Candidates Semi-finals, Day 1: Two Draws

The previous post was on a book called The Safest Grünfeld, and that safety theme carried over to the Candidates' games today. Grischuk-Kramnik was drawn almost before the ink used to write the first move had dried, while Kamsky-Gelfand displayed a bit more elbow grease but was still a super-cautious affair.

To elaborate somewhat, lest I be accused of following their lead: Grischuk-Kramnik was a 5.Bf4 QGD. Grischuk chose a relatively rare move, 8.Rd1, and got nothing out of it; in fact, according to TWIC, Kramnik revealed after the game, which was drawn in 16 moves, that he was still in his preparation. Hopefully, for Kramnik's sake and for the sake of an interesting match, his preparation with White will give him more traction. Otherwise, we might be in for four boring games and then a trip to the rapids.

Gelfand has returned to the Najdorf in earnest, and Kamsky continued his policy of meeting that opening with solid approaches - in this case with 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3. They followed known paths for a pretty long time, and even the official novelty on move 21 didn't produce a new concept. Kamsky's position was always slightly more comfortable, but he never had enough to disturb Gelfand, and the draw was agreed after 36 moves.

Will Gelfand and Kramnik be more effective in their White games? We'll see tomorrow. For now, here are today's games, with my comments.

The Safest Grünfeld: A Brief Review

Alexander Delchev and Evgenij Agrest, The Safest Grünfeld (Chess Stars, 2011). 347 pp. Reviewed by Dennis Monokroussos.

I've been a fan of almost every Chess Stars' opening book I've seen over the years, and that positive run continues with their brand new The Safest Grünfeld, co-authored by Alexander Delchev and Evgenij Agrest. Both are 2600+ level GMs (Delchev's peak rating so far is 2669, while Agrest's peak was 2616), and because part of the book originated with Delchev working with Veselin Topalov's regular second Ivan Cheparinov, there's probably some percolation from the 2700-2800 level as well. At any rate, the authors are plenty strong and know what they're talking about in this opening.

About the title: you may remember that Delchev co-authored a volume on the Taimanov a few years back called The Safest Sicilian. Since there are many versions of the Sicilian - the Najdorf, the Scheveningen, the Dragon, Sveshnikov, Kalashnikov, Kan, etc. - such a title makes sense. But there are different Grünfelds? Not in the same way as there are different Sicilians, no. But the idea Delchev (the primary author) has in mind is that when there's a choice between a sharper and more volatile system and one with more stable evaluations, he'll lean, when possible, towards the latter. It doesn't mean that D & A are domesticating the Grünfeld - they're not turning it into a sort of Slav or Petroff. Even further, they generally offer two responses to most White approaches, and often one of those responses is plenty sharp.

For example: Against the classic Exchange line with 7.Bc4 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4), after the further moves 7...0-0 8.Ne2 c5 9.Be3 Nc6 10.0-0, the authors offer three lines:

(1) Their primary choice: 10...Qc7 11.Rc1 Rd8 (with a good deal of analysis of 11...e6 as well)

(2) A mostly unexplored backup: 10...e6

(3) For those who want to live on the edge, the topical 10...Na5, which was the variation where Anand suffered his catastrophe against Topalov in game 1 of their match last year but has been thoroughly rehabilitated (e.g. in Shirov - Vachier-Lagrave, played earlier this year in Wijk aan Zee and deeply analyzed in this book).

There is plenty of original analysis in the book, which, Delchev says, is up to date as of April 1, 2011. (That seems to be accurate and not an April Fools' Day joke.) Boris Avrukh's monster tomes on the Grünfeld will come out later this year, but until then, and possibly even afterwards as well, I can heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in the opening.

One reason I like this book (and most of the Chess Stars openings books), and think it will be valuable even once Avrukh's books come out, is the format. Each chapter (or "part", in their parlance) starts with a "Main Ideas" section in which various key ideas - typical plans, structures, move order tricks and so on - are presented. This is followed by the "Step by Step" section in which the theoretical details are elaborated, and then (for most chapters) comes "Complete Games", which sometimes fills in some further theoretical details and sometimes gives the reader a model game to absorb. (And sometimes it does both at the same time, but I note, approvingly, that they do not offer more than perfunctory notes once the game has passed the point of theoretical significance.) I think this balance of concepts, specifics and examples is extremely valuable to readers.

