Morelia/Linares 2007. Rounds 10 4th March 2007

Round 11 (March 6, 2007)

Carlsen, Magnus        -  Ivanchuk, Vassily      1-0   35  D87  Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Svidler, Peter         -  Topalov, Veselin       1/2   38  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Aronian, Levon         -  Leko, Peter            1/2   41  E00  Catalan
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   29  E15  Queens Indian

XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (MEX/ESP), 17 ii-10 iii 2007cat. XX (2746)
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                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
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1 Anand, Viswanathan     g IND 2779 ** 11 == 0. =. == 1= 1.  7.0  2840
2 Carlsen, Magnus        g NOR 2690 00 ** =. == 11 1. 1= =.  6.5  2818
3 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2728 == =. ** == == == =. =.  5.5  2753
4 Aronian, Levon         g ARM 2744 1. == == ** 0. =. == ==  5.5  2738
5 Ivanchuk, Vassily      g UKR 2750 =. 00 == 1. ** 1= =. ==  5.5  2742
6 Topalov, Veselin       g BUL 2783 == 0. == =. 0= ** 1. ==  5.0  2708
7 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2741 0= 0= =. == =. 0. ** =1  4.5  2679
8 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2749 0. =. =. == == == =0 **  4.5  2683
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The 16 year old Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen scored a remarkable double over Vasily Ivanchuk and defeated him for the second time at Linares to move to within half a point of the leader Vishy Anand with three to play.

The other games were drawn but Peter Leko must have been dreaming of revenge on Levon Aronian for his last round defeat at last year’s tournament. Having stood worse, Leko won a pawn with a tactical shot but allowed his opponent to wriggle out of trouble in the endgame.

Carlsen,M (2690) - Ivanchuk,V (2750) [D87]
XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (11), 06.03.2007
[Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 Black must attack White's centre or be crushed. The focus of his counterplay is the d4 square 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Na5 An unfashionable line but a sensible choice since it has been rarely tried at the top level in Carlsen's lifetime. The other lines are [10...Qc7 and Rd8; 10...Bd7; and the old main line 10...cxd4 11.cxd4 Bg4 12.f3 Na5 when White plays Bxf7+ or 13.Bd3 Be6 14.d5 giving up the exchange] 11.Bd3 b6 12.Rc1 Qd2 and Rad1 is also possible but the c file is important in these positions after Black exchanges on d4 12...cxd4 13.cxd4 e6 14.Qd2 Bb7 15.h4! [White's plan is to undermine Black's dark squares by getting this pawn to h6. In my book on the Exchange Gruenfeld published in I attributed this move to Rainer Knaak and was so impressed I started to play it myself. Previously 15.Bh6 was standard] 15...Qe7 [15...Qd7 16.Bh6 Nc6 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Bb5 a6 19.Bxc6 Bxc6 20.d5 Bb5 21.Rfd1 e5 22.h5 Rac8 23.h6+ Kg8 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Nc3 Qd6 26.Nxb5 axb5 27.Qb2 b4 28.Rc1 Rc5 29.Rc2 Qc7 30.Rd2 Qd6 31.a3 Rc4 32.axb4 Rxe4 33.Qc1 Rxb4 34.Ra2 Qf8 35.Ra7 Qd8 36.g3 Qb8 37.Qg5 Qe8 38.Qf6 Rb1+ 39.Kg2 1-0 Kasparov,G-Lutz,C/Frankfurt 1986/EXT 2006] 16.h5 [16.Bg5 f6 17.Bf4 1-0 Knaak,R-Heinig,W/Eggesin 1978/EXT 2000 (39)] 16...Rfc8 [16...Rac8 17.h6 Bh8 18.e5 buries the black bishop] 17.e5 [17.Rxc8+ Rxc8 18.Rc1 Qd7 19.hxg6 hxg6 20.f3 Rxc1+ 21.Qxc1 1/2-1/2 Perdomo,L-Semerene,D/Bento Goncalves 2000/EXT 2001; 17.Bg5 Qa3 18.e5 Bd5 19.Nc3 Nc4 20.Bxc4 Rxc4 21.h6 Bf8 22.Nxd5 exd5 23.Rxc4 dxc4 24.d5 c3 25.Qd3 Qxa2 26.d6 Qe6 27.d7 Be7 28.Bxe7 Qxe7 29.Rd1 Rd8 30.Qxc3 b5 31.Rd6 b4 32.Qd4 b3 33.Qc3 a5 34.Qxa5 b2 35.Qb6 b1Q+ 36.Qxb1 Qxe5 37.Qd1 Qg5 38.Rc6 Qxh6 39.Rc8 Qf8 40.Qc2 Qe7 41.Rxd8+ 1-0 Zueger,B-Gobet,F/Geneve 1988/EXT 1997] 17...Rxc1N [17...Qd8 18.f3 Bd5 19.Bg5 f6 20.Bh6 Nc4 21.Bxc4 Bxc4 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Nf4 fxe5 24.Rxc4 exf4 25.h6+ Kxh6 26.Qxf4+ Qg5 27.Qh2+ Qh5 28.Qf4+ Qg5 29.Qh2+ Kg7 30.Rc7+ Rxc7 31.Qxc7+ Kg8 32.Re1 Qd5 33.Re4 Qxa2 34.Rf4 Rf8 35.Rxf8+ Kxf8 36.Qd8+ Kf7 37.Qc7+ 1/2-1/2 Andrews,S-Stone,R/Lansing 1989/EXT 2003] 18.Rxc1 Rc8 19.Rxc8+ Bxc8 20.Bg5 Qc7 [20...f6 21.exf6 Bxf6 22.Bxf6 Qxf6 23.Qc2 Bb7 24.Qc7] 21.Bf6!

21...Nc6? [21...Bb7 22.Qg5 h6 23.Qg4 Bxf6 24.exf6 Qd8! 25.hxg6 Qxf6 defends but after 26.gxf7+ Kxf7 27.Nf4 Bd5 28.Nxd5 exd5 29.Qd7+ White wins a pawn] 22.Qg5 Simply intending to play. Bxg7 h5-h6+ and Qf6 22...h6 23.Qc1! Creating threats to g6 and along the c file 23...g5 24.Bb5 Bd7 25.d5! exd5 26.Nd4 Winning a piece and the game 26...Bxf6 27.exf6 Qd6 28.Bxc6 Qxf6 29.Bxd7 Qxd4 30.g3 Qc5 31.Qxc5 bxc5 32.Bc6 d4 33.Bb5 Kf8 34.f4 gxf4 35.gxf4 1-0