Aronian wins the World Cup: CBM 181

by Nagesh Havanur
1/12/2018 – A detailed review of our current issue of ChessBase Magazine from Prof. Nagesh Havanur. Among other things this issue includes all games from the World Cup, The Isle of Man and the European Union Cup Tournaments. The icing on the cake is Marin’s lesson on finding difficult moves. Our reviewer sets a little test for young readers from Marin’s tutorial. 2075 games (several annotated) with 11 opening surveys from Sicilian to Slav. Not to be missed.

Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (World Cup, Isle of Man Open) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 10 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.

The World Cup: Thrills and Spills

CBM 181 Review: Aronian marches on 

CBM 181

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World Cup Chess is a cross between a marathon and a gladiator contest.  On the one hand you should have the pace and persistence of a long distance runner, on the other you should be able to beat back rivals closing in on you. However, it can be frustrating when you are not able to get past your pursuers.   A major part of this issue is devoted to the World Cup that Aronian won only after a tense match with Ding Liren in the last round.  Those who fell by the wayside included Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen(world champions past and present), not to mention  Vassily Ivanchuk, Vachier-Lagrave and last year’s finalists, Peter Svidler and Sergei Karjakin. The final round between Ding Liren and Aronian was hard-fought and the outcome was only determined in the play-off. The last game is annotated by Sagar shah and also explained in a video commentary by Daniel King in this issue. For the present review I have also checked what the players themselves have had to to say and subsequent findings by other experts.


