[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Corus, Round 8: Carlsen still leads, Anand comeback continues

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Corus, Round 8: Carlsen still leads, Anand comeback continues
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1200863427.shtml


   Today's round was another lame one, as often happens before a rest
   day, but the four quick draws were to some degree offset by three
   hard-fought games. Let's start with the quickies.
   Eljanov - Adams was the quickest and least interesting of the bunch,
   an Open Catalan that saw a novelty on move 15, liquidation of the
   central tension on move 18, and a draw on move 20. Van Wely - Leko was
   more interesting from a fan point of view, but it too followed
   familiar lines. The 4.Qc2 Nimzo-Indian often finds Black combating
   White's bishop pair by quickly opening the center, trying to use his
   superior development. That's what happened here, and ultimately van
   Wely neutralized Black's initiative by returning the bishop pair,
   resulting in a boringly level game. In Mamedyarov - Aronian, White
   seemed to have a slight edge in a Meran Semi-Slav, but he was unable
   to maintain it. A balanced ending with a stable pawn structure was the
   result, and as usual, that spelled draw. The "marathon" of the
   quickies, Radjabov - Ivanchuk, made it all the way to move 28 before
   the draw was agreed. The sideline of the Classical Caro-Kann they
   chose looked interesting, but had been seen before in high-level play.
   (Well, at least the fans probably liked it until the draw was agreed.)
   Kramnik - Polgar was a meatier affair, but still drawn. Kramnik played
   an old favorite of his, the Queen's Indian-cum-incipient Hedgehog with
   7.Re1. Polgar played an interesting pawn sac, entering an ending with
   queens and rooks. She never had compensation for the pawn, but that
   doesn't really mean that she was in serious trouble, either. Kramnik's
   king was a little vulnerable, and the way to handle that was to enter
   a drawn rook ending that Polgar held without much trouble.
   If White had won in Carlsen - Gelfand, he could have increased his
   lead over Kramnik and Aronian to a full point. He did reach an ending
   with an extra pawn, but like Polgar, Gelfand defended very well and
   held. All rook endings are drawn (except when they aren't)!
   The one decisive game du jour was Anand - Topalov, which found the
   current champion defeat the erstwhile champ in an English Attack.
   White may not have had much from the opening, but Black found it
   difficult to coordinate his pieces. Between the h3-c8 diagonal and
   then the a1-h8 diagonal, Topalov couldn't figure out how to unravel
   his pieces, and Anand won nicely. (Thanks again, Judit.) This should
   effectively eliminate Topalov from contention, but now Anand is right
   back in the mix.
   Round 8 Results:
   van Wely - Leko 1/2-1/2, 27
   Carlsen - Gelfand 1/2-1/2, 67
   Anand - Topalov 1-0, 40
   Kramnik - Polgar 1/2-1/2, 49
   Radjabov - Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2, 28
   Mamedyarov - Aronian 1/2-1/2, 27
   Eljanov - Adams 1/2-1/2, 20
   Standings after Round 8:
   1. Carlsen 5½
   2-3. Kramnik, Aronian 5
   4-5. Radjabov, Anand 4½
   6-9. Mamedyarov, Adams, Ivanchuk, van Wely 4
   10-12. Polgar, Topalov, Leko, 3½
   13-14. Eljanov, Gelfand 2½
   Pairings for Round 9: (On Tuesday; Monday is a rest day for everyone
   but [1]Short and Cheparinov in Group B.)
   Adams - van Wely
   Aronian - Eljanov
   Ivanchuk - Mamedyarov
   Polgar - Radjabov
   Topalov - Kramnik
   Gelfand - Anand
   Leko - Carlsen
   I expect draws from Carlsen and Anand, but Aronian will have a good
   chance to reach a first-place tie with the white pieces against
   tail-ender Eljanov. And Topalov - Kramnik should be entertaining, too.
   (Will they shake hands?) Let's turn to the other groups.
   Leading Standings in Group B:
   1. Movsesian 6
   2. Bacrot 5½
   3-5. Smeets, Stellwagen, Harikrishan 4½
   Short has 4 and Cheparinov 3½, but with their game yet to be played
   one of them will make it onto this table.
   Leading Standings in Group C:
   1. Caruana 6
   2. Reinderman 5½
   3-5. Braun, Van der Wiel, Negi 5
   Braun started with 5/6, but has lost the last two games - to Caruana
   in today's round - and now not only doesn't lead but has fallen below
   the rating standard needed for his final GM norm. Fortunately, most of
   his remaining games are against players on the bottom half of the
   crosstable, so as long as he isn't too badly shaken his chances of
   achieving that norm are still very good.
   Honorary Group, Round 2:
   Korchnoi - Timman was a real game, with the grand old man pressing
   hard for many moves before acknowledging the draw. Portisch - Ljubo
   was a damp squib of a game (drawn in 14 moves), but fortunately
   they'll only play each other once more.
   Honorary Group Standings:
   1-2. Timman, Korchnoi 1½
   3-4. Portisch, Ljubojevic ½
   Finally, we close the post with a link: the round 8 games, with my
   comments, are [2]here.

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1200861433.shtml
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/waz2008_rd8.htm