San Luis R12: Anand beats Leko with black

The FIDE World Chess Championship is taking place in the Hotel Potrero de los Funes
Complex, in the Province of San Luis, Argentina, from September 27 to October 16, 2005.

Round Twelve Summary

Current standings at the World Championship in San Luis

• All games so far in PGN

Videos to watch

• Start of round 11 – impressions of the playing hall
• Round 11: Press conference, Vishy Anand
• Round 11: Press conference, Rustam Kasimdzhanov
• Round 11: Press conference, Adams-Topalov
• Round 09: Press conference, Vishy Anand
• Round 09: Press conference, Veselin Topalov

World Championship Diary: Round 12

By Nigel Short – on site in San Luis

3.15pm: The first little joke of the day belongs to Morozevich. I cannot recall the Van Geet Opening (1.Nc3) ever making an appearance in an event of this level. Of course the opening in itself is based on sound principles: its only real drawback is that it has virtually no independent significance. If Whites wishes to take the position down original paths then he must choose second-rate moves with which to do it.

Alexander Morozevich in his game against Judit Polgar

Sure enough, the game quickly reverts to the Sicilian Najdorf. Nevertheless Judit conceded five minutes on the clock in making this decision. Probably this will be of no consequence, but it will not hurt Morozevich to have obtained this small concession.

3.30pm: The problem with the Petroff Defence is that when the theory ends, the game often ends too – usually in a draw. Therefore it is an ideal opening for those possessed of fast processor, strong work ethic, good memory, and lack of ambition. Unfortunately it is very much a part of modern tournament chess and there is little to be done about it.

Anand playing the Petroff against Peter Leko

Peter Leko, has often had to face this loathsome beast of late, and he was the first to deviate from his disastrous game one of his Brissago match with Kramnik, by offering his g-pawn as a gambit. Anand snatched it; cheekily threatened mate the following move (although allowing his bishop to be incarcerated) but then trapped the White bishop in exchange.

17.Nd2 Bxg2 18.Bg4 Bh1 (threatening ...Qg2#) 19.f3 (trapping the white bishop) 19...Bh4 20.Rf1 f5 21.Bh5 g6 (trapping the black bishop) 22.Kxh1 gxh5 23.Rg1+ Kh8.

This difficult tactical sequence was played at the highest speed and was clearly etched in the hard drives of both players. It seems to this doddery observer that White’s initiative is too slender to trouble the Indian much, and that Black has a reasonably comfortable game.

5.15pm: It was always a regrettable possibility, but Topalov-Svidler ended in a tame draw. Obviously Svidler faced an uphill task: burdened with irresolution he could not quite decide whether he should go for broke, or try to press without taking undue risk. He chose the latter course, no doubt calculating that even if he were to win that he would still, most likely, require an extra point to catch Toppy due to his inferior tie-break.

That looked implausible. On the down side, with Anand snapping at his heels, a defeat would have been costly. Were it not for the fact that there is only one World Champion, I would say that his sober assessment of odds was impeccable. However it might have been better to risk everything, however poor the prospects, in the knowledge that this was his chance for immortality . In fairness I should add that it is very easy for me to pontificate when I sitting here comfortably with nothing at stake. The final position, incidentally, was slightly in Toppy’s favour and therefore very difficult for Svidler to make headway. Doubtless this also influenced the big Russian.

6.00pm: Kasimjanov-Adams featured an Anti-Marshall – a very popular variation here. The reigning World Champion cunningly placed his bishop on d5 in the opening in an effort to exploit Black’s wayward knight on a5: the same theme had already occurred in an earlier game Svidler-Leko, when the Magyar’s stranded cavalry was the root cause of his downfall. Adam’s obtained reasonable activity after dropping a pawn, but omitted to exchange queens on the 25th move – a serious error – which would given him clear equality. The Englishman is now facing a most unpleasant task. I would assess the Uzbek’s chances of winning as great as Adams’ chances of surviving.

Anand, meanwhile, is completely winning. My impression is that he has just totally outplayed the Hungarian who appears to have overestimated his chances out of the opening. With a wobbly kingside like that one would have thought he would have been eager to exchange off the queens as soon as possible, but instead he carelessly
allowed the Black queen to go on the rampage. Should Vishy score the full point – as is most probable – he will catch Svidler. Theoretically he could still overtake Topalov, but anyone expecting that is living in cloud-cuckoo land.

6.40pm: I have studiously avoided saying too much about Morozevich-Polgar for the simple reason that I have found it difficult to understand and I am afraid to reveal my ignorance. It looks like Black had no problems whatsoever out of the opening and indeed perhaps stood better, if anything. After the Hungarian has allowed her bishop to be captured on f6, damaging her pawn structure in the process, however, White has obtained the upper hand. Whether this will suffice for victory is another matter – given the limited material remaining.

A chess journalist working with wireless on the hotel deck

This afternoon I have been given the latest analytical aid, Fritz 9, which, it is claimed, is around 100 Elo points stronger than the previous version. If true, it is a giant leap for siliconkind. Anyway, the monster is screaming that Vishy is 7.36 points ahead which in layman’s terms means that it is long past the correct time for Leko to give up.

Peter Leko resigning to Vishy Anand

7.20pm: The inevitable happened. Leko resisted as best he could, but when faced with imminent unstoppable mate in six he resigned. This is a truly woeful performance from one of the pre-tournament favourites and he will be glad when it is all over. Curiously the American statistician, Jeff Sonas, rated Svidler a better bet than Leko before this event – contrary to Elo ratings – the standard gauge of expected performance- and would seem that his obscure formulae are the more accurate.

Adams and Kasimdzhanov agree to a draw

8.00pm: Adams has managed to hold the dodgy endgame against Kasim, who will perhaps be annoyed that he did not make more of his promising position.. Eventually White’s king became too draughty and his pawns too loose to escape the incessant threats of perpetual check.

Morozevich-Polgar is proving to be very tough struggle. The Russian is a pawn ahead but his pieces are tangled. Were I to dabble in soothsaying I would predict a draw. Mind you, it is not inconceivable for him to lose if he gets over-ambitious (and tired). No sooner had these words dripped off my quill than a draw was agreed.

Tomorrow is a rest day (yahoo!). See you on Thursday.

All photos: Nadja Woisin, Word Chess Championship Press

Full schedule

Links

• Official World Chess Championship web site
• All ChessBase World Championship reports so far