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Two decodes of unporolleled generosity come to on end with the 20th Amber Blindfold ond Ropid Tournoment. For the forewell edition Dutch Moecenos Joop von Oosterom ond his wife Muriel invited the creom of chess to return to Monoco, the troditionol home of Amber'. ln the suove luxury of the Monte-Corlo

Boy Hotel & Resort, the inimitoble Levon Aronion repeoted his victories of 2008 ond 2009.

32

lnterview: Viktor Kortchnoi

The strongest octogenorion in chess

history doesn't shy owoy from ony

subiect.'Moybe in o woy I om envious of these young ployers. At their oge I ployed worse thon they do.'And he does worry obout his future os o chess ployer.

44

Trqiner Turns Chompion

At the Europeon Chompionship in Aix-les-Boins lost yeor's chompion lon Nepomniochtchi wos succeeded by his troiner Vlodimir Potkin, who burst owoy with 5 out of 5 ond remoined in the leod till the very lost round.

56

'But Where Hqve Al! Your

Pieces Gone?' Nigel Short extols the virtues of simultoneous exhibitions.

58 Ctress in lcelqnd Robert Hess mode his first trip to the country thot is fobled for its sogos, geysers, volconoes, music ond omidst much more, chess! n NswiNcnEss

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66 Hertqn's Forcing Moves 68

A'Tole of Two Mogicions

Genno Sosonko explores the similorities ond differences between two of the greotest ortists the gome hos ever seen, Dovid Bronstein ond Mikhoil Tol.

T4tnrough the Luking Gloss Luke McShone

wonders:'Hove you

ever looked ot your chess set ond noticed thot the boord looks rother... smoll?'

78 fonelu lo Ploy World Tirle Motch ln o breothtoking finish Humpy Koneru

clojmed the Doho Grond Prix ond won the right to chollenge Hou Yifon for the world chompionship.

84'Whqr Bobby

Wonts,

Bobby Gels' Jimmy Adoms shores his memories of

the 1967 Monte Corlo tournoment won by 24-yeor-old Bobby Fischer.

96 a Well-Lived life Hons Ree honours Johon von Hulst, professor, politicion ond possionote .l00 on chess lover, who turned

Jonuory 28.

{ OO Aix-les-Bqins Conl'd Jon Timmon presents further highlights from the Europeon Chompionship.

CONTR!BUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Jimmy Adoms, Vishy Anond, Levon Aronion, Mognus Corlsen, Anish Giri, Alexonder Grischuk, Chorles Herton, Robert Hess, Humpy Koneru, Luke McShong Mocouley Peterson, Judit Polgor, Vlodimir Potkin, Hons Ree, Nigel Short, Genno Sosonko, Jon Timmon, Rodoslow Woitoszek

PHOTOS AND IttUSTRATIONS Bos Beekhuizen, Morio Bolshokovo, Europe

l OG Just Checking Whot would Anish Giri like to be if he hodn't been himself?

Echecs, Einor Einorsson,

Colle Erlondsson, Fred Lucos, Jonis Nisii, Mocouley Peterson, Arno Vrins

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Chess

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Locking

All Logic

ebastien Feller, Cyril Marzolo

and Arnaud Hauchard

are

France's most famous chess players of today. Not because

they are the strongest players the country has on offer, but because they managed to get chess into the mainstream press. And, as we all know, that is something that rarely happens on good grounds. The French Chess Federation has accused the three of organrzed cheating, particularly at the

'twice used at the Dortmund tournament and worked flawlesslyi Did it? We dont think so. In Dortmund the players were not frisked for any electronic devices and their seconds could walk in and out of the hall freely and signal whatever they might have

all the time. Indeed, that would be a perfect way to control the spectators, but in today's chess world only a frac-

tion of the tournaments takes place in

wanted. The only people affected were

the journalists in the press room,

Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, where

careers.

In any case any 'cure' should be avoided that is much worse than the disease. Such as the l5-minute delay of the transfer of the moves that once again was promoted ('It needs to be implemented now') on the ChessBase website. On the surface the idea doesnt sound that bad (the cheaters will not get the moves signalled in time, because their buddies lose precious minutes), but in fact it lacks all logic. Let's look at a few aspects. The author of the article, Frederic Friedel, claims that the 15-minute delay was

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and enthusiastically exclaimed'Let's itli That was reassuring, and of

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back, claiming the evidence was obtained illegally, and it is anyone's guess

ronment cheating at chess is possible, so measures have to be taken, but let's not forget that the vast majority (you and I) has no wish to cheat at all. An obvious choice is banning cell phones. Arbiters should be trained to be alert on signalling from the audience and cheaters should be deterred by bans that would wreck their (professional)

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the need to adopt the 15-minute delay. At the end of a cosy afternoon with tea and snacks in the Ilyumzhinov family garden the FIDE president jumped up

believe could have been wayless complicated), but the players are fighting

overshooting the mark. There is no doubt that in an 'unprotected' envi-

i-:

president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. During avisitto Elista rn2007,Mr. Friedel tried to convince Mr. Ilyumzhinov of

Feller won a gold medal on Board 5. The federation has no doubts about the evidence they found on Marzolo's cell phone (coded messages allegedly signalling moves in a manner that we

how this case will end. Inevitably, the general indignation about fraudulent behaviour led to renewed calls to fight the cheaters with the most fervent crime-fighters sadly

;;

theatres and even there, games take much longer than concerts or movies. Wouldnt it be pretty cruel to force the audience to stay inside for five or six hours? For once we pin our hopes on FIDE

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Seboslien Feller, Frqnce's most fomous chess ployer.

course nothing ever happened. We're

not going to make this a habit, but here we can only hope that everyone will follow our leader!

A Book to Look Forword to ne of the special guests at

who had to ask the players how their games had ended when they walked in. What's more, with the 15-minute delay in force the organizers were signalling to their sponsors on a dailybasis that in fact they were supporting a game of cheaters.

the Amber tournament in Monaco was Arturo Perez-Reverte.

In

chess

circles the Spanish novelist is mainly famous for The Flandres Panel, a historical whodunit around a 15th century painting of a chess game. The

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Of course, Mr. Friedel knows full well that the 15-minute delay only makes sense ifyou take substantial ad-

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ditional measures. But if you apply all

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these extra measures (such as searching the players, blocking radio signals,

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you should have a 15-minute delay in the first place! Why rob the people at home of that wonderful luxury of following the games in realtime? While reading his plea you get the idea that he only has a vague idea

of a theatre or movip palacel he suggests, where you cannot go in and out

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not allowing anyone in or out of the hall while the round is in progress) there is no reason whatsoever why

of what a chess tournament looks like these days. The halls in which the tournaments or matches take place should have 'the atmosphere

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mlf Will we reod more oboul Veselin Topolov in the new novel of Arturo Perez-Reverle?

position on the board is a retrograde problem the solution of which leads to the murderer. Mr. Perez-Reverte

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not only came to Monaco to enjoy the best grandmasters in action, he was also looking for inspiration. He is currentlyworking on another book in which chess plays a pivotal role. The scene of the action is France and Italy and the book is expected to be published in the course of next year.

Historicol Awqreness aving returned to Saint

Louis after his participation in the Amber tournament in Monaco,

hero Rustam Kasimdzhanov. The World Champion won 3Yz-Yz, a re-

L7...t6? This allows a beautiful fin-

sult that may give an unfair impres-

with 17...Wf6 18.Wh4 Wfro 19.gxf2 Wxg5 20.4fi when White has a strong initiative. L9.kf7+t trxf7 19.

sion of the chances his opponent had.

In the fi.rst game Kasimdzhanov had an excellent position and in the second game he was totallywinning. As

he explained to his 'boss' after the game he had been waiting for him to resign and then lost track. Once he was in the lead Anand proved mer-

ish. Black should have tried to hang on

Ag6 6xd120.gh4+ €g8

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ciless. The third game was a brilliant piece of deep calculation.

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Hikaru Nakamura informed us that

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he had'pulled a Loekl The historians

Vishy Anond

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Ruslom Kqsimdzhqnov

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Toshkent 201

7..e4 e5 2.a13

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Af6 3.Axe5 d6 4.

6f3 Axe4 5"4c3 6xc3 6.dxc3

Ae7 7.Ae3 Ac6 8.9d2 OO g.(XlO Ae5 1O.&b1 c6 L7..Ae2 0:g+

This knight sortie seems to be a new idea.

12.4d3 d513.4f4 ad6 14.h3!

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ll

Loek who's tolking? Hikoru Nokqmuro with his brqndnew BMW 335i

amongst us

will understand what

he

return he used his Amber winnings to buy a splendid BMW 335i, which he picked up in North Carolina and drove home in 14 hours. The coming weeks we count on Nakamura's historical awareness, hoping he will not pulI another Loek. After all the Dutchman crashed the BMW he bought with his earnings at the FIDE World Championship in Groningen rnl997 onlyweeks afterhe got it. And yes, your memory serves you right, King Loek crashed another BMW one year later and aJagtar X in2002. was referring to. On his

Second Agoin Second

ishy Anand travelled

on from Monaco

to

Tashkent, for a 4-game rapid match against local

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ANAND VlsdanaIhan (lndia)

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The result of some serious calculation.

Believe it or not, at this point Anand

had seen the end of the game! L4...

Axf4 15.Axh7+! €h8 16.Wxf4 Axtr2 L7.agsl

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22.Eel is not a killer in view of 22... 6xc3+ 23.bxc3 He6t 24.Exe6 Wbo+

25.&cl Wgl+, with a draw. 2L...

Axc3+ 22.bxc3 Ae6 23.Exe6 Wn6+ 24.&cL Black resigned, as after 24...Wg1+ the white queen covers square el and 25.Eel ends the game.

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Ruslom Kqsimdzhonov's reunion with his 'boss' Vishy Anond ended in o 3Vz-Vz victory for lhe World Chompion

CAFE

From Tashkent Anand travelled home to Chennai. In India more good news awaited him, when on April t his wife Aruna gave birth to a son! r

NEWiN

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The other g-pown On page 91 of New In Chess 2}llll, |an Timman analyzes the fascinating Kramnik-Carlsen endgame from the London Chess Classic and suggests

the black king will indeed be outtempoed, for example:71...&fz lZ.AdS 96

book to GM Evans for his autograph. He was amazed and asked me how I had acquired this book. Apparently he had never seen it before and it was

B.Ae6 &g2 7a.Afr *f2 7s.Ads

etc. It does not look like there are any drawn positions with the pawn on 93.

If this is true, then Kramnik's 69.€g3? is not at all an elementary error; it seems to me that the win-

appears that Drake Publishing and Mr. Clark created the book by plagiarizing several of GM Evans

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ning line would have been hard even for a world champion to find over the board with limited time, and no ac-

newspaper columns and published it under Evans own name!! He told me that upon investigating he discovered that they are now out of the chess pub-

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to tablebases.

lishing business.

Summit, NJ, USA

Robert Woodworth Omoho, NE, USA

Postscript Jon Timmqn

69.g5 hxg5 70.&ga

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7t €xg5

bishop can control the g2-square and

lorry

on Chess.

in

1995 at the Western States Open

Reno, Nevada,

I

Utterly wrong

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Imagine my sheepish surprise when opened the most recent issue of New In Chess (issue 20lll2 with the H-bomb on the cover) and sawmyletter complaining about the new magazine format. When I wrote mymissive I had not yet seen a new issue. Now that I have please do me a favor and let your readers know that this cock-

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Evqns

In New In Chess 20llll on page 84of the article about GM Larry Evans entitled 'Chess is my bread and butter', there is mention of 'his' book Evans

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I agree with your analysis.

&fZlZ.g+. However, this is a draw after 72...&g 73.&fs 96!. I think GM Timman meant to write 7l.g3l,which, it seems to me, does win, because the

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GM Alex Fishbein

London 2010 (6) position ofter 68...*d3

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never authorized by him!

cess

Krqmnik-Cqrlsen

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presented this

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d Exclusive Distributor of Chess Informant

for the USA

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Stefan

Carsten

Monthly Columnists Include :

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Hansen

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Harding Mark Dvoretsky Dan Heisman Geurt Gijssen Nigel

Tim

Johnsson Lane Abby Marshall Dadi

Gary

plus

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Olimpiu G. Urcan

Honest Book Reviews, Great Articles, Endgame Studies and, one the largest online catalogs of books & equipment an)rwhere! Three ways to order:

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mail: P.O. Box 1201,Harwich, MA 02045

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YOUR MOVE

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sure American was completely and utterly wrong. The new format is totally astounding. New In Chess is now not just a great chess magazine - it is a great magazine period. If I had gold coins to shower you with at the chess board, I would do so while shouting, 'Bravo!Bravo!' Kenneth Colitri Reston,

Virginio, USA

Looking for qn opponenl I am a first time subscriber to New In Chess.

from! This lowly category one player makes an occasional draw with mas-

jected to this version of his name. In the current situation it is unlikely that anyone is going to call him Vasyl, ob-

ters and candidate masters with the

viouslywith the exception of Ukrain-

tic, I think I know where he's coming

ians, as long as he doesnt clearly express that this is his wish.

Short Stories I just want to reiterate a previous email I sent regarding Nigel Short's new column 'Short Stories', that it is a great column. The New In Chess 2}ll12 article was as great as the first.

P.O. Box lO93 l StO KB Alkmoqr The Netherlonds or e-moil: [email protected] letlers moy be edited or obridged

And I think it's fabulous and

beautifully made. I spent the first 30 minutes just staring at the geometry, the lighting of photos, and the print is outstanding. I'm captivated by how themagazine feels when youhold it in your hands as well. It feels precision crafted like

beautiful endgame. I have a request you may be able to help me with: I would like to find someone to play correspondence chess with. Can you help me or pair me with someone? I'm rated about 2100. There's no one in this prison to compete with on the chessboard, so I'm reaching out internationally. The USCF islazy in paring. I dont know where else to turn. Check mate! a

Domion Coppedge

New York, USA

Editoriol Postscript If one (or more) of our readers would like to play correspondence chess with Damion Coppedge, please contact us and we will forward your message to him.

Exchange Ruy (it's easier if you trade queens asap). I enjoythe look on their faces after the game is done. I know

what they're thinking: 'How could I not beat this idiot?' Even lower rated players than me dont grasp that the €-A ending is a win for White. Hans Ree asked Bobby: 'But what

if God plays the Sicilian?'. Bobby:

'I'11

playthe Ac4 Sozin lines and I'11stand better, so what can he do?' Robert Both

Chemistry I love the new format. It allows me to hide New In Chess perfectly within my chemistry journals! Gordon Gribble, Professor

Ph.D.

of ChemistrY

Honover, NH, USA

syl

In Chess continues to write the name of Ivanchuk wrong. In his Ukrainian passport his first name is written Vasyl. The russified version New

Vasily has nothing to do with him. I believe you should use his official name. When the Soviet Union was dissolved, the russified names were replaced by the Ukrainian ones. FIDE

should also be more careful in this

When I saw Hans Ree's article on Bobby Fischer in New In Chess

20lll2, it reminded me of a conver-

Lviv, Ukroine

sation he had with Bobby about Wilhelm Steinitz claiming he could give God pawn odds and more.

Editoriol Postscript It is certainly true that Ivanchuk

Bobby said that no-one could do this to the Almighty. But then he wondered... 'If I had white, I could hold Him to a draw! - by pluytng the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopezi At the risk of sounding like a luna-

Jeremy Knox By emoil

Milwoukee, Wisconsin, USA

matter. Thanks for understanding this small problem, which is important for a small nation. Adrion Mikholchishin

Exchonging ideos

I hope he stays for a while! His tell it like it is articles are a breath offresh air.

writes his first name as Vasyl these days. However, everyone in the chess world knows him as Vasily Ivanchuk and wherever he plays this is the name vou will see on the name shields. And, u, f", u, ,I. know, he has never ob-

YOUR

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few years the tournament has been held in Nice, but for the final event it returned to its home in Monaco, and was hosted in the luxurious MonteCarlo Bay Hotel.

