Levon Aronian vs Vladimir Kramnik (2009)

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Levon Aronian vs Vladimir Kramnik
Amber Tournament (Rapid) (2009) (rapid), Nice FRA, rd 7, Mar-21
English Opening: Agincourt Defense. King's Knight (A13) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 13 times; par: 63 [what's this?]

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Mar-21-09		sallom89: Kramnik is doing fine with black!

Mar-21-09		crwynn: 15...Qa5 16.Be3 Nxd3 17.Nxd3 b5

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: <crwynn: 15...Qa5 16.Be3 Nxd3 17.Nxd3 b5> Hi! what about 15...Qa5 16.Bd2?

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: It seems to me that Kramnik's pawn sacrifice is absolutely correct. White's pieces are left passive and uncoordinated. White's Queenside remains backward in development. 14...Qc7 threatens 15...Nxd3 16.Nxd3 c4, so White is apparently forced to try to block with 15. Qc4. After 15...Rb8, if White tries to stop b5 by playing a4, then the Black knight at b4 is almost impossible to dislodge. After 20...Bd3 Black's position is dominating. Even White's small simplifying combination fails to solve his problems. After 25...Nc7 Black threatens to exploit the pinned White knight by 26...a5, and if 27.bxa5 then 27...Rb3! wins! So White tries to break the pin with 26.Rc1, and Black takes over the only open file. After 26...Re8 White is running out of useful moves...any attempt to exchange Queens either loses the Queen-pawn or loses to ...Qxc3 and Nb5, winning the a-pawn. And after 33....Qd2 the c-pawn is almost unstoppable, so White sacrifices the exchange, almost by force....great game by Kramnik. Overall, it seems that White's opening set-up did not make much sense...combining the exchange variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined with a King's Indian attack so early left Black with many options, and he gained the upper hand quite easily.

Mar-21-09		crwynn: Just 16...Re2 is very strong, White cannot hold the extra pawn. 17.Bb4 cb 18.Qb3 Bd7, or 17.Bc3 b5 18.Qb3 Qa4 with a better ending for Black.

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: <crwynn: Just 16...Re2 is very strong, White cannot hold the extra pawn. 17.Bb4 cb 18.Qb3 Bd7, or 17.Bc3 b5 18.Qb3 Qa4 with a better ending for Black.> I agree with you. I do not like White's position at all. I don't like White's opening, either! Kramnik gave a great demonstration of the fundamental contradictions in White's set-up.

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: I believe that after 8..h6 Black is already better.

Mar-21-09		crwynn: Yes but it's not at all true that Kramnik was better around say move 20. 15...Rab8 was probably an error, at any rate see the Amber rapid page for my analysis of two moves, 27.Qa1 and 27.a4, the former leads to a position where I am not sure who is trying to make a draw, probably Black is okay, the latter seems to be a draw but White has the better end of it.

Mar-21-09		percyblakeney: <Kramnik won the rapid game, but the Russian was modest in triumph. ‘It was not a good game, we both blundered a lot.’ Aronian played the opening poorly and after 13...Bf5 Black was already better. In fact, Kramnik was spoiled for choice: ‘There were so many moves that were attractive that I got confused and went wrong.’ He had missed the tactic 22.Rxe5, and after his opponent had captured the rook on b8 he briefly considered resigning. Instead he took a closer look to discover that things weren’t that dramatic. Now it was Aronian’s turn to drift and with 29.Nb5 he made the decisive mistake, which was immediately punished by 29...Nxb4. He should have played 29.Nc6, when according to Kramnik the position would be ‘nice for Black but nothing special’.> http://www.amberchess2009.com/Round...

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: By the way, after 21...Be5 Black threatens 22...Rb3!, winning the White Queen!

Mar-21-09		Peligroso Patzer: Analysis with Fritz supports the following conclusions regarding this game: Kramnik made the first perceptible error with 21. … Be5?, yielding Aronian an advantage in the plus-over-minus range. (In playing this move, Kramnik must have overlooked or underestimated the pseudo-exchange sac: 22. Rxe5!). The first significant error, however, was Aronian’s 29. Nb5? (apparently overlooking 29. … Nxb4!, after which the position was minus-over-plus). Seemingly rattled, his 30. axb4 only worsened his troubles, landing him in a position that is probably winning for Black with best play. (30. Qxe5 Rxe5 31. Nxa7 would have limited the damage.)

Mar-21-09		Peligroso Patzer: <crwynn: Just 16...Re2 is very strong, White cannot hold the extra pawn. 17.Bb4 cb 18.Qb3 Bd7, or 17.Bc3 b5 18.Qb3 Qa4 with a better ending for Black.> Huh? In the position after White's 16th move, his DSB is on c1, so if 16. ... Re2, 17. Bxb4 is not possible, but the simple and obvious 17. axb4 wins for White.

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: <Peligroso Patzer: <crwynn: Just 16...Re2 is very strong, White cannot hold the extra pawn. 17.Bb4 cb 18.Qb3 Bd7, or 17.Bc3 b5 18.Qb3 Qa4 with a better ending for Black.> Huh? In the position after White's 16th move, his DSB is on c1, so if 16. ... Re2, 17. Bxb4 is not possible, but the simple and obvious 17. axb4 wins for White.> Hi! I think he was referring about the position in the possible variation 15...Qa5 16.Bd2

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: Guys, what should Black's move be, instead of 21...Be5?

Mar-21-09		Peligroso Patzer: <kamalakanta: By the way, after 21...Be5 Black threatens 22...Rb3!, winning the White Queen!> Not really. In response to 22. ... Rb3 (assuming White had [illegally] passed on his 22nd move), 23. Nxb3 looks like a strong Queen sacrifice, not loss of the Queen by White.

Mar-21-09		Peligroso Patzer: <kamalakanta: <Peligroso Patzer: <crwynn: Just 16...Re2 is very strong, White cannot hold the extra pawn. 17.Bb4 cb 18.Qb3 Bd7, or 17.Bc3 b5 18.Qb3 Qa4 with a better ending for Black.> Huh? In the position after White's 16th move, his DSB is on c1, so if 16. ... Re2, 17. Bxb4 is not possible, but the simple and obvious 17. axb4 wins for White.> Hi! I think he was referring about the position in the possible variation 15...Qa5 16.Bd2> Thanks for the clarification. Now the comment makes sense. < kamalakanta: Guys, what should Black's move be, instead of 21...Be5?> 21. … Rxe1+ or 21. … Nc5 would probably be best.

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: I Know some people will get on my case, but this game reminds me of this other game: Karpov vs Kasparov, 1985 The Black knight on b4, Black bishop on f5, a pawn sacrifice, White's pieces in awkward and passive positions...with all their differences, there are still some "conceptual" or "metaphorical" similarities...

Mar-21-09		kamalakanta: <crwynn: Yes but it's not at all true that Kramnik was better around say move 20. 15...Rab8 was probably an error, at any rate see the Amber rapid page for my analysis of two moves, 27.Qa1 and 27.a4, the former leads to a position where I am not sure who is trying to make a draw, probably Black is okay, the latter seems to be a draw but White has the better end of it.> I did not perceive 15...Rb8 as an error, but I could certainly be mistaken. It seemed logical; it threatens 16...b5 17.Qb3 Nxd3 18.Nxd3 c4, no?

Mar-21-09		crwynn: No, because White will always play 17.Qc3, as in the game. That is why 15...Qa5 was better.

Mar-27-09		Ulhumbrus: Instead of 10 e4, 10 d4 fixes Black's d5 pawn as a target

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