Report of round 5 - CCT 2006

Lots Of Action

“Revenge is a dish best served cold” goes a Sicilian saying. Last year the encounter between Anand and Leko turned out to be the decisive match up of group A. Leko’s win propelled him to eventually winning the event. It seems that the Indian GM had been waiting to settle the account, and today he took his chance. It is true that Black managed to equalize after the opening – Vishy: “Too many of my pieces are fighting for the same squares”, but then came 16…Nb6?! Whereas 16…b5 was fine for Leko. Now after the trades, white was “trying to prove that the Black pawn structure is vulnerable”—Anand. The Hungarian’s drift continued on move 22 with (see diagram 1) …Nc4? (better was 22…b5) as his mischievous horse was quickly caught in offside. Peter noticed too late that after his intended 22…Na3 White isn’t obligated to play 23. c4 -allowing Black to attack the pawn- but simply can play 23. Re3! and the N is even worse off on a3 than on a5. For better or worse, Black should have played 23…Nd7, a move which he rejected on account of 24. b4. Still now he has 24…Nf6 and the game goes on – for example 25.b5?! axb5 26.cxb5 Rc1!. In the game 6. h4! was a strong plan: “Black is structurally lost” – Anand, and 30. c5 was the collapsing point of Black’s position. Leko fought on, but the endgame with the far-advanced d pawn was a typical losing Gruenfeld-like ending, and the Indian GM cashed in without problem. A very nice performance by Vishy!

At times, the games of the elite leave the impression that the GM’s forget the value of the pieces. Such a game was the struggle between Topalov and the Mamedyarov. In a dynamically balanced middle game position, the world champ calmly played an exchange sacrifice (see diagram 2)(20. Rxc5!?), seemingly without immediate compensation. Within a few moves the game shifted to an endgame where White got to pick off Black’s weak pawns, although in compensation, Black became very active. Just before time control, as White was trying to consolidate, the tactical Young Azeri struck with the clever 38…Rxd3!. White was a full piece up, but stuck in a devilish, permanent pin. Then, at the most opportune moment White returned the piece, and with a lame Bishop of opposite color with 2 pawns on the same side per player, a draw was agreed.

There is an age old question in the Zaitsev system of the Ruy: Why doesn’t anyone take the pawn on d5 on move 20. (see diagram 3) The assumption always was that it gives White a lot of activity as after all, Black’s kingside isn’t the prettiest of pictures. Today we saw an example of the crime and its punishment, when Bacrot tried it against Karjakin. The young Ukrainian’s initiative avalanched the Black King, and even the appeasement attempt of sacrificing his Queen brought Etienne no relief. Perhaps he could have defended more stubbornly, but he seemed quite demoralized, and the position wasn’t good anyway.

Ivanchuk – Kamsky was captivating in its simplicity. Chuky didn’t do anything outlandish, but with strong, logical moves kept the pressure against the weak d6 pawn, till Black went for 20…b5 to get relief from the bind. Now Vassily wisely steered the position to a late middle game where he had a much better pawn structure, and a far superior minor piece. After some persistent ‘tickling’ of the weaknesses, White won a pawn and then another, forcing the hapless American to give up.

The game that started with signs of being the hot game of the day, actually ended on a quiet note. Van Wely repeated an idea of his from a previous game (with the minor inclusion of h6 for Black and Bh4 for White somewhere), where he sacrifices the exchange in a well trotted line of the Gruenfeld. In return he gets a strong Bishop and two passed pawns on the queenside that can get menacing in a hurry. His opponent Gelfand, seeing he didn’t get much in this line, proposed a draw that was accepted. After the game Loek jokingly said to Boris that he will be ‘looking for him’ again in the variation, with Boris promising that ‘he’ll be there’.

Recent world cup winner Aronian must have been quite disappointed today, as his opening against Adams was quite a success. Enjoying the Bishop pair and with Black having the isolani, he soon forced the Brit to give up a pawn for little compensation. Just as things looked really up for the Armenian, he suddenly played the inexplicable 30. Rb1? (30. e4 was fine), giving back his extra pawn for no reason. The major piece ending was drawish till 38.f5? was played, where 38. Qd4 was more natural. Now Black missed the strong 38…Qg4! with the idea of Qh3, which would have left White hurting, going for the Queen endgame instead. Optically, it seemed that it was a right decision, with a fast looking a-pawn, but as Levon showed, he had a defense. For example, Mickey never really has 47…a2 because of 48. f6. The game concluded with White giving a perpetual check.

Some flashy tactics occurred in the all Dutch meeting of Tiviakov – Sokolov. Matters were tranquil until White uncorked the exciting 19.Nxe5!? (instead, 19. dxe5 Nxe4 20. Bd5 Nxc3 is nothing) but in the forced continuation of the game, Black had a little surprise of his own with 21…Qxe4!. White was up a double pawn, but the immediate exchange of Queens and the existence of opposite colored Bishops signaled the eventual result: draw.