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Levon Aronian wins Linares 2006 by ousting tournament leader Peter Leko in the last round. Aronian has fought hard in every game, and certainly deserved to win the tournament. Topalov’s brilliant second half comeback grinds to a halt just short of the mark with a short draw against Vallejo. Ivanchuk suffered from time problems throughout, even gifting Aronian a full point in a position Ivanchuk was winning. Leko started well, but was too amenable to draws. His draw against Vallejo in a very strong position looks to have cost him a tournament victory. Svidler had a great start, beating FIDE World Champion Topalov in the first round, but two losses in his favourite Grunfeld were the basis of an awful string of results. Radjabov showed glimpses of brilliance and again, another tournament fighter – he looks to be another genius from Baku.

Aronian outplays Leko to win Linares 2006. Vallejo holds Topalov to a comfortable draw. Svidler and Ivanchuk fight an intense battle, but split the point.

Leko – Aronian

Leko plays into his favoured a4 anti-Marshall system against Aronian’s Ruy Lopez. Aronian get an f5 pawn break in, and Leko goes wrong in the complications that follow which leaves Aronian with a definite advantage. Materially equal, Aronian controls all the open lines to White’s position. Aronian combines kingside and queenside pressure to force a win of one of Leko’s central pawns. In the double rook and bishop ending Aronian dominates and finishes Leko off.

Svidler – Ivanchuk

Svidler adopts Leko’s a4 anti-Marshall against Ivanchuk’s Ruy Lopez. Ivanchuk’s aggressive counterplay down the queenside looks to give Svidler the advantage, but Ivanchuk gets lots of activity for the sacrificed pawn. Ivanchuk is in time-trouble again, and Svidler initiates complications by sacrificing an exchange for the initiative. Ivanchuk manages to steer his way through the complications to reach time control with the initiative as compensation for his two pawns. Ivanchuk’s pressure in the endgame gets him a draw.

Vallejo – Topalov

Out of a Ragozin variation of the Queen’s Gambit, most of the minor pieces get whittled off, leaving Vallejo with a slight edge. Vallejo uses this edge to attack the Black king, Topalov can do nothing to ward off the perpetual check.

Bacrot – Radjabov

Bacrot repeats Aronian’s variation of the Kings Indian from the first round, but Radjabov meets it solidly. A draw agreed right out of the opening.

Related reading

• Chessbase: Linares R14: Levon Aronian wins Morelia/Linares Super-GM
• ChessNinja: Aronian wins Linares 2006
• Chessmind: And the winner of Linares is…Aronian!

A four-way tie for first place! Topalov grinds Leko in a typically aggressive endgame. Ivanchuk busts Vallejo quickly. Aronian is in vintage form, but Bacrot defends solidly for the draw. Radjabov sacrifices a piece to smash Svidler’s kingside, and mops up efficiently.

Topalov – Leko

Leko emerges from a Classical Nimzo-Indian with a slight advantage, and an easier game. This advantage disappears when he weakens his queenside pawns in an attempt to push White’s light-squared away from the Black position. In the endgame position, Topalov plays against Leko’s pawn weaknesses, and his kingside pawns prove to be the ideal weapon for obtaining the decisive advantage. In a materially equal position, Topalov’s pieces co-ordinate better than Leko’s. His passed d-pawn is the critical factor, compelling Leko to give up his knight to remove it from the board. Topalov steadily increases his advantage, and finally Leko resigns.

Ivanchuk – Vallejo

Ivanchuk plays an imaginative attack against Vallejo’s Botvinnik Semi-Slav, forcing the Black king into the open. In the storm of tactics Vallejo goes wrong, and finds himself defenceless, and so resigns.

Aronian – Bacrot

Aronian plays the Queen’s Gambit Accepted in vintage style, with a cascade of temporary sacrifices and threats, keeping Bacrot on his toes. Aronian has an aggressive edge, but Bacrot whittles it down to the minimum. Bacrot keeps his head in the balanced rook and pawns endgame to secure a draw.

Radjabov – Svidler

In a typical Queen’s Gambit Accepted isolated pawn position, Radjaboc sacrifices a piece to open up the position around Svidler’s king. This is followed by an exchange sacrifice, which is quickly recouped. This leaves Radjabov with three pawns for the sacrificed piece, and some seriously active pieces. Svidler tries to claw his way back into the game, but cannot fend off White’s superior activity, which pushes onward to a decisive finish.

• Chessbase: Linares R13: The incredible Topalov comeback
• TWIC: Linares/Morelia 2006 Round 13

All draws in a quiet day’s play

Vallejo – Radjabov

Vallejo pulls out an obscure variation of a Sicilian. Radjabov replies by adopting a Botvinnik-type system, and gradually the game starts to resemble an Anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez. This simplifies into a balances knight and pawns endgame, and predictably into a draw.

Leko – Bacrot

Leko emerges from a Petroff with a strong edge, but he steers toward rapid simplification into an equal endgame.

