The Chess Mind

Round 9 Results:

Aronian - Anand
Topalov - Radjabov
Leko - Ivanchuk
Carlsen - Shirov

Another hard-fought round! Aronian-Anand was a slight exception: Aronian sacrificed a pawn in the opening for enduring pressure, but his 25.Qe2 allowed Anand to return the pawn and reach comfortable equality. That kept Anand in first, a full point ahead of Aronian, but Carlsen closed to within half a point by winning an amazing, tragic game against Shirov. The game see-sawed throughout between a big Carlsen advantage and near-equality (19…c6 and 25…Rfd8 helped Carlsen, while 19.Na3 and 27.Bxd5 made Shirov’s life a bit easier), but Shirov’s stubborn defense led him to an objectively drawn position – albeit one in which a good deal of preliminary suffering was required to achieve the half-point. Unfortunately, his 79…Ke5?? spoiled 7 hours of work, and the game ended immediately.

Topalov utilized an anti-Schliemann line that has been advocated by a flock of IMs (John Shaw, Larry Kaufman, Andrews Martin and Greet), and it went pretty well according to the recipe: White had a position where he could torture Radjabov indefinitely with no risk whatsoever. Unfortunately, when Topalov seemed to have a genuine winning chance, it slipped away: 44.Kg4 e2 45.Rxe2 Rxd5 (or 45…bxa5 46.bxa5 Rxd5 47.Re7+ Kb8 48.Kxf4 Ra5 49.g4+-) 46.Re7+ Kb8 47.axb6 Rb5 48.Re4 Rxb6 49.Kf5 won.

Finally, Ivanchuk outplayed Leko on the Black side of the Classical Caro-Kann. It was an impressive performance, and had it not been for his “accidents” in rounds 4 and 8, he’d have been in the thick of the race for first.

Games here.

Standings after Round 9:

1. Anand 6
2. Carlsen 5.5
3. Aronian 5
4. Topalov 4.5
5-7. Radjabov, Shirov, Ivanchuk 4
8. Leko 3

Pairings for Round 10:

Anand - Carlsen (The big game! For the third time in a row, Anand plays a player in second place.)
Shirov - Leko
Ivanchuk - Topalov
Radjabov - Aronian

You can watch the games live tomorrow on the Playchess.com server - I'll be presenting live commentary starting at 10 a.m. ET/4 p.m. Central European Time. Hope to see you there!

There was another great round today in Linares; it's nice to see that the change of venue and the days off didn't cool the players' ardor. Three of the four games were decisive, and the one draw may have been the most interesting game of all.

Round 8 Results:

Anand - Shirov 1-0
Ivanchuk - Carlsen 0-1
Radjabov - Leko 1/2-1/2
Aronian - Topalov 1-0

Coming into the round, Anand enjoyed a slim half-point lead over Shirov and Topalov, so today's results were absolutely wonderful from his perspective. First of all, he defeated Shirov in good fashion, exploiting the weaknesses that are sometimes left in Black's wake in the Sveshnikov Sicilian. Black could possibly have created more problems with 28...g4 instead of 28...Qh4, but in the endgame resulting from the latter move Anand's technique was exquisite (his 44th move was particularly fine), and Shirov could not save the draw.

Anand's other near-rival, Topalov, also lost, and in a characteristically Topalovian way. The position was balanced through move 36, but his provocative (and good) 36...f5 introduced some imbalances. Aronian's decision to sacrifice the exchange (see his 38th move, but the decision had clearly been made the move before) should have given Topalov a slight edge, but after 39...Qxg2+? (instead of 39...Bd6!) he entered an inferior ending. Ultimately he was unable to hold it, and Aronian took over second place.

Or rather, joint second place, shared with Carlsen, a point behind the leader. Carlsen should not have been there, as he was completely lost in the opening against Ivanchuk. Fortunately for him, Ivanchuk used gobs of time to make inferior moves, most notably 20.Qc4? (20.Qd1+-), and Carlsen had completely outplayed him by the time Ivanchuk's flag fell on move 40. A fortunate win by Carlsen, and a catastrophe for Ivanchuk.

