Boris Gelfand vs Ruslan Ponomariov (2015)

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Boris Gelfand vs Ruslan Ponomariov
World Team Championship (2015), Tsaghkadzor ARM, rd 4, Apr-22
Catalan Opening: Open Defense (E04) · 1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Apr-22-15		nummerzwei: I followed this game live and I have to say it was a major disappointment although the opening promised an interesting and complex struggle. It seems that Gelfand's sacrifice 28.Nf6+ wasn't backed up by calculation, but simply desperate. At the time I thought 28.Qf3 was promising for White. Houdini didn't share my optimism afterwards( 28...Qg6 29.h4 h5), but nevertheless this was much better. After 34...Rc8 I saw no continuation for White, yet I was still confident Gelfand would find one. On seeing 35.h4 I couldn't believe my eyes. White is dead lost and reduced to playing for tricks! Probably the worst part of the game was that Black didn't manage to put the lid on White's counterplay. Before, Ponomariov had been barely visible in this game (except for strangely omitting the more active 24...Da2! 25.Bc3 b4), but watching him just look on as Gelfand rushed his h-pawn down the board was still rather curious. Computer analysis suggests that the win for Black was there as late as move 42, however, for example 35...c4 35.Qxh6+ Ke8 36.h5 c3, simply running with the c-pawn, would have been a truly easy one.

Apr-23-15		lorker: Those variations are easy to see for a computer but harder for a human. Not sure if Gelfands sacrifice was desperation or based on intuition that his h pawn would cause problems after. However, I do share your sentiment that the game was a disappointment from Ponomariovs side, as it seems like he didn't push hard for the win. That being said it was a strange and complicated game all around

Apr-23-15		nummerzwei: <lorker>: Do you mean the last line I gave? I didn't get that one from the computer (I was watching without one and only used it afterwards) plus I still find it rather straightforward (which might have been a superior choice of words). Not trivial of course, and at the end White may still play some moves, but Black's pawn is simply faster. As regards 28.Nf6+, it now occurs to me that Gelfand may simply have overlooked 31.Qf4 f5! (without which he'd draw by repetition). Still a pretty glaring error at this level.

Apr-23-15		nummerzwei: I just realized I've accidentally left the engine on and it seems to turn out that in fact 31.Qf4 f5 32.Qxf5 Re8 33.Rf4 was a much better chance. This is actually quite logical since White keeps the rooks on. One drawing line is 33...Rb7 34.Qh7 Re6 35.Qg7+ Ke8 36.Qg8+ Kd7 37.Rxf7+ Kd6 38.Qf8+ Kd5 39.Rxb7 Qxb7 40.Qf3+ Re4 41.Qd3+ Ke6 42.f3!! Ra4 43.Qg6+ Kd7 44.Be5 and it seems that Black won't be able to wriggle out of the perpetual check threats at an acceptable price. Of course, a deeper analysis is needed to verify whether White can indeed draw against best play.

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