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Morelia/Linares round 8: Anand increases his lead to a point, Carlsen and Aronian remain in contention.

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

Tournament hall in round 8. Photo © ChessVibes.

Anand plays Shirov in round 8. Photo © ChessVibes.

Viswanathan Anand extended his lead to a full point after the eighth round of the Morelia/Linares tournament, the first round to take place in Linares, Spain. Anand beat Alexei Shirov in a Sicilian Sveshnikov in 57 moves. It was an interesting struggle with a number of turning points. Shirov chose to swap queens on move 28 a move that also wrecked his kingside pawn structure. At first this looked dubius however he did seem to compensate for this with quite a nasty initiative and on the run up to first time control he had good chances to draw. On move 44 Shirov was probably lost but made things easy. Instead he played a poor king move, had his bishop exchanged off anyway and was left with what was a completely lost endgame.

Anand,V (2799) - Shirov,A (2755) [B33]
XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (8), 28.02.2008
[IM Malcolm Pein]

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 0-0 13.a4 bxa4 14.Rxa4 a5 15.Bc4 Rb8 16.b3 Kh8 17.Nce3 g6 18.Qe2 [18.h4 Bxh4 19.g3 Bg5 20.Qe2 f5 21.f4 exf4 22.gxf4 Bh4+ 23.Kd1 with a crazy random position, Karjakin-Shirov, Khanty Mansysk World Cup SF 2007] 18...f5 19.h4 Bxe3 [19...Bxh4 20.exf5 Bxf5 21.Nxf5 Rxf5 (21...gxf5?? 22.Qh5) 22.g3 Bg5 23.Bd3 Rf8 (23...Rxb3 24.Bxf5 gxf5 25.0-0+/=) 24.Rxh7+ Kxh7 25.Qh5+ Kg8 26.Qxg6+ Kh8 27.Qh7#] 20.Qxe3 fxe4 21.h5 g5 22.Qxe4 Bb7 [22...Bf5 23.Qe2 h6 24.Ne3+/- Bd7 25.0-0 and again we have the familiar problems for Black of weak d6 and a5 pawns and a slightly airy kingside] 23.Qe3 e4

[Shirov prefers activity. It was also possible to defend with 23...Ne7 24.Nxe7 Qxe7 25.Rxa5 Qc7

• 25...Bxg2 26.Rg1 Bf3 27.Qxg5+/-;
• 25...d5!? 26.Bxd5 (If White declines then Black can still play dynamically exploiting the position of the white king in the centre 26.Be2 d4!? 27.cxd4 Qb4+ 28.Qd2 Qxd2+ 29.Kxd2 Rxf2 (29...Bxg2 30.Rg1 Rxf2 31.Ke1!) 30.Rxe5 Rxg2 with chances to save the game) 26...Ra8! with the point 27.Rxa8 Rxa8 28.Bxb7 Ra1+/unclear;

24.0-0 Ne5 25.Rfa1 [25.Qxe4 Bc6 26.Ra3 Rf4 27.Qe2 Rh4 28.g3 Rh3! with ideas like g5-g4 and Nf3+ in the air. This is precisely the kind of thing Anand wants to avoid] 25...Qe8 26.Rxa5 Qxh5 27.Qxe4 Rbe8 [27...Ng4 28.Qd4+ Rf6 29.Nxf6 Qh2+ 30.Kf1 Bxg2+ 31.Ke2 wins] 28.Be2! Keeping control. Shirov only had about one minute per move remaining now 28...Qh4?! [28...g4 retained some practical chances but Shirov's decision may have been influenced by the clock 29.Qd4 (29.Ra7?? Nc6) 29...Qg5 (or 29...Qh4!? 30.g3 Qh5 31.Ra7 Rf6! 32.Rxb7 Rh6 33.Qe4 Qh2+ 34.Kf1 Qh1+?? (34...Rf8! unclear 35.Nf4 Qh1+) 35.Qxh1 Rxh1+ 36.Kg2 Rxa1 37.Nf6+-) ] 29.Qxh4 gxh4 30.Ne3 h3! Best practical chance 31.gxh3 Nf3+ 32.Bxf3 Rxf3 33.Rh5 Rg8+ 34.Kf1 Rgf8 35.Nd1! [35.Ra2?? Rxe3; 35.Ra7 Rxf2+ 36.Ke1 Be4 with good chances to hold] 35...Rd3 36.Rh4 Bf3 37.Rd4 Rxd4 38.cxd4

Vassily Ivanchuk lost to Magnus Carlsen in round 8. Photo © ChessVibes.

