The Chess Mind

Four games, four draws:

Round 10 Results:

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

After all the excitement so far in this tournament, a round like today’s was bound to happen – and even so it wasn’t really that bad. The first game to finish was unfortunately the round’s most attractive pairing: leader and world champion Viswanathan Anand enjoyed the White pieces against his closest competitor, “Wonderboy” Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen employed a slight sideline of the Sveshnikov Sicilian, and drew with consummate ease. One possible continuation from the final position shows the active resources latent in Black’s position: 22…Rxf5 23.Qe2 Qb7 24.Qg4 g6 25.Rfd1 Raf8! 26.Rxa5 Bxd5 27.Raxd5 Qa7, when White’s best is probably 28.Kh1 Qxf2 29.Qe2, when 29…Qxe2 30.Bxe2 leads to a stale equality.

Levon Aronian could have caught Carlsen in a tie for second, had he defeated Teimour Radjabov with the Black pieces, but that was never really in the offing. The game saw the popular and sharp Anti-Moscow gambit, and Radjabov introduced a novelty with 16.Qc1. Black responded reasonably, and White’s activity always looked like approximately enough for the pawn, but not more. One possible conclusion at game’s end was 32.Qb1 cxd5 33.Qxb5 Bc6 34.Qb2, when White needs to keep the d-pawn blockaded and Black can’t do anything to get it moving.

Shirov-Leko was a typical Marshall Gambit draw. Shirov tried almost to the first time control to make something happen, but despite retaining the extra pawn and trading off lots of pieces he was unsuccessful. Black’s bishop pair, and the light-squared bishop in particular, serve to give the second player both counterplay and excellent blockading possibilities, and Leko drew with ease.

Finally, Ivanchuk-Topalov was a tense game that seemed for a while to be headed for a decisive result. White came out of the opening with a nagging edge, though perhaps 17...Bd7 might have equalized. The cute point is that after 18.Nb6, Black can play 18...Qxb6!, as 19.Nxe6 Nh5! 20.Qe1 Qb8 21.Nxf8 Qxf8 is approximately equal. In the game, White might have increased his advantage with 25.Ra5 (eyeing a possible Bxc5), but after 25. Bd4 his advantage was minimal until Topalov’s shocking 34…d5(?) gifted White with a more or less free extra pawn. Ivanchuk probably should have remained in the middlegame with 37.Qc3, however, as the endgame starting from move 41 was very difficult to win – Black’s fantastic knight blockades the passed c-pawns while protecting the weakness on a6. Ivanchuk thought for a long time on moves 41 and 42 but failed to find a convincing plan; in fact, after his sloppy 45th and 48th moves, he actually needed to save the draw a pawn down – which he did (fortunately).

(ChessBase hasn't posted the games yet, but the link will most likely be this.)

Standings after Round 10:

1. Anand 6.5
2. Carlsen 6
3. Aronian 5.5
4. Topalov 5
5-7. Radjabov, Shirov, Ivanchuk 4.5
8. Leko 3.5

Round 11 Pairings: (On Monday; Sunday is a rest day)

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