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Chess by Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph
 Malcolm Pein writes for the Daily Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk)
you can read his chess columns along with those of Nigel Short and David
Norwood at their new
Chess
Club (to read the columns you need to register which is free). Win
prizes in the Telegraph chess challenge on the Chess Club pages. 5th Round Thursday, 27 Feb 2003.  Leader Peter Leko. Photo © Simón Hernández - Jaque Magazine World championship challenger Peter Leko of Hungary took the lead at the Linares tournament as he became the only player on 'plus two', chess parlance for a score with two more wins than losses. Leko reached 3/4 after outplaying the Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo Pons in a forty three move Sicilian Defence. It was very canny play from Leko who did not follow the normal strategy for white in the Sicilian and attack the king but instead exchanged Black's best bishop on dark squares, and headed for the endgame to exploit the resultant weak squares on the queenside.  Kasparov - Ponomariov Rd 5. Photo © Simón Hernández - Jaque Magazine Garry Kasparov inflicted more misery on the Fide champion Ruslan Ponomariov with an attacking game reminiscent of his earlier career. A slightly non-standard move in the opening from the young Ukrainian was met by a thrust in the centre, sacrificing a pawn for the attack. Ponomariov's knight was a spectator throughout the game and by the time it returned to the fray his cause was totally lost. They say: ' a knight on the rim is dim' and it certainly was here. This victory had great psychological significance, Kasparov and Ponomariov are due to meet for the Fide title in the Summer and so this win was a great blow to Ponomariov's ambitions. In the final position it was total domination as Kasparov's king marched down the board in triumph and pinned down his adversary's rook and knight. Because of the odd number of players the scores are a little skewed until we get to the halfway stage at round seven because some players have played five games and some four. Round five results: Radjabov draw Anand, Queen's Indian Defence, Petrosian System 4.a3, 25 moves ; Leko 1-0 Vallejo-Pons, Sicilian Paulsen, 43; Kasparov 1-0 Ponomariov, Queen's Indian Defence Classical 4.g3, 43; Scores after 5 rounds: 1 Leko (Hungary) 3/4; 2-3 Kramnik (Russia), Anand (India), 2.5/4; 4 Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 2.5/5; 5 Kasparov (Russia) 2/4; 6 Vallejo Pons (Spain) 1.5/4; 7 Ponomariov 1/5; Ponomariov seemed unfamiliar with the opening, 11. ..Na6 is normal, capturing on c3 strengthens White's centre and gives him all kinds of attacking options. Kasparov,G (2847) - Ponomariov,R (2734) [E18] XX SuperGM Linares ESP (5), 27.02.2003 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.c4 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 Bf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Rc1 d5 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Bf4 Nxc3?! Capturing on c3 strengthens White's centre and gives him all kinds of attacking options. [ 11...Na6 is normal.] 12.bxc3 Na6 intends ...c5 but 12. ...Re8 first was necessary. 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nd2 g5?  This is really asking for trouble. 15.Be3 Kasparov must have considered the immediate: [ 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.Bxe4 gxf4 17.Qh5 Re8 18.Qxh7+ Kf8 19.Bb7 trapping the knight.] 15...Re8 16.f4 exf3 17.Bxf3 Bd5 18.Bxd5 Qxd5 19.Rxf6 Rxe3 20.Qg4 Re6 21.Rf5 Qc6 22.Qxg5+ Rg6 23.Qh5 Rf8 24.Nf3 f6 25.Nh4 Rg7 26.Qh6 Nb8 27.Rh5 f5 28.Qf4 Qe4 29.Rf1 Qxf4 30.Rxf4 Rg4 31.Rfxf5 Nd7 32.Rxf8+ Nxf8 33.Kf2 Nd7 34.Nf5 Kh8 35.Kf3 Rg8 36.Rh6 Rf8 37.g4 Nf6 38.c4 Kg8 39.Kf4 Rf7 40.g5 Ne8 41.Ke5 Rd7 42.Ke6 Rf7 43.Rf6  43...Nxf6 [ 43...Nxf6 44.gxf6 threatening 45. Nh6+ winning the rook 44...Rf8 ( 44...Kf8 45.Nh6 doesn't help.) 45.f7+ Rxf7 46.Nh6+ wins.] 1-0 |
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| All material © Mark Crowther |
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