The 22nd Linares tournament takes place 22nd February - 10th March 2005. Round 1 Wednesday February 23rd 2005. Rest days March 1st and 7th 2005. The event is again a 7 player double round robin category 20 event (ave 2743).
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 23 ii-17 iii 2005 cat. XX (2743)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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1 Kasparov, Garry g RUS 2804 ** =. =. == 1. =1 1. 5.5 / 8 2869
2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2757 =. ** 0= =. 1= =. 1. 4.5 / 8 2789
3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2786 =. 1= ** =. =. =. =. 4.0 / 7 2788
4 Leko, Peter g HUN 2749 == =. =. ** == =. =. 4.0 / 8 2749
5 Adams, Michael g ENG 2741 0. 0= =. == ** =. 1. 3.5 / 8 2702
6 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2678 =0 =. =. =. =. ** =0 3.0 / 8 2664
7 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2686 0. 0. =. =. 0. =1 ** 2.5 / 7 2639
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Round 9 (March 4, 2005)
Leko, Peter - Adams, Michael 1/2 29 C42 Petroff's Defence
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam- Kasparov, Garry 0-1 36 D47 Queens Gambit Meran
Topalov, Veselin - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 69 C42 Petroff's DefenceRound 9 4th March 2005 Michiel Abeln reports.
Garry Kasparov against FIDE Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov at the start of round 9. Photo © Michiel Abeln
The 9th round started a bit slowly today. Topalov was not in a very aggressive mood against Anand, Kasimdzhanov was thinking for a long time in a well-known position and Adams played a boring Petroff defence against Leko. However, soon things changed, starting with the Kasparov game. He uncorked a great novelty against Kasimdzhanov, sacrificing an exchange for lots of dynamic play. Soon it became clear that Kasim was suffering and Kasparov only started to really think about his position when he was looking for a forced win. With another nice sacrifice on g3 he won the game and is now the clear favourite to win Linares this year.
Michael Adams at the start of round 9. Photo © Michiel Abeln
The second game to finish was the one between Leko and Adams. Despite the opening, there were soon fascinating complications after Adams sacrificed his knight on f2. Leko had to calculate like Fritz 8 to find the right way through all complications. In the post mortem he stated that it was so complicated that he was never sure what was going on. In the end Adams had to give a perpetual check, which seemed to be the right result for this game.
Vesselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand at the start of round 9. Photo © Michiel Abeln
