Melody Amber, Round 7
At last - a loss! Anand's 13-game unbeaten run came to an end today in the rapid game with Bareev, as he overpressed in a balanced Main Line Caro-Kann. Anand still leads by 2.5 points, but at least there's a ray of hope that the event will be a tournament instead of an exhibition.
Anand,Viswanathan (2786) - Bareev,Evgeny (2709) [B19]
18.Bc1 This move looks ugly, as does the follow-up, but it has a logical idea behind it. White wants to play Nf3-d2-c4, chasing/trading the Black dark-squared bishop, so that the White bishop can re-emerge on f4. It's a very slow plan, however, so it's not too suprirising that Black neutralizes it without any difficulty. [18.Qh7 was Kramnik's very interesting try against Leko in their World Championship match in Brissago last year (both the game and the match were drawn); while 18.c4 returns to more traditional sorts of positions.] 18...a6 19.Nd2 Nf6 20.Qf3 c5 21.Nc4 cxd4 22.Rxd4 [White's bishop isn't getting to f4, but the consistent 22.Nxd6+ Rxd6 23.Bxh6 gxh6 24.Qxf6 e5 is roughly equal.] 22...e5 23.Rd3 [23.Nxd6+ Rxd6 24.Rxd6 Qxd6 25.Rd1 Qe6 26.b3 Qg4 promises White only a draw.] 23...Kb8 [23...e4?! 24.Qf5+; 23...Qxc4?? 24.Rc3+-] 24.Rb3 Bc5 [24...Qxc4?? 25.Qxb7#] 25.Rh4 [25.Bxh6 e4 26.Qf4 gxh6 27.Qxf6 Bd4 28.Qxa6 Re6 29.Qb5 Bxf2 30.Ne3 Bxe3 31.Rxe3 Red6 32.Rc1 Rd5 33.Qe2 f5 and Black has sufficient compensation for the pawn.] 25...Ka7
Black's position looks more harmonious, and is looking to increase his edge by some further centralization such as 26...Rd4 or 26...e4. As earlier, White could try to take the air out of the ball and coast to a draw (though now it's Black who will find the coasting easier), but wants instead to make something happen. In light of his great form, Bareev's poor form, his successful record against Bareev, I suspect Anand lost his objectivity here. 26.Na5 e4 27.Rxe4 pretty much forced, as [27.Qc3 b6 28.Nc4 Bxf2 followed by ...Rd1, ...Nd5 and ...e3 leaves Black up at least one pawn (the pawns on g3 and h5 aren't long for this world either) and with a speedy, difficult to blockade e-pawn. White is completely lost here.] 27...Rxe4 28.Rxb7+ Qxb7 29.Nxb7 Kxb7 That's White's idea: he has a queen and two pawns for two rooks and a knight. Normally, of course, such a material imbalance is in the no-queen side's favor, but perhaps Anand thought Black's exposed king would tilt the evaluation more in White's favor. The key factor in one vs. many material imbalance situations is whether the many-side can (a) keep everything protected (you'll notice that the many-side will attempt to ensure - ASAP - that all his pieces are self-protecting) and then (b) coordinate those pieces against particular targets. The wider the sphere of action, the better for the queen; the narrower, the better for the pieces. 30.a3 Rd6 31.Qb3+ [31.b4 Bd4 32.c4 Be5 33.Kc2 Rdd4 34.c5 Rd5 35.Kb3 Bd4 looks good for Black, as his central mass pretty well bottles up White's queen.] 31...Bb6 32.Bf4 Rde6 33.c4 Kc8 34.c5 Bc7 35.Be3 Bb8 36.c6 Rxc6 37.Qxf7 Rc7 38.Qg6 Re6 39.g4 Rec6 40.g5 hxg5 41.Bxg5 Kb7 42.Ka2 Ba7 43.f3 Bd4
