The Chess Mind

Sometimes super-GM events can be snorefests, but that hasn't been the case in the era of Veselin Topalov. Sure enough, round 1 set the tournament on its way in an suitably violent, hard-fought way, with three decisive games out of four and no game shorter than 40 moves.

In the marquee matchup, Svidler produced a mild upset, defeating Topalov's Berlin Defense in a long game. Early on, Svidler offered a pawn for an attack, and while Topalov was able to defend, he found himself in a bind. It seems to me Topalov missed a chance for an advantage and then panicked: he freed his own pieces, but at the cost of increasing White's already superior activity.

In the other games, Vallejo had a terrible opening against Leko and was soundly beaten; Aronian-Radjabov was a typical King's Indian win for White: Black was restrained on the kingside as White gradually exploited the remaining weaknesses; finally, Bacrot-Ivanchuk would have been a fourth decisive game, had it not been for some errors by Ivanchuk in the technical stages near the end.

A great first round, and you can replay the games here.

Round 1 Results:

Vallejo-Leko 0-1
Svidler-Topalov 1-0
Bacrot-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Aronian-Radjabov 1-0

Round 2 Pairings:

Leko-Radjabov
Ivanchuk-Aronian
Topalov-Bacrot
Vallejo-Svidler

Another great round, again with three decisive games out of four.

The hero of round 1, Peter Svidler, won his second consecutive game. His victim was Francisco Vallejo Pons, who again lost with White, again achieving a terrible position practically in the opening itself. The game offers a nice demonstration of the old warning about premature flank attacks, as Svidler broke open the center and proved that it was Vallejo's king that was in danger, not his own.

Svidler was caught at 2-0 by his namesake, Peter Leko, who likewise defeated an opponent now on 0-2. The Sveshnikov Sicilian may look positionally crazy to the uninitiated, and when all goes well for White, that impression can be powerfully confirmed. And that's what happened: Teimour Radjabov, with Black, amassed weaknesses on d5, d6, f5 and a5; and Leko took advantage beautifully, concluding with a mating attack.

Vassily Ivanchuk is half a point back, thanks to his win over Levon Aronian. Ivanchuk maintained a clear edge for many moves, but only won after Aronian (with 43...e5? rather than 43...Nb1) missed a bone-crusher at the end of the game.

Finally, Veselin Topalov enjoyed a slight advantage throughout his game with Etienne Bacrot, but was unable to convert it into something substantial: draw.

Round 2 Results:

Vallejo-Svidler 0-1
Leko-Radjabov 1-0
Ivanchuk-Aronian 1-0
Topalov-Bacrot 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round 2:

Leko, Svidler 2
Ivanchuk 1.5
Aronian, Bacrot 1
Topalov .5
Radjabov, Vallejo 0

Round 3 Pairings:

Svidler-Leko (only one perfect score, at most, after this one)
Bacrot-Vallejo
Aronian-Topalov
Radjabov-Ivanchuk

Games can be replayed here, while a couple of on-site videos can be accessed via the ChessBase site, here.

Draw, draw, draw, draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw. (It was a very long draw.)

Three of the games were non-events, generally for understandable reasons. Vallejo and Radjabov (against Bacrot and Ivanchuk) wanted to avoid "castling long" (0-0-0), while Svidler and Leko were happy to maintain their mutual tie atop the leaderboard.

Aronian-Topalov, on the other hand, was a very long, er, drawn-out affair, with both sides having excellent winning chances at different points. The games, with some comments on Aronian-Topalov, can be replayed here.

Round 3 Results:

Svidler-Leko 1/2-1/2
Bacrot-Vallejo 1/2-1/2
Aronian-Topalov 1/2-1/2
Radjabov-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round 3:

Leko, Svidler 2.5
Ivanchuk 2
Aronian, Bacrot 1.5
Topalov 1
Radjabov, Vallejo .5

Round 4 Pairings:

Leko-Ivanchuk
Svidler-Bacrot
Vallejo-Aronian
Topalov-Radjabov

After a fake day off (except for Topalov and Aronian) and a real day off, the players resumed the fighting chess characteristic of the first two rounds, with three decisive games out of four.

The continuing stars are the two Peters - Leko and Svidler - who have defeated everyone they've played except each other. In this round, Leko convincingly outplayed Ivanchuk on the White side of a Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall; while Svidler outplayed the proponent of another draw, please? opening: Bacrot and his Petroff. (Correct: the Marshall Gambit is a beg-for-a-draw opening.)

