Linares R9: Kasparov beats Kasimdzhanov in mini-match

The XXII Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez "Ciudad de Linares", a category 20 double round robin, is being held in the Spanish town of Linares and from February 23 until March 10 2005. During each round one player rests, and in addition there are full rest days on March 1st and 7th. The games start at 15:30h local time (CET = GMT 14:30h = 9:30 a.m. NY) in the Hotel Anibal. Live coverage of the event is expected on the official web site and on Playchess.com. We will be reporting daily on our news page.

Round nine

Kasimdzhanov,R (2678) - Kasparov,G (2804) [D47]
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (9), 04.03.2005
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 a6 10.e4 c5 11.d5 Qc7 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.Bc2 c4 14.Nd4 Nc5 15.Be3 e5 16.Nf3 Be7 17.Ng5.

Here Kasparov unleashed a novely: 17...0-0. This move leaves the e6 square open for a fork. Running the game through our top chess engines we see that they too come to the conclusion that the position requires an exchange sacrifice. Remarkably the most dauntless of them, compensation fetish Junior 9, finds the move in the first seconds of computation (and never prefers another after that).

18.Bxc5. This removes the only cover for e6 18...Bxc5 19.Ne6 Qb6 20.Nxf8 Rxf8.

Kasimdzhanov realises he is in trouble, if only because Garry Kasparov has played this line. Black is also playing quick and fast, so the Uzbek knows this is not an impromptu over-the-board idea, but something Kasparov has analysed in the peace and quite (except for the humming of the processor fan) of his home.

21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.exd5 Bxf2+. The bishop cannot be taken: 23.Rxf2 Ng4 wins. 23.Kh1 e4 24.Qe2 e3. This constellation of a passed pawn on e3, supported by and supporting a bishop on f2, is certainly a major thorn in the white position. 25.Rfd1 Qd6 26.a4 g6 27.axb5 axb5 28.g3.

On the Playchess server there were almost two thousand spectators on this board, with a dozen grandmasters analysing and speculating on the outcome. Yasser Seirawan was explaining things patiently, with an anonymous (= shy) super-GM chipping in with suggestions. But at this moment John Nunn, who had returned from one of his rare tournaments with the obligatory flu, came in briefly to check the position. "Has anyone looked at Nh5?" asked "Doccy" (John's handle on the server). Nobody had, and everyone immediately did. And after everybody had checked everything very carefully, us on the server with computers and Kasparov on the board with is 100 billion processors, we all came to the conclusion that this was indeed the winning line.

28...Nh5! 29.Qg4. This is where, in a basically winning postion – e.g. 29...Qe5 does it in a slightly tedious fashion – Kasparov played the proverbial "move for the audience". Everyone, especially the chess engines, were enchanted: 29...Bxg3!! This move finished off the opponent more ruthlessly: 30.hxg3 Nxg3+ 31.Kg2 Rf2+ 32.Kh3 Nf5 33.Rh1 h5 34.Qxg6+ Qxg6 35.Rhg1 Qxg1 36.Rxg1+ Kf7. With two extra pawns and all the attacking weapons in his hands Black will have no problems taking the point. Kasimdzhanov conceded: 0-1.

The other games were not quite as exciting: Veselin Topalov pushed and squeesed, but could not get a full point of a tenaciously defending Anand, who at times appeared to be in serious trouble. In Leko vs Adams the latter caught our attention with a knight sacrifice on move 19.

Leko,P (2749) - Adams,Mi (2741) [C42]
XXII SuperGM Linares ESP (9), 04.03.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c3 f5 10.Qb3 0-0 11.Nbd2 Na5 12.Qc2 Nc6 13.b4 a6 14.a4 Bd6 15.Rb1 Re8 16.b5 axb5 17.axb5 Na5 18.Ne5 Bxe5 19.dxe5

19...Nxf2!? And interesting turn with made Leko work hard to avoid pitfalls. But once again the classical chess world championship challenger played with the accuracy of a Dutch chess engine and held his enterprising opponent to a draw by perpetual check. 20.Kxf2 Qh4+ 21.Kf1 Qxh2 22.Ba3 Re6 23.Qa2 Rd8 24.Bc5 Rh6 25.e6 Qf4+ 26.Kg1 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Qf4+ 28.Kg1 Qh2+ 29.Kf1 ½-½

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Current standing

Scores Kasparov +3 Anand +1 Topalov +1 Leko 0 Adams –1 Kasimdzhanov –2 Vallejo –2

• All games so far in PGN

Schedule

Links

• Official web site
• All ChessBase reports
• ChessBase reports on Linares 2004
• ChessBase reports on Linares 2003