Radjabov wins over Vallejo

The other leader, Vasily Ivanchuk was lucky to draw his mini-match against Peter Svidler and is now in second place, half a point behind Kramnik. Kramnik keeps impressing in the blindfold, where his score is now 5.5 out of 6. Vishy Anand and Levon Aronian top the rapid standings with 4.5 out of 6. 

Vladimir Kramnik bounced back with a smooth win over Levon Aronian in their blindfold game. The Armenian grandmaster wasn't fully informed about the opening he played and forcibly lost a pawn after 16…Bb7. After he had converted the advantage with a steady hand Kramnik wasn't too excited about his achievement (or at least not showing it), but it seems safe to say that not many grandmasters would coast home this easily against a player of Aronian's calibre.

In the rapid game the roles were reversed. In the opening Kramnik was fine, but when he played 20…Nc5 he ended up in a worse position. After 20…Nc7 chances would have been approximately equal. Once he lost the exchange the World Champion was in serious trouble and if White had not pushed 52.h5 Aronian would still have had good chances to win. Now Kramnik replied the funny looking (and only move) 52…h6! and saved the draw.

In the post-mortem of their blindfold game Peter Leko told Loek van Wely that he hadn't played 15…c5 because he didn't want a draw in view of the poor form of his opponent. Referring to this remark Van Wely later explained with a telling smile that he might have improved his play by going 16.Bd2 followed by 17.Be3 (instead of 16.Rac1), which would have stopped Black’s …c5 and have avoided the draw. 'Now Peter could play 18…c5 and after a wholesale exchange of pieces the draw became inevitable.'

In the rapid game the players tried to trick each other with move-orders, as Leko put it, with the outcome that the Hungarian ended up in a dream position. And found a nice way to trap the black queen with 19.h5 and 22.Rh4. Van Wely still tried to muddy the waters, but his resistance didn't last long and after 31 moves he resigned.

Although he was playing with the black pieces, Boris Gelfand comfortably reached a strategically winning position against Alexander Morozevich in their blindfold game. One of the moves you will appreciate is 16…a3!. Still, Gelfand failed to keep his position under control (e.g. 21…b5 would have been stronger than what he played) and when he underestimated White's counterplay his advantage evaporated. But Morozevich wasn’t at his best either. For instance, 34.Qb3 looked like a better way to pose Black problems. And Gelfand in his turn should have kept the queens on with 38…Kh6. The endgame was very complicated, but Gelfand felt that the draw they agreed on after 65 moves was a justified result.

Morozevich performed another Houdini act in the rapid game. Or as Gelfand put it magnanimously 'he defended brilliantly'. Against Morozevich's King's Indian he reached a position that KI-battlers can only dream of and the only question seemed to be how and when White was going to deal the decisive blow. Gelfand seemed to be doing everything right, but once Morozevich started a counter-desperado with 31…Qg5 he lost control. After the game he found that he should have replied 32.Kg2 when he can answer 32…Qd2+ with 33.Kh1! and 33…Qf2 with 34.Bxe5+ and game over.

Vishy Anand had expected an Open Ruy Lopez in his blindfold game against Magnus Carlsen and was taken by surprise by the Sicilian variation they got on the board. 'And just like four years ago when I had the same opening against Leko, I didn’t remember anything.' According to his knowledge (yes, he did remember something) 18…axb6 was a new move. 'After which there may be something for White if he follows a very precise path, or there is nothing.' After 29 moves he came to the conclusion that in this game at any rate there was nothing and he proposed a draw.

The rapid game for a long time looked like a model game by Anand, who gradually outplayed Carlsen with the black pieces. But exactly when White seemed to be about to collapse, Carlsen produced 39.Kg2!, a move that his opponent described as a 'fantastic resource'. Anand delved into the position, but no matter how he tried and calculated, he couldn't find a win. One sample line: 39…Rf8 40.Rd1 Qb2 41.Rd8 Bf1+ 42.Kh2! and White defends. Anand tried for ten more moves, but then he resigned himself to the draw.

Peter Svidler's opening choice in his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk was determined by his wish that the Ukrainian magician might show him some ideas in the Anti-Marshall of the Ruy Lopez. What he got to see wasn't really revolutionary, but that also meant that Black easily equalized. However, hoping for more would not have been too realistic. After a mere 17 moves Svidler proposed a draw and Ivanchuk saw no reason to refuse.

In the rapid game Ivanchuk had no problems in the opening, but once he had equalized comfortably he started drifting, apparently unable to find a good plan. Svidler climbed back in the game and reached a winning position after 46.Rh6. Nothing would have stopped his passed e-pawn if Svidler had continued with the logical 47.Rh2. However, with 47.e6? he allowed Ivanchuk the only chance there was to save the game and a draw was the result.

Teimour Radjabov made no secret of his intentions in the blindfold game against Paco Vallejo. Aggressively countering the Spaniard's Dutch Defence he sacrificed an exchange as early as move 6 for which he got ample compensation. White's pressure was annoying, but manoeuvring carefully Vallejo stayed in the game until he allowed White to tear open his queenside. That's where his king was hiding and two moves before he was going to be mated he resigned.

In the rapid game Vallejo carefully avoided Radjabov's King's Indian, putting his bishop on g5 on move 2. Nevertheless Black got a slight pull although it never amounted to anything serious. The game wasn't terribly exciting, as one set of pieces left the board after the other, but that didn’t stop the players from continuing. Even when all pieces had left the board they played on for 16 more moves before they agreed to a draw.

Results round 6:

Blindfold: Kramnik-Aronian 1-0, Van Wely-Leko 1/2-1/2, Morozevich-Gelfand 1/2-1/2, Anand-Carlsen 1/2-1/2, Ivanchuk-Svidler 1/2-1/2, Radjabov-Vallejo 1-0. 

Rapid: Aronian-Kramnik 1/2-1/2, Leko-Van Wely 1-0, Gelfand-Morozevich 1/2-1/2, Carlsen-Anand 1/2-1/2, Svidler-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2, Vallejo-Radjabov 1/2-1/2.

Standings after the sixth round: 1. Kramnik 8.5; 2. Ivanchuk 8.0; 3. Aronian 7.5; 4-5. Svidler, Anand 7.0 each; 6. Leko 6.5; 7. Gelfand 6.0; 8. Morozevich 5.5; 9-10. Carlsen, Radjabov 5.0; 11. Vallejo 3.5; 12. Van Wely 2.5.

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