Issue of the Lake Superior Chess Association WoodPusher November / December, 2000 Back

Vladimir Kramnik New World Champion!

Valadimir Kramnik ended a 15 round match with Garry Kasparov recently. Kramnik won the match with a score of 2 wins and 13 draws. Garry Kasparov had been World Champion for 15 years. When game 15 was agreed to a draw in 38 moves Kramnik punched the air with both fists. Kasparov wants to play another match against Kramnik. He also said he felt as though he had no opening preparation. Kasparov said he was not outplayed but out prepared for this match. Kasparov said Kramnik was now the 14th World Champion. Here is game 15 of the match:

Kasparov, Garry (2830) - Kramnik, Vladimir (2751) [A00]
BGN World Chess Championship (Game15), 02/11/2000
[Khodarkovsky; Shakarov]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.0–0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 Bb7 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Nbd2 Nbd7 14.Nb3 According to one of Kramnik's coaches, Bareev, who wrote this part of the opening encyclopedia (ECO), after 14.Re1 Rc8 the game is equal.

14...Bd5 15.Rd1 Qe7 Kramnik decides to place his queen on a different square than in a game played by one of his seconds. [15...Qb8 16.Be5 Qb6 17.Qf4 Ne4 advantage black] 16.Ne5 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 Nd5 18.Nc6 Nxf4+

[18...Qf6 19.Bxd6 cxd6 20.e4 N5b6 Unclear(20...Ne7 21.e5! dxe5 22.Nc5 Nxc6 23.Nxd7 Qe7 24.Qxc6 Rfc8 25.Qb7 Rcb8! 26.Qxb8+ Rxb8 27.Nxb8 Qb7+ 28.Kg1 Qxb8 29.dxe5 Good winning chances for white.) ]

19.Qxf4 Qe8 20.Qf3 e5 21.dxe5 Nxe5 22.Nxe5 Qxe5 23.Rd2 Rae8 24.e3?! Garry spent about 20 minutes on this move, his first thought was the natural 24.Rc1. His instinct was correct it seems and the rook move looks like a stronger alternative.

[24.Rc1 c5 (24...Re6 25.Rc6 Rf6 26.Qd5 better for white) 25.Qc6! c4 26.Qxd6 Qxd6 27.Rxd6 cxb3 28.axb3 Rxe2 29.Rxa6 Rxb2 30.Rc3 Winning the b-pawn. This was a good chance for white although a four-rook ending with an extra pawn is not guaranteed to win. 30...Rb8 31.Rb6!] 24...Re6 25.Rad1 Rf6 26.Qd5 Qe8! Declining the exchange of queens because the endgame would be favorable for white. 27.Rc1

[27.Rc2 Kobalya 27...g6 28.Na5 Rf5 29.Qc6 Qe6; 27.Nd4]

27...g6 28.Rdc2 h5 29.Nd2 Rf5 30.Qe4 c5 After this Black has no problems; the game is even. 31.Qxe8 Rxe8 32.e4 Rfe5 33.f4 R5e6 34.e5 Be7 35.b3 f6 36.Nf3 fxe5 37.Nxe5 Rd8 38.h4 Rd5 ½–½ Congratulations to the 14th World Champion!

Here are games 2 and 10 from the match:

Kramnik,V (2751) - Kasparov,G (2830) [D85]

