CBM 208: Maxime shines and Matthias scores - Review by Nagesh Havanur

by Nagesh Havanur
9/4/2022 – The ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess and it provides arsenal for the tournament player. The latest issue, CBM #209, is just out. Meanwhile here is a review of the recent issue, CBM #208. It offers games from two major events, Superbet Chess Classic, Bucharest 2022 and European Individual Championship. 2055 games (49 annotated), 11 opening surveys, 12 demo lectures and exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Matthias Blübaum, Gabriel Sargissian, Yuriy Kuzubov and Karsten Müller among others. The icing on the cake is a flashback on the 1997 FIDE World Championship Special with 323 games and a commentary.
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Even as I write these lines, the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Tournament has drawn to a close with Alireza Firouzja winning the event. It was a star-studded field with Aronian, Caruana, Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura among others. One player who did not fulfil an early promise of  success was Maxime Vacher-Lagrave from France. Maxime is a fine talent with a variable form and unpredictable results. One day you think, he is down and out, and the next day he is up in a race for the first place in a tournament. This is what happened in the Superbet Chess Classic Bucharest 2022. Maxime shared the same number of points (5.5/9) with Wesley So and Levon  Aronian. In the rapid play-off he defeated both his rivals to come first. This issue offers all the games from the event. Anish Giri annotates a critical encounter from round four:

Credit: Chess - ThanhCong Online

Vachier Lagrave-Caruana, SuperbetClassic Bucharest 2022

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 The Open Spanish remains trendy and it is a frequent guest in games of MVL, who is always ready to take it on, with the white pieces. 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Bc2 Nxf2 This old line is experiencing a revival currently. It is just extremely trendy, with Fabiano being on both sides of the theoretical debate. Caruana-Van Foreest from Wijk 2022 comes to mind. 12.Rxf2 Bxf2+ 13.Kxf2 f6 14.Nf1 This is the modern way of challenging Black's ambitious opening play. White gives up a pawn to get an extra tempo to mobilize their forces. Old main line is the natural 14.exf6. fxe5 15.Kg1 Qd7!? A minor surprise perhaps. Van Foreest played Qd6 against Fabiano, while many others, including Mamedyarov and Vidit, have tried 15...Bg4!? 16.Ne3 Be6 provoking the knight to e3, where it is misplaced. 16.Bg5 The standard way to develop, White throws out the bishop, heading towards h4-g3 where it will not obstruct his other pieces. Rae8 Black is mobilizing as well. At some point he will go for some action in the center, but first let's bring the last piece into play. 17.Qd2 d4 Action! This push is a typical way to get things going. Black is openign files and diagonals for his pieces, before White gets fully ready for the battle. 18.Ng3? The knight gets somewhat in the way of the bishop, though as we will see, exploitnig that is not very easy. 18.Re1 Is advised, bringing the rook into the game and keeping the g3 square for the bishop. 18...h6 Not fearing any ghosts. 19.Bxh6 is not scary, as the queen is there to defend the 7th rank, while 19.Qd3 is well met with 19...Bf5! 20.Nxf5 e4. 19.Bh4 19.Qd3 Bf5! 20.Nxf5 e4 19...dxc3 Start of some concrete action. 20.Qxc3 And here, feeling that there has to be something concrete, Fabiano miscalculates. Rxf3?? I assume Fabi missed that after 21.gxf3 Nd4 22.Bd1! is strong, with the idea that 22...g5 now no longer traps the bishop because of 23.Ne4! intermezzo, threatening Nf6+. Because of this important motive, the whole exchange sac just doesn't work and Black ends up down a piece. Instead, the right way to start the action was Nd4 idea, best executed with 20...b4! included. 20...b4! 21.Qc5 Nd4 22.Nxd4 one point of including 20...b4 first is that now 22.Nxe5? loses to Qd6 or 22...Qd5 22...Qxd4+ 23.Qxd4 exd4 And this endgame is quite bad for White, as he is struggling to find harmony within his pieces. Currently the threat is g5, while the d-pawn is also annoying potentially. 20...Nd4 was also decent, but here White can take on e5, with some complications. 21.gxf3 Nd4 22.Bd1! Actually the game could still have been exciting, had Maxime showed some weakness, but his conversion was absolutely impeccable. Rf8 Fabi plays on. He does have 2 pawns and White king is a little weak potentially. 22...g5 23.Ne4! is the crucial motif. 23.Ne4 Bc4 24.Kg2 Rf4 Black is bringing pieces forward, but Maxime shows accuracy. 25.Be1! Not 25.Bg3?? because of 25... Qh3+!! with mate to follow on f1 square. 25.Bg3?? Qh3+‼ 26.Kxh3 Bf1# 25...Qf5 26.Nd2! Very precise play by Maxime. He is withdrawing first, making sure the king is safe and f3 pawn is secured. Bg3 will come next. e4 27.Bg3! Again accurate. The pawn on f3 will be a great shield for the White king, no matter its color. exf3+ 28.Kf2 King is safe here. Black's play ran out of steam and the rest is easy conversion for MVL. Rg4 29.Nxc4 bxc4 30.Bxf3 Nxf3 31.Qxf3 Qc2+ 32.Qe2 Qf5+ 33.Kg1 White is just up a bishop. Black's 2 pawns play no role here, given his unfortunate pawn structure. h5 34.Rf1 Qg6 35.Kh1 h4 36.Bxc7 h3 37.Qf3 Qd3 38.Be5 Rg2 39.Bc3 A game that was decided by a blunder, but Maxime did rise to the occasion, when given a chance. 1–0
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Vachier Lagrave,M2750Caruana,F27861–02022C82Bucharest Superbet Classic4
Vachier Lagrave,M2750Caruana,F27861–02022C82Bucharest Superbet Classic4