So, once again: highly recommended to those who play the Grünfeld and those who are considering it.

(More info here, with a link to a remarkably long excerpt.)

Karsten Müller's Chess Endgames, Volume 7

German Grandmaster Karsten Müller has been known for a long time as an endgame authority; indeed, one might call him the Yuri Averbakh of our generation. He has written some useful endgame books, and over the last few years he has released a series of DVDs with ChessBase covering the last phase of the game. The early volumes in the series focused on theoretical endings, while more recent disks have turned to principles and concepts.

Volume 7 is a bit of a grab bag, in that the contents are extremely diverse. The chapters are numbered in the broad context of the series, and on this disk you'll find chapters 10-16, which are as follows:

Chapter 10: Weaknesses (14 clips)

Chapter 11: The Art of Pawn Play (15 clips)

Chapter 12: Converting an Advantage (11 clips)

Chapter 13: Stalemate (8 clips)

Chapter 14: Fortresses (12 clips)

Chapter 15: The Art of Defense (6 clips)

Chapter 16: Typical Mistakes (7 clips)

That makes 73 clips in all, which suggests that this is either the longest DVD in history, with a compression algorithm many years ahead of its time, or else the clips are fairly short. As you've guessed, it's the latter: they typically run in the neighborhood of 4-8 minutes, with a total running time of 5 hours and 40 minutes.

Because the disk treats general topics, it's not some sort of manual. The clips, and the game fragments discussed therein, are not intended to be exhaustive treatments or material to memorize. If anything is to be memorized, it is at the level of principles like "do not hurry" and the "principle of two weaknesses". That said, it would be just as wrong to take a passive attitude towards the videos, letting them wash over one's head like water from a shower. The best way to go at it is to stop the clips at the start (Müller generally prompts the viewer at the right time) and try - really try - to solve the position before going on. To attack the clips in that way will give the viewer the maximum benefit, not only for really grasping the particular lesson of the video, but also as just good old-fashion exercise. Chess is about calculating and solving problems, and Müller's material is well-suited to that end. It doesn't hurt, either, that the clips are all bite-sized, so there's no need to invest an hour going through a single exercise.

Müller is a good pedagogue, the topics are important and the examples are well-chosen. Accordingly, this disk is recommended - at least to viewers who will use it patiently!

Candidates: Semi-Final Preview

After a couple of days off, the four semi-finalists will reenter the battlefield tomorrow. In one semi-final, Gata Kamsky and Boris Gelfand will reprise their 2007 Candidates match; in the other, Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk will battle for a place in the finals. Interestingly, almost every combination of matches not involving Grischuk the rest of the way will involve a rematch of some sort - only Gelfand-Anand would be a new match pairing. (Kramnik has lost one world championship cycle match apiece to the other three participants; Kamsky is 0-1 vs. Gelfand and 1-1 vs. Anand.)

Gelfand - Kamsky:

Let's start with their head-to-head history. Overall, Gelfand is +3, with the total count +8 -5 =22. In classical chess,  Gelfand is still +3: +6 -3 =17. In rapid Gelfand has one win against three draws, while in blitz Kamsky has two wins, one loss and two draws. The most important games in their past came, as mentioned already, in 2007, when Gelfand won their previous Candidates match with a +2 =3 tally.

Both players have good nerves and a strong fighting spirit, so that's probably a push or at least close to it. Where Gelfand has the edge is in his preparation, and while I'm sure Kamsky will bring some fine ideas to the table I'm still going to pick Gelfand on this basis.

Kramnik - Grischuk:

If you just look at the overall total, it's extremely bad news for Kramnik, as Grischuk leads +8 -4 =8. Much of Grischuk's success has come in blitz, however, so it's not really that bad for Kramnik unless it comes down to that stage of the tiebreaks. In classical chess, they have six draws - no decisive games! In rapid chess, it's the opposite: no draws! Kramnik leads 3-1, with the one loss coming earlier this year at the Amber tournament. In blindfold, Grischuk leads 2-0, and in blitz it's +5 -1 =2 in Grischuk's favor.

