Exercises in Style: (4/4) Solutions

by Johannes Fischer
1/11/2018 – In the fourth and final part of the "Exercises in Style" readers were asked to identify games by Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand, and Magnus Carlsen. Not an easy task because three of these World Champions are still active and develop stylistically - only Kasparov withdrew from tournament chess. But though modern chess is becoming more and more universal each of these four World Champions has a unique style.

The "Mega" is the database every serious chessplayer needs. The database contains 7.1 million games from 1500 to 2017, in highest quality standard, full of top level analyses and completely classified.

Game 1

Vladimir Kramnik is a prime example for a universal player. He has made numerous contributions to opening theory, he is well-versed in all kinds of openings, and he is always excellently prepared. In the course of his career Kramnik has played a lot of brilliant attacking games but he has won even more games through his clear, logical positional play and his fantastic endgame abilities. He is particularly strong in queenless middlegame positions.

In this regard the following game is typical for Kramnik. His opponent does not show much ambition with White, Kramnik has no problems to equalise with Black, and seizes the initiative soon after the opening. After an early exchange of queens Kramnik takes no chances and wins smoothly.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 0-0 7.d4 d5 8.e5!? Ne4 9.h3 Qb6 10.Ba4 Bf5 11.Na3 Black solved all his opening problems and has a harmonious position. White, however, has trouble to find good squares for his pieces. Instead of the text move Kramnik recommends 11.Re2 with the idea Be3 followed by Nbd2 with equality. After the text move Black seizes the initiative. 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 f6! Weakens the diagonal a2-g8 but attacks White's center and eyes the white pawns on e5 and d4. 13.Bb3 Rad8 14.exf6 "Winning material" with 14.g4? Be6 15.Rxe4 dxe4 16.Bxe6+ Kh8 leads to a disaster: the white knight on f3 is attacked, and if the knight moves Black continues with ...Nxd4, attacking the bishop on e6 while also threatening ...Nf3+ winning the queen. 14...exf6 15.Nc2 Rfe8 16.Bf4 Be6 17.Re2 g5 18.Bh2 f5 19.Qe1 Bf7 Black first consolidates his position before he increases the pressure. 20.Rd1 f4 21.g3 fxg3 22.fxg3 Rf8 23.Kg2 Na5!
Now Black turns his attention to the queenside - the knight move emphasises the clumsy position of the white pieces. 24.Qb4 Qxb4 Black does not mind to exchange queens and to enter a queenless middlegame. In fact, the disadvantages of White's position become much more apparent with the queens off the board. 25.Nxb4 Nxb3 26.axb3 Rd6! with the idea 27...Rb6. 27.Nd3 Rb6 28.b4 Rc8 29.Nfe5 Be8 30.g4 Ba4 31.Ra1 Bb5 32.Rd1 Bf8 Threatening 33...Bxb4. 33.Rde1 Bd6! Threatening to win material with 34... Bxe5. 34.Re3 Rc2+ 35.Kg1 Bxd3 36.Rxd3 Rxb2 37.Rc1 R6xb4 A remarkably straightforward game. White played the opening too cautiously and allowed Black to seize the initiative. In the further course of the game Black systematically increased his pressure and White lost without making an obvious mistake.
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rozentalis,E2605Kramnik,V27100–11994B31Bundesliga 939412.1

On this DVD Vladimir Kramnik retraces his career from talented schoolboy to World Champion in 2006. With humour and charm he describes his first successes, what it meant to be part of the Russian Gold Medal team at the Olympiad, and how he undertook the Herculean task of beating his former mentor and teacher Garry Kasparov.

Game 2

Garry Kasparov might well be the strongest player in the history of chess. In 1985 he became World Champion - at the age of 22, the youngest World Champion of all times. When he declared his withdrawal from tournament chess in March 2005 he had an Elo-rating of 2812 and still was the world's number one.

