Melody Amber, Round 1
There are far too many games for me to engage in the sorts of round summaries I did during the Linares tournament, but I will nevertheless keep a close eye on this event as well, pointing out games or positions of particular interest.
Part of the charm of this event, especially for amateurs, is to watch the world's absolute best players blunder just as badly as we do. Of course, there is a difference: we're looking at the board and have plenty of time, while they're playing blindfold (in half the games) with a short time control. What's funny about today's round, however, is that the worst blunder didn't occur in a blindfold game at all!
In this position Shirov (with White) has a big, possibly winning advantage against Anand. After 32.fxe6 fxe6 33.Bd3 Qf7 34.Rf4 Qg8 35.Qe3 with the idea of 36.Bg5 Rh8 (36...Qxg5?? 37.Rxf8+ and 38.Qxg5) 37.Rdf2 the Black position is about to collapse. Shirov, however, wanted to dispense with any further preparation and enter the Black position immediately:
32.Qg3?? All things being equal, this is a great idea: White wants to follow up with Qg8 and/or Bg7, increasing his advantage. Unfortunately, not quite all things are equal here, especially after Black's next move. 32...Rxf6 0-1. Oops!
For more information on the tournament, I offer the following for your further investigation: for a crosstable and brief round summary, go here; to replay the games online, this is the place; finally, to visit the tournament site itself, then this is the link for you.
Finally, I'd like to recommend paying special attention to both games in the Kramnik-Ivanchuk mini-match - both were quite interesting and seemed to be of theoretical significance.
Round 1 Summary:
Blindfold:
Leko-Svidler 0-1
Morozevich-van Wely 1-0
Bareev-Gelfand 1/2-1/2
Vallejo-Topalov 1-0
Anand-Shirov 1-0
Kramnik-Ivanchuk 1-0
Rapid:
Svidler-Leko 1/2-1/2
van Wely-Morozevich 1/2-1/2
Gelfand-Bareev 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Vallejo 1/2-1/2
Shirov-Anand 0-1
Ivanchuk-Kramnik 0-1
Overall Standings:
Anand 2
Svidler, Morozevich, Vallejo 1.5
Bareev, Gelfand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk 1
Leko, van Wely, Topalov .5
Shirov 0
Part of the charm of this event, especially for amateurs, is to watch the world's absolute best players blunder just as badly as we do. Of course, there is a difference: we're looking at the board and have plenty of time, while they're playing blindfold (in half the games) with a short time control. What's funny about today's round, however, is that the worst blunder didn't occur in a blindfold game at all!
In this position Shirov (with White) has a big, possibly winning advantage against Anand. After 32.fxe6 fxe6 33.Bd3 Qf7 34.Rf4 Qg8 35.Qe3 with the idea of 36.Bg5 Rh8 (36...Qxg5?? 37.Rxf8+ and 38.Qxg5) 37.Rdf2 the Black position is about to collapse. Shirov, however, wanted to dispense with any further preparation and enter the Black position immediately:
32.Qg3?? All things being equal, this is a great idea: White wants to follow up with Qg8 and/or Bg7, increasing his advantage. Unfortunately, not quite all things are equal here, especially after Black's next move. 32...Rxf6 0-1. Oops!
For more information on the tournament, I offer the following for your further investigation: for a crosstable and brief round summary, go here; to replay the games online, this is the place; finally, to visit the tournament site itself, then this is the link for you.
Finally, I'd like to recommend paying special attention to both games in the Kramnik-Ivanchuk mini-match - both were quite interesting and seemed to be of theoretical significance.
Round 1 Summary:
Blindfold:
Leko-Svidler 0-1
Morozevich-van Wely 1-0
Bareev-Gelfand 1/2-1/2
Vallejo-Topalov 1-0
Anand-Shirov 1-0
Kramnik-Ivanchuk 1-0
Rapid:
Svidler-Leko 1/2-1/2
van Wely-Morozevich 1/2-1/2
Gelfand-Bareev 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Vallejo 1/2-1/2
Shirov-Anand 0-1
Ivanchuk-Kramnik 0-1
Overall Standings:
Anand 2
Svidler, Morozevich, Vallejo 1.5
Bareev, Gelfand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk 1
Leko, van Wely, Topalov .5
Shirov 0
posted by Dennis Monokroussos @ 11:11 PM
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