A new edition
of the Linares chess tournament has just been completed. The organizers
of the event have tried a very innovative formula this year. The
first half of the tournament was played in Morelia, Mexico, and
the second half returned to its former full time home in Linares,
Spain.
The Mexican half brought us astonishing results. The World Champion,
Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria, occupied last position in the standings,
while unheralded players, Hungarian Peter Leko and Russian Peter
Svidler, tied for first.
As the Linares portion of the tournament began in Spain, experts
predicted a comeback from a rejuvenated Topalov. True to form, the
World Champion won three games in a row and climbed into first place
before the start of the last round.
Meanwhile, Svidler's ship had sunk and Leko had fallen behind in
the standings. A victory in the last round would again earn Topalov
the conqueror's spoils, just as chess aficionados expected. Alas,
victory was not forthcoming for the Bulgarian champion as he instead
drew against the Spaniard Francisco Vallejo Pons.
Leko miraculously found himself in position to take home the tourney's
title, but he faced the Armenian Levon Aronian in a winner take
all match. Ironically, Aronian had not occupied first place the
entire tournament and the unlikely opportunity to prevail in Linares
was thrust upon him.
Contradicting experts' predictions, Aronian snatched victory from
the Hungarian's grasp through a well executed strategy. Today we
present this final and decisive game, which was controlled by Aronian
from the beginning with a sharp anti Marshall system in the Spanish
opening. With this silent victory the twenty four year old Armenian
achieved his second major triumph of the year after winning the
World Cup a few months ago. |
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Leko,
Peter (ELO: 2740) Aronian, Levon (2752) [C88 Spanish Opening]
XXIII. Linares Tournament, March 11, 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3
0-0 8.a4 b4 9.d3 d6 10.a5 Be6 11.Nbd2 Qc8 12.Nc4 Rb8 13.Bg5
Paehtz, Thomas Sr. Kasimdzhanov, Rustam, 10/2/2003 h6 14.Bh4
Bg4 15.Ne3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Nd4 17.Qd1 Nxb3 18.cxb3 Nd5 19.Nxd5
Bxh4 20.d4 exd4 21.Qxd4 Bd8 22.Re3 c5 23.Qc4 Rb5 24.e5 dxe5
25.Rxe5 Kh8 26.Rae1 Qc6 27.h3 Rxa5 28.Nxb4 Qb5 29.Nd3 Bf6
30.Rxc5 Qxc4 31.bxc4 Rxc5 32.Nxc5 Rc8 33.Nxa6 ½-½
13...Kh8 14.h3 Ng8 15.c3 bxc3 16.bxc3 f5 17.Ba4? Leko distanced
his bishop and Aronian took the initiative. Better was [17.exf5
Rxf5 18.Be3 Nf6] 17...fxe4 18.Bxc6 exf3 19.Bxe7 Nxe7 20.Bxf3
Ng6 21.Bg4 Nf4 22.Ra2 Qb7! Treating Qxg2++ 23.Bf3 Qb3 24.Rc2
[24.Qxb3? Rxb3 25.Rd2 Nxh3+! 26.gxh3 Rxf3 to gain an advantage
for black.] 24...Nxd3 25.Qxd3 Qxc4 Aronian's position is good
enough to afford this imprecision and maintain his strong
advantage. Better was [25...Bxc4 26.Qd2 Qa4 27.Be2 Bxe2 28.Qxe2
Qxa5] 26.Qxc4 Bxc4 27.Bc6 Rb3 28.g3 g5 29.Re3 Ra3 30.Be4 Rxa5
In the diagram. Aronian captured one more pawn and Leko could
do nothing to defend his side. Now comes the elegant ending
31.g4 Bd5 32.f3 Bxe4 33.fxe4 Ra1+ 34.Kg2 Rff1 35.Ree2 Rg1+
36.Kh2 Rh1+ 37.Kg3 Rag1+ 38.Rg2 Re1 39.Rgf2 Re3+ 40.Kg2 Rexh3
0-1
Accredited by the Chess Federation of Madrid in Spain, Carlos
García Hernández teaches chess at Humboldt University
in Berlin, Germany. His weekly chess column appears in the
German newspaper Neues Deutschland. |
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