Baden Baden R6: Naiditsch wins a stunning game

by ChessBase
2/18/2013 – “The guy’s on fire – he’s been like this for weeks!” That was World Champion Viswanathan Anand on Arkadij Naiditsch, who today overwhelmed Daniel Fridman with a brilliant sacrificial attack to move into second place at the GRENKE Chess Classic. Elsewhere Georg Meier missed a nice win against Fabiano Caruana, while Vishy and Mickey Adams drew a well-played game. Round six report.
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Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic

Round six: Naiditsch wins a stunning game

6th round on 13 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667
0-1
 Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Anand Vishy 2780
½-½
 Adams Michael 2725
Meier Georg 2640
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2757

Anand managed to surprise his English opponent with the early 9.Nc3 in a Ruy Lopez, but Adams held his own in the strategic wrestling that ensued. Black’s knight on b7 looked awkward, but Anand noted, “Black can live with that weakness until the queenside is opened up”. He thought the bishop on e7 was holding Black’s position together and decided to swap it off, after which it seemed Anand was applying pressure.

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 0-0 9.Nc3 Na5 10.Ba2 c5 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.Bxd5 Bb7 13.b4 Bxd5 14.exd5 Nb7 15.c3 Qc7 16.Re1 f5 17.Bg5 Rae8 18.a4 cxb4 19.cxb4 Bxg5 20.Nxg5 Nd8 21.axb5 axb5 22.Qd2?! commented: "Usually when you make sophisticated moves like this it means you've lost track somewhere" (the blunt 22.Rc1 may be better). After that Adams equalised with energetic play in the centre, where he pushed his e-pawn... h6 23.Nf3 Qf7 24.Qa2 Qf6 25.Nd2 Nf7 26.Qa6 e4 27.dxe4 fxe4 28.Qxb5 e3 29.fxe3 Rxe3! Nice geometric move. 30.Qb6 30.Rxe3 Qxa1+ 31.Qf1 Qa7 32.Qe2= 30...Rxe1+ 31.Rxe1 Qc3 32.Qe3 Qxb4 33.Nf3 Qc5 34.Qxc5 dxc5 35.Re7 After 35.Rc1 Rc8 36.Nd4 Nd6 37.Nc6 Black has the only move Ra8 to equalise, as 38.Rxc5 Ra1+! 39.Kf2 Ne4+ loses a rook. 35...Rd8 36.Ne5 Nxe5 37.Rxe5 Kf7 38.d6 c4 39.Re7+ Adams: 39.Rc5 immediately was no good because we have to wait to move 40 to offer a draw! 39...Kf6 40.Rc7 Rxd6 41.Rxc4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V2780Adams,M2725½–½2013C771st GRENKE Chess Classic6

We can’t put off the Fridman-Naiditsch game any longer! After his fifth draw in a row in Round 5 Fridman had joked that he was now “the only solid player left in the tournament”, while Naiditsch’s results in Baden-Baden could be mistaken for binary notation. Something had to give, and it was Naiditsch who continued his streak of decisive games with a mind-blowing effort.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 f6 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3 Nh6 12.dxe5 fxe5 13.h3 Kh8!? Was this a novelty? Naiditsch and his friend Etienne Bacrot just burst into laughter when asked about theory after the game. 14.c5 g4 15.hxg4 Bxg4 16.cxd6 cxd6N 17.Nd2 Bc8 18.Nc4 Nd4 19.Ne3 Nf7 20.Nc2 Ng5 Pandora's Box was only opened when Fridman played 21.Bd3!? Naiditsch unleashed He was considering 21.Qd3 and later deeply regretted not playing it. 21...Ndf3+‼ It took even Houdini a while to realise that this brilliant knight sacrifice is absolutely sound. 22.gxf3 Qd7 23.Be2 Rf6 Naiditsch thought he was winning almost immediately as he'd missed the move his opponent found here: 24.Nd5! Fridman explained his problem was that this move took him too much time. He'd thought he could defend with 24.Ne3 Qh3 25.Ng4 Bxg4 26.fxg4 which even wins against every move other than the problem he discovered: Raf8! (with ...Rfh6 to follow) 24...Rh6 25.f4 Nh3+ 26.Kg2 exf4 Lawrence Trent in the commentary box showed the fantastic line: 26...Nxf4+ 27.Kf3 Rh2‼ 28.Bxh2 28.Ke3! saves it for White 28...Qh3+ 29.Bg3 Ng2‼ and mate can't be stopped. 27.Bh2 Houdini claims 27.Nd4! should hold, but the super-GM commentators couldn't work out why . 27...f3+! 28.Bxf3 Ng5 29.Nf4 Rxh2+! 30.Kxh2 Be5 here and on the next move the computer recommends .. .Qf7!, as after the moves in the game White is still hanging on 31.Kg2 Bxf4 32.Rh1 Qg7 33.Kf1 Be6 34.Nd4 Bc4+ 35.Be2 Nxe4! 36.Bxc4? This was ultimately the losing move. After the game Fridman suggested 36.Nf3 although here that solidifying try fails to Nxf2! but he could have prepared it first with 36.Rg1! and Black may end up only slightly better. 36...Nd2+ 37.Ke2 d5‼ World Champion Vishy Anand: "very impressive." Black should be doing well after simply taking the bishop with 37...Nxc4 but he needs to avoid the cunning trap Fridman had seen during the game: 37...Qxd4?! 38.Rxh7+‼ Kxh7 39.Qh1+ when the black king is suddenly also in danger. The computer, however, was showing the remarkable 37...d5‼ as by far the best move. It turns out that diabolical jab renders White totally helpless - there's no way to save material and 38.Bxd5 38...Re8+ 39. Kd3 Qg6+ 38.Qc2 Re8+ 39.Kd1 Nxc4 40.Qc3 Re4 41.Nf5 Nxb2+ 42.Kc2 Re2+ 43.Kb3 Qxc3+ 44.Kxc3 Be5+ 45.Nd4 Re4 Fridman was far from downhearted after the game - in chess you still need two players to compose a masterpiece. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Fridman,D2667Naiditsch,A27160–12013E971st GRENKE Chess Classic6

