World Cup Final 2: Risky draw

by ChessBase
8/31/2013 – Kramnik barely survived a series of crazy tactics straight out of the opening to achieve an endgame that he was able to hold easily. Andreikin possibly missed some chances early in the game to create further complications and make it harder for the ex-World Champion to defend. This is all wonderfully explained in the analysis of our guest annotator, Indian GM Parimarjan Negi.
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The FIDE World Cup is a knockout, starting with 128 players, with two games (90 min for 40 moves + 30 min for the rest, with 30 seconds increment) between pairs of players. The tiebreaks consist of two rapid games (25 min + 10 sec), then two accelerated games (10 min + 10 sec), and finally an Armageddon. The winner and the runner-up of the World Cup 2013 will qualify for the Candidates Tournament of the next World Championship cycle. The venue is the city of Tromsø, which lies in the northern-most region of Norway, almost 400 km inside the Arctic Circle. You can find all details and links to many ChessBase articles on Tromsø here. The World Cup starts on Sunday, August 11th and lasts until September 3rd (tiebreaks, closing ceremony). Each round lasts three days, while the final will consist of four classical games. Thursday August 29 is a free day. A detailed schedule can be found here.

Finals game two

A wild position occurred as Vladimir Kramnik decided not to sit passively and wait for Dmitri Andreikin to show his cards. Immediately Black counter-attacked in the center in a variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined that is gaining popularity rapidly.

Andreikin was faced with a tough decision as early as move 15 when Kramnik played 14...Bxa3!? It's possible that taking the knight on d7 was the superior choice. In the game continuation the tactics barely worked for Black – but that was sufficient.

Black survived and entered an endgame where he was only very slightly worse. The bishop was superior to the knight, but White's crippled structure on the kingside did not allow him to play for more than a draw.

A special guest appeared on the live commentary: Garry Kasparov connected via Skype and analysed with , with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and Nigel Short, also sharing stories of previous world championship matches.

Photos by Paul Trong

GM analysis of game two

We are pleased to welcome Indian GM Parimarjan Negi, 20, as a guest commentator on our news page. In 2006 Parimarjan became the second youngest grandmaster in the history of the game – at the age of 13 years, 3 months, and 22 days.

Parimarjan won the strong Philadelphia International Open Tournament in June 2008 with a score of 7.0/9, and was undefeated. In July 2009 he won the Politiken Cup tournament in Copenhagen with 8.5/10 and in 2010 won the 48th National Premier Chess Championship in New Delhi. Parimarjan also won the 11th Asian continental chess championship in 2012 in Vietnam, and also won the Politiken Cup in Denmark in 2013.

Negi studies in the Amity International School and has won various tournaments there. His current rating is 2662.
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As in the previous rounds, Andreikin avoided mainstream theory - and it can be said successfully, but then he failed to make a tough decision that could have put the Kramnik under pressure. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 Kramnik sticks to his favourite Queen's Gambit Declined. 5.Bf4 0-0 6.a3!? Much less played than the ultra theoretical 6.e3, this move has been gaining popularity recently as it 'avoids' the typical solid lines with Nbd7-c5 that black employs after e3. b6 Andreikin spent some time trying to choose between going into a typical structure with cxd5-Nd5-Nd5-exd5, or continue to try and maintain the tension in the centre. 6...Nbd7 7.Nb5! is the point - and now the use of a3, preventing Bb4+ is clear. In the previous game Kramnik had continued: 6...dxc4 which is probably what Andreikin had mainly prepared against. 7.e3 Eventually Dmitry avoids the typical Queen's Gambit Declined structure, possiby because of Kramnik's vast experience in such structures. c5 Instant reply, and once again Andreikin is in a difficult situation: how to avoid the former World Champion's impressive preparation, and yet maintain tension in the game. 8.Qc2 An offbeat move. I believe Andreikin had some idea about it, but considering the amount of time he took, he had definitely not prepared it for this game. But he achieved his aim of avoiding any forcing preparation - and now an interesting battle over the board begins. cxd4 Black decides against maintaining the tension in the centre, and bringing more tactical options into focus. 9.Nxd4 9.exd4 will just leave White with an eventual isolated pawn. 9...Bb7 10.Rd1 Nbd7 11.cxd5 A critical moment. Black can just make the obivious recapture with Nxd5, and hope to equalise in the ensuing symmetrical position. Or, he could try to win a piece with the pawn fork - e5. e5 Kramnik chooses to take the challenge! Unfortunately things aren't as easy for Black - and he possibly underestimated either White's 14th or 15th move. 11...Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Bxd5 13.Bb5! Despite the drawish nature of such structures, White's considerably more active pieces, along with a glaring weakeness on c6, and uncomfortable Qd8, don't make Black's life easy yet. 12.Nc6 12.Nf5 exf4 13.d6 Bxd6 14.Nxd6 Qc7 15.exf4 White wins a pawn, but the King stuck on e1 makes it look only dangerous for him. 12...Bxc6 13.dxc6 exf4 14.exf4! A nice intermediate move! At first sight the suddenly naked king on e1, along with the tantalizing possibility of checks on the e file make it look dangerous for White. But there is no clear way to make use of this temporary weakeness, while White wins back his piece in the next move, followed by a quick consolidation with Be2 and 0-0. Bxa3!? A nice tactical idea - which can explain Kramnik's e5. Now White needs to make an important decision. 14...Bd6 15.cxd7 Qxd7 16.Be2 Qc7 17.g3 15.bxa3? Andreikin may have missed the nice equalising trick 18...Nce4 - or perhaps he wanted to avoid the murky looking complications after cd7. 15.cxd7! Having computers assisting us, it's easy to point out cxd7 as a much stronger move - but during a tense match, it's not that easy to understand that the dangerous looking pawn on d7 will not actually fall! Bb4 15...Bd6 16.Bb5! is an important resource! 16.Be2 Qc7 17.Qb3! A typical, highly effective move of the machine that is hard to find a few moves before. With the concrete trick of 0-0, Nd5 White manages to keep his formidable pawn, and maintain serious winning chances. An obvious 17.0-0 simply drops the pawn. Rad8 17...a5 18.0-0 Rad8 19.Nd5!± 15...Qe8+ 16.Be2 Nc5 17.0-0 Qxc6 18.Bf3 Nce4! A nice little tactic that saves black by a Whisker. Despite an ominous pin along f3-a8 diagonal, white is unable to avoid the threatened simplifications. 19.Rc1 19.Bxe4 Nxe4 20.Qxe4 Qxc3= was the key point. 19...Qxc3 20.Qxc3 Nxc3 21.Rxc3 Rac8 Now the game enters much calmer waters, and Kramnik easily steers his position to safety. 22.Rfc1 Rxc3 23.Rxc3 Re8 24.g4 Kf8 25.g5 Ng8 Despite the temporary passivity of Black's pieces, he is in no real danger. The knight will soon regroup to f5. 26.Kg2 g6 27.h4 Ne7 28.Rc7 Nf5 29.h5 Re7 30.Rc8+ Re8 31.Rc7 Re7 32.Rc8+ Re8 33.Rc7 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Andreikin,D2727Kramnik,V2784½–½2013WorldCup 201356.1

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Results of the final match

Player Rtg G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 Pts
Kramnik,Vl 2706
1
½
               1.0
Andreikin,Dm 2741
0
½
               0.0

 

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