[Event "Pearl Spring Chess Tournament"]
[Site "Nanjing/China"]
[Date "2010.10.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E13"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2803"]
[Annotator "Giri, Anish"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 {The text move leads to a
strategically very complicated position with mutual chances.} (4... c5 {is
played a bit more often on the top level, but after a few games, starting with
Kramnik-Anand from Bonn, it's considered to be not so easy for Black.}) 5. Bg5
h6 (5... Bb7 {is played more often.} 6. Nd2 {was what Bacrot chose recently
against A.Sokolov.} (6. e3)) 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 Ne4 8. Qc2 Bb7 {now we are
transposed into some line from 5...Bb7.} 9. e3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 d6 11. Bd3 f5 12.
d5 Na6 {#The critical position of this line. White has an extremely poor pawn
structure, but it's balanced by his two bishops and in a way better
development. The question is only if it's balanced or more than balanced.} 13.
Nd4 (13. Bxe4 fxe4 14. Qxe4 Qf6 {is known to win a pawn, but to draw the game.}
) 13... Nac5 14. O-O {#} Qe7 $1 {Novelty! I was very much afraid that I would
not be able to find the deep point of the move, but in fact it turned out to
be simple.} ({after the main move} 14... Qf6 {White usually goes} 15. f3 {and
now Black has to take on g3, since taking on d3 is bad - which is not the case
with queen on e7!} Nxg3 (15... Nxd3 $2 16. fxe4 Nc5 17. e5 $1 {and Black will
be crushed.}) 16. hxg3) 15. f3 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 (16. fxe4 Nc5 {still looks a bit
dangerous for Black, but I will trust my engine and that of Topalov, which say
that it's fine.}) 16... Nc5 17. Qc2 O-O 18. dxe6 {#} Qh7 $1 {Beautiful
defensive move. Now it's clear that the e6 pawn is in danger, and that means
that White is in strategical danger as well.} 19. e4 $5 f4 $1 {Black doesn't
need to enter any complications yet.} (19... fxe4 20. f4 $1 {is very double
edged and probably around equal.}) 20. Bf2 Rae8 21. a4 {White's problem is
that he doesn't really have a clear plan.} g4 $5 {#Good move, in Topalov style.
He doesn't want to play it slow, he just goes for it!} ({I am curious what
would have been played by Bacrot after the automatic} 21... a5 $5 {for example}
22. Qa2 Qg6 {with advantage for Black}) 22. fxg4 {A mistake, but white is
already under big pressure.} (22. a5 $5 {would be a nice way to show how
fearless you are, but I can imagine that there in China, playing Topalov, you
have some other ideas than that. And well, even objectively it's dangerous-}
gxf3 23. gxf3 Nxe4 $1 {and even though white doesn't have to take the knight,
still he is in danger.}) (22. Nf5 {is also not helping much-} Nxe6 23. fxg4 Ng5
$1 {with attack.}) 22... Bxe4 23. Qd2 Qg6 24. h3 h5 25. Bh4 {#} Nxe6 $2 {I
suppose Topalov was intending to play the winning line, but then he saw some
ghosts there and he decided to play it safe.} (25... hxg4 $1 {is of course
natural and must have been Topalov's initial thought. I can imagine that with
the pawn on e7 you may see some ghosts there, but the computer tells me that
objectively the position is just winning for Black.} 26. e7 Rf7 27. Rxf4 Rxf4
28. Qxf4 gxh3 29. g4 (29. Qg5 {is best} Qxg5 30. Bxg5 Bxg2 {and the endgame
should be won for Black.}) 29... Nd3 30. Qg3 Ne5 $1 31. Qxh3 c5 {with a
crushing attack.}) 26. Nxe6 Qxe6 27. Rxf4 (27. gxh5 $5 {would be more
ambitious, but I can imagine that Etienne was already happy with a draw.})
27... Rxf4 28. Qxf4 hxg4 29. Re1 $5 Qg6 (29... gxh3 $5 30. Re3 {looks a bit
dangerous for Black, but again, with computer play he is easily holding.} Kg7
$1) 30. hxg4 Bc6 31. Rxe8+ Bxe8 32. Bd8 $1 {#Now it's clear that Black is
unable to keep his pawns, and so the draw is inevitable.} Qb1+ 33. Qf1 Qxf1+
34. Kxf1 Bxa4 35. Bxc7 Bb3 36. Bxd6 Bxc4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Pearl Spring Chess Tournament"]
[Site "Nanjing/China"]
[Date "2010.10.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Giri, Anish"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]

1. e4 {After the World Championship, Anand seems to be listening to Fischer,
who a long time ago anounced that the best move was 1.e4!} e5 {No Dragons, no
Najdorfs, Carlsen is still faithful to the Breyer Defense, that remained
uncracked since his last tournament in Bilbao.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 {As promised: Breyer. Since
my early childhood I always liked this knight maneuvre. Nowadays this
variation is pretty popular and with Carlsen fighting for the black side, I am
afraid the popularity of the line will only increase.} 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7
12. Bc2 Re8 ({the rare} 12... c5 {was tried by Carlsen once in a rapid game
against Jan Smeets. He managed to win the game, but I doubt that the opening
had something to do with the result.}) 13. a4 ({Earlier the main move was} 13.
