Vladimir Kramnik Triumphs at the Chess World Cup in Norway
By GM Lubomir Kavalek
The grueling 128-player knockout was also a qualifier for two places in
the 2014 Candidates tournament. Kramnik and Levon Aronian of Armenia already
qualified by rating, but they had to show up in Tromsø. Kramnik finished
the event undefeated, winning all seven matches. He booked five wins in
the classical tempo and four wins in rapid chess.
I believe the idea of the FIDE knockouts started at the 1985 Interzonal
in Biel. I had a conversation with the film director Milos Forman (One
Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus) about the 1984-85 world championship
match Karpov-Kasparov and how it was abruptly ended by Florencio Campomanes.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the FIDE president showed up and joined us.
"Why don't you organize the world chess championship like Wimbledon?"
Forman asked him. "A knockout tournament with 128 players and the champion
starts like everybody else – in the first round. And you can do it
every year." The FIDE president mounted a strong defense in support
of the world champion and the traditional match system. It would have impressed
even Garry Kasparov, but it didn't sound convincing to Forman. "I will
think about it," Campo finally said.
It was a long thought, but in 1998 FIDE organized the first world championship
knockout. Campomanes still had an influential voice in FIDE, but was no
longer the president. The current world champion Vishy Anand is the only
player who won the FIDE knockout twice (1998 and 2000), although in 1998
FIDE appended to his victory a short world championship match against the
well-rested Anatoly Karpov. FIDE delivered Anand to Karpov on a platter
or, as Anand put it, "in a coffin." The Indian grandmaster succumbed
in the tiebreaks. In 2005 FIDE switched the knockout from the world championship
to the World Cup.
One can assume that the knockout is made for the young players full of
energy, but surprisingly the last four World Cup winners were mature players.
In 2007 Gata Kamsky was 34, in 2011 Peter Svidler was 35 and in 2009 Boris
Gelfand was 41. "I don't feel tired," Kramnik said after his 2.5-1.5
victory against the Russian compatriot Dmitry Andreikin in the final match.
"I am not ashamed of my play here," Kramnik summed up his performance.
"Pretty good chess, no blunders." Except for one small glitch
in the 125-move draw against the Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
[Event "FIDE World Cup, "] [Site "Tromso "] [Date "2013.??.??"] [Round
"?"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result
"*"] [WhiteElo "2784"] [BlackElo "2719"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "1R3N2/5k2/8/6P1/8/4K3/8/5r2
w - - 0 62"] [PlyCount "15"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] {In this position
white wins by force, but he has to see the punchline on move 65. The computers
saw it, but even some commentators were at a loss.} 62. Nd7 $1 ({Kramnik
played} 62. Ke4 Re1+ 63. Kf3 Rf1+ 64. Kg3 Rg1+ 65. Kf4 Rf1+ 66. Ke3 Re1+
67. Kf3 Rf1+ 68. Kg2 Rf5 {forcing the knight to the edge with no future.}
69. Nh7 Kg6 70. Rb7 Rf4 71. Kg3 Ra4 {White is a pawn and a knight up,
but his pieces are badly placed. Eventually, he gave up the pawn, but
the French GM was able to hold the theoretical draw.}) 62... Rf5 63. Rf8+
Kg6 64. Rg8+ Kf7 65. Ke4 $1 {The point! The counterpunch helps white to
protect the g-pawn.} Ra5 {and white has two ways how to win:} 66. Rf8+
{is the fancy way} ( {The simple way is:} 66. Nf6 Ra1 67. Rd8 Kg6 68.
Rd5) 66... Kg6 67. Ne5+ $1 Kxg5 68. Rf5+ {and a discovered check with
the knight wins the black rook:} Kh6 (68... Kh4 69. Ng6+) 69. Ng4+ {and
White wins.} *
Kramnik's play was solid and impressive throughout the event. His deep
opening knowledge is legendary and lethal. Garry Kasparov decided to give
up the Grunfeld defense after Kramnik frustrated him with different lines
of the Exchange Variation. After the King's Indian it was the second defense
Kramnik eliminated from Kasparov's repertoire. In Tromso, the Ukraninian
GM Alexander Areschenko, 27, got caught in Kramnik's Grunfeld web and paid
the price.