BGN World Chess Championship (2), 10/10/2000

[Mig]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 And here we are in the ultra-topical line of the Grunfeld Exchange. I'm sure neither player was surprised to be here. This has been played by both players before and is one of the most complicated battlegrounds in the world of opening preparation. 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 Bg4 10.Rb1 This was the first move that caused the GMs and journalists in the press room to turn on their databases! This aggressive move, instead of 10.Rc1, has been played a few times, but is far from being the main line. Kasparov himself faced the 10.Rc1 variation against American GM Yermolinsky in Wijk aan Zee last year and the Champion won handily. [10.Rc1 Bxf3 (10...0-0 11.Ng5 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Nc6 14.d5 Na5 15.Bd3 h6 16.h3 Bd7 17.Nf3 e6 18.Bc5 Rfe8 19.Bb4 exd5 20.exd5 b6 21.Rc7 Rad8 22.Re1 Rxe1 23.Kxe1 1/2-1/2 Yermolinsky,A-Svidler,P/Wijk aan Zee NED 1999 (23)) 11.gxf3 e6 12.d5 exd5 13.exd5 Nd7 14.c4 Qb6 15.Bh3 f5 16.0-0 Qd6 17.Bf4 Be5 18.Rfe1 0-0-0 19.Bxe5 Nxe5 20.Qc3 Rhe8 21.Re3 Qf6 22.f4 Nd7 23.Bg2 Qxc3 24.Rcxc3 Nf6 25.Bf3 Rxe3 26.fxe3 Rd6 27.Ra3 Kb8 28.Rb3 Ra6 29.a3 Ne8 30.e4 fxe4 31.Bxe4 Nd6 32.Bd3 Ra4 33.Rc3 Kc7 34.Kf2 b5 35.cxb5 Kb6 36.Ke3 c4 37.Bc2 Nxb5 38.Bxa4 Nxc3 39.Be8 Kc5 40.d6 Nd5+ 41.Ke4 Nf6+ 42.Ke3 Kxd6 43.Bf7 Kc5 44.h4 Ng4+ 45.Kd2 Kd4 46.h5 gxh5 47.Bxh5 Nf6 0-1 Yermolinsky,A-Kasparov,G/Wijk aan Zee NED 1999 (47)] 10...a6 [10...Bxf3 11.gxf3 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Nc6 14.d5 0-0-0 15.Ba6 bxa6 16.Rhc1 Rd6 17.Ke2 Kc7 18.Bc5 Kd7 19.Rb7+ Kc8 20.Bxd6 Kxb7 21.dxc6+ Kb6 22.Bxe7 Rc8 23.Bc5+ Kb5 24.Bxa7 Rxc6 25.a4+ 1-0 Rivas Pastor,M-Georgiev,K/Plovdiv 1984/MCD (25);

