by Aviv Friedman

Today we are "turning the record to its other side" for the second half of the tournament. So far, it is quite amazing how only one player (Kasparov) is placed at +1 and only one (Anand) at -1. All the rest are "even-Steven" at 50%. It strikes me that only one player is happy thus far: Fernando (Paco) Vallejo! Undefeated after playing with the sharks, and without any inferiority feelings whatsoever, maybe even missing more than being lucky is certainly a super debut for the confident young local hero. The others well, it is between disappointment and mixed feelings. Anand is visibly disappointed, naturally so, right now he is the cellar-dweller and winless which is certainly a sub-par performance for such a gifted player. Adams, having played two nice wins against Ponomariov and Anand, also has 2 losses. While not a bad score, it is clearly nothing to write home about for the Brit. Ivanchuk, after his first round loss in a game of prestige, looked like he was already marking X's in his calendar, awaiting the end of the event, when suddenly last round he beat Michael Adams. Perhaps a sign of things to come with white against Pono today? Ponomariov himself, after a great first round, lost to Adams and almost gave it away against Kasparov. Again, not at all a poor result, but I have a strong feeling that the youngster was hoping for more. For Shirov, the score speaks for itself: every time an uncompromising, sharp player such as him has to settle for 6 draws in the cross table, you know he just can't be satisfied. It is not that he didn't fight; he actually did in most games, but so far frustratingly without the desired winnings. Last but not least the leader himself, Garry Kasparov: How can he possibly be happy now? The man is used to big plus results in these high-class events and here he only won one game in 6 rounds! True, he missed some, but perhaps was also lucky a bit. If one looks at the cross table, there might be a feeling that this is a somewhat boring or disappointing event with all these many draws, but perhaps this is a bit like soccer (‘non-American' football, if you prefer) where games can be full of action and bring only one or two goals or even a 0-0 result. If you live where soccer is not an integral part of the culture, it is hard to appreciate or understand what so many billions find in a game that sometimes bears so little fruit; I suppose that is also true with chess.

We have been witnessing some great fights that were quite lively and exciting even if they ended in draws. My hope for the second half of the event is to see more wins of course and even more so to see the best out of all players, especially Anand and Ivanchuk. Lastly, on the topic of soccer: If one hasn't been to Spain, one has yet to truly grasp the craze that exists about that game. The country eats, breaths and sleeps soccer! It is all over the TV, the written media and of course the talks of the day amongst all people, old and young! This is amazing, this genuine love to a sport that as my late grandfather used to call it is all about "11 madmen chasing a round piece of leather". As Leontxo put it poignantly: "In Spain" he said, "there is a 'collective neurosis' regarding soccer". Indeed it is a religion here.

Back to chess and today's games:

Ivanchuk - Ponomariov:   Once again, the veteran Ukrainian GM had to face his younger bette-noir. Chuky was visibly nervous before the game - after all, so far he has failed to "put his money where his mouth was", not only losing the match for the FIDE world championship, but also his first round loss to his countryman. In the opening, a Queens gambit accepted, Mannheim variation, he went for the immediate return of the gambit pawn with 4.Qa4+, and later chose the rare 7.Qb3 (7.Qd3 is seen much more often, almost exclusively in this variation) Ponomariov's strong reply of 7…e5! is why. Black's compensation for the pawn, even after the Q's went off, was indisputable, but shortly thereafter, he was satisfied with a draw by repetition. In the pressroom you could find some who thought black could have even played on with little risk, but also with littel reward. After the position repeated for the third time, nothing was said - Ivanchuk pulled his chair back and turned it in an angle to watch the TV screen inside the playing hall - Ponomariov quickly got up and left the stage to the players' area. Another minute passed, and Ivanchuk played a move that repeats again. The players looked at each other and agreed to stop the meaningless rook dance and agree to a draw.

Kasparov - Vallejo:   Paco's toughest test yet. Playing black against Gazza is never an easy task, much less when you are so much lower rated. Garry really needs to add some more wins to his belt. Naturally, some sort of a surprise from black was expected, and indeed his choice of Paulsen Sicilian, must have been one. After 4…a6 Kasparov started thinking for a while, obviously he hasn't been very prepared for this one. He eventually picked the Maroczy variation. After 11.b4 Vallejo went into deep thought, perhaps trying to see if he can make some idea of 11…Nxd4 and 12…b5 work or maybe a sac on b4 but at the end, he settled for the normal and quiet 12…Be7. He soon misplayed it (13…Ne5?) and the overwhelming consensus was that black is in deep trouble. GM Short kibitzing on ICC mentioned how in some lines of the Maroczy, white has to spend a lot of time maneuvering a N from the capture on d4 to b5, a3 and then via c2 again to d4. Here white saved all this time and used it wisely for making progress. (Short: "black is getting his bottom spanked") Things got even worse after white got 17.e5 in - he literally got everything a white player in the Maroczy wishes for: restraint on the queenside, share of control (in our case more than his share) in the center, and mobility on the kingside. Perhaps his decision to sacrifice a pawn was too optimistic, Paco took the pawn and defended quite well for a while, but another horrid time trouble brought disaster on the youngster. After playing some star moves such as 22…f5!, 30…Nb4! and 31…b5! He spoiled it all with 33…Nxd3? (33…bxc4! Aiming for Nd5-f6 closing the dangerous diagonal was called for)) the passive 34…Nf7? trading his good defender for the white N that was "in the way". After the time control, Kasparov was back in the saddle again, taking extra care to make sure the point was his. He ended the game on a high note with the aesthetic 48.Qxe6!!. Not a clean win, but still a happy win for Gazza and a first loss for the talented Spaniard. Lets hope this "permissible loss" to the world's number 1 won't break his spirit!

Anand - Shirov:   Evidently, Shirov wasn't impressed with Vishy's treatment of the Kalashnikov yesterday against Ponomariov and he tried it himself today. Fearing special preparation or just for variety, the Indian deviated quickly from yesterday's game with 6.N1c3 instead of 6.c4. White chose a move I couldn't find anywhere (12.Qd5) which invited black to sacrifice a pawn, an offer that for Shirov is always hard to refuse. Ljubo, as always, never lacking an opinion, claimed that he didn't like the sac, and thought there was no compensation for it initially. Although the way Vishy handled it led to black having something to show for his pawn. All this confusion was just a prolog to the real excitement! After black's very provocative 18…Bg5!?(?!) white had an opportunity to win black's queen with 19.Rh3, which would have forced 19…Qxh3 20.gxh3 Bxe3. Well, Fritz really likes this, but since Anand eschewed this, one must believe he thought that black has compensation. Instead, white created some waves of his own by playing 19.Nxc6. Again, Alexey obliged and took 19…Bxe3(?). 20.Ne7+ Kh8 were the only moves now of course, and now white quickly played 21.Qd3! avoiding the suicidal 21.Qxb7? Rb8 (or first 21…Qf2 22.Be2 Rb8) with a dangerous initiative. Now black had to retreat his Be3 and give the exchange, leaving white with a large material advantage and black with two strong B and the unsafe white K, but of course, not even close enough to make up for the "stuff". I have heard a suggestion to recapture on c8 with the B, preparing a quick f5, but I still like white's material over black's initiative. This type of position is bread and butter for Anand who after some pondering knew exactly what he needed to do and where to "put the pieces". Shirov tried all he could, throwing the kitchen sink at Vishy - all to no avail. At the end Shirov had to stop the clock and admit defeat.