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Round 3
Report
by John Saunders |
Today was the big one - world number one plays world number
two, right here in London town (we had to pinch ourselves
that it was really happening). Note that I didn’t specify
precisely which was which - Vishy is numero uno on the
official November list but Magnus is no.1 on the unofficial
but authoritative ‘live list’. Prior to today they had met
nine times in 2010 with five of those at longplay chess (the
other shorter stuff doesn’t really count to purists). This
year Vishy leads 3-2 with one win (in Bilbao, with Black,
two months ago to the day) and four draws. Linares 2009 was
the last time Magnus beat Vishy in a longplay head-to-head.
So Magnus needed a win to emphasise to the chess public that
he is not just a serial conqueror of lesser names, while
Vishy’s immediate problem was his position in the
tournament: two draws are only worth two points under the
3-1-0 system and McShane was already on 6. Plenty to play
for, then.
The game started with a fairly standard Ruy Lopez but Magnus
emerged well from the opening. But, just when Carlsen seemed
set to assume an advantage, he went drastically wrong with
24...Be4, which he himself described as a “huge oversight”.
He still might have saved himself but committed a few more
serious errors. Vishy himself might have converted well
before the time control but for some errors of his own.
Eventually it came down to a position where Vishy could play
on and on and torture Magnus for many moves without risk to
himself. White’s main advantage was his vastly superior king
safety and his ability to target Magnus’s weak pawns.
Carlsen tried a desperate last stand as Vishy’s pieces
circled and tormented his depleted forces but in the end he
couldn’t hold out. Despite a few flaws, this was a great win
for Vishy, particularly in the final phase, and a good way
to celebrate his 41st birthday on Saturday, but a severe
psychological blow for the young man with designs on his
crown. On the evidence of this game, Magnus still has a
little way to go before he could hope to beat the likes of
Vishy in a match. In some ways it was reminiscent of the
game Spassky won against Fischer at the 1970 Siegen
Olympiad. But we have also to bear in mind what Fischer did
to Spassky in 1972.
Anand,
Vishy - Carlsen, Magnus
London Chess Classic 2nd London (3), 10.12.2010
Ruy
Lopez
1 e4
e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0–0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6
8 c3 0–0 9 h3 Nb8
This
retreat to the original square may look strange to the
uninitiated but it is a standard way of handling the
position and called the Breyer Variation. Vishy and Magnus
have fought a few previous games in this variation 10 d4
Nbd7 11 Nbd2 Bb7 12 Bc2 Re8 13 a4 Bf8 14 Bd3 c6 Another
odd-looking move to those unfamiliar with the Ruy Lopez but
the blocking of the bishop's scope is only temporary 15
b4 Rc8 A new move. Carlsen played 15...Nb6 against Anand
in Christiansund, Bilbao and Nanjing 16 axb5 cxb5 17 Bb2
d5 Otherwise White will play his pawn to d5 and close
the position 18 exd5 exd4 19 Rxe8 Qxe8 20 c4 White
wants to get his dark-squared bishop back into the game
20...bxc4 21 Nxc4?! 21 Bxc4 would lead to equality but
the text is something of a gamble 21...Nxd5 22 Nxd4 Nxb4
White
has given up a pawn but it is far from clear whether he has
much for it 23 Nf5 Nxd3 24 Qxd3 Be4? This is a
miscalculation by Magnus and a very serious one. Later
analysis seems to indicate that Black should try 24...Qe6!
25 Ncd6 Rc5! 26 Nxb7 Rxf5 and if White captures on a6, he
has to reckon with 27...Qe1+ (if the rook captures) and
27...Qxa6 (if the queen captures) followed by 28...Rb5. It
seems Black has an edge here 25 Qd4! Bxf5? Again
Magnus plays an inferior move. 25...Qe6 26 Ncd6 Rb8 27 Re1
Bxf5! 28 Rxe6 Bxe6 is probably good enough to hold the
balance. 26 Nd6 Qd8 27 Nxf5 f6? A third mistake by
the Norwegian in the space of a handful of moves. He's
evidently out of sorts and not in his 'Pearl Spring' form.
