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Morelia/Linares 2007. Round 4 21st February 2007.  Anand defeated Morozevich in round 4 to take the lead on his own. Round 1 (February 17, 2007)
Carlsen, Magnus - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 68 E66 King's Indian Fianchetto
Svidler, Peter - Aronian, Levon 1/2 38 C89 Ruy Lopez Marshall
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Leko, Peter 1/2 27 C45 Scotch Game
Topalov, Veselin - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 30 E15 Queens Indian
Round 2 (February 18, 2007)
Anand, Viswanathan - Svidler, Peter 1/2 47 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Aronian, Levon - Carlsen, Magnus 1/2 31 E04 Catalan
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Topalov, Veselin 1-0 41 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Leko, Peter - Morozevich, Alexander 1/2 41 C12 French MacCutcheon
Round 3 (February 19, 2007)
Carlsen, Magnus - Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 40 D47 Queens Gambit Meran
Svidler, Peter - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 53 C42 Petroff's Defence
Topalov, Veselin - Leko, Peter 1/2 39 E15 Queens Indian
Morozevich, Alexander - Aronian, Levon 1/2 43 D38 QGD Ragozin
Round 4 (February 21, 2007)
Anand, Viswanathan - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 59 C95 Ruy Lopez Breyer
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Carlsen, Magnus 0-1 60 A46 Queen's Pawn Opening
Leko, Peter - Aronian, Levon 1/2 46 E06 Catalan
Topalov, Veselin - Svidler, Peter 1/2 29 A16 English Opening
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 ** 1. =. .. .. .. =. 1. 3.0 2928
2 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2690 0. ** .. =. 1. .. .. 1. 2.5 2848
3 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2728 =. .. ** =. =. .. =. .. 2.0 2764
4 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2744 .. =. =. ** .. =. .. =. 2.0 2727
5 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2750 .. 0. =. .. ** =. 1. .. 2.0 2737
6 Leko, Peter g HUN 2749 .. .. .. =. =. ** =. =. 2.0 2754
7 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2783 =. .. =. .. 0. =. ** .. 1.5 2664
8 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2741 0. 0. .. =. .. =. .. ** 1.0 2547
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Viswanathan Anand moved half a point clear of the field after the fourth round of the Morelia-Linares tournament. It might have been different. Anand had a pretty heavyweight struggle against Alexander Morozevich's Breyer System to the Ruy Lopez and perhaps the Russian was starting to get the better of it around moves 28-34. However Morozevich started to drift on moves 40 and especially on move 41 where he played the losing 41...Bf8 after which Anand's technique finished the game in fine style. A game that would probably repay detailed study. Anand,V (2779) - Morozevich,A (2741) [C95] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Ng3 [14.d5 c6 15.dxc6 Bxc6 16.Ng3 has been played a number of times.] 