[Event "Candidates"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.05.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[Annotator "Caruana,F"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2011.05.05"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 {Already a surprise! Although Grischuk has played
the King's Indian many times before, I dont remember having seen him play the
Grunfeld.} 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O
10. O-O b6 {#A rare move, which was played by Vishy Anand against Veselin
Topalov in their World Championship match. At first I was skeptical, but later
I  came to appreciate this move, which does little to challenge the centre,
but solves the problem of where to put Black's light-squared bishop, which
often can't find a good place. In comparison, the very popular 10...Bd7 looks
really weird to me - I just can't understand what the bishop is doing there.}
11. dxc5 {Levon is not impressed, and decides to take the pawn on offer. When
I was analyzing this variation a couple of months ago, I came to the same
conclusion that this was the critical continuation. Perhaps I was a little too
keen to listen to the machine's advice; now I would be less likely to endorse
a move which ruins White's pawn structure and opens all the lines for Black's
pieces.} ({Topalov-Anand, Sofia 2010 continued} 11. Qd2 Bb7 12. Rac1 Rc8 13.
Rfd1 cxd4 14. cxd4 Qd6 15. d5 Na5 16. Bb5 Rxc1 17. Rxc1 Rc8 18. h3 Rxc1+ 19.
Qxc1 e6 {, and Black had fully equalized.}) ({I hope in the future we seen a
return to moves like} 11. f4 $5 {- the caveman's approach to chess, which
unfortunately probably doesn't work very well here.}) 11... Qc7 {Of course
Black will not trade queens.} 12. Nd4 Ne5 13. Nb5 Qb8 {An interesting moment.
Black also has the option of playing 13...Qc6, a move preferred by the
computer.} (13... Qc6 {I imagine the reason Grischuk avoided this move is
because of} 14. Bd5 Qxb5 15. Bxa8 Ba6 16. Bd5 e6 17. Bb3 Qxf1+ 18. Qxf1 Bxf1
19. Kxf1 Ng4 20. Bd2 bxc5 21. h3 Rd8 22. Rd1 Ne5 23. Ke2 {, when we reach a
position where White's two bishops grant him a clear and risk free advantage.
Black has no way to neutralize the pressure and will have to suffer for a long
time.}) 14. Be2 {#} ({White could have won the exchange with} 14. Bd5 Ng4 15.
g3 Nxe3 16. fxe3 {However, I imagine most people would not  be happy to wreck
their entire position in this way. After} Bh3 17. Rf2 bxc5 {Black will have
great compensation.}) 14... bxc5 $146 {A novelty, but an extremely obvious one.
I can't imagine Levon overlooking this in his preparation, but I'm not sure
what he missed, because Black got a perfect position in a few moves.} ({
Previously} 14... a6 $6 {had been played, illogically driving away a misplaced
piece. After} 15. Na3 bxc5 16. f4 Nd7 17. e5 {, Black just has a bad position.
White's knight will come to the dominating c4 square next, and Black's
dark-squared bishop is a terrible piece.}) 15. f4 {White is trying to block
the g7-bishop by playing f4 and e5. Unfortunately, he will never get the
chance.} (15. Bxc5 a6 16. Nd4 Qc7 {gives Black perfect compensation.}) (15. Rb1
{at first seems very promising, but the tactics again work in Black's favour:}
a6 16. Na3 Qc7 17. f4 Rd8 18. Qc2 Ng4 {, and White will have to give up one of
his bishops.}) 15... Ng4 {Of course! This is why Black postponed playing ...a6.
} 16. Bxc5 {Again Levon decides to grab a pawn, only this time he had no
choice.} ({After} 16. Bxg4 Bxg4 17. Qxg4 Qxb5 18. e5 Qc4 {White's best move is
to offer a draw as quickly as possible.}) 16... a6 17. Na3 {White has to
continue placing his pieces on strange squares to try to justify his risky
opening strategy.} ({The move} 17. Bxg4 {leads to a complete annihilation of
all the pieces:} Bxg4 18. Qxg4 Qxb5 19. Bd4 Bxd4+ 20. cxd4 Qc4 {, and here the
game will soon end in a draw.}) 17... Qc7 18. Bd4 e5 19. fxe5 Nxe5 {#Now Black
has a great outpost for his knight. After a few small fireworks, the position
has stabilized. White is up a pawn and the bishop is holding his shaky pawn
structure together from d4. However, all Black's pieces are perfectly placed
and he should have full positional compensation.} 20. Qc1 {From here the queen
will go to e3 or f4.} Bg4 $6 {I don't like this move, although objectively
it's not such a bad one. Black is down a pawn and decides to go into an
endgame - where's the logic in that? Instead, simple play would have sufficed.}
({After} 20... Be6 21. Nc2 Rab8 {Black is doing very well. For example,} 22.
