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| Feb-04-10 | | Fanques Fair: One of the reasons why Kramnik lost this game is that his knight in e8 was not brought back, for no apparent reason. For several moves Black had the chance to play Nc7 followed by Nd5, but he kept trying to gain some silly counterplay with Qh5 and Bf5 , wich just helped White to advance his pawns on the kingside, while, it seems to me, Black should be looking to some chance to put his knight in d5 and play on the queenside. Instead, his e8 knight spent 25 moves still. What was it doing there ? |
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| Feb-04-10 | | Fanques Fair: I really don´t think it´s a great game, it's just because it´s Carlsen and Kramnik. The opening was interesting, but
I think Black simply played bad in the middle game.
Was it from some unknown tournament with unknown players, there would be no question of it being one of the best of the year. |
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| Feb-04-10 | | polarmis: <Was it from some unknown tournament with unknown players, there would be no question of it being one of the best of the year.> I agree with that, though the fact that Kramnik and Carlsen were clearly the best active players around at the time created amazing tension. The game probably needed Kramnik to find ...Kf8!! to make it a classic. After ...Bf5 it was all a bit trivial for a top GM. For what it's worth Chesspro's voting for the December Game of the Month had this game in third place: http://chesspro.ru/_events/2010/bes... 1) Karjakin-Gelfand - 109 points
Karjakin vs Gelfand, 2009
2) Timofeev-Khismatullin - 90 points
A Timofeev vs D Khismatullin, 2009
3) Carlsen-Kramnik - 71 points
Incidentally, Kramnik-Ni Hua came 4th while Carlsen-McShane, which won the game of that day in London, came 15-16th (John Saunder's report at the time said he thought the wrong game got the prize, though Carlsen's Nc5!! was the individual move of the tournament) . Nakamura-McShane, which won the overall brilliancy prize, came 10th. |
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| Feb-04-10 | | kevin86: Black's play reminded me of Brer Rabbit (vs the Tar Baby). He became so involved in the attack,that it consumed him. |
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| Feb-04-10 | | Eyal: <For several moves Black had the chance to play Nc7 followed by Nd5, but he kept trying to gain some silly counterplay with Qh5 and Bf5 , wich just helped White to advance his pawns on the kingside, while, it seems to me, Black should be looking to some chance to put his knight in d5 and play on the queenside. Instead, his e8 knight spent 25 moves still. What was it doing there?> Both black knights, the one on a5 as well, are pretty much out of the game in its later and crucial stages. During the post-game analysis in London, Carlsen said that by move 25 he wasn't sure how to evaluate the position, but that Kramnik's Qc7 gave him confidence because he knew the knight would be stuck on e8 for a while (originally, on move 18, it helps to defend c7 against White's pressure on the c-file). Just bringing it to d5 around move 30, however, would have hardly solved the problems of Black's position. On the other hand, the "silly" 31…Qh5 might have turned out to be a real stroke of genius if complemented by 32…Kf8!! - indirectly preventing White from mobilizing his knight on e2 in any effective way, and "freezing" White's game by creating the annoying threat of Bb3 (I've explained that in detail on p.17). Instead, 32…Bf5 managed to prevent Nd4 (by provoking e4) but that in itself didn't help Black much. A measure of the inefficiency of Kramnik's play at this stage of the game is that the position of the Black pieces after move 35 is exactly identical to that after move 30, whereas White in the meantime considerably improved the position of his own. |
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Feb-04-10
 | | Jimfromprovidence: Was 40...Nb3 a way to complicate an inferior (perhaps lost) position? Otherwise, retreating the queen to d7, below, to protect Nb7 the following move seems to make the most sense. 
click for larger view |
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| Feb-04-10 | | Eyal: <Otherwise, retreating the queen to d7, below, to protect Nb7 the following move seems to make the most sense.> It would actually make the most sense to play 39...Nb7 immediately, otherwise bringing the queen to d1 in the first place turns out to have been quite pointless... Carlsen mentioned this possibility in the press conference, saying he intended 40.e5 fxe5 41.Bxe5 with the rook coming over to g4 which indeed looks pretty awful for Black. So overall, his position does appear to be lost at this stage. After 40...Qd7 White can do something similar, and he can also force a clearly winning position with 41.Ra4 Qd8 42.Qd2! Nb3/b7 (42...Qxd2 43.Bxd2 and the knight is gone) 43.Qxd8 followed by 44.Be3. |
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| Feb-04-10 | | Fanques Fair: Eyal,everybody´s talking about the anti intuitive move 32-...Kf8, suggested by the computer, but in an earlier post Hesam 7 pointed out 3 (!) other moves for black at this point, some of them giving some advantage to Black , according to the computer : 32 - ... Nc7, 32-..., Nc4, 32...Bd5. All of them better than the actually played Bf5. So, in fact, Kramnik had a wide choice here, but in the end he played a bad move. Which, in itself, makes this game not so great.
