Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 4. Brief comments by Mark Crowther. Notes by Malcolm Pein

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Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 4

Morelia/Linares 2006. Round 4 Brief comments by Mark Crowther. Notes by Malcolm Pein

Round 4 (February 22, 2006)

Leko, Peter              -  Ivanchuk, Vassily        1-0   39  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Svidler, Peter           -  Bacrot, Etienne          1-0   59  C42  Petroff's Defence
Topalov, Veselin         -  Radjabov, Teimour        0-1   37  E70  King's Indian Fianchetto
Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Aronian, Levon           1/2   20  A30  English Symmetrical

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.  3.5  3047
2 Svidler, Peter           g RUS 2765 =. ** .. .. 1. .. 1. 1.  3.5  3063
3 Ivanchuk, Vassily        g UKR 2729 0. .. ** 1. =. =. .. ..  2.0  2727
4 Aronian, Levon           g ARM 2752 .. .. 0. ** .. 1. =. =.  2.0  2720
5 Bacrot, Etienne          g FRA 2717 .. 0. =. .. ** .. =. =.  1.5  2649
6 Radjabov, Teimour        g AZE 2700 0. .. =. 0. .. ** 1. ..  1.5  2668
7 Topalov, Veselin         g BUL 2801 .. 0. .. =. =. 0. ** ..  1.0  2540
8 Vallejo Pons, Francisco  g ESP 2650 0. 0. .. =. =. .. .. **  1.0  2550
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 4 saw another three decisive games and the two Peter's extending their lead in the event. Meanwhile a second loss for Veselin Topalov has already virutally ruled him out of the chase for first place and also there must be a real risk that he will hand the number one spot in the FIDE rating list to Viswanathan Anand when it appears for the first time without Kasparov's name after his retirement.

Peter Leko was impressive in defeating Vassily Ivanchuk in a Closed Ruy Lopez. He got nice pressure which mostly consisted of a space advantage and slight constriction for his opponent. He cashed this in for his opponents d-pawn which left him with a passed d-pawn which proved decisive.

Leko,P (2740) - Ivanchuk,V (2729) [C88]
Linares Morelia, Mexico (4), 22.02.2006
[Mark Crowther]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nf1 Bc8 13.c3 [13.Bg5 0-1 Shakhov,A-Frolov,D/St Petersburg RUS 1998 '0-1 Shakhov,A-Frolov,D/St Petersburg 1998' (59); 13.axb5 1/2-1/2 Chopin,P-Chery,E/France 1994 (29)] 13...Bd7 14.Ne3 Qc7 15.axb5 axb5 16.b4 Nb7 17.Bd2 Nd8 18.Bb3 Rxa1 19.Qxa1 Re8 20.bxc5 Qxc5 21.Qa2 h6 22.h3 Ne6 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.Bxd5 Qc8 25.d4 Bf6 26.Qb3 Bc6 27.Qb4!

Just attacking the d-pawn which proves very important in the coming play. 27...exd4 28.cxd4 Bxd5 29.exd5 Ng5 30.Rxe8+!

Starting a series of trades into a winning ending. 30...Qxe8 31.Bxg5 hxg5 32.Qxd6 White's d-pawns with the support of the queen will win the game. 32...Qe2 33.Qc5 Qc4 Black can't leave white with his queen, but it turns out this position is lost anyway. 34.Qxc4 bxc4 35.Kf1 Kf8 36.d6 Ke8 37.Ne5! Bxe5 38.dxe5 Kd7 39.g3 White will play f4 to protect the e-pawn if black plays f6 at any point and will simply bring over the king to pick up the c-pawn. 1-0

Peter Svidler's win looked similarly smooth. Etienne Bacrot played the Petroff Defence and managed to trade off into a double rook ending. However his rooks were passive and he had a slightly compromised pawn structure. Svidler then committed an inaccuracy which put his win at risk but Bacrot still thought the position lost and put up feeble resistance.

Svidler,P (2765) - Bacrot,E (2717) [C42]
Linares Morelia, Mexico (4), 22.02.2006
[Mark Crowther]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Bf4 0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Nc5 10.Be3 Re8 11.Bc4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Nxe6 13.h4 Qd7 14.Qd3 Qa4 15.Ng5 Nf8 16.Qd5 [16.Kb1 1/2-1/2 Todorovic,G-Antic,D/Kopaonik SCG 2005/The Week in Chess 545 (47)] 16...Bxg5 17.hxg5 Qe4 18.c4 Qxd5 19.cxd5 Nd7 20.Rd3 f6 21.Rc3 Rac8 22.Rh4 Re7 23.Rhc4 Nb6 24.Bxb6 axb6 25.gxf6 gxf6 26.a4 Kf8