The structure of the tournament was the same as it has been since 1993 (inl992there was no blindfold chess), a double-round event with one round of blindfold chess and one round of rapid chess. The only innovation this year was the introduction of a daily

'Best Game'prize of 1000 Euros per day, to be judged by a committee of Ljubojevic and myself, with the assistance of Kortchnoi during the first week. The judges were asked to write down their top three choices in or-

det whereupon tournament director Dirk |an ten Geuzendam would add up the marks and announce the winner. Some days this wasn't so simple. One day after Kortchnoi had left, Dirklan looked at the lists from Ljubo and myself and realised that no game appeared on both lists. At least no thought need be given to improving the system for next year. The first round already saw some surprises, as four of the mini-matches ended in2-0 wipeouts and onlytwo of

the 12 games were drawn. The ferocity of this round wasn't quite matched in later rounds, but the play remained

entertaining throughout, with

less

than half the games ending in a draw. The clashbetween Aronian and Giri already provided an excellent example

of Levon Aronian's swindling ability. It's tempting to call it luck, but it cant reallybe due to chance since he swindles even very strong opponents so

consistently. Aronian himself points out that even when a position is objectively lost, it's still possible to look for moves which increase the probability of inducing a mistake.

- 429 Levon Aronion

EO 4.8

Anish Giri Monoco blindfold 20,l

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L.c4 6fG 2.4c3 e5 3.4f3 Ac6. 4.gg D,d4 5.492 Axf3+ 6.Axf3 Ab4 7.9b3 Ac5 8.0-O O-O 9.6a4 Ae7 10.d4 exd4 11.trd1 c5 L2e3 dxe3 13.Axe3 Wc7 L4.kc3 aG L5.94 h6 16.h4 dG 17.95 hxgS 18.hxg5 ah7 19.4d5 gd8 20. Ab6? trb8 21.Axc5 6xg5 22. Agz Ag+ 2s.trd2 he6 24.Aa3 6lt4 25.c5? Ah4

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The opening has gone horribly wrong for White. Not only is he at least temporarily a pawn down, but his king is

exposed and several ofhis pieces are

stuck on the queenside. Black is already threatening an immediate win by 26...Wg5 and in fact White is just 1ost.

26.4d5 The best chance; it's more important

I2

NEWENCHESS

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to get the offside knight back into play than to regain the pawn.

26...4e6 The best reply, pinning the knight and again threatening to win by 27...Wg5

(or 27...il\g2 followed by ...Wgs+). Here a'normal' continuation would

be 27.Eadl 6xg2 28.&xg2 Wgs+ 29.&fl dxc5 30.Axc5 Efe8 but it's obvious not only that White is lost

(pawn down, exposed king and pinned knight) but also that no special skill is required to win it.

27.We3 Objectively worse because it allows Black an instant win. But the win is not too easy to see in blindfold and if Black does not spot the decisive line then his victory is no longer so

27...6xg2 28.*xg2 EeS wins at once because there's no good square for White's queen; for example 29.Wd3

for the moment, and secondly the advanced d-pawn will at least be very ir-

(2e.Wf4 Ag5 and 2e.WB Wg5+ are also hopeless) 29...W95+ 30.€f1 (30.€h2 Axf2 3I.Exn Axd5 wins) 30...4fs 31.Wc3 Wga folowed by

31...trfd8 32.tre1 trbc8 33.tre4 Ec1+ 34.&h2 Wge 35.d7 Wh6+ 36.€93 36.4h3 Eht+ 37.€xhl Wxh3+ 38.€gl ExdZ is a technical win.

...4e4, with awinning attack.

ritating for Black.

28.Wxf4 AgS 29.Wxg5! E

Once again, Aronian avoids the'nor-

mal' line 29.Wxd6 Axd2 30.Wxd5 Wxd5 31.Axd5 since he would then be an exchange down for nothing in

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an ending.

29...Wxg5 3o.Exds gg4 31.cxd6

clear-cut.

36...tr91? At a stroke Black throws away half a point. 36...f5137.Ee8+ €h7 was the decisive line, since 38.Exd8 leads to a lengthy mate by 38...Wg5+ 39.€f3

27,..9,xd5?l

Here White has two bishops for the queen and while the position is still lost, it's possible to see some positive points for White. firstly, the threats to his king have elaporated, at least

MONACO

Wg4+ 40.€e3 Eel+ 41.*ff We2+ 42.&d4 Edt+ $.*8 Ecl+ 44.&b4 Wc4+ 45.€a5 b6+ 46.€xb6 Wc7+ 47.&xa6 Ec6+ 48.€b5 Ebo+ 49.&a4 Wc6+ 50.€a5 Ea6+ 51.9b4 Ea4+ 52.€b3 Wc4 mate. Note Aronian's strategy; he doesnt mind allowing a win, but only if it is

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so complicated that there is a decent chance his opponent is going to over-

was by 42...f5

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look it.

(44.&f4Wc7+ 4s.trd6 Wcl+ 46.&e5 Wc5+ 47.&e6 fxe4 48.AfO WxdO+

37.tre8+ €h7 38.Exd8 Wge+ 39.€f4 Wf6+

49.&xd6 Edt+ 50.&c7 exfa 51.Ah4 95 52.493 bs 53.b4 €go s+.Ado

Now White could force a draw by returning to 93, but Aroniant ambitions have increased and he now takes a colossal risk.

ExdO 55.&xd6 f2 56.d8W flW leaves Black a pawn up in the queen ending) 44...9d8, when White has nothing better than to return to e7.

43.4e7 Wne+e The ending after 43...8xd5 44.Axd8 Exdz 45.9:f6 is miserable for Black, but this was the only way to avoid an immediate loss.

Blacks queen totally immobilised White only needs to create a second passed pawn on the queenside.

47...a5 48.a3 €gZ 49.b4 axb4 t4 52.9e4 gs 53.€e2 &fG 54.trd5 €eG 55.b6 g4 56.txg4 €fG 57.b7 So.axb4 f5 51.b5

Black resigned.

Kramrrik surprisingly failed to open his score in the first round. The game

he lost with black was especially attractive.

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Alexonder Grischuk

40.€e3? WxdS?

Vlqdimir Kromnik

40...Ee1+ 41.*ff trdt+ wins. For example, 42.&e4 Wh++ $.&8 Exds 44.4e4+ 96 a5.Axd5 Wxd8 and the d7 pawn falls.

Monoco blindfold 201

47,.4e4+ gG 42.t9 42.A:e7 fails to 42...Wxe7 43.d89 Eel+ but by securing the e4 bishop White now threatens Ae7.

42..,H95? The simplest way to force a draw

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7..d4 A\tG 2.c4 e6 3.4f3 d5 4.6c3 Ab4 5.4g5 abdT 6.cxd5 exdS 7.Wc2 O-0 8.e3 c5 9.4d3 WaS

45.Axg5?! 45.&f2! would have won at once. 45...Wxg5+ 46.&t2 gd8 47. AxbT It takes longer this way, but with

1O.0"0 c4

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{ LL.Ae2 A rare move. Usually White plays 11. Afs go 12.4h3, but then sometimes he doesnt know how to get the bishop away from h3. For example, after 12...

EeS 13.6d2 Axc3 t4.Wxc3 Wxc3 15.bxc3 6N+ rc.6Ne4 dxe4one of the

main lines is 17.Aga AbO tS.AeZ.

11...tre8 The main idea behind 11.4e2 is 11...

Axc3 l2.bxc3 orc4 l3.Axc4! 6"g5 ru.Q:xgs dxc4 15.Wxh7 mate.

L2.a,d2 h6 13.4h4

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il@!

I

13...4xc31? An interesting move: Black sacs the bishop for the knight, a fight for the e4-square.

but starts

14.bxc3 o,e4 L5.6xe4 Exe4 16. eg3

20...WaG Not falling for the, for blindfold play, far from obvious trap:

Axb6 axb6 22. Ag4. 21,.a5 6ld7 22.Ag4 tree8 23.4f5

20... Ec8

2 1.

16...4b6? This is way too ambitious. Black tries to win the battle for the a4-square, but he doesnt have enough power to do that. Much better was 16...Ee6, followed by ... hf6-e+ or ... Ad7, ...8ae8.

28.Ac7 trc8 29.4f4 AeG 3O.Ag3

6gs 31.4h4 trc7 32.483 EccS 33.€h1 Probably T.Wfz He7 34.

17.4f3 tre6 17...Af5 18.Axe4 Axe4 t9.Wd2

Ae5 was more precise. The king is

is

consistent but probably unsound.

out of the question because of 20.Wcl.

23...at8 Nobody in his right mind would play 23...96 24.Axg6 fxg6 25.Wxg6+ €hs zo.Wxh6+ €g8 27.Wg6+ €h8, and indeed White

20.Ac7

wins after the mysterious 28.4d6!.

L8.a4 NowWhite

has an obvious advantage.

18...4d2 19.trfb1Ac6

1e...Axa4? is

placed well enough on g1. 33...Ee7 34.Ae5 EceS 35.9f2 ffi 36.

Af4 6e6 37.4g3 6f8 38.e4 Afs?! 38...f5 39.e5 is sad for Black, but the text-move loses practically by force.

24.wd2 E

E

ll rrA EI AA I A IA A L l

$ltr EI

trE

AA AAA

EA&

Now White is in time to transfer the bishop to the bl-h7 diagonal.

24...deB 25.4g3 EadS 26.t9 Ad7 27.A:c2 6195 I wanted to drive the knight awayfrom 95 in order to push e3-e4,but without playing h2-h4, since after 28.h4 6-:lh7 29.e4dxe4 30.fxe+ 6f6the knight gets the g4-square. Thlt explains my following strange maribeuvres.

MONACO

A

t ]

trE

I

A Ert

EI I I IA AA

Ag gA nuwlnomss t s

39.exfS!

42...96

I had obviously missed 38...4f5 but I am not sure if Vladimir was aware of the main point of it:39.exd5 He2

42...b5 43.axb6 Ea2 44.b7 WxbZ +S. ExbZ Exal+ 46.&h2 is the difference.

40. Wxe2 Exe241. Axf5 is winning for White, but after 39...4d3! Black gets

The first round also saw an interesting ending between Anand and Topalov.

43.fxg6 tre2 44.417+ &g7 45.h5 Wc6 46.Ee1 Exel+ 47.trxe1,Wd7

-

AL A&

continuation and didnt search for

;

f,

\

6$a

decent counterplay. Fortunately, I quickly found the right

E

tf

1N0

A

c BII.

ll

lflt

alternatives.

39...tre2 40. Aa4 Hxtr2 41.Axe8

6

JL

S,,'

th,

Anond-Topolov

Monoco blindfold 201 I ('l) position ofter 61...€e8

The last precise move. After the inaccurate 48.Ee8 WfS I would

48.&91!

ml 'ryr

This position is winning for White and the simplest method is to transfer the knight to g5; for example,62.

hcs Ads 6z.fdie+ €fs o+.4€4 9.c4 6s.Ags Aas oo.€ d6 Ag2 67.fr Ads 68.&d7. Now Black is in ntgzwang' and must either surrender the c-pawn or allow the decisive €e6. However, Anand decides to swap the c6 and f6 pawns, in the mistaken belief that the resulting 6+A v A posi-

4L...Hd2?

!:i

g e

t

s

$ q

;

B

c

t

g

aE

€ ffi I

Now it's over. The last chance was 41...E,c2, and White needs to find 42. Hts (+z.Af4 bs!! 43.axb6 Ea2 44.b7 WxbT!) 42...E,c1+ 43.Exc1 Wxb5 44.a6t ( .Ecbl Wa6 45.h3 clearly favours White) 44...bxa6 45.Ecb1 Wdz 46.trb8 &fr +z.trabl Wxf5 48. trrbz+ 6dt +g.Ea8! (a9.trds €ez 5o.Edxd7+ WxdT 51.Exd7+ €xdz is surprisingly complicated. I was not able to find out whether it is winning

L CI

,tr

,l-t

tion is a win.

62.€d6?! gf7 63.*xc6?

Tt

White could still have returned to the correct plan by $.q\7 Ads 6+.€es, followed by playing the knight round to d6 and ultimately 95.

fl,ri 11 n

@

at

63...€xf6 64.€dG Ab1! The only move to draw.

for White or not. Muyb. the magazine readers wilt help me?) 49...€e6 50.

65.c6

Eaxa7, and White is winning.

42.h41 Nowthe c3 pawn is no longer hanging and White is in time for h4 and €h2, after which Abs wins the queen.

aag

&

have been forced to find the amazing

ll gll

A

AAE

I

IA A IA AE() AA g

trtr t

c

xnw in curss

eLl

49.Ee5!! in order to win.

48...b5 49.axb6 axb6 50.tre8 b5 51.trb8 We7 52.Axd5 Black resigned. The next day I met the Kortchnoi fam-

ily in the elevator and Viktor Lvovich made a peculiar compliment to me: 'Hmm... your game against Kramnik... hmm... you even played it consis[ently!'

III

MONACO

A

IL

tt

JnL,I

65...4d3?

,1h,r

Perhaps surprisingly, it's necessary to

,mb

force the pawn onto the seventh rank in order to draw: 65...4e4! 66.c7 Ab7 67.&d7 €e5 68.6a4 €d5 and Black

ffi,r

1: mrE;

is

just in time to prevent the decisive

--J5.

6t6.Ad7+! -\fter this check, the black king has to retreat since 66...9f5 67.fu,5 and

ffi...&f7 67.Q\5+

lose instantly.

66...€g7 67.4c5 Biack resigned. White wins after 67... -fi 68.c7 Ac8 69.€e7 &96 70.€d8 tbllowed by Nz. Bv the end of the third double round, the general outlines of the tourna-

ment were already taking shape, with

Carlsen and Aronian in joint lead tnith 4Yzl6, and the rest of the event lras very much a race between these nt'o. The game of the day featured a beautiful mating finish. sr 20.5

-

B8l

Vugor Gqshimov Anish Giri

Le4 c5 2.6c3 e6 3.4f3 dG 4.d4 cxd4 5.6xd4 Af6 6.94 hG 7.h4 ic6 8.Eg1 d5 9.exd5 Axd5 10.

ging edge in the endgame, while the odd-looking 12...6b4 is well met by 13.We2 Adz A.fq Wa5 15.c3. L3.t4 The most consistent continuation. White offers a pawn to secure a considerable lead in development.

ixdS Wxd5

13...4xd4

Monaco blindfold (3) 201 I

This has been played many times, but Black's results are rather poor, and l0...exd5 11.4e3 Ae7 is at any rate more solid.

1i'Ag2

WeS+

12.4e3

counter the threat of 21.Exd6 Exd6 22.fs.

B...gd7 t4.wd2 6xd4 1s.0-0-0! Ac5 16.Axd+ Axd+ 17.Wxd4 gave White a clear advantage in Ruan Lufei-Hou Yifan, Antakya 2010.

14.Wxd4 Wxh4+ 15.4f2 gd8 16.Wxd8+ €xd8 17.0-0-O+ €c7 18.trd3 20...t6? 20...f51 was correct, firmly blocking the h2-b8 diagonal, and aimingto unpin by ...9:e2. White can force a draw

by 2l.Ec3+ €bS 22.Ecd3 &c7,but it is doubtful if he can achieve anything more.

72...wh21? An interesting idea aiming to revive this line for Black. Although it led to disaster in this game, it may well be Blacks best option. The alternative 12...Ad7 13.6xc6 Axc6 14.Axc6+ bxc6 15.9d4 gives White a nag-

White clearly has enough for the pawn, but it isnt easy to prove an advantage.

18...sd6 1e.eg3 Fd8 2o.trgd1 The crucial momdnt. Black must

MONACO

21,i5 eS 22.AeLl Switching the bishop to the queenside diagonals causes serious problems for Black. The immediate threat is 23.4b4, and 22...4e7 loses to 23.4a5+ b6 24.Hc3+ €bS 2s.Exd8 Axds 26.4b4. 22...a5 The only move, stopping the check on a5 and preparing to activate the rookvia a6.

23.trd5

newincHrss

tz

31.tr1d6+ €b5 32.a4+ &xa4

Giri, who was not having

a

very happy

time, at least managed to pull off

a

neat win.

