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Morelia/Linares Round 11: Anand extends his lead as Carlsen subsides against Leko.by Mark Crowther with additional notes by IM Malcolm Pein. Photos and videos by Peter Doggers of ChessVibes.
There seems some sort of inevitability that Viswanathan Anand will win this tournament. He looks in full control now a point clear of the field and today was in no trouble at all. The players followed a Tal-Botvinnik game from 1964 but professed ignorance of this after the game. Anand was very comfortable when the draw was agreed after only 18 moves. Radjabov,T (2735) - Anand,V (2799) [B18] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nh3 Nf6 7.Nf4 e5 8.Nxg6 hxg6 9.dxe5 Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Qxe5+ 11.Qe2 Qxe2+ 12.Bxe2 Nbd7 13.0-0 0-0-0 14.Rad1 Nb6 15.Bc1 Bd6
The biggest point of interest in this rather brief game was that both players were unaware they were following a Tal-Botvinnik game. 16.Rfe1 [16.Rd4 Bc7 17.Rxd8+ Rxd8 18.Rd1 Rxd1+ 19.Bxd1 Nbd5 20.Be2 Kd7 21.Bc4 Ke7 22.Bg5 Bf4 23.Ne4 Bxg5 24.Nxg5 Nd7 25.Kf1 Ne5 26.Bb3 Nb6 27.Ne4 Nd5 28.h4 Nc7 29.Ke2 b6 30.c3 Ne6 31.g3 Nd7 32.Ba4 b5 33.Bb3 Nec5 34.Nxc5 Nxc5 35.Bc2 a5 36.Ke3 Kd6 37.g4 a4 38.b4 axb3 39.axb3 Ne6 40.b4 g5 41.hxg5 Nxg5 1/2-1/2 Tal,M-Botvinnik,M/Moscow 1964/EXT 2000] 16...Kc7 [16...Bc5 17.Bf3 Rxd1 18.Rxd1 Re8 19.Kf1 Nc4 20.h3 Nd6 21.c3 a5 22.Re1 Rxe1+ 23.Kxe1 Kd7 24.Bd1 Nfe4 25.Nxe4 Nxe4 26.Bc2 Nd6 27.Ke2 Ke7 28.h4 Nc4 29.a4 Nb6 30.Bb3 Nd7 31.g3 Bb6 32.Bc2 Nf6 33.Bd3 Bc5 34.Bc2 Nd5 35.Bd2 Nf6 36.f4 Nd5 37.g4 Bd6 38.Kf3 Bc5 39.g5 Nc7 40.Kg4 Nd5 41.Kf3 Nc7 42.b4 axb4 43.cxb4 Bd6 44.Be4 Na6 45.b5 cxb5 46.axb5 Nc5 47.Bd5 b6 48.Be3 Bc7 49.Bd4 Nd3 50.Bxg7 Nxf4 51.Bf6+ Kf8 52.Bc4 Nh5 53.Bc3 Ke7 54.Bb4+ Ke8 55.Bd5 f6 56.gxf6 Nxf6 57.Be6 Nd7 58.Bxd7+ 1/2-1/2 Vorobiov,E (2552)-Solozhenkin,E (2480)/Sochi RUS 2004/The Week in Chess 495] 17.h3 Rhe8 18.Bd3 Anand doesn't need to do anything special to win the event, just stay sensible. He's done enough here. 1/2-1/2
Carlsen sounded unhappy with his play today saying he was disappointed with his "slightly superficial preparation" and that he was undone by "lots of minor mistakes". Surely this is the case. The bishops of opposite colour are only dangerous as attacking options and it is true that Leko's was far superior to Carlsen's but black had so many options to defend that he surely had many clear paths to the draw and he was the one with the time too. It was a case of Leko "old manning" Carlsen who surely will be a bit more careful in such positions next time. Leko,P (2753) - Carlsen,M (2733) [B33] 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 12.Nc2 Ne7 13.h4 Bh6 14.a4 bxa4 15.Ncb4 0-0 16.Qxa4 Nxd5 17.Nxd5 a5 18.Bb5 