Norway Chess: Dramatischer Auftakt

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.16"] [Round "1"] [White "Giri, A."] [Black "Grischuk, A."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2773"] [BlackElo "2781"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 $5 {Not the most common of transposition - a normal Sicilian is on the board but definitely not on the normal move order!} Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 { The Rossolimmo Sicilian is a popular way of preventing the Sveshnikov, a high chance that Grischuk would have played that against 3.d4.} 4. Bxc6 bxc6 (4... dxc6 {is the "safer" way but both captures on c6 are possible.}) 5. O-O Bg7 6. Re1 Rb8 {Putting the rook in the half-open file makes sense...} 7. h3 $5 Qc7 { However I am not so fond of this move. I keep wondering why the queen is on c7, and later (and more importantly) we will see how the knight actually wanted to go to this square.} 8. c3 Nf6 {A common idea in the structure, but the knight gets kicked around too much.} (8... e5 $5) 9. e5 Nd5 10. c4 Nb4 (10... Nf4 11. d4 Ne6 12. d5 {seems to leave Black completely squashed.}) 11. d4 $1 cxd4 12. a3 Na6 13. Qxd4 {At this point Giri has a very comfortable position. His extra space more than outweighs the pair of bishops, not to mention that Black is lagging on development and he has to be careful that his king does not get mated after 0-0 on the dark squares.} O-O 14. c5 $1 {Gaining more space and making it difficult to find a move for Grischuk. So difficult, in fact, that Grischuk was already in time pressure by this point! With only 14 moves played he had about 25 minutes left, not the situation anyone would like to be in.} d6 $6 {Perhaps panic, perhaps a miscalculation. In either case this move simply gives Giri a great initiative.} 15. cxd6 exd6 16. exd6 Qb6 17. Qh4 Nc5 { Perhaps Grischuk was counting on some activity to compensat efor the pawn, but in excellent fashion the Dutch player gives back the pawn an obtains a strong attack.} 18. Be3 $1 Qxb2 19. Nbd2 Nd7 20. Rab1 $1 Qxa3 21. Rxb8 Nxb8 {The poor knight has moved 7 (!) times in the opening, and although Black is now up a pawn instead of down material, his kingside is difficult to defend. The onslaught continues} 22. Bh6 Nd7 $1 {The best way of organizing a defense. The knight must hurry up and defend h7.} 23. Bxg7 $6 {A little sloppy.} (23. Ng5 Nf6 24. Nde4 Qa5 $1 25. Rd1 $1 {with a huge initiative for White.}) 23... Kxg7 24. Qd4+ Kg8 25. Ne4 Re8 26. Kh2 {A cheeky move, and for practical reasons a good one, though the objective evaluation is that this is too slow. Giri was mostly putting pressure on Grischuk's clock that was ticking down.} a5 $4 {The losing move.} (26... Qa5 $1 {Returning with the queen to the defense was paramount. Here it is impossible for Giri to organize something decisive! There are insufficient pieces to create threats once the queen returns.}) 27. Nfg5 $1 {Very strong. Now there is no way of avoiding the move Nf6+.} Rf8 ( 27... h6 28. Nf6+ Nxf6 29. Qxf6 {is decisive, with threats on e8 and f7} Rf8 30. Nxf7 $18) 28. Nf6+ Nxf6 29. Qxf6 {Re8 is now a threat.} Qa2 30. Re7 (30. Nxh7 $1 Kxh7 31. Re4 {was also lights out.}) 30... Bf5 31. Nxf7 $6 {good enough, but the easier variation was} (31. d7 Qxf2 32. d8=Q {and Black runs out of checks soon} (32. Ne6 $1 {is a fancy way of winning.})) 31... Qxf7 32. Rxf7 Rxf7 33. Qd8+ Kg7 34. Qxa5 Bd7 35. Qc5 Rf5 36. Qa7 Rf7 37. g4 { Unfortunately for Grischuk he doesn't have any real hope of setting up a fortress. His darksquare are too weak.} Kf6 38. f4 Kg7 39. Kg3 Kg8 40. Qe3 Kg7 41. h4 Kg8 42. Qe5 {White's next moves are h5-h6 and Black will be zugzwanged. A nice game from Giri, even though the finish might have not been the most precise.} 1-0