10...cxd4 11.cxd4 Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 0-0 13.Rxb7 Nc6 14.d5 Rfd8 15.Bd3 f5 16.Rc1 Rac8 17.Ng5 fxe4 18.Bxe4 h6 19.f3 Bf5 20.Nh3 e6 21.Nf4 g5 22.Bxf5 exf5 23.Rxg7+ Kh8 24.Rxc6 1-0 Nemeth,M-Zimmersmann,R/HUN-ch (Women) 1992/EXT 97 (24)] 11.Rxb7 And this is the real novelty, believe it or not! Any patzer would take this undefended pawn, but GM Jan Timman of Holland played the more passive 11.Rb3 and soon had the worse of things in a game against Ivanchuk in 1992. [11.Rb3 b5 12.d5 Nd7 13.c4 b4 14.Qc2 Qc7 15.Nd2 Nb6 16.f4 a5 17.Bd3 a4 18.Rb1 g5 19.f5 Be5 20.h3 Bg3+ 21.Kf1 Bh5 22.e5 Qxe5 23.Ne4 Qxf5+ 24.Kg1 Qe5 25.Bxc5 b3 26.axb3 Nd7 27.Ba3 axb3 28.Rxb3 Qa1+ 29.Qb1 Rxa3 30.Rxa3 Qxa3 31.Nxg3 Bg6 32.Qb7 0-0 33.Qxd7 Qxd3 34.Kh2 h5 35.Re1 h4 36.Nf1 Qxc4 37.Qxe7 Qf4+ 38.Kg1 Rb8 39.d6 Qd4+ 40.Kh2 Qf4+ 41.Kg1 Qd4+ 42.Kh2 1/2-1/2 Timman,J-Ivanchuk,V/Linares 1992/CBM 28 (42)] 11...Bxf3 12.gxf3 Nc6 13.Bc4 0-0 Kasparov prepares to abandon the e7 pawn and gets his king to safety. You can't play the Grunfeld if you care too much for pawns! Activity is far more important in this opening, unless of course one of those pawns turns into a winning passer! 14.0-0 cxd4 15.cxd4 Bxd4 16.Bd5 Bc3!? Wow! This aggressive move shocked the crowd. Kasparov could have swapped queens and gone directly into an endgame, but instead plays this sharp move. [16...Qxd2 17.Bxd2] 17.Qc1 Nd4 18.Bxd4 Bxd4 19.Rxe7 Okay, now White has his extra pawn and Black has an opposite-colored bishop endgame with decent drawing chances. One of the keys to the rest of the game is that the black bishop never finds a safe home. 19...Ra7 20.Rxa7 Bxa7 21.f4 Qd8 This looks a little passive and the shift to the kingside just doesn't slow White's pawns down enough. 22.Qc3 [22.Qc4 The move expected by many observers, particularly the computers!] 22...Bb8 23.Qf3 Qh4 24.e5 g5 25.Re1 Qxf4 26.Qxf4 gxf4 Kasparov has regained the pawn, but only for a moment. Look at the difference in power between the white and black pieces. Kramnik's next wins a pawn and makes his pieces even more active. It's possible that Black is already objectively lost here. 27.e6 fxe6 28.Rxe6 Kg7 Stepping out of the discovered check. 29.Rxa6 White is back to a pawn advantage, but more importantly it's going to be very hard for Kasparov to activate his pieces. The black bishop is hemmed in by the f4 pawn and it won't be easy for Black to establish an effective blockade of the a-pawn runner. 29...Rf5 30.Be4 Re5 31.f3 Re7 32.a4 Ra7 Kasparov had been depending on this move, but Kramnik keeps the rooks on the board as he must. A bishops-only ending would be a clear draw. 33.Rb6 Be5 34.Rb4 Rd7 35.Kg2 Rd2+ 36.Kh3 h5 Stopping the white king from infiltrating but now the h-pawn is another potential weakness. 37.Rb5 Kf6 38.a5 Ra2 At this point several GMs thought that black was on the verge of escaping. His rook is behind the pawn, following Tarrasch's maxim, and it won't be easy for White to make progress. But Kasparov was down to one minute for his final moves. 39.Rb6+ Ke7?? WHAT?! A shocking blunder from the world champion, losing in one move! Kasparov had one minute on his clock and had to make two moves to make the time control at move 40. 39...Kg7 was forced as this loses to a relatively simple double attack. 40.Bd5 And that's the end. The bishop simultaneously attacks the a2 rook and threatens a rook check on e6 winning the bishop! Not something Kasparov would usually miss even on a bad day. If he plays 40.Re2 protecting the bishop, the a-pawn runs down the board unhindered. 1-0

Kramnik,V (2751) - Kasparov,G (2830) [E54]

BGN World Chess Championship (10), 24/10/2000

[Mig]

Not an easy game to understand, not an easy game to annotate. There is no real analysis from the Kasparov team, none was needed. The relevant part of the game has already been analyzed in standard opening sources like the ChessBase Megabase and the New in Chess Yearbook. In fact, by the time the players stopped following previously analyzed games there were only a few moves left and Kasparov was already completely lost. For more detailed analysis please see GM Shipov's notes and detailed analysis from Team Kramnik (links on the right) Analysis and supplementary games are from the essential ChessBase Megabase except where noted. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 cxd4 [7...Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Qc7 10.cxd5 exd5 11.a4;

7...b6!? 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Ne5;

