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SANDS: LOW-KEY ARONIAN SOARS HIGH IN WIJK AAN ZEE CHESS TOURNAMENT
By David R. Sands and David R. Sands
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/31/sands-low-key-aronian-soars-high-in-wijk-aan-zee-c/
Jan 31 2012
Armenian GM Levon Aronian has added another chapter to a career that
has been both illustrious and somewhat under the radar, capturing
the 74th Tata Steel Grandmaster "A" Tournament in Wijk aan Zee,
Netherlands, Sunday by a full point over Norway's Magnus Carlsen and
Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjabov. Despite a loss to Carlsen during the
Category 21 event, Aronian won going away, notching a quick last-round
draw to finish at a very impressive 9-4.
The genial 29-year-old Aronian, ranked second in the world behind
Carlsen, led his small country to gold in the 2006 and 2008 Olympiads
and to a World Team Chess title last year. He also has racked up a
slew of firsts in elite events over the past decade, and he's the
reigning world blitz champion, to boot.
Yet despite a solid and at times spectacular style at the board,
he has at times been overlooked among the small class of the world's
elite players, overshadowed by rivals such as Carlsen and reigning
world champion Viswanathan Anand - over whom Aronian has a 5-1 edge
in classical chess games.
Playing a few more games like this win from Tata would only help
Aronian's Q rating. He schools young Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri from
the Black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined, first with a powerful
exchange sacrifice to seize the initiative and then with a combination
featuring a queen sacrifice to wrap up the point.
Black's 9. Qc2 Nh5!?, in a QGD line Aronian has played often as White
is the sharpest variation, inviting the complications that follow: 10.
Be5 f6 11. Ng5!? fxg5 (g6? 12. Nxh7 Kxh7 13. Bxh5 is strong for
White) 12. Bxh5 Bd7 13. Bf3. White's bishops appear to be superior,
but Black's next move completely changes the dynamic of the game.
Thus: 13. ... Rxf3! 14. gxf3 Bd6 15. Qe4?! (Aronian was critical of
this idea, holding back the White pawn center while relocating the
queen to the king side) Bc6 16. Qg4 Qe7 17. Bxd6 cxd6 18. Ne4 h6
19. Qg3 d5.
Black's last move (temporarily) closes in his own bishop but also
deprives White of any outlets for his rooks; Black's rook, by contrast,
will find a powerful perch on the half-open f-file.
Very attractive is Black's deft repositioning of his rook, knight (from
b6 to h4 in four consecutive moves) and bishop, all while depriving
White of any counterchances. The Black rook relocates to the d-file
to support Aronian's pawn center in the final fireworks display.
There is a string of neat tactical touches in the finale: 36. a4 Rd8!
(all the pieces are now literally in place in preparation for the
coming e6-e5 breakthrough) 37. Ne2 e5 38. Qg4 (Rd1 exd4 39. Nxd4 Ne5
is painful for White) exd4 39. exd4 (Black also wins on 39. Nxd4
Ne5 40. Qe6+ Qxe6 41. Nxe6 Nd3+ 42. Kd2 Rd6, gaining material)
Re8 40. Qd7 c3! 41. Ra2 (see diagram; on 41. Nxc3, Black mates with
41. ... Qf4+ 42.
Kd1 Qxd4+ 43. Kc1 Re1+ 44. Rxe1 Qxc3+ 45. Rc2 [Kd1 Qxe1 mate] Qa1 mate)
Ne1!! (threat: 42. ... Nd3+ 43. Kc2 Nc5+, winning the queen) 42.
Rxe1 (Nxf4 Rxe1 is mate) Qe4, and there's no good defense to 43. ...
Qd3+ 45. Kc1 Qb1 mate. Giri resigned.
-
Aronian's low profile is all the more curious because he has been
producing brilliancies like the Giri win from a very young age. He
learned the game at the age of 9 and just three years later took
the World Youth Chess Under-12 Championship title ahead of a slew of
future grandmasters.
In the FIDE world-championship knockout tournament in Las Vegas in
1999, the 16-year-old Aronian made a splash with a 2-0 dismissal of
Lithuanian GM Eduardas Rozentalis in the first round, including a
brilliant demolition job in the second game to advance.
The play is extremely double-edged in this King's Indian Attack, with
Rozentalis' rooks driving the White king to a very precarious perch on
h3. But it is White that lands the first telling blow with 30. Raf1
Bd6 31. Rxg7!, when 31. ... Kxg7? loses to 32. Qf7+ Kh8 33. Qf6+ Kh7
(Kg8 34. Qg6+ Kh8 35. Qxh6+ Kg8 36. Be6 mate) 34. Bf5+ Kg8 35. Qg6+
Kf8 36. Qxh6+ Ke8 37. Re1+, leading to mate.
But the game remains in balance until 33. Rxf2 Qxf2 34. Rg6! Qf5+ 35.
Kg2 Qxh5? (unwisely taking the bait, though Black only draws at best
after 35. ... Qc2+ 36. Qe2 Qxe2+ 37. Bxe2 Bf8 38. Bc4 Kh7 39. Rf6) 36.
Qd4+ Qe5 37. Rxd6!!, a neat geometrical trick that leads to a won
ending.
After 37. ... Qxd4 38. Rxd5 Re8 39. Rd6, Black's resignation may be
a tad premature, but the win for White is a straightforward matter
of technique.