The race for the European title

This time the European Individual Championship was weakened by the absence of the Russian players on account of the war in Ukraine and the consequent FIDE ban on their participation. Nevertheless, the event was not bad with as many as 317 players competing for honours. In the end the tournament turned out to be a race between Matthias Blübaum and Gabriel Sargissian who both finished with 8.5 out of 11. With the better tiebreak the German GM was declared the winner. In this issue he annotates his win over Yuriy Kuzubov.

Matthias Blübaum - Yuriy Kuzubov, European Championship 2022

 
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Before this game, I was the sole leader by half a point and had won the last 5 games in a row. So I was quite motivated to try to get as complex a game as possible in this game with White. Vor dieser Partie war ich mit einem halben Punkt Vorsprung alleiniger Erster und hatte die letzten 5 Partien in Folge gewonnen. Insofern war ich durchaus motiviert, in dieser Partie mit Weiß zu versuchen, eine möglichst komplexe Partie zu bekommen. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.a3 Bd6 8.Qc2 This is currently a fashionable variation against the Nimzoindian, brought to life at a higher level by Alexandr Predke. White threatens Nb5, so Black's main moves here are a6 and c6, which give quite different positions. Das ist momentan eine Modevariante gegen Nimzoindisch, die auf höherem Niveau Alexandr Predke ins Leben gerufen hat. Weiß droht Sb5, insofern hat Schwarz hier hauptsächlich die Züge a6 und c6, die recht unterschiedliche Stellungen ergeben. c6 With Mit 8...a6 9.Nge2 Re8 10.0-0 b6 11.b4 Rapport won against Vidit in the Fide Grand Prix about a month before. In general, the positions after a6 are a bit more positional, since White will actually always castle short, because otherwise the black counterplay with c5 is usually too fast. gewann etwa einen Monat vorher Rapport gegen Vidit im Fide Grand Prix. Generell sind die Stellungen nach a6 etwas positioneller, da Weiß dort eigentlich immer kurz rochieren wird, denn sonst ist das schwarze Gegenspiel mit c5 üblicherweise zu schnell. 9.Nge2 Re8 10.Bd2 Nbd7 11.f3 White still leaves open where he is going to castle, which is one of the main ideas of this variation. Weiß lässt noch offen, wohin er rochiert, was eine der Hauptideen dieser Variante ist. c5 The classic lever in the Carlsbad structure when White plays f3. Der klassische Hebel in der Karlsbader Struktur, wenn Weiß f3 spielt. 12.0-0-0 12.h4!? is the other option. Again, White will usually castle long later, but in this game I opted for the direct 0-0-0. ist die andere Option. Auch hier wird Weiß später meist lang rochieren, aber in dieser Partie entschied ich mich für direketes 0-0-0. 12...g6! Black takes the bishop's square f5 as a precaution, forcing White to play dxc5. Schwarz nimmt dem Läufer vorsorglich das Feld f5 und zwingt Weiß somit zu dxc5. 13.dxc5 Nxc5 14.g4 Bd7 14...Nxd3+ 15.Qxd3 Be6= should also be fine for Black. sollte auch in Ordnung für Schwarz sein. 15.Nd4 Rc8 16.Kb1 Up to here the last moves were all very logical and my preparation continued here with 16. ... Na4. However, my opponent had already used up half an hour of thinking time, while I had played all the moves without thinking. I suspect that my opponent thus didn't want to run further into my preparation and was looking for a possible alternative, because Na4 actually looks very natural. Bis hierhin waren die letzten Züge alle sehr logisch und meine Vorbereitung ging hier mit 16. ... Sa4 weiter. Mein Gegner hatte allerdings schon eine halbe Stunde Bedenkzeit verbraucht, während ich alle Züge ohne Nachdenken gespielt hatte. Ich vermute, dass mein Gegner somit nicht weiter in meine Vorbereitung laufen wollte und nach einer möglichen Alternative gesucht hat, denn Sa4 sieht eigentlich sehr natürlich aus. Qb6? I was quite sure that Qb6 can't be good, and indeed White has quite few useful options here apart from g5, but still there was some calculating to do, so I thought long and hard here. Ich war mir recht sicher, dass Db6 nicht gut sein kann und tatsächlich hat Weiß hier außer g5 recht wenig sinnvolle Optionen, aber trotzdem gab es einiges zu rechnen, sodass ich hier lange überlegte. 16...Na4 17.Ndb5 Nxc3+ 18.Bxc3 Bc5 19.h4= is probably objectively balanced, but very unclear in a practical game. ist wohl objektiv ausgeglichen, aber in einer praktischen Partie sehr unklar. 17.g5 17.Ka2 I had also briefly considered going out of the b-file, but after hatte ich auch kurz überlegt, um aus der b-Linie zu gehen, aber nach Be5 it becomes clear that White is facing problems. wird klar, dass Weiß vor Problemen steht. 17...Nh5 17...Nxd3 18.Qxd3 Bxa3 19.Ncb5 Bxb2 20.Kxb2 Rc5 worried me for a while during the game, until here I found bereitete mir während der Partie eine Weile lang Sorgen, bis ich hier 21.Qb3! 21.gxf6 Bxb5 22.Qb3 Qxf6 I didn't find that clear, even if the engine still gives White a clear advantage. But as a human, this position with the open king is certainly not what you necessarily want to play. fand ich nicht so klar, auch wenn die Engine Weiß trotzdem klaren Vorteil gibt. Aber als Mensch ist diese Stellung mit dem offenen König sicherlich nicht das, was man unbedingt spielen möchte. 