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Chess: Boy meets Beast in Reykjavik

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  • Chess: Boy meets Beast in Reykjavik

    Chessbase News, Germany
    March 19 2004

    Boy meets Beast in Reykjavik

    19.03.2004 It was a dream pairing for the organizers. 13-year-old
    Norwegian Magnus Carlsen faced legend Garry Kasparov in the first
    round of this Icelandic rapid knock-out event. The result was
    predictable but it was closer than you'd think. Most of the other
    favorites also advanced to the second round. Report and games.


    It's been over a decade since Garry Kasparov, Nigel Short, and
    Anatoly Karpov played each other in the same tournament. Now they are
    reunited for four days in Iceland where they are the top attractions
    at the Reykjavik Rapid. That is, the top attractions other than
    13-year-old Norwegian cherub Magnus Carlsen, who is fresh-faced and
    fresh off two Grandmaster norm results in two months at Corus and
    Aeroflot.

    Carlsen had the chance of a lifetime after the blitz tournament
    pairing method left him in 15th position, meaning he had second seed
    Garry Kasparov in the first round of the tournament proper! We don't
    recall another event using a tournament to determine the pairings for
    a tournament, but it's certainly more interesting than picking
    ice-cubes out of a hat. Armenia's Lev Aronian dominated the blitz,
    including a win over Kasparov. Carlsen made the papers by beating
    Karpov.

    That was pretty much the end of the good news for the Scandinavian
    participants. Denmark's Nielsen was the only one to survive to the
    second round. Carlsen pressed Kasparov with white but was held to a
    draw and then smashed in the second game. The four local participants
    were swept from the field, including top Icelander and former world
    championship candidate Johann Hjartson, who lost to Timman. That was
    the only rating upset of day one, and not much of an upset
    considering Timman's credentials.

    Round one results - Thu. March 18
    (Player on left has white in first game. Player in bold advances. Tie
    matches go to sudden death blitz.)

    Helgi Olafsson Levon Aronian 0-1 0-1
    Magnus Carlsen Garry Kasparov ½-½ 0-1
    Igor-Alexander Nataf Emil Sutovsky 0-1 ½-½
    Margeir Petursson Alexey Dreev 0-1 ½-½
    Hannes Stefansson Anatoly Karpov 1-0 0-1
    Vladimir Epishin Peter Heine Nielsen 0-1 0-1
    Johann Hjartarson Jan Timman 0-1 ½-½
    Nigel Short Stefan Kristjansson ½-½ 1-0

    Round two pairings - Fri. March 19

    Nigel Short Levon Aronian
    Jan Timman Garry Kasparov
    Peter Heine Nielsen Emil Sutovsky
    Anatoly Karpov Alexei Dreev

    Karpov got through in a blitz tiebreaker but he could have ended
    things earlier. The games are played with 25 minutes and a five
    second increment. That is supposed to eliminate the worse of the
    blunders, but then how to explain this?

    Stefansson - Karpov, game 1 after 47...Qb8

    48.Rc2 or 48.Qb1 would have provided the back-rank protection White
    needs before winning with his passed pawns. Instead, Stefansson
    blundered with 48.Rb1?? which should have allowed Karpov to escape
    with a draw after 48...Rd1+ 49.Re1 Rxb1 50.Rxb1 Qd8!.

    Karpov missed the draw with 48...R3d5?? and now White should give up
    the a-pawn to consolidate with 49.Qc2 Rxa5 50.Ree1! and the b-pawn
    should still be decisive.

    But Stefansson saw and raised Karpov's blunder with 49.Qc3??. Now
    Black should actually win after 49...Rd1+ 50.Re1 Rxb1 51.Rxb1 Rd1+!
    52.Rxd1 Qxb7+ 53.Kg1 Qg2 mate.

    Instead, Karpov made the final blunder with 49...Rd3?? and resigned
    after 50.Qc8, when there is no defense.

    http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1536
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