Dortmund R7: Karpov visits, Mamedyarov strikes back
23 July 2010, 7.00 CET | Last modified: 11:33 | By Arne Moll | Filed under: Reports | Tags:
In round 7 of the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess-Meeting, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took revenge for yesterday’s sad loss while Anatoly Karpov visited the tournament he won seventeen years ago.
Perhaps the most exciting event of the day was not one of the games in the super tournament, but FIDE Presidential candidate Anatoly Karpov’s visit to the Dortmund Chess-Meeting – even though he only made one chess move today.
He did give press conferences, interviews and posed for the many photographers who had been invited to Dortmund. Karpov has been very busy lately lobbying for his presidency in various countries all over the world, so it’s no surprise he shows up in Germany. At the time of writing, it’s not yet known whether Karpov made any important announcements in Dortmund.
Karpov posing for photographers (photo by Georgios Souleidis)
But back to chess. Supposing Liem Quang Le honoured the Twelfth World Champion by playing the Caro-Kann today might perhaps be a little too far-fetched, but he certainly did good business, easily drawing Arkadij Naiditsch.
In a pretty much unknown position after just 10 moves, Quang Le went for 11…c3 after which he seemed to have no problems whatsoever. Indeed, the Vietnamese afterwards explained that “in this sideline of the Caro-Kann, Black has so many possibilities that it’s not difficult to deviate”. Quang Le continues to impress in this tournament, comfortably defending his second place in the standings, ahead of former World Champion Kramnik.
Kramnik (photo by Georgios Souleidis)
Slightly more exciting was the game between the two Russians, Kramnik and Ponomariov. Kramnik no doubt wanted to try something serious with the white pieces (the opening was a Queen’s Indian) but with some accurate defensive operations, Ponomariov stayed in control all the time.
It looks like Black may be in a bit of trouble, but 18…Qh4! is a very clever move that keeps the dynamic equilibirum. After 19.Nxe4 Bxe4 20.Bxe4 fxe4 21.Qxe4 Rae8 22.e3 e5!
Black has plenty of counterplay in the center and Kramnik subsequently couldn’t find anything concrete to play for. The game was drawn after 37 moves.
Mamedyarov - Leko (photo by Georgios Souleidis)
The game of the day was, of course, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov’s sweet revenge for yesterday’s blunder against Naiditsch. Today, he beat the unfortunate Peter Leko in a fine positional game. In a quiet English Opening, the Azeri slowly but steadily increased the pressure on Leko’s position, putting all his active pieces on light squares until the moment was there to harvest.
22.Ncxb6! Rxb6 23.Nxb6 Qxb6 24.Qxc5 Qd8 25.d4!
25…exd4 26.e4 Actually the computer engines are even more enthusiastic about the natural 26.Rfd1 after which White seems to be just winning. But Shakh’s move isn’t bad at all as he still crashes through in the center sooner or later. Leko couldn’t cope with the pressure and though it still looked tricky for a couple of moves, Mamedyarov kept his cool this time and collected the point at move 39.
With his victory, Mamedyarov again moves up into second place together with Quang Le. They face each other in the next round, while Ponomariov will try to increase his lead with White against Naiditsch. We presume Leko-Kramnik is not unlikely to end in a quick draw, though perhaps the Hungarian will think back to the fifth match game in 2004. Let’s hope he’ll find the inspiration to play a great game once more against his former World Championship rival.
Standings after 7 rounds:
1. Ponomariov 4,5
2. Le Quang, Mamedyarov 4
4. Kramnik 3,5
5. Naiditsch 3
6. Leko 2
Games start daily at 15.00 CET and can be followed live here.
Dortmund Games round 7
Game viewer by ChessTempo
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Kramnik and Ponomariov=The two Russians
Great report…
Karpov was accompanied by Richard A. Conn Jr., his candidate for FIDE vice president – supposedly they presented “contents of their candidature”. On the other hand, the press conference was primarily for (mainstream?) journalists from the Dortmund area who may not ask detailed questions.
[German language sources: tournament homepage and chessbase.de]
BTW, are there any dedicated foreign chess journalists on-site in Dortmund? Overall, there seems to be a relative lack of first-hand informations about the tournament!?
I was planning to drive to Dortmund today, Thomas, but unfortunately I won’t be able to make it
Ouch, Leko has such a bad result that he is placed 7th out of 6 players..
“This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
If everything that stands, the end.”
A very sad tournament for Leko.
A very sad tournament for Leko, indeed. Not much better for Kramnik, but I’d even expect the latter to try his luck with black today, for his oppnent is evidently in a miserable shape.
Corrected, Jochem.
Nice to see Leko playing according his real strenght.
He used to make draws with strong players and win against weak players. Now he can’t make draws with strong players anymore..
No leko in top tournaments = less uneventfull draws
@Jonas: Granted, Leko is out of form – for a while already. But the weak players he managed to beat in 2009 aren’t that weak after all, they include Bacrot, Kasimdzhanov, Karjakin and Gelfand (all 2700+ or close).
It may be tough to have prejudices refuted by facts, but all these games are worth a look: fine positional efforts, sometimes culminating in a direct kingside attack.
Actually, winning the weak and drawing (or losing to) the strong is more characteristic to players with flashy style.
I agree 100%, Thomas. Leko is not a boring player at all. In the mid-1990s, when he was just starting professional chess, he was often content with draws against the elite, but who wouldn’t? But his reputation has been bad ever since – quite unfairly!
