Translated material
Peacefulness of Veterans
The cream of world chess gathered in Moscow
Over the past few days, the Central House of the chess player named after Mikhail Botvinnik has been noisy like an agitated hive. Of course, all the celebrities of the chess world are visiting us! The Mikhail Tal Memorial, a FIDE category 20 tournament, has started. The current stars sat down at the boards immediately after their predecessors and legendary players of previous generations who played the USSR - Yugoslavia match. In this event, non-existent countries, once the leading chess powers of the world, were represented by veterans. Ironically, the Soviet chess players were led by the famous Viktor Korchnoi, who emigrated from the USSR in the 70s, and the Yugoslavs were led by their national pride, Svetozar Gligoric. The two-round tournament, held on ten boards, was notable for its peaceful nature, but nevertheless ended in victory for our compatriots with a score of 11:9.The veterans' peacefulness seemed to be echoed by the stars of the Tal Memorial - after the first two rounds, there was only one successful game in the standings. But these were draws of a different kind, draws filled with full-blooded struggle, testifying to the balance of attack and defense. Indeed, it is difficult to blame eminent grandmasters such as participants in the World Championship in Mexico Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko, Boris Gelfand, and our other former compatriots - Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Gata Kamsky (USA) and Alexey Shirov (Spain) for their unwillingness to fight. , as well as the most prominent representatives of youth - Shakhtiyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) and Magnus Carlsen (Norway). Apart from Kramnik, Russia is represented by Russian champion Evgeniy Alekseev and Dmitry Yakovenko, who lost to him in the match for this title.
What is the reason for this balance, a Vremya Novostey correspondent asked Arshak Petrosyan, coach Peter Leko, whose assets included the only one. “Different chess,” explained the famous Soviet grandmaster. -- Not only the general level of play of grandmasters, who have absorbed the experience of their predecessors, has increased, but also the “power supply” of chess equipped with computer programs. The creative space for free play, relying only on creativity, has shrunk. Nowadays, the theory has reached such a level that in almost all core openings, players are limited by rigid boundaries, not everyone dares to go beyond them, and not only an understanding of chess, but also, above all, an excellent memory, which allows one to assimilate home developments using a computer, has come to the fore. Let's take Kramnik, for example. In a number of games at the World Championship, especially those played by White, there were already practically “ready-made” positions that required only technical work.”
We conducted our conversation looking at the position of the Kramnik-Leko game. And Arshak’s observations, to his chagrin, seemed to be confirmed. It should be noted that Leko is not a very convenient opponent for Kramnik, whose minimal advantage in classical chess - 5:4 - dissolves in a sea of 36 draws. He was, of course, ready for the Catalan opening, Vladimir's signature opening, and yet in his home preparation Kramnik found a way to create problems for Black. And the point is not in a single move, but in the nature of the position that has developed on the board. Therefore, it is not surprising that after Black’s 24th move, Leko’s clock had half as much time left as his opponent’s. Finding himself in an unpleasant position, Peter stubbornly resisted, but could not oppose anything to the filigree technique of Kramnik, who, in the classical style, realized a distant passed pawn on the queenside.
If we move on to the remaining games of the third round, it broke the draw stereotypes of the previous ones - especially in terms of entertainment. Thus, in contrast to the modern opening trend, Kamsky completely abandoned opening debates and already on the second move (!) moved into the realm of the little-known, which Tal’s student Alexey Shirov (a former resident of Riga now lives in Spain) accepted with pleasure. But this approach to the game took time, and it is not surprising that while the other matches were intensely fought, only 12 moves were made in this game. Time pressure was inevitable, and although Kamsky sacrificed a pawn in the fight for the initiative, he failed to cope with the “clock” and ran out of time.
Unlike Shirov, 22-year-old Mamedyarov cannot be called a student of the great Riga resident in the literal sense. But due to his insatiable thirst for attack, it is he who plays in the style of the young Tal. Shakhtiyar literally attacked the formidable Ivanchuk from the opening - a breakthrough in the center alternated with an attack on the king's side, culminating in a brilliant sacrifice of the bishop. What about our youth? Jakovenko played sluggishly with White, who completely gave the initiative to Carlsen, came under attack and, in addition, already in a difficult position missed the bishop's blow. Alekseev did not shine with White either, whose slight pressure was confidently neutralized by the wise Gelfand, who, by the way, had an equally unpretentious start at the World Championship. Their draw was the only one in the third round.
An intriguing beginning, foreshadowing a real theatrical plot! And if we add that the festival program will be crowned by the World Blitz Championship, which is held from November 19 to 22 (the first two days are a qualifying tournament), with the participation of the selection winners, who will be joined by the Tal Memorial participants and world champion Viswanathan Anand (India), then chess fans can only envy. Unfortunately, a less accessible sight could be a match of two games Anand - Kramnik in the so-called advanced chess (opponents play with a 30-minute control and can use computers with chess programs), which is held on November 23 in the GUM showroom.
After three rounds, Kramnik, Mamedyarov and Carlsen are in the lead - 2 points each, 4-7. Leko, Gelfand, Shirov and Alekseev - 1.5 points each, 8--10. Ivanchuk, Kamsky and Yakovenko - 1 point each.