openings 222 | April 3n 2013

what’s hot and what’s not?

XIIIIIIIIY
Carlsen qualifies for 9r+lwqkvlntr0
9zpp+p+pzpp0

World Championship
9-+n+p+-+0
9+Lzp-+-+-0
9-+-+P+-+0
9+-+-+N+-0
9PzPPzP-zPPzP0
IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris
9tRNvLQmK-+R0
xiiiiiiiiy
While Kramnik staged a phenomenal comeback, it was Frequency
Carlsen who came out on top after a highly dramatic last
round thanks to a higher number of wins). In this issue we
cover rounds 10 to 14, the finish of an epic tournament.

what'shot?
Score
In Grischuk-Kramnik White lost the Berlin Endgame because of his weak
b3 pawn, a typical scenario that we described in CVO 137. Carlsen had
very mixed results with 1.e4. In our Game of the Week he beat Gelfand in
the Rossolimo, but he lost both a Taimanov turning into a French structure
against Ivanchuk and a hectic Ruy Lopez in the last round against Svidler
(see below). Kramnik also took excessive risks in the last round and lost
his Pirc against Ivanchuk (see below). Svidler beat Ivanchuk with the
French Advance Variation.

Grischuk-Aronian was an interesting Slav with 4.g3. In Radjabov-

Grischuk White created serious pressure in a 4.£c2 d5 Nimzo-Indian,
but in Radjabov-Carlsen Black managed to win a long tedious ending
resulting from 4.£c2 d6 when it mattered most. Aronian and Kramnik
both managed to beat Radjabov by avoiding the main lines of the King's
Indian. Ivanchuk got a reasonable position with his Budapest Gambit
against Aronian, but his eternal time trouble spoiled everything.

In Gelfand-Svidler White was better in an Anti-Grünfeld, but lost his

advantage along the way. Below we take a look at Kramnik's fascinating
novelty 5.e3!? in the Fianchetto Grünfeld against Gelfand. Radjabov- Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only
Svidler, Ivanchuk-Gelfand, Grischuk-Carlsen and Gelfand-Grischuk
were all more or less quickly drawn in the Grünfeld.