E Eg.E tr gl ll rA I

I A

A E

23...e4? Reopening the dangerous h2-b8 diagonal has fatal consequences. The last chance lay in 23...h5 24.Axa5+ Exa5 25.Exa5 hrg4, although White retains some advantage after 26.4e4.

24.&b1, Stopping the check on f4 and threatening to win by c4-c5.

24...e3 25.4f1 Ee8 This allows abeautiful finish, but even the best defence 25...b5 should lose

after 26.Aez Abz 27.trxb5 trdz za. Axa5+ €cs zq.Ab+.

26.Exd6l e2 27.Axe2 Exe2 28. Ag3 trgz Black's moves are all forced.

29.g:t4 This preliminary move is necessary in order to secure a check on the gl-a7

diagonal.

29...Hx94 30.trd7+ €c6 Now 30...*b6loses to 31.4e3+.

tr

sl&

/fr

33.trb6l trxf4 Or 33... AxdT 34.b3+ €a3 35.Acl mate.

AA

AAgA

a

TI

ffi

Giri-Koriokin

Monoco ropid 201 I (8) position ofter 25.&c2

ait

fli

ry

34.&a2 Black resigned. It's mate in at most two more moves. The fourth round didnt change the situation, but in the fifth round Carlsen suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Ivanchuk, which allowed Aronian to secure a substantial lead by winning both games against Gashimov. In the sixth round Carlsen was able to narrow the gap to a point since Aronian could only make half a point against Grischuk. The gap closed again in Round 7, with Aronian retaining the slimmest lead over his Norwegian rival, a situation which remained unchanged in Round 8. In this round

i

The position is roughly equal. The bishop on a1 is buried, but White's other pieces are all active and Black has to take care

G I ,I

to defend his a-pawn.

J.

2s...95?l

Jil

Black plans to displace the knight from f3 and drive it to an inferior,

a

square, but this advance weakens the long diagonal and allows White to ac-

dfr

u^

-Eq

tivate the al bishop.

fltu

26.e41

h

Black is forced to take, since 26...q\7

#il I d

27.6xd4 and 26...6)e7 27.Wf7 are hopeless, but now the al bishop is

#!d

transformed into the strongest piece

aJ0

,

on the board.

26...dxe3 27.t:xg5

I "&il ,

E d

t d[

k G

tg

xrwixcnnss

MONACO

IA tr

king. Note that 29.Wxd5?? doesnt

A€A

The ninth round proved crucial, as Carlsen lost with white against

I

\llu

tA]

& -

work

I

as

29...Wxd5 pins the knight.

29...Ead8? Now White wins after all. 3o.trxd5 Wxd5 31,Wxd5+ trxdS 32.Axf6+ €f7 $.Axd5 e2 34.Ac3 e1W 35.Axe1 Exe1. 36. Ac3 Black resigned.

a

IA

Anand, and although he won the second game his slip allowed Aronian to extend his lead to a whole point by

27...*e8? This should lose. The best line was the remarkable defence 27...6f4+t

beating Kramnik

29.*$ WxbT 30.Axf6+ Ag7 3t.6-tf7+ &g8 32. Zde+ WUa ::.{txe8 Exe8 3a.Axg7

18.€91 (28.gxf4Wc6+

Blacktake on c4, take on c3 and wont it be one of the best Nimzols you will ever see then? I took it a bit further, but essentially I thought that this must be fantastic for Black and moved on. I dont know what Magnus thought about this. Itt not a very difficult thought. The question is onlywhether you pause there and take a look or just breeze past.

8...4xc4 9.dxc4 Axc3! 10.bxc3 Ac6

IYz -Yr.

NOTES

BY

.8xa2

35.Exa2 &xg7 is very drawish) 28...exf2+ 29.Exf2 Ee1+ 30.Ef1

1xft+ 31.€xf1 Wxff+ 32.&A Wds 33.Bxd5 ,hxdS with good drawing chances for Black.

Monoco blindfold 20.l

28.o,efl?l The pinned knight on d5 suggests that the position is ripe for a decisive combination, but White does not find the most efficient way. 28.Eb6! would have been instantly deadly; for exam-

ple 28...Wxb6 29.Wxd5+

- 823 Mognus Cqrlsen Vishy Anqnd sr 49.8

*he

:0.

Ebz Wa6 31.trb7. However, the move played is also enough for a decisive advantage.

28.,.WeG

(9)

7,.e4 c5

2.hc3 dG 3.f4 The previous day Carlsen had beaten

Now we basically have one of the best Nimzo-Indians you can think of for Black. The reason I keep harping

Topalov in this so-called Grand Prix Attack, which I thought was cute. I hadnt even realized he played that

on that is that if you move the white pawn from c2 to d5, and the black bishop is somewhere else (on a6 or

opening. I did a little bit of work and it was only then that I noticed that this had been played quite a bit recently, for example in a game between Wojtaszek and McShane that I had seen in Wijk aanZeewithout paylng much attention.

elsewhere), then that is what you usually get in a Nimzo. So you can under-

stand how much the white position

3...g0 4.6lf3 Ag7 s.Ab5+ Ad7 6. Ac4 6c6 7.O-O AaS 8.d3

has deteriorated by having the pawn on c2 instead of on d5. Immediately after the game my comment was that White was bust here. That is probably too strong, but at any rate this is an excellent position for Black.

E gEAE

White cannot move his c-pawns, so he has to do as much as possible with

ll

29.trd7? An echo of the combination mentioned in the previous note, but this

I

ErrAr ll

I A AA aaa AA AAA

trAgtr

11.e5

the other two. The idea is to keep the black knight from coming to f6 and developing naturally.

11...Wc7 Therefore 11...4h6 was also an inter-

d7 l2.W

e2

0-0-0 13.A\g5, which actually

is

slightly awkward. Black is fine, but gives White some play.

it

esting option. Or

1

1... W

version is far less effective. Zg.Axf6! exf2 30.Exf2 6y-3+ 31.€f3 Wxa2 32. Exa2 hls ra.Ag5 gives White excellent winning chances in view of his

After he played ttlis move, the first

12.9d3 f5 The text-move is cleaner than

very active pieces and threats to Black's

thing that sprang tb mind was: Can't

12...0-0-0 8.6195, when the tactics

lYloNAco

newir

19

again become a bit awkward after for instance: 13...Ef8 14.exd6 Wxd6 15.Wh3+ e6 16.f5 gxf5 t7.Af+ Wez 18.We3!. And, again, 12...4h6 is a

the knight has some interesting possibilities.

Ei

ll

sensible alternative.

13.495 h6 Even stronger was 13...dxe5 14.fxe5 Ga.6e6? is a mistake, because of 14...Wc8! 15.hxc5 Axg2, and White is just lost) 14...h 6 ls.aB e6 16. Edl Ed8, and this is very pleasant for BIack.

ET ts

r& arr I

A

-ul) ,4.

,{

t ]

A

ATA

A

AA

Axf3 16.Wxf3 dxe5 17.fxe5 e6, and myknight will not come into play easily, as the h6-square is not available. But Black is still better, as he will followup with...g5 etc. 14...dxeS 15.4e3 After 15.fxe5 Wxe5 16.Af4

I just

sacrifice the exchange: 16...hxg5t 17.

Axe5 Exh3 18.gxh3 €ff, and my knight comes to f6 and e4 and Black wins with his passed f- and e-pawns.

trtrg

19...a5 Too much sophistry. Better would

E&AE rrgAI I

IAArra I

AA AA

trtr&

$Ie

=I

realistic: 2O.a$ (and after 20.4b3 Wa6 2l.6d2l canjust take the pawn, 21...Wxa2, and Black is winning) 20... exd3 2 1.cxdf Wdz followed by ... Eae8, and Black should win in the long run.

2O.tre2 b5 21,.ab3 bxc4 22.o,d2 AdS 23.Efe1 E

E

I

I& arr A I

rAr r\ -5L

B

A A

aatr

chance slip. Instead, 15...4d7! would have more or less won on the spot: 16.fue5 Wxe5 17.Af4hxg5 18.Axe5 trxh: 19.gxh3 &f/, and you can see the conclusion of myprevious note.

I

rHrr El

H

rAIA A

A AAtr

trg

AA

25...We7 As soon as I played this I saw what I had missed: 25...6lh51 would have been extremely good, as it drives White's queen backto f2. 26.6xc4 And now I had to go:

26...a,d7

What I had seen was 26...4xc4 27 .trb7? WxbT 28. Wxf6+ €e8 2e.Wxhs+ €az :o.Wf6 (3o.Wg7+ €c6 31. We5 gbs) 30... gb 1+ 31.&n Wdl, and Black wins. But when I played 25...We7I saw that he can start with27.9=xf6, which messes it up: 27...g5 28.fxg5 hxg5 29.Wxg5 Eag8 30.Axe7 E*g5 31.Axg5 Axe2, and the game will end in a draw. 27.Wxe7+ Miraculously, despite my

blunder, 25... We7,I still have a winning position, since we are at least getting the queens off.

27...&xe7 28.6,e3

AA

tr

A A

15...e4 This is a mistake, as it lets a good

I

believe that the following knight sacrifice is unhave been 19...b6, as

E

\ilu

AA

14.9h3 I thought he could punish my 13...h6 by coming back ru.q\f.0-0-0 1 5. We3

Et

r

uu

a

E:E

23...wd8. When he played 2l.6Jb3l understood that he wanted to go 6ld2 and Efel, followed by 6R,as this was about the only plan left. That's why I played this. However, I think 23...Wc7 was

t[!k E

I

I

A&

I ll

IA

AT

aq) A}\

AAE E

I

A

-r&rrrlll

AA

Eae1.

out of myhand.

24.wh4

e5 32.fxe5 €e6. The text allows me to

Renewing the thrgrt.

win with 31...e5.

24...eG 25.trb1

31...e5

MONACO

t

g

White's position is still bad, but at least his bishop has got a foothold on d4, and, as we will see in the game,

20 rrrwiN

ifll!

W@l

29.Exb8 Exb8 3O.c4 AcG 31.Ed2 Instead, 31.Eel can be met by 31...

Axc5

affi

A

€fz rs.Ad4 Dlf6 t9.6xs. L7.6xc5 af6 18.4d4 &t7 L9.

Another possibility was 16...Wa5 17.

WE Ite.,rc

stronger: 24.Wh4 g5t 25.Wh: eo. White would resign this position if it weren't blindfold. The only danger in blindfold is that at some point you lose control, so it's worth a try. And actually, that was exactly my fear at this point; that this could easily slip

16.6e6 Wc8

D_

28...trhb8 There are opposite-coloured bishops, but eventually Black will get his pawns moving on the kingside.

il

'iil

ill

lowing sample line supports this idea 39.Exe4 Exa240. trd4! (40.e6 a4 41.c5 a3) 40...€e6 41.Ed6+ &xe5 42.trxh6 a443.8a6 &d444.h3 a3 45.EaS Eal+ 46.&f2 €xc4.

39.gxf3 exf3 4o.trd6 95 Similar to the game is 40...8xa2 4L. tr*g6 trxhZ 42.8a6 Ea2 43.Exh6 a4 44.E;a6 a3

45.c5,with a draw.

41.Exh6 trxa2 If I play 4l...g4he goes 42.a31, and my rook has to waste a lot of time getting the pawn.

42.h3 a4 As it turned out, it seems that Black is still winning wlth 42...8h2r. 43.c5 (also winning are a3.€g1 O+ ++.&ft g+r. 45.896 a4 46.hxg4 a3 47.E;a6 a2 and 43.Ea6 Exh3 44.Exa5 94 45.E;a3

4

I

€e6 46.tre3 €fs 47.e6 €f4)

I

+

36...trb2??

A&

rt

I

Putting the rook on b2, I manage to find the only square that messes it up,

ll

e.

e

ll AAIA q

as

Atr

now after

37

.Ed4 e3+ check

3s.

gf3

I dont have 38...Ef1 check. I thought about 36...Ecl and I even vaguely saw 36...e3+!, which also wins on the spot. I dont know what I was thinking. I guess it already had been a

A

A

AA &

37.trd4

I

Taking with the pawn is out of the question: 32.fxe5 f4 n.Dd's+ Axd5

trbt+ 35.&f2

e3+.

32...6xe5 33.fxeS t4 34.4d5+

37...Hxc2+ 38.€f1

& s,

ls 2, Io

I

EA

ll

a ll A A €AA H

E

A 21

ll

43.tr16??

byfirstpla)nng 43.trf6. The correct way was 43.Ea6 a3 44. c5 Eal+ 45.&f2 a2 46.c6 Eht ry.cz €dz +s.tra7! &c8 (here I had made a miscalculation, as I had not seen that

AtrII

A E

Cb 6

He had seen that he could draw with 43.Ea6,but thought he could refine it

&

3S...

IA

AI I

tr

I

Here, too, he cannot take back with

35...trb1+ 36.€f2

IA

t

seem to see matters clearly anyrnore. I didnt check 37...8xa2, asl thought it beside the point having just missed two wins.

didn

=xd5 35.Exd5

the pawn, 35.cxd5, because of Ebl+ 36.&A 8+.

&

longblindfold game.

32.Axe5

3-1.cxd5

43...94

44.trf6 g as.trxf3 Hf2+ 46.Exf2 gxf2, and the black a-pawn decides.

f

AA €

48...a1W doesnt win: 49.e6+ €c8 50.Exa1 Eh2+, with a draw - after 50...Exal 5L.e7 the two pawns even win for White) 49.e6 Ehz+ 50.€xf3 Exh:+ 51.€e4 Ehl, with a draw

43...Ea1+ 38...f3 This was seen as a mistake, but in fact the real mistake occurs further on. I could also havg maintained some chances with 38.:.95, when the fol-

MONACO

And now White's problem is that his king cannotgoto 92. If I start with 43...a3 then after 44. Exf3 it's a draw: 44...8a1+ 45.&{2.

44.*t2 a3 nawincnrss zt

A surprise; Anand avoids the Berlin endgame from time to time, but usu-

allywith 4.d3. 4...aG For whatever reason

I suddenly got

very creative here, starting to consider several reasonable and unreasonable

options like ...We7, ...9:d6 and...96. After a while I came to my senses and played a normal move.

5.Aa4 Ae7 45.Ea6 White cannot go 45.Exf3 a2 46.8a3

Eht and the pawn on a2 is untouchable, because the white king is on f2

andnot ong2.

45...a2 White resigned. A

good game, which at some point I thought I was going to spoil because of the blindfold, and I did, but luckily in the end I won anyway.

Most sensible people play 5...b5 first here, and indeed it makes sense not to give White the option of withdrawing the bishop to c2. 6.c3 dG 7.0-O O-O 8.d4 Ad7 9.d5 ab8 1O.Axd7 hbxdT L7..c4 Black should be a little bit worse here. However, as my position seemed a whole lot sounder than it did at this point in the blindfold game (notably, no tripled pawns), I was not that worried.

L4.b4 l4.Dsel, followed by 6da, is desirable strategically, but it allows 14... Ag5 and after exchanging the darksquared bishops Black must be fine.

L4...1515.4e3 trb8 15...4f6 16.trfdl with c5 to come looks very pleasant for White, as I dont really want to take on e4. Thus, the knight is better placed on d7.

16.trfd1 Considering what happened in the it might be suggested that the. rook should have been put on cl ingame,

stead. The rook would be very useful dl if the centre was to be opened, but as soon as I close the position with

on

RL 12.4

-

C86

Vishy Anond

f4, the rook is naturally not doing

Mognus Cqrlsen

much here.

Monoco ropid 201 1 (9)

16.c5 dxc5 17.bxc5 2l works out well for Black.

1.e4 e5 After my 100% record with the French Defence was ruined against Karjakin, (to be fair, I was not even close to retaining it) I had to play something else.

2.af3 Ac6 3.4b5 af6 Declaring my readiness to suffer in a slightly worse endgame against the World Champion.

4.We2

16...We8 L7.a4 11...96 I was plalnng way too quickly around here to consider subtleties like the

possibility of playing 11...c5, which closes the position and makes it hard to create anything serious on the queenside for White in the near future. However, when I hit upon this idea a few moves later I also remembered a game Anand-Short with the same structure that Anand won in

good style, so

I did not really regret

choosing another plan. 11...a5 here or on one of the next few moves makes little sense to me, as White will soon playb4 anyway, and I will have given up the b5-square and possibly the a-filqfor very little.