23.Ra1± 21...Bxb5 22.Rc1+- after which White wins the piece without losing stability in the position. fand, wonach Weiß die Figur gewinnt ohne die Stabilität in der Stellung zu verlieren. 17...Be5!? was the main move I expected after g5. White is more or less forced to make a queen sacrifice, but White takes no risk since there is at least perpetual check. war der Hauptzug, den ich nach g5 erwartete. Weiß ist mehr oder weniger zu einem Damenopfer gezwungen, allerdings geht Weiß keinerlei Risiko ein, da es mindestens Dauerschach gibt. 18.gxf6 Bxd4 19.exd4! 19.Nxd5 I hadn't seen during the game, but Black holds his own here. hatte ich während der Partie nicht gesehen, allerdings hält Schwarz sich hier. Nxd3 20.Nxb6 Rxc2 21.Kxc2 Bxb6 22.Kxd3 Bb5+ 23.Kc2 Be2 24.f4 Rc8+ 25.Kb1 Rd8= 19...Nxd3 20.Qxd3 Bf5 21.Qxf5 gxf5 22.Nxd5 No matter where the black queen goes, White can give perpetual check with Bh6 followed by Rhg1+ and Bg7+ . In fact, though, White is clearly better off because of the weak black king, if you simply win another exchange with Ne7 and play against the queen with rook bishop. Egal wo die schwarze Dame hingeht, kann Weiß mit Lh6 gefolgt von Thg1+ und Lg7+ Dauerschach geben. Tatsächlich aber steht Weiß klar besser aufgrund des schwachen schwarzen Königs, wenn man einfach mit Se7+ noch eine Qualität gewinnt und mit Turm+Läufer gegen die Dame spielt. Qd6 23.Ne7+ 23.Bh6 Qxd5 24.Rhg1+ Kh8 25.Bg7+ Kg8 26.Bh6+= 23...Kh8 23...Rxe7? 24.Rhg1+! Kh8 25.fxe7 Qxe7 26.d5+- 24.Bb4! Qd7 24...Qxf6 25.Nxc8 Rxc8 26.d5 f4 27.Rhe1± 25.Nxc8 Rxc8 26.d5 a5 27.Bc3 h6 27...Rxc3 28.bxc3 Qb5+ 29.Kc2 Qa4+ 30.Kd3+- White escapes the black checks and should be technically winning. Weiß entkommt den schwarzen Schachs und sollte technisch auf Gewinn stehen. 28.Rd3± and White probably has good chances of winning, but of course there is still some work to be done. und Weiß hat wohl gute Gewinnchancen, aber es ist natürlich noch einiges an Arbeit. 18.Nxd5 Qd8 19.Bb5! Perhaps the move that my opponent had underestimated in the pre-calculation. With this, White stabilizes his position and I felt very comfortable here, as the position becomes easier to play from now on. Vielleicht der Zug, den mein Gegner in der Vorausberechnung unterschätzt hatte. Hiermit stabilisiert Weiß seine Stellung und ich habe mich hier sehr wohl gefühlt, da die Stellung ab jetzt einfacher zu spielen wird. Be5? Now White simply keeps the extra pawn and the clearly better position, from here on White is clearly winning. Nun behält Weiß einfach den Mehrbauern und die deutlich bessere Stellung, ab hier steht Weiß klar auf Gewinn. 19...Qxg5 20.e4 Qd8 21.Bc3 Be5 22.Rhg1± looks very pleasant for White. sieht sehr angenehm aus für Weiß. 19...Ne6! 20.Qd3 20.Qa4 Nc5 20...Nxd4 21.Bxd7 Qxd7 22.Qxd4 Qf5+ 23.e4 Qxf3 24.Bc3 Be5 25.Qb4 and White keeps the better position due to the clearly stronger knight. und Weiß behält die bessere Stellung aufgrund des deutlich stärkeren Springers. 20.Bc3+- Bxd4 21.Bxd7 Nxd7 22.Rxd4 Qxg5 23.Rdd1?! The idea, of course, was now to threaten Rhg1, followed by Qf5. However, I underestimated Nb6 a bit here. Die Idee war natürlich nun Thg1 zu drohen, gefolgt von Df5. Jedoch unterschätzte ich hier Sb6 etwas. 23.e4+- would have been much more natural and better. wäre deutlich natürlicher und besser gewesen. 23...Qh4 23...Nb6 and now White has to play und nun muss Weiß trotzdem 24.e4 anyway. ziehen. 24.Rhg1 Qxg1 25.Rxg1 Nxd5± offers Black chances to save. bietet Schwarz Rettungschancen. 24...Nxd5 25.Rxd5 Qf4 26.Qd3+- 24.Rhg1 Qh3 25.Qa4 Ne5 26.Rg5 b5 27.Qb3? Here I made it unnecessarily complicated for myself once again, the natural Qd4 would have won immediately. Hier habe ich es mir noch einmal unnötig kompliziert gemacht, das natürliche Dd4 hätte sofort gewonnen. 27.Qd4 Qxf3 28.Rxe5 Rxe5 29.Ne7+!+- I had not seen that. White doesn't take the rook on e5, but simply wins the other one. Das hatte ich nicht gesehen. Weiß nimmt nicht den Turm auf e5, sondern gewinnt einfach den anderen. 29.Qxe5? Qxd1+ 30.Ka2 Rxc3= 27...Rxc3 The position still remains lost for Black, but now White has to make a few more accurate moves. Die Stellung bleibt trotzdem verloren für Schwarz, aber nun muss Weiß noch ein paar genaue Züge machen. 27...Qxf3 28.Bxe5 Qe4+ 29.Qd3 Rxe5 30.Qxe4 Rxe4 31.Rxh5+- was my idea when playing Qb3. war meine Idee von Db3. 28.Nxc3 a6 29.f4 Ng4 30.Nd5 Kg7 31.Qc3+ Kh6 32.Rg1 f5 33.Rxf5! A nice finish, but Black had no defense left either. Ein schöner Abschluss, Schwarz hatte aber auch keine Verteidigung mehr. Qxh2 34.Rxg4 Qh1+ 35.Ka2 All in all, a pretty smooth win, in which I was able to surprise my opponent in the opening with this trend variation against the Nimzoindian. 17. ... Be5 would probably have made it much more difficult for me, since I think the position is technically not so easy to play for White. With this win, I kept the lead in the European Championship and eventually won the tournament! Alles in allem ein recht glatter Sieg, in der ich meinen Gegner mit dieser Trendvariante gegen Nimzoindisch in der Eröffnung überraschen konnte. 17. ... Le5 hätte es mir vermutlich deutlich schwieriger gemacht, da die Stellung meines Erachtens nach technisch nicht so leicht zu spielen ist für Weiß. Mit diesem Sieg behielt ich die Führung bei der EM und konnte das Turnier letztendlich dann auch gewinnen! 1–0
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Bluebaum,M2642Kuzubov,Y26391–02022E48EU-ch 22nd7

