Nakamura best game: Gelfand-Nakamura 2010 King's Indian Defense

 

Gelfand-Nakamura best game 2010

Hikaru Nakamura 

Caruana-Carlsen 2018 Game 1 World Chess Championship London- Chess Analysis

Caruana-Carlsen 1/2-1/2 World Chess Championship (1) London 2018 Full Annotations Nov 9, 2018
please note the game went to move 115 but the position was dead draw after move 56

also available here
chessbase : Caruana-Carlsen-wch(1) 2018 annotated.html

Caruana wins 14th round. Will play World Championship against Carlsen in November 2018. Grischuk-Caruana 0-1 analysis

Grischuk-Caruana (14) Candidates 2018 Analysis March 27, 2018 0-1

Caruana will challenge Magnus Carlsen for World Chess crown in November 2018. also available here
chessbase : Grischuk-Caruana-annotated.html

Sicilian Taimanov Theory against 6 Be3 7 Qd2 attack

Sicilian Taimanov Theory against 6 Be3 7 Qd2 attack based on Akopian-Cramling

Key position

Analysis in pgn here

http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2018/1/7/Game83885687.html

game 4 key moments

Position 1 after 17Nd3;Black to play

Karjakin

Carlsen

Carlsen just played 17Nd3

Solid position for white, controlling center and d5 square.

Karjakin tried to attack with..h5 

Position 2 after 34Nb5, Black to play

Karjakin

Carlsen

Here Black should play 34..Ra1 and its not clear what White should do. 35 Ra1 or 35 Kh1 waiting;
Instead 34..Rb3?! ran into 35 Nd4 forking Rook and Queen. White gains the exchange while still being in control

Black to play after 48 Kh1

Karjakin

Carlsen

Here Black played  48..Qf2?? which ran into 49Rc8+ Kh7 50 Qh6+!! Kh6 51 Rh8 Checkmate or gh6 51 Rf7 Checkmate

Black had to exchange queens but ending is riskless for white. The critical mistake was to sacrifice the exchange on move 34; 34..Ra1 was the only way to keep the game going for Black.

The final combination is easy to spot, and it is possible Karjakin saw it but went for anyway.

game 2 key moment Carlsen-Karjakin

Position I after 19 Ra4, Black to play

Karjakin

 Carlsen

Karjakin played Bxe3. Magnus could recapture with 20 Re3 to protect pawn on e4.

Instead he went for 20 Be3!? Ra4 21 Qa4 Ne4 Karjakin takes the pawn 22 Rc1 Bd5 23 b5 !?

Here's the second key position, Black to play 23.. move

Karjakin

Carlsen

Karjakin went for 23..cb5 24 Qe4! Qc1 25 Qd5 which led to the 2 bishops versus rook ending with 3 pawns each.

If black had played 23..Nd6 White could play 24 b6 Qb7 25 Qb4 with some pressure. nothing clear though

23..Qd6 was possible, not sure if white should take on c6 or play for advantage 24b6.

23..c5? was bad since white could play 24Bc4! getting rid of the black bishop or 24Ng5!?

Karjakin decision led to an ending which was better for white. but in the position below , Carlsen failed to find  ( in rapid game with little time left) Be6+ followed by Bf8 which was leading to a win

Position after 72..Rb7?

He played 73 Bd6 but eventually Karjakin found a very nice save via a stalemate idea.

game 5 Carlsen-Karjakin analysis ( PGN) + Replay Game !!

Full Game 5 + Analysis on this link:

http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2016/11/17/Game5033562.html

Position 1: Karjakin played ..Ne4. 
Should White play Ne4 or Bbf7+ first ?
(Answer in link above or PGN below)

Position 2: White( Carlsen) took on d4 with his queen after Karjakin sacrificed d5-d4 to open lines.
Should Karjakin with Black play ..Qh6, ..Rh8 or ..Bd5 ?
Answer in link above

Position 3 : Carlsen played e5-e6; what is his idea, and was Kg3 instead possible ?

