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The leader got a 20-move draw with black. Teimour Radjabov continued his unambitous play with white and after their game Viktor Bologan said, "I wanted to go into the rest day maintaining my plus three score. ... "'A draw with black against Rajdabov is ok these days." For his part, Radjabov said, "The line was equal and with Bologan in form, I didn't want to take any risk."
Standings after round five
Anand
outclassed Naiditsch in a Sicilian for his first win. The young German's inexperience
showed and he ended up in a bad version of the Sozin and was quickly blown away.
Just one tempo is usually enough in these sharp lines and here White was closer
to three tempi behind the usual lines.
Anand was quite pleased with the pretty ending of the game. White just grabbed a pawn on e5 but after 33...Re8 0-1 (D) the white queen is lost.
The battle royal of the round was between our two comprometidos, Kramnik and Leko. (Something akin to being engaged.) For quite some time there has been no word about the world championship match Leko qualified for in last year's Dortmund tournament and the Hungarian might be wondering if he will be left at the altar. Meanwhile, their two games here have a special tension.
Like Anand, Leko took a break from the Sveshnikov in round five and like Anand he had more success with the Najdorf (Scheveningen by way of the usual transposition). Kramnik decided to vary from the game Leko-Kasparov, Linares 2003, on move 13. It seems likely that Kramnik missed some of the tricky tactics that were threatened by Leko's 18...Rb8 because Leko had a firm grasp of the initiative by move 21.
Kramnik's pragmatism led him away from the double-edged insanity of moves like 20.f4?! and into a pawn-down endgame. Knowing Kramnik he was 99% sure he could hold the ending or he would have continued with the complications. If so, he was right and several attractive rook maneuvers forced a draw, although the moral victory still goes to Leko for putting on so much pressure with black.
Kramnik,V (2785) - Leko,P (2739) [B80]
Dortmund GER (5), 04.08.2003
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 Leko blinks! A break from the Sveshnikov. Considering how well this goes for him perhaps this will be a long-term change. (Probably not..)
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 Be7 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 0-0 10.g4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b5 12.g5
[12.Ne2 Bb7 13.Ng3 Rc8 14.Kb1 Qc7 15.Bd3 Nd7 16.Rhf1 Ne5 17.f4 Nc4 18.Bxc4 Qxc4 19.Rf3 b4 20.b3 Qc7 21.Bb2 Rfd8 22.Rc1 ½-½ Ivanchuk,V-Volokitin,A/Istanbul TUR 2003/The Week in Chess 449 (22).]
12...Nd7
13.h4 Qc7 (D1) 14.a3 Perhaps Kramnik
just wanted to avoid playing what Leko played against Kasparov in Linares in
February this year. Originality is good, but at least in this game it doesn't
work out and Black arrives on the b-file long before White gets any action against
the black king. On the other hand, black did quite well in Linares, too.
[14.Kb1 b4 15.Na4 Bb7 16.b3 Bc6 17.Nb2 a5 18.h5 Ne5 19.Be2 a4 20.Nc4 Bb5 ½-½ Leko,P-Kasparov,G/Linares 2003 (87 moves).]
14...Ne5 15.Be2 Nc6 16.Be3 In this game and in Naiditsch-Anand in the same round, the move Be3 to preserve the bishop was followed by a ..b4 breakthrough and Black having the initiative. It's hard to imagine a white attack without this bishop, however, so alternatives are hard to find.
16...b4 17.axb4 Nxb4 18.h5 Rb8! It turns out that Black's play on the b-file is no weaker than his usual play on the a-file. This looks a lot like the refutation of 13.a3. 19.Kb1 Avoiding nasty tricks involving ..Qxc3 and ..Na2+ in some lines.
[19.g6 A true Sicilian basher would play this immediately, at least in a Playchess.com blitz game! Avoiding ..Qxc3 tricks first isn't a bad idea though. 19...fxg6 20.hxg6 h6 21.Kb1 (21.Bxh6?? Qxc3! 22.Qxc3 Na2+ 23.Kd2 Nxc3 24.Kxc3 Bf6+ 25.Kd2 gxh6) 21...Bf6 Practically forced, or Bxh6 is curtains.]
19...e5
(D2) 20.Nd5 After this Black's
heavy pieces roll down the b-file, but leaving the knight on b4 is very dangerous
(for a human). And Kramnik would rather have the black bishop on f5 where he
can trade it off than on e6.
