[Event "Corus"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2008.01.18"] [Round "6"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D43"] [WhiteElo "2799"] [BlackElo "2739"] [Annotator "Krasenkow,Michal"] [PlyCount "219"] [EventDate "2008.01.12"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "NED"] [EventCategory "20"] [SourceTitle "CBM 122"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.01.30"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,219,19,31,19,0,32,39,29,14,49,14,47,-24,-34,-3,-3,-23,-3,-65,-26,-28,-14,-3,-9,-16,-28,-16,-22,-9,71,-249,-71,-68,-43,-255,-34,-40,12,8,-2,-18,19,-17,-37,-55,-19,-19,-32,-17,-17,50,48,49,41,72,57,0,94,103,95,142,142,158,137,230,137,68,68,124,245,245,219,227,236,227,226,225,222,217,225,236,241,223,292,309,289,277,327,319,331,331,344,352,344,349,344,344,344,344,344,344,344,344,344,344,344,161,173,152,161,155,161,161,160,158,168,139,164,151,191,185,204,144,163,146,151,151,151,151,149,149,149,151,151,136,138,138,138,138,138,145,145,145,145,161,154,154,154,154,154,154,155,155,154,161,166,155,172,173,173,178,173,188,204,178,188,193,184,179,193,179,179,181,188,179,179,174,188,174,188,174,188,174,188,174,188,174,188,174,179,179,174,179,179,179,188,188,188,179,188,87,142,145,88,88,88,88,517,527,527,547,547,547,557,557,557,567,577,577,577,1005]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Ne5 Bg7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bd6 a6 {This system is examined by GM I.Stohl in CBM 118 (annotations to Iljin-Nepomniachtchi), by GM D.Rogozenko in CBM 120, as well as in annotations to Inarkiev-Aronian in this issue.} 14. a4 e5 15. Bg4 (15. d5 c5 16. b4 $1 Qb6 $1 17. bxc5 Nxc5 18. Bxc5 Qxc5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Rxa8+ Bxa8 21. Qa1 O-O 22. Qa5 Rb8 23. Rb1 Bf8 24. Nxb5 (24. Rxb5 Rxb5 25. Qxb5 Qxb5 26. Nxb5 Bb7 27. Bxc4 Ba6 28. Kf1 Bxb5 29. Bxb5 Bc5 $11 {½-½ Gustafsson,J-Aronian,L/Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2007/The Week in Chess 682 (40)}) 24... f5 25. Qa6 Kh8 26. Nc3 Rxb1+ 27. Nxb1 Qb4 28. Qxa8 Qxb1+ 29. Bf1 Qb4 30. exf5 c3 $132 {½-½ Alekseev,E-Bareev,E/Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2007/The Week in Chess 682 (40)}) (15. Re1 Qf6 16. Ba3 Bf8 17. Bg4 Rd8 18. Nd5 {½-½ Kramnik,V-Shirov,A/Moscow 2007/EXT 2008}) 15... exd4 16. e5 c5 $1 {An active response leading to immense complications.} (16... dxc3 17. e6 Ne5 18. e7 $16 Qb6 $2 19. Bxe5) 17. Re1 (17. axb5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Bxe5 19. bxa6 Rxa6 20. Rxa6 Bxa6 21. Re1 Qc7 22. Qe2 f6 23. Nd5 Qd6 $15 {½-½ Iljin,A-Smirnov,P/Saratov 2006/EXT 2008 (40)}) (17. Bf3 Nxe5 $1 (17... Bxf3 $2 18. Qxf3 Nxe5 19. Qd5 $1 dxc3 20. Rfe1 (20. Rae1 $18 {[%CAl Re1e5,Rd5c6] Stohl}) 20... cxb2 21. Rad1 b1=Q 22. Rxb1 Rc8 23. axb5 axb5 24. Rbd1 $18 {1-0 Kuljasevic,D-Zhao Jun/Richardson USA 2007/The Week in Chess 684 (30)}) (17... Ra7 $2 18. Bxb7 Rxb7 19. Ne4 $1 Nxe5 20. axb5 axb5 21. f4 $1 gxf4 22. Qh5 Rb6 23. Bxe5 $18 {1-0 Iljin,A-Nepomniachtchi,I/Dresden 2007/CBM 118/[Stohl] (27)}) 18. Bxb7 Qxd6 19. Bxa8 O-O $1 20. Ne4 Qc7 21. axb5 Rxa8 22. f4 gxf4 23. Qh5 Ra7 24. Rxa6 Rxa6 25. bxa6 Qc6 26. Qf5 Qxa6 27. Rxf4 Qg6 28. Nxc5 d3 $44 {½-½ DEEP JUNIOR-DEEP FRITZ/Elista RUS 2007/The Week in Chess 657 (47)}) 17... Nxe5 $1 18. Bxe5 O-O 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Ne2 {Black's pawn avalanche looks powerful but the position of his king is quite unsafe.