Opening videos and surveys

There are 3 opening videos in this issue. The first offers a lesson on the Slav Defence by Mihail Marin. The second features a lecture on a line in the Grünfeld Exchange Variation by Dorian Rogozenco. The third provides a lecture on the Ragozin Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Take your pick.

There are as many as 11 opening surveys ranging from the Sicilian Sveshnikov to the Schara-Hennig Gambit. I would single out at least two of them.

The Schara-Hennig Gambit (D32) is analysed here by Lucian Miron. Let me offer a sideline by way of appetizer.

A sideline in the Schara-Hennig Gambit

 
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 The Tarrasch Defence so far. 4.cxd5 cxd4!? The Schara-Hennig Gambit offering a pawn for rapid develpment. 4...exd5 is the Main Line of the Tarrasch Defence. 5.dxe6 5.Qa4+ Better than the immediate 5.Qxd4 that allows 5...Nc6 forcing the queen to retreat. Bd7 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Qxd5 Nf6 8.Qd1 Not 8.Qb3 Na6 9.Qxb7?? Nb4-+ 8...Bc5 9.Nf3 0-0 The Main Line analysed by Lucian Miron in CBM 208 5...Bxe6! 5...dxc3?? 6.exf7+ Ke7 7.fxg8N+! Ke8 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.bxc3 Rxg8 10.Bg5+ Be7 11.Bxe7+ Kxe7 12.e4+- 6.Ne4 Nc6 7.Nf3 Qd5 8.Ned2 Rc8 9.a3 g5 10.h3 Bg7 with an overwhelming position that engines consider winning for Black.
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Schara-Hennig Gambit- D32Opening Analysis

The other survey is the analysis of an offbeat line in the London System by Tanmay Srinath. He offers one of his own games by way of illustration. I am offering the same without his commentary. That’s worth a look.

Srinath-Kurpnieks, ICCF 2021

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.e4 Nxe4 5.Qf3 Qa5+ 6.Nd2 Nxd2 7.Bxd2 Qb6 8.a4 b4 9.h4 Bb7 10.0-0-0 Na6 11.Bc4 Nc7 12.Bf4 e6 13.Nh3 Be7 14.Rhe1 0-0 15.h5 Bf6 16.h6 exd5 17.Bd3 Ne8 18.a5 Qxa5 19.hxg7 Nxg7 20.Rh1 Qa1+ 21.Kd2 Qxb2 22.Bxh7+ Kxh7 23.Ng5+ Kg6 24.Rh6+ Kxh6 25.Qh3+ Nh5 26.Ne6+ Bg5 27.Bxg5+ Kg6 28.Nf4+ Nxf4 29.Qh6+ Kf5 30.g4+ Ke4 31.Re1+ Kd4 32.Qf6+ Kc4 33.Qxb2 Ne6 34.Qe5 Kb5 35.Be7 Rg8 36.f4 a5 37.Qd6 Rxg4 38.Qxd7+ Bc6 39.Qd6 Kb6 40.Rxe6 fxe6 41.Qxc5+ Kb7 42.Bf6 Rxf4 43.Bd4 Rxd4+ 44.Qxd4 Bd7 45.c3 ½–½
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Srinath,T2225Kurpnieks,V2090½–½2021A45ICCF70-CTpr s 4
Srinath,T2225Kurpnieks,V2090½–½2021A45ICCF70-CTpr s 4