Finally, Radjabov-Leko was a very sharp, see-saw draw that ended prematurely. Radjabov utilized a pawn sac that Gelfand introduced into big-time chess, and then followed up with an interesting piece sac a few moves later. The position was very complex and both players made some inaccuracies, as far as I can tell, and in the final position there is still everything to play for. Understandably, the players seemed to have had enough action by that point, however, and agreed to a draw - alas for us.

The games can be replayed here.

Standings after Round 8:

1. Anand 5.5
2-3. Aronian, Carlsen 4.5
4-5. Topalov, Shirov 4
6. Radjabov 3.5
7-8. Leko, Ivanchuk 3

Pairings for Round 9:

Aronian - Anand
Topalov - Radjabov
Leko - Ivanchuk
Carlsen - Shirov

Remember, you can catch my online commentary on the Playchess.com server starting at 10 a.m. ET, 4 p.m. Central European Time. Hope to see you there!

Why wait for my post-round recap, when you can watch my commentary live? You can do just that tomorrow (and possibly for all the rounds of Linares) by logging on to the Playchess.com server, entering the Broadcast room during the round (which starts at 9:30 a.m. ET/3:30 p.m. Central European Time), and finding my broadcast. (Look for "Live Broadcast" in the games tab, with my name in the slots for the White and/or Black players.) It'll run you 10 ducats (approx. 1 euro/$1.50) for 24 hours (that's good whether you're on the whole time or not - if you get disconnected, need to eat lunch, etc., you can come back without getting hit up for ducats a second time), but even chess players need to eat.

So support this operation, check out some great games, and hopefully learn a thing or two in the process! Hope to see you there!

Or rather, starts tomorrow; it's Morelia/Linares that's resuming. When we left off, at the end of the Morelia leg of the event, the standings were as follows:

1. Anand 4.5
2-3. Shirov, Topalov 4
4-5. Aronian, Carlsen 3.5
6-7. Radjabov, Ivanchuk 3
8. Leko 2.5

Of course, with several days off and a change of scenery, anything can happen in the second half. Here are the pairings:

Anand - Shirov
Ivanchuk - Carlsen
Radjabov - Leko
Aronian - Topalov

The games start tomorrow, and it's possible that I'll be commenting live on playchess.com (the "Fritz"/ChessBase server). (I'll confirm/disconfirm later tonight.) Please support your blogger and tune in! The games start at 9:30 a.m. ET/3:30 p.m. Central European Time.

Updates: I corrected the show time - the right numbers are given now, and I can confirm that I will be doing live commentary on playchess.com for tomorrow's round. Hope to see everyone then!

Still getting caught back up on my regularly scheduled life, and part of that involves catching up on the biggest tournament on the calendar...now that mine has passed. I'm referring, of course, to the Morelia/Linares tournament, which just completed its first half, the Morelia half. Round 7 was yet another exciting round, though much of the excitement resulted from rather unsuccessful play rather than good moves.

Round 7 Results:

Anand - Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Shirov - Radjabov 1-0
Carlsen - Aronian 1-0
Leko - Topalov 0-1

Anand-Ivanchuk looked like a correct draw, but the other three games had their strange moments. Radjabov is perhaps the world's current leading expert on the Black side of the King's Indian, but his plan of 13...h5 and 15...g4 has long been considered rather slow, and nothing in his game with Shirov would seem to overturn that judgment. Against Carlsen, Aronian chose a very sharp but dangerous approach, weakening his kingside in return for a pawn and some activity. As soon as the critical position arose, however, Aronian devised a plan that cost a piece. He had three pawns in return, but they were weak and a non-factor, and Carlsen rolled him in excellent style. Finally, Leko-Topalov was strange as well. Leko concluded the opening with a slight edge, but Topalov played more successfully and took over that edge. Normally resilient, Leko practically collapsed, wrongly choosing an endgame with two uncoordinated rooks against an excellent queen, and then simply blundering on move 37.