Be6 19.Bc6 Rb8 20.b4 [20.b3 0-1 Volokitin,A (2645)-Timofeev,A (2662)/Lugo 2006/EXT 2007 (49)] 20...Bxd5 21.Bxd5 axb4 22.cxb4 Qb6 23.Rb1 Kh8 [23...Qd4 24.0-0 Bd2 25.Rfd1 Rxb4 26.Rxb4 Qxb4 27.Qa2 Bc3 28.Rb1 Qa5 29.Bxf7+ Kh8 30.Qxa5 Bxa5 31.Rb7 g6 32.g3 Be1 33.Rd7 Bxf2+ 34.Kxf2 Kg7 35.Ke3 Rxf7 36.Rxd6 Ra7 37.Re6 Ra3+ 38.Kf2 Ra2+ 39.Kf3 Ra3+ 1/2-1/2 Felgaer,R (2539)-Wang Hao (2665)/Gibraltar ENG 2008/The Week in Chess 691] 24.0-0 f5 25.Qa5 fxe4 26.Qxb6 Rxb6 27.Rb3 Rc8 28.Ra1 A technical ending has arisen where black suffers quite a bit more than you might expect. Still Carlsen should hold it. 28...g6 29.Ra8 Rxa8 30.Bxa8 Bf8 [30...Kg7 31.Bxe4 Kf6 32.Bd5 should surely hold.] 31.b5 Be7 32.g3
Black messes about quite a lot around here without achieving anything perhaps not taking white's chances at all seriously. I don't think there can be an awful lot wrong with activating the king at some point very soon. 32...Bd8 33.Bxe4 d5 34.Bxd5 Rd6 35.Bc6 Bb6 36.Rb2 Rd3 37.Kg2 Kg7 38.Be4 Ra3 39.g4 Bd4 40.Rc2 Rb3 41.Rc7+ Kh8 With the king back in the corner things go very bad very soon but its maybe too late to put it right. 42.Rc8+ Kg7 43.Rc7+ Kh8 44.Rb7 Rb2 45.h5! Rxf2+ 46.Kg3 Rf4 [46...gxh5 47.gxh5 h6 48.Rh7+ Kg8 49.Rxh6 Rb2 50.Bd5+ Kf8 51.Bc4 is probably losing too.] 47.h6 Rf8 48.Rc7 Bf2+ 49.Kg2 Be3 50.g5 Now with backrank mate threats and sacrifices on g6 if the king goes away Carlsen has a difficult task to hold. 50...Rb8 51.Rc3 Bd4 [51...Bxg5 52.b6 Bxh6 53.b7 Kg7 54.Rc8 Rxb7 55.Bxb7 reveals the full nature of how bad things have gone for Carlsen.] 52.Rc6 Kg8?! Black makes a break for it, its a pretty commital decision. [52...Be3 Attacking the kingside pawns looks superficially attractive but Carlsen did have quite a bit of time so there may be a deep refutation. ] 53.Bd5+ Kf8 He can't go back. 54.Bc4 Ke7 Black is definitely lost after this. Watching the game I thought he intended: [54...Rb7 which might be a slow death but doesn't grant anything totally immediate. Now its soon over.] 55.Rc7+ Kd6 56.Rxh7 e4 57.Rg7 Kc5 [57...Ke5 Actually fails more miserably. 58.Rxg6 Kf4 59.h7 Rh8 60.Bg8 e3 61.Kf1 Kf3 62.Rf6+ is pretty sick way to go.] 58.Rc7+ Kd6 59.Rc6+ Ke5 60.Rxg6 Kf5 61.Rd6 Be3 62.h7 No hope at all here. 1-0
Veselin Topalov got himself back into a share of 2nd place with a win against Alexei Shirov which may have acted as some sort of revenge for his loss against him in the first half. In truth he didn't have to work terribly hard, Shirov completely missed his way in a sharp position and the point fell into Topalov's hands with some very obvious moves. Topalov,V (2780) - Shirov,A (2755) [D89] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Ne2 c5 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 Bg4 11.f3 Na5 