The game between Topalov and Anand lasted much longer and Anand was in serious trouble today. Anand’s second Ubilava was especially worried at one point, the position at move 26. After that moment had passed black was still a little worse, but it never was enough for Topalov to convert it to a full point.
Peter Leko and Michael Adams at the start of round 9. Photo © Michiel Abeln
Leko,Peter (2749) - Adams,Michael (2741) [C42]
XXII Torneo Internacional de Linares (9), 04.03.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 Leko stated afterwards that unfortunately the Russian is not only played by Russians anymore! 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c3 f5 10.Qb3 0-0 11.Nbd2 Na5 12.Qc2 Nc6 13.b4 a6 14.a4 Bd6 15.Rb1 A novelty by Leko but it does not seem to change the character of the position much. [15.Ba3 Kh8 16.b5 axb5 17.Bxd6 cxd6 18.axb5 Na5 19.h3 Bh5 20.Nh2 Rc8 21.Ra3 b6 22.Ndf1 f4 23.f3 Qh4 24.Re2 Ng3 25.Nxg3 fxg3 26.Nf1 Bxf3 27.gxf3 Rxf3 28.Nd2 Rf2 29.Rxf2 gxf2+ 30.Kg2 Qg5+ 31.Kxf2 Rf8+ 32.Nf3 Qf4 33.Qe2 Qh2+ 34.Ke1 Qg3+ 35.Qf2 Rxf3 36.Qxg3 Rxg3 37.Bf1 h5 38.Kd2 Rf3 39.Ke2 Rg3 40.Kd2 Rf3 41.Ke2 Rg3 1/2-1/2 Ponomariov,R-Adams,M/Wijk aan Zee NED 2005/The Week in Chess 534] 15...Re8 16.b5 axb5 17.axb5 Na5 18.Ne5 Bxe5 [The immediate sacrifice does not work: 18...Nxf2 19.Bxf5 (19.Kxf2 Qh4+ 20.Kf1 Qxh2 21.Ndf3 Bxf3 22.Nxf3 Qh1+ 23.Kf2 Rxe1 24.Nxe1 Qh4+ 25.Kf1 Qh1+=) 19...Bxe5 20.dxe5 Bxf5 (20...Qg5 21.Bxh7+ Kh8 22.Nf3+-; 20...Qh4 21.Bxg4 Qxg4 22.Kxf2 Qh4+ 23.Kf1+-) 21.Qxf5 Rf8 22.Qe6+ Kh8 23.Rf1 Qh4+/-] 19.dxe5
19...Nxf2 20.Kxf2 Qh4+ 21.Kf1 Qxh2 22.Ba3
[Of course Leko can force Adams to a direct draw, but that was clearly not his intention with white. 22.Nf3 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Qh1+ 24.Kf2 Qh2+=]
22...Re6
[After the game Leko showed that Adams could have made a draw here: 22...f4 23.Bc5 f3 24.Nxf3 Bxf3 25.gxf3 Qh1+ 26.Kf2 (26.Ke2 Rxe5+ 27.Kd2 Qg2+ 28.Kd1 Rxe1+ 29.Kxe1 Re8+ 30.Kd1 Qh1+ 31.Kd2 Qh6+=) 26...Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Qh1+=]
23.Qa2 This is the position that was analysed for a long time by both players with lots of crazy variations!
[23.Bc5 The idea of first playing Bc5 is that the queen is still covered on c2 so that on Rh6 white can play Nf3, which in the game is not possible. So by starting with Bc5 white hopes to force black to play g6 instead of Rh6 and prove that this movce is inferior. 23...Rg6
(23...Rh6 The question is of course whether white can show that Nf3 gives him the advantage: 24.Nf3 Bxf3 (24...Qg3 25.Bf2 Rh1+ 26.Ng1+-) 25.gxf3 Qf4 (25...Qh1+ 26.Ke2 Qg2+ (26...Rh2+ 27.Ke3 d4+ 28.cxd4 f4+ 29.Ke4+-) 27.Kd1+-) 26.Qg2 Nc4 and the position is still unclear. (26...Rh2 27.Be3 Qh4 28.Bf2 Qh5 29.Qg3 Rh3 30.Qf4 Rxf3 31.Qd4) )
24.Qa2 Now black has a choice, Rd8 transposes to lines that Adams rejected during the game, c6 seems to be best:
24...c6 25.bxc6 bxc6 26.Rb2 (26.Qxa5 Rxa5 27.Rb8+ Kf7 28.e6+ Rxe6 29.Rb7+ Kg6 30.Rxe6+ Kh5; 26.Nb3 Bf3 27.Rb2) 26...Re8
