Vlad, an ill killer in Dortmund

His participation was in question only a few days before the tournament, because of a strong respiratory infection. But antibiotics enabled him to play. And now Vladimir Kramnik leads alone on 3/4 the 2007 Sparkassen Chess Meeting, held in Dortmund (Germany). The world champion defeated young Norvegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen in convincing style in round 4, while Russian champion Evgeny Alekseev couldn't get more than a draw against Hungarian top-GM Peter Leko; Israeli Boris Gelfand also shared the point with Azeri "Shakh" Mamedyarov; Vishy Anand outplayed Arkadij Naiditsch in the endgame and this means that he joined Alekseev on second place at 2.5. Tomorrow (my birthday :-) ) there will be the second and last rest day; round 5 games: Leko-Kramnik, Mamedyarov-Anand, Naiditsch-Alekseev and Carlsen-Gelfand. Official site: http://www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de/. You can also find a Dortmund section on my Italian site www.messaggeroscacchi.it (direct link: www.messaggeroscacchi.it/mondo/dortmund07.html).
Ukrainian prodigy Sergey Karjakin still lead jointely with his compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk on 6/9 the 2007 Aerosvit supertournament, but Spanish GM Alexei Shirov, who beat Russian GM Dmitry Jakovenko with Black pieces in round 9, is now just half a point behind them. Alexander Onischuk, Lenier Dominguez, Loek Van Wely and Peter Svidler follow on 4.5. Shirov-Ivanchuk will be the main duel of round 10. Official site: http://www.ukrchess.org.ua/aerosvit2007/index_e.htm.
Fide finally made a statement on his own site about the resignation of the first appeal committee of the 2006 match between Kramnik and Topalov. "There have been continuing accusations in interviews, articles and letters that the original members of the Appeals Committee of the World Championship Match between Topalov and Kramnik in Elista in 2006 abused the match regulations as well as the contract with players", you can read on www.fide.com. "The Presidential Board and the Fide President want to stress once again that the decisions of the Appeals Committee in the match were in accordance with the match regulations as well as the contracts and were meant to ensure equal playing conditions for both players. The resignation of the members of the Appeals Committee that time was made to ease the atmosphere and ensure that the match continued". Yes, well, but why has Fide published this statement only now?
Our game of the day is the easy win by Vlad against Carlsen in Dortmund.

Kramnik,V (2772) - Carlsen,M (2693) [E05], Dortmund 27.6.2007
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.Bg2 0–0 6.0–0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4
8.a4 is the main alternative.
8...b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2
The continuation 10.Bf4 Nc6 11.Rd1 Nb4 12.Qc1 Rc8 13.Nc3 Nbd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 gives Black full equality.
10...Nc6 11.e3 Nb4 12.Bxb4 Bxb4 13.a3 Be7 14.Nbd2 Rc8 15.b4
15.Nb3 has also been played, but the text move looks more effective.
15...a5 16.Ne5 Nd5?
After 16...Bxg2 17.Kxg2 c6 18.Rab1 (18.Nd3!? axb4 19.axb4 Nd5 was played in Marin-Marciano, Bucharest 1993) 18...axb4 19.axb4 Nd5 20.Nd3 Qb6 21.Rfc1 White got a slight advantage in Zueger-Moor, Switzerland 2001. The text move is not a new idea, but I can't find it on my database. That doesn't look good on move 16, anyway.
17.Nb3! axb4
Almost forced. 17...a4 18.Na5 followed by Nac6 is better for White anyway.
18.Na5!
A strong intermidiate move.
18...Ba8 19.Nac6 Bxc6?!
19...Qe8 (or 19...Qd6) was slightly better, although White keeps a better position after 20.Bxd5 exd5 21.Nxe7+! Qxe7 22.axb4 Qxb4 23.Rfb1 Qd6 24.Rxb5.
20.Nxc6 Qd7 21.Bxd5 exd5 22.axb4
White hasn't done anything special, but he has a big advantage now.
22...Rfe8
22...Ra8 23.Ra5 Rxa5 24.bxa5 Ra8 25.a6! was hopeless for Black.
23.Ra5 Bf8
Black can't do anything to protect the "b5" pawn. His position is almost lost!
24.Ne5
The immediate 24.Rxb5 was also possible.
24...Qe6 25.Rxb5 Rb8
After 25...Bxb4 26.Rxb4 c5 27.dxc5 Qxe5 28.Rd1 White wins easily.
26.Rxb8 Rxb8 27.Qxc7 Bd6
27...Rxb4 28.Ra1 f6 29.Nd7 was also hopeless for Black.
28.Qa5! Bxb4?
28...Bxe5 29.dxe5 Qxe5 30.Rd1 wouldn't be much better, but the text move loses immediately.
29.Rb1
Simple and decisive.
29...Qd6
Forced. 29...Bxa5 30.Rxb8++-; 29...Bd6 30.Rxb8+ Bxb8 31.Qd8+ +-.
30.Qa4 1–0
Now after 30... Bd2 31. Rxb8+ Qxb8 32. Qd7 Qf8 33. Qxd5 Black is two pawns down without any compensation. So Carlsen resigned.