The London Chess Classic 2016, continued with Round-2 on December 10th. It saw Wesley So take sole lead, thanks to a nice win over Michael Adams.
In truth, the American Grandmaster was dramatically helped to the win by his English opponent, who blundered in no small fashion, with 37…Nc7(??). This allowed White to press strongly with 38.f5! and from here there was no way back. Adams was soon resigning the point — his second in as many rounds. By contrast, So made it 2/2.
White continued 38.f5! winning.
Elsewhere, Viswanathan Anand also took a point, at the expense of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Indian came out prepared in their Najdorf Sicilian and the Frenchman gave him a bit too much freedom in the opening, which left White with the best of things. 11…Rxc3, sacrificing the exchange but with compensation, seems to have been a testing way for Black to proceed, but unfortunately Vachier-Lagrave played more quietly and this offered Anand too little resistance. Anand wasn’t at his sharpest ever, either, opting for the reserved 21.Be5 over the more powerful 21.Nxe4. This gave his opponent some fighting chances, but just when Black might have thought he was standing his ground, there came the exchange sacrifice of 24.Rxd5(!) which left White with the best of things and Black with the wrong material to fight with. Anand converted without a problem, as one would expect.
The other victim of the round was Veselin Topalov, who went down as White against Fabiano Caruana. Topalov played a very bold Advance French, expanding on the Kingside and obtaining very good play. The open g-file allowed him to establish a rook on Black’s second rank and an advanced passed pawn was also thrown into the equation. To be fair, it was a very scrappy game, and the players will probably not enjoy looking it over with their engines afterwards. For the spectators, though, (not to mention chess bloggers), it was a very exciting and tense game. Unfortunately for Topalov, he was the one to make the final error, his 35.Nd2(??) allowed Black to take the game in a firm grip with 35…dxc3! After 36.Nc4 the real killer move was 36…Re8!! From here, White’s game was done and the Bulgarian joined Michael Adams on -2.
Black continues with the overwhelming 36…Re8!
The draws of the round came from Giri-Nakamura, who discussed the King’s Indian, briefly, but didn’t really get into much of a debate. The Queen’s coming off at move 9 was probably a bit of an early indicator, and neither seemed interested in getting up to very much. A rather eventless draw, really.
Vladimir Kramnik resurrected a Queen’s Indian from 1961 in his draw against Levon Aronian, who dealt with it in his own way. It was an interesting tussle, with some very good prophylactic chess. White got the best of the play, but 26.Qd2 allowed Black an out, (25.Rxe6 may have given more margin for error), and the game was drawn.
All of this leaves Wesley So in sole lead of the tournament, but it is of course very early days.
- So — 2.0
- Anand, Caruana, Aronian, Kramnik — 1.5
- Giri — 1.0
- Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave — 0.5
- Adams, Topalov — 0.0
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.10”]
[Round “2”]
[White “So, W.”]
[Black “Adams, Mi”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E06”]
[WhiteElo “2794”]
[BlackElo “2748”]
[PlyCount “79”]
[EventDate “2016.12.07”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 a5 11. Nc3 Ra6 12. Qd3 {e3 is more usual, here, So
takes a line that only shows up once in my database — Ruck-Moor, Zurich 2005
(1-0).} Rb6 13. Qc2 h6 {Adams varies from the game mentioned, above, which
continued …Bxf3.} 14. Bd2 Bb4 {…Na6 was another way to go, here, the
knight on its way to b4.} 15. Rfe1 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Nc6 17. e3 e5 {This is a
little too quick, Black has not really made the necessary preparations yet. …
Qe7, both covering the bishop on b4 and reinforcing the e5-square was perhaps
prudent first.} 18. Bxc6 exd4 {recapturing on c6 is not good enough, due to
dxe5.} (18… Bxc3 19. Bxc3 exd4 20. Rad1 Rxc6 21. Rxd4 {and White would be
rather satisfied, here.}) 19. Bf3 dxc3 20. bxc3 Bc5 21. Rab1 {Rad1 would have
been a bit more active, here.} Rd6 {to decline the opportunity to exchange
rooks may not have been the most correct way to proceed, but at least this is
with a tempo on White’s Bd2.} (21… Rxb1 22. Rxb1 b6 {is not bad for Black,
especially with White having to invest a couple of moves to make something of
his d2-bishop.}) 22. Red1 b6 23. c4 {With the placement of the Black rook and
knight, e4 was also worthy of consideration, here, but White wants to improve
his Bd2.} (23. e4 Nd7 24. Bf4 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 {and it is very clear to see that
White trumps Black when it comes to activity and the bishop pair can not be
taken lightly either.}) 23… Qe7 24. Bc3 Rfd8 25. Bb2 Qe6 26. Rxd6 Rxd6 27.