20.f4?! This wild line is not in Kramnik's style. 20...Qb7 This move creates threats like ..Na2 and other knight discoveries. These things don't bother a computer, but having them hang over your (human) head is too much tension. One mistake in your calculations and it's all over.
a) 20...exf4 21.Bxf4 Be6 22.g6 Qa5 23.gxh7+ Kxh7 24.h6 g5 25.Be3 (a) 25.Qd4 Qa1+! 26.Kxa1 Nxc2+ 27.Kb1 Nxd4 28.Rxd4 gxf4) ; b) 20...d5 21.fxe5 dxe4 22.g6 Bf5 23.gxh7+ Bxh7 24.Qd7
A line only a computer could love. 21.g6 Junior 8 21...Nd5 22.b3 Nxc3+ ( 22...Nxe3 23.Qxe3 Be6 24.Nd5 Bxd5 25.Rxd5) 23.Qxc3 Be6 24.gxh7+ Kxh7 25.h6 g5! ]
20...Nxd5 21.exd5 Bf5 22.Bd3 Bxd3 23.Qxd3 Rb4! Preventing f4 and preparing to double the rooks. 24.Rhg1 Necessary prophylaxis for his defensive plan in which the bishop will protect b2. It would be overloaded tied to the defense of the g5 pawn as well. [24.g6? fxg6 25.hxg6 h6]
24...Rfb8 25.Bc1 Ever the pragmatist, Kramnik switches to defensive mode. Playing for an attack with b3 a5 was unlikely to succeed. [25.b3 a5 26.g6 fxg6 27.hxg6 h6 A good lesson on the value of keeping the pawns in front of your king on their original squares for as long as possible. 28.Bd2 Rd4?! 29.Qf5! Creating threats based on Bxh6.]
25...Qb7 26.Qa3 Rb5 27.Qa2 f5 28.gxf6 Bxf6 29.b3 In the end Kramnik has to play b3 anyway. 29...Rxd5 [29...a5 30.h6 g6 31.Rg4]
30.h6 Limiting the black king (and putting the pawn on a less exposed square) for the coming endgame. 30...g6 31.Qa4 Rxd1 32.Rxd1 d5 33.Bb2 d4 (D3)
34.f4
[34.Qc4+ Junior 8 34...Qf7 (34...Kh8? 35.f4 Qe4 36.fxe5 Bxe5 37.Bxd4
Bxd4 38.Rxd4 Qh1+ 39.Ka2 Qxh6 40.Rd7; 34...Kf8?? 35.Qe6+-) 35.Qxa6]
34...Qb5 [34...exf4 35.Bxd4 Rd8 36.Rd3 Bxd4 37.Rxd4 Qh1+ 38.Kb2 Rf8 39.Qc4+ Kh8 40.Rxf4 Qxh6 41.Qc3+ Kg8 42.Qc4+ Kh8 43.Qc3+ Kg8 44.Qc4+=]
35.Qxb5 Rxb5 36.fxe5 Bxe5 Both players were in time trouble at this point, and Black is winning a pawn. 37.Bxd4 Rd5 38.c3 Bxd4 39.cxd4
[39.Rxd4?? Definitely not this move, which leads to a lost pawn endgame thanks to Black's passed wing pawn. 39...Rxd4 40.cxd4 Kf7 41.Kc2 Ke6 42.Kd3 Kd5 43.b4 g5 44.Ke3 g4 45.Kf4 Kxd4 46.Kxg4 Ke4 47.Kg5 Ke5 48.Kg4 Kf6 49.Kh5 Kf5 50.Kh4 Kg6 51.Kg4 Kxh6]
39...Rh5 40.d5! Kramnik uses his d-pawn to get his rook to the seventh rank. 40...Kf7 41.d6 Ke8 42.Re1+ Kd8 43.Re7 Rxh6 (D4)
44.Rg7!
The key to the easiest defense. Black will have to give up a kingside pawn
eventually and without connected pawns the rook endgames are drawn.
44...g5 45.Rxg5 Rg6 46.Ra5 Rxd6 47.Kc2 Ke8 48.b4 The black rook can't keep the white king cut off or the b-pawn will advance and swap off the a-pawn. 48...Rb6 [48...Kf7 49.b5=]
49.Kd3 Kf7 50.Ke3 Kg6 51.Kf3 h5 52.Kg3 ½-½
A tremendous battle. It's not often you see Kramnik on the ropes with the white pieces after just 20 moves.
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