Ding Liren - Levon Aronian, FIDE  World Cup 2017
 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 The Ragozin Defence 6.Bf4 A non-standard move Ding Liren had tried 6.Bg5 the Main Line against Levon in the 4th game of the mini-match and was outplayed. To his credit he drew with resourceful play. 6...c6 A solid, but passive move. With a one-point lead Aronian would be content with a draw. 6...c5 is more energetic. 7.e3 Bf5 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Be7 10.Nh4 Bg6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Qb3 Qb6 13.Qc2 Sagar Shah suggests 13.Qxb6 axb6 14.a4!? 13...a5 preventing White's queenside expansion with a3-b4 14.g4!? Nbd7 15.g5 Other commentators suggested the more patient 15.Kg2! followed by Rh1 & h2-h4 and it is not easy for Black to defend the kingside. 15...Ne8 an awkward retreat in an awkward position Levon did not play the more obvious 15...Nh5 probably on account of 16.Bxh5 gxh5 17.g6 fxg6 18.Qxg6 But after Rf7 19.Qxh5 Qxb2 Black is ready to play...Bb4 and ...Nf6 consolidating his position. 16.e4 This move could have waited. In "British Chess Magazine" GM Colovic recommends 16.Bg4 Qd8 17.h4 16...dxe4? Subsequently Aronian thought, this surrender of centre was a big mistake. The more patient 16...Qd8 followed by...Nb6 might have helped. 17.Nxe4 Qd8 In search of counterplay. Targeting the pawn on g5 and vacating b6 for the knight. Aronian:"I thought I could play 17...Nc7 and then saw 18.Nc5! and I was like, oh my God, how could I overlook such an easy thing!" Indeed, after Ne6 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.Be3!± (better than the petty 20.Qxg6) White is on top. 18.h4 Nb6 19.Be5 Nd5 19...Nd6 is met by 20.Ng3 20.Bg4 Kh8? Sagar Shah offers 20...Nef6!? 21.gxf6 gxf6 22.Bh2 f5 23.Bxf5 gxf5 But White has a plus after 24.Kh1! fxe4 25.Rg1+ Kh7 25...Kh8?? 26.Qe2+- 26.Qxe4+ f5 27.Qg2 Rg8 28.Qf3 Nf4 29.Bxf4 Qd5 30.Qxd5 cxd5 31.Rac1± 21.Rae1 Nef6!? Aronian:"I realised, this move loses, because he has Qd2 in many cases, but otherwise I’m just going to die slowly, so practically this was a good decision and I think, it managed to confuse my opponent." 21...f5? 22.gxf6 gxf6 23.Ng5 fxe5 24.Ne6 Qd7 25.Qxg6+- 22.gxf6 gxf6 23.Bh2? He could have tried 23.Bg3 f5 24.Bxf5 gxf5 25.Qd1! Kg7 25...fxe4? 26.Qh5+ Kg8 27.Rxe4 f5 28.Be5 Bf6 29.Kh1 fxe4 30.Rg1+ Bg7 31.Rxg7# 26.Qh5 Rh8 27.Qxf5 Qc8 28.Qf3± While White is better, it's still insufficient to win. Daniel King offers 23.Qc1! (23.Qd2 mentioned by Aronian comes to the same thing) Kh7 24.Bg3 f5 25.Ng5+ Bxg5 26.hxg5 fxg4 27.Kg2 Qd7 28.Rh1+ Kg8 29.Be5 f6 30.gxf6 Nxf6 31.Qh6 Qg7 32.Qg5 Kf7 Now White should play 33.f3! gxf3+ 34.Kxf3 Kg8 35.Kg2+- The pin on the knight and the exposed position of the king proves fatal. 23...f5 24.Bxf5 This looks obvious, but offers no more than a draw. In" 64 Review" Magazine Adam Tukhaev suggests a curious move 24.f3! fxg4 24...fxe4 plays into White's hands. 25.fxe4 Nf6 26.Be5 Kg8 27.Bf5 with sustained pressure on the kingside gxf5? 28.Rxf5+- being out of question. 25.fxg4 Bxh4 Perhaps Black shoud try the sober 25...Qd7 though White enjoys more space, better development and continuing initiative after 26.Qg2 26.g5! Bxg5 26...Bxe1? 27.Be5+ Kg8 28.Qh2 f6 29.gxf6 Nxf6 30.Nxf6++- 27.Be5+ Kg8 28.Rf3 Bh6 29.Qh2 Bg7 30.Kg2 Bxe5 31.dxe5 Kg7 32.e6 f6 33.Nd6 Rh8 34.Nf5+ Kg8 34...gxf5?? 35.Rg3++- 35.Qg3 g5 36.e7 Qd7 37.Qg4 Qc8 38.Qe4+- 24...gxf5 25.Qd1? White rushes headlong, believing he has a win. But this runs into danger. He had a draw with 25.Kh1! Rg8 not 25...fxe4? 26.Qe2 Nf6 27.Be5 Rg8 28.Qh5+ Kg7 29.Rg1+ Kf8 30.Qh6+ Ke8 31.Bxf6 Rxg1+ 32.Rxg1 Kd7 33.Be5± 26.Ng3 Bb4 26...Bxh4?? 27.Nxf5+- 27.Qxf5 Qxh4 28.Re4 Qh7= In "64 Review" Tukhaev gives another line 25.Ng3! f4 26.Re5 f5 26...fxg3?? 27.Rh5++- 27.Nxf5 Bf6 28.Re6 Qd7 29.Rfe1 Rae8 30.Rxe8 Rxe8 31.Rxe8+ Qxe8= Black's piece play as against White's split pawns offers sufficient compensation for the slight deficit in material. 25...Rg8+ If 25...fxe4? 26.Qh5+ Kg7 27.Kh1! followed by Rg1 is decisive. 26.Kh1 Rg4! This is what Ding Liren had missed. 27.Ng3 Rxh4 28.Nxf5 Rh7 29.Nxe7 Nxe7 30.Re5 Nf5! 31.Rfe1?? A tragic blunder. 31.Qg4 Qh4 32.Qxh4 Nxh4 33.f3 was the lesser evil, though even here Black is better. 31...Qh4 32.Re8+ Kg7! As Sagar Shah points out, this is better than the prosaic 32...Rxe8 33.Rxe8+ Kg7 34.Qg1+ Kf6-+ 33.Rg1+ Kf6 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ding,L2771Aronian,L28020–12017D38FIDE World Cup 2017

The Ragozin is being played by every top grandmaster in the world - it is time you also add it to your repertoire to get interesting and dynamic positions against 1. d4!
GM Alejandro Ramirez analyses every single move that White can play once the Ragozin is reached, but due to several transpositional possibilities he always emphasises strategic goals to keep in mind.


