San Luis - Round 3 Summary (updated)
Blood everywhere!
The carnage began in the game Anand-Adams, when Adams chose the ultra-sharp Zaitsev Variation of the Closed Ruy. Kasparov won a number of beautiful attacking games against Karpov in their world championship matches on the White side of the variation, and I suspect Karpov had a familiar sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when he saw what happened to Adams today. Anand produced a brilliant novelty on move 23, and savagely pummeled Adams in just nine more moves. Definitely the game of the tournament so far.
Anand is not in clear first, however, as Topalov also won. Morozevich, with White, got nothing in the opening, and his 24.c4, lashing out to avoid a central cramp, cost him a pawn and, eventually, the game. Not a good performance by Morozevich, but good news for Topalov, who shares first with 2.5/3 with Anand.
Polgar-Kasimdzhanov was a fun game (except for those rooting for Kasimdzhanov) - a Perenyi Najdorf. Polgar had prepared a sideline (13.Bxd4), and if there was a good defense, Kasimdzhanov didn't find it. The game lasted 42 moves, but it was clear early on that White would win.
Finally, #3 favorite Leko continued his skid, as Svidler won convincingly on the White side of an anti-Marshall. Leko is very rarely outplayed, but the final position is horrid, a picture of complete domination. The event is far from over, but it's looking more and more like a two-horse race.
Standings after Round 3:
Anand, Topalov 2.5
Svidler 2
Polgar 1.5
Adams, Kasimdzhanov, Morozevich 1
Leko .5
Pairings for Round 4:
Kasimdzhanov-Anand
Leko-Polgar
Morozevich-Svidler
Topalov-Adams
Will the bloodlust continue? Sunday is a rest day, and sometimes in these events, the players try to take an extra day off. There hasn't been much of that here, though, and given the event's importance, it's not likely that they'll do so. So: I predict Anand and Topalov will continue their winning ways, the Hungarians will draw, and think Svidler might win as well. (These represent my leanings - how I'd choose if I absolutely had to make a decision. I'm just avoiding hedges to make things more entertaining for my readers, not because I think my picks are a "mortal lock".)
I'll have some analysis later tonight, for now, here are some alternative links. First, to replay the games without any notes, the TWIC viewer awaits your click. For commentary of the Anand-Adams game, IM Malcolm Pein's flash analysis is available here, in pgn, while Fabrice Fiol (FIDE 2271) examines the game on a replayable board over here.
UPDATE: MY ANALYSIS IS UP - click here.
The carnage began in the game Anand-Adams, when Adams chose the ultra-sharp Zaitsev Variation of the Closed Ruy. Kasparov won a number of beautiful attacking games against Karpov in their world championship matches on the White side of the variation, and I suspect Karpov had a familiar sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when he saw what happened to Adams today. Anand produced a brilliant novelty on move 23, and savagely pummeled Adams in just nine more moves. Definitely the game of the tournament so far.
Anand is not in clear first, however, as Topalov also won. Morozevich, with White, got nothing in the opening, and his 24.c4, lashing out to avoid a central cramp, cost him a pawn and, eventually, the game. Not a good performance by Morozevich, but good news for Topalov, who shares first with 2.5/3 with Anand.
Polgar-Kasimdzhanov was a fun game (except for those rooting for Kasimdzhanov) - a Perenyi Najdorf. Polgar had prepared a sideline (13.Bxd4), and if there was a good defense, Kasimdzhanov didn't find it. The game lasted 42 moves, but it was clear early on that White would win.
Finally, #3 favorite Leko continued his skid, as Svidler won convincingly on the White side of an anti-Marshall. Leko is very rarely outplayed, but the final position is horrid, a picture of complete domination. The event is far from over, but it's looking more and more like a two-horse race.
Standings after Round 3:
Anand, Topalov 2.5
Svidler 2
Polgar 1.5
Adams, Kasimdzhanov, Morozevich 1
Leko .5
Pairings for Round 4:
Kasimdzhanov-Anand
Leko-Polgar
Morozevich-Svidler
Topalov-Adams
Will the bloodlust continue? Sunday is a rest day, and sometimes in these events, the players try to take an extra day off. There hasn't been much of that here, though, and given the event's importance, it's not likely that they'll do so. So: I predict Anand and Topalov will continue their winning ways, the Hungarians will draw, and think Svidler might win as well. (These represent my leanings - how I'd choose if I absolutely had to make a decision. I'm just avoiding hedges to make things more entertaining for my readers, not because I think my picks are a "mortal lock".)
I'll have some analysis later tonight, for now, here are some alternative links. First, to replay the games without any notes, the TWIC viewer awaits your click. For commentary of the Anand-Adams game, IM Malcolm Pein's flash analysis is available here, in pgn, while Fabrice Fiol (FIDE 2271) examines the game on a replayable board over here.
UPDATE: MY ANALYSIS IS UP - click here.
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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Saturday October 1, 2005 at 12:10am
I must say, it has been a really dissapointing tournament so far. Not enough draws. This is not the GM chess we have got used to over the years ;)
As you are creating your games analysis in Chessbase, there is an option for you to create a pgn file that can be downloaded from the html page. That should allow your analysis to be downloaded.
Stephen.