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Morelia/Linares 2007. Round 1 17th February 2007. Video of the start of Round 1 http://www.chessvibes.com Peter Svidler and Levon Aronian discussed the Marshall Attack against the Ruy Lopez, they followed the game Anand-Aronian from Wijk aan Zee and the game ended in a repetition when it became clear that Svidler couldn't exploit his extra pawn. Veselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand was a Queen's Indian where the pieces were exchanged into a drawn middlegame. Last minute replacement Vassily Ivanchuk played a very interesting game against Peter Leko. Ivanchuk played the Scotch and obtained a nasty attack against Leko's king. Ivanchuk however used up far too much time and had to give perpertual check, when, if reports are correct, he only had a second left to play 13 moves. Ivanchuk,V (2750) - Leko,P (2749) [C45] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.g3 d5 8.Bg2 dxe4 9.0-0 0-0 10.Nd2 Bb6 11.Re1 [11.Nxe4 Qg6 12.Re1 Bg4 13.f3 Bd7 14.Nxc6 Bxe3+ 15.Rxe3 Bxc6 16.f4 Nf5 17.Re1 Rae8 18.Qd3 h5 19.Rad1 h4 20.Nf2 hxg3 21.hxg3 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 Rd8 23.Qxd8 Qxg3+ 24.Kf1 Rxd8 25.Rxd8+ Kh7 26.Rd3 Qxf4 27.Rh3+ Kg6 28.Re4 Qc1+ 29.Kg2 Qxb2 0-1 Pavasovic,D (2534)-Lautier,J (2682)/Turin ITA 2006/The Week in Chess 603] 11...Nxd4 12.Nxe4 Qg6 13.Bxd4 Nc6 14.Bxb6 axb6 15.Qd2 Qf5 [15...Ra5 16.Qf4 Ne5 17.Rad1 f6 18.b4 Ra8 19.Ng5 Bg4 20.Rd2 Rae8 21.Rxe5 1-0 Rublevsky,S (2652)-Sasikiran,K (2663)/Khanty Mansyisk RUS 2005/The Week in Chess 578] 16.h3 h6 17.g4 Qb5 18.a4! A really nice deflection. 18...Rxa4 19.Nf6+! gxf6 20.Rxa4 Qxa4 21.Qxh6 Qa5 22.Qxf6 Qc5 23.Be4 Ne7
24.Rd1 Ivanchuk was in serious time pressure. [24.Bh7+ Kxh7 25.Re5 may have produced serious winning chances.] 24...Ng6 Allowing the draw. Reports say Ivanchuk had only a second left to make it to move 40. If true then Leko could probably have won by playing [24...Be6 25.h4 Re8 26.h5 Ng6 27.hxg6 Qe7 28.gxf7+ Bxf7 29.Qxe7 Rxe7 30.Bd5 which almost certainly would have led to a win on time.] 25.Bxg6 with 15 moves to make in less than a minute Ivanchuk takes the pragmatic course and forces a draw. 25...fxg6 26.Qxg6+ Kh8 27.Qh6+ Kg8 1/2-1/2 Magnus Carlsen went to a 3.5-0.5 career record against Alexander Morozevich when he defeated him in a fascinating King's Indian Fianchetto.Carlsen,M (2690) - Morozevich,A (2741) [E66] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 e5 10.b3 Ng4 [10...Bd7 11.Bb2 a6 12.Qc2 b5 13.Rae1 Nh5 14.e3 Rb8 15.Nd1 f5 16.f4 e4 17.Bxg7 Nxg7 18.g4 bxc4 19.bxc4 Qb6 20.Kh1 Qb4 21.Qc1 Ba4 22.a3 Qb6 23.Qc3 Nb3 24.gxf5 gxf5 25.Rg1 Nxd2 26.Bf1 Rf7 27.Qxd2 Bxd1 28.Qxd1 Qb3 29.Qh5 Qc3 30.Re2 Qf6 31.Reg2 Rb3 32.Rg3 Rxa3 33.Rh3 h6 34.Rg6 Ra1 35.Qxh6 Rxf1+ 36.Kg2 Qb2+ 37.Kxf1 Kf8 38.Qh8+ Ke7 39.Re6+ 1-0 Lesiege,A (2500)-Vescovi,G (2490)/Bermuda 1997] 11.h3 Nh6 12.Nde4 f6 13.Nxd6! Qxd6 14.Ne4 Qd8 15.Nxc5 f5 16.d6 e4 17.d7 [17.Bxh6 Bxh6 18.d7 Qe7 19.Qd5+ Kh8 20.Rad1 Rd8 21.dxc8Q Raxc8 22.Qe6 was probably stronger.] 