Morelia/Linares 2007, Round 1: Carlsen surprises Morozevich, Ivanchuk’s time-trouble lets Leko off the hook

Carlsen’s piece sacrifice out of the opening puts Morozevich on the back foot, and the talented Norwegian youth secures the full point. Ivanchuk’s time-trouble denies him a win against Leko. Aronian’s Marshall Gambit pressures Svidler and gains a repetition of position to secure the draw. Anand neutralises Topalov’s Queen’s Indian.

Carlsen – Morozevich

From a Classical Fianchetto against Morozevich’s Kings Indian / Benoni set-up, Carlsen sacrifices a knight for two pawns. One of those pawns, the d-pawn pushes right into the heart of Black’s position to win back his piece. Morozevich gains some compensation because of his dark-squared bishop, but his knights are disarrayed. In the opposite-coloured bishops endgame, Carlsen slowly neutralises Black’s counterplay, and annexes another pawn. Two pawns up, Carlsen converts the endgame after a long struggle.

Ivanchuk – Leko

Ivanchuk surprises Leko with the Scotch game, and Leko’s slightly passive approach hands the initiative to Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk pushes Black’s pieces back, and unleashes a piece sacrifice to shatter Black’s kingside pawns. Unfortunately, because of serious time-trouble Ivanchuk misses a stronger continuation, but the sacrifice is good enough to secure a draw by perpetual check.

Svidler – Aronian

Svidler heads into Aronian’s Marshall Gambit Ruy Lopez – after side-stepping it in Wijk aan Zee – and follow’s Anand’s game against Aronian from the previous tournament. Aronian deviates with 23… Bd3 attempting to set up a pin on the e-file, but Svidler has enough resources to hold the position, and a repetition of position secures the draw.

Topalov – Anand

Back into the Queen’s Indian defence Anand suffered a horrible loss to Topalov in Wijk aan Zee a few weeks ago. Topalov avoids any Anand improvement with 14. Nxe4. Anand steams towards equality as Topalov fails to find stronger continuations.

This entry was posted in Anand, Chess, Ivanchuk, Leko, Morelia/Linares, Morozevich, Svidler, Topalov. Bookmark the permalink.

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