By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

THE Morelia-Linares tournament has completed its Mexican cycle and now heads to Spain for the final half. After seven rounds of this double round-robin event, veteran Vishy Anand is sharing first place with the Norwegian whiz kid, Magnus Carlsen, at 4.5 points. Ivanchuk is second at 4, Aronian and Svidler have 3.5, and Leko and Topalov are the unlikely tailenders with only 3 points. Morozevich, however, holds the dubious distinction of placing last with 2.
Anand has won against Carlsen, Moro and the tough-nut-to-crack Leko, but lost to Aronian who, in turn lost to Ivanchuk. Carlsen, for his part, has scored against Ivanchuk, Moro and Topalov…who resigned in a drawn position! Can the former FIDE champ recover his old form in the next seven rounds? He has done so before. So let’s see.
Game of the week. Here is the world’s no. 7 scalping no. 2 in a partie annotated by Romanian GM Mihail Marin.
White: L. Aronian (2744)
Black: V. Anand (2779)
Queen’s Gambit Accepted
XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares 2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 6.g3 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e6 8.Bg2 Be7 9.0-0 0-0. A relatively peaceful variation has been played. Each side plays its own opening. Black developed like in a normal Slav, while White adopted a Catalan setup. 10.Re1 Ne4 11.Qb3 Qb6 12.Nh4 In spite of the fact that this move has been played several times along the past decades, it might have come as a surprise for Anand. You do not see such abrupt changes in the character of the position at top level. 12...Bxh4 13.gxh4 Nef6 14.e4 Bg6 15.Qxb6 axb6 16.Bf4 Rfe8 17.Rad1. White’s pair of bishops and his advantage of space compensate for the double pawns. 17...b5. A novelty over 17...e5 which was played in the most recent example with this line, Georgiev-Smeets, Wijk aan Zee 2007. 18.Bd6 Quite an irritating bishop. 18...e5 19.d5 Nh5 20.Bf1 f6 21.b3 Nf4. Black hurries to take advantage of the bishop’s departure from the kingside, but the knight will not enjoy the desired stability on this square. 22.a4 bxa4 23.bxa4 Bf7 24.Rb1 Ra7 25.Red1 Rc8 26.Ne2 Nxe2+ 27.Bxe2 cxd5 28.exd5 Nf8 29.Bb5 Raa8 30.Be7 Ng6 31.d6. White’s activity looks threatening. The next phase of the game will be played by Aronian in the best spirit of romantic chess. 31...Nxe7 32.Bd7 The pawn is more dangerous on the d-file, because it cannot be stopped by the bishop too easily. 32...Nc6 33.Rxb7 Nd4 34.Bxc8 Rxc8 35.Rdb1 Rf8 36.Rb8 Be8 37.a5 Nf3+ 38.Kf1 Nd2+ 39.Ke1 Nxb1 40.a6 Bc6 41.a7. An incredible position. Black is lost with two pieces up... 41...Kf7 42.d7 Ke7 43.Rxf8 Kxd7 44.a8Q Bxa8 45.Rxa8 h5 46.Ra7+ Ke6 47.Rxg7 Kf5? This move shortens Black’s suffering. After 47...Nc3 48.Rh7 the h-pawn would have decided the game. 48.Rg3 The knight is trapped now. There is no defense against Rb3. 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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