L2.4Ac3

zz nswln

4h513.trb1 ag7 MONACO

L7...t4 There isnt reallymuch else for Black to do here. Without the lightsquared bishops White will never be mated on the kingside, of course, but at least I will manage to create some counterplay and not give White a free hand on the kingside.

ffi

18.4d2 g5

mfi

on f6, rather than the other one, which has a very useful defensive function

23...&17 24.&el?l g

E

D

ond7.

D

22.Hdc7,6ef6

EEE rEt

; L

I g

19.h3

19.fu1 Wg6 2o.R hs 21.4\d3 94 was another option for White. White is clearly at least OK here, but as long as \Vhite is not breaking through on the queenside any time soon Black cer-

tainly has chances.

19...h5 20.ah2 Wge

21,.13

Ae8!

E AE& llag

0r

tDe

ut 0e

llg Al ll AAA AI A AA AW gAA

trtr

ee

It is important to put this knight, rvhich was just an obstruction on 97,

IIAA I lAg al ll AAA AI A AA AW AA EE * 23.&tL? The critical moment, where Anand chooses the wrong defensive plan.

23.qll,with the intention of putting this knight on f2 and stopping ...g4, would be one move too late: 23..g4 2s.6xga Doga 26.fxga Aha!, followed by ...6f6',with a very 24.hxg4 hxg4

strong initiative.

However,

23.€hl

94 2a.trgl would

have been better, as Black is not break-

ing through any time soon, and White might even have ideas of playing 93 at some stage. On the other hand, with the knight on h2 and the rook on g1, White is clearly nqt going to do any serious damage on the queenside either.

MONACO

IIAAE I lag al ll AAA AI AAA

AA AW g

trtr

The continuation of a bad plan. White in time to protect everything af-

is not

ter Black invades on the g-file.

24...94 25.€d1 gxh3 26.$xh3 trg8 27.€c2Wg2 28.trh1 Wxe2 29.Dxe2 trg2 30.9ffi AbG I

ll Ee rA I A

AI I AAA AI CbA A,\ Hq)

A

E'U

EU\ tr

tl Now White will lose

a

pawn by force.

31.trb91trb98 32.trxgl2

nrwincunso zg

I D

32.4\ga

t A t

Exgl ::.6h6+ €96 just

doesnt work.

32.,Exfl.33.a5 T.6x3 6-:xc4is no better. 33...4xc4 34.4c1 b5 35.axb6 AxbG 36.4f1 Ah7

QO

-{

rr.3-D3r

I

Levon Aronion

.iltr

Vlqdimir Krqmnik Monoco blindfold 20.l

I

m

(9)

t

ffi

L.c4

This game was played in the 9th round. Discovering to his surprise

F

ffi

that he and his opponent were at opposite ends of the tournament table,

the wise commander of the white pieces decided to choose the quiet English Opening.

1...e6 2,6,c3 d5 3.d4 Ae7 Intending ... Ah4, followed by ... 695. 37.h4 And 37.trg1trf2 doesnt help.

The choice of the Queen's Gambit Declined did not come as a surprise. Tak-

37...4f8 38.4d2 hge 39.Ae1

ing into .or.id..ution my liking for

D,a4

creating difficulties for myself my opponents choose quietvariations in the hope that I will confuse myself without their help.

White is almost in complet e z;'rgzwang, as its easy to see neither of his knights can move.

4.cxd5 4.6R leads to more barren positions,

I

I

I

A

2_1

A

A JL

& A

I

I g ,\ A

but knowing that 4.cxd5 is the most critical move I did not hesitate for

I A

n

t ]

q) A

E

E

tr

And after 40.*d2 Abz his king would

4...exd5 5.4f4 Affi

,ffi

5...c6 is considered passive, but solid. With the move in the game Blacktries to solve his problems immediately.

AT

6.e3 Af5 7.9b3 6cG e.g4

f,m

White has no hope of saving the game. A nice, smooth win, even if it was not Anandt finest hour.

IIT

tE

@E

I ll

A

ga A tA]

tr

Arll A

I

A

a

to an impressive win in the blindfold

21

A

tl

nrwEncnnss

m Luill

m ry [i8[

AA

W

AA

€Aetr

The most critical move. 15 years ago a game Topalov-Kasparov was played

with this variation, in which Blackwon.

Of course, 8...4c8 cannot be recommended, since after 9.h3 Blackhas not

game..

2l

-{M

IL

8...6x94 Aronian defeated Kramnik thanks

&m

md

40... trxg7, 47..Q\xE1 Axh4 Black does not have an immediate breakthrough, but with two extra

42.A:d2 &e7 43.6fi3 €d7 White resigned, as ...c6 is next, and

dtu

il@

flm ,dh

have been stalemated too.

pawns the game is obviously decided.

mm

@

long.

ET

40.tr91

a

MONACO

9.tsxd5 A natural move and

a

novelty.

9...8c8 A move aimed at sharpening the play. 9-..Bxd5 10.axd5 Ab++ was more .zutious,leading to positions with an insignificant advantage for White.

,o.gg2 From here the fianchettoed queen puts pressure on the centre and keeps the 97 pawn under fire.

11...4xe4 Vladimir accepts the challenge. As became clear in analysis, 11...6xd4 would have led to an advantageous position for White after 12.0-0-0 Ac5 13.af3, while 11...496 would have transposed into a position which

l4.Ae2 White can also play 14.fu2,

preparing after 14...9f5 to play 15.0-0-0. After the possible 15...4xc3

16.bxc3 Exe2 17.Axe2 Wxf4+

18.

EdZ Wtrite has the advantage.

L4.Ae2

could have arisen after 11.0-0-0. Whitet control of the centre allows him to fight for the advantage.

L2.0)xe4 In the analysis after the game Vladimir remarked that he spent alarge part of his time analysing the move 12.Wxe4,

whereas, relying on my intuition, I did not even consider the capture with the queen. As analysis shows, the problems thatWhite has to solve after 12.Wxe4 Ee8 are difficult, although with correct play there is nothing fatal for him.

10...GO ln this position Black has an enormous choice of moves, and most of the variations are very complicated and interesting. At times the computer overestimates Black's position, thinking that the white king, which

14...trfe8 An inaccurate move, which allows White to mobilize his forces. The only correct response to the attack on the 94 knight was the defence of it with the pawn. It is on the assessment of the position after 14...h5 15.Wg3 6Nd+ 16.&f1 that the assessment of the move ll.e4 depends. After analysis I myself did not come to any definite conclusion. This position is more

difficult for White to play, but if he can repulse the first wave of activity, I think that the piece will play its part. It should be mentioned that the

often remains in the centre, may come under attack.

tLe4 At first sight this move is anti-posi-

L2...4b4+

attempt to mop up the entire queen-

tional. White has made several moves nith his queen and now he urges

I

considered this move to be the strongest. The position arising af-

side by 14...Wc2 is not so effective, because of 15.€f1 Wxb2 16.Eb1 Wxc3

Black to begin an attack on his uncastled kirg. But all is not so simple. The queen on 92 controls important squares and in many variations the

ter the almost forced chain of moves r2...Wfs B.Ad2 6-txd4 14.0-o-o 6xn 1s.Ah6 Dlga $.Exd+ Axh6 is not easy to assess. Black supposedly has three pawns for the piece and his pieces are well developed, but the poor placing of the knight on h6 makes White's position more attrac-

17.Wxg4, when White is close to a win.

insecure position of the knight on94 White the saving tempo Ae2.

gives

1s.€f1af6 The inclusion of 15...h5 16.h3 does not change things.

16.4h6

tive to play.

13.6c3 The idea of sheltering the king at appealed to me.

fl

13...gfs The correct move. Of course, not 13...4xd4 because of 14.0-0-0, when White achieves harmony. 13...Ee8+ is not 1o good, since apart from transposing'into the game with

MONACO

xnrtlncnrss zs

16...96 After 16...4f8 White can simply develop with 17.trdl Ead8 18.4f3,

ts

ur

h

t

since the attempt by Black to capture

l-

something with 18...Wc2 is immediately punished by 19.Ad3 Wxb2 20.Axg7 fug7 2t.trgr 6lhs zz.Wgs (or 22.Wh3,22.Wg4) with a mating

d

attack.

17.995 The temptation to exchange the queens was too great, and I decided to give in to it. 17.a3 was more accurate, with the idea

of driving the bishop to the more unfavourable square a5 and only then exchanging the queens. L7 ...6-sxd4 18.trd1 Axc3

I

I 4 + a

:

U U

z

I

>

z

m

Vladimir tries to activate his pieces. After 18...trad8 19.Wxf5 6)xf5 20. ExdS trxd8 2l.Ag5 White achieves

h

the desired exchanges.

@

wr

19.bxc3

:

Bu

W

r&lJJlll

t

An attempt to remind White about his weakpawns.

The simplest. Theblackknights do not have anygood squares.

L9...6-:e4

24.al13

28...4f6 29.g]t2

l9...Exe2 does not help Black, since after2o.6)xez Wh:+ 2t.Wg2 Wxg2+ 22.&xg2 6)xe2 n.trd3 the knight on e2 cannot return home. To be fair, I should mention that I did not notice this tactical stroke, and I only learned

I was sure that the game would last no

Not the most accurate solution, but

more than another ten moves or so, and I overlooked Black's next move.

good enough.

29...trc3 3O.Ags Ah5 31.€e2

&t

24.,trc5 25.4b3

Solving the problem of the king and releasing the rook.

a!

of its existence from my opponent after the game. 2O.WxfS 6xf5 27.,A;d2 EadS It is understandable that Black should not want to leave such a fine piece

Realizing that even without the c3 pawn things were good for me, I decided to activate my pieces.

e

il

fr

31,...at4+ 32.&d2 Ed3+ 33.€c2

&h6 34.6117+ &h5

25...4xc3 This allows a move after which Black loses anyhope of a draw.

After the resilient 25...6fd6 White's

alive, but after 21...4\d2+ 22.Exd2 trad8 n.trbz with the idea of 6fa a[ his activity disappears. Taking into consideration possible surprises tFpical of blindfold play, Kramnik keeps the agile knight on the board.

An attempt to confuse matters. After 26...8xe5 27.4xc3 the white bishops dominate the po$tion.

22.AeL trxd1 23.Axd1treS

27.6x17 &97 28.f3

zo unw in csrss

lil

al

lll

I

A&

position is technically won, but accuracy is still demanded of him.

26.4e5 6e4

MONACO

EE -e.

A& i:::El-

E

A A

t_l

AA

tr

ffi

in the most difficult positions \-ladimir does not lose his sense of Even

humour.

35.=g1 h6 36.6e5 6e3+ 37.€b1

=€

cision, but very high-class play is required to refute this bold capture. After 17.4e3 the position would have been roughlylevel.

17...4c5!

38.axg6 ah3

(18...exd5? loses

a large advantage for Black thanks to White's exposed kirg.

clear advantage.

20...tra8 21.6xd5 0)xe2+ 22.&lL 22.Axe2loses to 22...exd5 so White

18.4f3?

has to move his

White could still have held on, but this requires treading through a minefield: 18.b4! AxA+ (1S...4xb4

6xe6 24.4b5 is marginally better, but24... tld+ zs.6lxd+ Axdl 26.bxc5 Axg4 27.cxb6 Eb7 should be winning for

2l.Wxb7 f4 22.gxf4 Ec2

Black all the same.

23.e3r.

Wxe2 24.Wxb6 6xf+ zs.

Aft

Iems in recent times was bound to produce a result. The mate in three rnoves was found. Black resigned. III

Ef5 wins for Black) 23...q\f424.exf4 Wd++ 25.&e2 Wxf4 26.Axd5 We5+ 27

Wg++ 26.&ht Wf:+ 27.&gr

.&B

Wxel

ExdZ+ 28.trxd2 exd5 29. Eel! 30.Wxd5+ &hs :1.€c2 and

White is safe.

- Eol

Vlqdimir Krqmnik Vosily lvonchuk Monoco blindfold 201

I (10)

L8...t4 L9.94 White's options are limited because his queen is in constant danger of being trapped by ...traS. For example, after 19.Axh5 fxg3 20.4R gxZ+ 21.&fl trxR ZZ.exlZ Ea8 White loses because the elimination of his lightsquared bishop has deprived him of the hxdS resource.

19...493!

auu

I

,\

A

q_)

/\&

g

AAAA €

Objectively speaking a doubtful de-

oar/\

IA A A A AA A

trAtr

24...2,c3? After playing amazingly well for

a

blindfold game, Ivanchuk misses the

winning line and fails to cash in on his previous play. 24...Arb4! 25.axf8

The powerful passed b-pawn compensates for the minus piece and forces Black to play for perpetual check.

28...trxa2 29.b7 Hxt2+ 30.€e1 Ee2+ 31.€f1 trt2+ 32.*e1 Draw. The kind of tactical struggle

H&

A ll I I AI A

laA&

ll

25.bxc5 6xd1 26.cxb6 tra4 27. 6xf8 €xf8 28.trb1

L7.Wxa7?t

E

E@

E

Ad would have led to a decisive material advantage.

1.af3 QttG 2.c4 eG 3.93 d5 4. d4 Ab4+ 5.4d2 Ae7 6.492 cG 7.Wc2 O-O 8.0-O bG 9.trd1 AbdT 1O.Af4 Ab7 LL.ae5 Ec8 L2.Qtc3 -:h5 13.4c1 f5 14.Wa4 Axe5 15.dxe5 Wc7 16.cxd5 cxdS E

king.

22...trxa7 23.kxc7 Axf3 24.

19.4b5 Wxe5 20.48 is also roughly level) 19.&xA Wxc3 2}.gd2 Wxe5

The intensive solving of mating prob-

Qr r.3

Axf3 28.Wf4 Wg6 29.Wxf8+ €xf8 *g8 followed by...h5, with

30.Exf3+

(n.>?

Round 10 changed nothing from the point of view of the leaders, but Ivanchuk had a fascinating near-brilliancy against Kramnik.

line runs D.Wa4 Wfr Z+.trd3 gxf2 25.&xA dxc3+ 26.&$ Hfg zz.Hxcz

Best, since 17...Ea8? 18.Alxd5 ExaT

to 19.AxdS+) tl. 6lxc7 Axg2 20.6xe6 Ac6 2l.6xf8 €xf8 22.48 leaves White with a

39.6f4+

20.hxg3 fxg3 21. € 92 HxR 22.exB d4 is very dangerous for White; the main

which often enlivens blindfold play and which one rarely sees in classical A remarkable position, in which the knight appears bent on suicide, but in fact it is White who is in serious difficulties. His main problem is that the coming ...Ne2+ will deflect either knight or bishop from control of d5, and thereby permit ...Ea8.

20.b4

t

MONACO

tournaments.

As the last round started the Armenian was still a point ahead. Closing a gap of a whole point in only two games would be a tall order for Carlsen, and when he lost the first game against Gelfand the tournament was decided,

nnwincnrss zz

since Aroniant draw against Karjakin left him 1% points in front.

K\77.4 - E60 Mognus Cqrlsen Boris Gelfond Monoco blindfold 201

7..d4 2lt6 2.c4 gG 3.4f3 Agz +.gs 0-0 5.492 c5 6.6c3 cxd4 7.6:xd4

Wc7 8.6cb5 Surprisingly, this move has only been played once before. If White wants to sacrifice a pawn, then 8.Adb5 Wxc4 9.b3 looks more promising, but White can perfectlywell play safe with 8.b3.

8...Wxc4 9.b3 The sole example of 8.hcxb5 contin-

1l.Eal

Wc4 l2.Ec1 Wa2 13.Ea1 Wc4 and a draw was agree d in EdzgveradzeKovchan, Alushta 1999.

9...Wc5 1O.Aa3 gb6 11.Axe7 tre8 E

E E

AAE

60a

I gI rA rAr

AT

,\

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A 2_\

tr

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l_l

ga

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AA A AAAA

g@

laa I ts

EAA & ll lErEr

I (11)

ued g.Adz 6cO tO.Ecl Wxa2

20.4d6 Eee8 gives Black the better ending.