} f5 21. Bh5 f4 22. b4 $1 cxb3 (22... d3 $5 23. bxc5 $1 b4 $1 $13 {was recommended by Vishy Anand. This will possibly be checked in future.}) 23. Qxb3 Qd5 24. Qh3 Bc8 25. Nc3 $1 $146 {[%mdl 8] Anand's other suggestion.} (25. Qd3 {was seen in his rapid game vs. Radjabov:} Bf5 26. Qd2 Qd7 27. Rac1 (27. Bf3 Rac8 28. axb5 axb5 29. h3 $13 {V.Anand}) 27... Rac8 28. h4 Kh8 $1 29. axb5 axb5 30. Qb2 b4 $13 {0-1 Radjabov,T-Anand,V/Mainz (m) 2006/Inf 97/[Anand,V] (58)}) 25... dxc3 26. Qxc3+ Qd4 27. Qf3 $36 {The poor position of Black's king makes him defend carefully.} Ra7 (27... Rb8 $5 28. Qc6 (28. Re7+ Kh8 29. Rd1 Qf6 30. Rc7 Be6) 28... Kg8 29. Rad1 Qg7 30. axb5 axb5 31. Qd5+ Kh8 32. Qxc5 Bf5) 28. axb5 {This pawn now remains alive and turns into a powerful "second weakness" (from Black's point of view).} Qf6 (28... Rf6 $5 29. Rad1 Qc4) 29. Qa3 $1 Qb6 30. Qc3+ Kg8 31. Re5 Qf6 32. Qxc5 Rd7 33. h4 $1 gxh4 34. Bg4 Rdd8 35. Bxc8 Rxc8 36. Qd5+ Qf7 37. bxa6 Qxd5 38. Rxd5 Rf7 39. a7 Ra8 40. Rda5 {[%mdl 4096] The complication ended in a seemingly simple endgame. White's a7-pawn is strong but it is not easy to make use of it with four rooks on the board (needless to say that with one pair of rooks Black's position would be absolutely hopeless).} Kh7 (40... f3 41. gxf3 Rxf3 $2 {is impossible due to} 42. Rb1 {[%CAl Rb1b8] but can White win if Black doesn't take on f3? I don't think so.}) 41. R1a3 {...f4-f3 must now be prevented.} (41. f3 Rg7 {is hardly better.}) 41... h3 $5 42. gxh3 f3 43. Kh2 Rg7 44. h4 Rg2+ 45. Kh3 Rg7 46. Ra6 Rf7 47. R3a5 Rg7 48. h5 Rf7 49. Kg4 (49. Kh2 Rg7 50. Kh1 Rg4) 49... Rg8+ 50. Kh3 Ra8 51. Kg4 Rg8+ 52. Rg6 {There is no other way to make progress but now White can hardly avoid the drawish endgame with f- and h- pawns.} Ra8 53. Raa6 Raxa7 54. Rxh6+ Kg8 55. Rag6+ Rg7 56. Kxf3 Rxg6 57. Rxg6+ (57. hxg6 Ra3+ 58. Kg2 Ra6 $11) 57... Kf7 {With the sudden death time control, it is not easy to hold endgames like this one or, say, ? vs ?+?, especially against Kramnik. The drawish endgame I lost to him at Wijk five years ago was a good example.} 58. Rg4 Ra1 59. Kg3 Rh1 60. Rh4 Ra1 61. Rb4 Kg7 62. Rb6 Rg1+ 63. Kf4 Rh1 64. Kg5 Rg1+ 65. Kf5 Rh1 66. h6+ {In theory, when this pawn goes to h6, White loses any winning chances...} Kh7 67. Ra6 Rf1 68. f4 Rb1 69. Re6 Ra1 70. Rf6 Re1 71. Kg4 Ra1 72. f5 Rg1+ 73. Kf4 Rf1+ 74. Ke5 Re1+ 75. Kd6 Rf1 76. Ke7 Rf2 77. Rf8 Re2+ (77... Kxh6 {was already good enough:} 78. f6 Ra2 79. Rd8 (79. Re8 Ra7+ 80. Ke6 Ra6+ 81. Kf5 Ra5+ 82. Re5 Ra8 $11) 79... Ra7+ ({or} 79... Kg6 80. Rg8+ Kf5 $1 81. f7 Ra7+ 82. Kf8 Kf6) 80. Rd7 Ra8 $11) 78. Kf7 Ra2 79. Rd8 Ra7+ (79... Kxh6 $1 80. f6 (80. Rh8+ Kg5) 80... Ra7+) 80. Kf6 Ra1 81. Rd2 Rb1 82. Ra2 Rb3 83. Rh2 Rb1 84. Rh4 Rb8 85. Kg5 Rg8+ 86. Kf4 Ra8 87. Kg5 Rg8+ 88. Kf6 Ra8 89. Re4 Ra1 90. Re8 Ra2 91. Re1 Ra3 92. Rh1 Ra2 93. Kg5 Rg2+ 94. Kf4 Rf2+ 95. Ke4 Re2+ 96. Kf3 Ra2 97. Ke4 Re2+ 98. Kd4 Rd2+ 99. Ke3 Ra2 100. f6 Ra7 {Black was probably under severe time pressure as after} (100... Ra3+ {the white king simply had no place where to hide!}) 101. Rf1 Kg6 102. Ke4 Ra4+ 103. Kd5 Kf7 $4 {[%mdl 8192] A terrible blunder.} (103... Ra5+ 104. Kc4 Ra4+ 105. Kb5 Ra8 $11 {[%CAl Ya8f8,Og6h6,Yf8f6]}) 104. Rh1 Ra5+ 105. Kc4 Ra4+ 106. Kb5 Ra8 107. h7 Rh8 108. Rh6 {Suddenly Black is lost! His rook is passive and he can do nothing against the approach of the white king!} Rb8+ 109. Kc6 Rc8+ 110. Kd6 (110. Kd6 Rh8 111. Kd7 $18) 1-0