Hungarians have not had many opportunities
of seeing a reigning world chess champion in action. Compared to
the numerous achievements of Hungarian chessplayers, there have
been very few world class events held on Hungarian soil. But the
new millenium has started very well with the FIDE world champion
Alexander Khalifman playing a six game match with world number
six Peter Leko. And the 20 year old Hungarian grandmaster won the
match impressively by 4.5-1.5. The match was sponsored by
Westfalische Ferngas A G, which is Leko's personal sponsor. It is
the first time a western company has chosen to sponsor a
Hungarian chessplayer and hopefully this represents just another
step that will lead us to EU membership. In the past, the
Hungarian press has not covered chess very well, despite the fact
that Hungary is the only country to win an Olympiad ahead of the
mighty Soviet Union; in fact we have won gold in both the men and
women's Olympics. Nevertheless, there was big publicity on the
present event.
Alexander Khalifman won the FIDE world championship in Las Vegas,
where 36 of the world's top players competed. Even if we take
into account the fact that Kasparov and Anand did not participate,
it was still a great achievement. Because of his relatively low
Elo rating he has had very few chances to play against the top
ten players and he obviously now wanted to prove that he is a
worthy champion.
Peter Leko had a disappointing world championship, but apart from
that he has raised his ranking to world number six, having put in
very solid and consistent performances throughout the whole year
against the very best players in the world.
Both contestants are excellent theoreticians and all-round
players. It was hard to pick a winner. Even though Peter was
playing on home ground and had a higher rating, he has lately
been something of a slow starter and this match was a short one.
Alexander has had much more match experience, for example he
showed great will power in Las Vegas where he turned around
matches against Barua and Kamsky. He also has a broader opening
repertoire.
In the first game Khalifman had the White pieces. Peter employed
his main weapon-the Grunfeld. He had prepared a sideline in the
Qb3 variation with 7 Bf4. This move stopped Leko playing his pet
line with ... a6 followed by ... b5. Queens soon came off and it
looked like the endgame could go either way.
In fact it went the world champion's way. On move 20 he missed a
golden opportunity to reduce Leko to a very passive and difficult
position. He let his initiative slip away and the young Hungarian
defended so stubbornly that he never again looked like losing the
first game.
With the Black pieces in the second game, Khalifman played the
Paulsen Sicilian which he had never previously employed. But
Peter discovered a new plan over the board, which undoubtedly
proved unpleasant for his opponent. Playing unfamiliar openings
always entails the risk of not knowing exactly what to do if the
opponent comes up with a surprise- and the FIDE world champion
spent a lot of time trying to solve his opening problems in the
correct way. In the end, he failed to find a satisfactory
solution and had to dig in and defend a somewhat worse position.
Leko thereby reached a middlegame that is ideal for his style,
gradually improving the positions of his pieces and exerting more
and more pressure on the Russian grandmaster. Then, with a cute
combination on move 36, he won a pawn and effectively the game.
Khalifman could have resigned much earlier. This game is the best
of the match. Leko was marvellous. An encounter to be included in
Leko's best games collection!
In his second game as Black, Peter deviated from the line he had
used previously. In turn, Khalifman surprised the Hungarian with
an early advance of the b-pawn to b4. After being visibly
surprised, Peter calmed down, put on his gloves and attacked
Alexander's centre with full force. The Russian grandmaster
played the game in a very unorthodox way. He ignored his kingside
development, mobilising his f1-bishop only on move 25 and his h1-rook
nine moves later! Of course this is going a bit too far-even with
the White pieces. Leko must have felt the same as he sacked the
exchange to reach a very sharp, unclear tactical position-which
looked good. However, his position quickly deterioriated and one
can't help feeling that he must have missed something. However,
Leko knew of a theoretical endgame that would save him. On the
other hand, surprisingly, it seemed that Alexander didn't know
about it. Gennady Nesis, Alexander's second and an excellent
chess writer, told me later they had found a win. Meeting the
deadline for CHESS I asked endgame specialist GM Pal Benko to
help me with the intricacies of this difficult ending!
Anyway, as it turned out, Leko achieved a drawn position when his
concentration deserted him again. The FIDE world champion made a
fantastic rook sacrifice. Leko had obviously missed it and looked
very upset indeed. But he was lucky enough and alert enough to
find a study-like pawn and bishop sacrifice. Alexander then had
the choice between a stalemate or a pawnless rook against bishop
ending. He went for the latter, but some moves later had to agree
a draw. At the press conference after the game it was pleasant
for me to hear Peter praising the endgame training we had done
ten years ago. So, a great game with credit to both players.
In game four the world champion came up with a very unfortunate
choice of opening. Shortly before, Peter had played a match with
young German Dimitri Bunz- mann who plays the French all the time
and so Peter was obviously well prepared!
With neat play, he achieved a slightly better position where the
FIDE world champion had to defend with little hope of gaining
activity. Suddenly he gave a pawn for nothing and got into a
difficult position. Leko increased his advantage with those nice
little moves of his that I love to watch. Soon it became clear
that the young Hungarian grandmaster would take a two-point lead.
The disappointments in the earlier games had clearly left their
mark on Alexander's play: his match strategy was just failing to
hold with Black and his great efforts with White were not quite
paying off. Why did he change his aggressive opening policy for
this match?
I would like to point out that, with the White pieces, Leko had
now won seven games out of his last ten. That is a remarkable
score and a great tribute to Peter's main trainer GM Amador
Rodriguez.
