Nakamura * . Cet) Ti with Kasparov . ne a il Ivanchuk in Bilbao | iP in Moscow sacrificial moodDon't get ambushed in the opening? MTech acca] Lc} against a broad range of PEA Lol Englund Gambit Budapest Gambit Reema actu) eld vA PrNn all oe snails ‘ eM calues altic Defence Opening id Keres Defence Annoying Marshall Defence eta asic ubicas orate) ON Tere ecules and many others Ca ee ree cee! Pea be MareNew! HOUDINI 2 Cee Te B= Houdini 2 Aquarium is a revolu- ‘tionary analysis, database and chess publishing tool, combined with the world’s strongest chess playing engine, Houdini 2 (current CCRL rating is 3347). You can also connect Houdini 2 UCI engine to Fritz and ChessBase. Houdini 2 Aquarium offers advanced analysis functions, game commenting, searching, powerful chess trees, playing against the computer, databases, advanced publishing features and much more. Houdini 2 Aquarium includes databases of 5.1 million games in total (before October 1, 2011) that can be updated from www.chessok.com each week with 2000 new games for free. With @ copy of Houdini 2 Aquarium you will also get a bonus of Openings Encyclopedia 2011, which includes rich theoretical material on all openings, and 12 months free access at ChessOK Playing Zone. Houdini Aquarium 2 (supports up to 6 cores and 4 GB of hash) - $62.5/49.95 € Houdini PRO Aquarium 2 (supports up to 32 cores and 32 GB of hash) - $99/79 € Houdini Opening Book , Houdini Opening Book provides latest chess theory approved in millions of advanced chess games and matches of top human players. It includes over 65 million positions. The opening book is based on a careful selection of the mostimportant theoretical games, both by human players and chess engines. Houdini Opening book on DVD - $29.95/23.95 € Dirty) yer prs Chess Assistant 12 with Houdini 2 . : Chess Assistant 12 with Houdini 2is a unique tool for managing chess games beh and databases, playing chess through the Internet, analyzing games, or playing PSS ae km chess against the computer. Starter package includes Houdini 2, Chess Opening Encyclopedia 2011, power- ful search system, unique Tree mode, databases of 5.1 million games in total (before October 1, 2011) that can be updated from www.chessok.com each week with 2000 new games for free, etc. Chess Assistant 12, Professional package include also: - Houdini 2 PRO engine (for high-end users with powerful hardware) ‘ChessOK Aquarium program which offers advanced analysis functions. Chess Assistant 12, Starter package with Houdini 2 on DVD - $99/79€ Chess Assistant 12, Professional package with Houdini PRO 2 on 2 DVDs - $149/119 € www.ChessOK.com2011 Issue 7 PUBLISHER: Allard Hoogland EDITOR 6 NIC’s Café 8 Your Move 10 The Spirit of Saint Louis ‘Some knew, some thought they knew, ‘and speculation was rampant during the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo ‘and Bilbo. Is Garry Kesparov ‘working with Hikary Nokemura? Yes, he is Inc candid interview Nekamura tells the story 18 Carlsen Stars in The Big Chase Seemingly agoinst all odds, Magnus Carlsen refused! to think about ‘anything else but first place when cofter enly four rounds he was trailing Vesily Ivanchuk by 7 points in the Grand Slam Final. Thet was when the big chose started 34 Chess Hall of Fame ‘The World Chess Hall of Fame re-opened across from the glitzy Scint Louis Chess Club. 39 Hertan’s Forcing Moves 40 One Cup, Three Candidates For the fourth time the Siberian town ‘of Khonty-Mansiysk staged the FIDE ‘World Cup. The allRussion inal between Peter Svidler ond Alexander GGrischuk ended in another triumph for the groncmaster from St. Petersburg. 61 Interview Peter Svidler ‘Tim sure that as soon as | say out loud that my second spring hes finally come (or third? or what are we up to now}, itwill end precisely ot thor moment, says the 35-year-old winner of the 2011 Werld Cup. CHIEF: Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Jan Timman of being (one with the universe — and Donovan) totally immersed in the position, and seeing everything very clearly ~ something that in other sports is offen referred to as “in the zone” — and it happened here.’ — Peter SvidlerorktTy Ceara CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Jacob Aagoard, Vishy Anand, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Barsky, Magnus Carlsen, Alexender Grischuk, Charles Herta, Gerry Kasparov, Al Lawrence, Luke MeShane, Hikaru Nekamura, Macauley Peterson, Judit Polgat, Hans Ree, Nigel Short, Peter Svidler, Jan Timman PHOTOS AND ILLUSTRATIONS Vladimir Barsky, Chess Club ond Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, Al Lawrence, David Llada COVER PHOTO Peter Svidler: New In Chess 72 Old Men Nigel Short explains why even in thete modem days geting older need not mean the end of your 74 Moscow on the Move The Russion Chess Federation celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Botvinnik with a long weekend of festivities, the main act being a rapid exhibition tournament with the four best players on the planet thot was won with superior ease by World Champion Vishy Anand. 86 WhyChess With the launch of their website, provocatively named WhyChes, Vlad Tkachiev and his brother Evgeny saw an old dream come true. 90 Through the Luking Glass Luke MeShane tells us what he's been. reading lately. 93 Unsolved Mystery Hans Ree on Notes on the Life of Howard Stounton. 98 Piece Sacrifices in the Sicili Jan Timmen made two of them in one tournament end presents them with lucid comments 103 A Movable Chess Feast “Hikaru’s talent is evident but he stil must decide whether chess is more Important to him than poker! writes Garry Kosparov. 106 Just Checking What music does Jacob Aagaard like to listen to?Last Call hhen he arrives at the \ \ chess board, Magnus yi Carlsen usually treats the photographers and spectators to a standard routine He stretches and yawns, gulps down a swig of orange juice or drowsly looks around him as ifhe is wondering who it was that woke him up so early. This is why no one really understood what was happening last year atthe start of the 9th round in Wijk aan Zee before his game against Viadimir Kramnik. Slumping in his chaie Carlsen closed his eyes, froze lke a statue, and didn’t open his eyes for two minutes that felt like an eternity. When he finally re- turned to the world, he-brielly looked at the board and pushed his queen's pawn to dé. Afterwards, speculation about what had happened was rife. At first, Kramnik joked that he thought his ‘opponent had fallen asleep and that he toyed with the idea of waking him up, but atthe press conference he opined that Kasparov, with whom the Norv sgian was working at the time, had prob- ably told him to play ‘Led and that in the end he decided to go for 1.44. From the book Smarte Trekk, Magnus Carlsen, Ver dens Beste Sjakkspiller (Clever move, Mag: nas Carlsen, the best chess player in the ‘world’ we believe) by Norwegian journal- ist Hallgeir Opedal, we now know that ‘him not to play it, as he had discovered a hole in the variation they had pre- pared. With ths call Kasparov ignored an urgent plea from the Carlsens not to call before games, as this put unpleas- ant pressure on Magnus, But it was not only the pressure that confused him. At the board, Carlsen sat wondering what the hole inthe variation could be, a de- tail Kasparov had declined to reveal to him, ‘A fragment of the new book pub- lished in Norwegian newspapers put ‘great emphasis on what Magnus al- legedly told his father after the tour hament: ‘Get me out of this! Closer to the truth was that after Wijk aan Zee “Magaus wanted to revise the contract with Kasparov. His first impulse was to have a lighter version of their coopera tion. Then, having thought it over, he indicated thet he wanted the option of ‘working together with no obligations, ‘When Opedal summed it up for him saying, ‘So essentially you told your father: “Get me out of this!” Magnus replied, “Thats how you could put it? Henrik Carlsen stresses that the talks they had with Kasparov about the new situation were en- tirely friendly and con- structive and that his son remains highly grateful for the experience he had gained from their cooper ation. Infact, their shared ‘wish was to continue on a less regular basis, but cer- tainly to stay in touch, In IF the following months Kas: paroy returned to Oslo for two brief sessions, They Kramnikstheory was Magnus Carlsen ‘asleep' before also met in New York and. not entitely corzect, the fated game against Viedimir London, and they spoke but was certainly a clever guess. And having talked o Carisen father Henrik we eel that we can now presenta pretty accurate account of what happened. It is true that Carlsen was thinking about his opening move, and his plan had in- deed been to go 1.e4, but justbefore the game Kasparoy had called him and told ssowtvomss jamnik in Wijk aan Zee 2010. on the phone once or twice. In fact, there was no real reason for the cooperation to finally fizzle out. Carlsen Kept the pos. sibility ofa next session at the back of his mind, but one way or another he felt that he hacl learned a lot and was ready to take on more responsibility himself, He shared first place in Amber nic’s care and when he won Bazna with plus-5 without a training session, he didn't fel the urge to have @ summer session in Croatia. Once he had skipped this, their cooperation gradually and natu- rally came to an end. Don't Miss hile watching the Lon- q \ don os in Totenham y on TV last August, wwe didn't necessarily think that they might have an effect on us, But infact they did. How could we know that one of the warehouses that Went up in flames contained the re- view copies of Liz Garbus’ film Bobby Fischer against the World? As a result ‘we could only watch her masterpiece after a considerable delay. But who cares? As they say, a thing of beauty is a joy forever. And indeed itis a great film, as various reviewers pointed out in other publications that we saw in ‘the meantime, However, one facet that we feel was neglected was the incred- Sle research behind the film. Over the ‘years we have seen alot of Fischer, both in photographs and film, but this film shows such a wealth of ‘unknown’ ma- terial that we can only hope there is @ special Grammy, or some other pres- tigious film award, for research. ‘Once again, its a great film. We know that the end is sad, but don't missitBerserkers ‘mongst the various peo. A\, ple that are being inter- viewed in Liz-Garbus’ film Ni ch conrs, Gadesindar ‘Thorarinsson, the organizer of the ischer-Spassky match in Reykjavik. In 1972 Gudmundur was an adventurous young man who, as president ofthe Ice- Jandic Chess Federation, madea dream come true, After the match he contin ued to play arole in the chess scene of me Striking similarity: the Sighonex and Lewis berserers. his country, and not surprisingly he ‘was on the committee that managed to free Fischer from his Japanese jail and enabled the American’ second com- ing to Iceland. In recent times Gud- ‘mundur has been preoccupied with ‘anew project: he wants to prove that the Lewis chessmen, the majority of which reside in the British Museum, were most probably made in Iceland, His theory was given a boost by the re- cent find of a chess piece in Siglunes, Iceland, that bears an uncanny resem blance to the ‘berserker’ of the Lewis chessmen. According to Gudmundur ‘Thorarinsson, we don't know of any other nation, except for Iceland (after this ind), where the rooks are berserk ers (or soldiers). Moreover, we know from old manuscripts that the Ice- landers used bishops as chess pieces between 1150 and 1200, the time that scholars agree on that the Lewis chess- men were made, Last August there was a symposium in Iceland on the origin of the Lewis chessmen and the de- bate rages on, Scientists from different countries are not yet convinced by Tho- rarinsson’s theory, but were inclined to say: why not? Berserker em pr tbese days the Nordic people no longer invade foreign na~ tions, and no longer go ber- <= _serkinthe process. Therefore it must come as quite a shock to them when a foreigner goes on the rampage on their soi, At the Oslo Open in Nor- way, Matthew Sadler demonstrated that despite having been absent from professional chess for more than a decade, he still knows the ropes, scor- ing 8 out of 9, with a performance rat- ing of 2860. As the Englishman, who lives and works in the Netherlands, also comfortably won a strong Open in Barcelona last August, the automatic question is whether he is considering picking up his old trade again? The professionals may rest assured; he'still loves chess, but he intends to stick to hii job and will limit his chess activities to the occasional outing One crucial mistake the Norwegians made was to hold the tournament ina football stadium. Among the trophies on the walls were photos of legendary wins, including their victory over Eng Jand in 1981. Sadler is a peaceful man, but hes only human as well! sti. =p10 ‘Matthew Sadler Sipke Ernst Oslo 2011 (5) 1.d4 d5 2.04 06 3.503 216 4.03 151? 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Wp3 cB Regularly played by French IM Eric Prig. Black claims that the tempo loss- esdonit do him any harm, 7.28 06 8.205 e6 9.4 2e7 10.43 0-0 11.0.0 2d7 12.12 Sdxe5 13. fxe5 S47 This is rather slow. It was more sensible to play 13..[6 imme- diately, 14.218 Qb4!? 14. f6 is now very risky: 15.exf6 Sbxf6 16, xd! exds 17,Wad5+ Gh8 18, Wh5 g6 19..Sixg6 We7 20,Rafl and wins. 25.2e21 To activate the rook on al. 15..05 46.23 a4 17.Wdd ¢6 18.243! It's back! Nic's CAFE scum ‘Matthew Sadler seeking his revenge for Norway-England 1981 (2-1). ‘And the threat of @h7+is hanging in theair.18...g6 19.We2 et | od » Beer ee Se eS Be (ot (be foe > bt be Lali oH \Gc> a 19...{6 20.ex16 Exi6 21.afd ¢7 22.de1l Axf3 23.Wx13 2f6 24. g3 a8? A blunder, but the posi tion was already very difficult. 25.07 We7 26.id6 Was 27.207 We7 28.246 Wd8 29,h4! 06 Both 29, h5 and 29... 2e8 run into 30..2¢5!. 30. AS 08 31.n6+ And in view of 31 stexh6 32.218+ ig? 33,ag7+ soxg7 34.18 mate, Black resigned. sewivcwss7More Aronian Please Tilike to say that Levon Aroniarisan- notations to his game against Sergey Karjakin, Ningbo 2011, in New In ‘Chess 2011/6 were wonderful! His comments were clear, con- cise, courteous and insightful. One of his notes that impressed me the most was after 48... Wh8:‘As shown bya detailed analysis, which I will not give here in order to avoid tiring the reader, in this case White's position is more won than in the game” Such respect for the reader and not just flaunting his ego or trying to prove anything. Also, and this may easily go ‘unnoticed — not a single punctuation ‘mark after any moves, even those that ‘may have been dubious or blunders. I think this shows respect for his oppo- nent and modesty. Lhope you seek his annotations for your magazine first and foremost. Thank you. Jeremy Knox Foirfox, Virginio, USA, postscript Thanks for the compliment, which ‘we have forwarded to Levon Aronian. Your requests falflled on page 82. Weinstein and Kronsteen 1 always enjoy New In Chess articles that provide some history about the game and its players, especially the less well-known people who never- theless were famous in their time, I had never heard of Boris Weinstein before reading Genna Sosonko’s ar- ticle in New In Chess 2011/6, but his story seemed very familiar. Sosonko ‘writes that Weinstein worked for the NKVD and ‘many people believed that he only worked there, but in real- ity he lived a different life It suddenly clicked for me that he ‘must haye been the role model for lan Fleming’ fictional evil chess master, Kronsteen, who devises the gambit ‘plan to Kill James Bond in From Rus- sia with Love, Fleming wrote in his {introduction that, while the plot was fiction, he had accurately described the workings of Russian intelligence, including the personalities of their top personnel. Of course, in Fleming’s story, Kronsteen is killed by his supe- riors because his plan failed whereas Weinstein was allowed to retire. A pity that he never wrote his memoirs, but probably many people are glad he didn't. Thanks for revealing some of the truth, Roy Kiowe Baltimore, MD, USA I's only over when.. Congrats ~ once again! ~ for your splendid magazine! Luke McShane is doing a great job in his book-reviewing column, yet in New In Chess 2011/5 he makes a mistake. Reviewing J. Edwards’ book Sack- ing the Citadel, he gives the game Prié Svetushkin, France 2009, and writes (after 20.h4): ‘White has a powerful attack, and went on to win! e | fam & bdo) yy a Wale sa A 8 AR A AAR HR we 8 Prié-Svetushkin Chéions-en-Champagne 2009 position after 13..xh7+ In fact, this game, played in the French League (Top-16), ended in a drav, after 62 moves (although the MegaBase stops it at move 35 and wrongly gives 1-0 - which must have caused the mistake). By a funny coin- cidence, Prié-Svetushkin is given in full in Kingpin Nr. 40 (the magazine that McShane writes very positively about in that same issue of New In Chess!), with Grandmaster Tony Ko- sten calling the move 13.sxh7+!"The novelty of the century’! Spiros lends Athens, Greece YOUR Move ‘Averbakh’s Memoirs - Some Puzzling Omissions twas late in 1960 and Adelaide, the ‘capital city of South Australia, was enjoying fine spring weather with perfect conditions for the hosting of its undoubtedly most important and strongest chess tournament ever. The 1960 Australian Chess Champion ship, with a field of players which cluded most of the very best masters Readers ean send their opinions to: NEW IN CHESS: 9. Box 1093 1810 KB Alkmaar The Netherlands or e-mail editors@newinchess.com Letters may be edited or abridged of Australian chess, Amongst them Cecil Purdy, the first world corres pondence champion and Australian champion, and his great rival Garry Koshnitsky, also a past Or champion. ‘And heading the post-World War II European migrant phalanx was Lu- cius Endzelins,a former Latvian chess master and GM in correspondence chess (2nd in world correspondence championship 1956-59). ‘This illustrious ensemble was fur- ther enriched by an unprecedented participation of two Soviet masters: GM Yuri Averbakh and the then ‘young Russian super-talent Vladimir Bagirov, Their appearance was a politi- cal sensation since it was atime of bel- ligerent confrontation between East and West, with Australians fighting in the Vietnam war. There is little doubt that Australian and Soviet govern- ‘ments had agreed to engage in a chess version of ‘ping-pong diplomacy, ena bling Averbakh and Bagirov to obtain visas and play in Australia, To this day itis not known who was primarily re sponsible for the successful negotia. tion and outcome ofthis event. ‘As can be expected the tournament created great interest in Australia, particularly in Adelaide. The Russian players were very popular, especiallyamongst female students of Russian literature, Averbakh at the time was 38 years old. He was tll, suave and dapper, while Bagirov was only 24, siilla student and bubbling with en- thusiasm when T introduced him to iy university colleagues. The tourna- ‘ment was played inthe splendid read- ing hall of the State Public Library, with 15 rounds and a proviso thatthe title of Australian Champion was to beawarded tothe highest placed Aus- tralian competitor. Indeed, with two rounds lft o play it seemed certain that Koshnitsky ‘would win since he was leading by a full point. ‘Kosh, as he was affection- ately known in Oz. chess circles, had already drawn with Averbakh, and ‘won convincingly against Bagirov (see game below), but it was not to be. He lost both games, with the end result being that Averbakh won the tourna- ‘ment vith 14/15, Bagiroy was runner- up with 12/15 and third was Endze- lins, who won the tite as the highest placed Australian player. Aighly amusing incident occurred luring the game between Averbakh and Purdy, Averbakh, playing white, had his rook on the bl-square bearing down the empty file to b8. Purdy cas- ted long, with his queen’s rook cross- ing the b8-square. Averbakh imme- diately lodged a protest, claiming the ‘move was illegal. It took considerable persuasion by Purdy and the arbiters toassure him that the move was en- tirely legal! How can a grandmaster omit such a chess anecdote from his ‘memoirs (that were published this year by New In Chess) ‘Averbakh’ popularity and chess presence in the Australasian region continued, He again visited Australia in the mid-1960)5 and then advanced his diplomatic mission in New Zea- land by playing in the 1966/67 Can- terbury Chess Club Centenary in Christchurch. The tournament was a L4-rounds Swiss which Averbakh ‘won with 13/14, followed by Rudolfo Cardoso 11% (Philippines), and Pal Dozsa 11 (Australia). ‘tis puzzling why Averbakh has en- tirely omitted any reference to his suc- cessful chess forays and diplomatic accomplishments in Australasia, the very first Soviet grandmaster to do so. Surely this cannot be attributed to his memory loss or ruthless editing by New In Chess publishers!? Yuri Averbakh has, to his credit, greatly influenced an entire genera- tion of creative Australian chess play- ers who were in their student years when he came to Australia. To name just some: Doug Hamilton (who later became multiple Australian cham- pion), Bob Krstic (recently Austral- ian Seniors champion), Terrey Shaw (Gop scorer in the 1968 Lugano Olym- piad),and the legendary group of"Un- ‘quenchables, myself included. Vladimir Bagirov (1936-2000) Garry Koshnitsky (1907-1999) Australian Championship, Adelaide 1960 Led 05 2.213 d6 3.04 oxda 4, Oxdd DAG 5.0¢3 a6 6.2E5 6 7. 14 bS 8.05 dxeS 9.fxe5 We7 10. exf6 We5+ 11.202 Wxg6 12.00 a7 13.Wd3 Dd7 14.504 Wes 15.213 We? 16.We3 2b7 17.041? bxe4 18.Eacd Axed 19,Hxe4!? x16 20.5x04 Whé+ 21.c:ht 2e7 ‘White has sacrificed a pawn forthe in- itiative. 22. g4 22...Wxb2! Why not! 23.2544 Sef! 24.002 Ed8! 25.262 We 26.Wod £5 27.We5 Zg8 28.