7...dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nbd7 9.Qe2] 8.exd4 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b6 Ftacnik: 'Karpov' 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Re1 Nbd7 12.Rc1 [12.Qe2 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Qc7 14.Rac1?! Bxf3÷] 12...Rc8 [12...Bxc3 13.Rxc3 Qb8 14.Ne5! Nxe5?! 15.Rxe5 Ne4? 16.Qg4± Kumaran,D-Hellsten,J/Copenhagen KS/1996/1:0/28/] 13.Qb3 [13.Bd3 Re8 14.Qe2 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Qc7 16.c4² Gligoric-Portisch,Lugano (ol) 1968(16.Bh4 Qd6!?= Gulko,B-Short,N/New-York(m/4)/1994/0,5/34/) ] 13...Be7 [13...Qe7? 14.Bd5!!± (14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Qc5! 16.Na4 Qa5; 14.d5!? Qc5 15.Na4 Qa5 16.dxe6 Bxf3÷; 14.Bxe6 fxe6 15.Rxe6 Qf7) A) 14...Bxd5 15.Nxd5+-; B) 14...Rb8 15.Bxb7 Bxc3 (15...Rxb7 16.Nd5+-) 16.Qxc3 (16.Rxc3 Rxb7 17.d5±) 16...Rxb7 17.d5!±; C) 14...Bxc3 15.Bxb7 Bxe1 (15...Rc7 16.Ba6 Bxe1 17.Rxc7+-) 16.Bxc8±; D) 14...Rxc3 15.bxc3 Bxd5 16.Qxb4+-; E) 14...Ba6 15.Qa4! E1) 15...Nb8 16.Bxf6 (16.Bb3? b5) 16...gxf6 17.Be4 Qd6 18.Bb1 /\ Qa4-c2-d2+/-; E2) 15...Bxc3 16.bxc3 E2a) 16...Bd3!? 17.Bb3 /\ Ne5(17.Qxa7?? Qd6 18.Bb3 Ra8) ; E2b) 16...Nb8 17.Bb3 b5? (¹17...Qd7 18.Qa3±) 18.Qa5 Qb7? 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.d5! E2b1) 20...e5 21.Nh4 (21.Qb4) ; E2b2) 20...exd5 21.Qb4+- Qd7 (21...Rfe8 22.Qf4 Kf8 23.Nh4! /\ Nf5 +-) 22.Qh4 Kg7 E2b21) 23.Nd4 h6 (23...Nc6 24.Bc2+-) 24.Bc2+-; E2b22) 23.Nd4! 1-0 Browne,W-Ljubojevic,L/Tilburg 1978/MCL/[Ftacnik] (23);

13...Bxf3 14.Qxb4 Ba8;

13...Bxc3 A) 14.Rxc3 Qe8?! (14...h6!? 15.Bh4 Qe8²) 15.Nd2 h6 16.Bxh6! gxh6 17.Rh3± Brodsky,M-Kruppa,Y/Alushta/1994/0:1/26/; B) 14.bxc3² ;

13...Qc7? 14.Nb5!;

13...Ba5 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Qd4 16.Bxe6 Ne4 17.Rxe4 Bxe4 18.Bxc8 Rxc8 19.e6!] 14.Bxf6! [14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Nd7 16.Bxe7 Qxe7² (16...Qxe7 17.Nb5 Rc5 18.f4 Rfc8 19.Nxa7 Rd8 20.Nb5 Nxe5 21.fxe5 Rd2 22.Bf1 Bd5 23.Qe3 Rxb2 24.Rxc5 bxc5 25.Nc3 g6 26.a4 Bc6 27.a5 Qh4 28.a6 Rb3 29.Rb1 c4 30.Qc5 Ba8 31.Rc1 Qg5 32.Rc2 Kg7 33.a7 Qf5 34.Rf2 Qg4 35.Qe7 Rb7 36.Rxf7+ 1-0 Shulman,Y-Smagin,S/St Petersburg 1994/EXT 98 (36)) ] 14...Nxf6? [14...gxf6?! 15.d5! Kh8 (15...Nc5 16.Qd1±) 16.dxe6 Nc5 17.Qd1 Qxd1 18.Rcxd1 Bxf3 19.gxf3 fxe6 20.Bxe6² Rcd8 (20...Nxe6 21.Rxe6±) 21.Bf5 Rxd1 22.Rxd1 Rd8 23.Rxd8+ Bxd8 24.Nd5 a5 25.Kf1 Nb7 26.Ke2 Nd6 27.Bd7 Kg7 28.Kd3 Kf7 29.Kd4 Nb7 30.Bf5 h6 31.b3 Nd6 32.Bd7 Nb7 33.h3! (.)/ 33...Be7 (33...Nd6 34.Ne3 Ke7 35.Bg4 /\KdR+/-/) 34.Nxe7 (34.Nxb6? Bc5+ 35.Kd5 Bxb6 36.Kc6 Nc5 37.Kxb6 Nxd7+ 38.Kxa5÷) 34...Kxe7 35.Bc6 Nc5 36.Bd5! (36.Kd5?! Na6!²) 36...Na6 (36...Kd6 37.Bg8) 37.Bc4 Nb4 (37...Nc7 38.Ke4±) 38.a4 Nc6+ 39.Kd5 Nb4+ 40.Ke4 Nc2 41.f4 Ne1 42.Kf5 Ng2 43.Bd5 Nh4+ 44.Kg4 Ng6 45.Be4 Kf7 (45...Nf8 46.Kh5±; 45...Nh8 46.Kh5 Nf7 47.Bd5+-) 46.Bxg6+ Kxg6 # Hecht: Tempozug, Opposition, Zugzwang 47.f5+ Kf7 48.Kh5! Kg7 49.h4! Kh7 50.Kg4 Kg7 51.Kf4 Kf7 52.Ke4 Ke8 53.Kd5 Kd7 A) 54.h5 Kc7 (54...Ke7 55.Kc6+-) 55.Ke6+-; B) 54.h5 (.)/. 1-0 Nielsen,P-Hellsten,J/Gistrup 1996/CBM 55/[Kanstler] (54);

