| Dec-15-08 | | percyblakeney: Grischuk's first win against Leko with classical time controls. |
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| Dec-15-08 | | veerar: 19.....Ba3 seems aimless. |
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| Dec-15-08 | | Andrew Chapman: <19.....Ba3 seems aimless.>I think he would be aiming at c1, since white has an open c file. Did Leko miss Bxd5, at least at move 22 if not at move 23? |
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| Dec-15-08 | | Bobsterman3000: Leko's rook sac was pretty unsound.
White was never in any real danger and the white king had plenty of escape routes and/or defensive resources... |
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Dec-15-08
 | | Eyal: <Leko's rook sac was pretty unsound.> According to the engines it was actually brilliant, only it had to be followed by 29...h6!! instead of Rf8. One critical line goes: 30.Nc5 Nh3+ 31.Kf1 Qf3 
click for larger viewAnd now, with the rook still on e8, there's the threat of Rxe3 in addition to Qxf2. White's only way to defend against mate is to give up the queen: 32.Qxe8+ Kh7 (made possible by h6) 33.Qxf7 (33.Nd3 Bg4!) Qxf7. White actually still has some material advantage, because Black gave up two whole rooks and a few pawns, but Black has an ongoing initiative against the white king, especially considering the weakness of the light squares on the K-side. |
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| Dec-15-08 | | Bobsterman3000: <Eyal> Thanks!!
I stand corrected, I never saw that follow-up, but neither did Leko so I don't feel that bad ;-) |
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| Dec-15-08 | | utssb: <Eyal> What about 30.Qxe8+ Qxe8 31.Nc5 ? Looks interesting for White. |
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Dec-15-08
| | Eyal: <utssb> Yes, this might be better for White, but with 31...Bf5 followed by Nf3+ and Be4 Black can probably still keep the game balanced. |
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| Dec-15-08 | | utssb: Yeah it looks like Black has enough compensation. What an interesting game. |
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| Dec-15-08 | | draginoth: I was fiddling with some lines after 31.Nc5, and I believe black is completely winning. For example:
31...Bg4 32.Rdc1 Nf3+ 33.Kg2 (33.Kh1 f6 34.h4 Qg6 35.Rb8+ Kh7 with Nxh4 coming) ...Qc8 34.Rb7 Bh3+ 35.Kh1 Qf5 followed by Nd2 |
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| Dec-16-08 | | KOCMOHAYT: this Grischuk is allways speculative bet, often displays brilliances and lacks consistency. |
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| Dec-24-08 | | Mateo: 22...Ra7?! loses a pawn. So 22...b5 makes sense, before White plays Nc2 attacking a3 and b6. |
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| Dec-25-08 | | pbernh: what if Leko reversed the order of moves: 30...Nh3+ followed by Qf3 instead of 30... Qf3 followed by Nh3, then the King would not have time to move to f1. I guess that is what the computer analysis revealed Eyal: <Leko's rook sac was pretty unsound.> According to the engines it was actually brilliant, only it had to be followed by 29...h6!! instead of Rf8. One critical line goes: 30.Nc5 Nh3+ 31.Kf1 Qf3 |
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Dec-25-08
 | | al wazir: 29...Bh3 30. Qxe8+ Qxe8 30. Rb8. |
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Dec-26-08
| | Eyal: <pbernh: what if Leko reversed the order of moves: 30...Nh3+ followed by Qf3 instead of 30... Qf3 followed by Nh3, then the King would not have time to move to f1.> Why not? 30...Nh3+ 31.Kf1 Qf3 32.Rd2 transposes to the game (btw, 32.Qb2 might be even stronger); or 31...Qh1+ 32.Ke2 Bg4+ 33.Kd2 Bxd1 34.Rxd1 Qxh2 35.Rf1 and White is fine. Actually, 30...Qf3 as played by Leko was better, because after 31.Kf1 Black could still pose more problems for White with 31...Bg4(!) 32.Ke1 Qg2. The idea of 29...h6!! revealed by the engine analysis is to keep the rook on e8, in addition to creating luft for the king in a certain critical line (as I already explained). |
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