May 2006
Monthly Archive
Sun 21 May 2006
Topalov blasts tournament leader Kamsky.
Kamsky - Topalov
Kamsky declines to take Topalov on in the poisoned pawn Sicilian Najdorf. Topalov’s rapier-like queenside thrust pushes Kamsky on the backfoot. Kamsky’s knights get into a tangle, and Topalov is efficient at making White’s position critical. Kamsky’s e-pawn falls, and after Topalov sacrifices the exchange, Kamsky’s position breaks.
Bacrot - Ponomariov
Ponomariov builds a solid position from the Queens Indian Defence, and his pawn centre gives him the initiative. His pressure gains no ground and the position heads towards a rook ending, where a draw by repetition gains the draw.
Anand - Svidler
More anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez, and Anand is struggling a little to get his knights under control. Svidler takes control, but loses his way allowing Anand a brief tactical sequence leaving Svidler with the only option of taking a draw by perpetual.
Sun 21 May 2006
Topalov dismantles Ponomariov’s game in creative style. Other games drawn.
Topalov - Ponomariov
Yet another ant-Marshall Ruy Lopez and Topalov’s bishop development right through Black’s centre is a prelude to a kingside attack. Topalov sacrifices an exchange - which becomes an entire rook - to keep his threats alive. This snare’s Ponomariov’s queen, which he has to sacrifice for a bishop. Topalov finishes the game masterfully using his major pieces and passed pawn.
Svidler - Bacrot
An anti-Marshall Ruy sees both players pushing hard on the queenside. The game finishes with a repetition of position in a difficult position for both sides.
Kamsky - Anand
Kamsky surprises Anand with an Exchange Ruy Lopez, but Anand quickly obtains a comfortable position. As pieces are whittled off a balanced rook endgame sees a draw by repetition.
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Sun 21 May 2006
Topalov’s kingside attack results in a superior ending that gets converted in Topalov style. Bacrot is solid against Kamsky. Ponomariov whittles Svidlers hedgehog.
Anand - Topalov
Topalov’s rapid b-pawn thrust in a Sicilian pushes Anand’s English Attack off-balance. Topalov quickly equalises and starts to pile on the pressure, forcing the entry of his rook into White’s second rank. Topalov sacrifices a knight to open Anand’s king to a barrage of threats from Black’s strongly centralised pieces. This forces Anand to exchange a defending rook for Topalov’s two minor pieces. Topalov’s extra kingside pawns and his rooks hold the initiative and brings home the full point.
Bacrot - Kamsky
Kamsky enters into the same gritty Slav-Grunfeld that saw it end badly against Topalov. He gets some kingside and central pressure to alleviate the lack of space. Bacrot prepares and carries out a typical queenside pawn storm, to be met with a thematic central break from Kamsky. After some gritty manoeuvring Kamsky enters an endgame with two bishops, but Bacrot’s collected defence sees the position whittle down to a draw by repetition.
Ponomariov - Svidler
Svidler adopts the Sicilian Kan, and plays into a typical hedgehog position with a weakened d6-pawn. In the major piece middle game Ponomariov’s pieces get better squares as he assumes the initiative. Svidler’s chances are ground into dust. Ponomariov’s pressure nets him a strong passed pawn as Svidler desparately seeks a breakthrough to White’s king, but Ponomariov bundles the game into a winning rook and pawns endgame.
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Sun 21 May 2006
Kamsky finishes in elegant style after a slowish middlegame. Svidler topples Topalov in a Grunfeld. Anand survives a Marshall attack.
Kamsky - Ponomariov
Ponomariov tries out Kamsky’s favoured anti-Marshall manoeuvre as the queenside knight sails over to …e6. He follows that with an energetic break in the centre. Both sides are strongly centralised, so the exchanges start. Kamsky repulses Ponomariov’s queenside attack, which leaves Ponomariov with a weak a-pawn. This opens the route for the White major pieces onto the seventh rank. Kamsky wields this into a dangerous kingside attack. Ponomariov can’t fend off Kamsky’s strong threats.
