Tashkent R7: Karjakin and Caruana edge the rest

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix-Tashkent 2012"] [Site "Tashkent"] [Date "2012.11.29"] [Round "7"] [White "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Black "Morozevich, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B85"] [WhiteElo "2775"] [BlackElo "2748"] [Annotator "Ramirez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "135"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventCountry "UZB"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 (7. Qd2 Nf6 8. O-O-O Be7 9. f3 {was how Karjakin played against Moro in 2009. This game resulted in a a pretty demolition of the Black kingside, but I suppose that today Sergey was looking for a quieter approach.}) 7... Nf6 8. O-O Be7 9. f4 d6 10. a4 O-O 11. Kh1 {The Scheveningen setup has been tried time and time again. Of course the most famous example of it is during the 80's KK matches, in which Kasparov came up with many brilliant ideas for the black side.} Nxd4 $5 {Already unusual, this move is supposed to be inferior.} (11... Re8 {is the main line, after which White has many options including the daring 12. a5!? sacrifice.}) 12. Qxd4 Bd7 13. e5 {maybe this advance, though natural, is somewhat premature.} Ne8 14. Bf3 Bc6 15. Qb6 Bxf3 16. Rxf3 {Black's only issue in the position is the placement of his e8 knight. Once he solves that, he would enjoy the better pawn structure and good strategical prospects in any endgame.} Rc8 17. a5 Qc6 18. Na4 f6 $1 {Forcing the issue on the center, and allowing the black knight to come back into play.} 19. exd6 Nxd6 20. Qxc6 Rxc6 21. Bc5 Re8 (21... Kf7 $1 $15 {seemed like a better way to do the exact same thing: defend the e7 bishop.}) 22. Rd1 Ne4 23. Bxe7 Rxe7 24. c3 e5 25. Kg1 exf4 26. Rxf4 {Let this be a lesson to those youngsters that think that endgames are not important and that it is easy to draw equal endgames. Though no side has a pull in this position, the endgame is far from dead, and Karjakin proves this swiftly.} g6 27. Rf3 f5 28. Rfd3 Nc5 29. Nxc5 Rxc5 30. Rd5 Rxd5 31. Rxd5 Kf7 32. Rd6 Kg7 {very strange} (32... Re6 {was better}) 33. Kf2 Kh6 34. Kf3 Kh5 {Perhaps Morozevich is too creative for his own good. The last few moves have been bizarre at best. The king is doing little on h5 and now White commences a bind on the queenside.} 35. Rb6 $1 Kg5 36. g3 Rc7 37. h3 Rd7 38. c4 Rd3+ 39. Kf2 Rd7 (39... f4 40. gxf4+ Kxf4 41. Rxb7 Rxh3 42. c5 Ke5 {was still holdable.} ) 40. Ke3 Re7+ 41. Kf3 Rc7 42. b3 Kh5 43. Kf4 {Black keeps getting pushed back. He has missed his opportunities to create counterplay and now the passive defense is most unpleasant.} Rf7 44. Kf3 g5 45. b4 g4+ 46. hxg4+ fxg4+ 47. Ke4 Kg5 48. b5 {The creation of a passed pawn on the queenside puts Morozevich in serious problems. His counterplay on the kingside is not fast or effective enough.} axb5 49. cxb5 h5 50. a6 Re7+ 51. Kd3 $1 {An awesome move. Let's understand why this move and not any other.} (51. Kd5 bxa6 52. bxa6 h4 $1 {and Black's counterplay is obviously sufficient.