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Game of the Week

By GM Sergey Shipov

GM Shipov’s Game of the Week,
August 28 - September 3

The World Cup. The favorite knocks the
champion out.

In my opinion, there were few good, consistent games at the qualification stage of the
World Cup in Shengyang. All the participants praised His Majesty’s result too much. And
still it was interesting to watch and to comment: I felt the tension of the struggle, even
though I was ten thousands kilometers away! Group D woke my genuine interest, because
five(!) chess player of very high class gathered there. Finally, two of them were qualified,
Anand and Gelfand, while Tkachev, Tregubov and Khalifman had to go home.

The most picturesque game was one in which the Cup’s favorite, Vishi Anand, and the
FIDE World champion Alexander Khalifman met. These players have met many times, and
usually their games end in the Indian GM’s favor, no matter what the position’s evaluation
might be. Vishi, unlike Alexander, easily makes decisions and calculates the variations
precisely, he never gets into the severe time trouble. This relationship of forces held in this
tournament too. Anand defeated the champion in an encounter which is extremely
important for chess theory. I would like to call your attention to the game:

Anand,V. - Khalifman,A. [B80]
Shenyang, 2000

1.e4 c5

Khalifman surprised everybody by his opening choice in Shengyang. He started playing the
Sicilian Defense with Black, as well as with White, and it brought him nothing good.
Apparently, the French Defense and 1.d4! fit his style more.

2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.g4

An English Attack is Anand’s favorite line. He has a lot of positive (and a few negative)
reminiscences about it.

8...h6 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 Bb7 11.h4 b4 12.Na4 Qa5 13.b3 Nc5 14.a3

The key position at present.

14...Rc8!?

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Gelfand’s idea, which has acquired many advocates. The alternative is: 14...Nxa4 15.axb4
Qc7 16.bxa4, and so on.

15.Qxb4 Qc7

After 15...Qc7

Black sacrifices a pawn, staking his hopes on
counter play on the opened Q-side.

16.Kb1!

Many commentators hurriedly called this
move a novelty, but this is not so. Usually
played here is 16.Nxc5 dxc5 17.Qa4+ Nd7 18.
Ne2 c4 , with not bad counterplay for Black.

16...Ncd7!?

And this is a really new move! Four months
before, the game Potkin,V - Belov,V/Moscow
(ch)/2000/1-0(35) was played, which

proceeded with: 16...Nfd7 17.Nb2 d5 18.Qd2
dxe4 19.f4 (19.b4!?) 19...Nf6 20.Bh3 Nd5 21.c4 Nxe3 22.Qxe3 Bd6 23.Rhf1 Nd7? (Black
should play 23...g5!? 24.fxg5 hxg5 25.hxg5 Bg3!) 24.g5! hxg5 25.fxg5 Nf8

25...Nf8 (var)

26.g6! f5 (Black also cannot hold the position
with 26...Nxg6 27.Bxe6! Bf4 28.Qe2 fxe6 29.
Nxe6 Qe7 30.Qg4 , and so on.) 27.Nxe6! Nxe6
28.Bxf5 , with a winning attack for White.

17.Qd2!

Anyway, the queen should retreat. 17.Bh3
leads not to a move transposition, but to
trouble for White after 17...e5! 18.Nf5 d5

17...d5 18.Bh3!

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After 18.Bh3!

Vishi plays the main idea for White: the white
g4-pawn goes to g6 in order to deprive the
black e6-pawn of support.

18...dxe4

Hardly good is the standard 18...g5 19.hxg5
hxg5 20.Bxg5 dxe4 due to the not less-
standard 21.Bxf6! Nxf6 22.g5, followed by g5-
g6.

19.g5 hxg5

Usually this exchange is good for Black,
because the h-file is opened for the h8-rook.

Let us suppose that White plays exactly as in
the game, but without the exchange on g5: 19...Nd5!? 20.fxe4 Nxe3 21.Qxe3 Ne5 22.Rhf1
Bxa3 23.g6 Nxg6 24.Bxe6 fxe6 25.Nxe6 Qxc2+! 26.Ka1 Rg8, and White has no queen’s
lunge to g5. But the case is that White is not obliged to play exactly so, he can play the
much stronger: 20.g6!