17...Nf7 18.Rb1 Qe7 19.dxc8Q Raxc8 20.Na4 Rfd8 21.Qe1 Nc6 22.Nc3 Nd4 23.Bb2 [23.Nd5] 23...b5 24.Nd5 Qd6 25.Bxd4 Bxd4 26.Rd1 Be5 27.Qa5 bxc4 28.Ne3 Qc7 29.Qxc7 Bxc7 30.Nxc4 Ne5 31.Rxd8+ Rxd8 32.Rc1 White is a pawn up in the ending but the bishops of opposite colour provide serious drawing chances. 32...Nxc4 33.Rxc4 Rd1+ 34.Bf1 Bd6 35.e3 a5 36.Kg2 Kf7 37.Rc2 Ke7 38.Be2 Rd5 39.Bc4 Rd1 40.g4 f4?! This definitely loses a second pawn. 41.exf4 Bxf4 42.Re2 Rd4 43.Bd3 Kf6 44.Bxe4 Rd2
Entering the bishops of opposite colour ending. The trouble is that white has an extra pawn on both wings which provides serious winning chances. 45.Rxd2 Bxd2 46.Kg3 Be1 47.Kf3 Bb4 48.h4 h6 49.Ke2 Bd6 50.Kd3 Bc5 51.f4 h5 52.g5+ White fixes black's pawns on the light squares which is the correct strategy if you're trying to win such an ending. 52...Kg7 53.Kc4 Bd6 54.Kb5! White is prepared to sacrifice his entire kingside to get running queen side pawns. 54...Bxf4 55.Kxa5 Bg3 56.Kb5 Bxh4 57.a4 Bxg5 58.a5 Kf6 59.a6 Be3 60.Kc6 g5 61.b4 Ke5 62.b5! White's bishop has done its job. 62...Kxe4 63.b6 g4 64.a7 g3 65.a8Q Kf3 66.b7 Bf4 67.Qf8 Ke4 68.Qe8+ 1-0 Round 2 18th February 2007Malcolm Pein reports: Vassily Ivanchuk, a last minute substitute defeated the world number one Veselin Topalov in the second round of the Linares/Morelia tournament, the first leg of which is taking place in Mexico. Ivanchuk joined the sixteen year old prodigy Magnus Carlsen in the lead on 1.5/2 as the other games three games were drawn. It was a lovely game from Ivanchuk who kept his opponent passively placed throughout with a succession of tactical points that thwarted Topalov’s attempts at active play. Ivanchuk first pressured the queenside, then the centre and then the queenside again where he won a pawn. He even managed to create some threats on the kingside and the pressure finally he induced a blunder although by then Topalov’s position was precarious, a pawn down for no compensation. Note how Ivanchuk succeeds in controlling the d5 square and then weakens the queenside with 25.a4! ; His 22.h4 also keeps Black guessing on the other wing as avoid h4-h5 would cramp his king. Later on the h4 pawn creates threats of Ng5+. Ivanchuk,V (2750) - Topalov,V (2783) [B90] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bc4 0-0 9.0-0 Be6 10.Bxe6 Rarely played as it cedes the key square d5 but "Chucky" finds a way to overcome this 10...fxe6 11.Na4 Taking aim at b6 and then d5 11...Ng4 [11...Nxe4 12.Nb6 Ra7 13.Nd5 Nc6 14.Bxa7 Nxa7 15.Re1 gives insufficient compensation to Black and Nbd7 15...Ng5 wins as does 16.Nb6 Ra7 Ng5] 12.Qd3 Nxe3 13.Qxe3 b5 14.Nb6 Ra7 15.Nd5! Rb7 [15...exd5 16.Qxa7 dxe4 17.Nd2 d5 