Miskolc 2006: Peter Leko takes the lead

Peter Leko vs Anatoly Karpov in Miskolc

Chess Rapid Match – Miskolc

Peter Leko and Anatoly Karpov are playing a rapid chess match in Miskolc, Hungary, from August 30 to September 3, 2006. There are two games per day at 16:00h and 17:30h European time.

Péter Lékó was born on 8th September 1979 in Subotica, and has been living in Szeged since 1980. At 2738 Elo he is ranked sixth in the world (July 2006).

Anatoly Karpov, born on May 23, 1951, is the legendary 12th world champion and the most successful tournament player of all time. His peak strength was 2780, his current rating is 2668, putting him at no. 40 in the world.

Day two

You could see the surprise on Anatoly Karpov's face when a little boy, son of a sponsor, ceremonially made the first move for Peter Leko. Was it an error by the child or did Leko really intend to abandon his beloved 1.e4 and play 1.d4 in the third game of their rapid chess match? He did, and the two followed a game from San Luis, Topalov vs Anand, until Karpov deviated on move 20. But with the resulting protected pawn on c6 White was able to settle down to a nice torture routine. Karpov was soon very low on time, which led to Peter Leko becoming a little careless and running out of time himself. This in turn led to a few inaccuracies, but in the end the only player who deserved to win did in fact take the full point home.

The fourth game was another Nimzo Indian with 4.Qc2, as in game two. This time Leko deviated with 5.a3, and Karpov got some microscopic advantages, and the game wound up in a rook endgame that White could not win against a player of Leko's caliber.