Neither Vassily Ivanchuk nor Magnus Carlsen are strangers to theoretical backwaters in the opening. Here they followed a game between Simon Winawer and Johannes Zuckertort in the Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence until move 8 where Carlsen forgot his theory and came up with a novelty. Then a period of great tension between the pieces arose. It looked like Ivanchuk was better, especially according to the computers, but in the end even though Ivanchuk had Rook, knight and bishop against Carlsen's two rooks it was Carlsen who emerged with the better chances. A mad pawn race ensued with Ivanchuk down to something like a second a move and by move 40 the game was all over as Ivanchuk lost on time in a lost position. Carlsen stayed in 2nd place a point behind the leader Anand.

Ivanchuk,V (2751) - Carlsen,M (2733) [C67]
XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (8), 28.02.2008
Mark Crowther

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 a6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.Qe2 Bf5 8.Re1 [8.dxe5 Be7 9.Rd1 Qc8 10.Bf4 0-0 11.Nbd2 Nc5 12.Nf1 Re8 13.Ng3 Bg6 14.Rd2 Qg4 15.Be3 Rad8 16.Rad1 Rxd2 17.Rxd2 Qa4 18.a3 Ne6 19.Qd1 c5 20.Ne2 Bf8 21.h3 h6 22.Nc3 Qc6 23.Nh4 Nd4 24.Nxg6 Qxg6 25.Bxd4 cxd4 26.Rxd4 Rxe5 27.Rd8 Qf6 28.Kf1 g6 29.Qd4 Rf5 30.Qxf6 Rxf6 31.Nd5 Rd6 32.Rxd6 Bxd6 33.Ke2 f5 34.c4 Kf7 35.Kd3 Ke6 36.b4 c6 37.Nc3 h5 38.c5 Be5 39.Na4 h4 40.Nb6 Bc7 41.Nc4 Kd5 42.Ne3+ Ke6 43.Nc4 Kd5 44.Ne3+ Ke6 1/2-1/2 Gullaksen,E (2345)-Gausel,E (2555)/Oslo NOR 1998; 8.g4 Bg6 9.h4 Qd7 10.Nxe5 Qxd4 11.Nf3 Qd7 12.Ng5 Qe7 13.Re1 0-0-0 14.Nxe4 Qxe4 15.Nc3 Qxe2 16.Rxe2 h5 17.g5 Bd6 18.Be3 Rhe8 19.Rae1 Re7 20.Kg2 Rde8 21.Bd4 Bxc2 22.Rxe7 Rxe7 23.Rxe7 Bxe7 24.Bxg7 b5 25.Ne2 Bd6 26.a3 c5 27.Ng3 Bg6 28.Kf3 Kd7 29.Ke3 Ke6 30.f4 c4 31.Bf6 a5 32.Ne2 b4 33.axb4 axb4 34.Kf3 Kd5 35.Ke3 c3 36.bxc3 b3 37.Kd2 Kc4 38.f5 Bxf5 0-1 Winawer,S-Zukertort,J/London 1883] 8...Bb4N Played after 14 minutes thought. Was it prepared? Carlsen answered "No, ...Bb4 wasn't prepared, I just couldn't remember the lines, which was disastrous of course." [8...Be7 9.g4 Bg6 10.Nxe5 f5 11.Nc3 0-0 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.Qc4+ Kh7 14.Nxe4 fxe4 15.Rxe4 Bh4 16.Be3 Qf6 17.f4 Rae8 18.Re5 Qd8 19.Rf1 Qd7 20.f5 gxf5 21.Rfxf5 Rxf5 22.gxf5 Bf6 23.Re6 Qf7 24.c3 Rf8 25.d5 cxd5 26.Qxd5 Qh5 27.Qg2 Rd8 28.Bf4 Rd1+ 29.Kf2 Bh4+ 30.Ke3 Qxf5 31.Be5 Bg5+ 0-1 Georgiev,K (2480)-Piket,J (2550)/Corfu 1991/EXT 1997] 9.c3 Bd6 10.Qc2 Qd7 11.dxe5 Bc5 12.Rxe4 0-0-0 13.Nbd2 Qd5 14.Kf1 Rhe8 15.b3 [15.b4!?] 15...g5 16.Bb2 [16.Nxg5 Rxe5 17.c4 Bxe4 18.Ndxe4 Qd1+ 19.Qxd1 Rxd1+ 20.Ke2 Rxc1 21.Rxc1 Be7 22.f4 Bxg5 23.Kf3 Bh6 24.fxe5 Bxc1] 16...g4 17.Nd4 Bxd4 18.cxd4 c5

