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Later Kibitzing> |
Apr-29-09
 | | Marmot PFL: Tarrasch said that a rook and 2 bishops were no worse than 2 rooks and a knight, and if you also have a strong passed pawn... |
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Apr-29-09
 | | whiteshark: Great game, excellent fighting spirit.
So finally Aronian gets the sole <FIRST!> place. |
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| Apr-29-09 | | arnaud1959: Before playing 34.Re4 Aronian played all the moves to prevent g7-g5 (Bc1;Kg2). Interestingly when he was ready to play it, Leko played Nc3, inviting him to make his move in better conditions. |
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| Apr-29-09 | | zealouspawn: this is a really nice game, especially considering the circumstances. I think most super-gms here take a short draw. |
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| Apr-29-09 | | shintaro go: Elegant finish by Aronian |
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Apr-29-09
 | | Ron: I find 34. Re5 to be a real interesting idea, it sacrifices the exchange but it seems that white gets compensation in other ways. I would be much interested in seeing analysis of the 34th move on. |
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| Apr-29-09 | | wharfrat: I have not run this through a computer, but this looks like the best game I have seen from 2009. Playing to win in this situation shows both the confidence and fighting spirit of a future world champion. And to deliver the full point with a creative effort like this.... Bravo, Aronian! |
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| Apr-29-09 | | whatthefat: Incredible. More and more, Aronian reminds me of Lasker. |
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Apr-30-09
 | | tamar: This game reminded me of Topalov vs Aronian, 2006
where Aronian was on the wrong side of exchange sacrifices. Topalov then was the one with unstoppable passed pawns 
click for larger view
and Aronian gets the same two on d5 and c7 on move 47. To play this fluidly and creatively in a last round game is admirable. |
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| Apr-30-09 | | calmarten: <whatthefat "Aronian reminds me of Lasker"> Wow! you're quite right the tactical way he fights in even positions like that one does seem similar to Lasker. I thought Leko was better before 22...,Bd5 but looking at it with toga it was almost even. playing it out with the moves toga picked black went on to exploit the weakness in whites position and win but no doubt a draw would be the result with more time for both sides to think from move 22 on. Quite an amazing game. After 25...,Ng6 Aronian plays at a very high level and doesn't really give Leko any of a chance to recover from slight errors. |
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| Apr-30-09 | | arnaud1959: < Ron: I find 34. Re5 to be a real interesting idea, it sacrifices the exchange but it seems that white gets compensation in other ways. I would be much interested in seeing analysis of the 34th move on.> At this level a player may see the compensation but even at our level it could be playable if we trust in Tarrasch's rule <see Marmot PFL's post> |
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| Apr-30-09 | | arsen387: great game! this one deserves to be in Aronian's notable games' list |
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| Apr-30-09 | | SimonWebbsTiger: I am still trying to understand Leko's play. The Knight moves seemed dreadfully artificial; and of course, when his queen began "lacking air", their artificial nature became twofold. What's all the more surprising is this sort of hanging pawn structure is literally decades old and must form part of any GMs "tabiya". |
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Apr-30-09
 | | SetNoEscapeOn: This was a great win, but I think Topalov-Aronian was on an even higher level. The compensation was not as clear, and it was two exchanges (along with several moves refusing to give even one exchange back). The thing that strikes me about this game is that it's the second time Aronian has beaten Leko in such a decisive game with the tournament title on the line, the first being Leko vs Aronian, 2006. Unlike Ivanchuk (who seems to be merely inconsistent), Leko seems to be a great player who can't quite get it done in the most important games. Actually, that description works for Ivanchuk as well. Maybe Ivanchuk is simply insane. |
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| Apr-30-09 | | popski: That's a beautiful game! And Bronstein's name in the opening fits perfectly in such an art! |
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| Apr-30-09 | | TheChessGuy: How about Aronian? Defends like grim death and proceeds to sacrifice the exchange for excellent compensation and monster connected passed pawns. This is one of the best games of the year! |
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| Apr-30-09 | | znprdx: What could have been a wonderful battle piddled out to nothing...albeit classically instructive 2 pawns on the 6th worth a rook...(in more than one variation BTW) For what it is worth the critical point came here < 
click for larger view>
Aronian plays the easy 21.f3 and Leko just flounders with ...N(6)h5 instead of the solid N(6)d4
Personally at least trying 21....N(4)h5 may have held more promise for example continuing
22.Qh4 g5!? 23.Qf2 Qg6 24. Bc2 Qh6 Now if 25. g4 Nf4 : ) 26.Kh1 Nh3 27.Qg3 Nd5! So if 28.Be4 Rb8 29. Nd3 f6 looks promising.
< 
click for larger view>
Of course then 30.f4 and we have an exciting game...I could try Babas ‘Crafty’ but – maybe someone with Rybka could give me some feedback. I apologize for attempting to question the lofty heights of grandmaster play, but I really cannot understand Leko’s self-destruction |
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| Apr-30-09 | | Woody Wood Pusher: What a fantastic last round game by Aronian!
