Today’s game comes from the recently concluded Grand Chess Tour Paris Rapid/Blitz event. It’s between two former world champions, Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. Both are aging but keep very active at the highest levels. In the event, Anand finished a respectable 6th while Kramnik a not-so-respectable 10th and last. The only plus here from our point of view is that he kept our favorite, Fabiano Caruana, from being last.
Clearly, Kramnik has not completely recovered from his disastrous Candidates in Berlin this past March.
In their rapid game, Kramnik indicated his desire to play a real game when he castled queenside. These types of games almost always provide sharp and entertaining positions and there was no difference here. Kramnik was doing very well until a couple of poor moves with one grave mistake put him firmly in the loss column.
Viswanathan Anand (2775) — Vladimir Kramnik (2787)
2018 Paris Grand Chess Tour, Paris, France
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Yet another “Anti-Berlin’’ approach. 4...Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.h3 A bit rare. 6.Nbd2 is the favorite move here. 6...Be6 7.Nc3 Nd7?! Giving up the two bishops in these types of positions is usually not done. 8.Ng5 Nf8 After this move, one gets the sense that Kramnik is just winging it here with no preparation behind his thinking. 9.0–0 Strange that he doesn’t take the bishop. 9...Qe7 10.Na4 Bd6 11.Nf3 Again strange. I am thinking the bishop should have been taken 11...Ng6 12.Nc3 Maybe a tacit offer of a draw after 12...Bc5 13,Na5 12...0–0–0 Well, now we are going to have a game. 13.Be3 Nf4?! Perhaps a bit premature. Better seems to be f6 first to stop White’s e5. 14.Bxf4 exf4 15.e5 Bb4 16.Ne4 f5 17.exf6 gxf6 Though Black now has the open g-file, it is surprising hard to use effectively and those double pawns will turn out to be very limiting 18.c3 f5 19.Neg5 Bd5 20.Re1 Qf6 21.Qa4 If 21.cxb4 then 21…h6 22.Ne6 Bxe6 with equality 21...Bd6 21...h6 22.Qxa7 hxg5 23.Ne5 wins 22.c4 Bxf3 23.Nxf3 Rhg8 24.Kh1 Qxb2 25.Qxa7 b6 26.Rf1 26.Red1 is another try. When after 26…Qxf2 27.Rd2 Qc5 28.a4 Qe3 29.Re1 Kd7! 30.Rxe3 fxe3 31.Re2 Ra8 32.Qb7 Rgb8 33.Qxb8 Rxb8 34.Rxe3 c5 with rough equality 26...Kd7?! Changing his mind set with 27.Qxa3 was better as after 27.Qxa3 Bxa3 gives Black a better endgame 27.Qa4 Ra8 28.Qb3 Qg7 29.Rg1 Ra3 Its now essential for Black to keep White off balance and away from advancing his d and a-pawns. 30.Qb1 Qf7 31.Qc2 Qh5 32.Rae1 Kc8 33.Rb1 Bc5? A bad mistake as now Black starts to get pushed back. Necessary was 33...c5 as after 34.Rb3 Ra6 35.a4 Qf7 36.Rbb1 Qe6 37.Rb5 c6 38.Rbb1 Bc7 39.d4 cxd4 40.Nxd4 Qe4 41.Qxe4 fxe4 42.Nxc6 Re8 is equal 34.Rb3 Ra5 If34...Rxb3 35.axb3 Kb7 36.d4 Bb4 37.c5 Qf7 38.cxb6 cxb6 39.Ne5 Qe6 40.Ra1 c5 41.Qa2 Ba5 42.Nc4 Qd5 43.f3 cxd4 44.b4 Is winning 35.d4 Black’s king is becomes less and less safe. 35...Bd6?! 35...Bf8 was necessary but White is still winning after 36.c5 b5 37.Ne5 Rg6 38.d5 cxd5 39.Nxg6 Qxg6 40.Qd2 36.c5 bxc5 37.Qc4 Threatening 38.Qe6+ Kd8 39.Rg8+ mate 37...Re8 38.Rgb1 Kd7 39.Ne5+ Bxe5 39...Ke7 40.Nxc6+ 40.dxe5 Qg6? 40…Rxe5 keeps him playing for a little while longer: 41.Rb8 Ra3 42.Qg8 Rxh3+ 43.gxh3 Qxh3+ 44.Kg1 Qg4+ 45.Qxg4 fxg4 46.Rf8] 41.Qxf4 Threatening 42. Qd2+ winning the rook. 41...Qe6? The finale mistake. Necessary was 41...c4 42.Qxc4 Rexe5 43.Rg3 Qe6 44.Qc3 Kc8 45.a4 Rxa4 46.Rg8+ Qxg8 47.Qxe5 but Black’s king is very exposed 42.Qd2+ With his a5 rook lost, Black gave up; 1–0
Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@gmail.com.