Topalov - Svidler
Svidler gets stuck into Topalov’s position in a Classical Exchange Grunfeld. Black’s pieces create threats through White’s porous centre. Svidler’s aggression expands over both wings as well as the centre, and his two bishops scythe through Topalov’s position virtually unchallenged. Topalov is dead lost in the ensuing rook and same-coloured bishops endgame.
Anand - Bacrot
Anand allows a Marshall Gambit in the Ruy Lopez, and he offers the exchange to defuse Bacrot’s initiative. Anand gains the two bishops and a strong pawn-centre for the exchange, as well as the initiative. After a complicated middlegame the game drifts toward an ending where a repetition of position splits the points.
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Mon 15 May 2006
Topalov crunches tournament leader Kamsky. Anand’s solid draw against Svidler is enough to put him in joint first at the half-way stage, one point clear of Topalov and Svidler
Topalov - Kamsky
Out of a Slav Defence full of feints and nudges, Topalov emerges with a slight edge thanks to a prepared e4-break. Kamsky splits the two dominating White central pawns, but Topalov sacrifices a pawn followed by the exchange which destroys the pawn formation around Kamsky’s king. Topalov’s attack gradually breaks through Black’s position as Kamsky’s king is hustled back to the centre. Kamsky resigns when mate is inevitable.
Svidler - Anand
Svidler adopts the anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez against Anand, but Anand gets his queenside play rolling quickly after weakening White’s queenside pawn structure. The two bishops gives Svidler compensation for his shattered queenside, and he uses them to claw his way back into the position. And both sides seem content to repeat the position claiming a draw.
Ponomariov - Bacrot
Ponomariov opts for the a4 anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez, Bacrot plays a little insipidly allowing Ponomariov to instigate some kingside threat. Bacrot defends and the game heads into a major piece endgame where Ponomariov takes a draw by repetition.
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Sun 14 May 2006
Kamsky’s hot streak continues as he smashed Svidler’s insipid play. Ponomariov stumbles into a strategic error and is duly dispatched by Anand. Topalov fights to equality against Bacrot.
Kamsky - Svidler
Out of a Classical Scheveningen Sicilian, Svidler provokes white with an …e5 thrust, saddling himself with a small hanging pawn centre. Svidler tries to regroup his minor pieces but Kamsky surprises with a typical pseudo-sacrifice of the knight on d5. Svidler blunders in the coming tactics, and Kamsky presses home the attack by sacrificing a further exchange. Kamsky nets the whole point with a clever bishop manoeuvre.
Anand - Ponomariov
Ponomariov equalises quickly in a Classical Caro-Kann, and the game heads towards a sterile endgame. Ponomariov stumbles into a strategic mistake in exchanging off his good bishop for Anand’s knight. This opens up the d-file. Anand wastes no time in entering the Black position with his rooks. Anand’s bishop proves far more useful in the semi-closed nature of the position, and engineers a breakthrough on the queenside. Black’s counterplay is lacking, and not enough to defuse the danger. Just after time control the game is decided when White’s passed pawns cannot be stopped.
Bacrot - Topalov
Bacrot allows a Nimzo-Indian, and heads towards a Kasparov system. Topalov unveils an original manoeuvre, bringing his a5-placed queen to a6 to pressure the c4-pawn. Although White holds a slender advantage, it is Topalov that’s directing play, aiming against the weakened c4-pawn. Bacrot keeps his head and simplifies leading to a barren opposite colour endgame.
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Sun 14 May 2006
Kamsky outplays Anand in a rook and pawns endgame. Topalov fends off Ponomariov. Svidler’s Grunfeld is patched up.
Anand - Kamsky
Another anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez (why the sudden popularity?) sees Kamsky again employ the manoeuvre Nc6-d8-e6 adding pressure on the centre and the kingside, and continuing with Ne6-f4-g6. Kamsky’s c6-break allows him to equalise in the centre, as the game drifts towards an endgame Kamsky has a tiny advantage thanks to his e-pawn. Into a balanced rook endgame and with a clever manoeuvre, Kamsky has a strong centralised king which forces Anand backwards, and switches into a winning pawn endgame.
