GM Mikhail Golubev annotates games


Shirov, Alexei (2740) - Ivanchuk, Vassily (2740)
Aerosvit-2008 (Foros), 06/16/2008

Round 8 [D85]


A surprising opening choice from Ivanchuk: he plays the Gruenfeld Defence, in which Shirov is considered to be a great expert. Shirov responds with a 5.Bd2 line. Strangely looking 8.Bb5 is in fact the main move. The idea is that 8...a6 weakens the b6 knight (this is important in some lines) while 8...c6 abandons the idea ...Nc6. As it seems after 11.Bd4 White is slightly better. But Ivanchuk managed to develop some counterplay and stands OK after 18...Nb4. After Black's 28th move White started to play carelessly, and Shirov's 32nd move was a direct blunder after which Ivanchuk won a game with a nice 32...Rd3!.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Bg7 6.e4 Nb6 7.Be3 O-O 8.Bb5 Qd6 9.Nge2 c6 10.Bd3 e5 11.dxe5 Qxe5 12.Bd4 Qe7 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Bc2 Rd8 15.Qc1 Na6 16.O-O Be6 17.Nf4 Bc4 18.Re1 Nb4 19.a3 Nxc2 20.Qxc2 Qf6 21.Nce2 Rd7 22.b3 Ba6 23.Rad1 Rad8 24.g3 Qe5 25.f3 Kg8 26.a4 h5 27.Kf2 Rd6 28.Qc3 Nd7 29.Rxd6 Qxd6 30.Rc1 Ne5 31.h4 Qf6 32.b4 Rd3 33.Nxd3 Qxf3+ 34.Kg1 Bxd3 35.Qxe5 Qe3+ 36.Kh2 Qxe2+


0-1

Svidler, Peter (2746) - Karjakin, Sergey (2732)
Aerosvit-2008 (Foros), 06/16/2008

Round 8 [E12]


The Petrosian's System 4.a3 in the Queen's Indian Defence. Position after 13.Bb2 is well known, but then opponents deviated from the main theory. By playing 15.Nd2 Svidler transposed to the game Kasparov-Kramnik, Linares 2004. 15...Nb8 is a novelty (Kramnik played 15...Nf6 instead). 16.d5!? exd5 17.exd5 Rxd5 18.c4 Rg5 19.Nf3 Rh5 could have led to some complications, but Svidler played 16.Nc4 with the ideš of 16...Nc6?! 17.d5!. After 16...Ba6 Svidler played 17.d5! anyway (not good was 17.Rac1 Bg5 18.Rc2? b5!). A very interesting, sharp play started. White developed the initiative on the kingside. Maybe Karjakin could have tried 24...Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 h5 26.Qg5 (26.Qxh5?! gxf6 27.Ng4 Bc3!) 26...Nh7 27.Qe5 Qxe5 28.Bxe5 with a not so clear ending. But there is nothing wrong with his move, 24...Rd2!?. Svidler's 27.h3!? is an interesting decision: in a sharp position White calmly prepares escape for his king. After 32.e5 Karjakin maybe could have tried a risky 32...Nf4, though 33.Nf6+ looks dangerous. One move later, 33...Qg3!? deserved serious attention. The game ended in a draw by repetition of moves in the mutual time trouble. An interesting deviation was 37.Qf3 with the approximate line 37...Nd3 38.Bxc5 (38.Bxd3 cxd3 39.Qf7 Qxf2+! 40.Qxf2 Bxf2+ 41.Kxf2) 38...Qxc5 39.Qf7 Qf8 (39...gxh6? 40.Qf6+ Kg8 41.Bxd3 cxd3 42.Qxe6+) 40.Qxe6 (40.Bxd3 cxd3 41.Qxe6 Bc4!) 40...Qxf2+ 41.Kh1 Qxg2+ 42.Kxg2 Nf4+, etc.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Qc2 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 9.e4 Nd7 10.Bd3 c5 11.O-O Qc7 12.Qe2 O-O 13.Bb2 Rfd8 14.Rfd1 Rac8 15.Nd2 Nb8 16.Nc4 Ba6 17.d5 b5 18.Ne3 c4 19.Bc2 Nd7 20.a4 b4 21.dxe6 fxe6 22.cxb4 Bxb4 23.Qg4 Nf8 24.Bf6 Rd2 25.Rab1 Ba5 26.Rxd2 Bxd2 27.h3 Qf7 28.Be5 Ng6 29.Bd6 Qf6 30.Qe2 Ba5 31.Ng4 Qc3 32.e5 Bb6 33.Bb4 Qd4 34.a5 Bc5 35.Rd1 Nf4 36.Nh6+ Kh8 37.Nf7+ Kg8 38.Nh6+ Kh8 39.Nf7+ Kg8 40.Nh6+


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Van Wely, Loek (2676) - Volokitin, Andrei (2684)
Aerosvit-2008 (Foros), 06/16/2008

Round 8 [D56]


