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Crime Doesn't Pay Here's a miniature for you from the recent Russian Championship. Grandmaster Popov goes down in 22 moves to Peter Svidler. It's an odd game, the quality of which would leave old-time Grandmasters, brought up on Classical Chess, trembling in the wheelchair. White pushes the boat out, confronts the basics and gets crushed. [Click here to follow along on an interactive JavaScript board] Popov,V (2570) - Svidler,P (2720) [A16] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Qa4+
An attempt to be disruptive. White tries to force the slightly passive and inelastic ...c7-c6 or drag the queen's bishop away from the defence of b7. From where I sit the usual 4 d4 or even 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 d4 has to be preferred, transposing to the Grunfeld proper. 4...Bd7! By contrast, 4...c6 is wooden. After 5 cxd5 Nxd5 6 e4 White has the run of the position. 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 Forced. White cannot capture on b7: 6.Qxb7 Nc6 7.Nb5 Nd5!
One wonders about the correctness of Qa4-b3 if the primary threat cannot be executed. 6...a6!? Of course one advantage that White DOES possess here is that
he hasn't moved his d pawn. Thus if Black plays too mechanically d2-d3!
might be the best option. A couple of old Petrosian games suggest that it is
better to be restrained: 6...Bg7 7.g3! 0-0 ( 7...c6 8.Bg2 Na6 9.0-0 Be6
10.Qa4 Qc8 11.Re1! Bh3 12.Bh1
Petrosian-Smejkal Milan 1975. The pawn on c6 lends impetus to the White plan of Rb1,b4-b5!) 8.Bg2 Nc6 Petrosian-Tarjan Hastings 1977/78 and now 9.d3! White's plan is 0-0, Bd2, Rab1, b4-b5 and the complete absence of weakness in his camp makes activity for Black hard to find. 7.d4 b5 8.Qd3!?
Perhaps this was a prepared novelty, perhaps an attempt to veer off the beaten track away from Svidler's thorough preparation. In view of White's threat of e2-e4,taking the centre, Black must be prepared to play very aggressively indeed. 8.Qb3 has hitherto been accepted as the best retreat, with White obtaining quite a decent game: 8...Nc6 (8...Be6 9.Qc2 c5 10.dxc5 Nc6 11.e4 Qc7 12.Be2 Nb4 13.Qb1 Qxc5 14.0-0 A move Popov can only dream of as our featured game goes on! 14...Bg7 15.Be3 Qc7 16.Rc1 Qb7 17.Nd4 Bg4 18.f3 Bd7 19.Nb3 0-0 20.Nc5 Qb8 21.Rd1 Rd8 22.a3 Nc6 23.Qc2± Huzman-Tseitlin, Ramat Aviv 2000
Both went forward, both went back, but the merry dance is ending with White coming forward once more and this time it looks serious! The Knight on c5 has a serious cramping effect and Black lacks counterplay.) 9.Bf4 Bg7 10.e3 Nh5 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bh4 g5 13.Bg3 Nxg3 14.hxg3 g4 15.Nh4 Na5?! (15...e5 is far more straightforward: 16.d5 Ne7 17.0-0-0 Rb8 Black plans ...Rb8-b6,with good counterplay.) 16.Qc2 e6 17.Be2 h5 18.Ne4 Nb7 19.f3 Rh6 20.a4 c6 21.Kf2 Bf8 22.axb5 cxb5 23.Nc3 Qb8 24.Qe4 Kd8 25.fxg4 Nd6 26.Qf4 hxg4 27.Qxg4 b4 28.Ne4 f5? (28...Nxe4+ 29.Qxe4 Bd6÷) 29.Qg5+ Be7 30.Qg8+ 1-0 Summerscale-Hodgson, Coulsdon 2002. Now I have no doubt at all that Black's play can be improved on those games and I am absolutely sure that Svidler wouldn't touch this stuff unless the new ideas were to hand. So to 8 Qd3, a new challenge; Svidler is on his own, maybe Popov too, both grappling with a new and very sharp situation. 8...Bg7 9.Bf4 0-0 10.Rc1