In general, I'd expect Kramnik to win this match, but my impression is that he's starting to wear down, while Grischuk has generally been on the upswing (not counting his lousy performance at Wijk aan Zee at the start of the year). It's not impossible that the match will be decided by Kramnik's almost always extremely impressive preparation, but if it just comes down to chess - and that's what I think will happen - I expect that Grischuk will in tiebreaks. My feeling is that Grischuk's current resources when it comes to handling exhaustion and nervous tension are greater than Kramnik's, and that will give him a huge edge if it comes down to the tiebreaks. (If Kramnik wins, it'll be in the classical stage.)

The action begins tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time in Kazan, Russia, which is 7 a.m. ET and 1 p.m. CET.

The Kramnik and Radjabov Post-Match Press Conference

Those of us watching the live feed at russiachess.org might have seen and heard, but not understood, the post-match press conference right after the Kramnik-Radjabov match. Some of my readers understand Russian, but I suspect the majority do not. For us, Mishanp's Chess in Translation site is a real treat, particularly in this case as he has transcribed that press conference for our benefit.

(As an aside: It's an excellent site, and I hope enough people are giving him kudos to keep him going - and some of those kudos probably ought to involve fund transfers.)

Candidates, Quarterfinal Tiebreaks: Grischuk, Kramnik Advance (With Games)

The fans definitely got their money's worth today, as both the Grischuk-Aronian and Kramnik-Radjabov playoff matches were full of drama.

To recap, the tiebreaks had the following format: a four game mini-match with a time control of 25 minutes for the whole game, plus 10 second increments per move, followed, if necessary, by up to pairs of 5' + 3" blitz games followed by an Armaggedon game. Grischuk-Aronian was settled in the rapids, while Kramnik and Rajdabov needed two sets of blitz games to decide a winner.

Grischuk got off to a great start against Aronian, convincingly outplaying him on the black side of an English. The success didn't last for long, though. In game two his handling of the normally solid Exchange QGD was anything but, and soon Black was better thanks to his bishop pair. The nature of Black's advantage changed a few times, eventually transmogrifying into a pawn up rook ending that Aronian won. In game three having White finally made a positive difference and Aronian stood better. In fact, Aronian was probably winning at (at least) one moment (31.Qc3!), but Grischuk escaped and drew. Finally, Grischuk outplayed Aronian in game 4 on the white side of a Bf4 QGD. Aronian tried to create something of a fortress, but without any time on the clock it was inevitable that something would give, and it did.

With that, the rating favorites had gone three-for-three...in losing their matches - and it was nearly four-for-four! Kramnik and Radjabov had played four short, dull draws in classical chess, and they played four more forgettable games in the rapid. The first game had some play, and Kramnik pressed for a while with White in the Moscow Semi-Slav, but in games 2-4 the games were balanced, uneventful and quickly drawn.

It was time for the blitz rounds, and now it got exciting in a hurry. Radjabov had White in game 1 (game 9 overall), and produced a match novelty: 1.e4! Kramnik chose a Berlin, which Radjabov "declined" with 4.d3. The game turned into a sort of slow Giuoco, and surprisingly Radjabov handled the maneuvering phase better than 1...e5 professional Kramnik. Black was under heavy pressure, and after missing a nice chance to escape on move 37 (37...Ngf4! rather than 37...Ne7?), Radjabov hit hard with the power shot 38.Nh6! Black's position collapsed after that, forcing Kramnik to win the next game to keep the match going.

Kramnik did manage to obtain an edge in an ending with rooks and opposite-colored bishops, but although he managed to win a pawn Radjabov achieved a clearly drawn position. Desperate to keep the game going, Kramnik wound up blundering the extra pawn back, though it has to be said that it was the least important of his pawns. Anyway, Kramnik continued trying without getting anywhere, until of all things there was a clock malfunction. Play stopped for something like 10-15 minutes while everything got sorted out. When they came back, Kramnik at least managed to find an idea, and it worked. Radjabov fell into a fatal zugzwang on his 68th move, and the game was quickly over. Time for another two-game blitz mini-match.