31-...,Qh5 theatens c5, but it still seems suspect for me. Although the computer says it´s ok, it seems to me a bit of loss of time.... anyway who am I to question Kramnik, or the computer?
Just an average player.
Why not 31-...,f5, with the idea of Nf6 ?
What do you think ? |
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| Feb-04-10 | | SirChrislov: Adda boy! |
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| Feb-04-10 | | Eyal: <Fanques Fair: in an earlier post Hesam 7 pointed out 3 (!) other moves for black at this point, some of them giving some advantage to Black , according to the computer : 32 - ... Nc7, 32-..., Nc4, 32...Bd5.> The minus signs attached to the evaluations of those moves in that post must be a mistake, otherwise Kf8 wouldn't have been the top choice, of course... you should count them as plus signs for White (my computer also suggests them as relatively better than Bf5, but still leaving White with a significant advantage; btw, note that Nc7 prepares Bd5, not Nd5). At any rate, there's no question that 32...Bf5 was a weak move - I only noted that 31...Qh5 in itself wasn't weak, but as it turned out it was part of a wrong plan, and so didn't help Kramnik at all eventually. As for 31...f5 - it's playable, though it seems that Black would be in trouble on the Q-side after 32.Qa4 (targeting the knight and c6). |
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| Feb-04-10 | | drpoundsign: ball made from Bashai man big head big b**ls that's your bashtai. "the king also has thirty sons if you be liking boys." "sick bastard!"
"different countries different customs."
"we English will teach you to stand up and kill your enemies like civilized people!" saw it in 83 King of Hollywood never forgets. |
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| Feb-04-10 | | Fanques Fair: Eyal :
32- Qa4, Nb3 , 33- Bxc6 , Nxc5 , 34- Qb5, Nb3 threatening Nd6, finally bringing that knight into play. I don´t know whether it´s sufficient to gain a draw, but at least Black´s pieces are alive. |
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| Feb-04-10 | | Eyal: <[31...f5] 32- Qa4, Nb3 , 33- Bxc6 , Nxc5 , 34- Qb5, Nb3> Actually, White should play 33.Qxc6 - the point being 33...Rc8 34.Qxc8! Bxc8 35.Rxb3 (35...Qxb3 36.Bd5+). Black's best might be 32...Qa7, where it might appear that 33.Rb6 is winning, but with the rook out of the back rank the computer suggests the nice resource of 33...Qe7! 34.Qxa5 Qh4 (an unexpected benefit of f5...), which apparently should be enough for a draw. However, after 33.Qb4! Black would have to do some serious grovelling. |
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| Feb-04-10 | | Eduardo Leon: The problem with today's pun is that it isn't a pun. |
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| Feb-05-10 | | rvn55: Within the first few days of this game being played I must have gone through it seven or more times and sat and stared at the final position for an hour or better. Only the pawn grab on move 28 slightly mars what is otherwise a positional masterpiece. Truly, imo, a beautiful game. |
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| Feb-05-10 | | Fanques Fair: Eyal : Incredible variation. After 31...f5 32 Qa4 Qa7 33 Rb6 ?! Qe7 ! 34 Qxa5 Qh4 it seems that it´s really impossible for White to keep his extra piece, and Black has an initiative more than enough for a draw ! Even though the famous e8 black knight hasn´t moved !
After 33 Qb4 ! Nf6 34 Qb6 Qa8 there is no simple way for white to keep his advantage. If 35 Nb5? , Rb8 wins. If 35 Rb4 Nd5 36 Nxd5 Bxd5 37 Bxd5+ Rxd5 38 Ra4 Rd1 + 39 Kh2 Rxc1 40 Rxa5 , Qe8, I think very very difficult for White to win, due to the danger around the white king.
31- f5 !
Without a computer
Thanks, Eyal |
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| Feb-05-10 | | Eyal: <After 33 Qb4 ! Nf6 34 Qb6 Qa8 there is no simple way for white to keep his advantage. If 35 Nb5? , Rb8 wins.> Actually not, because after 36.Qc7 Black can't take on b5 due to the pin on the long diagonal; but 36…Bd5 should probably be enough for equality. <If 35 Rb4 Nd5 36 Nxd5 Bxd5 37 Bxd5+ Rxd5 38 Ra4 Rd1 + 39 Kh2 Rxc1 40 Rxa5 , Qe8, I think very very difficult for White to win, due to the danger around the white king> Instead of Ra4, 38.Qc7! wins immediately because of the combined threats of Rb8 and Bb2 (in case of 38…Rd8). Black has better moves than 35…Nd5, which is a blunder, but a move earlier 35.Rb5! (again taking advantage of the pin on the long diagonal) is stronger than Rb4 - 35…Nc4 36.Qxc6. So you see, there are many potential threats by White and it's not so easy for Black to defend… But at any rate, I think that …f5 would have been more natural on move 30 rather than after Qf7, which is already preparing Qh5. |
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| Feb-07-10 | | Fanques Fair: You´re absolutely right. Thanks |
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| Feb-20-10 | | aazqua: I like this comment. This game is just an incredible example of someone making incremental improvements throughout to reach a dominant position. There's no 'gotcha' move but in totality it's a very powerful composition, and to compose it against a master positional player like Kramnik is a tremendous accomplishment. >I think Kramnik, in his own way, paid Carlsen quite a compliment in an interview with chessvibes when he said that he doesn't feel very disappointed about this game, because he lost it in a "normal way" - explaining, in elaboration, that he didn't lose it because of some bad blunder or a stupid strategic plan, but rather because his opponent played an excellent game, so that a few inaccuracies in a very complicated position were enough.< |
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| Apr-02-10 | | Kasparov Fan01: I don't understand how this won game of the year on chessgames. It's a nice game but game of the year?