Ponomariov - Topalov
Ponomariov gets an edge out of a Semi-slav even after Topalov gets his …c5-break in. Topalov sacrifices a pawn to get his rook to the seventh rank and wins control of the open b-file. His two rooks dominate, but its White that holds the advantage. But in a tense endgame Ponomariov goes astray and Topalov claws his way to equality. Ponomariov blunders his a-pawn allowing Topalov to take control by sacrificing his knight for three pawns. A repetition of position allows both players a sigh of relief.
Bacrot - Svidler
Svidler is back into a Grunfeld (which suffered disastrously in Linares 2006), this time an Exchange Grunfeld. Bacrot wastes some time with his queen which allows Svidler to demolish the White pawn centre with …e6. This triggers off a tactical sequence which pushes the game into a balanced rook and minor piece endgame, where a repetition of position splits the points.
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Sun 14 May 2006
Anand’s creative play nets the point against Topalov, on the Black side of an anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez. Svidler secures the point against a timid Ponomariov. Bacrot cracks under Kamsky’s will-to-win in a long game.
Topalov - Anand
Topalov’s anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez comes a little unstuck as Anand first tangles up Topalov’s queenside, gets in the freeing d5 break, and temporarily monopolises the centre. Anand then gets the tactics rolling with the surprising 27. Ng5 offering his queen. This turns into a temporary piece sacrifice that forces the full mobilisation of Black’s pieces. White resigns in the face of an unstoppable attack.
Svidler - Ponomariov
Svidler’s English Attack against Ponomariov’s Sicilian Najdorf gives him the initiative and a slight plus. The subsequent play revolves around the c6-square, thanks to the strong d5-pawn. The flow of tactics see a quick trade-off of pieces, and with a temporary pawn-sacrifice Svidler enters the endgame with a big advantage. Svidler’s bishop is far stronger than the opposition knight - plus Black has no pawn structure, and with threats on both sides of the board, Ponomariov has nothing better than to resign.
Kamsky - Bacrot
Kamsky grabs a pawn out of the anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez, and holds on for dear life. The endgame resolves to a strong passed b-pawn for Kamsky, and he invests it to create a passed h-pawn. Later he invests his extra pawn to shepherd his passed pawn through. This forces Bacrot to sacrifice his rook for the pawn. Bacrot fights tooth and nail, and is forced to promote his own passed pawn into a knight - a theoretically drawn endgame, but Kamsky manages to pull off a win.
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Sun 14 May 2006
Anand is the first off the mark with a win over Bacrot. Svidler holds the position against Topalov’s pressure.
One of the very interesting points in this tournament is that players cannot offer draws directly, they must do so via the arbiter. And that can only happen when there is a theoretically drawn position, repetition of position or perpetual check. This means games have to be played out with no baling out in complex unbalanced positions. That’s certainly going to take a heavy toll on nerves. All the players in this tournament are fighters, and not the type to bale out into sharing half-points, so the impact won’t be too great.
Bacrot - Anand
Bacrot adopts a Petrosian system to Anand’s Queens Indian, and manages to erect a big centre. Anand counters by a kingside wing advance attacking the defenders of White’s central pawns. After sacrificing a pawn, Anand sacrifices both rooks for the White Queen. In the resulting position, Anand’s queen outperforms Bacrot’s rooks, and forces the demolition of White’s pawn centre. The end result is that White can’t prevent the advance of Black’s passed pawns.
Svidler - Topalov
Svidler gets a little tangled up on the White side of an English Attack Sicilian Scheveningen, and is pressured to open the position with an f4-push. After neutralising White’s kingside potential, Topalov grabs the initiative and forces White to regroup awkwardly to hold back the threats. The position gradually unravels to a rook and opposite coloured bishops endgame, with Topalov on top, but Svidler defends stubbornly preventing a decisive entry of the Black rook.
Ponomariov - Kamsky
In an anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez, the e-file quickly gets opened and the rooks get chopped off. Ponomariov gets the better of the queen and minor piece endgame. But Kamsky reduces the position to pawns on one side of the board. The entry of the Black knight into White’s position engineers a repetition of position.
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