A. Grischuk - B. Grachev
Sicilian Defense: Paulsen Variation (B46)
We will start off with the tournament winner's game mentioned in his interview. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. f3 Nf6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. e5 Nd5 9. Ne4 Already off the we—beaten path. The analogous position know to theory has the white pawn on f2, and the black on a7. 9... Qb6 10. c4 Ne3
[After 10... Bb4+ 11. Ke2 black can no longer play Ba6, on the other hand he can play the knight to e3.]
11. Qd3 Bb4+ 12. Bd2
12... Кf1
[Better would have been maintaining pressure with 12... O-O , leading to a complicated game.]
13. Лf1 Сd2 14. Фd2 O-O
The exchange of minor pieces has brought a clear advantage for white due to the appearance of the intimidating knight. 15. c5 Фc7 16. f4 a5 17. Лf3 Лb8 18. Лg3 Крh8 19. O-O-O Лb4 20. Фe3 Фb8 21. Лd2 Лc4 22. Крb1 Фb4 23. a3 Фb8 24. Кd6 Сa6
Black is eager to gain back some quality, but Alexander Grischuk finds a chance to gracefully bring the game to an end. 25. f5! ef 26. Лg7! f4 27. Фh3! Крg7 28. Кf5 Крh8 29. Фh6 [1:0]
I. Nepomniachtchi - E. Najer
English Opening (E20)
1. c4 e5 2. g3 Кf6 3. Сg2 Кc6 4. Кc3 Сc5 5. Кf3 d6 6. O-O a6 7. e3 Сa7 The retreat of the bishop dampens the impact of the d2-d4 advance, but as we shall see, white has something entirely different in mind. 8. b3 O-O 9. Фc2 Лe8 10. Сb2 Leaving the pawn on d2, white is aiming to get the bishop on a7 out of play. At this time white's bishop exerts palpable force on his opponent's position. This influence would be made especially felt after the maneuver Nh4 followed by f2-f4. 10... Сd7
[It should be noted that Ian had already managed to pull off a similar opening/middlegame strategy. Nepomniachtchi – Stocek Porto Carras 2011 continued 10... h6 11. Nh4 Nb4 12. Qb1 Qe7 13. a3 Nc6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. cxd5 Nb8 16. f4 Nd7 17. Nf5 Qf8 18. Qc2 Bb6 19. Rf2 f6 20. Raf1, and white exerted tremendous pressure on the kingside.]
11. Кh4
11... g5 Not liking the direction the game was going, black makes a drastic decision, reminding us of Bronstein's expression of trying to “dowse the fire with gasoline.”
[An interesting development was seen in the game Rakhmanov - Nesterovich Plovdiv 2012: 11... h6 12. a3 Rb8 13. Nd5 Nh7 14. f4 exf4 15. Rxf4 Ne5, and here white missed the chance to immediately decide the game with 16. Bxe5! (the game saw the less convincing 16. d4 Ng4 17. Rxf7! Ng5 also with advantage to white.) 16... Rxe5 17. Rxf7! and thee is no convenient defense against the repeated rook sacrifice on g7.]
12. Кf5 Фc8 13. Кe4 Кe4 14. Сe4 Кe7 15. Кe7 Лe7
Not getting sidetracked with capturing the h7 pawn. After dissecting the game the difference between black and white's pieces becomes decisive. 16... gf 17. gf f6 18. Лf3 Крh8 19. Крh1 Лg7 20. fe fe 21. d4! Фe8 22. de de 23. Лaf1 Сc5 24. Фc3 Лg5 Black holds on with his last strength.
25. b4! he necessity of defending both the e5 and f8 squares prevents the bishop on c5 from retreating. 25... Сc6
[Or 25... B 26. c5 Be7 27. Qxe5+! Rxe5 28. Bxe5+ with mate soon to follow]
26. Сc6 Фc6
27. Фe5! A brilliant finish.
