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Round 3 - Amber highlights
Monte Carlo, Monaco - So far, FIDE World Champion Vishwanathan Anand has been somewhat unstable in the blindfold competition, but, as always, the Indian speed-merchant has had no trouble finding his stride in the rapid event.
Anand (2790) - Leko (2745)
Amber Rapid (3), 2001
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0-0 7.e4 Nc6 8.Be2 Bg4 9.d5 Bxf3 10.gxf3
Black equalises immediately after 10.Bxf3 Ne5 11.Qe2 c6.
10...Na5 11.Qd3 Ne8!?
Black usually stakes a claim in the centre here with 11...c5, but he text seems more flexible.
12.f4 e6 13.e5 exd5 14.Nxd5 c6 15.Nc3
15...c5?
Why give up d5 like this? Qe7, possibly followed by f6, was far more logical.
16.Be3 b6 17.0-0-0 Qxd3 18.Rxd3
The opening stage has not been a huge success for Black. White's control of the d-file and central space advantage secure him a substantial edge. And look out for those bishops!
18...Nc7 19.Rd7 Ne6 20.Bf3 Rad8!?
Rather than waiting for the Grim Reaper, Black opts for active counterplay.
21.Rxa7 Nd4 22.Be4 f6
Risky, but consistent.
23.e6!? Nxe6 24.Bd5 Rde8
25.f5!? gxf5 26.Rg1
This looks like the kind of position where White should be winning by force, but Leko manages to dig his heels in and continue the struggle.
26...Rf7 27.Rxf7 Kxf7 28.Nb5 Kf8 29.Bd2 Re7 30.h4 Nb7 31.h5 f4 32.a4 Bh6 33.b4 Bg5
33...cxb4 34.Bxb4 Nbc5 35.Bxc5 and White gets a passed a-pawn anyway, since 35...Nxc5?? allows 36.Rg8 mate.
34.a5 bxa5 35.bxa5
35...Nxa5?
Probably low on time, Leko misses 35...Nc7! Black still seems to be kicking after 36.Nxc7 Rxc7 37.a6 Nd6.
36.Bxa5 Ng7 37.Bf3 Nf5 38.Re1 Rxe1+ 39.Bxe1
This ending should be an easy win for White, since Black's c-pawn is bound to drop sooner or later. Note how Black is unable to re-route his bishop to a sensible square before it's too late.
39...Kg7 40.Be4 Nh4 41.Nd6 Kh642.Nf5+ Kxh5 43.Nxh4 Bxh4 44.Kd1 h6 45.Ke2 Kg4 46.Ba5 c4 47.Bd5 f5 48.Bc3 Be7 49.Bf3+ Kg5 50.Bd5 Kg4 51.f3+ Kg5 52.Bxc4 h5 53.Kf2 Kg6 54.Kg2 Bh4 55.Bd4 Bg3 56.Bf2 h4
Now White simply rounds up the h-pawn.
57.Bb6 Kf6 58.Bc7 Ke7 59.Bd3 Kf6 60.Bd8+ Ke5 61.Kh3 and Black resigned. 1-0
Vladimir Kramnik has won the Amber tournament on three occasions, but he's off to a rather shaky start in the year's edition. In his blindfold encounter with Veselin Topalov, the BGN World Champion was both outprepared and outplayed.
Topalov (2718) - Kramnik (2772)
Amber Blindfold (3), 2001
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.Nd2
10...Bb4!?
As far as I'm aware, 10...Be7 is still considered to be a more reliable choice.
11.cxd5 exd5 12.Bd3 d4 13.0-0! Bxc3 14.Nc4 Qh5 15.bxc3 Nd5 16.Bg3 dxe3 17.Rae1 Be6 18.fxe3 Rad8 19.Nd6 Ne5
20.Bxh7+
Topalov deviates from the sharp encounter Korchnoi-Lutz (Zurich 1999), which continued 20.Nxb7 Nxd3 21.Qxd3 Rd7 22.Nd6 Nb6 23.Rf4 Qc5 24.Rh4 h6 25.Rd4 Qxa3 26.Rf1 Qc5 27.Ra1 a5 28.h3 a4 29.Kh2 Ra8 30.Ne4 Qf5 31.Qb1 Rxd4 32.cxd4 ½-½.
20...Qxh7 21.Qxh7+ Kxh7
22.Bxe5
White is a pawn up, but the opposite-coloured bishops give this whole ending a drawish flavour.
22...f6 23.e4! Nb6
Black certainly has his work cut out for him after 23...fxe5 24.Rxf8 Rxf8 25.exd5 Bxd5 26.Rxe5. 24.Bg3 Na4 25.e5 f5 26.Bh4 Rd7 27.Re3
27...f4?
This is where things start going downhill for Kramnik. If nothing else, White can now trade his weak c-pawn for the formerly healthy f-pawn.
28.Ref3 Bd5 29.Rh3 Be6 30.Be7+ Bxh3 31.Bxf8 Be6 32.Ne4!
Protecting c3 and threatening Ng5+.
32...Kg8 33.Ng5 Kxf8 34.Nxe6+ Ke7 35.Nxf4
Now it's two pawns.
35...Rd2
Unfortunately for Black, 35...Nxc3 runs into 36.Ng6+ Kd8 (36...Ke6 37.Nf8+) 37.Rf8+ Kc7 38.e6 Rd1+ 39.Kf2 Rd2+ 40.Kg3 Rd3+ 41.Kh4 Rd4+ 42.g4 and Black will have to give up his knight for the e-pawn.
36.Rf3 Nc5 37.h4 Ne6 38.Kh2 Ra2 39.Nxe6 Kxe6 40.Rg3 Kf7 41.e6+ Kxe6
42.Rxg7
With two kingside passers ready to roll, the rest is simply a matter of staying awake.
42...Rxa3 43.Rxb7 Kf5 44.Rb5+ Kg4 45.Rb4+ Kh5 46.g3 Ra1 47.Kh3 a5 48.g4+ Kh6 49.Rb6+ Kg7 50.h5 a4 51.Ra6 a3 52.Kh4 a2 53.Kg5 Kh7 54.Ra7+ Kg8 55.Kg6 Kf8 56.g5 1-0
The blindfold event is turning into a veritable nightmare for Vassily Ivanchuk. In round one he blundered away a completely winning position against Leko, and in round three it was time for yet another howler:
Ljubojevic (2566) - Ivanchuk (2717)
31...Qxc5+ 32.Qxc5 Rxc5 33.Rxa7 only leads to a draw, so let's hang on to that a-pawn, eh?
31...Rxc5??
Well, at least this avoids a draw!
32.Rc2! and Black resigned in light of 32...Rc7 33.Qb8+ winning the rook. 1-0
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GM Einar Gausel 