Round one of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2017, begins in a couple of days time. To mark the occasion, I thought it would be rather nice to take a look back at last year’s tournament — you know, as if we needed any reminder of the kind of chess that the world’s best can produce during their two weeks in Wijk aan Zee.
Below, you will find two very contrasting games.
In the first, David Navara gets the better of Fabiano Caruana with the White pieces. In a Nimzo-Indian, things are rather close until the Czech opts to allow 25…Bg4, skewering his rooks, in return for a passed pawn. In hindsight, this may not have quite been enough, but White comes out the better. 27…f5(?) is not the best by Caruana and 49…Rxg3(?) worsens matters. Navara, having the best activity, pushes his c-pawn and coupled with his well placed bishop and advanced King, concludes the game in fine style. With Black in virtual zugzwang, 52.h5(!) is a very nice finesse, controlling the g6-square and 55.Bf7(!!) decides the day.
The second sees a triumph by Michael Adams, with Black, over Sergey Karjakin. The game sees opposite side castling, which can in itself be very sharp. In truth, White misplays the game and allows Black far too much on the Queenside. It is quite a rout, which sees White very inactive and under severe pressure throughout. It is a very instructive game regarding the technical aspects when it comes to castling on opposite wings (not a decision to be taken lightly!), when very often the game is all about opening lines towards the King. Black does this seemingly effortlessly, while White barely even gets started.
[Site “Wijk aan Zee NED”]
[Date “2016.01.24”]
[Round “8”]
[White “David Navara”]
[Black “Fabiano Caruana”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E32”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “109”]
[EventDate “2016.01.15”]{Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 c5 6. dxc5 Na6 7. g3 Nxc5 {Nothing unusual so far.
} 8. Bg2 Nce4 9. O-O Nxc3 10. bxc3 Be7 11. e4 d6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Nxe5 {Trying
to take a tempo with Rd1 would be misguided, here. Black simply plays …Qc7
and is very much the better.} Qc7 14. Qe2 Nd7 15. Bf4 {Quite a potent move,
this, lining the bishop up against Black’s Queen and threatening all kinds of
mischief. It is either liquidate or move the Queen.} Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Bd6 17. Rfe1
{Preferring to maintain tension rather than play Bxd6 and then Rfe1. It looks
quite tempting, but Black should be fine.} Rb8 18. Rad1 Bxe5 19. Qxe5 Qxe5 20.
Rxe5 b6 21. c5 f6 22. cxb6 axb6 {Not …Rxb6, which is a bad positional
mistake and allows the White rook to gain easy access to the 7th rank via c5.}
23. Re2 {This was a new move at the time, the rook had previously gone to e4,
e4 and b5.} Kf7 {The position is quite equal, here and perhaps many onlookers
would be thinking that a draw was on the cards. However, evaluations are not
everything in chess and this position is not without potential and chances of
errors. Also, Navara is not without intention.} 24. f4 e5 25. fxe5 Bg4 26. e6+
Kg6 27. Be4+ f5 {? A slip, which allows White to push his pawn. I am curious
as to what David had planned to …Kh6, which seems a lot better for Black.} (
27… Kh6 28. Kf2 {Accepting the loss of the rook is the best way forward,
White’s hopes rely on activity and using the e-pawn to achieve counter-play.}
Bxe2 {There is nothing better than this, White will be quite happy to anything
else.} 29. Kxe2 Rbc8 {…Rfe8 is also perfectly fine.} 30. Rd6 Rxc3 31. Rxb6
Re8 32. Rd6 Re7 33. Kd2 Ra3 34. Bd5 Kg6 {And Black is better, here, but things
are not so simple. The question is whether or not he can do anything and this
seems difficult due to at least one of his extra rooks being tied to defence.})
28. e7 Bxe2 {This is forced, anything else loses.} 29. Rd6+ {White could have
taken on f8 also, here, but this is slightly preferable.} Kg5 30. exf8=R Rxf8
31. Bd5 {With equality. Black has to be accurate here, there are a few natural
looking moves, (…b5, …Rb8, …Rc8), which can allow White an initiative.
