The London Chess Classic 2016, paused for a day of rest on December 14th, with play resuming on December 15th. There has been a lot of fighting chess in this tournament so far, and there was great excitement as round 6 began. All hoped that the players would be feeling refreshed and ready to resume battle.
The players did not disappoint.
Another question, was how the day off would work for Veselin Topalov. The Bulgarian had lost 4 games in the opening 5 rounds, and really needed to put some scores on the board. Unfortunately, his recovery would not start in this round, which would see him drop yet another point. In this round, it was tournament leader, Wesley So, who added to the misery.
Topalov played the White side of a Giuoco Piano and the players repeated a game that they had played in the Leuven stage of the Grand Chess Tour. When So varied immediately, it looked like game on. Black looked to have one objective in mind, which was to go for the White King, wasting no time before thrusting his g and h pawns. White’s play was a bit helpful in this, 18.Be2 was especially slow and allowed (or practically begged) Black’s 18…Qg5, which was the beginning of mounting pressure.
With his pieces nicely poised on the Kingside, coupled with a superb bishop on a7, firing along the a7-g1 diagonal, Black’s 19…f5(!) packed a mighty punch that was extremely terminal for White. There followed blow after blow and before long, White was getting mated. This is extremely worrying for Veselin Topalov, who seems to have completely lost his sense of danger and is causing himself endless problems lately. This was the case in this game also, where So did not have to produce anything brilliant in order to get winning chances. Infact, his play was in itself rather risky early on, but went completely unchallenged.
Hikaru Nakamura had a bad day at the office as Black against Fabiano Caruana. In the Sicilian Najdorf, the players followed Giri-Vachier-Lagrave, from Stavanger earlier this year. Nakamura deviated with 15…b4 (Vachier-Lagrave had played 15…Rg8 and had won in 28-moves) and a few moves later had problems. 19…Qxf6(!!) saw Caruana sacrifice his Queen for a superb initiative.
White continues with the strong Queen sacrifice, 19.Qxf6!
When sacrificing any material, one has to be accurate and concrete and Caruana never put a foot wrong in what was a very impressive attack, which saw Black totally dominated. Nakamura tried to defend, but it was a futile undertaking, he just could not free his position. A very impressive display by Caruana.
The other win of the round went to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who took advantage of a couple of slips by Levon Aronian. Playing White in a Giuoco Piano, the Frenchman did not have the best of openings, infact though a pawn down at one stage, Black had the better pieces and potential and thus stood better. That was until Aronian’s 20…Rf7(?) which was a failing in his sense of danger,
21.Rad1(!) allowed Vachier-Lagrave to develop with threats towards Black’s Bd6 and Ne7. White confidently gave his rook for these pieces and his position began to take on a lot of harmony. Aronian’s 33…Re1(?) and 34…Rd1(?) were the fatal errors, allowing White’s 35.Qe5! and after this Vachier-Lagrave had a cast iron grip on the position. Aronian’s position collapsed soon after.
Anish Giri resorted to the Sicilian Scheveningen against Viswanathan Anand and was doing pretty good from it, too, achieving equality fairly comfortably. The game took the form of a textbook opposite sides castling position, both players launching their pawns at the enemy King. White seemed to forget his plan, however, leaving his pawns on the Kingside (to where White had castled) and decided to sacrifice a piece on the Queenside, which ultimately opened lines for his opponent towards his own King.
I am not one for arguing with a Grandmaster, especially one of Anand’s prowess, but I found this a very strange decision. And ultimately it was, working out quite well for Black, who obtained the best of things. Giri’s 25…Rb1+ was probably where things started to slip a bit, 25…Qd8+ would have been a bit more commanding. Black’s edge steadily petered out and White was able to escape with the draw.
Vladimir Kramnik again resorted to the Colle in this round, just as he had in round 4 (sort of) against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. His opponent this time was Michael Adams. The game started tense enough, but after some early exchanges, fizzled out. Solid play followed and this led to a rather uneventful second half of the game, which saw Black giving a piece for perpetual.
All this left Wesley So still in the lead by a half point, but there are enough rounds left for this to be anything but secure.
