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| Linares Round 6 |
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Round 6 (March 5, 2000)
Kramnik, Vladimir - Khalifman, Alexander 1/2 49 D58 QGD;
Shirov, Alexei - Kasparov, Gary 1/2 36 B90 Sicilian; Najdorf
Anand, Viswanathan - Leko, Peter 1/2 32 D85 Gruenfeld indian
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 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2758 ** =. =. 1= 1. =. 4.0 2859
2 Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2851 =. ** =. =. 1= 1. 4.0 2860
3 Leko, Peter g HUN 2725 =. =. ** =. =. == 3.0 2759
4 Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2656 0= =. =. ** =. =. 2.5 2711
5 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2751 0. 0= =. =. ** 1. 2.5 2711
6 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2769 =. 0. == =. 0. ** 2.0 2619
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The John Henderson Report for round 6: All Drawn Out
ALL DRAWN OUT
FOR only the second time at Linares, we had a full compliment of drawn games - but entertaining nevertheless.
It's well known that in this tournament in the past, under the guidance of Senor Rentero, they haven't taken to kindly to the short draw. Due to his stipulation in previous contracts that (unless there's a decisive result) players at Linares had to go on until move 40 on the pain of losing appearance money - even perhaps a lucrative future invite.
In the eight tournaments between 1990-1999 (there was no Linares 1996), the total percentage of games drawn in the tournament was 46.13% at a rate of 43.16 moves per game (they were just making sure they were definitely over the 40 moves!). Could you imagine how many blood vessels Rentero would have damaged were in charge of last year's Petrosian Memorial tournament in Moscow? Probably thinking it would have been a more suitable way to immortalise the memory of our dear departed Tigran, the ten players managed a mind-boggling 42 draws from 45 games at an average of 26.78 moves!
Today, however, although only one of the games went by the 40-move rule, all of the games were, in their own way, highly entertaining affairs.
Anand-Leko (6)
Postmortem
The young Hungarian Peter Leko has unfortunately been tagged as a "boring" player from certain quarters of the media. Today, playing against Vishy Anand, he went a long way to dispelling the "boring" myth with a masterly handling of his favourite Grunfeld Defence that, like Kasparov, was all prepared at home - if these two ever play a title match they might save themselves a lot of time and effort by exchanging all of their home analysis! Despite Leko adopting the "and here's one I prepared earlier", it was a game that certainly brought the pressroom to life. More importantly, it was also a game that seemed to bring Vishy Anand back to life!
Anand-Leko (6)
Anand,V - Leko,P [D85]
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 c4 Bg7 4 Nc3 d5 5 cxd5 Nxd5 6 e4 Nxc3 7 bxc3 c5 8 Rb1 0-0 9 Be2 cxd4 10 cxd4 Qa5+ 11 Bd2 Qxa2 12 0-0 Nd7! [Leko would normally play 12 ..Bg4. However, since Anand is normally a 1 e4 player (which he expected to face), Leko decides to opt for his reserve line to avoid anything Vishy may have prepared.] 13 Re1!? [More normal is: 13 Bb4 Nb6 14 Ne5 f6 15 Nd3 (15 Nc4 Nxc4 16 Ra1 Ne3! 17 Rxa2 Nxd1) 15 ..Qf7] 13 ..Nb6 14 Ra1 [14 h3] 14 ..Qb2 15 h3 f5!? (A move found by Leko at home that puts new life into Black's position.) 16 Rb1 [The critical move is: 16 Bd3 fxe4 (16 ..Bd7 17 exf5 Bxf5 18 Bxf5 Rxf5 19 Rxe7) 17 Bxe4 Qb5 (Also interesting and probably drawing is 17 ..Bf5!? 18 Bxb7 Rad8 19 Rxe7 Bxd4 20 Rxa7 Bc3 21 Ba6 g5) 18 Ra5 Qc4 19 Rc5 Qf7 and Black is equal.] 16 ..Qa2 17 Qc1 Kh8 18 Ra1 Qg8!
Anand-Leko (6) 18.
...Qg8!
(The reason for ..Kh8, and a move that was probably underestimated by Anand.) 19 Ba5 [19 Bd3 Be6! 20 exf5 Bxf5 21 Bxf5 Rxf5 22 Rxe7 Rf7! and White cannot keep the rook on the seventh.] 19 ..fxe4 20 Bxb6 exf3 21 Bxf3 Bxh3!
Anand-Leko (6) 21.
...Bxh3!
(Unbelievably, this has all been analysed at home by Leko!) 22 Rxa7 Bxg2! 23 Kxg2 [23 Bxg2? Rxa7 24 Bxa7 Qa2! 25 Bb6 Qxf2+ 26 Kh2 Qh4+ 27 Kg1 Bh6! 28 Qc3 Qf2+ 29 Kh1 Bd2 wins] 23 ..Qb3 24 Qd1! [Anand finds the only saving move.] 24 ..Qxb6 25 Rxb7 Qf6! 26 Rexe7 Ra1! 27 Rxg7 [27 Qe2 Qh4! wins.] 27 ..Rxd1 28 Rxh7+ Kg8 29 Bd5+ Rf7 30 Rbxf7 Qg5+ 31 Kh3 Qxd5 32 Rhg7+ ½-½
Not to be outdone, the Alexei Shirov encounter with Garry Kasparov was also an entertaining affair. Shirov, who has never beaten the maestro, missed a golden opportunity to rectify this anomaly when he failed to spot 23 Qe1! - a move that Kasparov admitted during the post mortem that he feared. After that, Kasparov's deft handling of Najdorf positions soon created enough complications for the game to be drawn in 38 moves.