14...c6 [14...h6 15.a4 g6 16.Bd3 c6 17.b3 Bg7 18.Ra2 Qc7 19.Be3 Nf8 20.Qd2 Kh7 21.Rc1 Ne6 22.b4 Rad8 23.axb5 axb5 24.Qc2 Nf4 25.Bf1 Rd7 26.dxe5 dxe5 27.c4 bxc4 28.Bxc4 Red8 29.Ra7 Qb8 30.Qa2 c5 31.bxc5 Nxe4 32.Nxe4 Bxe4 33.Rxd7 Rxd7 34.Bxf4 exf4 35.Bxf7 Qd8 36.c6 Re7 37.Qc4 Bxf3 38.gxf3 Be5 39.Bd5 Bc7 40.Be4 Rg7 41.Rb1 h5 42.Rb5 Kh6 43.Kg2 Qf6 44.Qd3 Re7 45.Rd5 Kg7 46.Rd7 Rxd7 47.Qxd7+ Qf7 48.Qxf7+ 1/2-1/2 Deglmann,L (2334)-Dimakiling,O (2476)/Bad Wiessee GER 2006/The Week in Chess 627] 15.Nf5 Qc7 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.Nh2 c5 18.Qf3 c4 19.Bg5 Re6 20.Rad1 Nc5 21.Bxf6 Rxf6 22.Ng4 Re6 23.Nge3 Qa5 24.a3 g6 25.Nd5 Rd8 [25...gxf5 26.exf5 Bxd5 27.Qg3+ Bg7 28.Rxd5 Rh6] 26.Qg3 Rd7 27.Nfe3 Qd8 28.Qf3 Bg7 [28...f5 29.exf5 Red6] 29.a4 Red6 [29...f5] 30.axb5 axb5 31.g4 Qh4 [31...Bh6] 32.Ra1 Ne6 33.Qg3 Qxg3+ 34.fxg3 Nc5 [34...Nd4 35.Bd1= (35.cxd4 exd4 36.Ng2 d3 37.Bb1 Bxb2-+) 35...Ne6] 35.h4 h6 36.Ra5 Bc6 37.Nb4 [37.Nxc4 bxc4 38.Rxc5 Bxd5 39.exd5 Rxd5 40.Rxc4] 37...Bxe4 38.Bxe4 Nxe4 39.Rxb5 Nd2 40.Kg2 e4?! 41.Re2
41...Bf8? This loses. Anand convincingly wraps things up from here. 42.Ned5 e3 43.Nxe3 Re6 44.Nbd5 Nb3 45.Nf4 Rc6 46.Nxc4 Rxc4 47.Rxb3 Kg7 48.Rb5 Bc5 49.g5 hxg5 50.hxg5 Be7 51.Kf3 Bd8 52.Re4 Rc6 53.Kg4 Rd2 54.Rd5 Rxd5 55.Nxd5 Re6 56.Rxe6 fxe6 57.Nf4 Kf7 58.Nd3 Bc7 59.Kf3 1-0 Magnus Carlsen's invitation to the event has proved surprisingly controversial. Many people have questioned whether the 16 year old is ready for such a level of chess, especially after his winless performances at the Tal Memorial and Wijk aan Zee. His invitation came before those events took place but even so I think a player ranked 24 in the world at this age deserves the chance to earn his spurs. In the past under the Soviet system of developing chess players they didn't let their youngsters out to play strong adult events until they were about 17. Only a state sponsored system can afford such luxury and players such as Bobby Fischer, Judit Polgar, Nigel Short and Peter Leko had to do their learning on the job in their early teens. I think its fairly clear that until a player reaches 19 you can't tell their true potential, that's the age when most of the greats started to hit their normal form, after the near full development of the brain. Carlsen is a long way short of that age. There is a danger that playing events that are too strong for you too soon can have damaging effects on confidence and also produce a more cautious style than would happen otherwise, on the other hand if development stagnates you may never get the momentum back. Considering all this I think it necessary that Carlsen get the kind of experience he's got in the last few months and his results at one level below fully justifiy his invitation.Carlsen had a real boost in round four when he won a long and difficult manoevering game against Vassily Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk clearly had the edge and Ivanchuk turned down a draw by repetition on move 30. Indeed Ivanchuk probably thought there was no danger as the position simplified down. His position showed slight signs of awkwardness