Dortmund Runde 5: Caruana kommt in Schwung

[Event "43rd GM 2015"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2015.07.03"] [Round "5"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D78"] [WhiteElo "2783"] [BlackElo "2805"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2015.06.26"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 {The solid setup against the Fianchetto Grunfeld is one of the toughest systems for White to break. But who better than the big Vlad to give it a go!} 7. Nbd2 a5 8. b3 a4 9. Ba3 (9. Bb2 {is the more common move but Ba3 is the latest innovation and has been scoring quite decently for White.}) 9... axb3 10. axb3 Bf5 11. Nh4 Be6 12. Re1 Ne4 13. Bxe4 $5 {A very unorthodox exchange by Kramnik. He is trying to spice up the position.} (13. e3 {might have been a safer choice.}) (13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Bxe4 Qxd4 15. Qxd4 Bxd4 16. Bb2 $1 Rxa1 17. Bxa1 Bg7 {would have lead to a handshake pretty soon.}) 13... dxe4 14. Nxe4 (14. e3 $11 {was necessary as the move chosen by Kramnik in the game leads to a clearly inferior position. }) 14... Qxd4 (14... Bxd4 $2 15. Bxe7 $1 $16 {just drops a pawn.}) 15. Qc2 $5 { This is objectively a bad move. However, it takes many precise moves from Caruana to prove that. If Black were to play anything apart from Bf5 on the next move then White has a fine position.} (15. Qxd4 Bxd4 16. Bb2 Rxa1 17. Bxa1 Bb6 $15 {Keeping the double bishops. Of course, this was not the reason why Kramnik had given up his light squared bishop on e4.}) 15... Bf5 $1 {An excellent tactical resource that might have been missed or underestimated by Kramnik.} (15... Qxa1 $6 16. Rxa1 Bxa1 17. Bxe7 $16 {The queen will prove to be a much stronger in such a position with the knights than the two rooks.}) ( 15... Nd7 16. Rad1 Qb6 17. Bxe7 Rfe8 18. Bd6 $13 {Black has compensation but White is not worse.}) (15... Re8 16. Bb2 Rxa1 17. Bxa1 Qb6 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Rd1 $11) 16. Nxf5 gxf5 17. Ng5 (17. Nd2 Qc3 $1 {is the neat little point.} 18. Qa2 Qa5 $17 {The exchange is lost.}) (17. Nc5 Rxa3 18. Rxa3 Qxc5 $17) 17... Qg4 {The queen attacks the knight and the bishop on g7 uncovers an attack on the a1 rook.} 18. f4 Bxa1 19. Rxa1 h6 $6 (19... c5 $1 {would have given Caruana a nearly decisive advantage. The idea is to develop the knight on c6 where it will be much more active than on d7.} 20. Bb2 (20. Qc3 Nc6 21. Bxc5 Rxa1+ 22. Qxa1 Qxe2 $19 {The is the difference of not playing h6 and pushing the knight back to f3.}) 20... Rxa1+ 21. Bxa1 Nc6 $17) 20. Nf3 Nd7 (20... c5 {would no longer be strong because} 21. Qc3 Nc6 22. Bxc5) 21. Rd1 $1 {Kramnik takes his best practical chance to keep the rooks on board.} Rxa3 22. Rxd7 Qh3 $1 { Keeping an eye on the white king.} 23. Qc3 e6 $6 {This terribly weakens the f6 square and gives White enough counterplay against the f7 point.} (23... Rfa8 { would have been much stronger as after} 24. Rxe7 $2 (24. Rxb7 Ra1+ 25. Kf2 Rf1+ 26. Ke3 Qg2 $19) 24... Ra1+ 25. Kf2 (25. Ne1 Rb1 26. b4 b6 {Leaves White in a nearly zugwang like position.} 27. c5 b5 28. Rd7 Re8 $19) 25... Rf1+ 26. Ke3 Qg2 $19 {The attack against the white king breaks through.