19.Rae1 [19.Rc1] 19...cxd4 20.Qc4 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Rxe5 22.Rxg4 Rde8 23.Nf3 Qxc4+ 24.bxc4 Re2 25.Bxd4 Rxa2 26.Rg7 a5 27.Rxf7 [27.Rxh7] 27...Rc2 28.g4 a4 29.g5 a3 30.Rxh7 a2 31.Rh8? Played with about 10 seconds left according to ChessVibes. Of course you can't play such a position properly with that amount of time. 31...Rxh8 32.Bxh8 Rxc4 33.h3 c5 34.Ne1?! [34.Nd2 Rc2 35.Ke1 c4 36.g6] 34...Rc1 35.g6 Kd7 36.Bb2? I think white is lost. [36.Ke2 c4 37.Ng2 c3 38.g7 a1Q 39.g8Q Qa6+ 40.Kf3 Qc6+] 36...Ke6 37.h4 [37.Ke2 b5 38.f4 a1Q 39.Bxa1 Rxa1 40.h4 Kf6 41.h5] 37...c4 38.h5 c3 39.Bxc1 a1Q 40.Nd3 White lost on time. 0-1

Teimour Radjabov drew against Peter Leko in round 8. Photo © ChessVibes.

The game between Teimour Radjabov and Peter Leko was a sharp Queen's Indian where Radjabov sacrificed a knight for two pawns and the initiative. Double edged but balanced play followed and the result seemed in doubt right up to the moment on move 39 when Radjabov shockingly offered a draw and Leko who was now worse obviously took it.

Radjabov,T (2735) - Leko,P (2753) [E15]
XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (8), 28.02.2008
Mark Crowther

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.d5 exd5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 Be7 10.Qe4N [10.Rd1 Qc8 11.e4 Nc7 12.Nc3 1/2-1/2 Nugel,K (2155)-Siegmund,R (2170)/Dresden GER 2008/The Week in Chess 694; 10.Ne5 Qc7 11.Qe4 Bc6 12.Nxc6 dxc6 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 0-0 15.Bf4 Bd6 16.Bxd6 Qxd6 17.Rfd1 Qf6 18.Rd3 a6 19.Rad1 Ra7 20.Rd6 Qe7 21.Qd3 Rc7 22.e4 Rcc8 23.f4 f6 24.Bh3 Rce8 25.Be6+ Kh8 26.h4 g6 27.Kg2 Qg7 28.g4 Re7 29.Kh3 Qh6 30.Qg3 g5 31.f5 gxh4 32.Qxh4 Qe3+ 33.Qg3 Qxe4 34.Re1 Rxe6 35.fxe6 Qg6 36.e7 1-0 Vavrak,P (2472)-Vovk,Y (2561)/Cappelle La Grande FRA 2008/ The Week in Chess 694; 10.e4 Nb4 11.Qc3 0-0 12.a3 N4c6 13.Rd1 Qc7 14.Bf4 d6 15.Qd2 Ne5 16.Nc3 a6 17.h4 Nxf3+ 18.Bxf3 Rd8 19.h5 Nc6 20.Nd5 Ne5 21.Bxe5 Bxd5 22.Bxg7 Bb3 23.Re1 Kxg7 24.Qc3+ Bf6 25.h6+ Kg6 26.Bh5+ Kg5 27.f4+ Kxh5 28.Qxf6 Rg8 29.Qh4+ 1-0 Rademakers,E-Bressel,T (2001)/Germany 2006] 10...Na6 11.Nh4 g6 12.Qe5 f6 13.Qe4 Qc8 14.Rd1 Nac7 15.Nxg6!? An interesting sacrifice but its only double edged, its very unclear. 15...hxg6 16.Qxg6+ Kd8 17.a3 b5 18.e4 Nb6 19.Nc3 d6 20.Bf4 Qe6 21.Bxd6 Bxd6 22.Qg7 Re8 23.e5 Qxe5 24.Bxb7 Ne6 25.Qg4 Nd4 26.Bxa8 Nxa8 27.Re1 Qxe1+ 28.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 29.Kg2 Nc7 30.Ne4 Ne8 [30...f5 31.Qg8+ Kd7 32.Nxd6 Kxd6] 31.Qg6 Be7 32.Nc3 Re5 33.h4 a5 34.Qd3 Nd6 35.Qh7 Ne8 36.f4 Re6 37.h5 f5 38.h6 Rd6 39.a4

Radjabov is now better but chose this moment to offer a draw which of course Leko accepted. 1/2-1/2

Levon Aronian against Veselin Topalov in round 8. Photo © ChessVibes.