Nf1 {having in mind the typical Spanish maneuvre. However, nowadays not
everybody is convinced that this is the way to play.} Bf8 14. Ng3 g6) 13... Bf8
14. Bd3 c6 15. b4 ({Statistically the main move is} 15. b3 {and it was
successfully played by Anand a few times last year. However objectively it's
hard for White to prove his advantage.}) 15... Nb6 {Forcing White to take on
b5 (or play a5, which is considered to be an achievement for Black),
underlining the disadvantage of White's last move.} 16. axb5 {#So far Magnus
has already had the position three times, two of them against Vishy.} axb5 {
The main move, but sort of a surprise!} (16... cxb5 17. d5 Rc8 {was discussed
in Shirov-Carlsen and Anand-Carlsen in Bilbao. In fact it seemed that both
times Carlsen had no opening problems. I think this time he decided to fight
his curiousity and go for the solid axb5.}) 17. Rxa8 Qxa8 $5 {finally a real
surprise} (17... Bxa8 {was played in yet another Anand-Carlsen in Arctic rapid
2010.}) 18. Nb3 Nc4 $146 {#A new move, with the idea to take back on e5 with a
piece and thus keeping the options of d5 and c5.} 19. dxe5 {Good move - it's
hard to see what else White could do.} Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Rxe5 {Black did take on
e5 with piece, and he did keep option of d5 and c5, but still I have the
feeling he may be slightly under pressure.} 21. f3 Re8 22. Be3 Bc8 {both sides
are simply trying to improve their pieces.} 23. Bf2 Be6 24. Nd4 Bd7 25. Qd2 Qb8
26. Bf1 h6 27. Ra1 Qb7 {#} 28. Ra5 {Here it seemed as if White was about to
get something real with Qa2 in the air, but Black is just in time with the
counterstrike.} ({White could have tried} 28. Nb3 $5 {Now Black has to prevent
Ra7} Ra8 {and the key move} (28... Qb8 $5 {with the idea} 29. Ra7 c5) 29. Ra5
$5 {White intends Qa2, and then to take on a5 with the pawn, which leads to a
strategically very complicated position, but I believe Black should be able to
hold the a-pawn, e.g.} Rxa5 30. bxa5 $5 Qa6 31. Bb6 Be8 $1 {or any other
bishop move, intending Nd7, should be fine for Black. So all in all I believe
Black should always have enough counterplay in this line.}) 28... d5 $1 (28...
Ra8 29. Qa2 Rxa5 30. bxa5 Qa6 31. c4) 29. exd5 Nxd5 30. Nb3 Be6 31. Nc5 Bxc5
32. Bxc5 {#Here, too, it seemed to me that White has the advantage, but in
fact Black is very solid and with strong play Carlsen easily managed to
equalize.} Rd8 33. Ra1 Qb8 34. Rd1 Qg3 $1 {#It's always nice to annoy the king
of World Champion, at least a little bit.} 35. Bf2 Qe5 36. c4 bxc4 37. Bxc4 Rd7
38. Bxd5 {Black equalized, so it's time to fix the result.} Rxd5 39. Qe1 Qxe1+
40. Rxe1 Rd2 41. Bc5 Kh7 42. Rf1 $1 {A strong "Sofia rule" plan.} Bc4 43. Rf2
Rxf2 44. Kxf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Pearl Spring Chess Tournament"]
[Site "Nanjing/China"]
[Date "2010.10.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[Annotator "Giri Anish"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 $5 {It seems that Gashimov is trying something
more solid then the Benoni in this tournament.} 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 {a surprise
for Gashimov.} (5. Bg5 {was played in Bacrot-Topalov today. It's also the move
Wang Yue usually plays here.}) 5... Ne4 $5 {An interesting move that leads to
a very unballanced game.} (5... Bb7 6. Bd3 O-O (6... Ne4 $5) 7. O-O {is main.})
6. Qc2 Bb7 7. Bd3 f5 8. O-O Bxc3 9. bxc3 O-O 10. Nd2 {The main move in this
position. White fights for the e4 square.} (10. Ne1 {with idea f3 is also
possible.}) (10. c5 $5 {was recently played in Georgiev,V-Eljanov. White won
that very sharp and complicated battle.}) 10... Qh4 11. f3 {#} Ng5 $6 ({I
can't say I really love Black's position after} 11... Nxd2 12. Bxd2 Nc6 {So I
think the whole line is a little risky for Black. Nevertheless, this was the
way to play it.}) 12. f4 $1 Nf7 (12... Nh3+ $2 {obviously doesn't work} 13.
