This year's Miskolc rapid match is a rematch of the 2004 classical world championship. I dare say the chess might be better this time around! The games start April 25 with two per day and a free day on the 27th. This pairing might have been considered a potential snooze-fest, but with Kramnik back on his game and now holding the undisputed title, Leko has a tough task ahead of him as well as a big target. Leko also has the homefield advantage. Last year he edged Karpov in a turgid encounter. In 2005 Leko lost the first three to Adams only to win the next three and draw the final two.
Leko won the ACP rapid cup in January and was equal 2-5 with Kramnik in the rapid section at Melody Amber, although Kramnik beat him in their individual game and in the blindfold. They played a 12-game rapid match back in 2001 that Kramnik won 7-5. Handicapping over, time to place your bets! Leko has been burning me at the bookie's for years now. I keep picking him to have a breakout but he's really been back in Leko 1.0 mode for a while now. His equal last place at Linares was a real low. It's hard not to predict at least six draws with two solid players who both have a tendency to rely on small advantages, but I'll throw sanity to the wind and say 5:3 Kramnik.
Kudos a certain player representative for sending out a timely and comprehensive press release about the event. Points taken off for forgetting to include the dates of the event in it! No mention of live games, although they have a game viewer page with previous Leko-Kramnik encounters on the official site.
[Apologies for all the errors in the comments. I've introduces snazzy new code to encrypt the comment form and foil spammers, so we'll see how it goes.]
Leko seems to match up well vs. Kramnik, and I believe that earlier in his career, he had compiled a pretty decent score against Kramnik. Both Kramnik and Leko have shown uneven play over the past couple of year--Kramnik for obvious reasons, relating to his illness. Leko's inconsistancy is due to more obscure reasons, although maybe Leko has begun to diagnose the problem.
My impression is that Leko has tried to retool as a more dynamic player, with a more aggressive opening repetoire, and it hasn't really worked. Leko is probably correct in assuming that a change in style is necessary, in order to progress from being just one of the Top 5, to being the World's best. But there is always a risk when one tinkers with success....
Still, contrarian that I am, I'll predict Leko to prevail at +1, with 3 games decisive.
I just did a very casual search of head to head for these two guys (all formats) and got some pretty interesting results:
Kramnik-Leko
prior to 1999 (first game in 1995)
-2=10
2000-2004
+9-5=40
2005-2007
+3=4
I just did a very casual search of head to head for these two guys (all formats) and got some pretty interesting results:
Kramnik-Leko
prior to 1999 (first game in 1995)
-2=10
2000-2004
+9-5=40
2005-2007
+3=4
*Only* 74% draws between these two!
And it seems to be decreasing...
1995-1999: 83%
2000-2004: 74%
2005-2007: 57%
*Only* 74% draws between these two!
-- Posted by: stringTheory at April 24, 2007 08:08
Only 74% draws? I would have guessed 90.
I have a different interpretation:
Period 1: Before Kramnik's world title win, Leko has Kramnik's number
Period 2: Kramnik climbs his peak, has advantage on Leko but not a considerable one, compared to:
Period 3: Post their match, Kramnik totally dominates Leko (though only 3 of those games are in classic format and in those the score is +1=2)
2005-2007: +3=6
Fritz - Junior should be more interesting if equally pointless.
Two draws shown at the official site for today.
[Event "Rapid Match"]
[Site "Miskolc HUN"]
[Date "2007.04.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kramnik,V"]
[Black "Leko,P"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[EventDate "2007.04.25"]
[ECO "A33"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 Qa5
8. Bh4 Ne4 9. Bxe7 Nxc3 10. Qd2 Nxe7 11. Nb5 O-O 12. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 13. Nxc3 b6
14. O-O-O Rd8 15. Be2 Bb7 16. e4 f5 17. exf5 Nxf5 18. Rhg1 Rac8 19. Rd2 Kf8
20. g3 Ke7 21. Re1 Nd6 22. b3 b5 23. Red1 Ne4 24. Nxe4 Bxe4 25. Kb2 1/2-1/2
[Event "Rapid Match"]
[Site "Miskolc HUN"]
[Date "2007.04.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Leko,P"]
[Black "Kramnik,V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[EventDate "2007.04.25"]
[ECO "C88"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8.
h3 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. Nf1 Bc8 14. Ne3 Be6
15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 Nd4 17. Nd2 Nf5 18. Ne4 Nd7 19. g3 g6 20. h4 Rc8 21.
b4 Qb6 22. h5 cxb4 23. axb4 Nf6 24. c3 Ng7 25. h6 Nge8 26. Bd2 Nxe4 27.
dxe4 f5 28. exf5 Rxf5 29. Be3 Qb7 30. Rc1 Bd8 31. c4 bxc4 32. Bxc4 Qxb4 33.
Rb1 Qxc4 34. Rc1 Qxc1 35. Bxc1 Bb6 36. Be3 Bxe3 37. Rxe3 Nf6 38. Qa4 e4 39.
Qxa6 Rc1+ 40. Kg2 Rc2 41. Re2 Rxe2 42. Qxe2 Rxd5 43. Qc4 Kf7 44. Qc7+ Ke6
45. Qc8+ Ke7 46. Kf1 Rc5 47. Qb7+ Ke6 48. Ke2 Rf5 49. Qc8+ Ke7 50. Qc7+ Ke6
51. Qc8+ 1/2-1/2
What's wrong with the games? Second one was very interesting. If decisiveness is all that can please you, there are a few Scandinavian tournaments you can follow.
