An incredible round 3! The players have outdone themselves to bring the thrill to the fans. All four games were decisive.
J. Polgar 1 – 0 Kasimdzhanov
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.g4 e5 8.Nf5 g6 9.g5 gxf5 10.exf5 d5 11.Qf3 d4 12.0–0–0 Nbd7 13.Bxd4 exd4 14.Rxd4 Bg7 15.Rg1 Kf8 16.Qe3 Qe7 17.Qd2 h6 [17…Rg8 is an interesting move.] 18.gxf6÷ Nxf6 19.Rd8+ Ne8 20.Bb5 [20.Rxe8+ Qxe8 21.Qd6+ Qe7 22.Qxe7+ Kxe7 23.Rxg7³] 20…axb5 21.Re1 b4?? [21…Be5 22.f4 Bf6 23.Rxe7 Bxe7 24.Qd4 f6 25.Nxb5 Bxd8 26.Qxd8 Rh7 27.Nd6 Re7 28.Nxe8 Rd7 29.Qxf6+ Kxe8 30.Qh8+ Kf7 31.Qh7+ Kf8 32.Qxh6+ Kg8 33.Qg5+ Rg7 34.Qd8+ Kf7±] 22.Nb5?? [22.Rxe8+! Kxe8 23.Rxe7+ Kxe7 24.Nd5++-] 22…Bxb2+?? [22…Be5 23.Kb1 Kg7–+] 23.Kxb2 Qf6+ 24.Qd4 Kg7 25.Rexe8 Rxe8 26.Rxe8 Qxd4+ 27.Nxd4 Kf6 28.f4 b6 29.Rd8 Bb7 30.Rxa8 Bxa8 31.Kb3 Bd5+ 32.Kxb4 Bxa2 33.Kb5 Bb1 34.c3 Ke7 35.Kxb6 Kd6 36.c4 Bd3 37.c5+ Kd5 38.Nc6 Ke4 39.Ne7 Bc2 40.c6 Ba4 41.c7 Bd7 42.Kc5 1–0
Judit played with her typical all out aggressive style. At one point, she sacrificed a few pieces for heavy developmental initiatives. Judit defeated Anand in a very famous game some years ago with 13. Bd2. This time, she opted for 13. Bxd4. She achieved an overwhelming position. All of a sudden, after a blunder by Kasim on move 21 with b4?, Judit blundered herself on the next move by playing 22. Nb5?? instead of winning move 22. Rxe8+. Kasim failed to capitalize with 22…Be5. After that, Judit played brilliantly to earn her first win. That brought her back to an even score.
Svidler 1 – 0 Leko
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.Nc3 b4 12.Nd5 Na5 13.Ba2 Bc5 14.Bd2 Bxd5 15.Bxd5= Nxd5 16.exd5 Qf6 17.c3 bxc3 18.Bxc3 Qb6 19.Rxe5 Bxf2+ 20.Kh1 d6? [20…f6=] 21.Rxe8+ Rxe8 22.b4 Nb7² 23.Ra2 Bg3 24.Re2 Rd8 [24…Rf8 25.Nd4±] 25.Nd4+- a5 26.Nc6 Rf8 27.Bd4 Qa6 28.b5 Qa8 29.Re7 Be5 30.Nxe5 dxe5 31.Bxe5+- Black’s position is completely hopeless 1–0
This does not seem to be Leko’s tournament. He seems to be out of form. The major mistake of the game for Leko was on move 20 with d6? This pawn move blocked his own Queen from being able to swing over to the Kingside. In addition, it took away the ideal spot for his Knight on d6. Svidler played well to capitalize on Leko’s error. With this win, Svidler vaulted into clear third, only half point behind the leaders.
Anand 1 – 0 Adams
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a4 h6 13.Bc2 exd4 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 c5 16.d5 Nd7 17.Ra3 c4= 18.axb5 axb5 19.Nd4 Qb6 20.Nf5 Ne5 [20…g6÷] 21.Rg3 g6 22.Nf3 Ned3 23.Qd2 Bxd5 [23…Nxe1 24.Nxe1 Ra1 25.Nxh6+ Bxh6 26.Qxh6 Re5 27.Bd2 Rxb1 28.Bxb4 (28.Rxg6+ fxg6 29.Qxg6+ Kf8 30.Bxb4 Ke7–+) 28…Rxb2 29.Rxg6+ fxg6 30.Qxg6+ Kh8 31.Qh6+=] 24.Nxh6+ Bxh6 25.Qxh6 Qxf2+ 26.Kh2 Nxe1 27.Nh4 Ned3?? [27…Ra7 28.exd5 Nbd3 29.Nxg6 Qxg3+ 30.Kxg3 fxg6÷] 28.Nxg6 Qxg3+ 29.Kxg3 fxg6 30.Qxg6+ Kf8 31.Qf6+ Kg8 32.Bh6 1–0
Anand played very aggressively on the White side of the Ruy Lopez. Adams actually defended very well. The game was very exciting until a decisive blunder by Mickey on move 27 with Ned3. 27…Ra7 would have been very interesting. Vishy obviously did not need too many inaccuracies to fully capitalize on it. He finished the game with a very nice combination to earn a share of the lead.
