SECOND GAME: LEKO - KHALIFMAN  1-0
Leko leads match 1.5 - 0.5
(January 4, 2000)
 

LEKO TAKES AN ADVANTAGE AFTER WINNING THE  SECOND GAME

    When each of Leko’s games end, I ask him for his opinion to help me in my notes to the game. Today something unheard of has happened: his answers were categorical, he was happy with everything, nothing better, nothing worse. The perfect game? Maybe. Peter Leko has demonstrated a perfect technique in
a game where his opponent didn’t make mistakes. Peter gained a small opening advantage which he consolidated magnified gradually, mathematically, scientifically, until he reached the perfect prize, an important win over the World Champion,
which enables him to command the match by 1.5-0.5. Before I start analysing the game I would like to take advantage of my position here to mention some of the most important details of this event.

    In yesterdays game all the organisations previsions of assistance of public were overflowed: a lot of people just had to glimpse every now and then through the main doors. Today, the organizers, with the magnificent Hotel Kempinski staff, found a better solution. A removable wall was moved, therefore the playing room is now able to accommodate more than 500 spectators.

    I would like to remark that the Spanish company Net64 has installed television screens and game monitors all over the Hotel, so that the fans can follow the games. In the game room, two gigantic LCD screens allow the game to be
followed. In the middle of the screen the board position is seen, and on the sides you can see images of the players taken with different angles by a mini-camera.
In the post-production room the Net64 staff also control manually the cameras, allowing all sorts of different shots to be seen. The games are played on sensorial boards that allow the moves to be seen automatically on the monitors and all the world can follow the games on-line. All spectators present and connected to the Internet can follow the moves, with automatic update of the clocks, and even the expressions of each player.

    In the press room, full of journalists of different agencies, there is another screen installed, and in the commentary room there is another screen. In the entrance of the hall there is a lounge where spectators can enjoy an afternoon snack, or smoke... The games can also be followed from this area by monitor. This is not
all: downstairs in a VIP room, a big screen allows sponsors and special guests follow the games live while they exchange opinions.

    For those of us who followed the World Championship in Las Vegas, or the European Championships in Batumi, both events transmitted by the FIDE team, we can observe an important technological difference. In those events, mistakes were
continually being made, and the inferior software didn’t allow the spectators to go from one game to another quickly. The transmission of the games was also faulty. Here in Budapest, the technical team of Net64 is doing a great job, in quality, efficiency, and commodity, with the best chess technology in the world.

Today’s game:

    The World Champion decided on a rare variation of the Sicilian Paulsen for his first game with Black. His objective for this match is clear: to avoid theoretical variations, as he is aware of Leko’s magnificent opening preparation. His election wasn’t very good, as it is a passive line where White has no problems, and can just
try for a small positional superiority, something that Leko does very well.

    After the first 14 movements, without anything special having happened, Khalifman already had a serious 40 minute disadvantage on his clock. Leko started to manoeuvre elegantly, with pressure on the queenside until he won a pawn just before the first control. In the ending , he played very precisely until his opponent resigned.

    I will now present you the game in detail:
 
 

Leko,P (2725) - Khalifman,A (2653) [B42] 1-0
Budapest match (2), 04.01.2000
[GM Amador Rodriguez]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 Khalifman is a great Sicilian player, but the Paulsen variation is one of the lines that he practically hasn't explored. It was a big surprise for all the specialists here that he decides to choose this line. 5.Bd3 Nc6
[5...Bc5 6.Nb3 Be7 7.c4 d6 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 b6 11.Qe2 Bb7 12.Rad1 Qc7 13.Bb1 Nbd7 14.Nd2 Ne5 15.Rc1 Rac8 with thematic play by Black in Ptacnikova-Khalifman, Estocolmo 1997, one of the few games by Khalifman on the 4...a6 games of the Paulsen] 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.Nd2!? A very interesting move order: White immediately puts pressure before Black can arrange his weaknesses. 7...e5 8.Nc4 During the last few years White has tried 8.Dh5 quite a lot, but the textual move is much more natural. 8...Nf6 9.0-0 The pawn on e5 can't be captured because of the queen check on a5, but now Black must defend it. 9...Qc7 10.Bd2 It was about 2:20pm local hungarian and spanish time. I was having a nice hungarian dish in the VIP room when Leko played this move. I coudn't remember this move having been played before, so I thought that it was a new, over the board move, like yesterday. But after consulting my database, I found a few games where White had already played this move, although the strongest players normally play other moves, such as 10.a4, 10.Be3, 10.f4. Leko's election is a worthy one, and demonstrates that he is in very good shape today. 10...Bg4 [10...b5 11.Ba5
Qb8 12.Nb6 Ra7 13.c4? Bg4 14.Qc2 Bc5 15.cxb5 Bxb6 16.Qxc6+ Nd7 17.Bb4 a5 with a clear advantage for Black in Santo Roman-Miezis, Francia 1999; 10...Nd7 11.a4 Be7 12.Qg4 0-0 13.Qg3 Re8 14.Kh1 b5 15.Ne3 Nf6 16.axb5 cxb5 17.Qf3 Be6  ½-½ Mednis,E-Pilnik,H/Norristown 1973] 11.Qe1 [11.Qc1?! Nd7 12.Bc3 Be6 13.Qg5 f6 14.Qg3 Nc5 15.Ba5 Qf7 16.Nb6 Rd8 17.Rfe1 Nxd3 18.cxd3 Bd6 19.Na4 Rd7 20.Nb6 Rd8 21.Na4 Rd7 22.Nb6 Rd8 ½-½ Wang Lei-Xue Wei/PRC-chT 1987] 11...b5 After about 30 minutes, Khalifman introduces a theoretical novelty. [11...Bc5 12.Ba5 Qe7 13.Bc3 Nd7 14.b4 Ba7 15.Na5 Nf6
16.Kh1 Bc8 17.Nc4 Nd7 18.f4 exf4 19.e5 0-0 20.Rxf4 with a very strong attack in Yoos,J-Sommerfeld,G/Vancouver 1999] 12.Ne3 Bc5 An interesting move. Black neutralizes tha attacking plans of White, which would begin by f4 and the queen transfer to g3, but Leko finds a small inconvenience in the move.... 13.Nxg4! Nxg4
14.Qe2 Nf6 15.b4! This is the idea. White tries to take advantage of his bishop pair, and attacks the weaknesses created by the premature expansion of Black's queenside. 15...Bb6 16.c4 I thought that Leko would play a4 first and then c4, and
then double rooks on the a-file. Today it's a very difficult day to guess Leko's deep moves.The textual seems normal, but look  what happens now... 16...Bd4 17.Rac1 Qd6
 

