Morelia / Linares 2008. Round 10. Mark Crowther with additional notes by IM Malcolm Pein. Photos and videos by Peter Doggers of ChessVibes.

Jacob Aagaard at the London Chess Centre

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Morelia / Linares 2008.

Morelia/Linares Round 10: No change as leader Anand draws with second place Carlsen.

by Mark Crowther with additional notes by IM Malcolm Pein. Photos and videos by Peter Doggers of ChessVibes.

Linares Videos by Peter Doggers of ChessVibes for TWIC

Round 10 (March 1, 2008)
Anand, Viswanathan	- Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	22	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Radjabov, Teimour	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	31	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Shirov, Alexei	- Lékó, Peter	½-½	38	C89	Ruy Lopez Marshall
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Topalov, Veselin	½-½	62	B87	Sicilian Sozin Attack

XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares (MEX/ESP), 15 ii-7 iii 2008																	cat. XXI (2756)
					1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
1.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2799	*	*	1	½	0	½	½	.	½	.	1	1	½	.	1	.	6½	2857
2.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2733	0	½	*	*	1	.	1	.	0	.	½	1	½	1	½	.	6	2833
3.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2739	1	½	0	.	*	*	0	1	½	½	½	.	1	.	½	.	5½	2798
4.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2780	½	.	0	.	1	0	*	*	½	½	0	.	1	½	1	.	5	2749
5.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2735	½	.	1	.	½	½	½	½	*	*	0	.	½	.	0	½	4½	2722
6.	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2755	0	0	½	0	½	.	1	.	1	.	*	*	½	.	½	½	4½	2721
7.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2751	½	.	½	0	0	.	0	½	½	.	½	.	*	*	1	1	4½	2720
8.	Lékó, Peter	g	HUN	2753	0	.	½	.	½	.	0	.	1	½	½	½	0	0	*	*	3½	2643

Anand-Carlsen in round 10. Photo © ChessVibes.

Leader Viswanathan Anand took a cautious approach against Magnus Carlsen after being surprised by his choice of variation of the Sicilian. Anand's approach allowed easy equalisation and the draw was agreed on move 22.

Anand,V (2799) - Carlsen,M (2733) [B33]
XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (10), 01.03.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Bg5 Anand said he was surprised by Carlsen's opening choice and thus avoided the sharpest. The game quickly simplifies to a draw. 12.Nc2 Ne7 13.a4 bxa4 14.Ncb4 0-0 15.Qxa4 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 Bd7 17.Qa2 a5 18.Bd3N [18.Bc4 1-0 Ganguly,S (2571)-Poobesh Anand,S (2418)/New Delhi IND 2007/The Week in Chess 637. Also played in a couple of other games.] 18...Bc6 19.0-0 Qb8 20.Bc4 Kh8 21.b3 f5 22.exf5

Anand-Carlsen diagram

There is so little left in this position that a draw is a reasonable result. 1/2-1/2

Shirov-Leko in round 10. Photo © ChessVibes.

Alexei Shirov faced Peter Leko's Ruy Lopez Marshall Attack. He hardly took the sharpest approach and even before they left theory they had simplified down to a very drawish ending which they finally stopped playing on move 38.

Shirov,A (2755) - Leko,P (2753) [C89]
XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (10), 01.03.2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d3 Bd6 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Bxd5 cxd5 17.Qxd5 Rad8 18.Qg2 Qxg2+ 19.Kxg2 Bxd3 20.Be3 Rfe8 21.Nd2 b4 22.Bb6N [22.Bd4 bxc3 23.Bxc3 f6 24.Rad1 Rxe1 25.Rxe1 Kf7 26.f3 Be7 27.g4 h5 28.h3 hxg4 29.hxg4 Bb5 30.Nb3 Bc4 31.Re4 Rc8 32.Rd4 Rc7 33.Nd2 Bxa2 34.Ra4 Be6 35.Rxa6 f5 36.gxf5 Bxf5 37.Kg3 g6 38.Ne4 Rd7 39.Kf4 Be6 40.Ra8 Rd5 41.Ra7 Rd7 42.Ra5 Rd3 43.Ra7 Rd7 44.Rxd7 Bxd7 45.Ke5 g5 46.Bd2 Kg6 47.Be3 Bh3 48.Bc5 Bxc5 49.Nxc5 Bg2 50.f4 1/2-1/2 Stellwagen,D (2625)-Harikrishna,P (2664)/Wijk aan Zee NED 2008/The Week in Chess 688] 22...Rxe1 23.Rxe1 Rb8 24.Ba5 bxc3 25.Bxc3 This extremely simplified position must be almost completely equal. White's extra pawn is compensated for by black's two bishops. 25...f6 26.Ne4 Bf8 27.f3 Bc4 28.b3 Bb5 29.Ba5 Rc8 30.Nc3 Bc6 31.Rd1 Kf7 32.Ne2 h5 33.Rc1 Bd7 34.Rxc8 Bxc8 Rooks off has rendered the position even more drawish. 35.Bc3 Bd6 36.Kf2 g5 37.Ke3 h4 38.gxh4 Bxh2

Shirov-Leko diagram

This really isn't too early to call it a day. 1/2-1/2

Ivanchuk-Topalov in round 10. Photo © ChessVibes.

Vassily Ivanchuk drew with Veselin Topalov in a Sicilian Scheveningen. The game never really departed from equality even though Ivanchuk was in one of his regular time trouble episodes. The game simplified down to a knight ending with Topalov a pawn up 3-2 on the kingside he never had any serious chance of converting.