Rd1 Rxd1+ 28. Qxd1 Bd6 {Black will likely have been quite content, here, White
is slightly better but there is nothing too telling.} 29. Qd4 Qe8 30. Bd1 Qc6
31. Bc2 {This is a very potent setup, e4 and f4 are coming and there is little
or nothing that Black can do about it.} Kf8 32. e4 Bc5 33. Qd8+ Ne8 {not …
Qe8, when White takes on f6 with by far the better position.} 34. Qd5 Qg6 {
exchanging on d5 would have given White a good centre after cxd5} 35. Kg2 Ke7 (
35… c6 36. Qd3 {Qd7 would be nicely met by …Qd6} Qd6 37. e5 Qxd3 38. Bxd3
Nc7 39. f4 Ne6 40. Be4 Nd4 41. Bxd4 Bxd4 42. Bxc6 {sees White very safely
better, but it is unclear as to whether this would be enough or not.}) 36. f4
c6 37. Qd3 Nc7 {? A very bad move, Adams takes his eyes off of both his Queen
and g7.} 38. f5 {All roads lead to Rome for White here.} Qg5 {after …Qd6,
Qxd6 White wins the g-pawn. But this is not much better, when Black’s knight
and Queen will be targeted.} 39. Be5 Ne6 40. fxe6 {And Michael Adams resigned,
here. A piece down and with a bad position, there is no hope for him. It is
hard to guess what he missed, here, he will have seen 38.f5, so his error will
have been somewhere after that. Seeing the Bishop en prise on e5, did he think
that he could take that and recoup his material? This is also hard to believe
with the d7-square gaping for White’s Queen and mate in 4.} 1-0[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.10”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Anand, V.”]
[Black “Vachier Lagrave, M.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B90”]
[WhiteElo “2779”]
[BlackElo “2804”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “65”]
[EventDate “2016.12.07”]{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 {an early deviation
by Anand, taking a bit of an obscure line. Bg5 and Bc4 are way more popular
here.} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f4 Nbd7 9. g4 {Starting to look a bit like Anand has
come out prepped, here — this is not the sort of things one undertakes
without knowing what he is doing.} Rc8 10. f5 {Forcing the exchange if bishop
for knight, which will give White the bishop pair. Developing moves were also
valid, here, such as Bd3.} Bxb3 11. axb3 d5 {This is out of context and allows
White an edge. The exchange sacrifice of …Rxc3 was worth a look, here,
especially with White having some development still, and being very committed
on the Kingside.} (11… Rxc3 12. bxc3 Nxe4 13. h4 Be7 14. g5 Qb6 {is about
equal, with White having to take a timeout in order to deal with the threat of
mate, most likely with Rh2. White has to be accurate, here, as things can
easily swing in Black’s favour.}) 12. exd5 Bb4 13. Bg2 Qb6 {Setting up a
little trap, in preparation for e5-e4.} (13… Rxc3 {it appears to be too late
for this to be as effective, especially with the development of the bishop to
g2, where it watches over the e4 square.} 14. bxc3 Bxc3+ 15. Bd2 Bxa1 16. Qxa1
O-O {sees White the better.}) 14. Bd2 e4 15. Qe2 {Necessary. Capturing on e4
would be a huge mistake, due to the Black Queen’s placement on b6.} (15. Nxe4
Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Qe3+ {With Black winning.}) (15. Bxe4 Bxc3 16. Bxc3 Nxe4 {
winning.}) 15… O-O 16. O-O-O {White enjoys some advantage, here, Black has
been a bit too complicit towards his development.} Nc5 17. Kb1 Rfd8 18. Rhe1 a5
{This is a big inaccuracy, and seems to hand White the position on a plate.} (
18… Bxc3 19. Bxc3 Nxd5 20. Bd4 (20. Bxe4 {also seems valid.} Nxc3+ 21. bxc3
Nxb3 22. cxb3 Qxb3+ 23. Ka1 Qxc3+ 24. Qb2 Qxh3 {does not look enough for Black.
