Elista R06: Bareev, Rublevsky advance, Polgar and Ponomariov out

The Candidates Matches for the 2007 World Chess Championship Tournament will be held in Elista, Russia, from May 26 to June 14, 2007. A total of 16 candidates play two rounds of six-game matches to fill four places in the 2007 World Championship in Mexico City. The prize fund is US $40,000 per match, most of the money ($320,000) coming from a personal fund of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE ($160,000) and the general sponsor, Rosenergomash.

Round six report

Round 6 results: Saturday, June 2nd 2007
Levon Aronian	½-½	Magnus Carlsen
Rustam Kasimdzhanov	½-½	Boris Gelfand
Sergei Rublevsky	½-½	Ruslan Ponomariov
Evgeny Bareev	½-½	Judith Polgar
Alexei Shirov	1-0	Michael Adams

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The hero of the day was Alexey Shirov, the only one of the three “must-win” group who achieved the desired result. Adams’ Petroff left him very close to equality, but 17…Kf8? mislaid a pawn, after which Shirov’s technique did the rest.

Shirov,A (2699) - Adams,Mi (2734) [C43]
WCh Candidates s/f Elista RUS (6), 02.06.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.dxe5 Be7 6.0-0 Bg4 7.Bxe4 dxe4 8.Qxd8+ Bxd8 9.Nd4 0-0 10.Nc3 Nd7 11.h3 Bh5 12.e6 fxe6 13.Nxe6 Re8 14.Nxd8 Raxd8 15.Bg5 Nf6 16.Rfe1 Bg6 17.Rad1

17...Kf8? 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Nd5 e3 20.Nxe3 c5 21.Kf1 Rd4 22.c3 Bd3+ 23.Kg1 Rd6 24.Rd2 b5 25.Nc2 Red8 26.Red1 Ke7 27.Ne1 Be4 28.Rxd6 Rxd6 29.Rxd6 Kxd6 30.Kf1 Kd5 31.Ke2 Bb1 32.a3 Kc4 33.Kd2

33...Be4 34.f3 Bg6 35.b4 Kb3 36.bxc5 Kxa3 37.c6 Ka4 38.g4 Be8 39.c7 Bd7 40.Nd3 Ka5 41.Nc5 Bc8 42.Ne4 Kb6 43.Nxf6 Kxc7 44.Nxh7 Kd6 45.h4 a5 46.h5 Ke7 47.Ng5 Bb7 48.h6 Kf6 49.f4 1-0.

Rublevsky reached the second round by securing the half point he needed to complete a surprise victory over Ponomariov. The latter chose the 5…gxf6 Caro-Kann, in an effort to unbalance the game, but Rublevsky coped easily with the task, and soon exploited the enemy queen’s position to force a repetition.

Rublevsky,S (2680) - Ponomariov,R (2717) [B16]
WCh Candidates s/f Elista RUS (6), 02.06.2007
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.c3 Qd5 7.Qb3 Nd7 8.Nf3 Nb6 9.c4 Qh5 10.Be2 Bg7 11.Be3 0-0 12.0-0 e5 13.Qc2 Bf5 14.Qd1 Bg4 15.h3 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Qg6

17.Bh5 Qe4 18.Bf3 Qg6 19.Bh5 Qe4 ½-½.

After staving off defeat with a win yesterday, Judit Polgar needed to repeat the result today, with the black pieces. A tall order, indeed, but she gave her fans some real hope, after exploiting Bareev’s uncertain opening play, to seize the initiative. However, grim defence by the Russian enabled him to neutralize Black’s advantage and score the vital half point he needed to win the match.

Bareev,E (2643) - Polgar,Ju (2727) [A46]
WCh Candidates s/f Elista RUS (6), 02.06.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 c5 6.c3 Na6 7.Bg5 Be7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.a4 b4 11.Nc4 Qd8 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Qxb4 Rb8 14.Qa5 Qxa5 15.Nxa5 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Rxb2 17.Rfd1 Rc8 18.Be3

18...Kf8 19.Bd4 Rc2 20.Nb7 Nb3 21.Rab1 Nxd4 22.cxd4 d5 23.a5 g5 24.h3 h5 25.g4 hxg4 26.hxg4 R8c4 27.e3 Nd7 28.Kf1 Ra4 29.Rdc1 Rb4 30.a6 Nb6 31.Be2 Rxc1+ 32.Rxc1 Nc4 33.Bxc4 dxc4 34.Na5 Ra4 35.Nxc4 Rxa6 36.Ne5 Bd6 37.Rc8+ Ke7

38.Nc4 Bb4 39.Rc7+ Ke8 40.Rb7 Be7 41.Ke2 Ra2+ 42.Kd3 Rxf2 43.Rb8+ Kd7 44.Rb7+ Ke8 45.Rb8+ Kd7 46.Rb7+ Ke8 47.Ke4 ½-½.

Aronian-Carlsen has been the match of the round, and the final game also did not disappoint. Carlsen’s opening play looked very risky, and by move 23 he seemed in desperate trouble, a pawn down with passive pieces. However, he continued to make life difficult for Aronian, and was finally rewarded when the Armenian allowed a tactical blow at move 45.

Magnus Carlsen vs Levon Aronian, after Black's seventh move

Aronian,L (2759) - Carlsen,M (2693) [D17]
WCh Candidates s/f Elista RUS (6), 02.06.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Nb6 8.Ne5 a5 9.g3 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.e4 Bh3 12.Bxh3 Qxh3 13.Qb3 Ra6 14.Bf4 e6 15.Be5 Bb4 16.Bxg7 Rg8 17.Be5 Qg2 18.0-0-0 Bxc3 19.Qxc3 Qxe4 20.Rhe1 Qd5 21.b3 Qd7 22.Qc2 Qe7 23.Qxh7

23...Rg6 24.Re3 Nd5 25.Rf3 Qf8 26.h4 Rh6 27.Qc2 Ra8 28.Qd2 Rh5 29.Kb2 Qg8 30.Re1 Qg6 31.Bd6 Rd8 32.Ba3 Qg4 33.Rd3 Rf5 34.Re5 Kd7 35.Qe2 Rg8 36.Qe1 Rg6 37.Re2 Rf3 38.Rxf3 Qxf3 39.Rc2 Qf6 40.Qxa5 Qxd4+ 41.Ka2 Rf6 42.f4 Rg6 43.Qa8 Nb4+ 44.Bxb4 Qxb4

45.Rg2 Rxg3 46.Rxg3 Qd2+ 47.Ka3 Qc1+ ½-½

Kazimdzhanov and Gelfand decided to keep their powder dry, and save their energy for tomorrow’s playoffs.

Kasimdzhanov,R (2677) - Gelfand,B (2733) [E15]
WCh Candidates s/f Elista RUS (6), 02.06.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.0-0 Nf6 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 b5 15.Nc5 Bxc5 16.dxc5 bxc4 17.Qe2 Qd3 18.Qxd3 cxd3 19.Bxc6 Rac8 20.Bg2 Nd5 21.Bxd5 ½-½.

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