Standings after Round 7:

1. Anand 4.5
2-3. Shirov, Topalov 4
4-5. Aronian, Carlsen 3.5
6-7. Radjabov, Ivanchuk 3
8. Leko 2.5

The action resumes this Thursday in Linares, Spain, birthplace of Andres Segovia. My coverage of that half of the event will be more thorough, but just to get things started in that direction, I've offered some notes to the Carlsen-Aronian game, here. (You can replay all the games, but without notes, here.)

Ok, time for another super-superficial recap, based on my spending all of 1-2 minutes on each game. (Better than nothing, hopefully!)

Round 6 Results:
Topalov - Anand 1/2-1/2
Aronian - Leko 1/2-1/2
Radjabov - Carlsen 1-0
Ivanchuk - Shirov 1/2-1/2

Topalov and Anand played a full game, but after Anand's 19th move it always had the flavor of a draw. The tactical skirmish that started with 10...d5 looked very interesting, but it doesn't seem that they missed any obvious alternatives. (As always, I welcome correction by those who know better.)

Aronian-Leko started off insanely, with Aronian's 9.Qa4 inviting wild complications if Leko took on f2. The Hungarian spent more than 80 minutes before deciding to avoid the complications (apparently he hasn't internalized the lessons of Tal's hippopotamus). Aronian had an initiative as a result of Leko's comparatively safe approach, but Leko fought very hard and saved the draw. This would be an amazing game to analyze in depth, but I'm otherwise disposed at the moment.

Radjabov-Carlsen was an instructive game. It seems at first that the position after White's 19th move is pretty dull, but Radjabov has an edge thanks to the bishop pair and the central pawn. I'm not sure that Carlsen's "cure" was the right one, however, winning a pawn but giving up the d-file and accepting a very passive position. Radjabov's 27.Ba6 was a nice move, and after the exchange of bishops I believe the rest was a matter of (very good) technique.

Finally, Ivanchuk-Shirov started off interesting, but White managed to hold with a "perpetual" on Black's light-squared bishop. Without it he'd be worse, but it was enough to hold the balance.

Standings after Round 6:

1. Anand 4
2. Aronian 3.5
3-5. Radjabov, Shirov, Topalov 3
6-8. Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Leko 2.5

Pairings for Round 7: (The final round of the Morelia leg.)

Anand - Ivanchuk
Shirov - Radjabov
Carlsen - Aronian
Leko - Topalov

Round 5 Results:

Leko - Anand 0-1
Topalov - Carlsen 0-1
Aronian - Shirov 1/2-1/2
Radjabov - Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2

It's a slight pity that I haven't been able to follow the games from Morelia more closely, as this year's edition has been really hard-fought so far. No less than 11 of the 20 games have had decisive resuls, which is a veritable bloodbath by super-GM standards! Today's two decisive games were both Black wins, and as far as I can tell from a quick look, both games were a bit strange.

First, Anand's win over Leko seemed really odd to me. Leko had B vs. N along with the rooks, and although Anand's having the central majority gave him a trump, it's still incredible to me that Leko failed to hold the game. The most obvious culprit was excessive ambition - maybe he overestimated his chances in the race after 28.Rxb5 - maybe he should have just swapped the minor pieces with a sure draw. (Those who have looked at this, or heard GM commentary, or run through the game with a chess engine are welcome to fill in the details.)

Topalov's loss to Carlsen was odd, too. I don't know what Topalov had in mind with 13.Be4, but if it was the big exchange that started with 15.Qb3, it involved some miscalculation. After 19...Bg7, Carlsen has simply absconded with an extra pawn, as 20.Rxd5 Rad8 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 leaves Black on top after either 22.Be3 Bxb2 23.Rb1 b6 or 22.g3 Rd1+ 23.Kg2 with (at least) a crippling bind. Carlsen's technique was fine, bringing him back to 50%.