}) 20… Nf4 21. Qf2 Nxg2 22. Qxg2 {With a good initiative and the e4-pawn
looking extremely vulnerable.}) 19. Qf2 {An oversight by Anand, who had a much
better continuation at his disposal.} (19. Nxe4 Ncxe4 20. Bxe4 Re8 21. Qd3 {
is overwhelming for White.}) 19… Qc7 {It is hard to see the logic behind
this move, with Bf4 such a glaring possibility for White.} (19… Bxc3 {
The problem with this move, is that it is hard to justify helping White to
place his bishop on the long diagonal. However, it seems manageable and Black
has to try to relieve some pressure and liquidate.} 20. Bxc3 Nxd5 21. Bd4 a4
22. Bxe4 {sees White maintaining an edge, but one which is yet to be resolved.}
) 20. Bf4 Qb6 21. Be5 {This move gives Black a bit of hope — again, Anand had
another possibility.} (21. Nxe4 Bxe1 22. Nxf6+ Qxf6 23. Rxe1 {The bishop pair
and passed d-pawn carries a lot of weight for White, here, and are going to be
hard to deal with.}) 21… a4 {Vachier-Lagrave seizes his chance, probing the
White King position and creating counter chances. He had to go down this route,
anything else would have left White in full control.} 22. bxa4 Bxc3 23. Bxc3
Nxd5 {At first sight, Black should be doing alright, here, but White has a rude awakening.} 24. Rxd5 {Just one way to
proceed, Bd4 was also perfectly fine, but I think this offers more.} Rxd5 25. Bxe4 {White has good return
for his rook, a nice active Black piece is off the board and he has picked up
the e-pawn. The White bishop pair is also very active.} Rd6 26. a5 Qb5 27. Qe2
Qxe2 28. Rxe2 Rd1+ {…Nxe4 was an alternative, here, but White should still
be able to make progress with his Queenside pawn majority. Unfortunately for
Black, the extra piece is more powerful than the pair of rooks.} 29. Ka2 Re8 {
…Nxe4 seems unavoidable, here, but Black is still in an unpleasant situation
in the endgame that follows. This explains why Vachier-Lagrave maintains
pieces, but unfortunately it is a case of having to choose the lesser of evils
in this situation, Black’s Queenside is coming with gusto either way.} 30. Bf3
Rxe2 31. Bxe2 {The superiority in White’s position is hard to miss, here,
Black has very little to play with.} Rc1 32. Bf3 Rxc2 33. Bxb7 {
Vachier-Lagrave resigned at this point, White is totally dominating and will
prevail in this endgame.} 1-0[Event “8th London Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.10”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Topalov, V.”]
[Black “Caruana, F.”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C02”]
[WhiteElo “2760”]
[BlackElo “2823”]
[PlyCount “76”]
[EventDate “2016.12.07”]{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 Nge7 7. h4 Qb6 8. Na3
cxd4 9. cxd4 {This is a position with which Topalov is familiar, having had it
against Nikolic in Monte Carlo, 1997, which he won in 33 moves.} Nb4 {Caruana
varies straight away, …Nf5 had been played in the mentioned game and in all
other occurrences of that position that I can find.} 10. h5 h6 11. Bd2 a6 {
…Rc8 was perhaps a bit more to the point.} 12. Bc3 Nec6 {A viable
undertaking with White’s knight on a3.} 13. Rh3 O-O-O 14. Kf1 Kb8 15. Qd2 f6
16. exf6 {This is a strange choice to me, but White may not have had anything
better. Still, Black can now develop his dark-squared bishop to d6. Topalov
obviously considers the g-file to be compensation.} gxf6 17. Rg3 Be8 18. Nh4
Bd6 19. Rg7 e5 {This move is a little out of context, White’s activity on the
Kingside is not to be ignored.} 20. dxe5 fxe5 21. Ng6 Bxg6 22. hxg6 e4 23. Rf7
Rhg8 {This seems inadequate because it does not stop the f-pawn advancing. A
better choice was …Rhf8.} (23… Rhf8 {This allows Qxh6, but Black gets
great activity in return} 24. Qxh6 Nd4 25. Re1 Nxe2 26. Rxe2 Nd3 {=}) 24. g7
Ka7 25. Qxh6 {Things look very pretty for White, here.} Nd3 26. Bxd3 exd3 27.
