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Once again we'll be following this tournament's hero Ivanchuk. Brilliant 5 out of 5 start, not a single loss yet. On the other side Bu is like knocked down. He is a strong player but starting badly was marked by the other players as the one out of form who is to be defeated at any cost. He has well worked out opening repertoire but it's far from ample, so his opponents find it easy to prepare unpleasant surprises for him. Such situation may seem hopeless for the Chinese but in fact the things are quite different. After a couple of defeats a player loses confidence and the quality of his chess goes down. Anyway, there comes a moment when he does not care any more about his tournament situation and begins playing without any tension, just to have some fun. If that occurs he is extremely dangerous as may outplay any opponent in a single game. Let's see if the Ukrainian is going to maintain his dominance in Sofia or a new chapter of David and Goliath story will be witnessed.
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 After some thought. Anyway Ivanchuk's opening choice is hard to predict so Bu had to consider should he play 2.d4 or as in the game.
2... b6 Development in Queen's Indian fashion.
3.g3 c5 Going for the hedgehog system in English opening. The Ukrainian prefers to play the QI line with Ba6, not the old main line with Bb7.
4.Bg2 Bb7 5.O-O e6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.d4 cxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.Rd1 a6 10.b3 Nbd7 11.e4 Prepares 12.Ba3 Nc5 13.e5
11... Qc8 The best reply to the above mentioned threat. (11... Qc7 12.Ba3 Nc5 13.e5 dxe5 14.Qxe5) is unpleasant for the Black player.
12.Bb2 ( In case of 12.Ba3 Nc5 13.e5 there is a tempting possibility to capture the pawn 13... Bxf3 14.Bxf3 dxe5 and 15.Qxe5 is forced draw in view of 15... Ncd7 16.Rxd7 Nxd7 17.Qxg7 Bf6 18.Ne4 Bxg7 19.Nd6+ so White prefers to enter one of the Hedgehog setups.)
12... O-O 13.Qe3 Re8 14.Rac1 A typical situation for such positions. White has spacial advantage but the two weak points in opponent's camp - b6 and d6 - are well protected and Black is looking for a way to activate his pieces by a freeing breakthrough in the center - usually b6-b5 and/or d6 d5. Such positions are evaluated generally as of dynamic equality.
14... Qc7 The right square for the Queen. Normally Ra8-c8 and Qc7-b8 are played afterwards as a part of the standard plan.
15.h3 Rac8 16.Nh2 If White advances his Kingside pawns g7-g6 and Be7-f8 are to follow, so the Knight is heading towards 'g4' to weaken the long diagonal.
16... Qb8 17.Ng4 Ba8 Trading the Knights on 'g4' would let Bu get a nasty pawn to 'g5' without weakening his King.
18.Nxf6+ Bxf6 19.Na4 With dark squared Bishops gone, the 'd6' pawn would become vulnerable.
19... Be7 20.e5 Bxg2 21.exd6 (21.Kxg2 Red8 22.exd6 Bxd6 is about equal.)
21... Bxd6 (21... Bxh3 22.dxe7 Qb7 (22... Rxe7 23.g4) 23.f3 Rxe7 24.Rd6 b5 25.Nb6 Nxb6 26.Rxb6 Qa7 27.c5 with excellent compensation for the sacrificed pawn.)
22.Kxg2 Nc5 23.Nc3 (23.Qd4 Qb7+ 24.f3 Bf8 gives Black time enough to coordinate his pieces.)
23... Be5 (23... Red8 seems to be better)
24.b4 Ivanchuk may have missed that move.
24... Nb7 (24... Qb7+ 25.Kg1 Nd7 26.Rxd7) Now after a forced series of moves Bu gets a better ending thanks to the pawn majority on the Queen-side.
25.Qxb6 Rxc4 26.Na4 Rxc1 27.Rxc1 Vassily should have to defend very accurately to get even half a point from this game. Unusually for this event no time trouble is to be expected: 0.39 0.41.
27... Bxb2 28.Nxb2 The above mentioned forced line.
28... Qa8 29.Qc6 There are a lot of weak squares around the White King, so if moves like 29.Kg1 may be stronger, the correct practical decision from human (non-computer) point of view is to trade the Queens.
29... Nd6 30.Qxa8 Rxa8 31.Rc6 Nf5 Ivanchuk has to create counter play as soon as possible - perhaps h7-h5-h4 to weaken Bu's King-side and in some moment activate his Rook even at the cost of a pawn - as otherwise the Chinese can simply transfer his Knight via 'd3' to 'c5' and get good winning chances.
32.Rc7 Prevents Nf5-e7- d5 but fails to see Black's plan. (32.Nd3) was to be preferred.
32... h5 Nobody would dare denying Ivanchuk's fine positional understanding.
33.Nd3 h4 34.g4 Nd4 35.a4 f6 Why weaken the 7th rank? Activating the Rook seems like reasonable alternative. (35... Rd8) (35... f6 36.Nc5 followed by a4-a5 and Rc7-b7-b6 could be nasty.)
36.Nc5 e5 37.a5 Ne2 As a consequence of that f7-f6 Bu may now play Nc5-e6.
38.Ne6 Nf4+ 39.Nxf4 exf4 There is a joke that every Rook ending should finish in a draw. Nevertheless, after 40.Rb7 White seems to be winning.
40.Rc6 (40.Rb7 Rc8 41.b5 axb5 42.a6 Ra8 43.a7 Kh7 44.Kf3 b4 45.Ke4 is convincing enough but the Chinese decides not to force things with little time left.)
40... Kf7 41.g5 Nice looking but Ivanchuk is not forced to capture. (41.Kf3 g5 42.Rb6 Kg6 43.Ke4) heading towards the 'a6' pawn makes far more sense.
41... Kg6 42.gxf6 gxf6 43.Kf3 Kg5 44.Rc5+ (44.Ke4 directing the King to the Queen-side was better. Now White creates himself great technical difficulties, if there is still a way to win.)
44... f5 45.Rc6 Rb8 46.Rb6 Ra8 Perhaps it is only now that Bu has noticed the line (46... Re8+ 47.Rxa6 Re2 48.Rb6)
47.Ke2 Re8+ 48.Kd3 Re4 (48... f3) would secure the draw
49.Kc3 (49.Rxa6 Rxb4) is easy draw
49... Re2 50.Rxa6 Rxf2 51.Rd6 f3 52.Rd1 Kf4 53.Kb3 Re2 54.a6 Re3+ Bu is investing a lot of time in this ending but after 44.Rc5+? the win had slipped away.
55.Kc4 (55.Ka4 f2 56.a7 Re1 57.a8Q and White should be satisfied to have a perpetual.)
55... f2 56.Rf1 Kg3 57.b5 Ra3 58.Kb4 Ra2 59.Kb3 Ra5 60.Kb4 Ra2 61.Kb3 Ra5 Draw. Bu played well this game and used the two Ivanchuk's errors - 23...Be5 and 35...f6 - to get a winning Rook ending. Yet, there is a lot to improve about his technique, as he probably thought it's an easy win anyway and carelessly committed several inaccuracies and earned half a point only. Topalov is almost catching up with the provisional leader so an exiting finish is awaiting.
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