Radjabov-Ivanchuk was a Taimanov Sicilian that turned into a Classical French - one of Rajdabov's former favorites - and Ivanchuk held the draw comfortably. Meanwhile, the other game, Aronian-Shirov, was rather a dud. The position on the board after move 18 looked interesting enough; the problem was that no more moves were made. Under some conditions I'd whine about this, but both played very long games the day before, and neither is known for being a quick-draw specialist. So they get a pass on this one - as long as it doesn't happen again. (And maybe they shouldn't even get a pass this time, as the day before round 4 was a rest day and they're getting another one now!)

(Games here.)

Standings after Round 5:

1. Anand 3.5
2. Aronian 3
3-5. Carlsen, Shirov, Topalov 2.5
6-8. Ivanchuk, Leko, Radjabov 2

Pairings for Round 6: (On Friday)

Topalov - Anand
Aronian - Leko
Radjabov - Carlsen
Ivanchuk - Shirov

Hopelessly inaccurate predictions: Anand, Aronian, Carlsen and Shirov win.

Time for another super-superficial report on this event. (I need a strong guest blogger to help out!) First, the results:

Round 4 Results:

Anand - Radjabov 1/2-1/2
Ivanchuk - Aronian 0-1
Shirov - Topalov 1-0
Carlsen - Leko 1/2-1/2

Now for some incredibly "insightful" comments. First, I'm ridiculously amazed that Radjabov played the Schliemann against Anand - and got away with it! If he starts playing the Latvian, it will be time to give up chess. Anand repeated the line Macieja used to slaughter Radjabov a few months ago, but this time around Radjabov found some improvement and held with ease.

That's weird, but nowhere near as weird as Ivanchuk's latest gaffe. In a completely winning position two pawns ahead, he fell for about the only cheapo Aronian could muster in that position. Maybe he could still have drawn (I'm not sure about that), but he didn't come too close as things transpired.

Shirov-Topalov was a second failure for the Sveshnikov today, but Shirov's win looks at a glance like a brilliant technical display rather than the fruit of a theoretical atomic bomb. It's probably a great game to study in depth as a way of improving one's endgame technique. (Are you reading this, O students?)

Finally, Carlsen tried to Leko Leko to death in a Classical Nimzo-Indian, but how can you out-Leko Leko? You can't, so the game was drawn.

Games can be replayed here.

Standings after Round 4:

1-3. Anand, Aronian, Topalov 2.5
4-5. Leko, Shirov 2
6-8. Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Radjabov 1.5

Pairings for Round 5:

Leko - Anand
Topalov - Carlsen
Aronian - Shirov
Radjabov - Ivanchuk

My pointless predictions have been completely worthless, but hey: why stop now? I say Topalov wins and everyone else (well, except for Carlsen, obviously) draws.

Having spent only the time since the previous post looking at the games, this will be an incredibly superficial "report", but here's the recap with my initial impressions.

Round 3 Results:

Carlsen - Anand 0-1
Leko - Shirov 1/2-1/2
Topalov - Ivanchuk 1-0
Aronian - Radjabov 1/2-1/2

It looks like both Anand and Topalov won pretty comfortably. Anand continues to show he's the boss on the black side of the Anti-Moscow Gambit; Carlsen never seemed to have anything, and already by move 20-22, his compensation for the pawn looked essentially nonexistent. Turning to Topalov-Ivanchuk, I don't off the top of my head know what theoretical twists and turns went into the opening, but if Black can't safely castle on move 22, then he's probably just about busted. Ivanchuk sacrificed a pawn on move 25 so he could get a little space and finally castle, but after 31.Bxb8 the resulting ending was probably just winning for White.

In the other games, Leko played the increasingly trendy 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 against Shirov's Najdorf, but his hopes of dominating the d5 square never came to fruition. Finally, Aronian-Radjabov was a fairly short but lively draw in a King's Indian-cum-English. (Games, sans notes, can be replayed here.)

