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By Johannes Fischer
Tomorrow Carlsen and Anand will play in the final of the 13th GrenkeLeasing Rapid Chess World Championship – the very encounter many chess fans were waiting for. Qualifying, however, was not that easy. In the second half of the preliminary it took Anand three exciting tactical games to qualify while Carlsen was lucky to survive against Morozevich.
GrenkeLeasing Qualifier Final Standings (6 rounds):
1. Vishy Anand - 4.0
2. Magnus Carlsen - 3.5
3. Alexander Morozevich - 3.0
4. Judit Polgar - 1.5
Anand - Carlsen
If the fourth round game between Anand and Carlsen is anything to go by, tomorrow will see an exciting final. Carlsen, who sat down to play in a corduroy jacket, which he never took off during the entire game, chose a fashionable Queen’s Indian Defence involving a pawn sacrifice. In return he received active pieces and compensation. While he gradually increased his pressure on the kingside Anand countered on the queenside and suddenly an outburst of tactical complications followed. In a still interesting position Anand, despite being two minutes ahead on the clock, decided not to risk too much and settled for a perpetual.
Morozevich and Judit Polgar also played a Queen’s Indian. However, Polgar once again confirmed suspicions that she might be a bit out of shape when blundering – "somehow I always go mad against Morozevich" – a pawn right after the opening. Afterwards she desperately tried to stir up complications but had no success against Morozevich’s calm defense.
In the fifth round the players seemed to be set to keep things exciting. As often before, Judit Polgar (playing White) and Vishy Anand debated the pros and cons of the Sicilian Najdorf. Although Judit opted for the line with 6.Be2 the game turned into a sharp struggle. Judit castled queenside, Anand castled kingside and both were attacking the enemy king. For a while Fritz liked Anand’s chances better, but Judit came up with creative attacking resources. When Anand failed to find a decisive tactical blow he decided to go for a repetition and a draw.
Morozevich and Carlsen also played an exciting game – and also drew. Morozevich played his second Queen’s Indian of the day and with his trademark double-edged interesting play managed to put Carlsen under constant pressure. However, the Norwegian neutralized all threats and when a queen ending was reached in which he was slightly better, he accepted Morozevich’s draw offer – with only nine seconds left on the clock, he was not in a mood to gamble.
Thus, with one round to go, Anand, Morozevich and Carlsen all had three points, while Judit was trailing with one. As the first two in the preliminary qualify for the final, the 6th round, in which Anand played against Morozevich and Polgar against Carlsen promised to be really exciting.
As it was, the final round pretty dramatic – at least for the spectators. The game Anand against Morozevich in particular was full of tactical possibilities. This was mainly Morozevich’ fault: He blundered right after the opening and allowed Anand a winning knight sacrifice. Morozevich declined the sacrifice and now Anand could have won immediately with a second sacrifice – which is easy to find when letting the computer do the search: 25.Bxh7+ Kxh7 26.Ng5+ Kg8 27.Qb3+ Kh8 28.Qf7 and Black has no defense against the threat of 29.Qh5+ (games bellow).
Instead Anand took the safe route and suddenly Morozevich had some swindling chances because the position was rather tactical. But Anand calmly parried all threats and used his material advantage to win the game and the tournament.
Magnus Carlsen saw with pleasure how Anand was doing his best to put the Norwegian on second place. Trusting Anand to win against Morozevich, Carlsen made no real effort to win against Judit Polgar and calmly exchanged pieces to steer the game to an unexciting draw, which allowed him to finish on second place – something Morozevich might feel to be a bit unjust. After all, he twice had the better position against Carlsen, but achieved only two draws. In return he lost twice against Anand and finally ended up half a point behind the Norwegian.
As it is, chess fans can look forward to an interesting final between Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen – tomorrow draws will not be enough to win the title of World Champion.
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