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Round 4 - Amber highlights
Monte Carlo, Monaco - We now have a four-way tie for first in the overall standings, after surprise leader Veselin Topalov was upset by Jeroen Piket in Tuesday's action. My personal favourite to clinch the top prize is Vishy Anand, but anything is possible in an event like this.
Although betting against Anatoly Karpov seems like a pretty safe endeavour at present. The former World Champion has yet to win a game, and I'd be amazed if he winds up on the upper half of the scoreboard.
Oddly enough, the most entertaining encounter in the rapid event ended peacefully.
Gelfand (2712) - Anand (2790)
Amber Rapidplay (4), 2001
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Ne5 Nc6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Nxc6 Qe8 10.Nxe7+ Qxe7 11.Qa4 c5 12.Qa3 Qb7!?
12...e5 13.Qxc5 would amount to the same thing, although when this position occurred in Horvath-Bauer (1993), Black chose the less hazardous 13...Qxc5 14.dxc5 Bh3 15.Rd1 Rfc8.
13.Qxc5 e5
Threatening to pick up an exchange with Bh3.
14.Rd1 Bh3 15.d5 Rac8 16.Qa5
16...Ne4!
Or else White simply safeguards his pawn with Nc3 and e4.
17.f3 Rc5 18.Qe1
18...Rxd5!
Again, the only consistent continuation.
19.Rxd5 Qxd5 20.fxe4 Qd4+ 21.e3 Qd3
So, what do we have here? Well, Black is down a full piece, but he's got some serious pressure on the light squares surrounding White's king. More importantly, White needs to finish developing in order to make his extra piece count. The problem child in this respect is Bc1.
22.Nc3 Rd8
The problem with 22...f5 was 23.Qe2.
23.g4
Ugly as sin, to be sure, but White needed to make an escape-route for his king. 23.Qe2?? was impossible because of 23...Qxe2 24.Nxe2 Rd1+ 25.Kf2 Rf1 mate.
23...Rd6!?
23...Qc2 was tempting, but White escapes after 24.Qe2 Rd1+ 25.Kf2. Now 25...Rxc1 runs into 26.Qxc2 Rxc2+ 27.Kg3 Bg2 28.Rg1 winning an exchange. However, 23...Bxg4!? deserves serious attention. For example 24.Qg3 Rd6 25.Qxe5 h6 with the simple idea of going Rg6.
24.Qe2
24...Rg6 25.Qxd3 cxd3 26.Bd2 Rxg4+ 27.Kh1 draw agreed.
Black has nothing better than perpetual after 27.Kh1 Bg2+ 28.Kg1 Bh3+ 29.Kh1. ½-½
VLADIMIR KRAMNIK NOW has a share of first, after shutting out his former "bogeyman", Alexei Shirov. Here's how the BGN-champ put an end the proceedings in their rapid encounter:
Shirov (2718) - Kramnik (2772)
37...Rd8! 38.Rxh4 Rd2+ 39.Kh1 Rb1+ 40.Rg1 Rxg1+ 41.Kxg1 c3 and White resigned, since there's no stopping the c-pawn. 0-1
THERE HAVE BEEN quite a few blunders in the blindfold event, but they've usually been committed late in the game. I don't think we'll be seeing too many "TN's" like Black's 13th move in the following miniature:
Kramnik (2772) - Shirov (2718)
Amber Blindfold (4), 2001
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0-0 Na6
I think Black is still holding his own in the main lines starting with 7...Nc6, but I can certainly sympathise with anyone who chooses to back down from a theoretical debate with Mr. Opening Preparation himself.
8.Re1 c6 9.Bf1 Bg4
Less popular than 9...exd4 10.Nxd4 Ng4, which has been championed with a reasonable degree of success by Russian GM Igor Glek.
10.Be3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3
11...Ng4!? 12.Qxg4 exd4 13.Bg5
This position has occurred more than a dozen times in tournament praxis, and play usually continues 13...f6 14.Bd2 dxc3 15.Bxc3 f5. Robbed of his visual aids, i.e. a board and pieces, Shirov "forgets" that the white queen is no longer nesting on d1.
13...Qxg5?? 14.Qxg5 resigns. 1-0
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GM Einar Gausel 