Alexander gave it a good go with his last White pieces. This time
he went for another side-line with 3 f3. Leko did not repeat the
adventurous 3 ... e5 move which brought him a fine victory over
Kramnik. He played another new idea. 7 ... e5 came to my mind
while I was analyzing with Peter's other Hungarian trainer Gyula
Feher. Khalifman decided not to try and find a refutation, but
settle for a small advantage. I found Khalifman's determination
impressive. Leko defended well, being in no danger of losing.
And so Peter Leko has done what no other Hungarian has managed to
do in regular match games (Judith Polgar beat Karpov +2 =6 -0 but
that match victory was at rapidplay). No matter what the future
holds, this is definitely a highlight in his career.
In the last game Peter was ready for a hard fight. He played a
move that he found over the board. Unfortunately the world
champion had been softened up by the previous games and was in no
state to put up serious resistance. He would never have won in
Las Vegas without being a tough fighter but the fact that the
first four games had all gone Leko's way was too much to handle.
So, to sum up. The first three games were very exciting. The
first half of the match was excellent publicity for chess. The
world number six was lucky to get away with the two draws-but his
win with White was a real masterpiece. The second half was less
attractive. In game four one bad mistake decided the outcome.
Leko finished the match in professional fashion and with a great
score. Both players battled very hard and yet the atmosphere of
the match remained friendly.
Khalifman said that his preparation was bad, because he had not
played chess for a few months and the last three weeks he had
trained too intensively which had tired him. I think he misjudged
the fact that he is not like Garry Kasparov who can occupy
himself with politics for a couple months, then train and still
play great chess. Alexander has to make the decision to
concentrate solely on chess and curtail his other obligations
such as working at his chess school. Otherwise he will not be
able to play well at world class level.
Abandoning his usual fighting openings with Black proved to be a
mistake as he lacked experience of practical play with his new
repertoire. In fact it was all rather unfortunate for him.
However, the match was overall an entertaining one, and he played
his part.
It is hard for me to be objective about Peter. He was my pupil
from the age of ten to fourteen and now I am part of his work
team. His result is very impressive. I don't think anybody has
ever beaten Khalifman more convincingly than this-he looked
vulnerable with the Black pieces this time. On the other hand
Peter has become awesome with White, winning eight and drawing
three out of his last eleven games. He continues to prove that he
is an established top ten player. He also showed his class in the
endgame and was superior to his opponent in this department of
the game. If he keeps improving at this rate he will be a major
force for many years to come.
Peter Leko
White
Alexander Khalifman Black
Game Six, January 9, 2000
Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4
Going for the Open Spanish is an interesting decision.
Although Peter has not won many games against it, he has played
it with Black and so knows it better than other lines. I don't
want criticise Alexander's choice. Unless he could come up with
something very good it didn't matter much anyway. He was by now a
broken man.
6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 Nbd2!
This move is more risky than 9 c3 and is more ambitious.
9 ... Nc5 10 c3 Be7 11 Bc2 d4 12 cxd4
Peter claimed at the press conference that he had
refuted the whole line over the board. Khalifman also said that
the line was just lost. I have great respect for both players,
but still find it hard to believe that Black is already in such
big trouble.
12 ... Nxd4 13 Nxd4 Qxd4 14 Nf3
14 ... Qxd1?!
Why develop White? 14 ... Qd5 15 Qe2
(a) 15 ... Qb7 16 Rd1 Bc4 (16 ... Bd5) 17 Qe3 Bd5 with an unclear
position;
(b) 15 ... Qc4 16 Qxc4 Bxc4 17 Rd1 Rd8 18 Rxd8+ (18 Nd4 Ne6) 18
... Bxd8 19 Be3 Be7 20 Nd4 Ne6 21 Nf5 g6 22 Nxe7 Kxe7 Black should hold this.
15 Rxd1 Bg4
15 ... Nd7 looks awkward because the knight appears to be tied
to defending e5, and if 16
Nd4 Nxe5 17 Nxe6 fxe6 18 Re1 Bd6 19 f4 Nc6 20 Rxe6+ Kd7 21 Re1 (21
Re4 Nb4 22 Bd1 Rae8=) 21 ... Nd4 22 Be4 Rae8 23 Bd2 c5 =.
16 Be3 0-0 17 h3!?
Peter said that when he started to analyse this move he
became happy.
17 ... Bxf3 18 gxf3 Rfd8 19 f4 g6 20 Kg2
20 ... Na4?
Black is in trouble here for sure, as he can do nothing
but watch White play Kf3 and f5. But the text is very weak.
21 Rxd8+ Rxd8 22 Bxa4 bxa4 23 Rc1 c5 24 Rc4! a3 25 b3
White just has to take care not to allow all the
queenside pawns to disappear.
25 ... Kf8 26 Kf3 Ke8 27 Ke4 Rd1 28 Rc1 f5+?
Exchanging the rooks makes it absolutely certain that
Black will lose.
29 exf6 Rxc1 30 Bxc1 Bxf6 31 Bxa3 Bd4 32 f3 Kd7 33 Kd5 Be3
34 f5 gxf5 35 Bxc5 Bf4 36 b4 Bd2 37 Bd6 Bc1 38 a4 Ba3 39 Bc5 Bb2
40 Bd4 Ba3 41 b5 axb5 42 axb5 Be7 43 b6 and Black
resigned.
Fin