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| Linares Round 3 |
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Round 3 (March 1, 2000)
Kasparov, Gary - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 21 C42 Petroff defence
Leko, Peter - Khalifman, Alexander 1/2 38 C17 French; Winawer
Anand, Viswanathan - Shirov, Alexei 0-1 41 C42 Petroff defence
SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 5 ii-9 iii 2000 cat. XXI (2752)
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1 2 3 4 5 6
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1 Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2851 ** =. .. 1. .. =. 2.0 2846
2 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2758 =. ** .. .. =. 1. 2.0 2883
3 Leko, Peter g HUN 2725 .. .. ** =. =. =. 1.5 2725
4 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2751 0. .. =. ** 1. .. 1.5 2781
5 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2769 .. =. =. 0. ** .. 1.0 2619
6 Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2656 =. 0. =. .. .. ** 1.0 2653
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The John Henderson Report for round 3: PLANET SHIROV CALLING LINARES
PLANET SHIROV CALLING LINARES
An interesting character is the man they call “The Matador” in Spain: Alexei Shirov. He earned the nickname by virtue of being one of the most exciting player’s around in the game today. He’s unquestionably the fan’s favourite and before and after each game – regardless of the result – youngster’s seeking his autograph always mob him, which he always obliges. After moving from his native Latvia to Spain – though he now lives at the present moment in Poland – and playing for the national team, he has well and truly endeared himself with the locals who enjoy his crazy, unpredictable games.
Someone once remarked a few years ago that when you play him it’s like being welcomed to “Planet Shirov” because his games are like nothing you’ll ever see on this earth. To get a good idea of what goes through his head during a game in his own parallel universe at the chessboard, try reading his hugely entertaining book of best games, fittingly entitled “Fire On Board”.
Shirov, popular with the
locals.
Someone once remarked a few years ago that when you play him it's like being welcomed to "Planet Shirov" because his games are like nothing you'll ever see on this earth. To get a good idea of what goes through his head during a game in his own parallel universe, try reading his hugely entertaining book of best games, fittingly entitled "Fire On Board".
In the third round of the Linares tournament, risking all as usual, he literally set the board alight by taking his game against Vishy Anand into unclear and uncharted waters to cause the upset of the tournament so far by beating the world No.2 - the Indian aces first loss in 11-months (to Kramnik, European Club Cup).
Another local also applauds Shirov's style of play: the former Yugoslav GM, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, who now lives in Linares after meeting, falling in love, and marrying a local girl during the Linares tournament of 1991. Ljubo was on hand today in the pressroom to give his insight on the days play, happily mingling with the journalist and giving them the benefit of his tremendous insight into the game. I don't know about you, but Ljubo was one of my all-time favourites. For me, he was right up there alongside Bobby Fischer, Mikhail Tal and Garry Kasparov - one of the chessworld's great adventurers. It was a great honour for me to get a chance to do an interview with him, which will appear here sometime within the next few days.
Linares Press Room
As for Shirov, he could now be leading the tournament with 2.5/3! Just think back a bit. In round one, our hero was easily drawing against Kasparov until he blundered with 31 ..Nc8??; in round two, he missed the sure-fire win with 27 Qa4 against Leko; and now, against Anand, he equals things up by winning from a probable lost position. And, despite the fact that GM Aleksej Aleksandrov won the Petroff Memorial in St Petersburg recently, Shirov seems to be paying his own tribute to Alexander Dmitryevich by having three Petroff Defences in a row!
Anand-Shirov (3)
Anand,V (2769) - Shirov,A (2751) [C42]
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Bd6 7 0-0 0-0 8 c4 c6 9 cxd5 cxd5 10 Nc3 Nxc3 11 bxc3 Bg4 12 Rb1 Nd7 13 h3 Bh5 14 Rb5 Nb6 15 c4 Bxf3 16 Qxf3 dxc4 17 Bc2 Qd7 18 a4 g6 19 Be3 [19 Bd2 was seen in the opening round encounter between Kasparov and Shirov. Anand comes up with an improvement.] 19 ..Rac8 20 Rfb1 c3 21 a5 Nc4 22 Rxb7 Qe6 23 Ra1 Bb8 24 Bb3 Qd6 25 g3 Nxe3 26 Bxf7+ Kh8 27 Qxe3 Qf6 28 Be6 Rce8 29 d5 Be5 30 Ra2?