Kasparov's opening preparation, his tacticals skills, and his ability to calculate variations incredibly fast and deep are legendary. It is no surprise that Kasparov played many games in the course of his career in which he virtually smashed his opponents right out of the opening. The following game against Loek Van Wely is only one example among many.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.g4 h6 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 Bb7 11.h4 b4 12.Na4 d5 13.Bh3 g5 14.Bg2 When this game was played this line was hotly debated and appeared in a number of top-level games. In this game Kasparov played with White but he also played the line with Black. gxh4? A mistake. As later analyses have shown 14...Rg8 was correct. In fact - and despite this drastic defeat against Kasparov - Van Wely was ready to repeat this line in no less than four games at the tournament in Wijk 2000. But no one of his opponents wanted to test Van Wely's preparation after 11.h4. 15.Rxh4 dxe4 15...Nxe4 16.fxe4 Qxh4 17.exd5 exd5 18.Bxd5 Bxd5 19.Nf5 Qf6 20.Qxd5 Rd8 21.Bf4 Ne5 22.Qe4 16.g5 Nd5 17.Rxe4 hxg5 17...Qa5 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Rxe6+ Kf7 19...Kd8 20.f4 20.Qd3 Kxe6 21.Qe4+ Ne5 21...Kf7 22.g6+ Kg7 23.Qe6 Ne5 24.Bd4 22.Bh3+ Kd6 23.Bc5+ Qxc5 24.Nxc5 Kxc5 25.Qxe5 18.Bxg5 Qa5 18...Qxg5 19.Qxg5 Bh6 20.Nxe6 Bxg5+ 21.Nxg5+ 18...N7f6 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.Rxe6+ Kf7 21.Rde1 19.f4 Rh2 19...Qxa4 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Rxe6+ Kf7 21...Be7 22.Bxd5 22.Bxd5 19...e5 20.Nb3 Qxa4 21.Rxe5+ Nxe5 22.Bxd5 Qd7 23.Bxb7 Qxd2+ 24.Rxd2 Rb8 25.fxe5 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Rxe6+ Kf7 22.Qd3 Bg7 22...Kxe6 23.Bxd5+ Bxd5 24.Qg6+ Nf6 25.Qxf6+ Kd7 26.Rxd5+ Qxd5 27.Nb6+ 22...Kg8 23.Qg6+ Kh8 24.Ree1 23.Qf5+ Kg8 24.Rxd5 Qxa4 25.Re7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kasparov,G2851Van Wely,L26461–02000B80Corus3

On this DVD a team of experts gets to the bottom of Kasparov's play. In over 8 hours of video running time the authors Rogozenko, Marin, Reeh and Müller cast light on four important aspects of Kasparov's play: opening, strategy, tactics and endgame.

Game 3

For some time Magnus Carlsen was a student of Garry Kasparov, but stylistically the 13th and the 16th World Champion in the history of chess are worlds apart. In contrast to Kasparov who tried to exert pressure from the very first move and usually strived for an opening advantage, Carlsen is often content to just get a playable position from the opening, and does not always strive for an opening advantage. However, from these playable, theoretically equal positions, Carlsen regularly outplays his opponents in the middlegame and in the endgame.

Carlsen has much less short victories to show than Kasparov. But his abilities to create winning chances in equal, simplified, and seemingly harmless positions, are legendary. And just like Kasparov Carlsen has an enormous will to win. This shows in the following game against Levon Aronian. After a small opening inaccuracy Carlsen finds himself on the defensive with White but he then defends carefully and creatively.