%cd2 [BABI Black is getting on top so White sacrifices again. Your Move 29.2xe6+!? fxo6 30.2xd5 exd5 31.Wxf5+ sig7 32.2d3 Wee! Kosh defends well. 33.Wxd5 Wg5 34,We4 Wh4 35.WeS+ 216 36.We7+ hs 37.1 ig7 38. Eb Wd4 39.Wg3 Od7 40.0xa6 265 41,3 Ded 42.63 Oxga+ on (taken from Australian Chess Forum, ‘November 1999, No.10) Boris Kazanski Berlin, Germany /Sydney, Australia. ew incssGarry Kasperov prea Peet ed ‘friendly chat ey eee) eee Peas eae) Cer Ce/ Tel aA rota m atolls Lao knew, and speculation was rampant during the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao. Is Garry 7 Kasparov working with Hikaru Nakamura? Thanks to the financial support of Saint Louis multi-millionaire Rex Sinquefield, yes, he is. In a candid interview with Macauley Peterson, Nakamura details his first nine months working with Kasparov. A story of rumours, triumph and regrets. Nycles: yes, Nakamura is working with FIDE presidential campaign, and he Kasparov. is a great admirer of Kasparov, who To suspect is one thing, know he describes as ‘a remarkably accom- ing is quite another, but getting the plished, energetic and highly dedi- story straight from the protagonist is «ated person always more telling. In addition to his vast experience “The beginning of it would have been as World Champion, Kasparov's year last December when, right before the spent training Carlsen was important London Classic, I got an e-mail from to Sinquefield ‘ts basically a turn-key Rex, and he sort of wrote it in a cryptic solution, you know he’ been teaching ay where he said he had spoken with Magnus, soit was pretty easy to say yes Kasparov, and there's something that to! Ihe wanted to talk to me about. It didn't Singuefield told Kasparov to con: reveal any specifies, but [sort ofjust put tact Hikaru and work outa plan, Kas: two and two together’ parov went to London for the end Of the Chess Classic and took Naka- Gas tend to dislike A week earlier, Kasparov had given mura aside before the private dinner interviews in the middle of talksin Saint Louis and Kansas City as at Simpson in the Strand, on Decem- major tournaments, soit was some- part ofa speaker series hosted by the ber 15th, ‘what surprising when, shortly after Show Me Institute, a Missouri think ‘Tknew right away that I would defi his long flight from Brazil to Spain, tank. President of its board of direc: nitely take up the offer simply because Hikaru Nakamura contacted me to tors is Rex Sinquefield who, along there are certain times certain oppor set one up. He had played solidly dur e, founded and tunities you have in life just don't come ing the firsthalfof the 4th Grand Slam sponsors the Chess Club and Schola: around that often, and certainly having Final, and was in clear second place, tic Center of Saint Louis. the opportunity to work with, at least Rumours of a new partnership bub- On the plane between what I consider to be, the great- “To work with, bled up to the surface the day before cities, Kasparov the first round, credible enough to praised Nakamura, est chess player ever, is sort of ‘an opportunity you can't prompta question from LeontxoGar- and suggested turn down: clan en fica pos-gunetnerview. tht Snqutel at least what > iakamura’s wry reaction? Nocom- finance atrain- calle Je doesn't know ment, but you can believe what you ing relation . eee the details of the o Foe TCO srs: tens Itshard tokeep asecretinthechess to his work world, especially inthe Internet age, with Magnus when unnamed sources cited ona Carlsen. Rex blog open the window just enough didn’t hesi to beg interesting questions like ‘Is tate to endorse Kasparov working with Nakamura?” the idea and, Who knows? Butitsureisfunto won- after consulting der! Hikaru’ non-denial in Sao Paulo his wife, e-mailed ‘was as good as confirmation for those Hikaru. ‘T intimated it Sinquefield and Kasparov thespe. cific cost remains private and Naka- ‘mura thinks it’s bet ter that way: The first training session, just before the Tata Steel tournament in the greatest che: player ever, is sort of an opportunity pKOUm eee Letae down. fs primed to believe. was not inexpensive, but Wijk aan Zee, was held in New otherwise I didnt get involved; he York at Kasparov’ $3.4 million dollar Within hours of landing in Bilbao on told mein mid-September: penthouse apartment on Manhattars October 4th, 1 found us a table at the Upper WestSide. café of the Museo de Bellas Artes, a Sinquefield has been an enormously For Nakamura, its convenient to pleasant outdoor spot a few minutes generous and enthusiastic sponsor meet there since he gets to visit his walk from the elegant Hotel Mclia, of American chess over the past sev parents, who live just north of the city ‘the home to Grand Slam participants. eral years, funding the US. Chi Iwas mildly apprehensive ~ it had _onship and other events at the npi- in White Plains. Flights to Europe ess from Seattleand Vancouver, where he already been months since became Cluband, most recently, re-launching used tollve, rarely entail a stop in New certain of what was now quickly the World Chess Hall of Fame. Rex York becoming known in wider chess cit- was also a backer of Anatoly Karpov's Kasparov wanted to keep the col raven ivcaess HIKARU NAKAMURAlaboration secret for as much as a year, if possible. Nakamura didnt feel strongly about this, but went along with it “With Magnus there were always rumours, and then it came out eventu- ally, and I think he sort of wanted it t0 be the same way with meas well, where sort of keeping it secret is better because it potentially gives you an edge. I per- sonally don’t actually think that it does, but Tcan understand the logic Its funny how small details loom large with the passage of time. I can recall clearly chatting with Hikaru in Lon- don, before dinner at Simpson’, when parov gregariously joined in the conversation. This was odd — he barely knew me and, with so many old and new friends around, why would he engage with Hikaru quite so ostenta- tiously? It was also curious that they left together ina taxi, alone. This newfound camaraderie did not go unnoticed by Magnus Carisen’s father Henrik, who was also present, and later said his earliest inkling came at the same event. After Nakamura’ impressive victory in Wijk aan Zee Kasparov's effusive praise in the New York Times was a second clue. Looking back at the Tata Steel tour- nament, Nakamura saw several ways in which that first training session helped him, ranging from specific analysis to overall confidence. ‘Thad just started working with Garry so everything was a lot fresher at the Start than it is, et’ say, even now, so it was a big confidence boost. felt great during the whole event and 1 think its, in many ways, why I won that sournament. ‘A lot of the openings that I played there were very much because of the training session which we had in New York... Twas playinga specific variation of the Nimzo [Indian Defence), I was playing this 2c3 and 2f3 in at least three or four of the games ~ I know E ‘won my first round game against Gris: chuk, I also played it against Anand Cee ees Ce ea aes Rex Singuefield, Garry Kasparov and Hikaru Nakamute ‘and Ponomariov as well. So, ts acon ination - it was the database and also it was the training session in New York: ‘The database he refers to is the col: lected works of Kasparov and his team ‘over the years, which includes some 17,000 heavily annotated games. In any given opening, Nakamura already hhas the best lines at his fingertips. Late into the closing party a the Zee duin Hotel, in Wijk aan Zee, Naka- mura first let slip the news about his new ‘database’ in the hole. Euphoric over his historic +5 win, Hikaru suddenly suggested to Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam that they step outside for a moment. Standing in the cold sea air, as in a cheap spy movie, he thought for a second, looked up and said, Lam working with Kasparov” The following morning Nakamura came down to Earth, and asked for secrecy, realizing the time was not yet ripe to reveal the news. An unfortu- nate change of heart (for how long?) but then again, without the details, you have a headline, nota story HIKARU NAKAMURA Curiously, they had not been com. pletely alone the night before ~ a spy movie needs a spy afterall, and Carlsen friend Johannes Kvisla, who has travelled with Magnus to tourna- ‘ments on several occasions, appeared to have followed them outside. The secrecy might only have minutes, were it not forthe fortunate fact that, as the Carlsens later told us, Johannes had overheard noth ing (I said it was cheap spy movie, didn't) So when did the world’s elite players actually learn of ths latest high- pow ered collaboration? It’s hard to know for sure, but it was sooner than you might expect. ‘Probably around the time af Monaco, the Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament... think since then. The chess world, its a very small world and 4 lot of people talk to each other. 1 think both Garry and myself both told certain people, I mean its inevi table...To elaborate a litle bit further, I don't think it was so much from my play, but I think i was the results thatHikaru Nakamura Thad, especially in Wijk, which a lot of people didn't expect? Vladimir Kramnik has good sources, fr so it seems, In Monaco, after los- ing to Nakamura in a King’s Indian Defence, one of Kasparov's theoreti- cal specialties, he told World Cham pion Anand what ‘everyone knows (according to Kramnik): his great predecessor was back in the fray. ‘Anand relayed the news with playful indignation, ‘If everyone knows, at least someone could have told me! Back in Saint Louis, Sinquefield mused, 'a true secret is something that ‘one person knows’ He fel fairly cer tain that Kasparov hasnit been talking about the collaboration, because he had emphasized how advantageous it ‘would be to keep it quiet strikes me as unlikely that Kram nik learned the news from one of Nakamuras early confidants (as ‘opposed toa Russian connection) bu, be that ast may, iFgaining a competi tiveadvantage was the goal of secrecy it doesn seem to have worked. Since Wijk aan Zee, it’s safe to assume that most of the elite have at least consid- exed his work with Kasparov likely, i stil uncertain, In April, Nakamura sat out the US. Championship, citing a desire to focus on the top international tour- aments, and avoid potentially wild swings in his rating, Its not unheard of for top ten players to skip the national championship (Carlsen and ‘Anand have both done so), but then ain, Fischer played in eight and ‘won themall, and there remains some prestige associated with being the US. ‘Champion Now the reason is clear: Kaspa- rov was against it. He contacted Sinquefield to explain why, shortly after Nakamuras Dutch victory. Rex was a little disappointed, but said he understood. ‘I told him I was going to defer to him on that, and it was absolutely between him and anew inca Hikaru... I said I don't want to get in the way of progress. So I've been very much hands-off on the whole thing? ‘When I asked Hikaru ifhe regrets not playing, at first he hesitated to answer, but then said it was the first oF handful of decisions he now consid- xs ‘very big mistakes One benefit of having Nakamura on the sidelines during the champion- ship was that he was available to guest star onthe live webcast during several rounds. When not doing commen. tary, he would often sit in the back of Cr) Peer el Cees eee) Deed Eien Preece free penta eet oer) ec the room, chatting with Kasparov via Skype. That dispelled any doubt left in my mind — well, that and an e-mail (Las inadvertently forwarded) from Kasparov himself, with details about their next planned meeting. The second training session w: in New York, at the end o shortly before Nakamura was to play an exhibition match against Ruslan Ponomariov in Saint Louis, which he Nakamura then travelled to Roma- nia for the Kings Tournament, in June, By now he realized that he couldrit count on the element of sur prise, but that was no cause for alarm. HIKARU NAKAMURA ‘When you look at chess these days, the advantages that players get in the ‘games the windows ofopportunity are so much smaller, just because so many ‘openings aren't playable or are consid- ered tobe very drawish nowadays... But 1 think, stil, having all the work - hav ing access to Garry's database certainly it still gives me somewhat of an edge to atleast know that I'm playing the best possible openings? The. best... possible. This is a point Kasparov is adamant about, and not always in a good way. A New Yorker magazine profile of Carlsen mentions ‘the abrupt end’ to his partnership with Kasparoy, after Magnus’ ninth round oss to Kramnik at Corus 2008. In fact, Kramnik himself guessed what had happened in his post-game press conference: Magnus and Garry hhad a quarrel over openings. But the details are revealing: Carlsen is very keen on feeling calm and unworried before a game. He disliked talking with Kasparov by phone, and Hen- rik explicitly told Kasparoy not to call “Magnus shortly before a game. When Kasparov discovered what he felt was a critical theoretical hole in Magnus’ preparation for Kramnik, he ignored the warning and called anyway. ‘he New Yorker goes on to say thatfor C t chess playing is less “the scientific search for the best approaches” than “psychological war- fare with some little tricks” In this instance, Carlsen had taken a major psychological hit before he even sat down at the board. Knowing all this, 1 was curious if something similar had ever happened to Nakamura, ‘thas happened once or twice... there was an instance while in Baza where this occurred, and it’s certainly very unsettling to have that happen, but at the same time I stuck to my guns and 1 actually got a very good position because, i fact, my opponent played a dubious variation. ‘Garry’ very thorough when it comes to preparing for players. He tries to think through everything and figure ‘out all the options before simply decid ing that, say, the Caro-Kann is the right opening ‘T think one of the big differences between Garry and myself is that he views chess sortoflike, you have to find the best move, period. There’ no room for taking chances. Whereas I think Fmt little bit more practical, where there’ some openings or certain ideas which, objectively, they might not be the abso- lute best ideas, but is sort of where if ‘you play it- if your opponent finds the ‘absolute best moves — sure it equal, it probably be a draw. But if they don't ‘you probably will et an advantage. ‘Tthink at the end of the day what matters is itis my decision ~ I'm the one playing the game - ifthe result is good and I've found the right moves and Ive played well, generally there’ not a problem. Now if I start making mistakes or blunders, its a much differ- ent story as [found out in Dortraun Before playing Dortmund, Nakamura ‘was due for his third training session. Cerne Pee rd eer es Peet a en ree) Poe ea success in his career and eter ea This time, rather than New York, the pair ‘was planning to meet at Kasparov's home in Makarska, Croatia, a town of 14,000 people on the Adriatic Sea coast. Much to Kasparov's consternation, Nakamura decided instead to skip it and head to Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker. One can only imagine the Skype conversation that move engen- dered! This was the second ‘very big m take’ Hikaru explained in Bilbao, Although he ended up ona disappoint- ing but respectable 1 score ~ the sameas in Bazna ~ the tournament in Dortmund ‘was nearly a disaster from the standpoint of his opening prep. As he told me at the time, ‘the fact is that I was out-prepared in most of my games, and the other big HIKARU NAKAMURA Issue isthe fact that I wasnt willing to just accept draws inthis tournament. In many games it seemed, looking back in retrospect, that I went out of my way to create double-edged pos tions, or end up in worse positions, just because Ifeltlike trying to win’ In the very first round, against Kramnik, he used an idea which Kas parov had suggested in January before “That completely backfired in Dort- ‘mund against Kramnik. I¢was just an idea and it’ objectively equal. Kramnik found a correct way to navigate it ad I bblundered to lose the game. “Kasparov knew it was equal, but - not to be really pessimistic ~ but the way you win games these days is through your opponent’ blundering. If ‘your opponents fri al! the right moves with the right ideas you're probably not going to win ~ ts just that simple? Nakamura is looking for a balance between playing solidly ~ being will- ing to accept a draw when necessary and his natural proclivity to fight for a win in every game. Yes, the ever grow- ing body of opening theory can be a drag, but there’ still a lot of classical chess let to be played. ‘OK, I shouldn't bring this example, because I'm biased but - someone like Grischuk, for example. Every game Tin the World Cup] he's just draw- ing in ten moves and I fee like that’s more because he's sort of resigned himself to thinking that certain open. ings are draws or the game itself is a draw. It's very easy t0 go into those sorts of mindsets and I think when you do that, your results are going to ‘suffer just Because you're not feeling confident, you think its a draw, eve rything’s alittle bit off I do agree that it certainly is getting tougher to win games because the players are becom- ing stronger and stronger. But you still look at the top players and you see them winning games with both colours still, and until that stops occurring, or until players with both colours resign themselves to the game being a draw, so incamss 15Hikaru Nakamura there will still be lot ofexciting games just be calm and let everything flow as being played” ‘smoothly as possible instead of trying to cause problems or being very com: ‘Throughout the past year, Nakamura plicated. 1 feel like - especially during has continued to work and travel with the tournaments you don't need that his long-time second, Kris Little- You need to be very focused and when john, At first glance this might seem you start having alot of distractions it a little strange; on one side you've got tends to cause problems’ the best player in history, and on the other a 2220 (USCF) rated economics ‘This sentiment echoes one expressed ‘major. But Nakamura makes a logi- by Carlsen, Hentik describes Kaspa. cal case for why there’ no cognitive rovas ‘aggressive, and someone who disconnect thrives on conflict, whereas Mag: ‘T noticed with Kris, generally his nus wants no conilic, no h thought process ~ the opening ideas discussion of any kind. He he came up with ~ tended to be on par notes that with Kaspa with Garry. Infact Lactually found that rov'sknowledge and he reached the same conclusion, onlya natural author: tle bit quicker [atleast with regard to ity, he gravi overall opening choice, if not a specific tated towards variation - M.P]. That, maybe more a role that was than anything, sort of convinced me increasingly that I should keep Kris on, because it dominant, over shows that he’s nat completely out in the the course of woods. He knows what he's doing his work with ‘If Kris could actually remember Magnus what he prepares, he would easily be a GM ~ probably « weak GM but I still As ar as their con think he would be a GM. His problems tract went, Kasparov are not coming up with ideas or being was over-performing, able t0 play them. His problems are Hencik explains. He was that he can’t actually remember what eager ~ maybe too eager ~ to he prepares work with Magnus. Even so, the pait ‘T just feel having a second set of had a fruitful partnership for almost eyes — having someone who I trust ~ a fall year (the first training session trying to come up with these litle extra was in Moscow in February 2009) ideas and refine it is still very helpful. with no major clashes. Garry can give me the ideas but Garry. Kasparov has never discussed the notable to putin the same sort of work Carlsen breakup with Nakamura that Kris sable to do for me? ‘No thats never come up. eel like you really need to facus on what's really Kasparov hasn't specifically sig- important. He worked with Magnus gested that Nakamura stop working and I think in some ways he hias some with Kris, but Hikaru points outthat insights into the way Magnus plays he has referred to even a few highly which are very Beneficial when I play rated grandmasters, like Sergei Mov- against Magnus, but overall, that’ per- sesian, as ‘chess tourists: Kasparovlhas sonal and it not going to change any no relationship with Kris; they don't thing whether Iknow or not speak, and Hikaru doesnt see any rea son to try to persuade his coach that At the end of Bilbao, 1 wondered keeping Littlejohn as a second has whether Hikaru is ever preoccupied merit. when playing Magnus, simply with “Y there isn'ta big issue, Itry to be much the mere fact that he knows Magnus more of a pacifist these days trying to has been through the same process eNews HIKARU NAKAMURA of the big Olina nee) between Garry and myself is that he views chess sort of like, you have to find the best move, period. There’s TOSCOU HINO MEL arted chances.” as he has. Afterall, hes seen the same database, no doubt discussed the same intricacies ofthe Najdorf for hours on cend, But Nakamura says, no way. ‘During the game, very rarely does my thought ever wander beyond simply cal culating atthe board, whereas the past used 10 be always thinking about many different things ~ so it doesn really enter my mind. know that it certainly a bit difficult because at this level all the top players play many of the same open ings, so you abways wonder what has he looked at with Garry for instance, but you still go and you try to come up with new ideas and play them, and certainly here, more so than in Wijk, 1 fle like 1 really rose to the challenge and I played very well, considering the last couple of games where 1 lost quite badly 10 Magri. Nakamura’s third and fourth mistakes ofthe year were to play in the US. Open, while skipping the World Cup. Playing in the US. Open was entirely his idea. Kasparov didnt even know about it, Hikaru said, and was shocked ‘He was already pretty upset about my Dortmund result so he did't realy care at that point. I just felt like I needed f0 play, Maybe it was the wrong fourna ment objectively, because there were very few games that actually counted towards the FIDE ratings, but I just {felt like Uhad to atleast try and play in ‘something in the U.S. ~ just to see if ‘could win — just to try and turn some: thing around... Really nothing was ‘going right in Dortmund, and I don't think it was simply my chess, I think it was my whole autlook, my perspective oneverything” The US. Open is a far weaker field than the U.S. Championship, which{goes against the rationale for skipping the more prestigious event in April ‘Nakamura says it was a bit of a ran- dom choice, ‘The World Cup, by contrast, was a ‘more complicated decision. ‘he Chess Club had planned to hold an event to coincide with the opening of the new World Chess Hall of Fame in Septem ber, and settled ona ‘Battle ofthe Sexes rapid and a Chess960 Scheveningen tournament. They badly wanted Naka- mura for first board ofthe men’ team ‘At the time, first of all, the World Cup dates had