One can just sense that White is heading into deep water without the proverbial paddle. Leaving the Kingside undeveloped is really asking for it! Bob Hyatt ran this game through a very powerful version of the Crafty program and for some reason it didn't really like 10 e4. For me this is a move which HAS to be played and the sooner the better! I'm petrified about the poor White King stuck in the middle. Thus: 10.e4 Nc6 11.Be2! (Crafty only gives 11.d5 Na5 12.Qd2 b4 13.Nd1 c6! 14.Qxb4 cxd5 15.Ne5 Rb8 with an unclear position, but no wonder White is getting into trouble - he's neglecting his development!) 11...Bg4 ( 11...b4 12.Nb1 Bg4 13.Nbd2 e5 14.dxe5 Qxd3 15.Bxd3 Nd7 16.Be2 Ndxe5 17.Nxe5 Bxe5 18.Bxe5 Nxe5 19.Rc1±) 12.Rd1 Now you might say that White hasn't castled yet, but he's well on the way to doing so and, more importantly, he's making an effort to consolidate his strong centre. For me this is simple common sense. There is no way that White would have lost in 22 moves had he chosen 10 e4. 10...c5! Open the game when you have a lead in development! Crafty likes 10...Nh5 but neglects to give White's best reply 11.Bd2! going off at a tangent after 11 Bg5?! Positionally White must find a way to stabilize his centre. If he can do so, he will surely stand much better. To that end, I don't understand 10...Nh5 at all. 11.dxc5 b4 12.Nd1 Nc6 Crafty gives 12...Qa5 13.Bd2 Qxa2 14.Bxb4 Nc6 15.Bd2 Bf5
16.Qc4 Qxc4 17.Rxc4 Ne4 18.Rg1 Nxd2 19.Nxd2 13.Nd4?! Sometimes I look at a game and I just don't fully understand ANY of the moves. This is one such struggle and 13.Nd4 is just so ODD. Surely if he was going to move the Knight at all 13.Ne5 was better: 13.Ne5 Nxe5 (13...Qc8) 14.Bxe5 Qc8 (The best that I can find for Black is probably 14...Bc6 15.Qxd8 Rfxd8 16.f3 Rd5 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.e4 Rd7 equal, but unclear.
The two Bishops give compensation but White has an extra
pawn.) 15.e4 Rd8 (15...Bb5 16.Qb3 Bxf1 17.Rxf1 Qc6 18.Qxb4 a5) 16.Qb3 Nxe4
17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Qxb4; By contrast, after 13.e4 Black is very fast and
White gets into trouble: 13...Qa5 14.e5 Bf5 15.Qc4 Ng4 16.Be2 Ngxe5 17.Nxe5
Nxe5 18.Qb3 Rfd8 19.0-0 Nd3 13...Qa5! 14.Nb3 Qa4 Not, of course, 14...Qxa2 15.Ra1+-. 15.e4 Be6 16.Qc2 Rfd8 Svidler had a decent alternative in 16...Nh5, as suggested
by Crafty. For once I agree with the machine: 16...Nh5! 17.Be3
Rfd8 18.Ra1 Na5 19.Qc1 Nxb3 20.axb3 Qc6! 21.Bc4 Bd4 (but now instead of
the computer move 21...Bd4,which leads to equality, I recommend 21...Qxe4
leading to a position where, after 21...Qxe4 22.0-0 a5 23.Re1 Bxc4 24.Qxc4
Qc6 17.Bg3 17.Bc4 was suggested as better for White but a simple capture does the trick for Black: 17...Bxc4! not the immediate 17...Nh5 as suggested by Crafty. 18.Qxc4 Nh5 and Black is absolutely fine: 19.Bc7 (19.Be3?? Ne5-+; 19.g3 Nxf4 20.gxf4 Qxa2 21.Ra1 Na5!) 19...Rd7. 17...Ng4 18.Qb1 Bh6! From here until the end Svidler plays with tremendous power. He doesn't let up for one second, demonstrating how to handle the initiative. White's risky opening play comes to grief. 19.Rc2 19.f4 Bxb3 20.axb3 Qxb3 21.Be2 Ne3 22.Kf2 g5! is just horrible for White. The poor King gets dismembered. 19...Na5 20.f4 Nxb3 21.axb3 Bxb3 22.Rc1 Qd7 0-1
Eyeing d2. Seeing no sensible defence, Popov resigned. Which leads us inexorably to the question of why White played so riskily. A question of character I think, and of courage. Popov wanted to win at all costs and he gambled by leaving his King in the middle, hoping to bemuse Svidler with tactics. It just didn't work. Even Grandmasters have to stick
to basics! [Return to the Index of IM Andrew Martin's Columns]
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,White
has weak pawns and Black must hold the advantage) 22.Bxe6 Qxe6 23.Bxd4 Rxd4= Crafty...but no
blockader on c6.
