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Chess from Malcolm Pein Chess Tuesday February 19th 2008 There was only fighting chess in the early rounds of the Linares-Morelia tournament the first leg of which has started in Mexico The world champion Vishy Anand was in the thick of it but after clinically despatching Alexei Shirov in the first round, Anand tried too hard to get the better of the Marshall Attack and fell victim to a lovely tactical finish from Levon Aronian. More than half the games ended decisively and only the seventeen year old Magnus Carlsen, the only one of the eight players rated outside the world’s top 10, drew twice. A Shirov – V Anand 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 (Anand avoids the Poisoned Pawn after 7…Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2) 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0–0–0 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.Rhe1 (White is preparing to open up the Black king with a sacrifice like Nc3-d5 or with e4-e5) 11...Qb6 12.Nb3 (The point of Black’s last is that 12.Nd5 can be answered by 12…Qxd4 with huge complications after 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Bxb5 Qc5) 12...Rc8! (This move and the follow up sacrifice are a new idea in this position although the positional themes are well known) 13.Qh3 Rxc3! 14.bxc3 Qc7! (Defending and attacking. The e5 square is covered and Black intends Be7, 0–0, Rc8, Qxc3 or Nd7-b6-a4) 15.Kb1 (15.g4 d5! 16.e5 Qxc3 and Ba3) 15...Be7 16.e5!?
19.fxe6 fxe6 20.Qg3 g6 21.Rd2 Rc8 22.Qg5+?! (22.Qh4+ N7f6 23.Rf1 was much better when White is still in the game) 22...Ke8 23.Qg4 Nxc3+ 24.Ka1 Bd5 (Once more defending and attacking) 25.Re3 Nf6 26.Qh4 Qe7 (Covering f6 and intending Qa3) 27.Bf1 Bxb3 28.cxb3 Nce4 29.Rb2 (29.Rd1 Qa3 wins) 29...Rc1+ 30.Rb1 Qc5 0–1 Position after 30...Qc5; Black threatens Qd4+ and if 31.Rxe4 Qc3 mate V Anand – L Aronian 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.Re1 Bd6 13.g3 13.g3 is rarely played nowadays. 13.d3 or 13.d4 is standard. In the 1970s and 80s the line was thought innocuous, an assessment this game does not change. After 14.d4 Bg4 is possible or just Bf5. 13... Re8 14.d4 Rxe1+ 15.Qxe1 Ra7 16.Be3 Re7 17.Nd2 Qe8 18.Nf1 h5! 19.a4 Be6 20.Bd1 h4 21.axb5 axb5 22.Bf3 Bh3 23.Bxd5 cxd5 24.Qd1 f5 25.Bg5 Re4 26.Bxh4 Qg6 27.Bd8 f4 28.Qd3 Qh5 29.Nd2
In view of 34...Bf5 35.Qxf5 Qh2 mate
Chess from Malcolm Pein Chess Wednesday February 20th 2008 Veselin Topalov is enjoying Mexico and reached 2.5/3 with an easy win over Vasily Ivanchuk in the third round at Morelia Topalov played some of his moves in the early middlegame extremely quickly which suggests that he might have still been in the realms of his home analysis and his remarkable 24th move decided the game, see below. The world champion Vishy Anand has yet to draw a game and he comfortably overcame the 17 year old Magnus Carlsen after steering the game into a relatively obscure line of the popular Anti Moscow Gambit. Carlsen seemed unprepared and was forced into a lost endgame of rook and h4 pawn v light squared bishop and h3 pawn. Anand demonstrated the winning plan of forcing the defending king back to the c file after which the rook can capture on h3 with the aid of the king who shepherds the passed pawn home. V Topalov – V Ivanchuk XXV Morelia/Linares 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.g4 b5 10.g5 b4 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Bf5 13.Bd3 Bxd3 14.Qxd3 Be7 15.h4 a5(Black anticipates 0-0-0 but White has different ideas) 16.a3! (White takes over the queenside) 16...a4 17.Nd2 Rb8 18.axb4 Rxb4 19.Qa3! Qb8 20.c3! Rxb2 21.Qxa4 Rb7 22.Ke2! (The king proves to be very useful in the centre and is quite safe) 22...Rc7 (After 22...0–0 23.Rhb1 Rc8 24.Rxb7 Qxb7 25.Qa7 Qxa7 26.Rxa7 Rd8 27.Ne4 Black is suffering) 23.Rhb1 Qc8 24.Bb6!!