only just been put up on the FIDE calendar ~ there were no specif- ies ~ and secondly Garry felt it would probably be too much to play in the World Cup and then come here to Bil- bao. So between those two I decided that it made more sense. Having not played in the US. Championship Ifelt «a certain responsibility towards Saint Louis to at least play in an event at the Club ‘The downside of missing the World Cup stat i'Saint Louis opts not to bid for the next FIDE Candidates tourna ‘ment ~ and they are not planning on it atthe time of this writing ~ Nakamura ‘ay have no chance to qualify for the next World Championship, in 2014. For now this seems not to worry him, 1 think i ust a matter of making the right decisions and I de't make them, but its not the end of the world - I'll certainly have my chances either next ‘year or three years down the road, to make the cycle? ‘Carlsen had five training sessions over the course of year. So far, Nakamura has had just three. The collaboration hasnt always been smooth, but Naka- ‘mura says the Croatia experience, ol lowed by a long vacation in Vancou ver reset his frame of mind, so that he now feels positive about life and chess again. He is definitely peripatetic; Sin quefield told me when T asked about Nakamura’s connection to Si Louis. His contract with the Che Ei (Club is up for renewal in May. Mean- while Kasparov's agreement is with Sinquefild directly, and not through the Chess Club, so there is no explicit link between the two. In addition to the training it includes Kasparov spending a few days in Saint Louis each year for a Chess Club func tion, Nevertheless, Sinquefield noted Via e-mail, ‘without preordaining any decision, Hikaru's moving from Saint Louis would probably call for a re-evaluation’ Sinquefield has confidence in both Kasparov and Nakamura. ‘I wouldnt have gone into this if I didn't think he had a realistic chance [at a World Championship match), and Garry wouldn't have either, he said, adding that he expects the training to con- tinue into a second year. ‘It think its worth it~ regardless ofthe outcome! CCarlseris rise while working with Kas pparov was so pronounced, his results 0 outstanding in 2009 and 2010, that it ‘would be a mistake to measure the suc cesses or failures ofthis new ‘dream team’ by the same standard. In a way, Carlsen ‘may have taken his work with Kasparov for granted. Or perhaps they both dic. ‘Magnus even considered scheduling a training session as late as June 2010, but ultimately decided he didrit need it. Had he not backed away, Nakamura might never have had his own chance, “Tnoticed from the article on Chess Vibes HIKARU NAKAMURA about the recent Norwegian biography (on Carlsen - M.P], that Kasparov basi- cally said that Magnus was too lazy and didn’t work enough, and in some ways I guess its the same with me. Ian be a bit tazy, but atthe same time when the training sessions actually happen, lm usually very into it really enjoy chess during those sessions If winning is about profiting from your opponent’s blunders, as Hikaru ‘ays, then by the same token his oppo- nents this year have had a bit ofa free ride. What happens next will largely depend on where he chooses to take the opportunity that has been given to him. Sometimes, it almost seems like he relishes the difficult path ‘We'll see if T've made a fifth mis- take soon enough, because I actually decided to play Reggio {Emilia] a cou ple of days ago. That'l be a fun topic to discuss with Garry. I was actually told not to play in Reggio, but - I don't know ~ ve made a lot of wrong deci- sions and it elt like, in many of these cases, I wanted to make the right deci- sion and Isort of let his influence - you know ~ sort of deferred too much, and maybe I didn't think it through. And I {feel like in this ease, itfels like the right decision, so for once, 'm not going to go against my gut, 'm just going to play: Dirk Jan ten Geuzendamt contributed reporting to this story. mecw Magnus Carlsen stars in The Bi are After only four rounds of the Grand Slam Final few believed that Magnus Carlsen still stood a chance. While the top- seed lingered on a depressing minus-score, a brilliant Vasily Ivanchuk proudly topped the elite gathering on plus-3. The gap dividing them, in terms of the football scoring system that was applied, was an awesome 7 points. Seemingly against all odds, Carlsen refused to think about anything else but first place and that was when the big chase started. As in a Hollywood script the Norwegian chased the early leader from Sao Paulo to Bilbao, caught up with him by defeating him in both their direct encounters and finally wrestled him down in the blitz play-off to crown another historic catch-up act. Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam re Newivoss SAO PAULO / BILBAOCee ear cee ed Pee een a Cope etre Per ea) eas Perh: s Vasily lvanchuk would have felt more comfortable if he had been allowed to wear his cap. his chai yebrows, the Ukrainia Shifting on squinting and plucking athis andmaster seemed to have lost control in the sec ond game of the blitz play-off against Magnus Carlsen that was to decide victo The first game, as Blac ducted with incisive in the Grand Slam Final. he had con. ‘termination, and although it ended ina draw, it was he who had pressed in the endgame, Now, with the advantage SA0 PAULO of the white BILBAO pieces, he appeared to be at a loss about what strategy to choose, ‘Vasha seems to want to lose this game, com: mented one of his colleagues, puzzled by his passivity. Together with hun dreds of spectators he was follow- ing the play-off in the atrium of the Alhondiga on the hug the glass cube, the traditional playing room in the Grand Slam Final, Of course, Ivanchuk didn't really want to lose this game, but he seemed to have run out of steam; his will to fight had been broken. Having made 19ES Cade) the necessary preparations, Carlsen his creativity. There he may pray, ashe invaded the white position, and when does once a week in the Orthodox or he was about to smash the white Armenian churches in his home-town, defences his opponent resigned the Lviv, but he may also think about his game. openings. In his prayers he thinks As they came out of the back door about his friends and family, and he ‘of the glass cube, Carlsen was congrat- often asks for help to contain his nerv ulated by his father Henrik. vanchuk ousness during a game. In Sao Paulo wandered off,lostin thought. His sec- he went to a Catholic church, actually ‘ond, Manuel Leon Hoyos, ran after he even went there the day before he him, put his arm around his shoulder and his wife were robbed. On the day and tried to console him. When they that they were to fly to Bilbao, they returned from their brief walk, lvan- were robbed at gunpoint chuk appeared to have overcome the when they were about shock of defeat, Enthusiastically he to leave the hotel, discussed a variation with Levon Aro- When I counter nian and at the prize-giving that fol- that apparently lowed immediately after the play-off, going to church he smiled and joked and looked the doesn't always happiest man on earth. help, he reacts When he turned up for the after- with the typi- party at the players’ hotel later that cal logic of the evening, he was wearinghhiscap again. true believer: He got it in Reggio Emilia earlier this. of course it year. Its a red cap of the Accademia helped, as he Internazionale di Scacchi and hes and his wife sur- been wearing it so intensely that it _vived the robbery! looks a bit scruffy by now. He feels They only lost their comfortable when he is wearing it(or suitcases and his wife's the other cap he is the proud owner passport. The robbers also of) and he had asked the organizers forgot to take his computer. There for permission to wear it during the were a couple of things in his suitcase games, as he had done in the Greek that he was attached to, including his League. They denied his request, say- famous Real Madrid training jacket ing it was not in line with the dress (which two years ago, in Linares, he code, which essentially only asked wore against the organizers’ wishes!) the players to weara jacket during the _buthe iseven philosophical about that games, loss: he can buy a new one. ‘Travelling from one tournament to Although he thinks he was a bit the other sticking toa gruelling sched- unlucky in the play-off, Ivanchuk pre- ule that would frighten many younger fers to look back on the tournament players, 42-year-old Ivanchuk says with satisfaction. He played crea- that he has an easy way to cope with tive chess and came up with many the ceaseless challenges: he doesn't an interesting idea, He certainly di. give them much thought. What In Sao Paulo he defeated the World counts for him is that he feels at ease, Champion in a great fight, and his and for that purpose small details like spectacular win against Aronian was a favourite cap play their small parts. the highlight of the first half of the He may workon his opening prepara- Final. And those who believe that the tion at home, but he may just as well robbery in Sao Paulo threw him off come up with new ideas on the road, balance are wrong, he stresses. After just like rock stars write new songs in all, he immediately won his next game hotel rooms. Churches, he has found, in Bilbao against Nakamura. But in are among the best places to stimulate case this was not enough to reassure 20 new nc SAO PAULO | BILBAO iFeTem IK HOM OTe north of Brazil found this such a historical occe that he even sold his motorbike to pay imines his fans, headds witha broad grin that we can tell them that he is absolutely fine and thatthe incident left no emo tional scars whatsoever. So perhaps the robbery was mainly a blow for the Brazilian organizers, who obviously could not have fore- seen this happening inside a five-star hotel, in the area where cars can pick up guests, in @ quiet neighbourhood ‘of Sao Paulo. All the players praised the organization in Sao Paulo for staging such a wonder. ful event in little more than six months. They had a glass cube built that accord. ing to the players was better than the one in Bilbao, and every day about two thou- sand people came to watch, includ- ing some five hun- dred loyal chess fans. One fan from the north of Brazil found this such a historical occasion that he even sold his motorbike to pay for the trip. ‘The tournament was played in the Ibi- rapuera Park, which is so big that on the first day Aronian arrived 15 min tutes early at one of the gates and yet ‘was 15 minutes late for the game, as he hnad entered the wrong end of the park. One of the organizers in Sao Paulo, Brazilian GM Gilberto Milos, listens with an amused smile when he hears of the praise. He is happy that the players had no idea of the stress and uncertainty that often ruled behind the scenes. Only after the Mayor of a0 Paulo, in a joint video press con ference with the Mayor of Bilbao, had given a financial guarantee, did he know that the tournament would actually take place. Moreover, the ‘support of the city also solved various logistical problems, such as security, which washandled by the local police. The Brazilian economy is boom: ing and Milos hopes that his country, Senwhich will also organize the football World Cup and the Olympic Games in 2014 and 2016, will attract addi- tional big chess events. Despite his loss in the last round played in Sao Paulo, Ivanchuk trav elled to Europe as the tournament leader, 3 points clear of Nakamura, who was on plus-one thanks to a win over Vallejo. Although he didn’t make it to the opening ceremony in Bilbao, an unfazed Ivanchuk immediately picked up the thread in Round 6 with a further win, increasing his lead over his closest pursuers to 5 points. Who could stop him? Well, to start with, Ivanchuk himself. It would be his last win, The Bilbao leg was going to be ‘Magnus Carlsen’s show Although he was the highest- ranked player, not everyone regarded Carlsen as the odds-on favourite, per- haps on the basis of his earlier play in the Grand Slam Final, His start was certainly shaky and his loss in Round 3 froma winning position against Val Iejo seemed a bad omen. ¢ a aoa Vellejo-Carlson Sa0 Pauio/Bilbao 2011 (3) postion after 25.1 ‘White has got himself in big trouble. His only hope is Black’s lack of time. 25..,WelL+ Carlsen spent about six precious minutes calculating 25...243, when 26.23 ld is very annoying for White. And he also thought 25. ih6 interesting. 26.%h2 Wxed This gives Black a huge advantage. After the game Carlsen was annoyed that he had not taken this practical decision rightaway instead of spend Pee ey Vasily Ilvanchuk reassured his fans that the robbery at gun point in Sao Paulo had left ne emotional scars whatsee ing time that he could not really af- ford. 27.We2 Ae5+ 28.g3 243 Missing 28...W13, which would see Black winning after 29.23 Sc 30. EA (30..H/xb3 is impossible because of 30, Wxt2+ 31.deht Wxg3 32.2 2D) 30...Wb7. 29.41e3 NS 30.204 € ea ms | a 2 aw aw ae | a A & ad 30...Wd5? And this oversight in ‘ime-trouble even cost him the game. Necessary was 30.96. 34. The rest is easy for White. 34. 32.WeS WxeS 33.5xc5 Oxi2+ 34.2g1 Uxb2 35.5x07 Ebs 36.sg2 Hxa3 37.0x17 a4 38.507 Bal 39.05 g5 40.g4 hxe4 41. xg 03 42.03 Black resigned. Following this upset (after two ini tial draws) some of Carlsen’s fans kept their hopes alive by referring to the SAO PAULO / BILBAG London Chess Classic last year, when he fought back from a seeming hopeless position to win the tourna. ‘ment, He might do so again, for sure, butprobably they mainly wanted thei hopes to be stronger than their fears (On the other hand, they may have known that one person had not given up hope yet. Looking back on the tournament, Carlsen revealed once again that he isnot one to give up eas ily: Even after four rounds Iwas only thinking of first place really, how- ever unrealistic that may sound. That reminded me of Tal in’62 in Curagao. He was advised by his doctors not to play, he had just undergone @ kidney operation, and he started with three losses. And still he was only think- ing of fist place. Even into the second cycle, when he was in last orlast-but- ‘one place, he wasstill thinking how he could possibly win the tournament!” ‘The first must-win game arrived in Round 5, Black against Ivanchuk. The opening, a French Defence, went well forhim, but the game gradually drifted into a dead drawn position. At that point Carlsen had to fight the urge to lie down on the floor and just cry, but instead he plodded on and was pleas: antly surprised by a move that Ivan- ewixcss21ES Wert) chuk even after several days, stillcould that I need during the game. From Carlsen moved a bit closer to Ivan not believe that he had made. Instead time to time you keep on forgetting chuk when in Round 8 he had his of the safe 22.bxc3 he inexplicably went about that. You can forget during your revenge against Vallejo. 223, only to realize after 22...2e8 that _ first couple of games, but if you keep Black had taken over. ‘The rest of the doing the same thing the whole tour- e & game esse noted Caen, but _nament ha diferent thing You bate fry managed to win’ to ave thevight schedule, the way fa aa In Rounds 6 and 7 Caren drew you srucreyour day When you se a a with the two players that disap- going to look at things, how you are a pointed, Vishy Anand played a ter- going to work during the game. I was sible tournament, only coring two not doing that and itbackfired Ig wins, against Vallejo. He needed the In the penultimate round he fought second win against the Spaniard, in back with a fine win over Anand that Ao the final round, to stay clear of last ended with an elegant coup de grce. red S C place. He succeeded, although ven a arlsen-Valleio that game was atrocious, but [ man Hinevl postion after 32.164 aged to stumble on a win anyway” His Coverall assessment was understand jsaaz White is perhaps slightly beter, but ably brief: “Things went wrong more RM AE al after 32...2ixe4 33.2xe4 b3 the or less from the start. Fam nota big we game should normally end in a draw. fan of coming up with explanations. I dorit see the point of it. I just played ie really badly! Vallejo saw another way to equality missing a devilish trap. 32...20x82? '33.21d2! Black has to take the rook Levon Aronian tried to see the wm BA and then the threat of ba loses a sunny side of the meagre 50% score bE & night. 33...2xd2 34.xd2 bS 35. he went home with. ‘Obviously that ‘Aronlan-Anand b4 iab7 36.bxc8 ‘xe5 37.e4 ‘was not what [had come for. ts one of positon ofter 24... WES The rest is easy. 37.067 38.05 £5 those things that you have a bad tour- 39.06 fxe4 40.0xb7+ “xb7 44. nament and you feel it was good for 25..xe6! Gixed &e7 42.63 a5 43.2¢3 a4 you. [wasnt getting the concentration Black resigned, 44.062 g5 45.chd4 Sd6 46.01 Black resigned, Paco Vallejo was one ofthe substitutes (the other one was Ivanchuk!) that were invited after Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Karjakin had declined the invitation to play in the Grand Slam Final. The Spaniard had a rough time oft. The local hero did manage to win three(!) games, but two of those wins ‘were from dubious or lost positions. However, all three of his wins had @ clear impact. His best effort, against Ivanchuk in Round 7, allowed Carlsen to close in on the leader, and his win in the penultimate round would ‘make headlines then it had become clear that the fight for first place was still wide Se 4 open. If Carlsen defeated Ivanchuk ee in Round 9, he would catch up with olf-reproach, Paco Vallejo prepares for the him, What’ more, if Nakamura won aa es his game against Vallejo, there would suddenly be three leaders with one 2am incu SAO PAULO / BILBAOround to go! The American was hav- ingaan excellent tournament, and with a fine win over Aronian in Round 8, he had moved within striking distance cof the top spot That ninth round will not easily be forgotten. Carlsen continued to add predictable twists and turns to his Hollywood script and indeed defeated Ivanchuk in a turbulent game. In the meantime, Nakamura also seemed to be doing everything that was needed for a thrilling finale. With great patience and expertise he had endured Vallejas Exchange Variation against the King’s Indian, had taken over the initiative and seemed to have good winning chances. Some believed that Vallejo had drawing chances, oth crs expected him to succumb to the pressure, Sadly, ll speculation was.cut short in the following position, x e a postion after 40.2at Both players were in great time-trou: ble and were no longer writing down ‘moves. Nakamura had to make cone more move to make the time control, but not knowing how many moves he had made, he made a ter rible mistake. Turning towards the arbiter he asked if he had made 40 moves, not realizing that the rules don't allow the arbiter to say any- thing. As @ consequence arbiter Anil Surender remained silent, but as he bit his tongue he inadvertently made 4 move with his head that Nakamura interpreted as a reassuring nod! The rest was pure tragedy. Nakamura, under the impression that he had made the time-control, got up and ‘Ata culinary demonstration on the final free day Vasily Ivanchuk, Hikary Nakamura, Pea Cr ecu Ra aay poured himselfa glass of orange juice backstage. In the meantime the 45 seconds he still had ran out and when he returned the arbiter had to inform him that he had lost the game. One of the most painful losses in his career, as he would later call it Understandably Nakamura was upset, and in a first reaction lodged a protest, which not surprisingly was turned down by the tournament director. Everyone agreed that what had happened was extremely unfortu- nate, but in the end everyone, inclucl ing Nakamura also agreed that it had been his own fault. A fault that he might have avoided ifhe had realized that he could have looked at his clock: to see if he had made the required number of moves. After 40 moves it would give him 40 new minutes, and as these hadn't appeared on the dis play, he could have known that he had not yet made the time-control. Nakamura admitted his own mis take, but remained critical of the fast time-control of 90 minutes for 40 moves without increments (as in the FIDE time-control) that was used in the tournament.‘ elt that there were a lot of games that were decided by this time-controlin the final couple of SAO PAULO / BILBAO minutes. Magnus, for instance, lost a game against Vallejo because he blun dered horribly. Some people think that’s more exciting, that that’s gonna draw more sponsors and more media attention, but for me, as I get further and further from blitz, I think that people should have more time. I just feel the quality goes down with the quicker time-controls. At this level where it is all about being as precise as you can, playing the absolutely best moves, I think its quite unaccepta ble to have games where you have 90 inutes for 40 moves. That's not how it should be ‘With anchuk- Aronian and Naka mura-Carlsen on the menu in the last round, anything could happen, but as it turned out, both games were relatively contained efforts that both games (four minutes and a three-sec Cond increment per move), ifnecessary followed by an Armageddon game, were to decide the winner of the 4th Grand Slam Final and who would jed in draws. And so two blitz get first or second prize. For unclear reasons, the details of the prize-fund ‘were not revealed, but it was clear that there were only prizes and no starting fees. 23EL CAs Assaid, Magnus Carlsen completed his mission in the second blitz game. RL7.1 ~ C65 Vasily Ivanchuk Magnus Carlsen ed 05 2.018 e8 3.065 OF6 4. 3 25 5.03 We7 6.2xc6 bxc6 T7.8x08 Wxe5 8.¢3 0-0 9.0-0 Eb8 10.Wd2 We7 14.63 c5 12. h3 d6 13.0h2 Oh 14.045 Was. 15.Uaed 2e6 16./:c3 15 17.exf5. SxfS 18.43 Sg6 19.512 Wh4 20. dS IAT 21.We3 6 22.0e3 Fa 23.Wd2 bes. 24.04 WB 25.203 SS 26.0102 06 27.We3 Zf6 28.:hd Zg6 29. gd Ge7 30.Dgft ds 34.2 Rigs 32.203 14 33.004 Zg6 34.5g1 Wd8 35.f1 We7 36. Dfg3 dS 37x18 Bxt5 38.203 Wha 39.ch2 West White resigned, Naturally, Carlsen was delighted with his win at the end of along and excit- ing chase, but true to his convictions he was critical of his play. There was not one game that he was entirely sat- isfied with. ‘Some things are really ‘anew in cos hard to do, almost impossible to do, like playing perfectly in extremely complicated positions. But it really bugs me when I miss things that I really shouldn't have. I am always going to make mistakes. I don't have any illusions that my understanding of chess is perfect or anything like that. Ifs just that I have to work on relatively simple mistakes. Those Lam making every tournament. When I can lower the percentage of such mis- takes then things are going to be much better! One of the subjects that inevitably popped up after this confirmation of his top position in the world rankings, is the question of whether he is con- sidering taking part in the Candidates tournament next year, Some websites ‘optimistically announced that he had already decided to take part. Its a bit more complicated than that. ‘Just changing it from knock-out matches {to a tournament is just not enough to fix everything, There are further steps that need to be taken. [ will play there, provided that everything about the conditions, the contract, everything, is clear! EPIteKcn Ni243~€21 Magnus Carlsen Vasily lvanchuk Seo Povlo/Bilbao 2011 (9) 1.44 Of6 2.04 e6 3.