I will be doing LIVE Commentary on ICC Chess.FM as well as doing LIVE blogging for you right here. I have been sick this whole week and lost my voice. I barely got it back for today. Hope you can hear me well.
Leko – Carlsen [E15]
Linares, 10.03.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Ba6 7.b3 0–0 8.Nc3 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bg2 Re8 11.Ne5 c5 12.0–0 Bb7 13.Rfd1 (If Carlsen wins and Anand draws, Carlsen will win 1st in tiebreaks since they go by the most number of wins.) 13…Na6 14.Qf4 (Today seems to be Queen’s Indian day. 3/4 games are Queen’s Indian.) 14…Nc7 15.Ng4 (White is slightly better but not much. Carlsen is fine.) 15…Nxg4 16.Qxg4 Qf6 (White has an easier time playing this game. He knows his target is the d5 pawn. Black is worse.) 17.e3 Rad8 18.Rac1 Qe7 19.dxc5 bxc5 20.Qa4 (Black is in quite a bit of trouble here. He has too many weaknesses such as the d5 and a7 pawn. Leko may score his first win here.) 20…Rd7 (This is actually interesting. I think the most obvious move would be 20…a6. However, I think Rd7 is fine.) 21.Ne4 (Utilizing the pin on the d5 pawn.) 21…d4 (Black has a trap here. If Nxc5??, Black would be better with dxe3. This is one example: 22.Nxc5 dxe3 23.Bxb7 exf2+ 24.Kg2 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Qe1 -+) 22.exd4 (Leko didn’t fall for any trap as expected. White is now comfortably better.) 22…Bxe4 23.Bxe4 Ne6 24.d5 Nd4 25.Re1 Qd8 26.Kf1 Rde7 27.Bd3 Qc8 28.g4 Rxe1+ 29.Rxe1 Rf8 30.h3 Qd8 31.Be4 (Leko has continued well up to here. He just has to consolidate his position and he should win this endgame.) 31…Qb6 32.Bg2 g6 33.Kg1 Kg7 (It seems that both players are in time pressure. The last few moves have been what you call time pressure more, non-commital, non-risky moves. Now, Qd7 followed by perhaps Qe7 to bring the Queen into the Kingside action is a good plan.) 34.Qd7 Rd8 35.Qe7 a5 (Magnus is just trying to liquidate the Queenside pawns to get rid of some of his weaknesses. I highly doubt that Leko will allow it to happen.) 36.Kh1 Nb5 (Just a desperate move.) 37.Re6 (The best continuation.) Nd6 38.Qf6+ Kg8 (Black’s position is hopeless. It is just a matter of time.) 39.Re7 a4?? (40.Rxf7 and Black can resign immediately!) 40.axb4?? (Leko missed it but he still has a winning position.) 40…c4 (Even though White is still winning, he has some work to do. He made it more difficult for himself by not playing 40.Rxf7. Let’s throw away your Rybka, Fritz or Junior for a moment and put on your human thinking cap. How does White win? It is harder that it looks.) 41.Kh2 (Leko spent a lot of time for this move. Again, there is no clear easy win. Leko has to grind this out now if he wants to win his first game.) 41…Qb8 42.f4 (So Leko found a solid plan. He is pushing his f pawn to break open the Kingside.) 42…Qb8 42.f4 Qc8 43.Re3 Re8 (The correct move here would be trading the Rook.) 44.Rxe8 Nxe8 (Now Leko is doing well again. The more pieces off the board, the easier for him to grind. Now, I like 45.Qc6. The game will be soon over because Black no longer has much counter chances.) 45.Qc6 Qxc6 46.dxc6 Ke7 47.Kg3 Ke7 48.Kf2 Kd6 49.Ke3 Kc5 50.g5 Nc7 51.a3 Ne6 (The end is about to come.) 52.Be4 c3 53.f5 1-0
I bet Topalov will try real hard for the win… and push too hard, and end up losing a drawn game…
Its unfortunate that he has had a bad showing… but he has more fighting spirit, and plays chess from his heart than any of these other guys… just notice that almost all his games are tough battles, where he fights till there is nothing left, creating weaknesses for himself in order to take advantage of imbalances…
I really appreciate his chess…
whereas the other guys look for the quick draw…
I too can’t access chess.fm. Looks like they ignored Susan’s request to mak it free.
Topalov got exhausted after yesterday, apparently
ROFL Topalov has drawn already on move 20. Such fighting spirit. What a tiger 🙂
leko and ivanchuk slightly better both because of both the problem d-pawn for black! morozevich’s game interesting as usual…anything can still happen although i want anand to win the title!
One can sign up for free (7 days trial) at ICC. I just did it works fine !
I know about the 7 day trial. Susna has promised access without that. That didn’t happen.
Susan is not able to blog more and comments are short and not detailed….maybe because she is busy on chess.fm. I wish they would have given some kind of password for a day just for the members of susan’s blogging site, so we can listen to her. Everyone seems to be risking except topalov today and the excitement would be more with analysis from susan.
no kidding… the chessfm was supposed to be free today… without the trial, which i used and can’t access anymore.
shame… shouldnt promise if you cant deliver
21…d4 (Black has a trap here. If Nxc5??, Black would be better with dxe3.) ……… Susan, i have looked closer by myself and cant figure out this comment. I dont see how black can get better position with dxe3 line as you said. Can you please add more comment to this line showing the line further. Thanks much.
By the way, do any of the readers understand what i am failing to see ? Whats the line behind susan’s comment saying…. “21…d4 (Black has a trap here. If Nxc5??, Black would be better with dxe3.) “. Thanks for looking into this.
ok – never mind that previous post. I found it. The trap involves dxe3 followed by exf2 next move with mate threats. very nice by carlsen. Of course, it helps to know apriori that there is a trap in that line like susan pointed out. then u look for moves 🙂
oh, susan also explained it in her posting, which i didnt see, prior to my post above. Thanks susan, for explaining it further in your coverage. Would stump some of the lower players like me at first sight.
Anand drew with Ivanchuk….have to see if Carlsen will win to win this tournament or whether Anand will win it.
Carlsen will be lucky to hold a draw
The game has reached critcal stage with furthe moves, but susan is probably busy at chess.fm. I miss her commentary at this stage, because carlsen has managed to get out of a difficult position. By the way, susan said if carlsen draws that enough to win the tourney (but she has congradulated Anand already on winning the crown). I dont understand. Looks like carlsen has a chance to draw now, at move 32. I wonder what susan is saying on live radio.
Leko just overlooked a dead sure victory on move 40. If Rxf7, Carlsen is forced to take the rook with knight (to avoid Qg7 mate), allowing Leko take Carlsen’s queen (game over). Instead, Leko did bxa4.
Leko don’t deserve to win the game
becouse of that blunder.
Carlsen will save it (I hope,becouse he can)
most are saying 41. Rb7 will end the game for Magnus
Susan: Great to hear your voice on Chess FM today!
41.Rb7….Qa6 – how will the game end ? Whats your reasoning tyler ?
I couldn’t figure it out myself… thats just what they were saying in the FICS chatrooms for a while.