PGN here

[Event "WCh 2016"]
[Site "New York USA"]
[Date "2016.11.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "thechesscorner@gmail.com"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 d6 7. c3 a6 8. b4 ({
Relevant:} 8. h3 Ba7 9. Re1 Ne7 10. d4 Ng6 11. Bd3 c6 12. Be3 Nh5 13. Nbd2 Nhf4
14. Bf1 exd4 15. Bxd4 Bxd4 16. cxd4 d5 17. e5 f6 18. Ra3 fxe5 19. dxe5 a5 20.
Qc1 Qe7 21. Rb3 Bf5 22. Nd4 Ne6 23. Nxf5 Rxf5 24. Bd3 Rf4 25. Bxg6 hxg6 26. Qd1
Raf8 27. Rf3 Qb4 28. Rxf4 Rxf4 29. Nf3 Qxa4 30. Qd3 Rf5 31. Qb1 Qf4 32. Qc2 Kh7
33. Re3 Qc4 34. Qd1 Rf4 35. Rc3 Qb4 36. Qc1 a4 37. h4 Kg8 {Nepomniachtchi,I 
(2740)-So,W (2782) Baku 2016 0-1}) 8... Ba7 9. Re1 Ne7 10. Nbd2 Ng6 11. d4 {
Diagram [#]} c6 (11... Re8 $5 12. Qc2 (12. Qb3 Re7 13. h3 exd4 14. cxd4 d5) (
12. h3)) (11... h6 12. h3) (11... Nxe4 $6 12. Nxe4 d5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. dxe5
dxc4 (14... dxe4 15. Bd5) 15. Qh5) 12. h3 exd4 $146 ({Predecessor:} 12... Re8
13. Bd3 Be6 14. b5 axb5 15. axb5 Nf4 16. Bf1 cxb5 17. Nb1 Bc4 18. Bxf4 exf4 {
1/2-1/2 (18) Serazeev,A (2490)-Szczepanski,Z (2541) ICCF email 2014}) 13. cxd4
{Diagram [#]} Nxe4 $5 (13... d5 $5 14. exd5 Nxd5 (14... cxd5 15. Bd3 Nf4 16.
Nb3) 15. Ne4 Bf5 16. Bg5 Qd7) 14. Bxf7+ $5 (14. Nxe4 {was probably better} d5
15. Bd3 dxe4 16. Bxe4 Be6 17. b5) 14... Rxf7 15. Nxe4 d5 16. Nc5 h6 17. Ra3 $5
{like in Chennai} Bf5 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qh4 20. Rf3 Bxc5 21. bxc5 Re8 22.
Rf4 Qe7 23. Qd4 Ref8 24. Rf3 Be4 25. Rxf7 Qxf7 26. f3 Bf5 27. Kh2 Be6 28. Re2
Qg6 29. Be3 Rf7 30. Rf2 Qb1 31. Rb2 Qf5 32. a5 $6 (32. f4 h5 33. Qc3) 32... Kf8
33. Qc3 Ke8 34. Rb4 g5 35. Rb2 Kd8 36. Rf2 Kc8 37. Qd4 Qg6 38. g4 h5 $1 $15 39.
Qd2 Rg7 40. Kg3 Rg8 41. Kg2 $2 hxg4 42. hxg4 (42. fxg4 Qe4+ 43. Kg1 Rh8 $17)
42... d4 $5 (42... Qh6 43. Kg1 Qh3 44. Qe2 d4 45. Bxd4 Rf8 $40) 43. Qxd4 {
Diagram [#]} Bd5 $2 (43... Rh8 $1 {the best move} 44. Qe4 (44. Qc3 Qh7 $1 45.
Kf1 Qb1+ $1 46. Ke2 Qb5+ 47. Kd2 Rh1) 44... Qh6 $1 45. Kf1 Qh1+ 46. Ke2 Qa1 {
missed by Karjakin} (46... Rd8 47. Rf1 Qh4) (46... Bd5 $5 47. Qf5+ Kb8 48. Qd3
Qa1 $1 49. Qd4 Qa2+ 50. Bd2 Kc8 51. Ke3) 47. Bxg5 Bd5 48. Qf5+ Kb8) (43... Qh6
44. Qc3 Bd5) 44. e6 $1 {Diagram [#]} (44. Kg3 {was possible} Qb1 45. Qd2 Qg1+
46. Rg2 Qf1 47. Rf2 Qg1+ $11) 44... Qxe6 45. Kg3 $1 Qe7 (45... Kb8) 46. Rh2 Qf7
47. f4 gxf4+ 48. Qxf4 Qe7 49. Rh5 Rf8 50. Rh7 $1 (50. Rf5 Re8 $1 51. Bf2 Qd8
52. Re5 Rf8 53. Rf5 Rh8 54. Rh5 Rf8 55. Rf5 $11) 50... Rxf4 51. Rxe7 Re4 $6 (
51... Re4 $6 52. Rxe4 Bxe4 53. Kf4 Bd3 54. Ke5 Kd7 55. Kf6 Ke8 56. g5 Bc4 57.
g6 Kf8 58. Bh6+ Ke8 59. Bf4 Kf8) (51... Rf3+ $1 52. Kh4 Bb3) 1/2-1/2

