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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).  Kasparov defeated Vallejo in round 7. Photo © Jesús J. Boyero Gabarre Round 7 February 26, 2004 The unthinkable happened in the seventh round at Linares as the spectators were treated to three high quality and entertaining games that all ended decisively. Previously sixteen of the eighteen games had been drawn but there were more decisive results in the seventh round alone than in all the previous days. The Hungarian world title candidate Peter Leko retains the lead at the halfway stage and reached 4/6 after grinding down Alexey Shirov in an endgame with rooks and opposite coloured bishops. Shirov had sacrificed a pawn for activity and with the drawing tendencies of opposite coloured bishops I felt he should have held the position but after careful consolidation. Leko gradually made progress. Garry Kasparov provided the real fireworks, building an enormous attack that climaxed in a time scramble against Francisco Vallejo Pons. After a slow buildup during which both players consumed far too much thinking time Kasparov cleverly lured lots of black pieces to the queenside and then commenced hostilities on the other wing. With his queen, rooks and bishop offside Vallejo was suddenly defenceless. The world champion Vladimir Kramnik's victory over Veselin Topalov was the most significant result of the day because it saw Kramnik finally benefit from his attempts to sharpen his opening repertoire. Kramnik opened with the King's Pawn and took on the sharpest line against the Sicilian Najdorf. With some very imaginative play he caught Topalov's king in the centre and the Bulgarian GMs sacrifice of rook for bishop proved inadequate against Kramnik's accurate technique. Round seven results Kasparov 1-0 Vallejo Pons, Slav Defence, 37 moves Kramnik 1-0 Topalov, Sicilian Najdorf, English Attack, 37 Leko 1-0 Shirov, Petroff Defence, 54 Scores: 1 Leko (Hungary) 4/6; 2-3 Kramnik (Russia), Kasparov (Russia) 3.5/6; 4 Shirov (Spain) 3/6; 5-6 Vallejo Pons (Spain), Topalov (Bulgaria) 2.5/6, 7 Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 2/6 Kasparov,G (2831) - Vallejo Pons,F (2663) [D45] XXI SuperGM Linares ESP (7), 26.02.2004 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0-0 Be7 9.b3 Rc8 10.Bb2 Qc7 11.Rad1 h6 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 0-0 [ 13...c5 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Be5 Qd7 16.Qe2 Nxd3 17.Rxd3 Qc6 18.Nd6+ Bxd6 19.Bxd6] 14.c5 Nxe4 [ 14...bxc5 15.Nxc5 Nd5 16.Rfe1 Bf6 17.Ba3 Rfd8 18.Ne5 Nf8 19.Be4 is better for White.] 15.Bxe4 a5 [ 15...Nf6 16.Bd3 Nd5 Looks better.] 16.Rfe1 Rfd8 17.Bh7+ Kh8 18.Bd3 Kg8 [ 18...bxc5 19.Ne5 Nxe5 20.dxe5 and White can start an attack on the kingside.] 19.Bh7+ Kh8 20.Bd3 Kg8 21.Ba3 Qb8 22.Qc1 bxc5 23.Bb1 Qa7 24.Qc2 Nf6 [ 24...g6 25.Rxe6!; 24...Nf8!?] 25.Ne5 Rd5 26.Ng4 Rf5 27.Nxf6+ gxf6 28.h4 Kh8 29.Qe2 Ba6  30.Qe3 attacking h6 renewing threat the Rf5 and enabling a recapture on c5 exchanging Black's key defensive piece the Be7. 30...Rh5 31.Bxc5 Bxc5 32.dxc5 Qxc5 33.Qf3 Kg7 34.Qg4+ [ 34.Rxe6! would have been a nice finish.] 34...Kh8 35.Rd7 Rg8 [ 35...Rf8 36.Qf3 Kg7 37.Rxe6] 36.Qf3 Re5 37.Qxf6+  1-0 |
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| Fritz8/Deep Fritz |
 Kasparov Books |
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