Van Wely - Timman 1-0 Anand - Ponomariov 1-0 Shirov - Bareev 1-0 Grischuk - Krasenkov 1-0 Topalov - Karpov 1/2 Polgar - Kramnik 1/2 Shirov - Bareev Bareev decided to test no the attacking Shirov's роtencial and has chosen the variation of the French defence where exchanging are several pieces at once and usually the game passes to the endgame where White has a little bit but stable advantage and Black has not bad chances to neutralize it. Shirov was not glad to this perspective and he suggested a pawn sacrifice to his rival. Bareev decided to accept a challenge (Timman didn't decide to do it playing 12...Nc5 and obtained a draw). Bareev's attempt to disturb the rival to finish the development (the maneuver Qb2-b6) has led to nothing. After 18.c4 it's became clear that the White's initiative takes permanent character. 25.Rb1 undermined a full domination of white pieces. Soon followed the decisive break-through 28.f5 and Bareev was forced to admit his defeat. It is very dangerous to let Shirov the initiative. Polgar - Kramnik Despite a hard defeat in a principal meeting with Shirov Kramnik decided to repeat the Cheliabinsk variation. Polgar has chosen for a standard the Kasparov's play against Kramnik (Frankfurt 2000), but Vladimir was the first who deviated from that game where Kasparov owned the initiative. Very soon Kramnik solved all the opening problems. There more after the exchange of pawns on the queenside became clear that Black owns a slight advantage which consist in presence of couple of Bishops and a weak rival's pawn on c3. As a result Kramnik won it, true he has had to gave up the advantage of two pieces. But even after that despite to presence on the board the different colored Bishops the White's defence looks not easy. Anand - Ponomariov A very interesting and original fight developed in this game. With his 7th move Black offered to his rival to return back to the Cheliabinsk variation playing 7...Nf6 instead of a more popular 7...b5 (it is interesting why he has not made this earlier 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 e5). Anand refused this suggestion preferring a rare 8.Nc4 (instead of 8.Bg5) and just sacrificed a pawn which nobody before Ponomariov decided to take. White played 11.a3! and after the opening of the a-file has got a serious pressure on the queenside. This game developed similarly to Shirov-Bareev game. Already to 17th move White removed a little material deficit, winning the exchange. Black has not got any compensation for this. In opposite White unconstrainedly developed his initiative. About 10 last moves were not necessary. Topalov - Karpov Unususally calm develops the fight in the game, where white pieces are in charge by Veselin Topalov who now is a regular "revolter of the quiet" over the chess board. After the numerous exchanges the game passed to the endgame with a rather insignificant White's advantage. Such kind of positions (without the rival's counterplay) is to Karpov's taste. Maybe this determined Topalov's choice. True this advantage will be very difficult to transfer in something real since there are differently colored Bishops on the board. Very few has changed for last 40 moves. White continued unsuccessful attempts to find a flaw in Black's defence. Never find them Topalov was forced to humble with a drawn result. Very carefully and academically acted Radjabov against Ivanchuk . White failed to undermine the weaknesses of the Black's queenside and after the numerous exchanges the rivals dispersed with a peace. Van Wely - Timman It seems that Jan Timman finally became out of sorts. He has lost the 3rd game in a row. Against his compatriot Van Wely used a firm but passive Shlekhter defence. On 9th movr he let the center (more in variant's spirit was 9...e6 following by Nbd7 with a slight White's advantage). Further attempt to counter-attack by way of b5-b4 led only to the creation of irreparable pawns' weaknesses on the queenside. Van Wely accurately neutralized the black pieces' activity and in a joyless position before the treats of material losses Timman decided to stop his own torments. In the game Grischuk - Krasenkov also was outplayed the fashionable nnow Cheliabinsk variation. At first it seemd that Black has rather active play. But gradually Grischuk traded active rival's pieces and began to adversely affect the factors of long duration - the weakness of pawn structure and the absence of a reliable refuge for the black King. At that the presence of different colored Bishops only strengthened the latter circumstance. To the first time control the result of the game became practically clear. |
