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| Linares Round 7 |
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Round 7 (March 7, 2000)
Kasparov, Gary - Khalifman, Alexander 1/2 55 C17 French; Winawer
Leko, Peter - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 56 A25 English; 1.c4 e5
Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 25 C42 Petroff defence
SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 28 ii-10 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. == 4.5 2841
2 Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2851 =. ** =. == 1= 1. 4.5 2825
3 Leko, Peter g HUN 2725 =. =. ** =. == == 3.5 2757
4 Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2656 0= == =. ** =. =. 3.0 2730
5 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2751 0. 0= == =. ** 1. 3.0 2712
6 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2769 == 0. == =. 0. ** 2.5 2644
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The John Henderson Report for round 7: IF VOTING CHANGED ANYTHING THEY'D HAVE ABOLISHED IT!
IF VOTING CHANGED ANYTHING THEY'D HAVE ABOLISHED IT!
IT'S just like old times for me as the Linares tournament has become gripped by election fever of one sort or another.
Right now we're in the middle of a very heated Spanish General Election, which takes place just a few days after the tournament on March 12th. In the town you'll find on every lamppost a giant poster of candidates with the deafening sound of party and candidate being promoted through a loudhailer as cars of various political persuasions continually circle round Linares chasing each other.
Rumour has it (as it always does) that the election is the main reason why the tournament is being played! Up until November of last year, Linares wasn't taking place. However, after the Election was called (coupled with the local Andalucian municipal elections), and, as if by magic (OK, hey presto!), the tournament was on again. Call me a cynic, but when you see politicians getting their mug shots plastered all over the local rags as they press the flesh with Garry Kasparov and hand out civic awards to Luis Rentero, you begin to wonder.
The election is no laughing matter for Spain's top chess journalist, Leontxo Garcia, who in the past has given extensive coverage to Linares, a tournament he keeps on reminding me he has been reporting on now for 20-years. He's been battling daily with the editors of his paper, "El Pais", to get more coverage of the tournament only to find it getting squeezed out as they fill it with more and more pictures of politicians pressing the flesh and kissing babies. Every night we see (and hear) him having yet another heated argument with his editor as his coverage of Linares gets smaller and smaller. Invariably Leontxo ends the call with a dramatic slamming of the telephone that registers on the Richter scale!
With most of the Spanish TV (in-between the football) giving wall-to-wall coverage of every speech, we turn to CNN only to find coverage of…even more elections! Apart from the American Presidential campaign, CNN have kept us abreast with developments in the UK with the big news being Ken Livingstone defying the British prime minister to stand for London Mayor. This is where I confess to my sordid past. I once worked in politics for the Labour Party. I was a political fixer, one of their behind the scenes operators - every time their was a scene in the Labour Party, I was the one who was usually behind it!
This arrangement came to a sticky end in 1993 after I had what can only be described as a "bit of a disagreement" (handbags at ten paces more like) with a rising star of the party, a certain Tony Blair! It was either him or me. Guess who won?
Coming back to dear old Ken Livingstone (at the breakfast table Vishy Anand even indicated that he'd be voting for him and he doesn't live in Britain let alone London!) for a moment, if he's elected, it's quite possible we could see more top-level tournaments in London. Let me tell you why. When Margaret Thatcher abolished the popular London council (the GLC) that Ken was the leader of, he wanted to make sure that as much money as possible was spent on "worthy causes" before the cash was handed back to central government before it ceased to be. Guess what? A good chunk of it was siphoned off for some of those top-ranking London tournaments of the early eighties featuring Anatoly Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi, Vlastimil Hort & Nigel Short etc.
I'm only just speculating here, but should he get elected as London Mayor this May much to the wrath of my good friend, Mr Tony Blair, wouldn't it be a hoot if the Prime Minister, in a fit of pique, decided to abolish the new administration as well because Livingstone was too popular? Just think of all the possibilities - more chess tournaments in London! So let's get the campaign rolling - "Chessplayer's for Livingstone!"