After 8 rounds, Carlsen and Aronian were both on +3 without losses, but in the following 4 rounds Aronian lost control, risked too much
and lost 3 games. Against both Gelfand (see last week) and Svidler (see p.4), a black set-up with f5 didn't turn out to be very reliable.
One feels that a more disciplined approach, keeping the pawn on f7, would have kept Aronian in the
race. In round 12 with white against Kramnik (a Semi-Tarrasch), Aronian went all in and lost (see below). what’snot?
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not?
Not giving up the bishop pair
The modern way of playing the Rossolimo is with an early ¥xc6, but since Carlsen had a
very bad experience with it against Radjabov, he kept his ¥ against Gelfand and produced
his best game of the tournament.
gameoftheweek Carlsen - Gelfand
Carlsen,M (2872) - Gelfand,B (2740)
FIDE Candidates (London), 27.03.2013
B30, Sicilian, Rossolimo
1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 e6 4.0–0
In the 7th round Carlsen had tried 4.¥xc6
without success, since after 4...bxc6 5.b3
d6 (5...e5!? was heavily tested in the match
Anand-Gelfand, which we covered in CVO
178 and 179.) 6.0–0 ¤e7 7.e5 ¤g6 8.exd6
¥xd6 9.¤c3 e5 10.¦e1 0–0 11.d3 f5 12.¥a3
¥e6 13.¤a4 £e7 14.c4 ¦ad8, Black had a very
comfortable position in Carlsen-Radjabov,
London 2013 (CVO 221).
4...¤ge7 5.¦e1 a6
During the Grand Prix in Tashkent last year,
Gelfand opted for 5...¤d4 but soon got into
serious trouble in his game versus Caruana
(CVO 205).
6.¥f1 d5 7.exd5
Another 7th round encounter went 7.d3 d4
8.e5 ¤d5 9.c4 dxc3 10.bxc3 ¦b8 11.¥b2 b5
12.¤bd2 ¥e7 13.¤e4 0–0 with rather doubled-
edged play in Grischuk-Gelfand, London
2013.
7...¤xd5 8.d4 ¤f6 9.¥e3 cxd4
9...¤g4? is premature, and now in Maximov-
Kryvoruchko, Poltava 2008, White could have
played 10.¥g5! posing Black some concrete
problems, as 10...¥e7 is met by 11.¥xe7 £xe7
12.d5!. Another option is 9...¥e7 10.dxc5 £xd1
11.¦xd1 ¤g4 12.¥f4 ¥xc5 13.¥g3 h5 which
led to rather complicated play in Sutovsky-
Radjabov, Novi Sad 2009.
10.¤xd4 ¥d7 11.c4 ¤xd4
A more flexible continuation is 11...¥e7
12.¤c3 0–0 13.¤b3 ¤e5 14.¥g5 ¤g6 15.£d4
£c7 16.¦ad1 which was seen in Fressinet-
Nataf, Reykjavik 2006 and now after 16...¥c6!
17.¥e3 ¦fd8 18.£b6 £b8! Black remains in a
pleasant position.
12.¥xd4 ¥c6 13.¤c3 ¥e7 14.a3 a5
Also after 14...0–0 15.b4 White has an edge.
15.£d3!
More accurate than 15.£d2?! which allows
Black to take advantage of the temporarily
unprotected £ with 15...¥c5!.
15...0–0 16.¦ad1 £c7 17.¥e5 £b6 18.£g3
¦fd8 19.¦xd8+
Carlsen spent quite some time trying to make
19.¤d5 work, which he finally rejected in
view of 19...exd5 20.¥d4 ¥c5 21.¥xf6 ¥xf2+!
22.£xf2 £xf2+ 23.¢xf2 gxf6 with approximate
equality.
19...£xd8 20.¦d1 £b6
Gelfand based his hopes on the activation
of his £. Perhaps better would have been
20...£f8 21.b4 axb4 22.axb4 ¤h5 23.£h3
¥xb4 24.£xh5 f6 25.¥d3 g6 and Black seems
to be doing fine, e.g. 26.£g4 fxe5 27.£xe6+
£f7 28.£xe5 and the pair of ¥s compensate
for the § minus.
21.¥d4 £b3 22.¦d3 £c2
22...¦d8? fails to 23.¤d5!.
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-+-+k+0
9+p+-vlpzpp0
9-+l+psn-+0
9zp-+-+-+-0
9-+PvL-+-+0
9zP-sNR+-wQ-0
9-zPq+-zPPzP0
9+-+-+LmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
23.b4! axb4 24.axb4 ¤h5
Black removes the ¤, since both 24...¥xb4
25.¥xf6 and 24...¦a1 25.¥xf6! ¥xf6 26.£b8+
lose on the spot.
25.£e5 ¥f6
Gelfand originally intended to proceed with
25...¦a1 but at the end of the forcing sequence
26.¤d1 ¦xd1 27.¦xd1 £xd1 28.£b8+ ¥f8
29.¥c5 h6 30.£xf8+ ¢h7 he found that White
retains a clear advantage by means of 31.£d6!
but not 31.£xf7? which loses to 31...¥e4!.
26.£xh5 ¥xd4 27.¦xd4 £xc3 28.£a5! ¦f8
Obviously the £ can't be taken: 28...¦xa5?
29.¦d8+ ¥e8 30.¦xe8#.
29.£b6 e5 30.¦d1
222 | April 3n 2013
Trading ¦s off with 30.¦d8 g6 31.¦xf8+ ¢xf8
would have been inferior: 32.b5 ¥e4 33.f3
¥f5 and Black is still in the game, because
34.£xb7? runs into 34...£e3+ 35.¢h1 £e1!
and White has to give up his ¥.
30...g6 31.b5 ¥e4 32.£f6 h5
Evidently Black didn't want to allow any mating
threats after 32...¥f5 33.h4 ¥e6 34.h5.
33.h4 ¥f5 34.¦d5 £c1 35.£xe5 ¥e6 36.¦d4
¦a8 37.£e2!
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-+-+k+0
9+p+-+p+-0
9-+-+l+p+0
9+P+-+-+p0
9-+PtR-+-zP0
9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-+QzPP+0
9+-wq-+LmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
37...¢h7
37...¦a1 can be strongly met by 38.¦d8+
¢h7 39.£e5! £xf1+ 40.¢h2 and the white ¢
escapes from the checks.
38.¦d1 £c3 39.£e4 ¦a1
39...¦a2 40.£xb7 £c2 41.£f3!.
40.¦xa1 £xa1 41.c5 £c3 42.£xb7
After the game Carlsen confessed that
42.b6 £xc5 43.£xb7 would have been more
accurate, not allowing Black's following move.
42...£e1!?
The Norwegian had only counted on 42...£xc5
43.b6 ¥d5 44.£d7! ¢g7 45.b7 and Black has
to give up his ¥.
43.b6
43.£e7! £c1 44.b6 ¥c4 45.b7 £xf1+ 46.¢h2
¥d5 47.f3 ¥xb7 48.£xf7+ ¢h8 49.£xb7+–.
43...¥c4 44.£f3 £xf1+
More stubborn would have been 44...¥xf1
even though after 45.£xf7+ ¢h8 46.£f6+ ¢h7
47.¢h2 £e8 48.£f4! White still has a technical
win.
45.¢h2 £b1 46.b7 £b5 47.c6 ¥d5 48.£g3
1–0
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 222 | April 3n 2013