- So — 4.5
- Caruana — 4.0
- Kramnik — 3.5
- Aronian, Anand, Giri, Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave — 3.0
- Adams — 2.5
- Topalov — 0.5
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.15”]
[Round “6.1”]
[White “Topalov, Veselin”]
[Black “So, Wesley”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C53”]
[WhiteElo “2760”]
[BlackElo “2794”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “54”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]{Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. a4 d6 7. Bg5 Ba7 8. Nbd2 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3
O-O 11. O-O {The game has transposed into a position that Topalov and So have
had against each other before — just a few months ago actually, in Leuven. The
game was won by So in 42.} Nh7 {So immediately varies from the earlier game,
in which he played 11…Kg7.} 12. h3 h5 {Immediately making his intentions
clear, Black is going for the King. /this is not the kind of undertaking one
does lightly, especially when development is not yet complete.} 13. d4 {
The textbook counter-strike in the centre to a flank attack.} exd4 14. Nxd4 (
14. cxd4 {leads to sharp play} g4 (14… Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Bxd4 {this is unwise.}
16. Qxh5 Bxb2 17. Rad1 {is fine for White.}) 15. Bh4 Qd7 16. d5 {Ra3 is also
interesting, here.} Na5 17. Bd3 gxf3 18. Nxf3 {and White is the most active
where it matters, and the open line towards Black King is adequate
compensation for the knight.}) 14… g4 {…Nxd4 was a good alternative, here,
but Black probably decided against this in order to keep the a7-g1 diagonal
open for the bishop.} 15. hxg4 {This is a bit complicit towards Black one has
to say.} (15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. h4 {and White has a good stance, here.}) 15… hxg4
(15… Bxg4 16. Be2 Nxd4 17. Bxg4 hxg4 18. cxd4 Bxd4 19. Rc1 Bxb2 20. Qxg4+ Bg7
{is about equal.}) 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. e5 d5 18. Be2 {This is a bit slow and
practically invites …Qg5} (18. Bd3 f5 19. exf6 Qxf6 20. Qc2 {And Black’s
strategy hasn’t worked.}) 18… Qg5 {Black is equal at worst here and steadily
building on the Kingside. Although the Bc8 has not yet moved, it must be said
that the Ba7 is a lovely piece.} 19. a5 {? This move is quite irrelevant in
this positon. It is difficult to suggest the correct way to proceed, however,
because White is already on the back foot, here and it is hard to know what to
do against Black’s intended …f5. However, White really needs to try and
challenge the Black Queen and do something about the a7-bishop — perhaps Nb3
followed by Qc1 or Qd2. The knight can also go to d4. Perhaps this is not
enough, but it is of more validity that a5 in my opinion.} f5 {This move
brings serious intentions and perhaps Black is already strategically winning.
It looks like Topalov is in for another bad day.} 20. exf6 Nxf6 {From here,
Black has all sorts of possibilities, …Nh5, targeting the Bg3, …Rf7-h7
and …Qh5 is also rather frightening.} 21. Ra4 Rf7 22. Re1 {A slip, allowing
Black to target the Bg3, which is extremely vulnerable, especially with the
very powerful Ba7 pinning the f-pawn.} (22. Bf4 Qg6 {and how White can handle
the threats of …Rh7 and …Qh5 is hard to see.}) 22… Nh5 {White is not
going to last long from here.} 23. Bxg4 Nxg3 24. Re8+ Kg7 25. Rxc8 {This is
really desperation. …Rxc8 is perfectly winning for Black, but So continues
as he started, focussed on the King.} Bxf2+ {Casting a mating net from which
White has no escape.} 26. Kh2 Qe5 {To the point, White is getting mated, like
it or not. The knight will move, most likely to f1 with double-check, after
which the Queen will deliver mate on g3 or h2, depending on where the King
goes.} 27. Kh3 Ne2 {and with no way to avoid a quick mate from here, Veselin
Topalov resigned.} 0-1[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.15”]
[Round “6.3”]
[White “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Black “Nakamura, Hikaru”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B96”]
[WhiteElo “2823”]
[BlackElo “2779”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]
{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. Bg5 e6 7. f4 h6 8. Bh4
Qb6 9. a3 Be7 10. Bf2 Qc7 11. Qf3 Nbd7 12. O-O-O b5 13. g4 g5 14. h4 gxf4 15.