27...Qf6 28 Qxf6 Nxf6 29 Bxf6 gxf6 30 Rxa6 isn't very pretty
but should be good enough to hold 28 Rd1 Rc2? This
desperate throw is further evidence of Magnus's lack of
form. 28...Rc7 is ugly but forced: 29 Qd5+ Kh8 30 Qf7 h6 31
Ba3 Qc8 32 Re1 Nc5 33 Qg6 Qd7 34 Re8 Rc8 35 Nxg7 Rxe8 36
Nxe8 Qd1+ 37 Kh2 Qd4 38 Bxc5 Qxc5 39 Qxf6+ and it is by no
means certain that White would win 29 Nh6+! gxh6 30 Qg4+
Bg7 30...Kh8 lasts longer but after 31 Rxd7 Qxd7 32
Bxf6+ Qg7 33 Bxg7+ Bxg7 34 Qd7! Black cannot get his rook
and bishop working together to build a fortress 31 Qe6+
Kh8 32 Rxd7 Qf8
33
Ba3?
White
could have finished things off crisply with 33 Rf7! Qb8
(33...Qc8 34 Qe7 Rxb2 35 Rxg7 wins) 34 Re7! Rc8 35 Rxg7!
33...Qg8 34 Qxa6 Qe8 In time trouble Magnus makes
another error. 34...Rc8 is more accurate 35 Qa7 Qg8 36
Be7?! Another win goes begging: 36 Bc5! cuts off the
rook from joining the defence: 36...Re2 37 Be7 and Black has
to give up the exchange to prevent Rd8 36...Rc8 37 Qa6
Qe8 38 Ra7 Kg8! The only defensive resource, which also
sets a trap 39 Qe6+ 39 Bxf6?? Bxf6 40 Qxf6 Rc1+ 41
Kh2 Qb8+ and the a7 rook is lost 39...Kh8 40 Qa6 Kg8
Time control
reached. Despite missing a couple of wins, White could still
be winning though it is obviously going to be hard work
41 Qe6+ Kh8 42 Kh2 Rc6 42...Ra8 43 Rxa8 Qxa8 44 Bxf6
Qb8+ 45 g3 Qf8 46 Bxg7+ Kxg7 was Sergey Shipov's suggestion
and White still has a lot of hard work to do to win. Now a
long period of manoeuvring begins 43 Qb3 Rc8 44 Bd6 Qg6
45 Qb7 Rd8 46 Bg3 Rg8 47 h4 Qf5 48 Qc7 Qd5 49 Ra5 Qe4 50 Qd7
Qc4 51 Qf5 Qc8 52 Qf3 Qd7 53 Bf4 Qf7 54 g3 Re8 55 Be3 Rg8 56
Ra6 Re8 57 Ra7 Re7 58 Qa8+ Qf8 59 Ra6 Re8 60 Qc6 Rc8 61 Qf3
Qf7 62 Ra7 Qe6 63 Qb7 Qg8 64 Bf4 Rd8 65 Qa6 Re8 66 Rc7 Ra8
67 Qc6 Re8 68 Be3 Rb8 69 Bd4 At long last it looks like
something might be about to happen. Vishy is about to bring
his pieces to bear on f6 69...Qf8 69...Rf8 70 Re7 Rf7
71 Re6! and White threatens 72 Rxf6! 70 Qc3 Re8 71 Rc6
Now the f6 pawn is lost. There was nothing to be done
71...Qf7 72 Bxf6 Rf8 72...Kg8 73 Qb2 Rf8 74 Bxg7 Qxg7 75
Qd2 retains very good winning chances for White 73 Bxg7+
Qxg7 74 Qe3 Qb2 75 Kg2 Qb7 Black could fight on with
75...h5 but Black's will to fight on is ebbing away 76
Qxh6 Qf7 77 Rc2 1–0
The two extra pawns will triumph
eventually. A sad game for Carlsen who simply made too many
errors, while Vishy dished out a stern lesson about what
will be needed from him if he is to take him on at matchplay.