When I checked my Correspondence Chess Database I found as many as 64 games played by him. Quite a few of them are of theoretical importance.

A Tournament Special

This issue carries a special feature on the FIDE World Championship Tournament 1997 with 323 games of which 22 are annotated. There is also a video lecture by Mihail Marin on various middlegame plans employed by players in this tournament.

As pointed out in this feature, this was not a world championship in the strict sense of the word. Kasparov who was already outside the FIDE refused the invitation to this tournament with scorn. “I am the World Champion. So what is this for?”  That was more or less how he saw it. Kramnik refused to participate as Karpov was directly seeded to the final. Others like Anand protested, but did play. The names of contestants in this knockout event reads like a Who’s Who of modern chess: Smyslov, Korchnoi, Portisch, Beliavsky, Vaganian, Yusupov, Timman, Shirov, Ivanchuk, Judit Polgar, Short and Morozevich, to mention a few.

Two duels from this tournament are most memorable. One is the Anand-Khalifman game from the third round. Martin Breutigam recreates the whole scene of the battle and its exciting course in this issue:

Anand-Khalifman, FIDE World Chess Championship 1997

 
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1.e4 When the theme announcement knockout World Cup 1997 came from the editorial office, I dug out some of my old texts and tried to remember the atmosphere on site in Groningen again. I was particularly impressed by some of Viswanathan Anand's performances back then, in December 1997. The Indian, who had just turned 28 and was number two in the world, eliminated the grandmasters Predag Nikolic, Alexander Khalifman, Alexei Shirov, Boris Gelfand in succession before also defeating Michael Adams in the final. What a long, nerve-wracking road! But Anand almost didn't make it at all, because he was on the brink of elimination at an early stage. I quote from one of my newspaper articles at the time: For four hours Aruna had been sitting in the last row of spectators reading while her husband Viswanathan Anand was doing his next job in the knockout World Championship. This time, however, the whispering crowd and Anand's body language did not bode well. The petite Indian had long since put aside her reading, and a look of worry spread across her face. Anand, the last remaining top favorite in the knockout competition (...), was noticeably trying to maintain his composure. Only a few days ago he had played cat and mouse on the chessboard with the strong grandmaster Predrag Nikolic. But in this third round, against the Russian Alexander Khalifman, everything was different. After the first game ended in a draw, Anand's moves in this second one seemed strangely contrived. Khalifman, on the other hand, played very strongly and after 40 moves had pushed the favorite into a hopeless position. All at once, all the luster of Anand's personality seemed to fade. He rubbed his eyes, propped his head up with his hands, chewed his lower lip, looked confusedly at his scoresheet, and then back up at a monitor showing the very nasty game position he was sitting in front of: A race of passed pawns was brewing in a rook ending. Actually hopeless for Anand, because Khalifman's pawns had already advanced much further. Although it was the Indian's move, he still didn't look at the board, but at the audience and then at his opponent. He wasn't going to shake hands, was he? "Yes", Anand confessed afterwards, "I was thinking of just giving up." Besides, he half-jokingly revealed what had really been bothering him in this hopeless situation. I was thinking about where I could get a ticket home the fastest now. Before going to the station, he then rather made another move, king to c1. And lo and behold, now Khalifman showed a little weakness. Too hastily he raced with a pawn to f4. After that it suddenly became "very tricky" again, Anand said later. Although Khalifman still had a chance to win, both players shook hands and agreed on a draw. The score was 1-1, and Anand won the tiebreak the next day. Als aus der Redaktion die Themenansage „K.o.