This is due to subtle differences in activity, Black’s Be2 is not as well
placed as White’s Bd5, the White rook is better than Black’s, and the Black
King is not as good as it might seem at first sight either. Meanwhile, White’s
prepares to get active via f2.} Rf6 {This is the best move, in such instances
it is often wisest to be directly confrontational to the opponent’s activity.}
32. Rd7 {Prudent. White cannot afford to exchange this piece.} Kh6 33. Kf2 {
c4 might have been slightly better, here, but no one can fault White for
wanting to activate his King as quickly as possible.} Bb5 34. Rc7 Rd6 35. c4
Be8 {Good play from Caruana, who is holding White at bay very nicely and would
probably be feeling quite satisfied, here. The problem for him, though, is
getting active, White is slightly better in that regard.} 36. Rc8 Bd7 37. Rd8
Kg6 {Beginning to bring the King over in order to support the d-file.} 38. Ke3
{Meanwhile, White continues to activate his own King.} Kf6 39. Kd4 Ke7 40. Rg8
{This was always going to be the problem with bringing the King to e7. Black
has some loose ends.} Rg6 41. Ke5 {White is clearly better, here, pressure is
starting to mount upon the Black position.} Rg5 {…Be6 was also a valid
option.} 42. Rb8 Rg6 43. Rh8 Rh6 44. h4 Be6 45. Ra8 {The chess engines prefer
Bxe6 here. However, it results in some simplification (though things are
tricky for Black). Navara prefers to keep things tight and leave the Black to
play accurately in defence. I have to say, I prefer the human option.} (45.
Bxe6 Rxe6+ 46. Kxf5 Rg6 47. Kf4 Rf6+ 48. Ke4 Re6+ 49. Kd4 {And White is better
placed, here, with options depending on how Black plays. Unfortunately Black
has weaknesses on both sides of the board and these will take some defending.})
45… Bd7 46. Rh8 Be6 47. a4 Bd7 48. Ra8 Rg6 49. Ra7 Rxg3 {? This is a slip by
Caruana and Navara doesn’t look back from here. The natural looking …Kd8 was
probably the best way to play, putting the obligation onto White to find a way
through. By contrast, this hands it to him on a plate.} 50. a5 {The idea, here,
is to release the c-pawn and Black does not have any good way of avoiding it.}
bxa5 51. c5 Kd8 52. h5 {! A lovely move by David Navara, controlling the
g6-square. He wants to play Kd6 and the possibility of …Rg6+ was a bit of a
spanner in the works. This move removes it.} (52. c6 {Black can still resign
here, he probably has nothing better than taking the pawn. White has a very
simple plan of h5 (to stop …Rg6) and then Kd6 and Black is in an inescapable
mating net. To …Be8, White plays c7+ and then Kd6 when …Rg6 can be
answered very powerfully by Be6.} Bxc6 53. Bxc6 Rg6 54. Bd7 {(or Bd5) is
completely overwhelmingly winning.}) 52… f4 {This move is the best try of
the possibilities on the table, but all hopes are gone for Black, here.} 53.
Kd6 {White has achieved what he wanted to do, Black’s future is sealed, here. .
..Bc8 is forced, after which White will push the c-pawn.} Bc8 54. c6 {The
threat is now Bf7, setting up mate by Re7 and Re8. It is too early to play Bf7
here, …Rd3+ is a bit annoying.} Rg5 {Not good enough, but nothing was. Rd3
was needed to stop Bf7 and White just simply takes on g7 then. Black is toast.}
55. Bf7 {!! The crucial move to validate White’s play over the last few moves.
From here, Black gets mated (Re7 and Re8 cannot be stopped without major loss)
and Fabiano Caruana resigned.} 1-0
[Event “Tata Steel 2016”]
[Site “Wijk aan Zee NED”]
[Date “2016.01.27”]
[Round “10”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[White “Sergey Karjakin”]
[Black “Michael Adams”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A45”]
[WhiteElo “2769”]
[BlackElo “2744”]
[PlyCount “62”]
[EventDate “2016.01.15”]{Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5
3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bd3 b6 9. Ne5 {An
instructive move in such positions, forcing Black to take with the bishop if
he wants to get rid of the knight as …Nxe5 would blunder a piece to dxe5.}
Bb7 10. f4 Ne7 11. Qf3 {White makes his intentions on Kingside play quite
clear. This is likely to be accompanied by castling long and thrusting the g
and h pawns forward.} Nf5 12. Bf2 Be7 13. g4 Nd6 14. g5 Nfe4 15. O-O-O {
This was a new move at the time, but it doesn’t work out for Karjakin.