thisweek’sharvest
Ruy Lopez, 6.d3 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 a6 4.¥a4 ¤f6 5.0–0 ¥e7 6.d3 b5 7.¥b3 d6 8.a3 0–0 9.¤c3 ¥b7 10.¥d2
XIIIIIIIIY £d7 11.a4 ¤d8 12.axb5 axb5 13.¦xa8 ¥xa8 14.¤e2 ¤e6 15.¤g3 c5 16.¤f5 ¥d8 17.c4 bxc4 18.¥xc4
9-+-+r+-+0 ¥c7 19.¦e1 ¦e8 20.£c1 ¤h5 21.g3 g6 22.¤h6+ ¢g7 23.¤g5 ¤xg5 24.¥xg5 d5 25.exd5 ¥xd5
9+-vlq+pmkp0 In the last round Carlsen and Kramnik were constantly monitoring each other's games and both eventually came to
9-+-+-+psN0 the conclusion that they had to risk something in order to play for a win. In the first half of the tournament Carlsen
9+-zplzp-vLn0 outplayed Svidler with Black in the Ruy Lopez (CVO 221), but towards the end of the tournament Svidler was
9-+L+-+-+0 warming up and this time around he was able to match Carlsen. 10...£d7 was a nice start and Black is constantly
threatening to break with d5, which he eventually managed to do. The correct follow-up to White's novelty 11.a4!?
9+-+P+-zP-0
seems to be 14.£a1 followed by 15.£a2. In the diagram position Carlsen played the very unpractical 26.¤g4?
9-zP-+-zP-zP0 which allowed Svidler to create a mess with 26...¥f3!. The simple 26.¥xd5 £xd5 27.¤g4 would have given White a
9+-wQ-tR-mK-0 safe edge. In the PGN file you'll find analyses of the tactical complications, including the fascinating bishop moves
xiiiiiiiiy 26...¥a8!! and 30.¥h8!!. In the end Carlsen got into very serious time trouble and completely lost track.