-WM 1997“ kam, kramte ich einige meiner alten Texte hervor und versuchte, mich wieder an die Atmosphäre vor Ort in Groningen zu erinnern. Besonders beeindruckend fand ich damals, im Dezember 1997, einige Auftritte von Viswanathan Anand. Der gerade 28 Jahre alt gewordene Inder, Nummer zwei der Welt, schaltete der Reihe nach die Großmeister Predag Nikolic, Alexander Khalifman, Alexei Shirov, Boris Gelfand aus, ehe er im Finale auch Michael Adams besiegte. Welch langer, nervenaufreibender Weg! Doch beinahe hätte ihn Anand gar nicht beschreiten können; er stand nämlich schon frühzeitig kurz vor dem Aus. Ich zitiere aus einem meiner damaligen Zeitungstexte: Vier Stunden lang hatte Aruna in der letzten Zuschauerreihe gesessen und gelesen, während ihr Ehemann Viswanathan Anand seinen nächsten Auftrag bei der K.o-WM erledigte. Der tuschelnde Zuschauerpulk sowie Anands Körpersprache versprachen diesmal jedoch nichts Gutes. Längst hatte die zierliche Inderin ihre Lektüre beiseite gelegt, und auf ihrem Gesicht breitete sich ein sorgenvoller Blick aus. Anand, der letzte noch im K.o. -Wettbewerb verbliebene Topfavorit (...), war spürbar um Contenance bemüht. Noch vor wenigen Tagen hatte er mit dem starken Großmeister Predrag Nikolic auf dem Schachbrett Katz und Maus gespielt. Doch in dieser dritten Runde, gegen den Russen Alexander Khalifman, war alles anders. Nachdem die erste Partie remis endete, wirkten Anands Züge in dieser zweiten merkwürdig gekünstelt. Khalifman spielte hingegen sehr stark und hatte den Favoriten nach 40 Zügen in eine aussichtslose Lage gedrängt. Mit einem Mal schien der ganze Glanz der Anand’schen Persönlichkeit verblasst. Er rieb sich die Augen, stützte den Kopf mit den Händen, kaute an der Unterlippe, schaute verwirrt auf sein Partieformular und dann wieder hoch zu einem Monitor, der genau jene scheußliche Partiestellung zeigte, vor der er gerade saß: In einem Turmendspiel bahnte sich ein Wettlauf der Freibauern an. Eigentlich hoffnungslos für Anand, denn Khalifmans Bauern waren bereits viel weiter vorgerückt. Obwohl der Inder am Zug war, schaute er immer noch nicht aufs Brett, sondern mit mattem Blick ins Publikum und dann zu seinem Gegner. Er wollte doch nicht etwa seine Hand reichen? „Ja“, gestand Anand hinterher, „ich dachte daran einfach aufzugeben.“ Außerdem verriet er halb im Scherz, was ihn in dieser hoffnungslosen Lage wirklich beschäftigt hatte. „Ich habe überlegt, woher ich jetzt am schnellsten ein Ticket für die Heimreise bekomme.“ Bevor es zum Bahnhof ging, machte er dann doch lieber noch einen Schachzug, König nach c1. Und siehe da: Nun zeigte Khalifman eine kleine Schwäche. Zu voreilig raste er mit einem Bauern nach f4. Danach sei es plötzlich noch einmal „very tricky“ geworden, so Anand später. Obwohl Khalifman immer noch Siegchancen besaß, einigten sich beide Spieler händeschüttelnd auf Remis. Damit stand es 1:1. Den Tiebreak entschied Anand anderntags für sich. c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Nxd4 Then as now you see Damals wie heute sieht man 8...Bd7 more frequently against the Richter-Rauzer Attack. häufiger gegen den Richter-Rauser-Angriff. 9.Qxd4 Be7 10.f3 Anand obviously wants to continue in the spirit of the English attack, with g2-g4. Anand will offenbar im Geist des Englischen Angriffs, mit g2-g4, fortsetzen. A few years later, in Wijk aan Zee 2000, he opted for a different plan against Vladimir Kramnik. At that time, by the way, Anand had another world championship match in mind, this time not under Fide's aegis but against Garry Kasparov, the 'real' world champion. But the two famously failed to reach a deal, so later that year Kramnik challenged - and defeated - Kasparov. In the aforementioned game in Wijk aan Zee in early 2000, Anand played Ein paar Jahre später, in Wijk aan Zee 2000, entschied er sich gegen Vladimir Kramnik für einen anderen Plan. Zu jener Zeit hatte Anand übrigens abermals einen WM-Kampf vor Augen, diesmal nicht unter Fide-Ägide, sondern gegen Garry Kasparov, den "wahren" Weltmeister. Doch die beiden wurden bekanntlich nicht handlungseinig, so dass später im Jahr Kramnik Kasparov herausforderte - und besiegte. In der besagten Partie Anfang 2000 in Wijk aan Zee zog Anand 10.f4 b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.e5 12.Kb1!? 12...d5 13.Kb1 Bb7 14.f5 1/2-1/2 (40) Anand,V (2769)-Kramnik,V (2758) Wijk aan Zee 2000 10...Qc7 In the following, Khalifman tries to make progress on the queenside and delays the short castling a bit, so as not to give the white attackers the 'address' of his king too early. Khalifman versucht in der Folge zunächst am Damenflügel Fortschritte zu machen und zögert die kurze Rochade noch ein wenig hinaus, um den weißen Angreifern nicht zu früh die "Adresse" seines Königs bekannt zu geben. 11.g4 b5 12.Qd2 Bb7! 12...0-0 13.Ne2 Rd8 14.h4 1-0 (37) Anand,V (2765)-Pelletier,Y (2465) Biel 1997 13.Bf4 After that, Black can take the initiative. Danach kann Schwarz die Initiative übernehmen. However, the same also applies to Das Gleiche gilt aber auch für 13.h4 Rc8 14.Bd3 b4 15.Ne2 d5! 