Kenilworth Kibitzer

A blog for members of the Kenilworth Chess Club.

Friday, October 22, 2010

 

Gelfand-Anand and Anand-Aronian: Rounds 8 and 9



Leading the tournament by half a point over Gelfand going into the second half of the tournament, Anand faced a crucial matchup against the second-placed Gelfand in a game with big implications for deciding the winner:

After this painless draw Anand may have had dangerous ambitions against Aronian in the next round, where another Marshall Attack was in store...
The recording cut out, but the finish was 16...Qd7 17. Bxd5 cxd5 18. Nd2 Bd3 19. Re3 Bg6 20. Nf1 a5 21. a3?! and the game was agreed drawn.



Black was slightly for choice in this position with the bishop pair and typically better piece activity in the MarshallAttack, though still down a pawn. However, the draw suited Anand who remained the leader and perhaps Aronian who was already effectively out of the race and may have been battling illness.

After two quick but interesting draws, Anand benefited greatly from Morozevich upsetting Kramnik in round 9 and Grischuk bouncing back with a win over Gelfand, giving Anand a commanding lead over the field. Meanw
hile, the key game for the tournament was shaping up for round 10, where Kramnik was to have the white pieces against Anand in a must-wingame.



Anand 6.0
Gelfand 5.0
Kramnik 4.5
Grischuk 4.5
Leko 4.5
Aronian 4.0
Morozevich 4.0
Svidler 3.5


Contemplating 1. d4?! against Anand

Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]





<< Home

Archives

February 2009   March 2009   April 2009   May 2009   June 2009   July 2009   August 2009   September 2009   October 2009   November 2009   December 2009   January 2010   February 2010   March 2010   April 2010   May 2010   June 2010   July 2010   August 2010   September 2010   October 2010   November 2010   December 2010   January 2011   February 2011   March 2011   April 2011   May 2011   June 2011   January 2012   February 2012   March 2012   May 2012   July 2012   December 2012   January 2013   February 2013   July 2013   October 2013   March 2014  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]