Re1 Bc5 (27… d2 28. Bxd2 Qxb2 29. Qe3+ Ka8 30. Rb1 Qxa3 31. Qxa3 Bxa3 32.
Rbxb7 Bd6 33. f4 {With a big advantage.}) 28. Re6 {A strong move, threatening
to win a piece due to the pin by Black’s rook on the b7-pawn. Things are very
critical for Black here.} Rc8 29. Qg5 {? This is a slip from Topalov, leaving
the door open very wide for Black.} Bd4 {? This is a case of right piece,
wrong move. …Bxa3 was not pleasant for White.} (29… Bxa3 30. bxa3 Qb5 {
bringing the d2-pawn in to play and more importantly, allowing the Black Queen
to move out of the line of White’s rook with tempo. This frees the Nc6.} 31.
Bd2 Nd8 {And Black has flipped the position on its head.}) 30. Re1 {? Topalov
returns the favour, perhaps having noticed that his rooks were not the best
placed. Instead, Qxd5 may have been enough for White.} Bxc3 {? This is the
great thing about human chess, games are often very topsy-turvy affairs, with
oversights and blunders exchanged. This is the case in this game, with Caruana
missing a powerful move to change the balance of power.} (30… Rxg7 31. Bxd4
Rxg5 32. Bxb6+ Kxb6 33. Rd1 Ne5 {with Black very much in control.}) 31. bxc3
Qb2 32. Nb1 {Again, Qxd5 maintains the edge somewhat for White, but it is very
slight.} (32. Rb1 {is not as great as it looks and Black should draw} Qe2+ 33.
Kg1 d2 34. Qxd5 Ka8 35. Rfxb7 Qe1+ 36. Kh2 Qe5+ {=}) 32… Rce8 {totally equal}
33. Qd2 Rxe1+ 34. Qxe1 d4 35. Nd2 {?? This is a very bad blunder, giving Black
the chance to take the game in both hands. This time, Caruana takes it.} (35.
cxd4 Nxd4 36. Nd2 Qxa2 37. Rd7 {with …Qa4 or …Nf5 being fine for equality,
here.}) 35… dxc3 36. Nc4 Re8 {! This is the crucial move, here, Black wins
in all lines. Anything else and White would be fine. Topalov will obviously
have seen 35…dxc3, so my guess is that he either overlooked this move or
just miscalculated something from here.} 37. Rxb7+ Qxb7 38. Qxe8 Qb1+ {And
here, Topalov resigned, the Black pawns are not to be stopped and there is no
way to save his point. A scrappy game, but very interesting to analyse!} 0-1
[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.10”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Kramnik, V.”]
[Black “Aronian, L.”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A14”]
[WhiteElo “2809”]
[BlackElo “2785”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “2016.12.07”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. b3 b6 {The Queen’s
Indian Defence, a very solid opening for Black against 1.d4 — and in the right
hands, also very potent.} 7. Nc3 Bb7 8. d4 {Completing the transposition to
the Queen’s Indian proper.} Nbd7 9. Bb2 Rc8 {Preparing the counter-thrust of ..
.c5} 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. Qd3 c5 13. e4 Bb7 {A good decision, this
bishop is a good piece. Anyway, Black doesn’t want to be giving the bishop
pair lightly in this position.} (13… c4 14. Qe2 c3 15. exd5 {Bxc3 would be
incorrect due to …Bxe4} cxb2 16. Qxb2 exd5 {and White will be quite content.}
) 14. Rad1 cxd4 15. Nxd4 {We have to look a long way back for the history of
this position — Udovcic-Ciric, Zagreb 1961 (½-½) to be exact.} Nf6 {Aronian
varies, the knight had gone to c5 in the previous game.} 16. Qe2 {A good
prophylactic move, defending the e-pawn, but also enabling a discovery by the
Nd4 and Rd1 on Black’s Queen.} Qe8 {Very prudent to get the Queen off of the
d-file.} 17. a3 a5 18. Rfe1 Bc5 19. Nb5 Qe7 {Again, another good move with
multiple functions. The Queen covers d6, which is a bit of a target, guards
the Bb7, and enables the King’s rook to develop to the centre if wished.} 20.