This issue also includes games from  the Isle of Man Tournament won by Carlsen ahead of Nakamura and Anand. His second, Peter Heine Nielsen has annotated the key encounter, Caruana-Carlsen for this issue. For good measure this issue also has games from the European Team Championship won by Azerbaijan ahead of Russia among others.

An ecstatic Mamedyarov with other members of the Azerbaijan Team

An ecstatic Mamedyarov with other members of the Azerbaijan Team | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

An unusual move in Slav Exchange

This brings me to other sections of this magazine. Apart from trademark sections on strategy, tactics and the endgame, there are 11 opening surveys ranging from the Sicilian to Slav. Among them I would single out the analysis of an unusual line in Slav Exchange (D10) by Alexey Kuzmin: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4.Bg5!?

 

The standard move is of course 4.Bf4. But the move here is not without merit. If Black plays 4...Nf6 White intends to disrupt his kingside with 5.Bxf6 gf6. However, it would offer Black compensation in the form of two bishops. Black can hold ...Nf6 in reserve and play 4...Nc6 or try 4...h6 and even the unorthodox 4...f6. An intriguing variation!

Classic Revisited

In the “Strategy” section Mihail Marin offers a discussion of attacking plans and finding difficult moves with  quite a few celebrated examples. The best of them is the game, Fischer-Geller, Skopje 1967. Geller was one of the few players who had a plus score against Fischer (+5 -4 =2).

Geller vs Fischer, Curacao 1962

Geller vs Fischer, Curacao 1962 | Photo: via tabladeflandes.com

It figures as one of the three losses Bobby included in his classic, "My 60 Memorable Games".  Over the years the game has seen commentary by Fischer, Geller and Kasparov, not to mention Edmar Mednis, Murey and Boleslavsky who have enriched our understanding with valuable analysis. 

A Test for Young Readers

Marin has drawn our attention to quite a few phenomenal lines that might have arisen over the board. Here is just one of them. Black is a piece up, but faces a mating attack on h7 or g7. Desperate situations demand desperate remedies. So he offers the queen not only to quell the attack but also to set a minefield for his opponent.The challenge for young readers is to avoid the pitfalls and find a clear path to victory (solution at the end of this article).

 
Bobby Fischer - Efim Geller, Skopje 1967 (Analytical position)
White to move

When you examine this position in the context of the whole game in this issue, you, it’s only the tip pf the proverbial iceberg. There is more to it than meets the eye.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Bb3 0-0 9.Qe2 Qa5 10.0-0-0 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Bd7 12.Kb1 Bc6 13.f4 Rad8 14.Rhf1 b5 15.f5 b4 16.fxe6 bxc3 17.exf7+ Kh8 18.Rf5 Qb4 19.Qf1 Nxe4 20.a3 Qb7 21.Qf4 Ba4 22.Qg4 Bf6 23.Rxf6 Bxb3 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Fischer,R-Geller,E-0–11967B88Skopje2
Fischer,R-Geller,E-0–1 B88Skopje

Click or tap the second game in the list to switch

There is much else in this DVD that deserves to be explored. In all there are 2075 OTB games of which 135 are annotated. The annotators include Michael Adams, Suat Atalik and Michal Krasenkow among others. A major contribution is made by Sagar Shah who has annotated 33 games.

More info. on this issue may be found here.

Recommended.


Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (World Cup, Isle of Man Open) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 10 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.


Links

 


Prof. Nagesh Havanur (otherwise known as "chessbibliophile") is a senior academic and research scholar. He taught English in Mumbai for three decades and has now settled in Bangalore, India. His interests include chess history, biography and opening theory. He has been writing on the Royal Game for more than three decades. His articles and reviews have appeared on several web sites and magazines.

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