In the 2nd round of Candidates quarterfinal saw some fantastic fights, Peter Leko and Gata Kamsky scored points with the black pieces while Evgeny Bareev scored full point with white pieces against Judit Polgar in a long lasted game (64 moves). Game 1 winners, Aronian and Grischuk, drew their games. Most the games in this round lasted more than 40 moves so it was a hectic day for chess players. You can view/download the analyzed games. Read the full report with analyzed games by IM Roktim.

The Candidates Matches for the 2007 World Chess Championship Tournament will be held in Elista, Russia from May 26 to June 14 2007. 16 grandmasters will play two rounds of six-game matches. Top 4 players would qualify for the 2007 World Championship in Mexico City.

The best game in my opinion was Bareevs win against Judith, great stuff , played a very sharp line against Queens Indian and after Judith played a novelty on move 12 he reacted simply, yet strongly. Then came the stunning 18.Bg5!, striving for initiative at any cost even without the Queens, Black rejected the exchange sacrifice offered by Bareev and went for a simplified ending where white had a little advantage of active pieces and a little weak queenside pawns. From that part Bareevs play was exemplary, with each move he
increased advantage and finally won a great positional game. Congrats!

The next best game was Leko's win against veteran GM Mikhail Gurevich. It started slowly Nimzo Indian, Classical, followed known theory for 15 moves and then came Gurevich's Novelty 16.0-0-0. Leko's reaction was artistic,17....c4!! and 18...f5! showed great understanding, he just refuted the whole idea of white over the board (or preparation?) after that it was only technical phase for a player of Leko's calibre. He converted smoothly. The other decisive game was of the comeback man Gata Kamsky's, He chose Leningrad Dutch, soon he made it look like stonewall. Bacrot probably got frustrated by the solid black position and his lackstre play allowed Gata to take over the initiative with 21...e5! .After that, time pressure played a big role ,as Gata missed simple winning continuations quite a few time and almost allowed equality, then when draw was within reach Bacrot lost on time. A sad end to a topsy-turvy game. Yet Gata deserves to win as he was trying throughout.

In other games Aronian didnt try to test Carlsen in a Benko Gambit match and played out a safe draw. While Malakhov ruined a promising position (if not winning) against Grischuk after the latter misplayed the opening , lost a pawn, allowed an attack which could have been decisive if Malakhov had played 20.gxh5!. Anyway good for Grischuk he missed the chance and soon lost all his advantage and draw after long game. Adams surprised Shirov by opting for Archangelsk in Ruy Lopez.Shirov chose a harmless variation, where he had a little pressure though, But Adams gave up a
pawn at right moment and got enough play to draw the game. Kasimdzanov vs Gelfand was a classical g3 Queens Indian, not much of a fight, an easy draw for Gelfand with the black pieces.

Rublevesky versus Pono was a fighting game where Pono was trying throughout but Rubley defended well and made a draw. So a good fighting 2nd round and I expect you all will enjoy the games.
 

Standings :

Analyzed chess games of Candidates Matches for the world chess championship 07: Round 2

You can also download the analyzed chess games in chessbase compatible format.