Morozevich – Anand [E15] (Round 2 – Linares)
Linares 2007, 06.03.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qb3 (A less known line. More popular lines are: 5.b3; 5.Nbd2; 5.Qa4) 5…d5 6.cxd5 Qxd5 7.Qd1 c5 8.Nc3 Qd8 9.Bg2 Bb7 10.O-O Nbd7 (11.Bf4 is the book move here. White is a tiny bit better.) 11.Bf4 Be7 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Qxd8+ Rxd8 14.Ne5 Nd5 (For a guy who is leading by a full point with just a few rounds left, Anand would be very content to have this position, especially as Black. He should have no problem drawing with the symmetrical pawn structure.) 15.Nb5 f6 16.Bxd5 exd5 17.Nf3 (Morozevich is trying to mix things up to avoid having a drawish position. Unfortunately, he has to offer Black the Bishop pair. Black now has a small edge.) 17…Kf7 18.Nfd4 a6 19.Nc3 Rc8 20.Rfd1 (Anand only has 1 weakness. That’s the pawn on d5. Therefore, Moro is making a play for it.) 20…Rhd8 21.f3 b5 22.a3 Bf8 23.Be3 Nd7 24.Nc2 Ne5 25.Bd4 (White is still going after the same d pawn. However, Black is clearly better. In addition to the Bishop pair, Black’s Knight is located in an excellent position. The Knight can jump back and forth between e5 and c4, causing White headaches.)
UPDATE: It looks like Carlsen has reached a winning endgame. Svidler and Topalov are engaging in a very exciting Sicilian battle.
25…Rd7 26.Kf2 Nc4 27.Ra2 Na5 28.Bb6 Nc4 29.Bd4 Na5 1/2
UPDATE: Carlsen won to pull within 1/2 point of Anand.
Do you like Magnus’ position?
Judith, can you pls talk about the reasons behind the accelerated fianchetto variation ? What kind of midgame arises out of early b7 and Ba6 lines ? Thanks. I dont see much comments on this opening even on Chessbase site analysis.
Is it Judith? I thought it was Susan Polgar?
oops – me bad. Made a fool of myself with the mix up of names. I hope susan doesnt mind it. I actually had susan in thoughts, but the names are mixed up in my mind. Being a foreginer, its easy to get confused with english names for me 🙂 Sorry about that susan.
Carlsen wins
Yes, Magnus won! He had a winning position from around move 20 or so, I think…
Besides ICC, how do I see the games live?
mcarlsen has won! ivanchuk blundered big time again…svidler topalov looks interseting…anand content to keep it safe..it’s up to morozevich to mix things up.
http://www.chesspro.ru/chessonline/onlines/index_317.html
see the live games here!
http://www.chess-live-radio.com/
seed:
(Aronian – Leko), (Morozevich – Anand), (Carlsen – Ivanchuk) (although this one has finished), (Topalov – Svidler)
Susan,
“The Knight can jump back and forth between e5 and c4, causing White headaches”.
But Rd7 has restrcited the knight moves. What could be motive behind the move ? Doubling the rooks ?
rybka eval in topalov-svidler please.
was anand right to agree to a draw? this is the kind of position even drawnik would have tortured his opponent for a while .. susan your comments would be appreciated.
up by a point befire th game, with black pieces, anand’s decision was acceptable. plus he has 2 consecutive white pieces comin up! i think the linares title is in the bag unless ivanchuk plays to win his last game against him and carlsen picks up another win
leko winning!
wow ivanchuk overlooked such an obvious pin against carlsen O.O
anand hes probaly one of my favorites. hes fun to watch. you never know what to expect with anand. hes usually in exciting games. maybe this hasnt got anything to do with the game but anand likes his h3 to cut off g4 and a3 to cut off b4 when he plays white. hes also one of those players that likes to castle queenside more than most. anand also like his ruy lopez opening. i think hes infulenced alot by fischer. this is just my opinion.
wolverine