Paste here to replay

http://chesstempo.com/pgn-viewer.html

Game of the Month : Karjakin-Kramnik Nov 2010 . Attack!

Click = to pause. Click again to resume
Click the E2 Square for slower replay
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Design by pgn4web - Paolo Casaschi
http://pgn4web.casaschi.net/home.html

Comments on variations to the game itself featuring a piece sac 15.Be2!

12..Nc4 13 Ne6 !? instead of 13 Qd3 played in Gashimov-Gelfand 2010. Kramnik goes for the novelty 12..Bf5

15..hg5 16 hg5 Qd7 17 g4 Bg6 18 Rdg1 followed by 18 f4 is strong for White therefore Black declined the sacrifice

17..Nc4 would has been followed by 18 Bc4 dc4 19 Qf2!? Qa5 20 f5! with attack on column h

21 Qc4!? Qd5! 22 Bd3 Qc4 23 Bc4 Be7 24 g5!?

22 ..Bh4! 23 Bd3 Bf6! is much better than the game. 22..b5!? 23 Qc6 Re2 was better than the game

23..Qd5 24 Qc3 Qb5 25 gh6 with advantage. 23..b5!?

Attack and Counter-Attack ( Difficult)

Black to play

Both sides went for the attack. Black ( who eventually was crowned world champion !) to play. Only a careful review of candidate moves followed by concrete variations can guide you through the solution. Good luck!

Carlsen-Kramnik Blindfold Brilliancy (10)

Another brilliant game at Amber, this time Vladimir Kramnik produced a blindfold masterpiece !

[Event "Amber Blind"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen,M"]
[Black "Kramnik,V"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Ba5 8.O-O Bb6 9. d5? Nb4 10. Qd2 exd5 11. cxd5?! Ng4! 12. Bb1 Qh4 13. Qf4 f5! 14. exf5Bxf5 15. h3 Bxf2+ 16. Kh1 Bd7 17. Qg5 Bc5! 18. Rxf8+ Rxf8 19. Ng1 Rf1! 20.Bxh7+ Kh8 0-1

After 13..f5!


Comments :

5 e4 !? is a interesting attempt to deviate from main lines of 4 Qc2

7..Ba5!? Kramnik relocating the bishop to b6 to attack d4

7 Nf3 instead of 7 Nge2 has the advantage of controlling h4, which was a factor in the game

8 a3!? to prevent Nb4 and prepare b4, without castling was probably an improvement on the game 8 0-0.

9 d5? more cautious was 9 Be3 Ng4 10 h3 Ne3 11fe3 Qg5 12 Rf3



11 Nd5 was probably better than the game's 11 cd5.

12 Bb1 sounds passive but 12 h3? Ne5 13 Bb1 Bxh3! with idea Nf3+

14 ef5?, it was better to admit that Black's attack is dangerous and play 14 Qg3

15 Bf5 was not possible because of 15..Rf5! 16 Qg3 as 16 Qf5 is met by Qh2 #.

Instead of 20 Bh7+, 20 Nce2 Bg1 21 Ng1 Rg1+! 22 Kg1 Qe1 is Checkmate

20 Bh7+ was a cheap trick, as 20..Kh7?? is met by Qxh4+, but Kramnik correctly played Kh8 of course.

Full Game replayable here:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1541010

Practicing calculation of variations

White to play and win (Bauer-Abergel 2008)


1.?

White has a decisive advantange but there's still room for errors.Here, instead of letting you guess the best move, I will providethe candidate moves and the analytical work consists in going through eachvariation and deciding which one works and which one doesn't.
I identified 4 candidate moves :
A) 1 Qg7+
B) 1 Rh8+
C) 1 Nh7+
D) 1 Nd7+

Analyze each of them in the order you like and determine the validity of each one.Good Luck !


