The British Chess Magazine
During the game I was unhappy with myself
for losing control, and I was starting to see
ghosts. Peter now seized his chance to create
some severe practical threats. 25 a7 would
have kept things firmly under control: 25…f4
26 g×f4! (26 ×f4 c4 was the variation which
scared me) 26…h3 27 g1 and Black is running out of steam.
25…g5! 26 a7 f4
The beginning of a forcing line. Peter decides
to throw everything at me, but luckily my defences hold. 26…c5! would have been psychologically hard to face. Now 27 ×c5? (27 a4
is the key move) 27…f4 28 g×f4 g×f4 leaves
everything to play for.
27 g×f4 h3
27…h6 might have been stronger objectively, but after 28 g2 g×f4 29 ×f4 ×f4 30
×f4 ×e2+ 31 g3 Black is left with a difficult endgame; one which he is unlikely to hold.
29…f5
Unfortunately for Black, he is running out of
ammunition for his attack and he does not have
enough time to give checks with his queen.
White’s threat to capture on c7 is decisive.
30 e5!
The queen has done its duty and now returns
to occupy a vital square.
30…b1+
The final roll of the dice. 30…h3 31 ×g5+
allows White to checkmate first.
31 f2
Black can no longer create threats without being mated himself, and any endgame will be
hopeless, so he resigned. (31 g2?? would
have been a terrible ‘mouse slip’: 31…g4+!
and suddenly the tables turn: 32 f2 g1#.)
1–0
28 g1 b8
Suddenly it looks like Black is ready to do
something nasty on my back rank. We were
down to our last few minutes at this stage, but
I had already foreseen a defence…
XIIIIIIIIY
9-tr-+-+k+0
9tR-zp-+-+p0
9-+p+-+-+0
9+-+l+-zp-0
9-+-wQ-zP-+0
9zP-+-vLP+q0
9-+-zPP+-zP0
9+-+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
29 a1!
The only move, but an extremely effective one.
This paradoxical idea was inspired by a game I
had seen just the night before this round; we
shall soon see just how important pattern recognition can be in chess!
511
This game gave me the confidence to go
on and perform strongly in the second
week of the tournament. It also stands out
as a rare example of unexplored territory in
chess; there are still so many positions and
ideas that are rich in promise. On a personal
level, it showed me something that I had
long suspected – that rules are there to be
broken! When we first start chess, we are
taught certain concepts, and rightly so, but
there are always exceptions. In this game I
never castled, I de-centralised my queen
and, worst of all, I never touched my central
pawns; a feat that surely cannot happen often. Peter also played some original chess,
and the result was an interesting game.
However, before we finish, let me now explain the inspiration behind 29 a1.
G VB Kramnik
O D Fridman
Dortmund, 2013