A

A

tr

'I 21

a AAAA sm E'

&tr

White is a pawn up, but his b7 knight has no retreat and his king is

L4...He4l

misplaced.

With the queen on b4, the d4 knight

18.trc1?!

is under attack and White is forced to react straight away.

18.b4 6xb+ 19.Axb4 Wxba 20.Ebl We7 21.Wff ds 22.Afi Ebs ze. ala5" Exbt+ 24.Wxb1 looks sounder; White still has to complete his development, but I doubt if he faces serious problems.

L5.6,c2 The best reply, as 15.Axe4 olrre416. 8 4\c6 17.6)xc6 bxc6 18.Ec1 Exc8 19.Wxd7 WbS concedes a larger advantage to Black.

18...trb8 L9.ad4 ExbT 2O.AxeG fxe6

2

f

: I

tr

15...wf8 16.4d6 At this stage White is only slightly worse, and after 16.Axe4 6xe4 17.9d5! o16 l8.Wxe4 Axal 19. 6xa1 ExcS 20.6)c2 he has every chance of equalising. However, the

Black has two knights for a rook and a pawn but, importantly, White must, still get his king into safety and develop the hl rook.

2

21.Axc6 dxc6 22.Wd4? 22.Wil would have offered better

u

move played is also not bad. 16...Ee6 L7.6xb7 6:cG

fensive chances.

$

22...trf7

3

de-

I

m

fffl

,

a

gt

A

t

AAA

4il

tr

fi rt

W

A double-edged position. White has regained the pawn and inflicted an isolated pawn on Black, but for the

!t

m.,l

moment his pieces lack coordination.

L2.6d6?l l2.Ad6 a6 B.Ac7 Wc5 14.Ad6

{llllr

was

objectively the most reasonable continuation, but Carlsen, needing a win, had to try something different.

L2...trxe713.hxc8 Wb4+ 13...Wa5+? 14.9f1 is bad as there is

L

no good answer to the attacks on b7

tL

ande7.

i-r

L4.&tL

;bfl

t4.Wd2? Wxd2+ 15.&xd2 6e4+ 16.&el (16.€e3? Axd4+ 17.&xd4

T

m

A\A+ wins material) 16...Ee8 17.Ed1

mfr

8)a6 l8.Axe4 Exe4 19.4b5 Exc8

28 NEWINCHF\S

pr[;

MONACO

uu/ :

Giving White a second chance.22...

example being 16.c5 dxc5 17.bxc5

!44

24.Wxe6 €hs

6xc5 18.4c4 Aa6 19.Ed1 Axb5

l5.Exc6 trxf2+ 26.&el DxZ Zl.trc} *e2+ 28.Wxe2 Wxc8 would have

Exb5 6lb7, Ostenstad-A.Kuzmin, Biel 1990. I feel that White is likely to be better here despite being a Pawn

IA I I AE a AI ll I AA AI

trfi

,-ds zz.Wea

simplified the position and left Black rrith a large advantage.

ge

I

EAT l rar

20.

down. He has plenty of active play on the queenside and in the centre, while the disappearance of Blacks lightsquared bishop reduces his activity on

I

a

,r 21

a

A

AW AA

A

A

€

tr

the kingside.

tr

q

ET

11 ts

rAA ET I ll ra Al

$tr E

AA AA A

A

tr €tr

23.*92? The final error. After 23.Exc6! 6d5 l{.Wc5 Wxc5 25.Exc5 Ad+ze .Eca+

AA AI AA EAA AA

trAtr

Eg7 27.f3 White should have no p,roblems.

23...4_:d5 24.Wc5 Wxc5

25.trxc5

;d4 tslack has a winning position and finlshes effrciently.

26.Exc6 trxt2+ 27.&hg Hxe2 28.trt1" h5 29.trfc7. *97 30.tr1c2 Zxc2 31.Exc2 e5 32.EcG Ab4 33.Ec7+ €fG 34.a3 Ad5 35. Ec6+ €f5 36.€92 e4 37.€f1 e3 38.€e1 €e4 39.trd6 95 40.b4 ic3 41.tr90 94 42.trh6 €d3 43. 6d2 =xh5 ke4 44.trd5 \r'hite resigned.

a nice win against Kramnik using his favourite King's In -

\akamura scored dian Defence.

K|7.3

-

E97

L5...a41?

A new idea, which makes it hard for White to achieve anything on the queenside. His usual plan is to sacrifice a pawn by c5, and follow this uP either by 6ba, or by a4 and Aa3. By advancing his a-pawn, Black prevents both these follow-ups and so more or less nullifies the c5 plan. The downside, of course, is that White can play to win a pawn by D-rc.1.

16.trd1 Ignoring the challenge looks wrong. After the game, Kramnik said that after 16.68 95 17.fura4 Afo tg.cs g4he would just be mated, but that isnt so clear to me and, in any case, if White does not do this then Black's plan will have succeeded.

Vlqdimir Krqmnik

16...95 L7.94

Hikoru Nqkqmuro Monoco ropid 20.l 1

Playing to block the kingside, but in this line it's difficult to totally prevent Black's kingside play. White has much better chances with this type of plan when his dark-squared bishop is on f2,bttt from its current position the bishop has trouble reaching the kingside, if only because the d2 knight

(1 I

)

1.af3 6tG 2,c4 96 3.6c9

Ag7

6.4e2 eS 7.0-O 2c6 8.d5 ke7 9.E.d2 a5 10.a3 €h8 11.trb7, ad7 L2.b4 fs 13.f3

4.e4 d6 5.d4

O-O

t4 L4.o,b5 b6 15.Wc2 This position can arise via different move-orders. In the past, Black has played mainly 15...95 with a typical

doesnt have a good square.

17...h5 18.h3 +f6 19.4b2 Eh6 20.gg2 ag6 21,.EJl1Hf8 tvloNAco

22.&t2 find a good plan for White, since Black can steadily increase the It's hard to

...4f6 and ...We7-h7, when White has to worry not only about the h-file pressure, but also about the possibility of a sacrificial

pressure by

breakthrough on R andg4.

22...6lt6 23.c51? Now that the d7 knight has moved away, White can consider this move. He could have played B.Ebgl followed by transferring his queen to the kingside and running with the king to the queenside, but he understandably did not like such a passive plan.

23...dxc5 24.6tc4 Ad6 25.4c3 &97 26.9b2

H

E

A \IIU &:

l@

IAAAE aLAl ll rAA AIA A A AA WA€

trE

26...cxb4 27.axb4 27.Axb4 Axb4 28.Wxb4 hxg4 29. hxg4 trxht 30.Exh1 Axg4 3l.fxg4 6xe4+ 32.&el 693 is also very unclear.

27...We7 2&.flbgL? This move reinforces 94 to prevent a possible sacrifice there,

sufficiently energetic.

28.

but it is in-

6bxd6 cxd6

29.b5 (29.olxb6?? loses to 29...Wa7) was more to the point, to step uP the pressure against d6 by Ab+ and Wa3.

xrw in cHrss zc

Then 29...a3 30.6xa3 hxg4 31.hxg4 TPR

Exht 32.Exhl Axg4 33.4b4 Axf3 34.AxB g4 35.6c4 Eds 36.Eg1 is

I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 IO It 12

roughly equal.

28...4d7 29.6bxd6 cxd6 The tempo White wasted playing his rook to g1 now proves costly, since Black is already threatening to double rooks on the h-file. E

E

Ag& I I AAE al ll rAA AIA A AA

wAs

trtr

Levon Aroniqn Mognus Corlsen

IGM IGM

ARM NOR

Vishy Anond Vosily lvonchuk Alexonder Grischuk

IGM

tND

IGM

lGM

UKR RUS

Hikoru Nokqmurq

IGM

USA

BoriC Ge[fEnd

IGM

Veselin Topolov Vugor Goshimov Sergey Koriokin

IGM

rsR BUL

IGM IGM IGM

player to make a plus score, and his third place was achieved in solid fashion. Vasily Ivanchuk started with l% I 6 and did well to climb up to 50%, but he couldnt repeat the magic of 2010.

The main surprise lower down Vladimir

30.h4

was the next to last place of

White tries to solve his problems by

Kramnik; indeed, after eight rounds he was in last place, but a couple of wins near the end enabled him to overtake Anish Giri. Kramnik started badly and seemed unable to get in

force, but the tactics favour Black. 30.

b5 a3 31.0)xa3 Eah8 32.Wb1 Wf8, getting ready to switch the queen to the h-file, is also very good for Black.

3O...hxg4 31.hxg5 Axe4+l 32. fxe4 Exh1. 33.trxh1f3 Black has a decisive attack.

34.Axb6 34.4f1 loses to 34...Wxg5.

34...93+! 35.€xf3 Ef8+ 36.&e3 Wxg5+ 37.&d3 Ans+ 38.€c2 trf2 39.4d2 Hxe2 4O.Wc3 g2 41,. Eg1 a3 42.&c7. trxd2 43.wxd2 a2 44.&c2 Wxd2+ 45.€xd2 Af1 White resigned. This was the third win in four years for Levon Aronian. He was dominant in the blindfold chess, winning that event by a margin of 1% points without a single loss.

After last year's success, Carlsen seemed slightly disappointed by the outcome, although second place in such company can hardly be considered a failure. His result in the rapid event was an extraordinary 9/zlll, winning by an incredible 2Yz points, with only his loss to Ivanchuk a blot on an otherwise flawless performance.

2775

AZE 2746 RUS 2776 RUS 2785 NED 2690

IGM

Vlqdirnir Krqmnik Anish Giri

2808 2815 2817 2779 2747 2774 2733

gear at all, playing uncharacteristically risky and dubious chess, which was duly punished by the opposition. One carit draw any conclusions about his form based on an atypical event

such as the Amber tournament, but it is to be hoped that this great player will soon recover his form. As for the newcomers, Hikaru Nakamura's games were consistently entertaining. His combative and aggressive style, combined with an extreme

l5V2 l4V2 13 il il lOV2 lOV2 lot/2 lOV2 l0 I 7

2916 2883

283r 2769 2772

2756 2759

2756 2758 2733 2667

2644

reluctance to accede to a draw made

him a favourite with the spectators. He finished on 'minus one', not bad " at all for a first Amber appearance. Coming soon after his outstanding result at Wijk aanZee,he is clearlynot only a player to be reckoned with but also one who creates positive public-" ity for chess. Anish Giri is only 16 and it was perhaps too much to hope that he would'

r0U

do better against the world's top players. He is clearly very talented, with a genuinely quick sight of the board, but he needs to have a less dogmatic attitude to chess.

,ir@D

As the curtain comes down on the

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ril[

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Amber events, it's natural to consider their place in chess history. The Amber tournaments were special, even unique, and not only because of the blindfold chess. Speaking to the players about why they liked the event,

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Levon

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2 Vishy Anqnd 7 3 Alexqnder Grischuk 6 2808 4 Vugor Goshimov 6 2808 5 Boris Gelfqnd 6 2809 6 Sergey Koriokin 5V2 2769 2733 7 Vqsili lvonchuk' 5 8 Hikoru Nokomuro 5 2734 9 Mognus Corlsen 5 :.fiTjgo'

IO Veselin Topolov 4t/z 2705 I I Vladimir Kromnik 4 ':'"'zi66r l2 Anish Giri 3Vz 2644

Mognus Cqrlsen

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2 Levon Aroniqn 3 Vosily lvsnchuk 4 Veselin Topolov 5 Vishy Anand 6 Hikqru Nokqmurq 7 Alexonder Grischuk 8 Sergey Koriokin 9 Vugor Gqshimov IO ,

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MONACO i

L-lne

word kept being mentioned: 're-

.pectl There's no doubt that the organ-:ers treated the players with unusual ;ourtesy, and this was appreciated by

:he grandmasters, perhaps more so :han the undoubtedly generous fi:iancial conditions. Professional or:anisation, comfortable hotel rooms,

.ttractive scenery and good food ail helped to ensure that the partici:ants had a greattime and were eager :o come back again and again. Of all :tre world's top players of the past two ,iecades, only Garry Kasparov steadistly refused to take part, due to his ,hslike of blindfold chess, trti impossible to reminisce about the

-\mber tournaments without mentioning the sponsors, Mr and Mrs

\ an Oosterom. Sponsors come and Eo, and no sponsorship lasts forever, but 20 years is a remarkablylong time

tor a sponsor to support a tournament (and the Amber tournaments rrere only part of their extensive chess sponsorship). The chess world can be

truly grateful for the extensive support the Van Oosteroms have pro-

vided without asking for anything in return. It's rare to see such generosity these days, when rewards and returns are calculated to the finest detail. I'm sure the chess world wishes them and their daughters, Crystal Kelly and Melody Amber, the best for the future. What is the legacy of the Amber tournaments? Partly, of course, it is the more than 2,500 games played betweenthe world's top players. It's true that rapid and blindfold games produce few lasting masterpieces, but the Amber tournaments were designed not to create classic games for the benefit of future generations of chess players, but to present chess as a spectacle, entertaining the audience with thrills and spills, and in this they undoubtedly succeeded. In traditional tournaments, the result of many games is clear hours before the game actually

finishes, as the players rely on their excellent technique to steer the game to its logical conclusion. In blindfold chess you can never be sure what the result will be righl up to the last moment, as several gaihes from this year's

MONACO

event demonstrated. This essential uncertainty means the games retain the audience's attention until the very last move.

When the Amber tournaments started, there was little rapid chess. Since then, rapid events have become an accepted part of the chess scene, although recently several have evaporated like dew in the morning sun. Blindfold chess, on the other hand, has not caught on, and the Amber tournament has remained unique. Perhaps the technical requirements are too daunting for most organisers, but it would be a shame if blindfold chess were to disappear completely. As an example of thess as a spectacle' and as a means of attracting publicity, it certainly has a place in the chess world. There was a feeling of sadness as the computers were switched off and the boards packed up for the last time, but all those who participated in the Amber tournaments will have fond memories of the era when chess came to the C6te d'Azur, and came in style. r

nrwhcHEss gt

I

I

-at

f a

I

t I a

I !

of questions that I handed him, muttered something about a difference between Western and Eastern culture and turned around to go to the room where he and other guests were fol-

lowingthe games. There, with his passion for the game and his continuous commentary, he soon became the centre of all atten-

tion. Everyone drank

in his words,

including the Amber participants, who would sometimes walk in with

The idea itself was brilliant in its simplicity. Or so I thought. What kind of

interview should you have with a man that you ve already interviewed on numerous occasions, when he turns 80? Toying with various angles the solution suddenlypopped up in mymind and stayed there, reassuring me that this approach would guarantee a vat'ied and lively conversation. I didnt even have to prepare for it! We would simply take the questions of the |ust Checking questionnaire and use these as launching pads into whichever di-

rection Viktor Kortchnoi or I wanted to go. In this manner we could touch on a wide variety of subjects and let ourselves be surprised by the course of our talk. Indeed, how brilliant and how simple. I was easily persuaded; now I only had to persuade the grand old man himself.

Viktor Kortchnoi came to Monaco as a guest-of-honour of the Amber tournament of his old friend |oop van Oosterom. He'd stay a week and then return to Switzerland a couple of days before his 80th birthday on March 23rd for a weekend of celebrations in Ztxich. The day after his arrival on the C6te d'Azar I ventured to reveal my plan when Kortchnoi entered the hospitality lounge. The expression of his face, first friendly and forthcoming, slowly turned gloomy as he listened to my words. He took the list

34 NEWiNCHffi

the sole purpose of listening to his remarks. As is his wont, most of Kortchnoi's attention was aimed at the youngsters, his favourite target being 16-year-old debutant Anish Giri. After all, they had been born in the same city and could converse in Russian. In the first round Kortchnoi loudlycalled the move that had squandered Giri's advantage in his rapid game against Aronian'the worst move he had ever seen in his life'and suggested that for making such a move he should in fact lose his St. Petersburgbirth rights. The affection and admiration was mutual, as became clear when Giri quipped with typical enthusiasm: 'This Kortchnoi is a tricky guy, he sees fantastic

Thai food, I gently brought up the interview again. This time I managed to convince him that I was looking for more than trivia and silly questions. Still a bit reluctant he agreed on two sessions, but warned me that talking about his favourite colour or food would be a waste of time.