Anyone watching big-time chess for the
first time in London today will have learned that the elite
game can be highly attritional. If Vishy versus Magnus was
tough, Vlad versus Luke was utter torture. Eventually, via
Vlad’s favourite Berlin Wall (patented right here in
Hammersmith), it came down to rook and bishop versus rook -
the endgame dreaded by players, arbiters and chess
journalists who fancy putting their feet up for the evening,
dammit. A draw with best play, apart from a few specific
positions, but always damnably hard to defend at the end of
a long game. As British chess writer Bill Hartston once said
(I’m probably misquoting): “other players make you suffer
when they get the chance, so you have to make them suffer
when you’ve got the upper hand.” Why do chessplayers put
themselves through this punishment? Love of the game? More
like because we are total masochists. Come on, FIDE - you
like messing around with the rules of the game? Why don’t
you declare rook and bishop versus rook to be a statutory
DRAW so that some of us with lives to lead can go home, have
something to eat and maybe reacquaint ourselves with our
poor suffering spouses and children? Sorry - got a bit
emotional there - I’ve calmed down now. Anyway, finally, at
9.37pm, 7 hours and 37 minutes after they started play, Vlad
finally quit his winning attempts and stalemated his
opponent - draw! Thus Luke remains the overnight leader
going into round four and ensured that not one Englishman
lowered his colours in this toughest of tough rounds of
chess. No wonder the delighted home fans went on their way
chanting ‘Enger-land, Enger-land, Enger-land!’.
David Howell once again showed his talent
for brinksmanship, both on the board and on the clock. He
defended a Fianchetto Grünfeld Defence, following a line
played by Karpov and Kasparov in their ‘nostalgia match’ of
2009. David, who had not expected the opening played, ate up
gigantic amounts of time on his clock trying to decide what
to do around move 12, while Hikaru evidently thought he was
playing an online bullet game. Only kidding - the real
reason for his speed was that he had prepared the line in
some depth. After around 25 moves played, David only had
five minutes or so left while Hikaru had only used some
12-15 minutes altogether. However, David came up with a very
nice ‘fortress’ plan to save the day; his rook, knight and
king huddled together for safety whilst simultaneously
protecting a couple of key pawns and preventing Hikaru’s
king from entering the fray. Hikaru’s queen prodded and
poked, and his king huffed and puffed, but the American
couldn’t blow the Englishman’s house down.
Mickey Adams and Nigel Short have long
been rivals for the title of English number one. Nigel
pinched it from Mickey a year or so but Mickey raised his
game and pinched it back again. Their game today was hard
fought, with Nigel playing a g6 move in the Caro-Kann which
has been played quite a lot by his fellow Greek residents
Skembris and Nikolaidis (for those who didn’t know, Nigel
lives in Athens and occasionally likes to refer to himself
as an “olive farmer”). Mickey played the very plausible 11
e6 to break up Black’s structure and then start an attack
rolling down the kingside. Some cagey shadow-boxing ensued.
It was a tough game though not quite the grim struggle the
other three games were. White had a long-lasting initiative
but nothing came of it - draw agreed (slightly naughtily,
without consulting an arbiter, but it was the deadest of
dead draws).
Scores after round 3:
Luke McShane 7/9, Vishy Anand, Hikaru
Nakamura 5, Mickey Adams, Vladimir Kramnik 4, Magnus Carlsen
3, David Howell 2, Nigel Short 1. (Note, games are scored
3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a
loss)
For more information and to buy tickets
to The London Chess Classic, please go to
www.londonchessclassic.com
High quality photos may be found on the website at
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/photos.htm
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