Dortmund Round 4: Bologan keeps living the dream

Leko fumbles and Bologan takes the point

Round 4: Sun. Aug. 3, 15:00h A. Naiditsch 1-0 T. Radjabov V. Anand 1/2 V. Kramnik P. Leko 0-1 V. Bologan Game replay and download

Official site Event preview Results and schedule

Someone had better beat Viktor Bologan soon, or maybe just wake him up! The Moldovan GM is cruising through the first supertournament of his life as if he usually eats 2700s for breakfast. He disposed of the world #3 on Saturday and on Sunday it was time for #4, Peter Leko.

46 moves later Bologan became had extended his lead in Dortmund to a full point ahead of world champion Vladimir Kramnik. Leko got a solid plus against Bolo's Caro-Kann Defense but then went astray trying to convert his advantage after sacrificing a pawn. Bologan played good defense and grabbed the first opportunity to steal the initiative.

Standings after round four

You'll notice in this pre-event publicity photo from the official site, Bologan (back-left) is the one with the biggest smile. Was it because he was just happy to be there or because he knew something the other guys didn't? Maybe it's his lucky lime-green jacket and brown shirt combination. (It'll be all the rage at your next tournament.) Leko is clearly being punished for changing his wardrobe, which is usually very colorful.

Are you ready for some new math? After four rounds Arkady Naiditsch has more wins than Peter Leko and Vishy Anand combined. He defeated fellow teen Teimour Radjabov (therefore validating one of our little pre-event predictions) when the Azerbaijani aggressively sacrificed a piece, and then a rook, for a mass of central pawns but couldn't keep up the attack.

Some of Naiditsch's comments to the press on his game: "It looked more like Rajdabov's nature to sacrifice a knight, take the center, but I was prepared." ... "From outside my position might have looked suspect, with king in the center, pawns rolling down etc., but White was always holding on." ... "With accurate defense, he was getting it tough and sacrificed his rook more in a last ditch effort, but by then it was gone." ... "Despite the menacing pawns in the center, my rook up position was assuring and I was confident of victory."

Anand used the white pieces to take a day off to recover from his two consecutive losses. Against Kramnik he repeated a queen sacrifice line of the (guess) Sveshnikov introduced by Topalov against Leko in 2000. That game went for 87 moves before the draw was agreed, this one only lasted 25 with nary a new move to its (dis)credit.

A few years ago it would have been strange to hear about Peter Leko pressing too hard for a win and losing. In the last two years his style has been reinvented and despite his three draws to start this event Leko has been playing hard. Against Bologan he played well enough to win but at key moments he missed promising continuations that would have given him excellent winning chances.

Leko,P (2739) - Bologan,V (2650) [B17]
Dortmund GER (4), 03.08.2003

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bd3 h6 9.N5f3 c5 10.Be3 Qc7 11.Ne5 a6 12.Ngf3 cxd4 13.Bxd4 Nbd5 14.0-0 Bc5 15.Bb5+ Kf8

[15...axb5? 16.Qxb5+ Nd7 (16...Bd7 17.Qxc5 Qxc5 18.Bxc5 Rc8 19.Ba3 Rxc2 20.Rac1 Re2 21.Rfd1±) ; 15...Ke7 16.Nc6+ bxc6 17.Bxc5+ Ke8 1-0 Gasanov,E-Zubov,O/Kramatorsk 2002/EXT 2003 (30).]

16.Bxc5+ Qxc5 17.Bc4 (D1)

17...Ke7N [17...g6 18.Bxd5 Nxd5 19.c4 Nf6 20.a3 1-0 Rublevsky,S-Karpov,A/Polanica Zdroj 1998/CBM 67/[Lukacs] (69). (68)(Or 20.Rfd1 Kg7 21.a3±) ; 17...b5 18.Bxd5 Nxd5 19.Rad1 Kg8 20.Rfe1± Bb7? 21.Nxf7! Nf4 22.Qe5+-]

18.Bxd5 Nxd5 19.c4 Nf6 20.Rfd1 Bd7 21.b4 Qc7 22.Nd4 Rhd8 23.Rd3 Kf8 24.Rad1 Be8 25.h3 Nd7 26.Ng4!? A dangerous pawn sacrifice creating Nxh6 threats in many lines.