By David R. Sands and David R. Sands
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/31/sands-low-key-aronian-soars-high-in-wijk-aan-zee-c/
Jan 31 2012
Armenian GM Levon Aronian has added another chapter to a career that
has been both illustrious and somewhat under the radar, capturing
the 74th Tata Steel Grandmaster "A" Tournament in Wijk aan Zee,
Netherlands, Sunday by a full point over Norway's Magnus Carlsen and
Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjabov. Despite a loss to Carlsen during the
Category 21 event, Aronian won going away, notching a quick last-round
draw to finish at a very impressive 9-4.
The genial 29-year-old Aronian, ranked second in the world behind
Carlsen, led his small country to gold in the 2006 and 2008 Olympiads
and to a World Team Chess title last year. He also has racked up a
slew of firsts in elite events over the past decade, and he's the
reigning world blitz champion, to boot.
Yet despite a solid and at times spectacular style at the board,
he has at times been overlooked among the small class of the world's
elite players, overshadowed by rivals such as Carlsen and reigning
world champion Viswanathan Anand - over whom Aronian has a 5-1 edge
in classical chess games.
Playing a few more games like this win from Tata would only help
Aronian's Q rating. He schools young Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri from
the Black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined, first with a powerful
exchange sacrifice to seize the initiative and then with a combination
featuring a queen sacrifice to wrap up the point.
Black's 9. Qc2 Nh5!?, in a QGD line Aronian has played often as White
is the sharpest variation, inviting the complications that follow: 10.
Be5 f6 11. Ng5!? fxg5 (g6? 12. Nxh7 Kxh7 13. Bxh5 is strong for
White) 12. Bxh5 Bd7 13. Bf3. White's bishops appear to be superior,
but Black's next move completely changes the dynamic of the game.
Thus: 13. ... Rxf3! 14. gxf3 Bd6 15. Qe4?! (Aronian was critical of
this idea, holding back the White pawn center while relocating the
queen to the king side) Bc6 16. Qg4 Qe7 17. Bxd6 cxd6 18. Ne4 h6
19. Qg3 d5.
Black's last move (temporarily) closes in his own bishop but also
deprives White of any outlets for his rooks; Black's rook, by contrast,
will find a powerful perch on the half-open f-file.
Very attractive is Black's deft repositioning of his rook, knight (from
b6 to h4 in four consecutive moves) and bishop, all while depriving
White of any counterchances. The Black rook relocates to the d-file
to support Aronian's pawn center in the final fireworks display.
There is a string of neat tactical touches in the finale: 36. a4 Rd8!
(all the pieces are now literally in place in preparation for the
coming e6-e5 breakthrough) 37. Ne2 e5 38. Qg4 (Rd1 exd4 39. Nxd4 Ne5
is painful for White) exd4 39. exd4 (Black also wins on 39. Nxd4
Ne5 40. Qe6+ Qxe6 41. Nxe6 Nd3+ 42. Kd2 Rd6, gaining material)
Re8 40. Qd7 c3! 41. Ra2 (see diagram; on 41. Nxc3, Black mates with
41. ... Qf4+ 42.
Kd1 Qxd4+ 43. Kc1 Re1+ 44. Rxe1 Qxc3+ 45. Rc2 [Kd1 Qxe1 mate] Qa1 mate)
Ne1!! (threat: 42. ... Nd3+ 43. Kc2 Nc5+, winning the queen) 42.
Rxe1 (Nxf4 Rxe1 is mate) Qe4, and there's no good defense to 43. ...
Qd3+ 45. Kc1 Qb1 mate. Giri resigned.
-
Aronian's low profile is all the more curious because he has been
producing brilliancies like the Giri win from a very young age. He
learned the game at the age of 9 and just three years later took
the World Youth Chess Under-12 Championship title ahead of a slew of
future grandmasters.
In the FIDE world-championship knockout tournament in Las Vegas in
1999, the 16-year-old Aronian made a splash with a 2-0 dismissal of
Lithuanian GM Eduardas Rozentalis in the first round, including a
brilliant demolition job in the second game to advance.
The play is extremely double-edged in this King's Indian Attack, with
Rozentalis' rooks driving the White king to a very precarious perch on
h3. But it is White that lands the first telling blow with 30. Raf1
Bd6 31. Rxg7!, when 31. ... Kxg7? loses to 32. Qf7+ Kh8 33. Qf6+ Kh7
(Kg8 34. Qg6+ Kh8 35. Qxh6+ Kg8 36. Be6 mate) 34. Bf5+ Kg8 35. Qg6+
Kf8 36. Qxh6+ Ke8 37. Re1+, leading to mate.
But the game remains in balance until 33. Rxf2 Qxf2 34. Rg6! Qf5+ 35.
Kg2 Qxh5? (unwisely taking the bait, though Black only draws at best
after 35. ... Qc2+ 36. Qe2 Qxe2+ 37. Bxe2 Bf8 38. Bc4 Kh7 39. Rf6) 36.
Qd4+ Qe5 37. Rxd6!!, a neat geometrical trick that leads to a won
ending.
After 37. ... Qxd4 38. Rxd5 Re8 39. Rd6, Black's resignation may be
a tad premature, but the win for White is a straightforward matter
of technique.