Ivanchuk,V (2751) - Topalov,V (2780) [B87]
XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (10), 01.03.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5 8.0-0 Be7 9.Qf3 Qb6 10.Be3 Qb7 11.Qg3 b4 12.Na4 Nbd7 13.f3 0-0 14.Rfd1 Kh8 15.Kh1N [15.Rac1 Ne5 16.Ne2 (16.c3 Bd7 17.Nb6 Nh5 18.Qh3 Qxb6 19.Qxh5 Qb7 20.Bg5 Bxg5 21.Qxg5 bxc3 22.Rxc3 Rfc8 23.f4 Rxc3 24.bxc3 Ng6 25.f5 exf5 26.Bd5 Qa7 27.Bxa8 Qxa8 28.exf5 f6 29.Qg3 Ne5 30.Ne6 Bxe6 31.fxe6 Qb8 32.Qf4 1-0 Neelakantan,N (2250)-King,D (2500)/Calcutta 1993) 16...a5 17.c4 bxc3 18.Nexc3 Ra6 19.f4 Ng6 20.Bc4 Rc6 21.Bd3 Qb8 22.Qf3 Bb7 23.h3 d5 24.e5 d4 25.exf6 Rxc3 26.fxg7+ Kxg7 27.Bxd4+ Kg8 28.Qe3 Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Qxf4 30.Qxf4 Nxf4 31.Rc7 Bd5 32.Rxe7 Nxd3 33.Nc3 Ba8 34.Ne2 Bd5 35.a3 Rc8 36.Bc3 h5 37.Ra7 Nxb2 38.Bxb2 Rc2 39.Nf4 Rxb2 40.Rxa5 Rd2 41.g3 h4 42.Nxd5 1/2-1/2 Zapata,A (2515)-Morovic Fernandez,I (2580)/Yopal COL 1997] 15...Ne5 16.a3 bxa3 17.Rxa3 Rb8 18.Nc3 Ned7 19.Ra2 Nc5 20.Bc4 Qc7 21.b3 Bd7 22.Qe1 Rfc8 23.Rda1 Ne8 24.Nde2 Bf6 25.Bd4 Bxd4 26.Nxd4 Qb6 27.Qe3 Nc7 28.h3 h6 29.Ra5 Kg8 30.R1a2 Qb4 31.Nce2 Qb6 32.Nc3 Qb4 33.Nce2 Qb6 34.Ng3 d5 35.exd5 exd5 36.Ndf5 Re8 37.Qxc5 dxc4 38.bxc4 Bxf5 39.Nxf5 Re2 40.Qxb6 Rxb6 41.Kh2 Rd2 42.h4 Kh7 43.h5 Rf6 44.Re5 Ne6 45.Rxa6 Nd4 46.Rxf6 Nxf3+ 47.Kh3 Nxe5 48.Rd6 Rxc2 49.Rd5 Nxc4 50.Rc5 Ne3 51.Rxc2 Nxc2 52.g4 Ne1

Ivanchuk-Topalov diagram

This is totally drawn. 53.Kg3 Nd3 54.Kf3 Kg8 55.Ke4 Nc5+ 56.Kd5 Nd7 57.Ke4 Kf8 58.Kf4 Nc5 59.Ke5 Ne6 60.Kd5 Ke8 61.Ke5 Kf8 62.Ke4 1/2-1/2

Radjabov-Aronian in round 10. Photo © ChessVibes.

Teimour Radjabov's 16.Qc1 didn't amount to very much against Levon Aronian's Moscow Defence. Aronian gradually obtained the better position and maybe 28...f4 was the way to go for the win. After that white came back into the game and Aronian decided to offer a draw on move 31 when he realised he wasn't better and this was accepted.

Radjabov,T (2735) - Aronian,L (2739) [D43]
XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (10), 01.03.2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 h5 10.h4 g4 11.Be2 Bb7 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.Rad1 0-0 16.Qc1N [16.Bg3 Nd7 17.f3 c5 (17...f5 18.fxg4 fxg4 19.e5 Rxf1+ 20.Rxf1 Nf8 21.Qd2 Ng6 1-0 Bormida,A (2412)-Binelli,R (2476)/CAPA email 1999 (69)) 18.dxc5 Qe7 19.Kh1 a6 20.a4 Bc6 21.Nd5 exd5 22.exd5 Be5 23.f4 Bg7 24.dxc6 Nxc5 25.Rd5 Ne4 26.Be1 Qe6 27.Rxh5 f5 28.Kh2 Rac8 29.Bb4 Rfe8 30.axb5 axb5 31.Re1 Qf7 32.Rg5 Nxg5 33.fxg5 Rxc6 34.Bf1 Rxe1 35.Bxe1 Re6 36.Bc3 Qc7+ 37.g3 Re3 38.Qg2 Bxc3 39.bxc3 f4 40.Qa8+ Kg7 41.Qa6 fxg3+ 0-1 Aronian,L (2750)-Anand,V (2792)/Mexico City MEX 2007/The Week in Chess 670] 16...Nh7 17.g3 f6 18.Bf4 a6 19.Rfe1 Rf7 This position is extremely comfortable for black. 20.Qc2 Rd7 21.b3 cxb3 22.Qxb3 Nf8 23.Be3 Qe7 24.a4 Qf7 This doesn't seem very good. Black is better from now on. 25.d5 exd5 26.exd5 f5 27.Bf1 Ng6 28.Bg2 Ne7 [28...f4 Maybe was the way to go.] 29.axb5 axb5 30.Bd4 Bxd4 31.Rxd4 Rc8

Radjabov-Aronian diagram