I wasn't sure about that, but when he walked in for the first session he immediatelyfreed me of anypossible remaining doubts about the first questions to ask. Taking a seat he didnt wait for any question and started to talkwithout any further ado. 'Before my first match with Karpov in Moscow in1974, Roshal askedme and Karpovto answer some questions for his newspaper. Let's say, who is your favourite author? Karpov answered: Lermontov. A silly answer, because they studied Lermontov at

school.

I answered:

O'Henry. You

understand why I wanted to under-

stand his humour. Then there was the question: What is your favourite movie? Karpov answered some-

I briefly tried to explain again that the questions would only be the starting point of our talk, but he had made up his mind: 'No,I wont do itl

thing like a movie about the war with the Germans. As for me, I answered: The Nights of Cabiria, which at the time was very fashionable. The leading actress in it was Giulietta Masina, and in away she was also my favourite actress (The Nights of Cabiriawas directed by Federico Fellini in 1957; Masina was his wife - DIIG). That was that. I was quite honest and was telling what I was thinking, whereas Karpov was maybe honest, but at the same time he was giving answers the Soviet governmenf would appreciate. So, here you have something to start with. The American O Henry is still myfavourite authorl

I had to wait till the first free day be-

At the same time one might say that

fore I got a chance to make it clear that

O'Henry wos one of thefewforeign au-

my intentions had been honourable after all. Seated next to Kortchnoi at a dinner in the Mayabay restaurant in Monaco, and exploiting the gen-

thors who were translated into Russian, because his humour was innocent and there was no ideology inhis writing. He was not exactly controversial.

eral good moo{ that had descended on our table thrinks to the exquisite

'This is true. In my autobiography I write that chess was not my only in-

moves!'

Kortchnoi's contribution to the atmosphere of the tournament was immediately beyond any doubt, but my optimism about the interviewhad not grown - and it received a bad blow when, the next day, he returned the questions dismissing such Western trivialities as an insult to his person.

INTE RVIEW

terest. I tried to learn to play the piano and also to be an actor, trying to memorize poetry. I learned a lot of llermontov by heart, and also Push-

But then this is somethingyou associate with your own age. '(Laughs loudly) Maybe, hahaha. This

read Goethe?" (Laughs) Because he already knew my connection to Petra. So that was my connection with the

poetry affected me. I dont knowl

cosmos.'

It\ a very touching image. 'Yeahl

Do youbelieve that...

Iiin, and also some modern poets Mayakovsky and Konstantin Simonov. These days I still like to do this. Whenever I come across interesting poetry I try to learn it by heart. \es, still. The last were some verses by Tsvetaeva. I remember these lines and tiom time to time, when I am in the mood, I repeat theml Xike

-Lre

you in the mood now? Could you

sny a couple ofverses?

She wrote something about herself. It is difficult for me now, because I dont

Is it mainly Russian poetry that you like to read?

'It's much more difficult to learn by heart verses in other languages, but I tried it. I will tell you a story. There was a clairvoyantwho said to me that I am getting my knowledge from the cosmos. That sounds very good. When I was very young, I learned a poem by Pushkin, called Poltava. Poltava is the

I get knowledge from the cosmos? Well, I tended to believe that. Everyone tends to, when you get such a compliment.' 'That

Are you religious in any manner?

point is, I was baptized in the Polish church in Leningrad. When I was three years old, 'Yes. Well, the

they took me to the church and I was

baptized or christened. My father had dificulties there. He was working in afactory and his mother went to the Party Committee of the factory and said: "He visited the church! He even brings his son to the church!" I was baptized and my whole life was so strange that if I had not been religious, I surelywould have become religious. Let's say, what did the following mean? Petrosian strongly insisted that I get away from the Soviet Union. Several articles appeared in the Soviet press under his name. Some-

thing like: It is unfair, dear grandmaster. What was unfair? That I lost a

match against Karpov and that I said he was nothing special. It is unfair, dear grandmaster! Petrosian said it and then hundreds and thousands of letters came to the newspapers ask-

ing to punish Kortchnoi. They punished me. But when I left, he couldnt play any longer. And it was arranged by somebody, a god, that we played iike to switch from one language to another. (After a brief pause he recites the verses in Russian). These verses are from her to herself. She is looking around her and she sees a person that reminds her of herself. She says, I am so old,I am dead already and so poor, I rvill have no dress to put on if they lav me into the coffin. She has awhrl, awful feelings in her soul and she tries to express them somehow in this \ray so she will not feel so bad inside her soul.'

place of the battle between the Swedish king and Peter the Great, in 1709. This was the firstpoem I learned. TWo years later I learned another poem, by Lermontov, called Mtsyri (The Novice), which is situated in the Caucasus. When I was young, the first woman with whom I had a long and good relationship was a woman from Poltava, and when I was older I got married to a woman who was from the Caucasus. Mmm. When I told,the whole storyto my son, he asked rrie: "Have you ever

INTERVIEW

two matches. (The first match was the Candidates' quarter-finals in 1977 in

Il Ciocco, where Kortchnorwon

6Yz-

5%; the second match was the Can-

didates' quarter-finals in 1980 in Velden, where Kortchnoi won 5Yz3L/2 - DIIG.) That's what God inflicted on him. He was an emigrant

and he forced me to be an emigrant.

I even have the feeling that he never expressed these feelings to anybody, including his own wife. Petrosian was an Armenian. In the Caucasus there

ifl cHrss 35

I

are several nationalities, Armeni-

Whatform has it taken, your religious

ans, Georgians, Azerbaijani. They are mixed and Petrosian was born in the

feeling? Do you think 'I dont go to church. There were these

Georgian republic. From the verybeginning, in a wider sense, he alreadY was an emigrant, having been born in Georgia! Then he moved from the Caucasus to Moscow He didnt want to live in Armenia, so he moved to Moscow. And there, in Moscow, he

gurus, who never spoke about god.

t-elt

like an emigrant. That was his

own doing, but he was insisting that get away! He succeeded.

I

'I dont tell this in my autobiography, but now I think, who on earth had great problems when I left the Soviet Union? Members of mY fam-

there is a god?

Th.y said, the highest being. That also comes into my mind, the highest being, who is ruling the lives of most

Soviet society and my cultural level and knowledge is foreign. to Petra's. Her life was quite different. Her cultural education is also quite different' That is also strange. And that was perhaps also regulated by the god, I dont knowl

people.'

Do you speak to this highest being? Or do you pray? 'I do not pray, that is for sure. Do I speak? Well, when peoPle sPeak to the highest being they beg him to do something. Please do this or that. I think I dont do that. Although I still believe that it or he in a way regulates my lifei

She tries to make youforget things that are remrutntsfrom your time in the So-

viet (Jnion and

tells

you:'Viktot what

you are doing is so Soviet, we are in the West now.'

'Hahaha. Yes, this is her dutY to remind me or to educate me in a new way.

rosian was played in Austria, and the

And this is still going on? 'Hahaha. Forever. But this, too, may have been regulated by the highest beingl

chief arbiter was Harry Golombek. Harry Golombek was a great fan of mine. We played nine games and

That she was sent into your life? 'Yeah, I think sol

ily plus Petrosian. He couldnt

PlaY

against me any longer. I can tell you a story. The second match against Pet-

Harry Golombeh my great fan, calcutated that in five games of this match I was lost. But I won two games and

You were willing to leave the Soviet (Jnion, but you needed another force to really drag you away and keeP You

seven games were drawn and the match was over. So how bad did Petrosian play that he could not win a single game out of the five in which he had a winning position?'

away?

'Maybe that is her point ofview. When

I left I had no idea that somebodY would change mylife. When Ileft the Soviet (Jnion, Ileft forever, once and forever. When I came back to the land where I was born, it didnt exist anYmore under its old name. In the Year 1991 it collapsed, then, the next year,

And you think that his living outside his own country for all his lift was already a divine punishment in advance? 'Exactly. He lived like a stranger, like a foreigner. And then suddenly he realizedhe had made me a foreigner. One sho'uld not forget something, apparently Petrosian had forgotten that my wife was Armenian...'

I remember

you telling me that

she

looked up to Petrosian very much, be-

cause he was the Armenian World Champion, and that you resented that. 'Exactly. She never protested against Petrosian, that is true. But somehow he forced my family to be split and then he could no longer play chess. And sometimes I even think that his illness was the result of our verbal

conflictl

I appearedi Now that you're almost 80, do You

think about transcendental things, about afterlife?

Do you think that the fact that the country collapsed was the defeat of the country y ou had b een fighting?

'Hahaha. I am not a philosoPher, I pretend to be practical. No, I am not a philosopherl

'(Thinks briefly and then laughs loudly again) Itt nice to see it that way, but I didnt think that way. I just

Do you look at things like age from a v ery practical p er sp ectiv e? 'Exactly. I have a very interesting re-

thought the other way around, when the country collapsed, I reappeared. I left once and forever and only showed up in the new countryi

lationship with Petra, who suffered from the Soviets and still decided to share her life with a Soviet Person.

Do youfeel it's a new countrY? '(Hesitant) No, there is a new name.

Well, I changed, If- not in the Soviet Union any longer,tbut still I belong to

INTERVIEW

It has to develop, but that's a different storyl

Let's turn to music then. You said you tried to learn to play the piano. At what age was that? Around 13. Look,I was in Leningrad,

shows once again how romantic I am.

troops for 900 days. Part of my family

look at my chess they also say that I am not too stolid, that I am romantic in my chess, how I play and how I try to play. How to make myromantic ideas come truel

it Ukrainian. I used to talk Polish up to the time that

You briefly talked about your literary

which was surrounded by German

Let's say, when people

was Polish, and some of

arather

Leningrad was surrounded. Somehow

preferences. O'Henry belongs to

the Polish part of my family all died from hunger, they starved. And since then I have had no practice and have

light genre. Are there any of the more se-

rious writers,like Toktoy or Dostoevsky,

almost entirely forgotten the language. When the siege was broken, I started

'I have never read Dostoevsky. People in the West like Dostoevsky and I

to develop my hobbies.

I

started to

that

say

youfelt attracted to?

I never read Dostoevsky. They ask

taught me and I already had all these feelings. The last book that I read as a young boy, was when I was in the sixth grade. It took some time, I read War

.t

I

T

J

and Peaceby Tolstoy. Can you imagine? I needed several months. I think that was the last book I read. When I was 12. I just read it... It was a very difficult tash it didnt give me much pleasurel

I

I

!

I I

il

go from literary books to chess books. Was there a chess book that had

t I

a

profound inJluence on you? chess and started to read books in the war, when it was dif-

I

'I started to learn

fl

Let\

f

think I should get an instrument, a piano at home. First I needed some

a

I

I I

money and some space for the instrument. And I realized this was impossible. So the first thing I dismissed was music. Then I had problems with my poetry. I learned a lot, but I had problems with Russian pronunciation. I visited some specialists, but I failed to improve. That was the second hobby. I taught my son to like music and poetry, that is true. I didnt teach him to play chess, because for me chess was a profession and for him it was just play. At 13 I gave up music, at I4I gave up poetry. And then I decided to become a chess professional. That was modern thinking at that time, because the only chess professional was Botvinnik, nobodyelse. But I managed.' But what kind of music do you love? 'I dont like too loud music, I dont like this modern music, especially computer music. I like music with melody, let's say, all kinds of music. In Russia Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and

in Western music it would be Mozart, Rossini, certainly Verdi, a little bit

more romantic. That's what I likel

Romantic because it may fit in with your mood, or are you a romantic person?

'(Thinks) A romantic person sounds very complimentary (laughs). I should

not be too... No, it's OK. Frankly, I believe I am a romantic person and my warm feeling for romantic music

ga NEwiNcHnss

why? I explain that I was a very intelligent child. Perhaps it was because of my father. He made me read newspa-

ficult to find books. There were only

pers every day and we would discuss what had been written in the newspapers. Most of the books that I read I read when I was young, lett saybefore I started to play chess seriously. I read a lot of books. Some books young people were not allowed to read, including Dostoevsly, and that's whyl never read him. Some books that a l2-year-

twentymillion people died. But chess, it was fantastic, they still had chess com-

old boy was not allowed to read I never

read. t

My father died rirhen I was ten, but he

INTERVIEW

second-hand books. There was a lot of suffering in the Soviet Union, about

petitions in the years L942,1943,1944. In the year 1945I was a board boy at some tournament during the war. In April 1945, at the semi-finals of the 14th Soviet Championship. To imagine that in those years this horrible fight with the Germans was going on and still competitions were being held. So I started collecting literature. I remember I bought newspapers dedicated to the

F

J

t I

AVRO tournament of 1938. This really happened, that special newsPapers were made in the Soviet Union during that AVRO tournament. Ileft a lot of things behind when I defected, but I remem-

ber some fantastic literature. Among my first books were Emanuel Lasker's manual and Capablanca's manual, and then Tartakowert book dedicated to the tournament in Debrecen, that was all. Those were the first books that I bought and seriously studied. I still remember Dr. Emanuel Lasker saying at the end of the book that he was capable of teaching an ignorant person to play chess in such a way that even a master could not give him the odds of a Pawn. In 120 hours. I think I spent more than 120 hours learning everything what was written therel

'OK, now we're talking about some-

And that was Bronstein, who did not have enough luck to become World

thing else. They ask me, who was your idol, your inspiration? And I say Lasker, because people say my play is very similar to how Lasker used to play. On

Champion. I think Bronstein enriched my play. And Fischer and Kasparov, yes, they are the biggest. But they in fact used what had already been cre-

the other hand, my opening repertoire shows that I learned many oPenings from BoMnnik, because I had a similar repertoire, like the French and so on. And then they say that some of mY

ated. Bronstein was a creator, that's the

Was he y our inspiration?

combinations remind them of Alekhine. Not of Lasker. Sometimes I even say that I have surpassed Lasker in using psychology. How? Well, sometimes

If

Some say that the most talented of all was Capablanca. Then they start telling you what was particular about Capablanca. I ve met people who have

him and talked to him and those

'I think

so. They used everything that Keres, Lasker, Alekhine produced. Th.y used everything effectively. But

United States. In the introduction to

people would say: "When Capablanca sa$, a position he would put a piece on a square (acts as if he makes a de-

the game I say that there is something

unique about Henrique Mecking. It was fantastic to become a strong chess

termined move) and then say: And then White is winning. If he gets this piece to d4,then White is winningl" It might not have been easyto find a way to come to d4, but if the knight comes to d4 then really he would win. How thntastic this was. When I listen to this now, I think this is the same as what I am doing. Th.y present a position to me and I put some piece to some important square and say: "NowWhite is

and Botvinnik...

More thanTal? 'Tal was not a creator. No, no, Thl just played fantastic combinations. But that was nothing creative. (And he laughs, like he laughs when he says something controversial that he enjoys. You will see his ideas about Bronstein and Tal further expounded in Genna Sosonko's article in this issue - DIIG.)' Let's say, in my new book I analYsed the game I played against Henrique Mecking in 1974 in our match in the

wubok

seen

Fischer and Kasparov were standing on the shoulders of Bronstein and Keres

Bronstein was a creatorl

mention Lasker and Capablanca. at the greats in chess, who is the greatest chess player of all time? L'ou

differencel

player in a country where not chess but football is the biggest sport. He won two Interzonals, unbelievable. I see Henrique Mecking in a grouP of three people (starts to speak solemnly, so that we grasp the importance of the I use psychologywith aportion of risk. That is something else, something that

moment), that is Mikhail Tal, Magnus Carlsen and Mecking! That's all. OK, what do they have in common?

Laskerwouldn't allowl

ninningl' And these people's mouths tall open. But I dont have such tremendous talent as Capablanca. No, I dont think so. Apart from the manu-

Because nobody else said it! This is: some chess knowledge, tremendous

But suppose youhad to give an obiective assessment. Which three players were the best three in history?

will-power and tremendous hpnotic

I had some books by Alekhine.