And talking about more chess tournaments in London, did anyone see a copy of "The Times" on Monday? Well, if not, the normally reliable broadsheet had a large piece (and not by Ray Keene) on the prospects of a forthcoming title match being staged this autumn in London between Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand! Of course, both parties have so far indicted to us here in Linares that it was all news to them. But watch this space!
Well, since everyone has voting on their mind, we thought we'd give the TWIC readers the opportunity to vote also - but in a different sort of election!
Alexander "Sacha" Roshal, Editor and Publisher of the top Russian magazine, "64 - Chess Review", dropped in on Linares trying to twist the arms of more chess journalists to promote the "Chess Oscar".
For those of you that don't know, the "Chess Oscar" is a trophy of a little lady holding an umbrella that's awarded to the top chess player of the year. In 1967, the Spanish chess journalist, Jorge Puig, with the cooperation of the now defunct International Association of Chess Press (AIPE), created this annual award; voted on by the chess community - journalists, publishers, organisers, arbiters and grandmaster who write on chess - to determine the "Player of the Year".
The first recipient of this award in 1967 was the Denmark's Bent Larsen; 1968-69, Boris Spassky; 1970-72, Bobby Fischer; 1973-1977 and 1979-1981, Anatoly Karpov; 1982-1988, Garry Kasparov. And, after a 7-year break, this popular contest was revived by the Russian magazine "64 - Chess Review" under Roshal's guidance. The 1995-1996 award went again to Garry Kasparov with 1997 and 1998 going to Vishy Anand.
Voting has now closed for the 1999 "Chess Oscar" but Roshal has now decided to let the readers of chess magazines and website like ours have their say in becoming "Prophet-99". You've got to guess what the winning order of the 1999 "Chess Oscar" will be (all ten players in their correct order) and email your votes on behalf of TWIC to chesscentre@easynet.co.uk (putting Prophet-99 in the title). One of the lucky TWIC voters will be drawn out of the cyberspace version of the hat, and will receive a special memento of this tournament, autographed by all six players.
Back on the playing front in Linares, it was also make your mind up time as battle commenced after the second and final rest day. All eyes where on the all-Russian encounter between Garry Kasparov and Alexander Khalifman. Was it going to be Champ or chump for Khalifman.
In the end, after a superb holding job, Garry Kasparov was seething last night after being held to a draw by the FIDE champion Alexander Khalifman for the second time at the Linares 2000 Super Tournament. Having come close to victory with black earlier in the event, Kasparov we thought would be really gunning for his opponent with the white pieces.
The world number one arrived two minutes late, there was a handshake and in his typically theatrical style Kasparov took off his watch, adjusted his tie, made a huge grimace and then ushered the photographers away before taking off his jacket.
We were soon treated to another huge novelty in the opening from Kasparov who came up with a completely new concept as early as move seven, obviously prepared at home. The move came as such a shock to the GM from St Petersburg that he sank into nearly half an hour's thought for his seventh move. Kasparov's position looked promising but soon it was his turn to reflect and something had obviously gone wrong.
Garry Kasparov and Yuri
Dokhoian
Kasparov fell into time trouble and at the time control an endgame had been reached where the position was so blocked we thought that the Spanish version of DynaRod was about to be called in. Sure, Kasparov stood better. He thought long and hard into the fifth hour of play. And, with just three minutes left on his clock there was the following exchange. Kasparov: " nichya? (draw)" Khalifman " da (yes)" and with that Kasparov stalked off. The players did not analyse afterwards and an obviously relieved Khalifman shared a cigarette with his trainer Alexander Lugovoi.
Kasparov-Khalifman (7) the FIDE
Champion holds the World Number One with Black.
Kasparov,G - Khalifman,A [C17]
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 Ba5 6 Bd2 Nc6 7 Qg4 (It's not everyday in chess where you see a TN as early as move 7! However, Qg4 is a well-known motif in many, many lines of the Winawer.)
