Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 5. Brief comments by Mark Crowther. Notes by Malcolm Pein

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Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 5

Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 5 Brief comments by Mark Crowther. Notes by Malcolm Pein

Round 5 (February 23, 2006)

Aronian, Levon           -  Svidler, Peter           1-0   38  D80  Gruenfeld 4.Bg5
Ivanchuk, Vassily        -  Topalov, Veselin         0-1   48  D15  Slav Defence
Bacrot, Etienne          -  Leko, Peter              1/2   28  E15  Queens Indian
Radjabov, Teimour        -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  1/2   51  D43  Anti-Meran Gambit

XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (MEX/ESP), 18 ii-11 iii 2006cat. XX (2732)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Leko, Peter              g HUN 2740 ** =. .. 1. =. .. 1. 1.  4.0  2952
2 Svidler, Peter           g RUS 2765 =. ** 0. .. 1. 1. .. 1.  3.5  2881
3 Aronian, Levon           g ARM 2752 .. 1. ** 0. .. =. 1. =.  3.0  2801
4 Ivanchuk, Vassily        g UKR 2729 0. .. 1. ** =. 0. =. ..  2.0  2670
5 Bacrot, Etienne          g FRA 2717 =. 0. .. =. ** =. .. =.  2.0  2665
6 Topalov, Veselin         g BUL 2801 .. 0. =. 1. =. ** 0. ..  2.0  2660
7 Radjabov, Teimour        g AZE 2700 0. .. 0. =. .. 1. ** =.  2.0  2662
8 Vallejo Pons, Francisco  g ESP 2650 0. 0. =. .. =. .. =. **  1.5  2585
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 5 saw Peter Leko take the lead alone for the first time.

Leko faced Etienne Bacrot with black and equalised pretty quickly out of theory in a Queen's Indian the game being drawn in 28 moves.

Peter Svidler meanwhile also had black, against Levon Aronian. He chose a fairly solid but passive variation of the Gruenfeld in response to 4.Bg5. He assumed he could hold a bishop and pawn ending a pawn down but discovered this wasn't the case and eventually blundered trying to avoid a longer loss.

Aronian,L (2752) - Svidler,P (2765) [D80]
XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (5), 23.02.2006
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 c5 6.cxd5 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Qxd5 8.e3 cxd4 9.Qxd4 Qxd4 10.cxd4 e6 11.Rb1 Be7 12.Bxe7 Kxe7 13.Bd3 Nc6 14.Nf3 b6 15.Ke2 Bb7 16.Rhc1 Rhc8 17.g4 The position looks about level but this deep move intends to fix Black's kingside pawns on light squares which render them vulnerable in a bishop endgame 17...h6 18.h4 Na5 19.g5 hxg5 20.hxg5 Rxc1 21.Rxc1 Rc8 22.Rxc8 Bxc8 23.Ne5 Bb7 24.a3 Nc6 25.Ng4! Avoiding exchanges for now Aronian wants to use his extra space and push Svidler further back 25...Nb8 26.Kd2 Bc6 27.Kc3 Nd7 28.f4! a5 29.e4 b5 30.Bc2

With the possible idea of Ne5 and if Nxe5 fxe5, Kd3, Bb3 and d5 30...f5? [30...f6 and if 31.gxf6+ Nxf6 32.Nxf6 (32.Nf2 Nh5!) 32...Kxf6 was certainly better and looks defensible] 31.exf5 exf5 32.Ne5 Nxe5 33.dxe5 b4+ Else Kd4-c5 34.axb4 axb4+ 35.Kxb4 Bd7 36.Bb3 Bc6 37.Kc5 Be8? [37...Bf3] 38.e6! [38.e6 Kf8 39.Kd6] 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk found a new idea early on in the Slav 4. ...a6 which left him with a solid but passive position against Veselin Topalov. He couldn't find a decent plan and was slowly crushed.

Ivanchuk,V (2729) - Topalov,V (2801) [D15]
XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (5), 23.02.2006
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3 6.Bf4 is more testing 6...Nc6 7.Bg5 e6 8.e3 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Bd3 Bd6 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rac1 White needs to keep the position closed to avoid opening lines for the Black bishops and then he can try and make progress on the queenside but Black's next move takes over that side of the board. 12...b5! 13.Bb1 [13.Nxb5 Na5 14.Qc3 axb5 defending the knight with the Ra8 wins; 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.Rxc6 Bxh2+ 15.Kxh2 Qxc6] 13...Bd7 14.Qc2 g6 15.Qd2 Rac8 16.Rfd1 [16.e4 Bf4] 16...Rc7 Topalov gradually improves his position 17.Qe1 b4 18.Ne2 a5 19.Qd2 Rfc8 20.Ne1 a4 21.Nd3 Na5 22.Rxc7 [22.Nxb4 Nc4 23.Qc3 Qh4 24.g3 (24.h3 Bb5 25.Qe1 Nxb2 with a big advantage) 24...Qg4 25.Nf4 Nxe3 26.Qxe3 Bxf4 27.Qxf4 Qxf4 28.gxf4 Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Rxc1+] 22...Rxc7 23.Rc1 Nc4 24.Qe1 Qd8 25.g3 Bb5 26.h4?! [26.b3 Na3] 26...g5!

Black's greater mobility means he can exploit the opening of lines 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Kg2 Qc8 29.Ng1 f6! 30.Qd1 Be8! 31.Nf3 Bh5 White is totally surrounded 32.Rc2 Bg6 33.Re2 g4 34.Nh4 [34.Nfe1 Be4+ 35.Kg1 Rh7] 34...Be4+ 35.Kh2 f5 Rh7 and Be7 becomes a new threat 36.Ne1 Nxe3! 37.Rxe3 Rc1 38.Qd2 Rxb1 39.Rxe4 dxe4 40.Qg5+ Kf7 Black soon runs out of checks 0-1

Teimour Radjabov and Francisco Vallejo Pons had a pretty enterprising game in the Semi-Slav and the ending saw Vallejo sacrifice both his rooks to obtain a Rook vs two pawn ending which was easily drawn.

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