This Week's ChessVideos Show: Kamsky-Svidler, World Cup 2011

As most if not all of you are aware, Peter Svidler won a nice game against Gata Kamsky a day or two ago (depending on your time zone), complete with a spectacular winning game bound for future anthologies. For that reason alone the game deserves publicity, but it's a rich game even aside from its classic coup de grace.

Accordingly, I give the game a close look in my ChessVideos show this week, which you can access here. These shows are always available for free (free registration is required) and on-demand for about a month or so, after which they're available for some small fee in the archives.

A Closer Look at the Potkin-Grischuk Pawn Ending

In the second tiebreak game of the fourth round match between Vladimir Potkin and Alexander Grischuk from the World Cup, Potkin voluntarily entered the following king and pawn ending:

(Potkin-Grischuk, round 4.4. Position after 39.Kxe1.)

It seemed lost to me before I knew the result or checked with an engine. He did indeed lose, and the one part of it I did check with an engine before writing my summary article on the tiebreaks confirmed my suspicions. What I checked was whether White could hold the position if he refrained from playing b4 (after a3), and when I worked out to my satisfaction that he couldn't, I just assumed that it was a simple win and that the course of the game bore it out.

Wrong! Grischuk won, and the position was objectively won, too, but it wasn't trivial. In fact, Grischuk erred and let the win slip, only to have Potkin give away the half point on his very next move. In a slow game, with a reasonable amount of time to think, Potkin would have worked out the draw though Grischuk wouldn't have given him the opportunity in the first place. All the same, it's a good exercise for the diligent reader to try to work out the ending from the diagram.

The first crucial moment, alluded to two paragraphs ago, comes after 39...Ke6 40.Kd2 Kd5 41.Kc3 Kc5 42.a3 Kd5.

How does Black win if White refrains from 43.b4, and chooses instead 43.h3?

Second, after 43.b4 axb4+ 44.axb4 h6 45.h3 h5 46.h4:

How should Black continue? Try to work it out to the end.

The game, with my fairly deep analysis of the pawn ending, is here.

A Short Review of Kasimdzhanov's "Beat the Slav the Classical Way"

Rustam Kasimdzhanov's Beat the Slav the Classical Way (ChessBase 2011). 72 minutes. €9.90/$13.75. Reviewed by Dennis Monokroussos.

ChessBase has recently started a new “60 Minutes” video series. This has nothing to do with the long-running American news program, but offers a reasonably quick look by a strong players on some topic or other. Most of the programs thus far have focused on openings, with GM Loek van Wely supporting the Najdorf Sicilian and fighting the King's Indian, IM Sam Collins promoting the Korchnoi Gambit against the French, and – the topic of this review – GM and former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov supporting White's cause in the line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4.

There are nine clips in all: an intro, seven substantive clips presenting ten games in total (nine “officially”, but a tenth game is included in one of the main games), and a wrap-up. (In case you're curious, the total running time is 72:20, so the series title is intended as an approximation and not a law.) Kasimdzhanov has expert knowledge of this system, as he has played it himself against very strong opposition and worked on it while working as Viswanathan Anand's second during the latter's 2007 world championship match with Vladimir Kramnik. In the ten games, Topalov has the white pieces in two of them, Anand white in one, Ivanchuk white in another (against Anand!) and Kasimdzhanov has white in the other six. There's one game from 2006 and one from 2011; most of the rest are from 2008 with one each in 2009 and 2010. So the games are recent and Kasimdzhanov knows whereof he speaks.

A little more specificity about the material: after 5.a4 Black has a decision to make. 5...Bf5 is the main move and the subject of six of the seven substantive clips, but 5...e6, heading for a QGA-like position after 6.e3 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 cxd4 9.cxd4 Be7, has become reasonably popular and is also covered. Back to 5...Bf5. After 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Black can choose between 8...Nbd7 and 8...0-0. The moves can transpose into one another, but there are some nuances and Kasimdzhanov addresses them. (For instance, Black sometimes plays 8...0-0 9.Qe2 Bg6, when the omission of ...Nbd7 works against the immediate e4 but allows 10.Ne5.) The absolute main line of the system arises after 8...Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg6 10.e4 0-0 (or 8...0-0 9.Qe2 Nbd7 10.e4 Bg6) 11.Bd3 Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3, and now Black generally chooses either 14...Bg6, 14...Be7 or 14...Re8. Kasimdzhanov devotes separate clips to each move.