18.Rad1 is good for White] 16.Qd2 Nc6 [16...exd5 17.Qxd5+ Kh8 18.Qxb7] 17.Rad1 Rd7 [17...exd5 18.Qxd5+ Kh8 19.Qxc6] 18.Qc3 Nb8 19.Nxe7+ Qxe7 20.Rd3 The tactics have served to render the black position somewhat passive and d6 is now a target 20...h6 21.Rfd1 Rfd8 22.h4! Kh7 23.R1d2 Qf8 24.Qb3 Qe8 25.a4! Qg6 [Accepting that the pawn is lost but if 25...bxa4 26.Qxa4 Qg6 27.Rb3] 26.axb5 axb5 27.Re3 Na6 28.Qxb5 Nc5 29.Qc4 Ra7 30.Re1 Qe8 31.b4 [31.Nxe5 dxe5 32.Rxd8 Qxd8 33.Qxc5 was also good] 31...Na4 32.Qb3 Nb6 33.Red1 Rad7 34.Qd3 Rc8 35.c3 Ra7 36.Qe3 Ra6 37.Qe2 Nc4 38.Ra2 Rac6?! 39.Ra7 R6c7 40.Rda1
40...Qf7? [A blunder but if 40...Rxa7 41.Rxa7 Qg6 42.b5 Qe8 43.Qd1 Qxb5 44.Ng5+! hxg5 45.Qh5+ Kg8 46.Qf7+ Kh7 47.Qxg7# mate] 41.Qxc4! 1-0 Mark Crowther adds: Peter Leko faced the McCutcheon Variation of the French from Alexander Morozevich. This variation seems to be having a bit of a resurgence especially with its successful adoption by young Ian Nepomniachtchi. A very complex strategic and tactical struggle ended in a draw in a double rook ending on move 41.Magnus Carlsen almost made it 2/2 when he came very close to refuting an unsound sacrifice from Levon Aronian. However he allowed a strong breakthrough which meant that the game ended in perpetual check. See Magnus Carlsen Blog written by his father. Aronian,L (2744) - Carlsen,M (2690) [E04] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.e3 Bd7 8.Qe2 b5 9.Rd1 Be7 10.Nc3 0-0 [10...Nd5 11.a4 0-0 12.axb5 Nxc3 13.bxc3 axb5 14.Rxa8 Qxa8 15.d5 exd5 16.Rxd5 Qe8 17.Qd1 Nb8 18.Nd4 c6 19.Re5 Qd8 20.Qh5 g6 21.Qh6 Re8 22.h4 Bf8 23.Rxe8 Bxe8 24.Qf4 c5 25.Nf3 Qd6 26.Qxd6 Bxd6 27.Nd2 Bc6 28.f4 Bxg2 29.Kxg2 Nd7 30.e4 f6 31.Kf3 Nb6 32.Nb1 b4 33.Be3 Na4 34.Nd2 Nb2 35.Nb1 Kf7 36.g4 Ke6 37.f5+ gxf5 38.exf5+ Kd5 39.g5 fxg5 40.hxg5 Nd3 41.Ke2 Be5 42.g6 hxg6 43.fxg6 Bg7 44.Bg5 Ne5 45.Bd2 b3 46.Be3 Nxg6 47.Kf3 Ne5+ 48.Ke2 Nf7 49.Bd2 Nd6 50.Be1 Bh6 51.Bd2 Bxd2 52.Kxd2 Ne4+ 53.Ke2 Ke6 54.Kf3 Kf5 55.Ke3 Ke5 56.Na3 Nd6 57.Kf3 Kd5 58.Ke3 Nf5+ 59.Kf4 Nd4 60.Nb1 Nb5 61.Ke3 Ke5 62.Ke2 Kf4 63.Kf2 Nd6 64.Ke2 Ne4 65.Kd1 Ke3 66.Kc1 Ke2 0-1 Beliavsky,A (2665)-Akopian,V (2655)/Pula CRO 1997] 11.Ne5 Qe8 12.b3 Nd5 13.Bxd5 exd5 14.Nxd5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Ra7 16.bxc4 c6 17.Nf4 Qc8 18.Bb2 g5! completely equalises. 19.e4? gxf4 20.gxf4 f5! This is what Aronian missed. Carlsen spent some time trying to work out precisely what Aronian intended and this may have cost him later. 21.Qe3 Rb7 22.Qg3+ Kf7 23.Qh3 Ke8 24.Qh5+ Rf7 25.Kh1 fxe4 26.Rg1 Bf5 27.Rad1
