Chess notes – The Boston Globe

The just concluded Gashimov Memorial had a few interesting moments. The great positional player and former world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, decided to channel Mikhail Tal and sacrificed a rook for three pawns versus Pentala Harikrishna. Even though the engines say it is wasnt any good, the defense was just too hard for a human. We reproduce the game here:

Kramnik Harikrishna; 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.00 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 00 9.Nc3 Nb8 10.Ne2 Nbd7 11.c3 Bb7 12.Ng3 c5 13.Re1 Rc8 14.Nf5 c4 15.dxc4 Bxe4 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.cxb5 axb5 18.Bg5 Nc5 19.Ba2 h6 20.Bh4 g5 21.Bg3 Bh7 22.Qe2 Kg7 23.Rad1 Nfe4 24.Rd5 f5 25.Rxe5!!?? dxe5 26.Bxe5+ Nf6 27.Qxb5 Nce4 28.Bd4 Rfd8 29.h3 Rb8 30.Qe2 Bg8 31.Bb1 Qb7 32.b4 Re8 33.c4 Qc6 34.Qb2 Rbd8 35.c5 Qe6 36.b5 Kf8 37.c6 g4 38.hxg4 fxg4 39.Bxe4 gxf3 40.Bxf6 Rd6 41.Bg7+ Kf7 42.Be5; 10

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American champ, Wesley So, ground down the great defensive stars Sergey Karjakin and Vladimir Kramnik in endgames no less, which doesnt happen every day. Pavel Eljanov, in a tweet, compared himself to Santa Claus as he gave so many gift points to his rivals and promised to be a bad Santa the next time around.

Todays game is another point of interest. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was just cruising to back-to-back wins in this important hometown event when he lost to Radoslaw Wojtaszek, who adopted a damn the torpedoes attitude, and assayed a very, very sharp line in the Gruenfeld. To his credit, Mamedyarov hung on to win.

2017 Gashimov Memorial, Shamkir, Azerbaijan

Wojtaszek (2745) Mamedyarov (2772)

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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qb3 Nb6 6.d4 Bg7 7.e4 Behold the Gruenfeld Defense. 7...Bg4 8.Bb5+ c6 not 8...Nc6 9.d5 9.Ng5 00 10.Be2 Bxe2 11.Nxe2 As 11Na6 is not holding up in practice, maybe 11..c5 deserves a look or 11...h6 first, driving the knight back, and then 12Na6 11...Na6 11...Bxd4 may be playable but looks very dangerous after... 12.Qh3 h5 13.g4 12.Qh3 h6 13.Nf3 h5 Why not 13h6? The engines have nothing really bad to say about it and it does avoid Whites attack. 14.Rg1! Nb4 15.g4 No beating around the bush here. 15...Qd7 16.Qh4! Whats a rook when theres mate in the air? 16...Nc2+ 17.Kf1 Nxd4 A change of plans as taking the rook, upon reflection, is just too dangerous, for example: 17...Nxa1 18.gxh5 Bf6 19.Bg5 Bg7 20.h6 Bf6 21.Bxf6 exf6 22.h7+ Kh8 (22Kg7 23.Ng3!) 23.Qxf6+ Kxh7 24.Rg3 Kg8 25.Ne5 Qd8 26.Qf5 Qd6 27.Nxg6 Qxg6 28.Rxg6+ fxg6 29.Qxg6+ which should be winning for White 18.Nexd4 Bxd4 19.gxh5 The assault begins and at no cost! 19...Bf6 20.Bg5 Bxb2 After 20...Bxg5 21.Rxg5 Qd3+ 22.Kg2 f6 23.hxg6 Qxf3+ 24.Kg1 Rf7 25.Rg3 Qe2 26.Rh3 Black will eventually be mated. 21.Re1 Qd3+ 22.Kg2 f6!? Very tricky! Now what happens after the apparent winning 23.hxg6, threatening mate? 23.Bh6 and not 23.hxg6 due to the shot 23Qxf3+!! 24.Kxf3 (or 24.Kf1 Qxf2+ 25.Qxf2 fxg5 26.Rxg5 Rxf2+ 27.Kxf2) 24...fxg5+ 25.Kg2 gxh4 and in both cases, Black is winning! 23...g5 or 23...Rfe8 24.hxg6 and it is very hard to stop mate after either 25.Bg7 or 25.Be3 24.Nxg5! Rf7 25.Nxf7 Kxf7 Not only is White up material but his king is a lot safer than Blacks and dont forget about Whites passed h-pawn! 26.Re3 Qc2 27.Rg3 Bd4 28.Rg7+ Ke6 29.Qg4+ Kd6 30.Be3 Bxe3 31.Qg3+ Down material and with an exposed king, Black had enough; 10

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Chess notes - The Boston Globe