Be2 {Following Giri-Vachier-Lagrave, Stavanger 2016.} b4 {Nakamura varies, 15..
.Rg8 was played by Vachier-Lagrave, who won in 28-moves.} (15… Ne5 16. Qxf4
Nexg4 17. Bxg4 e5 18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. Qf3 {sees White with a slight pull.}) (15…
d5 16. g5 Ne5 17. Qg2 {…Nxe4 or …Bxa3 sees Black equal at worst.}) 16. axb4
Ne5 17. Qxf4 Nexg4 18. Bxg4 e5 19. Qxf6 Bxf6 20. Nd5 Qd8 21. Nf5 (21. Nc6 Bxg4
22. Nxd8 Bxd8 {Is about equal — not …Bxd1, which of course loses to Nxf6+})
21… Rb8 {?? This is a very bad blunder, which gives White the chance to
seize hold of the position. Instead, …Bxf5 seems to have been good enough
for Black.} (21… Bxf5 22. Bxf5 Rb8 23. Rd3 Rb5 {=}) 22. Nxf6+ Qxf6 23. Rxd6 {
Just one way to go, the other was Nxd6} (23. Nxd6+ {!} Ke7 (23… Kf8 24. Bf5 {
with Bc5 to follow and black is under the cosh. …Bxf5 is nicely met by Nxf5
and Black is on very thin ice.}) 24. Bc5 Qf4+ 25. Kb1 Qxg4 26. Nxc8+ Ke8 27.
Nd6+ {with a huge position.}) 23… Be6 {This can still work out nicely for
White, but it could have been even more so} 24. Rhd1 O-O 25. h5 {This is
superb chess from Caruana, who is very gradually closing the net.} Qg5+ 26. Be3
Qf6 27. Nxh6+ {and now White pounces} Kh8 28. Bf5 {again, just one way to
proceed, Nxf7+ was also perfectly valid.} (28. Nxf7+ {sees a long line
resulting in victory for White.} Rxf7 29. Rxe6 Qh4 30. Bf5 Rxf5 31. exf5 Qxb4
32. Rh6+ Kg8 33. Rg1+ Kf7 34. Rh7+ Kf6 35. Rg6+ Kxf5 36. Rf7+ Ke4 37. Rg4+ Kxe3
38. Rxb4 Rxb4 39. Rf5 Ke4 40. Rf6 {completely winning}) 28… Qe7 29. b5 {
Again, Nxf7+ was most direct, here. I’m afraid that the reason for b4-b5 is
beyond me.} Qe8 30. Nxf7+ {all roads lead to Rome from here and Black folds
fast.} Rxf7 31. Rxe6 Qxb5 32. Rh6+ {and here, Hikaru Nakamura resigned,
White’s attack is absolutely not to be resisted.} 1-0
[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.15”]
[Round “6.5”]
[White “Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime”]
[Black “Aronian, Levon”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C50”]
[WhiteElo “2804”]
[BlackElo “2785”]
[PlyCount “81”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. }
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 a5 7. c3 d5 8. exd5
Nxd5 9. Re1 Bg4 10. Nbd2 Nb6 {Following a very brief game between
Pourramezanali-Sokolov, Guilan 2016. The game was drawn in 17-moves.} 11. Bb5
Bd6 {Transposing to a game that Aronian had, also with the Black pieces,
against Giri in Leuven earlier this year.} 12. h3 Bh5 13. Ne4 f5 {A new move,
here from Aronian.} 14. Ng3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Ne7 16. Bg5 {A well founded move,
but there seems to have been better available, namely Qxb7. However, if one is
unprepared, it is not something to undertake lightly. Seems safe though.} (16.