Shirov-Kasparov (6)
Shirov,A - Kasparov,G [B90]
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 Ng4 7 Bc1 Nf6 8 f3 Qb6 9 Nb3 e6 10 Qe2 Nc6 11 Be3 Qc7 12 0-0-0 b5 13 g4 Ne5?! [13 ..Nd7] 14 g5 Nfd7 15 f4 Nc4 16 Bd4 Ndb6! 17 h4 Bb7 [17 ..b4? falls into a typical Sicilian Knight sacrifice: 18 Nd5! exd5 19 exd5+ Kd8 (19 ..Qe7 20 Qf2! Qc7 21 Re1+ Kd8 22 Na5!) 20 h5 h6 (20 ..Bf5 21 Re1 Qd7 22 Qf2) 21 Re1 Bd7 22 Qg2!] 18 h5 e5 19 Nd5 [19 fxe5?! hands back the initiative to Black: 19 ..dxe5 20 Bxb6 Qxb6 21 Qg4 Bc8] 19 ..Bxd5 20 exd5 Be7 21 Bxb6! Qxb6 22 Rh3! 0-0
Shirov-Kasparov (6) 22.
....O-O
23 Qe4 [During the post mortem, Kasparov revealed that he feared 23 Qe1!, after which he realised he would have to defend very, very accurately. 23 Qe1! Rae8 (23 ..f5 24 h6 g6 25 Bxc4 bxc4 26 Na5!) 24 Bd3 f5 25 gxf6 Rxf6 26 Qe4! Rh6] 23 ..Qf2! (This annoying Queen infiltration disrupts White's attacking plans.) 24 Rf3 Qh4 25 Bd3 g6 26 Rg1 exf4 27 hxg6 hxg6 28 Bxc4 bxc4 29 Qxc4 Bxg5 30 Nd4 Rae8?! [During an animated post mortem, Kapsparov discovered that 30 ..Rfe8! may have been better for him. Initially he had ruled it out of his plans during the game, fearing a potential Ne6. However, it transpires that he had nothing to fear. 30 ..Rfe8! 31 Qf1 Bf6! 32 Ne6!? (32 Nf5 Bxb2+ 33 Kb1 Qh5 34 Nxd6 Re7 35 Rh1 Qxd5) A) 32 ..fxe6? 33 Rxg6+ Kf7 34 Rxf6+; B) 32 ..Bxb2+ 33 Kxb2 (33 Kb1 Rab8!) 33 ..Qf6+ 34 c3; C) 32 ..Rab8! 33 c3 Be5 34 Nxf4 Bxf4+ 35 Rxf4 Re1+! 36 Qxe1 Qxf4+ 37 Kb1 Qf5+ 38 Ka1 Qxd5] 31 Qf1 Re3 32 Rh1 Qg4 33 Rg1 Qh4 34 Rh1 Qg4 35 Rg1 Qh5 36 Rh1 Qg4 ½-½
Shirov-Kasparov (6)
Postmortem
Despite being the longest game of the day, not much can be said about the encounter between Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Khalifman. Sure, it was tough affair; the only highlight being Khalifman's wise decision to sacrifice a pawn at a crucial stage that allowed the St. Petersburg GM to simplify down into a technically drawn Rook and Pawn ending (aren't they all?). More importantly, since his opening round mauling to Kramnik, this was Khalifman's fifth draw in a tournament where it was thought he'd be massacred. Strange as it may seem, it could just be that he's the one who ultimately decide who wins at Linares.
Kramnik-Khalifman
(6)
Kramnik,V - Khalifman,A [D58]
1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 d4 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bg5 (Kramnik avoids his favourite Bf4.) 5 ..h6 6 Bh4 0-0 7 e3 b6 8 Be2 Bb7 9 Bxf6 Bxf6 10 cxd5 exd5 11 0-0 c5 12 dxc5 Bxc3 13 bxc3 bxc5 14 Rb1 Qc7 15 Ne5 Nd7 16 Nxd7 Qxd7 17 Qb3 Bc6 18 Qa3 Qe7 19 Bf3 Rfd8 20 Rfd1 Rac8 21 h3 Kf8! (Getting ready for the impending endgame!) 22 Rd2 d4!
Kramnik-Khalifman (6) 22.
...d4!
(Khalifman decides to jettison the pawn now before Kramnik repositions his pieces to grind him down in the ending:22 ..Rc7 23 Rbd1 Rcd7 24 Bg4! c4 25 Qa6 Rd6 26 Rb2 gives Kramnik hope of finding a better way to seek an advantage from the impending endgame.) 23 Bxc6 Rxc6 24 cxd4 cxd4 25 Qxe7+ Kxe7 26 Rb7+ Kf8 27 exd4 Rc4 28 Re2 Rcxd4 29 Rxa7 Rd1+ 30 Kh2 R1d2 31 Rxd2 Rxd2 (As stated before, all Rook and Pawn endings are drawn - especially this one with correct GM technique.) 32 Kg3 g5 33 Kf3 Kg7 34 Ke3 Rb2 35 g4 Kg6 36 Ra6+ f6 37 f4 gxf4+ 38 Kxf4 h5 39 a3 hxg4 40 hxg4 Rf2+ 41 Ke3 Ra2 42 Ra5 Ra1 43 a4 Re1+ 44 Kf3 Rf1+ 45 Kg3 Rg1+ 46 Kh3 Rh1+ 47 Kg2 Ra1 48 Kf2 Ra3 49 Kg2 ½-½
Kramnik-Khalifman (6)
postmortem
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(1) Kramnik,V (2758) - Khalifman,A (2656) [D58]
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(2) Shirov,A (2751) - Kasparov,G (2851) [B90]
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(3) Anand,V (2769) - Leko,P (2725) [D85]
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