20.hxg5 Nd5 21.fxe4

Now not so efficient would be the straightforward 21.g6, because Black immediately
liquidates his chief enemy, the white h3-bishop: 21...Rxh3! 22.Rxh3 Nxe3 23.Qxe3 e5! 24.
gxf7+ Kxf7 25.fxe4 exd4 26.Qf2+ Nf6 27.Rxd4 Re8, with approximately even chances.

21...Nxe3 22.Qxe3 Ne5! Taking control over the g6-point.

23.Rhf1!

After the flabby 23.Ka2? Black plays 23...Rh4!, overtaking the initiative.

23...Bxa3

Losing is 23...Rh4? 24.Bxe6! fxe6 (24...Rxe4 25.Qf2) 25.Rxf8+; and in the case of 23...Be7
24.c4 White retains both the extra pawn and the initiative, threatening the strike on e6.

24.g6!

A brilliant stroke! White destroys the black king’s cover, not counting the material losses!

24...Nxg6 25.Bxe6! fxe6 26.Nxe6

The crucial moment of the game. Where should the black queen retreat?

26...Qe7?

The wrong way! Bad also is the capture on c2, because after the white king’s retreat to a1
Black has no defense against the threat of Qe3-g5. In my opinion, correct is 26...Qe5!,
reserving the e7-square for the other black pieces. Then many interesting variations follow,
but White has no win. For example: 27.Qb6 (27.Qa7 Qxe6 28.Qxb7 Ne7 29.Nb6 Qc6 -/+)
27...Bxe4 28.Rd8+ (hardly sufficient is the beautiful 28.Rde1 Rh4 29.Rf5 , and Black

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After 24.g6!

obtains too many pieces for the queen.) 28...
Ke7 29.Nf8!!

After 29.Nf8 (var)

This move deserves a diagram. (to Black’s
benefit is 29.Qa7+ Rc7! 30.Nxc7 Bxc2+!) 29...
Rxf8 30.Rfxf8 Nxf8 31.Rxc8 Bf5 , and Black
defends successfully.

27.Qb6!

Creating the extremely strong threat of Rd1-
d8!, and then, after the capture on d8, the
knight’s check from c7.

27...Nf8

This White threat cannot be refuted either
with: 27...Rh6 28.Rd8+! Rxd8 29.Nc7+ Kd7

30.Qxb7; , or with: 27...Ne5 28.Rd8+ Rxd8 29.
Nc7+ Kd7 30.Qxb7 Qg5 31.Nxa6+ Ke8 32.Nc7+ Ke7 33.b4! with a decisive attack for
White in both cases.; Even worse is 27...Bxe4? 28.Nxg7+ Qxg7 29.Qe6+, with immediate
checkmate.

28.Rd8+ Rxd8 29.Nc7+ Qxc7

The only chance. After 29...Kd7 30.Qxb7 the black king is doomed.

30.Qxc7

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After 30.Qxc7

Black has the rook and two minor pieces for
the queen, but he has no time to consolidate
his numerous pieces. White attacks, granting
him no respite.

30...Rd7 31.Qb8+ Ke7 32.Qe5+

Even more precise is 32.Qf4!

32...Ne6 33.Rg1 Kf7?

Time pressure reveals itself. There’s no time
to calculate all the variations, while intuition
fails to help with such a strange tangle of
pieces. Black could organize more stubborn

resistance with 33...Rg8 34.Nb6 Bd6 (34...
Rd6?! 35.Nc4 Bc5 36.Rg6) 35.Qf5 g6 36.Rxg6 Rxg6 37.Qxg6 Rc7k, but he could hardly
stand his ground there.

34.Nb6 Rhd8 Black’s position is hopeless. For example: 34...Re7 35.Rf1+ Ke8 36.Qb8+
Nd8 37.Rd1

35.Ka2 Bf8 [35...Bd6 36.Qf5+ Ke7 37.Rg6 +-

36.Nxd7 Rxd7 37.Qf5+ Ke7 38.Rf1 Bc8 39.Qf7+ Kd6 40.e5+!

