Svidler 1/2 – 1/2 Adams
A somewhat uneventful Petroff draw at the end! Neither side really wanted to try anything when there are still plenty left to play for. I understand that it is not easy for White to try to go for the win in the final position due to black’s active Bishop pair. However, why not at least play on a little further? Black’s a6 and c6 pawns are quite ugly. This is a World Championship. If you don’t at least try to win in such a position as white, when would you try to go for the win at all?
Morozevich 1/2 – 1/2 Kasimdzhanov
The final position was a dead draw but at least there were some minor actions. Kasim seemed to equalize as Black quite effortlessly. Neither side was really in danger of losing at any time. It is a fairly decent start for Kasim with Black. Back to the drawing board for Morozevich to get a better edge with White next time.
J. Polgar 0 – 1 Anand
As I said before the round, it would be a fairly peaceful game unless Judit decides to make an issue as White. She did! She made an issue out of it and was severely punished for castling to the Queenside. Her Kingside attack was stopped stone cold before any real fireworks. Anand cautiously put out all the fire on the Kingside then launched his own deadly counter attack on the Queenside against Judit’s unsafe King. This certainly was a disappointing start for my sister but there are still 13 games left.
Leko 0 – 1 Topalov
Just like in Judit’s game, Leko decided to make an early issue. He also castled on the Queenside. However, his position really looked good and he had excellent chances to win. On move 17, he could have played 17. f4 which would have lead to an even better position for White even though there was nothing wrong with 17. Kb1. All of a sudden, Leko made a number of inaccuracies starting with 20.Nf5?! [20.Nb6 Rb8 (20…Qxb6 21.Nxe6! Qxf2 22.Nc7#) 21.Bg3 Rd8 22.Nb3±] 20…g5 21.Bg3 Rc8 22.Qd4?! Rg8 23.c3? Rd8 24.Qxd8+ Qxd8 25.Rxd8+ Kxd8 26.Ne3 Bc6 27.Nb6 bxc3 28.bxc3 Bg7 29.Bxf4? [10.Kc2 Kc7 and Black is better] 30…gxf4 31.Nd1 Bb5–+. The Bishop pair was simply too powerful and Topalov easily converted the position to a full point. This has to be a very painful loss for Leko.
So what is the moral of round 1? In this caliber of play, you cannot make too many inaccuracies. In addition, if you live by the sword, be prepared to die by the sword. Bishop pair is powerful and don’t forget one of the basic of chess: King safety is a must even for 2700+ players!
Round 2 pairings:
Adams vs. J.Polgar
Leko vs. Morozevich
Kasimdzhanov vs. Svidler
Topalov vs. Anand
Awesome overview! Thanks Susan!
Remind me to NEVER castle long! The only two people to castle Queenside were the only two people to lose. OUCH
ICC and Playchess finally acknowledged that they would be covering the tournament shortly before it started. No audio on ICC(chessfm) until Friday but Playchess did have audio commentary. GM Yasser Seirawan has an excellent radio voice.
JUdit must have been listening to him becasue she resigned very shortly after he recommended it. I knew she was in trouble when Anand(and Judit) ignored the hanging f pawn.Too bad she had to face Anand in the very first game. I doubt many others would have tried to beat him instead of going for a draw.
Thanks for the commentary Susan. YOu should get a lot of people reading it. Kudos for getting this blog link on ICC as one of the best two or three places to get reviews and info on the tournament.
Excellent summary! You’re right on target. This is cool!
Javier
Nice review! A win by Topalov tomorrow would be huge; a win by Anand tommorrow–wow….
Bill Brock, Chicago
Hi Bill! Welcome! I posted on the USCF forum about this daily report. A few minutes later, each one of my posts was deleted. Not sure why? Anyway, good to see you here.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
http://www.SusanPolgarFoundation.org
Your comments are right on. Good job!
E. Sanchez
Miami, Florida
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Susan, don’t you think, that the opening play of your little sister was , to put it mildly, not very good? Yasser didn’t like any move she made (well, 5, 9, and 14 in particular). So the game was almost over after her 14th move (not really, but Anand is Anand).
Best regards from Germany
my tips for today:
Adams vs. J.Polgar 1-0
Leko vs. Morozevich 0-1
Kasimdzhanov vs. Svidler 1/2
Topalov vs. Anand 1-0
we had exciting games yesterday so let’s see some more 😉
Thanks for preview , review & analysis. Short and sweet.
just wanted to leave a little note thanking you for the review.
I just think judith didnt expect Vishy to play the Caro Kann at all. he swindled her by his opening choice just like he did in Mainz by not playing the sicilian in game 8. judith will have great chances against topalov’s sicilian later on though.
Topalov has shown all year that fortune follows the brave. He has waded into complications and more often than not his opponents have blundered – Adams in Linares, Kramnik in Wijk & Sofia and now Leko here.
adams judith round 2 should be a sicilian.
I agree. I also think that she had the jitter bug in round 1. She was not sure whether to play safe and castle to the the Kingside or castle to the Queenside and go all out. She was somewhat decisive and it was a mistake. It was one of her worst games in a long time. I expect her to rebound quickly.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
Susan you are my dream girl I wish I had a chance to play chess with you are so hot i would probably let you win Love KingKiller, you could play online at a site called itsyourturn.com I’m play a lot there