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Linares 99
Round 2
by GM Alexander Khalifman
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White |
Black |
Result |
Opening |
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Ivanchuk |
Kasparov |
0 : 1 |
Sicilian ( B90 ) |
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Svidler |
Kramnik |
Draw |
Petroff (C42 ) |
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Topalov |
Adams |
Draw |
Ruy Lopez ( C88 ) |
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Anand |
Leko |
Draw |
English ( A34 ) |
Games of Rounds 1-5 in PGN
Ivanchuk - Kasparov annotated!
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Preview
It's very tempting to continue prophet practice. Once again I'm not going to explain my point of view seriously (not to be ridiculous if everything will go another way) just a look at the chances |
and reality. Now I feel really a bit confused. Almost all my prophecies for round 2 happened to be wrong. In two games I couldn't foresee even White's first move. However, in these games White scored less than I expected. So probably my "recommendations" were not that bad after all. Were they, Vishy and Vassily? Well, they're both in Linares, so they know it better. There are two leaders now. As I told in my Tournament Preview , Kasparov started scoring with his outstanding opening preparation. Veselin Topalov could join him but he didn't use his chances so Michael Adams remained on top. Vishy played a bit strange from the very first move. Luckily for him Peter Leko felt groggy after round 1 nightmare and was not aiming for more than draw. |
Ivanchuk - Kasparov - both were very solid in the starting round. I think they'll be even more solid tomorrow. After opening theory check in (…not so easy) some Queen's Gambit Declined there will be another DRAW (?)Ivanchuk - Kasparov previous games in PGN |
In his last games with Kasparov Vassily didn't play 1.e4 - right he was! In Linares he tried somewhat sharper - look what happened. |
Svidler - Kramnik - these two grandmasters used to give a try to Sveshnikov Sicilian . As Vladimir's preparation always seemed to be just a bit better, the normal result would be a DRAW (?)Svidler - Kramnik previous games in PGN |
Vladimir probably got bored sharing his Sveshnikov knowledge with Peter so he gave Petroff a try. It was hardly surprising - in 1998-99 Kramnik played this opening regularly but with Svidler he did it for the first time. Peter came up with some interesting novelty in highly disputed line - 12.Qb5!? ( everybody played 12.Qa4 before. The next games will probably tell us better if there is some poison in Svidler's idea - this game transposed quite soon into the balanced ending - draw .
position after 11…Na5 (12.Qb5!?) |
Topalov - Adams - it seems to be another Closed Ruy Lopez with strong peaceful trends also. I don't think Veselin will be pushing too hard as he had rather bad results playing Michael recently. My opinion - DRAW (?)Topalov - Adams previous games in PGN |
Good guys! They did their best to save my prophet reputation. Yes, there was Closed ( Anti-Marshall) Ruy Lopez. In some typical position Topalov outmanoeuvred his opponent (probably 15…c6 was the reason as Black white-squared bishop became a problem after this). After 30 moves Topalov obtained serious advantage but later he didn't find the best way to attack and Black escaped to a draw ..
ïîç position after 30…Rd8 (31.Qh4!) Topalov played 31.Qf3 and later the game was drawn |
Anand - Leko - Young Peter had probably rather bad drawing of lots. I don't believe his Caro-Kann will survive another treatment. Vishy will break through somehow - 1 : 0 (?)
Anand - Leko previous games in PGN
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For some misterious reason Anand didn't choose his move 1.e4 in favour of 1.Nf3 (Kramnik's influence?) but unlike Kramnik couldn't get any advantage. Even more: after he played ambitious 18.Nd6? Red8 it became clear that "brilliant" 19.Rxe6? is easily met with 19…Bf8!, winning material. So Vishy had to move his knight back to e4, losing one more tempo. After this Leko could simply take pawn a4 with good winning chances. Probably he couldn't believe this smile of fortune and didn't do this just to offer a draw after 4 next moves. OK, considering what happened to him the day before it's easy to understand. Anand still had no reason to refuse - draw .
position after 20.Ne4 (20…Qxà4!) Leko played 20…Qc4 and offered a draw after 4 next moves |
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