Qxb7 c6 17. Bc4+ Nxc4 (17… Kh8 {is good for White} 18. Bg5 Nxc4 {to …Rb8,
White simply plays Be7} 19. dxc4 e4 {this is not quite good enough fro Black,
White has the better stance.}) 18. Qb3 {and Black’s play has not been very
successful at all.}) 16… c6 17. Bc4+ Nxc4 18. dxc4 e4 {White has quite an
exposed piece setup, which gives Black something of an initiative.} 19. Nxe4 {
The alternative to this, Qh5, seems to result in White’s structure being
desecrated.} (19. Qh5 Bxg3 20. fxg3 Qc7 21. Bf4 Qb6+ 22. Be3 Qxb2 23. Bd4 {
With an unpleasant structure for White.}) 19… fxe4 20. Qxe4 Rf7 {? A mistake.
…Qd7 was necessary here.} 21. Rad1 {! Pressuring the Bd6 and Ne7.} Qc7 22.
Rxd6 Qxd6 23. Bxe7 {White will likely have been a lot happier, here.} Qd2 24.
Bc5 h6 25. Qe2 Rd8 26. Bd4 Qg5 (26… Qxe2 27. Rxe2 Rb8 28. Re6 Rd7 {is about
equal}) 27. Qg4 Re7 28. Rxe7 Qxe7 29. Qf5 Re8 30. Qxa5 Qf7 31. Kh2 Qf4+ 32. g3
{White has a very solid and secure position, now. Things are about equal, but
there is something about White’s stance that just looks harmonious.} Qf7 33.
Kg2 Re1 {?} (33… Qxc4 34. b4 Qf7 35. g4 g5 {=}) 34. g4 Rd1 {? This is a slip,
taking the rook off of the e-file allows White to take a big grip on the
position. The best that Black had available, here, was a constructive waiting
move, …Kh7 for example.} (34… Kh7 35. Qc5 Qf4 {seems fine for Black.}) 35.
Qe5 {! The optimum move. White now has the position under his control, Black
is limited due to the threats along the a1-h8 diagonal and his rook is shut
out of the proceedings.} Qg6 36. b4 b6 (36… h5 37. g5 (37. Qxh5 {This is
also worth a look.} Qe4+ {This is forced, Black has a much worse endgame so
needs to keep the Queens on.} 38. f3 Qe1 39. Bf2 Qe2 40. g5 Rd2 {converting is
no straight-forward matter once Black achieves this doubling up.} 41. Qh4 Kf7
42. Qg3 Qxc4 {I am no expert, but this looks tricky for White to convert from
here.}) 37… h4 38. a5 {This is verging on the strategically winning.}) 37.
Bxb6 c5 {I don’t really understand the last couple of moves from Black, I
think Aronian must have got something wrong somewhere, he is just dramatically
losing now.} 38. Bxc5 Qc6+ 39. f3 Rd3 40. Qb8+ Kh7 41. Qf4 {And Aronian
resigned, here. Vachier-Lagrave is totally dominating the position, and his
material advantage is over-whelming and enduring.} 1-0
[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.15”]
[Round “6.2”]
[White “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Black “Adams, Michael”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “D05”]
[WhiteElo “2809”]
[BlackElo “2748”]
[PlyCount “78”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]
{Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5
3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 b6 5. O-O Bb7 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Qe2 Ne4 8. b3 O-O 9. Bb2 Nd7 10.
c4 a5 11. Rfd1 {This is a novelty I suppose, but the position has been seen a
couple of times before, but with White to move from this point.} Qe7 12. Rac1
a4 13. Nf1 {The problem with this move is that it hands Black the chance to
obtain good play along the a-file. The alternative was Ne5.} (13. Ne5 f5 14. f3
Nxd2 15. Rxd2 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bc5 {is about equal.}) 13… axb3 14. axb3 Ra2 15.