Anand-Shirov (3) After 30 Ra2?
[A decisive blunder from Anand. Up to now, he'd played a really nice game steering himself through the quagmire created by his opponent.] There are another three lines to look at here:
Shirov revealed after the game that he'd only analysed (as typical of Shirov!) the crazy line of: 30 Qxa7 Rxe6 31 dxe6 (31 Rxh7+ Kg8 32 dxe6 Bd4! (What a wonderful bishop! Not only does it defend against the mate on g7, it also leads the charge on the White King.) 33 Qb7 Qxf2+ 34 Kh1 c2! and White can't push the e-pawn as after ..Re8 the Rook on h7 is hanging.) 31 ..Bd4 32 Rxh7+ Kg8 33 Qb7 Qxf2+ 34 Kh1 Qf1+ (In the pressroom, Ljubomir Ljubojevic came up with a practical winning shot with 34 ..c2! 35 Rf7 Bxa1 36 Rxf2 c1Q+ 37 Kg2 Rxf2+ 38 Kxf2 Bd4+ 39 Ke2 Qe3+ 40 Kd1 Qxe6) 35 Rxf1 Rxf1+ 36 Kg2 Rf2+ 37 Kg1 Rf7+ with a draw.
Ljubojevic also thought he’d found Anand's only defence: 30 Rb4! (prevent the damaging ..Bd4) 30 ..Rb8 31 Rc4 c2 32 Rc1 Rb1 33 R4xc2 Bd4 34 Qd2 Bxf2+ 35 Kh2 Rxc1 36 Qxc1 Qe5.
Anand's missed opportunity led to
his first loss in 11 months.
Not to be outdone, a few hours later, Anand came up with the definitive win with 30 Ra4! similar to Ljubo's idea: the difference being that after Rc4 he's moved the rook away from a possible attack by Shirov's bishop whilst at the same time keeping his active rook on b7. A) 30 ..Rb8 31 a6! c2 32 Rc4 Bd4 33 Qf4 Qxf4 (33 ..Bxf2+ 34 Kxf2 Qe5 35 Rf7!) 34 gxf4; B) 30 ..c2 31 Rc4 Bd4 32 Qf4! Qxf4 (32 ..Bxf2+ 33 Kg2 Qxf4 34 gxf4 Rxf4 35 Rcc7!) 33 gxf4 Rxf4 34 Rxc2 and Black is helpless.]
30 ..Bd4 31 Qe1 Qf3! 32 Kh2 Qxd5! 33 Bxd5 Rxe1 34 Kg2 Bxf2! 35 Rf7 [35 Rxf2 Rxf2+ 36 Kxf2 c2] 35 ..Rxf7 36 Bxf7 Bc5 37 Bb3 Kg7 38 Rc2 Bd4 39 a6 Kf6 40 Ra2 Ke5 41 h4 Ke4 0–1
Kasparov had to play
carefully in round 3 against
Kramnik (shown with his Second,
Illescas).
Keeping in the vain of the memorial theme, the two Russian K's, Kasparov and Kramnik, also paid tribute to Alexander Dmitryevich with a Petroff Defence (a rock-solid choice at this level). During their recent encounter at Wijk aan Zee, Kramnik came up with a line in the Grunfeld that hadn't been seen since the 1950s that caused Kasparov to have a big, big think. Again he managed to get the world No.1 to put his thinking-cap on after uncorking the interesting 10 ..b6. And, just when the pressroom thought that Kasparov could be pushed to make the time-control against his prodigy (19 moves in 13-minutes), both players agreed the draw. With there seconds, Yuri Doyohian and Miguel Illescas, by their sides, both players treated the onlookers to what was going through their minds at the critical moment as all the interesting variations were bashed out during the post mortem by both players.