[Crudely grabbing the piece with 27. bxc5 allowing 27... Qe4! fails to reach the mark as white's pieces are all tied down.]
27... Лe5 28. Сe5 Крg8 29. Лg1 [1:0]
М. Vavulin - А. Morozevich
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation (C07)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Кd2 c5 4. Кgf3 cd 5. ed Фd5 6. Сc4 Фd8 7. O-O a6 8. Кb3 Фc7 9. Фd4
[9. Qe2 with Nbxd4 looks more natural. After the move in the game the white queen starts wandering awkwardly across the board.]
9... Кc6 10. Фf4 Сd6 11. Фg4 Кe5 12. Кe5 Сe5 13. h3 Кf6 14. Фe2 b5 15. Сd3 Сb7 16. Лe1
The black bishop is aimed at the kingside. In brilliant fashion Alexander Morozevich breaks open the king's position. 16... Фc6! 17. Фf1 Сc7! 18. Сd2 Фd6! 19. f4 O-O 20. a3 Лfd8 21. Крh2 Сd5 22. Кc1 Кe4 23. Сe3 e5! The black bishop is aimed at the kingside. In brilliant fashion Alexander Morozevich breaks open the king's position. 24. g3
[A tougher defense was 24. Ke2]
24... Кg3! The positional piece sacrifice forces the white king to go for a trip. It's already unlikely that white's position is salvageable. 25. Крg3 Фh6 26. fe Сe5 27. Крf2 Фh4 28. Крe2 Сb2 29. Лb1 Сc3 30. Лb4 Сc4 31. Фf2 Фh5 32. Крf1 Фh3 33. Крg1 Сe1 34. Фe1 Лe8 35. Крf2 Лe6 36. Сc4 bc 37. Лc4 Лae8 [0:1]
E. Kovalevskaya - V. Gunina
Zukertort Opening: Queen Pawn defense (A06)
Moving on to the women's superfinal, we take a look at second place winner Valentina Gunina's game, in which she managed a classic treatment of the Isolated queen pawn position. 1. Кf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Сg2 Сg4 4. d4 e6 5. Кbd2 Кd7 6. O-O Сd6 7. e4 Кe7 Developing the knight to e7 allows black to maintain tension in the center. Exchanging the pawn on e4, in some way or another activates the bishop on g2. 8. c4 O-O 9. Фb3 Лb8 10. Лe1 Сc7 11. cd White is the first to define the situation in the center, accepting the isolated pawn on d4. However, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya is adept at playing the isolani 11... cd 12. ed Кd5 13. Кc4 Сh5 Anticipating the posting of the white knight on e5. 14. Сg5 К7f6 15. Лac1 h6 16. Сd2
16... Кe7! In Nimzovich fashion black isn't blockading, but goes on a headhunt for the d-pawn. 17. Кce5 Кf5 18. Сb4 Лe8 19. Лed1 Сf3 Practically all piece exchanges, as a rule, favor the side playing against the isolated pawn. 20. Nxf3 Bd6 21. Be1 avoiding the exchange 21... Кd5 22. Кe5 The “ritual dances" of the black knight threw off white, allowing a tactical oversight.
22... Кd4! 23. Лd4 Сe5 24. Лd3 Фf6 25. Сd5 ed 26. Лd5 Сb2 Black comes out a pawn up, which is to be methodically realized. 27. Лcd1 Лe2 28. Л5d2 Лd2 29. Сd2 Сd4 30. Сe3 Сe3 31. Фe3 a6 32. Фe4 b5 33. Крg2 Фb2 34. Фd5 Лe8 35. Лd3 Фf6 36. Фb7 Фg6 37. Лf3 Лe6 38. a3 Лf6 39. Лf6 Фf6 40. h4 h5 Winning the queen endgame is no longer difficult, since the sound position of the black king will make for the smooth advance of a passed pawn on the queenside. On move 65 white quit resisting. [0:1]
E. Kovalevskaya - D. Drozdova
French Defense: Classical Variation (C14)
In the next game, the world finalist was able to get “strategic revenge.”. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Кc3 Кf6 4. Сg5 Сe7 5. e5 Кfd7 6. Сe7 Фe7 7. f4 a6 8. Кf3 c5 9. dc Кc6 10. Сd3 Фc5 11. Фd2 b5 12. Фf2 A blot that occasionally shows up in the games of gifted players. So it was in Stalberg – Alekhine Varshava 1935, which went 12.Qf2?! Bb7?! etc. The problem is that black has the move 12...Qb4! With a combined attack on b2 and f4.