7 ..Kf8 8 dxc5 Nxe5 9 Qg3 Ng6! (Khalifman has to be slightly better here. I think Garry started to realise about here that his early TN wasn't going to blow the St Petersburg GM away. He now went into deep thought for over 30 minutes.) 10 0-0-0 [10 Bd3 Bc7!] 10 ..Nf6 11 f3 Bd7 12 Nge2 Bc7 13 Qf2 b6 14 Be3 Ne7 15 g4 bxc5 16 Bxc5 [16 g5 Ne8 17 Bxc5 Bb6 18 h4 Bxc5 19 Qxc5 Qb6 20 Qxb6 axb6 21 Bh3 Nd6] 16 ..Bb6 17 h4 Bxc5 18 Qxc5 Qb6 19 Qxb6 axb6 20 Bh3 Ne8 [Dubious according to Kasparov interesting is 20. ...h6] 21 f4 h5 [21 ..Nd6!?] 22 g5 g6 23 Nd4 Kg7 24 Nf3 Nc7 [24 ..Nd6!? 25 Ne5 Bc6 26 Nxc6 Nxc6] 25 Ne5 Rhd8 26 Ne2 Nc6 27 Nd4 Nxd4 28 Rxd4 Be8 29 Rhd1 [29. Bf1 is better according to Kasparov] Rdc8 30 Bf1 Kf8 [30 ..Bb5? 31 Bxb5 Nxb5 32 Rb4 Ra5 33 Rd3 Kf8 34 Rdb3] 31 Rb4 (White has a small edge, but as long as Khalifman holds his nerve Kasparov is never going to be able to make a break through in this position.) 31 ..b5 32 Rbd4 Na6 33 Bd3 Nc5 34 Kd2 Nb7 35 Ra1 Ra7 36 Re1 Nd6 37 c3 Nc4+ 38 Kc1 Na5 39 Bc2 Nc6 40 Nxc6 Bxc6 41 Kd2 Bd7 42 Rb4 Rca8 43 Bd3 Ra5!
Kasparov-Khalifman (7) after 43.
...Ra5
(As long as Khalifman keeps the rooks on the board, he should have no sweat in holding the draw. If rooks come off, Kasparov has good chances of playing for the full-point. 44 Re3 Bc6 45 Rd4 Bd7 46 Rb4 Bc6 47 Bc2 Bd7 48 Bb3 Bc6 49 Rd4 R5a7 50 Bc2 Bd7 51 Bd1 Bc6 52 Bf3 Ra4! 53 Bd1 [53 Rxa4? Rxa4] 53 ..R4a7! [53 ..Rxd4+? 54 cxd4 Ke7 55 Rc3 Kd6 56 Rc5 and White wins by playing Kd2-c3-b4, b3 and Be2.)] 54 Bb3 Ra5 55 Re5 Rd8 ½-½
The young Hungarian Peter Leko missed another golden chance to catch up with the tournament leaders, Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. Playing Alexei Shirov (the last player to beat him in a classical game - the first round of Sarajevo 1999), Leko wisely avoided anything Shirov may have prepared by opting himself to play 1 c4.
Leko-Shirov (7)
Leko,P - Shirov,A [A25]
1 c4 A real surprise from Leko who usually opens 1.e4. His trainer, GM Amador Rodriguez, explained that Leko wanted to avoid the Najdorf where he came to grief at Sarajevo 99. It's also part of the "new Leko" as the young Hungarian widens his opening repertoire. 1 ..e5 2 g3 [By this move order, Leko avoids 2 Nc3 Bb4 better known as the Kramnik-Shirov Attack.] 2 ..Nf6 3 Bg2 Nc6 4 Nc3 g6 5 e3 Bg7 6 Nge2 h5 7 h3 d6 8 d4 The game now takes on the character of a King's Indian with the Ne2 not ideally placed 8 ..Bd7 9 d5 Na5 [A typically aggresive reply from Shirov. 