Round 1 (May 11, 2006)
Ponomariov, Ruslan - Kamsky, Gata 1/2 64 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Svidler, Peter - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 71 B80 Sicilian Scheveningen
Bacrot, Etienne - Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 54 E12 Queens Indian Petrosian
Mtel Masters Sofia BUL (BUL), 11-21 v 2006 cat. XX (2745)
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1 2 3 4 5 6
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1 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2803 ** .. .. .. .. 1. 1.0
2 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2671 .. ** =. .. .. .. 0.5 2738
3 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2738 .. =. ** .. .. .. 0.5 2671
4 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2743 .. .. .. ** =. .. 0.5 2804
5 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2804 .. .. .. =. ** .. 0.5 2743
6 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2708 0. .. .. .. .. ** 0.0
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The first round of the Mtel Masters took place on Thursday 11th May 2006.
Etienne Bacrot and Viswanathan Anand played a Queen's Indian. Anand followed a game played a few days before by Sasikiran against Carlsen by deciding to hang on to his light squared bishop. Bacrot claimed a lot of space with his pawns in the centre of the board whilst Anand opened things on the kingside where Bacrot had castled whilst leaving his King in the centre. Things sharpened considerably when Bacrot grabbed a pawn and then Anand gave up two rooks for Bacrot's queen leaving a very unbalanced situation on the baord. Anand the proceeded to show that his queen was very much stronger than Bacrot's rooks and smoothly coverted the position to a win in 54 moves in the first game to finish.
Bacrot,E (2708) - Anand,V (2803) [E12]
Mtel Masters Sofia (1), 11.05.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 Be7 7.e3 Ne4 8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.Bg3 d6 10.Bd3 Bb7 11. 0-0 Nd7 12.e4 Bf6N Anand follows an idea played by Sasikiran against Carlsen only a few days before.
12. ...O-O 13. Qe2 Bf6 14. Rad1 e5 15. d5 a5 16. b3 Re8 17. a3 Nf8 18. b4 axb4 19. axb4 c5 20. bxc5 bxc5 21. Nd2 Ng6 22. Nb1 Bc8 23. Nc3 Nf4 24. Qc2 Bd7 25. Ra1 Ra5 26. Rfb1 Qa8 27. Rxa5 Qxa5 28. Bf1 Nh5 29. Qb2 Ra8 30. Qb7 Qd8 31. Nb5 Rb8 32. Qa6 Be7 33. Ra1 g6 34. Be2 Nf4 35. Bf1 Nh5 36. Be2 Nf4 37. Bf1 Nh5 1/2-1/2 Carlsen, M - Sasikiran, K XXXVI Bosnia GM Sarajevo (3) 13.Rc1 g5 14.Bb1 h5 This is all pretty original stuff from Anand. 15.h3 Rg8 16.b4 g4 17.hxg4 hxg4 18.Nh2 Bh4 19.Bf4 Bg5 20.Qxg4!?
20...Qf6 21.Be3 Bxe3!? [21...0-0-0 looks fine for black also.] 22.Qxg8+ Ke7 23.Qxa8 Bxa8 24.fxe3 Qg6 25.Rf4 e5 26.Rf5 Qh6 27.Re1 Perhaps white needs to fish in murky waters fairly soon. [27.Rf3 exd4 28.Rcf1 Ne5 29.Rh3 Qg7 30.exd4 Nxc4] 27...exd4 28.exd4 Qd2 29.Nf3 Qxb4 Two rooks are better than a queen in general terms but white is a long way from coordinating his pieces and as it turns out he never does. 30.Rc1 Bb7 31.Rb5 Qa3 32.Re1 Qc3 33.Rb3 Qxc4 I think its possible to say already that Anand is winning. 34.Bd3 Qa4 35.Rc3 c5! Really cements black's advantage. 36.Bc4 Qb4 37.Rcc1 cxd4 38.Nxd4 Another way of losing was. [38.Bxf7 d3 39.Bd5 Bxd5 40.exd5+ Kd8] 38...Ne5 39.Nf5+ Kd7 40.Bd5 Bxd5!? There seems to be another way to win. [40...Nd3! 41.Bxb7 Nxe1 42.Bc6+ Kd8 43.Rd1 Nd3] 41.exd5 Qf4 42.Rf1 Nf3+ 43.gxf3 Qxf5 Black is winning, white can't even hold on to his d-pawn. 44.f4 [44.Rcd1 Qc2 45.Kh1 Qxa2 46.Ra1 Qxd5 47.Rxa7+ may have offered slightly more resistance but in the end black's passed pawns and queen will overcome the rooks.] 44...Qxd5 45.f5 Qd2 46.f6 b5 47.Rce1 Kc6 48.Ra1 [48.Re7 Qxa2 protects f7.] 48...Qd4+ 49.Kg2 Qb2+ 50.Kg3 b4 51.Kg4 d5 52.Kg5 Qg2+ 53.Kh4 Kd6 54.Kh5 a5
White doesn't wait around to be overwhelmed by black's pawns. 0-1
Ruslan Ponomariov and Gata Kamsky played 25 moves of Ruy Lopez Anti-Marshall theory and reached an ending which was pretty drawish. Kamsky then went into passive defence and Ponomariov looked to be generating some chances however when queens came off Kamsky was more than half way to a draw which was finally established by a three fold repetition.
