10/11/2012 – In this round the leaders did not showed anything special, and their games were drawn. However, this was compensated by the joint effort of Vallejo Pons and Levon Aronian. The Armenian opted for an extremely passive version of Modern Defense as if to invite Vallejo for a fierce attack. The invitation was duly accepted. Full report and commentary by Piotr Kaim.
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Inside "the glass cube", at the start of round eight
Arbiter Elisabeta Polihroniade and TD Juan Carlos Fernández watch
the round start
The first game to finish was the encounter between Sergei Kariakin and Magnus
Carlsen. The 7.Qg4 0-0 line of the Winawer French often leads to sharp play,
but this time it produced a colorless draw after 35 moves. Kariakin had a small
plus during most of the game, but no more than that. Finally, he liquidated
to an ending with opposite-color bishops and two useless rooks on both sides.
The draw was sealed a few moves later.
The co-leader in this tournament after eight rounds
Magnus Carlsen craning his neck to follow Anand vs Caruana
Italian GM Fabiano Caruana drew his black game against the World Champion
Vishy Anand, the World Champion, tried his 3.f3 anti-Grunfeld weapon on Fabiano
Caruana. It was the same weapon that nearly gave him success in the 3rd game
of the recent World Championship match against Boris Gelfand. Unfortunately,
the Italian avoided the entertaining line that was seen in that game. Then the
players exchanged queens and showed some top GM technique to agree for a draw
on move 45.
Magnus watching the start of the game Vallejo (right) vs Aronian
The encounter between Francisco Vallejo Pons and Levon Aronian was entirely
different. The Armenian played with Black and opted for a provocatively passive
version of Modern Defence. It looked like Aronian deliberately invited the opponent’s
wild attack in the hope that Vallejo would go astray and be punished for his
mistakes. In fact, Vallejo committed one inaccuracy and his advantage disappeared.
But he was never in any danger of losing. Simultaneously, the Spaniard showed
imagination and courage that made the game highly spectacular.
Replay all games of the round
Game of the day
[Event "5th Final Masters"] [Site "?"] [Date "2012.10.11"] [Round "8"] [White
"Vallejo Pons, Francisco"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO
"B08"] [WhiteElo "2697"] [BlackElo "2816"] [Annotator "Kaim,Piotr"] [PlyCount
"111"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. e4 g6 2. d4 c6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Bc4 d6 5. Bb3
Nf6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 e6 {Black would like to play d6-d5
leading to a French-like position without a light-square bishop that is, usually,
Black's main liability in that kind of position. However, White's natural developing
moves make the d6-d5 thrust impossible. As a result, Black's space is reduced
to the first three ranks.} 10. Bg5 Nbd7 11. Rad1 Qc7 12. Qf4 a6 13. Ne2 $5 {
Multipurpose move. Vallejo anticipates Black's counterplay with b7-b5 and a6-a5
with the threat of a5-a4. Therefore, he prepares c2-c3 to retreat the bishop
to c2 and to strengthen the centre. Besides, in the future, the knight may go
to g3, where it will be closer to the black king.} Kh8 14. c3 Ng8 15. Qd2 {Black
threatened 15...f6 followed by 16...g5.} Rae8 16. Be3 Ndf6 (16... d5 {would
not be good due to} 17. Bf4 {and Black is vulnerable on black squares.}) 17.
f3 $1 {The Spaniard conceived an aggressive setup including f2-f3, g2-g4, Ne2-g3
and h2-h4-h5.} Rd8 18. g4 b5 19. Ng3 Nd7 20. h4 a5 $6 (20... d5 {was probably
better as} 21. Bf4 {could be countered with} e5 {After the text White uses his
space advantage and gets a strong attack.}) 21. h5 a4 22. Bc2 e5 23. Kg2 exd4
{Black must open the game. Otherwise he would get strangled.} 24. cxd4 c5 25.
