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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 Chess Club (to read the columns you need to register which is free).  New Leader Vladimir Kramnik. Photo © David Llada Round 11 March 2, 2004 Vladimir Kramnik took control of the 21st Linares tournament with victory over Peter Leko in the eleventh round. The world champion outplayed the man who will be challenging for his crown in September and scored an important psychological blow as well as replacing Leko as leader with three rounds remaining. Kramnik leads Leko and world number one Garry Kasparov by a full point but has played a game more. The strange seven player double round all play all format ensures one player sits out every round. Kramnik's win came with the black pieces in one of the sharpest battlegrounds of opening theory, the Sicilian Sveshnikov in which Black allows his pawn structure to be damaged in return for piece activity. Kramnik sacrificed a pawn and built up pressure on the kingside but with his own pieces very active Leko was convinced his position was safe but he was felled by a very far-sighted combination involving sacrifices of a bishop and a rook. Even as early as move 31 White must play very accurately to hold the balance. The other two games were also sharp struggles in main lines of opening theory and again the second player held his own although for a long time in the tussle between Alexei Shirov and Francisco Vallejo Pons it was quite unclear to me who was playing for a win. Round eleven results Leko 0-1 Kramnik, Sicilian Sveshnikov, Radjabov draw Topalov, Catalan, 23; Shirov draw Vallejo, Gruenfeld Defence, 51 Rest day: Kasparov Round twelve pairings Vallejo - Radjabov Topalov - Leko Kramnik - Kasparov Rest day: Shirov Scores: 1 Kramnik (Russia) 6/10; 2-3 Leko (Hungary), Kasparov (Russia) 5/9; 4 Topalov (Bulgaria) 4.5/9; 5 Shirov (Spain) 4.5/10; 6 Vallejo Pons (Spain) 4/9; 7 Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 4/10; Vladimir Kramnik took control of the 21st Linares tournament with victory over Peter Leko in the eleventh round. The world champion outplayed the man who will be challenging for his crown in September and scored an important psychological blow as well as replacing Leko as leader with three rounds remaining. Kramnik leads Leko and world number one Garry Kasparov by a full point but has played a game more. The strange seven player double round all play all format ensures one player sits out every round. Kramnik's win came with the black pieces in one of the sharpest battlegrounds of opening theory, the Sicilian Sveshnikov in which Black allows his pawn structure to be damaged in return for piece activity. Kramnik sacrificed a pawn and built up pressure on the kingside but with his own pieces very active Leko was convinced his position was safe but he was felled by a very far-sighted combination involving sacrifices of a bishop and a rook. Even as early as move 31 White must play very accurately to hold the balance. The other two games were also sharp struggles in main lines of opening theory and again the second player held his own although for a long time in the tussle between Alexei Shirov and Francisco Vallejo Pons it was quite unclear to me who was playing for a win. Round eleven results Leko 0-1 Kramnik, Sicilian Sveshnikov, Radjabov draw Topalov, Catalan, 23; Shirov draw Vallejo, Gruenfeld Defence, 51 Rest day: Kasparov Round twelve pairings Vallejo - Radjabov Topalov - Leko Kramnik - Kasparov Rest day: Shirov Scores: 1 Kramnik (Russia) 6/10; 2-3 Leko (Hungary), Kasparov (Russia) 5/9; 4 Topalov (Bulgaria) 4.5/9; 5 Shirov (Spain) 4.5/10; 6 Vallejo Pons (Spain) 4/9; 7 Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 4/10;  Vladimir Kramnik beat leader Peter Leko in round 11. Photo © Jesús J. Boyero Gabarre Leko,P (2722) - Kramnik,V (2777) [B33] XXI SuperGM Linares ESP (11), 02.03.2004 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bd3 Be6 12.0-0 Bxd5 13.exd5 Ne7 14.Qh5 e4 15.Be2 Bg7 16.c3 Rc8!? is a new move but Leko stands reasonably well for most of the game. Possibly he underestimated the influence of Kramnik's pawn wedge on f4 and e3. The pressure on g2 swings the game in Black's favour quite suddenly and Black's king remains safe despite the close attentions of the enemy queen and rook. [ 16...b4 0-1 Shirov,A-Leko,P Cap D'Agde FRA 2003 and ; 16...0-0 have been played before.] 17.Nc2 Rc5 18.Ne3 f4 19.Nf5 0-0 20.a4 Nxf5 21.Qxf5 Qe7 22.axb5 axb5 23.Qxf4 Rxd5 24.Rfd1 Re5 25.Qe3 f5 26.Qb6 f4 27.Qxd6 Qg5 28.f3 e3 29.Ra7 Kh8 30.Qd7 [ Not 30.Rd7 Rg8 31.Rd8? Bf8! winning.] 30...Rg8 31.Qh3 [ Probably the prophylactic 31.Kh1 was best to prepare Qh3 if necessary to cover g2. 31...Qg6 32.Qf7 Qh6 33.h3 seems to hold everything but Black is very active and has ideas of Rc5 and b5-b4 in an endgame should the queens be exchanged.] 31...Qg6! After this White has problems because Rh5 is coming removing the queen from the defence of g2. 32.Rad7 Rh5 33.R7d6  [ 33.R1d6 Qxd6 34.Rxd6 Rxh3 35.gxh3 Be5+] 33...Bf6!! 34.Rxf6 Qc2 35.Qxh5 Qxe2 36.g4 Qf2+  0-1 |
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| Fritz8/Deep Fritz |
 Kasparov Books |
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