[Event "Jermuk FIDE GP"] [Site "Jermuk"] [Date "2009.08.20"] [Round "10"] [White "Cheparinov, Ivan"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D47"] [WhiteElo "2678"] [BlackElo "2755"] [Annotator "Sundararajan Kidambi"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2009.08.09"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "ARM"] [EventCategory "19"] [SourceTitle "CBM 132"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2009.09.16"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2009.09.16"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. a3 b4 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 bxa3 12. O-O Bd6 13. b3 Nf6 14. Nd2 Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Bxh2+ 16. Kxh2 Qh4+ 17. Kg1 Qxe4 18. f3 Qg6 19. Qd2 ({The natural and logical} 19. Bxa3 {to stop opponent's king from castling will be met by} h5 $1 {Black activates the rook on h8 from the initial square and maintains enough counterplay. For example} 20. Qd2 Qg3 21. Bc5 h4 22. Qf2 Qxf2+ 23. Rxf2 a6 24. e4 f6 25. Ra4 Rd8 26. f4 Kf7 27. Kh2 Rd7 28. Ra3 Bc8 {1/2-1/2 (28) Anand,V (2783)-Leko,P (2751) Miskolc 2009 CBM 130 Extra [Meszaros/Berkes]}) 19... Ba6 $1 {activating the passive bishop on b7 given the chance it would occupy the more active b5 square rather than the current home.} 20. Rf2 O-O 21. Bxa3 Rfe8 22. Bd6 (22. Qc2 Qxc2 23. Rxc2 Bb5 24. Bc5 a6 25. Kf2 $11 {Compared to what happened later on in the game, here Black's prospects to use his extra pawn are pretty slim as creating a passed pawn on the kingside is harder. But clearly, White did not have peaceful intentions yet.}) 22... Bb5 23. e4 Rad8 24. Qf4 Rd7 25. Rd1 f6 $1 {Black slowly keeps improving the position little by little and step by step. After improving his bishops scope, he has tried to place his major pieces on squares from where they can be active, and now hints at e6-e5 break at some point, using a tactical chance against the White's Bishop on d6 and he also wants to entice White to push his pawns forward and weaken some squares in the process.} 26. e5 $6 {This is usually the easier way out from White's point of view. He cements the seemingly strong bishop on d6 and as of now, the weakening of the d5-square seems to insignificant. Are there any reasons to worry? One feature is that the Bishop on d6 is permanently locked out from h2-b8 diagonal if the exf6 exchange does not happen. While this may not seem like a concern while the Queens are on the board, this might be a big factor after exchange of Queens.} (26. Rfd2 $5 Red8 27. Bc5 {would not permanently lock out White's bishop from the possibility of reaching the h2-b8 diagonal.Apart from that White retains two central pawns on 4th rank which provide a great stability in terms of control of squares.}) 26... Red8 27. Rfd2 Qg5 $5 {A wonderful psychological decision of trade. When one has the bishops of opposite coloured bishops and one is not averse to a draw, one would not avert a queen exchange right? White probably had no objective grounds for trying, so would have mentally shifted to making a draw in this game. In such a situation a queen exchange is usually welcome, but do all exchanges lead us close to a draw? Well- far from it!} (27... f5 $5 { Once White has played e5, potentially there is a possibility for Black to create a passed pawn on the kingside as he gets a 3 versus two standoff on the kingside. So, this potential advantage can be used to keep fighting for a win in a long game. However it would be hard to push all the pawns in front of one's king with queens on the board. It would be much easier to do so once the Queens leave the board.This would have surely been conceived as an idea by Boris. The question of how to execute this idea remains to be seen.}) 28. Qxg5 $2 (28. exf6 Qxf4 29. Bxf4 gxf6 $15 {/= Was much easier to manage from White's point of view of defence. It is harder for Black to create a passed pawn on the kingside and another important point to note is that White's dark squared Bishop has a lot more role to play in defence in comparison with what happened in the game.}) 28... fxg5 {Black has achieved what he wanted from the points discussed in the note to 27.... f5. He has exchanged Queens and has got doubled pawns away from the centre, which here aid in creating a 'h' passer, Black's King also has a free path to move up the board on the kingside light squares.} 29. Kf2 Kf7 30. Ke3 Kg6 31. Ra2 h5 $1 {Black follows the plan of creating a remote passed pawn on the kingside with the help of his king. He is utilising all his resources very efficiently.} 32. Rda1 a6 33. Bc5 Rf7 34. b4 $6 {White does not pay attention to weakening of squares. Now a potential route from Black's light squared Bishop has been opened to d5 via c4 for Black's light squared Bishop.} Ra8 $6 {To support the pawn on a6 and free the Bishop to an even better square on d5 where it will help Black with creating and pushing the h-passer up the board.} ({perhaps after} 34... Bc4 $5 {the exchange sacrifice with} 35. Rxa6 Bxa6 36. Rxa6 Rc8 $17 {/-+ may not offer full compensation for the exchange, because of the potential h-passer at Black's disposal and the fact that the Bishop on c5 will absolutely not help in the defence against it.}) (34... h4 $1 35. Rxa6 ({and if White refrains from the exchange sacrifice and tries to stop Black's bishop from reaching d5 with} 35. Rc2 Rh8 36. Rh1 g4 37. fxg4 Kg5 38. Rf2 Rxf2 39. Kxf2 Kxg4 {and Black relentlessly marches forward to victory. A sample variation would be} 40. Rh3 Rh5 41. Rf3 Bc4 42. Rf7 Rf5+ 43. Rxf5 exf5 $1 $19) 35... Bxa6 36. Rxa6 Rc8 37. b5 Kf5 38. b6 g4 $19 {Even though White has got his pawn to b6, he is no way able to challenge the more important Black's h-passer which is decisive here.}) 35. Rc1 ({White could try to control the c-file with the other rook and keep the other rook for defending against the potential h-passer.} 35. Rc2 h4 36. Rh1 a5 $1 37. bxa5 Rxa5 $17 {/-+ Black has successfully opened a second front in the form of an open file for the rook on the queenside. This in combination with potential h-passer on the kingside should be good for cracking down White's defence in the long run.}) 35... h4 36. Rh1 $6 {After this natural move to stop Black's pawn from advancing, he loses without a fight.} (36. g4 $1 {White can allow a passed pawn and stop the opponent's king from coming up further. This forces Black to take on g3.} hxg3 37. Rg1 Rh8 38. Rxg3 Bc4 39. Rag2 Rh5 $17 {Black can place his bishop on d5 and then drop his king back to h7 or g8 and then try to infiltrate with his rook via h1-b1 and b3. This will lead to creation of a g-passed pawn for Black. While one cannot be sure this is a forced win, in a practical sense, Black will keep pushing and it is never easy to defend such positions as seen from examples of Karpov and Carlsen.}) 36... Bc4 $1 $19 37. Ra3 Bd5 38. Ke2 Rf4 39. Rh3 g4 40. fxg4 Bc4+ 41. Ke3 Rxg4 42. Kf2 Kh5 43. g3 g5 44. Rh1 Rg8 45. Rc1 {Black Bishop goes to d5 and the h-pawn promotes. Note that the Bishop on c5 could not play any role in defence at all throughout the game!} 0-1