More blood in Elista: 3 wins in game 2

"Blood, blood, blood, we want more blood!". That's what some of you must have thought after game 1 of the first round. Six draws were too many... And today we had more blood! "Only" five draws :-) Well, we have to admit that all players are fighting hard anyway: Rublevsky-Ponomariov ended on move 41 because of a perpetual check; Shirov-Adams lasted 53 moves before a triple repetition (almost) occured; the Malakhov-Grischuk endgame was clearly drawn and Vladimir offered an armistice on move 64; only Aronian-Carlsen (21 moves) and Kasimdzhanov-Gelfand (23 moves) were all but exciting games. And, by the way, three players got the full point. Evgeny Bareev succeed in overcoming Judith Polgar's resistance: the Hungarian resigned on move 64, but she could have played some more (desperate) moves (you can find this game with some annotations on Susan Polgar's chess blog). Etienne Bacrot fell asleep on the chessboard and lost on time after 39 moves against Gata Kamsky: the Frenchman had a difficult but still playable position. Peter Leko eventually crushed Mikhail Gurevich with Black pieces. Now Aronian, Leko, Kamsky, Grischuk and Bareev lead 1.5-0.5 their matches with Carlsen, Gurevich, Bacrot, Malakhov and Judit Polgar respectively, while Ponomariov-Rublevsky, Gelfand-Kasimdzhanov and Shirov-Adams are still balanced. Tomorrow the third game of the first rounf will be played, then on May 30 players will have their first rest day. Official site: http://globalchess.eu/. There is aWCM section on my Italian site www.messaggeroscacchi.it (direct link: www.messaggeroscacchi.it/mondo/candidati07.html).
The strong Bosna tournament ended today in Sarajevo. Slovakian Sergei Movsesian finally took clear first unbeaten on 6.5/10; Bosnian Borki Predojevic was placed second on 5.5. Alexander Morozevich made a poor performance: 5 points on 10 are not many for such a player! Moro got very good results with Black pieces, three wins and two draws, but wasn't able to do the same with White: on the contrary, he drew two games and lost three! Ivan Sokolov shared third place with Moro, while Nigel Short made half a point less than them. Official site: http://www.skbosna.ba.
The 1st "Memorial Aldo Perini" is taking place in Senigallia, Italy. No surprises occured in the first round, played today. Top seeds are Bulgarian GM Todor Todorov, Serbian GM Sinisa Drazic, Greek GM Spyridon Skrembris, Italian GM Igor Efimov, French IM Vladimir Okhotnik and German IM Olaf Heinzel. Nine rounds will be played until June 3. Official site: http://digilander.libero.it/dragonscacchicv/festivalS07.html.
Our game of the day is not a top level one. It was played in Senigallia, in the "A2" group, and is a nice example of how to punish your opponent when he loses a precious tempo in the opening.

Mandolini, R. (1850)-Crea, V. (2073) [B15], Senigallia 28.5.2007
1. Nc3 d5 2. e4 c6 3. Nf3 e6?!
A bad choice. This is a Caro-Kan defence, not a French! Black has already lost a tempo, because he will play c7-c5 moving twice the same pawn (2...c6 and 10...c5). White will punish his opponent in a very convincing way.
4. d4 Nf6 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Ng5 Be7?!
6...h6 7.Qh5 g6 8.Qh3 Qb6 was a more precise defence. Now White's initiative becomes really strong.
7. Qh5 Bxg5 8. Bxg5 Qb6 9. O-O-O a6 10. Bd3!?
Interesting, but not necessary. 10.Qg4 was a reasonable alternative. By the way, all White's pieces are now ready to come into action, while Black is almost paralized.
10...c5?!
Black had to take the challenge by playing 10...Qxd4, even if 11.Rhe1 is obviously good for White.
11. Nxd5!
The point!
11...Qa5?
The last mistake. 11...exd5 was sad but necessary, even if 12.e6 Ne5 (almost forced) 13.exf7+! Nxf7 14.Rhe1+ Be6 15.Bf4 would have been clearly better for White.
12. Ne7 Nc6 13. Nxc6?!
What a pity! 13.d5! would have won on the spot, e.g.: 13...Ncxe5 (13...Nxe7 14.dxe6 g6 15.exf7+ Kd8 16.Qh4+-) 14.dxe6 Nxd3+ 15.Rxd3 Ne5 16.exf7+ Nxf7 17.Nc6! +-
13...bxc6 14. Bc4 Nf8
14...cxd4 or even 14...O-O were better.
15. dxc5 Bd7 16. Be3 Qb4 17. Rd4 Rb8 18. Bb3 Qb5 19. Rhd1 Qb7 20. Bd2 Qa7 21. Be3 Qb7 22. f4 g6 23. Qh6 Rg8
Black can just wait for the end.
24. Bf2
The obvious idea is Bh4, Qg5 and mate...
24... Qb5 25. R4d2 a5 26. a4 Qb4 27. Bh4?!
27.Qg5 first!
27...Rb7?
Losing immediately. 27...Qxc5 was obviously possible.
28. Qg5 1-0
Black can't survive, so he resigned.