Chess

The world champion, Vishy Anand of India, is leading at the halftime of the elite Morelia/Linares tournament with 4 1/2 points in seven games. Alexei Shirov of Spain and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria are a half point back. Levon Aronian of Armenia and Magnus Carlsen of Norway have 3 1/2 points. Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan scored three points. Peter Leko of Hungary is last with 2 1/2 points. Yesterday, the players flew from Morelia, Mexico, to Linares, Spain, where the double round-robin event resumes on Thursday.

The strenuous traveling caused some incredible blunders and numerous wins with the black pieces. Draws were under 50 percent and nobody remained undefeated. Even the world champion was not spared, going down against Aronian with the white pieces in the Marshall Attack of the Spanish opening.

Anand - Aronian

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 (Anand does not mind challenging the Marshall gambit.) 8...d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Re1 Bd6 13.g3 Re8 (A sleeper. Black usually tries developing with 13...Bf5 or reaching the main line with 13...Qd7 14.d4 Qh3.) 14.d4 Rxe1+ (The exchange, before swinging the other rook to the e-file with 14...Ra7, is a new try. Frank Marshall's suggestion of 14...Bg4 can be best met by 15.Rxe8+ Qxe8 16.Qxg4 Qe1+ 17.Kg2 Qxc1 18.Qe2 and now the piece sacrifice 18...Nf4+? 19.gxf4 Qxf4 fails to 20.Kf1! Qxh2 21.Qf3, blunting the attack.) 15.Qxe1 Ra7 16.Be3 Re7 17.Nd2 Qe8 18.Nf1 h5 (Aronian uses the h-pawn as a battering ram, weakening white's kingside.) 19.a4 Be6 20.Bd1 h4 21.axb5 axb5 22.Bf3 Bh3 23.Bxd5?! (Giving up the light squares is a sign that something went wrong.) 23...cxd5 24.Qd1 f5!? (Unleashing another pawn.)

25.Bg5?! (Anand takes the bait. Injecting 25.Qb3 Qc6 first would take both queens from the kingside battlefield and should favor white.) 25...Re4 26.Bxh4 Qg6!? (Avoiding a faulty combination 26...Rxh4? 27.gxh4 Qg6+ 28.Ng3 f4 29.Qh5! and white wins.) 27.Bd8 f4 28.Qd3 Qh5 29.Nd2 (The white bishop looks out of play, but Anand needs it closer to the kingside. After 29.Bb6 Bxf1 30.Rxf1 fxg3, black can force a draw either after 31.hxg3 Rh4! 32.gxh4 Qg4+ or after 31.fxg3 Bxg3! 32.hxg3 [32.Qxg3 Rg4!] 32...Re2 33.Rf2 Re1+ 34.Rf1 Re2.) 29...Re2! (Threatening 30...Rxd2! 31.Qxd2 Qf3 mating.)

30.Nf3? (A losing blunder, but white does not have an easy life. For example, after 30.Bh4 Rxd2! 31.Ra8+ Bf8 neither 32.Qxd2 Qf3 33.Rxf8+ Kh7! 34.Qc2+ g6; nor 32.Rxf8+ Kxf8 33.Qxd2 Kg8! 34.Qd3 Qe8 35.Qb1 Qe2! saves white.) 30...Re3! (A witty interference, leading to a mating attack.) 31.fxe3 Qxf3 32.Qc2 fxg3 33.hxg3 Qxg3+ 34.Kh1 Bf5! (After 35.Qxf5 Qh2 mates.) White resigned.

Upcoming Events

Feb. 29-March 2: The eighth annual Millennium Chess Festival at the Wyndham Oceanfront hotel in Virginia Beach. A five-round Swiss event with 120 Grand Prix points at stake. Two bonuses: A blitz championship and an exhibition match between grandmasters Joel Benjamin and John Fedorowicz with running commentaries. More info at http://www.vachess.org.

March 7: Roman Dzindzichashvili, a former U.S. champion, lectures and plays a simultaneous exhibition at the Arlington Chess Club at 7:30 p.m. More info at http://members.cox.net/arlingtonchessclub/roman_simul.htm.

Solution to today's two-mover by N. van Dijk (White: Ke8,Qf5,Ng5,P:h2; Black: Kh5,P:f6): 1.Kf7! fxg5 2.Qh3 mate; or 1...Kh4 2.Nf3 mate; or 1...Kh6 2.Qg6 mate.