Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.ON TUESDAY I discussed Panfox from Breda's sterling victory in the
European Club Cup finals in Belgrade. This excellent event brought together no fewer than five players rated over 2,700 and 19 between 2,600 and 2,700, of the 57 who turned up for the eight teams.
In club chess, the players from each team are ranked in board order in (approximately) descending strength with the top boards facing each other, and so on down to the bottom. There were therefore a large number of heavyweight clashes in Belgrade, and one of the most intriguing was that between Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik - a continuation of their theoretical battle in their match in Cazorla last June.
Kramnik varied with 13 ...Bh4 from 13 ...Nxd2 14 Nxd2 Qd6 15 h3! with which Anand ultimately defeated him in Tilburg last November. 18 ...Ng5 was a concession but if 18 ...Rxe5 19 f3 Nxd2 20 Bxd2 Rxe1+ 21 Rxe1 Bxf3 22 Bg5 Qf8 23 Re7 is very dangerous, eg 23 ...Rb8 24 Qe6+ Kh8 25 Rxg7! Qxg7 (or 25 ...Kxg7 26 Bh6+) 26 Bf6 winning.
After carefully exchanging off a pair of rooks with Ra1-c1-c2-d2 and the queens, Shirov emerged with a safe extra pawn but plenty of work to convert it. The crisis came when he hurried with 44 a5!? rather than allowing counterplay after 44 cxb5 g5. Kramnik's 44 ...e3 looks rather panicky. Certainly if 44 ...Bxc4? 45 a6 Kc8 46 a7 Kb7 47 Rxc4! bxc4 48 e6 Rg6 49 Ke5 wins. But 44 ....bxc4 isn't clear to me, eg 45 a6 Kc8 46 Ra3 Kb8 seems to defend since if 47 a7+ Ka8 the rook can't get to the b file in time - if 48 Ra4 Rxg3 threatens mate and 49 e6 Bxe6 50 Rb4 Rb3! still holds.
At the end 64 ...Rxa7 65 Rh7+ skewers king and rook.
White: Alexei Shirov
Black: Vladimir Kramnik
Petroff Defence
, , , ,
, na,dn
, , , n
NhC Nh,
,HZhNgN
, B , N
, , , ,
, , , ,
1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 Nf6
3 Nxe5 d6
4 Nf3 Nxe4
5 d4 d5
6 Bd3 Nc6
7 0-0 Be7
8 Re1 Bg4
9 c3 f5
10 Qb3 0-0
11 Nbd2 Na5
12 Qa4 Nc6
13 Bb5 Bh4
14 g3 Bf6
15 Bxc6 bxc6
16 Qxc6 Re8
17 Ne5 Bxe5
18 dxe5 Ng5
19 f4 Re6
20 Qc5 Ne4
21 Nxe4 dxe4
22 Be3 a6
23 Qc4 Qd7
24 Rac1 Rd8
25 Rc2 Qf7
26 Rd2 Rxd2
27 Bxd2 Rb6
28 Qxf7+ Kxf7
29 b4 Rc6
30 Kf2 Rh6
31 h4 Rc6
32 Ke3 Bh5
33 Kd4 Ke7
34 c4 Bf7
35 Rc1 Rb6
36 Kc5 Be8
37 Be3 Rc6+
38 Kd5 Rg6
39 Bc5+ Kd7
40 Rc3 Bf7+
41 Kd4 h6
42 a4 Rg4
43 b5 axb5
44 a5!? (see diagram) e3
45 Rxe3 g5
46 e6+ Bxe6
47 cxb5 gxf4
48 gxf4 Rxf4+
49 Ke5 Rc4
50 Rd3+ Kc8
51 Kxe6 Rxc5
52 Rd5 Rc4
53 Rxf5 Re4+
54 Kd5 Rxh4
55 a6 Ra4
56 Rf8+ Kd7
57 Rf7+ Kc8
58 Rf8+ Kd7
59 Ra8 Ra1
60 a7 Rd1+
61 Ke4 Re1+
62 Kf3 Ra1
63 b6 cxb6
64 Rh8 1-0
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