Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 7. Brief comments by Mark Crowther. Notes by Malcolm Pein

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Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 7

Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 7 Brief comments by Mark Crowther. Notes by Malcolm Pein

Round 7 (February 26, 2006)

Leko, Peter              -  Topalov, Veselin         1/2   41  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Svidler, Peter           -  Radjabov, Teimour        1/2   42  B30  Sicilian Rossolimo
Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Ivanchuk, Vassily        1/2   25  C42  Petroff's Defence
Bacrot, Etienne          -  Aronian, Levon           0-1   55  E21  Nimzo Indian 4.Nf3

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. =. =.  5.0  2888
2 Aronian, Levon           g ARM 2752 =. ** 1. 0. 1. =. =. 1.  4.5  2830
3 Svidler, Peter           g RUS 2765 =. 0. ** 0. =. 1. 1. 1.  4.0  2777
4 Ivanchuk, Vassily        g UKR 2729 0. 1. 1. ** =. =. 0. =.  3.5  2732
5 Radjabov, Teimour        g AZE 2700 0. 0. =. =. ** =. 1. 1.  3.5  2736
6 Vallejo Pons, Francisco  g ESP 2650 0. =. 0. =. =. ** 1. =.  3.0  2693
7 Topalov, Veselin         g BUL 2801 =. =. 0. 1. 0. 0. ** =.  2.5  2619
8 Bacrot, Etienne          g FRA 2717 =. 0. 0. =. 0. =. =. **  2.0  2575
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 7 was another exciting round with three of the four games holding interest until at least the first time control. Peter Leko leads at the half way stage with 5/7 half a point clear of Levon Aronian who in turn is a further half point clear of Peter Svidler. Pre-event favourite Veselin Topalov is in 7th place two and a half point off the lead.

The first game to finish was Francisco Vallejo Pons against Vassily Ivanchuk. Vallejo never looked like getting an advantage against the Petroff and the game was called off on move 25.

Peter Leko against Vassily Ivanchuk was a dynamic struggle in a Sicilian Scheveningen. Topalov played aggressively with black sacrificing a pawn for attacking chances. White traded off into an ending but his pawns were so shattered that winning chances were few. The game ended in a repetition at the first time control.

Peter Svidler looked well on the way to victory against Teimour Radjabov in a Bb5 Sicilian. He gradually increased the pressure to the point where he could win a knight. Sadly for him this didn't actually win as black would get perpetual. The game was agreed drawn shortly afterwards. I'm pretty sure there was a win somewhere.

Svidler,P (2765) - Radjabov,T (2700) [B30]
XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (7), 26.02.2006

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.c3 a6 6.Be2 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bd6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bf3 Qc7 [11...0-0 1/2-1/2 Rogovski,V-Moiseenko,A/Ordzhonikidze UKR 2000/The Week in Chess 295 (73)] 12.g3 0-0 13.Nd2 e5 14.c4 Nf6 15.Qc2 Rb8 16.b3 Bc5 17.Bb2 Bd4 18.Bxd4 exd4 19.c5! Squeezing black. 19...Rd8 20.Nc4 Nd7 21.Rfe1 Simple play. White ties up black. 21...Nxc5 22.Ne5 Ne6 23.Qxc6 Bb7 24.Qxc7 Nxc7 25.Bxb7 Rxb7 26.Nc6 Rd6 27.Rac1 Kf8 [27...g6] 28.Na5 Ra7 29.Red1 Ne8 30.Rc8 Rc7 31.Ra8 Rc2 32.Nc4 Re6 33.Rxd4 Rxa2 34.Rdd8 White is entitled to believe he's winning here. 34...h5! Setting up the perpetual. 35.Nd6 Ke7!!