'I think it was Fischer, Kasparov and

(starts laughing)i

These books impressed me very much,

Bronstein. Bronstein had a tremendous chess impact on me. Throughout my chess career I had the feeling that Bronstein was very important for my developmenta Yeah, well, some people are extrembly unlucky in life.

als.

these games. Some of Laskert or Capablanca's games had been too complicated to grasp. What was going on? \t'ith Alekhine it was much easier to understand the game and to imitate itl

INTERVIEW

power. Tremendous hlpnotic power! That forces opponents just to give way

More thanknowledge... 'Yes, it's much more than knowledge. Yeah, that is what I say and it has never

been published, but people will read

it

in mybooki

nnrtn

39

The second session we have on the day that Viktor and Petra Kortchnoi are to fly back to Switzerland. In the morning I happen to talk to Peter Svidler, another citizen of St. Petersburg, on SIVp.. When he asks me what I am up to, I tell him I am to meet Kortchnoi after breakfast, to which Svidler reacts with the words, 'Please sayhello to the

Monsterl The word brings a smile to Kortchnoi's face when I convey Svidler's greeting, but it immediately evaporates when I ask him what he thinks of such nick-

names, in particular the more widespread'Viktor the Terribld?

ro

liked better?

he was presenting his views, how he played cards... Then I see that he was

rm

'Ha!Nol

much higher as a human being than

also means "dreadful'l '

Did youhave other nicknames that you

like Dimitrije Bjelica and the nicki' xi, illr

ii

name he gave me. Secondly, the word is very difficult to translate, this 'terriblel Tsar Ivan the Fourth was called Ivan the Terrible. But this "terrible" is

l&E

r

"mM

m

h ffi

the guy that we consider the Patriarch Talking about history, throughout your chess career you have met many people who werefamous in other spheres...

'When I was very young, I played against a person who was born in 1889. This was grandmaster Levenfish. Later I played aboywho was born

in 1990, Magnus Carlsen. So,let's say this stretches more than one hundred years. That is interesting. Well, I never played against Giri, who was

'I never liked this nickname. First of born in all because it was introduced by a great fan of Karpov's, Dmitrije Bjelica. I dis-

it

cated during the Soviet era, and Levenfish was educated in Tsarist times. If I listened to how he was talking, how

only one aspect of the Russian word,

1994,

but

1990 is also some-

of Soviet

chess,

Botvinnik. Without

chess the Patriarch of chess was

noth-

@

ing special.'

th m

Buthe didn't play cards, I guess. 'He not only didnt play cards, he was also culturally poor. We may say that it is dubious to play cards, but on the

rfu

f, w @fr

other hand, when people are not playing cards, what are they doing? We're talking about Botvinnik. Well,let's say, ' Dr. Euwe was a specialist in mathemat-

thing. Levenfish I visited in his flat

ics. Or let's say,

and he was giving me lectures on the Catalan Opening. In fact, he was the first grandmaster who in a waywas my teacher or tutor. I was full of affection for this person, he was very good. I am abit sceptical about grandmasters edu-

about Capablanca. They say he was a diplomat.I dontbelieve it. I knowthat Alekhine studied jurisprudence, and, since he was married many times he maybe badly needed to use his knowledge (laughs). We are accustomed to'

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INTERVIEW

&

helieving that chess somehow makes p'eople more cultured or, say, that chess

rome time ago was the game of kings. -\nd then the democratization of the norld led to the situation that a floor

views. When in the year 1965I travelled to the Bundesrepublik Germany, they offered me to stay and to help me with the first steps to stay in Germany.

to me. (Without a pause) OK, you had some other questionsl

And they knew who to offer it to. I

eyes.

$reper, the lowest of the low, could

didnt get angry that they suggested

become a very strong player. Something like when Petrosian was quite loung,he would sweep the houses of

that I stay in the West. I delicately and

'I

diplomatically declined the offer. You

chess is the best organized

Lis neighbours. About Botvinnik it ras known that he had worked in elecrotechnics. But we dont know if he reaih- had worked there or whether this

had to mature politically to certain things. Then, in1976,I was thinking, I lost 11 years of normal life. In the year 1965 I was not ready for everything. But I was slowly developing myviews,

World

and in l976lwas ready. In fact, at the

h-as assumed because he was

Champion. That also happened in the

, 1

l I D

But then peoPle might say, what about wurself? ,.}-eah, exactly. Then I say that I stud:ed history in university. Then they ask me what I would be if I was not a ;hess player? I say I would teach chilJren hrstory, somewhere near Alaska. Opposite Alaska, on the other side ot- the sea, there was a forgotten Russian province where people were sent :hat had been punished. I would not ,-le a chess player and have no chance to travel abroad, and one day, for exmessing my not quite pro-Soviet views I r*-ould be sent to this place, which is called Kolema. And there in Kolema I the children history. Of '-ould teach ;ourse I made a mistake. I should not bare gone to study history, I should :ave studied languages. When Stalin r*ras in power, history was very Poor. Er-eryone had to study the history of fre communist party. So I studied one course after the other and I never got f,r1- own independent views on historyl But those you got when you defected to Ite West. I guess that then you tried to ,rquir e We s t er n cultur e? -First of all, when I travelled, I was trav-

dting with open eyes. Comparing languages and looking at features of the of other countries and acfually "rrltures der.eloping new independent views on

ererything. I never had been a prod-

ig5 I mean, I never was a prodigy in chess and never

quickly developed any

likedbest?

certainly liked Holland, because in Hol-

land, better than in any other European country. But that's another story. But where do I like to travel? Well, let's say, I disliked India very much. We have been to Calcutta and there were

so many poor people, beggars! And they are so aggressive! You have to give them money, otherwise anything might happen. So I disliked that country, India, and I dont want to travel there. I would say in Europe, I dont know what would be the best country, but in Europe I made up mymind, the cleverest people are French. When I see the people, and I dont talk French, butwhen I see the people, then I think

:oriet Unionl

a

you were travelling with open Which were the countries that you

You said

the French are the cleverestl

But what do you mean when you soy the French are the cleverest? Because of the food, because they dress well, because they have philosophers?

'Haha. It's difficultto explain, because

I

do not speakFrenchl

end of 1974I made up my mind and decided: I am leaving. But I could not, I had no chance to travel. But I was already talking to some members of my family, my son and mywife. I already knew Orwell's books, and Orwell had shown very clearly that whatever you are doing you should not tell anybody. My son didnt understand that I was doing it as a last resort! I"was going, he didnt understand that. He never, never understood that at that time I was pressed against a wall. There was nothing else for me to do and mywife and son could not understand me! That I had to continue my chess life. I am not a historian and my life is chess and they were goilg to stop me playing chess, so I had tb go. That was clear

INTERVIEW

It\ a general impression you have? 'Yeah, exactly. A general impression. By the way, it is not simple. They do

not talk other languages and when you talk French they dont correct you when you make mistakes. So why should I have such a high opinion of them? That is strange, yeahi

Maybe tf you could understand them you might be very disappointed... 'Hahaha! That might bei Letls return to chess. One

thingyouhave

famous for during the past decodes is your critical attitude towards younger players. Yo,u are very outspoken about them when they appear on the scene. 'It's true, it's true. Yesterday I said to Giri: "You are playing very interestbeen

ing chess. But it seems that you allow

lncnnss et

your opponent to hit you in the face, like a boxer. Some boxers are fighting

without any defence. You hit, I will hit. And some other people prefer to defend themselves and not allow any blow into their face. And I said, maybe you need some change in your chess repertoire?" This was very interesting for him and he immediately started telling his friends. I am looking and I am reading, and I also dis-

like the guy with the double French name...'

envious of them. At their age I played worse than they do. Maybe I am envious. That could be the casel

But did you ever regret what you said to a young player? I've seen it very often after a game that you said something nasty to a player and wondered if you ever regretted your words? '(Thinks) Ah, just a moment. I played

tr F f MIfiII/

against Caruana and it was a strange game (at the NH tournament in Amsterdam in 2008 - DIIG).At that tour-

nament there were no increments. I Vachier-Lagrave?

'OK, Vachier-Lagrave. He plays fantastic chess, but on the other hand he said about Giri, the only thing that Giri did in the tournament in Hoogeveen (see New In Chess 201018), where Giri scored 50o/o, the only success that Giri had was that during the tournament he beat me in table football. This was his only success! What is that? Giri is much younger than the guy, Girihad50o/o..1

Thati a joke. 'But some people react to these dirty jokes!'

But his chess is great? 'Yeah, fantastic. That is another story. I saw some games. I am unable to play this way. But on the other hand I talk sharper and more to the point, I believe (laughs), than him!'

Thinking back, when Anand appeared scene you said that he just playedfor tricks. Lately youie said that

on the

www.ch essi nfo rma nt. rs

education is not that impressive. You have expressed your opinion about young players many times.

Carken\

D o y ou

For FREE shipping by DHL EXPRESS use code:

To return to these rather superficial questions, one of themis, is aknowledge of chess useful in everyday life? 'Haha. I understand. People talk about

it should be taught in school. Th.y believe that a knowledge of chess instils a feeling of objectivity. Not all chess players have this, but in order to develop his talent a chess player has to be objectivei chess and that

There you go: now you have a Frenchman that you understand and he disappoints you. 'Yeah, exactly. But I believe that some people are cleverer than this guy with two namesl

NEWWEBSTORE

lost on time and during the game I saw some expression on his face. So when I lost on time, well not everyone likes this, I said to him that he would never play chess, strong chess. One thing was that I wasnt aware how many successes hed already had! Later I felt sorry that I said it, because what I had seen on his face was connected with his shortage of time. Yeah,I felt some regret.'

chess

follow them extra- critically

?

'(Thinkg for some time, then replies quietly)'Well, maybe in a way I am

NICTW3 VIKTOR KORTCHNOI

Has ithelpedyou? Do you thinkyou can see things in everyday life more objectively thanlcs to the fact that you plny chess? 'That is exactly what I am saying. Ideally this should be the case (laughs).'

You tell me that you forget things. Yesyour wtfe said that if possible you wouldforget your head. Is that because of age or because of being a chess player and thinking about other things? terday

'No, because of age. On the other hand, some things I never forget, because they are a feature of my profes-

sional life. Digits, figures I remember verywell. I onlyhave to see a telephone number, all digits, to know it. That's a feature of my chess life. And other

b6

L E th

tr & E

lta

[E

m

&

1F

ffi d

W

cl

T

-irings, whether I like it or not, I forget, :resumablybecause they are not a fea-

So he

couldfinally

beat

you.

'Yes, so he could beat mel

:.:re of chess lifel

The)' asked you what present you anted for your 80th birthday and tq-r'u Said, I would like to play in a chess '',,,

=ttntament.

1-ah. There is an organizer,Isler, who r. Srriss, and he believes he is the organizer of all the festivities for me. -: asked me where would you like

But now you stillhave 100 ratingpoints more thanhehas. 'Hahahaha. Yes, he is getting older and also losing some rating pointsi So how long

shouldhe wait?

'Exactly. The game he lost and annotated was I think in the year 1991. But something awful happened. If

time I lost on time on move 38. I was thinking for seven minutes and again, whether it was difficult to find a solution or whether my mind got peaceful, I lost on time for the second time. I was very angry, as it was obvious that I was not thinking at that point. She should have offered me a draw Koneru, the

Indian girli But infact you were angry with nature. 'Yes,

with nature, my nature, exactly.

That happened and it is impossible to endure. If it continues I have to stop

plaFng chessl And then what would you do?

'(Immediately) Then for some time I would invite pupils. Pupils have come to me from Switzerland, from other

countries, the United States, from France. Unfortunately some pupils stopped playing chess. Three people, not one! One is |eroen Piket, and the second one is Lautier, also a very strong guy. And the third one is from Israel, Har-Zvi. So, three people who visited my home, who analysed with me for hours and hours, they stopped playing! Muyb. I enriched their views about life in general, I dont knowl

;,- :lar-? And

I said, it is all the same,

New York, whatever. l:=:rr.rmably because he has connec-

.rn[,]scon, Paris, .i;a1-;

:,-

I

rrith Spanish people

:nd a tournament in

n-

he managed

San Sebastianl

iou have any idea till what

age

you

plol tournament chess? ,.. me tell you something. It hap-

w,;:,- to

this continues then it is impossible to continue playing chess. Two times I just fell asleep during a game.

It happened in

a

competition against

girls, at the end of 2009 in Marianske Lazne. Against Muzychuk and against Koneru. With Muzychukitwas a dead drawn position and somehow I got so peaceful and started thinking for about 20 minutes and lost on time

Or, maybe, to return to our talk of yesterday, this is your place in some divine plan? For them. '(Thinks for a while) For them? Yeah, maybe yeah. Something like Lautier expressed in a newspaper, that he is not able ever to play so well, so interestingly as me. So he stoppedi Do youlike this, to be an inspiringforce for other people? 'We11,

I like it, but not if they stop play-

r

:c:ed about almost 2}yearsago. I beat l-.1n ran der Wiel and he annotated ---*-r qfl.rrre and he said, I lost about 10 c:-:les to Kortchnoi and I dont know *:-'.-. I rate him as a nice guy, there is

i-

r-r--hing special. Why do I lose to him? -*--{tor please, keep on plaFng till you

to Petra, she says that I can fall asleep with my eyes open. Difficult to say.

stop playing chess if natureforcesyouto do so? 'Yes, that's what it looks like. If nature forces me, I will have to stop playing

r

r<

That happened once and the second

chess.

tl e

f

S0 r'ears

oldl

around move 281

ing chessi

You did not literally fall aslcep? 'That is difficult to say. When you talk

You

will only

I agree.'

r

e

a

r INTERVIEW

nrwEn

4g

talnet um The circus wos in town. No, thot's not

o euphemism.

An octuol circus - os in lions ond tigers ond clowns - wos ploying in Aix-les-Boins up until the lost doy of the Europeon Chompionship. Not o bod diversion for some ployers following o rough gome in the eleven round slog. Lost yeor's chompion lon Nepomniochtchi wos succeeded by his troiner Vlodimir Potkin who burst owoy with 5 out of 5 ond remoined in the leod till the very Iost round. Mqcquley Peterson reports on o chompionship thot stirred up heoted discussions obout onticheoting meosures ond foir tiebreoks.

While camels and jugglers may provide welcome distraction, there was a real riskthat the Championship would devolve into a circus of another sort, one preoccupied with cheating allegations, and wracked by suspicions of illegal collusion, bordering on paranoia. In a story that we have yet to hear the end of, the up-and-coming French star Sebastian Feller was suspended for using computer assistance at the Khanty-

a

perfect515 at the start.

The scarlet-haired Russian was joined on the impressive score of 8L/z out of 11 by Grandmasters Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland, Judit Polgar of Hungary, and Alexander Moiseenko from Ukraine. The top three finishers all drew their final round games in regrettably but understandably short order, providing little drama at the top.

in a hearing on March

play in the European Championship

Meanwhile, Moiseenko had to fight with Luke McShane of England for his share of first, and only narrowly missed a spot on the podium with one

anyway, causlng much consternation.

of the sleek glass trophies, on the basis

ForturJately, the field of 172 Grandmas-

of a controversial tiebreak. The tiebreak system, in fact, may prove to be the greater story than the

19th. However, since he is actively uppealing the decision, he was allowed to

ters did not fail to produce a worthy

icflEP/:E CE?'fl9s

to

Mansiysk Olympiad by the Disciplinary Committee of the French Chess

Federation

44

quartet of winners, lead by Vladimir Potkin, who in fact never reiinquished a share of first place after jumping out

AIX-tE5-BAINS

It

-..eating allegations surrounding Fel-:. \r'ho finished in 7th place, just a -,-f point behind the winners.

ts

j:.rur€d tiebreak playoff matches to

J d

?rior European Championships

-) iY

)f .o rS f_

rP.