There was one fake game, between Vallejo and Aronian (drawn in 20, but Aronian gets some slack, having played 123 moves in the previous round), but the remaining game saw Radjabov defeat the FIDE Champion (with Black!), Veselin Topalov, who now shares last place with Vallejo with 1/4.

Round 4 Results:

Leko-Ivanchuk 1-0
Svidler-Bacrot 1-0
Vallejo-Aronian 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Radjabov 0-1

Standings after Round 4:

Leko, Svidler 3.5
Aronian, Ivanchuk 2
Bacrot, Radjabov 1.5
Topalov, Vallejo 1

Pairings for Round 5:

Bacrot-Leko
Aronian-Svidler
Radjabov-Vallejo
Ivanchuk-Topalov

Games, with comments, here.

Another exciting round, and an important one in the battle for first place. Leko drew quickly with Black against Bacrot, but that put him in clear first when Svidler lost to Aronian. That left Aronian in clear third, as Ivanchuk lost to the hitherto winless Topalov, renewing the latter's hopes for a successful result. Finally, Radjabov and Vallejo threw everything they had at each other, only ceasing when the board was down to bare kings.

Round 5 Results:

Bacrot-Leko 1/2-1/2
Aronian-Svidler 1-0
Ivanchuk-Topalov 0-1
Radjabov-Vallejo 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round 5:

Leko 4
Svidler 3.5
Aronian 3
Bacrot, Ivanchuk, Radjabov, Topalov 2
Vallejo 1.5

Pairings for Round 6:

Aronian-Leko
Ivanchuk-Svidler
Radjabov-Bacrot
Topalov-Vallejo

Games, with comments, here.

Another great round for the fans, as for the fourth time in six rounds, there were three decisive games!

The one draw was Aronian-Leko, a "correct" game with Aronian trying to make something of a microscopic edge without success. This left Leko in clear first and elevated Aronian into a tie for second, as Svidler suffered a second straight defeat in a 25-move massacre to Ivanchuk. Radjabov won convincingly against Bacrot to continue his move up the crosstable, while Topalov lost his third game in this event, exchanging places with the previously last-placed Vallejo.

Round 6 Results:

Aronian-Leko 1/2-1/2
Ivanchuk-Svidler 1-0
Radjabov-Bacrot 1-0
Topalov-Vallejo 0-1

Standings after Round 6:

Leko 4.5
Aronian, Svidler 3.5
Ivanchuk, Radjabov 3
Vallejo 2.5
Bacrot, Topalov 2

Pairings for Round 7:

Leko-Topalov
Svidler-Radjabov
Bacrot-Aronian
Vallejo-Ivanchuk

Games, with comments, here.

The elite eight concluded the Mexico half of the tournament tonight, and now have off until Friday, March 3 before they resume their labors in the event's traditional site of Linares, Spain. Despite the easy temptation to take an extra day off to prepare for the move, there were three battles in the four games.

The non-game was Vallejo-Ivanchuk, which started 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 and ended when the players fell asleep at the board 20 exceptionally boring moves later.

Leko-Topalov was an important game for both players: for Leko, because he wanted to at least maintain his lead on the field; for Topalov, to escape the cellar and scrape up some chances of a successful tournament. In the event Leko was always okay and generally maintained the initiative, but Topalov managed to keep things under control: draw.

Svidler-Radjabov was just about balanced from start to finish, though Svidler did have one opportunity, which he missed, to exploit a Radjabov error on move 23. Draw number three.

Finally, Aronian won a crazy game with Black against Bacrot. Early on Bacrot had a large advantage, but the position was extremely messy and Aronian did a better job of winding his way through the complications. His reward: clear second, just half a point behind Leko going into the second half of the double round robin.

Round 7 Results:

Leko-Topalov 1/2-1/2
Svidler-Radjabov 1/2-1/2
Bacrot-Aronian 0-1
Vallejo-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round 7:

Leko 5
Aronian 4.5
Svidler 4
Ivanchuk, Radjabov 3.5
Vallejo 3
Topalov 2.5
Bacrot 2

Pairings for Round 8 (Friday, March 3):

Leko-Vallejo
Radjabov-Aronian
Topalov-Svidler
Ivanchuk-Bacrot

Games, with brief comments, here.

The traveling show has reached its traditional location, and for Topalov, like Dorothy, there's no place like home. Topalov left Mexico half a point out of last place, with a -2 score, but in Spain he has burst out with two consecutive wins. It's a deep hole, but at least he is now within a "mere" point and a half of the leader, Leko.

