Anand - Grischuk 1/2 Radjabov - Shirov 1/2 Topalov - Krasenkow 1-0 Van Wely - Kramnik 1-0 Timman - Ponomariov 0-1 Karpov - Ivanchuk 1/2 The French defence was played the variation de. It looks that Bareev is going to play for a draw and this result probably not bad for Polgar(who is one of the leaders in this tournament) too. If Bareev wanted to play for a win then he would choose the Caro Cann where he got the win over Grischuk. Polgar plays the best in her carrier tournament and probably she is going to come the end of the event making the draws only, such result in the last rounds will permit her to get the place in the top 3 as a miminum. And it looks Bareev is going to try to use his chance in the next round when he will play by White. Anand - Grischuk Seems Grischuk was going to play Cheliabinsk variation in which he could get 2 wins already by White and by Black, but Anand has avoided the theoretical disput playing the variation 3.Bb5. It looks strange but the ease win of Grischuk over Shirov has brought him the defeats only (2 ones and by White) after that game. Now he plays by Black against the sole leader of the tournament so this game will be very difficult for him. Anand was not in the fighting mood today and for that there are the objective reasons - first of all he has +4 and this result can be enough for the win in the tournament, besides he did not get any advantage in this game. Grischuk, who had lost 2 games in a row before this game and having Black today, this result is not so bad for him, that's why such short draw happened. Radjabov - Shirov The Meran variation of Slav defence was played. Radjabov without any fear has chosen the sharp way of play, though White has sacrificed the piece, but he has pinned the black forces and the piece must be taken back, after that White has to get some advantage. As it was predicted White has taken back the piece, Black by exact manoeuvre Rc8, Kf8 did not allow to White to attack the f7-pawn. Now after 35th move White has a simbolic advantage due to week pawns of Black, but the position has a drawn character. Teimour tried to use the weak pawns of the Black he even could to force him to play h5, but Shirov defenced exactly and as the result - the game is drawn. Topalov - Krasenkow The Berlin variation of Ruy Lopez was played, this variation became very popular after the duel Kasparov vs. Kramnik. Now this variation is very problematic for Whire, for example in this tournament White could not show the way to get the advantage. Topalov plays in style "all ahead" in this event and as a result he was often beaten, he already lost two games by White here and seems it can be his 3 defeat. It's difficult to understand what the Rook a4 is going to do in this game. On my view Black should not to leave the 2nd rank by the Rook, it was better to atack the black pawns by move Bb1. After that Black lost the tempos, White could move his pawns on theK-side and if he will be able to get out by Rook from the a-square then he can win. It's obviously that Krasenkow played not so good in this game. If Topalov played with the stronger opponent then he could be punished again as it happened in this tournament already several times. Topalov plays in this tournament with leaders and outsiders at the same style. With outsiders such way of play brings the success. Van Wely - Kramnik The Nimzo Indian with Qc2 was played. Probably White wanted to make the ease draw, but Kramnik is in figthing mood today. It became more and more difficult for Van Wely who was ver lucky in the first half of the evetn to play after the defeat in his game against Karpov. Now ater 13... e5 Black has preferable position. Kramnik started to play very strange. It's not easily to understand why he left the b3-square, that let Black to make his pieces more active. Besides White could make break on the K-side, and the initiative at him now already. After the trading of the Queens and the Rooks the game passed into the ending where White due to the pawn f6 have all chances to win. Now after 46.a6 White is preparing one of the breaks - b6 or c5, and one of the pawns becomes the Queen. Timman - Ponomariov The Slav defence was played. Timman has used very rare move 5.h3 and Ponomariov after long thinking did not take the sacrifice of the c4-pawn. Soon after the game passed into the exchange variation in which Timman is going to make the draw. Ponomariov due to his decision on th 5th move seems agrees with this. In approximately equal position Timman has played the strange move e4, which brought him the isolated pawn, and the move a3 is just a blunder. It's not the 1st time when Timman blunders in this tournament. The result of the game is clear, Ponomariov wins and improves his standing in the tournament sufficiently. Karpov - Ivanchuk The Gruenfeld defence with g3 was played. White has d5-pawn at the center which limits the Black pieces, Black is going to attack by his Knights and g7-Bishop the Q-side of White. By move 16...Bg4 Black made the position very sharp, now both sides have a lot of "hanging" pieces. The tactical battle has started. After the mutual blows White has got an extra exchange, but Black has got the 2 pawns for that and this is the sufficient compensation. White can win one pawn but only by the following tradings which lead to the position Rook+3 pawns against Bishop+4 pawns(the pawns of the both sides are on the one flank) which as it well known is drawn. |
