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Round 6 (May 23)
Short-Kasparov draw
Morozevich-Shirov draw
Bareev-Adams draw
Sokolov-Georgiev draw
Topalov-Movsesian draw
Gurevich-Bacrot 1-0
Round 6 standings
1-2.Kasparov & Shirov 4,5
3-4.Bareev & Morozevich 4.0
5-6.Adams & Georgiev 3.5
7.Topalov 3.0
8.Gurevich 2.5
9.Sokolov 2.0
10-12.Bacrot, Movsesian & Short 1.5
*****
Short vs Kasparov
Short usually comes to the board well prepared
when he’s playing Kasparov, but on this occasion it seemed as though he was winging
it. Playing Black in the Sicilian Najdorf, Kasparov was better almost
immediately after Short’s "blast from the past", 7.Qf3. Kasparov
could have decided this game several times, but he’s been getting sloppy in
winning positions in this tournament.
A very lucky escape for Short, and another half
point out the window for Kasparov.
View annotated game: Short-Kasparov
Morozevich vs Shirov
Morozevich got a marked edge with a fairly
harmless line against Shirov’s Petroff, mainly due to the latter’s early
innovation, 8…Be6. The critical moment arose four moves later, when
Morozevich refused to transform his positional advantage into a material
one by grabbing a pawn. After this, Shirov was slowly able to stabilise his
position.
View annotated game: Morozevich-Shirov
Bareev vs Adams
Bareev has so far been looking extremely solid,
but in this game he got his hair ruffled.
Probably because he was trying so hard to
improve his +2 standing. The Russian pushed most of his pawns to the fourth
rank, trying to trample Adams’ beloved Hedgehog, but he never really
got much of an attack going.
Eventually, Adams grabbed the initiative with
an energetic counterblow in the centre. After this, Bareev had to rely on his
defensive skills.
View annotated game: Bareev-Adams
Sokolov vs Georgiev
A pretty boring game, but definitely one you
should take a look at if you’ve been having problems equalising with Black
against the Exchange Variation in the Queen’s Gambit. Sokolov tried a
slightly different line than the one he played against Short, but once again the
Bosnian drew a blank.
View annotated game: Sokolov-Georgiev
Topalov vs Movsesian
A very strange game. Topalov was instantly
better against Movsesian’s King’s Indian, and the Bulgarian quickly steered
the game into a favourable ending. Movsesian panicked and sacrificed
first one pawn, then another. Topalov probably should have abstained from
grabbing number two, since it let the Czech’s king into the game.
Movsesian eventually regained his material, but
Topalov still insisted on pressing for a win. The Bulgarian eventually went too
far, dumping the full point into Movsesian’s lap. 75…Nd5 and it
would have been all over.
View annotated game: Topalov-Movsesian
Gurevich vs Bacrot
Gurevich did not get much of an edge in the
Closed English, but Bacrot clearly didn’t understand the position. Opening up
the centre with 21…bxc4 was an absolutely horrible decision, and
the young Frenchman deservedly ended up losing his third consecutive game.
View annotated game: Gurevich-Bacrot
- Einar Gausel
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