and with one bound he was free. 36.Nf5+ Sadly winning the piece isn't winning, or at least winning easily. [36.Nxe8 Re1+ 37.Kg2 Ree2 38.Kh3 Rxf2 Without the h5 pawn white would have the g4 square. 39.Kh4 Rxh2+ 40.Kg5 Ra5+ 41.Kf4 g5+ 42.Ke3 Rh3 43.Rdb8 Rxg3+ 44.Kd4 Rg4+ 45.Kc3; 36.Rxe8+ Kxd6 37.Rad8+ Ke5 38.f4+ Ke4 39.Rxe6+ fxe6 is nothing.] 36...Kf6 37.Ne3 Nd6 38.Nd5+ Kg5 39.Nf4 Re1+ 40.Kg2 Nf5 41.Re8 White gives up the hunt straight away. 41...Rxe8 42.Rxe8 1/2-1/2

Etienne Bacrot against Levon Aronian was a tremendously complicated game where Bacrot emerged a piece up but Aronian had tonnes of complications. White not surprisingly wanted to play for a win and turned down a repetition. But black was quickly the only one with any winning chances especially when he sacrificed another piece to eliminate a dangerous pawn. Aronian wrapped up the game efficiently.

Bacrot,E (2717) - Aronian,L (2752) [E21]
XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (7), 26.02.2006

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 Ne4 6.Qd3 Qa5 7.Qxe4 Bxc3+ 8.Bd2 Bxd2+ 9.Nxd2 Nc6 10.dxc5 b6 11.Bg2 Bb7 12.Qf4 bxc5 13.Qd6 Qb6 [13...Nd8 14.Bxb7 (14.0-0 Qb6 15.Ne4 Bxe4 16.Qxb6 axb6 17.Bxe4 Ra7 18.Rfd1 f6 19.Rd6 Ra6 20.Rad1 Nf7 21.Rxd7 0-0 22.Rb7 Rxa2 23.Rxb6 Ne5 24.Rb7 f5 25.f4 Nf7 26.Bf3 g6 27.Rdd7 Kg7 28.Rdc7 Kf6 29.Rxc5 g5 30.fxg5+ Nxg5 31.Kf2 Rd8 32.h4 Nf7 33.Rcc7 Ne5 34.Rxh7 Nxc4 35.Rh6+ Ke5 36.Rb5+ Kd6 37.b3 Ne5 38.Rb6+ Kc5 39.Rbxe6 Ng4+ 40.Bxg4 fxg4 41.Rhf6 1-0 Itkis,B-Gorniak,Y/Moldova 1979) 14...Nxb7 15.Qd3 Rd8 16.0-0 1/2-1/2 Pedersen,N-Van der Wiel,J/Dieren NED 2004/The Week in Chess 509] 14.Ne4 Nd4 15.Qxb6 axb6 16.Nd6+ Ke7 17.Bxb7 Nc2+ 18.Kd2 Nxa1 19.Nxf7 Rxa2 20.Nxh8 Rxb2+ 21.Kd3 Rb3+

22.Ke4 [22.Kd2 Rb2+ 23.Kd3 is a forced draw.] 22...Nc2 23.e3 [23.Rc1 Na3 24.Ba6] 23...b5 24.Kf4 bxc4 25.Be4 Nb4 26.Bxh7 Nd3+ 27.Kg5 Nxf2 28.Rf1 Rb2 29.h4 d5 30.Ra1 Kd7 31.Nf7 c3 32.Kg6 Ng4 33.Rg1 This proves to be a waste of time. [33.Kxg7] 33...Re2 34.Kxg7 Rxe3 35.h5 d4 36.h6 c4 37.Bc2 Nxh6 38.Nxh6 d3 39.Ba4+ Kd6 40.g4 Kc5 41.g5 Kb4 42.Ng4 Re4 43.Nf6 Re5 44.Bd1 [44.Bc2 dxc2] 44...d2! Wins. 45.g6 Re1 46.Kf7 Rxg1 47.g7 Ka3! The most accurate. 48.Bg4 Rxg4 49.Nxg4 d1Q 50.g8Q Qd7+ 51.Kf6 Qd4+ 52.Kxe6 c2 53.Qa8+ Kb2 54.Qb8+ Kc1! The quickest solution. 55.Qg8 Kd1 0-1

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