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Round 5
Report
by John Saunders |
Today’s chess was an unofficial ‘England versus the World’
match as well as a critical juncture in the tournament as
the joint leaders Vishy Anand and Luke McShane clashed. By
the end of the round the number of leaders had swelled to
three, as Magnus Carlsen took advantage of the ‘football
scoring system’ to join Vishy and Luke at the head of the
field.
Liberty and Luke help World Champion Vishy with
his first move
The
first game to finish was Anand-McShane, which ended in a
draw. Luke seemed to be under some pressure from the opening
and Vishy retained an edge for most of the game, but he was
never able to amplify his edge. He tried a pawn sacrifice to
activate his queen but it was only enough for a repetition
of position.
Nigel Short
Nigel
Short had another off-day. In a spirit of recklessness born
of desperation, he tried a sacrificial sideline of the
Marshall Attack (9...e4) for which Hikaru was barely
prepared but was able to find a stable continuation based on
11 g3 which suggests that this line may not be feasible at
super-GM level. Short’s position after 20 Qf5 looked
hopeless and so it proved. Nigel was his usual ebullient
self in the commentary room and even treated us to a burst
of his singing voice at the end.
Nakamura
focused and ready
Nakamura, Hikaru - Short, Nigel
London Chess Classic 2nd London (5), 12.12.2010
Ruy Lopez, Marshall Counterattack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0–0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7
Bb3 0–0 8 c3 d5
The Marshall. Nigel has played this a handful of times over
the years but Hikaru was probably not expecting it
9 exd5 e4!?
The Steiner variation. It may be that, after GMs have
analysed this game thoroughly, that the exclamation and
question marks shown here swap places - or the exclamation
mark may disappear completely. "This is the sort of
recklessness that happens when you've got ½/4" (Short). "I
had an idea Nigel would play something a little bit crazy"
(Nakamura). Nigel alleged that Malcolm Pein plays this line
and jokingly suggested that he played it in his honour but
no game with ...e4 by our esteemed tournament director could
be found on the latest Mega Database
10 dxc6 exf3 11 g3
This logical continuation, simply aiming at emerging from
the opening with an extra pawn, was more or less improvised
by Hikaru at the board. It has been played before but barely
mentioned in books on this line. "The book recommendation is
11 d4 - maybe there will be a new book recommendation after
this game" (Short); 11 Qxf3 is another way to play and one
chosen by Bobby Fischer a couple of times
11....Re8 12 d4
Black's innocuous-looking last move actually carried a
payload of venom. If 12 Qxf3? Bc5! and White is suddenly
vulnerable to tricks against his rook and back rank, e.g. 13
Rf1 Bg4! 14 Qg2 Qc8, etc.
12....Bg4 13 Bg5 h6
13....Qd6 14 Qd3 h6 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 Nd2 Qxc6 17 Qg6!? Be6 18
Qh5 rounds up the f3 pawn and ensures White keeps his
one-pawn advantage
14 Bxf6 Bxf6
White's decision to give up his dark-squared bishop wasn't
too problematic as the residual black dark-squared bishop
doesn't have much of a future against White's preponderance
of pawns on black squares
15 Nd2 Qd6 16 h3! Bh5
16....Rxe1+ 17 Qxe1 Bxh3 18 Qe4 and White will soon be a
pawn up once again, with an enhanced positional advantage
17 Qc2!
With the threat of Qf5, embarrassing the h5 bishop
17....Bg5 18 Ne4 Qxc6
If 18....Qg6 White can step up the pressure with 19 Qd3 and
then 11 Bc2, while Black has only succeeded in bottling up
his own pieces on the kingside
19 Nxg5 hxg5 20 Qf5
Nigel told us that, paradoxically, he still had some belief
in his position while he was a pawn down, but now the
material was level, he completely despaired of it
20....Rxe1+
20....Qg6 21 Qxg6 Bxg6 22 Bd5 wins the f3 pawn, leading to a
comfortable technical win
21 Rxe1 Re8 22 Re5
Not 22 Rxe8+? Qxe8 when the back rank threat would
necessitate 23 Qe5 Qxe5 24 dxe5 and White has endangered his
winning chances
22....Rxe5 23 dxe5 Bg6
Once again 23....Qg6 allows 24 Qxg6 Bxg6 25 Bd5 and the f3
pawn drops off
24 Qxg5 Qe4 25 Qd8+ Kh7 26 Qh4+ Qxh4 27 gxh4 f6
Annoyingly for Black, the doubled h-pawns almost help
White's cause. If he tries to defend his f-pawn with
27....Bh5 the white king can now march out to attack it via
h2 and g3 and then play ¥d1 to win it.
