by Aviv Friedman

Before this round, 30 games have been played here in Linares. Just a little over a third (11 games to be exact) were decisive. Have you noticed the common denominator for all these games? All were won by white. I don't think this is much more than a coincidence, since in many games black was very much in contention and on the brink of victory (see Shirov - Ivanchuk) but it is certainly unusual! The tournament is also shaping into some sort of a 'normal' order, with Kasparov leading (what else is new eh?) and young Vallejo losing some of his steam (confidence?) and is now closing the list. Still, the margin between first and last places is relatively small. There is plenty of chess to be played to possibly change the current standings.

I know I have spoken quite a bit about Kasparov, but it really is impressive to look at his result here and remember he is still reigning strong at the age of 38 against his own generation, and 2 players half his age! Yes, yes I know, Kortchnoi is 70+ and is playing high-level chess, but there is only one Viktor! I remember in 1980 when 16-year-old Kasparov played in the European national team competition in Skara, Sweden. His phenomenal score on the bottom board of the (now disbanded) USSR gave notice. Another Fischer-like score in a strong tournament in Banja-Luka (in what now is Bosnia) and a future world champion was declared. First Kasparov won the world junior title, beating properly everyone that belongs to 'his own' generation. Then after a long way to the finals of the 'real' championship where he beat everyone in Karpov's generation, including eventually the man at the top. Once crowned, his mission of beating players from his own time and Karpov's was far from over. In many events he proved he was the best with often-massive scores. Over time, many of these players faded away or retired, and a new, fresh generation of players has risen. First players like Anand, and later Shirov, Kramnik et al were breathing at his neck but he could still hold his fort. With conclusive results over the years, Kasparov has time and again showed his supremacy. For many, even his eventual loss in a match against Kramnik didn't alter his 'numero uno' status. Now he is facing yet again a new phalanx of talent, many of whom are still in their teens. Ponomariov, Grischuk, Bacrot, Kasimzdanov and many others already have very high ELO's and earn invitations to the super events. For now, he has also stood this test. He can still claim he is 'the one' and back it with his rating and results. But…. the big question is: For how long? When will the young lions 'chase away' the veteran, scarred leader of the pride? Looks like he got a few good years on the (unofficial) throne.

Today's games:

Click to replay Vallejo - Adams:

Vallejo - Adams:   Black got a pretty favorable hedgehog structure, without the white Nc3 and black Nf6. I think that eases a bit on black's task of positioning his dark-squared B on the a1-h8 diagonal, and white is missing some of the pressure against d5 and b5. Usually, against 12…d6 if white chooses the 13.b3 line, he places his B on either b2 or a3, here he placed it on e3 and later f2, seemingly, without much venom. After Adams equalized, and was getting ready for some action of his own (an idea like …e5 somewhere) Paco realized that sitting and waiting would lead to bad news, and went aggressive with 19.g4 and 20.b4. The majority opinion was not too high of this. I, myself, remembered a famous Timman - Seirawan game where black had a solid position a la Mickey's and when white played the g4 and b4 'stuff' his position was blown to pieces. That did not happen here, although many thought it might. 23..h5(?) looks too loosening to me - black's feared Ng4 perhaps, but now he was missing his "h" pawn to keep the "h" file closed. 25…Bf8?! compounding the kingside weaknesses should have spelled an upset, and a first win to the Spaniard had he played 36.Rc2! instead of 36.h3 (Vallejo missed 37...Be2! there) for example: 36…Bb3!? 37.Rb2 Bc2 (what else!? 37…Rc2 38.Rxc2 Bxc2 is similar) 38.h3! Qf2 39.Re2 wins. True, after 39…Qh4 40.Qxc2 Nxf6 there are some technical efforts needed but it should suffice. In the actual game, white thought he could allow the black Q to penetrate to f2 and go to g5 with his, but indeed 37…Be2! Was a very nice forced resource, forcing a draw.

Click to replay Kasparov - Ivanchuk:

Kasparov - Ivanchuk:   Another Paulsen-turned-Maroczy. After Ivanchuk's new (and not-so-bad) 12…Rb8!? white was quick to trade queens on b6, getting a slightly better ending, typical to the Maroczy. This set-up with Be8, Nd7, Rc6 against white's pawn structure and Na4 is normal and can be analogized with other Maroczy's, such as the one Karpov always used to play with an early Na4 instead of 0-0. Kasparov consumed a lot of time trying to come up with a plan. He repeated a few times, to gain time on the clock, not to make a draw of course, right? Wrong! As were most of us at the pressroom. Running short of time, and with Chuky making moves that literally say: "ok, what's your next move then?" Gazza decided to not push his luck and a draw was registered without him even making move 30. Boring…

Click to replay Shirov - Ponomariov:

Shirov - Ponomariov:   Pono, without fear played a wild line of the QGA, inviting a sharp fight. That was a storm he might not have stayed dry in, had Shirov maximized the potential of his great opening position. For a while, they have followed the famous game Timman - Salov from their candidates match in 94. Here, black deviated from that game with 13…Be7 instead of 13…Qd7. Somewhat puzzling, since the line is considered very decent for black. In the mentioned stem game black went on to win a fine game, and even with best play it seemed that black is one happy camper. Naturally, we can assume Shirov had prepared something, maybe that is why Ruslan went another way. At first, I frowned at white's plan of 19.Bxc4!, giving up such an awesome B, but there followed 19…Bxc4 20.Ne5! and where does this B go? Some GM's in the pressroom thought it might have been worthwhile for black to first go 20…Bd5 and provoke c4 before retreating to f7. In the game white looked clearly better and had he played the move all expected (25.a4!) black's life would have been quite miserable. After this strange omission, black got 25…c4! In and soon thereafter, a wholesale of exchanges happened. Shirov took some time to try out 35.h4, refusing to force the draw. It certainly didn't bring much with it. The players moved until move 44 where it was time to call it a day peacefully. Less peaceful was Shirov after his game: when an unfortunate Spanish journalist from Malaga who came especially today for the round, asked him about the game, he was brushed off angrily by Alexey who left, waving his hands looking quite upset. Evidently, Shirov not liking the fact he was asked in English and not in Spanish. Of course he is quite fluent in Spanish having lived here for a while.