around the first time control and by move 49 it had become difficult, ten moves later it had fallen apart completely. Ivanchuk,V (2750) - Carlsen,M (2690) [A46] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 b5 5.Nbd2 Bb7 [5...c5 6.0-0 c4 7.Re1 Be7 8.a4 b4 9.Ne5 c3 10.bxc3 bxc3 11.Nb1 Qc7 12.Ba3 Nc6 13.Nxc3 Nxe5 14.Nb5 Qb8 15.Bxe7 Kxe7 16.dxe5 Qxe5 17.e4 dxe4 18.Qd2 Rd8 19.Qb4+ Ke8 20.f4 Qb8 21.Qc5 Rd7 22.Bxe4 Nxe4 23.Rxe4 Qb6 24.Qxb6 axb6 25.f5 Kf8 26.fxe6 Re7 27.Rh4 Bxe6 28.Rxh7 Kg8 29.Rh4 Rc8 30.Rd1 g6 31.c3 Ra8 32.Rhd4 Kg7 33.Re1 Kf8 34.Rh4 Kg7 35.Nd4 Rc8 36.Re3 Kg8 37.Rhe4 Rce8 38.Nxe6 Rxe6 39.Rxe6 fxe6 40.Re5 Kf7 41.Rb5 Rc8 42.Rxb6 Rxc3 43.a5 Rc2 44.a6 Ra2 45.Rb7+ Kf6 46.Ra7 Ke5 47.Ra8 Kf6 48.a7 Kg7 49.h4 Kh7 50.g4 e5 51.Kf1 e4 52.h5 gxh5 53.gxh5 e3 54.Ke1 Kg7 55.Kf1 Kh7 56.Kg1 Kg7 57.h6+ Kh7 58.Kf1 Rf2+ 59.Ke1 Ra2 1/2-1/2 Gervasio,R (2230)-Duda,R/Metz 1990/EXT 1999] 6.Nb3 a5 7.Bd2 Nc6 8.Nc1 Bd6 9.Nd3 0-0 10.0-0 Ne4 11.Be3 b4 12.Re1 Ba6 13.Nfe5 Ne7 14.f3 Nf5 15.Bf4 Nf6 16.c3 Ne7 17.Qd2 bxc3 18.bxc3 Rc8 19.Bg5 Bxd3 20.Nxd3 Nd7 21.e4 c5 22.exd5 exd5 23.Bh3 cxd4 24.cxd4 h6 25.Bf4 Bxf4 26.Nxf4 Rc4 27.Bf1 Rc8 28.Bh3 Rc4 29.Bf1 Rc8 30.Rab1 Carlsen is pretty close to equality but Ivanchuk still believes there is enough in the position to play on. 30...Nf6 31.Rb5 Nc6 32.Rc5 Qb6 33.Rec1 g5 34.Ne2?! [Better is 34.Ng2 Ne5 35.Qf2 Nc4] 34...Ne5! 35.Qc3 Nc4 36.Kh1 Nd7 37.Rxc8 Rxc8 38.Qd3 Nf6 39.Nc3 Qb2 40.Rc2 Qa1 41.Qd1 Qxd1 42.Nxd1 Re8 43.Kg2 Ne3+ 44.Nxe3 Rxe3 45.Kf2 Ra3 46.Bb5 h5 47.Ke2 Kg7 48.Rb2 h4 49.Kf2 Betraying signs of uncertainty. White starts to get into trouble pretty fast now. 49...hxg3+ 50.hxg3 g4 51.Be2 gxf3 52.Bxf3 a4 53.Rb5 I can't help wondering whether staying on the second rank might not have been better. That said white is clearly being squeezed. [53.Rd2] 53...Rxa2+ 54.Ke3 a3 55.Ra5 Ra1 56.Kd2 a2 57.Kc2 [57.Ke2 Ne4 58.g4 Nc3+ 59.Kd2 Rf1 60.Kxc3 a1Q+ 61.Rxa1 Rxa1 62.Kb4 Rf1 63.Bxd5 Rf4 64.Kc5 Rxg4 is simply winning for black.] 57...Rf1 58.Bd1 Ne4
59.g4 [59.Rxa2 Rf2+ 60.Kb3 Rxa2 61.Kxa2 Nc3+ 62.Kb3 Nxd1] 59...Nf2 60.Rxa2 Rxd1 0-1 The other two games were drawn. Peter Svidler would probably have welcomed the chance to prove that his loss to Gelfand at the Tal Memorial was not a reflection of his opening choice. Topalov was the first to innovate in the English/Gruenfeld structure they played but Svidler confidently equalised and the game was agreed drawn on move 29.Peter Leko played quite an aggressive idea against Levon Aronian, sacrificing the exchange for what appeared at first to be quite enough compensation. However soon it was black threatening to cause some damage and Leko only escaped by a judicious exchange into an ending the exchange for a pawn down but where a breakthrough proved impossible for Aronian (indeed he confessed later he should have avoided the ending by hanging on to the f-pawn, he simply thought the ending winning). |
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 Kasparov Books |
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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 |
