1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 11.Nbd2 Rfe8 12.Nf1 Nd8 13.Ng3 Ne6< Gashimov has had this position this year against Kamil Milton in the French team championships. There he played the popular 14 c3. 15 Ba2> 14.Ba2 <A new move. 14 c3 is main line. Adams, Anand, Shirov. usually play 14 Ng5..Kamsky has had this position as white and plays the thematic 14 c3 15 d4.> 14...c5 15.Bd2 Bf8 16.b4 h6 17.c4 Nf4 18.Re3 bxc4 19.dxc4 Ne6 20.Bb1 g6 21.Re1 Qc7 <Threatening to win a pawn 22...cxb4 and 23...Qxc4> 22.Bd3 Bg7 23.Rb1 Nd7 24.Ne2 <Time to eye the d5 square.> 24...Nd4 25.Nc3 Rec8 26.Rc1 Qd8 27.Nd5 Bc6 28.Bf1 Nf8 29.Nxd4 exd4 30.f4 Nd7 31.Qf3 Rcb8 32.Qg3 cxb4 33.axb4 a5 34.b5 Bxd5 35.cxd5 Nc5 36.e5 a4 <This just gives more scope to whites Queen bishop.> 37.Bb4 <Threatening to win a pawn 38 Bxc5 dxc5 39 Rxc5 >37...a3? <Strange move. Did Kamsky forget white had a queen on g3?> 38.Bxa3 d3< Kamsky's calculating ability seems to have left him His assessment of the resulting position in a few moves time can't be what he expected. His position is just terrible>. 39.Bxc5 d2 40.Bxd6 Rb7 41.Red1 dxc1Q 42.Rxc1 Rba7 43.Qb3 Ra1 44.Bc7 Qh4 45.Rxa1 Rxa1 46.Qf3 <Now white just pushes the passed pawns and Kamsky can do nothing.> 46...Qe1 47.b6 Qb4 48.d6 Qd4+ 49.Kh2 Rb1 50.b7 Rxb7 51.Qxb7 Qxf4+ 52.g3 1–0

Kamsky had been playing very well in the tournament until this disaster. A terrible game from Kamsky. Yesterday he was well prepared against Adams, but today he was plain awful. He seemed to lose his composure completely, allowing advanced passed pawns with no counterplay whatsoever. A bad day at the office for Kamsky.

<"Today Gashimov beat Kamsky in a good game, thus winning even more credit in the chess world. In his first top tournament, not only he's not losing, but he's also defeating chess giants. Kamsky couldn't say he had bad luck today, because he was simply outplayed.

With 14.Ba2 deviated from his recent game against Miton, Marseille 2008 but it was nothing special and after the opening the position was about equal. Gashimov thought Black's 23…Ne7? was wrong, because it allowed the transfer of White's knight from g3 to c3(-d5). "23...Nf4 24.Bf1 Ne6 was better, after which I might have repeated moves with 25.Bd3. After 23...Ne7 I have some advantage. I think taking on d4 and f4 was also good." All Kamsky could say was "I agree." Instead of 28…Nf8, according to Shipov it was necessary to exchange the knights on f3 and he found 32…cxb4?! too risky. A clear mistake was 37…a3? (37…d3 and 37…Nb3 give some chances) which does win an exchange but for too high a price, and after the first time control White was already winning.">

Yesterday, some of the kibitzers were wanting to canonize this guy after his extremely well-played victory, where he turned what looked like a sure draw into a surprising but clear win.

50 b6-b7

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