¢3 Aba a, 243 b6 5.We2 ‘his apparently came as a surprise to Ivanchuk, even though I had played it against Anand in Round 6. It might have something to do with the fact that Thad achieved very litte in that game 5...Sb7 6.a3 Oxc3+ 7.Wxe3 All of the three main moves here ~ 7.86, 7..0-0 and 7....¢4 ~ were tried against me in Bilbao, Regrettably, I did not show the same versatility, only employing two of the three possible SAO PAULO / BILBAO set-ups from this position (no €3, Se? and so on). Ton04 8.802 15 9.63 216 A case could be made for including 9..0-0 10.8g2 before making this move, which will anyway be necessary because of Zig5 or “id 10.:h3 Suddenly experiencing a burst of ere- ativity, I decided to try and exploit the extra opportunity. The main idea behind this move is to be able to drive away the black bishop from e4 after ed, W somewhere, without exchanging bishops, 10...0-:0 11.0.0 24...a5 ‘Afar from obvious move, which Ivan- chuk made immediately 11.,.We8 12.45 is similar to the game. However, 11..Ste4 12, Wc3 We8 was quite interesting, Now 13.2d2 is bad due to 13...Wh5, so I was going to continue playing creatively with 13. Edi Wh5 14.f1 with good chances of fighting for an advantage, 12.5d1 We8 13.05 2.06 14.014 14.dxe6 dxe6 15.skf4 looks alittle bit better for White, but I was looking for something more interesting,re | Soom a mt & Ag AWDAA A ay Ss 414..0xd5? Afer this move Blacks a serious trouble. 14..d6 looked much more logical to me: 15.dxe6 (1 15 16.4 6 I7.bxeS hxgs 18.5.xg5 Ded is not that clear) 15,...9e4 16.We3 @c5 (16.18 eS 18.204 just transposes) 17.d4 WhS (White is clearly better after 17..d8xe6 18.“2xe6 Wes 19.63 2b7 20.c4) 18,.0f1 Bies 19.13 7 20,b4 Orxe6 21.2 xe6 Exe6 22.c5 dxc5 23.bxc5 WAT, and Black is more or less OK. 14. WhS 15.92 exd 16.24 g5 was given as interesting by online com- mentators. My decision to not delve deeper into it should be attributed to laziness, not arrogance: 15..2xf5 dxed 15..(@ed 16.22h3 looks pretty cool for White too. =z We meme aa a ry 2 \A a a AW 16.2g5! The point. Now all kinds of tricks are possible 16...8hS More or less forced. Black can hardly afford to give up the h7 pawn, and 16..h6 17.Sixd7 We7 (17...WhS 18.g4 Wha 19.Wxcd+ dhs 20.0074 Bxt7 21. Wat7 and wins) 18,¥ixc4+ Bhs 19, We6! is pretty straightforward, iret 47.2xd7 This move was so tempting that I hardly looked at others. With a slightly cooler head, I might have come close to considering 17. Hada! Bae8 18,242, when 19.2th4 next will be hard to meet. 17...h8 | quickly realized that this was the only move, but I thought there should stil be some relatively easy way to win here. 17..fixd7 18.Sesh7+ Eh8 19.86 Wes (19...Who 20.2474 Bet? 21 &xh6) 20.3 loses trivially 18.5e7?! Objectively speaking, @ mistake. Unfortunately, was not able to coolly give up the exchange without finding a forced win: 18. Hadi! xd7 19.Exd7 “eS (what else?) 20, Exe7 Had8 21.83, and White is dominating. 18...:d5 19.2647 ‘Another step in the wrong direction. 19.24e5 Zixf4 20 gett would still retain aclear advantage. 19... g6 20.17+ dog8 24.05 SAO PAULO / BILBAO Xf Dxe7 23.0h6+ gxh6 24. g4+ 21g6 25..ixh6 Fortunately, White can still fight for an advantage here, and with the open black king White certainly has the easier game. 28...5f7 26.201 ie Be | oa a 26...0e8 26..c3 would have been an interesting try butits probably no better than the game continuation: 27.hs! (27.bxe3 ®c5 is fine for Black) c2 28.Rd7 {¢5 29.2ix47 soxt7 30.WHo4+ doe? 31, Wxc2, and White is clearly on top. ew css 25Oey eed 27.n4 Lic5 28.N5 cB 29.x04 ‘Se5 30.Wh4 By now Ivanchuk had gotten really short on time, which was not making his job any easier. 30...66? After this Black can hard. ly defend. The best chance was 30. eb 31.£4 (31.Bd5 BAS! is the key) 247 32.e4 h8, when there is all to play for 34.05 “ie6 32.We4 32.Wad would have been even stronger, but for some reason I did not consider this move at all. My idea With the text was to win the e5-square for my rook. 32,2008? 3 ‘would have held out much ers but after 33,205 &f5 34. Wg fg? 35. Wed Black is pretty tied up, and White should gradually win. Sane a a && 2 Noves oy NI 27.6-D37 Levon Aronian Vasily Ivanchuk Sao Pavlo/Bilbao 20111 (4) 1.018 d5 2.04 06 3.04 f6 4.03 ©bd7 5.285 ib4 6.cxd5 exd5 7. oda 9.207 Wise. After 9...e6, 10.8xf6 Weis 11, Wat would have been even stronger than on the previous move, After the texta position from the Exchange Vac ation with the extra move “f3-d2 for ‘White arises, but it is doubtful whether theextra tempo will do White any good Later in the game, White will wthdrave the knight t0 1, after which Black has, in fact, gined a temp 10.We2 06 44.2h4 gs EZ 2We fi ALLA ALA a a8 @ A | a an Bahan i ween ze 2We @) Aa” @ao a a BAL a & & BDLw ARWA BAA om & mo ‘This knight move is common in cer tain lines of the Queen's Indian in which Black has fianchettoed his queen’ bishop. The idea in this posi tion is the same: White wants to relieve the pressure on c3 7.66 8.03 18 A remarkable move beloved of the Belgian grandmaster Winants, Black executes an old ma. nnoeuvre from the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit. The knight is cn its way to e6 or 6. uid An obvious developing move. There is no practical example where White played differently. Yet 9.26 Wt 10, a4! would have been excellent. Black is forced to swap on c3, which early favours White 33.Wg4+ Surprisingly, the fact that the c8 bishop is unprotected becomes the decisive factor. 33.087 Ivanchuk was visibly shocked when I captured his bishop, but 33...2h8 34 8.421 would have been equally bad. 34.Wxe8 Black resigned. 26 saw cms x see &l aa aa SAO PAULO / BILBAO 12,h3 A crucial little move. White is anticipating the next knight manoeu- vre 12...£g7, which he can now meet with 13.g4. 12...0-0 13.518 Aronian accepts the loss of tempo, but with a special intention: he does not want to show his hand yet. He may decide to castle queenside, but if Black attacks with 13..b5, he would castle kingside, when the black advance has only weakened Black’ position, 13...a5 Ivanchuk also keeps his cards close to his chest, playing a move that always comes in handy in this line. ‘The battle starts. Its interesting to seewhat an all-round player Aronian is. Sometimes, in unclear, somewhat boring positions, he concentrates on gaining a tiny advantage, whic! then systematically extends. At other times he throws himself into wild adventures the outcome of which is hard to foresee. In quiet Queen's Gam- bit positions with his king i the mid: die, for example, he has been known to suddenly start advancing his king- side pawns. He has done soin the Las ker and the Tartakower Variations. and now he does it in this version of the Exchange Variation, 14...b5 een ree a ecu Ivanchuk is not siting on his hands found some consolation ina flashy win over the World Champion in Round 9. either. Now that White's plans are justified play, e.g. 17..!2xgt 18.Sixe7 “xed 19.00 19.dxd8 Dxer* 20.2xc2 xd The most accurate move. 19.exf74 ST] 210-0-04, and White is beter. would have been met by 19. Be | ie tnes dues 20,0-0, after which Black had the 2 Sa & = promising sortie 20...®e4!, with advantage, The consequence of the previous [i ao owes, New the play gets very sharp. 16...c5 An original way to swap knights. Both By the book. The white attack on the kings are exposed, but White in par ingside is met by action inthe centre. ticular will find it hard to find per 19...d4 417.45 oxd4 manent shelter for his monarch. The Now 19...2e4 was less effective, since The correct way. Black also had sev- position is dynamically balanced, after 20, Sxe7 We7 White has the eral piece sacrifices that looked good _ although White will have to play more surprising 21.0471, which is followed but would just fail to yield sufficient carefully by a long and spectacular variation Susan Polgar Chess Daily News Everything you need within your fingertips Bringing you updated, timely, fair, and objective chess daily news and information from around th www.ChessDailyNews.com SAO PAULO / BILBAO rewincss 27Sao Paulo / Bilbao in which White manages to save his but is now threatening mate himself, Otherwise he would probably have skin: 21..2ig5 22.464! (taking on depriving White of time to reinforce seen that Black can continue his Sis not enough; Black gets too much his attack. But Ivanchuk had to caleu- attack. After 27...Whi+ 28.82 compensation for the exchange) _ late this variation even further. Wess 29.ded1 Bic8 he has a mat 22.. hope is for stalemate. So he puts his (28.0xf7! rook under fire: 447.-0d8 White owHaa ‘an elegant final Blow, Oo 28.007 doesn't take it, of course, but repli Brers there follows 29.Ef1+ dg8 30. 2xe6+ very poorly: 118.277? To win Potkin-Shirov (2.1) Sixe6 31.Wxe6+ Fh8 32.Le5 mate, gnongh io pt the yook under he de postion oer 21 kt go Black resigned ee ae eee nue ae ern d)y DR eee ce ec ge ed : RO CCU aCe al “ Pa be eee) Dt Re eee eee ee oe ce soreness KHANTY-MANSIYSKDuring the same championship that Potkin won, many players basically declared a boycott of one of the par- ticipants, the Frenchman Sébastien Feller, accusing him of cheating. The Feller case is now being considered in court (and will probably be con- sidered for a very long time), his guilt hasn't been proven, and he continues to play in tournaments. So he came to Khanty-Mansiysk and overcame Viorel fordachescu in the first round. And in the second an encounter with Alexander Grischuk awaited him. It was interesting for me to see if Feller would find himself in isolation during the World Cup, if any pro tests would be made against him. No, nothing happened. Feller socialized a lot and in a very relaxed manner, with Etienne Bacrot, for example, and with other players, too, Grischuk struggled against Feller as Black, with some difficulty defend. ing an endgame a pawn down, and as White he offered a draw even in the opening just as he did to Kramnik in Kazan. Next the Russian won both the rapid games confidently. I asked Sasha if he was distracted by unre lated thoughts about his opponent. He replied that Feller was very obvi ‘ously playing by himself in the World Cup. Besides, ifyou think about those thingsall the time, you cant play at al So I relied on Providence’; Grischuk laughed. Round Three This round the participation of rating favourite Sergey Karjakin ended — he was beaten by the magnificent Judit Polgae. Vasily Ivanchuk, after losing as White to Emil Sutovsky, was able to level the scores, and then came out on top in the ticbreak. For chess con tent the most interesting match was the one between Alexander Grischuk and Alexander Morozevich ~ or to be more precise, the first game of it, as the second one wasn't really anythi when Morozevich offered a draw after a mere 12(!) moves, mysteriously resigning himself to elimination, That Cog eed Pe ee eee first game you will find annotated below by the winner, ‘And for non-chess reasons the epi sode from the match between David Navara from the Czech Republic and Alexander Moiseenko from Ukraine will be remembered for a long time This is, in short, what happened. In the second normal time-control game (the firsthad ended ina draw) Navara touched two pieces simultaneously. a ‘Moiseenko-Navara (3.2) position after 35.We? In this position there followed the move 35.146, but Navara acciden tally clipped his king while doing this. KHANTY-MANSLYSK listens ‘Alexander Moiseenko why he has ee er) On the video recording i clearly vs ible that Black immediately went for his bishop and made his move specif cally with it, ie. if the king was even touched, it was obviously uninten tional (the touch-move rule doesn't apply in this case, as the touch was accidental). But Moiseenko admon- ished his opponent for his slip-up. Did he want to force Black to move his king? Unlikely. Alexander asserted afterwards that he did this purely automatically, in the heat of the bat ile, Navara immediately stopped the clocks and called the arbiter. The sit uation was resolved instantly and the game continued. I'm sure that both Moiseenko and the arbiters quickly forgot about this trivial incident. B Navara remembered. And he racked his brains: had he behaved correctly? For those who don't know, David Navara is a peculiar, exceptionally considerate person, and you won't find anyone else remotely like him in the chess world, He always turns his face and smiles when people want to take his picture. He never misses ew bcs 45an opportunity to say ‘excuse me’ for 4 reason or without one. He always came to press conferences himself ‘without any reminders and translated for himself from Russian to English And his route from the hotel to the club deserves its own description. One day we came out ofthe hotel at the same time, and as usual I turned right to go across the car park. David ‘went dead straight - I was even afraid that he might have forgotten the way. Itturned out that 10 metres from the steps there was a pavement (!) that none of the chess players had seen any use for. Further along the route to the club we had to cross a quiet lit tle street, Usually we crossed it with a long diagonal to shorten our journey a little ~ cars appeared there once an hour. David looked for a pedestrian crossing, And he like that with every- thing: a very correct, good person. At the same time, which is nice, he ist a bore, he has a good sense of humour. In the game against Moiscenko, ChessCafe.com *..arguably the highest-quality chess website around!” Sarah Hurst aonem inns Navara increased his advantage, and at certain point the affair came down to aqueen versus rook’ endgame. White's position gradually became hopeless. a 8 avn 8 ee a8 8 ol a8 ee a Bre sf Black had just played 244...dd6- 06 (after which mate or losing the rook are inevitable), and... offered a draw! Right, only Navara would be capable of such a thing! Here's how he explained his behaviour: ‘I didn't ‘want people to say that I go that point unfairly!” ‘The story had some resonance in the media, and the governor of Ugra Natalia Komarova established a ‘Fair Play” prize, which was presented to Navara and Moiseenko at a cer emony. Of course, from the point of View of the rules of chess this episode wasn't even worth a brass farthing, I agree with Svidler, who stated bluntly that he didn't share the general rap- ture about the ‘players’ chivalrous behaviour’: “There are FIDE rules that determine how to conduct your selfin a touch-move situation. Every ‘one understands that the touch hap pened completely accidentally, David didn't intend to move his king. The arbiters should have settled this situ ation, which basicaly, in my opinion, shouldn't have arisen. At the same time, Peter added, ‘the clamour that kicked up around it attracted atten: tion to chess, and that can't be bad? Navara won in the tie-break. But if hed lost? Would his colleagues have pointed at him and called him an eccentric? Exclusive Distributor of Chess Informant for the USA. The Best in Chess Monthly Columnists Include: Nigel Davies Carsten Hansen Dat Johnsson Karsten Maller Mark Dvoweisky Tim Harding Gary Lane Brace Pandotin! CChatles Galote Dan Heisman Abby Marshal Yasser Seirawan Gout Gjsen plus Olimpiu G. Ucan Honest Book Reviews, Great Anicles, Endgame Studies and, one of the logs of books & equipment anywhere! ‘Three ways to order: 1-877-91-CHESS shop.chesscafe.com mail: P.O. Box 1201, Harwich, MA 02645 KHANTY-MANSIYSKNotes By a FR 3.3 -CO2 Alexander Grischuk Alexander Morozevich Kheinty-Mansiysk 2011 (3.1) In the third round 1 was rather unlucky with the pairings. Alexan- der Morozevich has always been one of the strongest grandmasters in the world. In recent years he suffered a series of misfortunes, and his rating even dropped below the 2700 mark However, after taking a long break he returned, and in all three tourna- ‘ments played after his return his per- formances have been above 2800. So that I was under no illusions ~ despite the absurd figure 2693 (or something, similar) attached to my opponent’ name, | realized perfectly wel that in standard this wasan opponent worthy of the final Led 06 2.4 d53.e5 ‘At one time this move brought me 4 mass of memorable victories and defeats, but for some reason (I don't now remember exactly why) since 2004 I have played this only once in a classical game: in the 2010 Super Final against Nikita Vitiugov. 3..05 4.63 id7 5.213 Wb6 6. ad3t? If Lam not mistaken, Peter Svidler and I thought up this move in 2002. There are two main ideas: 6...,bS ddxc5! Sixe5 8.b4 (Grischuk-Vaganian, Mainz 2004), and: 6..6xd4 7.5 x04! 7.cxd4 6 transposes into an unfa- vourable position for White, known since the time of Nimzowitsch, Tonic AAs far as I remember, we considered this move to be virtually a blunder in view of 8. gd, but during the game I realized that then 8...e7 would fol- low leading to an excellent version for Black of the Winawer Variation with the sacrifice of the g7 and h7 pawns. After a short think (less than half an hour!) | found the move in the game, which gives White an enduring initia- tive and which also turned out to be a novelty 8,00! ixda Here too 8,..e7 is possible, but then 9.043 (9.2b3 ib5) is interesting, ‘with a cunning trap: 9...S2bS?? 10.b4. 9.0xd4 Wxdd 10.163 a6 10..25¢6 11.05 Wxe5 leads to great complications. 1Wbet 1.06 Itis important that if 11..e7 White plays 12.s2¢3! WreS 13.205 Wie 14. xe7 Wxe7 15.xd5 Wao, and now he has to choose between the flamboyant but in fact rather bar- ren 16.04 exd5 (16.206 17.56 he7 18.Wxd6+ sexdo 19.Eadi+ he? 20.2xd7) 17.xd5+ Seo (17...82d8 18.Wb3) 18. 83 0.0 19. Skxe6 c6 20.s8d5, and the more ambitious 16.Wh5 wt8 17.23 2c6 (17..Wad3 18, We5+ sg8 19.Hadl ‘Wg6 20.We8+) 18. ad. 12.%¢2! Now nothing is given by 12.i2¢3 Wes. 12...g4 KHANTY-MANSIYSK After 12...Wxe5 13.43 We7 14. Wet 8 15.h5 White has crushing threats 13.n3 WhS 14.084 14...b5! The alternative 14...2e7 leads after 15,Wd2 h6 16.24 to a position in which White has overwhelming com- pensation for the pawn. The move played (which, incidentally, did not even occur to me during the game) is far more critical, more interesting and ceven stronger, despite what the com- puter says. 15.3? ‘Alas. On encountering a surprise - Black tries to exchange his only devel oped piece (the queen isntta piece, the queen is a queen!) ~ I failed to find the only and very elegant refutation of Black’ idea: 15. Wcl!! 6 16.4ig3 and now 17. Bed!! (17.215 is inter= esting, but not 50 strong) 17...h6 (17.48 18.a4 ed 19.51 oF 19. Gc2) 18.xd5 ge? 19.213 0-0 20. Det Badd 21.gd Oig6 22.93 We7 23.2.d6 with a big advantage 15...e7 16.ixb5+ axb5 17.xb5+ be6 18.\Wxb7 ew ince 47Join us *Lets Check" isa world iste ithe innovation with which Frit 13 wil ave the chess wor olin brea and which will revo verything rs with the help ofthis new Saxton that Frit 1 users worlwide wil erat a gigantic davabase of owed. No matter ‘which pasion you happen to be analysing, shoul 10 wish to Frit 13 willed the evaluation of your engine totally automatically othe “Let (Check server. The best analyses wll enced inthe database of chess knensddge. And beso all: scr short time you wil nd fox alot ere sition (and without having to spend time cal- culating high eve analysis produced by a strong ss program or even several analyses produced ly various prograns or you wo compre. And be several hundred computers following world cdaeK" datas wth profound analysis, Wal if your anajis goes desper you can acl gain more postions for other player and se your tame coer the rol of honour for “Let's Chek? Make certain positions your own, No matter whether you area beginner, club player ete, thanks to "Lees Check” every chess players ale w contribute to the eeaton ‘ofthis database of knewledge, And whats par ar computer analyse a postion which is not yt known, then ina flash you have made that position your own andthe analysis is made available to the entre world of ches players linked ro your name Who has made the greatest numer of postions his or her own? Wall if your analysis deeper you can actualy gan more positions f other players and see your name enter the ot honour for "Let Chek All opening theory to back you up. Even ifyou Check Because Fre 13 provides you all of opening theory in a tatistical ree structure The “Live Book only the complete statistics based on th ‘weekly updated ChessBase Online Database in the “Lees Check” database and jane how Other innovations: proved database management with dir ch ved user interface in Windows imp (Office 2010 style, and the new strong Fritz 13 Your package contains: Database with 1.5 milion gs Frivzrainer videos with Garr nes, 10 hours of Kaspa Anand and many others, 6 months premium © ranzi3 Inciting database with with 1.5 Mi, games © FRITZ 13 Download version ny avaliable rom 4990" the ChessBaseOnin-Shop €48,80°* System requirements: Minimum: Pentinm WY Gls, GB RAM, H Vu, XP (Service Pack 3), DiretX9 Graphic ard with Wind 6 MB RAM, DVD-ROM layctesscom, Let's Clk o “Let Check” database til m willbe released mid ur Fite | CHESSBASE GMBH. MEXIKORING 350-2227 HAMBURG -TEL + +49) 40/699080-12- FAX ++(4) 40/6201282- WWW.CNESSBASE.COM -INFO@CHESSBASE.COM [CHESSBASE DEALER: INTERCHESS BY, P. 0 Box 10 NL-1B10 KB ALKMAAR shone (+431)72 81 27 13 fax (+491)72 51 $8 234, wwrneninchess comEven now it is not altogether clear to me why, but the computer insists that it is much more accurate to play 18,..Hb8 19. Wa6 0-0 (but not 19.. xb2e? 20.24 Pixd4 21, Was ed7 22.Wa7+! eB 23.Waxd4) 20.Wa3, and now 20...2f8 (or 20.. 845, in both cases with a slight advantage to Black) 21.2acl Ba8 22, We3 Ecb8, 19.W/b3 Zabs7! Chasing the white queen. Here too Black should have chosen between 19... and 19... Bf8. 