Nanjing R04: Bacrot beats Anand, Carlsen leads

Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament

The 2010 Nanjing International tournament takes place from October 19th to October 30th in Nanjing, China. It is a ten-round double round-robin event, in which each player faces every other player twice, once with the white pieces, and once with black. Time control: 40 moves in two hours then 20 moves in one hour followed by the rest of the game in 15 minutes with a 30 second increment as of move 61. Game start: Rounds 1-9 at 2:30 PM local time (11:30 PM Pacific daylight / 2:30 AM New York / 8:30 AM Paris), and round 10 at 10 AM local time (7 PM Pacific daylight / 10 PM New York / 4 AM Paris) Rest day: October 25th (after round 5).

Round four report

Topalov,V (2803) - Wang Yue (2732) [D17]
3rd Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (4), 23.10.2010

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Nb6 8.Ne5 a5 9.e3 Nbd7 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Nxd3 Qb6 12.Ra3 e6 13.Rb3 Bb4 14.0-0 c5 15.dxc5 Nxc5 16.Nxc5 Qxc5 17.Na2 0-0 18.Rd3 Rac8 19.Nxb4 Qxb4 20.b3 Qc5 21.Bb2 Qc2 22.Bxf6 Qxd1 23.Rfxd1 gxf6 24.Rd7 b5 25.Ra7 Rc3 26.Rxa5 Rb8 27.Ra7 Rxb3 28.a5 Ra3 29.g4 b4 30.a6 b3 31.Rb7 Ra8 32.Rdd7 b2 33.Rxb2 R3xa6 34.Rbb7 Rf8 35.Kg2 draw.

A good GM stare is worth at least fifty Elo points

Wang Yue and Veselin Topalov discuss after the game

Gashimov,V (2719) - Carlsen,Magnus (2826) [C95]
3rd Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (4), 23.10.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bh4 Be7 16.Ng3 g6 17.Qd2 Kg7 18.Rad1 Nh7 19.Bxe7 Qxe7 20.dxe5 Nxe5 21.Nd4 Qg5 22.Ngf5+ gxf5 23.f4 Nc4 24.fxg5 Nxd2 25.Nxf5+ Kf8 26.Rxd2 hxg5 27.e5 Nf6 28.Rf1 Rxe5 29.Nxd6 Rd8 30.Rxf6 cxd6 31.Bb3 Rd7 32.Kf2 d5 33.Rf3 Kg7 34.Rfd3 Rd6 35.Bd1 Bc8 36.Bf3 Be6 37.Rd4 Kf6 38.a4 bxa4 39.Rxa4 Rb6 40.Be2 Bc8 41.Ra2 Bb7 42.Ra4 Re4 43.Ra3 Re5 44.b4 Rc6 45.Rd4 Kg7 46.Bf3 Rf6 47.Rd3 Rf4 48.Ra5 Rc4 49.Rc5 Rxc5 50.bxc5 Re6 51.Rd2 Re7 52.Rb2 Bc8 53.Bxd5 Re5 54.c4 Be6 55.c6 Bxd5 56.cxd5 Rxd5 57.Rc2 Rd8 58.c7 Rc8 59.Ke3 Kf6 60.g3 a5 61.Kd4 Ke6 62.h4 gxh4 63.gxh4 a4 64.h5 a3 65.h6 a2 66.Rxa2 Rxc7 67.Ra6+ Kf5 68.h7 Rc8 69.Rh6 Rh8 70.Rh1 Kg6 71.Ke5 Re8+ 72.Kf4 Kg7 73.Kf5 Rh8 74.Rg1+ Kf8 75.Rh1 Kg7 76.Ke4 draw.

