Aronian – Carlsen
2007 Corus – Round 5
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.d5 exd5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.0–0 Be7 10.Rd1 Qc8 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bxe7 Nxe7 13.e4 0–0 14.Nc3 Nbc6 15.Rd2 (This to me is the most interesting matchup of the day. Aronian surged last year to break into the top 5. He helped his native country Armenia win Olympiad Gold. He won Linares. Carlsen is a young phenom. He also had a big 2006 and his rating jumped to around the 2700 mark. Both have tremendous talents and both have the potentials to eventually become World Champions. These two will face each other in the candidate’s match soon.) 15…Ba6 (White sacrificed a pawn early on to gain development edge. Black’s d7 pawn will be a problem and Black also has many weaknesses.) 16.Bh3 Ng6 (Black is giving back the weak d7 pawn to open up the position.) 17.Bxd7 Qb7 18.Bh3 Rad8 19.Rad1 Qb8 (Magnus seems to be doing fine in this game. A quick draw against Anand and a day off helped him recoup from 2 consecutive losses.) 20.Bg2 1/2 (I remember Radjabov going through the same stage earlier in his career. He was content drawing the elite. When he gained more confidence and experience, he now goes all out against everyone. I think Magnus is going through this stage now.)
Anand – Svidler [C88]
Corus 2007 – Round 5
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 Re8 10.a4 h6 11.c3 b4 12.Nbd2 d5 (This is also an interesting matchup. Both Anand and Svidler already qualified for the World Championship in Mexico City.) 13.a5 (In my opinion, Black already equalized.) 13…dxe4 14.dxe4 Bc515.Qe2 Qe7 16. Nh4 Nd7 1.7Nf5 Qf6 18.Qg4 Ne7 19.Nxh6+ Qxh6 20.Qxd7 Red8?? (This is a very bad move. Black had to try 20… Qh4 21. Re2 Qh5 22. Nf3 Bd6) 21.Qxc7 +- 1-0
as a caro-kann player the karjakin-wotylev matchup looks interesting. they are palying the advance varaiation eco b12. at first it appears that karjakin had found a way to destroy the pawn-structure of motylev, creating an isolani on e4, but now it seems that motylev has found a weakness, creating a double attack both on d4 and b2, karjakin decided to defend d4. let’s see what happens next…
Carlsen is boring. The kid cannot play. Karjakin match is going to be more interesting. Lets see if the kid has got it in himself to gun for one of the lesser mortals present in this tournament.
I’m still a bit curious as to why people are constantly comparing Carlsen to Karjakin. Besides the fact they are both young GMs, why bother trying to say one is better than the other, when both have already proven themselves?
And to call Carlsen boring? You can call him whatever you want, but boring just doesn’t apply to the kid.
Besides Aronian-Carlsen and Anand-Svidler games, the Navara-Radjobov seems to be the most interesting game of this round. Navara are playing with inventiveness and Radja is as always ready to fight.
karjakin has simply had more experience playing 2700 players than carlsen has- but i would rather watch a carlsen game any day of the week= boring just doesn’t apply to him – i hope he can bounce back in this tournament
Curtains for Svidler!
I think there’s time for more games of the day since these are over. Poor Svidler… he deserved it though. He lacks fighting spirit.
Ponomariov – Krapnik .5 in 19 moves. I DO NOT CARE about tournament strategies and other silly theories. This defeats the fundamental idea of chess – the chess is not how to make a peace but how to outsmart your oponent. M-tel masters tournament is the best because does not allow crap like this.
can someone please update me on results so far- my workplace bans the official site
what on earth just happened? why would svidler give up the c7 pawn??
Shirov – van Wely: still playing
Karjakin – Motylev: still playing
Tiviakov – Topalov: still playing
Navara – Radjabov: still playing
Ponomariov – Kramnik: 1/2 – 1/2
Anand – Svidler: 1 – 0
Aronian – Carlsen: 1/2 – 1/2
Carlsen boring?? if the Kid had seen c6 in game two, things would have been diferent…one unlucky move and you are crap? otherwise a genius? grow up!!
Tiviakov – Topalov
Seems draw-ish (at least my Fruit 2.1 says +0.08). Can we expect Topalov to accept or propose a draw at move number 31? Or will they play until the time control at least?
Tiviakov-Topalov: RybkaWin is steady 0.00 at least 10 moves now.
I am afraid Shirov is going down, down …
Susan thanks for the kind words on Magnus. I know he must be going through some painful growth right now. It is painful for me as a magnus fan. It must be harder on him. It is good to know that this might be normal in his growth.
This has to be good for him to get better in preparation for the WC match with Aronian later.
I am shocked and pleased to see Radjabov doing so well. I did not expect such a strong performance. He certainly seems to be playing with full confidence. The way he is playing now he has a chance to take Mexico. It must spur on those who supported him for a WCC Match.
With this kind of performance everyone will want to see him play a Match.
Kramnik is a Match Champion and it is not fair to force him to play a tournament to keep his Match Championship.
Someone said “The kid cannot play” about Magnus Carlsen. That is just silly – almost every chess player in the world would be very happy to manage half a point against Aronian – even with white.
But I see that Carlsen is not yet good enough to be able to dominate a tournament with the very top players of the world. Maybe we should let him become an adult before expecting that of him? 🙂
Hey. What´s the matter with Peter S? He is low…but though he will play in mexico….
A new generation (Radja, Levon, Alex More) is arising. Only Topalov will stand for the oldies
“He is content drawing the elite”. What a ridiculous statement to make. A draw is the best the kid can pray for against the elite. The losses he suffered in this tournaments prove my point. I cannot undeerstand why the elite are so eager to accept the draw offer from him. I suspect Carlsen has perfected the draw machine – perfectly home prepared drawn openings.