20.WWe3 Hfe8 24.Wd2 aie Strictly speaking, this was the posi- tion | was aiming for when on the 15th move I took the pawn bait. I thought tha, although itis much eas ier for Black to play objectively White should have some advantage. Appar- ently thatis indeed the case. 24...n6 22.2acd Wh4 23.b3 An ordinary, solid, human move, But 23.Hc3! g5 24. Hg! e825, Lgd! WhS 26..2h2 W g6 27.4 was stronger. 23.0515 Preparing ..g5. After the immediate 23.45 there is the good reply 24..2e3. 24.ga! Passive play is no good: 24.212 g5 25. Sih2 “ed with splendid compensa- tion for the pawn (weaker is 25... Wb 26.Hecl Wxd2-27.Hxd2) 24.087 Here we each had about 3 minutes left, which in combination with a com- plex position, lacking any guidelines, transformed the rest of the play to the time control into a regular street fight. With a number of underhand blows, crude devices anda mass of non-opti- mal actions. 25.882 ‘The computer insists on 25. g3 We (25... Wsh3?! 26.8 Dg6 27.942 DexeS 28.5h1 Dxgi+ 29.fxpd Wags 30..8xb8 ixb8 would not be bad in time-trouble) 26.4 ( prefer 26.2ed1) 26...Wig6 27.65 (I hope that the day when such a thing occurs to me will never come). 25...2a8 Hmm, a strange move, | thought. It would appear that a2 is perfectly well defended. Objectvely stronger was 25./2g6 26. 5ig3 Was 27.64, and now either 27 44, 27.5 of 27..21a8, but in such a position itis time to forget about objectivity. 26.25 151! KHANTY-MANSIYSK Oops, that is why Ha was necessary! 27.gx152? In the 2-3 remaining minutes | failed to recover from the shock, and in the final seconds I captured the damned pawn in the first way that came to hand. fT were a trainer, and a pupil of ‘mine were to play this, I would tear off not only his arms, but probably other parts of his body as well. Fortunately, Sasha Riazantsev isa more gentle per- son, and I was able to continue the tournament intact. Of course, I should have played 27 exis Wx6, and now, when the black knights have no strong points and the white king is far more securely defended, several ways should lead to a win, For instance, 28.Hecl (or 28. ‘Big3 e5 29,b4) 28.05 29. 293 e4 30.4 a (30...1f8 31.21x06) 31.05 e532. “Sixe5 Whxe5 33.b6 Eab8 34.265 “g6 35. Wed Dhd+ 36.c0h1 Wes 37.20c7 283 38.We3. 27.015 28.Hecd See7 29. Exe8+ Axc8. Ilyas this that | overlooked, automat- ically assuming that the exchanges on the c-file would lead to the exchange ofall four rook 30.266 30...We7 During the game I did not like 30. ce? 31.Bxe6 EAS 32.Wd3 Whs, with a mass of threats, but in fact the strongest was 30...Wa8!. Excuse me for not dwelling on this move. 31.We2 We8 32.04! Misfortunes never come singly. Although Ian Nepomniachtchi would express it more simply: “Trick your ‘way out!” Speaking seriously, Whites ew cms 49occurred to me even in my worst dreams, Infact 43.27! was more force ful, not deviating from the general course, and after 43..gxh3+ 44.stxh3 WE5+ both the simple 45.2g2and the phantasmagorical 45.sexh4 are go The only chance of putting up a fight was the incredible 43...21c8!!, when ee eee EEE exh3+-+ is threatened, for example Ce RMR 4. Cxe6 gxh3+ 45.cexh3 I e346, off not only his arms, but probably other parts of his body as well’ fig3 Exg3+ 47.d¢h2 Weft 48.ixg3 Wrxg3s49.cth1 Wh3+ 50.seg1 Wes 51.a7 Wb6+ 52.Wi2 Wb?. There only chance of safeguarding his kingis the knight on 7: 37.Wd3 We8 with fore I would have had to find 44.hxg4 topromote hisa-pawn toaqueen,and immense complications, (instead of 44.2xe6) 44. We? 45.3, win at least the rook for it. 37.055 and after 45.67 46... to display a 32...We6+ 37.n43e3+ does not work, in view certain accuracy The immediate 32..!ce7 was more of 38.fxe3 WH1+ 39.cbh2 Zi2+ 40. 44.iexh3 Wxe7 cunning: 33.Ec7, and now, say, 33... Oxf Wxi2+ 41,Ghi WE+ 42.cg1 44..WES 45.dexhd is +10 ©. Bas Wrxe3+ 43.002, but even so 37. 45.0g6 Wha 33.23 Dce7 34.14 WIT 35. di should have been played, in pass- Or 45...Wa3 46.8 xt 47, Wes. Be? g5 36./e2 ing setting a veiled trap: 38.a6 e3+ 46. x18 sexf8 nat 39.fxe3 Wil+ 40.sh2 d3 41,'Wxd3 ees Bids 42.dixf2 Wxi2+ 43.dht Wis - g with a draw. 38. Wd3 is correct, but * even here, after 38.. We8 (38..2e3+ = | 39.h21 Dl 40.sbgh!) there is still & a a a all to play for. a A 38.Wd2 WE6 39.26 h4 40.0h2 A @ A) 84 This was Black’ last chance to ad 3 2 vance his passed pawn: 40... w | arora WA Now White has a winning position. 41... g5 42. We2 ONG 36.28 If 42...g3 the simplest is 43.We4, 47.a7! The final nuance. Were it not A fundamental mistake, Alexander although 43.4xe6 is also possible for this pawn, all would not be so clear. ‘wants to givea'point blank’ mate, but 43.5xe7 47...Wa5 for this Black does not have sufficient I cannot criticize this move, which In the event of 47..Wa3 the white resources. It was essential to include ‘by force’ exchanges half of Blacks ‘queen breaks through to the pawn the d-pawn in the play with 36..d4!, remaining pieces. Especially since 48, Wes 25 49, Ws. atthe same time vacating a square for Black's rejoinder would not have 48.0481 015 so NEW NHS KHANTY-MANSIYSK49, WhS! 9 g7 On 49...Wxa7 follows 50,Whs+ sot? 51. Wh7+ %g7 52. 0h6 Wate 53.xg7+ wes 54, We 50, Wg5¢ sbh7 51.Wh5+ wg7 52. igs Weds 53.03g2 h3+ 54.1xh3 We6 55.016+ og6 56.Wed+ Black resigned. The a-pawn neverthe- less promotes toa queen, ‘This game reminded me of the won- erful times of my youth, when ‘the sunshine was brighter, and the girls were prettier, the openings were not so well studied, and chess was far ‘more interesting. Round Four For the central match of the round, Svidler-Kamsky, we gladly refer to the interview with the winner further which it is discussed in a lot of detail. Grischuk overcame his friend Potkin with great difficulty, losing their first gameas Black. And Polgar lost her first game as White against the Cuban Leinier Dominguez, but she was also able to take revenge, after which the audience in the hall (to be honest, there weren't very many) rewarded her with applause. The tiebreak also went dramatically: Polgar got ahead twice, Dominguez levelled the scores, but in the five-minute games Judit neverthe- less won 1%-'s, Bravo! Another Cuban, Lazaro Bruzon, led in his tiebreak against Ruslan Pono- mariox, but then his luck eluded him. Vasily vanchuk defeated Bu Xiangzhi with great difficulty. Then again, at that stage there couldnt be any more ‘easy matches by definition. The game that earned Judit applause wasa veritable thriller, wores ov nen $132.1 - 833 1 Dominguez Judit Polgar Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 (4.2) 1 got the chance to play in the 2011 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk due to my qualification from the Euro- pean Championship in Aix-les-Bains last spring. Not only did I qualify, also played very well and, tying for first, [took the bronze medal. My first Visit to Siberia was for the World Cup in 2009, when the weather was quite memorable. On one of the nights that we went back to the hotel it was 38 Celsius!. My second visit was the Olympiad in 2010. 1 consider this the best organized Olympiad I have played in (so far I have played eight Olympiads in my lite). During my thied visit 1 no any problems pronouncing ‘Khanty. Mansiysk’ ©. ‘The playing condi- tions in the Chess Academy, which ‘was built especially to organize chess events, was excellent. Even the bath- rooms have chess motifs on the tiles ©. And there was fantastic live coverage. In the playing hall there were five cameras following the games and the facial expressions ofthe play: ers, One could really feel the tension during the games while watching the transmission live, But lets move on to the game! I had won my previous matches against Corrales from Cuba, Movsesian and Karjakin, who was the top-seed. | won the first game, and when Sergey was unable to equalize in the second game I moved on to Round 4! Against Leinier Dominguez 1 lost my first game with white, which meant that I Was in a must-win situation. I had not prepared much for the game, but was very much focused to try and play a long game, thinking that in the long run I might get some chances. Obvi ously winning with black against a KHANTY-MANSIYSK very strong and stable player like Dominguez is almost impossible. Led ¢5 2.53 Ac6 3.44 cxdd 4. Oxda Whe have played this line previously, but itis not my main weapon. 5.263 216 6.23 €6 [have great memories of this line from my game against Motylev in Halkidiki 2003, xz 2 ee & ae 2 bhS an ‘al 7 SA8 a0 & & ARAN RAR i= ewes 2 7.08 Trying to play similarly to the Rau- ver with We2, I thought, fT would go wile? and later ...d6. In this position 7.8.43 and 7. 23 are the most played moves. For some time 7.We2 was considered the best reply (as Motylev played against me). 7.06 Not yet deciding where to go with my bishop, to b4 or 7 8s Thad been expecting 8. Wd2. In Game 8 of our match, in the 5-minute play off, White did go 8.Wd2. We were both very tired by that time and the tension was very high. I would not like to comment on the quality of this game, but I won, so I was very happy to be able to move on to the next stage of the event! This is how that game went: 8.Wd2 We7 9.0-0-0 5 10,63 e7 11.hb1 0-0 12.g4 eS 13. fa bd 14.e2 Hds 15.Died4 Sb? 16. Wel Hac8 17.hd d5 18.exd5 Baxd5 19.h5 2xf3 20 Wy3 5 21.82 ext 22, Wxi3 Bxdd 23. xd4 xf3 24 xf 27 25.Bhel 216 26,406 Ses 27.fixeS Wxc2+ 28.deal 2x05 29. HI f6 30.sie4 We2 31.015 Sixb2+ 0-1, Dominguez-Polgar, Khanty- ‘Mansiysk 2011. ew ncn 318...0e7 9.Wg3 Sicilian. He had already used almost 14...N6 15.52xh6 Of course itis not easy to playa sharp 50 minutes. Sicilian with whiteifa draw isenough 13...b5 1 felt very comfortable, be- to qualify to the next stage of the cause thought that I could not dream World Cup. of a better game after the opening, I 9.46 10.0-0-0 felt that I would have chances. In this Itwas clear after this queen move that position there are always basic ques- White aims to castle queenside. [was tions, such as should [ play a3 or allow happy about this and was looking for- Black to play ..b4 and ..a5 to push the ward toa sharp game! pawns. Leinier decided to go into the 10...0-0 sharp direction, which was not only very brave but also a good decision, as I did not react in the best way. 14.0h4 x 2) OE I made this move too quickly. 15..xed! should have been played: 16,Wh3 Zxc3+ 17.bxe3 g6 (17. agxh6 allows White to force a draw 18. Wah6 £5 19.Wg6+), with a com- plicated game. White could continue 18, Wg3. White has different ideas in mind: the concrete 2xg6, but also ht or 295, for instance: 18.26 19. Og ings 20.fxg5 Ge5 214 Wac3 22, Wf4 &b7 23. ixd3 24.Exd3 twebt 1 think 11.sie2 was a move to con- sider, when ©h6 would threaten to Wes 25, Wha. force my knight back to 8. After making this move White was 16.Wxh6 eB Incase of 11.slxfé Twas happy to give left with 28 minutes. It shows what a Looking for opportunities to play on. the pawn, because Black has great great player Leinier is. Needing only 16..g4 would only lead to a repeti- compensation after 11..s8xf6 12. a draw to move on to the next stage tion of moves: 17, Wh3 46 18. Whe, ado We?. in the World Cup he goes for a sharp 17.05 11...0d8 12.14 We7 13.243 piece sacrifice! White is putting pres ‘The most logical continuation. How- By this time it was clear that my oppo- sure on the h7 pawn and has two ideas ever, 17.245! was the best move, nent did not choose to play solidly, in mind to open the diagonal ofthe d3 leading to great complications: 17. but wanted to play in the spirit ofthe bishop, with e5 or ds, exd5 18.exd5 65 19.dxe6, with a large International Correspondence Chess Federation Play with the world’s best correspondence chess players on one of the most advanced chess servers in the world Register at: www.iccFwebchess.com Join a team of thousands playing great chess at ICCF. ICCF also offers World Championships, Olympiads, and many other Team and Individual Tournaments where you can participate from any place around the globe. View live games of the world’s best players ~also free games downloads. Contact us at: www.ecf.com sancw incess KHANTY-MANSIYSKadvantage for White, even if there is still alot of work to be done to prove it, White has the initiative and great attacking chances after 19...26 20.the! 17...18 x 2A we a Abd «| - » € 18.0x15 Fantastic play by White! After this move Leinier had only 9 minutes left until the time-control (move 40 plus 30 seconds per move). It is also interesting in line you start calculating, because if the first line looks good enough, you right simply have no time and moti vation to look for more. In this kind of situation intuition plays an impor tant role. believe Leinier thought this would be at least good enough for a 18, Wg6+ looks very promising, but it is not clear how White will break through: 18..2ig7 19.94 (1 here Black can lose the thread imme. diately by playing the logical 19, ble after 20. 2xf5 such a situation which when there is t exfS and 21,245, with a decisive attack) 19..xe5 20.gxf5 exf5 21.Bhgl 5,8, and in the ensuing lines some: how Black survives. I think the most promising would be IS.exfo Sixfé 19.e4 Wg7 20.0xf6+ 2xi6 21.Wh4, with good compensa: tion for White 18...exf5 19.045 Things are gett really have to watch my step, as after 19...Wa7 comes 20.43, and itis over. 19. Ways & me to play 20... Wd7 21.:f6+ Sixfo 22.exf6 W7, and Black is taking over g really scary and I g7 20.d5 would allow ater 23,Wg5 Zar. PeTRUteEY™ She must have gotten used to it by now, but with her enterprising play Judit Polgar was once again one of the mo: 19. Forcing White to enter into an end game with unbalanced material. 19... Wa7 allows White to make a draw with 20,243 28 21.0g3+ 2 6+ ef 23.27 20.2xe7 2xh6 21.xa8 ixt4 ABA AAI & = Now White has a rook and two pawns for the two bishops. This would give a clear advantage to White in normal circumstances, but the stray knight on a8 causes him problems. 22.0xd6 2xd6 23.b6 White has to hurry up to get his kn 23. into safety Le 24,005 uf? KWANTY-MANSIYSK pee een ene es ZA | & \& age jRaMawa AR a = rs eS Iwas not sure about the exact assess: ‘ment during the game, but I thought that the position was pretty balanced and that I would get some practical chances if I could activate my pieces. 28.3 White is playing for safety and pro. vokes me to push my pawn, 25.h4 was worth considering. It's always nice to have a passed pawn. 25.16 was happy to get some activity and. aimed to get more space by reaching the ed-square with my knight. 26.g3 Because of the small number of black pawns there are not many chances to win, but ifthe battle continues, White ew ines 53may get nervous and start making unnecessary mistakes. 26.0284 ‘An unexpected decision. I thought that changing the pawn structure ‘would create more options and the pawn on gé will block the pawns on the kingside. 26...2e4 27.Ehfl deg6 28.02 would give White a comfortable game. 27.2.xg4 fxg4 28.04 White is eager to exchange pieces. 28.2ihel was the best move. Having the two rooks on the central files is always good! Black will not be able to get out of the pin on the d-file with ‘out exchanging rooks and then Black’ winning chances would be very slim. 28.0.xd4 29.5x04 Sic7 {As I cannot avoid the rook exchange anyway, offered it 30.5f1+ sve7 AM A A 31.2e4 A strange decision. After the rook swap 31.Exd8 Sxd8 32.c3 it would be difficult to imagine how Black could win this game. 31...5g8 With the rooks on the board it is easier for Black to create winning chances if White makes a mistake, 4 new noms Althe start of their second game Judit Polgar and Leinier Dominguez could not Pee ee Re 32.04 Of course White is looking to exchange pawns, and with each exchange he gets closer to the draw 32....0d6 33.axb5 axb5 34.25 b4 35:5hS ZE6 Trying to free my king with ..d7-06, | & ae a x > | Lig 36.n3 “This is the point of the rook manoeu: vyre to hS. [thought that it wasa draw now, but of course I fought on 36...gxh3 37.5xh3 sed? 38.2h7+ 38.Hhh4 would threaten to get rid Of Blacks last pawn on b4 and enter into a theoretically drawn endgame After 38...2ixg3 the simplest draw is 39.Eh7+ 27 40.3. Pa KHANTY-MANSIYSK ete ee 38...<¢6 39.b3 White was in heavy time-trouble for the last seven moves and under great pressure due to the match situation, White could have forced a theoreti- cal draw by 39,hh4! and grabbing the b4 pawn by sacrificing back the exchange 39.0045 It is always difficult when you have ‘many options that all look the same, asin this situation: where to move the rook? ‘The clock is ticking and ticking and you only see that you have just seconds left. 40.ne3 40...cha! is not an easy move to findto make the time-control. It still do so he misses his last chance: 42.c3! Iwas getting nervous, because I felt ‘would have saved the game, because £2f2 43.2ae7 is only a draw after 43 that the position was winning, but did [cannot take the g3 pawn either way, Sexe3 44.Exe3 not have the patience to figure it all and to avoid the exchange of my last cout and think for a while. I was very pawn I should try 40,.2e6 (after 40... 43,Ele2 would create more problems excited and played pretty fast. Hixg3 41.E7ho White will nexttakeon for Black 51...cbeS 52.0a7 sled 53.804 ‘d6and then take my pawn on bd with 43..iid2 Irwas time to go forward with my king aa draw, and after 40,..Sxg3 he obvi to d4, but I still made some unneces- ‘ously plays 41. xb4). sary moves before doing so. 40... iXB3 53.586 Now the time-trouble is over White White cannot leave the a-file with the has a theoretical draw within reach, rook because then I would bring my but maybe my opponent underesti- rook back to g8 and the plan would be mated my chances. White has to be ‘Za8 and ..Hal mate quick, otherwise, if my bishop can 54.na2 ig3 85.501 g7 56.001 reach the h8-al diagonal, he will be in Eg2 S7.cib4 Xd2 58.c¢1 Dh2 big trouble. 59.cb1 63 60.501 e - Thad practically made no progress in | the ast few moves so it wasabout tn 4 lly I gota winning position 60...2f8 61.514 eS 44.001 ¢3 45.5a6+ wb7 46. e & aS 04 EE | g Its clear that Black’ main target is a | thec2 pawn and the weakness ofthe ee ae back rank, but I will need the help of my king A 47.504 & a ‘Whites only option is to wait and see if Black will beable to breakthrough. 44.0a7 47...0¢2 48.202 %b6 49,0d6+ White should have realized that once &b8 80.41 3 S1.5f1 blockade the c2 pawn, Blacks pract- cally winning! ees In this kind of endgame the king is 41.¢31 would have led toa worse ver- | ‘one of the strongest attacking pieces. sion than before, but White could still 62.5a7 04 63.0c1 sid4 64. transpose toa rook and bishop versus Gd? 67.Rel #2 68,541 ce? 69. force the exchange of the pawns and « | 5d7+ we3 65.8e7 h6 66.2a7 a rook and pawn ending: 41... if 42. a | gl e3 & Bhe7 @xe3 43,Exe3. 2 2 Around here I was really excited that | 41...0g4 42.504 ‘was about to equalize the match! Ofcourse, Whites playing for 3,but_ EL & z= 69,,.Sth3 to attack the b3 pawn was while looking for the best moment to & z also possible: 70.%b2 Hc3. SPECIAL Ror ia eats Competition Pro Competition Game Clock Game Clock only € 49.95! only €29.95! available at www.newinchess.com fil special quantity discounts KHANTY-MANSIYSK seins 55FINALLY - THE NEW WORLD CHESS ORGANIZATION Amateur Chess Organization f or: Become 2012 ~ WORLD AMATEUR CHAMPION IN YOUR RATING GROUP AT THE 5 * HOTEL. JEBEL ALI GOLF RESORT & SPA IN DUBAI WORLD YOUTH CHAMPION IN YOUR AGE GROUP AT DISNEYLAND® PARIS. rae (ed CEREMONY & GALA DINNER Ct ele =] USN ARAB For more information about the ACO: www.amateurchess.com70.2e7 White is fighting for his last 76...ce03 confused a bit, [only had a few min- chance to draw, but When I took the h8 rook, I was aware utes left and nerves are also part of the ha that I would reach the winning Phi- game. Now White cannot keep hisdefence of —lidor position, but not exactly the way 80. the first rank, ashis rook has to move. Lwas doing it... TABg8 64 72.cia2 Trying tocs- 7.a4 ‘cape from the mate on the first rank. bd 81.ska5 bS+ 82.4 83.5g3 Sf4+? 772+ 83...Ef1! wins on the spot: 84.<8a5 77 .d0b8! crossed my mind, but Ical- 2Bf6, and game over! Suddenly the uutexpécted .. Sib1+ is culated and rejected it because of the 84.03 Ef 85.582 thethrestarid then. h1+-Zal mate! following line: 78.21a3 Hbd 79..a4 Here I started to get even more nerv- 74.58 ikl This was the reason whyI did not do ous, as I felt that my brain wasn't A very gvoil practical try, and of this (and at this point I obviously did ‘working properly precisely now that course I was surprised by this move. not see the coming Bb stalemate!) there was so much at stake! ‘After the game Zoli (Zoltan Almasi, _butafter79..2xb3 the position is win- 85...2hd hier second ~ ed.) sad that 74.51b8 was ning because of the badly placed king 85...bl!, with zugzwang! This isthe a draw, but © Black has 74...b1+, and rook: 80.33. thought this was position I finally got after the 106th ‘which unfortunately I did not see,as1 draw © but 80...Sab1+ wins the rook. move. was already very tired: 75.sexb1 Bhi + —78.sa3 At this point I realized that I 86.2b2 I had forgotten about this 76.%a2 Hal mate. had misplayed it move @, and here I started to get an- 78...Hb2 But White only had a gry at myself, ‘minute left, and it was possible he 86...ca1+ 87.2a2 Ebi 88.0g2 ‘would make a mistake, Eh3+ 89.cia4 Hb4+ 90.a3 Zb6 90...b1, with zugawang, 91.5g4 SaG+ 92.5a4 Eb6 93. ga Eb7 94.2h4 Xb1 95.ch2 EG 95...Af1, with zugewang, 96.2h4 2f4 [started to get the point, but sill not the right way. 97.5g4 ZbS 98.5g3+ £43 99. ga Ebi 100.1g2 Eb3+ 101.wa4 ES 102.4 515 74...2xh8, ‘Yes, I could have finished the game by playing 74..<&cl, with a study-like mating net after 75.Exh4 bi mate!! 79.5g4? But I thought that I would reach the Missing a beautiful stalemate: 79 theoretical win in the rook and bishop ba!! Hb| 80.a2 stxbs. Ilike these versus rook ending. Actually, | was kinds of fantastic moves, but not dur- right, but not exactly the way I went _ingtthis game I guess. about it 79,..2xb3+ 80.04 75.2xd4+ 2d3 76.Exb4 knew perfectly well that this was a 76.962 Bb8 wins. winning position, but somehow I got KHANTY-MANSIYSK ews 57Exactly the same position as at move 82, so I really made myself and my fans very nervou: 103.%:a3 Hf 104.2¢2 Ebt Finally I got the point, but would [be 108. 2h2 AS Immediately after mak ing my move I realized Thad to goto 1. 