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The Dortmund 2009 live commentary is brought to you thanks to Chess Cube and the Ikaros Chess Festival. Do not forget to check out the news of the day, for the first time in the world there will be a FIDE rated tournament online, the SA Open 2009.
Hello again chess fans, this is Jason Juett again and today we'll be looking at Leko-Carlsen. Carlsen started out the tournament with a bang yesterday with a fine endgame victory over Jakovenko, so it will be interesting to see whether he plays solidly or ambitiously today. Despite Carlsen's victory in a rapid match against Leko, I would still call Leko a historically tough opponent for Carlsen. In classical games the situation has so far been wholly in Leko's favor, with three wins and zero losses. So a victory today for Carlsen would not only put him temporarily out of reach of his main Dortmund rival Kramnik (who has already won the tournament eight times!), but it would also be an important career first for Carlsen, like his first classical win against Anand not too long ago. On the other hand with a victory today Leko could seize the lead, and he is one of the world's best players at refuting overly ambitious play, so I predict that Carlsen won't be looking to burn too many bridges for the attack. If Leko returns to playing his usual 1.e4, I would predict a Dragon, and against 1.d4 I would predict a Queen's Indian. Either way, I'm expecting a great fight, but I'm personally rooting for the Dragon!
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 A surprise for me, Leko plays the English instead of his usual 1.e4 or the 1.d4 of yesterday.
2... c5 Carlsen chooses to keep the game in the English instead of trying for a d4 transposition.
3.d4 Playing for this break is the most common plan for Grandmasters in the English.
3... cxd4 4.Nd4 e6 5.g3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Be7 Carlsen believes the White bishop to be misplaced on d2, so this isn't a loss of tempo.
7.Bg2 Nc6 Here we see one point of ...Bb4+: The knight is under attack.
8.Bf4 Somewhat more rare than 8.Bc3, but we're not near a novelty yet. Leko's last move is effectively a pawn sacrifice. One greedy possibility for Carlsen is 8...Qa5+ 9.Nc3 (9.Bd2 is too passive, after 9...Qc5 Black has no problems at all.) 9...e5 10.Nb3 (10.Nxc6 dxc6 gives Black a good position.) 10...Qb4 11.Bg5 Qxc4. After 12.Rc1, however, I think White has good compensation and the pawn grab looks rather risky.
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After 12.Rc1, 13.Nd5 is the threat with a double attack on the queen and c7. 12...0-0 looks like the most natural way to avoid this, and then after 13.Nd5 Qa4 14.Nxe7 Nxe7 15.Qd6 Qxa2 16.Qxe7 Qxb3 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Qxf6 Qb4+ (best) 19.Rc3, Black's position is obviously dangerous.
8... O-O As expected, Carlsen simply completes his development instead of pawn grabbing. Now Leko's debating between 9.0-0 and 9.Nc3. I'm quite intrigued by 9.Nc3!? and not sure how to meet it. On 9...Qb6, there could follow 10.Ndb5! a6 11.Bc7! Qc5 12.Bd6 Bxd6 13.Nxd6 Nd4 (to get rid of the monster knight) 14.e3! (retreating gives Black the edge) 14...Qxd6 15.Qxd4 Qxd4 16.exd4 and it looks like a very pleasant position for White. So 9...Qb6 looks wrong.
9.0-0 Also a reasonable choice. I'd consider it the safety first approach out of my two candidates.
9.O-O Qb6 Hm, I was just about to say that I didn't like this move, but I didn't see what else to recommend. I'm looking at the same idea as before with 10.Nb5! when 10...a6 11.Bc7! is good for White as before. A better try looks like 10...d5!, when 11.Nc7 Rb8 12.Nxd5! sees all the tactics work out for White: 12...exd5 13.cxd5 Qxb2 14.dxc6 Qxa1 15.Bxb8 bxc6 and I guess White is better but I don't know how much.
Ah, instead of 15.Bxb8, there is the very difficult to see over-the-board 15.c7!! Ra8 16.Qd2! when Black has difficulties extracting his queen. For instance, 16...Bb4 17.Qxb4 Qxa2 18.Nc3 gives White fantastic play for the exchange
Also, 16...g5 17.Nc3 Qxf1+ 18.Kxf1 gxf4 19.Qxf4 is another amazing position with Black having two rooks and a bishop for a queen and two pawns, but White having very dangerous play.
10.Nb5 Leko's going for it! We could be in for quite an exciting game. 10...a6 Carlsen must have seen the danger in the 10...d5 line at the last moment. Because of the resource 15.c7!!, I'll have to change my opinion to 10...a6! being the best try in the position, though White looks to have a solid plus here in the line mentioned earlier.
10... a6 11.Bc7 There really is no other good move.
11... Qc5 12.Bd6 All forced. Besides the most obvious 12...Bxd6, Black has another option of 12...Qb6 here, when 13.Bxe7 Nxe7 14.Qd4! (stopping axb5 and planning Nd6 if the queen retreats) 14...Qxd4 15.Nxd4 is a slight edge for White. 12...Qb6 also invites a repetion with 13.Bc7, but I doubt Leko would take it.
It should be noted that the attempted pawn grab 12...Qxc4? is a mistake: 13.N1a3 Qg4 14.Bxc6 bxc6 15.Bxe7 axb5 16.Bxf8 Kxf8 leaves White an exchange up.
12... Bxd6 13.Nxd6 Nd4 The other try to eliminate the knight is 13...Ne8.
15.Qxd4 Qxd4 16.exd4 Rb8 Carlsen plans to push the b-pawn and release the bishop that way, while at the same time neutralizing White's nice bishop.
17.Nc3 b6 The more aggressive-looking 17...b5 would allow 18.c5.
White's advantage seems less than I had originally anticipated. Carlsen seems to have shown excellent judgement in navigating the many dangers. An alternate more ambitious way for White to play was 15.exd4!?.
18.Ne4 Nxe4 19.Bxe4 Bb7 20.Bxb7 Rxb7 Now this looks completely even. A draw offer should come soon.
21.Rac1 Rc8 22.Rc3 Well, maybe it isn't completely trivial. White plans a build up with Rfc1 and b4 if allowed.
22... d5 An active defense, eliminating that possibility.
23.Rfc1 Accepting an isolated pawn but maintaining the more active rook. 23.cxd5 Rxc3 24.bxc3 exd5 sees White getting nowhere.
23... Rxc4 24.Rxc4 dxc4 25.Rxc4 Draw agreed. Leko could have played on, but realistically there was little chance at more than a draw for the last several moves. Thank you for following with me, Jason Juett, the game from Dortmund. The live commentary on Chessdom.com continues tomorrow. 1/2-1/2