YK, I didn't bother to look at the second game too carefully after seeing the first one. It was probably very interesting, keeping in mind the players involved :)
It seems almost naive of Kramnik to think that his best chance lies in outplaying his strong opponents in relatively simple endgames. I know it works best for him and this is *not* a criticism of his playing style but just an observation that unfortunately his most interesting games will always be the ones where his opponents launch a daring/brave/brilliant/reckless/flawed attack which he beats back or finds a brilliant defence
Combativeness, not decisiveness.
I don't know how naive Kramnik's approach is. But in recent history, as you point out, has have yielded him the best results against "strong opponents" out of all the top GMs. I think the idea is that Kramnik is not a man of brash attack, a man who doesn't like to force something, but rather continue to play what he sees as best move, waiting for opponent, only going for it when the move seems clearly to the advantage, etc. And his wins with this approach are not limited to endgame, he has gotten advantage on Kasparov & Aronian coming out of opening and kept it pretty constant as I recall against Anand & Leko in their games this past year.
He has superior technique over almost every one of his opponents and that's why he is often able to neutralize and win when it goes to endgame.
Second game was plenty combative. Nothing came out of the first one, but such is chess.
Leko was suffering today. He lost the game three and drew the game four only because Kramnik missed 38. ... Bc3
The games:
[Event "Rapid Match (25+5)"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2007.04.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kramnyik, Vlagyimir"]
[Black "GM Leko, Peter(HUN)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "Robot 3"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2007.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3
d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. Nd2 O-O 12. O-O Rc8 13. e4 c5 14. exd5 exd5
15. dxc5 dxc4 16. c6 cxb3 17. Re1 b2 18. Bxb2 Nc5 19. Nc4 Bxc4 20. Qg4 Bg5 21.
Qxc4 Nd3 22. Be5 Nxe1 23. Rxe1 Bf6 24. Bxf6 Qxf6 25. c7 Qd6 26. Rc1 b5 27. Qc2
b4 28. Bb7 g6 29. h4 Rfe8 30. Qa4 Qd2 31. Qc6 a5 32. Bxc8 Rxc8 33. Kg2 Kg7 34.
Rc2 Qd3 35. Rc5 a4 36. Qxa4 Qe4+ 37. Kh2 Qd4 38. Qc2 h5 39. Kg2 Qd6 40. Qb2+ f6
41. Qc2 Kf7 42. Qc4+ Kg7 43. Rc6 Qd7 44. Qc5 Kf7 1-0
[Event "Rapid Match (25+5)"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2007.04.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "GM Leko, Peter(HUN)"]
[Black "Kramnyik, Vlagyimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Robot 3"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2007.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. Nf1 Bc8 14. c3 Be6 15. Bxe6
fxe6 16. b4 Qd7 17. Ng3 Rfb8 18. d4 exd4 19. cxd4 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Nxd4 21. Qxd4
Rc8 22. Bb2 Rc2 23. Rad1 Qa7 24. e5 dxe5 25. Qxa7 Rxa7 26. Bxe5 Rd7 27. Rxd7
Nxd7 28. Bd4 Kf7 29. Rd1 Nf6 30. Be5 Ra2 31. Rd3 a5 32. bxa5 Bxa3 33. Rb3 Bc5
34. Rxb5 Bxf2+ 35. Kh2 Be1 36. Rb7+ Kg6 37. Bxf6 gxf6 38. Rb6 Bxa5 39. Rxe6 Bc7
40. Re3 Ra4 41. Rf3 h5 42. Kg1 Bb6+ 43. Kh2 h4 44. Nf5 Bc7+ 45. g3 hxg3+ 46.
Nxg3 f5 47. Kg2 f4 48. Nf1 Kf5 49. Ne3+ Ke4 50. Ng4 Ra2+ 51. Nf2+ Kf5 52. Rb3 {
game 5 on Saturday.} 1/2-1/2
[Event "Rapid Match (25+5)"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2007.04.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "GM Leko, Peter(HUN)"]
[Black "Kramnyik, Vlagyimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Robot 3"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2007.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. Nf1 Bc8 14. c3 Be6 15. Bxe6
fxe6 16. b4 Qd7 17. Ng3 Rfb8 18. d4 exd4 19. cxd4 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Nxd4 21. Qxd4
Rc8 22. Bb2 Rc2 23. Rad1 Qa7 24. e5 dxe5 25. Qxa7 Rxa7 26. Bxe5 Rd7 27. Rxd7
Nxd7 28. Bd4 Kf7 29. Rd1 Nf6 30. Be5 Ra2 31. Rd3 a5 32. bxa5 Bxa3 33. Rb3 Bc5
34. Rxb5 Bxf2+ 35. Kh2 Be1 36. Rb7+ Kg6 37. Bxf6 gxf6 38. Rb6 Bxa5 39. Rxe6 Bc7
40. Re3 Ra4 41. Rf3 h5 42. Kg1 Bb6+ 43. Kh2 h4 44. Nf5 Bc7+ 45. g3 hxg3+ 46.
Nxg3 f5 47. Kg2 f4 48. Nf1 Kf5 49. Ne3+ Ke4 50. Ng4 Ra2+ 51. Nf2+ Kf5 52. Rb3 {
game 5 on Saturday.} 1/2-1/2
Both players are unrecognizable in this match.
http://www.chessbase.com/espanola/images/2007/Miskolc/R3y4/P1050507.jpg
A boring even score today.
Kramnik - Leko 1-0
Leko - Kramnik 1-0
Good one, acirce.