While the coverage wasn't encyclopedic (this is the “60 minutes” presentation, remember? If you want an encyclopedia, you'll have to get Boris Avrukh to write a book on the line or Jan Gustafsson to do a video series), I didn't see any major gaps in the presentation; no main lines that had to be there but weren't. I would certainly suggest that stronger players who want to employ his repertoire suggestions check the databases and run their engines, but I think between the specifics and the general concepts Kasimdzhanov presented most players, possibly even masters, will be able to play these lines competently against their peers and betters based on the videos alone.

The price (approximately 10 euros/$14) is pretty decent too, so while you shouldn't burn your opening books or delete your databases, Kasimdzhanov's presentation may help those of you looking for a way to meet the traditional Slav (as opposed to the Semi-Slav and Chebanenko's ...a6 systems, which are not covered here). Recommended especially for players from around 1600-1700 to 2200.

Ordering info and a sample clip here.

Have Draws Increased At The Top? Sonas Says No

Have a look here, where ChessBase's favorite statistician Jeff Sonas claims that at the top the percentage of draws has only risen very slightly since the 1960s and has held even steadier for master chess in general. Further, the percentage of short draws (ones agreed to before move 25) has declined considerably since the 1980s, and that pre-dates the Sofia/Corsica rules.

As I've said a million times, don't exaggerate draws aren't a problem.

World Cup 2011: Round 4 Tiebreaks

And then there were eight.

The bloodbath continued today, with only three draws in the 20 games played, for a total of eight draws in 36 games for the round overall. (Soon the little-known GMs Vonahzdmisak and Vopihs will propose some radical measures to lower the excessive quantity of decisive games. Since a properly-played chess game should almost certainly be drawn, the high level of wins suggests a certain lack of competence in top-level play. Accordingly, if a game is won - especially if it is won too quickly - one suggestion is that the players replay their game with colors reversed with the previous time limit doubled. But I digress...) The games have been very exciting, if not always perfectly played.

Let's start with the bare facts and the pairings for the next round, and then we'll summarize the matches.

Polgar 4.5 - Dominguez 3.5 (that's the total score; the tiebreak score was 3.5-2.5 in her favor)
Ivanchuk 3 - Bu Xiangzhi 1 (2-0)
Ponomariov 4.5 - Bruzon 3.5 (3.5-2.5)
Gashimov 4 - Nielsen 2 (3-1)
Grischuk 2.5 - Potkin 1.5 (1.5-.5)

Quarterfinal Pairings (higher-rated player listed first, pairings given in bracket order):

• Svidler - Polgar
• Ponomariov - Gashimov
• Ivanchuk - Radjabov
• Grischuk - Navara

Now for the summary. Starting with the easiest, or at least most lopsided tiebreaker, Bu Xiangzhi went down without a fight to Vassily Ivanchuk. In the first game Bu had White in a Reti, but played it very passively and was already worse after 11 moves. He tried sacrificing first one pawn and then two, hoping that his bishops would give him some compensation, but they didn't and "Chuky" won easily. In the second game Bu tried the Czech Benoni, which is a reasonable way to at least avoid letting White kill the play from the start. Again Bu tried sacrificing a pawn for some play (Benko Gambit-style here, but with less effect thanks to the Black pawn on e5), but wound up just down a pawn for nothing. He tried following with further sacrifices, but Ivanchuk collected all the gifts and won with ease.