This game was declared the best one of that tournament.

Last post of the year- Tactics

Black to play in the following position:

This is a position requiring careful analysis of various continuations (difficult). The tactical theme is once again attack against the white king. Good luck ( this position is coming from a correspondence game with Black being the belgium player M. Geenen).

Duchamp's position

White to play, Marcel Duchamp

Duchamp's riddle (1943), according to GM Beliavsky/Mihalcisin.

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) is a well-known french surrealist artist who decided to gradually remove himself from the art world to explore the chess world as an avid chess player and composer. As an artist, he is remembered primarily as the creator of the "ready-made" pieces and was influential in the dada/conceptual art movements (giving birth later to the "pop-art", made famous by A. Wharol amongst others). He later emigrated to the U.S. Here are a few links :

http://www.marcelduchamp.net/



http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp (french)



In the chess world, Duchamp cowrote an endgame book with Halberstadt ( about the "cases conjuguees"). I haven't seen it so any reader owning it is invited to comment on the book itself, which is supposed to be very technical and dry. He has played numerous competitive games, some of them available on http://www.chessgames.com/



It appears also that Duchamp has created a chess riddle, according to Beliavsky/Mihalcisin ( in their "winning endgame technique" book). I am not sure where it was first published , but here is the position above, with White to play. Does anyone know if there's a solution, when&where the position was first published, if any endgame expert besides Beliavsky/Mihalcisin has looked at it ? The two GMs think the position leads to a draw, without any win for White. Is there a solution, i.e a win for White ?

I'd love to hear the well-known trainer (and endgame authority) Dvorestky opinion on the matter. Let alone a leading grandmaster. Finally, is there any computer/table-base for 7 pieces total ? Any computer expert out there to come to the rescue ?

Why did Anand resign after 29 Qd6 ? ( Game 10)

Kramik-Anand (Game 10) after 29 Qd6!

Here are a few variations.

29.. Nxc3? 30 Re7 Curtain

29 ..Bf7 30 Qb4! The knight in a4 is stranded
If we try 30 ..Rab8 31 a6 Nb6 32 Bb6 with large advantage for White.
If we try 30..Qc6 31 Rd1 No rush, threatening 32 Rd7. If Black continues31..Rd8 32 Rd8 Rd8 33 Rb8 and a7 falls

29..Rd8 30 Qb4! Rab8 31 a6 with for instance 31..Rb7 32 ab7 +-.

Clearly it was a premature position to resign, but Anand saw no salvation being low on time and facing Kramnik in very inferior position. He preferred to resign a bit early and focus on the next game ( a draw will suffice to earn him the World Chess Champion title).
In other circumstances we would have expected Anand to continue a couple of moves, as it is never too late to blunder

Tactics from 2700+ GM games (2008)

I Black to play and win (warm-up level)

1..? Leko found a neat way to end the game immediately with a tactical shot against Kamsky (Tal Memorial 2008).















The chinese player Wang Hue rated 2704, has been on a roll. After finishing first at the Sochi Grand Prix (tied with Carlsen), he won the strong dutch tournament NH in Amsterdam.

II-White to play ( Wang Hue-Adgestein , NH Tournament 2008) Level Difficult


1.? How do you break Black's defense ?

Anand World Champion ??

Anand is playing today game 10, which he needs only a draw to win the 2008 WorldChampionship against Kramnik.
Anand's wins in round 3, 5 and 6 , without suffering any loss confirmed he is soon to be the uncontested classical world chess champion (succeeding Kasparov and Kramnik). So far his performance in the match is close to perfect play.

It is remarkable to observe how he managed to win twice with the Black pieces, (games 3 and 5), with the same variation where he left his king in the center and attacked along the g-column and the a8-h1 diagonal. Kramnik's idea in playing the variation was probably to survive the middle-game and "win the endgame" with his a- and b- pawns. But he probably underestimated the initiative Black enjoys in this variation. 10 d5 instead of 10 e5 was worth a look.
Game 6 was a different story: 9 h3 and 10 g4 was an aggressive play by Anand, which was further neutralized by Kramnik who managed to swap the queens. However, 19 ..c5?! was a premature and eager sacrifice in my opinion, 19..Rfe8 was called for. Black never got enough play for the pawn in that game. It was too early to counter-attack with Black.