24…Rb7 (The c3 pawn is immune; 24...Rxc3 25.Ne4 Rc2+ 26.Kd3! Rh2 27.Rc1 Qb8 28.Bc7 Qb2 29.Qa8+ wins or 24...Rxc3 25.Ne4 Rc4 26.Rc1!! Rxc1 27.Rxc1 Qxc1 28.Qa8+ Nb8 29.Qxb8+ Kd7 30.Nc5+ dxc5 31.Qb7+ Ke8 32.Qc8+ Bd8 33.Qxd8 mate or in this line 31...Kd6 32.Qc6 mate) 25.Ba7! e4 (Desperation, but the endgame after 25...0–0 26.Rxb7 Qxb7 27.Qc6 is very bad, the white rook reaches a7, the black bishop and knight are passive and Black may be forced to take on c6 when a mighty passed c pawn appears) 26.fxe4 Rxb1 27.Rxb1 0–0 28.Qc6 Ne5 29.Qxc8 Rxc8 30.Rb8 (and Topalov cleaned up easily thanks to his centralised king and extra pawn) 30...Rxb8 31.Bxb8 Kf8 32.Nf3 Ng6 33.c4 Ke8 34.e5 Kd7 35.Kd3 h6 36.exd6 Bxd6 37.Bxd6 Kxd6 38.gxh6 gxh6 39.Kd4 f6 40.c5+ Kd7 41.Ke4 h5 42.d6 Ke6 43.Nd4+ Kd7 44.Nf5 Ne5 45.Kd5 Nc6 46.Nd4 1–0
Chess from Malcolm Pein Chess Thursday February 21st 2008 The Aeroflot Open is underway in Moscow with the participation of scores of grandmasters who are chasing $200,000 in prize money including $100,000 reserved for the A1 group. The 64 player event is reserved for players rated 2550 or higher, with a few exceptions. This is probably the toughest event of its type in the world. The winner collects $30,000 plus a more valuable award, a place in the elite Dortmund Chess Festival. The top seed at Moscow is Vladimir Akopian rated 2700 and ranked world number 23 but the competition is so tough he has yet to win a game and is on 50%. After five rounds Ian Nepomoniachtchi of Russia and Maxim Rodshtein of Israel two of the younger generation were in the lead with 4.5 points. A former Fide world champion has his King’s Indian Defence brushed aside by a relative unknown. Evgeny Romanov – A Khalifman 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0–0 6.Bg5 Qe8 (Black prepares e7-e5 by avoiding a pin along the g5-d8 diagonal) 7.Bd3 e5 8.d5 Na6 (8...Nh5 immediately is possible then if 9.Nge2 f5 10.exf5 gxf5 11.g4 Nf4) 9.g4 (To prevent Nh5-f4 and to inhibit Black's plan of f7-f5) 9...c6 10.Nge2 Nc5 11.Bc2 cxd5 (11...a5 12.Qd2 cxd5 13.cxd5 b5! but presumably White would play 13.exd5) 12.exd5!? (Unusual as it conceded the centre) 12…e4 (12...Bd7 aiming for b5 looks reasonable) 13.Nb5 Qe7 14.Qd2 Bd7 15.Nbc3
Bad day at the office. Cherniaev,A - Smirnov,P 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c3 d6 4.f4 Nf6 5.e5 Nd5 6.Bc4 dxe5 7.fxe5 0–0 8.Nf3 c5 9.dxc5?! Be6 10.Qe2 Qc7 11.b4? Nc6 12.Bxd5 Bxd5 13.Bf4 a5 14.b5 (14.a3 axb4 15.cxb4 Nxb4) 14...Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Nxe5 16.Qe3 Nd3+! 0–1
In view of lines such as 16...Nd3+ 17.Qxd3 Qxf4 18.Nd2 Rad8 19.Qe2 Bxc3 |
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