Grischuk-Potkin also finished in two games, but it wasn't anywhere near as easy. In the first game Grischuk didn't get anything with White from the opening. The game continued for a long time, with Grischuk generally having a very slight initiative, but it never became anything serious. In Potkin's white game, he repeated the aggressive anti-KID line that proved so effective in the first game of their match; naturally, Grischuk was better prepared this time. Instead of the (probably) dubious 7...Qe8 he went for the main line with 7...c6, which has scored very well in the past. The usual rejoinder is 8.Nf3, but Potkin went for 8.Qd2 instead. If it was an attempt at surprise, it boomeranged when Grischuk uncorked 8...d5, a new pawn sacrifice that looks completely sound. At a certain point Grischuk handled the position too slowly (e.g. 19...b5 probably improves on 19...a5), and Potkin started to consolidate the extra pawn. On move 22, it was probably best to swap rooks: 22.Rxe8+ Rxe8 23.Re1, when Black must either cede the file or draw closer to a two-results-only endgame. Instead, 22.b3?! b5! 23.cxb5?! Ne4! let Grischuk's pieces start jumping all over the place, and he soon regained his material and obtained the advantage. Eventually, Potkin rejected a bad rook ending for a completely lost pawn ending (exhaustion? time trouble?), and his great run came to an end.

Gashimov-Nielsen saw four decisive games in a row. Gashimov won the first rapid game with a slow Ruy, gradually building up a kingside attack that broke through. Nielsen won the rematch after a long, hard struggle. The key moments came on moves 34 and 42. Gashimov should have played 34...Rd8, not fearing 35.Nb5(?) as after 35...axb5 36.axb5 the king evacuates to safety starting with 36...Kd7. Instead, Gashimov's 34...Bxc3 was strongly met by 35.Qxd6! On move 42, Black could have kept some hopes alive with 42...Rh3: 43.Kg2 Rh2+ 44.Kxh2 Qxf2+ 45.Kh3 Qxf5+ 46.g4 Qh7+ 47.Kg2 Qe4+ 48.Kh2 and now either 48...Qe3 or 48...b6 keeps Black afloat. After Gashimov's 42...Nxf5, White obtained a winning endgame after 43.Qf4 Qxg3+ 44.Qxg3 Nxg3 45.Kg2 Ne4 46.Rxf7 and went on to equalize the match.

It was on to the 10-minute games (+10 second increments), and Gashimov again played a slow Ruy but eventually outplayed Nielsen to win again, and in the second game Gashimov went for the solid Schlechter Slav/Gruenfeld rather than repeating the Modern Benoni. It paid off, as he obtained an advantage out of the opening, and then the game and match were decided when Nielsen played 18.Be2??, an outright blunder costing him a piece. He kicked around a while longer - why not? - but there was nothing to be done, and he lost.

On now to Cuba vs. Europe, parts 1 and 2.

Starting with Ponomariov-Bruzon, Ponomariov won the first game by outplaying Bruzon from nothing on the white side of a Reti. The game was a nice illustration of how a knight can come to dominate a bishop even when that bishop isn't classically "bad". Bruzon struck back in game two with his own sideline opening, the Trompowsky. He didn't get anything from the opening either - or from the middlegame either, for that matter - but when Ponomariov blundered under pressure in the endgame, the match was tied. 42...Rd8 (preventing White's king from reaching d6) or 42...Rc8 (allowing the king to be driven back with ...Rc6+ after 43.Kd6 Ke8) would have held the balance. Instead, after the obvious but flawed 42...Ke7?/?? 43.Rf1 Rf8 44.Rxf8! Kxf8 45.Kd6 Black realized to his horror that the game cannot be saved. Even though Black could afford to lose everything if he can only eliminate the White e- and g-pawns (due to the bishop + wrong-colored rook pawn [or rook-pawn and wrong-colored bishop, if you prefer] problem), it couldn't be done.

With the psychological momentum, Bruzon won the first 10-minute game with Black, just overwhelming his opponent. Match over? Of course not! After an unusual and strategically complicated opening, Ponomariov managed to bring the position to an ending with two bishops vs. a bishop and knight, with both players having a-, g- and h-pawns. Objectively, it's probably a draw, but to hold it in what's essentially a blitz game against a great technician is nearly impossible. It took Ponomariov 47 moves from the start of that ending to win it, but win it he did.