1-0 (32) Lupulescu,C (2566)-Ivanov,A (2462) Bucharest 2007 13...b4 14.Ne2 Rc8 15.Ng3 Qa5?! Today's engines want Heutige Engines wollen 15...0-0! (optionally together with ...Rfd8, ... Nd7 or ...a5) - and consider the black attack more dangerous than the white one. sehen (wahlweise nebst ...Tfd8, ...Sd7 oder ...a5) - und halten den schwarzen Angriff für gefährlicher als den weißen. 16.Kb1 d5 17.g5 Nd7 18.h4?! Here Anand could obviously have exploited the supposed inaccuracy on move 15: with Hier hätte Anand die vermeintliche Ungenauigkeit im 15. Zug offenbar ausnutzen können: mit 18.Nh5! , because , denn 0-0? would fail to würde an 19.Qd4+- scheitern. 18...Rd8 19.Bh3 19.Qh2!? 0-0 20.h5 19...dxe4 20.fxe4 Nc5 21.Qe2 0-0 And finally time for castling! Khalifman's plan has worked out fine: Because White has to take care of the isolated e-pawn, his attack on the kingside has less power. In addition, he has to consider the motif ...Na4-c3+. Und endlich Zeit für zum Rochieren! Khalifmans Plan ist prima aufgegangen: Weil Weiß sich um den isolierten e-Bauern kümmern muss, hat sein Angriff am Königsflügel weniger Kraft. Außerdem muss er das Motiv ...Sa4-c3+ beachten. 22.b3 Qb5!? 23.Qxb5 White can hardly avoid the exchange of queens, e.g. Dem Damentausch kann Weiß kaum ausweichen, z.B. 23.Qf3? a5 24.h5 a4 and black probably comes first. und Schwarz kommt vermutlich zuerst. 23...axb5 24.Bg2 f5! 25.gxf6 Bxf6 26.Be3?! In this phase of the game Anand's play seems unusually indecisive. In dieser Partiephase wirkt Anands Spiel ungewohnt unentschlossen. 26.Rxd8 Rxd8 27.h5= 26...Rc8! 27.Bh3 Or Oder 27.Bd4 Rfd8! 28.Bxf6 gxf6 (Khalifman) 27...Rfe8 28.Rd6? Objectively much tougher was the attempt to work with Objektiv viel zäher war der Versuch, mit 28.Nh5 against the black g-pawn, e.g. gegen den schwarzen g-Bauern zu drücken, z.B. Bc3 or oder 28...Nxe4 29.Nxf6+ Nxf6 30.Rh2 Nd5 29.Rhg1 g6 or oder 29...Bxe4 30.Bd4 30.Nf4 Bxe4 31.h5 28...Nxe4! 29.Nxe4 Not Nicht 29.Bxe6+? Rxe6 30.Rxe6 Nxg3 29...Bxe4 30.Rh2 Bf5 31.Bd4 Bxh3 32.Bxf6 Or Oder 32.Rxh3? Red8-+ 32...gxf6 33.Rxh3 Kf7 34.Rhd3 f5 Even 25 years later, it's amazing that a player of Khalifman's class couldn't win this endgame. It seems that all he needs to do here is to advance his passed pawn duo in an orderly fashion. But as is so often the case, there are still a number of things to consider here. Es ist auch 25 Jahre danach erstaunlich, dass ein Spieler von Khalifmans Extraklasse dieses Endspiel nicht gewinnen konnte. Er braucht hier doch anscheinend nur noch sein Freibauernduo geordnet vorzuschieben. Doch wie so oft ist auch hier noch manches zu beachten. 35.R6d4 Rc5 36.Rxb4 e5 37.a4 e4 38.Rd7+ Ke6 39.Rd1 bxa4 40.Rxa4 Ke5 41.Kc1 Rec8 Just not Bloß nicht 41...f4?? 42.Rxe4+! Kxe4 43.Re1+ 42.c4 e3 43.Ra7 R8c7 44.Ra8 Ke4 45.Rad8 f4? Other moves would have won more easily, e.g. Khalifman could have given his far advanced e-pawn even more thrust with Andere Züge hätten leichter gewonnen, z.B. hätte Khalifman seinem weit vorgerückten e-Bauern mit 45...Re7 , e.g. noch mehr Schubkraft bieten können, z.B. 46.R8d4+ Kf3 47.b4 Rce5 48.Rf1+ Kg2-+ 46.R1d4+ Ke5 46...Kf3? 47.Rf8 47.Kd1 Rc8? And finally, this extremely exciting game ends in a curious mistake finale. Und schließlich mündet diese äußerst spannende Partie in einem kuriosen Fehlerfinale. Khalifman could still win here. He himself referred afterwards to the simplest possibility Khalifman konnte hier immer noch gewinnen. Er selbst verwies hinterher auf die einfachste Möglichkeit 47...Ra5! 48.b4 Ra1+ 49.Ke2 Ra2+ 50.Ke1 or oder 50.Kf3 Rf2+ 51.Kg4 Rg7+ 52.Kh5 Re7 50...Rf2! This covers the f-pawn before the other rook tries to enter via a7 or g7. The black king can take refuge from check bids to f3 if necessary. Das deckt den f-Bauern, ehe der andere Turm via a7 oder g7 einzudringen versucht. Der schwarze König kann sich vor Schachgeboten ggf. nach f3 flüchten. 48.R8d7? Here would strictly speaking only Hier hätte streng genommen nur 48.Ke2! could have forced the draw, e.g. das Remis erzwingen können, z.B. Rxd8 49.Rxd8 Ra5 50.Kf3! Ra1 51.Re8+! Kd4 52.Kxf4 Rf1+ 53.Kg3 Kd3 54.Rd8+! Kc2 55.Re8 Kd2 56.Rd8+ Ke1 57.c5 e2 58.c6 Rf6 59.c7 Kf1 60.Re8! Rc6 61.Rf8+! Kg1 62.Re8= 48...R8c7 48...Ra5!-+ 49.Rd8 Here even Hier hätte auch 49.Ke2 was no longer enough. In contrast to the previous move, the white rook is missing a row: nicht mehr gereicht. Im Unterschied zum vorigen Zug fehlte dem weißen Turm dann eine Reihe: Rxd7 50.Rxd7 Ra5 51.Kf3 Ra1 52.Re7+ Kf6!-+ 49...Rc8? 49...Ra5-+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V2765Khalifman,A2655½–½1997B66FIDE-Wch k.o.3.2
Anand,V2765Khalifman,A2655½–½1997B66FIDE-Wch k.o.3.2