e5 {Perhaps slightly too quick, but it works out ok.} (20. Bxf6 gxf6 {…Qxf6
would allow Nd6 of course.} 21. e5 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 f5 23. a4 Rfd8 {Though White
is slightly better, it is not going to be easy to make this tell from here. An
interesting idea from here, though, is to play Rg1, Kh3 and g3-g4.}) 20… Bxg2
{Black complies with White’s wishes, perhaps …Nd5 would have been more in
context.} 21. exf6 Qb7 22. Nd6 {Initiative, White.} Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Bh1 24. f3
Qxf3 25. Qd2 {White is better placed, so wants to keep pieces on if at all
possible, but unfortunately for him, Black has a way to force the issue and
sort things out.} ({An exciting alternative was} 25. Rxe6 {but as spectacular
as this looks, Black seems ok with correct play.} g5 (25… fxe6 {is all kinds
of wrong :} 26. Qxe6+ Rf7 {…Kh8, fxg7 mate.} 27. Qxc8+ Rf8 28. Qe6+ Rf7 29.
Qe8+ Rf8 30. f7+ (30. Qxf8+ Kxf8 31. fxg7+ Kf7 {…Kg8, Re8+} 32. Rf1 {is
perfectly resignable.}) 30… Qxf7 31. Qxf7+ Rxf7 32. Re8+ Rf8 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8
34. Kxh1 {super-hugely winning.}) 26. Rxb6 h6 27. b4 (27. Qxf3 Bxf3 28. Re3 Rc2
29. Rxf3 Rxb2 30. Rf2 Rb1+ {=}) 27… Rfe8 28. Qxf3 Rxe1+ 29. Qf1 Rxf1+ 30.
Kxf1 axb4 31. Rxb4 Rc2 {=}) (25. fxg7 Rfd8 26. Red1 Rxd6 27. Qxf3 Bxf3 28. Rxd6
{and the g7-pawn, stopping both Black’s King and rook becoming active, is a
longterm problem.}) 25… Qg2+ 26. Qxg2 Bxg2 27. fxg7 Rfe8 {As illustrated
above, this is the correct square for the rook, …Rfd8 would be met by Red1.}
28. Re2 Bf3 29. Rf2 Be4 30. Re2 {Kramnik can not see a way to proceed and so
invites repetition, which is accepted by Aronian.} Bf3 31. Rf2 Be4 32. Re2
1/2-1/2
[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.10”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Giri, A.”]
[Black “Nakamura, Hi”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A49”]
[WhiteElo “2771”]
[BlackElo “2779”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “86”]
[EventDate “2016.12.07”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. c4 c5 6. Nc3 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Qa5 {
This blitzy-type move has only been played once before, more usual is …Nc6.}
8. O-O Qh5 9. Qe5 {Giri is fine with getting the Queens off the board, but
this was by no means obligatory, with alternatives of Bg5 and c5.} Qxe5 10.
Nxe5 Nc6 11. Nd3 b6 12. Bg5 Ba6 13. b3 {White will be quite happy, here, with
the better placed and more active pieces.} h6 14. Bd2 Rac8 15. Rac1 Rfd8 16.
Rfd1 e6 17. Bf4 Ne8 {Delaying …d5 seems slightly dangerous, Black cannot
afford to give White too much of a free reign.} (17… d5 18. cxd5 Nd4 {
with the threat of …Rxc3 and …Nxe2+} 19. Kf1 Ng4 {is about equal. I am
surprised Nakamura did not go down this route, it seems right up his street.})
18. h4 Bf8 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. Bxe5 Bg7 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. a4 g5 23. hxg5 hxg5 24.
e3 Nf6 25. Rd6 Kf8 26. Rcd1 Rc5 27. Na2 Bc8 28. Nb4 {a very flexible move,
this. Nc6 is the immediate threat, due to the vulnerable Black rook on d8.
From b4, the knight has the potential to be a very valid piece, going to e5
via d3.} Re8 29. Nd3 Ra5 30. Nb2 Rc5 31. Nd3 Ra5 32. Nb2 Rc5 {Some repetitions
in order to gain time, but neither player is getting up to very much, here.}
33. R6d2 g4 34. Nd3 Rc7 35. Ne5 Ke7 36. a5 bxa5 37. Ra2 Bb7 38. Rxa5 Bxg2 39.
Kxg2 Rb8 40. Ra3 Rc5 41. Nd3 Rc7 42. Ne5 Rc5 43. Nd3 Rc7 {And the players
decided to split the point and agreed a draw here.} 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