28 exf6 gxf6 29 Bd5 a5 30 b4 axb4 31 cxb4 Bd3 32 Kh2 Bc4 33
Be4+
33 Bxc4?? we can discount as the black pawn cannot be
stopped; 33 Bxf3? is also sub-optimal as after 33....Bxa2
Black might have a few tricks based on driving the b-pawn
through (on a very good day, anyway)
33....Kh6 34 a3 1–0
At this point in the commentary room, Nigel concluded the
session with a short snatch of song with the first line
"What do you get when you sac a pawn?" to the tune of the
1960s hit "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" by Bobbie Gentry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIVOjfadGf0).
It was a show-stopping rendition, with the crowd on their
feet begging for more and throwing garlands of flowers. A
whole new career suddenly opens up for Nigel - this year
Olympia, next year the Albert Hall. You can hear it for
yourself on video 5.3 at the website. Nigel graciously
attributed the libretto to former British champion and joker
extraordinaire GM Jonathan Mestel. It was only a shame that
GM Dan King hadn’t brought his guitar (he had been gigging
the night before, playing latin music) or we could have had
an Olympia jam session.
Jonathan Mestel - Nigel Short’s librettist
But, returning reluctantly to the chess, Black is right to
quit at this point: a line such as 34....Be6 35 Bxf3 Kg6 36
Kg3 f5 37 Kf4 Bd7 38 h5+ Kf6 39 Be2 Bc6 40 Bd3 Bd7 41 h6 is
indicative and quite hopeless.
Mickey Adams confronted Vlad Kramnik’s celebrated Berlin
Wall with 4 d3, which the great Russian said he thought of
as the “second main line” against his trademark barricade.
After some exchanges, the players reached a position with a
small edge for White but one which proved readily defensible
by Black. After some further exchanges a draw was agreed.
David Howell
David Howell, like his senior English colleague, found the
cruel truth of the biblical quotation “he that has not, from
him shall be taken even that which he has”. There is always
a tendency to gang up on players who are not doing too well
in a tournament. Of course, the fact that he was paired with
Magnus Carlsen didn’t help. Even so, David was alive and
only suffering from a slight disadvantage at the time
control. However, he went astray almost immediately with 42
g5 and then the disastrous 43 Qg3 which cost him a piece.
Howell, David - Carlsen, Magnus
London Chess Classic 2nd London (5), 12.12.2010
Black has the safer king and other small advantages but it
doesn't add up to much
42 g5?
David prefers to seek counterplay but he should have been
content to sit and suffer as this has a tactical flaw.
42...Qa4! Black's immediate threat is now Qe4 and Qh1 mate.
White could defend with Ng3 but that would cost him his
f-pawn and his position would collapse
43 Qg3?
This loses a piece. White's best might have been 43 Qe3 when
43...Qd1 44 Qe2 Qxe2 45 Bxe2 hxg5 46 fxg5 Nxe5 would
probably win for Black
43...Qd1!
44 Nf6+
Desperation. White could do nothing to defend his knight on
h5. If 44 Qh4 Bc4 45 Ng3 Black plays 45...Nd4! and all the
tactics work for Black. For example, 46 Bxd4 Qxd4+ 47 Kh1
Bd5+ 48 Bg2 Bc5 49 Ne2 Qd1+ and wins
44...gxf6 45 gxf6+ Kh8 46 Qd3 Qxd3 47 Bxd3 Nb4 48 Bb1 Ba2 49
Be4 Nd5 50 f5 Nf4 51 Kh2 exf5 52 Bxf5 Be6 53 Bg4 Bxg4 54
hxg4 Ne6 55 Kg3 Bc5 0–1
Joint leader after round 5, Magnus
Carlsen
This third win for Magnus catapulted him into the joint lead
with Vishy Anand and Luke McShane; technically he is the
leader on tie-break because he has had more Blacks (and more
wins) than his rivals. The unofficial ‘England versus the
World’ thus ended 3-1 in favour of the World. Asked whether
he liked the ‘football scoring system’, Magnus smiled and
answered “Now I certainly do!”.
Monday is a rest day - round six is on Tuesday.
Scores after round 5:
Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Luke McShane
9/15, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura 8, Mickey Adams 6,
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)
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