Michael Adams stunned the Hungarian chess fans as he took a 2-0 lead over the world championship finalist Peter Leko on day one of their Rapid Chess match at Miskolc in Eastern Hungary. The match is the best of eight games and the time limit is 25 minutes for the game plus an increment of five seconds per move. Adams is in a dominant position after his opponent allowed a mate in one and then meekly surrendered with the white pieces in game two.
Adams played white in game one and secured no advantage but then did what he does best at Rapid Chess. He did nothing, but did it very well and very quickly. The England number one managed to engineer a mini-crisis on the board just as Leko fell slightly behind on the clock. A piece sacrifice from Leko proved insufficient. The return was a rout, Leko overlooked the loss of a pawn in the opening and resigned shortly thereafter.
Adams,Mi (2737) - Leko,P (2763) [C78]
Rapid Match Miskolc HUN (1), 02.06.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.d3 d6 9.h3 0-0 10.Nbd2N Possibly a new move. Exchanging pawns has been seen a couple of times before. [10.axb5 axb5 11.Nc3 h6 12.Ne2 (12.Nd5 Nxd5 13.Bxd5 Ne7 14.Bb3 Ng6 15.c3 Bb7 16.d4 Bb6 17.d5 Bc8 18.Be3 f5 19.Nd2 fxe4 20.Qh5 Nf4 21.Bxf4 Rxf4 22.g3 Rf5 23.Qe2 e3 24.fxe3 Qg5 25.Kg2 Qxe3 26.Qxe3 Bxe3 27.Ne4 Rxf1 28.Rxf1 Bd7 29.Bd1 b4 30.Rf3 bxc3 31.b3 Bd4 32.Nxc3 Be8 33.Bc2 Bf7 0-1 Karim,I-Sofronie,I/St Chely d'Aubrac FRA 2002/The Week in Chess 400) 12...Be6 13.Bxe6 fxe6 14.c3 Bb6 15.Ng3 b4 16.Nd2 d5 17.Qe2 Ba5 18.Nb1 Qd6 19.Kh2 Rfd8 20.f4 dxe4 21.fxe5 Qxe5 22.d4 Qd6 23.Bxh6 bxc3 24.bxc3 Rf8 25.Bf4 Qd5 26.Be3 Rb3 27.Rc1 Qd6 28.Ra3 0-1 Mahesh Chandran,P-Ganguly,S/Nagpur IND 2002/The Week in Chess 378] 10...Ne7 11.Re1 Ng6 12.Nf1 h6 13.Ne3 Be6 14.c3 Bxb3 15.Qxb3 Re8 16.axb5 axb5 17.Nf5 Qd7 18.Be3 Bxe3 19.Nxe3 Nf4 20.Qc2 b4 21.c4 c6 22.Ra5 Ra8 23.Rea1 Rxa5 24.Rxa5 g6 25.Nh2 Kg7 26.Nhg4 Nh7 27.Qd2 h5 28.Nh2 c5 29.Nd5 Nxd5 30.cxd5 Qb7? [Leko should have sought counterplay with 30...f5 31.b3 (31.Ra6!?) Nf6 32.Qa2 Rc8 33.f3 f4 and g6-g5-g4] 31.b3 Ra8 32.Qa2 Rxa5 33.Qxa5 Nf6 34.Nf3 Nxd5 Black is too passive. The positional threat was Nf3-d2-c4 so Leko lashes out. [34...c4 35.bxc4 b3 36.Nd2 b2 37.Qb5 should win.] 35.exd5 Qxd5 36.Qa6! Dashing black's hopes of counterplay. 36...e4 37.dxe4 Qxb3 38.Qxd6 Qb1+ 39.Kh2 Qc2 40.Qe5+
Allowing things to get messy. [40.e5! b3 (40...Qxf2 41.Qf6+ Kg8 42.e6 fxe6 43.Qxg6+ Kf8 44.Qf6+ Kg8 45.Qxe6+ Kf8 46.h4 wins.) 41.Qf6+ Kg8 42.e6 fxe6 43.Qd8+ Kg7 44.Qe7+ Kg8 45.Ng5 Qxf2 46.Nxe6 wins.] 40...Kg8 41.Qf6 Qxe4 42.Ne5 Qd5 43.Nc6 Qe4 44.Ne7+ Kf8 45.Nc6
45...Ke8?? [After 45...Kg8 white should still be winning although it isn't trivial. 46.Ne7+ Kf8 47.f3! Qd3 (47...Qc4 48.Nxg6+ Ke8 49.Qe7# mate) 48.Nc6 Kg8 49.f4! b3?? If black can't play this then he's losing anyway. Alternatives lose because black is at the end of the day a piece down and will stop the pawns if there is nothing immediate. a) 49...Qe4 50.Ne5! Qf5 Forced but the ending is hopeless. 51.Qxf5 gxf5 52.Kg3 f6 53.Nc4; b) 49...h4 50.Qxh4 Qd6 51.Na5 (51.Ne5 b3 52.Qf2 Qb6) 51...Qd4 52.Qg5 c4 53.Qe5 Qxe5 54.fxe5 c3 55.Kg3 c2 56.Nb3 and white wins.; c) 49...Qc4 50.Ne5 Qe6 51.Qxe6 fxe6 Again the knight will stop the pawns.; 50.f5! gxf5 51.Ne7+ Kf8 52.Ng6+ Kg8 53.Qh8# mate] 46.Qd8# 1-0
Leko,P (2763) - Adams,Mi (2737) [E15]
Rapid Match Miskolc HUN (2), 02.06.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Rc1 d5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.Bg2 Re8 12.Rc2 c5 13.0-0 Nc6 14.Bc3 Rc8 15.Bh3 Rc7 16.Re1 cxd4 17.Bxd4 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Bb4 19.Rf1 Rxc2 20.Qxc2 Bc5 21.Rd1 Bxd4 22.Rxd4 Rxe2 23.Qc1 Qf6 24.Rf4 Qe7 25.Kg2 Re1 0-1