Incidentally, this line has been repeated once since this game was played,
also without success.} c4 {Cramping White, slightly. Adams intends to follow
with b5. This is often how things go with opposite sides castling, when games
are often a race to the King and about opening lines. For this reason, …cxd5
was also a good option.} (15… cxd4 16. exd4 b5 17. Qh3 b4 {and Black wont be
too unhappy.}) 16. Bc2 b5 17. Qh3 b4 18. Nxe4 {After cxb4 a5! Black is making
much better advances than White.} dxe4 {…Nxe4 was also good.} 19. Be1 Bd5 {
Adams tempts his opponent with a pawn. Sticking to the technical …cxb3 or …
a5 was also a fine way to proceed, here.} 20. Rg1 {Karjakin refuses the pawn,
but his play so far may well have committed him to accepting it. Black gets
rather nice play from it, however, but it gives White the chance for equality,
though an extremely sharp position in which he must be accurate. Rg1, on the
other hand, gives Karjakin a bad game.} (20. cxb4 Qc7 {and White must be
accurate.} 21. Bc3 a5 {succeeding very nicely in opening lines on the Kingside.
} 22. bxa5 (22. a4 axb4 23. Bxb4 Rab8 24. Bc3 {with …Rb7 or …Nf5 being
good continuations for Black, here.}) 22… Nb5 23. a4 Nxc3 24. bxc3 Ba3+ 25.
Kd2 Bb2 {and Black is equal at worst here.}) 20… b3 {! to the point and with
a huge initiative. The problem for White, here, is that Black is way ahead in
his objective to open lines to the enemy King. Compare this with White’s
‘action’ (used loosely) on the Kingside, it is hardly even a twinkle in the
eye and Black’s own King is very safe. Coupled with Black’s excellent
development, meaning that once lines are opened they get used very quickly,
White is in serious trouble here.} 21. axb3 {Complying with Black’s wishes,
but White did not have a lot of options, he is struggling.} (21. Bb1 bxa2 {
This does not have to be played here, …Rc8 or …Rb8 set out Black’s stall
very nicely also.} 22. Bxa2 Rb8 23. Rg2 Nf5 {opening yet another line towards
White’s King, namely from the Be7. Black’s plan is now very natural: …a5, …
Qa5/…Qb6, doubling rooks along the b-file or simply playing …Rfe8. The
specifics and order of the moves depends on what White plays, of course, but
Black is coming and very fast.}) 21… cxb3 22. Bb1 f5 {I am not sure why
Adams switched focus, here, he did not have to and could have continued with ..
.Qc7 or …a5 or …Rc8 for example. Having said this, …f5 leads to by no
means a bad situation for him.} 23. gxf6 Bxf6 24. Rg4 Nf5 25. Kd2 {White knows
that the Queenside is extremely vulnerable and begins to run. Unfortunately
there is no time and the position is all but strategically lost.} Qa5 26. Ke2
Bxe5 27. dxe5 {(fxe5 Qa1!)} Rad8 {Very spicy, threatening …Bc4+, winning
material.} 28. Kf2 Qa1 {There is no one more deadly than Michael Adams when
given an opening, White’s position is in complete disarray.} 29. Bd2 Bc4 {
It is very interesting just how badly Grandmasters can mess up sometimes.
Karjakin is one of the best players in the world, but here Black has so many
threats, …Bd3 and …Qxb2 for example, and White’s pieces are all completely
ineffective against them. Actually, they are standing on each other’s toes if
anything.} 30. Qh5 Qxb2 31. Ke1 Rxd2 {! And here, Sergey Karjakin resigned,
taking the rook leads to mate from …Qc1+ (if Rd1 then …Qxe3+ then …Qe2
mate; if Kf2 then …Qf1 mate). Superb play from Michael Adams.} 0-1[/pgn]
