Congrats to Anand on finally reaching #1 in the World!   

(Not a moment too soon, with Carlsen finding that he can play on the big stage.)

Moro's win today against Topalov is an excellent endgame to study.  I'm going to spend some time this weekend with my computer off just looking at that one.  Toppy may be way out of form, but his opponents have had to produce some special stuff to beat him.

Does this mean Topalov is about to lose his number 1 spot on the FIDE rating list?

WOW...round 13 and Topalov loses again. This must be one of his worst performances in recent memory.

Wow, two black wins today. And black seemed to get the better end of nearly every game.

I am a bit confused, why did they agree to a draw after Nxa2? Doesn't black look better here....

Edit:

By the way 
Your vote on 03/02/07 at 17:09:33:
Magnus Carlsen

Svidler also looks like getting crushed again in this Najdorf line by Topa. Of course, he could do with the same result of that crushing as at Corus, but that may be too much to hope for….

I am gonna go ahead and say that Ivanchuk should resign... (move 33 when I write this)

@Ostrapbender

Well at least as a topalov-fan   

My mail was partly a reaction on JonHecht's posting (a raving topalov-hater  )

But I promise to post some analysis on 73...Kd5 in the endgame-section.
A thread has allready been opened there by others.
Mind you I didnt state Toppy missed the win, but that he could have set Leko more difficult
problems, especially given Leko's time-trouble.

One of the main reasons I don't predict extremely young players to win top-flight round robin tournaments is the extreme physical duress these tournaments put on the players.  Carlsen may be extremely gifted, but it will take a couple more years before he will have the stamina to win such a major tournament.  (Of course, I'll watch closely to see if I'm wrong.)

My choice to win the tournament has been Anand all along.

Wow, Anand has won both games against Carlsen.


Edit: I hope that Topalov takes the pawn and gets triple isos, that'd be fun.

Aronian-Morozevich just drawn, but Anand-Carlsen just got interesting...

                           Anand-Carlsen  
http://www.france-echecs.com/diagramme/imgboard.phpfen=n3r3/q2b1p1k/p2pN1pp/1p1P...
                              after 30.f5

or should this have been the position?

                           Anand-Carlsen  
http://www.france-echecs.com/diagramme/imgboard.phpfen=n1r1b3/q4p1k/p2pN1pp/1p1P...
                              after 30.f5

                                   
The relayer on the Playchess server can't seem to decide...  

---

Apparently the second position (above) is correct, and after 30... gxf5 31.exf5 f6 32.Re1 Nc7 33.Rc1 Bd7 34.Rc3 it looks like Carlsen is in trouble.  I haven't worked out all variations, but it looks like ...fxe6 was never a viable option for Black - in which case Anand's 27.Ne6 may be the game's decisive move.

Quote:


lol, that was on the mark..

Jon,

on the najdorf - Be3 - it looks like Black has got his act together see Van Wely v Shirov, Karjakin v Anand and Svidler v Karjakin (obviously learning) and the Nb3 lines aren't that great./ Look at today's Topalov game v Anand in Nf3 - not so hard to play Black surely ?

On 6 f4 e5 is very comfortable equaliser.

On 6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Qb6 (Poisoned pawn) and 7. ........ Nbd7 are fine. And whilst we're on the subject of the pp 10 e5 doesn't exactly look like it's holding up.

6 bc4 isn't exactly the strongest although I'd admit to it being a little trappy. the Nbd7 system neutralised one line  but I don't think the Qf3 systems are dangerous for black in any event - see how quickly Kasparov gave the Bc4 line up after his Short match when he had to defend it - although i think from memory he might have played one more game with white with it after this match.

6 g3 is solid but hardly life threatening

6 be2 not very dangerous in the old main line and the modern Kh1 seems to have lost it's favour not that it was that strong anyway- key point black had to take on board was 9,,,,,,,,b5 was rubbish- most lines are fine . Karpov system only seemed to work for the great man !

I don't doubt that the najdorf can lead to a double-edged game but I am just trying to show you how tough life is for 1e4 players . 

I think Vishy might need to think about getting his old 1d4 back into his normal repertoire in view of his lack of bite with white . 

I also think it's significant that Leko has taken this decision as well !

I know that Vishy is in the lead but it seems to me that he doesn't have any significant novelties and that if you are black you might as well just wheel out the Petroff, Marshall or Najdorf and you'll have an easy time.

Or is this just part of the general problem with 1e4 ?

JonHecht wrote on 03/02/07 at 17:11:39:

Was this on ICC?  During live broadcasts I've listened to there in the past (don't have an active membership at the moment), it seemed to me that most of the titled players weren't hearing kibitzing except from other titled players.  I've encountered ocassional rudeness on ICC but generally have found people (including the ocassional titled player) to be polite -- as well as patient and tolerant of my too often off-the-mark kibitzing! 

