Linares

So the Linares tournament has finally begun at Linares itself, with eight heavyweight chess players returning to Spain to continue from where they left off at Morelia. It must be said that though that the Morelia section of the tournament was a success; compared to previous years, the proportion of draws is small and the games have been, overall, well-fought. Even so, it's great to see the grand old tournament return to its traditional home.

Okay, today I will have a look at the game between Radjabov and Aronian from yesterday's round, an exciting encounter which ended (sadly) in a relatively early draw.

Radjabov,T (2700) - Aronian,L (2752) [D38]
XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (8), 03.03.2006

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4

This is a relatively rare line which somewhat resembles the Nizmo-Indian, with the difference that Black has already played d5.

5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. e3 c5

The thematic response, challenging white's center. Of course, dxc5 now would give Black an isolated d-pawn, but his active pieces more than compensate for it.

8. Bd3 Qa5

A more common move-order is 8. ... c4 9. Bf5 Qa5 10. Qc2. This move unpins the f6 knight and threatens to take on c3 twice.

9. O-O

Apparently giving up the c3 pawn, but in fact it cannot be taken safely. If now 9. ... Bxc3 10. bxc3 Qxc3 (c4 11. Bf5 transposes to the game) 11. Rc1 gives white a strong initiative- for example 11. ... Qa3 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 (he can try to hold the pawn with gxf6 but then Black's pawn structure is horrible) 13. Rxc5 and now if 13. ... O-O 14. Qc2 gives White a large edge due to his control of the c-file, while on 13. ... Qxa2 14. Bb5+! Bd7 (Nd7 15. Ne5 is extremly powerful) 15. Bxd7+ Nxd7 16. Rc7! threatens b7 and prevents castling, when white is clearly better.

9. ... c4 10. Bf5 Bxc3

The consistent continuation, leaving white with a weakling on c3.

11. bxc3 Ne4!

White has got quite some pressure on Black's position, so it's logical for Black to exchange pieces. 11. ... Qxc3? fails to 12. Qa4! when Black's queen is trapped and 13. Rac1 is threatened. If then 12. ... Ne4 13. Rac1 Qb2 14. Rb1 Qc3 15. Bxe4! dxe4 16. Rfc1 Qd3 17. Ne5! wins material.

12. Qc2

12. Bxe4?! sets a dastardly trap- 12. ... dxe4 13. Ne5 (forced, since on other knight moves there is Qg5) Nxe5 14. dxe5 Qxe5?? 15. Qd8#. But after the simple 14. ... 0-0 White is left with weak pawn on e5 and c3 and has much the inferior position.

12. ... Ndf6

12. ... Qxc3?? loses to 13. Bxe4. 12. ... Nxc3 looks very risky becuase of 13. Qd2! when the knight is pinned and can hardly be saved. 12. ... Nxg5 is the other option but after 13. Nxg5 g6 weakens the dark squares gravely while 13. ... h6 can be met by the simple 14. Nf3 or the interesting Nh7!? preventing castling and preparing g2-g4-g5. The game continuation is the most principled, preparing further exchanges.

13. Bxc8 Rxc8 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15. Rfb1?!

A relatively new idea in this position, since White generally plays moves like Nd2, Rfe1 and an eventual e4 here. As the game goes, though, the rooks become stuck on the queenside so maybe white should have played the simpler Nd2 or Ne5.

15. ... b6

Not 15. ... b5? 16. a4! when the q-side suddenly opens up while black is still under-developed.

16. Rb4

Threatening 17. Ra4

16. ... Qa6 17. Nd2

Aronian has smoothly met Radjabov's Q-side threats so White prepares the thematic e3-e4 break. White is slightly better here since Black may find it hard to mobilise his Q-side pawn mass while White has a clear plan of f2-f3 and e3-e4.

17. ... O-O 18. f3 Nh5!?