Levon Aronian joined Magnus Carlsen in second place on 4.5/8 with a win in a very interesting game against Veselin Topalov. This was a heavyweight struggle which was settled around the first time control. Aronian's exchange sacrifice proved too hard to defend against, Topalov missed 39...Bd6! with a probable small edge and perhaps his last chance went a couple of moves later, after time control with 41... Bf6. After that Aronian steadily moved in for the kill.

Aronian,L (2739) - Topalov,V (2780) [A29]
XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (8), 28.02.2008
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a3 0-0 9.b4 Be6 10.Rb1 f6 11.d3 Nd4 12.Nd2 c6 13.Nde4 Nd5 14.e3 [14.Bb2 Bf7 15.Nxd5 Bxd5 16.Bxd4 exd4 17.Qc2 Re8 18.Nd2 Bf8 19.Rfe1 Kh8 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.Qc4 Qd7 22.Nf3 Rad8 23.Kg2 g6 24.Rbc1 f5 25.Qb3 Bg7 26.Rc5 Bf6 27.b5 Qe7 28.Rec1 cxb5 29.Qxb5 Rd7 30.a4 Kg7 31.R1c2 b6 32.Rc6 Red8 33.Qc4 Rd6 34.Rc7 R8d7 35.Rc8 Rd5 36.Qc6 g5 37.Qa8 g4 38.Nd2 Re5 39.Rg8+ Kh6 40.Rcc8 Re6 41.Nc4 Bg7 42.Rge8 1-0 Tomashevsky,E (2594)-Khismatullin,D (2568)/Tomsk RUS 2006/The Week in Chess 618] 14...Nxc3 15.Nxc3 Nf5 16.Qc2 Rc8 17.Rd1 Qd7 18.d4 exd4 19.exd4 Bd6 20.Ne4 Rcd8 21.Bb2 Qf7 22.Rd2 Bd5 23.Re1 Bb8 24.Rde2 b6 25.Nd2 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 Qd5+ 27.Kg1 b5!? 28.Nb3 Bd6 29.Na5 Rc8 30.Rc1 Rc7 31.Qd3 Rfc8 32.Rec2 g6 33.Qf1 Kf7 34.Qg2 Ne7 35.Re1 h5 36.h4 f5 37.Bc1

37...f4 After the game Aronian claimed that this was a bad move, maybe even a blunder but its clear that he either didn't see, or appreciate the strength of the possible 39...Bd6. 38.Rxe7+ Bxe7 39.Bxf4

39...Qxg2+? Topalov needed to play 39...Bd6 when after an exchange of bishops Aronian would have had insufficient compensation for the exchange although in practice the game would have been hard to win. Black would seek a queen exchange and then bring his king towards the pressured c6 pawn to free up a rook. [39...Bd6 40.Bxd6 Qxd6 41.Qe4 Qe6 42.Qf4+ Qf6] 40.Kxg2 Rd7 41.Nxc6 Material is balanced and White has a big positional advantage thanks to his strong passed pawn which will be supported by the king. The king is a very strong piece in close quarter play while Black's rooks are limited. White won after 41...Kg7 42.d5 a6 43.Kf3 Bf6 44.Ke4 Re7+ 45.Kd3 Rd7 Defending passively but seeking activity was no help, for example [45...Re1 46.d6 Rd1+ 47.Bd2 Rb1 48.Rc5 Rb3+ 49.Kc2 Rxa3 50.d7 and white wins after 50...Ra8 (50...Rc7 51.d8Q Bxd8 52.Nxd8) 51.Bc3] 46.d6 Re8 Black's king cannot approach [46...Kf7 47.Ke4 Ke6 48.Nd4+ Bxd4 49.Rxc8] 47.Nd4 Kf7 48.Nf3 a5 [48...Ke6 49.Rc6 Kd5 50.Rxa6 (50.Rc5+ Ke6 51.Nd2 is similar to the game.) 50...Rc8!] 49.Rc5 axb4 50.axb4 Rb7 51.Nd2 Ra8 52.Ne4 Bd8 53.Rd5 Ra3+ 54.Kd4 Rb3 55.Kc5 Ke6 56.Rd2 Rb1 [56...Kd7 57.Kd5 Rxb4 58.Nc5+] 57.Re2 Kd7 58.Kd5 Rd1+ 59.Rd2 Rxd2+ 60.Bxd2 Black's remaining rook is a hopeless piece in this kind of position. 60...Ke8 61.Ke6 Rb6 62.Bg5 Rc6 63.Bxd8 Kxd8 64.Ng5 Ke8 65.Nf7 White wins after 65.Nf7 Ra6 66.Ne5 Kd8 67.Nxg6 followed by the advanced of the f pawn. 1-0

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