World keeps spinning
Round 3 (June 12,
2004) |
|
Petrosian Team |
2.5-3.5 |
World Team |
Kasparov |
½-½ |
Bacrot |
Leko |
1-0 |
van Wely |
Gelfand |
0-1 |
Vallejo |
Akopian |
0-1 |
Anand |
Vaganian |
½-½ |
Svidler |
Lputian |
½-½ |
Adams |
Overall score: World
Team: 11 – 7 Petrosian Team |
|
For
the third day in a row the World team won the day. Team Petrosian finally picked
up another win when Leko beat van Wely (both World losses belong to not-so-lucky Loek), but Vallejo and Anand scored for the World
to take the round 3.5-2.5. Things would have been different had Kasparov found
the winning path in a pawn endgame against Bacrot, more on that later.
We've said it before and we'll say it again: sacrificing for an attack against
Peter Leko is best preceded by leaving a note to your loved ones. Van
Wely got into a mess out of the opening and tried to solve it with a desperate
lunge at Leko's king. His initiative lasted for all of four moves and the Dutchman
resigned on move 22.
Boris Gelfand is a team player but isn't a particularly good team performer,
historically speaking. A perusal of the MegaBase shows that he has consistently
underperformed in team events, although underperforming a stellar top-15 career
isn't hard. The Israeli picked up his second loss of the event in embarrassing
fashion today, losing to Vallejo with white in 24 moves after completely missing
a mate.
After two debacles it was up to World team leader Anand to bring home the decisive
full point. Unfortunately, Akopian wasn't being cooperative, at least not in
the middlegame. By move thirty the Armenian #1 had a bishop versus a knight
and rooks doubled on the only open file. Then he started cooperating. Five moves
later Anand's brilliantly rerouted knight was munching kingside pawns and White
was dead lost.
Vaganian, by far the tournament's veteran at 53, quickly equalized against
Svidler and played his second 19-move draw in a row. Lputian somehow managed
to hold his patchwork position together to liquidate and draw against Adams.
It was left to see if Kasparov could make something out of very little in an
endgame against Bacrot.
Kasparov
– Bacrot after 64.Ke2
Blow the dust off your Averbakh books, or just fire up
the Fritz endgame trainer or the Endgame Turbo DVDs. Black has two moves
to draw this, everything else loses against best play. Kasparov is hoping
to use zugzwang to force entry and use his passed h-pawn. Okay class,
anyone here remember hearing the term "corresponding squares"
before? Anyone? Yes, but you don't remember how to use it either? Don't
worry, neither did Bacrot.
He picked a loser with 64...Kf6? when both ..Ke4
and ..Kd4 would have held the draw. Now the Black king will lose the ability
to control f5 and g5. Kasparov started out on the right track with 65.Ke3!
Kg6 and now only one move wins. Kasparov's 66.Kd4? wasn't it and he
agreed to a draw after 66...Kh5.
Instead White can win with 66.Kf3! (Mate in 20, thanks
Fritz.) No matter what Black plays White responds with 67.Kf4 and will
penetrate either on g5 or e5. A surprising blackout from Kasparov.
|
Gelfand
– Vallejo after 20...axb6
Despite his pretty central pawn chain White is hard pressed
to demonstrate compensation for his sacrificed pawn. (The sac worked better
when Kasparov played it against Timman in a classic 1985 game.)
Gelfand decides he had better get his pawn back immediately
with 21.Rxc7 Rxc7 22.Qxc7 but was ill-prepared for White's sneaky
reply 22...Qg6! hitting the rook and threatening ..Qd3. Gelfand thought
it had it under control with 23.Rh3?? (23.Qe5) 23...Qd3 24.Kd1,
stepping out away from the mate.
Vallejo rained on White's parade with 24...Ke7!
and Gelfand resigned. There is no answer to the planned 25...Rc8 threatening
mate on e2. Nobody expects to be finished off by a king move on move 24!
|
Postscript to yesterday's Vallejo-Kasparov Najdorf
theory battle. It turns out that the sharp drawing sequence has been played
before, but not over the board, through the mail! Peruvian José Ortiz,
an International Master of OTB and correspondence chess, points out the
game Andersson-Poulsen mentioned in Nunn's book "The Complete Najdorf
Bg5." We'd have found that game and more had we checked our own ChessBase
Correspondence Database! It finds no fewer than five games that predict
the Kasparov-Vallejo draw. |