Round 8 Recap:

A somewhat bizarre round. Topalov's win over the sinking Svidler (three straight Gruenfeld losses) was clean, but the Ivanchuk-Bacrot and Leko-Vallejo games were tragicomic. Leko agreed to a draw in what was probably a winning position, while Ivanchuk even managed to lose on time in a winning position. (Shades of last year's horror story Ivanchuk-Bu Xiangzhi.) Finally, Radjabov-Aronian was a correct draw, short but lively.

Round 8 Results:

Leko-Vallejo 1/2-1/2
Radjabov-Aronian 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Svidler 1-0
Ivanchuk-Bacrot 1-0

Standings after Round 8:

Leko 5.5
Aronian 5
Radjabov, Svidler 4
Ivanchuk, Topalov, Vallejo 3.5
Bacrot 3

Round 9 Recap:

The youngster called the tune, but Leko successfully held against Radjabov. A pawn down for many moves, the tournament leader was able to maintain a secure blockade that could be breached only at the cost of the extra pawn - and so it was. Aronian, with White, had a chance to catch Leko in first, but Ivanchuk played very well, drawing a complicated, balanced struggle. Svidler-Vallejo was another fairly balanced game, though it seems Vallejo had a nice edge early on that slowly ebbed away. Finally, Topalov continued his comeback, thoroughly outplaying Bacrot with the Black pieces.

Round 9 Results:

Radjabov-Leko 1/2-1/2
Aronian-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Svidler-Vallejo 1/2-1/2
Bacrot-Topalov 0-1

Standings after Round 9:

Leko 6
Aronian 5.5
Radjabov, Svidler, Topalov 4.5
Ivanchuk, Vallejo 4
Bacrot 3

Pairings for Round 10: [Note: games now start at 9:30 am ET]

Leko-Svidler
Topalov-Aronian
Ivanchuk-Radjabov
Vallejo-Bacrot

Update: Games available here.

Getting scary...

The beast of San Luis has returned! Though one could easily imagine another super-GM or two giving up on first when two and a half points behind with just 7 rounds to play in a double round robin, Veselin Topalov appears to be a different sort of animal altogether. In round 8, he outplayed the #2 seed, Peter Svidler; in round 9, he defeated Etienne Bacrot with Black; and now, in round 10, he outfought Levon Aronian in a long, hard battle.

Aronian is the number three seed and came into the round in great form, just half a point out of first, but that hardly mattered to Topalov. The players quickly reached a double rook ending with opposite-colored bishops (with all the drawing chances attending thereto - though it should be noted that those chances are not nearly as overwhelming when there are rooks on the board), and from there it was grind, grind, grind. It took 76 moves to turn Aronian's game into pestle, but he did, and thanks to Leko's 6th consecutive draw (this time vs. Svidler), Topalov has now pulled to within one point with four rounds to play.

The other two games were decisive: Vallejo's self-destructive 16.g4 created serious kingside weaknesses Bacrot was able to exploit, while King's Indian specialist Radjabov took advantage when Ivanchuk lost the thread around move 30. Note that Radjabov, like Topalov, has also come back from -2 (he lost his first two games) to +1 and a tie for second!

Round 10 Results:

Leko-Svidler 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Aronian 1-0
Ivanchuk-Radjabov 0-1
Vallejo-Bacrot 0-1

Standings after Round 10:

Leko 6.5
Aronian, Radjabov, Topalov 5.5
Svidler 5
Bacrot, Ivanchuk, Vallejo 4

Pairings for Round 11:

Ivanchuk-Leko
Radjabov-Topalov
Aronian-Vallejo
Bacrot-Svidler

The obvious candidate for game of the round is Radjabov-Topalov, owing to their current placement, momentum, and the fact that Radjabov beat Topalov in the first cycle (in round 4). Given that Leko, with Black, is likely to play another draw, the three second-placed players all have an excellent shot to pull within half a point of first.

Games here.

N.B. I've also updated my post for Rounds 8 and 9 - the (fairly lightly) annotated games are now available, here.

The hope was that the game between Radjabov and Topalov would be a memorable battle; the reality more closely resembled a reconciliation meeting between two pacificists. Oh well.

The third member of the the second-placed troika, Aronian, was more successful, convincingly defeating Vallejo in a Marshall Gambit (the anti-Slav Marshall Gambit, not the one in the Ruy). This brought him within half a point of Leko, whose outstanding defensive skills were given a workout by Ivanchuk before the draw was finally agreed.