Bacrot,E (2716) - Anand,V (2800) [D17]
3rd Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (4), 23.10.2010 [Mueller,Karsten]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.f3 Bb4 8.e4 Bxe4 9.fxe4 Nxe4 10.Bd2 Qxd4 11.Nxe4 Qxe4+ 12.Qe2 Bxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Qd5+ 14.Kc3 0-0 15.Qe3 b5 16.Be2 Nd7 17.Nxd7 Qxd7 18.Rhd1 Qe7 19.Kc2 a5 20.Bf3 Rac8 21.Qe5 g6 22.axb5 cxb5 23.Qxb5 Rc5 24.Qd7 Qg5 25.Qd4 Rfc8 26.Ra3 Rb5 27.Rd2 Rb4 28.Kd1 Rcb8 29.Ke2 Qb5 30.Ke1 Rxb2 31.Rxb2 Qxb2 32.Qxb2 Rxb2 33.Rxa5 c3 34.Rc5 Rb1+ 35.Ke2 Rc1 36.Kd3 Kg7 37.Rxc3 Rxc3+ 38.Kxc3 f5 39.Kd4 Kf6 40.Bd1 h5 41.Bf3 h4 42.Be2

The wrong outside pawn. Normally an extra piece will win fairly easily in an endgame, but that may not be the case if the attacker has very few pawns. If one of them is, in addition, a "/portals/all/_for_legal_reasons.jpg" then it can easily become impossible.

42...g5? After this the path of the black king to the kingside is blocked and the extra pawn can repeatedly use the sharp endgame weapon of zugzwang to win the day. 42...e5+ on the other hand keeps all options open and draws: 43.Kd5

(43.Ke3 g5 44.Ba6 (44.h3 e4 45.Kd4 g4 46.hxg4 fxg4 47.Bxg4 Kg5 48.Bh3 Kf4= and the black counterplay is sufficient to draw.) 44...f4+ 45.Kf3 e4+ 46.Kxe4 h3 47.gxh3 Kg7=) 43...e4 (43...h3? would be premature: 44.g3 f4 45.g4 (45.Ke4 Kg5 46.Bf3+- wins prosaically) 45...Kg5 46.Kxe5 Kh4!?

Black sets a clever little stalemate trap, which can, however, be circumvented. 47.Bf3 (47.Kxf4? g5+ 48.Kf5 patt) 47...g5 48.Bd1 f3 49.Ke4 f2 (49...Kxg4 50.Bxf3+ Kh4 51.Be2 g4 52.Kf4 Kh5 53.Bb5+-) 50.Be2 f1Q 51.Bxf1 Kxg4 52.Bb5 Kh5 53.Be8+ Kh6 54.Kf5

and in this constellation White can win in spite of the wrong colored bishop: 54...Kh7 55.Kf6 Kh8 56.Bg6 Kg8 57.Bd3 Kh8 58.Kf7 g4 59.Be4 g3 60.hxg3+-) 44.Bd1 Kg5!

The king uses this route to either convert the white g-pawn into a wrong-colored h-pawn, or to eliminate it altogether: 45.Ke5 f4 46.Kxe4 (Even after 46.h3 f3 47.gxf3 exf3 48.Bxf3 Kh6 White cannot gain anything from his outside pawn, e.g. 49.Kf6 Kh7 50.Bd5 Kh8=) 46...h3 47.g3 (47.gxh3 Kh4 48.Bg4 f3 49.Kxf3 g5 50.Bf5 Kh5=) 47...fxg3 48.hxg3 h2 49.Bf3 h1Q 50.Bxh1 Kg4=.

43.Ba6! g4

Now the white king can cut off Black's path after 43...e5+ 44.Kd5 e4 45.Bf1 g4 rechtzeitig den Weg abschneiden: 46.Kd4 Kg5 47.Ke3 h3 48.g3 f4+ 49.gxf4+ Kf5 50.Ba6 g3 51.Bc8+ Kf6 52.Bxh3 gxh2 53.Bg2+-. 44.Bb7! e5+. 44...f4 45.Ke4 f3 46.g3+-] 45.Kd5! f4 [45...e4 46.Kd4 h3 47.g3 f4 48.Kxe4+-] 46.Ke4 and Anand resigned because in the end all of his pawns will fall, e.g. [46.Ke4 h3 47.g3 fxg3 (47...f3 48.Bc8 f2 49.Ba6 Ke6 50.Ke3+-) 48.hxg3 h2 49.Ke3+-. 1-0. [Click to replay]

Pictures by Yu Feng

Cross table

Schedule and results

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