Round 6 11th July 2002

AUF WIEDERSEHEN, THEN

DURING the massed unemployment height of the Thatcher Years, the German phrase Auf Wiedersehen (literally meaning ‘Till Next Time’) went down in British folklore thanks to a hit TV comedy of the same name, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

It began in 1983 and followed the exploits of three out of work Newcastle bricklayers as they set off for Germany in a desperate attempt to find employment. They eventually get a job on a building site in nearby Düsseldorf (about 60km from Dortmund – 62.5km to be more precise, says Herr Direktor Carsen Hensel in a German sort of way), where they end up sharing a wooden hut on the site with four other Brits in a similar predicament. They became known as ‘The Magnificent Seven’, and the award-winning series chronicled the antics of Dennis, Oz, Neville, Bomber, Wayne, Barry and Moxey during their six month stay abroad.

Although it’s only been six days here in Dortmund so far, it’s beginning to feel like six months – the only difference being that the accommodation of the Holiday Inn is far more luxurious than the hut the boys christened “Stalag Luft Düsseldorf”, which was ceremoniously burned down in the last episode. However we have now reached that stage of the tournament when we have to bid Auf Wiedersehen to half of the field who have starred this week in the Westfalenhallen as they ‘suddenly’ find themselves out of work.

Michael Adams on his way home

Sadly for the Brits, departing early from Group 2 is world number four Mickey Adams. This comes as a big disappointment because Mickey is a genuine class act at the board, who seems to save his best for the big moment. If anything, Mickey has looked somewhat tired and jaded during the tournament and rode his luck the day before when he really should have lost to Morozevich – the sad reality though is that you really can’t expect to progress further at this level without at least winning one game. After the game, a jubilant Leko claimed that he really had to ‘take’ Adams in the Classical session as the draw (a favourite prediction from all the hacks in the press room) he felt would have given Adams the initiative as he tends to have nerves of steel during important playoffs.

Leko,P (2717) - Adams,M (2752) [C42]

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Nc6 7 0–0 Be7 8 c4 Nf6 9 h3 0–0 10 Nc3 Nb4 11 Be2 dxc4 12 Bxc4 c6 13 Bg5 Nbd5 14 Re1 Be6 15 Qb3 Qb6 16 Nxd5 cxd5 17 Qxb6 axb6 [The endgame arising from this variation isn't an easy one for Black to play, but Adams must have felt it was 'holdable' if he used it against Leko in such a crucial game.] 18 Bb3 h6 [ The Bishop really has to be nudged now: 18 ..Rfc8 19 Re2 Kf8 20 Ne5 Ne4 21 Nd7+! Bxd7 22 Bxe7+ Kxe7 23 Bxd5 Kd6 24 Bxe4 Re8 25 Re3 Bc6 26 Bc2 Bd5 27 a3 Rec8 28 Bb3 Ra5 29 Rae1 Rc7 30 Rg3 g6 31 Re8 Bc6 32 Rd8+ Ke7 33 Rh8 Rh5 34 Re3+ Kf6 35 Rd8 Bd7 36 d5 Re5 37 d6 Rc1+ 38 Kh2 Rxe3 39 fxe3 Bc6 40 Rc8 Rc5 41 Rc7 Rg5 42 e4 Bxe4 43 Rxf7+ Ke5 44 Re7+ 1–0 Svidler,P-Jussupow,A/Yerevan ARM 2001/TWIC 363.] 19 Bf4 Rfc8 20 Ne5 g5 21 Bh2 Bb4 22 Re2 Ne4 23 Nd3 Bf8 24 Rae1 Bg7 25 Be5 Bxe5 26 Nxe5 Kg7 27 Nd3!

[Leko systematically probes all the weaknesses. With the removal of the dark-squared Bishop, the Knight finds an ideal outpost to put further pressure on d5.] 27 ..Rc7 28 Nb4 Rd8 29 g4 Nf6 30 Kg2 Rd6 31 f3 Bd7 32 Kg3!

