Linares 2010 (10)
Topalov victorious at Linares 2010
IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 27th February 2010
Veselin Topalov was victorious at Linares thanks to a last round and last gasp victory over Boris Gelfand as the latter went wrong in a drawn rook and pawn endgame. Level with Russian champion Alexander Grischuk going into the final game, Topalov saw his rival recover from an awful position and save half a point.
Veselin Topalov was victorious at Linares thanks to a last round and last gasp victory over Boris Gelfand as the latter went wrong in a drawn rook and pawn endgame. Level with Russian champion Alexander Grischuk going into the final game, Topalov saw his rival recover from an awful position and save half a point. Only a victory would prevent Grischuk winning on tie break and gaining a Grand Slam qualifying place so in typical style, Topalov prepared a kingside pawn storm to break down Gelfand's solid Petroff Defence.
Gelfand's defensive plan involved giving up rook for bishop and pawn for a solid position in the hope of securing a draw but Topalov cleverly returned the material to keep up the pressure and the players reached an endgame with Topalov holding an extra doubled pawn on the queenside. In theory it was drawn but in practice the pressure proved too much for Gelfand although I must confess I was rather surprised he went wrong. We will examine this ending on Monday.
Round ten results
Topalov 1-0 Gelfand, Petroff Defence, 62 moves;
Aronian 1-0 Gashimov, Modern Benoni, 58 moves;
Vallejo draw Grischuk, Sicilian Najdorf 6.f3, 32 moves;
Final scores: 1 Topalov (Bulgaria) 6.5/10; 2 Grischuk (Russia) 6; 3 Aronian (Armenia) 5.5; 4-6 Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Gelfand (Israel), Vallejo (Spain) 4
After a run of nine draws during which he was clearly out of sorts, Levon Aronian played a waiting game against Vugar Gashimov who created too many weaknesses. Both players either missed or mis-assessed a tactical shot on move 25 that would have given Aronian a big advantage, see the first diagram below.
L Aronian - V Gashimov
Modern Benoni
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.Bf4 a6 8.a4 Bg7 9.h3
(Stopping Bg4 exchanging the bishop which now lacks a good square)
9...0-0 10.e3 Ne8 11.Be2 Nd7 12.0-0 Qe7 13.Re1 h6 14.a5 Nc7 15.Rc1
(Quite a mysterious move but Aronian plans Nc3-a4 and b2-b4)
15...f5 16.Qb3 g5 17.Bg3 Rb8 18.Na4 b5 19.axb6 Na8 20.Ra1
(Attacking the weakened pawn on a6)
20...Naxb6 21.Nc3 Na8 22.Qc2 Nc7 23.Bc4 Rb4 24.b3
(Aronian hopes to exploit weaknesses on a6, d6 and on the kingside)
24...Nf6?!
Vugar Gashimov
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Levon Aronian
Position after 24...Nf6?! White to play
(24...Nb5 25.Na2 Na3 26.Qc1 Bxa1 27.Qxa3 Rxc4 28.bxc4 Bg7 was better)
25.Ra5? Nd7 26.Na4 Kh8 27.Nb2 Rb6 28.Rd1 Nb5 29.Bd3 Nc3 30.Rd2 Ne4 31.Bxe4 fxe4 32.Ne1 Bxb2
(32...Ne5 33.Qxe4 Rxb3)
33.Qxb2+ Kg8 34.Nc2 Nf6 35.Na3 Ne8 36.Nc4
(Just as in his game against Grischuk earlier in the tournament Gashimov has to nurse his d6 pawn)
36...Rb5 37.Ra4 h5
(This all looks a bit rash 37...Bb7 )
38.Na5 h4 39.Bh2 Bf5 40.Nc6 Qb7 41.b4! Bd7 42.Qc2 Bf5 43.bxc5 Rxc5 44.Qd1
(Aronian gradually opens more lines and king safety becomes the decisive factor)
44...Rb5 45.Ra1 Bc8 46.Rc1 Bf5 47.Nd8! Qe7 48.Ne6 Bxe6 49.dxe6 Qxe6 50.Bxd6 Nxd6 51.Rxd6
(Material may be equal but Black's king is naked)
51...Qf5 52.Qh5! Rb7
(52...Qxf2+ 53.Kh1 Rb7 54.Rg6+ Rg7 55.Rh6)
53.Rg6+ Rg7 54.Rh6 Rh7 55.Rxh7 Qxh7 56.Qxg5+ Qg7 57.Qxh4 Qg6 58.Rc5 1-0
Vugar Gashimov
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Levon Aronian
Final position after 58.Rc5
Another miniature from Cappelle la Grande. Black leaves himself way behind in development.
E Rozentalis (2623) - J Cabrera (2384)
Closed Sicilian
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.g3 b5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.Nge2 e6 6.0-0 d5 7.exd5 b4 8.Na4 Bxd5 9.Bxd5 exd5 10.Re1 Be7 11.Nf4 Kf8
(11...Nf6 12.Nxc5)
12.d4 c4 13.Qf3 Nf6 14.Re5 Nc6 15.Rxd5 Qb8
(15.Nxd5 Ne6+ wins the queen)
16.Nc5 Qc8
(16.Nxd5 Nd7+)
17.Be3 Nxd5 18.Nxd5 Nxd4 19.Bxd4 Bxc5 20.Bxc5+ Qxc5 21.Nc7 1-0
Jorge Cabrera Trujillo
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Eduardas Rozentalis
Final position after 21.Nc7 Black loses rook or queen.
Answer to puzzle
25.Ne5! threatens Ng6 and Nc6 and if 25...dxe5 26.d6+ wins the queen. However 25...Nh5! is not totally clear, 26.Nc6 Qf6! 27.Bh2!! and if Qxc3 28.Qe2! Nf6 29.Rac1 traps the queen.
