Radjabov, T (2757) – Leko, P (2762) [A05]
2nd Pearl Spring – Nanjing, China (7), 05.10.2009
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 0–0 5.Bg2 d5 6.c4 c6 7.0–0 Bg4 8.d3 Nbd7 9.Nbd2 Re8 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Nxf3 e5 12.e3 e4 13.dxe4 dxc4 14.e5 Ne4 15.Rc1 c3 16.Bxc3 Nxc3 17.Rxc3 Nxe5 18.Nxe5 Bxe5 19.Qxd8 Rexd8 20.Rc2 a5 21.Rb1 Bd6 22.Bf3 Bb4 23.Rd1 Rxd1+ 24.Bxd1 Rd8 25.Be2 Rd2 26.Rxd2 Bxd2 27.Kf1 Kf8 28.Bd3 Ke7 29.Ke2 Bb4 30.a4 Bc3 31.Bc4 Bb4 32.Bd3 Bc3 33.Bc4 Bb4 34.Bd3 ½–½
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Wang Yue (2736) – Jakovenko, D (2742) [D84]
2nd Pearl Spring – Nanjing, China (7), 05.10.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0–0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.Bxc7 Na6 9.Bxa6 Qxg2 10.Qf3 Qxf3 11.Nxf3 bxa6 12.Rc1 f6 13.Rg1 Bb7 14.Ke2 Rac8 15.Rgd1 Rf7 16.Ba5 Rff8 17.Rc5 e5 18.Rdc1 exd4 19.Nxd4 Rxc5 20.Rxc5 Rc8 21.Rxc8+ Bxc8 22.Bb4 Kf7 23.Bc5 f5 24.Bxa7 g5 25.b3 h6 26.Bb8 f4 27.Kd3 fxe3 28.fxe3 h5 29.e4 Kg6 30.a4 g4 31.Bf4 h4 32.e5 a5 33.e6 Bxd4 34.e7 Kf7 35.Kxd4 g3 36.hxg3 h3 37.g4 Bxg4 38.Bd6 Bd1 39.Kc3 Ke8 40.b4 axb4+ 41.Kxb4 h2 42.Bxh2 Kxe7 ½–½
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“Hard fought” sniff sniff– I can smell the scent of sarcasm.
And people wonder why top-level chess is not popular.
Btw, I have a concrete, possibly testable theory about “what is wrong with chess”, as Kasparov claims. It’s very simple: people use computers for home preparation; computers give reasonably reliable predictions only in positions with some pieces and pawns (especially pawns) traded; ergo, home preparation will tend towards analyzing positions where much of the visible fight is already out of the game because of piece and pawn trades.
The Jakovenko-Carlsen game is a good example. The home prep went up to a position with two pairs of minors and 2 pawns each off the board, with a settled pawn structure on one side of the board.
The resulting position was purely technical, and Carlsen won because Jakovenko played with no purpose for many moves. It wasn’t a bad game, but it just has no interest.