LEKO SHOWS NO MERCY
 

    Peter Leko has finished brilliantly his match against the World Champion with a clear win in the last game. It is quite strange that Khalifman, an excellent Sicilian player, hasn’t used that defence in any of the three games he has played with Black. He chose three passive defences that don’t go with his playing style, and received three zeros.

    Leko got the top prize money while Khalifman got half as much.
 
 

     

Leko,P (2725) - Khalifman,A (2653)
Budapest match (6), 07.01.2000
[GM Amador Rodriguez]

In this game, Khalifman tries a Open Ruy Lopez, with the rarecontinuation 11…d4, recommended by his friend Peter Svidler, a strong GM who also lives in Saint Petersburg.

Over the board, Peter finds a natural plan that leaves him with a small advantage that grows and grows until the end of the game. The three games that he has won have something in common: Peter’s exquisite top level technique.
 

Again this annotator has asked himself the million dollar question: where did Black make his mistake? It is very difficult to pinpoint a definite moment: Leko comes out of the opening slightly better and just increments his advantage to a win.
 
 
 

  

Khalifman, left pondering alone by Leko.
Leko was just too good for the World Champion.

                                              GAME 6: LEKO - KHALIFMAN 1-0
                                              ANNOTATIONS BY IM ANGEL MARTIN

                                   Despite the match already having been decided, Leko and
                                   Khalifman played another interesting game, not drawing quickly,
                                   as a lot of people expected.

                                   The 6th game confirmed the general opinion: At the moment,
                                   Leko is clearly stronger than his opponent, especially in theoretical
                                   preparation.

                                   As in the previous games with the Black pieces, Khalifman
                                   suffered problems in the opening, and his opening preparation
                                   seemed rather dubious.

                                   For the third time, he changed his defence against 1.e4. This time
                                   he played the Open variation of the Ruy Lopez, and also for the
                                   third time, he reached an inferior position after the opening.

                                   In order not to play the most critical variations, Khalifman choose
                                   a secondary line, generally considered as a slightly inferior for
                                   Black, and he couldn't show anything new to change this
                                   valoration. After move 25, he already had a bad position and also
                                   one hour less time than his opponent, a clear proof of his
                                   difficulties.

                                   Leko played very accurately, exchanging his bishop pair in order
                                   to weaken Black's pawn structure, and soon he won a pawn.
                                   Then he showed his great technique, refusing to win the pawn at
                                   once, in order not to give any counterchances to his rival, and he
                                   played the rest of the game in a very instructive way, finishing the
                                   match with a clear 4.5 to 1.5 to his favour.

                                   So this is a fair result, and shows clearly that Leko is in great
                                   form, joining the very few players in the super-elite, perhaps at
                                   the level of only Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik or Shirov.

                                   Khalifman's result is a little disappointing, but probably this is also
                                   more in Leko's favour, who has showed no weak points. IM Angel
                                   Martin
 
 
 

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