Western media sometimes call the leading chess players of the world in the American manner: Ananda - Vichy, Ponomarev - Pono, Morozevich - Moro. It’s clear that the handsome Muscovite has nothing to do with the hero of Herbert Wales’s novel “Island of Dr. Moreau”. But in the province of Andalusia, Alexander did something truly fantastic, winning four victories and only drawing three games. In the last round, Morozevich beat black compatriot Peter Svidler, who also claimed a pedestal, and was in the top three.
After the first round there was every reason to assume that Moro was not in shape. Not only did he find himself at the tail of the table, but also the content of the game left much to be desired. But recently, the 29-year-old grandmaster has not tired of repeating: "The main thing is the quality of the parties." At the end of the international tournament in Bile 2003, where Alexander “chopped up” 8 out of 10, he ... was upset that the final “plus six” did not reach the “plus eight”, as required by the position. Morozevich has repeatedly said that he does not seek to prove absolute superiority over rivals: “If I see that I play better, that I beat the elite and show stable results, this will be enough.” He put self-esteem and the opinion of colleagues higher than high-profile titles.
Since the late 90s, Alexander has been constantly spinning in the highest chess world. It’s only there that his successes are an order of magnitude more modest than in “openings” or performances for the team. There is also a chess “double event” in Monte Carlo, where Morozevich has no equal in the blind game. In virtual chess, a Russian easily deals with “grosses” with a rating of 2,700. But in classic FIDE high-category tournaments, he often gives in to them.
In Linares, Alexander acted beyond all praise. In the 9th round, he beat Peter Leko in his characteristic combination style. For Moreau, able to give half a set of figures, the sacrifice of quality is a trifle. And not this game of the Russian chess player made the greatest impression.
The victory of Morozevich over Veselin Topalov from the 13th round deserves special mention. The closed "Sicilian" smoothly turned into an approximately equal equestrian endgame, where the distant passer-white balanced the activity of the black king. But the partners managed to breathe life into a boring position by playing fairy-tale chess. The easy-to-finish ending turned into a pawn ending; Black first led the queen. However, another infantryman Topalov fell, and the eternal check turned out to be a mirage! Later, the all-knowing computer suggested that the Bulgarian more than once missed a draw, making a series of "unforced errors" from the 69th to the 71st moves. But Victoria Morozevich did not fade from this. And even the Russian “civil strife”, important in sports terms, from the 14th round did not overshadow it: it was too weak-willedly lost to a teammate from St. Petersburg.
It remains to wish Alexander not to lose ground and successfully perform at the “tournament of eight” in Mexico, where Morozevich, like Svidler and Anand, ended up without selection.
In Spain, among other candidates for the championship title (after the reform of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov - the last that will be played according to the old system) Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Peter Leko played. The first two in the challenger matches, which will be held from May 26 to June 14 in Elista, will have to fight against each other. If earlier the Armenian grandmaster was considered the favorite of the couple, now opinions are divided. The sharing of prizes in Linares is an undoubted achievement of the 16-year-old Norwegian. After crossing the equator, Carlsen won only against Ivanchuk, having been defeated by Anand and (at the finish) by Leko. For pressure in the party with the Ukrainian, Magnus tore off applause, but the other two masters assigned him the role of a supporting actor. But none of the venerable chess players consider signing the world with a talented teenager as shameful.
By the way, a win against Carlsen is the only result of the second round, which can add to the asset of Vichy Anand. The Indian spent this half of the distance in the class, skillfully quenching the initiative of the opponents and not disdaining "halves".
Another award for Anandu will be leadership in the April rating list, which he will undoubtedly take from Topalov. And the ex-FIDE world champion cannot hold popular love. Suffice it to say that just yesterday Anand held the palm among Oscar candidates, ahead of Kramnik’s closest competitor - the magazine “64” conducts a traditional survey of journalists for the title of best chess player in 2006.
The abundance of bloodless draws somewhat disappointed, for which the former owner of Linares, philanthropist Luis Rentero, fined the participants. In the old days, among others, the prize-winning Svidler and Aronian would have been missing. The chess players who ended up in the “fifty dollars”, although they did not shy away from the fight, divided the points 12 times. Ivanchuk made a “short castling”, having received two holes in a row from Carlsen and Morozevich, after which his militancy fell. But Topalov, apparently, closer to the finish line just played the tournament. Like another loser - Leko - the Bulgarian should quickly forget about this fiasco.
In recent years, the elite tournament is under the patronage of the local municipality. Shortly before the end of the current competition, the city fathers said a weighty word, announcing the creation of the chess "Grand Slam." Opening the Wijk aan Zee season in January, it will be likened to the Australian Open, Linares, Sofia and, possibly, another tournament will join it, and at the end of the year something like tennis Masters will be played in Bilbao.
Alexander BLANK
13th round. Anand - Leko - 1/2: 1/2. Aronian - Ivanchuk - 1/2: 1/2. Morozevich - Topalov - 1: 0. Carlsen - Svidler - 1/2: 1/2.
14th round. Leko - Carlsen - 1-0. Svidler - Morozevich - 0: 1. Topalov - Aronian - 1/2: 1/2. Ivanchuk - Anand - 1/2: 1/2.
Tournament Results. 1. Anand - 8.5 out of 14. 2-3. Morozevich, Carlsen - 7.5 each. 4-5. Svidler, Aronian - by 7. 6. Ivanchuk - 6.5. 7-8. Topalov, Leko - 6 each.