Topalov – Ivanchuk

Topalov’s Anti-Marshall in the Ruy Lopez gives him a slight advantage, which he nurtures into a win of a pawn. But a draw declared a few moves later in a rook and opposite bishops endgame.

Svidler – Aronian

A short draw concluded in the very early middlegame of an Anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez.

• Chessbase: Linares R12: All games drawn, Leko remains in the lead
• Chessmind: Linares/Morelia: Round 12 Recap
• TWIC: Morelia/Linares 2006 Round 12

Aronian blitzed past Vallejo with sacrifices. Ivanchuk makes no headway against Leko. Topalov has a quiet day. Svidler salvages a draw against Bacrot.

Aronian – Vallejo

Aronian plays a Marshall Gambit against Vallejo’s Semi-Slav. Aronian sacrifices a knight to take advantage of Black’s lack of development, and picks up an exchange whilst pulling the Black king into the range of the White rooks. White’s energetic finish wins another piece, leaving Vallejo with no option but to resign.

Ivanchuk – Leko

After a more classical Queen’s Indian setup, Ivanchuk strongpoints the e5-square with both of his knights using almost a King’s Indian Attack method of play on the kingside. But Leko gradually improves his position and starts forcing Ivanchuk to back track. Ivanchuk consumes a large amount of time in the early middlegame, and so has to rush through the last dozen moves to time control, but manages to do so without blundering, and emerges after time control with a definite advantage. But Leko holds the position whittling it down to a drawn pawn endgame.

Radjabov – Topalov

Radjabov avoids Topalov’s main line Ruy Lopez Berlin and heads into classical waters. Radjabov gets a slight advantage, but Topalov quickly neutralises it down concluding in a short quiet draw.

Bacrot – Svidler

Svidler drops the Grunfeld and enters the Queen’s Gambit Slav. Bacrot’s centralisation gives him an early advantage. Svidler gets himself in a little trouble, and finds his queen trapped. Forced to give up his queen for a rook and bishop Svidler manages to activate his pieces for some compensation. Svidler forces a perpetual check after the first time control.

• Chessbase: Aronian defeats Vallejo
• TWIC: Morelia/Linares 2006 Round 11

Topalov zugzwangs Aronian in a clever ending. Svidler earns a solid draw against Leko. Bacrot has an elegant finish against Vallejo. Ivanchuk loses his way in time trouble against Radjabov.

Topalov – Aronian

In a Kasparov system of the Nimzo Indian, Aronian grabs the initiative by holding the White king in the centre, but a rapid exchange of queens puts both players into a double rook and minor piece endgame. Topalov slowly improves his position, and starts to take a slight edge, playing against Aronian’s weak c4-pawn.

The opposite coloured bishops with a single rook give Topalov attacking chances. He takes control of the kingside space with a combined advance of all his kingside pawns, whilst prenting Aronian from counter attacking down the queenside. Topalov’s bishop is the stronger of the two. With a delicate manoeuvring, Topalov eeks out a passed e-pawn whilst weakening Black’s kingside. Aronian’s rook enters the White position, but has no real targets or weaknesses to play against.

After a long manoeuvere, Topalov gets his king into the Black queenside, and captures all the queenside pawns, leaving him a pawn up. Topalov then switches to a plan of queening his extra c-pawn as well as attacking the Black king, and finishes off with a simple, but elegant zugzwang, where Aronian resigns.

Ivanchuk – Radjabov

In a Classical King’s Indian, Ivanchuk finds his position under pressure from an early stage, and Black quickly gains an edge. Ivanchuk battles back and the game is balanced on a knife edge. Ivanchuk manoeuvres better than Radjabov, but Radjabov holds the position solidly. Ivanchuk presses his advantages but blunders in time trouble, giving the initiative and a dangerous passed d-pawn to Radjabov. After a series of cuts and blows Radjabov is on top, with a material advantage. Ivanchuk resigns shortly after reaching time control.

Leko – Svidler

Leko adopts an English Attack against Svidler’s Scheveningen Sicilian. He gets the kingside pawns rapidly up the board, while Svidler is generating some counterplay on the queenside. Leko’s knight retreat on the queenside hands a slight advantage to Black, and Svidler uses that to take control of the centre with an f7-f5 pawn break. After opening the centre with a …d5 break, Svidler unleashes a short tactical sequence that resolves the game into a balanced position, at which point a draw is agreed.

Vallejo – Bacrot

Bacrot plays a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, where Vallejo temporarily sacrifices a pawn to get his knights into good positions. Vallejo gets a little too aggressive and initiates a pawn storm on the kingside, and later castles into that weakened position. Bacrot’s pieces naturally infiltrate the weakened kingside squares forcing Vallejo into a awkward rook manoeuvre that fails to hold his position together. Bacrot finishes the game elegantly by tieing up his opponent’s pieces.

• Chessbase: Linares R10: Topalov marches on
• TWIC: Morelia/Linares 2006 Round 10