Morelia/Linares 2007. Rounds 10 4th March 2007

Round 10 (March 4, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Carlsen, Magnus        1-0   38  C96  Ruy Lopez
Ivanchuk, Vassily      -  Svidler, Peter         1/2   44  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Aronian, Levon         -  Morozevich, Alexander  1/2   29  D45  Anti-Meran Variations
Leko, Peter            -  Topalov, Veselin       1/2   84  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation

XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (MEX/ESP), 17 ii-10 iii 2007cat. XX (2746)
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                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
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1 Anand, Viswanathan     g IND 2779 ** =. 11 == 0. == 1. 1.  6.5  2848
2 Ivanchuk, Vassily      g UKR 2750 =. ** 0. == 1. 1= == =.  5.5  2783
3 Carlsen, Magnus        g NOR 2690 00 1. ** =. == 1. =. 1=  5.5  2789
4 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2728 == == =. ** == =. =. =.  5.0  2750
5 Aronian, Levon         g ARM 2744 1. 0. == == ** =. =. ==  5.0  2737
6 Topalov, Veselin       g BUL 2783 == 0= 0. =. =. ** == 1.  4.5  2709
7 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2749 0. == =. =. =. == ** =0  4.0  2676
8 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2741 0. =. 0= =. == 0. =1 **  4.0  2668
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Vishy Anand played the game of the tournament so far to despatch co-leader Magnus Carlsen and take a one point lead at Linares with four to play. Anand moved to 6.5/10 with Carlsen and Vasily Ivanchuk on 5.5. Anand conducted a brilliant attack in the Ruy Lopez combining threats on both wings to overwhelm the youngster’s defences in 38 moves.

Ivanchuk was held to a draw by the super-solid Peter Svidler who has now drawn all ten games while Peter Leko struggled successfully to hold a rook and pawn endgame a pawn down against Veselin Topalov.

Anand,V (2779) - Carlsen,M (2690) [C96]
XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (10), 04.03.2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 The old main line of the Ruy Lopez, Black has many choices here 11.d4 Nd7 Black defends the e5 pawn and intends Be7-f6 to pressure d4 or Nd7-b6-c4 to exchange one pair ofknights 12.d5 Nb6 13.Nbd2 [13.b3!?] 13...g6 [Kramnik and Adams have played 13...f5 but after an exchange of light squared bishops on 14.exf5 White has an edge with a good square for his knight on 14...e4] 14.b4 cxb4 15.cxb4 Nac4 16.Nxc4 Nxc4 Black has achieved his aim, but as Anand demonstrates, he has not solved his problems 17.Bb3 [17.Bh6 Re8 18.Bb3 Bd7 19.Qe2 Nb6 20.Rac1 Rc8 21.Be3 Rxc1 22.Rxc1 Qb8 23.Nd2 Rc8 24.Rxc8+ Nxc8 25.f4 Qc7 26.Nf3 Qc3 27.Qd2 Qxd2 28.Bxd2 f6 29.fxe5 fxe5 30.Nxe5 dxe5 31.d6+ Kg7 32.dxe7 Nxe7 33.h4 Bc6 34.Bc2 Nc8 35.Bc3 Kf6 36.Kf2 Nd6 37.Ke3 h6 38.Be1 Nc4+ 39.Kf3 1/2-1/2 Leko,P-Mamedyarov,S/Moscow RUS 2006/The Week in Chess 628] 17...Nb6 18.Be3 Bd7 19.Rc1 Rc8 [19...Qb8 20.Re2 Rc8 21.Rxc8+ Bxc8 22.Rc2 Bd7 23.Qd2 is like the game] 20.Rxc8 Bxc8 21.Qc2 Bd7 22.Rc1 Na8 Abject but herwise Qc7 will be too strong, a queenside pawn would fall for example [22...Nc8 23.Qc7 Qxc7 24.Rxc7 Rd8 Rb7-b8-a8 and takes on a6] 23.Qd2! Taking aim at the kingside 23...Qb8 24.Bg5 Bxg5 [24...f6 25.Nxe5!!] 25.Nxg5 Rc8 26.Rf1! [Planning 26.f4 with an enormous attack] 26...h6 27.Ne6!!

27...Kh7 with a strong attack or Vishy might have preferred [27...fxe6 28.dxe6 Be8 29.Qxh6 Nb6 30.f4 Qa7 31.f5 Nc4+ 32.Kh1 Qg7 33.Qh4; 27...fxe6 28.dxe6 Be8 29.e7+ Kg7 30.Qd5 Rc4 31.Bxc4 bxc4 32.Qxc4 Nc7 (32...Bb5 33.Qe6) 33.Rc1 Nb5 34.Qc8 when the two queenside pawns will be hard to stop] 28.f4 Qa7+ 29.Kh2 Be8 30.f5 gxf5 [30...fxe6 31.dxe6 Qd4 32.Qxd4 exd4 33.f6 wins back the piece] 31.exf5 f6 32.Re1 Nc7 33.Rc1! Bd7 34.Rc3 When this rook reaches g4 the threat will be Qxh6+! Kxh6 and Rh4 mate 34...e4 35.Rg3 Nxe6 36.dxe6 Be8 37.e7 Bh5 [37...Qxe7 38.Bg8+ Kh8 39.Qxh6+ Qh7 40.Qxh7# mate] 38.Qxd6 1-0