Morelia Round 7
Three more decisive games in the last round in Morelia Saturday!
(Internet was down most of the last night and morning in Morelia and we've just arrived in Linares after 24 hours on the road.)
As white against Aronian Magnus chose an unusual line with 8.a3 in the Ruy Lopez.
Aronian thought for some 10 minutes and chose Bc5 and d6 which probably equalise.
Magnus thought that Aronian's response (Re8) to 11.h3 was somewhat dubious.
He wasn't sure that the pawn sack after 12.Bg5 etc was entirely correct but went for the position reached after 17.Bh4 Nxd4 18.Nc3.
In this highly tactical position with vulnerable kings on both sides, Aronian thought for 35 minutes and exchanged on f3 with his bishop and afterwards played Kh8.
(During the closing ceremony later at night he mentioned that maybe Kh7 instead would be winning. Seemingly none of the players considered c6 a serious alternative for black neither on move 18 nor 19 during the game.)
Magnus played Nd5 and Aronian quite quickly responded Rg8+, and after Kf1 offered his queen with Ng4?! threatening mate.
However, Magnus could sacrifice back with Qxd4+ Bxd4 and take on d8 afterwards. Despite being a pawn down Magnus is simply winning after 25.Rad1 due to the trapped knight on h2. Aronian got two more pawns for the knight but due to his many weaknesses Magnus could wrap up the game and grab the whole point around the time control, having spent just above one hour on the clock. One heck of a game!
Radjabov has enjoyed a string of successes with the Kings Indian defence over the last year and a half, but Saturday he was beaten by Shirov.
Anand did not get a significant advantage against Ivanchuk after the opening and a draw was agreed well into the middle game in a fairly balanced position.
Topalov equalised after the opening against Leko and probably had a slight advantage in the middle game. In time trouble Leko chose to give up his queen for two rooks but with a knight left on each side Topalov quickly decided the game with threats against h2 and the rook on d1. 0-1.
At the conclusion of the first half in Morelia, the scorecard is symmetrical with Anand in the lead at +2, Shirov and Topalov at +1, Magnus and Aronian at 50%, Ivanchuk and Radjabov at -1 and Leko at -2.
Bearing in mind Morozevich' comeback in Linares to share 2nd (with Magnus) last year after his miserable 2/7 in Morelia, the tournament is still fairly open although the pre-tournament favourite Anand obviously has strengthened his candidacy further.
Magnus is generally very satisfied with having won two games thus far, and he hopes to reduce the numbers of blunders significantly in the Linares part.
Last year we travelled by bus to Mexico City while most of the players this year flew from the local airport in Morelia before the overnight transatlantic flight to Madrid and bus trip to Linares.
Round 8 starts at 16:00 on Thursday 28th. Magnus has black against Ivanchuk.
Henrik Carlsen,
Linares, February 25th 2008
(Internet was down most of the last night and morning in Morelia and we've just arrived in Linares after 24 hours on the road.)
As white against Aronian Magnus chose an unusual line with 8.a3 in the Ruy Lopez.
Aronian thought for some 10 minutes and chose Bc5 and d6 which probably equalise.
Magnus thought that Aronian's response (Re8) to 11.h3 was somewhat dubious.
He wasn't sure that the pawn sack after 12.Bg5 etc was entirely correct but went for the position reached after 17.Bh4 Nxd4 18.Nc3.
In this highly tactical position with vulnerable kings on both sides, Aronian thought for 35 minutes and exchanged on f3 with his bishop and afterwards played Kh8.
(During the closing ceremony later at night he mentioned that maybe Kh7 instead would be winning. Seemingly none of the players considered c6 a serious alternative for black neither on move 18 nor 19 during the game.)
Magnus played Nd5 and Aronian quite quickly responded Rg8+, and after Kf1 offered his queen with Ng4?! threatening mate.
However, Magnus could sacrifice back with Qxd4+ Bxd4 and take on d8 afterwards. Despite being a pawn down Magnus is simply winning after 25.Rad1 due to the trapped knight on h2. Aronian got two more pawns for the knight but due to his many weaknesses Magnus could wrap up the game and grab the whole point around the time control, having spent just above one hour on the clock. One heck of a game!
Radjabov has enjoyed a string of successes with the Kings Indian defence over the last year and a half, but Saturday he was beaten by Shirov.
Anand did not get a significant advantage against Ivanchuk after the opening and a draw was agreed well into the middle game in a fairly balanced position.
Topalov equalised after the opening against Leko and probably had a slight advantage in the middle game. In time trouble Leko chose to give up his queen for two rooks but with a knight left on each side Topalov quickly decided the game with threats against h2 and the rook on d1. 0-1.
At the conclusion of the first half in Morelia, the scorecard is symmetrical with Anand in the lead at +2, Shirov and Topalov at +1, Magnus and Aronian at 50%, Ivanchuk and Radjabov at -1 and Leko at -2.
Bearing in mind Morozevich' comeback in Linares to share 2nd (with Magnus) last year after his miserable 2/7 in Morelia, the tournament is still fairly open although the pre-tournament favourite Anand obviously has strengthened his candidacy further.
Magnus is generally very satisfied with having won two games thus far, and he hopes to reduce the numbers of blunders significantly in the Linares part.
Last year we travelled by bus to Mexico City while most of the players this year flew from the local airport in Morelia before the overnight transatlantic flight to Madrid and bus trip to Linares.
Round 8 starts at 16:00 on Thursday 28th. Magnus has black against Ivanchuk.
Henrik Carlsen,
Linares, February 25th 2008
Comments:
Posted by: shams
a nice win for Magnus.
50% is a fine score for the first half of the tournament, given how a couple of his openings have looked.
re: the Radjabov game-- Magnus, if you're going to play the Berlin defense, you have to be content with drawing from an even position, no?
50% is a fine score for the first half of the tournament, given how a couple of his openings have looked.
re: the Radjabov game-- Magnus, if you're going to play the Berlin defense, you have to be content with drawing from an even position, no?
Posted by: Christian R
Veldig bra kommentarer. Vi følger spent med videre i turneringen.
Lykke til!
Lykke til!
Posted by: Kristian Wennberg
Vi følger deg videre i Spania Magnus.Lykke til!!!!
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