight on e5 but its not serious 27.Nde2 Kf8 28.Qd4 Qxd4 29.Nxd4 Nd3 30.Ke2 Nxb2 31.Kd2 a4 32.Kc2 axb3+ 33.axb3 e5 34.Nde2 Rublevsky has foreseen all this, it just leads to a drawn position which is exactly what he wants 34...Nc4 35.bxc4 Be6 36.Nd5 Nd7 37.Nec3 f5 Black tries to make something out of nothing 38.Nb5 fxe4 39.fxe4 Bxd5 40.cxd5 Ke7 41.Kd3 Nf6 42.Na3 Ng4 43.h3 Nf6 44.Nc4 Kd7 45.Ke3 Ke7 46.Kf3 Kd7 47.g4 h6 48.Ne3 g6 49.Ng2 Ke7 50.Nh4 Kf7 51.Ke3 Nh7 52.Nf3 Kf6 53.h4 Ke7 54.Nd2 Nf6 55.Kf3 Kd7 56.g5 1/2-1/2 Rustam Kasimdzhanov against Boris Gelfand is the only match in which all the games have been drawn. That is more of a reflection of the quality of the play rather than any lack of interest. Again today Kasimdzhanov sacrificed a pawn for unclear chances (in fact Gelfand turned down a second) and he made the most of them appearing to get at least some chances but Gelfand eventually managed to swap into a drawn bishop ending.Kasimdzhanov,R (2677) - Gelfand,B (2733) [D24] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bxc4 Going for it ! 6...Nxe4 7.0-0 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 [8...Bxc3 I guess in principle one would avoid possible preparation after 9.Bg5 Qd6 10.Rc1 Bb4; 8...Bxc3 9.Rb1 0-0 10.Qd3 Ba5 11.Ng5 g6 12.Qh3 h5 13.Rd1] 9.Ne5 0-0 10.Qg4 Kh8 [10...Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Rd1; 10...Nd7 11.Bh6 Bf6 12.Rfe1 both with good compensation] 11.Qh3 Qe8 12.Bd3 f5 13.Re1!? [13.Be2!? Nd7? 14.Bh5 +-] 13...Nc6 14.Nf3 Qg6 15.Rb1 Bd6 16.Rb2 b6 17.Rbe2 White is clearly going to get the pawn back but Black will get his pieces out. 17...Bd7 18.Ng5 Rae8 19.Bb5 h6 20.Bxc6 Bxc6 21.Nxe6 Rg8 22.c4 Bd7 23.d5 Bxe6 24.Rxe6 Rxe6 25.dxe6 Re8 26.Qe3 Because its well blockaded the passed pawn on e6 is more of a liability now 26...f4 [26...Bc5 27.Qe5 Bb4 28.Re2 Rd8! -/+ and if 29.e7 Rd1+ 30.Re1 Rxe1+ 31.Qxe1 Bxe1] 27.Qe4 Qxe4 28.Rxe4 Kh7 29.f3 g5 30.Kf2 Kg6 31.g4! Kf6 32.Bb2+ Ke7 33.h4 White must act before Black organises Rg8-g6 33...gxh4 34.Bg7 h3 35.Kg1 Bc5+ 36.Kh2 Rd8 37.Bxh6 Rd3
38.Kxh3 [Possibly missing Black's 39th. It turns out the h3 pawn can wait 38.Bg5+ Ke8 39.Bxf4 Rxf3 40.Bxc7 Ke7 41.g5 loooks good.] 38...Rxf3+ 39.Kh4 Re3! 40.Bg5+ Ke8 41.Rxe3 fxe3 42.Kg3 e2 43.Bd2 Ke7 44.Kf3 Kxe6 45.Kxe2 c6 46.Bf4 Be7 47.Kd3 b5 48.cxb5 Once again a very complex game with Kasimdzhanov pressing a little and Gelfand proving very hard to beat. This looks set for tie breaks. 1/2-1/2 |
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 Kasparov Books |
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 Giant Chess Sets |
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 Chess Computers |
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 Books 2000/1/2/3 |