On to blitz. Ponomariov drew the first game with Black without any adventures, and the match was finally decided in the next game. Ponomariov headed for a line where Black can win a piece for two pawns and a lot of risk, and Bruzon went for it. 17...Qd7 was natural but seems to be a mistake. Ponomariov was able to reach an ending with four connected passed pawns on the kingside as "compensation" for the piece, and while it took a while the fearsome foursome decided the issue: game and match, Ponomariov.

Finally, Polgar-Dominguez. Polgar won the first game very easily, gobbling up one pawn after another in a Grand Prix Attack sideline. A very convincing win, but then Polgar went against her style, choosing the rather bland, passive Scandinavian in an attempt to be solid. Dominguez won very easily, and the only drama was trying to figure out why Polgar continued as long as she did. (Maybe she felt Dominguez should have resigned the first game sooner than he did, and wanted "revenge"?)

Polgar won the first 10-minute game with a bit of luck; the kind of luck you get when you put a lot of pressure on your opponent. She burned too many bridges on the white side of a 6.Bc4 Najdorf, and while Dominguez had to be very careful, a few accurate moves would give him the win. Instead, successive errors on moves 27 and 28 took the position from won to equal to completely lost. (In case you're wondering, 27...Kg8 was winning and 28...Rg1+ 29.Kxg1 Bxh4 30.Qxh4 Rg8+ followed by 31...Rg6 holds the balance. In the rematch, Polgar again played the Scandinavian and again got a passive position out of keeping with her style. Dominguez won easily.

In the first five-minute game, Polgar replayed the line that was so successful in game one, but Dominguez played much better this time. Polgar might have had a slight edge early on, but Dominguez outplayed her and obtained a serious advantage. At least twice the advantage could have been decisive (30...Nc5, 41...Rd1+ followed by 42...Rc1), but after 41...Nxa5? White was better. In fact, with 45.Rh8+ and only next 46.e7 Polgar would have been winning, but both players were in serious time trouble at this point. The game was soon drawn, and both players seemed relieved to have survived.

Finally, Polgar returned to the Sicilian in the last game and reached a position similar to what would arise via her beloved Paulsen/Taimanov. Dominguez played by far his worst white game of the match, and after the oversight 19.h5?? was crushed after 19...Nxf3. His 20.Qg3 was even worse, but he probably felt that he'd have no chance in the endgame after the "correct" 20.Bxc7 Nxe1 21.Rxe1 Rxc7. Anyway, he had no chance after 20.Qg3 either, and Polgar finished with an iron hand.

Official site (with video coverage) here.

Comments Policy

I've had to do a little snipping lately on the comments, so let me take a moment to request that readers please avoid profanity or sexually suggestive remarks in their comments. I'm not writing specifically for kids, but I want kids to be able to read the site without any problems with them or their parents. Also, while it can be appropriate to criticize players in certain contexts, please do so only when there's a clear link based on publicly available evidence. It's easy to destroy someone's reputation and very hard to rebuild it, so please be very careful about this.

...And Tomorrow, World Peace

Have you seen the incredible global coverage of the World Cup in the mainstream media? With all the hard-fought games and decisive results, not to mention the excellent live coverage, it was bound to happen!

Hang on a second...what's that? There hasn't been any global coverage? But how can this be, when we're informed that draws, short draws in particular, are the big problem with chess; and here we've almost none of that? True, these things take a little time, but I'm still expecting all the world's leading papers to have front page coverage by the final round. There couldn't possibly be any other reason why chess doesn't dominate the general public's imagination when it comes to sports and entertainment, could there?

World Cup 2011: Round 4, Day 2: Brilliancy Time

I don't know if this will go into the pantheon with 47...Bh3!! and moves of that ilk, but the coup de grace administered by Peter Svidler against Gata Kamsky is at least a contender, especially considering that he did it against a great player in an important event. Here's the situation: White to move has just played 26.Nc6xb8:

Perhaps Kamsky expected 26...Qxh6, when after 27.Nc6 Kg7! Black has sufficient compensation for the exchange, but not more. And no doubt he was ready for 26...Qg3, when 27.Nc6 would win, were it not for a strong move that equalizes. It turns out that that same strong move is even better when played immediately: 26...Re2!!