I think Black is winning here: his king is safe, his pieces are active and coordinated, his pawns are safe and an attack on b2 is about to commence. 44.Qd3 Rd7 45.h6 gxh6 46.Bxh6 Bxb2 47.Qf5 Bd4 48.Bd2 Rb6 49.Bb4 Rd5 50.Qd3 a5 51.Bc3 Be5 52.Qe3 Bxc3 53.Qxc3 Rdb5 54.Qd4 Nd5 55.Qg7+ Ka6 56.Qd4 and now, a tidy liquidation renders the remaining task a trivial one. 56...Rb2+ 57.Ka1 Rb1+ 58.Ka2 R6b2+ 59.Qxb2 Rxb2+ 60.Kxb2 Kb5 61.Kb3 a4+ 62.Kb2 Kc5 63.Kc1 Kd4 64.Kd2 Nb6 Black now plays ...Nc4, ...Nxa3, ...Nb5, ...a3, and then the king rounds up the f-pawn before returning to help promote the a-pawn. The point of the knight is maneuver is that it protects the a-pawn while remaining safe from capture, as Kxb5 would allow ...a2 followed by queening. Nice job by Bareev! 0-1
Round 7 summary:
Blindfold:
van Wely-Ivanchuk 1-0
Svidler-Shirov 1/2-1/2
Gelfand-Vallejo 1/2-1/2
Morozevich-Topalov 0-1
Bareev-Anand 1/2-1/2
Leko-Kramnik 1/2-1/2
Rapid:
Ivanchuk-van Wely 1-0
Shirov-Svidler 1/2-1/2
Vallejo-Gelfand 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Morozevich 1/2-1/2
Anand-Bareev 0-1
Kramnik-Leko 1/2-1/2
Standings:
Blindfold:
Anand 5.5
Kramnik 4.5
Svidler 4
Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Leko, Morozevich, Vallejo 3.5
Shirov, Topalov, van Wely 3
Bareev 1.5
Rapid:
Anand 5
Ivanchuk, Leko, Morozevich 4.5
Svidler 4
Bareev, Gelfand, Shirov 3.5
Kramnik 3
Vallejo 2.5
Topalov 2
van Wely 1.5
Overall:
Anand 10.5
Ivanchuk, Leko, Morozevich, Svidler 8
Kramnik 7.5
Gelfand 7
Shirov 6.5
Vallejo 6
Bareev, Topalov 5
van Wely 4.5
Anand,Viswanathan (2786) - Bareev,Evgeny (2709) [B19]
Amber Rapid Monte Carlo MNC (7), 26.03.2005
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Ngf6 11.Bf4 Qa5+ 12.Bd2 Qc7 13.0-0-0 e6 14.Ne4 0-0-0 15.g3 Nxe4 16.Qxe4 Bd6 17.Kb1 [17.c4 is more common, but there's nothing wrong with the text.] 17...Rhe8
18.Bc1 This move looks ugly, as does the follow-up, but it has a logical idea behind it. White wants to play Nf3-d2-c4, chasing/trading the Black dark-squared bishop, so that the White bishop can re-emerge on f4. It's a very slow plan, however, so it's not too suprirising that Black neutralizes it without any difficulty. [18.Qh7 was Kramnik's very interesting try against Leko in their World Championship match in Brissago last year (both the game and the match were drawn); while 18.c4 returns to more traditional sorts of positions.] 18...a6 19.Nd2 Nf6 20.Qf3 c5 21.Nc4 cxd4 22.Rxd4 [White's bishop isn't getting to f4, but the consistent 22.Nxd6+ Rxd6 23.Bxh6 gxh6 24.Qxf6 e5 is roughly equal.] 22...e5 23.Rd3 [23.Nxd6+ Rxd6 24.Rxd6 Qxd6 25.Rd1 Qe6 26.b3 Qg4 promises White only a draw.] 23...Kb8 [23...e4?! 24.Qf5+; 23...Qxc4?? 24.Rc3+-] 24.Rb3 Bc5 [24...Qxc4?? 25.Qxb7#] 25.Rh4 [25.Bxh6 e4 26.Qf4 gxh6 27.Qxf6 Bd4 28.Qxa6 Re6 29.Qb5 Bxf2 30.Ne3 Bxe3 31.Rxe3 Red6 32.Rc1 Rd5 33.Qe2 f5 and Black has sufficient compensation for the pawn.] 25...Ka7