If Rd8 instead of 24...c6 24...Rd8 25.Rb2
a) 25...Bd1 26.Nb1+- (26.Rxd1 Rxg2 27.Nf3) )
b) 25...Qf4+ 26.Kg1;
c) 25...Bh5 26.Nb3;
d) It is possible that Adams unneccessarily rejected this during the game: 25...Bh3 26.Nf3 Qg3 (26...Qf4 27.Re3 Rg3 28.Rf2; 26...Qh1+ 27.Ng1+-) 27.Re3 f4 28.Bxg6 fxe3 29.Be4 (29.Bh5 Nc4) 29...Nc4 30.gxh3 Nxb2 31.Bxd5+ Kh8 32.Bxe3 Qxh3+ 33.Kg1 Qg3+ 34.Kf1 Qh3+=;
e) And this might also be playable 25...b6 26.Bd4 (26.Bg1 Qf4+ 27.Bf2 Rh6-/+) 26...Qh1+ 27.Bg1 Bh5 (27...Bd1 28.Nb1 Bb3 29.Rxb3 Nxb3 30.e6 Kh8 31.e7 Re8) 28.Nb3 (28.Nb1 Rg3 29.Rd2 Rf3+ 30.gxf3 Qxf3+ 31.Bf2 Qh1+ 32.Bg1 Qh3+ 33.Rg2 Qxd3+-+) 28...Nxb3 29.Qxb3 Bf3 30.Qa2 Rg3~~;
f) 25...Qh1+ 26.Bg1 Bh3 27.Nf3 (27.Nb1 Rg3-/+) 27...Rg3 28.Nh2 Rxd3 29.Qxa5 Rg3 30.Qa2 f4 31.e6 c6 32.bxc6 bxc6 33.e7 Re8 34.c4 f3 35.cxd5 Qxg2+ 36.Rxg2 Rxg2 37.Qxg2 fxg2+ 38.Kf2+-; ]
23...Rd8 24.Bc5 Rh6
[If Adams had chosen 24...Rg6 than after 25.Rb2 we would transposed to the above variations with Rg6]
25.e6
[25.Be2 During the game Ljubojevic stated that this would win, but after the game Leko said that this may well be a good way to lose! 25...Qh1+ (25...Rg6 26.Bg1) 26.Bg1 Rh2 27.Bf3 Nc4 28.Bxd5+ (28.Nxc4 Bxf3 29.Ne3 f4-+) 28...Rxd5 29.Nxc4 Rxg2 30.Qxg2 Bh3-+; Only after Leko played e6 he realized that he could have spent more time on 25.Be3 Rh3 (25...Qg3 26.Bxh6 Qxd3+ 27.Kg1 gxh6 28.Qxa5; 25...f4 26.Bg1 Qh1 27.Be2 Rg6) 26.Qxa5 Rg3 27.Re2 f4 (27...Qh1+ 28.Bg1 Rxg2 29.Rxg2 Bh3 30.Ke2 Qxg2+ 31.Bf2 Bg4+ 32.Ke1 Re8 33.Qxc7+-) 28.Qxc7 Rf8-+; 25.Nb3 Qf4+ 26.Kg1 Qh2+=]
25...Qf4+ 26.Kg1 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Qf4+ 28.Kg1 Qh2+ 29.Kf1 1/2-1/2
Garry Kasparov against FIDE Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov at the start of round 9. Photo © Michiel Abeln
Kasimdzhanov,Rustam (2678) - Kasparov,Garry (2804) [D48]
XXII Torneo Internacional de Linares (9), 04.03.2005
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 Kasparov makes an excellent opening choice with the Meraner. He was looking for a big fight today especially considering that Kasim had lost yesterday. 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 a6 10.e4 c5 11.d5 Qc7 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.Bc2 c4 14.Nd4 Nc5 15.Be3 e5 Around 1997 this move was considerd to be dubious, but recently black has been doing okay against both Nf3 and Nf5. 16.Nf3 Be7 17.Ng5
17...0-0! A strong novelty prepared by the Kasparov team.
[17...h6 This is clearly not the way to play with black 18.Bxc5 hxg5 19.Be3 g4 20.Qe2 0-0-0 21.a4 b4 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.exd5 Bxd5 24.Qxg4+ Kb8 25.Rfd1 Bf6 26.Rd2 Bb7 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Be4 Rd4 29.Bxd4 exd4 30.Bxb7 Kxb7 31.Rc1 Qe5 32.Qd7+ Kb6 33.a5+ Kc5 34.Qc8+ Kd6 35.Qxc4 Qxa5 36.Qc6+ Ke5 37.Rc5+ 1-0 Kruppa,Y-Collas,D/Cappelle la Grande 2001/CBM 080 ext]
