Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 11. Brief comments by Mark Crowther.

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Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 11

Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 11 Brief comments by Mark Crowther.

Round 11 (March 7, 2006)

Aronian, Levon           -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  1-0   36  D31  Semi-Slav Defence
Radjabov, Teimour        -  Topalov, Veselin         1/2   26  C65  Ruy Lopez Berlin
Ivanchuk, Vassily        -  Leko, Peter              1/2   64  E15  Queens Indian
Bacrot, Etienne          -  Svidler, Peter           1/2   42  D11  Slav Defence

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=  7.0  2825
2 Aronian, Levon           g ARM 2752 =. ** =0 1= 1. 0= 1. =1  6.5  2790
3 Topalov, Veselin         g BUL 2801 =. =1 ** 0= 01 1. =1 0.  6.0  2762
4 Radjabov, Teimour        g AZE 2700 0= 0= 1= ** =. =1 1. =.  6.0  2779
5 Svidler, Peter           g RUS 2765 == 0. 10 =. ** 0. 1= 1=  5.5  2727
6 Ivanchuk, Vassily        g UKR 2729 0= 1= 0. =0 1. ** =0 =.  4.5  2665
7 Bacrot, Etienne          g FRA 2717 =. 0. =0 0. 0= =1 ** =1  4.5  2669
8 Vallejo Pons, Francisco  g ESP 2650 0= =0 1. =. 0= =. =0 **  4.0  2641
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veselin Topalov's three game winning run came to an end in round 11. He tried to play a complex Open Ruy Lopez with black against Teimour Radjabov but white's 4.d3 was extremely conservative and he continued in this manner throughout the 26 move game which never deviated from level.

Peter Svidler finally blinked, having lost three Gruenfeld's in a row as black he changed his approach and played a Slav instead against Etienne Bacrot. What followed was a complex struggle where white won black's queen for rook bishop and pawn and both kings ended up being exposed. Svidler ended up giving perpetual check just after the first time control. Interesting game.

Levon Aronian got himself to within half a point of the lead by beating Francisco Vallejo Pons in a semi-slav. Vallejo indulged his taste for sharp risky lines with black and ended up with bishop and knight for rook and two pawns (doubled on the f-file) but his pieces proved to be so unco-ordinated that he couldn't prevent one of them falling off the board.

Aronian,L - Vallejo Pons,F [D31]
Linares, Spain (11), 07.03.2006

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Na6 9.Bd6 e5 10.Nf3 Bg4 11.0-0 0-0-0 12.Bd3 Qf4 13.Bxe5 Qxe5 14.Nxe5 Bxd1 15.Bf5+ [15.Raxd1 1/2-1/2 Riff,J-Malakhatko,V/La Fere FRA 2005/The Week in Chess 557] 15...Kc7 16.Nxf7 Bh5 17.Nxd8 Kxd8 18.g4 Nh6 19.Rad1+ Kc7 20.Rd7+ Kb6 21.Rxg7 Nxf5 22.gxf5 Rf8? [22...Be2 Looks a better way to continue, dealing with the problem bishop.] 23.Re1 Nc5? [23...Rxf5 24.Ree7 isn't great for black but may produce fiddling chances.] 24.b4 Nd3 25.Ree7 Nxb4 Loses a piece but by now things are very bad for black. 26.Rxb7+ Kc5 27.Rg5!

The point will be to win the knight by checking the king away from its protection. 27...Bf3 28.f6+ Kxc4 29.Rf5 Bd5 30.Rf4+ Kc3 31.Rbxb4 Game over. 31...Bxa2 32.Ra4 Bf7 33.Rxa7 c5 34.f3 c4 35.Kf2 Kb3 36.Rb7+ 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk plays complicated chess, and this is what we saw in his struggle against Peter Leko in a Queen's Indian in spite of an almost symmetrical pawn structure. Leko reacted pretty well and traded off into an ending which he held reasonably comfortably. Another game that would repay study.

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