Black's position looks more harmonious, and is looking to increase his edge by some further centralization such as 26...Rd4 or 26...e4. As earlier, White could try to take the air out of the ball and coast to a draw (though now it's Black who will find the coasting easier), but wants instead to make something happen. In light of his great form, Bareev's poor form, his successful record against Bareev, I suspect Anand lost his objectivity here. 26.Na5 e4 27.Rxe4 pretty much forced, as [27.Qc3 b6 28.Nc4 Bxf2 followed by ...Rd1, ...Nd5 and ...e3 leaves Black up at least one pawn (the pawns on g3 and h5 aren't long for this world either) and with a speedy, difficult to blockade e-pawn. White is completely lost here.] 27...Rxe4 28.Rxb7+ Qxb7 29.Nxb7 Kxb7 That's White's idea: he has a queen and two pawns for two rooks and a knight. Normally, of course, such a material imbalance is in the no-queen side's favor, but perhaps Anand thought Black's exposed king would tilt the evaluation more in White's favor. The key factor in one vs. many material imbalance situations is whether the many-side can (a) keep everything protected (you'll notice that the many-side will attempt to ensure - ASAP - that all his pieces are self-protecting) and then (b) coordinate those pieces against particular targets. The wider the sphere of action, the better for the queen; the narrower, the better for the pieces. 30.a3 Rd6 31.Qb3+ [31.b4 Bd4 32.c4 Be5 33.Kc2 Rdd4 34.c5 Rd5 35.Kb3 Bd4 looks good for Black, as his central mass pretty well bottles up White's queen.] 31...Bb6 32.Bf4 Rde6 33.c4 Kc8 34.c5 Bc7 35.Be3 Bb8 36.c6 Rxc6 37.Qxf7 Rc7 38.Qg6 Re6 39.g4 Rec6 40.g5 hxg5 41.Bxg5 Kb7 42.Ka2 Ba7 43.f3 Bd4
I think Black is winning here: his king is safe, his pieces are active and coordinated, his pawns are safe and an attack on b2 is about to commence. 44.Qd3 Rd7 45.h6 gxh6 46.Bxh6 Bxb2 47.Qf5 Bd4 48.Bd2 Rb6 49.Bb4 Rd5 50.Qd3 a5 51.Bc3 Be5 52.Qe3 Bxc3 53.Qxc3 Rdb5 54.Qd4 Nd5 55.Qg7+ Ka6 56.Qd4 and now, a tidy liquidation renders the remaining task a trivial one. 56...Rb2+ 57.Ka1 Rb1+ 58.Ka2 R6b2+ 59.Qxb2 Rxb2+ 60.Kxb2 Kb5 61.Kb3 a4+ 62.Kb2 Kc5 63.Kc1 Kd4 64.Kd2 Nb6 Black now plays ...Nc4, ...Nxa3, ...Nb5, ...a3, and then the king rounds up the f-pawn before returning to help promote the a-pawn. The point of the knight is maneuver is that it protects the a-pawn while remaining safe from capture, as Kxb5 would allow ...a2 followed by queening. Nice job by Bareev! 0-1
Round 7 summary:
Blindfold:
van Wely-Ivanchuk 1-0
Svidler-Shirov 1/2-1/2
Gelfand-Vallejo 1/2-1/2
Morozevich-Topalov 0-1
Bareev-Anand 1/2-1/2
Leko-Kramnik 1/2-1/2
Rapid:
Ivanchuk-van Wely 1-0
Shirov-Svidler 1/2-1/2
Vallejo-Gelfand 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Morozevich 1/2-1/2
Anand-Bareev 0-1
Kramnik-Leko 1/2-1/2
Standings:
Blindfold:
Anand 5.5
Kramnik 4.5
Svidler 4
Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Leko, Morozevich, Vallejo 3.5
Shirov, Topalov, van Wely 3
Bareev 1.5
Rapid:
Anand 5
Ivanchuk, Leko, Morozevich 4.5
Svidler 4
Bareev, Gelfand, Shirov 3.5
Kramnik 3
Vallejo 2.5
Topalov 2
van Wely 1.5
Overall:
Anand 10.5
Ivanchuk, Leko, Morozevich, Svidler 8
Kramnik 7.5
Gelfand 7
Shirov 6.5
Vallejo 6
Bareev, Topalov 5
van Wely 4.5
posted by Dennis Monokroussos @ 4:20 PM
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