This position may well already be winning. Double rook endings have a reputation of being drawish. Black's main problem is that both his rooks are passive, white's are very active. 27.Kd2 Rg7 28.g3 Ke8 29.Rf3 Rg6 30.Rh4 h6 31.Re4+ Kd7 32.Re6 Rf8 33.c4 h5 Black can't hang around and let white strengthen his position at will. 34.Rf5? white really shouldn't allow the exchange of the weak h-pawn b3 or Kd3 or Rf4 were all possible. 34. ...Rg4 35.b3 h4 36.gxh4 Rxh4 37.Rfxf6 Rxf6 38.Rxf6 Ke7 39.Re6+ Kf7 Perhaps black should have allowed the f-pawn to advance and stayed in touch with his queen side for the moment. 40.Re3 Rh1 41.Rf3+ Ke7 42.Ke3 Re1+ 43.Kf4 Kf6 44.Rh3 Re2 45.Rh7 White is back winning again. In particular black's king is in a very unfortunate position. 45...Rxf2+ 46.Ke3 Rb2 47.Rxc7 Rxb3+ 48.Kd4 Rb4 49.Rd7 Rxa4 50.Rxd6+ Ke7 51.Rxb6 Ra7 52.c5 Kd8 53.Ke5 Kc7 54.Rh6 Ra5 55.Rh7+ Kb8 56.Rh8+ Ka7 57.d6 White will queen and easily catch the b-pawn. 57...Rxc5+ 58.Ke6 Rc6 59.Ke7 1-0

Veselin Topalov has played the Benoni as black a number of times over the years so it was interesting to see how he approached the problem of taking the opening on against Teimour Radjabov. Topalov started to drift around move 26 allowing his opponent serious counterplay, and combined with a number of further inaccuracies his position fell apart in only 11 moves.

Topalov,V (2801) - Radjabov,T (2700) [E70]
XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (4), 22.02.2006
[Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bd3 0-0 6.Nge2 c5 From a King's Indian the game becomes a Benoni 7.d5 e6 8.h3 exd5 9.exd5 Nfd7 Black intends to attack on the kingside with f7-f5 and bring his knight to the fine square e5. White prevents this. The other Black knight may go to c7 via a6 to protect e6 or advance to b4 10.f4 f5 11.0-0 Na6 12.Be3 Nc7 13.Qd2 Re8 14.Bf2 Nf6 15.a3 a5 16.Bh4 Bd7 17.Kh1 [17.Rae1!?] 17...Qe7 18.Rae1 Qf7 19.a4 By closing the queenside White shows his hand on the other wing 19...Na6 20.g4 Typical Topalov, no hanging around 20...Nb4 21.Bb1 fxg4 22.f5! Bxf5 23.Bxf5 gxf5 24.Rxf5 Qg6 25.Ref1 Rf8

26.Ng3? Missing a trick [Increasing the pressure on f6 was better and more consistent 26.Qf4 Nd7 27.Qxg4 Qxg4 28.hxg4 Ne5 29.b3 Nxg4 30.Ne4+/=] 26...Nh5! 27.Nce4 [27.Nxh5 Rxf5 28.Rxf5 Qxf5; 27.Rxh5 Rxf1+ 28.Nxf1 Qxh5] 27...Nxg3+ 28.Nxg3 gxh3 29.b3 [29.Kh2] 29...Rae8 30.Kh2 Rxf5 31.Rxf5 Re5 [31...h6 was another way to prevent Rg5 32.Kxh3 Re4!] 32.Qg5 Qxg5 33.Bxg5 Nc2

White can still attack the black pawns fixed on dark squares so he has drawing chances. 34.Bd8? [34.Bf4 Rxf5 (34...Nd4 35.Bxe5 Nxf5 36.Bxg7 Nxg3 37.Bc3 Nf1+ 38.Kxh3 b6 39.Bf6 Nd2 40.Be7 Nxb3 41.Bxd6 Nd2 42.Bc7 Nxc4 43.d6 Ne5 44.Bxb6 draws) 35.Nxf5 Nd4 (35...Na1? 36.Nxd6) 36.Nxg7 (36.Nxd4 Doesn't seem to hold 36...cxd4 37.Kxh3 (37.Bxd6? d3-+) 37...d3! (37...Be5 38.Bd2 (38.Bxe5 dxe5 39.c5 Kf7-+) 38...b6 39.Kg4 Kg7 40.Kf5 Kf7-/+) 38.Bd2 Bd4 39.Kg2 h5 40.Kf3 (40.Bxa5? Be3 41.Kf3 d2 42.Ke2 h4-+) 40...b6 41.Ke4 (41.b4 axb4 42.Bxb4 Bc5 43.a5 bxa5 44.Bxa5 h4 45.Bd2 Kf7 46.Kg4 Kg6 wins) 41...h4 42.Kxd4 h3-+) 36...Kxg7 37.Bxd6 Nxb3 38.Kxh3 (38.Bc7 Kf6 39.Kxh3 Nd2-+) 38...Nd2 39.Bxc5 Kf7 (39...Nxc4? 40.d6=) 40.Kg4 Nxc4 with good winning chances because of the possibility of two passed rooks pawns appearing.] 34...Nd4 35.Rf4 [35.Rxe5 Bxe5 when the threat of Ne2 gives Black time to take a second pawn on b3] 35...Re3 36.Rg4 Kf7 37.Re4 Rxb3 Black is still pinned and three pawns down. 0-1

Francisco Vallejo Pons played the Symmetrical English against Levon Aronian and forced a draw virtually straight out of theory.

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