Kasparov-Kramnik (3)
Kasparov,G (2851) - Kramnik,V (2758) [C42]
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Nc6 7 0-0 Be7 8 c4 Nb4 9 Be2 0-0 10 Nc3 b6!? [An interesting new idea from Kramnik. Up to now, the standard replies have been: 10 ..Be6 or 10 ..Bf5. Kasparov now goes into deep thought mode for the next few moves but doesn't manage to refute the idea over the board.] 11 a3 Nxc3 12 bxc3 Nc6 13 cxd5 Qxd5 14 Re1 Bb7 15 Bd3 [With the idea of the pawn-push with c4-d5.] 15 ..Rae8!?
[Now we're beginning to see the point of Kramnik's innovation. He was planning to sacrifice his knight on c6 for a brutal kingside assault! On the TV monitors in the pressroom, you could see by his body language that Kasparov was beginning to smell a rat and, after another big think, he was beginning to get into serious time-trouble and bailed out with 16 Qc2.]
Kasparov-Kramnik (3) after 15 ..Rae8!?
16 Qc2 [And you could see why. In the analysis room, both players, along with their seconds, Yuri Dokhohian and Miguel Illescas, spent around 40 minutes playing through the crucial line, which Kasparov viewed as "dangerous": 16 c4 Qh5 17 d5 Bd6! 18 dxc6 Rxe1+ 19 Qxe1 Bxc6 20 Be3 (20 Be2 Bxf3 21 Bxf3 Qxh2+ 22 Kf1 Qh1+ 23 Ke2 Qh4) 20 ..Bxf3 21 gxf3 Re8 22 f4 (22 Be4 Qh3! 23 Rd1 Bxh2+ 24 Kh1 Bd6+) 22 ..Qg4+ 23 Kh1 (23 Kf1 Qh3+ 24 Ke2 Bxf4) 23 ..Qf3+ 24 Kg1 Qg4+ with a draw. I reality I think Kasparov's curiosity got the better of him, as he tried in vain to find a way out of all this over the board. The result of this "big think" left him in serious time-trouble. Another option was also: 16 Bf4 Bd6 17 c4 Qh5 18 Bxd6 Rxe1+ 19 Qxe1 cxd6 20 Qe3 Na5. So, with the clock metaphorically ticking away (it's a digital one!), Kasparov opted for 16 Qc2.]
16 ..h6 17 Bh7+ Kh8 18 Be4 Qd8?! [A strange move at a critical moment. The retreat of the Queen to d8 just looks wrong. Surely the ideal place was 18 ..Qd6! with the idea of ..Bf6.] 19 Bb2
Very dangerous is Kasparov's suggestion of 19 Qa4! Qa8 20 d5 Na5 21 Bxh6! gxh6 22 Qd4+ Kg8 23 Bc2 f5 24 Re6
Bf6 20 c4 Na5 21 Bxb7 Nxb7 [With Kasparov down to 13 minutes for 19 moves, Kramnik offers the draw.] ½-½
After his recent drubbing of 4.5-1.5 at the hands of Peter Leko in their match in Budapest, Alexander Khalifman continued to make steady progress as he held his nerve in a difficult position to get his with his second draw of the tournament. For Leko, it was yet another draw; his third in a row.