1t

)r ly le ;1S

ry 1e

:.:ermine the qualifiers for the World --:ampionship cycle - in recent .:rs, the World Cup knockout tour..nent, which remains a precursor to :rrnv a Grandmaster's World Cham: - --,nship aspirations. This year, however, the playoff day , =s discarded in favor of a tiebreak :,.ed on'performance rating' with the . -rorving caveat: 'The highest and the . ',,,'est rated opponent will be deleted - ;' the maximum rating difference of .,., -r players shall be 400 points.' For many players, including Peter ---.^ne Nielsen from Denmark, this - :lied that you drop the highest and

lowest rated opponent for the calculation of the average rating, but that the scoring percentage remains unchanged. 'When you drop them also

for the calculation of the percentage score, it suddenly goes completely wrongl Nielsen says. To understand what'performance rating' generally means, take the following example. Two players with the same rating play against the same opponents and score the same number of points. Th.y should therefore have the same performance rating. In the system used in Aix-les-Bains, they dont necessarily. Instead, if one player scored a point against his highest rated opponent, that result would be dropped from the scoring percentage and the'performrance rating' would suffer. If the second player instead /osf

AIX.tES-BAIN5

to the same opponent, and scored

a

lower rated opponent, his or her performance rating would be calculated as higher. Such a result is tragicomically absurd. For Nielsen, there were serious consequences of this tiebreak regulation. In the last round against Ivan Saric (rated 2626) Nielsen made a draw, but that wasnt enough for him to finish among the World Cup qualifiers. It turns out that if Saric had instead had a rating of 2385 (the rating of Nielsen's weakest opponent) or below, Nielsen would have qualified. While the regulation as stated above

point against

a

appears on the tournament website

and in the European Chess Union rules and regulations, Nielsen only learned of the interpretation and its conselluences for his World Cup

nnwEncnrss

ls

medals, I expected an uncompromising battle and an interesting game just what I needed at that moment. 7,.c4 cG 2.d4 d5 3.4f3 AfG 4.Wb3

EA Jt-A gEA

ll

I

llll

A

I

,{ 2l fi L

ue E' U U I

U U

o

The bottom line: 'The system they are

using - the way they implemented it - is not performance ratingi Nielsen argues, and he is not alone in this assessment. Grandmaster Pavel Tregubov, who

EAtr

tre

mu

In recent times I have answered the '

t:l

mlM

choice of this line was not accidental, I decided to change course.

11

Vladimir Potkin dominated the early rounds, then sustained his +5 score, adding one more in a key win with black in Round 10 over the always-

5.495 h6 6.4h4 dxc4 7.wxc4 b5. 8.Wc2 Ab7 9.4c3 I suspect that White chose his piece

!m

set-up at the board. 9.e3 is usually'

pk

dangerous Georgian Baadur |obava. Potkin expected the game to be decisive, since |obava, aside from being an aggressive and risky player, had himself already qualified for the World Cup by finishing second in the 2010 Championship.

preferred.

tg

The performance of the top four finishers was decid edly uncontroversial.

9...4bd7 LO.e

geA rE a ll I rA I I

r ET

AAW

Vlqdimir Potkin

tr

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dllllF r

I

)\ (./)

to be changed or clarified immediately by the ECU.

AA

n q)

AA

€A

Giln

M i@

ta

Erh A

E

Bqqdur Jobovo Aix-les-Boins 20.l

eo nowincnnss

Jls

4...e6

,dnr

SLI.4_DII

European Championship result andl or rating, so their spots went to the 24rh-26th place finishers. In all, just ten of the twenty-eight players who finished with7Vz made the cut.

Ir ilr

5.Wxc4 Ag4, but since myopponent's

regulation'simply ridiculous' and'an incredible error.' He calls for the rule

Peter Svidler and Rauf Mamedovwere already through based on their 2010

fr

modest queen move with 4...dxc4

handles high-level chess and international relations for the French Federation, and was also playing in Aix-lesBains, calls the application of the ECU

Twenty-three qualification spots to this year's World Cup were up for grabs. All the players with 8 or 8/z points qualified, but Vladimir Potkin,

)\ q)

AAAA

AA

l

qualification minutes before the closing ceremony. In another illustration he points out that if Radoslaw Wojtaszek's first two rounds opponents swapped rating - and they differed by only two Elo points - Wojtaszek would have been the European champion ahead of Potkin. As a tiebreaker, this is not very logical.

E

I (.l0)

After an explosive start there followed a series of draws, but I was especially disappointed with the last one, where I was unable to initiate even a semblance of a fight. Therefore, when I was paired in the penultimate round

with the simultaneously strong and aggressive opponent Baadur |obava, I was pleased. Rqalizing that Baadur would be fighting only for one of the

AIX.tES.BAINS

10...wb6 At that moment I was absolutely sure that I knew the correct plan, but in this position it proved to be too audacious. 10...b4 LI.Dla4 Wa5 is more in the spirit of the position, but the immediate 10...Wa5 appeals to me even more.

rgi

Wr!

f*

L7,.Ae2 ah5

tfllli

After making this amusing move quite quickly, I felt very huppy, but Whitet

thu 'mrx

reply came as an unpleasant surprise.

,:rlilll

But if you dont take any risks, you dont get to drink champagne!

Mrl

ilM

15...4dc5 16.trdG

a

rAgr I

White creates

I

A

g

AA

aaAA AA ,lAW

=e

threat, but it obviously

did not come into his plans that the opponent could simply ignore it.

when White has to look for a way to save the game in the ending arising after 22.Wxb4 6b3+ 23.Wxb3 trxb3

24.axb3 Ea8+ 25.A;a4 b5 26.&a2 - apparently that is what

16...0-0 It was not yet too late to

bxa4 27.b4

move the other knight.

he should have played. The dangers of White's position are also demonstrated by the variation 19.fu5 Exa2 20.&xa2 6a+ zt.Wdl Ea8+ 22.&br

17.ads

fub3,when Black wins.

tr

liLds I -,r-as expecting n*

a

19...dxe4 20.axb4 exf3

12.0-0, when af-

12...95 13.493 94

t4.fu5 A*g3

--:htg3 6xe5

16.dxe5 h5 17.a4 Ag7 Bilack achieves a comfortable game.

1:2...Lt4 I did not want to have to :*Teat after the impulsive 12...95 13. 14.fu5. =e6 tre6 lLi}.dxe6 White made this move g;te quickly but during the game I uiEs more afraid of 13.0-0, after which ts,rEck ir.ould have had to make posillr--rnal concessions in order to com-

17...cxdS 18.trxb6 axb6 After the queen sacrifice Black swiftly creates threats ahead of his opponent. White's chief misfortune is that his dark-squared bishop is firing into

21.bxcS

empty space.

Axf:

:t,ete his development.

It does not help to play 2l.AxR

!13...'2xe6 14.0-O-O I:ue to his aggressive style, Baadur

22.bxc5 (22.gxf3 D,d4) 22...Lhs,

=r--loses

when the bishop switches to the deadly diagonal.

the crudest path, letting it be

27....1xe2 22.cG

lr-rrtrn that more modest develop-

ad4

Eent does not come into his plans.

14...eb4

EEI

EG?

-

E:E g

=

rAgr IA

19.a3

After 19.AxbS d4 2O.Wc4 Axe4+

,\

21.&al Black has a strong continuation of the attack in the form of 21...

q_)

g ^aw

Ea3

23.wd3

15=b1 un*e

After 23.cxb7 Black has the knockout blow 23...8a1+, and despite the resource 24.&xal 6xc2+ 25.9b1

rsere both convinced that the di-

:ect 15.Exd7 €xd7 16.6e5+ €e8

elW+ 26.ExeI 6xe1 27.49

l-.ih5 ::n:rse e I

s

:.

u

he should win the endgame without any particular problems, since after 27...

96 18.6xg6 did not workbeof 18...Wc5, but we overlooked

=e cool reply

19.e5. Meanwhile, this

Dxg2 28.&c2 fs 29.b89 Exbs ao.

-r,rv€ changes the picture signifi:;..nttrr-, and it becomes obvious that i,t-h[te succeeds in creating threats to =e

king caught in the centre.

AxUs €f/ he is the first to occupythe important central square. ANAtY,,,S,AGRAM

AIX.tES.BAINS

23.,6xc6

24.13

NEW

INCHIS6

47

.

If 24.Wxe2, then 24...8a4is again decisive.

24,tra4 25.Wd7 Exh4 26.Wxb7

E@

ll

w rA I-

during all the tournament, and I

l E

A I gtr

A

twenty minutes into the game, rather than risk a stab at clear first. 'Of course I wanted to show the spectators some good fighting game, but I already had had big pressure

AA

26...trd4

But not 26...trd8 27.Wxc6 Edt+ 28.&a2 Exht 29.Wc8+ with perpetual check.

NowWhite resigned.

I cant help mentioning the sincere and gentlemanly way that Baadur congratulated me on my win after the game. It is not everyone who is able to retain their composure after a defeat in such an important game. This win regained me one of the leading positions and made me the clear favourite in the leading trio before the last round, thanks to my better rating performance. I should like to thank all those close to me, who supported me throughout the tournament, and I was very pleased to receive numerous congratulations

think they can forgive me for this', he explained.

Aix-les-Boins 201

work as a second of Levon Aronian, and more recently last year's European Champion Ian Nepomniachtchi (who finished in just 48th place this time around). He scored in the middle of the super-strong Russian Championship field last December, which was won by Nepomniachtchi, an event Potkin called'a good exam' that helped prepare him for this victory in A.ix-les-Bains. Potkin's qualification to the World Cup in 2010 took a lot of the pressure off him relative to most of his rivals, which he says made it much easier to play in Aix-1es-Bains. The added desire for many of the competitors to qualify is what makes the European Championship one of the toughest open tournaments in the world. Even with +4 or +5 scores, players cannot rest on their laurels, since they never

know if their competitors will win even more. Each round Potkin faced tough competition from the likes of

Wojtaszek, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, and AndreyVolokitin.

short draw, Wojtaszek had the possibility to press for a win with white in Round 11 to go for sole first, but

throughout the event, Potkin decided to offer a draw on move 12,less than

48 NEwIN

I

Before this round

I was in

was on '+4', so in order to

a fighting mood catch the leaders.

7,.e4

c5 2.4f3

dG

Axd4 AfG 5.6c3

3.d4 cxd4 4. 6.4g5

aG

This came as a surprise to me, because Liviu has never played this line before. 6...eG 7.t4hG 8.4h4 WbG

The Poisoned Pawn connected with ... h6-gh4 is becoming quite trendy

nowadays. I had prepared this line before the European Championship with GM Gajewski, and it brought me two nice victories.

9.9d2

such a notable victory came the realization that there are celebrations that are even rather more significant than a birthday!

final round Potkin faced Polgar, who played solidlp opting for the Nimzo rather than a sharp King's Indian. Considering her strong form

I (9)

Potkin is better known for his

After seeing Polgar-Potkin end in

Remarkably, |udit Polgar and Radoslaw Wojtaszek also won in the penultimate round, moving them to a three-way tie, with 8/10. In the

- 896

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeo nu Rodoslqw Woitoszek

from all around the world. With

III

sr 4.8

a

The Moldovian IM Vedmediuc played against me in Round 2, but he

9.9ff

was in big trouble after 9...Wxb2 10.

trbt Waa 1l.fs Ae7

facing the solid number one seed Peter Svidler he decided not to take any chances, and a draw was agreed after Svidler's offer on move 20 in an even

position. Wojtaszek had never played in a World Cup before, and was pleased to shake offhis disappointing results earlier in the year at the Tata Steel Btournament and the Polish Championship. One of his keywins he scored in a slprp theoretical duel with LiviuDieterNisipeanu.

Atx-tEs-BAtNs

.:

;ill ,E IL d

I m"

E

f ANALYSIS DIAGRAM

It

12.2e2? (he definitely should have plaved l2.fxe6 fxe6 13.4e2 because :orv the inclusion of ...h6-Ah+ fa-,ours Black) 12...6xe4r., and I eventu-

ilh'won that

game quite easily.

EE& I

lal

L12.txe5

yc now we're back in the classical Poir-rned Pawn again.

ll

rA A

trg

line is 12...6fd7.

imil

Sutovsky won a nice game rgainst Alexander Motylev (see New -:: Chess 201017 - ed.) with the line

;:arting with 12...hd5, but during

-:e game I decided that repeating this *:e-ruld be a bit naive, as I was sure that :r1-opponent would be well prepared h

I -r,I

t',

1il.ex6 gxh4

I I

AA

19.Wxd4!? So far we had

I

followed a recent game

20...h3! This is a very important move for

Bromberger-Areschenko, and only

Black's counterplay.

this natural move is a novelty. It didnt come as a big surprise to me, as it was my main move when I analysed this

I dont think Black will survive 20...4cs 21.Wff! Ade zz.trd+. 2L.g3 ad6

after

position. The only problem was that I hadnt checked myanalysis before this game, so I spent about 50 minutes for the next few moves trying to figure

M...95 :dere the old main

Al

A AgA

&A

I I I

ag lEl

9...8xb2 10.trb1 Ba3 11.e5 fteS

I

lt.

out how I should react. In the aforementioned game, 19.fu7+ was played, but Black was more than fine after 19...9d8 20.hxaS Aa0.

19...€d8! 20.Ed1 20.6e7 is not too dangerous for Black, as concrete analysis will show: 20... Wc5 | 2l.6xc8 Exc8 22.trd1 Aaot 23.Wxd6 Wxd6 24.trxd6 Exc2

22.tre4

2s.adl

My opponent spent

Ee8!26.h3 trc6.

a

lot of time on

IC

P rc

d le 0.

L4.=e2 possible is 14.6e4, preventing manoeuYre. On the :,iher hand, White has to sacrifice -,ne more pawn, and after l4...Wxa2 -5.=d1 BdS 16.We3 the position is

-{-[so

:re ...Wa5-g5

-:-lclear.

14...Ha5 15.0-0 ad7 16.€h1 99517.trf4 e5 18.4d5 exd4 Atx-tEs-BAlNs

NEWINCHES6

49

xEiL{

rnove. White had some alterna-

:ril*s- hut I dont think any of them of:k an edge if Black plays accurately.

,L;-er 22.9ga Axf4

B.Axd7

AxdT

:4. g'b6+ (24.6b6 &c7l 25.6xd7 'fl-:;. and the engines actually think .tmlc Black is better, but dont ask me mi esplain why!) 24...&e8 25.Wb4 5,6-i \\'hite has nothing better than a rrFmuon. ,+.ii 22.hbO is met by 22...9c51 I Eb2 €c7r.24.6xd7 trd8 25.6xc5 I:rit- 26.4xd1 Wxc5, and after a senffi .rt- strong moves Black has a good gErEe-

,DL..--e8 23.4b6 .L-er 23.Exe8+ €xe8 24.6b6 Ac5! -'= Be4+

*fS zo.axa8 Axf6 Black compensation for the

s6-"r great 4f--:rflnge.

A-..'=xe4 24.Wxe4 WcS

28.We2+? White should still have tried to exchange queens with 28.Wda! Wxda 29.trxd4 Acs 3o.Ec4 &de 31.Ef4!, when he should hold, for instance 3r...6ga32.trxtr Dlf2+ 33.&91 Ae6 34.Hg7r. (34.trxb7?? would lose to 34...6e4+ 3s.ghl Ads) 34...694+, because Black has nothing better than perpetual check.

28...Ae6 29.Axb7 ag4 30.trf1

e:,'es Black an edge.

had already reached mutual time:-,uhie and I was happywith myposi:rJE. because it is much easier to play ,n*c

The engines very quickly told me that 3 1... Ae5! was winning, and only then

0)xh2, because now there is no pin on the e-file and the knight can jump back to 94.

32.HgL?

:r:ractice. r-:onger for White was 26.Wc41,

Returning the favour. White had a last chance to hold with the unex-

I should probably play26...&e7

pected 32.Eelt €f8, and now 33. We3 Wb+ 34.Wh6+ €e7 35.Exe6+! fxe6

,uEen

:-

i-b6 Wxb6 28.Wxc8 Dle429.trf1 "--r:- 30.€g1 6ga+ 31.€hl 6-sf2+,

-,w-:-h a

draw.

fr...xe7 27.4f3 h5

III Polgar took the bronze, in her first bid for the European title since the 2001

Polgar played'freely' as she put it,

l.-