Openings / Kislik Variation
nesses for White and loosen his king position. (19. Ne3 This is one of the most serious tries due to the intention of putting a knight on g4, but Black is able to ignore it by simply using his bishop’s mobility to slide to d4: 19. ... a5! 20. Nhg4 Nxg4 21. Nxg4 Bd4 with equal chances) 19. ... Ng6 20. Nf3 b4 21. g3 a5 22. h4 a4 23. Ne3 axb3 24. axb3 Ra2 (Black is really active here and even has ideas like ... Qc8 followed by ... Qh3.) 25. Re2 Ne7 26. Bd3 Qa8 27. Rxa2 Qxa2 gives Black excellent counterplay.
19. Ng3 Now the white knights are eyeing f5 (h5 too)
and g4, so Black needs to choose an appropriate plan that deals with the impending threats.
19. ... Bc8! Black’s position is not without play of his
own. He intends ... a7-a5 or even ... Bg5. The idea 19. ... Bg5 is a natural try to simplify
and keep f2-f4 restricted for a long time. 20. Bxg5 Qxg5 21. Qg4! Qxg4 22. hxg4 threatens Nf5. 22. ... Ne7 23. g5 f6 24. Nf3 when White intends a2-a4 and has a small edge because Black’s pieces are all somewhat passive and he has no obvious pawn breaks.
20. Rf1
line that wins a pawn for Black.) 24. ... b4 Black intends ... a6-a5 followed by ... Ba6 with no problems. It is easy to understand that moving the dark-squared bishop around so many times in such a small window of time looks very suspicious without prior preparation.
21. Ng4! Bxg4 The line 21. ... Bd4 22. Ne2 still gives White
the bishop pair and an edge. 22. hxg4 h6!
Black intends ... Be5 and it turns out that
Bg5 is quite an annoyance in certain possible variations. h6 is also generally useful because White always has ideas of playing g4-g5. The continuation 22. ... Be5 23. Nf5 Ne7 24.
Bg5! f6 25. Bd2 Nxf5 26. gxf5 would have been a lot less comfortable for Black.
23. Nf5 The followup 23. Be3! b4 24. f4 would have
definitely given White an advantage. The plan of Rf3 followed by Nh5 and Rh3 is very hard to stop and gives White a strong attack.
23. ... Ne7!
Svidler was proud of this solid move, which does appear to hold down the fort. 24. Ne3!
This is the only reasonable attempt to play against Black’s somewhat awkward pieces.
24. ... b4 25. g3!
The position is equal after 25. Bd3 Ng6 26. g3 a5 27. Kg2 a4. 25. ... a5 26. Kg2 a4! 27. bxa4 Qd7
30. Bxa4? After this move, the position is essentially
lost for White. 30. Qf3! (would have threatened g4-g5 and
White moves his rook out of the way of the
eventual ... Bc3 and prepares to play Ng4, grabbing the bishop pair or chasing the bishop around the board. This was all played instantly by Giri, indicating that he either prepared all of this, or had been intending to play this way schematically on principle in any case for building his attack. The alternatives are 20. Ng4 Bg5! and 20.
Nf5 Nb6 21. Ng4 Bc3 22. Bd2 Bxd2 23. Qxd2 b4 intends ... a6-a5 with equality.
20. ... Nb6?! This is ultimately just a little bit too passive
here, and was Svidler’s only apparently inaccu - racy in the game. Better was 20. ... Bc3!, intending to meet 21. Ng4 by ... Nf6! with equality. Meeting Ng4 is a central strategic feature of the evaluation of this position. 20. ... Bc3! was definitely best, even though
it looks strange: 21. Ne2 Bf6 22. Ng4 Bh4 23. g3 Bf6 24. f4 (24. Nxf6+? Nxf6 is an important
28 April 2016 | Chess Life 28. Qd3
White threatens e5, but Black is just in time to defend everything comfortably. The followup that troubled Svidler in the
post-game commentary was 28. a3 Nxa4 29. Rb3! which initially looks scary with a +.45 score on both Komodo and Stockfish at a reasonable depth around 30. Nevertheless, with such limited material and the possibility to simplify directly, it is not a huge surprise that Black is able to neutralize White’s play: (29. Qd3 Ng6 30. g5! Bxg5 31. f4 Nc3! [31. ... Bf6
forced Black onto the defensive. It looks like White is able to actually draw after the surprising:) 30. ... Qd8 31. g5! Bxg5 (31. ... hxg5? 32. Rh1 is too strong.) 32. Bxa4 Rxa4 33. Bb2 Bf6 34. Nxh6+ Kf8 35. Rh1 Rxa2 36. Bxf6 Qxf6 37. Nf5 when after Rh7 and Rbh1, White will always have at least a perpetual.
30. ... Rxa4 31. Rh1 Ne7 32. g5? White lost a full pawn with this and was not
able to justify the sacrifice in any meaningful way.
Better was 32. Bb2! Bxb2 33. Rxb2 Rea8 34. Qe2 Nxf5 35. gxf5 f6.
32. ... hxg5 33. Ne3 Also great for Black is 33. Nxe7+ Qxe7.
33. ... Rxa2 34. Bd2 Ng6 35. Nf5 No better is 35. Rhd1 Ne5 36. Qb3 Rea8 37.
Bc1 Qb5. 35. ... Ne5 36. Qe2 g6
White could have resigned here, but I am
sure he did not want to yet in such a critical game.
37. Nh6+ Kg7 38. Nf5+ Kg8 38. ... gxf5! is played later, after Svidler repeats
32. axb4] 32. axb4 [32. fxg5 Ne5! 33. Qd2 Nxb1 34. Bxb1 bxa3 35. gxh6 g6 threatens ... Reb8 and even gives Black a strong initiative.] 32. ... Nxb1 33. Bxb1 Bxf4 34. gxf4 Ra4 35. bxc5 dxc5 intending to take on e4 and is definitely not worse for Black.) 29. ... Reb8 30. f4 Nc3 31. Qd3 Bd4! 32. axb4 Bxe3 33. Bxe3 cxb4 34. f5 Ra2 (threatens ... Qb5.) 35. Rf2 Qc7 36. Bd4 Na4 37. Bd1 (37. f6 Ng6 38. fxg7 Nc5 would give Black fantastic counterplay.) 37. ... Rxf2+ 38. Bxf2 Qc1 39. Be3 Qc8 (intends ... Nc5 with good counterplay.) 40. Qd4 Qc5 41. Kf3 f6 leaves Black with a rock solid position and no problems, demonstrating that even Svidler’s fear of 28. a3! was nothing much to worry about. His position was just too solid and sound.
28. ... Ng6 29. Nf5 Nxa4
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