The other is the decisive blitz game between Anand and Adams in the last round:

Video Credit: Shareurknowledge

Anand-Adams, FIDE World Chess Championship 1997

 
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bc4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 0-0 10.0-0 Nd7 11.Bd3 Qc7 12.Qe2 Re8 13.c4 g6 14.c5 Nf6 15.Ne5 Bd7 16.Bf4 Qc8 17.Rab1 Nd5 18.Bg3 Rf8 19.Rfc1 Bf6 20.Nc4 Bxd4 21.Nd6 Qd8 22.Nxb7 Qf6 23.c6 Bc8 24.Rb3 e5 25.Be4 Be6 26.Rf3 Qg5 27.Qe1 Qe7 28.Qa5 Bb6 29.Qa3 Qxa3 30.Rxa3 f6 31.Nc5 Bxc5 32.Rxc5 Nc7 33.f3 a6 34.h4 Rad8 35.Rc1 Rd2 36.Be1 Rxa2 37.Rxa2 Bxa2 38.Ba5 Rf7 39.Rd1 Nb5 40.Rc1 Nc7 41.Rd1 Nb5 42.Rd8+ Kg7 43.Ra8 Bc4 44.Rb8 f5 45.Bc2 Bd5 46.Rb6 Nd6 47.c7 Nc8 48.Rb8 Rf8 49.Ba4 Be6 50.Bc3 Kf6 51.f4 Kf7 52.Bxe5 Ne7 53.Rd8 Nc8 54.Kf2 Ke7 55.Bc6 a5 56.Bb7 Kf7 57.Bc6 Ke7 58.Bc3 Kf7 59.Bxa5 Rg8 60.Bb4 Na7 61.Ba4 Nc8 62.Bc5 h6 63.Bb5 g5 64.fxg5 hxg5 65.h5 1–0
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Anand,V2765Adams,M26801–01997D41FIDE-Wch k.o.7.9
Anand,V2765Adams,M26801–01997D41FIDE-Wch k.o.7.9

A game full of vicissitudes!

For now I shall not comment on the aftermath of this tournament. That’s another story altogether.

An Alekhine classic remembered

One more feature deserves special mention. It’s the commentary on the game, Reti-Alekhne by Dorian Rogozenco. Alekhine himself regarded it as one of the two best games he ever played (the other being Bogoljubov-Alekhine, Hastings 1922). Here I have room only for the bare score of the game:

Reti-Alekhine, Baden-Baden 1925

 
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1.g3 e5 2.Nf3 e4 3.Nd4 d5 4.d3 exd3 5.Qxd3 Nf6 6.Bg2 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Bxd2+ 8.Nxd2 0-0 9.c4 Na6 10.cxd5 Nb4 11.Qc4 Nbxd5 12.N2b3 c6 13.0-0 Re8 14.Rfd1 Bg4 15.Rd2 Qc8 16.Nc5 Bh3 17.Bf3 Bg4 18.Bg2 Bh3 19.Bf3 Bg4 20.Bh1 h5 21.b4 a6 22.Rc1 h4 23.a4 hxg3 24.hxg3 Qc7 25.b5 axb5 26.axb5 Re3 27.Nf3 cxb5 28.Qxb5 Nc3 29.Qxb7 Qxb7 30.Nxb7 Nxe2+ 31.Kh2 Ne4 32.Rc4 Nxf2 33.Bg2 Be6 34.Rcc2 Ng4+ 35.Kh3 Ne5+ 36.Kh2 Rxf3 37.Rxe2 Ng4+ 38.Kh3 Ne3+ 39.Kh2 Nxc2 40.Bxf3 Nd4 41.Rf2 Nxf3+ 42.Rxf3 Bd5 0–1
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Reti,R-Alekhine,A-0–11925A00Baden-Baden International8

Besides opening surveys, this issue has standard features on tactics, strategy and the endgame. A new feature introduced here is a video lecture on time management by Jan Markos. A practical lesson for serious tournament players.

Summing up

The main database of the issue has 2055 games of which 49 are deeply annotated. The annotators include Anish Giri, Matthias Blübaum, Gabriel Sargissian, Yuriy Kuzubov, Mihail Marin, Dorian Rogozenco and Karsten Müller among others.

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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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