gxh3 Qxh3 14. e4 Rf6 15. Nf3 Rg6+ 16. Ng5 {and there is no mate}) (12... Qg4
13. d5 Nf7 {is also close to a disaster after e4 or Ba3 first.}) 13. e4 {it's
clear that black has completely lost the opening battle. White has the whole
centre, and the black knight on f7 and queen on h4 aren't enjoying themselves.}
Nh6 14. Nf3 Qh5 15. Ba3 Re8 16. Rae1 fxe4 17. Rxe4 $1 {#Very strong move!
Black can only dream about exchanging light squared bishops.} Ng4 18. d5 $1 Na6
19. h3 Nf6 20. Re5 Qh6 21. Ng5 exd5 22. cxd5 Nc5 23. Bxc5 bxc5 {#So far Wang
Yue played exremely powerful chess, but here he makes a little slip.} 24. Qb3
$6 (24. Rfe1 $1 {would be just simply killing.}) 24... Rxe5 25. fxe5 Bxd5 26.
Bc4 c6 27. exf6 Qxg5 28. Bxd5+ cxd5 {#} (28... Qxd5 29. f7+ Kf8 30. Qb1 $1 Qh5
31. Qd3 $1 {is also not a piece of cake.}) 29. f7+ $6 {wrong move order and
the winning advantage is lost...} (29. Qb7 $1 {first would be stronger:} Rf8 (
29... Rd8 30. Qc7 $1 {is the point! The rook on d8 is attacked.}) 30. f7+ Kh8
31. Qxd7 {Now the best Black can get is the following queen endgame:} g6 32.
Qd6 Kg7 33. Qxc5 Rxf7 34. Rxf7+ Kxf7 35. Qxa7+ {and this queen ending is
probably just won for White.}) 29... Kf8 30. Qb7 Rd8 31. Qxa7 {#} Qe7 $6 {I
think it's hard to critisize Gashimov, who managed to draw such a game, but
this move is losing. I am not sure if there is a save for Black, but he would
have kept better chances with move like d4!?} (31... Qe3+ $5) (31... d6 $5) (
31... d4 32. cxd4 Qe3+) 32. a4 $2 {An obvious mistake. Now White has lost all
the advantage he had.} (32. Qb6 $1 {I was expecting this move during live
transmission and was very proud the computer confirmed my opinion. It prevents
Qd6 and seems to be just winning. It's hard to see what Black can do against
a4-a5-a6-a7...}) 32... Qd6 33. Kh1 (33. a5 $5 Qc6 34. Rb1 Kxf7 35. Rb8 {would
be easier to make a draw for White.}) 33... Qc6 $1 34. Rb1 Kxf7 35. Rb6 $6 (35.
Rb7 $1 {is also an easier defence.}) 35... Ra8 36. Rxc6 Rxa7 37. Rxc5 Ke6 $1 {
#Now White still has to fight for a draw, but it seems that he is in time.} 38.
a5 Kd6 39. Rb5 Kc6 40. Rb8 $1 {Active rook!} g6 {Gashimov is trying to win
some tempi, but Wang doesn't blink.} 41. Kg1 Rxa5 42. Rh8 Kb5 43. Rxh7 Kc4 44.
Rxd7 Kxc3 45. h4 d4 46. Kf2 {White should have another counterplay with his
own passed pawn.} Ra2+ 47. Kf3 d3 48. g4 Rh2 49. Kf4 $1 Rxh4 50. Kg5 Rh3 51.
Kxg6 d2 {#} 52. Rxd2 Kxd2 53. g5 {and Black is unable to stop the pawn.} Ke3
54. Kf6 Rf3+ 55. Ke6 Kf4 56. g6 Kg5 57. g7 Rf6+ 58. Ke7 Rg6 59. Kf7 Rxg7+ 60.
Kxg7 1/2-1/2