1.d4 d6 2.e4 ¤f6 3.¤c3 g6 4.¤f3 ¥g7 5.¥e2 0–0 6.0–0 a6 7.h3 ¤c6 8.¥g5 b5 9.a3 h6 Pirc
10.¥e3 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.£c1 ¢h7 13.¥c5 ¦e8 14.¦d1 ¥d7 15.b4 £c8 16.£e3 ¤d8 XIIIIIIIIY
17.a4 bxa4 18.¤xa4 ¤e6 19.¥c4 ¤h5 20.¤c3 ¤hf4 21.¤d5 ¥b5 22.¥b3 ¥c6 23.¦a5 £b7 9r+-+r+-+0
Being in a must-win situation with Black demands a special approach and thus in the last round Kramnik decided 9+qzp-+pvlk0
to head for the Pirc, since it tends to keep all the pieces on the board. With 4.¤f3 Ivanchuk stuck to a very classical 9p+l+n+pzp0
positional approach, which seems to suit his style best. 7...b5 looks like a decent alternative, but with 7...¤c6
9tR-vLNzp-+-0
Kramnik tried to give the position a King's Indian character and after about 20 moves Kramnik got more or less
what he wanted. White is pressing for a positional edge, but the position remains very complicated with a ¤
9-zP-+Psn-+0
sacrifice on g2 hanging in the air. In the diagram position Ivanchuk played the remarkable positional pawn sacrifice
9+L+-wQN+P0
24.g3!?, which certainly gives enough compensation, but probably no more. At move 30 Kramnik decided to burn 9-+P+-zPP+0
his bridges behind him, avoiding the neutralising 30...¤e6 in favour of some not very well-founded attacking 9+-+R+-mK-0
moves. In fact, at move 35 there was a last chance for a draw, but after that Ivanchuk converted convincingly. xiiiiiiiiy

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 c5 5.cxd5 ¤xd5 6.e3 ¤c6 7.¥d3 ¥e7 8.a3
QGD, Semi-Tarrasch 0–0 9.£c2 cxd4 10.exd4 f5 11.0–0 ¥f6 12.¤xd5 £xd5 13.¥e3 b5 14.£e2 ¥b7
XIIIIIIIIY During the Candidates Tournament the Semi-Tarrasch served as one of Kramnik's main weapons against 1.d4.
9r+-+-trk+0 In the first round he relatively drew quickly against his compatriot Svidler, even though White seemed to have
9zpl+-+-zpp0 the slightly better prospects along the way. In the crucial 12th round encounter against Aronian play was steered
9-+n+pvl-+0 quickly into unknown waters. The Armenian temporarily refrained from castling which enabled Black to come
9+p+q+p+-0 up with a challenging set-up initiated by 10...f5!?, intending to put pressure on White's d-pawn. With 13...b5!
9-+-zP-+-+0 Black gained more of a central grip by securing the d5 square for the £. From an objective point of view White
should have taken the § on b5 in the diagram, even though after 15...f4! White doesn't have anything better than
9zP-+LvLN+-0
to repeat moves with 16.¥c4 £e4 17.¥d3 £d5. However, the tournament situation forced White to take serious
9-zP-+QzPPzP0 risks and after an incredible fight, with huge mistakes on both sides, Kramnik eventually took over the lead in the
9tR-+-+RmK-0 overall standings. In CVT 102 the nerve-wrecking ending will be covered in greater detail.
xiiiiiiiiy

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.¥g2 d5 5.e3 dxc4 6.¤e2 ¥g7 7.0–0 0–0 8.¤a3 Grünfeld, Fianchetto
''It's amazing how many ideas he's introduced, maybe more than all of us together!'' was Gelfand's praise for XIIIIIIIIY
Kramnik after their mutual encounter. In a heavily-analysed position of the Fianchetto Variation in the Grünfeld, 9rsnlwq-trk+0
the former World Champion introduced a highly remarkable idea as early as move 5. Rather than automatically 9zpp+-zppvlp0
develop the king's ¤ to f3, White prefers to strengthen his centre with 5.e3. One of the ideas is bringing the ¤ 9-+p+-snp+0
into play via e2, from where it doesn't disturb the 'Catalan' ¥ on the long diagonal. In the game Black decided to 9+-+-+-+-0
take the § on c4, but in the diagram White regained the §, retaining a structural advantage thanks to the extra
9-+pzP-+-+0
central §. An instructive line is 5...¥g7 6.¤e2 0–0 7.0–0 ¤bd7 8.cxd5! (only capturing now, as the ¤ can't go to
c6 now) cxd5 9.¤bc3 when White seems to have an edge. A logical set-up for White is b3, (a4), ¥a3, ¤f4, £d2,
9sN-+-zP-zP-0
¦fc1, ¤d3 with some pressure on the queenside. Although the game finally ended in a draw, the opening stage
9PzP-+NzPLzP0
was clearly won by White. 9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 222 | April 3n 2013