Nb4 (22. Bxa6 Qc6 {wins back a pawn.}) 22... Rxb4 23. cxb4 Nf3+ 24. gxf3 Bxd4+
25. Kh1 Qb6 {, and Black wins the exchange back with a great position.}) 21.
Bxg4 Nxg4 22. Qf4 Qxf4 ({After} 22... Ne5 $2 23. Nc2 {the knight just goes to
d5 and Black will be in big trouble.}) 23. Rxf4 Ne5 24. Rb1 {Although White's
advantage is not large and is very hard to convert, the defensive task is
unpleasant, especially against such a strong techincal player as Levon.} Rad8 (
{I would prefer} 24... Rac8 {, which prepares ...Nc4. If} 25. Rb7 (25. Nc2 {is
met by} Nd3) 25... Nc6 26. Bxg7 Kxg7 {Black will be able to make a draw
because of the poor position of the knight on a3.}) 25. Nc2 {#} Nd3 $2 {This
is where things really start to go wrong for Black. I'm not sure what Grischuk
was trying to achieve with this move, which simply puts the knight on a
useless square.} ({It would be better to place the knight on a nice outpost
with} 25... Nc4 {, when} 26. Rb7 {is met by the strong manouver} (26. Rb4 Rc8 {
keeps control.}) 26... Nd6 $1 27. Rb6 Nb5 $1 {, with equality. In case you
were wondering, I didn't find that variation myself....}) 26. Rff1 {Levon sees
that his rook is attacked and decides to move it. A good decision.} Rd7 {
Grischuk is preventing Rb7, but his play seems too slow. White is starting to
consolidate his position.} 27. Rfd1 Nf4 28. Kf2 {Aronian continues playing
simply and strongly. This is how the top players play: operating with logical,
harmonious moves!} Rc8 29. Ne3 h5 {This move, which doesn't seem to have much
of an idea at all, is a clear sign that Black's position has gone very wrong.
White is just a pawn up, with well-placed pieces. #} 30. Rb6 {White has an
enormous variety of options at this point (which is actually more of a
disadvantage than anything else!), most of which are of near equal value.
Aronian's move is very reasonable, but he may have had a stronger alternative.}
({I quite like} 30. Rb4 $5 {, which supports the bishop on d4 and prepares Ra4,
attacking a6. After} Ne6 {White has the option between the simple 31.e5 or} 31.
Nd5 Nxd4 32. Nb6 $1 Rxc3 33. Nxd7 Rc2+ 34. Kf1 {, although I imagine it isn't
easy to calculate this variation.}) 30... Ne6 31. Bxg7 Rxd1 32. Nxd1 Kxg7 33.
Ke3 Nc5 34. Rd6 a5 35. c4 {#White begins pushing his pawns. Black can't do
much about it at all. In such situations the best thing to do is wait and hope
your opponent gives you a chance for counterplay.} a4 36. Kd4 Ne6+ 37. Kc3 Rb8
38. Rd5 Nf4 39. Rd2 Ne6 40. Rb2 Rd8 41. Nf2 a3 42. Rd2 Rb8 43. Nd3 Rb1 44. c5
Kf6 45. c6 Ke7 46. Nb4 Rc1+ {#} 47. Kb3 $2 {A strange mistake. I imagine both
players were already tired at this point. Levon has played the game perfectly
up to this point, but now he allows unnecessary counterplay.} ({Instead} 47.
Nc2 $1 {, just wins on the spot. There are actually no variations to calculate:
White will pick up the a3-pawn with Kb3, and Black cannot do anything at all!})
47... Nc5+ 48. Kxa3 Nxe4 {Now White has to win the game over again. Black's
pieces are very active, and White seems tied down to the defense of c6.} 49.
Rd4 Nd6 50. Ka4 Ke6 51. Ka5 Rc5+ 52. Ka6 {Again tiredness is playing a role.} (
{I see no reason to avoid} 52. Kb6 Rb5+ 53. Ka6 {, which forces 53...Rc5 and
therefore gains a tempo compared to the game.}) 52... g5 53. a4 Ke5 {#} 54. Rd2
$2 {Another mistake making White's task more difficult.} ({After} 54. Rd1 Rc4
55. Rb1 {White will continue with Kb6 and win.}) 54... Rc4 55. Ka5 {White is
forced to make this awkward move as a result of his last mistake. It seems
like every move Grischuk gets more and more chances to save the game!} ({Now} 
55. Rb2 {is met by} Kd4 {, threatening ...Kc3. This is the reason the rook had
to be on b1!}) 55... f5 56. Rc2 Kd4 57. Rd2+ Ke5 58. Nd3+ Kf6 59. Kb6 Nc8+ 60.
Kb7 Nd6+ 61. Kc7 Ne4 62. Ra2 Nc3 63. Rb2 Nxa4 64. Rb4 Rxb4 65. Nxb4 Nc5 66. Kb6
Ne6 67. Nd3 h4 {#} 68. h3 {A very calm positional move. Actually, this works
reasonably well, but why not just take the knight immediately?} (68. c7 {would
have won easily. Of course, it is very easy to say this while looking at a
computer, while over the board things are never so simple.} Nxc7 69. Kxc7 {,
and Black's pawns are not strong enough to make a draw.} f4 70. Kd6 Kf5 71. Kd5
g4 72. Kd4 g3 73. hxg3 fxg3 74. Ke3 Kg4 75. Nf4 {wins.}) 68... Ke7 69. Nc5 $2 {
The dramatic end of a long and difficult game. Levon once again had the win at
his fingertips, but let it slip. With just one move he could have ended
Black's stiff resistance. It's interesting to understand what he missed; I
would venture to guess that he felt the pawn ending would be winning without
calculating any details. This often happens after several hours of play -
laziness sets in and you don't feel up to calculating variations.} (69. Ne5 $1
{would have won. White just threatens to play c7.} Kf6 (69... Kd6 70. Nf7+ Ke7
71. Nxg5 {decoys the knight on e6.}) 70. Nf3 {, and Black can't stop c7.})
69... Nxc5 70. Kxc5 Kd8 {And a draw! Black will just trade pawns with ...g4
and come back with his king in time. This was an extremely exciting game.
Aronian played the first half of the game in great style and slowly improved a
slightly better position. However, in the second half he began making many
mistakes and missing win after win. Grischuk, on the other hand, defended
extremely tenaciously after his initial unconvincing play. It will be
interesting to see how the results of this game will affect the rest of the
match - if Aronian will be put on the defensive after this dissapointing draw.}
1/2-1/2

