Jan-03-11
 | | Ron: I was a surprised when I first saw the score of tis game. By the end of move 14 White is down a pawn, but seems to have compensation in terms of development and mobility. |
|
Jan-03-11 | | Eyal: <By the end of move 14 White is down a pawn, but seems to have compensation in terms of development and mobility.> Yes, and his position is much more comfortable to play. This line has been rather topical lately, and it looks like Gashimov came up with an improvement to White's play in Motylev vs V Belov, 2010 (15.Bb5+). Ivanchuk didn't manage to come up with a decent plan, and it seems that he loses ground with almost every move. To repeat something I've mentioned on the tournament page, this was his first loss with the Caro-Kann in a classical game in 17 years (the last one was Topalov vs Ivanchuk, 1994). |
|
Jan-03-11
 | | tamar: Hard to pinpoint where Ivanchuk went from worse to lost, but 22...Rb8 started an unsustainable plan to put the rook on b6. The longterm problem is that Black cannot put his King on g7 because it is still hemmed in by the f6 and f5 pawns, and so the King has to stay on f8 to guard the knight. Rybka suggest 22...f4, weird at first glance, but jettisoning the pawn to gain time for f5, and putting the King on f6. The line looks holdable to me 22...f4 23 Rf3 f5 24 Rxf4 Kg7 25 Rb4 Kf6 |
|
Jan-04-11 | | Jafar219: Wow! What a play by Gashimov... just great! |
|
Jan-04-11 | | ajile: Anyone notice that nobody is playing 1.d4 anymore against Chucky in this tournament? They are afraid of the DUTCH! lol |
|
Jan-05-11 | | Hesam7: One suggestion would be 17. ... Rc8 for Black:
 click for larger viewWhy give up the c-file so easily? My engine gives the following line @ depth 32: 18. Ra3 a5 19. Bd3 Ne7 20. Rb3 Rc6 21. Reb1 Ng6 22. Rxb6 Rxb6 23. Rxb6 Ke7 24. Bxf5 Nxe5 25. Rb5 Kd6 26. Rxa5 g6 27. Bd3 Rb8 28. g3 h5 29. Kg2 Rb2 30. Ra4 Kc5 31. h3 Nc6 32. g4 Nb4 33. Ra7 Nxd3 34. cxd3 Kd4 35. Rxf7 Kxd3 36. a4 (+0.20) |
|
Jan-05-11 | | onur87: This is a real occupation!! Bishop and rooks are at work! |
|
Jan-05-11
 | | tamar: <Hesam7> has a point. 17...Rc8 looks like an improvement.
It was imperative to stop the Rb3-c3-c7/ Ree3-c3-c7 sequence. Gashimov uses the c file like a crazed ice road trucker. |
|
Jan-06-11 | | Ulhumbrus: 14...b6 disturbs the Queen side pawns. One alternative is 14...0-0-0. Then one way for Black to lose is 15 Reb1 Rd7 16 Nxf5 exf5 17 c4 d4 18 Bf3 b6 19 c5 bxc5 20 Rb8+ Kc7 21 Rb1-b7 mate. In this line instead of 17...d4, 17...dxc4 18 Bxc4 Rc7! may hold eg 19 e6 Rxc4 20 exf7 Ne7! 21 Rxb7 Nc6 |
|
Jan-06-11 | | Eyal: <14...b6 disturbs the Queen side pawns. One alternative is 14...0-0-0.> 14...0-0-0? 15.Reb1 Rd7 loses immediately to 16.Rxb7! Rxb7 17.Ba6. 15...b6 would be very bad here as well - 16.Nc6 Rd7 17.Ba6+ Kc7 18.Nxa7. ...b6 is the only playable way to defend the b-pawn on move 14 (14...Rb8? also fails to 15.Nc6! [15...Rc8 16.Rxb7 Rxc6 17.Bb5]). |
|
Jan-06-11 | | Ulhumbrus: If 14...0-0-0 does not work, an alternative is 14...Rb8, giving the b7 pawn up but in a way so as to buy time. However if Black can find nothing better, that suggests that Black is ill advised to play to win the pawn in the first place, while his development is as yet unfinished. |
|
Jan-10-11 | | NARC: I would never have found 17. Rb3 |
|
Jan-11-11
 | | tamar: Gashimov speaks about his novelty 17 Rb3 which may just disable this variation for Black. http://www.chessintranslation.com/2... |
|
Jan-13-11 | | Everett: Wow, a real positional crush. No complex tactics. |
|
Jul-05-11
 | | GrahamClayton: It is unusual to see the White rooks infiltrate the Black position using the half-open c-file. |
|
Jan-02-12
 | | Penguincw: Gashimov's rooks are really deep in the black position. |
|
Jun-13-13 | | pablo333: Black's error here is more elementary than complex: he attacks before his pieces are developed - it's that simple. 6... Qb6 & 8... Qxb2 (with the idea of 11... Bb4) cannot be right when it allows 15 Bb5+; after this black will find it hard to complete his development, plus his King is stuck in a bad place on f8. Not all positions can muster the unfathomable resources of the Poisoned Pawn variation in the Sicilian Defense (where black's pawn on a6 allows him to get away with allsorts). |
|