Brilliant!
What a fighter! |
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May-02-09
 | | Eyal: <znprdx: For what it is worth the critical point came here: Aronian plays the easy 21.f3 and Leko just flounders with ...N(6)h5 instead of the solid N(6)d4 Personally at least trying 21....N(4)h5 may have held more promise for example continuing 22.Qh4 g5!? 23.Qf2 Qg6 24. Bc2 Qh6 Now if 25. g4 Nf4 : ) 26.Kh1 Nh3 27.Qg3 Nd5! So if 28.Be4 Rb8 29. Nd3 f6> 21...N(6)d4 isn't legal; I suppose that should be 21...N(6)d5, which is possible, but not clearly better than N(6)h5 which is quite reasonable. 21...N(4)h5 allows the strong 22.Qe5; after the suggested 22.Qh4 g5!? 23.Qf2 Qg6 24. Bc2 Qh6 25. g4 Nf4 26.Kh1 Black simply wins by 26...Nxg4, but besides the possible improvement on move 22, there's no reason for White to play such two awful moves like 25.g4 and 26.Kh1 in succession. So this line doesn't seem to have any special significance. In fact, it's not so easy to point to where exactly Leko did "flounder". Leko himself, in the press conference, criticized his play after 24.Kh1 - suggesting a5-b4 as an alternative plan, or 25...Nd5 instead of Ng6, saying he didn't appreciate the strength of Aronian's Ng2-e3 idea. Dennis Monokroussos thinks there's something problematic about Black's position already after 16...Qf5: <Black's position isn't as good as it may look, and I think it's because it lacks a certain "improvability". It's hard to find better squares for Black's forces, but not so hard for White to improve his.> (http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/fil...) |
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May-02-09
 | | Ulhumbrus: 11...Bxc3 concedes the bishop pair without doubling White's pawns and strengthens White's centre as well, as it compels the recapture bxc3. Instead of 15..Qf4, 15...Rac8 prepares the pair of moves ..Bxf3 and ...e5 as in the game Portisch vs Karpov, 1978 Instead of 18..Nd5, 18...Bd5 19 Bc2 Be4 offers an exchange of bishops. |
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| May-03-09 | | znprdx: <Eyal:> ..yes of course 21....N(6)d5. I think if there was a losing move it had to be 25...Ng6 -this knight had to go to d5: the point being to maintain the blocade of the passed pawns |
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| May-03-09 | | znprdx: BTW <Eyal:> my suggested 21....N(4)h5 still seems quite playable. Your suggested 'strong' 22.Qe5 could lead to ...Qg6 but the obvious 23. g4 Nxg4 24. fx[N]g4 Qxg4+ might allow Black more play than in the actual game in that the impending f6 and/or Nf4 (holding d5) throttles White's iniative. For example
A]25. Kf1 Nf4 a) 26. Rf2?Nh3 b)26. Bd1 Qh3+ 27.Kg1 Ng6 28.Qg3 Qf5 29.Bf3 Bx[B]f3 30.Nx[B]f3 f6 31.Nh4 Nx[N]h4 32.Qx[N]h4 Qd5 33.Rg2 Rf8 34.Rf1 Kh8 35.Qg4 g6 36.R[g]f2 Kg7 37.Bc1 and it will be a long struggle but I realize White can give up the Bishop for 2 pawns with a likely better rook ending ...given the dominant 'c' file threats |
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May-03-09
| | Eyal: After 21...N(4)h5 22.Qe5 Qg6 23.g4 Nxg4 24.fxg4 Qxg4+ 25.Ng2! (instead of Kf1?) White should be winning rather easily. |
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| May-03-09 | | Atking: <Eyal> I got the same impression of <znprdx> when I saw the game in live. Leko played strongly the first 20 moves got an advantage then didn't find the right plan later. 11...BxNc3 for 15, 16 Qf4 ~Qf5 then 17...b5! (Not an obvious one) are great (I think). I still have not time to analyse seriously this one but why not simply 20...e5? |
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| May-03-09 | | kurtrichards: I cannot help but to mention the 14th game Kramnik-Leko (Caro-Kann Defense:Advance.Tal Variation) WCC Match 2004. In that game Leko needed only a draw to become the new world chess champion but he lost the game and thus the match and Kramnik retained his title as world champion. Here in Nalchik 2009 he needs only to draw the final game at least to share equal first or to become champion via some tie-breaking system but alas he lost the final game to Aronian (Nimzo-Indian Defense:Normal.Gligoric System Bronstein Variation). Anyways, congratulations to both gentlemen Aronian and Leko. Hope to see Aronian facing Anand or Topalov at WCC. Hope to see Leko forgetting about the last round collapse and thus win some tournament in the near future. :-) |
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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 1 OF 3 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
sac: 34.Re5