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Round 11 - Amber highlights
Monte Carlo, Monaco - Despite the relatively high number of draws on the final day, there was a surprising amount of fighting going on. Kramnik came very close to winning in both games against Leko, but the young Hungarian defended heroically, which demands a great deal of discipline when all you have to play for is maintaining your 50% score.
Topalov had to settle for a fairly quick draw in his rapid game against Ljubojevic, and the Bulgarian came close to losing his share of first when he blundered an exchange in their blindfold encounter. Luckily for Topalov, he had enough positional compensation to hold.
Israel's top gun, Boris Gelfand, clinched a share of first place in the rapid event by offing an uninspired Van Wely.
Gelfand (2712) - Van Wely (2700)
Amber Rapidplay (11), 2001
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.e3 Bd7 8.Nc3 b5
9.Ne5!?
This natural move has apparently never been tried before. An example of the thematic advance 9.e4:
9...Be7 10.d5 Nb4 11.Ne5 exd5 12.exd5 Bd6 13.Nxd7 Qxd7 14.Re1+ Kf8 15.Ne4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Re8 17.Bd2 h5 18.Qf3 Qg4 19.Kg2 Qxf3+ 20.Kxf3 Nd3 21.Bxd3 cxd3 22.Re3 Rxe3+ 23.Bxe3 Ke7 24.Rd1 Rc8 25.Rxd3 c5 26.dxc6 Rxc6 27.Bd4 f6 28.h3 b4 29.g4 hxg4+ 30.hxg4 Bc5 31.Ke4 Bxd4 32.Rxd4 a5 33.Rd5 Rc2 34.f4 g6 35.Rxa5 Rxb2 36.Ra7+ Ke6 37.Ra6+ Kf7 38.Ra7+ draw (Filipov-Sveshnikov, Moscow 1999).
9...Nxe5 10.dxe5
I for one have no problem believing in Black's compensation after 10.Bxa8 Qxa8 11.dxe5 Nd5 12.Nxd5 exd5, since White's remaining bishop is bad, and his kingside is a bit airy.
10...Nd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.Qxd5 c6 13.Qd4 c5 14.Qd5 Rb8 15.a4
Seizing the initiative before Black has time to develop.
15...bxa4
By no means forced.
16.Rd1
The problem with 16.Qxc4 was, of course, 16...Bb5.
16...Bb5 17.Bd2 Qb6
17...Qxd5 18.Bxd5 Be7 19.Bc3 0-0 20.f4 and White's kingside majority is obviously far more dangerous than its crippled counterpart on the queenside.
18.Bc3 Be7
19.e6!
Bringing bishop number two into play.
19...Qxe6 20.Bxg7 Rg8 21.Bc3 Qxd5 22.Bxd5
Black's extra pawn is worthless, and his queenside pawns look like juicy targets from where I'm sitting.
22...Rd8 23.e4 Rg6 24.e5 h5 25.Be4
25...Rd3!?
This may well be the best chance of causing some confusion. After all, Black is positionally busted.
26.Bxg6 fxg6 27.Re1 Kd7 28.e6+ Kd6 29.Re4 Bc6 30.Re3 Bg5 31.Ree1
Gelfand isn't exactly handling this with surgical precision, but he eventually manages to get back on track.
31...Be7 32.Re2 h4 33.gxh4 Bxh4 34.Rae1 Be7 35.Re3 Bd5 36.Kf1 Rxe3 37.Rxe3 Bxe6
38.Kg2
White still has some technical problems to solve. Making use of his kingside majority is by no means simple.
38...Bf5 39.Kg3 Bg5 40.Re8 Bc1 41.Ra8 Kd5 42.Rxa6 Ke4?
Black could have made White's task a lot harder with 42...g5 43.Rxa4 Bf4+ 44.Kg2 g4.
43.Rxa4 Kd3 44.Ra5 Kc2 45.Rxc5 Bd3 46.Kf3 Bxb2 47.Bxb2 Kxb2
48.Ke3
White's king reaches the scene just in time to stop Black's c-pawn from advancing.
48...Kc2 49.h4 Kc3 50.h5 gxh5 51.Rxh5 Bb1 52.Rc5 Kb4 53.Kd4 Bd3 54.f4 resigns. 1-0
THIS WAS FOLLOWED by a tough fight to avoid last place in the blindfold event.
Van Wely (2700) - Gelfand (2712)
Amber Blindfold (11), 2001
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb7 4.d4 e6 5.a3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qa4+ Qd7 8.Qxd7+ Nbxd7 9.Nb5 Bd8 10.Bf4 dxc4 11.Nxc7+ Bxc7 12.Bxc7 0-0
White has the two bishops and a central majority, but Black is putting his faith in his queenside pawns. His lead in development is, of course, an important factor.
13.Rc1 Rfc8 14.Bf4 b5 15.Ne5 Nb6 16.f3 Na4 17.Rc2 Rd8 18.Be3 Nd5 19.Bd2 a5 20.e3 Rdc8 21.Be2 f6 22.Ng4 c3 23.bxc3 Ndxc3 24.Bxc3 Nxc3 25.Bd3 Nb1 26.Rxc8+ Rxc8 27.Ke2 Nxa3 28.Ra1 b4 29.Nf2 Bd5 30.Ne4 Bxe4 31.Bxe4 Kf7 32.Bd3 Ke7 33.Kd2 h6 34.h4 Kd6 35.g4 e5 36.dxe5+ fxe5 37.f4 Re8 38.Bg6 Rd8 39.Bd3 Kd5 40.Rc1 e4 41.Be2 b3! 42.Kc3
If 42.Rd1 then 42...Rc8.
42...Rc8+ 43.Kb2 Rxc1 44.Kxc1
44...Nc4! 45.Bxc4+ Kxc4 46.g5 hxg5 47.hxg5 a4 48.Kb2
Unfortunately, there was no glory in touching down first: 48.f5 Kc3 49.f6 a3 50.fxg7 (50.Kb1 a2+ 51.Ka1 Kc2 52.fxg7 b2+ 53.Kxa2 b1Q+ 54.Ka3 Qb3 mate) 50...a2 51.g8Q a1Q mate.
48...Kb4 49.f5 a3+ 50.Kb1
50...Kc3 51.f6 a2+ 52.Ka1 Kc2 and White resigned.
52...Kc2 53.fxg7 b2+ 54.Kxa2 b1Q+ 55.Ka3 Qb3 mate. 0-1
I'LL LEAVE YOU with the following entertaining finish. Note how everything seems to fall into to place for Ivanchuk.
Ivanchuk (2717) - Almasi (2640)
Amber Rapidplay (11), 2001
68.Nc5+ Bxc5 69.bxc5 f2 70.a7 f1Q
Amazingly enough, queening first is not enough to save the game.
71.a8Q
71...Qf6+ 72.Kc7+
Now it's White's turn to punch.
72...Kd4 73.Rd8+
73.Rg4+ was mate in nine, according to Fritz, but the text also gets the job done.
73...Kc3
73...Kxc5 74.Qd5+ Kb4 75.Rb8+ Kc3 and here White can simply grab the rook with 76.Rxb1.
74.Qa5+ Rb4 75.Qa1+ Rb2
76.Qc1+! Rc2
76...Kb3 77.Rb8+ Ka2 78.Qxb2+ Qxb2 79.Rxb2+ Kxb2 80.c6 and White's extra pawn decides the game.
77.Qa3+ Kc4 78.Qd3+ Kb4 79.Rb8+ resigns.
79.Rb8+ Ka4 80.Qxc2+ Ka5 81.Qa2 mate. 1-0
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GM Einar Gausel 