25 Apr 2012

ARONIAN VS KRAMNIK GAME 4

ARONIAN and KRAMNIK DRAW in another Berlin Wall

Interesting game with twists and turns.



KRAMNIK - ARONIAN GAME 03

KRAMNIK WINS ROUND THREE.

All even now, after today's lively game.
A pleasure to follow and I have no favourite but am glad that they are even now.
Although tomorrow Aronian will play with White and have the ascendance.









1.e4 suddenly became Novelty of the week.
For Kramnik anyways. He hasn't played this for six years.

Then he goes on to surprise Aronian by turning the game into a Scotch.
Another first which means Aronian has to delve into his own past.
Today's game was such fun because in a way they weren't straining at the leash of a serious game. I'm not even sure this will count towards the ratings.

Obviously Aronian was going for a win to start with.Move 5...Bc5 [and then to -b6-]rather than pushing further to -b4- is a witness to that.

And then comes the first coup-de-foudre: preparation for 0-0-0 from White 7.Qd2 followed by the push 9...d5, which was becoming a necessity after what Black played up till then and leading to that spectacular Queen sacrifice.

They did us proud today: it was fun, witty even, in a poetic sort of way, and Kramnik especially, very competent.

22 Apr 2012

ARONIAN VS KRAMNIK Zurich round 2



AFTERTHOUGHTS:




This Berlin Wall variation of the Ruy Lopez, [or Spanish Game as it is now called,] has a tendency to become queenless early on. In this particular game as early as move 8.

Aronian didn't show any discomfort or even surprise at the opening and followed the main line.
By move 18 we are left with opposite coloured Bishops, which invariably leads to a draw.
As does the symmetrical pawn formation that is now evident. So jockeying for position and tiny steps forward from both sides, trying to get a foot in the door and a small advantage.

The feel of a draw persisted until White provided a glimmer of hope for a rekindling of the embers by playing 22.a4, to be followed by a5 on the next move and then the rather nice 24.Nb5. This happened right after Kramnik had offered a draw, which Aronian declined. Kramnik's move 19...Nf5 raised a few eyebrows. He played this very quickly and it isn't deemed the best choice. Don't know why he was in such a hurry to draw, as it would have meant playing a rapid as per Zurich rules. Anyways, the game trundled on. Probably to avoid just that and nothing much happened, not even after a4-a5-Nb5.


In the unlikely event of anybody being interested:
You can play the moves by clicking the arrows below the board.
The black dot will give you AUTOPLAY
Clicking the moves in the list on the right also works.
Red moves are the actual moves that were played [in chess parlance that is called TEXT].
Green moves are possible variations and leading off those are the brown moves.





21 Apr 2012

KRAMNIK - ARONIAN GAME 01

Did 16...Qe6 surprise Kramnik in the opening game of their duel in Zurich?
Luckily no boring Petroff from Kramnik today.We got a D43 Semi-Slav, which proceeded along normal lines until 12.e4, where we might have expected a Queen move, either Qc2 or possibly Qe2.

Now Kramnik as White, has used up 30 mins' thinking time and he seems to be overlooking the fact that 18.b3 is not nearly as treacherous as he thinks it is.
...18.cxb3 is the most like reply and even ...18.Ba6 or ...18.c3 are not harmful to White. Anything else played by Black would be advantageous for White, so is unlikely to be played.

But Kramnik chickens out and offers a draw, which Aronian accepts. A draw as Black is pretty good. A draw as White is not.

What a blow. And to think that i was looking forward to this match. To make matters worse, it is hailing outside and I can't even walk off my irritation without getting soaked.

People have travelled to watch this. Now we get a Blitz game as a consolation prize. Well, they can keep it.

It seems that Kramnik has some sort of strategy for his opening games in an importan match: testing the opponent's memory by forcing a long complicated line on him. If Black chugs along and is obviously in his comfort zone of preparation, than Kramnik as White simply ducks out by offering a draw. That means he can go home and prepare next day's game in peace.

It seems that is just what he did today by playing 7.e3 and then building up to 12.e4, which struck me as a testing move at the time, but then it became clear that Aronian was onto it and Kramnik's direction veered towards the draw.

A Queen move for White, 12.Qc2 or 12.Qe2 would have been a normal progression, with still a decisive advantage of White.




In the unlikely event of anybody being interested:
You can play the moves by clicking the arrows below the board.
The black dot will give you AUTOPLAY
Clicking the moves in the list on the right also works.
Red moves are the actual moves that were played [in chess parlance that is called TEXT].
Green moves are possible variations and leading off those are the brown moves.