Ponomariov,R (2738) - Kamsky,G (2671) [C88]
Mtel Masters (1), 11.05.2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 11.Nc3 Nd8 12.d4 exd4 13.Nxd4 Re8 14.Nf5 Ne6 15.Qf3 Bf8 16.Be3 c5 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.Bxd5 Nxd5 19.exd5 Nc7 20.Bd2 Rxe1+ 21.Rxe1 Re8 22.Rxe8 Nxe8 23.b3 g6 24.Nh6+ Bxh6 25.Bxh6 f6 [25...Qe7 26.c4 bxc4 27.bxc4 f6 28.Bd2 h5 29.Qb3 Ng7 30.Qb6 Qe5 31.Qxa6 Qa1+ 32.Kh2 Qe5+ 33.f4 Qe2 34.Ba5 Nf5 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.Qd7+ Kh6 37.Qd8 Kh7 38.Qxf6 Qf2 39.Qf7+ Kh6 40.Qf8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2 Ivanchuk,V-Grischuk,A/Sochi RUS 2006/The Week in Chess 599] 26.c4 Kf7 27.Qd3 Kamsky spent a good deal of time here. 27...Ke7 28.g4 White's plan will involve slowly strangling black. Black will have to wait passively to see if white can break through. 28...Kd8 29.Kg2 Kc8 30.Bd2 Nc7 31.Bc3 Qf7 32.Qf3 Ne8 33.Qe4 Nc7 34.Kg3 Kd7 35.Ba5 Qe8
36.Kf3 Qxe4+ 37.Kxe4 White would have liked to keep queens on but he's probably squeezed the maximum he could out of that phase of the game, now will follow a delicate bishop and pawns vs knight and pawns ending where white will be the one doing all the pressing. 37...bxc4 38.bxc4 Ne8 39.Bd2 Ke7 40.Kd3 Kd7 41.Kc3 Kc7 42.Kb3 Kb6 43.Bh6 Kb7 44.h4 f5 45.gxf5 gxf5 46.Bg5 Kc8 47.h5 Kd7 48.Kc3 h6! Forcing a trade of h-pawns which will help black defend the position as knights struggle with a and h pawns. 49.Bxh6 Nf6 50.Kb3 Nxh5 51.Ka4 Nf6 52.Bf4 [52.Ka5 Ng4 53.Be3 Ne5 54.Kxa6 Nxc4 55.Bc1] 52...Ng4 53.Bg3 [53.Ka5 Nxf2 54.Kxa6 Nd3 55.Bg5 f4 56.Kb6 f3 57.Bh4 Nb2 wins for black.] 53...f4 54.Bxf4 Nxf2 55.Bg3 Ne4 56.Bf4 Kc7 57.Kb3 The game is now clearly drawn. 57...Kd7 58.Kc2 Nf2 59.Kd2 Ne4+ 60.Kd3 Nf2+ 61.Ke2 Ne4 62.Kd3 Nf2+ 63.Ke2 Ne4 64.Kd3 Game drawn by repetition. 1/2-1/2
Peter Svidler has got off to great starts to his recent events and had the opportunity to do so here. He starts with two whites as he got number one in the draw. This can be a good thing but then this will be followed by four blacks in five games which is probably a period for holding on. Svidler's first game was with white against FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov. Svidler was first to innovate with 13.f4 but this move didn't seem to create many problems for black. Topalov took a slight initiative but it became clear there was nowhere near enough for an advantage. The players engineered a draw by perpetual to conclude the final game to finish.
