Norway Chess: Carlsen, Kramnik and Giri win

by André Schulz
4/20/2016 – The Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger saw a lively first round and three players winning with the white pieces: Anish Giri used his tactical chances to win against Pavel Eljanov and Magnus Carlsen steamrolled Pentala Harikrishna. Vladimir Kramnik won against Nils Grandelius by showing patience and good technique. The other two games ended in a draw.
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At the Candidates Tournament in Moscow Anish Giri often failed to make use of his chances and as a result had to suffer countless jokes about his many draws. But in the first round of the Norway Chess tournament he showed that he still knows how to win. In an Italian game he exploited a tactical oversight by his opponent.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 0-0 7.Re1 a5!? The main line is 7...a6 8.Bb3 Ba7 9.h3 h6 Or first 7...h6 8.Bg5 8.Nbd2 Kh8 9.Nf1 Be6 10.Bb5 Bd7 11.Ng3 Bb6 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.Rxe3 Ne7 14.Bxd7 Qxd7 15.d4 Nc6 16.a4 Rfe8 17.h3 Kg8 18.Qe2 Ra6 19.Rd1 Qe7 20.Rd2 g6 21.Qd1 Rb6 22.Rde2 Qf8 1/2-1/2 (22) Ehlvest,J (2620)-Spassky,B (2580) Clermont Ferrand 1989 8...h6 9.Bh4 g5!? 10.Bg3 10.Nxg5 hxg5 11.Bxg5 is optimistic because the white f-pawn cannot move. However, the idea is not totally absurd, e.g.: Kg7 12.Qf3 Rh8 12...Be6 13.Bd5 13.Nd2 Be6 14.h4∞ 10...Ba7 11.Na3 Starting a journey to the kingside. Bg4 12.h3 Bh5 13.Nc2 Bg6 14.Bh2 Nh5 15.d4 Nf6 15...Qe7?! 16.Ne3± 15...Re8!? 16.dxe5 Nxe4 17.Ne3 Nxe5 18.Nxe5 dxe5 19.Ng4
19...h5? Overlooking or underestimating White's next move. 19...Kh7 prevents the sequence White has in the game. After 20.Rxe4 Bxe4 21.Qxd8 Raxd8 22.Nf6+ Kg6 protecting g5! 23.Nxe4 f5 24.Ng3 Rd2 25.Ne2 f4 White's in trouble. 20.Rxe4! Now White gets two pieces for a rook. Bxe4 20...Qxd1+ 21.Rxd1 Bxe4 22.Nf6+ does not change much. 21.Qxd8 Rfxd8 22.Nf6+ Kg7 23.Nxe4 f6 23...Kg6 24.g4± 24.g4 h4 25.a4 c6 26.Kf1 Kg6 27.Ke2 Rab8 28.Be6 Kg7 29.f3 White only has to reactivate the bishop h2 via g1 and its game over. Re8 30.Bc4 Red8 31.Bd3 Kf7 32.Nd2 Ke7 33.Nc4 Rd5 34.Be4 Rc5 34...Rd7 35.Nxa5+- 35.Nd2 b5 36.Bg1 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Giri,A2790Eljanov,P27651–02016C544th Norway Chess 20161

At the start of a tournament and against weaker opponents Magnus Carlsen sometimes has problems to show his real strength. However, during the opening blitz the World Champion already demonstrated how keen he is to play. And Pentala Harikrishna is everything but a "weaker" opponent but close to replace Vishy Anand as India's number one. However, against Carlsen things did not go too well for the Indian. He was virtually steamrolled.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Nbd2 The main move is 5.b3 5.Qa4 or 5.Qc2 are also more popular. 5...Bb4 6.Qa4 c5 7.a3 Bxd2+ 8.Bxd2 0-0 9.dxc5 bxc5 10.Bg2 Qb6 10...Bb7!? 11.0-0 Nc6 12.Be3 Rfc8 12...Qa5 13.Qc2± 1-0 (35) Belotti,B (2405)-Boog,A (2375) Biel 1992 13.Rfd1 13.b4 Bxc4 14.bxc5 Qa6 yields nothing for White. 13...d5 14.cxd5 exd5 15.Bxc5 Qa5 16.Qc2 Bxe2 17.Qxe2 Qxc5 18.Rac1 Qb6 19.b4 h6 20.Qe3 Qb7 21.Bh3 Re8 22.Qc3 Ne7 23.Nd4± White exerts a certain amount of pressure. Ne4 24.Qc7 Qa6 24...Qxc7 25.Rxc7 is no improvement for Black. Ng6?! 26.Bd7+- 25.f3 Ng5 26.Bd7 Red8 27.h4
27.Rc3± 27...Nxf3+ Where to go with the knight? Obviously Black was loath to beat a retreat with 27...Nh7 . 28.Nxf3 Qxa3 29.Kg2 Qb2+ 30.Rd2 Qxb4 Well, Black has three pawns and an active queen for the his piece. But his other pieces fail to impress. 31.Re1 a5 32.Rde2 Ng6 33.h5 Nh8 Ouch! In this game the black knights do not shine. 34.Bf5 a4 35.Ne5 Qd6 36.Qc2
36...Re8 After 36...a3 White has the clever 37.Nc6 Rf8 38.Bh7# 37.Bh7+ Kf8 38.Qf5 Threatening 39.Nd7. Re7 39.Bg6 Kg8 39...Nxg6 40.Nxg6+ Kg8 41.Rxe7 fxg6 42.Qf7+ Kh7 43.Qxg7# 40.Nxf7 Rxf7 41.Bxf7+ A massacre. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2851Harikrishna,P27631–02016E154th Norway Chess 20161

