CORUS round 12

Once again a Carlsen game, vs the Dutch player Jan Smeets. A bit of an unknown quantity, but someone who played a creditable tournament so far.

Between them they opted for the Panov Caro-Kann, arrived at by the back door, possibly because Carlsen wanted to avoid yet another Slav today.



1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Ncd5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Bb5 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.d4 0-0 10.Re1

leading to:



Time 1:55 vs 1:40, so already Carlsen has a time advantage.

After 10.Re1 Bd7 11.Bd3 Rc8 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Ne5 there is only one game left in my databases: Vaganian vs Serper, B10, 1993 1-0 in 20 moves, so there is obviously something fishy in that game.

Time now: 1:53 vs 1:21

13...Bf6 1:49 vs 1:14

14.Bf4 (I would have liked to see 14.Bd2 but in that case Black couldn't have made the inferior reply of -g6-) ) ...g6??


After 13.Ne5 Bf6 14.Bf4 g6 15.Qb3 Na5 16.Qb4 Be6 17.Bh6 Bg7 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.h4 Re8 the position is:



The hurry for 19.h4 escapes me. 19.h3 yes, so for Rac1, Re3, a4, b3. But h4?? Somebody tell me.
Compounding it with20.h5: now he needs a minor blunder from Black to get back on track. Is it all about time again? 91 mins vs 24 mins

OK, helpful move from Black : 20.h5 f6? Taking the =h5= pawn might have been wiser.

Move 23...Rcc7 has torn it: I can't see Smeets escaping now.



19.h4 Re8 20.h5 f6 21.Nf3 b6 22.Bb5 Re7 23.Re2 Rcc7 24.Rae1 Kf7 25.Qd2




Black's pieces are all over the place and White has the imminent threat of Ng5+

Whatever, curtains for Black. Notice how Carlsen doesn't make any two-pronged moves as soon as he has a slight accendancy?

Well done. Let's see how the competition is faring meanwhile.

At the end of today's round there are six player on 7/12, so tomorrow is going to be a hectic final day.

CORUS round 11

After his win in round 10, Carlsen took a bite from the cherry: he is now within striking distance of the top, as long as Aronian doesn't do that well today and tomorrow.

Playing as Black against Morozewitch today, he has an even chance. Moro has not been at his best this tourney, but might want to prove himself towards the end, and a win over Carlsen would be a feather in his cap.

After the opening



The position looks like this:



With that last move Moro deviated from an obscure game played in Denmark in 1983.

Five moves later, and the board looks totally depleted. What has come over Carlsen? Does he need to catch a train?



I have no idea what they are up to.
Unless Moro is giving Carlsen some of his own medicine and using slightly off-beam moves to delay his squeezing technique.



leading to :



Time now 1:25 vs 1:38 and just gone down to vs 1:23, so Moro's efforts work and Carlsen needs thinking time himself.

I hope he will push his e-Rook forward and shift his attention to the kingside.

Well, he does and he doesn't: he leaves the Rook for the time being and merely pushes the h-pawn.

19.b4 h6 20.h3 a6

softly,softly from both of them now. The mood seems to have changed.

Soon one of them will have to take action and break up this pussy-footing.

There we go: 21.Rc5, finally! Time: 1:07 vs 1:11


Eliciting this Rc5 move from White a little earlier, by playing 19...Re4 before starting on the outside pawns. would not have helped Black:


19.b4 Re4 20.Rc5 Ne7 21.Rxd5 Nxd5
(not: 21.f5 Qd6 22.Rf4 RxR 23.QxR Rd8 24.Qa2 Qd6 ) 22.Qxe4 Nf6 would have equalized. So once again, Carlsen knew best.

In fact, i now think that this move ...Re4 isn't such a good idea on move 23....Re4 either and that Carlsen might have gone straight for Ne7 and bypass the Rook move altogether.



Time: 0.46 vs 1:01




Time: 26 vs 53 mins



after 23.axb4 Re4!? 24.Kh2 Rc4 25.R1xc4 dxc4 26.Qe2 *


Bar any blunders from his opponent today, it looks as if Aronian isn't going to win his game, nor draw either. Carlsen with a win could make them shared leaders. But is Carlsen going to win? Not by what I can see now. And Moro seems determined to keep his ebullience in check today. With 20 mins still for 12 moves it doesn't look like time trouble either.

With two rounds still to come, Carlsen might do well to opt for a safe draw now rather than risk a loss by playing offbeam moves to upset Moro's time keeping.

There is no leaway for Carlsen to do anything devious: the risks are too great and they trundle into a draw.

I find the quick exchanges around move 13 may have been to blame for this draw: the tension was released a little early and there wasn't the usual room for manoeuver so that Carlsen had to play straight down the line. No blunder from Moro, they both play competently, so a draw was inevitable.

I do not have high hopes for Carlsen as there are too many contenders within striking distance of the top spot. Besides, Carlsen has been playing below his strength for most of the games and can't really expect a top place.

There is always Linares....