106.2g2 3 107.2h2 eo ee x | It is amazing that when 1 finally reached the winning position, White could have stopped the clock and ask for a draw from the arbiter because of a threefold repetition! The strange thing is that Dominguez was check- ing the scoresheet carefully for the last 20 moves, but he was not sure exactly which position had really come up three times. By making his move 107. Eh this wasthe third time that we had iton the board after moves 95 and 108. Maybe he was afraid to claim because he was not sure, as ifhis claim was not correct, the game would be stopped for a few minutes and I might figure things out... Wel, luck is something you need both in chess and in life! 107...0f4 Yesss5uunll! I did it, when about everybody had given up hope that I would be able to prove the wi 108.212 S.c4 109.213+ 43 110. Bf2 Bb3+ 144.02 Or 111.84 Eb6, and wins. 144...2b6 112.sa1 Be6 White resigned. His last chance was 113.Eg2, but I have 113...e6, and its At this point I was only happy and was not thinking about the play- offs the next day. I just enjoyed this victory! Round Five Alter all the twists and turns, two rep- resentatives of the three leading chess Children, parents and pigeons bask in the golden autumn sun, knowing full well that frosty temperatures will soon make outdoor life less attractive in Khanty-Mansiysk 58 new incu KHANTY-MANSIYSK. powers got through to the quarter finals: Peter Svidler and Alexander GGrischuk (Russia), Teimour Radjabov and Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Vasily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponoma- riov (Ukraine), and also two repre- sentatives from Eastern Europe ~ Judit Polgar (Hungary) and David Navara (Caech Republic) Svidler and Ponomariov won passes to the semi-final in normal time by beating Polgar and Gashimov respec: tively. Their matches followed the same scenario, which had already been touted by Svidler: a draw as White and a win as Black. Polgar and Gashimov fought for a win too zeal ously, and when they realized that the well was dry and it was time to offer a draws, they got turned down, Ivanchuk won as White against Radjabov in excellent style, But Rad. jabov managed a brilliant revenge! & Radjabov-lvanchuk (5.2) position after 8.66 9.nS g5 10.0xg5!? hxgs 11. Oxg5 Later it was proved that objectively the sacrifi rect, but its practical effect exceeded all expectations: as soon as the 20th move Black’s position became abso- lutely hopeless In the tie-break Ivanchuk held on, with difficulty, as Black, and as White ce wasn't completely cor he ‘wrapped up’ a slightly better end- ing, making the best of the advan tage of the bishop pair with very good technique. Grischuk got nothing as White against Navara, and as Black he found himselfonthe brink of det a tough position. at: apawn down in all wa = a SAR | A x | Navara-Grischuk (5.2) position after 48..i2d5 By Alexander's admission, at this point he was already thinking about ‘which flight to Moscow to buy a tick et for. But David Navara got flustered and, despite having lots of time to spare, quickly played 49.:%€52 [think TI met Navara at lunch on the first day of the quarter-finals. I told him about my recent trip to Prague, and with a smile [ admitted that in ‘one day I drank as much beer as [ust ally drink ina year in Moscow. Dav id’ reaction was su earned as much here in one tourna ment as | usualy earn in a year! When Ilyumzhinov’s knockout tour ‘naments were just starting many play cers said thatthe big prizes put mental pressure on them and didnt let them think calmly about chess. Since then the prizes have decreased consider ably and people have also got used to those amounts, but still the well known psychological effect makes itself fet one way or another. The simplest route to victory was 49. He3 Hbt+ (49....206 doesn't work because of 50.bxc6! Exb6 51."245+) 50.903, and White wins a second pawn, 49.066! Whites main trump card the b5 pawn, isnow lost 50.g5 Axb5+ S1.Exb5 ixbS 52. 6 In the case of 52 gxho sef8 53.26 {e2 54.£4 5! Black is also out of dan 52..fxg6 53.nxg6 d3 54,¢5 Draw rising: ‘And I've ¥ LYM PETROLEUM everett wasn't the first time that Ukrainian sters Vasily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov were paired against each other i knock Oe ee ee defeated his compatriot and qualified for the Candidates’ tournament, In the tie-break Grischuk won as Black and held on (although not with: cout adventures) for a draw as White. The Semi-Final “The semi-final matches were surpris: ingly reminiscent of the World Cham pionship that took place ten years ago in Moscow, in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. What a distant and na time that was! Selection for the World Championship via the Internet, the first suspicions of cheating (although I don't think that exact word even existed in Russian), the first metal detectors (although no, not the first a year before that at the Kasparov Kramnik match they were alread doing searches for metal). Nugzar Zelyakov ~ does anyone remember that great St, Petersburg candidate master any more? He played his first game against Moroze colossal strength and lost the second one so meekly! His nerves were so worn out, All right, that’s enough nostal gia. In Khanty-Mansiysk ten years later Ponomariov and Svidler n KHANTY-MANSIYSK one semi-final, and Iwanchuk was up guinst Gracin the other (in Mos ow Anand was Vasilysopponent). So _ se Bie ji W mama a a) as may a & Ron eo Fl Grischul-lvanchuk (6.5) position after 27.8 S fo This was the first 10-minute game. Both of the classical games had ended ina draw, and in the 25-minute games the grandmasters had traded blows. 28.05 Thad difficulty putting any kind of punctuation mark after this move Grischuk joked afterwards that he played the combination in Polgar’s style: the piece sacrifice was incor: sew caus $9 | Pree y4rect and everything on the board was hanging, but a few moves later his ‘opponents position became hopeless. (Of course, Alexander wasnt referring to all of Judit games, he was talking about one of her wins against Domin guez, which she achieved in a similar manner, Hi Mansiysk 2011 Polger-Karjakin Wale | Zherobukh-Mamedyarov Wale Tomashevsky-Gashimov Val Bacrot-Radjabov Yael Carvana-Svidler 13 Potkin-Vitivgow Wl Le Quang Liem-Bruzon rer Gupta-Bu Xiangzhi Ves eatetoar n Grischuk-Svidler VADs on inc 28...exd4 29.cxb6 2b7+ From the computer's point of view Black is winning everywhere and every way, So there isnt even any point in giving variations. 30.%g1 WeS 31.007 Sxc7 32. bxe7 5g7 33.2h2 33...0x077? A blackout, there’ no other way of describing it. The simplest path to a win was 33.4, and W a piece nor an attack 34,Wxg6 Holt wa 35.cixed Black resigned. I watched this game ‘live, sitting next to Svidler on the podium (he came to support his friend Sanya Grischuk), and I modestly inquired, “Well, OK, Ivanchuk missed that the cl-square ‘was being hit. But what did he plan on doing on the simple bishop retreat 35. fl, as the pieces are equal now and rate on h7 is hanging?’ Svidler imme diately explained: 35...xfl+ 36.:bxfl Wxbs+-37.chel Wh1+ 38.ie2 O34! 39.cox13 Wed mate. A colourful mate, there'sno question about it! In the last game Grischuk confi- dently got a draw (after all, vanchuk KWANTY-MANSIYSK isnit made of iron, he couldnt recover that quickly after such a shock), and made tto the final. The Final Peter Svidier tells the story about the fight for first place against Alexander Grischuk in the ensuing interview: In the match for the coveted third ticket to the Candidates’ matches Ruslan Ponomariov seemed to have run out of steam, He couldn't make the best of his big advantage in the third or the fourth game, although finishing-off technique was and remains Ruslaris forte. Here’ how the only decisive game concluded, Ponomariov-Ivanchuk position after 36.l1605 36...i2e2! 37.2xf57 ‘This move loses very artlessly. Ruslan still had afew minutes lefton his clock, buthe made the move almost instantly — hed probably already come to terms ‘with his loss. Although after 37.Exe2 xe? 38.23 (weaker is 38.xe? Eigxg2+ 39. xg? Hae?) 38... Bxf3 39. gxf3 24 40.201 White could still put up some tough resistance. 37...0xf3 38.513 Zgxg2+ 39,¢hd Bh2+ 40.chg4 e2+ White resigned Ivanchuk, on the other hand, dis- played tenacity and calmness. Itseven surprising that this wonderful player hasn't taken part in the battle for the World Championship for almost ten years. And now finally he’s got himself a trip to the Candidates’ tournament, along with Peter Svidler and Alexan- der Grischulk. Alas, Ruslan Ponoma- riov was left as the extra fourth,ee eo Co Poe een eee ner are eee ea er ore Orn eee ae need Pe a eras eee success, so we'll play calmly and see irene Pole dy lellors Oetelecd lake Eyer e The winner of the 2011 World Cup doesn’t like generalizations: ‘I’m sure that as soon as | say out loud that my second spring has finally come (or third? or what are we up to now?), it will end precisely at that moment.’ But it’s difficult to argue with the fact that some kind of ‘climate change’ in the biography of the 35-year-old grandmaster from St. Petersburg is definitely taking place — only one month after winning an exceptionally strong Russian Championship in brilliant style, he achieved the biggest sporting success of his career. J ond want fey Ceotiiaihy Sejetieletow betes Nae) ; EP ahYonl Gertie tee tetas thon in Khanty-Mansiysk with plenty of room to spare: five of his seven matches ended in normal time, and he didn't lose a single one of his 22 games in them. A tiebreak wasn't required in the final either, so on the last day Peter has time for an in-depth conversation. We meet at the Vanilla Sky caféin a shopping mall in the cen- tre of town, from which a wonderful panoramic view of the Ugra capital stretches out before us. hardly prepared at all for the World 1 thought that by my standards I donit have any serious opening prob: lems at the moment, and I've had to play an enormous amount recently, 0 I decided to try and preserve some kind of appetite for the game and freshness of perception. In my opin- ion that’ far more important than try-SQ ing to patch up any real or imagined holesin the opening ina short period Overall, the strategy I chose turned ‘out to be correct. My first opponent was the Brazilian Darcy Lima. Luckily spend alot of time with Sanya (Alex ander Grischuk ~ V-B.), and Sanya is the world’s leading expert on him. He's played two World Cup matches with Lima. And Sanya warned me: remember, this isnt a standard first- round opponent! But nevertheless, our first game stunned me, Even forewarned and forearmed, still after the first game I was in some kind of ‘shock’ and if hadn't been warned in advance, I wouldnt have known what to think at all! Lima is playing about ten chess games a year. A man with a rating of 2480, who only plays in the Portuguese Team Championship (just s0 as not to forget how its done), he fought hard fora win as White against ‘me, and I think that ata certain point he could have won. In time-trouble it became clear that he isn't an acti player, and he’s not that young any more; he started making mistakes After that scare atthe start I won the second game as White in a serious battle not without difficulty. ‘A curi- ous start, I thought about myself. If winning in the first round takes so much energy from me, what’s going tohappen next?” The second and third ones also proved tricky? “They were both very difficult, First Nguyen, then Caruana for some rea- son decided to test me in the symmet rical structures of the Exchange Griin- feld, and time after time I scraped through to equalize. In the best case the positions that arise should be completely harmless, but nevertheless 1 didn't get out of the opening with: ‘out problems agains either Nguyen or Caruana. “With Fabiano I made a draw as Black with determined efforts, and basically “didn’t give an inch” as White, after which play switched to the rapid format, in which I won 2-0, getting two very difficult positions there. I dont think they were hopeless, but both the one and the other were very unpleasant. I won them both, which didn't quite correspond with the internal content of those games, of course. But those wins gave me confi dence. I havent always got it together historically against Caruana. And, as is typical, we both know that. Ths isnt a case where it was a subjective feeling of mine, which my opponent might not even suspect. From conversations with him and with some other people I know that Fabiano is aware of it. So there wasa specific internal dynamic: on the outside it wouldiithave seemed that he was the favouritein our match, but I suspect he had reason to think that he could have been far less lucky with his third-round opponent. I think Caruana was thinking, its good that [got this particular person! “When Ibeat him, I thought, “Good! ‘An important sign: perhaps all these ‘foul-ups' wont affect me this time as ‘much as they usually do” “In my match against the Vietnam- ese boy I also made a draw as Black. He a unique player. The Vietnam: ese are all very unusual, inscrutable, they have their own vision of chess. My German colleague Jan Gustaf. son, who has played him and spent some time with him, says that Nguyen was brought up specifically on Chi- nese chess, and people who switch to our chess from Chinese chess see tactics very well and generally have a different attitude towards our game. 1 don't play Chinese chess, but as far as I know, that game is insanely tactical as literally from the first moves tough calculating “slashes” begin. If Nguyen ‘grew up on that, then understandably itinfluences his vision of chess. “Playing White I thought that I had an excellent position, that I had an enormous advantage. And up until the 20th move I was very happy that Ta found a forced way to equalize, and offered draw. As Black I saved myself A milestone in repertoire refreshment! Garry Kasparov: the last word on the Zaitsev Ruy Lopez, Hou Yifan on the Burn French, |vanchuk on the Samisch King’s Indian, a striking novelty in the Sicilian Kan, Svidler on the Anti-Griinfeld, the 20 best opening books, a new concept in the Accelerated Dragon, the latest news in the Rubinstein \Nimzo-Indian, an amazing discovery by Aronian, the Anniversary Quiz, with 35 regular opening surveys with the latest news in chess openings, and much more ... paperback - 308 pages -€26.95 DEES Cee Con Re We eee ne ae ea caw inconss KHANTY-MANSIYSKwith some difficulty. And the tiebreak was extremely nerve-wracking, I made some kind of draw as Black, after get- ting difficult position from the open- ing, and as White I very nearly lost. At home afterwards Iwas shocked to find that the computer asked: “Why didnit ‘you eat the rook in one move?” Svidler-Nguyen Ngoe Tr. potion after 20 ‘21.8 seat (21.45? 22.Bxd5 exd5 23.246) 22.bxc3 ds 23. Wd6+ ‘ig8 24.c4, and Black doesnt succeed in establishing a knighton d5. ‘I didn't find a reply to the computer. Without eating the rook I got a posi- tion in which I was the exchange up, ‘but it was very difficult to take advan- tage of it, and I came close to losing: 21.bxc3 “dS 22.643 Wes 23. 8 ExfB 24.204 bS 25.04 a6 26.axb5 axb5 27.2al g6 aS ie @ mama Wea’ —snan aoe [e_ 8 mae mam Be “T really didn't want to get sucked into a “rambling” game, so at a cer- tain point I sharpened the situation, and sharpened it to such a level that a draw would already have been a lucky break. “But in the 10-minute games I was finally able to pull myself together somehow. I never get tired of men- tioning this, because ita very impor- tant element in my successes lately: once again Alexander Igorevich Gris- cchuk’ favourable influence on my life ‘made itself felt. By this point he had already finished his tiebreak, eas- ily beating Feller 2-0, and he was sit- ting on the podium. After finish- ing my second game I went up to him in shock, held up my hands and said, “What the hell!” And he asked, “Why don't you go e4-e5 on the third move in reply to the French?” And I thought, "Really, why dont I go e4-e5 ‘on the third move?” I went 3.e5 and ‘won the game very one-sidedly. Of course, my opponent didnt play well, but I think Sanya was happy with my treatment of that variation. After that then held out as Black quite confi- dently, as in a situation in which he hhad to win to order, Nguyen wasnt as self-confident any more! And so, we've come to the fourth round, in which a very interesting -ounter with Gata Rustamovich ‘awaited you. ‘It's obvious that Kamsky is one of the most inconvenient opponents for me, If you don't take into account my “clinical” histories with Kramnik and ‘Anand, against whom I simply can't play at all, then of the people against ‘whom I can play a little, he’s one of the most inconvenient opponents ~ in his manner his style. He goes for a lengthy, sticky game, which has never been my'strong suit. And,tomyshock, Ton my first game against him pre- cisely in that way! I gota “fluctuating” Spanish without any advantage what soever, and outmanoeuvred him a little, but, to be honest, I dorrt know ‘why he suddenly started playing very sharply. In a quiet position, in which he had a multitude of possible plans, and, to all appearances, not a single serious problem, he suddenly threw himself into some kind of "surge” and. gota rather unpleasant endgame. Gata made an attempt to solve his problems by. tactical route and lost a pawn. KHANTY-MANSIYSK “Bat, as often happens, with the loss of a pawn the pieces that had been occupied in the defence of all the weaknesses became free. After the time control I carefully studied the position and realized that objectively it should turn out to bea draw, because it wasnt clear what I could do there. Moreover, the first few moves he made were very strong, [take a look: well, I don’t have a plant It seemed that Te done everything I could, but I wasnit able to improve my position any more, This discovery was absolutely no trag- edy for me, and for myself I decided: naturally, wont offer a draw, I'll con- tinue to move, but | understand that objectively there's a draw here. All my pieces are positioned ideally, but they aren't going any further. And suddenly he goes 2b1-22? 1 play ‘$ed-sd4-Gc5, and my d-pawn sim- ply promotes to a queen, Svidler-Kamsky (4.1) Potion after 46.2243, 46...i.a2? 47.04 Exa3 48.0004 Eb3 49.06 16 50.ne7+ 18 51. Od8 Abd 52.%05 Bd3 63.507 Black resigned. “For a player of Kamsky's class this is absolutely unbelievable! Evidently he was also tired, he wasnt as fresh as he could have been, and that affected his play. But this story inspited me, as I'm tused to Gata being the one who beats me in these kinds of games, not me beating him. ‘As for the other duel... It probably wouldn't be right to cal it “the game cof my life’ but it definitely did deserve the title “diagram ofthe tournament’! sown 63Notes ay ees RL126-C78 Gata Kamsky Peter Svidler Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 (4.2) ed e5 2.03 Oc6 3.b5 a6 4. Gad 216 5.0-0 b5 6.23 2c5 z 2We" ff a i hal a a a a @ 2 a an AAW WES ‘Not one of my regular opening choices, but I thought this line was a decent surprise pick in a must-draw game {after he had won the first game - ed) 7.a4 Zb8 8.axb5 axb5 9.c3 Gata won a nice game against Rus- tam Kasimdzhanov earlier in the event with 9.2xe5, a line I had some thoughts on even before their game. 9...06 10.44 2b6 SARS Bogwere ALves Texpected him to vary his approach to avoid my probable improvements, bat this line had slipped under my radar somewhat 11...0.0 Black can play 11... &g4 here, but after 12,@bd2.0-0 (12...exd4 13.cxd4 xd 14,Gxd4 Bxd4 15. 9xf7+!) 13.13 (4 new nce Lins 14.We2 the position remains unclear, and I generally dislike putting ybishop on hS in Spanish-type posi- tions ~ afterall, so many good things can happen when you own the long diagonals. 12.)bd2 h6 13.h3 He8 14.We2 This subtlety forces Black to make a decision in the centre - this move limits Black’s choices compared to the natural-looking 14.21 14...exd4 Because after 14...867 15. 5! Sxe3 16.dxc6 Sed? 17.cxb7 there is nothing to take on el, and the bish- Cop gets lost. However, the somewhat exposed position of the queen on c2 has its drawbacks too. 15.cxd4 18.../26? ‘The correct idea in totally wrong packaging. After the cool 15... 8167 Blackiis just fine. 16.002 4b7 17.65 After Gata blitzed this out, I imme- diately realized what was happen- ing, and wasnt exactly overjoyed. In the three minutes I allowed myself to think, I also saw that the position was not yet totally lost ~ and decided I had to play fast, keeping at leat some pre- KHANTY-MANSIYSK tence of being in control (judging by the number of people who asked me later if I had prepared the entire game athome, this worked wonderfully well on the spectators, but I am sure Gata ‘was not fooled for an instant). For some reason Tul only been con: cerned with the lines starting with 17.d5 sxe} 18.fre3 €6, which is even ‘more bizarre if you consider that barely a week before this game, in my match versus Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, | based my entire opening concept on the power af the Sib1-W2 battery. 17...0d5 Otherwise Black can just resign ~ 17...2d7 18. axhé. 18..2bd g6 19.dixh6 Ac6 Gata started thinking here, which gave me the opportunity to take stock and calculate some lines myself Ez Wr es) a a a ics ore & AMA AWA BA Hel Oko 20.exd6 Twas mostly — and correctly ~ afraid ‘of 20.Wed!, and indeed Blackis worse here: 20..dxeS (perhaps Gata rejected 20, Wed because of 20...2ixd4!? 21 @xd4 Hxe5, but this spectacular shot does not quite work: 22.Wg4 Bhs 23.xg6 Hxh6 24.ed+ sof8 25. 5 Ego, and now after the precise 26.Wi3! Black is in trouble) 21.dxe521,20! (21.06 was my idea dur: ing the game ~ its a good thing that Gata did not play 20. Wee is all I can say about it: 22. Wh ixe5 23.295 ~ this rather obvious move escaped my attention. Black is totally lost here), and once he has established that 22. Zxd4 @bd is not quite clear, White hasa pleasant choice between 22. Wat Sic8 23, Wes Wixgs 24. xg 7 25 Hel, and White has a healthy extra pawn, only partially compensated for by Black’ relative activity, and 22. 5 fa! 23, Wxb7 Daf3+ 24.63 Wags 25./xg5 Bxb7, although here the machine seems to be holding on by its silicon fingernails: 26.282 <7! 27.g3 (27.x67 Ba?) 27.5 28. a5 Ba?. 20...WWxd6 Amazingly, Black is now totally fine. 24.e4 21.03 “fais clearly wrong, 21... Here Gata paused a 22.0102 Avery strong resource. At first glance, it looks like a winning blow ~ but things are about to get very messy. Perhaps his initial idea had been to play 22. 842, and then he realized that after 22..2xd4! 23,saxb4 @xe2 24. Sxc2 Oxb4 25.0f6+ h8 26,0xe8 2 xc2 27.Hacl Saxf3! he cantt keep the extra exchange: 28, Exe? (28 gxf3 d4) 28...e4 29.2ixe7 Eixe8 30. Ext? iogS 31.247 8, and Black is at least not worse. 22.4eg5, with the idea of @xf7, is met solidly by 22... 