Leko seems to have lost all his determination over the last 3/4 years. Not only did he fail to reach the heights of Anand, Kramnik and Topalov, the younger generation has also gradually surpassed him in terms of performance (tournament wins and WC candidates qualifications), and rating. Over the last few WC cycles he got opportunities because of his rating advantage (over others) that he gained more on his performance before 2005.
These days he seems out of sorts and loses quite frequently whereas once he was considered tough to beat and a draw was almost always guaranteed. I wouldn’t be surprised if he in fact gives up and goes into retirement in next 4/5 years.
Just imagine, if his performance continues to be like this, who would invite him in the super-tournaments especially when he is already infamous for his draws and dull style of play.
With more youngsters catching up, the time is running out for him.
After winning the Linares in 2004 or 2005, he made a very bold statement claiming himself to be as good as the Big 3 (Kaspy, Anand and Kramnik) in Classical Chess. Today, he would hardly find a place in anybody’s list of top 5 players.
Well, that’s life, not every child prodigy turns out to be a winner in life.
His best achievement was to win the PCA candidates in 2002/2003 and become the challenger in 2004 but that candidates cycle didn’t include the actual big guns of that time (Kaspy, Anand & Ivanchuk).
Good point, Arne – I had made the same before here or elsewhere
. I concede that Leko’s attitude in his first supertournaments may have had ongoing effects on his playing style – yet IMO there is nothing wrong with being a solid positional player. By comparison, Carlsen didn’t mind (or had to accept) big minus scores in his first elite events – which didn’t (negatively) affect his subsequent career.
On Leko’s recent events, GM Shipov in his ongoing live commentary might be spot on [I have to rely on the Google translation, maybe "Colin Mc mishanp" will provide a better one in due course]:
“But the real reasons for the failure probably lies in the psychology … Leko started playing supertournament since childhood . He quickly got a record in the elite and now almost two decades, stands in this traveling circus big top , moving from tournament to tournament . Always . In my opinion , Peter was just tired – mentally , psychologically. Such a monotonous job , no major breaks , without a change in lifestyle , without tossing and relaxations can suppress all living things , even in a strong man in the prime of life . I find it hard to give advice from , but in my opinion , the remarkable Hungarian grandmaster ’s time to take custom solutions … For example , to abandon a few tournaments , learn yoga , write a couple of books, do the students travel around the world ordinary tourist. See more on life ! And at the same time the chess work up an appetite – then to come back to the Tournament younger .”
On a personal note, I can add that I had heard of Leko probably before many others: In 1989, I was marginally involved in organizing an international youth tournament in Germany (Griesheim nearby Darmstadt), won – ahead of many older players – by a 10-year old Hungarian who could hardly look above the table. In the years that followed, he gained both height and Elo … .
@Aingle Pack: Some of your statements are, at the very least, a bit misleading. Leko had rather realistic chances to qualify for the upcoming candidates tournament via the FIDE Grand Prix. In the end, he didn’t manage because he lost his last-round games in both Nalchik and Jermuk (a matter of nerves rather than playing strength or chess understanding?), and because the last event in Astrakhan fell into his recent period of bad form. Still, the earlier GP events contributed to his peak rating as late as September 2009, and he finished ahead of Gelfand and Ivanhuk in the final GP standings.
About his “bold statement”: It might haunt him now a bit, but one gets nowhere without self-confidence? And others made similar statements without a Linares win on their chess CV:
- Gashimov said he can become #1 within a year (in fairness to him, he was tricked into such a statement)
- Nakamura wants to become world champion
Radjabov is another player who couldn’t quite meet his own high expectations so far, even if he “somehow” qualified for the candidates event.
” not every child prodigy turns out to be a winner in life”
I don’t know how you define winner, but methinks it’s rather odd to consider Leko a loser – he was a stable top10 player for many years, occasionally within the top5. And he is by far not the only one who has to admit that the current top5 are currently a class apart (others include the names given above).
You can also add that Leko is fed up with ‘not playing chess’, meaning i guess he dreams to get rid of all these single opponent oriented opening preparations that consumes all his time and nerves. I remember he said something like this when he discovered Random Chess (960)
However, Shipov’s recommendations may be worth a try. The fact is that Leko has become the regular tail-ender in these super-tournaments; how long can you drive around and get beaten.
Arne, if you want to write an article full of coments and ideas about chess and about growing in chess and how the youngster are improving day by day, you should write an article about Leko. It will be successfull. No doubt about that. Some common ideas, some refutations, some explanations about how a player can improve and how a player can play bad chess in some tournaments and still keep being very strong. And that’s it!
Lots of comments and smiles. Yeah, no doubt about it. People want to read a good article about Leko. Yes, Arne, and I think you can make a good job.
Best wishes,
truly yours,
Superman.
I gave up defending Leko after the debacle of his WCC match with Kramnik. He is a very strong player but nowadays there is no sense in having him in a super-tournament because he will just do his best to dampen the fighting chess mood.
Let him go rediscover how to fight in some opens before getting anymore closed tourney privileges.
i laughed out loud at kramnik looking away, pono looking at kramnik, karpov attempting a smile
What do you think was happening there, shane? I didn´t get any subliminal message :S
still insisting on the book idea of “my 50 best draws” from Leko.
not more than this.
and agree w/ aingle pack.
“Leko – Kramnik was everything we thought it would be; i.e., nothing”
http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2010/7/23/the-daily-update-dortmund-biel-computers.html