[Event "London Chess Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "McShane, Luke"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2800"]
[Annotator "Saunders,John"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.29"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Shades of the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith,
just down the road, where Vlad constructed the Berlin Wall that Garry Kasparov
failed to breach in 2000. However, the line chosen by Luke McShane is
different in character.} 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. b3 {A McShane invention
which he first used against Jonathan Parker in the 4NCL (British League) last
April.} Bg4 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Bb2 f6 {It is natural for Black to strongpoint the
e5 pawn, to block the scope of the residual white bishop.} 9. Nf1 Nf8 10. h3
Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Ne6 12. Ne3 {Commentators Danny King and Stuart Conquest made a
pretty good job of predicting this sequence of moves.} Qd7 13. h4 a5 14. a4 O-O
15. h5 Bxe3 {White's last move was a signal that he was about to play Nf5, so
Vlad decides to remove it from the board and further restrict the bishop.} 16.
Qxe3 c5 17. Qh3 Qc6 18. O-O Nf4 19. Qh2 Qe8 20. h6 {"Luke has done this before
in the Ruy Lopez - to put all his pieces on strange squares, but keep a very
solid structure." (Carlsen)} g5 21. g3 Ne6 22. f4 $5 {[diag] This sets the
game alight as it involves an exchange sacrifice.} gxf4 23. gxf4 Nxf4 24. Rxf4
exf4 {Now the position has opened up and White has full compensation for the
exchange with his strong bishop on b2 and open g-file.} 25. Kf2 Rf7 ({Stuart
Conquest tried} 25... Kh8 26. Qxf4 {and now the very visual} Qe5 $1 {"that's
fantastic!" (Lawrence Trent).... [long pause] ... "But is it any good!" 
(Stuart, having second thoughts, to general laughter). Dan King poured a
little cold water on it, however:} 27. Bxe5 fxe5 28. Qf5 {with a better
endgame.}) 26. Qh5 {White keeps a number of options open. The black queenside
pawns are a little loose.} Qe6 27. Qxc5 Kh8 28. Qc4 (28. Rg1 Rg8 29. Rxg8+ Kxg8
30. Qxa5 Qh3 31. Qa8+ Rf8 32. Qxb7 {looks as though it might result in
perpetual check.}) 28... Re8 29. Rh1 Qd7 (29... Qxc4 30. bxc4 Rg8 31. e5 Rg6
32. exf6 {looks quite comfortable for White.}) 30. Qb5 Re6 {Luke's main
problem here was his shortage of time. His board position is fine.} 31. Qxd7 (
31. Qxa5 {looks quite playable.}) 31... Rxd7 32. Rg1 Rc6 33. Kf3 Rd8 34. Rg5
Rf8 35. Rg2 (35. Rxa5 {is not impossible. If} Rxc2 $2 36. Bxf6+ $1 {and Black
must play} Kg8 {when} 37. Be7 $5 Re8 38. Rg5+ Kf7 39. Rg7+ Ke6 40. Bg5 {is
quite handy for White.}) 35... Rg8 36. Rh2 Rg1 {Now Black's rooks are starting
to work well together, while Luke's time allowance runs ever lower.} 37. d4 $2
({It seems a shame to obstruct the glorious bishop.} 37. Kxf4 {is playable.})
37... Rf1+ 38. Kg4 f3 39. d5 ({Dubious.} 39. Kf5 f2 40. c4 Rb6 41. d5 {keeps
White in the running.}) 39... Rd6 (39... f2 {looks better for Black.}) 40. c4
Kg8 41. c5 f5+ $1 {Very nice. Black gets his rook into play after this.} 42.
Kxf5 Rg6 43. Bd4 Rd1 44. Be3 Rg2 45. Rh3 f2 {[diag] By now most of the pundits
had despaired of Luke's position. In truth it is probably lost but he finds a
way to fight on, albeit without too much hope.} 46. Bxf2 Rxf2+ 47. Ke6 Rf7 48.
d6 c6 49. Ke5 Kf8 50. Rh2 Rg1 51. b4 axb4 52. Rb2 Rg5+ 53. Ke6 Rg6+ 54. Ke5
Rxh6 55. a5 Rh5+ 56. Ke6 Rh6+ 57. Ke5 Rh5+ 58. Ke6 Ke8 59. a6 Rh6+ 60. Ke5 bxa6
61. Rxb4 Ra7 62. Rb8+ {[diag] A nice little trick. The king has two moves.
Which is correct?} Kf7 $1 ({Unsurprisingly, the former world champion makes
the right choice. After} 62... Kd7 {, White has} 63. Rg8 {and the unstoppable
threat of Rg7+ and Rxa7 should be enough to draw.}) 63. Rc8 Re6+ 64. Kf5 a5 65.
Rh8 Rf6+ 66. Ke5 Kg7 67. Rc8 a4 68. Rxc6 a3 69. d7 a2 (69... Rxd7 {is also
good enough.}) 0-1

