Alekhine Memorial starts with a bang

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.04.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Ding, Liren"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D45"] [Annotator "Margvelashvili, Giorgi"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 e6 6. c5 Nbd7 7. b4 {The main line. In the World Championship match, Gelfand surprised Anand with the rare 7. Qc2 Gelfand was able to get a slight advantage from the opening and eventually convert it into full point.} b6 8. Bb2 a5 9. a3 Be7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O Ba6 { Black wants to exchange passive c8 bishop.} 12. Ne1 $5 {I really like this move by Ding. White prepares to retake on d3 with a knight and possibly play f3 with the following e4 in the future.} Bc4 $6 {a very interesting but risky move. Instead of trading bishops on d3, Aronian wants to exchange bishops on c4, creating passed pawn and more dynamic position.} 13. Bxc4 dxc4 14. Qe2 Rb8 15. Ra2 $1 {Defending b2 bishop in case black chooses to exchange pawns on c5.} b5 16. e4 Rb7 17. Nc2 Nb8 18. Raa1 {As a result of 12...Bc4, Aronian finds himself in a difficult position with little counterplay. Ding uses his dominance in center to further increase pressure on black's position.} Qc8 19. Rad1 Rd8 20. Bc1 $1 {Another strong move by Ding. The bishop has nothing to do on b2, so Ding transfers it to f4, where it controls important squares in center.} Na6 21. Bf4 Rbd7 22. h3 Ne8 23. Qe3 Bf6 24. e5 Be7 25. Ne4 $1 {The knight goes to d6, where it paralyzes all black pieces.} Nac7 26. Nd6 Qa8 27. Qg3 Nd5 28. Ne3 $1 Nc3 {allows white to demonstrate the tactical idea of 28. Ne3. Better would be to play 28...Nac7 and continue defending unpleasant position.} 29. Rde1 Bxd6 30. exd6 Ne4 31. Qh4 Nd2 {looks like black has won an exchange, but...} 32. Nd5 $1 Nxf1 33. Nb6 Qa7 34. Rxf1 Nf6 $2 {this move looks very natural, but it falls to a beautiful combination.} (34... Rb8 {would be stronger, forcing White to take the rook on d7, but still after} 35. Nxd7 Qxd7 36. bxa5 Ra8 37. Bd2 {White has excellent winning chances.}) 35. Be5 $1 Nd5 36. Nxd5 $1 exd5 37. Bxg7 $3 {Amazing!} Kxg7 38. Qg5+ Kf8 39. Qf6 Kg8 40. Re1 $1 { And suddenly black has no defense against the following Re3 or Re5 deadly rooklift.} axb4 41. Re5 h6 42. Rh5 Qxa3 43. Qxh6 $1 (43. Rxh6 $4 {would be a huge mistake, since after} Qc1+ 44. Kh2 Qxh6 $1 45. Qxh6 b3 {White would be forced to give perpetual check and settle for a draw! This is yet another example that one should never lose his focus, even in the most winning positions.}) 43... f6 44. Qxf6 {And black resigned. A very impressive performance by the Chinese grandmaster and painful lose for Aronian. But knowing Aronian's resilience, I am sure he will be able to rebound in the upcoming rounds.} 1-0

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.04.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Margvelashvili,Giorgi"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] {It is always exciting to watch world top ten players playing against "lesser" super grandmasters. This also was Kramnik's first game after his disappointing loss to Ivanchuk in the last round of the Candidates tournament.} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 {As Kramnik often does lately, he chooses sideline variations and tries to outplay his opponent in the middlegame.} c6 3. Bg2 Bg4 {the most popular set up against the g3 system.} 4. O-O Nd7 5. d3 Ngf6 6. Qe1 {preparing e4.} e5 7. e4 dxe4 8. dxe4 Bd6 {not the most popular line. 8...Bc5 is the main line.} 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nc4 Bc7 {The bishop stands passively on c7, but it defends e5 pawn and might enter the game after b5 and Bb6.} 12. a4 {Preventing the above mentioned b5.} Re8 13. Nh4 {Black only has one weakness in the position, that is the d6 square. Kramnik transfers his knight from f3 to f5, trying to take advantage of that weak point.} Nc5 14. Nf5 Ne6 15. Be3 Nf4 $5 { Vitiugov sacrifices a piece for the initiative.} 16. f3 $1 {Kramnik correctly declines the sacrifice.} (16. gxf4 $6 exf4 {with the following f3 would give black too much counterplay.}) 16... Nxg2 17. Kxg2 Bg6 18. Rd1 Nd5 $5 19. Nh4 $1 {Vitiugov wants to find his chances in a tactical battle, but Kramnik is relentless and forces Vitiugov to defend a slightly worse position with no counterplay.} Nxe3+ 20. Qxe3 Qe7 21. Qb3 Rab8 22. Rf2 $1 {Doubling rooks on the d file.} Red8 23. Rxd8+ Bxd8 24. Rd2 Bc7 25. Rd3 Qe6 26. Qb4 b6 27. b3 { Kramnik slowly improves his position.} a6 28. Qd2 b5 29. Rd7 $1 bxc4 30. Rxc7 cxb3 31. Rb7 $1 {A nice trick, Kramnik wins back a pawn.} Qc8 32. Rxb3 Rxb3 33. cxb3 {Due to the passive bishop on g6 and better pawn structure, Kramnik has a slight, but comfortable advantage. Generally, this position looks defendable for Vitiugov, but it is very hard to withstand Kramnik's pressure, especially in this type of positions.} f6 {trying to bring bishop back to game from f7 or e8.} 34. Qd6 Kf7 (34... Bf7 {does not work here, since after} 35. Nf5 Qe6 36. Qd8+ Qe8 37. Qc7 {White's knight becomes too active.}) 35. g4 $1 Ke8 36. Kg3 $1 {Kramnik frees his g2 square for the knight. Kramnik demonstrates out of this world technique.} Qb7 37. b4 Qc8 {Vitiugov can only wait and watch.} 38. a5 Kf7 39. Ng2 h5 40. Ne3 hxg4 41. hxg4 Qe6 42. Qd3 Qc8 43. Qc4+ Kf8 44. Qc5+ Kg8 45. b5 $3 {The final blow. Vitiugov did not make any big mistakes in this game, which makes this win for Kramnik even more impressive. Vitiugov tried his best to defend the position, but there is nothing he could do, as Kramnik played one of his best games.} axb5 46. Qb6 Qf8 47. a6 {The a-pawn decides the game in Kramnik's favor.} Qb4 48. a7 Qe1+ 49. Kg2 Qd2+ 50. Kg1 {Vitiugov resigned here, since after 50...Qe1+ 51.Nf1 he has no more checks, and Kramnik just promotes his pawn.} 1-0