[Event "FIDE World Cup "] [Site "Tromso "] [Date "2013.??.??"] [Round
"?"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Areshchenko, Alexander"] [Result
"1-0"] [ECO "D85"] [WhiteElo "2784"] [BlackElo "2709"] [Annotator "GM
Lubomir Kavalek/ The Huffington Post"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3
{This line almost forces the queen exchange. The queenless middle game
can be still dangerous for black.} c5 8. Rc1 Qa5 9. Qd2 cxd4 10. cxd4
Qxd2+ 11. Bxd2 {A flexible choice, giving white the possibilitity to castle
short.} O-O 12. Nf3 e6 {The current fashion. After the previously popular
12...Bg4 white usually ends up playing an endgame with a bishop pair.
And Kramnik likes that.} (12... Bg4) 13. Bb5 $5 {An annoying move, preventing
smooth development. Kramnik is also playing the percentages. The bishop
move has over 70 percent rate of success. Areshchenko was probably expecting
the more modest 13.Bc4, played by Kramnik against Fabiano Caruana in Dortmund,
Germany, just before the World Cup. Kramnik won in 76 moves, but not because
of his opening play.} Nc6 14. Be3 ({Kramnik does a little tweaking, waiting
before he takes on c6. In his game against Mamedyarov, Moscow 2010, he
chose} 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. O-O {, but black was able to activate his light
bishop with} Ba6 16. Rfe1 Bb5) 14... Rd8 (14... Bd7) 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16.
Ne5 $5 $146 {A novelty, recommended by a few computer engines.} (16. O-O)
16... Bb7 17. f3 {Preventing 17...c5 and creating a hiding place for his
king on f2. This is a new concept. White doesn't take the pawn on c6.}
Bxe5 $2 {The bishops of opposite colors do not guarantee equality. Blackâ
[]s position has too many holes.} ({Interesting play may occur after}
17... Rac8 18. Nd3 Bxd4 19. Bxd4 Rxd4 20. Nc5 Ba8 21. Ke2 Rcd8 22. Rhd1
{white has a dominating knight. The extra c-pawn burries the bad bishop
and brings more suffering than joy. Aaron Nimzowitsch, the author of My
System and The Blockade, would have been delighted to have this position
with the white pieces.}) 18. dxe5 Rd3 {Black does not have time to repair
the dark square weaknesses with 18...Kg7 and 19...h6.} ({After} 18...
Kg7 19. Bg5 Rd4 20. Kf2 h6 21. Bf6+ Kf8 22. Rhd1 {white dominates on the
black squares.}) ({Giving up a pawn for freedom does not work: after}
18... c5 19. Rxc5 Rac8 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 21. Bh6 {the black king is locked
in and white has a dangerous initiative, for example} Rc5 22. Kf2 Rxe5
$2 23. Rd1 {and white wins.}) 19. Kf2 Rad8 20. Bg5 R8d7 21. h4 {Kramnik's
favorite advance in the Grunfeld, trying to open the h-file. He played
it in many forms and shapes.} h5 22. Kg3 Kh7 23. Rc2 c5 24. Rxc5 Bxe4
{The exchange of pawns allows the white rook to enter the eighth rank,
creating mating threats.} 25. Rc8 Bb7 26. Rf8 {Black has to do something
against the threat 27.Bf6.} f5 ({Forced. After} 26... Kg7 27. Re8 f5 28.
exf6+ Kf7 29. Rh8 {wins.}) 27. exf6 {Kramnik has a strong advanced passed
pawn and black king is still unsafe. No doubts, white can force a win.}
e5 28. Re8 e4 29. Rb1 $1 {Preparing a nice tactical finish.} exf3 30.
Rxb7 $1 fxg2+ 31. Kxg2 (31. Kxg2 Rxb7 32. Re7+ Rxe7 33. fxe7 {white queens.})
1-0
Image of Tromsø by Anastasia Karlovich
Original
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