Armenians take on world
By Malcolm Pein
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
June 16, 2004, Wednesday
THE Armenian team scored their first victory over the Rest of the
World at the fifth attempt as world title challenger Peter Leko
defeated Vishy Anand after converting an advantageous rook and pawn
endgame on the 68th move. Leko’s win combined with Smbat Lputian’s
somewhat fortuitous victory over Francisco Vallejo Pons, also in a
long endgame, resulted in a 4-2 win and the score is 16-14 to the
Rest of the World with a game to play.
The contest is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the late
Armenian world champion Tigran Petrosian, whose birthday is today.
Each member of the two teams plays all six of his opposite numbers.
SVIDLER gives up the two bishops to play against Kasparov’s weakened
queenside pawns and care is required. After 17.Qb4 Qxb4 18.axb4 a6
White might try and play f4, e5 and Nf3 when the d4 pawn could become
exposed although 19.f4 0-0-0 20.Nf3 Rd7 seems OK if a little passive
but the bishops could be strong later. Kasparov’s solution creates a
very weak pawn on c5 and Svidler’s pawn to e5 and the sacrifice 23.e6
are designed to free the squares e4 and e5 for White knights from
where they dominate the bishops and pressure the pawns. Kasparov
responds by exchanging one knight and then liberating his king and
white squared bishop with the counter sacrifice 28 c4! Svidler’s c4
and c2 pawns are then so vulnerable and Kasparov’s king so active
only Black has winning chances from that point on. 39.Nf5 Bf7 40.Nxh6
Bxc4 41.Kf2 Kb5 heading for the a3 pawn is good for Black. Svidler
holds the balance by keeping his knight in the centre and 48.f4!
creates counterplay just in time. If 48 gxf4 49.Kf3 Kxc2 50.Kxf4 d3
51.Nxd3 followed by g4, h4 h5 and g5 exchanging the last pawn.
P Svidler – G Kasparov
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 g6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 d3 Bg7 6 h3 Nf6 7 Nc3 Nd7 8
Be3 e5 9 0-0 Qe7 10 Qd2 h6 11 Nh2 Nf8 12 Ne2 Ne6 13 a3 Nd4 14 b4 Be6
15 bxc5 Qxc5 16 Bxd4 exd4 17 Qb4 b6!? 18 Nf3 0-0-0 19 Qxc5 bxc5 20
Nf4 Bd7 21 e5 Rhe8 22 Rfe1 g5 23 e6! fxe6 24 Nh5 Bh8 25 Ne5 Kc7 26
Ng3 Bxe5 27 Rxe5 Kd6 28 Re2 c4! 29 dxc4 e5 30 Rae1 Re7 31 f3 c5 32
Rb1 Kc6 33 Rb5 a6 34 Rb3 Ree8 35 Re1 Rb8 36 Rxb8 Rxb8 37 Rxe5 Re8 38
Rxe8 Bxe8 39 Ne4 Bf7 40 Nd2 Bg6 41 Ne4 Bf7 42 Nd2 Kb6 43 Kf2 Ka5 44
Nb3+ Ka4 45 Nxc5+ Kxa3 46 Nxa6 Bxc4 47 Nc5 Kb2 48 f4! Kxc2 49 fxg5
hxg5 50 Kf3 Kc3 51 Ne4+ Kc2 52 Nc5 Bd5+ 53 Kg4 Kc3 54 Kxg5 Bc6 55 Kf4
Kc4 56 Ne6 d3 57 Ke3 Kc3 58 Nf4 d2 draw
Kasparov
p p p p p p p p p – p p p p p p p p p l p p e d p b p o p b p p p p p
Svidler
Final position after 58…d2 now 59.Ne2+ Kc2 60.Nd4+ Kc3 61.Ne2+
forces a draw.