For the sixth day in a row one game – no more and no less – finished decisively, but that’s something of a statistical anomaly. Georg Meier was one move away from pulling off a sensation in his game against the tournament leader Fabiano Caruana.

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0-0 Ne4 9.g3 Nd6 10.b3 Be7 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Qd3 Nf6 13.Bf3 g5 14.Bg2 g4 Caruana was unhappy with how he played the opening. He said his plan "was probably a bit ambitious - the pawn on g4 just turned out to be a little weak, " and added, "the position looks normal but I just didn't see any plan." 15.Rd1 Qc7 Fabiano explained the concrete problems for Black with an "attacking" line where he wins the h2-pawn but is going to get crushed in the centre after 15...Qa5?! 16.Bd2 dxc4 17.bxc4 Qh5 18.c5 Qxh2+ 19.Kf1 16.Bb2 Rd8 17.Rac1 Qa5 18.c5 Nf5 19.a3 Qc7 20.Qe2 Nh6 21.e4 dxe4 22.Nxe4 Nxe4 23.Bxe4 0-0 24.b4 Bf6 25.a4 Rfe8 26.b5 Re7 27.Rd3 Red7 28.Rcd1 Nf5 29.Qxg4 Bxd4? 30.Bxd4 The win is surprising and pretty, but also forced and relatively simple: 30.Qf4‼ Qc8 30...Qxf4 loses a piece 31.Bxf5 Bxb2 32.Rxd7 Rxd7 33.Rxd7 Qxd7 and after everything has been traded off there's the final blow 34.Qb8+ and mate. The players explained afterwards that they'd missed the above line because they were both calculating another much more complicated forced line: 30.Bxf5 Bxb2 31.b6 axb6 32.cxb6 Qc8 33.Bxe6 Rxd3 34.Bxc8 Rxd1+ 35.Kg2 R1d4 36.Qe2 Rxc8 37.Qxb2 Rxa4 and the position's equal. 30...Nxd4 31.Rxd4 Rxd4 32.Rxd4 After everything was exchanged on d4, even the nice finesse Rxd4 33.Bh7+! couldn't bring Meier anything more than a drawn queen ending. Kxh7 34.Qxd4 Kg8 35.b6 axb6 36.cxb6 Qe7 37.a5 Qa3 38.Qe5 Kh7 39.h4 Qd3 40.Kg2 Qc4 41.Kf3 Qd3+ 42.Kg2 Qc4 43.Qc7 Qe4+ 44.Kg1 Qe1+ 45.Kg2 Qe4+ 46.Kg1 Qe1+ 47.Kg2 Qe4+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Meier,G2640Caruana,F2757½–½2013D121st GRENKE Chess Classic6

That draw means that Fabiano Caruana continues to lead on 4/6, while Arkadij Naiditsch joins Viswanathan Anand in second place on 3.5. The full standings are:

Report by Colin McGourty, photos Georgios Souleidis, videos Macauley Peterson

Video reports of the round

Schedule and results

1st round on 07 February 2013 at 15:00
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
½-½
 Fridman Daniel 2667
Adams Michael 2725
½-½
 Anand Vishy 2780
Caruana Fabiano 2757
1-0
 Meier Georg 2640
2nd round on 08 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667
½-½
 Meier Georg 2640
Anand Vishy 2780
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2757
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
1-0
 Adams Michael 2725
3rd round on 09 February 2013 at 15:00
Adams Michael 2725
½-½
 Fridman Daniel 2667
Caruana Fabiano 2757
1-0
 Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Meier Georg 2640
½-½
 Anand Vishy 2780
4th round on 10 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667
½-½
 Anand Vishy 2780
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
1-0
 Meier Georg 2640
Adams Michael 2725
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2757
5th round on 11 February 2013 at 15:00
Caruana Fabiano 2757
½-½
 Fridman Daniel 2667
Meier Georg 2640
½-½
 Adams Michael 2725
Anand Vishy 2780
1-0
 Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
6th round on 13 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667
0-1
 Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Anand Vishy 2780
½-½
 Adams Michael 2725
Meier Georg 2640
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2757
7th round on 14 February 2013 at 15:00
Meier Georg 2640   Fridman Daniel 2667
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Anand Vishy 2780
Adams Michael 2725   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
8th round on 15 February 2013 at 15:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Adams Michael 2725
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Caruana Fabiano 2757
Anand Vishy 2780   Meier Georg 2640
9th round on 16 February 2013 at 15:00
Anand Vishy 2780   Fridman Daniel 2667
Meier Georg 2640   Naiditsch Arkadij 2716
Caruana Fabiano 2757   Adams Michael 2725
10th round on 17 February 2013 at 13:00
Fridman Daniel 2667   Caruana Fabiano 2757
Adams Michael 2725   Meier Georg 2640
Naiditsch Arkadij 2716   Anand Vishy 2780

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