9 ...Ne7 was the sober alternative. Note how Black's last move prevented Qa4+ as a reply to this.] 10 Qd3 0-0 11 e4 c5 12 dxc6 Nxc6 The game looks like a Saemisch with the obvious difference that White has not played f3! hence the Bg2 is quite well placed. At this point the consensus was that Black would struggle to create enough counterplay to compensate for his backward pawn. But Shirov is the great creator. 13 Bg5 [13 Qxd6 Nd4 14 Nxd4 exd4 15 Qxd4? (15 Nd5!? Re8 16 Nxf6+ Bxf6 17 0-0 Be6 and Black has adequate compensation.) 15 ..Nxe4!] 13 ..Be6 14 Nd5 White tries to force the issue, 14.b3 was possible 14 ..Qa5+ 15 Bd2 Qa6 16 Nxf6+ Bxf6 17 b3 h4 18 0-0 [18 Qxd6 hxg3 19 fxg3 Rad8 20 Qc5 Be7 21 Qe3 Nb4 with big intiative] 18 ..hxg3 19 fxg3 Bg7 20 g4 Rab8 Black works toward b5 while White looks for play on the kingside. Throughout it all the d6 pawn remains weak but poisoned. 21 a4 Na5 22 Rf2 Qb6 23 Rb1 a6 24 Ng3 f6 against Nf5 [In the post mortem, both players spent a lot of time analysing 24 ..Nc6 where Leko planned to sacrifice the knight with 25 Be3 Qd8 26 Nf5!? but Shirov had a few tricks up his sleeve 26 ..gxf5 27 exf5 e4! (27 ..Bc8 28 g5) 28 Bxe4 (28 Qxe4 Bd7 29 g5 Re8 30 Qf4 Rxe3 31 Qxe3 Bd4) 28 ..d5! 29 cxd5 Nb4] 25 Bf3 Nc6 26 Kg2 Qd4 27 Qf1 White plays passively and Black grabs the initiative 27 ..b5 28 cxb5 axb5 29 axb5 Nb4 30 Bxb4 [30 Be2?! Qxd2 31 Bc4 Bxc4 32 Qxc4+ d5 33 Rxd2 dxc4 34 bxc4 Bh6] 30 ..Qxb4 31 h4 Qxb5 32 Qh1 [32 Qxb5?! Rxb5 33 b4 Rfb8 34 Rfb2 Bh6 35 Be2 R5b6] 32 ..Bh6 33 h5 Qe8 34 b4 [In the post mortem, Shirov feared 34 hxg6 Qxg6 35 Nf5! Bxf5 36 exf5 Qg5 37 Qd1] 34 ..Be3 [34 ..Rb7! Shirov - intending to swing across if necessary but he was already short of time and more innacuracies follow] 35 Rc2 g5 36 Qd1 Qa4 37 Be2 [37 Rcb2!? Qxd1 38 Bxd1 Bd4 39 Rd2 Rb6 40 b5 Rfb8 41 Be2 d5 42 Kf3] 37 ..Bd4 38 Bc4 Bxc4 39 Rxc4 Qxd1 40 Rxd1 Ra8 41 Nf5
Leko-Shirov (7) after 41.
Nf5
["I felt like resigning here," said Shirov. And certainly it's universally agreed that if Leko had played 41 Rdc1! Ra2+ 42 R1c2 there wasn't much point in going on. White is two passed pawns to nil up; 41 Rd2]
41 ..Ra2+ 42 Kh1 [42 Kh3 Rfa8 A) 43 Rd3! Bg1 A1) 44 Nxd6? Rh2+ 45 Kg3 Raa2 46 b5 Rhg2+ 47 Kh3 (47 Kf3 Raf2+ 48 Ke3 Rf4#) 47 ..Rh2+; A2) 44 Rdc3! 44 ..Rh2+ 45 Kg3; B) 43 Nxd4?? 43 ..R8a3+ mates; 42 Kg3 Ra3+ 43 Kg2 Ra2+] 42 ..Re2 43 Rdc1 [43 Nxd6 was stronger and should win 43 ..Rd8 44 Rdc1! Rd2 45 Nf5] 43 ..Rxe4 44 Rc8 Rxc8 45 Rxc8+ Kh7 46 Rc7+ Kh8 47 Rc8+ [47 Ne7 Re1+ (47 ..Bb6 48 Rb7 Rxb4 49 Ng6+ Kg8 50 h6) 48 Kg2 Re2+ 49 Kf1 Rh2 saves the day 50 b5 e4] 47 ..Kh7 48 Rc7+ Kh8 49 Nxd6 Rf4 [49 ..Re1+ 50 Kg2 e4 51 Nf7+ Kg8 52 Nh6+ Kf8 53 Nf5 Rg1+ 54 Kh2 Rd1 (54 ..Be5+ 55 Kxg1 Bxc7 56 Kf2) 55 Rc4 Be5+ 56 Kg2 Rd2+ 57 Kf1 Rb2 58 h6 Kg8 59 Rxe4] 50 Rd7 [Ljubojevic - 50 h6 f5! 