27...Rd7 [27...Bg6 28.Rxg6 hxg6 29.Qxg6 Qh3!! this is what Carlsen missed. ; 27...Bf8 also won.] 28.e6!! Not very complicated but missed by Carlsen. 28...Bxe6 29.Rg8+ Bf8 30.Rxf8+ Kxf8 31.Qh6+ Ke7 Black can't really avoid repetition. 1/2-1/2 Viswanathan Anand couldn't get much against Peter Svidler's Ruy Lopez Anti-Marshall and the Russian eventually emerged a pawn up but the presence of bishops of opposite colour always made exploiting the advantage problematic and the game was drawn in 47 moves.Round 3 19th February 2007 Peter Svidler and Vassily Ivanchuk followed the Petroff in Svidler-Kramnik from Wijk aan Zee until Svidler's 13...Qxb7. Optically it looked like the subsequent ending was better for Svidler but he didn't seem to find anything and Ivanchuk activated his pieces, later with 34....Re7 Svidler might have even been worse but the game then exchanged out to a draw. Veselin Topalov obtained almost nothing against Peter Leko in the Queen's Indian after they'd played 22 moves of theory. After they entered a bishops of opposite colour ending on move 29 there was only ever going to be one result, draw. Magnus Carlsen had a terrible day against Viswanathan Anand. He failed to realise the point where Anand equalised and continued to play for an advantage. He was left in a depressingly passive position and started to blitz Anand who responded in kind. Anand's 26.f4? was a terrible move that threw away all his advantage but Carlsen didn't even think before playing the flashy and bad 27.Be4 after which he was just crushed. [A slightly different take is available on Magnus Carlsen's blog where its suggested Anand simply thought the position level and f4 was the best try] Carlsen,M (2690) - Anand,V (2779) [D47] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.b3 Bb7 11.Bb2 a6 12.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Bxe4 Nf6 [13...f5 14.Bc2 c5 15.dxc5 Nxc5 16.b4 Ne4 17.Bb3 Qe7 18.a3 Kh8 19.Qe2 Ng5 20.Nxg5 Qxg5 21.f4 Qe7 22.Rad1 Rad8 23.Qf2 Bb8 24.Qg3 Bd5 25.Bxd5 exd5 26.Rd3 Rd7 27.Rfd1 Rfd8 28.Bd4 Qe6 29.Qf3 Kg8 30.h3 Qe4 31.Bb6 Qxf3 32.gxf3 Bc7 33.Bd4 Kf7 34.Rc3 Ra8 35.Rdc1 Bd8 36.Rc8 Rxc8 37.Rxc8 Bf6 38.Rc6 Bxd4 39.exd4 Re7 40.Rxa6 Re3 41.Kf2 Rd3 42.Ke2 Rxd4 43.Rb6 Rxf4 44.Rxb5 Ke6 45.a4 Rc4 46.a5 Rc2+ 47.Ke3 Ra2 48.Kd4 Rd2+ 49.Kc3 Ra2 50.Kb3 Ra1 51.Kb2 Ra4 52.Rb7 g5 53.Kb3 Ra1 54.Rxh7 Ke5 55.h4 gxh4 56.Rxh4 d4 57.Rh8 Rb1+ 58.Kc4 Rc1+ 59.Kb5 1-0 Murugan,K (2390)-Gunasekaran,K (2265)/Chennai IND 2004/The Week in Chess 483] 14.Bc2 c5 15.dxc5 Bxc5 16.Ng5 Qxd1 17.Raxd1 Kh8 18.g3? leads to terrible problems in a moment. 18...h6! 19.Bxf6 hxg5! Of course Anand is going to make white pay on the light squares. 20.Bb2 [20.Be7 Rfc8 21.Bxc5 Rxc5 22.Bb1 Bf3 23.Rd7 Rac8 24.Bd3 Rc1 25.Rxf7 Rxf1+ 26.Bxf1 g4 27.h3 Rc1 28.hxg4 Be2; 20.Bd4 Rac8] 20...Rac8 21.Rc1 Rfd8 22.Rfd1 Bf3 23.Rxd8+ Rxd8 24.a3 b4 25.a4 White is tied hand and foot. A terribly depressing situation but unfortunately for Carlsen it also means he wasn't ready when Anand becomes inaccurate. 25...f5 [25...g4 is also good.] 26.Kf1