14...Bxf6! 15.Nb5 Ra8 16.Nd6 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 slight advantage for white] 15.Bxe6 fxe6 [15...Rc7 16.Ng5 fxe6 17.Nxe6±] 16.Qxe6+ Kh8 [16...Rf7 17.Ng5] 17.Qxe7 '+/-' Kanstler. 17...Bxf3 18.gxf3 Qxd4 19.Nb5 Qxb2 The first new move of the game, but even this had been analyzed in New in Chess Yearbook #44 (1997) with notes from Laszlo Hazai and Peter Lukacs. [19...Qf4 20.Rxc8 Rxc8 21.Nd6 Qxf3 22.Nxc8 Qg4+ 23.Kf1 Qh3+ 24.Ke2 Qxc8 25.Kd2 h5 26.Rg1 Ng4 27.h3 Qf5 28.Qd8+ Kh7 29.Qd3 Qxd3+ 30.Kxd3 Nxf2+ 31.Ke3 Nxh3 32.Rg3 1-0 Hazai,L-Danielsen,H/Valby 1994/EXT 98 (32)] 20.Rxc8 Rxc8 21.Nd6 This was all analyzed in the aforementioned NIC Yearbook, with the evaluation "+/-" given here, meaning White has a very serious advantage. That should probably be updated to "winning advantage." 21...Rb8 [Mig; L.Garcia 21...Ra8 22.Nf7+ Kg8 23.Nd8 h6 24.Ne6 Nh5!? 25.Qb7 Re8 26.Qd5 Nf6 27.Ng5+! Kh8 28.Rxe8+ Nxe8 29.Nf7+ Kg8 30.Nxh6+] 22.Nf7+ Kg8 23.Qe6 [23.Nd8 h6 24.Ne6 Nh5] 23...Rf8 This loses instantly, and was played instantly by the dejected world champion. But 23...h5 would only have prolonged things for a few more moves. [23...h6 24.Nxh6+;

Mig 23...h5 24.Ng5+ Kh8 25.Qf5 (25.Qf7 Qd2 26.Re5) 25...Qxa2 (25...Qd4 26.Re6) 26.Re7 h4 27.Qg6! Qa1+ 28.Kg2 h3+ 29.Nxh3 Nh7 (29...Rg8 30.Ng5 Qa2 31.Qxf6 gxf6 32.Rh7#) 30.Re8+ Rxe8 31.Qxe8+ Nf8 32.Qxf8+] 24.Nd8+ Kh8 25.Qe7 1-0

Created by LSCA Editor: Ken Ceterski