Standings after Round 3:

1. Topalov 2.5
2. Anand 2
3-5. Aronian, Ivanchuk, Leko 1.5
6-8. Carlsen, Radjabov, Shirov 1

Pairings for Round 4: (On Tuesday - Monday is a rest day):

Anand - Radjabov
Ivanchuk - Aronian
Shirov - Topalov
Carlsen - Leko

Pointless Predictions: Anand and Topalov win.

For reasons that should be evident if you read the previous post, I'm not paying the loving attention I'd normally lavish on a super-tournament like Morelia/Linares. Still, here's the news in brief, starting with the results:

Round 2 Results:

Anand - Aronian 0-1
Radjabov - Topalov 1/2-1/2
Ivanchuk - Leko
Shirov - Carlsen 1/2-1/2

When world champion Viswanathan Anand has White against Levon Aronian, the Marshall Gambit is the usual result. So it was here, too, and it looked like Anand would follow up his win in their last Marshall with another today. The position was roughly balanced until Aronian's 24...f5, when 25.Qb3! would have given White a serious edge. Anand's 25.Bg5 doesn't seem to have been as strong, and although he won a second pawn Aronian's counterplay kept a rough balance. That balance ended with Anand's 30th move, an outright blunder that cost him the game after Aronian's 30...Re3!

Radjabov-Topalov was a Berlin Defense, and Radjabov enjoyed the traditional slight edge coming out of the opening. I don't know if Radjabov missed 18...Nxe5, but that turned the tables and left Black a little better - which is to say, White still enjoyed a slightly better position, but now minus a pawn. With 20...Nf7 rather than 20...Ng6 he returned (blundered?) the pawn, and from there on White's space and better pawn structure were balanced by Black's bishop pair. The players made the time control and drew.

Ivanchuk's game with Leko was the last to finish, and it saw a second first-round winner suffer the opposite result. Ivanchuk played an unusual but not unknown anti-Marshall. His decision to give up the queen for two rooks may have been a new twist on the line, and although Leko's position after the exchange is better developed and finds him with a space advantage, White's position seems to have more room for improvement. At any rate, that assessment seems to have been borne out in the game: Leko could only try to maintain his advantages, but couldn't increase them, while Ivanchuk's position grew visibly better every few moves. In the final position, it's not that Leko is losing catastrophic quantities of material, but that he can't do anything against White's pursuit of whatever he wants, starting with the c-pawn.

Shirov-Carlsen was a Kan Sicilian that wound up looking like an old-style Tarrasch French, minus a pair of knights. Black accepted an isolated d-pawn, but Shirov never achieved anything against it (or the isolated pawn couple that took its place on move 22). The game made it to move 39, but it never looked like anything but a draw from at least the early 20s.

Standings after Round 2:

Ivanchuk, Topalov 1.5
Anand, Aronian, Carlsen, Leko 1
Radjabov, Shirov .5

Pairings for Round 3:

Carlsen - Anand
Leko - Shirov
Topalov - Ivanchuk
Aronian - Radjabov

Prediction: Four draws.

Games can be replayed here.

This is the way to start a tournament:

Round 1 Results:

Shirov - Anand 0-1
Carlsen - Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Leko - Radjabov 1-0
Topalov - Aronian 1-0

This was a great first round, with aggressive, exciting games across the board. Shirov played the very aggressive 6.Bg5 against Anand's Najdorf, but after allowing the stock ...Rxc3 sac it turned out this attack was (much) slower than his opponent's.

Carlsen-Ivanchuk was another Najdorf, but a more positional interpretation prevailed (6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3). Carlsen enjoyed a slight edge, but whether because Ivanchuk defended well or because the young Norwegian overlooked or underestimated 29...Qb6 and its sequel, the game ended in a draw.

Showing maturity beyond his years, Radjabov abandoned the ridiculous Schliemann and returned to another opening which focuses on ...f5, the Sveshnikov Sicilian. Something very strange happened in this game: Leko's 23rd move was a novelty, Radjabov responded, and then Leko thought for more than 40 minutes over his 24th move. I watched the games for a while on both ICC and Playchess, and on ICC the French GM Igor Nataf was chirping merrily away. I don't think Nataf is his second - though he might be - but it's clear that they're friends and work together from time to time. When things are going well for Radjabov, Nataf will fill the screen with happy comments and promising variations, but after Leko's 28.Be6! things got miiiiiighty quiet. Radjabov had to lose material and/or suffer serious king problems, and within 7 moves he was a piece down.

