Zug Grand Prix, Round 1: Caruana, Morozevich Win
There weren't going to be many bloodless draws in any case at the FIDE Grand Prix in Zug due to the lineup of dynamic, fighting players, but the anti-draw rules in effect offered some overkill just in case.
There were four draws, two agreed shortly before move 40 and the other two going many more moves. Giri-Topalov was a Fianchetto Gruenfeld where Giri seemed to have a slight advantage with White, but somehow missed that after 23.Bf4 Bxf4 24.gxf4 Topalov's 24...Rcd8 would make the draw easy - and so it did. Leko-Kamsky was a very lively game, an Open Ruy (a real rarity for Kamsky) that saw Leko use an old idea of Bobby Fischer's (vs. Unzicker in 1966) - 15.Ne2 rather than the commonplace and practically universally chosen 15.Nxe6. Leko obtained a definite advantage, but was perhaps dazzled by having too many good options and allowed Kamsky to escape with a nice counterattack.
Those were the shorter draws. Mamedyarov enjoyed a slight pull against Ponomariov in a Bf4 QGD, but Black eventually managed to equalize. Under normal circumstances the game could have been agreed drawn before the first time control, but the players (quickly) went through the motions and ended the game with bare kings on the board after 71 moves - half of them completely pointless. The final draw, and the last game of the round, went even longer - 107 moves. That game was evidently headed for a draw as well for a long time, but in this case the length was better justified, as Nakamura tried desperately to squeeze out a win against Karjakin. He enjoyed a better structure and the bishop pair from a successful French Defense, but as Karjakin was "only" playing Nakamura and not Carlsen, he didn't manage to give away the game. Maybe Nakamura missed some opportunities at some point, before the last pair of rooks were exchanged, but in general I think the game was instructive by both players - Nakamura did a nice job of trying to extract the maximum from the position, while Karjakin calmly and clear-mindedly always managed to focus only on what was necessary to save the point.
Now for the wins. Morozevich ground down Kasimdzhanov in a King's Indian Attack. One move Kasimdzhanov was especially unhappy with was his 19th, 19...Ra8; he believed that he should have swapped on b3 first and only then moved the rook to the open file. After the game continuation, it was only White whose rooks could make use of open lines on the queenside. Eventually Morozevich was able to secure an advantage on the kingside and then the center too, while Black remained hopelessly passive. The instant Morozevich was able to convert those advantages into a material one, Kasimdzhanov gave up.
Finally, Caruana defeated Radjabov in a version of the nightmare middlegame/ending Black hates - or ought to hate - in the Schliemann (aka Jaenisch). In the best-known version (which arises in the 4.Nc3 variation, not the 4.d3 line of this game) Black is a pawn down but has a healthier queenside structure than he did in this game, but that's not a real barrel of laughs for him either. In the good old days when that was my main opening I could often hold the draw even with IMs and GMs (in the pawn-down version), after hours of suffering. Not bad, you might say. Maybe not, since I was outrated by 100-200 points and playing Black. But the problem is that it was also the most I could hope for when I outrated my opponents by 100-200 points as well, and if I goofed or had a bad day, I might lose that ending. (Thankfully, I didn't have to play the masochist's ending all that often!) Back to Caruana-Radjabov. The problem with Black's position after 14...dxc5 isn't that the tripled c-pawns are so weak - they really aren't - but that Black will end up in a position where he has dark squared weaknesses everywhere while his light-squared counter-control will be neutralized with patient, accurate play. Caruana was up to the task, and all Radjabov could do was suffer for a long time and then start shedding pawns.
Round 2 Pairings:
- Kasimdzhanov - Kamsky
- Topalov - Leko
- Nakamura - Giri
- Radjabov - Karjakin
- Ponomariov - Caruana
- Morozevich - Mamedyarov
Reader Comments