[Now all of Leko's pieces - including his King - are ideally situated for the breakthrough.] 32 ..Kf8 33 h4 Bb5 34 Re5 gxh4+ [Adams is forced to further weaken his pawn structure as allowing White to exchange on g5 would have eventually lost a pawn to a Re5] 35 Kxh4 Bc4 36 Bc2 Bb5 37 a3 Rd8 38 Kg3 Kg7 39 Bf5 Kf8 40 Rh1 Kg7 41 Nc2 [The Knight is heading for better prospects on e3, where it can attack d5 and threaten f5.] 41 ..Re8 42 Ne3 Rce7 43 Kf4 Bc6 44 Bc2 Bd7 [Unfortunately there's a little sting in the tail if Black thinks he's exchanging his h-pawn for the strong White pawn on e5: 44 ..Rxe5 45 dxe5 Nd7 46 Nf5+ Kf8 ( 46 ..Kg8 47 Nxh6+ Leads to the same line.) 47 Rxh6 Kg8 48 Rh7!! Kxh7 ( 48 ..Rxe5 49 Nh6+ Kf8 50 g5 Re2 ( 50 ..Ke8 51 g6 fxg6 52 Bxg6+ Kf8 53 Rf7+) 51 Rh8+ Ke7 52 Nf5+ Ke6 53 Re8#) 49 Nd6+ Kg8 50 Nxe8 and Black is left defending a horrible endgame a pawn down.] 45 g5 1–0

Next for the P45 was Alexander “eins, zwei...” Morozevich, who to be frank has paid the penalty for arriving in Dortmund minus any back-up team. After missing the threefold the round before against Adams, Morozevich had to be even more daring than usual in an all-out attempt for the win – which if he had pulled it off, would have put him into a playoff.

Bareev,E (2726) - Morozevich,A (2716) [A00]

1 d4 g6 2 g3 Bg7 3 Bg2 c5 4 c3 Qa5 [Fischer played 4 ..Qb6 against Benko in the 1962 Canadidates tournamnet in Curacao.] 5 Nd2 cxd4 6 Nb3 Qb6 7 cxd4 [After the game, Bareev conceded that he was already "slightly worse," going on to described his eighth move as "a little idiotic."] 7 ..Nf6 8 d5 d6 9 Nf3 0–0 10 0–0 Na6 11 Nfd4 Bd7 12 Bd2 Nc5 13 Ba5 Qa6 14 Qd2 Rfc8 15 Nxc5 Rxc5 16 Nb3 Rc4 17 Rfc1 Rxc1+ 18 Nxc1 Ng4 [ This totally surprised Bareev, who said he was "amazed to see it," as he felt it let much of Black's advantage slip away. The simple plan of 18 ..Rc8 followed by Qc4 to pile up the pressure on the c-file was more precise.] 19 Nd3 Rc8 20 h3 Ne5 21 Bc3 Nc4 [ 21 ..Nxd3 22 exd3 Bf5! and White is going to have to defend a very difficult ending.] 22 Qg5! Bxc3 23 Qxe7 Nxb2 [ It would have been much simpler going for 23 ..Bxb2! 24 Nxb2 Ne5! 25 Nd3 ( 25 f4? Qxe2!) 25 ..Re8 26 Qf6 Nxd3 27 exd3 Qa3 and the Black pieces are superbly placed.] 24 Qxd7 Rf8 [ 24 ..b5!] 25 Rc1 Nxd3 26 Rxc3 Ne5 27 Qc7 Qxe2 28 Re3 Qxa2 29 Bf1 Qxd5

[Bareev may have solved the problem over the development of his pieces, but at the cost of three pawns. His only salvation in the position was that by now Morozevich was very short of time as he scrambled to make the time control at move 40.] 30 Bg2 Qd1+ 31 Kh2 Qd2 32 Kg1 Nd3 33 Rf3 Ne1 34 Rf6 Qd1 [ 34 ..Nxg2! "And I was ready to shake his hand," admitted Bareev after the game.] 35 Bxb7 d5! 36 Kh2 Kg7? [ Nerves, no time left on the clock, whatever the reasons, Morozevich snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. Instead, 36 ..Qb3! with the idea of Nf3+, Nd2 and Ne4 and Black is easily winning.] 37 Qe5! Kg8 [ 37 ..Nd3 38 Rxf7+! Kxf7 ( 38 ..Kh6 39 Qg7+ Kg5 40 f4+) 39 Bxd5#] 38 Bxd5 Nd3 39 Qe7 Qe1 40 Bxf7+ and Morozevich's flag fell before he could reply - he's totally busted anyway. 1–0

Meanwhile in Group 1, it was clear Topalov was going to go through and a draw with Lutz secured him his semi-final placing. The big battle therefore was the showdown between Shirov and Gelfand – Shirov needing the draw, Gelfand the win. In a side note to this game, I’ve had a few emails from readers wondering why I didn’t annotate the “exciting Lutz-Gelfand game”? Sure, pieces were flying around all over the place before the players agreed a draw; but the sad fact is that the whole game (and I mean the WHOLE game) was actually published in ChessBase Magazine 87 as analysis by Dimitri Tyomkin! The Polish IM heavily annotated the Timman-Gelfand game from Wijk aan Zee earlier in the year and made the suggestion as an improvement for Black in his notes.