At a certain point Aronian loses the thread but now Carlsen who had been worse for a long time is no longer satisfied with a draw and starts to play for a win - with success.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.d4 d6 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.Nbd2 h6 13.a5 Bc5 14.Bc4 White wants to bring his knight to b3 but the bishop move allows Black to seize the initiative. More careful was 14.h3 with a roughly equal position. 14...Ng4 15.Re2 Be6! After the exchange of the white-squared bishops Black no longer has much to worry about. 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.h3 Nf6 18.Re1 Rab8 19.Nc4 Rb5 Indirectly defending the black pawn on e5 while attacking the white pawn on a5. 20.b3 Bd4 21.Bb2 Rc5 22.Ra2 Bxb2 23.Rxb2 Ne8 24.Ra2 Nd6 25.Nfd2 Nb7 26.Nf3 Kf7 27.Kf1 Kf6 28.Ra4 Nbxa5 29.Ne3! White gives a pawn and hopes to exploit the disharmonious position of the black pieces on the queenside. After 29.Nxa5 Nxa5 30.Re2 Rd1+ 31.Re1 Rd7 32.Rxb4 Rxc2 White is clearly worse. 29...h5 30.Rea1 Rd4
White seems to be in serious trouble: He is a pawn down, the pawn on e4 is attacked, and accepting the exchange sacrifice does not help much: 31.Ne1! A tenacious and creative defense. After 31.Nxd4 exd4 32.Nd1 d3 33.cxd3 Nxb3 34.R1a2 Rc1 35.Ke1 a5 the white pieces are helpless and Black is clearly better though he is an exchange down. 31...Ke7 Black cannot take the pawn on e4 because he loses material after 31...Rxe4 32.Nd3 Rb5 33.c4 and Black cannot take the pawn on c4 en passant because the rook on e4 would be hanging. 32.f3 Rd2 33.Rd1 Rd6 34.Rda1
34...Kd7 Black does not want to repeat moves and continues to play for a win. But a few moves later Aronian realised that Black is in danger and offered a draw - which Carlsen declined even though he only needed a draw to win the tournament. 35.Nd1 Rd2 36.Nf2 Kc8 37.Nfd3 Rb5 38.h4 Kb7 39.R1a2 Ka7 40.Kg1 Kb6 41.Kf1 g6 42.Kg1 Kb7 43.Kf1 Kc8 44.Nf2 After shuffling his pieces around for while before the time-control Carlsen now wants to exploit the uncoordinated position of the black pieces on the queenside. Rd8 45.Ned3 Kb7 46.Ke2 Kb6 47.Ke3 Kb7 48.Nd1 Kc8 49.N1b2 Rd6 50.Ra1 A careful move. The immediate 50.Nc4 Nxc4+ 51.bxc4 Rb8 52.c5 Rd8 53.Rxa6 b3 gives away most of White's advantage. 50...Kd8 51.Nc4 Nxc4+ 52.bxc4 Rb8 53.c5 Rd7 54.Rxa6
White regained the pawn and will win more material. Aronian therefore decides to sacrifice the knight to get at least some counterplay. But Carlsen carefully parries all threats by Black and converts his advantage. 54...b3 55.Rxc6 bxc2 56.Ne1 Ke7 57.Nxc2 Rb3+ 58.Ke2 Rb2 59.Rc1 Ra2 60.Ke3 Kf7 61.f4 Kf6 62.fxe5+ Kxe5 63.Ne1 Ra3+ 64.Kf2 Rd2+ 65.Kf1 Rd7 66.Nf3+ Kf4 67.Rxe6 g5 68.hxg5 Kg3 69.Rf6 Ra2 70.Ne5
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2862Aronian,L28131–02013C88Sinquefield Cup 1st6

Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.

Game 4

In 1987 Vishy Anand became World Junior Champion U20, in the same year he became grandmaster, and only three years later, in 1990, he played in the Candidates for the first time. In the course of his long career he has achieved countless successes and has won countless games - because of deep opening knowledge and good preparation, strong positional play, impressive attacking skills, tenacious defense, and of course, superb endgame play.

Anand's opening preparation is as legendary as his tactical abilities and his art in defending worse positions. But he is also a creative and inspired attacking playing. As the following game against Predrag Nikolic proves.