The last game wasn't quite as important for the standings, but the battle between Bacrot and Svidler was interesting - even peculiar. In what had been a rather insipid opening, Svidler's decision to play 18...Qh5 changed the game's complexion instantly, as his queen quickly found herself in a "mating" net. When the smoke had cleared, Bacrot had a queen and rook against Svidler's two rooks and a bishop (with equal pawns on both sides), but Svidler's active pieces provided sufficient counterplay to hold the draw.

Round 11 Results:

Ivanchuk-Leko 1/2-1/2
Radjabov-Topalov 1/2-1/2
Aronian-Vallejo 1-0
Bacrot-Svidler 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round 11:

Leko 7
Aronian 6.5
Radjabov, Topalov 6
Svidler 5.5
Bacrot, Ivanchuk 4.5
Vallejo 4

Pairings for Round 12:

Leko-Bacrot
Svidler-Aronian
Topalov-Ivanchuk
Vallejo-Radjabov

Games later.

We're in a holding pattern, as not only Leko but everyone else drew their games. Starting with Leko's game, he introduced a novelty on move 23 against Bacrot's Petroff, and then spent the next three moves more or less undoing it. The game made it to move 41, but without any drama.

Aronian could have caught Leko with a win, but with Black against Svidler he was satisfied with a 20 move siesta. Topalov's game with Ivanchuk was lively by comparison, but he was unable to achieve anything either. The Vallejo-Radjabov game was quite interesting, however, culminating in a complex knight ending. I recommend that the reader work out the ending for herself, and will wait to annotate that game.

Round 12 Results:

Leko-Bacrot 1/2-1/2
Svidler-Aronian 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Vallejo-Radjabov 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round 12:

Leko 7.5
Aronian 7
Radjabov, Topalov 6.5
Svidler 6
Bacrot, Ivanchuk 5
Vallejo 4.5

Pairings for Round 13: (On Friday)

Topalov-Leko (last chance!)
Aronian-Bacrot
Radjabov-Svidler
Ivanchuk-Vallejo

To replay the games, click here.

It doesn't get too much better than this: going into the last round, we have a four-way tie for first! Topalov kept trying against Leko, and Leko finally cracked, evening their scores. Radjabov defeated Svidler, while Aronian drew with Bacrot, leaving Aronian, Leko and the two winners even with 7.5 out of 13. (In the round's other game, the only one without first-place ramifications, Ivanchuk defeated Vallejo.)

Round 13 Results:

Topalov-Leko 1-0
Aronian-Bacrot 1/2-1/2
Radjabov-Svidler 1-0
Ivanchuk-Vallejo 1-0

Standings after Round 13:

Topalov, Radjabov, Leko, Aronian (in tie-break order) 7.5
Ivanchuk, Svidler 6
Bacrot 5.5
Vallejo 4.5

Pairings for Round 14:

Leko-Aronian
Vallejo-Topalov
Bacrot-Radjabov
Svidler-Ivanchuk

Quite an interesting set of pairings: the tie-break leaders have black against the cellar dwellers (but note: Vallejo's only win in the event was against Topalov!), while Aronian too has Black against the only leader getting White - Leko. What will happen? Beats me!

Games, sans notes, here.

The Svidler-Ivanchuk battle is still raging, but all the games relevant to the fight for first are finished.

The first game to finish was Bacrot-Radjabov, and that lasted all of 20 moves before the draw was agreed.

Next was Vallejo-Topalov, and while Topalov played the combative Vienna Variation (of the Queen's Gambit; don't confuse this with the Vienna Game), but the players quickly headed for a well-known variation leading to perpetual check. In many openings there's a sort of implicit contract between the players, at least when they are peers: there are drawing variations, but the player with White will steer clear of them. This contract clearly doesn't exist for Vallejo, who has in past Linares events headed straight for perpetuals against Kasparov with White in the Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf Sicilian, and in this tournament has essayed 5.Qe2 vs. the Petroff and now this. Topalov should have been prepared for this.

This cleared the way for Leko, with White, to utilize that small advantage and try to grind his way to a win. Instead, Aronian completely outplayed him with the Black pieces, winning easily. By move 24 Aronian was had an extra pawn and a dominant position, and when Leko resigned on move 40 the advantage had grown to three pawns. A catastrophic finish for Leko, but a brilliant result for Levon Aronian, who has not only proved himself a member of the world's elite, but quite possibly a major threat to win the world championship.