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Round 7 - Amber highlights
Monte Carlo, Monaco - There wasn't too much cooking in the rapid event today, with four out of six games ending peacefully. Leko-Piket saw the Dutchman losing with the same variation of the Petroff he tried (unsuccessfully) against Anand. I honestly can't see the attraction of this opening from Black's point of view, and I hope we'll be seeing a lot less of this grovelling defence in the future.
In the other decisive rapid encounter, Ljubomir Ljubojevic committed ritual suicide in a drawn ending.
Ljubojevic (2566) - Van Wely (2700)
Amber Rapidplay (7), 2001
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.Bxc4 b5 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.a3 c5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.b4 Bd6 11.Bb2 0-0 12.0-0 h6 13.h3 Qe7 14.Qe2 Nbd7 15.Rfd1 Rac8 16.Rac1 Rfd8
17.Nb1
This looks absolutely ridiculous, but the knight wasn't very well placed on c3. If White "sits", then Nb6-c4 is annoying.
17...Rxc1 18.Rxc1 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Ne5 20.Bxe5 Bxe5
I think it's safe to say that Black has equalised.
21.Bf1 Qd7 22.Be2 Rc8 23.Rd1 Qe7 24.Bd3 g5!?
Van Wely decides to spice things up. Since White has no counterplay to speak of, he can pretty much do as he pleases here.
25.Qe2 Kg7 26.g3 Qc7 27.Kg2 Qc6+ 28.Qf3 Qb6 29.Qe2 h5 30.Kg1 g4 31.hxg4 hxg4 32.Be4 Rc4 33.Bd3 Rc8 34.Be4 Qc7 35.Bg2 Qc4
36.Qxc4?
Now White has to fight for his life.
36...bxc4 37.Rc1 c3 38.Rc2 Rd8 39.Bf1
39.Nxc3 was not on because of 39...Rc8.
39...Ne4 40.Be2 f5 41.Kg2 Rd6 42.Rc1 Kf6 43.Bd1
43...Rxd1
Winning two pieces for a rook is, of course, tempting, but Black has to part with his precious c-pawn in the process.
44.Rxd1 c2 45.Rc1 cxb1Q 46.Rxb1
I think White should be holding now.
46...Nc3 47.Rh1 Kg7 48.Rc1 Kf7 49.Rh1 Kg7 50.Rc1 Kf7 51.f3
Who's playing for a win?!
51...gxf3+ 52.Kxf3 Ke7 53.Rh1 Nd5 54.Rh4 Kd6 55.Rc4 Bb2 56.a4 Ba3 57.b5 axb5 58.axb5 Bc5 59.e4 fxe4+ 60.Kxe4 Nc7
61.Rxc5! Kxc5 62.Ke5 Kxb5
63.g4??
This gives Black the time he needs to guard the e-pawn. The game ends in a draw after the correct 63.Kd6 Kc4 64.g4 Kd4 65.g5 Ke4 66.Kxc7 (66.g6? Kf5 67.g7 Ne8+) 66...Kf5 67.Kd6 e5 68.g6.
63...Kc6 64.Kf6 Kd7 65.g5 Ne8+ 66.Kf7 e5 and White resigned. 0-1
NOW LET'S ALL ENJOY a cruel laugh with a couple of howlers from the blindfold competition:
Kramnik (2772) - Gelfand (2712)
Kramnik still has some technical problems to solve, so Gelfand decides to pitch in:
45...Ke7?? 46.Kxe5 resigns. 1-0
Shirov (2718) - Karpov (2679)
White has been comprehensively outplayed, and Shirov was probably on the verge of resigning when Karpov suddenly lost his marbles:
35...Nh4??
Black is, of course, winning easily after 35...Qxf3.
36.Qb1+! Nf5 37.Rxg7+! and Karpov resigned since he's about to lose his queen. 1-0
FINALLY, LET'S SEE how Leko ended up having his queen completely gift-wrapped in his blindfold game against Piket.
Piket (2632) - Leko (2745)
Despite Black's seemingly solid blockade on the dark squares, White is able to create a lethal passed pawn.
47.b6! axb6 48.Qb5+ Ke7 49.a6 Qa7 50.Bb7
Now Black is effectively playing without his queen. The rest is simple.
50...Bd6 51.Qg5+ f6 52.Qxg6 Be5 53.Qg7+ Kd6 54.f4 Bb2 55.Qf8+ Kd7 56.Qc8+ Kd6 57.Qc6+ Ke7 58.Qc7+ resigns. 1-0
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GM Einar Gausel 