 
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1.d4 Throughout his career Anand has shown a preference for 1.e4 but he also knows the positionsvery well that arise after 1.d4. f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.c4 d5 5.Nh3 c6 6.0-0 Bd6 7.Qc2 0-0 8.Nd2 Bd7 9.Nf3 Be8 10.Bf4 This natural move with which White exchanges Black's "good" bishop was a novelty when this game was played. h6 Black wants to advance his kingside pawns. 11.Qb3 b6 12.Rfc1 Be7 Black avoids the exchange of the dark-squared bishops but this does not solve his problems. After 12...g5 13.Bxd6 Qxd6 14.Ne5 White is clearly better. 13.cxd5! White grabs the opportunity to weaken Black's center. Nxd5 After 13...exd5 14.Ne5 Black's pawn on c6 is weak and 13...cxd5 14.Bc7 Qc8 15.Bxb6 neither looks too promising for Black. 14.Bd2 g5 This stops the white knight from becoming active but weakens Black's kingside. 15.Ne5 a5 16.e4 fxe4 17.Bxe4 Ra7 18.f4! White continues to open the position. gxf4 19.Kh1! White puts his king on a safer square before taking on f4. Bf6 Black cannot take on g3: 19...fxg3? 20.Qxg3+ Kh8 21.Ng6+ Bxg6 22.Qxg6 Bg5 23.Bxg5 hxg5 24.Nxg5 and White is winning. 20.Nxf4 Qd6 21.Nfg6 Bxg6 22.Nxg6 Rff7
23.Bf4! With this move White forces Black to take on f4 and to open the g-file which increases the strength of White's attack. Nxf4 24.gxf4 Bg7 After 24...Bxd4 25.Qh3 Bxb2 26.Rd1 Bd4 27.Qxh6 Black has difficulties to parry the many threats, e.g. Rh7 or 27...Nd7 28.Rg1 Bg7 29.Nh8! and White wins. 28.Rxd4 25.Qh3 Rf6 26.Rc3 White wants to put his major pieces on the g-file but keeps an eye on Black's weakness on c6. Qxd4 27.Qg2 Rd7 28.Rg1 b5 29.Rg3
White put all his major pieces on the g-file - and Black finds no way to parry the attack. 29...Qa7 30.Ne5 Re7 31.Qd2 Qc7 32.Rd3 White first brought his major pieces to the g-file, now he switches over to the d-file. And this is more than Black's position can suffer. Re8 33.Rd6 c5 34.Ng4 Rff8 35.Nxh6+ Kh8 36.Ng4 Rd8
37.Qg2! The white queen returns to the kingside - and White's attack finally crushes through. Rxd6 38.Qh3+ Kg8 39.Qh7+ Kf7 40.Bg6+
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V2769Nikolic,P26591–02000A90Corus2

The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999. It starts with his memories of how he first learned chess and shows his first great games (including those from the 1984 WCh for juniors). The high point of his early developmental phase was the winning of the 1987 WCh for juniors. After that, things continue in quick succession: the first victories over Kasparov, WCh candidate in both the FIDE and PCA cycles and the high point of the WCh match against Kasparov in 1995.
Running time: 3:48 hours

Vishy Anand is one of the greatest chess talents of all times. On this DVD he speaks about his career, his views on chess, and presents the most beautiful and interesting games of his career.

With this fine game of the 15th World Champion in the history of chess the Exercises in Style come to an end. Of course, the World Champions do not play all their games in one style and one style only. Kasparov, for example, played some of his games in a way that is usually ascribed to Carlsen or Karpov. There are also a whole number of games in which defensive artist Tigran Petrosian smashes his opponents in a way that is typical Mihail Tal. However, it is still remarkable how often stylistic traits that are characteristic for the 16 World Champions appear in randomly chosen games. Though it is, of course, much easier to identify these traits if you know which World Champion played the game in question.

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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