Gelfand

Now, the thing that worries me here is why the hell did Gelfand, playing in the most important tournament he’s had for a number of years, decide to trot down this line against wildcard Lutz? Gelfand really gave his lower-rated opponent an easy ride with this game – and now he ended up paying the penalty by needing to beat Shirov with Black to go into a playoff with the lapsed Latvian. It could have been oh so different for Gelfand had he chosen something more taxing for Lutz, as a win in that game would have allowed him the luxury of draw against Shirov for the playoff.

Shirov,A (2697) - Gelfand,B (2710) [B51]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 d6 4 Bxc6+ bxc6 5 0–0 Bg4 6 h3 Bh5 7 e5!?N [An interesting new idea from Shirov. Obviously taking on e5 is bad as after d3, Black's pawn structure will be a mess.] 7 ..e6 [ 7 ..d5 8 e6!? fxe6 9 Re1 with excellent compensation as Black struggles to complete his development.; Also not particularly attractive for Black is 7 ..dxe5 8 g4 Bg6 9 Nxe5] 8 exd6 Bxd6 9 d3 Ne7 10 Nbd2 0–0 11 Ne4 Nd5 12 Re1 [Black may have the bishop-pair and active pieces, but White in long-term is going to benefit from those rather ugly looking doubled, isolated c-pawns.] 12 ..Re8 13 Ng3 Bg6 14 Ne4 Bc7 [Shirov, by playing in a positional style today, has very cleverly let Gelfand, who needs a win to qualify, decide how he's going to complicate the game in an effort to play for a win. So, he decides to sacrifice one of the pawns for activity.] 15 Nxc5 e5 16 a3 f5 17 c4 Nf6 18 d4!

18 ..e4 [ 18 ..Bh5 19 dxe5! and Gelfand will be forced to exchange queens with the draw coming not far behind it.] 19 Ne5 Bh5 20 Qd2 Qd6 [ 20 ..Bxe5 21 dxe5 Qxd2 22 Bxd2 Rxe5 23 b4! and White's queenside pawns are more dangerous than Black's kingside pawns.] 21 Qc3 Rad8 22 Be3 Rxe5 [Black was in a bad way with White holding the advantage. Rather than give in to a draw, Gelfand decides to go down fighting - the rest of the game is pretty academic.] 23 Nb7 Qf8 24 dxe5 Rd3 25 Qb4 Bxe5 26 Qxf8+ Kxf8 27 Nc5 Rd6 28 Nb7 Rd7 29 Nc5 Re7 30 Rab1 f4 31 Bd2 Bd6 32 b4 Kf7 33 Bc3 e3 34 Bd4 Bxc5 35 Bxc5 Re5 36 fxe3 f3 37 gxf3 Bxf3 38 Kh2 Be4 39 Rb2 Rh5 40 Rf1 a6 41 Bd4 Bf5 42 Rf3 Ne4 43 b5 axb5 44 cxb5 cxb5 45 Rxb5 g6 46 a4 Nd2 47 Rf4 Rxh3+ 48 Kg2 Rh5 49 a5 Ke6 50 Re5+ Kd6 51 a6 1–0

Bareev, awaiting the loser

After it was all over, we had the farce of Topalov and Shirov, who both had the same score, having to turn up the next day to take part in a playoff to decide who symbolically would be the winner of the group. If the truth be told, both players would have rather let the other win the group as the runner-up was going to be paired against the so-called easier opponent of Group 2 winner Bareev - who lets be honest has certainly had his fair share of luck during the group stages.

Shirov and Topalov through but they still have to play off

Both Shirov and Topalov said afterward that they would rather flip a coin to decide their semifinal opponent and take Friday off. Howeverthat wasn’t the German way. Our ever-so strict Herr Direktor Carsten Hensel explained that the rules – and being in Germany you can’t break the rules - require playoffs to break all ties, both to separate qualifiers from non-qualifiers and first-place from second-place finishers. Oh jawohl, Carsten!

You can contact John Henderson at: jbhthescots@blueyonder.co.uk

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of TWIC, Chess & Bridge Ltd or the London Chess Center.