After 40.e5

A graceful finishing blow! Black loses the
piece, therefore he resigned.

1-0

Gurevich,M. - Ponomariov,R. [A34]
Shenyang, 2000

In this game, Mikhail outplayed his young
opponent, using positional subtleties. Black
could not make even a single active move.

1.c4 c5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.
Nc3 Nc7 6.Qb3 Nd7 7.Nf3 e5 8.0-0 Be7 9.e3
Ne6 10.Rd1 Bf6 11.Ne4 0-0 12.d3 b6 13.Nd6

Rb8 14.Nxc8 Rxc8 15.Bd2 g6 16.Bc3 Bg7 17.
Qc4 Qe7 18.Rac1 Rc7 19.b3 Rfc8 20.Ba1 Qd6 21.Nd2 Nb8 22.Qb5 Qd7 23.a4 Qxb5 24.
axb5 Re7 25.b4 Rec7 26.Nc4 cxb4 27.Rb1 Rc5 28.Rxb4 Rd8 29.Rbb1 f5 30.Nxe5 Rxe5
31.Bxe5 Bxe5 32.d4 Bd6 33.Ra1 Nc7 34.Bf1 Nd7 35.Rxa7 Kf8 36.Rc1 Nd5 37.Rc6 N7f6
38.Be2 Be7 39.Bf3 g5 40.Re6 Bd6 41.Bxd5 Nxd5 42.Rxh7 Kg8 43.Rb7 f4 44.Kg2 fxe3
45.fxe3 g4 46.Kf2 Bb4 47.Ke2 Ba5 48.Kd3 Rc8 49.Rd7 Nc3 50.Rc6 Re8 51.Rxc3 Bxc3
52.Kxc3 Rxe3+ 53.Kc4 Re2 54.Rd6 Rxh2 55.Rg6+ Kf7 56.Rxg4 1-0

Xu Jun - Short,N.[A40]
Shenyang, 2000

Despite his lame start, Nigel managed to regain his self-control and began fighting for the

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election. In this game, he classically, like Smyslow, used the weakness of the dark squares
in the opponent’s camp. Especially beautiful is the final part, where the number of the black
pawns turned out to be more important(!), than the number of white ones.

1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 Ne7 6.Nf3 Bb7 7.Be3 d6 8.Qd2 h6 9.Bd3 Nd7
10.0-0 g5 11.d5 Ng6 12.Bd4 0-0 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Ne2 c5 15.dxc6 Bxc6 16.Bc2 Nde5 17.
Nxe5 dxe5 18.Qxd8 Rfxd8 19.Rfd1 Kf6 20.f3 h5 21.Kf2 Nf4 22.g3 Nxe2 23.Kxe2 g4 24.
Ke3 gxf3 25.Kxf3 Rd4 26.b3 a5 27.Rxd4 exd4 28.Ke2 e5 29.Rf1+ Kg6 30.Bd3 f6 31.
Kd2 Bd7 32.Rc1 h4 33.c5 bxc5 34.Rxc5 hxg3 35.hxg3 Ra7 36.Bc4 Kg5 37.Ke2 Bg4+ 38.
Kf2 Rh7 39.Rxa5 Rh2+ 40.Ke1 Bf3 41.Bd3 Kg4 42.Ra6 Rh6 43.Kf2 Rh2+ 44.Ke1 f5 45.
Rg6+ Kh5 46.exf5 e4 47.Rg8 Ra2 48.Bxe4 Bxe4 49.g4+ Kh4 50.Rd8 d3 51.Rd4 Re2+ 52.
Kd1 Kg5 0-1

See related articles:

●

GM Shipov's Game of the Week: Black is OK, and Maybe Better!

(2/1/2001)

●

GM Shipov: How to Win with the d5 Passer

(1/24/2001)

●

GM Shipov's Game of the Week: January 2-10, 2001

(1/18/2001)

●

GM Shipov's Game of the Week: December 17-25, 2000