Linares, Round 7: Three More Draws, Two Close Shaves
I'd call it an odd round, except that this sort of oddness has been the norm. Gelfand and Vallejo have been giving away half points (and more) throughout the tournament, and they've added to their gift-giving in this round as well. Against Grischuk, Gelfand got nothing at all from the opening, but outplayed him a bit at a time and found himself in a winning double rook ending. There was never a completely obvious win, but objectively he should have brought home the point. Not today. Likewise, Vallejo was winning against Aronian - with Black, no less - but allowed his opponent to construct a fortress (at least I'm assuming it's a fortress, or assuming they assumed it's a fortress) and hold the game.
Meanwhile, the runaway leader continues safely on. Topalov had some difficulties against Gashimov early on, but outplayed him in the ending and had a very slight advantage at the time control. They agreed to a draw on move 42, and in most ways that makes sense. Gashimov was if anything a touch worse, so he should have no reason to object, while Topalov had made it through some anxious moments earlier and a draw was very good for him in his tournament position. What I don't understand - and this may apply to Aronian - Vallejo as well - is why they were allowed to agree to a draw, given the Sofist rules.
Standings After Round 7:
1. Topalov 5
2-4. Aronian, Gashimov, Grischuk 3½
5. Gelfand 3
6. Vallejo Pons 2½
Antepenultimate Round Pairings:
Topalov - Aronian
Vallejo Pons - Gelfand
Grischuk - Gashimov
Reader Comments (4)
No expert on Sofia rules but I thought it just prohibited them from agreeing to a drew before move 30.
@Daniel: No draws before move 30 is Olympiad rules. Apparently at Linares, they use a modified Sofia rule where draws are allowed with permission from the arbiter. It happened already in round 1 between Aronian and Grischuk (1/2, 26).
@Dennis: Nice analyses as always (didn't yet have time to go through it in detail), one hurried (!?) mistake: In Gashimov-Topalov, after move 40 Gashimov (not Aronian) is close to getting himself in trouble.
One thing puzzles me, though, when it comes to asking arbiters for a permission to draw the game: if two nearly-2800 grandmasters are assessing a position as drawn, who is the arbiter to disagree? As far as I understand, arbiters don't have to be GMs, much less super-GMs, so how are they expected to understand the position as well as the elite?
Correction to my previous post: At Linares, draw offers are allowed after move 40, i.e. after the first time control. Fine with me: it prevents "non-games" (drawn while still within opening theory) and nervous draws in mutual time trouble, such as Shirov-Dominguez in the last round of Corus. On the other hand, it doesn't force the GMs to "do a McShane" in every equal, but not completely drawn position.
Source: Short Chessvibes interview with organizer Paco Albalate ( http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/three-draws-in-7th-round-linares/ ). He also mentions that
- potential co-organizer Dubai made "a lot of promises ... but in the end nothing materialized"
- the budget was cut by 30% this year due to the financial crisis
- "in 2011, if our projects work out, we will surprise the chess world."