By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

THE Morelia/Linares tournament began on Feb. 16 and will end on March 11. It will be staged in two halves — the first from Feb. 17 to 25 in Morelia, Mexico, and the second from March 2 to 10 in Linares, Spain.
As in the recently held Corus tourney, Morelia/Linares features the cream of the chess crop: Topalov, Leko, Aronian, Svidler, Anand, Carlsen, Morozevich and Ivanchuk, who replaced Radjabov. (The 19-year-old GM from Azerbaijan withdrew following the burglary of the hotel room of his father and trainer, “and what he perceives as lack of support by the organizers.”)
After three rounds, Anand and Ivanchuk (who beat Topalov in round 2) are in the lead. Stay tuned.
Game of the week. Carlsen, who now has a 3.5-0.5 career record against Morozevich, defeated the Russian GM in Morelia on Sunday in this fascinating game annotated by GM Mihail Marin.
White: M. Carlsen (2690)
Black: A. Morozevich (2741)
King’s Indian Fianchetto
XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares 2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 c5. This move order presents a series of minor advantages over the more popular 6...Nc6 7.0-0 a6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 c5 10.Qc2 e5 . First of all, White’s center is submitted to less pressure after 6...Nc6, offering White a wider choice of systems on the 8th move. The second aspect will become clear later. 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5. The main drawback of this variation is that White can retain a tiny edge without any risk by means of 8.dxc5 . However, the critical line against both 6...Nc6 and 6...c5 remains the advance of the d-pawn. 8...Na5 9.Nd2 e5 10.b3. Ng4. This is Black’s additional possibility compared to the 6...Nc6 lines. Black decides to start his kingside play without “wasting time” with ...a6, ...Rb8 and ...b5. Leaving the a5-knight out of play for such a long time is a very risky decision, but it seems to suit Morozevich’s original and enterprising style of play.11.h3 . Generally speaking, White should avoid such weakening moves, unless he has something concrete in mind. A classical brilliant game went 11.e4 f5 12.exf5 e4 13.f6 Nxf6 14.Ndxe4! Nxe4 15.Nxe4 Bxa1 16.Bg5 Bf6 17.Nxf6+ Rxf6 18.Qa1 Kf7 Now, after the quiet move 19.Re1!! Black found it difficult to defend against the threats Rf3 or Qc3 b6 Re6! in Geller-Velimirovic, Havana 1971. 11...Nh6 12.Nde4. This novelty is a logical consequence of the previous move. With the provocative knight jump to the center, White aims to take advantage of Black’s temporary lack of coordination by energetic means. 12...f6. Black intends to consolidate with ...Nf7. The generally desirable 12...f5 is met by 13.Ng5 , taking advantage of the weakness of the light squares in Black’s camp. 13.Nxd6!? There was no way back already. 13...Qxd6 14.Ne4 Qd8 15.Nxc5 White’s compensation for the sacrificed piece is out of question. The a5-knight did not improve its situation any bit, while the white central pawns look threatening. 15...f5!? Morozevich chooses to return the material “with interest,” for the sake of rapidly completing his development. 15...Nf7? would have been bad because of 16.Ne6 Bxe6 17.dxe6 Nd6 18.e7 Qxe7 19.Qd5+ with a more advantageous position for White than in the game. However, 15...Nf5 or 15...Qc7 are worth investigating. 16.d6 e4 17.d7 Nf7 18.Rb1 Qe7 19.dxc8Q Raxc8 20.Na4 Rfd8 21.Qe1 Nc6. Generally speaking, Black can be content with the outcome of the opening. He is much better developed and has considerable advantage of space. Besides, the g2-bishop will remain passive for a long time. However, White’s position has no weaknesses, which gives him hope to repel the first wave of Black’s initiative and retain the small material advantage. From this point of view, Carlsen’s play in the next phase of the game deserves the highest praise. 22.Nc3 Nd4 23.Bb2 b5 24.Nd5 Qd6 25.Bxd4 Bxd4 26.Rd1 Be5 27.Qa5 bxc4 28.Ne3 Qc7 29.Qxc7 Bxc7 30.Nxc4 Ne5 31.Rxd8+ Rxd8 32.Rc1 Nxc4 33.Rxc4. We can see that White has fulfilled all the programmed tasks. He has provoked mass exchanges and retained the extra-pawn at the same time. Even so, it is highly questionable whether he has real winning chances, because of Black’s persisting advantage of space and the presence of the opposite colored bishops. 33...Rd1+ 34.Bf1 Bd6 35.e3 a5 36.Kg2 Kf7 37.Rc2 Ke7 38.Be2 Rd5 39.Bc4 Rd1 40.g4 f4? A blunder just before the first time control. Morozevich must have overlooked White’s 43rd move. 41.exf4 Bxf4 42.Re2 Rd4. 43.Bd3!! With this unexpected tactical resource, White wins a second pawn. 43...Kf6 [43...Rxd3 44.Rxe4+ leads to a hopeless rook ending.] 44.Bxe4 Rd2 45.Rxd2 Bxd2 46.Kg3 Be1 47.Kf3 Bb4 48.h4 h6 49.Ke2 Bd6. Morozevich’s plan is hard to understand. The best chance for survival was blocking the white pawns on light squares with 49...g5 when White still needs to prove a winning plan. 50.Kd3 Bc5 51.f4 h5 52.g5+ Kg7 53.Kc4 This move marks the fiasco of Black’s play in the endgame. Although he has managed to block the enemy pawns on dark squares and make them vulnerable, the white king has been given enough time to get activated. Black’s counterplay will be too slow. 53...Bd6 54.Kb5 Bxf4 55.Kxa5 Bg3 56.Kb5 Bxh4 57.a4 Bxg5 58.a5 Kf6 59.a6 Be3 60.Kc6 g5 61.b4 Ke5 62.b5 Kxe4 63.b6 g4 64.a7 g3 65.a8Q Kf3 66.b7 Bf4 67.Qf8 Ke4 68.Qe8+ 1-0.
Puzzler.
White — pawns on g3, h4; Nb4, Qb8, Nf6, Kf7, Bg1
Black — pawns c3, c4, d7, e5, g6; Na5, Rc5; Bd1, Kf5; Nf8
White to play and mate in four moves.
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