GM Leko (2749) – GM Anand (2779) [E04]
25.02.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.e3 Bd7 8.Nc3 b5 9.Ne5 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Nd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.Qxd5 Rb8 13.a4 Bb4 14.Rd1 Qe7 15.Bd2 Bc5 16.axb5 axb5 17.Ba5 c6 18.Qd2 Rc8 19.Rac1 h5 20.b4 Ba7 21.Ra1 Rh6 22.Qc3 Bf5 23.e6 Rxe6 24.Qxg7 Bg4 25.Rd2 Bb8 26.h3 Be5 27.Qg8+ Qf8 28.Qxf8+ Kxf8 29.Rc1 Bf5 30.e4 Bh7 31.Bb6 Bf6 32.h4 Bxe4 33.Bh3 Bd5 34.Bxe6 fxe6 35.Bc5+ Be7 36.Bxe7+ Kxe7 37.Rb2 Kd6 38.Kf1 c5 39.Ke2 cxb4 40.Rxb4 Kc5 41.Rcb1 Bc6 Black wins 0-1
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GM Ivanchuk (2750) – GM Aronian (2744) [D38]
25.02.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Qc2 c5 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.e3 0-0 12.Be2 b6 13.0-0 Bb7 14.Rfc1 Rac8 15.dxc5 Qxc3 16.Rxc3 Rxc5 17.Rcc1 Rfc8 18.Rd1 Rc2 19.Bb5 Nf8 20.Rab1 R2c7 21.Ba4 Ne6 22.Bb3 Kf8 23.h3 Rc5 24.Kh2 Ke7 25.Rd2 Rb5 26.Ba2 Rbc5 27.Ne1 a5 28.Rbd1 Rd8 29.Kg3 Rb5 30.f3 Rc8 31.Nd3 d4 32.Bxe6 Kxe6 33.Nf4+ Ke7 34.Rxd4 Rc7 35.R1d2 Rbc5 36.e4 Rc4 37.Rd6 R4c6 38.e5 Rc2 39.Rxc2 Rxc2 40.Rxb6 Bc6 41.b4 g5 42.Nh5 axb4 43.axb4 Bd5 44.Ng7 Re2 45.Nf5+ Ke8 46.Nxh6 Be6 47.Rb5 Rb2 48.Rb8+ Kd7 49.Rg8 White wins 1-0
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GM Svidler (2728) – GM Carlsen (2690) [B35]
25.02.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Bb3 e6 9.0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.c3 Na5 13.Qd3 Nxb3 14.axb3 a6 15.Qd2 Re8 16.Rfe1 Bd7 17.Nc2 Bc6 18.Bd4 f6 19.Rxe8+ Qxe8 20.h3 Qf7 21.Nb4 Bf8 22.Nxc6 bxc6 23.b4 Bd6 24.b5 cxb5 25.Bxf6 a5 26.Bd4 Qf4 27.Qxf4 Game drawn 1/2-1/2
Topalov won over Moro
Ivanchuck win over Aronian
Carlsen draw with Svidler
Anand wins over Leko
Carlsen and Anand 4.5/7
Ivanchuk 4.0
Aronian Svidler 3.5
Topalov Leko 3.0
Morozevich 2.0
ends Morelia half
I was disappointed by Morozevich play. He was black and sacrificed a knight for a couple of pawns but he was not developed and not castled. And in the end that killed him.
Had he been developed and castled he would not have had many problems. Also his move of Rc7 was a developing move when he had no time for development. it was a big error. It did not take care of the problems. He needed to play Qf4 so that later white could not play Qg4 or as played Qg5. Stopping the Qg5 moves was critical and he had a rook on c7 doing nothing extra that it was not doing on a7. Obviously he did not see the need to stop Qg5 later.
to be fair all my moves are from computer analysis noted during the game.
Topalov missed a lot of much better moves. I have not seen him play so loose. Usually he is dead on to the computer moves in complex positions.
Makes one wonder what Chucky would do if he was prepared for this tournament…..or maybe preparation is not that important any more??
Ivanchuck game is the best!
Somehow i still don’t see what is the advantage of white moving back at…
17.RCc1????
He seam to be so positional but yet very tactical!
His deep long strategy seams…to have many tactical underpinning rather than just positional…
But i guess you need to think deep and hard with solid calculation to play his type of game!
I found 17. RCc1 amazing at first, too. It seems so unnatural to withdraw the rook and give black the c file (with threats of doubling rooks and putting a rook on c2). I think Ivanchuk saw that the pressure he could put on black’s iso pawn was real, whereas Aronian’s play along the c file would only be illusory. good strategic vision.