23. Wl We 22...03xd4 Allowing White's next ~ but there is no choice, so this decision 23.216+ &hS. ; : ‘On their way to the diag Cena ies Err e 2aoxda Objectively, 24.2ixd5 was better here. Now Black hasa choice: A) 24. Gixf34! 25.8h1 (25.gxf3 SixdS 26. xd5 Whd is fine for Black = White cant keep his extra piece ifhe ‘wants to avoid the perpetual 27. We3+ Rd4 28, Wrc7 Wrxh6) 25...Wh4, and the machine suggests that Black is doing very well, one nice sample line being 26.Wc3+ @d4 27.@xb6 bal 28.Wad3 cxb6 29.17 OY 30, xe Hast; B) ‘The endgame arising after 24. Lixds 25.4ixd4 x02 26.06 Wed 27.Wac4 Sxct 28.Dxb8 &xfl 29. 2d7 may well be tenable, but I would really hate to have to defend it against Gata. However, the text-move looks much stronger, and White chose it without much hesitation. 24... 0x16 KHANTY-MANSIYSK idler P Re eee inconvenient opponents for me. He goe: which has never been my strong suit? Somewhere around here the play took on a slightly surreal quality for me. Every now and then I manage to achieve the feeling of being (one with the universe ~ and Donovan) totally immersed in the position, and seeing everything very clearly ~ something that in other sports is often referred to as‘in the zone ~and it happened here I felt I knew what the right moves were, ofien before I could figure out By this point I had worked out that the pedestrian 25...2xc6 26, Wes Wh4 is ‘wrong in view of 27, s2e31— an incred- ‘bly strong move which instantly tops all counterplay, and all that remains of Black’s position are the numerous weaknesses However, still did not quite see how sew cms 65to justify 25. Wh4—Tjust knewithad tobe played, However, in the 15 or so minutes that Gata needed for his deci sion, I saw the whole picture ~ and then, agonizingly, had to wait for 26.xb8, 26.243 is no longer an option: 26. Exe3! 27.fxe3 He8, and Black is totally winning, The machine suggests White’ best choice is 26.d2c1, which is good indication of just how much the tables have turned here ow ig ves 26...He2! My first idea was to play 26...{Le4 cre ing the threat of. Wg3 — but it fails to 27.W2 Des (27...Wigs 28. Wg5) 28.hxgd Wg3 29,We3+. Then 1 decided to e-check whether Thad any options after the immediate 26... Wg3 27.836, and, lo and behold, I spotted 27..fle2! - which satisfied me for a ‘moment, since after the best, 28.183 Sixi2+ 29.coh1 Wrxc3 30.bxe3 Oxc6, Black will be able to make the draw required by the match situation. But then came the final light-bulb moment, Why am I starting with Wg3? asked myself Once you spot 26...2e2, the actual re-checking of lines takes very little time ~ but then I had to wait, and wait, and wait, inter minably s it seemed then ~and hope that Gata would take on b8, because although by that point I knew I was no longer in any real danger of los ing the game, I wanted very badly to make a move like that on the board. My run towards the board when Isaw him reach for the knight must have been a peculiar sight 6 new ncn ‘For a long iiteten a Meets enna een Just a strong r1a8} ONY enter on Fritz who On acess the king and Ohdtriyrego) comm bul erent NRO MeaComatalits Piekesine Conta) Co tect TO aT ie is what she’s best at.’ 27.We3, There is nothing better. 27 .EXf2 28.0.06 Sxth+ 28,..Sxc6 would have been more pre: cise and mates sooner, but taking two rooks with checks is rarely a mistake. White resigned oon ‘And so, then came the wonderful Judit. “Yes. Only those who are too lazy haven't written about the score I ad against her until not long ago. It seems that at San Luis in 2005 the first game against her in my life But since then I've won a few more, so the dynamic has changed a lit tle, T was chuckling about this with my wife Olga, because it was around that time that Khalifman arrived in Khanty-Mansiysk and gave his famous interview. When he was Twon KHANTY-MANSIYSK asked what he thought about the phenomenon of Judit and her play aga in to pathetic political correctness then we can say it straight: Judit has always been able to play well against men who have problems in th sonal life, in their relations with the female sex, and so on. Veniaminov ich [Peter Svidler] used to have them; lately they've disappeared, and his score has become decent” My wife and I were very happy about those words! ‘Once again, I've played badly against her for so long and so regu. larly that there hasn't been anything new or exotic in my ph articular woman for a very long time. I know that it will be difficult for me and that I can be mated at any moment. The most important thing for mes that, and not whether she’s a man or a woman. I'm getting mated what does it matter who's sitting opposite me, if they're mating me! That's what really bothers me, and all the rest went in the usual way: as White I got a meaningless, colourless draw in 15 moves, What's more, Pd made an inst men, he said, “If we dont give not so much. The match effort to prepare, and that was the result But as Black... On the evenin the first game I was talking to Gus tafsson on Skype, and I said to him, I don't know what to play tome row, but there’ an idea that I should come out with something combative because we want a big game!” And I put that idea into practice. Ichose my first move about 10 minutes before the startof the game, and the sixth — already at the board. We were both very happy that we had an extremely shatp Sicilian position. In fact, as the years have gone by Judit has become a very decent technical player she has beaten Anand in quiet positional games and Karjakin inthe Berlin. For along time Polgar hasn't been just a strong improvement on Fritz ¥ only sees the king and nothing else But nevertheless, out of everythingshe can do in chess, attacking is what she's best at. ‘Tthink I gave her exactly what she wanted to get, but the position was still very unclear, and I'm not too bad at playing those kinds of posi- tions myself. At a certain point she overestimated her chances. She had full compensation for the pawn, but managed to defend, and she should have made a forced draw when she had that opportunity. But when she didn’t do that, in time trouble she ‘gradually put her pieces on the kinds Of squares that I suddenly realized: 1 have good free play fora win, [turned down the draw, and by the 40th move Talready had a completely winning position? Then came Ruslan Ponomatiov. ‘Also a person with whom it isnt all that easy. I lost to him in the semi- final of the World Championship in 2001. Back then he was playing just brilliantly! 1 remember all too well the feeling that I was being run over byatank’ Still, hat was @ long time ago... “Yes. Since then he's won more games against me than I've won against him, “And so, in the semi-final { was up against the latest person with whom Thad a long history of interacting. ‘The match followed the standard sce- nario. I got a nice position as White, it seemed to me, and for once I was happy with the results of the open- ing, but just a move later I thought for 25 minutes in search of a forced draw and apparently found one. I still hadn't checked it either Td eval- uated the position incorrectly in the first place, or the move Wall-f3 was horrible (almost certainly that was the case). But the game in which Td placed definite hopes ~ I certainly didn’t come out intending to make a draw as White — ended instantly, and not at all in the way Iwanted ito, “The second game was also very Interesting, a good game, not without “spirit”? ores By (ees 14,1 085 Ruslan Ponom: Peter Svidler Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 (6.2) By this point I was almost glad to be playing the potentially decisive game with black, having won my previous two. 1.04 Of6 2.04 g6 3.0¢3 d5 4. exdS xd 5.e4 x3 6.bxe3 Sg 7.Wads Somewhat unexpected, but, unfortu- nately for me, I managed to remember what my notes said, It is much more natural to play 7... 2d7 (oreven7...Wa7 for that matter), and of course I realized after thinking about this soberly for about 30 seconds that Ruslan would never play 8. W3. But my notes on the subject were so full of excitement and vigour... Even though there isa three per cent chance he might, I told myself, I must not let this wonderful opportunity slip. 8.Wa3 3%? Bah! ae Back-up plan - even in my somewhat addled state of mind, I would not have played 7....2d7 if I did not have some sort of an idea on how to meet 8. a3. Sane people over the years have pre- ferred 8...b6 9.13 5, but as is the norm in Griinfelds where Black plays --b6 too early, White will be slightly better if he manages to hold his cen- tre intact forlong enough to complete KHANTY-MANSIYSK. development, especially if his bishop lands on a6 (this theme will re-appear later). Also, the play is fairly non- imaginative, and White does not have to do much to have a pleasant and risk-free edge, something I was very keen to avoid. 9.213 eS AA slightly over-conservative choice, but certainly not a bad one. Thad expected 10.45 @e7, and now after the simple L1.c4 (11g h6 12. Skh4 g5 13.243 2g6 is quite unclear, and was one of the few salient points of 8.326) 11..0-0 12, £43 b6 13.62 {6 14.c5! (if Black is allowed to play 7-5, he will be fine) White is clearly better. After 10.2g5 f6 11.e3 We7 12,Wxe7+ Black has the additional option of 12...2ixe7 10...exd4 L.cxd4 We7 11..dg4 12, S0b5 did not really appeal tome. 12.Wxe7+ Oxe7 ig a Box 13.nb47! AA serious inaccuracy, but an under standable one -firsty, inducing ..b6 to acquire the a6-square for the bishop is sew cms 67very natural and normally very good, and, more importantly, it is not every day that you have to worry about Black castling queenside in the Griinfeld! After 13.1 6 (13.,0-0-0 14. 8! 6 15,Gc4 isa huge improvement on the game, and cannot be recommended for Black) 14.,2c4 Hd8 15.0-0 &g4 16.0e5 6 17.6 fxe6 18.£4 cB Black is hanging on, but it is very far from pleasant. 13...0-0-01 Now the play becomes very sharp ~ White centre is under some serious pressure, 14.204 15 15.085, Pretty much forced: after 15.¢5 h6 16. thd Sc6 Blackis atleast OK. 15...fx04 16.067 O45 During the game I felt I was doing very well here. Carefulish analysis shows White is still probably some- what better, but he needs to be very precise, 17.00 ‘The text-move is also quite good, but Ruslan connected it with a completely erroneous idea. 17.45 keeps the d-pawn, but at the expense of giving Black some time and killing off the e4 bishop: 17..e3+ 18, Sd2 (18.cbe2 “xe3 19,.dexe3 - 19. fxe3 Bht8 20.xd8 gd mate - 19... 825, and with the bishop doing very well on 66, Black has no worries) 18.. dd 19,0.xh8 Bxh8 20.0-0 He8 21 Efe1 a6, and once again I would feel uit safe here as Black. 17.851, on the other hand, was very strong, but you needed to see two very Important tactical points. ANALYSIS DIAGRAM. A) My idea was 17..06 18.xe4 xe3 19.fke3 Bde8, but it almost loses to 20.s8d2!!(not 20.246+ $c? 21,Oxe8+ Bxe8 22.943 Sixd4 23.04 86, after which, as I had correctly seen then, Black is almost winning); B) 17..b6 18.Bicl!, creating the huge threat of 19.44, and forcing Black to simplify: 18. Sixdd (18...2xd4 19.xc7 +1! soxc7 20.814+ He8 21.2d6+ Hd8 22. 2b5+ e823,4xa7 mate is the other point that js very easy to miss) 19. Axdd 228420 Sized. Had the pawns been ion g7 and h6 instead, I would fancy Blick here, but because of the ‘weakness of Blacks kingside, White is Deiter, as witness the following sample line: 20,.c5 21.@xh8 Exh8 22.43 sie 23nd dec? 24:h5 g5 25.h6. BT. 2xd4 “The computer's recommendation 17.. S2xd4 did not even occur to me. 18.0xd4? ‘There were two moves here which ‘would require a lot of precision from ‘me: Ruslan accompanied taking on 44 with a draw offer, which is becom- {nga recurring theme in my life, espe- cially when Lam in Khanty. After the 2010 Olympiad, people have queued up to explain why this isa profitable strategy against me. The most notable ‘was a lengthy treatise by Ivan Salgado Lopez in this magazine (see New In Chess 2010/7 ~ ed.) on why exactly newlogo. newdesign. newvibes. gmblogs. morefeatures. morenews.. morechess. chessvibes. chessvibes.com oonewincuss KHANTY-MANSIYSK24...65 22.3 a6 23.¢g2 jee ace wl | & | ASA x # 23.04? eo i ee a ee It was better to play 23...08c7 24.4 in Khanty-Mansiysk is not always a profitable strategy. ‘dé first - there is no reason to drive the bishop to c4, where it belongs any way. But I wanted to make sure that he felt offering me a draw in the deci- is better) 19.xd4 Oxd4 20.2xh8 the pawn never reaches f sive match of the Olympiad with 32. Qxd1 21.\f7 Ha7 22. Gc6, and Black 24.d5 be7 25.204 ede 26. pieces on the board was the correct only holds with very accurate play fea thing to do (and, oddly, it was —ifonly 22....c2 23.385 ¢5 24, 0d7+ dixd7 ‘Now itis somewhat tricky - the block- because I spent the next hour trying 25.Ixb7+ de6 26.2 g5+ &d6 27.061. —_adeis not that easy to break down. not to explode). But there was alsoa _Ad3+ 28. del cd, and the centralized 26...a4 brief side-note in Ruslan’s annota- fist of black pieces ensures that White After a lengthy think I decided against tions to our game played at the same _ has nothing better than 29,17 seb 26.8064 27,3 Sid 28, xd5 doxds Olympiad, which ended in a three- 30,0d8+ €d6 31.0174 29.Hle7 a4 30.87 a3, 1 suspect (and fold repetition in a somewhat better 18...0xd4 Talso had that feeling atthe board) position for me, While in hindsight it Now Black s quite clearly better. that Black is winning here, but I did ‘vas a mistake on my part, atthe time 19.0:xh8 Zixh8 20.248 bS not want to allow any ofhis pieces any 1 felt I was securing match victory for Starting the avalanche. There is very freedom, ‘our team, since Malakhov was doing little White can do about the queen. 27.43 5b8 perfectly fine against Efimenko, and side pawns rolling down the board. wwe were already leading +1 due to x Karjakins win over Eljanoy. Ruslan, } oe) non 1 repeated the moves because of my ® a) negative score and yoncsal diecast rv | a fort against him. This time, however, | d& £aoe there were no team considerations to | ; ‘ distract me. | , al 18.fe1, which would be a good test ™ os A SA) of bottle, since Black has to play 18... | AAR ex a Thi here and allow thescary-look [MH OS MES ing 19.926 Ext720,.9xb7+ debs, and 28.262? itturns out White has nothing better 24..2xe4 A very odd decision, White could, and here thana perpetual:21.S:xd4 @xd4 During the game I was mildly con should, have played 28.94, and Blacks 22,2d5+ dic8 23, 2xf7 e3 isnotreally cerned about 21.a4!? and trying to position looks beautiful, although its awinningattempt choose between 21..bxa‘l? and 21 not immediately obvious how to make And the even stronger 18.2fd1! &g4 a6 22.axb5 axb5 23.Hal c6!?. How. progress, since 28....2b5 allows 29. (18...c5 is clearly bad: 19.2d6+ $c7 ever, the machine points out that there ‘Be6+ dd7 30.245 (30,.2xb5+ Lxe6 20.2xb7; my intended 18...,ad fails is nothing wrong with just taking the 31.2xa4 ded5 is better for Black — but to 19.xd4! @xd4 20.864 &b8 rook: 23...!8xal 24.xal Se8!, and converting this edge will not be triv: 21.2ixd4 Hxd4 22.2xh8, and White Blacks almost winning. ial) and the forcing 30..b3 31.axb3 a3 KHANTY-MANSIYSK ew ivcmss 6932:b4 exbd 33.ixba Sf1+ 34.cbxf1 Exb4 35.86 leads to another posi- tion in which Black is better, but his ‘edge is unlikely to be enough for a win, 28.248 Now Black breaks through. 29.0d4 b3 30.axb3 axb3 31.64 d7 32.263 ‘When Ruslan played 28, 12e2, he had possibly missed that 32.22 fails to 32. dke6. 32...b2 33.263 Missing an extremely beautiful win: 33..itad! 34, Exb8 (34, Exd4+ c7!! is the point) 34...Saxd1 35. 843 dhc7 36.25 c4 37..x04 nd 38,204 3, and White loses the rook. But the text does not spoil anything - yet. 34.0xb3 9b5? Missing White’ reply ~ I was becom- {ng increasingly agitated by the prox- imity of the all-important final spot. Iwas better to play 34.5266 35.2 hd 36.xle1 ad7, and the king’s run toc3 ismuch faster than in the game. 35.2a2! be6 Hereitdawned on me thatthe planned 35...fad 36.d2 2b3 (or 35.62 36.Hd2 Sic) allows 37.2xb2, with 7onew inc ‘an immediate draw. I started look- ing for an alternative plan, and could ‘only come up with a rather slow-look- ing king march ~ which, however, included a litle one-move trap.. 36.202 ib6 374477 Not Ruslan’ day. After 37.%9g3 thas 38.4 Subd 39. bu! che} 40.21e2+ ob3 41.2d2 1 ‘would have to prove Black can break through - there is no obvious solu- tion, and in order to push the c-pawn, Twould have to move the bishop away from d4, allowing the rook a lot of freedom. But now it’s suddenly all over. 37...006+ ‘The bishop reaches the bI-h7 diago- nal, and the win is now very simple. 38.03 sed 39.0d1 5 40.5e1 2d3 41.067 { could stop and re-check everything here, and finally settled on: 41..04 42.0107 63 43.205+ 43, Bxd4 c2 44,fixd3 worried me fora while due to my having a lot of previ- ‘ous problems with W vB endgames but then I reatized that I could play KHANTY-MANSIYSK 44..c1W! here, and after the inevita ble Wal White won't even be able to reach Wy 43...5265 And White resigned ~ the pawns are unstoppable, oon So, now we've reached the final! ‘Sanya and I discussed the final when {twas all over. He said that in the first ‘game, not counting the “provoca- tive” opening, at a certain point all of Black’ play followed the best line. ‘That says something, as it means that ry head was working very well. Game two carit be considered a game. Once again, people might think that after winning one game I decided to dry up the rest of the match, But I didn’t ‘come out planning to make a draw! However, I immediately messed up the move order and instead of one position I got a completely differ- ent one, in which to avoid making things worse I had to do what I did. Obviously the move a2-a4 meant that I didn’t want to get a position ‘with opposite-side casting and play for mate, but my plan wasn't to make a draw in 15 moves at all. Well, why ‘would 1 want that? The match was ong! Ifit had consisted of two games, then of course I would have played for adraw. “Inthe third game I surprised Sanya in the opening, I had been preparing this variation of the Spanish with the move 3...2c5 for days, and he was apparently surprised at the board. But when [talked with him after the game it became clear that he knew considerably more there than I did. He was let down by the feeling that we already discussed in the example of my second match with Kamsky: he was looking for a forced win. And he didnt find one. As a result he got position that was also very unpleas- ant for Black, but... Once again, Sanya says that from a certain point I made a Jong series of almost only moves. “The last game... I think that from a certain point I redeemed myself with my play for 3.2b5+, 2b5-e2 andeverything that I did in the opening. Thave to admit honestly: my hands ‘were shaking a little! After all, it was a big event, a big potential success in my career, and I just had to “sit it ‘out” in one last game! Not go crazy in a single individual game! To be hon est, planned on playing some kind of Najdorf again. But [thought that out of the many openings in which Sanya could outplay me, the Najdorfwas the least likely, as I could give check with the bishop. And the check has such a reputation that after it you inevita- bly get draw. So I thought any other ‘opening was more likely. ‘When he confidently made the moves 1...c5 and 2..d6, though, I sat for about three minutes thinking about how to play from there. Then I thought: if go 3.d4 and something doesn't work out for me, I'l be rack- ing my brains, why didn't I give check? Romance is romance, image is image, but it's important to demonstrate a result sometimest Having got so close, I wanted to win the tournament, afet all! Asa result, by the 15th move I go} the kind of position in which it was simply a miracle that White wasnt far worse. An ideal situation for Black: all the pieces on the board, very rich play ~he had a million plans. I some- how managed to stabilize things, and not give Black anything to eat imme- diately, after which I pulled myself together and began just playing chess. Starting from a certain point, I again can't reproach myself for anything. Its still nice in the last game of the World Cup, in which you have to get a draw as White, to make the move 26.2xe61 Wik Be” aa ‘Tm pleased with myself. And the “silicon” says that this was a correct sacrifice. The computer confirms that ‘when the pawns reached c7 and d6 1 had the opportunity to get an enor- ‘mous advantage, but I saw the posi- tion that it considers winning, and iidiit tink it was winning, For eight minutes J, thought it was terrible ‘not to Wit! the piece back immedi- Atedy, becatse if, God forbid, nothing ‘came of this, a rather comical situa tion would arise. Youtd sit and think: “But I could have gone {a3-b2 on the 34th move and won the knight back! Why on earth didn’t I eat it?” That ‘would be painful, [a be tormented for years. “Of course, fd been absolutely cer- tain that Ihad a different continuation that won, I wouldn't have thought for a second before going that way. But since I thought that the position there ‘was unclear, and Id found how to win the piece back, I won it back? What was i ike to meet a person in the final with whom you had con- sulted ‘en route’, you'd helped each ‘other? Did that place any limito- jons on you? “The limitations were exclusively ‘opening ones. When Sanya won the semi-final we had dinner together for the last time before the end of the tournament and decided: a) thank God, we don't have to fight KHANTY-MANSIYSK for third place or a place in the Candi dates tournament; b) the tournament is already a suc: cess, so welll play calmly and see who gets what. The situation isn't ideal, but... We've known each other for many years, and I'm sure this match ‘wont affect our relationship! What are your ambitions now? “Ttwill be funny to say even now that 1 dont have any particular ambitions. ‘Considering the difficult relations I've hhad with World Cups... tS not that Pd finally drawn a line under my strug gle for the World Championship, but thought that this World Cup was per- haps my last chance in the near futur. Before the start I thought that about 20-25 people had real chances of get- ting into the Candidates’ tournament. It would be funny to claim that even now, after this win, I haver't changed anything, I'm not going to prepare, but just show up at the Candidates, and my head will be throbbing there. Its ‘obvious why it will be throbbing: the kind of people will be gathering that if Idont do anything with my repertoire for White it will be very difficult “To all appearances the autumn will