[26.Rf3 With the idea of playing Ng4 after protecting the pawn. 26...Nf6 (26...Kg8 27.Nxf7! Bxf7 28.Nxe6 Bxe6 29.Qxe6+ Kh8 30.Qe7) 27.Ng4 Ba4 (27...Qe7? 28.Rxf6! gxf6 29.Qe3 Ba4 30.Qxh6+ Ke8 31.Rd2! Qxb4 32.Nxf6+ Ke7 33.Nf5+ exf5 34.Re2+ Kd6 35.Nd5+) 28.Rd2 e5 This is probably forced. 29.Qxe5 (29.Nxe5 Re8 30.Re3) 29...Qxe5 30.Nxe5] 26...Qxc4 (D2)

27.Qd2 Missing a good winning try.

[27.Qe4! The logical follow-up to the pawn sacrifice. 27...h5 (27...Kg8? 28.Nxh6+! gxh6 29.Rg3+ Kf8 30.Qf4 Nb6 (30...Qd5 31.Qxh6+ Ke7 32.Rg5 Ne5 33.Qg7 (33.Nf5+? exf5 34.Rxd5 Rxd5 35.Rxf5) ) 31.Qxh6+ Ke7 32.Nf5+ (32.Qh4+ f6 33.Rf3 Rd5 34.Qxf6+ Kd7 35.Rfd3 Rc8 36.Qg7+ Kd6 37.Qxb7 Qc7 38.Qxa6 Ra8 39.Nf5+ Ke5 40.Rxd5+ exd5 41.Qd3) 32...exf5 33.Re3+ Qe4 34.Rxd8 Rxd8 35.Qxb6)

28.Ne3 Qc7 29.Qh7 Nf6 30.Qh8+ Ng8 31.Ndf5 exf5 32.Nxf5 Qe5 33.Rxd8 Rxd8 34.Rxd8 Qxf5 35.Rxe8+ Kxe8 36.Qxg8+ Ke7 37.Qxg7]

27...Rac8 28.Nb3 [28.Nxh6 Ne5 (28...gxh6?? 29.Qxh6+ Ke7 30.Nf5+ exf5 31.Qd6#) 29.Nxe6+ Qxe6 30.Rxd8 Rxd8 31.Qxd8 gxh6] 28...Qc7 29.Rc1 Qb8 30.Rxc8 Qxc8 31.b5! Qc4 [31...axb5 32.Qb4+ Kg8 33.Nxh6+] 32.bxa6 bxa6 (D3) [32...Qxa6? 33.Qb4+ Kg8 34.Nxh6+]

33.Rd6? [33.Ne5 What could be more natural than forking the pinned knight and the queen? This seems to force the win of the exchange. 33...Qc7 (33...Qb5 34.Qa5! Paradoxically forcing the queen trade. Black's remaining pieces are completely paralyzed. 34...Qxa5 35.Nxa5 Black has no piece moves and Nb7 is coming.

35...Nxe5 (35...f6 36.Nb7) 36.Rxd8 Ke7 37.Ra8 Bb5 38.Ra7+ Kf6 39.Nb7) 34.Qb4+ Kg8 35.Qe7 Black is paralyzed. The threat is Nxd7 Bxd7 Nc5. 35...Qxe5 (35...a5 36.Nxd7 Bxd7 37.Nc5) 36.Qxd8 Qe1+ 37.Kh2 Nf6]

33...Qb5 34.Nd4 Qb1+ 35.Kh2 Rc8 Finally Black is starting to unwind. 36.Nb3 Nc5 37.Nxc5 Rxc5 38.Rxa6 Regaining the pawn but now Black's attack is serious. [38.Rd8 Qb7] 38...Qb8+ 39.Kg1 (D4) Underestimating the threats against his king. [39.g3 A dangerous weakening of the long diagonal.; 39.f4 Rd5]

39...Rb5 Now Black takes over the initiative. 40.Ne3? The famous final move of the time control. White's best chance was to get the queens off and defend a difficult endgame.

[40.Qd6+ Qxd6 41.Rxd6 Rb1+ 42.Kh2 Rb2]

40...Rb1+ 41.Nd1 Qe5! A winning centralization threatening ..Qd5 or ..Qa1. 42.Ra3 The rook can't leave the a-file or ..Ba4 is a killer. 42...Qg5 The other threat generated by ..Qe5. 43.Re3 [43.Qc2 Qc1]

43...Ba4 It's over. 44.Kh2 Qf4+ 45.g3 Rxd1 46.Qd8+ Rxd8 0-1

Mig

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