it’syourmove
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
o 9r+l+k+-tr0 o9r+lwqkvlntr0
9zpp+n+pzpp0 9zppzpp+pzpp0
9-+-zpp+-+0 9-+-+p+-+0
9wq-zp-+-+-0 9+-+Psn-+-0
9-+PzP-zP-+0 9-+-+PzP-+0
9zP-zPLzPN+-0 9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-wQ-+PzP0 9PzPP+-+PzP0
9tR-+-mK-+R0 9tRNvLQmKLsNR0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy

lastweek’ssolutions
XIIIIIIIIY
Gelfand-Kramnik, FIDE Candidates (London) 2013 9rwq-+n+k+0
19.¤ed2? It's hard to imagine that the legendary Mikhail Tal would have made this move. White ended up 9+l+-+pzpp0
defending a slightly worse position. 19.¤fg5! h6 (19...g6 20.¤xf7! ¢xf7 21.¤g5+ ¢f6 and now amongst others 9pzp-vlp+-+0
22.£xe6+! ¢xg5 23.£h3! ¢f6 24.£xh7 gives White a winning attack.) 20.£h5! hxg5 21.¤xg5 ¤f6 22.£xf7+ 9+-+-+-+-0
¢h8 23.£xe6 ¥d5 24.£h3+ ¢g8 25.¥h7+ ¢f8 26.¥g6 ¢g8 and now, besides repeating moves, White can
9-+-zPN+-+0
continue his promising attack: 27.¦e1 £b7 28.¥h7+ (28.¦e6!?) 28...¢f8 29.¥f5 ¦e8 30.£h8+ ¤g8 31.¤e6+
¥xe6 32.¥xe6 ¦xe6 33.¦xe6 £d5 34.¦e3 and this looks winning. 19.¤eg5! h6 (19...g6 20.¤xf7! is the same.)
9+-+L+NzP-0
20.¥g6! fxg6 21.£xe6+ ¢h8 22.¤f7+ ¢h7 23.¤h4 ¤f6 24.¤xd6 ¥d5 25.£e5 is also good for White.
9PzP-+QzP-zP0
9+-tR-+-mK-0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
9q+-+-trk+0 Carlsen-Aronian, FIDE Candidates (London) 2013
9trlzpn+pzpp0 Quite a typical position from the main line of the Catalan. Aronian comes up with a convincing novelty. 14...¥xg2
9p+-vlpsn-+0 15.¤xg2 c6! Improving upon an earlier game, which went 15...e5 16.¥e3 ¦b7 17.¦fd1 and White had a pleasant
9+p+-+-+-0 edge in Cheparinov-Harikrishna, Leon 2012. 16.¦ac1 If 16.¤e4 ¤xe4 17.£xe4 ¤b6 the position is about equal.
16...a5! 17.¤e4 ¤xe4 18.£xe4 ¦c8 19.¤f4 axb4 20.¥xb4 20.axb4 ¦a2 gives Black excellent play down the
9-zP-zP-+-sN0
a-file. 20...c5 21.£xa8 ¦axa8 22.dxc5 ¥xc5 and Black has comfortably equalised.
9zP-sN-+-zP-0
9-+QvLPzPLzP0
9tR-+-+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy

openings
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