26...f4? [26...g4! although Carlsen's blog suggests Anand thought the position level and f4 was simply the best try] 27.Be4?? The two question marks are for Carlsen blitzing his opponent. He just wanted the game to be over but completely missed that he's back level with: [27.gxf4 gxf4 28.exf4 Rd2 29.Bg6! when the weak back rank means that Anand should now give perpetual check] 27...Bxe4 28.Rxc5 Rd1+ 29.Ke2 Rb1 30.Bc1 f3+ 31.Kd1 Rxb3 32.Rc4 Bd3 33.Rc8+ Kh7 34.e4 Desperate stuff but the position is completely beyond saving. 34...Rb1 35.Kd2 Bxe4 36.Ke3 Bd5 37.Bd2 Rb3+ 38.Kd4 Rb2 39.Be3 Re2 40.Rc1 Ba2 0-1 Alexander Morozevich against Levon Aronian was a fascinating tactical duel which I assume must have led to time pressure for both players because there were a string of inaccuracies and downright terrible moves played between moves 31 and 39. What was particularly surprising was that Morozevich missed a fairly obvious mating pattern which would have allowed him to score his first win. When things calmed down after first time control the position was unbalanced but level and the players quickly agreed a draw.Morozevich,A (2741) - Aronian,L (2744) [D38] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.e3 c5 8.Be2 Qa5 9.0-0 0-0 10.Nd2 [10.Qc2 Re8 11.dxc5 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Ne4 13.Rfc1 Ndxc5 14.Bf4 Be6 15.Qb2 Rac8 16.Qb4 Qd8 17.Nd4 Qf6 18.Bg3 b6 19.Rc2 Bf5 20.Rcc1 Bd7 21.c4 Nxg3 22.hxg3 Ne4 23.Qe1 dxc4 24.Rxc4 Rxc4 25.Bxc4 h5 26.Rc1 h4 27.gxh4 Qxh4 28.Nf3 Qh5 29.Be2 Nc5 30.Rc4 Bg4 31.Rd4 Bxf3 32.Bxf3 Qe5 33.Rd1 g6 34.g3 Kg7 35.Rd5 Qb2 36.Rd2 Qc3 37.Kg2 Qf6 38.Rd6 Qe5 39.Rd5 Qb2 40.Rd2 Qc3 41.Rd5 1/2-1/2 Kleiman,B (2322)-Arutinian,D (2552)/Pardubice CZE 2006/The Week in Chess 612] 10...Bxc3 11.bxc3 Qxc3 12.Rc1 Qa3 13.dxc5 Qxa2 14.Bf4 Re8 15.Nf3 Ne4 16.Bb5 a6 17.Ba4 Nexc5 Grabbing a hot pawn but this should work out OK and at least equalise. 18.Rxc5 Nxc5 19.Bxe8 Be6 20.Be5 Rxe8 21.Bxg7 Kxg7?! Probably not the best. [21...Qa4] 22.Qd4+ Kg8 23.Qxc5 Qc4 24.Qd6 Rc8 25.h3 Qc7 26.Qb4 a5 27.Qh4 Qc2 28.Nd4 Qe4 [28...Qg6] 29.Qe7 b6 30.Kh2 Bf5 31.Qf6 Bg6?! This seems to walk right into black's plans. 32.f4 Qxe3 33.Rf3 Qc1? [33...Qe8 34.f5 Qd8 with some kind of legal defence.] 34.Rg3 Qa1 35.f5?! [35.h4] 35...Rc1?! 36.Re3 Rh1+ 37.Kg3 Re1
38.Rf3? [38.Qd8+ Kg7 39.f6+ Kh6 40.Kh4 Qxd4+ 41.g4 Qb4 42.Qf8+ Qxf8 43.g5#; 38.Kh4 Rxe3 39.Qd8+ Re8 40.Qxe8+ Kg7 41.f6+ Kxf6 42.Qh8+ Ke7 43.Nf5+ Bxf5 44.Qxa1] 38...Rf1? [38...Re8 39.fxg6 Qe1+ 40.Rf2 fxg6 41.Ne2 Re3+ 42.Kh2] 39.fxg6? Finally throwing away the win. [39.Qd8+ Kg7 40.f6+ Kh6 41.Kh4 Qe1+ 42.g3 Qe4+ 43.g4 Qe1+ 44.Rg3 Qxg3+ 45.Kxg3] 39...Rxf3+ 40.Qxf3 Qe1+ 41.Kf4 hxg6 42.Qxd5 Qf2+ 43.Nf3 1/2-1/2 |
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 Giant Chess Sets |
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 Chess Computers |
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 Chess Assistant |
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 Books 2000/1/2/3 |