The Morozevich-Vachier-Lagrave was much better. |
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| Apr-03-10 | | percyblakeney: <The Morozevich-Vachier-Lagrave was much better> That will depend on the definition of better... Moro missed several wins in time trouble and eventually lost, but for example Dylan Loeb McClain did pick it as the Game of the Year in the New York Times. |
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| Apr-19-10 | | Kasparov Fan01: Aesthetically the moro game is much more pleasing to the eye, but I'm no GM and can't comment on the actual quality of play. This game is nice, Carlsen has nice positional play, it's just not that original and exciting like the Moro game. |
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| Sep-15-12 | | fgh: Am I the only one who sees Carlsen as a "hyper-modern" "par excellence"? After his 35th move, white has both of his bishops on their starting squares. Likewise, in the game only one of Carlsen's pieces (leaving aside the pawns) went beyond his 4th rank. Remarkable. |
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| Jun-11-16 | | cormier: 
click for larger viewAnalysis by Houdini d 24
1.  (11.99): 43...Ra7 44.Bxf7+ Rxf7 45.Qc4 Na5 46.Qxf7+ Kxf7 47.Rxb1 g5 48.fxg6+ hxg6 49.Ra1 Nc4 50.Ra7+ Kg8 51.Ra6 Kf7 52.Rxc6 g5 53.Bg3 Ng7 54.Rc7+ Kg6 55.c6 Ne6 56.Re7 Nc5 57.Nd4 Nd3+ 58.Ke2 Nc5 59.c7 Nb6 60.Ke3 Nca4 61.Re8 Nc4+ 62.Kd3 Nab6 63.Nf5 Kf7 64.c8Q Nxc8 65.Rxc8 Na3 2. (12.53): 43...Ra2 44.Bxf7+ Kxf7 45.Qc4+ Kf8 46.Rb8 Rxe2+ 47.Qxe2 g6 48.fxg6 hxg6 49.Bd6+ Kg7 50.Rxe8 Qc1 51.Re7+ Kh8 52.Qa2 Qd2+ 53.Qxd2 Nxd2 54.Ke2 Nb3 55.Rf7 f5 56.Be5+ Kg8 57.Rg7+ Kf8 58.Rxg6 Nxc5 59.exf5 Nd7 60.Bc3 Nb6 61.Rxc6 Nd5 62.Kd3 Ne7 63.Rd6 Kf7 64.Ke4 Ke8 65.h4 Nc8 66.Re6+ Kf7 67.h5 Na7 68.Rf6+ Kg8 69.Rg6+ Kf8 |
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| Jun-11-16 | | cormier: 
click for larger viewAnalysis by Houdini d 24
1. (7.63): 42...Qa2+ 43.Ne2 Qxa3 44.Bxf7+ Kxf7 45.Qc4+ Kf8 46.Rxb3 Ra4 47.Qc2 Qa2 48.Qxa2 Rxa2 49.Rb6 Ra4 50.Kf3 Ke7 51.Rxc6 Kd7 52.Rb6 Rc4 53.Be3 Rc2 54.h3 Nc7 55.Rd6+ Kc8 56.c6 Nb5 57.Re6 Rc4 58.Bf4 Nc7 59.Re7 Rxc6 60.Rxg7 h6 61.Bxh6 Ne8 62.Rg8 Kd7 63.h4 Rc4 64.h5 Nd6 65.Rg4 Rb4 66.Bc1 Rb3+ 67.Kf4 Rb4 68.Rg7+ 2. (8.38): 42...Bxc4 43.Qxc4+ Kf8 44.Qxb3 Qxb3 45.Rxb3 g6 46.Ne2 gxf5 47.exf5 Rd8 48.Rb6 Rd5 49.Rxc6 Ke7 50.Re6+ Kf7 51.c6 Rxf5 52.Re3 Nc7 53.Rd3 Ke8 54.Kg3 Rd5 55.Rb3 Ne6 56.Rb8+ Kf7 57.c7 Nxc7 58.Bxc7 Rd7 59.Bd8 f5 60.Bb6 Rd3+ 61.Kf4 Rxa3 62.Kxf5 Ra2 63.Nf4 Rxh2 64.Rb7+ Kg8 65.Bd4 Rh4 66.Rc7 |
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