San Sebastián 09 r7: Ponomariov Edges Closer

Any thought that the second half of the San Sebastian "City of Culture" main event was going to be little more than a victory lap has been dispelled by former FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Super-mariov beat Vachier-Lagrave today to move to +3 just a half-point behind Nakamura. The American was pressed for an incremental eternity by Granda, who applied the famous Peruvian Slow-Roasted Chicken Attack by going all the way down to bare kings. The draw dropped Nakamura's performance rating to a mere 2900. Karpov suffered yet another loss, his fifth, this time watching his Caro-Kann turn into a Caro-Kouldn't against Vallejo. San Segundo took a pass against Svidler's Grunfeld.

Movsesian-Kasimjanov looked like a great match-up on paper, with two of the sharpest players around going at it. But lately, perhaps on a pilgrimage to worship at the shrine of St. Arturo of Llusupovia, the Uzbekistani picked up the Petroff. He played it four times in the Nalchik Grand Prix and now twice in San Sebastian. And thus another Ruy Lopez and Sicilan player joins the ranks of the undead. Maybe Kramnik bit Kasim on the neck while he was seconding for Anand in Bonn last year. Even Movsesian's attempt to liven things up with the nutty old Morozevich fave 5.Bd3 led to a draw in 24.

So with just two rounds to play Nakamura is finally feeling a little heat. He may have reason to second-guess his quick draw against Ponomariov yesterday if the Ukrainian's surge continues. In the last two rounds Nakamura faces the two other sharpest players in the field, Movsesian and Kasimjanov -- his Petroff notwithstanding since he has white against Nakamura in the final round. Ponomariov has an even tougher road to climb with the solid Svidler and Vallejo in his path. Svidler is still in with a chance a half-point back of Ponomariov, but would likely need some help to come from behind to win.

Granda showed again he's no pushover by doing some pushing of his own against the leader. Nakamura showed he was happy to play for a win with black to seal the tournament by playing the Dutch against Granda's 1.d4. (He also played it a couple of times last year, including a win against Karpov.) Things got wild quickly when White played the sideline 5.b4 and Nakamura responded with an even rarer "anyway" move 5..Nc6. They were already off the map by move 7, which would be quite unusual if Granda weren't playing. The Peruvian part-time farmer has long been well-known for his self-taught and idiosyncratic play in every phase. But though he's hardly as consistent as he used to be, don't doubt his creativity or skills. Out of the insane opening he swapped down into a superior rook endgame. Eleven captures in a row (!) has a way of doing that. It became a R+5 vs R+4 with an extra rook pawn for White. This is usually not a big deal for the defender, but here Black had the extra weakness of doubled e-pawns. That gave Granda more than enough reason to play on, especially since he could do so at no risk to himself. The lack of a second or third time control is another factor, since it makes endgames into a pure torture test of nerves, thinking exactly 25 seconds per move for what seems like forever.

So it's no surprise the endgame doesn't seem to have been played perfectly by either player, though it will take more time than I have right now to find a big mistake or chance for a win if any exist. That doesn't seem to be the case after a quick run-through, however. According to a report from the scene, Nakamura let his frustration with Granda show on his face a few times as the position simplified into a relatively obvious draw. Such displays were once an established part of young Nakamura's repertoire and I'm sure I'm not the only fan who hopes they go the way of his Qh5 now that he's a two-time US champion and the top-rated American. Admittedly, Kasparov was also known for occasionally pulling derisive faces at the board (apart from his generally open-book emotions), but it was one of the few ways in which the 13th world champion should not be imitated at the board! Plus, the more the top guys know something bugs you the more likely they are to push your buttons. Anyway, since we're not going to the videotape, as they say, and the game ended in a tidy draw, it's hardly worth a paragraph. But hey, the way Naka has been rocking the boards we have to have something to complain about, right?

More on the other games later, a bit pressed for time these days.

Update: Okay, had a little time to poke around on the games. Van Wely has played the 5.b4 in Granda-Nakamura quite a few times, it seems, but few have played Nakamura's provocative 5..Nc6. Fun stuff. Who says chess openings are played out. You don't need shuffle chess, just shuffle in some players willing to be creative and think on their feet. I wonder how White solves his problems after 9..a6!? and ..d5 is going to come harder than in the game. As for the endgame, I don't have my books handy and computers are typically horrible in these positions. The inability of the stronger side to make progress and the inevitable repetition are such a long way away, what they call the horizon effect. If the comp can wander around with an extra passer on the 7th for 30 moves without repeating, it's still +2.48 or whatever. But that doesn't mean it will ever win. Just keep playing out the computer's main line and it will often eventually flatline at 0.00 without making progress.

But it seems there are definitely a few tricks in the position. At the risk of blowing your mind, and/or making an idiot of myself, I think 40.h4 was a blunder that cost White a forced win! The short version is that with the pawn back on h2 instead of h4, the white king can go to c6 and then Rc8 with ..Rxa7 Rc7+ and the pawn endgame is winning (or the king to d8 and the rook to c8 with the same plan of ..Rxe7 Rc7+). Even with the white king seeming far away on c7, the pawn on h2 is too far away from the black king and the white king scoops up the black d-pawn, winning. Fantastic! The black rook can't check on c1 because Kd5 then wins the e4 pawn when the rook has to get back to the a-file. And the black king can never come up to shield off or cover the e-pawn because eventually the black rook runs out of checks and the white rook will step out of in front of the a-pawn with check. I love rook endgames, really I do. I get the feeling that if I leave the beast running overnight it will announce mate in 40 or something after 40.Kf4 (40..Rxf2+ 41.Ke5!). Let us know if you find a confirmation or refutation. But with the pawn on h4 the drawing routine is fairly straightforward from what I can tell, since the rook swap is now just a draw. So I have a little more sympathy with Nakamura's frustration at that point. And Granda was clearly just hoping for a blunder by the time the a-pawn came off. Or maybe he was just enjoying having an extra pawn and a better position even if was a purely symbolic one.

Vachier-Lagrave defended this same line of the Grunfeld just a few weeks ago against Aronian in the Armenia-France rapid match. Ponomariov improved with 16.dxc5 and played a bizarrely simple game of winning the c-pawn. Precision was required, but Black looked helpless. Vachier-Lagrave must have missed the strength of 21.Qc5! hitting the knight and the a-pawn. 31..Rb4 is weak, but the d-pawn is already too strong to stop. A very smooth win from Ponomariov to move into striking distance. What to say about poor Karpov? His Caro-Kann has gone from brick to straw, from filet mignon to happy meal. And yet here he was, fighting off Vallejo on pure instinct until once again falling apart in complications and losing. The pressure on Black's center after 16.Rh3! is just too much to bear without computer-perfect play. Karpov's open king made the heavy-piece endgame impossible, though he once again fought on bravely in a hopeless cause. Vallejo, born in 1982 and during Karpov's reign as world champion, brought home his extra pawns without much trouble.

Round 8: Nakamura-Movsesian, Svidler-Ponomariov, Vachier-Lagrave-Granda, Karpov-Kasimjanov, Vallejo-San Segundo. Svidler can swap places with Ponomariov in the standings with a win.