THE KO WORLD championships “proved” something many commentators had been asserting for years. Namely, the difference between the playing strength of somebody in the Top 10 and somebody in the Top 100 was tiny.
The Elo difference between no:10 and no:100 is usually about 100 Elo points. This should translate in theory to the stronger player scoring around 60 per cent. But it was seen repeatedly in the KOs, that on a given day, any journeyman GM in the top 100 could easily knockout one of the Top 10.
As Kasparov later pointed out, in certain cut-throat opening systems like the Slav Meran or the Sicilian Pelikan-Sveshnikov, even a difference of 200 Elo points could mean nothing because one inaccurate move would trigger resignation.
This makes it even tougher for the higher-ranked players in formats like the KO mini-matches.
If they play sharply, they will inevitably run into unpleasant surprises on some occasions.
If they refuse to take risks, they can end up in lottery-style blitz tiebreaks.
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Against that backdrop of primus inter pares, Anand’s record of 9 consecutive titles playing quality opposition at the Mainz Classic is nothing short of incredible. But 2009 saw the breaking of that sequence. After early losses against Aronyan and Nepomniactchi, Anand failed to qualify for the final. Aronyan eventually won comfortably by 3.5-0.5 against the talented Russian junior. The world champion later said he just played badly. He is incidentally developing a rather large minus score against Aronyan who has won several times in key games.
In the meantime, the world’s strongest player confirmed her primacy by winning the computer C-960 championship. Rybka (feminine gender “fish” in various Slavic tongues) picked up her third world title, winning the prelim qualifier with a startling 11.5 from 12 games and then beating Shredder 3-1 in the finals. In other events at Mainz, Shakhriyar Mamedaryov won the Ordix Open while Alexander Grischuk won the C-960 Open. Both events attracted very powerful fields.
Unfortunately I haven’t worked through the Mainz games yet so THE DIAGRAM, (Ivanchuk Vs Morozevich, Biel 2009), WHITE TO PLAY, is from a key encounter in a prior event. White goes for broke 24.exd5 Bxd2 25.dxe6 Bxc1 26 Qxf7+ ? Kh8.
Ivanchuk is playing to win and in that sense, he’s gone wrong earlier but 26. e7 probably kept at least a draw with ideas like 26.-Kh8 27 Qf5 and 28. Bd3 or 26-Bg5 27. Qxf7+ Kh8 28. Bd3 Bxe7 or 26-Qxd4 27. Bxf7+.
Now Moro defends with 27. Bd3 Qd8! A key point is 27. e7 Qxd4 works. Play continued 28.Qg6 Qg8 29.Rc4 Ba3 30.g3 Be7 31.d5 cxd5 32.Rf4 Bd6 33.Rf7 Rc7 34.Rd7 Be5 35.Qf5 Rxd7 36.exd7 Bc7 37.Bb5 Rf8 38.Qg6 Qf7 (0-1).