[Event "42nd GM 2014"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2014.07.12"] [Round "1"] [White "Kramnik, V."] [Black "Meier, Geo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A09"] [WhiteElo "2777"] [BlackElo "2632"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez, Alejandro"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2014.07.12"] [SourceDate "2014.01.04"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 d5 {So far a Standard opening. White usually takes on d5 and plays a reverse English. Kramnik, however, sometimes likes to choose a less known path against weaker players.} 5. O-O {not the first time that Kramnik plays this, actually he has tried it against strong players.} d4 6. a3 $6 {However this is just strange.} (6. e3 {is a reverse Benoni - almost.} e5 7. exd4 cxd4 8. d3 {led to a true reverse Benoni in the game Kramnik-Caruana last year in Zurich. You can find the annotations to that game by Andreikin in the Megabase.}) 6... e5 7. d3 a5 8. e4 $6 {White is simply not challenging Black's space advantage. This reverse type of King's Indian is dubious at best. Black, unlike the normal KID, has not committed his king to the kingside and this is surprisingly important.} Be7 9. Ne1 {Moving White's knight and play f4 is probably White's only idea.} (9. Nh4 g6 {Leaves White without moves since f4 isn't desirable.} 10. f4 exf4 11. gxf4 (11. Bxf4 Nd7 12. Nf3 g5 $5 $15) 11... Nxe4 $17) 9... h5 $5 {An interesting approach. Black had several ways of playing that would have caused White a headache, but this one is rather logical. The point is that White can only attack on the kingside, but if it for some reason blows up it is only White's king that is on that side of the board.} 10. f4 h4 11. f5 {Surely not something Kramnik wanted to do, but what else? Black already holds a strong advantage only 10 moves into the game.} hxg3 12. hxg3 g6 $1 {Exact response!} 13. Nd2 (13. fxg6 fxg6 {opens up too many lines against White's own king. Black only has to 0-0-0 and bring his pieces to the kingside. Notice how useless White's army is. } 14. Bg5 Ng4 $19) 13... gxf5 14. exf5 Rg8 15. Qf3 Bd7 {Simple moves are good enough here.} 16. Rf2 Qb6 $1 {Certainly logical! The Black king runs to the queenside and then the attack will unfold naturally.} (16... Ng4 17. Rf1 Rg5 { and it's hard for White to keep the f5 pawn alive. However I like Meier's approach better.}) 17. Re2 O-O-O 18. Ne4 Qb3 {Surprisingly, the kingside is not the only place that White has problems.} 19. Nf2 a4 20. Bh6 Bf8 21. Bxf8 Rdxf8 22. g4 Rg7 23. Ne4 Nxe4 24. Qxe4 Rfg8 25. Bf3 f6 26. Rg2 {Black's domination is now obvious.} Nd8 27. Qe2 Bc6 28. Bxc6 bxc6 29. Qe4 Kc7 30. Nf3 Nf7 31. Rf1 Nd6 {With the fall of the pawn on g4 the game is over.} 32. Qe2 Rxg4 33. Rff2 Nxf5 {White is two pawns down and has the worst position. The German player mops up easily now.} 34. Nd2 Rxg2+ 35. Rxg2 Rxg2+ 36. Kxg2 Qxb2 37. Kf3 Nd6 38. Qh2 Qxa3 39. Ke2 Qb2 40. Qh7+ Kb6 41. Qe7 Nb7 {A surprisingly easy game for Meier!} 0-1