18.Bxc5 After Ng5 this is the logical follow up, but the exchange sac gives black ample compensation and high practical chances. [Kasimdzhanov also considered: 18.b4 Rad8 19.Qe2 h6 20.Bxc5 hxg5 21.Bxe7 Qxe7 22.Rab1 (22.a4 Qxb4 23.Qe3 Ng4) 22...g4] 18...Bxc5 19.Ne6 Qb6 20.Nxf8 Rxf8 21.Nd5 Probably not the best move, but after: [21.Qe2 Qe6 22.Rae1 Bd4 23.Nd1 black has no complaints; 21.a4] 21...Bxd5 22.exd5 Bxf2+ 23.Kh1 e4! After this move black has all kind of tactical possibilities and white's position is very hard to play. [23...Bd4] 24.Qe2 e3 25.Rfd1 Qd6 26.a4 [26.Rd4 g6 27.Rad1 Nh5] 26...g6 [A knight on g4 would be killing, but unfortunately 26...h5 fails to 27.Bf5] 27.axb5 axb5 [The immediate 27...Nh5 does not work yet: 28.Rxa6 Qf4 29.Bxg6 hxg6 30.Rxg6+ Ng7 31.Rg4] 28.g3 Nh5 29.Qg4
Only move, otherwise a sacrifice on g3 is immediate resignation 29...Bxg3 30.hxg3 Nxg3+ 31.Kg2 [The alternative 31.Kg1 e2 32.Re1 Qb6+ 33.Kg2 Qf2+ 34.Kh3 Nh5 also wins for black] 31...Rf2+ 32.Kh3 Nf5 33.Rh1 h5 34.Qxg6+ Qxg6 35.Rhg1 Qxg1 36.Rxg1+ Kf7 0-1 0-1
Vesselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand at the start of round 9. Photo © Michiel Abeln
Topalov,Veselin (2757) - Anand,Vishy (2786) [C42]
XXII Torneo Internacional de Linares (9), 04.03.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 Be6 This setup is played very little, but it gives white the bishop pair and he can push for more. 9.0-0-0 a6 10.Ng5 Bxg5 11.Bxg5 Qd7 12.b3 f6 13.Be3 0-0-0 14.h3 Qf7 15.Be2 h5 16.Rhe1 Rhe8 17.f3 Qg6 18.Bf1 Bf5 It seems that white's advantage is very minimal here. 19.Kb2 Re5 20.Bf4 Rxe1 21.Rxe1 Re8 22.Rd1 Bd7 This move together with black's next one bring his queen in trouble. 23.c4 Qf5 24.Bd3 Qc5 25.Bg6 [If white immediately tries to go after black's queen with 25.c3 than 25...Ne5 is strong] 25...Rh8
[Black would like to play 25...Re7 but than gets hit by 26.Qd5!]
26.Be4 And here Ubilava (Anand's second) was extremely worried about: [26.Qe1 and what to play now with black? 26...h4 (26...Qa5 27.Qxa5 Nxa5 28.Rd5 Nc6 29.Rxh5) 27.Rd5 Qa7 28.Be3 b6 is certainly not the way to go; 26.Re1 Qd4+ 27.Qxd4 Nxd4 28.Re7 Kd8! (and not: 28...Ne6 29.Bf5 Nxf4 30.Rxd7) ] 26...Re8 27.c3 g5 Another idea was to play h5-h4 to block white's pawns and free h5 for the black queen 28.Be3 Qe5 29.Bf2 f5 30.Bd3 Qg7 31.c5 dxc5 32.Bxc5 Kb8 33.Bc4 Bc8 Black's last two moves are very passive 34.Bd5 Qe5 35.Bxc6 bxc6 36.Bf2 Qe2 37.Ka3 Qxd2 38.Rxd2 Kb7 39.h4 g4 40.f4 Re7 Not simple, but this ending is just okay for black 41.c4 Rd7 42.Re2 Rd3 43.Kb4 g3 44.Bc5 Rd7 45.Be7 Rd4 46.Bg5 Re4 47.Rd2 Kb6 48.Rd3 c5+ 49.Ka3 Re2 50.Rxg3 Bb7 51.Bf6 Rxg2 52.Rg5 Rxg5 53.fxg5 f4 54.Be5 f3 55.Bg3 Be4 56.Kb2 Kc6 57.Ka3 Bb1 58.Bf2 Kd6 59.Kb2 Be4 60.Kc1 Bg6 61.Kd2 Bb1 62.a3 Bg6 63.Bg3+ Kd7 64.Ke3 Bc2 65.Kxf3 Ke6 66.Ke3 c6 67.b4 cxb4 68.axb4 Kf5 69.Kd4 Bd1 1/2-1/2