| Chess by Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph
6th Round Friday, 28 Feb 2003. Vladimir Kramnik showed Garry Kasparov how to put the fifteen year old Teimour Radjabov in his place in the sixth round at Linares. In one of the best games he has played since coming out of partial retirement at Wijk aan Zee in January, Kramnik comprehensively outplayed the little 'Boy from Baku' in the game below. Kramnik, the Classical Chess World champion assumed the joint lead with world number three Vishy Anand who played very cleverly to exploit the advantage of a queenside pawn majority against Peter Leko. At the critical moment Anand gave up rook for bishop to create two connected passed pawns and in his usual smooth style sidestepped all the tactical tricks. Garry Kasparov endured another slight setback as the Spanish representative Francisco Vallejo Pons played very sensibly after totally surprising the world number with a new plan in the position. After a long think Kasparov headed for a drawn endgame and just held on. In post match analysis Kasparov said: "The young Spaniard did well," Round six results: Anand 1-0 Leko, Sicilian Rossolimo, 72; Vallejo Pons draw Kasparov, Slav Defence, 41; Kramnik 1-0 Radjabov, French Defence Classical, 36; Scores after 6 rounds: 1-2 Kramnik (Russia), Anand (India), 3.5/5; 3 Leko (Hungary) 3/5; 4 Kasparov (Russia) 2.5/5; 5 Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 2.5/6; 6 Vallejo Pons (Spain) 2/5; 7 Ponomariov (Ukraine) 1/5; Kramnik,V (2807) - Radjabov,T (2624) [C11] XX SuperGM Linares ESP (6), 28.02.2003 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a6 11.Qf2 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Qc7 13.Bd3 b5 14.Qh4 A new move. Threatening mate on h7. 14...h6 15.Ne2 f6 16.Qg4 Clarifies white's advantage. 16...Bxd4 17.Nxd4 ![]() Kramnik has a dominating knight on d4 against a bishop trapped behind its own pawns which never moves. 17...Nc5 18.Qg6 Nxd3+ 19.Rxd3 Qc4? The decisive mistake. Radjabov never gets time to take on a2. Alternatives include moves like Qf7. [ 19...fxe5 20.Nxe6 wins a pawn.] 20.Rhd1 Ra7 [ 20...Qxa2 21.Rg3 Qa1+ 22.Kd2 Qa5+ 23.Ke2 Rf7 24.exf6 will be followed by Qxh6 or fxg7.] 21.Kb1 Qc7 22.f5 Qb6 23.Rh3 fxe5 24.Rxh6 Rf6 25.Qe8+ White's position is overwhelming but 25.Qh7+ was a quicker win. 25...Rf8 26.Rh8+ Kxh8 27.Qxf8+ Kh7 28.Nf3 Qc7 29.fxe6 e4 30.Ng5+ Kh6 31.h4 [ 31.Rxd5 Threatens mate in two.] 31...Kh5 32.Qf5 g6 33.g4+ Kxh4 34.Rh1+ Kg3 35.Rg1+ Kh4 36.Qf6 ![]() Threatening Nf3 discovered check and Qh4 mate. 1-0 |
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