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Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 3 Brief comments by Malcolm Pein Round 3 (February 20, 2006)
Svidler, Peter - Leko, Peter 1/2 21 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Bacrot, Etienne - Vallejo Pons, Francisco 1/2 18 E49 Nimzo Indian
Aronian, Levon - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 123 E55 Nimzo Indian
Radjabov, Teimour - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 23 D84 Gruenfeld 4.Bf4
XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (MEX/ESP), 18 ii-11 iii 2006cat. XX (2732)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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1 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2765 ** =. .. .. .. 1. .. 1. 2.5 3003
2 Leko, Peter g HUN 2740 =. ** .. .. .. .. 1. 1. 2.5 2978
3 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2729 .. .. ** =. 1. .. =. .. 2.0 2848
4 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2717 .. .. =. ** .. =. .. =. 1.5 2726
5 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2752 .. .. 0. .. ** =. 1. .. 1.5 2743
6 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2801 0. .. .. =. =. ** .. .. 1.0 2619
7 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2700 .. 0. =. .. 0. .. ** .. 0.5 2467
8 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2650 0. 0. .. =. .. .. .. ** 0.5 2467
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Malcolm Pein comments on round 3. After the fast pace of the first two rounds there was some respite in the third round of the Cuidad de Morelia - Linares tournament and all four games were drawn. Peter Svidler’s quiet approach did not test Peter Leko’s Sicilian Defence but the draw was good enough for them to stay ahead of Vassily Ivanchuk. Leko improved on his defeat to Vishy Anand at Wijk aan Zee and equalised. Ivanchuk drew with the Azerbaijani teenager Teimour Radjabov who scored his first half point. Ivanchuk produced a very old line of the Gruenfeld Defence played by Mikhail Botvinnik and Miguel Najdorf amongst others about seventy years ago. Its always a good plan to use openings against the younger generation that went out of fashion before they were born and Ivanchuk soon had a good position. I humbly noted en passant how Ivanchuk’s play improved on my own treatment of the line which led to a defeat at the hands of Paul Littlewood over 20 years ago. Levon Aronian and Veselin Topalov made up for the lack of moves elsewhere with an epic 123 move game where both players took significant risks in order to play for a win. Aronian played white and sacrificed a pawn for the attack but this was repelled and he was in desperate straights until he found a brilliant sacrifice of rook for bishop on move 39, the third exchange sacrifice of the game, which forced a draw. However Topalov was not interested and the game reeled on in a position with queen and knight for Aronian against queen and rook for Topalov. Because play was confined to the kingside the knight was in no way inferior and Aronian looked to have good winning chances but the ending of knight plus connected f, g and h pawns against rook was drawn. Bacrot was at least slightly better but then appeared to miscalculate something and Vallejo got on the scoreboard; Aronian,L (2752) - Topalov,V (2801) [E55] XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (3), 20.02.2006 [Crowther,Mark] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nf3 d5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nbd7 9.a3 cxd4 10.axb4 dxc3 11.bxc3 Qc7 12.Be2 Nd5 [12...Qxc3 1-0 Korobov,A-Miroshnichenko,E/Kharkiv UKR 2004/The Week in Chess 512 (46)] 13.Bd3 [13.Bb2 1/2-1/2 Graf,A-Nielsen,P/Sant Lluis ESP 2005/The Week in Chess 565 (53)] 13...Qxc3 14.Ra3 Qf6 Black is pawn up but white has two bishops and open lines to the king. 15.Qc2 h6 16.b5 Nb4 17.Bh7+ Kh8 18.Qb1 a5 19.Be4 Nc5 20.Bd2 Bd7 21.Bxb4 axb4 22.Qxb4 Rxa3 23.Qxc5 Rfa8 24.Ne5 [24.Bxb7 was an alternative.] 24...b6 [24...Bxb5 exploiting white's back rank weakness.] 25.Qc7 Bxb5 26.Bxa8 Rxa8 27.Rd1 Ba4 28.Rd4 [28.Rd8+ Rxd8 29.Qxd8+ Qxd8 30.Nxf7+ Kg8 31.Nxd8 might well be ok.] 28...Be8 29.g3 Kh7 30.Kg2 Ra5 31.Nc4 Ra2 32.Rf4 Qc3 The players rush towards first time control. 33.Qxb6 Ra1 34.Qb7 Qc1 35.Kh3  35...f6? This would be strong if white didn't have the following exchange sacrifice. However black may well be winning here with 35...f5! which looks strong in many variations 36.Rg4! Turns the tables. 36...Bg6 37.Rxg6 Kxg6 38.Qe4+ Kf7 39.Nd6+ Ke7 I suppose its possible black is still playing for a win here, if so its misguided, I would certainly try and stick with the king side pawns. [39...Kg8 40.Qxe6+ Kh7] 40.Nf5+ Kd7 [40...Kf8 41.Qxe6 Qc5] 41.Nxg7 Qf1+ 42.Kh4 Qxf2 At the time I was watching this game live I assumed this was a tacit draw offer which of course it is if white grabs the rook. [42...Ra6 was a possible alternative] 43.Qxe6+ [43.Qd4+ Ke7 44.Qxa1 Qxh2+ 45.Kg4 Qe2+ leads to perpetual. But white wants more.] 43...Kc7 44.Qc4+ Kb7 45.Qe4+ Kb8 [45...Ka7 46.Qd4+ Kb7 47.Qxa1 Qxh2+ 48.Kg4 Qe2+ 49.Kh3; 45...Kc8] 46.Qf4+ Qxf4+ 47.exf4 White straightens his pawn structure and gets serious winning chances. 47...Ra2 48.h3 Kc8 49.Kh5 Ra3 50.Nf5 Kd7 51.Kxh6 Ke6 52.Kg6 Ra5 53.Ng7+ Ke7 54.h4 Ra6 55.Nh5 [55.h5 Kf8 56.h6 f5+ 57.Kh5 Kg8 58.Nxf5] 55...Ra8 56.Ng7 Ra6 57.g4 f5+ 58.Kxf5 Kf7 59.Nh5 Ra5+ 60.Ke4 Ra3 61.g5 Rh3 62.Kf5 Rxh4 Now white tries a long time to win but doesn't manage to. I suspect the position must be winning. 63.g6+ Kg8 64.Kg5 Rh1 65.Nf6+ Kf8 66.Nh5 Rg1+ 67.Kh6 Rh1 68.f5 Kg8 69.Kg5 Rg1+ 70.Kf6 Rg4 71.Ng7 Ra4 72.Ne6 Ra5 73.Nc7 Kf8 74.Ke6 Ra7 75.Nb5 Re7+ 76.Kf6 Rd7 77.Nc3 Rd6+ 78.Kg5 Kg7 79.Nb5 Rd5 80.Nc7 Re5 81.Ne6+ Kg8 82.Kf6 Ra5 83.Nc7 Rc5 84.Ne8 Rc1 85.Nd6 Kf8 86.Ne4 Rc6+ 87.Kg5 Rc4 88.Ng3 Rc3 89.Ne4 Rc4 90.Nf6 Rc1 91.Nd7+ Kg8 92.f6 Rf1 93.Ne5 Rg1+ 94.Kf5 Rf1+ 95.Ke6 Re1 96.Kd6 Re2 97.Nc6 Rg2 98.Ke6 Re2+ 99.Kd7 Kf8 100.Kd6 Rg2 101.Ne5 Rd2+ 102.Ke6 Re2 103.Kf5 Rf2+ 104.Kg5 Rg2+ 105.Kh4 Rf2 106.Ng4 Rg2 107.Ne5 Rf2 108.Kg5 Rg2+ 109.Kf4 Rf2+ 110.Nf3 Rf1 111.Ke3 The position is a draw now. 111...Kg8 112.Kf4 Kf8 113.Ke4 Kg8 114.Ke3 Ra1 115.Kf4 Rf1 116.Kg4 Rf2 117.Kg3 Rf1 118.Kf4 Rf2 119.Ke4 Rf1 120.Ke3 Ra1 121.Kd4 Rf1 122.Ke4 Rf2 123.g7 Rg2 1/2-1/2 |
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 Kasparov Books |
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 Giant Chess Sets |
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 Chess Computers |
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 Chess Assistant |
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 Books 2000/1/2/3 |