Rh1 cxd4 26. hxg6 $6 ({Vallejo is anxious to go for an all-out attack along
the h-file. Therefore, he misses much more practical solution} 26. Bxd4 $1 {that
would leave him with big advantage. However, we should thank him for the decision,
since the text move leads to play that is much more entertaining. }) 26... fxg6
27. Rxh7+ $1 ({Once the f-file is open,} 27. Bxd4 {is no longer attractive due
to} Bxd4 28. Qxd4+ Ne5 29. Bd3 Rxf3 {.}) 27... Kxh7 28. Rh1+ Nh6 29. Bxh6 {The
position is razor-sharp, and Aronian gets the opportunity to show his defensive
skills.} Rh8 30. e5 $5 ({Another imaginative solution. White threatens 31.Bxg6+
Kxg6 32.Qg5+ with mate or huge gains. He could play the standard alternative}
30. Bg5+ Kg8 31. Bxd8 Qxd8 32. Rxh8+ Kxh8 33. Ne2 Qh4 34. Nxd4 Be5 {but despite
being a pawn up, White's winning chances would be very limited.}) 30... Nxe5
(30... Bxe5 $2 {loses to} 31. Qd3 $1 Rhg8 $2 32. Bf8#) 31. Be4 $5 {Now White
is threatening 32.Nf5! gxf5 33.Qg5! Ng6 34.Qxf5! with a winning attack. White
could not enter into this line with his bishop hanging on c2 and therefore the
bishop is transferred to e4. Besides, the text move provokes Black to play d6-d5.}
d5 32. Bxg6+ $1 Kg8 ({Once the move d6-d5 is played, Black cannot capture the
bishop with} 32... Nxg6 {owing to} 33. Bf4+ {and he loses his queen.}) 33. Bf5
Rd6 34. Bxg7 Qxg7 35. Nh5 Nc4 $1 (35... Qf7 36. Qxd4 Nc6 37. Qf4 {would leave
White with a slight advantage. After the text move he has to liquidate into
drawish endgame.}) 36. Be6+ $1 Rxe6 37. Nxg7 Nxd2 38. Nxe6 Rxh1 39. Kxh1 Nxf3
40. Kg2 Ne5 41. Nxd4 Nxg4 42. Nxb5 Ne3+ 43. Kf3 Nc4 44. Nc3 Nxb2 45. Nxd5 Kf7
46. Ke4 Ke6 47. Ne3 a3 48. Kd4 Kd6 49. Nc2 Na4 50. Nxa3 Kc6 51. Nc4 Kb5 52.
a3 Kc6 53. Ne5+ Kb5 54. Nc4 Kc6 55. Ne5+ Kb5 56. Nc4 1/2-1/2
Game summary and analysis by Piotr Kaim, freelance journalist
who plays for the YMCA Warszawa (Warsaw) Club.
Daniel
King's Play of the Day: Paco Vallejo Pons - Levon Aronian
Player portraits
Francisco Vallejo Pons – The High-Risk Artist
The best Spanish-born chess player, Paco Vallejo, under-18 world champion in
2000, won his first medal at age of nine. Silver in the 1991 Under-10 world
championship in Milwaukee (USA). He placed in the top ten in eleven of the fourteen
World or European Championships which he played at different ages. Today at
30, he takes a lot of risk, creates beauty and at times defeats the stars.
His precocity was always extraordinary. He learned the moves on his own at
five, watching games his family played. His chessboard and his baby bottle are
his earliest memories. “It was an unstoppable passion,” he stresses.
The Marcote de Mondariz School in Pontevedra awarded him a scholarship at eleven
years of age, with an exclusive trainer, grandmaster Zenón Franco. His
study plan allowed him to combine school and chess training daily. His parents
suffered. “The separation was painful; we only saw him during holidays.
But we recognize it was a privilege,” they recalled.
After being proclaimed World U18 champion in Oropesa del Mar (Castellón),
Vallejo made an important decision. “I will be a chess professional, but
I am not prepared to undertake ten-hour training sessions daily. I want to enjoy
life.” From that moment on his progression was not as fast as Spanish
fans had wanted, despite three world champions (Kasparov, Anand and Topalov)
making, independently, the same statement: ”Vallejo has enough talent
to be at least in the top ten”. At last, in 2009, he broke the 2700 rating
barrier and made a good impression at Linares 2010 – for his creativity
and bravery.
Since then he has moved between 25th and 50th in the world, but he is still
at an age where he can make a great leap if he desires and is ready to work
for it. In the 2011 Grand Slam Final he managed to win games against Carlsen,
Ivanchuk and Nakamura. It is no surprise the the organization chose to invite
him again..
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