Morozevich 0 – 1 Topalov
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.0–0 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Nxe5 Qc8 8.Qf3 e6 9.d3 Be7 10.Nc3 0–0 11.Bf4 Nfd7 12.Nc4 Nc6 13.Rae1 Nd4 14.Qd1 Qc6= 15.a4 b6 16.Re3 f6 17.Rh3 Rf7 18.Be3 Rd8 19.Re1 Nf8 20.b3 a6 21.Ne2 b5 22.axb5 axb5 23.Nd2 Qc7 24.c4 Nc6 25.cxb5 Nb4 26.Qb1 Nxd3 27.Rd1 Nb4 28.Nc4 Nd5 29.Bd2 Qb8 30.Ba5 Rd7 31.b6 Bd8 32.Rhd3 Nxb6 33.Bxb6 Rxd3 34.Qxd3 Bxb6³ 35.Qe3 Bc7 36.g3 Qb5 37.h4?! Qc6µ 38.f4 Rd7 39.Re1 Bd8 40.Nc3 Be7 41.Ne4 Rd4 42.Nf2 Qd5 43.Nb6 Qb7 44.Nc4 f5 45.Kf1 Bf6–+ 46.Ke2 Rd7 47.Qf3 Qb4 48.Rd1 Bd4 49.g4 h6 50.h5 Qb8 51.Rd2 Rf7 52.g5 hxg5 53.fxg5 Qh2 54.Kd3 Qh4 55.g6 Ra7 56.Nd1 Qg5 57.Nc3 Qg1 58.Rd1 Qh2 59.Nb5 Rd7 60.Nxd4 Qa2 61.Nd2 Qb2 62.Ke2 Qxd4 63.Qe3 Qd6 64.Qf3? The final blow [64.Rh1–+] 64…Qh2+ 65.Ke1 Rd4 66.Qb7 Rd7 67.Qf3 Rd5 68.Nf1 Re5+ 69.Ne3 f4 70.Rd3 Qg1+ 71.Kd2 fxe3+ 72.Rxe3 Qxe3+ 73.Qxe3 Rxe3 74.Kxe3 Nd7 0–1
What can we say about Topalov? He is Mr. Excitement. He is the Energizer Bunny. He can beat you with brut force. He can grind you to death which is the case against Morozevich. It is amazing to me that with just a tiny bit of luck yesterday, he could have been 3-0 against opponents with an average rating of 2750+!! Morozevich needs to do a lot better to bring himself back into contention.
After three rounds, it has been the Topalov – Anand show, the top seeds of the tournament. Svidler is a surprised third and the biggest shock of the tournament so far is the -2 performance of Peter Leko with 2 White so far. There are still 11 games left and I am sure there will be many more shocking results. Overall, the fighting spirit has been very high as 50% of the games are decisive so far.
The World Chess Championship is in full swing. I am pulling for Anand, Topalov, and Polgar. All three are true classics.
Polgar was awesome today with all of the sacrifices she laid on the altar to caissa!!!
Topo had a walk in the park since Moro is playing like a Moron!
And Anand, what can we say about him?!? He whipped Mickey like the silicon beast Hydra did!!!
Hello,
Was Anand’s game fully prepared before the game, or was it over the board set of moves ? Anyway, I am glad he won 🙂
I think we should start placing our bets on Toppy. He may however burn out in the later stages.
I now believe Anand and Topo would score equally against other players. Both display high prepration level, motivation, and fitness, and performance coefficient, higher than the rest of the field.
Logically, their second game then should be a key factor. If it is drawn, we can expect a tie (for 1st position. If it has a decisive result, the winner of that game can expect to become WC outright.
Anand has white in that game. That is an edge. Plus, in case of a draw, his chances increase almost exponentially in the blitz play-offs. Furthermore, Topo can suddenly lose a game or two against other opponents. Anand is known and can be more steady. With these extra considerations, I fancy Anand’s chances to win the WC title outright to be slightly superior, at this stage. We have to see how the next few rounds go.
Hey Susan,
Congrats to Judit, she played really well in this round (even thought my heart was in my mouth on Nb5?) and seems to have recovered well from round one — all the best to her for the next round against Leko!
Talking of Leko, he is hardly recogniseable in this tournament isn’t he? Do you think he is badly prepared, just generally out of form, or both? (Or could there be some deeper explanation that nobody knows about?) He seems really out of sorts to me, having a real nightmare. 🙁
22. Nb5. nearly gave me a heart attack.
Please tell your sister also people with delicate nerves follow her games.
In Anand-Adams, after the variation 23…Nxe1 24.Nxe1 Ra1 25.Nxh6+ Bxh6 26.Qxh6 Re5 27.Bd2 Rxb1 28.Bxb4, doesn’t Bxd5 hold for Black?