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.16"] [Round "1"] [White "Anand, V."] [Black "Caruana, F."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2804"] [BlackElo "2805"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r2qr1k1/p1p2ppp/2p2n2/2bp4/4P1b1/3P1N2/PPPN1PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 0 10"] [PlyCount "18"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 10. h3 Bh5 11. Qe2 (11. e5 $5 {seems like the test of fire, but Black has a clever resource.} Rxe5 12. g4 Nxg4 {otherwise e5 is hanging.} 13. Nxe5 Qh4 $1 { And White can do nothing to prevent the perpetual check on g3 and h3 since the f2 pawn is pinned by the c5 bishop.}) 11... dxe4 12. Nxe4 h6 13. Be3 Nxe4 14. dxe4 Rxe4 15. Qd3 Bxf3 16. Qxd8+ Rxd8 17. Bxc5 Be2 18. Rfc1 a5 {With eveerything traded off and the opposite colored bishops on the board it is clear that this will be a draw, which it was on move 37.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.16"] [Round "1"] [White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Topalov, V."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D43"] [WhiteElo "2876"] [BlackElo "2798"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "1b6/1P4k1/8/7Q/5p2/6PK/4Bq2/8 w - - 0 60"] [PlyCount "2"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 60. Qg5+ {After a long defence, Topalov can resist no more. The combined threats of the queen and bishop are decisive.} Kf7 {And White lost! He believed to have an extra 15 minutes given to him on move 60, but they simply did not exist.} (60... Kf7 61. Bc4+ Ke8 62. Bb5+ Kf7 63. Qf5+ Ke7 64. Qd7+ Kf6 65. Qd8+ Kg7 66. Qe7+ Kh6 67. Qf6+ Kh7 68. Bd3+ Kg8 69. Bc4+ Kh7 70. Qf7+ Kh6 71. Qf8+ Kg5 72. Qg7+ Kf5 73. g4+ Ke4 74. Qg6+ Ke5 75. Qe6+ Kd4 76. Qb6+ {And Black loses. It might seem like a long sequence, but White should somehow stumble upon it when he sees that other moves are not winning.}) 0-1

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.16"] [Round "1"] [White "Nakamura, Hi"] [Black "Hammer, J."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A20"] [WhiteElo "2802"] [BlackElo "2677"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3r1r1k/1p2bBpp/2p1Pn2/p2b1qN1/1P3B2/P5P1/4Q2P/2R1R1K1 w - - 0 38"] [PlyCount "31"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 38. Rf1 Ne4 $2 (38... Bb3 $1) 39. Nxe4 $1 Qxe4 40. Qxe4 Bxe4 41. Be3 $1 {This is the key move. When Nakamura saw this he felt confident in a victory. The point is that the threat of Bc5 is too strong, simply destroying the blockade of the e6 pawn.} axb4 (41... Rc8 42. Bc5 Rc7 43. Bb6 {costs Black a pawn, and it doesn't improve his position much, but it was his best bet.}) 42. Bc5 Rd2 $6 {simply hastening his defeat.} 43. Rfe1 $1 Bxc5+ 44. Rxc5 Rg2+ 45. Kf1 {Black runs out of threats and White wins easily with his powerful passed pawn.} b3 46. Rxe4 b2 47. Re1 Rxh2 48. Rce5 Rh1+ 49. Kg2 b1=Q 50. Rxb1 Rxb1 51. e7 Ra8 52. e8=R+ Rxe8 53. Rxe8# 1-0

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.16"] [Round "1"] [White "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Black "Aronian, L."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2723"] [BlackElo "2780"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r3k2r/ppp1qp2/1n2b3/3pNB1p/3P4/2P1P1P1/P1Q3P1/R4RK1 b kq - 0 18"] [PlyCount "12"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 18... Nd7 19. e4 $1 {Excellent, opening up the position.} Nxe5 20. exd5 $1 { The point. Black has no good way of responding to this move.} O-O-O (20... Bxd5 21. Rae1 Be6 22. Rxe5 {should cost at least a pawn, but might have been the lesser evil.}) 21. dxe6 fxe6 22. Rae1 $1 exf5 23. Rxe5 Qa3 24. Rfxf5 $1 { White's rooks are dominant, and he has an extra pawn. Black was unable to create counterplay and after many moves MVL converted his two extra pawns (after taking on h5).} 1-0