26.12.2005 Round 7: Rublevsky-Kramnik, Khalifman-Motylev

*Feel free to send your questions to Konstantin: sakaev@e3e5.com. Please also include your name and location.*

Live commentary by Konstantin Sakaev

Rublevsky, S (2652) - Kramnik, V (2739)
ch-RUS superfinal Moscow, Russia (7), 26.12.2005

Initially we planned to comment on the game Volkov-Svilder, but always combative Sergey Volkov decided to take a break. Although he improved his tournament standing a bit, his mood is obviously far from festive. Peter Svidler also did not want to take risks as Black, thus he selected a safe in his opinion variation. After Volkov's 12.Bg5 one could expect 12...Nbd5 13. Rfd1 Nc3 14.Rd8 Ne2 15.Qe2 Rd8 16.Qe7 Be6, and the position is very close to a draw. More combative continuation 12.Rd1 leads to a complicated game.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 7.0-0 Bd6 8.c4 c6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 0-0 12.Qh5 g6 13.Qxd5 Qc7 14.Qf3

Deviating from the game Rublevsky-Motylev in the round 5, in which Sergey played 14.h4 and eventually won, although the result had nothing to do with the opening outcome. 14.Qf3 is a popular move. Rublevsky played it against Vallejo in 2001. The game continued 14...Bxh2+ 15.Kh1 Bd6 16.c4 Rfe8 17.c5 Bf8 18.Be4 Bc6 19.d5 Bb5 20.d6 Qxc5 21.Bd5 Bg7 22.Ba3 Qc3 23.Bxf7+ Kh8 24.Qxc3 Bxc3 25.Bxe8 Bxf1 26.Rc1 Rxe8 27.Rxc3 Rd8 28.Rc7 Kg8 29.Rxb7 Bc4 30.Re7, and White did not manage to covert a serious advantage - draw on the 69th move.

14...Qxc3

This is a new move on the high level. 14...Bxh2+ leads to a better game for White due to his pair of central pawns. The text-move is stronger.

15.Bh6 Rfe8 16.Qf6 Bf8 17.Bxf8 Rxf8 18.Be4 Bc6 19.Rac1

Black is close to equality after 19...Qa5! 20.Rc5 (20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Rxc6 Qxa2=) 20...Qd8! (taking on а2 is dangerous - White's passed pawn is dangerous) 21.Qxd8 Rfxd8 22.d5 Be8=.

19...Qb4 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Rxc6 Rad8 22.Rd1 Qa4

Now on 23.Rd2 Black will play 23...Qb4! with a draw - White can't hold an extra pawn.

23.Rd2 Qb4 24.Rd1 Qa4 25.Rcc1 Qxa2 26.Ra1 Qb3 27.Rdb1

Draw. 1/2-1/2

Bareev-Morozevich. The same opening variation occurred in the game Khalifman-Bocharov in Kazan, and Khalifman was not satisfied with the opening result. However, Morozevich's 10th move is hard to explain, he had to play 10...е5. And after 10...Nc6 playing 11...e5 was obviously bad. With 12.Nd5! Bareev got an overwhelming position.

Zvjaginsev obtained an advantage - Dreev's reaction to Zvjaginsev Variation was not very convincing.

Alexander Khalifman's position is slightly better after a couple of inaccuracies made by Alexander Motylev. We will tune to this game now.


Khalifman, A (2653) - Motylev, A (2632)
ch-RUS superfinal Moscow, Russia (7), 26.12.2005

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.e3

7...Nbd7

An imprecise move - more precise is 7...0-0, and on 8.Rc1 c5 or 8...dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nbd7 with approximate equality in both cases.

8.Rc1 0-0 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Be2 Ne4 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.0-0 c6 13.b4 A pawn structure typical for a Queen's Gambit Declined arose. White has a minimal advantage, but Black doesn't really have much to worry about. 13...a5 14.Qb3 axb4 15.axb4 b5!?, securing an outpost on c4 for the knight looks sensible for Black.

14.Rxc3 b5 Alexander Motylev employs the aforementioned idea, but it little bit different version. I think it is slightly weaker, now 15.Ne1! with the idea to bring the knight to d3 looks the most reasonable for White.

15.Ne1

This may be a consequence of poor form or unsatisfactory tournament standing, but both Alexanders spend too much time on quite a standard position, which hardly requires such a lengthy thought... 

15...a5 16.Nd3 Nb6 17.Nc5 axb4 18.axb4 Nc4 19.Rc1. Draw.

The game could develop in the following way: 19...Ra2 20.Ra1 Rfa8 21.Rxa2 Rxa2 22.Bd3. White maintains an unpleasant pressure. A draw offer was premature.

Khalifman's opening choice did not display a serious ambition to play for a win. However, Motylev appeared unprepared for that line and got into a somewhat worse position. Nevertheless, it did not prevent the players from agreeing to a draw before the 20th move. See you tomorrow!

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