Fantastic! Black is down a rook, and puts a second rook en prise on an empty square. Of course, its virtue is clear if White doesn't take the rook - Black crashes through on f2. The crucial point is that if White does take the rook, Black plays 27...Qg3 and White is helpless against the threat of ...Qxg2#. When the queen was on c2, Nc6 was an adequate reply to ...Qg3, but now Nc6 is just a spite move.

So Kamsky played 27.Qc3, and resigned after 27...Rxf2 28.Nc6 Rxf1+, as 29.Kxf1 Qf2 is mate and 29.Kh2 Rxa1 gives Black an extra rook and pawn with mate on the way.

That gave Svidler a 2-0 victory in the match, and he will play the winner of tomorrow's tiebreaker between Judit Polgar and Leinier Dominguez. Dominguez won game 1 yesterday and had a very promising position today, but at a crucial moment made the wrong choice and suffered for a long time. It took Polgar 112 moves, and she made at least one crucial error and a large number of inaccuracies in converting her advantage, but she kept plugging away to win the game.

She was not alone in fighting back from a defeat in the first game - Peter Heine Nielsen did it as well, grinding out a victory against Vugar Gashimov in 113 moves! (The game went one move longer but a few seconds shorter than Polgar's victory.) A third comeback hero was Alexander Grischuk, who finally stopped the Vladimir Potkin steamroller with some nice tactics on the white side of a Classical French.

In addition to those matches, two others will go to tiebreaks; namely, the two that saw draws in yesterday's games. Ponomariov-Bruzon was a "correct" draw, while Ivanchuk-Bu Xiangzhi had some ups and downs before the point was split after 95 moves. (It's some round when that's only the third-longest game.)

Finally, in addition to Svidler, two other players assured themselves of a rest day tomorrow. David Navara was always doing fine against Yaroslav Zherebukh, but fine turned into winning after the latter blundered with 28...Rf6?? Still, despite losing the match 2-0, the 18-year-old Zherebukh accounted himself extremely well in this tournament, and one would expect to hear a lot more from him in the next few years to come.

Finally, Jakovenko-Radjabov was a short draw, the only one today (and only the third draw in eight games and fifth in the sixteen games played in the round overall!), and that sent Radjabov through to the quarterfinals. It's not that Jakovenko pulled a Morozevich and gave up without an effort, but that he was, if anything, a bit worse in the final position and without any real winning prospects (though he could have continued a bit anyway).

So at this point none of the quarterfinal matches are set. Here's a recap: Svidler won his match and is waiting for the winner of Dominguez-Polgar. The winner of Ponomariov-Bruzon will play the winner of Gashimov-Nielsen. Radjabov will play the winner of Ivanchuk-Bu Xiangzhi, and Navara will play the winner of Grischuk-Potkin.

The official site is here, and today's games (with my comments) are here. Note: I will cover the Kamsky-Svidler game in much greater depth for my ChessVideos show this week (those are free and available to the general public, for those of you who might be new to the site), which should be posted online tomorrow or Friday. (Fear not, there will be an announcement on this site once it's up.)

Kasparov On His Career, 1973-1985, Coming Out Soon

Many years ago, Garry Kasparov wrote The Test of Time, which was a pretty good summary of his career as a teen and young adult through his triumph in the candidates final over Vasily Smyslov. It didn't really touch on his development as a youngster, though, and wasn't so much autobiographical as an account of his matches and tournaments from 1978 through 1984. Igor Stohl and Tibor Karolyi have both written worthwhile two-book collections on Kasparov's career, but now at last we will have the man's own account of his career, complete with the latest and greatest version of his analytical reflections on those games.

Kasparov has already finished his series of books on his encounters with Anatoly Karpov, so the subsequent works will look at his games with everyone else. Volume 1, which Amazon claims will ship on October 18, will cover his career from 1973 (when he was 10, or even 9, depending on how early in the year he begins) through 1985, the year when he won the world championship title. It should make for interesting reading and, of course, for an incredible chess feast.

