[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Corus: Round 3 Results and Round 4 Pairings

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Corus: Round 3 Results and Round 4 Pairings
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1168922526.shtml


   Another exciting round, albeit one with relatively few decisive
   results. In the day's most spectacular game, Radjabov won his second
   King's Indian of the tournament.
   Watching the game on ICC was especially interesting, as Radjabov's
   friend and training partner GM Igor Nataf insisted that the position
   after Black's 26th move really wasn't so great for White. This is a
   surprising call, given White's bishop pair, space advantage and
   targets, and even other observing GMs disagreed. But he was right, and
   it became clear in a hurry that if anyone's position was in trouble,
   it was Shirov's.
   This was the game of the day not only for aesthetic reasons but
   competitive ones: Radjabov was the only one of the 7 second-round
   leaders to win; the rest drew.
   In the game Karjakin-Topalov, the ex-champion was fortunate to draw.
   Completely outplayed by his young rival, Topalov's spectacular
   41...Bd2! should have been met by the even more spectacular 42.Qh5!
   Karjakin continued to have some advantage into the ending, but in the
   end decided that Black's pawn mass was as dangerous as White's b-pawn
   and called it a day.
   Anand-Aronian featured the real Petroff Defense: the Marshall Gambit.
   Anand is one of the few top GMs who allows the Gambit instead of
   avoiding it with the insipid 8.h3. Anand followed the line Kramnik
   chose against Leko in 2004, deviating from that game and two Shirov
   games from late 2006 with 19.Qg2, and for a moment it looked as if he
   might be able to consolidate his extra pawn. It was not to be: Aronian
   found a nice sacrificial idea, giving up a bishop and then a rook to
   achieve perpetual check. Maybe 1.e4 is a draw?
   Speaking of drawing against 1.e4, Kramnik trotted out his Petroff
   against Tiviakov and drew with absurd ease. The Petroff can
   (sometimes) be interesting if White brings something new to the table,
   but Tiviakov was apparently happy to burn a White to achieve a draw
   with the world champion. (I'm not trying to pick on Tiviakov here;
   it's a pretty easy inference from the facts: he deviated from
   Rublevsky-Kramnik, Moscow 2005 (1/2-1/2, 27) on move 22 and
   Socko-Kritz, Biel 2006 (1/2-1/2, 52) on move 24, and the game was
   drawn four moves later.)
   Next up on our recap: Navara-Svidler. I'd like to say something
   illuminating here, but I felt that I understood almost nothing that
   was going on, including the draw offer. It seemed to me that Black was
   better when the draw was agreed, and here at least I have a little
   comfort: the computer agrees with me. (Maybe I should spend some time
   studying this game!)
   Those were all the games involving leaders. One of the two remaining
   games featured tail-ender van Wely, who missed a great chance to gain
   some ground on the field. After Motylev's 28...Bxa1, 29.Qxe2 followed
   by 30.Bxa7 or 30.Bf4 was clearly better, and even after the game
   continuation, 30.Qxd6 Rxd6, 31.Bxa7 maintained a clear advantage as
   well. Unfortunately for him, he played 30.Rxe2?, and after 30...a6
   31.Bf4?! (31.a4 still preserved some chances) 31...axb5 32.Bxd6 cxd6
   White's advantage was only symbolic, and 21 moves later the players
   agreed to a draw.
   Finally, Ponomariov-Carlsen was a complete disaster for Black. After
   13...Qxd7?! and 14...O-O, White achieved a paralyzing bind on the
   queenside and won in 30 very easy moves.
   Standings after Round 3:
   1. Radjabov 2.5
   2-7 Aronian, Anand, Kramnik, Navara, Svidler, Topalov 2
   8-9 Karjakin, Ponomariov 1.5
   10-11 Motylev, Tiviakov 1
   12-14 Carlsen, Shirov, van Wely .5
   Pairings for Round 4:
   Motylev-Aronian
   Carlsen-Anand
   Svidler-Ponomariov
   Kramnik-Navara
   Radjabov-Tiviakov
   Topalov-Shirov
   van Wely-Karjakin