Svidler,P (2743) - Topalov,V (2804) [B80]
Mtel Masters Sofia (1), 11.05.2006
[Crowther,Mark]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2 b4 9.Nce2 e5 10.Nb3 Nc6 11.Ng3 Be6 12.0-0-0 Qc7 [12...Be7 13.Nf5 Bxf5 14.exf5 d5 15.Bg5 Qb6 16.h4 d4 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.g4 e4 19.Qf4 0-0 20.g5 Be5 21.Qxe4 Qc7 22.Kb1 Rfe8 23.Qg4 a5 24.Bc4 Kh8 25.f4 a4 26.fxe5 Nxe5 27.Qxd4 Nxc4 28.Nc5 Ne3 29.f6 Rad8 30.fxg7+ Kg8 31.Nd7 Qxc2+ 32.Ka1 Rxd7 33.Qxd7 Nxd1 34.Qxe8+ Kxg7 35.Qe5+ Kg8 36.Qe8+ Kg7 37.Qe5+ Kg8 1/2-1/2 Morozevich,A-Grischuk,A/Monte Carlo MNC 2006/The Week in Chess 594] 13.f4 A new move. Kb1 has been played before and that game looked to be heading for a draw before being settled by a big blunder. [13.Kb1 a5 14.Bb5 a4 15.Nc1 Qb7 16.Bxc6+ Qxc6 17.Nd3 Rb8 18.b3 Qb5 19.f4 Be7 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.Bg5 Bg4 22.Rdf1 axb3 23.axb3 h6 24.Bxf6 Bxf6 25.h3 Qa5 26.Qc1 Be6 27.Nh5 Ke7 28.Nxf6 Ra8 29.Nd5+ Bxd5 30.Qb2 Bxe4 31.Re1 f5 32.Nxe5 Qa6 33.Rhf1 Rhc8? (33...Rhe8 holds the balance.) 34.Nc4 Qf6?? (34...Rxc4 35.bxc4 probably doesn't help that much.) 35.Rxe4+ 1-0 Borisek,J-Gallagher,J/Gothenburg SWE 2005/The Week in Chess 561] 13...h5 14.h4 a5 15.f5 Bd7 16.Kb1 Rb8 17.Be2 Na7 18.Bxa7 Looks a bit crude. Unless there is something concrete planned giving up the bishop in this way doesn't look right. 18...Qxa7 19.Qd3 Bb5 20.Qf3 Bc6 21.Nd2 Qc5 22.Nb3 Qb6 23.Nd2 Be7 Presumably turning down a tacit draw offer. 24.Nc4 Qc5 25.Ne3 a4 26.Bc4 The plans are clear, black hopes to break through on the queenside, while white hopes to get counterplay through control of d5. 26...Bd8 Black redeploys his bishop. 27.b3 [27.Rd3] 27...Bb6 28.Rd3 axb3 29.cxb3 Ra8 30.Rc1 Qa5 31.Rc2 Ke7 32.Nd5+ Bxd5 33.Bxd5 Rac8 34.Rxc8 Rxc8 35.Bc4 The position is still in dynamic balance. 35...Rh8 36.Rd2 Qc5 37.Qd1 Ba7 38.Rc2 Qe3 39.Bd3 Bc5 40.Qf3 Rd8 41.Be2
41...Qf4 Keeping queen's on, presumably to try and exploit the a1-d4 diagonal. Probably the game should end in a draw. [41...Qxf3 42.Bxf3 g6] 42.Nxh5 [42.Qxf4 exf4 43.Nxh5 is suggested as almost level by Fritz.] 42...Qxh4 [42...Qxe4 43.Nxf6 Qxf3 44.Ng8+ Rxg8 45.Bxf3 g6 is another Fritz line.] 43.Nxf6 gxf6 44.g3 Qg5 45.Qg4 There's pretty much no doubt that all white wants is a draw. 45...Rh8 46.Qxg5 fxg5 47.Bg4 Kf6 48.Rc1 Rh2 Black is the only one with winning chances, the position should be holdable but white may have to find some accurate moves. 49.Rc2 Rh6 50.Rc1 Bf2 51.Rd1 Kg7 52.Rd3 Bd4 53.Kc2 Kf6 54.Rd2 Rh1 55.Rd1 Rh8 56.Kd3 Rc8 57.Ke2 Rc3 58.Rd3 Rc5 59.Bf3 Ke7 60.Rd2 Rc3 61.Rd3 Rc8 Now its clear that black can't break through anywhere as he can't afford the rooks to come off as the opposite colour bishop ending is a trivial draw. 62.Rd2 Rh8 63.Kf1 Rc8 64.Ke2 Rg8 65.Kf1 Rh8 66.Rc2 Bc5 67.Kg2 Kf6 68.Be2 Rh7 69.Rc1 Rh8 70.Rc2 Engineering a draw by repetition. 70...Rh7 71.Rc1 Rh8 1/2-1/2
The regulations are the same as last year. "The players should not talk during the games; additionally they should not offer draws directly to their opponents. Draw-offers will be allowed only through the Chief-Arbiter in three cases: a triple-repetition of the position, a perpetual check and in theoretically drawn positions."
The final standings will be established in the case of a tie by: # A greater number of wins. # The result of the direct mini-matches between contenders. # Berger. # A greater numbers of moves played. Only if these are tied will a playoff take place.