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ALL ANAND-KRAMNIK WCC GAMES SO FAR CAN BE PLAYED HERE:

http://games.top10chess.com/anandwch08.htm

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Critical Positions

White to play for a strong advantage

A Critical position is defined as a precise moment during a game where a move alters the phase of the game. It can be a sharp change in evaluation of the position (as found by an engine such as Rybka, Fritz) but not necessarily: it could be for instance giving up a pawn in exchange of pressuring the other side even though the game evaluation is " chances for both sides", as defending is usually harder than attacking). In average, 2 to 4 critical positions occur per game.

For a more detailed discussion, http://www.chesscafe.com/dvoretsky/dvoretsky.htm
where the famous russian coach defines the notion almost scientifically or philosphically. Now in the position I above, Black just played 1..Ra7? and there is a two-moves sequences taking advantage of the awkard position of the black pieces as White did sacrifice a pawn earlier.

Eventually, the game continued with
2 Rc1 Ba5
3 Bf4 (threatening Bb8) 3..Nxc5
4 Qd4!


Position II
Black to play and stay in the game

Black is now two pawns ahead but is under severe pressure on the c column while the Bishop in a5 is hanging. This is absolutely critical to find the right continuation (which I failed to do by the way!). This is a very difficult position with hidden tactical resources for both sides. If only we could get IM Dvorestky to analyze it properly :)

Anyway, there are two reasonable attempts here for Black. Calculation required either way!








Calculate well !

Move by Move: Anand-Morozevich Mainz 2008

Here is the tactical phase in Anand-Morozevich, Mainz 2008 where the world champion Anand outpowered his opponent:

Position 1: White just played 21 Ng4

Here, Black could have played 21..h6 22Bd2 Rad8 with chances for both sides.
Instead, Morozevich went for the more forcing 21..Nf4.

21..Nf4?

22 Bf4 ef4

Position 2 after 22..ef4. White to play

Here, it is possible that Morozevich was initially expecting 23 Nf5 or 23 Nh5.Instead, Anand found a neat combination starting with 23 Nh6+!.

23Nh6+!

Position after 23Nh6+ :Black to play

Black cannot take the knight: 23..gh6 24 Qg4+ Kh8 25 Qf5. In this variation, 24..Bg7 is met by 25Nf5. Morozevich played the only move 23..Kh8.

23..Kh8

24 Nf7+ Kg8

Position 3: White to play

Here White missed an immediate finish. 25Bh7+! Kf7 26 Ng5+ Kg8 27Qb3+ Kh8 28 Qf7! and mate follows. Instead Anand played 25 Ne4.
25 Ne4

Position 4 after 25Ne4. Can Black take the knight on f7?

Here, 25..Kf7 26 Bb3+! Ke7 27 Nd6+ wins for White. on 26..Re6, 27 Ng5+ wins. The game continued as follows:
25..Ne5
26 Nfd6! Rd8 ?! ( trying to pin the knight)
27 Qh5!

The last tactical move by Anand.

Position 5 after 27Qh5!

Does Black win a piece by 27..Bd6 in Position 5 ?
The answer is no. 27..Bd6 28 Nd6 Qd6 29 Bh7+ Kf8 30 Re5 and White regains the knight on e5 with a winning attack.

Morozevich played 27..Be4 28 Ne4 h6 and after 29 Qf5, White converted his advantage and won the game in 47 moves. This game played in rapid time controls shows Anand's strength in calculating complex variations.

Recent Grandmaster Games

Three entertaing GM games played over the summer, including combinations & tactics.

The entire games can be replayed through this link:

http://games.top10chess.com/summer08games.htm

Black to play. Find the best move! (Smeets-Adams 2008).

















Black to play. Find the best move! (Feller-VachierLagrange 2008)

















White to play and win:(Morozevich-Kramnik 2008)

Gashimov-Nabaldian 2008 (level: medium)

Another tactical position from Gashimov. Here White has clearly the initiative against the exposed black king. Gashimov found the most dangerous next 2 moves and Nabaldian wasn't able to find the most resilient counter.

Can you find the decisive 2 moves Gashimov played ?

White to play and win

Gashimov-Nabaldian Capelle-La-Grande 2008


Hint: First move is a check, second isn't...