12.Bd3 cxd4 13.cxd4 Be6 14.d5 Bxa1 15.Qxa1 f6 16.Qd4 Bf7 17.Bh6 Re8 18.Bb5 e5 19.Qf2 Re7 20.Bd3N People have been here a few times before, this is a novelty however. [20.Be3 Rc8 (20...b6 21.f4) 21.Bxa7 Nc4 22.Bc5 Rec7 23.Bb4 Be8 24.Nc3 Nd6 25.Bxe8 Qxe8 26.Qb6 Nf7 27.Qe3 Kg7 28.Rd1 Nd6 29.Rd3 Qd7 30.h3 Nb5 31.Nxb5 Qxb5 32.a3 Rc2 33.d6 Qd7 34.f4 Re8 35.fxe5 Rxe5 36.Rd4 b5 37.Bd2 Rc4 38.Rxc4 bxc4 39.Qd4 Re6 40.Bb4 c3 41.Qxc3 Rxe4 42.Qc5 g5 43.Qd5 Re5 44.Qd1 Kg6 45.Kh2 h5 46.a4 Re8 47.Ba5 Kg7 48.Bb6 g4 49.hxg4 hxg4 50.Qd4 Kg6 51.a5 f5 52.a6 Re4 53.Qd5 Qh7+ 54.Kg1 g3 55.Kf1 Qh1+ 0-1 Gligoric,S (2585)-Portisch,L (2645)/Nice 1974/EXT 2000] 20...Rc8 21.f4 Razor sharp play ensues. 21...Nc4 22.fxe5 Nxe5 23.Qxf6 Bxd5 24.exd5 Ng4 25.Qf4 Nxh6 26.Qxh6
Black's problem is the Bxg6 sacrifice hanging in the air. 26...Qb6+? Things go very bad very quickly, Shirov must have overlooked something. [26...Qxd5 27.Nf4 Qd4+ 28.Kh1 Rf7 29.g3 Re8 at least keeps all black's ducks in a row with pieces covering the kingside. But white must still be better. ] 27.Kh1 Qe3 28.Qh4 [28.Nf4 was perhaps what Shirov was expecting. Topalov homes in on the king directly.] 28...Re5? [28...Rf8 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 and black might still be kicking at least.] 29.Qf6 Ree8 allowing carnage. [29...Qg5 30.Qf7+ Kh8 31.Qxb7 is a win by material. ] 30.Bxg6 hxg6 31.Qxg6+ Kh8 32.Qf6+ Kh7 33.Qf7+ Kh8 34.Nf4 Mate, catastrophic loss of material or both follows quickly. 1-0
Levon Aronian against Vassily Ivanchuk seemed to be setting itself up for an exciting dynamic struggle but just as soon blew itself out and the players agreed a draw. Aronian,L (2739) - Ivanchuk,V (2751) [D37] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Qc2 dxc4 8.Ne4 [8.e3 c5 9.dxc5 Qa5 10.Bxc4 Qxc5 11.Ne4 Qb4+ 12.Nfd2 Nd7 13.Bb3 Be7 14.0-0 0-0 15.Qc7 Bd8 16.Qf4 Qe7 17.Rac1 Nb6 18.Nd6 Qf6 19.Qe4 Qe7 20.Qf4 Qf6 21.Qe4 Qe7 22.Qd4 Bd7 23.Nf3 Bc6 24.Ne5 Bc7 25.Nxc6 Qxd6 26.Qxd6 Bxd6 27.Rfd1 Nc8 28.Nd4 a6 29.f4 Re8 30.f5 e5 31.Nf3 e4 32.Nd2 Rb8 33.Kf2 Nb6 34.Nxe4 Bxh2 35.Nd6 Bxd6 36.Rxd6 Rbc8 37.Rxc8 Nxc8 38.Rd7 Rf8 39.Rxb7 Nd6 40.Rb6 Ne4+ 41.Kf3 Nd2+ 42.Kf4 Nxb3 43.Rxb3 Rd8 44.Rb6 Rd2 45.g4 Kf8 46.a4 a5 47.b3 Ke7 48.Rb5 Rb2 49.Ke5 f6+ 50.Kd5 Rd2+ 51.Kc5 Rc2+ 52.Kb6 Rg2 53.b4 Rxg4 54.bxa5 1-0 Najer,E (2597)-Kruppa,Y (2582)/Elista RUS 2000] 8...b5 9.a4 Bb7 10.axb5 a6 11.Nxf6+ Qxf6 12.Qxc4 0-0 13.Qxc7 axb5 14.Rxa8 Bxa8 15.e3
A very sharp position arises. Will white develop and use his material or will black break through. 15...Bxf3 16.gxf3 Qxf3 17.Rg1 Qf5! With numerous threats. 18.Qc3 Qb1+ 19.Kd2 Nd7 20.Qc2 Qa2 21.Bd3 e5 22.b3 Black is maybe a bit better here but I don't think he had much time. 1/2-1/2
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