Vladimir Kramnik's game was less spectacular. Playing with White against Nils Grandelius, Kramnik, who recently took a liking to openings with an early Bf4, always had the initiative and was better, but needed patience and good technique to win. But the constant pressure was finally too much for the Swedish grandmaster who faltered a few moves before the time-control.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Recently, Kramnik likes to try new ways. d5 3.e3 e6 4.c3 c5 5.Nd2 Nc6 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.f4 cxd4 9.cxd4 0-0 10.a3 Ne7 11.Ngf3 11.g4 Bd7 12.g5 Ne8 13.Ngf3 Nf5 14.Kf2 Qe7 15.Rc1 f6 16.Rg1 fxg5 17.Nxg5 Ned6 18.Qh5 h6 19.Ngf3 Rac8 20.Bc2 Kh8 21.Ne5 Be8 22.Qg4 Qd8 23.Bxf5 Nxf5 24.Nb3 Rxc1 25.Nxc1 h5 26.Qh3 Qc7 27.Ne2 Qc2 28.Ng6+ Bxg6 29.Rxg6 Qe4 30.Nc3 Qc2+ 31.Ne2 Qe4 32.Nc3 Qc2+ 33.Ne2 1/2-1/2 (33) Billio,M (1730)-Schroeder,C (2219) LSS email 2013 11...Qb6 12.Qb3 Qxb3 13.Nxb3 White has more space and the better bishop. b6 14.Rc1 And the c-file. Bd7 15.Ke2 Nc8 15...Rfc8 16.Ne5 Be8 17.Ba6± 16.Ne5 Ba4 17.Nd2 Nd6 18.b3 Bb5 19.Bxb5 Nxb5 20.a4 Nd6 Black got rid of the bad bishop but could not solve his problems on the c-file. 21.Rc6 Rfd8 22.Ra1 Nfe8 23.a5 f6 24.axb6 axb6 25.Rxa8 Rxa8 26.Nd7 b5 Black defended well but White still has the initiative. 27.Nc5 Kf7 28.e4 dxe4 29.Ndxe4 Nxe4 29...Ra2+ 30.Kf3 Nf5 31.Nxe6 Nh4+∞ 30.Nxe4 Ra2+ 31.Kf3 Rb2 32.Nc5 g5 33.Rb6
33...gxf4 33...g4+! 34.Kxg4 34.Kg3 Ng7= 34...Rxg2+ 35.Kf3 Rxh2 36.Nxe6 h5= 34.Rb7+ Kg6 35.Nxe6 Kf5 36.Nc5 Rc2? Better was 36...Rd2 37.Rd7 b4± 37.Ne4 Nc7 38.Rb6 Nd5 38...Ne8 39.Rxb5++- 39.Rd6 If the knight moves, White mates on f6. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kramnik,V2801Grandelius,N26491–02016D004th Norway Chess 20161

Round 1 - Results

Br. Tit Name ELO Ergebnis Titel Name ELO
1 GM Vladimir Kramnik 2801 1 - 0 GM Nils Grandelius 2637
2 GM Magnus Carlsen 2844 1 - 0 GM Pentala Harikrishna 2753
3 GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave 2785 ½ - ½ GM Li Chao 2755
4 GM Anish Giri 2793 1 - 0 GM Pavel Eljanov 2760
5 GM Levon Aronian 2786 ½ - ½ GM Veselin Topalov 2780

Standings after round 1

Photos: Altibox Norway Chess/Joachim Steinbru

Tournament page...

 

André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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