In game 3 Kramnik again had White, and again Radjabov sharpened things up a bit by finally playing his favorite King's Indian. As usual in this match, Kramnik didn't get anything out of the opening, and the game was still equal once it reached a heavy piece ending with both sides having a queen and both rooks. It remained equal even as a rook ending, but Radjabov made the cardinal error of defending passively. Kramnik had enough positive ideas to make progress, and finally managed to win a second straight "drawn" endgame. (Carlsen would be proud.)

Finally, game 4 was another Declined Berlin-cum-Giuoco Piano, and while Radjabov might have briefly had an edge in the opening Kramnik was soon doing well and even stood better. 42...Qd6 was an error, though, and Radjabov briefly had some hopes. Kramnik defended well and found a fine idea on move 59 that wound up forcing a draw, but his implementation was inaccurate. Kramnik should have played 59...Rxd6 first rather than doing so after 59...Qe3+ 60.Kh1, because if Radjabov had chosen 60.Kf1! instead Black would have had some difficulties. After the exchange of errors, Black forced perpetual check and won the match.

Our semi-finals are set and will begin on Thursday. The pairings are Gelfand-Kamsky and Grischuk-Kramnik. I'll preview these matches tomorrow or Wednesday, and then we'll make a new set of predictions: a 2-G final, 2-K, or one of each?

As for today's games, I haven't annotated all 12 of them, but here they are, seven with notes.

Candidates Quarterfinals, Day 4 Games with Annotations

Here - at last!

Candidates Quarterfinals, Day 4: Four Draws, Gelfand, Kamsky Advance

Entering the day's festivities Topalov and Mamedyarov were down a point to Kamsky and Gelfand, respectively, and you'd expect them to give it their all. The bad news for Mamedyarov is that he had Black, and his attempt to create a complicated position by choosing the Old Benoni wasn't even close to a success. Gelfand succeeded in killing Black's positive prospects in a hurry, and the game was drawn in 24 moves.

That's short, but so were Kramnik-Radjabov and Grischuk-Aronian. Kramnik-Radjabov was a Bf4 QGD where Kramnik hoped for play against Black's isolated queen pawn. Radjabov played actively, however, and in the end both players devoured the enemy queenside pawns. After 28 moves, with an ending with both players having a rook, bishop and three kingside pawns about to arise, they called it a day, and will move on to tiebreaks tomorrow.

Likewise, Grischuk-Aronian was a speedy draw - just 17 moves - and they too will have to continue their match tomorrow. Their game was an Exchange QGD with Bf4, and White seemed a little better thanks to his extra space. It certainly looked like he could have continued, but for whatever reason Grischuk decided he'd rather try his luck in rapid games.

So the game of the day, both on its own merits and by default, was Topalov-Kamsky. It was again a Gruenfeld via an anti-Gruenfeld move order, and this time Topalov enjoyed a positionally secure edge thanks to the bishop pair and a useful central pawn majority. To add to Kamsky's woes, he got into severe time trouble, and Topalov handled it very well, achieving a decisive advantage by the end of the first time control. Somehow, though, he failed to convert his advantage, and just a few moves later Kamsky's queen and knight pair were causing White's king all kinds of distress. In the end, Topalov had to sac a piece to force perpetual, or he'd have been mated a few moves later.

So Kamsky and Gelfand both advanced, and they will play each other in yet another rematch experience for Kamsky. (They faced off in a Candidates match back in 2007 that Gelfand won with a 3.5-1.5 score.) The other four will play off tomorrow, and I'll present today's games, with my notes, some time later today. Stay tuned!

This Week's ChessVideos Show: The Quick Ruy, Part 3 (Part 2 on the Jaenisch/Schliemann)

Our extended examination of the Ruy Lopez continues with our second (of three) shows on the Schliemann (aka Jaenisch Variation) with 3...f5. This time we start on the 4.Nc3 variations, covering 4...fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5. We also take a first peek at 5...Nf6, but the most important lines in that system will be covered next week.

The show can be watched here, free (free registration required), and will be available on-demand for the next month or so.

Candidates Quarterfinals, Day 3: Games with Annotations

Have a look, here.