Leko-Ivanchuk is still going on according to chesspro.ru, although I'm not very sure who's playing for the win. A quiet round so far, although Moro's g4-5-6 plan is certainly spicing it up.

Leko-Ivanchuk and Aronian-Svidler both draws (Svidler's drawn all 8 of his games!).

Nothing thrilling (to my eye at least) happening in Anand-Topalov or Morozevich-Carlsen.  Maybe Anand and Carlsen have small edges in their respective games.

                                 
                           Anand-Topalov  
http://www.france-echecs.com/diagramme/imgboard.phpfen=1r3rk1/3qnp2/pb1p1n1p/1p1...
                              after 22.Nf3

                         Morozevich-Carlsen  
http://www.france-echecs.com/diagramme/imgboard.phpfen=4r1k1/5npp/1q2pb2/2pp2P1/...
                              after 24.g5

---

Anand-Topalov finished: 22...Rfc8 23.Rxc8+ Rxc8 24.Nh2 Ng6 25.Ng4 ½–½

Morozevich-Carlsen continuing 24...Bd8 25.f5 e5 26.c4

Morozevich-Carlsen  
http://www.france-echecs.com/diagramme/imgboard.phpfen=3br1k1/5npp/1q6/2pppPP1/2...
                              after 26.c4

I don't know what Moro's thinking here, but he's definitely not thinking draw.  However, if anyone benefits from this aggression (other than the fans), I think it's gotta be Carlsen.

IMJohnCox wrote on 03/02/07 at 15:04:23:

Yep. Rumour has it that the link gets overloaded by mysterious signals during gameplay. Danailov has been asked for a reaction, but was busy talking on his cell phone

Hello,

Think it is 3.30 pm GMT, the boards are all set and ready to go on ICC now.

Bye John S

Does anyone know if the organisers  will use the same official pathetic website when they move to Linares?

Can someone explain what happened in Ivanchuk-Aronian? It looked embarrasingly easy for Ivanchuk. Pawns droped off at a regular rate. No counterplay at all.

Topalov-Morozevich is a game I would trust computer analysis for. An open game full of tactics. Was anything missed during the game?

PS. Reasons for using this thread rather than the other: 1) It was started before the other one. 2) It includes Morelia in the subject.

Will the persons who voted for Fishcer please own up? 

On a similar note, I can't help feeling that the players who can mix and match 1.e4 and 1.d4 effectively have some advantage in these super tourneys.  It's always nice to have options.  I think Radjabov has benefitted from adding 1.e4.  Leko should use 1.d4 more often, as should Anand, who has proved on occasion that he knows a thing or two about those positions.  Of course Topalov is flexy.  So is Shirov.  Even Morozevich plays 1.d4 nowadays on occasion. Kramnik can play 1.e4 if he wants, although it is increasingly rare in his games now.  I think his last e4 was when he beat-up on someone in the Berliner.

I voted for Aronian as well.  It would be great for top-flight chess to have Svidler or Moro win.  Svidler has strung together a number of good tournaments, but has managed to drop crucial points in each of them.  If he can hold it together for a whole tournament, he is certainly capable of taking top spot.  And I fear Moro will be propping up the bottom of the table, but wouldn't be great to see him cash in on all that creative and aggressive play?

Everybody seem to forget about Aronian... untill his name appears on the top of the crosstable after the last round.

I think Topalov will win (or at least will be very near the first place). If he is not afraid of losing games, he will give us some demonstrations of "champagne" chess again. I really like his style, his manager is another question...

If you are like me and you are tired of the endless Kramnik vs. Topalov debates and deabtes over cheating allegations  and all that stuff, you might want to talk about something else. 

Well fortunately for us, Linares is just around the corner. 

Below is the schedule:

Morelia (Michoacán – México)

Round 1 February 17
Round 2 February 18
Round 3 February 19
Rest day February 20
Round 4 February 21
Round 5 February 22
Rest day February 23
Round 6 February 24
Round 7 February 25



Linares (Jaén – España)

Round 8 March 2
Round 9 March 3
Round 10 March 4
Rest day March 5
Round 11 March 6
Round 12 March 7
Rest day March 8
Round 13 March 9
Round 14 March 10

And the participants:

. Veselin Topalov 
2. Viswanatan Anand
3. Peter Svidler
4. Alexander Morozevich
5. Peter Leko
6. Levon Aronian
7. Teimour Radjabov
8. Magnus Carlsen

And no, Fischer is not really taking part.