Leko-Khalifman (3)
Leko,P (2725) - Khalifman,A (2656) [C17]
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 Ba5 [A Botvinnik specialty that was first seen in 1946 against Reshevsky in a match played between the USSR and USA.] 6 Qg4 Ne7 7 dxc5 Bxc3+ 8 bxc3 Ng6 [The Botvinnik-Reshevsky match continued: 8 ..Nd7!? 9 Qxg7?! Rg8 10 Qxh7 Nxe5 11 Be2 Qa5 12 Bd2 Qxc5 13 Nf3 Nxf3+ 14 Bxf3 e5 15 Bh5 Bf5 16 Bxf7+ Kd7 17 Qh6 Rxg2 18 Rf1 Qb6 19 Qxb6 axb6 20 0–0–0 Rxa3 21 Kb2 Ra4 22 Be3 Be6 23 Bxe6+ Kxe6 24 Bxb6 Rxh2 25 Rg1 Rh6 26 Rg7 Rg6 27 Rh7 Nf5 28 Rxb7 Nd6 29 Kb3 Ra8 30 Rc7 Rb8 31 Rc6 Kd7 32 Rc7+ Ke6 33 Rc6 Rb7 34 c4 dxc4+ 35 Kb4 Ke7 36 Ka5 Kd7 37 Rxc4 Re6 38 Ka6 Rb8 39 Rc7+ Ke8 40 Ka7 Rd8 41 Rh1 Nb5+ 42 Kb7 Nxc7 43 Bxc7 Rd4 44 c3 Rc4 45 Ba5 Kd7 46 Rh8 Rf6 47 Rd8+ Ke7 48 Rd2 Rd6 49 Ra2 Kd7 50 Rb2 Rc5 51 Bb6 Rxc3 52 Rb4 Ke6 53 Rb2 Rdd3 54 Ra2 Rd7+ 55 Ka6 Rb3 56 Be3 Rd6+ 57 Ka5 Rd8 58 Ka6 Rxe3 0–1 Reshevsky,S-Botvinnik,M/USSR-USA 1946] 9 Bd3 Nd7 10 Nf3 Qc7 11 0–0 Ndxe5 12 Nxe5 Qxe5 13 Bb5+ Bd7 14 Bxd7+ Kxd7 15 Qa4+ Ke7 16 Qb4 Rab8! 17 f4 [17 c6+? Qd6 18 cxb7 Qxb4 19 cxb4 Rxb7 20 Be3 Rc8 21 Bc5+ Kd7 and Black stands well.] 17 ..Qe4 18 f5!
Leko-Khalifman (3) after 18.
f5
[18 c6+ still doesn't work: 18 ..Qxb4 19 axb4 Rhc8 20 b5 bxc6 21 Rxa7+ Ke8 22 f5 exf5 23 Rxf5 Rxb5 24 Rfxf7 Ra8!] 18 ..Qxb4 19 axb4 exf5 20 Rxf5 [It was felt in the pressroom that the other rook capture may have been better: 20 Rxa7 Ke6 21 Re1+ Ne5 22 Be3 Rhe8 23 Bd4 f6 24 Kf2] 20 ..Ke6 21 Rf2 a6 22 Bf4 Nxf4 23 Rxf4 [There was great debate amongst the journalist's whether Leko was winning this ending. I just had to remind them: "all rook and pawn endings are drawn!"] 23 ..f5 24 Rd4 Rbd8 25 Re1+ Kf6 26 Red1 Rhe8 27 c4 [27 Rxd5 Re1+! (27 ..Rxd5 28 Rxd5 Re2 29 Rd6+!) 28 Rxe1 Rxd5 29 Kf2 g5 should hold with accurate play.] 27 ..Re2 28 Rxd5 Rde8 29 R1d2 [Perhaps better was 29 Rd6+ but it was felt that there should be enough resources for Khalifman to hold it: 29 ..R8e6 30 Rxe6+ Kxe6 31 Rd6+ Ke5 32 Rd7 Rxc2 33 Rxg7 h5 34 Rxb7 Rxc4 35 g3 h4 36 gxh4 Rg4+ 37 Kf2 Rxh4 and, despite the extra pawn, Leko isn't going to make any further progress.] 29 ..Rxd2 30 Rxd2 Re1+ 31 Kf2 Re4 32 Rd7 Rxc4 33 Rxb7 a5 34 bxa5 Rxc5 35 a6 Rxc2+ 36 Kf3 Rc3+ 37 Ke2 Rc2+ 38 Ke3 Ke5 ½–½
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(1) Kasparov,G (2851) - Kramnik,V (2758) [C42]
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(2) Leko,P (2725) - Khalifman,A (2656) [C17]
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(3) Anand,V (2769) - Shirov,A (2751) [C42]
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