The product and ordering information for the U.S. Amazon.com site is here.

World Cup 2011: Round 4, Day 1: 6 Decisive Games of 8

There was lots and lots of blood today, which is always pleasing for the spectators, though there weren't any slashing attacks headed for the anthologies. Another bonus was a nice upset, although by this point in the competition it's unclear if anyone who wins should be thought of as a serious underdog.

Proceeding in bracket order, we start with Polgar-Dominguez. When I first played through this game I was amazed, thinking that Polgar had managed to win the second game twice (compare this game with her victory over Movsesian a couple of rounds ago). Then I realized that it was Dominguez who won, which only goes to show that knowing about and having facility with an idea doesn't mean you're immune to it yourself. What I'm referring to is the strength of opposite-colored bishops in attacking situations. Dominguez's queen and dark-squared bishop combination gave him an enduring advantage against Polgar's queen and relatively hapless light-squared bishop. All the same, Polgar did a better job of defending than Dominguez of attacking until her 44th move, which allowed Dominguez' dark-squared domination to seal her doom.

Bu Xiangzhi-Ivanchuk was a comfortable and fairly quick draw for Black.

Zherebukh-Navara was an odd game that Navara won without much trouble. They followed theory in a mainline 6.Be2 Scheveningen until around move 18, when Navara played a sensible novelty. Black may have had a slight edge, thanks to his central pawn mass, but it wasn't anything serious until Zherebukh sacrificed or blundered the exchange with 20.Bd3. Assuming the former, he must have missed Navara's 22...Nd2, when a move by the attacked Rf1 would allow the fork 23...Nb3. Rather than lose slowly, Zherebukh decided to go for heroics with 23.Rae1 Nxf1 24.Rxe6?!!, going down a rook for two pawns and some vague attacking chances. Navara did make one error, it seems, though even with best play Zherebukh would have been in trouble. White failed to take his chance, however, and Navara won without any further difficulty.

Bruzon-Ponomariov was a short but briefly lively draw in the Berlin endgame. Summing up, the top half of the draw saw two Black wins and two draws - Black went 3-1. This trend did not continue in the bottom half, where Black was decidedly not OK.

Gashimov-Nielsen was also a Berlin, but was neither short, lively nor drawn. Nielsen sacrificed the exchange for a pawn, hoping that White would be unable to break through. It was a dangerous strategy, giving White the chance to play forever without any risk, and eventually Nielsen went astray. Once White won Black's f-pawn on move 60, Black's fate was sealed, and thanks to zugzwang White won the inevitable rook + g-pawn vs. bishop + g-pawn ending.

Potkin-Grischuk was the upset du jour. Potkin won what looked like a model game, keeping Grischuk's pieces bottled up until deep into the ending. (On move 32, White had a rook, knight and pawns against Grischuk's rook, bishop and pawns, and Grischuk's rook and bishop were still on their starting squares. In fact, Black's rook didn't enter the game until move 36!) White had a big advantage, and Grischuk's last chance to put up resistance left after his 40th move. With a Capablanca-style petite combination Potkin created a winning passed pawn, and Grischuk resigned on move 44. In the past, Potkin had served as Nepomniachtchi's second, but now that he has won the European Championship and has gotten this far in the World Cup, his days as a second are probably behind him for the new few years.

Radjabov-Jakovenko was a Reti where Radjabov was a bit better for most of the game, though Jakovenko did have a neat chance to equalize with 36...Nd4. Missing it, Radjabov entered a pawn-up ending where his central mass and rooks on the 7th rank outweighed Black's passed c-pawn, and he converted his advantage without any trouble.

Svidler-Kamsky was yet another ending. Svidler generally had the better of things, but the outcome was unclear until 46...Ba2? and especially 48...Rb3??, which must have been a miscalculation. In the final position Svidler's d-pawn would cost Black his whole army, so it was time to resign.

The event website (with video coverage) is here, and the games, with my notes, are here.