be completely crazy for me. I have to finish this little marathon, then I have to sit down and make some kind of plan for the next year, so that the Nth chance that I've been given isnt fool ishly squandered w 7”EC twas an innoc expression, ut tered malice or the slighte of irony, but it stunned me. ‘Old play- ers like you.” Was I really old? Somebody obviously thought so... Ten years later, in San Luis, Argentina, in 2005, I reminded Veselin Topa. lov of his words, The vigorous new World Champion, just 30 years of age, had reached the exact chronologi cal milestone at which he had previ ously deemed me to have entered dot age. Understandably, he had forgotten ever making this remark which, be ing a touch hurtful, was rather more ‘memorable to me than to him, but we laughed together at the tactlessness of youth I suppose I had become acutely conscious of the passage of years even earlier ~ at the VSB tournament in Amsterdam, in May 1993, to be pre cise. While glancing through the pro gramme I suddenly realized that, at the venerable age of 27, | was already the oldest participant. Admittedly there were only four players in total, but nevertheless asone accustomed 0 being described in my youth point of tedium ~as. ‘prodigy, it was significant Tam now the oldest player in tour: larity. Where without trace tothe rnaments with great reg 7arewincmss did all my contemporaries go? Some retired: in Valery Salov's case, ab- surdly soon, in Garry Kasparov’, only after conquering all before him, More often though, players don't leave the game but instead descend into me- diocrity. Andrei Sokolov’ bright star dimmed so long ago that the younger generation could be forgiven for being unaware he was ever a Candidates’ Fi nalist. Rather more typical, however, is the gradual decline of, say, a Jaan Ehlvest. He still plays a fair game, of course, but nowhere near his level of the late 1980s. It once used to be said that chess players peaked around the age of 35. To verify this one must not rely on ever-inflating Elo ratings, which grossly distort comparisons between the different aeons — as far too m people are apt to forget — but instead turn to rankings. I will leave it to the statisticians to make the precise cal culations, but | am fairly certain that the apex ofa player’ career comes a lot sooner these days. I suspect my own career trajectory is not untypical: Tentered the top ten as @ 21-year-old, but exited for the last time, in 1997, at the age of 32. My best years were somewhere in the middle. As a hu ‘man being, a man in his 40s is merely middle-aged; as a politician, perhaps even considered relatively young: but asa chess player one isa veritable di nosaur. How curious then that the 2012 World Championship will be played between a 42-year-old Indian and an Israeli challenger nud; 44, In many ways this is simply a re HoT sroRies ld Men turn fo the status quo ante, Take af mous tournament like Montreal 1979, for example: no less than four of the ten participants were in their forties. Tal won (together with Karpov) and Larsen ended bottom. Portisch and Spassky finished, roughly speaking, in the middle. Incredibly Efim Gel ler wasa doddery 54 when he won the Soviet Championship that same ye Indeed, oldies were very much part of the furniture in that era I recently asked the Dutch sage Genna Sosonko whether he thought that next year's Anand-Gelfand gi gantomachy and the continued (er ratic) genius of Vasily lvanchuk were signs of a Jurassic revival, He imme diately shook his head. No, Genna opined, they are just part ofa particu arly brilliant generation, Perhaps hav ing grown up in the pr and being young enough to success fully adapt to new technology, when it came along, gave them an advantage. Afterall, there are more ways to ana Iysea position than flicking on Houd: ini, But whatever the reason, they are an exception. Chess is, in essenc game for children. Computers have nd towards youth because they now have an immensely powerful learning tool at their dis posal and can absorb vast amounts of form exacerbated the mn extremely quickly Given that writers, say, often con. tinue improving into thei is it that soon? After all, it is hardly the most physical of sports, Bodily deteriora fies, why ess players tend to fade so tion matters, but less so than is com:monly assumed. For example, Mikhail a very long time. However, if you are managed to overcome an entire dec- Tal was probably the unhealthiest normal person, unprepared to work ade of rust through (suddenly?) re man I have met in my entire life. like a dog on a daily basis, can you at _ gaining his appetite for the game. Itis once saw him being physically car least mitigate the disadvantage? important to remember that one usu- ried by Vladimir Bagiroy, in Subotica believe so. At the Dresden Olym- ally begins chess because it is great 1987, crying out in pain. His trousers piad, in 2008, Yury Razuvaev offered fun, not because it is a smart career were hitched up and his leg, which an excellent piece of advice, which is move. Not long ago I asked Sergey clearly had no proper blood circula- applicable to anyone suffering from Tiviakov whether he got bored play tion, was literally blue. It was a ghastly acute lazy-middle-aged-git-syn- ing the same openings all the time. sight that will be forever etched in my drome. ‘Nigel, you ought to play more, He candidly admitted that he did. In memory. Nevertheless, despite being chess, as in love, alittle experimenta- a chain smoker, a drinker and miss ing various internal organs, the great Latvian remained a formidable oppo nent up until practically the end of his life So if itis not primarily a ques. tion of physical fitness, what isi? 1 think John Nunn hit the nail oon the head when he said to me ‘many years ago that loss of mo- tivation is by far the biggest fac- tor in the slide from the peaks. People get married, have kids, ‘and priorities change. They often just cannot be bothered to do the stupendous amount of work nec- essary to maintain their level - let alone improve it. As the saying goes, “Ifyou fail to prepare, prepare to fal. Let's be frank ~ chess is a wonderful ‘game to play, but some important as tion does not come amiss. Dabbling in something (or someone) new is not without risk, but overall one is enriched by the experience - or so Tam told. Tiviakow, of course, has his own method of maintain ing hunger - by visiting new countries, a passion which also share, Chess tourism is oft derided, but it log cally makes a lot of sense If playing in the same cold and windy place for the nth time makes you prone to de- pression, it might be wise to consider playing somewhere else. If one is dropping pieces in ‘Thailand, atleast there exist some compensations: a swim, a green curry and a visit to the massage par- ier Ome re ral ete Petroff, is a hell of a lot more interesting than standing in a inert queue for three hours.’ pects of studying - such as rote mem- our will soon perk you up in time for ‘risation of sharp (computer-gener he said. Yury went on to explain that the next game, A good mood does ated) variations — are desperately dull he knew very well from experience not necessarily guarantee good re- Unfortunately if you don't do it, in the the process by which, as time passed, sults, but the converse is almost in. Jong run you are doomed. the unwillingness to study increased. variably true Tike to think that the Russian chess He correctly surmised that (witha few Recently I teased Hikaru Nakamura hegemony was. in part, due tothe fact exceptions) the only time your col- that he had been very adequately re that there was bugger-all else to do in ‘umnist is willing to work hard on his _ placed by the veteran Yasser Seirawan the Soviet Union. Analysing the King’s game is when he is at a tournament, _at the World Team Championship in Indian, or even the Petroff isa hell of Ergo, the key to maintaining a rea- China. He laughed with the cocki- a Jot more interesting than standing sonable level of play is to keep oneself ness of youth, but Yaz, rolling back ina bread queue for three hours. Now constantly match-ft the years, then proceeded to put in a that this glorious edifice of commu: Another important component to splendid 2773 performance. Ordinar- nism has crumbled into history, other staying in form is to actually enjoy _ily I would have been delighted wi ‘enticements have appeared to lure the oneself. I was reminded of this after _the result of my friend and colleague ‘weak-willed away from chess monas- seeing a photo of a beaming Mat- until it suddenly dawned on me that ticism. If you are a monomaniac like thew Sadler triumphing with an in- the punk upstart had robbed me of Viktor Kortchnoi, you can, of course, credible 8/9 in Oslo. In his case, the — the sobriquet the ‘oldest player in the stave off the onset of chess senility for amazing English comeback kid has _ top 100: What an outrage sHoRT STORIES sewincss 73Whe Botvinnik with a long wer tivities, the main act being a rapid exhibition tournament with the tour best players on the planet that was won with superior ease by World Champion Vishy eLICLIC ra Re elTelel echt elke ! SOT patrols an nea ReItareUeS P his country toa global hegemony that Playing with great ease World Charm cone preresetnthe day that Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kram- nik unveiled in per fect unison a new commemorative plaque of Mik hail Moiseev- ich Botvinnik on the f of the C Chess Club, the weather in Moscow was gor- sgeous. The sky was, adorned by impos ingclouds that brought to mind 17th-century Dutch paintings, but the sun was in charge and everyone present on Gogolevsky Boulevard was bask: ing in its soothing rays. That was remarkable, as the previous day had been grey and rainy, and the same drab weather would return the next day. Was Mikhail Moiseevich, or ‘the Patriarch’ as he is often called, reveal ing yet another of his hidden talents? He probably wasnt. The fine weather was the result of a clever idea of the leaders of the Russian Chess Federa- itwasa sunny tion, who had decided to have the cer and dry dey when emony on Moscow Day; the holiday Vishy Anand and celebrating the city’s foundation with Vladimir Kramnik parades, concerts, performances and unveiled anew what have you. Together with Victory Day and Russia Day, Moscow Day is one of three privileged days when the local authorities try to guaran tee dry and sunny weather using the Soviet-era technique of seeding rain clouds with dry ice in order to prevent these clouds from spoiling the festvi ties. At the precious sum of five mil- lion dollars for three days the tech- nique is not cheap and there are no guarantees, but it was amazing to see how this time, too, it worked again In spite of imposing clouds commemorative Botvinnik on the facade of the Central Chess Club on Gogolevsky Boulevard. Manipulating unknown forces, or at least forces that you appear not to have complete control of, isa common wish cof people in power. Likewise, the Rus sian Chess Federation has no doubts that they remain the superpower in moscow chess, but they crave the successes that should come with that status. Fol- lowing lacklustre Olympiad perform ances (Bled 2002 was the last time they won!), the disaster at the World ‘Teams in Ningbo again shook their confidence. But they feel thatthe tide is turning and the al-Russian final at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk was welcomed with relief. To regain the supremacy that almost felt like a natural right during the height of Botvinnik’s career, the Russian Chess Federation is sparing no effort. With their heavyweight political backing, getting money is hardly an issue, and with unlimited ambitions the new leadership tries to give chess at al lev elsaboost Ilya Levitoy, the young new Presi dent, believes that chess has lost much of its popularity and should try to win back fans and spectators with events that appeal to both the play ersand the audience. As one of FIDE’s vice-presidents he is involved in the plans to ‘modernize’ chess that have been met with criticism and suspi cion from those that fear that cl cal chess is under attack. In a recent interview, Levitov compared classical chess to opera and didn't hide the fact that this is not the music he listens to :most ofthe time. He also wants to see rock chess, chess that will draw lots of young enthusiasts. He tried to sure his critics by stating that beauti ful classical tournaments like the Tal Memorial will not go away. A prom ise he intends to keep if we look at the formidable line-up of this year’s edi tion. In November, the four partici pants in the Botvinnik Memorial will return to Moscow, where they will be joined by Karjakin, Ivanchuk, Naka ‘mura, Gelfand, Svidler and Nepomni- achtchi to form the strongest classical tournament of 2011 ‘The Botvinnik Memorial was a first attempt by the RCF to stage an exhi bition aimed at entertaining a broad range of chess lovers. From various sides it was pointed out that it was ew incu 75doubtful whether a rapid event was a ations. Anand saw his rhea Pyevaly Sadd oxb2 23.002 befitting tribute toa stern traditional- white game against Inv uel SUELO ad 24.0xe5 06 ist who was known toloathe rapid and Carlsen stopped by Carlsen. 25.024 Oxe4 26. blitz tournaments. Of course, these Levitov when it had 5 > hxgd x03 27.5et Gries hada poins buton thewhole become clear to the [AAUROENEREA REE 18 Draw vethstve WhoknowsifBorinnie aiouay zalsplayed [AE wouldn't have developed a taste for the opening. While P ev Pe ee moment of discom. wodcealneabeitaberion. foettan potas) MB) aa ae BOOT reir Anand expe dred years old? And perhaps he did ter tried as best as he " Sate rienced, In the other play pid gumesthatwe dont know could to say some. lana MAO cans be never ‘of. After all, the famous story that he thing sensible about ‘any danger, and win- only played blitz once in his life (ona the position, he saw ning three and draw: train in 1929") was debunked by Mark Aronian and Kramnik ing the others he took amnik was [ie anov shortly before the Memo- from the corner of his eye watching first place well ahead of Aronian and rial ata (rapid!) tournament for vet- him from a distance, almost rolling Kramnik. His best effort, his black erans in Suzdal in honour of Botvin- off their chairs in amusement over his win against Aronian, you will find in nik. Taimanov revealed that in 1947, _ predicament. the games section further down, with when he was helping Botvinnik with A couple of moves later the follow- notes by the winner. his preparations for the 1948 World _ ing position was reached: Carlsen sensationally finished in last ‘Championship, his boss invited him place, ofering interesting study mate- rial for those interested in the com: bination of physical fitness and good results. On the first day he was trou bled by a cold and drew all three of his games. The next day he fel much bet ter and lostall three games, probably 4 ‘unique sequence in his career. to a secret session of 10 blitz games ‘one evening. Taimanov won 7-3 and ‘was asked never to tell anyone about these games Inviting Anand, Carlsen, Aronian and Kramnik was a guarantee for lively chess, but to further enliven the show ‘One of the games Carlsen lost a novelty was introduced that was |& é caused some controversy. In his black thought up by Kramnik. Shortly ater “(EQ game against the Norwegian, Aro- the opening, the tournament director ‘Anand-Carlsen rian was in an inspired mood and could stop the games and while one position after 21.03, sacrificed two exchanges to win an of the players got a headphone so as exciting game. ‘There certainly were not to hear what was said, his oppo- Here Carlsen played 24...I(6 This moments in the complications where nent was asked to explain to the public allows White to escape to a draw. He Carlsen could have defended better, howe assessed the positionand what would have been in dire straits af- but the overall reaction to Aronian’s his plans were. After he had done so, ter 21...xb2, but Carlsen probably dashing win was one of admiration he got the headphones and his oppo- thought that after 22.2g5 h6 23,047 and praise. Commentator Evgeny nent was asked to do the same. These uh 24.f% White still had some ran Bareev was so impressed that he breaks were certainly revealing, but dom counterplay. However, Black came running after the winner shout- they could also lead to awkward situ- could prevent this with 22..g6. 22. ing ‘Aronian, Aronian!’ and when the DVORETSKY’S ENDGAME MANUAL The third edition of a Modern Classic - NOW IN STOCK any chess book can make you a better player, this is it.” - GM Jacob Aagaard ee ee or at newinchess.com 76new inc moscowArmenian turned around Bareev got on his knees, asked if he could shine his shoes, and not waiting for an answer, immediately set to work. Other people, at a safe distance from Moscow, were less impressed Writing for The Weok in Chess, Mark Crowther, who had been listening to Bareev's commentary online, thought his praise was ‘way over the top, mak. ing one wonder if chess can be made attractive at all If games such as these dont get you fired up only because an engine reveals a number of imperfec tions, then what will? For some rea son the games could not really please Crowther (Anand’s white win over Aronian ‘mi complete garbage’) and it is hard to understand why. A possible explana: tion may be that he was just too busy (the World Cup had just started too) to fully appreciate the games, as may be gleaned from one of the tweets he sent ‘out around the time when he attacked Bareev: ‘Going slightly mad with all this chess. And I have a mag to write! Anyway, it is sad to see how for many people engines take away the joy of the game. How much more fun would they have if they followed the games with their own brains instead Of seeing these games as some kind of background noise to the computer assessments they are staring at. But they, too, get a second chance at the end of this article, where they can try to relive Aronian’s achievement with his own (critical) comments! Apart from this rapid tournament and the women’ tournament, won by Vic toria Cmilyte ahead of Elina Danie lian, Tatiana Kosintseva and Humpy Koneru, there were various other enjoyable activities. At the prize- giving, a game of Botvinnik against Smyslov was demonstrated with the active participation of the grand masters present, and souvenirs were presented to the youngsters that had done well inthe simul that afternoon, With an eye to the future, the feder ation had invited close to a hundred Magnus Carlson patiently waits as grandma: ee rere young players from all over the coun: try to come to Moscow and watch the games. When I saw them on the first day, I was inadvertently reminded of the old Florencio Campomanes trick (fill an almost empty b of school kids), but it soon dawned on me that these boys and girls really knew how to play. And in ease the players had their doubts about the chess level of all those kids with blue Botvinnik T-shirts in the hall, they found out when each of them faced 10 promises on the final day. Only Anand emerged with a clean score, Carlsen and Aronian spilled half a point and Kramnik had to allow two draws. As a foretaste of the future we will show you two games of boys that, according to Bareev, will ‘no doubt” become grandmasters, David Para. vyan, rated 2192, is 13 years old, lives in Moscow and claimed third place in the European Championship U-12 last year. This is how he drew against Carlsen, all with a bus PU9.10~B00 ‘Magnus Carlsen David Paravyan ‘Moscow simul 2011 Led d6 2.04 216 3.13 26 4.2c3 moscow 2g7 5.003 a6 6.Wd2 b5 7.0-0.0 b4 8.2\ce2 c5 9.dxc5 Was 10.cib1 Se6 11./0c1 dxe5 12. Sih6 0-0 13..axg7 xg? 14./ige2 Qe6 15.04 dd 16.dxe6+ 2x06 17.264 d4 18.063 We7 19.We3 05 20.h4 h6 24.24 7 22.045 Had8 23.0xd4 exd4 24. Wd2 b6 25.f4 ixd5 26.exd5 Exd5 27.fxe5 Wxe5 28.85 h5 29. het Wg3 30.2e4 Hfd8 34.Wxb4 x Ww eo AWA | vine 31...03 32.cxd3 Bxd3 33.061 12 34.Wc3+ Wxe3 35.0xc3 Eh2 36.a4 Zdd2 37.2b3 Sdg2 38.514 5f2 39.0bb4 a5 40.Lxf2 Exf2 41.204 55 42.b4 axb4 43.90b2 16 44.5¢7+ sf8 45.816 Exf6 46.i:b3 we8 47.05 248 48. ed g5 49.nxg5 Xg6 50.0oxb4 Exg5 S1.a6 Dg 52.eb5 Gb1+On the TPI Chess Clinic ‘2 DVDs Elementary Chess Combinations aM] The Flexible Mice) The Wonderful fee i 1e Wonder 2 b A Batl Winawer WN combined Bent Larsen: SS H | www.newinchess.com 53.06 Hal 54.ub7 Zbi+ 55.cta7 h4 56.Eixh4 soc8 57.5h7 Bb2 58.267 Ee2 And drawn aftera few more moves. ‘Maxim Vavulin is also 13 years old, is rated 2242, and he also lives in Moscow. Earlier this year he took third place in the Russian U-14 Championship. He made Vladimir Kramnik sweat BI 18.6-A57 Vladimir Kramnik Maxim Vavulin ‘Moscow simul 2011 1.44 216 2.04 5 3.45 bS 4.042 bxe4 5.e4 c3 6.bxc3 g6 7.04 dé 8.0gf8 g7 9.lb1 0-0 10.843 Obd7 11.0-0 g4 12.202 “ges 13.2xe5 ixe5 14.f4 247 15.013 DbG 16.03 e6 17.dxe6 Sxe 18.We2 We7 19.12 2d7 20. 043 Gad 21.Wd2 Bfe8 22.0n4 WeT 23.65 Ad7 24.cchd Oc6 25. Ebed HabS 26..ig3 Xb2 27.Wf4 O16 28.04 OhS 29.Wed Wh7 30.txg6 fxg6 31.5 h6 32.7 xed 33.xd6 ixg2+ 34.dig1 Od4+ 35.012 Exet 36,Wxed Wd7 37..ixd4 xf 38. Sxb2 ixd3 39.We5 18 40.c:f2 Gxed 44.Wh8+ 2g8 42.Wxhe+ eT 43.504 WIS+ 44.%003 sidS 45.Wh7+ &d8 46.Wh8+ we7 47.Wh7+ ded8 Draw. On a final note, let’s briefly return to the man in whose honour the events were organized. At the initial press conference the players were asked to say a few words about Botvinnik. Vishy Anand felt privileged that he moscow had met the sixth World Champion and recalled his impressions from 1992, when Botvinnik and Smys lov were guests of honour in Linares, where Anand was playing a match against Ivanchuk. With a broad smile ‘Anand remembered that every time Botvinnik spoke, Smyslov would look like a small boy, in spite of the fact that he had beaten his rival in a world championship match Although he was only four years old when Botvinnik died in 1995, Mag. nus Carlsen also used the opportu: nity to take the microphone. Having explained that obviously he had never met Botvinnik he said that he would like to add that ‘contrary to many young colleagues I do believe that it makes sense to study the classics? SL10.2-D94 Levon Aronian Vishy Anand Moscow 2011 (2) 1.04 d5 2.04 06 3.23 f6 4.03, 86 Played on a whim. The Schlechter Variation has been kind of topical lately. For instance, I faced it a couple of times in Nanjing last year 5.218 2¢7 6.h3 And of course Levon went for his h3-system, which he uses a lot 6...0-0 7.243 a6 8.0-0 bd7 Now we are mixing lots and lots of plans and we end up with a hybrid