Finally, there was Topalov-Aronian, and my prediction about that game could hardly have been more wrong. Not only did Topalov win, he had a colossal advantage on the clock and the board by his 17th move. Black's queenside was in a terrible bind, and he was able to achieve freedom only at the cost of an exchange and a lost ending. Looks like Topalov has decided to avoid the big-comeback approach this time!

The games (sans notes, sorry - too much to do before traveling tomorrow) can be replayed here.

Round 2 Pairings:

Anand - Aronian
Radjabov - Topalov
Ivanchuk - Leko
Shirov - Carlsen

Now for some questionable predictions: Anand and Topalov win; other games drawn.

The games are scheduled to start in about 5 minutes; here are the pairings:

Shirov - Anand
Carlsen - Ivanchuk
Leko - Radjabov
Topalov - Aronian

I'll even make predictions. In order: draw, Carlsen, Leko (especially if Black plays 3...f5?!), Aronian.

The Morelia half of the 2008 Morelia/Linares tournament starts this Friday (February 15), and here are the participants:

Viswanathan Anand (2799)
Veselin Topalov (2780)
Alexei Shirov (2755)
Peter Leko (2753)
Vassily Ivanchuk (2751)
Levon Aronian (2739)
Teimour Radjabov (2735)
Magnus Carlsen (2733)

The tournament is a double-round robin; the first go-round is in Mexico, and after a few days off for traveling and rest they do it all over again (with colors reversed) in Linares, Spain. How will the players do? Here are some fallible predictions. (I didn't do too badly with Corus - predictions here, results there - but hopefully I'll do even better this time around.)

Let's start with background information: here are the results from Corus 2008 and Morelia/Linares 2007, with participants playing in this year's Morelia/Linares tournament bolded.

Morelia/Linares 2007:

1. Anand 8.5 (out of 14)
2-3. Carlsen, Morozevich 7.5
4-5. Aronian, Svidler 7
6. Ivanchuk 6.5
7-8. Topalov, Leko

Corus 2008:

1-2. Aronian, Carlsen 8
3-4. Anand, Radjabov 7.5
5-6. Ivanchuk, Leko 7
7-8. Adams, Kramnik 6.5
9-11. Mamedyarov, Topalov, Polgar 6
12-14. Eljanov, van Wely, Gelfand 5

OK, now for some predictions:

Anand: It's hard to vote against him, although prior to 2007 he tended to be more successful in events like Corus than Linares. I don't think he'll do as well as last year, but I also think he'll do better than he did at Corus a month ago. I think he'll either win or come in second, half a point back.

Topalov: At his best, he can win this, but his results since the Kramnik match haven't been that good. He might have one good run, but I'm expecting him to finish around fifth.

Shirov: As Aronian was my wildcard at Corus, so is Shirov this time around. I'm guessing he'll finish with an even score or at +1, but he could well do even better.

Leko: He's always solid, but it won't be enough here, at least this time around. I expect something from -1 to +1, without ever being in contention.

Ivanchuk: I'd like to be wrong, but I think he'll come in last or next to last.

Aronian: I think he'll contend for first.

Radjabov: He was supposed to play there last year, but when his laptop was stolen and he felt the locals were insufficiently helpful he bailed. Will the unpleasant memories of this affair affect him? I predict that youth will be served, and he'll be in the top half of the table.

Carlsen: Kids can be inconsistent, so it's possible that he'll follow up last month's success with a disaster...but don't count on it. I think he too will contend for first. (And if he achieves it, look out!)

Predicted Standings:

1. Carlsen
2-3. Anand, Aronian
4. Radjabov
5-6. Shirov, Topalov
7-8. Ivanchuk, Leko