London Super Sixteen: Semis ready!

[Event "5th Classic KO 2013"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2013.12.14"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D40"] [WhiteElo "2773"] [BlackElo "2793"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2013.12.14"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. a3 a6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. b4 Bd6 $5 (8... Ba7 {is a far more common retreat, and it has been seen at the top level many times. Anand himself played it against Aronian in 2011.}) 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Qc2 (10. cxd5 exd5 11. Be2 Be6 {is more common but Black seems to be fine in this variation. Anand's move tries to lock in the light-squared bishop for at least a little longer.}) 10... Qe7 11. Rd1 Rd8 12. Be2 dxc4 13. Bxc4 b5 14. Bd3 Bb7 {Something has obviously gone wrong for White. If he castles he is basically simply a tempo down in a symmetrical position, not to mention that he would rather have put the f-rook on the d-file rather than his queenside rook. These little details would give Black an edge.} 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Rac8 $1 {A strong move.} 17. Qb1 $2 {Anand plays the human move, but he runs into quick trouble.} (17. Bxh7+ Kh8 18. Qb1 Nxb4 $1 (18... f5 $2 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. Qxf5 {is not playable for Black. White has sufficient material and a strong king-side initiative.}) (18... a5 $6 19. h4 $1 $13) 19. axb4 Bxb4+ 20. Ke2 f5 21. Bxf5 exf5 22. Qxf5 Rf8 {is a crazy position that is nearly impossible to evaluate. A sample crazy variation:} 23. Qh3+ Kg8 24. Rd7 Rc2+ ( 24... Bd5 {is not a move anyone is going to find.}) 25. Kd1 Rd8 26. Rxd8+ Qxd8+ 27. Kxc2 Be4+ 28. Kb3 Qd5+ 29. Kxb4 $11 {and there is apparently nothing more than a perpetual.}) 17... f5 18. Bd3 a5 19. bxa5 Nxa5 20. O-O Nc4 {White is passive. His kingside and his queenside are both under fire and he has no clear plan.} 21. Be2 Be4 22. Qa1 Nxb2 23. Qxb2 b4 $1 $19 (23... Rc2 24. Qxb5 { doesn't quite work.}) 24. axb4 Rc2 {A decisive fork, and the point of 23...b4. Now the game is over.} 25. Qb3 Rxe2 26. Nd4 Bd5 27. Qd3 Qh4 0-1

[Event "5th Classic KO 2013"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2013.12.14"] [Round "1.3"] [White "Adams, Michael"] [Black "Svidler, Peter"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2754"] [BlackElo "2758"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2013.12.14"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Qc7 8. a4 Be6 9. Be2 h6 10. O-O Nbd7 {an already kind of rare position in the Najdorf. The lines with 7...Nb3 are much better known.} 11. h3 Be7 12. Nh2 $5 {A weird and interesting maneuver. The idea is to gain more control over the d5 square by exchanging its defenders.} O-O 13. Ng4 Qc6 14. Qd3 Rfc8 15. Rfd1 Rab8 16. a5 Nc5 $2 {A huge oversight.} 17. Nxf6+ {Suddenly there is no good way to recapture on f6!} Bxf6 (17... gxf6 18. Bxc5 Qxc5 19. Bg4 {is actually worse than losing the pawn.}) 18. Qxd6 Qxd6 19. Rxd6 Be7 20. Rd2 {White is a pawn up and has all the positional advantages. It is very hard to devise something to do with Black now.} Bg5 21. Bxg5 hxg5 22. Bg4 b5 23. axb6 Rxb6 24. Nd5 Rb7 25. f3 Rcb8 $6 26. b4 {Black is forced to retreat, which will mean further material losses. A quick demolition!} 1-0

[Event "5th Classic KO 2013"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2013.12.14"] [Round "1.4"] [White "Svidler, Peter"] [Black "Adams, Michael"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A14"] [WhiteElo "2758"] [BlackElo "2754"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "2013.12.14"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Qc2 $6 {already a strange move.} d4 7. c5 $6 {a strange followup.} Nc6 8. Ne1 e5 9. e4 Nb4 10. Qc4 a5 {White is already lost!} 11. a3 Be6 12. Qe2 Na6 13. c6 bxc6 (13... Nc5 { would have prepared the unstoppable Nb3, winning immediately, but the move in the game is also good.}) 14. d3 Nc5 15. Nd2 Nfd7 16. f4 exf4 17. gxf4 f5 18. Rb1 a4 19. Ndf3 Nb3 20. Ng5 Bxg5 21. fxg5 fxe4 22. Bxe4 Nxc1 23. Rxc1 Qxg5+ 24. Ng2 Bd5 {Black is simply up two pawns...} 0-1

[Event "5th Classic KO 2013"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2013.12.14"] [Round "1.3"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E46"] [WhiteElo "2782"] [BlackElo "2777"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2013.12.14"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 Bd6 $5 {This plan is becoming increasingly popular as of late since 7.c5 hasn't been yielding great results for White.} 7. Ng3 c6 (7... c5 {is also possible.}) 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 e5 10. O-O Nbd7 11. dxe5 Bxe5 12. Qc2 Nb6 13. Be2 Re8 14. e4 Ng4 15. Bxg4 Bxg4 16. f4 Bd4+ 17. Kh1 Qh4 {Something has obviously gone wrong. Black's bishops dominate the board and it is White that is completely in the defensive.} 18. Nce2 $1 {Accurate, this forces one bishop off the board and White equalizes.} Bxe2 19. Qxe2 Rad8 20. e5 Qe7 21. Be3 Qe6 22. Rae1 Bxe3 23. Qxe3 f5 24. Rd1 g6 25. Ne2 Qc4 26. Nd4 Rd5 27. Nf3 Qc2 28. Rd2 $4 (28. Rxd5 Nxd5 29. Qd4 Rd8 30. Rd1 {maintains an approximate equality although I would prefer to be Black.}) 28... Nc4 $1 {oops. Suddenly White is completely lost.} 29. Rxc2 Nxe3 { Unfortunately for Caruana both of his rooks are under attack.} 30. Rcc1 Nxf1 31. Rxf1 Red8 {and on top of that Gelfand will force an exchange of rooks, making the win trivial. Very unfortunate turn of events for the Italian.} 0-1