Round 10 Anand - Leko Adams - Kasimdzhanov Kasparov - Vallejo Free day: Topalov Good evening dear chess friends! We continue annotate for you the 2nd super-tournament in this year - Linares 2005. Unlike the last year this time the struggle is much more interesting and spectacular. Many fascinating games. Let's see what will be today. Certainly the game Anand-Leko is the game of the round. Quite recently the opponents played in Wijk aan Zee and then Leko could beat Anand in destructive style. It's interesting whether Vishy will try to revenge. Kasparov after yesterday's win has improved his position in the event and probably it will be very difficult for his competitors to get him. The pair Adams-Kasimdzhanov is interesting as well. One should recall that namely they played in the WCh Final in Tripoli and then Kasimdzhanov could win despite of Adams was a favorite. Yesterday Rustam playing White was defeated by Kasparov very hardly, let's see how he holds the blows. So, stay with us! Anand - Leko 1/2 Anand did not repeat the game from Wijk aan Zee where he played 9.Bf6 gf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.c3 Bg7 et. and has chosen another popular continuation - 9.Nd5. However on the next move he has preferred a rather rare move 10.Ne7 (much more popular 10.Bf6). Probably he considered it as a unexpectedness for Leko. On the 11th move (11...d5) the game was away from the theoretical ways at all. In some games 11...Bb7 was tested. But the way of Leko seems easy and natural. 13.Qb3 - right retreat, in the game of the not well-known chessplayers was seen 13.Qd2, but then Black has a thrust 13...Ne4! After Queens exchange appeared the position where Black has a free development without any weaknesses, but on the side of White there is an important plus of long duration - 2 Bishops. If White could make the Knight a3 more active then it would be possible to tell about his advantage. In view of that it deserved attention to play 16.Nc4!? (instead of 16.Bc4), if 16...Ne4 then White has a strong reply 17.Bd3! After the move in the game the Knight stayed to be out of the game and that's why White could not claim an advantage. Leko continued to play unpretentiously, set the pieces at the center, and it was enough to keep balance. Moreover it was possible to try to gain an initiative by - 21...Nc5!? with idea to jump by one of the Knights on d3, but Peter acted very accurately. After 23...e4 Black forced opponent to weaken his pawn structure, that's why Anand considered the draw as a good result despite of the 30 minutes up. Typical grandmaster's draw! Kasparov - Vallejo Pons 1-0 According to the Megabase-2005 Kasparov for the first time in his life used the rare quiet variation of Slav defence 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3, before that he always played 4.Nc3. It looks like he wanted to outplay outsider "on the class" and to avoid any risk. Some time ago the variation 6...Be4 7.f3 Bg6 was popular, then White has to weaken his K-side, but from the other side he can play e3-e4 faster; so, now Black returned to the traditional variation 6...Bg6. 8.Bd2 and 9.Rc1 - fresh set up, White is trying to prevent the appearance of Black's Quen on c7. Position after the 9th White's move was played in 2 games only: Yevseev-Ulibin, Krasnoyarsk 2003 and Breev-Dreev Moscow 2004. 9...a6 - a novelty, it seems Black is preparing simplifications on the Q-side, which, however, no so effective due to absence of Q-side's Bishop. In the both played before games Black played 9...Bd6. After White's Bishop seized the diagonal a8-h1(13.Bf3) it's become clear that the Black's Q-side is vulnerable. 14.Ne2 - Kasparov is going to take on d4 by Knight and then to transfer the Knight to the strong outpost c6. But this manouevre connected with some loss of time. Not bad alternative was simple 14.0-0, yes, White would get isolated pawn, but it's easily to get rid of it by d4-d5. 16...e5 - Vallejo defences very accurately, to allow the appearance of the Knight on c6 looks like a death for Black. But it leads to the weakening of the d5-square, but it's occupation by White's pieces leads to the desirable for Black exchanges. In my opinion Vallejo lost a good opportunity to balance the position - 18...Nd3!? 19.Qd3 Bb4. In the game after 18...Qb6 19.Nc3 Black had to play an awkward move 19...Nb7, since the other lead to the material losses, for example,: 19...e4 20.Bc5 Bc5 21.Ne4 Ne4 22.Be4 Be3 23.Rc6 Qa7 24.Qb3 Bd4 25.Bg6 - White is pawn up, although Black has some chances for a draw due to the opposite-colored Bishops. Or 19...Nd3?! 20.Bd6 Qd6 21.Rc2! - Black's Knight is pinned. After that when Kasparov set his Bishop on d5 his advantage became clear and the game passed into the realization stage. For that White had to make additional weaknesses in the opponent's camp. This aim serves the move 27.a4 - the pawn b5 or a6 will be a weakness. Vallejo preferred to have the weakness on a6. On the 30th move Kasparov could play more active - 30.Rc5!? with following Qc4, with the Rooks it's more difficult to defend. At the same time the straightforward 30.Rc6 Qf5 31.Ra6 Qb1 32.Kg2 Nc7 could bring to the additional complications. However and after Rooks exchange the easy life for Black did not come. Both opponents were in the zeitnot and Kasparov did not find the immediate win by 38.Bf5!, for example: 38...Nf3 39.Kg2 Ne1 40.Kf1 Nf3 41.Qa4!, and Black loses 2nd pawn. But and the way chosen by White is good enough, although now the struggle will be longer. After the 47th move White has a won position, he will realize his advantage combining the threats Queening the b-pawn and the transfer to the pawns ending. After several testing checks Kasparov has defined the best squares for his Queen - b7 and c6, and has started to push ahead the b-pawn. To stop it Black had to give up the g-pawn and then the resistance became senseless. After this win one should to consider the question about the winner of the event closed. Adams - Kasimdzhanov 1/2 2 specialists of the Marshall attack have played in this game, that's why we have seen... "Anti-Marshall"! White cannot prove his advantage in the main lines, so, he has to play the modest - h3, d3 and a3. However it's difficult to expect to get any advantage by this way. Position after 15th move was already seen in the practice of kasimdzhanov: Shirov-Kasimdzhanov, Saraevo 2003. Afterâ•” 16.Ng3 Qe8! (with idea Nh5) Black got good play. Adams has chosen another way and by new move 16.b4 has started the struggle on the Q-side. After 20.a4 White has got an initiative and became clear that Black's pawns are vulnerable. Especially after 28...d5, and the e5-pawn is very weak. More reliable was 28...Nc6 29.Rb8 Nb8 30.d4 ed4 31.Nd4 d5, and Black holds the position. Kasimdzhaniv tried to play actively, but if Adams would take the pawn: 32.Nfe5, then Black had serious problems - if 32...Bc5 then 33.d4! Bd4 34.Qb4 Be5 35.ed5 ed5 36.Qe1! and White has to win. The way chosen by Adams gave with an extra-pawn as well, but the remained pawns were on the one side and this made the realization of the advantage very problematically. Adams tried to use his advantage till the end, but not so many chessmen were on the board, that's why he could not get a win. Well done Kasimdzhanov! |