The Queen's Gambit Decilned. Again Volokitin plays the Lasker Variation with 7...Ne4, which he already used in the Round 4 against Shirov. All moves up to 17.0-0 were played by Van Wely very quickly. Still, nothing new so far. But the next Black's move, 17...a5, seems to be new. After 20.a3 White has a minimal advantage. 24...Nf6?! was a wrong move, after which White achieved a big advantage.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 c6 10.Bd3 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 Nd7 12.Qc2 dxc4 13.Bxc4 b6 14.Bd3 c5 15.Bh7+ Kh8 16.Be4 Rb8 17.O-O a5 18.Rd1 Bb7 19.Bxb7 Rxb7 20.a3 Rc8 21.b4 axb4 22.axb4 Rbc7 23.Rc1 c4 24.Qa4 Nf6 25.Ne5 Ra7 26.Qb5 Qe8 27.Qxb6 Qa4 28.Rxc4 Rxc4 29.Nxc4 Nd5 30.Qb8+ Kh7 31.Ne5 Nc3 32.Re1 Qa2 33.h4 Ne4 34.Rf1 Nd2 35.Rc1 Ne4 36.Nd3 Ra3 37.Qb7 Nd6 38.Qc6 Rxd3 39.Qxd6 Qd2 40.Rf1 h5 41.Qe7


1-0

Alekseev, Evgeny (2711) - Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter (2684)
Aerosvit-2008 (Foros), 06/16/2008

Round 8 [B83]


The Sicilian Scheveningen, which Nisipeanu uses as Black quite often. 9.Qd2 e5 is, generally, a sideline. 13...Nb4 is a new move (in the game Chiburdanidze-Kupreichik, Frunze 1985 Black tried 13...Rc8). After 14.Bxd6 Rc8 Black hardly has enough for a pawn. Gradually Nisipeanu regained the pawn, but got a worse ending. Nisipeanu had chances for a draw, but misplayed the endgame. For example, instead of 28...Nf6 better was 28...Nc5. Eventually, White won.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.f4 Be7 7.Be3 O-O 8.Be2 Nc6 9.Qd2 e5 10.Nb3 a5 11.a4 exf4 12.Bxf4 Be6 13.O-O-O Nb4 14.Bxd6 Rc8 15.Bf3 Nd7 16.Kb1 Bxd6 17.Qxd6 Bxb3 18.cxb3 Nc5 19.Qxd8 Rfxd8 20.Nd5 Nxd5 21.exd5 Nxb3 22.d6 Nc5 23.Rhe1 Kf8 24.Be2 Ne4 25.d7 Rc5 26.Bb5 Re5 27.g4 Re6 28.Kc2 Nf6 29.Rxe6 fxe6 30.Rd6 Ke7 31.Rb6 Rb8 32.d8=Q+ Kxd8 33.g5 Rc8+ 34.Kd3 Kc7 35.Rxe6 Nd5 36.Ke4 Nb6 37.Re7+ Kd6 38.Rxg7 Rc2 39.Rxh7 Rxb2 40.Rh6+ Kc5 41.g6 Nc8 42.Ke5 Rg2 43.h4 Nd6 44.Kf6 Kd4 45.Rh5 Ne4+ 46.Kg7 Rc2 47.Kh6 Rh2 48.g7 Nf6 49.Rf5 Ng8+ 50.Kh7 Ne7 51.Rh5


1-0

Carlsen, Magnus (2765) - Onischuk, Alexander (2664)
Aerosvit-2008 (Foros), 06/16/2008

Round 8 [E05]


For the third time in the tournament, a move 10...Bd6!? in the main line of the Catalan Opening is discussed. Carlsen introduces a novelty, 11.Be3!?. As it seems, after 14...e5 Black equalised. Five moves later Carlsen sacrificed a pawn for the initiative, but hardly it can be particularly dangerous for Black. Carlsen could have played 21.Re4, but then 21...Qf3 is good for Black (not 21...f5?? 22.Qd5+! and wins). After 22.Be5 White is fighting for equality. Instead of 22...Bxe5 deserved attention 22...Qf5!?, provoking 23.g4. After 24.Rae1 Carlsen is threatening with 25.Qxa8!. Instead of 24...g6?! better was 24...Qd6!. After 25.Rd5! bad for Black is 25...Qf3? 26.Nd2 Nd4 27.Qc5 Ne2+ 28.Kh2, and he loses a piece. So, Onischuk was forced to play 25...Qc4 with equality.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Bd6 11.Be3 Nbd7 12.Nbd2 Qe7 13.Nb3 Be4 14.Qc1 e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Bxg2 17.Nc6 Bxc6 18.Qxc6 Ng4 19.Bd4 Qxe2 20.Rfe1 Qd3 21.h3 Nh6 22.Be5 Bxe5 23.Rxe5 Nf5 24.Rae1 g6 25.Rd5 Qc4 26.Rc5 Qd3 27.Rd5 Qc4 28.Rc5 Qd3 29.Rd5


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Eljanov, Pavel (2687) - Jakovenko, Dmitry (2711)
Aerosvit-2008 (Foros), 06/16/2008

Round 8 [D53]


7.cxd5!? in the Queen's Gambit Declined is a very rare line. Maybe Jakovenko could have tried 13...e4!? but he followed the path of the game Van der Sterren-Andersson, Wijk aan Zee 1987. Eljanov's 15.Qa4 is a novelty which hardly changes the assessment of the line: approximate equality. After the White's 24th move a draw was agreed.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 Nxc3 10.Rxc3 c6 11.g3 Nd7 12.Bg2 e5 13.O-O exd4 14.Nxd4 Nf6 15.Qa4 Rd8 16.e3 Bg4 17.b4 a6 18.Qa5 Qd7 19.Rfc1 Bh3 20.Bf3 Bg4 21.Bg2 Bh3 22.Bf3 Bg4 23.Bh1 Be6 24.R3c2


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