Bb1 {This is most challenging — Ra1 would have been nicely met by …Rfa8.}
Rxb2 16. Qxb2 Ba3 17. Qc2 {The drawback with this move over Qe2, is that it
allows Black to take his time before recapturing the rook} c5 {…Bxc1 was
also fine, here, but if one can throw in a zwisenchug, then why not? …Rc8
was another good choice.} 18. cxd5 Bxd5 19. N3d2 Ndf6 20. f3 Nxd2 21. Nxd2 g6
22. e4 Bb7 23. Nc4 {Forcing Black to get on with capturing the rook or Nb2
will follow.} Bxc1 24. Qxc1 Rd8 {The position is about equal, here.} 25. dxc5
Qxc5+ 26. Kh1 Rxd1+ 27. Qxd1 Kg7 28. Qd2 Ba6 29. Ne3 Bb5 30. Nc2 h5 31. h4 {
very solid play from both players.} Nd7 32. b4 Qe7 33. g3 Qf6 34. Nd4 e5 {
this is in effect a draw offer.} 35. Nxb5 {This allows perpetual check, but
anything else would have lost.} Qxf3+ 36. Qg2 {not Kh2? when White would be in
all kinds of trouble after …Nf6.} Qd1+ 37. Qg1 Qf3+ 38. Qg2 Qd1+ 39. Qg1 Qf3+
{and the players agreed a draw here.} 1/2-1/2
[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.15”]
[Round “6.4”]
[White “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Black “Giri, Anish”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “B90”]
[WhiteElo “2779”]
[BlackElo “2771”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “74”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]
{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 e6 7. g4 Be7 8. g5 Nfd7 9. h4 b5 10. a3
Bb7 11. Be3 Nc6 12. Qd2 O-O 13. O-O-O Nc5 14. f3 Rb8 {A new move, here, …Ne5
and …Rc8 had been tried previously.} 15. Rg1 (15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. h5 a5 {
is a very sharp and exciting position, seeing the traditional type of opposite
side castling position, where both sides go for the King.}) 15… Qc7 {This
well-founded move strikes me as a little slow, …b4 seems much more in
context, countering White’s action on the Kingside with his own on the
Queenside.} (15… b4 16. axb4 Nxb4 17. Kb1 {is about equal.}) 16. b4 {When it
comes to positions of opposite side castling, pawn storms especially, it is
very often a race for the King. Advantage often goes to the player who makes
his opponent take a timeout from their own undertakings. Anand does that here
totally of his own accord, rather than keeping up his initiative and sticking
to his plan with h4-h5.} Nd7 17. Ndxb5 {A bold and confident move from Anand,
but this does not seem sound. It seems that White has totally distracted
himself from his earlier intentions on the Kingside, once again h4-h5 was much
more in context.} axb5 18. Nxb5 Qc8 19. Nxd6 {Three pawns for a piece is a
fair exchange, but the drawback is that this piece can now be exchanged.
This helps Black at this point in time.} Bxd6 20. Qxd6 {Black is better here,
though White has a fair material return for his piece, and seems active enough,
an important evaluation point is potential and that belongs to Black at this
stage. White’s trumps, if you like, are his super Queenside pawn majority and
his bishop pair, but these are not yet having as much an influence on the
position.} Rd8 21. b5 {There is nothing better than this, really, but Black
has it in hand — indication that White’s play has been misguided.} Nde5 22.
Qc5 Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1 Nxf3 {With quite a big edge.} 24. bxc6 Bxc6 (24… Nxg1 25.
cxb7 Qd7+ (25… Qxc5 26. Bxc5 {it is easy to see that this would be winning
for White.}) 26. Bd3 {is better for White}) 25. Rg3 Rb1+ {There is nothing
wrong with this, but …Qd8+ was slightly more potent.} (25… Qd8+ 26. Bd3
Bxe4 27. Ke2 Rc8 28. Qb4 Bxd3+ 29. cxd3 Ne5 30. Qe4 Qc7 {When Black is looking
by far the more positive of the two.}) 26. Ke2 Qa6+ 27. Kxf3 Qxf1+ 28. Bf2 {
Black’s advantage has lessened over the last few moves — he is still the
better of the two, but there appears no way forward from here.} Qh1+ 29. Ke3
Qc1+ 30. Kf3 Qd1+ 31. Ke3 Qc1+ 32. Kf3 Qh1+ 33. Ke3 Qxe4+ {Picking up a pawn,
but that’s about it.} 34. Kd2 Qf4+ 35. Kc3 Rb8 {An acknowledgement by Black
that his attack has fizzled out.} 36. Rd3 {White has solved his problems here.}
Rc8 37. Kb2 h5 {The players agreed a draw here and split the point.} 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