18.Bc2!! A brilliant positional concept, something that shows the difference between a 2725 player and the rest of us. Only one guest in the analysis website room was able to see that move though nobody seemed to understand him then when he pointed it out. 18...0-0 19.Bb3 Rfd8 20.Rc2 Rd7 21.Rfc1 Rc7 White has ubicated all his pieces on optimal squares, and Black can only wait and defend. Before taking on concrete actions, White still manages to leave everything prepared. 22.g3 h6 23.Kg2 Avoiding a pin which sooner or later could be dangerous. 23...Rac8 24.a4 Qe6  An important moment.Black pins the bishop on b3 and prepares to counter attack with c5. White must make a difficult decision... 25.axb5 axb5 26.Qd3 bxc4 The only way to take off the pressure. 27.Rxc4! Qd7 28.Be3 28.Bc3 or even 28.Be1 were other very interesting moves. 28...Bxe3 29.Qxe3 Qe7 30.Ba4 Rb8 31.Qc3 Rcb7 32.Rb1 c5 Somebody on the chat said that Black was OK now, but the tactics are just about to begin.  33.Rxc5! Nxe4 34.Rc8+ Kh7 35.Bc2 f5 With only a few minutes on his clock, Leko faces another difficult decision. 36.Qf3 [36.Bxe4 fxe4 37.Rc4 Was an important option. White would win a pawn, and keep the two rooks on the board. The game continuation allows a rook swap. Which is better? Only the best players can make these decisions correctly.] 36...Rxc8 37.Qxf5+ g6 38.Qxc8 Nf6 39.Qc3 Rb6 40.Qc5! Qxc5 Everyone expected a check on b7 as the best way to resist a bit. Khalifman made the last move with only 4 seconds left on his digital clock. 41.bxc5 Rxb1 42.Bxb1 Kg7 43.Kf3 Kf7 44.c6! Necessary to keep the knight out. 44...Ne8 45.Ke3 Nf6 46.Be4 White maintains thepressure on g6, hoping to force the advance to g5. For the moment, Black holds on. 46...Ne8 47.Kd3 Nc7 48.Kc4 g5 Black coudn't avoid this, and the White bishop penetrates immediately. 49.Bf5 h5 50.Kc5 Ke7 51.f3 h4 52.Bd7!
 

Brilliant! Black is in zugzwang and must allow White's king to penetrate. Leko has given a Khalifman a tremendous positional lesson. 1-0

Grandmaster Amador Rodriguez from Budapest
(Translation: MI Michael Rahal)
 
 

                                                GAME 2: LEKO - KHALIFMAN 1-0
                                                ANNOTATIONS BY IM ANGEL MARTIN
 

                                   In the second game, Leko has achieved an important victory that
                                   puts him in front in the match. It’s not only the one point (over
                                   six), which may not be decisive, but it does help him in the
                                   following games to start from a favourable position on the
                                   scoreboard. The important thing is that the Hungarian player
                                   scored the win very easily, without giving his opponent any
                                   chances.

                                   Black’s opening variation is considered satisfactory, but Leko’s
                                   continuation 10. Bd2 is a new idea that puts Black in new
                                   problems.

                                   The way that Khalifman reacted, with ... b5 and then giving up his
                                   bishop pair, wasn’t at all satisfactory, because it meant a long
                                   difficult defence with Black. Although later on Khalifman was able
                                   to exchange one of Leko’s bishops, that involved the isolation of
                                   his c6 pawn. Leko focused his attack immediately on that pawn.

                                   With simple moves, Leko was able to win the pawn, obtaining a
                                   material advantage, and leaving the Russian with the only
                                   possibility of simplifying to an ending to try for a draw. Maybe he
                                   should have avoided the queen exchange, because in the bishop
                                   vs. Knight ending, Khalifman had practically no chance of drawing:
                                   it was a question of time until Leko demonstrated his winning
                                   plan.

                                   In any case the ending was very interesting and the way that
                                   White achieved the win should figure in all the endings books.

                                   IM Angel Martin
                                   (Translation: IM Michael Rahal)
 
 

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