December, 8, 2001 Played was the Rubinstein variation (with pawns trading on e4) in the French defence. Usually Black get here a reliable but slightly passive position. Perhaps playing with black Anand in the 1st game of the micromatch has no objection against a draw. On the 7th move Ivanchuk has chosen rather rare continuation - 7.Bc4 (usually played 7.Bd3 or 7.Bg5). And Anand replied with almost a novelty 7...a6!? Using "advanced" position of the c4-Bishop Black intends to take out the Bishop on an active position on b7. As a result to the 12th move Black placed his forces successfully and has no any problems. It's true that after the Queens exchange Black for complete the development was forced slightly to weak his kingside by g7-g5, since immediate 15...0-0? after 16.Bf6 gf6 17.Nd7 Rfc8 18.Nf6 led to lose a pawn. But in the endgame such a weakness looks no dangerous. On 17th move nothing gave to White an invasion 17.Nd7, for after 17...Nd7 18.Rd7 Bc6 the Rook is forced out from 7th rank (19.Rc7 Rfc8). The position is approximately equal but one should play correct. 19...Nd7! and 20...Bf6 - a correct maneuver. The strong d4-Bishop who shooted on both flanks should be changed. 24.a5! - the best chance for White, he fix pawn on a6, which can become an object of attack in future. In case of trading pawns on the queenside a draw became inavitable. But now it seems that Black has activated dangerously: - 24...Nd5. On 25.Kf2 follows 25...f6, and Black is OK. But Ivanchuk has predicted all this - whith two strong moves - 25.Ne5! and 26.Be4! he keeps the tension in the position. Here adversely affects the a6-pawn's weakness, for example: 26...Nd1 27.Ba8 Nb2 28.Bb7! and 29.Ba6, and the passed a-pawn is very dangerous. Stronger for Black 27...Ra8 28.Rd1 Bd5, but here also the weakness on a6 allows White to continue the game. After the 30th White's move. As we supposed the white passed a-pawn became very dangerous. The pursuit of the Bishop leds no to something good: 30...Rc7 31. Bd7! Kf8 32.Nc4 bc4 33.a6 Ra7 34.Bb5, and White should win. After the Knights exchange the position looks dangerous fro Black but Vishi managed to resist not without the partner's help. On the 35th move offered oneself 35...Kd6 (instead of selected by Black 35...Bd5) with idea 36.Kd4 f5 (36...e5?! 37.Ke4, and the white king breaks on the kingside) 37.g3 e5 38.Ke3 f4 with a counterplay but probably Anand didn't like a possibility 36.f4!? With the maneuver 35...Bd5 and 36...Rc7 Black has activated the Rook but the white a-pawn in arisen Rooks endgame as before very dangerous. Probably Black made a mistake giving Black the possibility to activate his King. Instead of 40.Kc3 desired attention 40.Bd5 ed5 41.Rb6!, cutting the King along 6th rank. In this case Black should work hard for a draw. After the move in the game the black King went out to the center and draw became inevitable. Svidler - Ponomariov After the yesterday's keen "triller" in the match with Gelfand Svidler's forces should come to an end. But today he has white color and willy-nilly one has to go ahead. Ponomariov played Russian Defence which is very popular at this Championship (chessplayers are playing in Russia!) but in his creativity almost was not met. On the 10th move Black chosen a continuation 10...Bf5, which was met some days ago in the match Topalov-Shirov and in the game Anand-Shirov all-round test had the move 10...Be6. The position after 12th move in practice of "white" Svidler met twice: in the last round of Russian Championship (St.Petersburg, 1998) aganist Sakaev he played 13.cd5 Qd5 14.Bf4 Na5! 15.Bc7 Rac8 16.Ba5 Qa5 17.c4 Bf6! 