51 Rg7 Rf1+ 52 Kg2 Rf2+ 53 Kg3 f4+ forces perpetual] 50 ..Bb6 [50 ..Rxg4? 51 Nf7+ Kg8 52 Nh6+] 51 Nc8 [51 b5 e4 52 Rb7 e3 53 Nf7+ Kg8 54 Nh6+ Kf8 55 Rxb6 e2 56 Rb8+ Ke7 57 Ng8+ Kf7 58 Nh6+] 51 ..Be3 [51 ..Rxb4 52 Ne7 Rd4 53 Rb7; 51 ..Rxg4 was pointed out by Ljubojevic and draws after 52 Nxb6 Rxb4 53 Nd5 Rh4+ 54 Kg2 Rxh5] 52 Ne7 Rf1+ 53 Kg2 Rf2+ 54 Kg3 e4 [Setting up perpetual, a great escape] 55 Ng6+ Kg8 56 h6 Rf3+ ½-½
Shirov and Leko analyse their round
7 struggle
Anand against Kramnik was predictably another outing for the super-solid Petroff Defence, which again stood up well to everything the player of the white pieces, Anand in this case, could throw at it. In the final position White has no good pawn break. Black can sit tight or advance with ...c5 and Kc7-c6. With no weaknesses Black has little to fear.
Anand-Kramnik (7)
Anand,V - Kramnik,V [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 cxd5 Nxd3 10 Qxd3 Qxd5 11 Re1 Bf5 12 Ne5 [Perhaps fearing an improvement from Kramnik, Vishy avoids the ultra-sharp 12 g4 that he used to good effect in games against Karpov, Sokolov and Kramnik in 1999. Although losing to Karpov, Anand found a big move that he used against Kramnik in the Siemens Giants': 12 g4 Bg6 13 Nc3 Nxc3 14 Qxc3 Kf8 15 Bf4 c6 16 Rxe7!! (16 Re3?! was played against Karpov) ] 12 ..g6 13 f3 [13 g4? Nxf2! 14 Qg3 Ne4] 13 ..Nf6 14 Qe3 0-0-0 15 Nc3 Qxd4 16 Qxd4 Rxd4 17 Be3 Rb4!
Anand-Kramnik (7) after 17.
...Rb4!
18 b3 [18 Bxa7? b6 19 Nd3 Bxd3 20 Rxe7 Rxb2] 18 ..Be6 19 Bf2 Bd6 20 Nd3 Rd8! (The exchange sacrifice secures the half-point for Kramnik as it will be impossible to shift the knight on d5.) 21 Nxb4 [Both players spent a long time during the post mortem looking at the alternative 21 Red1 Bxb3 22 axb3 Rxb3 23 Ne2 Rxd3 24 Rxd3 Bxh2+! 25 Kxh2 Rxd3 which also draws because White has no time for 26 Rxa7 Rd2!] 21 ..Bxb4 22 Rec1 Bxc3 23 Rxc3 Nd5 24 Rd3 b6 (Kramnik: "Draw?") 25 Rad1 (Anand: "Draw?". Kramnik: "But there's already a draw offer on the table." Anand: "Yes, I know. But as I'm the one the exchange ahead I thought it should be me who was making the draw offer!". ½-½
Kramnik and Anand analyse, both
sides wanted a draw in the end.
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(1) Anand,V (2769) - Kramnik,V (2758) [C42]
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(2) Leko,P (2725) - Shirov,A (2751) [A25]
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(3) Kasparov,G (2851) - Khalifman,A (2656) [C17]
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