It has been a great year for the Armenian Levon Aronian. He’s won the World Cup, Norway 2017, the Grenke Classic, and the St. Louis Blitz and Rapids events. He has also earned a spot in the 2018 Candidates tournament and married his long time fiancée, Arianne Caoili, this September, with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in attendance. Many now consider him the clear favorite to be Magnus Carlsen’s next challenger.
During this year of Aronian, he has shown a great willingness to mix it up. Even in the most positional lines; he is always looking for aggressive ideas. Today’s game is a perfect example of this with the audacious h4! When faced with this aggression, Holland’s No. 1, Anish Giri, seems to have not been in the mood to defend and paid the consequences for it.
2017 FIDE Grand Prix, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Levon Aronian (2801) - Anish Giri (2762)
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.d3 Bg7 6.Bd2 0–0 Not bad but White could save himself a lot of grief by waiting to castle till White does. 7.g3 c5 8.h4!? In this year of Aronian, he seems hell bent on playing this move in as many of his games as possible. Though many would scoff at it, Aronian has been very successful with it. 8...Nc69.h5 With Black castled, this is very playable, if the attack doesn't work, White can still castle and be fine. 9...Nxc3 10.bxc3! Can't be exchanging off pieces if you want to attack. 10...c4 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.Qa4! Trying to get to h4 by inducing Black to take on d3 12...Na5?! So Black begins his not slow decline into the abyss with a knight on the rim. Surprisingly the engines all “feel’’ that 12...cxd3 is required when after 13.Qh4 f6 14. Bh6 Qa5 15.Qc4+ Rf7 16.Bxg7 Be6! With a probable draw but not 14.Qh7+?! as after 14…Kf7 15.Nh4 Ne5 16.Bh6 Rg8 17.Bg2 Qa5 Black is actually winning 13.d4 b6?! It strikes me that the straightforward 13. Bd7 is better as the bishop is out of play on b7 and on d7; it has some influence on the kingside. 14.Bg2 Bb7 15.Qc2 Qd5?! Waste time as it doesn't stop e4. Better was 15...Re8 16.e4 Qd7 17.Kf1 e6 18.e5 b5 19.Ng5 Bxg2+ 20.Kxg2 Nc6 21.Ne4 Ne7 22.Bg5 Qc6 23.a4 Rac8 16.Nh4 Qd7 17.e4 e5? I guess the reason for this is to stop e5 but in one swell swoop, Black turns both of his bishops bad and strands his already wayward knight even more. 17…e6 seems so much more reasonable and the computer seems to agree: 17...e6 18.Kf1 Rad8 19.Bg5 f6 20.Be3 Qf7 21.Rd1 Nc6 and its still a game. 18.d5 Bc8 Otherwise, how’s the knight going to get back into play. Black would love to get it to d6 but comes nowhere close to that. 19.f4! Qe7 20.f5 g5? 21.Qd1!! White sacrifices piece to get his queen to the h-file. 21...gxh4 22.Rxh4 Rd8 23.Qh5 Not the best. Much stronger is 23.Qg4! when the simple 24.Kf2 followed by doubling on the h-file seems to a winning idea, i.e.; 23…f6 24.Kf2 Kf8 25.Rah1 and 26.Rh8+ is hard to meet 23...Kf8 24.Rg4 Bf6?? Losing virtually on the spot, necessary was 24...Qd6 25.Rxg7 Kxg7 26.Qg5+ Kf8 27.Kf2 Ke8 28.Qg7 Qf8 29.Qxe5+ Qe7 30.Qg7 Qf8 31.Qh7 Kd7 32.e5 Bb7 33.Bg5 when White is better but Black is still playing. 25.Bh6+ Ke8 26.Rg8+ Kd7 27.d6! as 27...Qxd6 loses to 28.Rd1 Rxg8 29.Rxd6+ Kxd6 30.Qxf7 Bd7 31.Qxf6+; or 27...Rxg8 28.dxe7 Kxe7 29.g4! or 27…Kxd6 28.Rd1+Kc7 29.Rdxd8 Black gave up; 1-0
Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes @gmail.com.
