Vladimir Kramnik vs Luke McShane (2012)

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Vladimir Kramnik vs Luke McShane
London Chess Classic (2012), Olympia, London, rd 5, Dec-06
Slav Defense: Chameleon Variation (D15) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 6 times; par: 71 [what's this?]

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Dec-06-12		DrAttitude: Amazing Tactics! Kramnik is great when fianchetto his king bishop!

Dec-06-12		OneArmedScissor: Double rook sacrifice a la Topalov

Dec-06-12		notyetagm: Fantastic game by ex-WC Kramnik.

Dec-06-12		capanegra: McShane spent more than an hour for the move 17…Rc8. After that, he had around five minutes remaining to make more than 20 moves.

Dec-06-12		dumbgai: Kramnik sacrificed a pawn in the opening, then an exchange with 17. a5, then the same exchange with 20. Rxc4, then the other exchange with 31. Rxd4, capping it off with 34. Bxf7+. Great stuff.

Dec-06-12		fisayo123: gg, I like this fianchetto line against the chebanenko, though I will never play it.

Dec-06-12		Hesam7: <capanegra: McShane spent more than an hour for the move 17…Rc8. After that, he had around five minutes remaining to make more than 20 moves.> That is ironic, Kramnik got nothing out of the opening but after McShane made a number of mistakes he got an overwhelming position. The very first mistake is in fact <17...Rc8?> then <18...Nd4?!>, <19...Rc7?> and after <21...Nb5?> White is nearly winning.

Dec-06-12		Atking: Kramnik uses to be a Rook player but today he sacrifices both to be a fresh Knight player for the best of our pleasure. Difficult to critize McShane Kramnik was simply great!

Dec-06-12		Everett: <OneArmedScissor: Double rook sacrifice a la Topalov> a la Karpov vs Topalov, a la Reti vs Euwe twice.

Dec-06-12		positionalgenius: Wow. He's having a fantastic tournament. What a time to be a fan of Kramnik- this will have to go into his best games of all time.

Dec-06-12		chancho: Kramnik still playing at a high level. Good to see. Those days when he was getting constantly bashed were getting nauseous.

Dec-06-12		Blunderdome: Kramnik, McShane, and Short all agreed that white was in control all the way from the first exchange sac or somewhere around there, but the engines dropped their eval to a smaller plus for white around the time control. Did McShane have a save somewhere?

Dec-06-12		dumbgai: Not quite. Houdini hates 40. Qd2 even though it's a natural looking move, threatening the royal fork Nd7+. Instead of repeating the position, McShane could have played 40...Bg5 (admittedly a very awkward-looking computer move) 41. Nd7+ Kc8 (only move) 42. Qd1 (42. Nxc5 Bxd2 is an option for white to enter what looks like a winning endgame to me, but it's not necessarily easy to convert) Rd8 (another only move) 43. Qg4 Qc1+ 44. Kg2 Kc7, and the black pieces are set up for a much tougher defense. But even here white's advantage is about +1.7 (depth=20) after 45. Nb6.

Dec-06-12		Bartimaeus: Beautiful game from Kramnik, one sac after another :) Superlative tactics. The black king was always searching for peace and ultimately he was made to rest in peace.

Dec-07-12		Hesam7: <dumbgai: Not quite. Houdini hates 40. Qd2 even though it's a natural looking move, threatening the royal fork Nd7+. Instead of repeating the position, McShane could have played 40...Bg5 (admittedly a very awkward-looking computer move) 41. Nd7+ Kc8 (only move) 42. Qd1 (42. Nxc5 Bxd2 is an option for white to enter what looks like a winning endgame to me, but it's not necessarily easy to convert) Rd8 (another only move) 43. Qg4 Qc1+ 44. Kg2 Kc7, and the black pieces are set up for a much tougher defense. But even here white's advantage is about +1.7 (depth=20) after 45. Nb6.> Engines really prefer 40 Qe6, but 40 Qd2 does not spoils anything. After your line: 40...Bg5! 41 Nd7 Kc8 42 Qd1 Rd8 43 Qg4 Qc1 44 Kg2 Kc7 45 Nb6 click for larger view The Rook can not move, 45...c5?? loses to 46 Bd5, 45...h5? 46 Bh5 just loses a pawn, 45...Kd6?? 46 Qe6 is another quick defeat and the Queen has to defend the g5-Bishop. Out of the 36 legal moves that eliminates all but eight: ...Kb8, ...Kb7, ...Be7, ...Bf6, ...Bh6, ...Be3, ...Qd2 and ...h6. One can easily verify that all these moves lose as well. So while 40 Qd2 allows for a tactical shot it does not change the evaluation of the position and for good reason, look at the diagram above, White has 3 connected passed pawns for the exchange and a much safer King with the Queens on the board.

Dec-07-12		Hesam7: <dumbgai> the endgame you mention should also be winning because White has a neat tactical trick up his sleeve: 40...Bg5! 41 Nd7 Kc8 42 Nc5 Bd2 43 Bc4! click for larger view 43...Re8 (the point is that 43...Ba5?? loses the Rook after 44 Ba6. White can fork the Rook and King after all three possible Black moves!) 44 Nb3 Be1 (otherwise White will play Ba6 on the next move) 45 f3 (45 Ba6? Kc7 with ...Ra8 or ...Rb8 to follow would be a mistake): click for larger view

Dec-07-12		Naniwazu: I remember how boring Kramnik's play seemed last year in the Candidates tournament. His play this year couldn't be more different. It's full of youthful energy. Kramnik is unrelenting in his attack in this game. I espcially like the subtle moves 17. a5 and 28. e4. The first allows White to play Ra4 attacking the c4-pawn the second vacates the square e3 for the knight.

Dec-07-12		Ulhumbrus: Instead of 17...Rc8 17 ..Nxa1 18 Qxa1 Be7 prepares to castle. McShane declines to take a rook for a knight but he ends up taking a rook for his queen's bishop instead, a more valuable piece than his knight.

Dec-08-12		hytvfjdo: I'm surprised Kramnik didn't play 47. Qb6 which wins the black queen. Perhaps he was low on time.

Dec-18-12		Ulhumbrus: Kramnik knows how to cause trouble for his opponent from a Catalan opening! Considering the trouble that the moves 13 Bg5 and 14 Bxf6 cause for Black, this suggests 12...Be7 instead of 12...Nc5.

Jan-30-13		harrylime: <capanegra: McShane spent more than an hour for the move 17…Rc8. After that, he had around five minutes remaining to make more than 20 moves.> Hmmm that puts a different perspective on things.. I like 17.a5 but is 17..Na1 that bad ? Beautiful game by Kramnik and very impressive.

Jun-22-13		Karpova: Annotation by Damljanovic: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/infor...

Jun-24-13		notyetagm: Kramnik vs McShane, 2012 This game just won the <BEST GAME PRIZE> for Chess Informator 116. http://www.chesscafe.com/informant/...

Jun-24-13		notyetagm: Game Collection: KRAMNIK'S BEST GAMES

Mar-16-19		devere: Not a good problem because almost everything wins for White. Best is probably 26.Qh5, but Rd5 or b3 are also very good. Black should have answered 26.Bd5 with h5, but White still wins after 27.Nd7+

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