} (52... Re3 $5 $11)) (51. Kd4 bxa6 52. bxa6 h4 53. Rb5+ Kh6 54. Ra5 hxg3 $11 55. a7 $4 g2 {and black wins because he queens with check!}) 51... Rd7+ $1 {A good check, White should retreat back to g2 for shelter, but it seems unlikely that that will give him the victory. Karjakin pushes forward.} (51... bxa6 52. bxa6 h4 53. Rb5+ Kh6 54. Ra5 hxg3 55. a7 g2 56. a8=Q g1=Q 57. Qf8+ {gets Black mated quickly.}) 52. Kc4 (52. Ke3 $5 bxa6 53. bxa6 Re7+ 54. Kf2 Rf7+ 55. Kg2 Ra7 (55... Rf5 56. a7 Ra5 57. Rb5+ $18) (55... Kf5 56. Rb5+ Ke4 57. Rxh5 Ra7 58. Ra5 {And since the king can be pushed back I believe White is wining.}) 56. Rb5+ Kh6 57. Ra5 Kg6 58. Kf2 Kf7 59. Ke3 Kg6 60. Kd4 Kh6 61. Kd3 Kg6 $11 {As soon as White crosses to the c-file Black sacrifices with h4.}) 52... Rc7+ $4 {A blunder that is refuted beautifully. Moro still could've held the draw with...} (52... bxa6 53. bxa6 Ra7 $1 54. Rb5+ Kh6 55. Ra5 h4 $1 56. gxh4 g3 {and the draw is obvious.} 57. Kb5 g2 58. Ra1 Kh5 59. Rg1 Rg7 $1 $11) 53. Rc6 $3 $18 {A bolt from the blue. Of course if Moro has seen his move he would never have played Rc7+. Now it's all over as the rook is quite obviously taboo, but it cannot be left alone either.} bxc6 (53... Re7 54. Rc5+ Kf6 55. a7 {is obviously kaput.}) 54. b6 Rc8 55. b7 Rb8 56. Kc5 $1 {a pinch of precision.} h4 57. a7 Rxb7 58. a8=Q Rh7 59. Qg8+ Kh6 60. gxh4 Rg7 61. Qh8+ Kg6 62. h5+ Kf7 63. h6 Rg5+ 64. Kd6 g3 65. Qh7+ Kf6 66. Qe7+ Kf5 67. Qxg5+ {a simple tactic to finish the game off, but of course every other move was winning.} Kxg5 68. h7 {Morozevich showed his rook endgame class against Caruana earlier in this tournament. This time, he is in the wrong side of a painful defense, and when he almost reaches his goal a painful blunder shatters his tournament lead.} 1-0

[Event "FIDE GP Tashkent"] [Site "Tashkent UZB"] [Date "2012.11.29"] [Round "7.4"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Kamsky, Gata"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D94"] [WhiteElo "2764"] [BlackElo "2762"] [PlyCount "139"] [EventDate "2012.11.22"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 e6 10. b3 Re8 11. Bb2 Nbd7 12. Qe2 a6 13. Rac1 Rc8 14. Rfd1 Qc7 15. f4 dxc4 16. Bxc4 b5 17. Bd3 Qa7 18. Ne4 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 c5 20. dxc5 Nxc5 21. Bf3 Bxb2 22. Qxb2 Ne4 23. Rd4 Ng3 24. Kf2 Nf5 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Rd3 Qe7 27. Qd2 h5 28. g3 e5 29. Rd7 Qf6 30. Be4 exf4 31. exf4 Kg7 32. Kg2 Qe6 33. Bxf5 Qxf5 34. Rd3 Qe4+ 35. Kh2 b4 36. h4 a5 37. Qb2+ Kg8 38. Rd2 Rc3 39. Rg2 Kg7 40. Qd2 Rd3 41. Qb2+ Kh7 42. Qf6 Qd5 43. Qg5 Kg7 44. Re2 Rd1 45. Qxd5 Rxd5 46. Kh3 Kf6 47. Rc2 Kf5 48. Rc4 Rd1 49. Rc5+ Ke4 50. Rxa5 Kf3 51. Kh2 Rd2+ 52. Kh3 f5 53. Ra6 Rg2 54. Rxg6 Kf2 55. Rc6 Rxg3+ 56. Kh2 Rg4 57. Kh3 Rxf4 {[#]} 58. Rg6 $2 Rf3+ (58... Rf3+ 59. Kh2 f4 {and Black wins, e.g.} 60. Rf6 Kf1 61. Rg6 Rf2+ 62. Kh1 Re2 63. Rf6 Re4 64. Rf5 Kf2 65. Rxh5 f3 66. Rh8 Kg3 67. Rg8+ Rg4) 59. Kh2 Ke3 60. Rg5 Kf4 61. Rxh5 Rf2+ 62. Kh3 Rxa2 63. Rg5 Rc2 64. Rg7 Rc3+ 65. Kg2 Rxb3 66. h5 Rb2+ 67. Kh3 Rb3+ 68. Kg2 Rb2+ 69. Kh3 Rb3+ 70. Kg2 1/2-1/2