}) 24. Rxb7 Rfa8 25. Kf2 Ra1 26. Ke3 Rf1 27. Qf6 Rf8 {Once the rook has to passively defend the f7 point, it is clear that White cannot be worse.} 28. Rd7 (28. Kd4 $5 {In this age where we are seeing king walks in almost every other tournament this move would have been really loved by the spectators. It doesn't really change the assessment of the position but Black has to quickly find a way to get his queen into the game. Most probably the game would end something like this} Qg2 29. Qxh6 Qxe2 30. Qg5+ Kh7 31. Qh4+ Kg8 32. Qg5+ $11) 28... Rb1 29. Rb7 c5 30. Rb5 Rf1 31. Nd2 $2 {It is quite possible that Kramnik was under time pressure as this gives Black the golden opportunity to get a winning position.} (31. Rxc5 Rxf3+ 32. exf3 Qxh2 $11 {would have ended in a draw.}) 31... Rc1 32. Qb2 ( 32. Nf3 Qf1 $1 33. Qxh6 Rc3+ 34. Kd2 Qc1#) 32... Rd1 33. Qc2 Rh1 {White has lost all his co-ordination and now the Black pieces weave a deadly attack.} 34. Nf3 Qg2 35. Qc3 Rf1 36. Qf6 Rf2 37. Kd3 (37. Qb2 Rxf3+ $19) 37... Rxe2 38. Ng5 Rd2+ {What an exciting game. First Kramnik plays the opening in dubious fashion and gets a minus position. Caruana makes one inaccurate move and just when we felt that the game was heading towards a draw, Kramnik makes a very huge mistake by playing Nd2. After that Caruana finished off the game to perfection.} (38... Rd2+ 39. Kc3 Rc2+ 40. Kd3 Qd2#) 0-1

[Event "43rd GM 2015"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2015.07.03"] [Round "5"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E60"] [WhiteElo "2778"] [BlackElo "2720"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2015.06.26"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 e6 4. e4 c5 5. d5 d6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Nge2 exd5 8. cxd5 O-O 9. Ng3 a6 10. a4 h5 11. Be2 Qe8 12. Bf4 Qe7 13. Bg5 Qe8 14. Qd2 Nbd7 15. Bh6 Qe5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Bd3 Rb8 18. Rd1 Re8 19. Be2 h4 20. Nf1 h3 21. g4 b5 22. axb5 axb5 23. Ng3 b4 24. Na4 Ra8 25. b3 Ba6 26. Bxa6 Rxa6 27. O-O Rea8 28. f4 Qe7 29. Qe2 Nh7 30. Rf3 Qh4 31. Kh1 c4 32. Qxc4 Qxg4 33. Qd3 Kf8 34. Rg1 { White has some pressure in this position. Nepo tries to drastically change the character of the position but in that process makes some extremely dubious decisions.} Rxa4 $2 {What was the compensation that Nepomniachtchi was aiming for is quite unclear.} (34... Qh4 {We can agree that Black's position is unpleasant, but still this would have been a better choice.}) 35. bxa4 Nc5 36. Qe3 (36. Qf1 {was also very good.} Rxa4 37. Ne2 Qd7 38. f5 $18) 36... Rxa4 37. Nf5 $1 gxf5 {Nepo sacrifices his queen in return for two knights. That's just not enough.} (37... Qh5 38. Rxh3 $18) (37... Ra1 {would have been an interesting move} 38. Rfg3 $1 (38. Rxa1 Qg2#) 38... Rxg1+ 39. Rxg1 Qh5 40. Nxd6 $18 {White is winning.}) 38. Rxg4 fxg4 39. Rf1 Nf6 40. e5 Nfe4 41. f5 $1 { Opening up the c1-h6 diagonal for the queen. White is just winning.} Ra2 42. e6 g3 43. hxg3 Ke8 44. g4 h2 45. Qh3 f6 46. g5 Nxg5 47. Qh8+ Ke7 48. Qg7+ Ke8 49. Qxf6 {1-0 (49) So,W (2778)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2720) Dortmund GER 2015} 1-0