Among the four grandmasters who qualified in Elista to play in the world championship, Peter Leko of Hungary played most convincingly. Indeed, he did not lose a single game and won both matches against Mikhail Gurevich (currently of Turkey, formerly of Belgium and Ukraine) and Evgeny Bareev of Moscow by the score of 3.5 to 1.5. Leko’s opening preparation is extraordinary. He is also an imposing strategic thinker, and a master of endgames and general tactics. It was no surprise that in 2004 he made it into a match for the world championship with Vladimir Kramnik, which he drew. How will he fare the next time around? We cannot predict the future. But Leko seems to be getting stronger almost by the day.

LEKOVS BAREEV ( w h i t e ) ( b l a c k ) Caro Kann Defense

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 Bd6 8. Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Qc7 11.0-0 b6 12. Qg4 Kf8 13. Qh4! A sophisticated move. In the first game of their match, Leko played the natural 13. Re1 and after 13…c5! 14.c3 (bad for white was 14. Be4? Nf6) 14…Bb7 black obtained an excellent position. Now the black knight on f6 will not attack the white queen. 13… Bb7 A couple of weeks after this game was played, this variation was explored in two games by the Indian grandmaster Sasikiran. Against Jakovenko he tried the immediate 13…c5?! After 14. Be4! Rb8 15. Rd1 Ba6 16. dxc5! he had to play 16… bxc5 because 6…Nxc5 17. Rxd6! Qxd6 18. Bf4 Qd8 19. Bxb8 was bad and after 17.b3 white has a clear advantage. 14. Re1 Kg8?! Now, as was proved by the game Nisipeanu-Sasikiran, the appropriate move for black is 14…c5! After 15. Be4 Bxe4 16. Qxe4 Rd8 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Qh4 Kg8 19.b3 Be7 20. Qc4 Bf6 black equalized. 15. Qh3 Re8?! Too passive. Better was 15…c5 16.c4 Rd8. 16.c4 Nf6 17. Bd2 c5?! Now this move is too late. More prudent was 17…g6 18. Bc3 Kg7. 18.d5! e5 Trying to keep the position closed. Too dangerous was 18…exd5 19. Rxe8+ Nxe8 20. Re1 Nf6 21. cxd5 and black cannot expect to solve the problems of his king and his rook arrested on h8. 19. Bc3 g6 20. Qh4!? The direct assault 20. Re2 Nh5 21.g3 Bc8 22. Qg2 Kh7 23. Rae1 f6 (Black doesn’t have 23…Bg4 because of 24. Bxe5 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 Bxf3 26. Qxf3 Rxe5 27. Rxe5 Qxe5 28. Qxf7+ Qg7 29. Bxg6#) 24. Nh4 f5 25.f4 e4 26. Bxh8 Rxh8 would give white an extra exchange, but it would be not so easy to exploit it in such a closed position. Leko reaches for more. 20… Kg7 21. Nd2 Qd8 Completely hopeless was 21… g5 22. Qh3 Bc8 23. Bf5 g4 24. Qd3. Black tries to keep the position closed. 22. Bc2! Bc8 23. Ba4 g5 Black is forced to create weakness es. Bad for him was 23…Re7 24.f4. 24. Qg3 Nh5 25. Qf3! g4 26. Qd1 Re7 27.h3! Nf6 28. hxg4 Bxg4 29.f3 Bc8 30. Re3! Preparing to transfer the queen to the king side and include the a1 rook in the game. It appears that black can no longer organize a decent defense. 30… Nh5 31. Qe1 f6 32. Qh4 Nf4 33. Ne4 Rf7 34.g3! Ng6 Black’s position would also crack after 34…Nh3+ 35. Kg2 Ng5 36. Nxd6 Qxd6 37.f4. 35. Qh5 Bb8 36. Bc2! A decisive return. Disaster along the diagonals a1-h8 and b1-h7 is now unavoidable. 36… f5

(See diagram)

37.f4! Re8 Accepting the piece sacrifice with 37…fxe4 38. fxe5 Qg5 39.e6+ Rf6 40. Qxg5 hxg5 41. Bxf6+ Kxf6 42. Rf1+ was completely hopeless. 38. Nf2 Rf6 Other kinds of disasters would happen after 38…Kh7 39. Ng4. 39. Rae1 e4 40. Bxe4! fxe4 41. Nxe4

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