This is an interesting idea, the point of which is that if White continues with 19. e4? Nf4! and the knight gets a fine outpost on d3. So White is forced to weaken his kingside as a result.

As we shall see later, Aronian's plan in this game is to allow e2-e4 from White but reduce its effectiveness. But Black can also try to make something of his own Q-side pawn majority, so another possibility is 18. ... Qb7 19. e4 b5 20. e5 with an unbalanced position where White will press on the k-side while Black will attack on the Q-side.

19. g3 Rce8

The straightforward 19. ... Rfe8 looks more logical, seeking to use the c8 rook to direct operations on the Q-side.

20. e4 b5!

Innovative play from Aronian! The idea is not so much to mobilize the Q-side but to shuttle the queen over to the kingside and look for tactical opportunites there. Suddenly the weakened kingside may become a problem for White.

Other possibilities look unpromising- 20. ... Qb7 21. Re1 b5 22. e5. The point is that as soon as White gets his rooks co-ordinated he has the better game (since his pawns are advancing much faster), so Black has to look for a way to disrupt White's game before he can do that.

21. Re1

Trying to support the center and the kingside using the rook. Of course it is a pity to have the e4 rook pinned to the rook, but other options may be worse. 21. exd5? Re2! is obviously better for black, who can double rooks on the e-file and build up a big attack on the king (if 22. Qf5? Rxd2 23. Qxh5 Re8! the doubled rooks on the seventh rank will be extremely dangerous.

The natural move is 21. a4 but now after 21. ... Qg6! as in the game White can win the b5 pawn but it's hard to see what defence he has against the perpetual resulting from dxe4 and Nxg3.

21. ... Qg6! 22. Rxb5

This leads to a draw by force so let's see if Radjabov had any better move. 22. Rbb1 is one possibility, looking to meet 22. ... dxe4 with 23. Nxe4 (the point of Rbb1 is that f5 now doesn't win the knight which can safely retreat to f2) But after 22. ... a6, Black has a very active position and his knight threatens the manoevre Nh5-f4-d3. 22. Kg2? is met by 22. ... Nf4+ reaching d3 with tempo.

22. ... dxe4

Not 22. ... Nxg3? 23. hxg3 Qxg3+ 24. Kf1 Qh3+ 25. Ke2 and the king escapes via d1. (if 24. ... dxe4 25. Rxe4!)

23. fxe4

While watching the game, I thought that here White had to play 23. Rxh5! seemingly avoiding the threat of a perpetual. Then on 23. ... Qxh5 24. dxe4, Black has no perpetual and White, with a pawn and a powerful central pawn mass for the exchange, is much better.

However, later I realised that 23. Rxh5? is refuted by 23. ... e3!! A weird position, where White's queen, knight and rook are all hanging! Now if 24. Ne4 Qxh5 25. Rxe3 is not possible due to 25. ... f5 winning the knight, and here Black's extra exchange does give him a large advantage.

So 24. Qxg6 is forced when after 24. ... fxg6 25. Re5 (if the knight moves gxh5 is decisive; if the rook moves anywhere else, say b5, Black wins immediately with 25. ... exd2 26. Rd1 Re1+ +-; or 26. Rf1 Rxf3! 27. Rbb1 Rfe3! 28. Kf2 Re2+ wins) Rxe5 26. dxe5 exd2 27. Rd1 Rxf3 28. Rxd2 Rxc3 with the advantage in the ending due to the advanced passed c-pawn.

Other moves on move 23 are worse- 23. Rxe4 Nf6 wins the exchange (the rook is pinned to the c2 queen) or 23. Nxe4 f5 wins the pinned knight- this time exploiting the pin on the e-file. So White has no choice but to allow the perpetual.

23. ... Nxg3 24. hxg3 Qxg3+ 25. Kf1 Qf4+ (not 25. ... Re6 26. Rf5!) 26. Ke2 Qg4+ 27. Kf2 Qh4+ 28. Ke2 Qg4+ 29. Kf2 1/2-1/2