18.Qb3 Qb6, and the rivals agreed on a draw. Meanwhile with Adams on the last WCC (New Delhi, 2000) Svidler played 13.Re1 dc4 14.Bc4 Bd6 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.Nh4 Na5 17.Ba2 Bg4 18.Qd3 Rae8 with a complicated position. Ponomariov uses a novelty - 13...Be6 with idea to take on d5 with the Bishop followed by Na5 taking the control under white squares on the queenside. The structure of the position slightly remind the game from the 1st round Anand-Touzane where Anand as we remember provided c3-c4 and gained a big advantage. Petr decides the problem of move c3-c4 very simply: plays at once 16.Ne5!, for that on the next move to go 17.c4. But Black could drive away the Knight by 16...f6? On this Svidler perhaps prepared a forced variation: 17.c4! fe5 18.cd5 Qd5 19.de5 Qe5 (otherwise Black is simply worse) 20.Bd2! Suddenly turned out to be that Black is forced to give away the Queen. However the position after 20...Bd6 21.Bc4 (21.g3!?) Nc4 22.Re5 Be5 23.Rc1 Nd2 24.Qd2 Rad8 remains unclear but nevertheless it is easier to play with the Queen. As a result Ponomarev prefered a firm 16...Bd6. White has conducted key 17.c4, and on the next move would like to continue pawn's movement - 18.c5, but was possible 18...Be5 19.de5 Nc4, and Black brings in the game the Knight. This why White makes a preparatory move by the Queen on which Black plays by himself c7-c5 allowing no the further suppression of his position. After the 22th White's move: both rivals dispose their forces in the center but the different is in the Knights position - white is on e5, the black one is on a5 what allows to evaluate the position as a slightly better for White. At that it is difficult to drive away e5-Knight: in case of f7-f6 he will jump on the weakened g6-square. So Ponomariov decides to trade his Bishop on the white knight, with a followed correct move 23...Rd7!, giving no to White to conduct at once 24.f4 Rad8 25.f5 because of 25...Bc4, and the d1-Rook hangs. Svidler creats a strong outpost on the d6-square - with a maneuvre 25.Bf4 and 26.Rd6, at that after 26...Nb7 the Rook is not obliged to retreat - 27.Qg3! To take the Rook now is dangerous: 27...Nd6 28.ed6 Rd6 29.Bh6 g6 30.Bg5 with a strong attack. Perhaps on the next move was possible to take the Rook: 28.Qd3 Nd6 29.ed6 Rd6 30.Qh7 Qc6 31.Qh8 Ke7 32.Bd6 Qd6 33.Qg7 Qf4, and despite to a centralized place of his King the active position of pieces gives Black sufficient counterchances 29...Kh8 - Ponomariov refused the moves repeating, considering that Svidler first will refuse it. It is difficult to belive that he decided to play on a victory. Petr subtly noticed a shortcoming of this move - after the Rooks trading and a strong 31.Qe3! an unpleased for Black sacrifice on h6 becomes inevitable. But Ponomariov nevertheless finds a defence - 32...Rd1!. In case of sacrifice acceptance White wins: 32...gh6 33.Qh6 Kg8 34.Re3 Bf5 35.Rg3 Bg6 36.e6!+-. Now White could trade the Queens at once: 33.Rd1 Qd1 34.Qd2 Qa1! 35.Qc1 Qc1 36.Bc1 Na5, but the arisen endgame nevertheless approximately equal. And in the game after 35.Qd2 Qd2 36.Bd2 Nc4 White forced to transfer in the drawn endgame - 37.Bc4, this why the rivals agreed to draw. An interesting and excited game! The attack and defence turned out to be deserve each other. Kosteniuk - Zhu Chen I am sure that overwhelming majority of chess lovers all over the World are fans of Sasha Kosteniuk. What to say about Russians! Should be once broken hegemony of China women chess players! And we should show to all world that in Russia not onle men are skill in chess but women also! And one more time on the board a super-popular Russian Game (note that played it Chinese. It's pitifully that there is no in the theory a China Game and Kosteniuk will not be able to take a revenge). But slightly another variation - 6...Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Nc3, which was popoular in 80s- beginning 90s years. Last time on the top was used mainly 9.cd5 cd5 10.Nc3 (let remember for example famous games Grischuk- Shirov or Khalifman-Leko from WCC in New Delhi). Note that earlier Zhu Chen has not played this variation. However in Kosteniuk's practice this position also was not met. So, the rivals are in the same conditions. On the 12th move White chose a not main continuation (12.h3 Bh5 13.Rb1), theory reccomends 12.Qd3 with slightly better chances. After 14th Black's move Re8 the game goes in an original way (earlier met 14...Nd7). However what could be more logical and natural move which place the Rook on an open file. In a result White was forced to agree on a worsening of the pawn structure (15.Re1 Re1 16.Qe1 Bf3 17.gf3), but he got two Bishops, a certain advantage in development and activated his pieces. The nearest moves will show whose trumps are heavier. 17...a6 and 19...Ra7 - with such an original way Black introduce the Rook in the game since the Knight can't go away from b8 where he must to guard c6-pawn. 20...Qe8 - since this moment Black begins to play without any plan. Ought to play 20...Bf8 (on d6 the Bishop has to do nothing). Obviously the exchange of one pair of the Bishops is in Black's favour and after that white Bishop goes away from h6 Black may place his Bishop on g7 and prepare c6-c5 aiming White's pawn pair in the center. 22.f4 followed by f5 - a strong plan, which pressure Black's position and provoke the weakness of the KIng's cover. It is important to note also the previous preventive White's move (21.Kf1!), which don't allows Black to trade the Rooks. The black e7-Rook is placed beautifully but unusefully - there is no squares for it to invase in rival's camp and in fact it only disturbs Black to coordinate his pieces. 23...c5 - only provoke the additional weaknesses in Black's camp, for example the Knight now nevr will get on d5. Better would be 23...Nf6 24.Qh4 Nd5 (even if one of the pieces stands well) 25.Bg5 Rd7 26.Re1 (one more advantage of the move 22.Kf1!) 26...Qb8, and although White own initiative Black saves the defencive position. After 27.a4. White has got good perspectives on both flanks and in the center meanwhile Black has not any allusion on a counterplay. The White's advantage is indisputable. 28.Qg2! - a move with many plans. From one side it is important to let no the black Knight on d5 and from the other side White threatens to open files on the kingside with h2-h4. After 33.Qf3. From the direct attack on the King Black has defenced but now the white Rook invased in his camp, b5-pawn needs a defence and also it is necessary all the time to follow the possible maneuvers of the white Bishop (for example Bc2-e4-c6 (or d5-e6). Besides White don't needs to be in a hurry and he can calmly strengthen the position since we repeat Black by himself deprived of any hopes on a counterplay. After 37...b4 - Zhu Chen don't withstand a siege and she decides to change the drawing of the position. Although it was possible still to stay on the place (37...Bc7), but White would find a possibility to provide a decisive iinvasion for sure. Now his task simplified significantly. With a seria of correct moves: 40.Rc5! (cutting the black Queen from the rest pieces), 41.Be4 followed by Bd5-e6 Kosteniuk replies to all questions about the result of the game. After the moment when on the 43th move the white Bishop came to e6 Zhu Chen could resign without any doubts. 45...Nd7 and 46...Re3 - Black attempts the last chance. And although White could take the Rook: 47.fe3 d2 48.Bb5! c1Q 49.Qd7 Kh6 50.Rc1 Qd2 51.Kf3 Qc1 52.Qd8 winning Kosteniuk absolutely justicely has not selected these long variations and ended the game at once with a cool-headed 47.Be6! By luck, Alexandra! It seems that a slogan of the last days: "The women chess crown - to Russia!" more and more close to its realization. Ah, only would not put the evil eye... |