[More accurate was the play in the classic game Rauzer – Lilienthal Tbilisi 1937 12. a3! Bb7 13. Qf2 Rc8 14. Ne2 Qxf2+ 15. Kxf2 Nc5 16. Ned4 with an advantageous endgame for white.
12... Фf2 13. Крf2 b4 14. Кe2 Крe7 15. Кed4 Кd4 16. Кd4 Сb7
The position arising would be fully satisfactory for black if he could have exchanged the knights and had his b-pawn not on b4, but back at b6. With the next move Kovalevskaya capitilizes on black's weaknesses. 17. a3! a5 18. Лa2! A subtle maneuver. 18... Кc5 19. ab ab 20. Лha1 Лa2 21. Лa2 Лa8 22. Лa8 Сa8
23. b3! Points out the weakness of the pawn on b4 and the ability of white to create a passed pawn on the b-file by a c2-c3 break. Of course the main disadvantage of black's position is his passive “French” bishop. 23... h6 24. Крe3 f6 25. Кf3 Сc6 26. Крd4 Кd7 27. Сa6 Крd8 28. Кe1 fe 29. fe Кb8 30. Сe2 Сe8 31. Крc5 The black king walks along the weak black squares like a knife through butter. 31... Кd7 32. Крd6 Кf8 33. Кd3 Сb5 34. Сg4 Сd7 35. Кb4 Крe8 36. Кd3 [1:0]
Girya - Mirzoeva
Caro-Kann Defense: Exchange Variation (B13)
We conclude our review with a game in which the methodical centralization of white's pieces culminated in a direct attack on the king. 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. ed cd 4. Сd3 Кc6 5. c3 Фc7 6. h3 Black denied the white bishop the f4 square, in return white takes the g4 square from the bishop on c8. 6... g6
[An interesting alternative was 6... e5]
7. Кf3 Кf6 8. O-O Сg7 9. Лe1 O-O 10. Фc2 Кh5 11. Сe3 a6 12. Кbd2 Кf4 13. Сf4 Фf4 14. Лe3 Сd7 15. Лae1 Фd6 16. Кe5 White has acted with more resolve, and has earned the more preferable position 16... Лfe8
[In case of 16... Ne5 17. dxe and white's knight will eventually head to the d4 square.]
17. Кdf3 Сh6 18. Л3e2 Лac8 19. Кc6 Сc6 20. Кe5 Сg7
21. h4! The pawn thrust of the edge pawn breaks open the king's position. 21... b5 22. a3 Сf6 23. h5 Крg7 24. hg hg
25. Кf7! “In such positions, combinations are as natural as a baby's smile!”- Robert Fine 25... Крf7 26. Сg6 Крf8 27. Фf5 Сd7
28. Лe6! White's attack develops on the white squares, and with quiet moves. Black has no defense. 28... Крg7 29. Сh5! Сe6 30. Лe6 Фe6
[or 30... Qc7 31. Qg4+ Kh7 32. Bf7 with an inevitable mate.]
31. Фe6 Лf8 32. Фd5 Лcd8 33. Фe4 Лd6 34. Фg6 Крh8 35. Фh6 Крg8 36. Сg6 Лfd8 37. Фh7 [1:0]