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Vladimir Kramnik vs Peter Svidler
World Championship Candidates (2013), London ENG, rd 8, Mar-24
Gruenfeld Defense: Exchange. Modern Exchange Variation (D85)  ·  1-0

8
7
6
5
4
3
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a
1
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d
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h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-24-13  chesssalamander: Way to go Vlad! His first victory in 2013 Candidates!
Mar-24-13  Karpova: Fantastic game by Kramnik who put his pawn majority on the kingside in motion while Svidler never managed to do so himself, not even after the disappearance of the b6-pawn.
Mar-24-13  dehanne: Kg7 was such an ugly move.
Mar-24-13  Illogic: Finally a win for Kramnik after many great positions. Hard to say where Svidler went wrong - just great technique by Kramnik throughout.
Mar-24-13  fgh: I was surprised by the shift of focus in this game; while roughly after black's 19th move one might have expected Kramnik to launch some (minority) attack on the queenside, he attacked on the kingside.

25. ... hxg6 seems preferable to 25. ... Kxg6.

Mar-24-13  Jim Bartle: If I heard right, the players said Svidler had to play 26...h5 to stop g4.
Mar-24-13  Nerwal: Same players, same opening, same structure, same material at the end, same result : Kramnik vs Svidler, 1998. The somewhat new move 14. ♔c2 is certainly interesting. The equally surprising retreat 14. ♔e1 has been the perennial main line since the fantastic game Kasparov vs Romanishin, 1981, although it has been more or less neutralized.
Mar-24-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Terrific endgame. A few moves earlier it could easily have morphed into a draw. VK keeps the tension, and the option of giving up a piece for the killer passed pawns.
Mar-24-13  Marmot PFL: One detail I did not hear discussed was why black played 25...Kxg6 instead of the natural 25...hg6. One of the endgame books says often to win that 2 weaknesses are required, and now black has to defend the h pawn besides restraining the white center pawns.
Mar-24-13  Karpova: <Vladimir Kramnik played a strong game against his compatriot Peter Svidler, and though he achieved a very small advantage, none of the experts expected Svidler to lose, as he countered his opponents winning attempts with appropriately aggressive counter play. Still, it was Kramnik who was pressing, and a slip by the six-time Russian champion on move 29 swung the game from slightly annoying for Black to big trouble. It was the moment the former world champion had been waiting for and he converted with mastery.>

Source: http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId...

Mar-24-13  csmath: I think to call this game "strong" is understatement. This game is a dynamic ending masterpiece. Yes, Svidler did not the defnd the best but Kramnik's play here is

(a) creative
(b) courageous
(c) machine-like precision

This is one of the best ending in the past 10 years.

It is certainly worth studying. I do not blame Svidler for collapsing in the end since this was simply hard to play psychologically.

Mar-24-13  csmath: Central-break plan with rook on h5 was beautifully creative, defensible but obviously confused Svidler in time trouble.

I doubt that too many elite GMs would convert this against Svidler. You can go over the whole ending and see that this machine-like precision was accompanied with the most problems that white could give to black.

I think this ending is even better than Ivanchuk-Carlsen ending which was also a great play (mostly by Carlsen).

Mar-24-13  IndigoViolet: This victory brings to an end a 14 game non-winning streak in classical chess by Kramnik: last round in the London Chess Classic, six in Zurich and seven here. Must be a record for him.
Mar-24-13  Mr. Bojangles: Csmath calm down.

It only one win, one good win, that's all.

Mar-24-13  birthtimes: Very poor endgame judgment by Svidler. How can you not choose to activate your rook???

26. ... Rc8 27. f5+ Kg7 28. g4 Rc5 29. g5 Rb5+ 30. Kc2 Rxb6 31. gxf6+ exf6 32. Bh6+ Kf7 33. Be3 Rb4 34. Rxh7+ Ke8 35. Bd2 Rxe4 36. Rxb7 Re5 37. Ra7 Rxd5 38. Rxa6 Kd7 39. Ra7+ Kc6 40. Bc3 Rxf5 41. Ra6+ Kd7 42. Bd4 Bc5 43. Rxf6 Rxf6 44. Bxf6 DRAW

Mar-24-13  Eyal: <This victory brings to an end a 14 game non-winning streak in classical chess by Kramnik>

As well as a 15 game non-winning (and even more specifically, drawing) streak in candidate events (8 in Kazan + 7 here).

Mar-24-13  csmath: When your last rank is weak it is not easy to make right decisions. Svidler was probably concerned about last rank since his rook cannot move from it. So "activating" rook on c8 is really not much of an activation. So, yes he missed that but that "judgment" does not come easily. Rg8 he played looks perfectly "reasonable activation" to me.

I do not see any outright error Svidler made but he progressively got tied down until it was too late.

I see here one side (Kramnik) playing perfect ending, and the other side didn't. But I do not see outright errors, only "understandable misteps."

Mar-24-13  csmath: In other words when last rank is weak you want to keep rook close to king as not to lose it!

Now actually thinking about that Rg8 looks even more "reasonable" to me. :-)

Mar-24-13  MeatGrinder: This game looks highly suspect to me. The position was pretty equal till move 25 and none of the GMs & IMs watching and commenting on the game expected Svidler to lose. Yet, somehow he managed to do it by starting to play at a FM level the last 10 moves or so. I guess with Kramnik being the only russian still having a chance to catch the leaders, Svidler did what he had to do... The press conference only reinforced my belief that there is something not quite right with this game.
Mar-24-13  csmath: I think birthtimes posted drawing continuation. It is a bit hard to see it although it was sort of "natural." After that it was really hard to play "right."

Kramnik's play is perfect, just darn machine precision! Rh5 and central break was beautifully creative. He left b6 pawn at the mercy of black and yet it didn't matter.

Mar-24-13  IndigoViolet: <there is something not quite right with this game>

Orders from the Kremlin? Pity they didn't organise it earlier and Kramnik could be +3 already, with another gift from Grischuk to come.

Mar-24-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  chancho: If Carlsen were to lose to Kramnik tomorrow, then we can all assume the Kremlin gave him an offer he can't refuse.

Ridiculous...

Mar-24-13  IndigoViolet: In the same vein, I hope Grischuk's got an alibi for the death of Berezovsky.

<I don’t get irritated by very wealthy people, but when someone’s simply stolen 90% of their worth (for example, having attached themselves to the gas pipeline - [Editor's note: a reference to the way many Russian oligarchs earned their money]), then, of course, I feel irritated. Among our oligarchs only Abramovich arouses any sympathy in me.>

http://crestbook.com/node/1322

Mar-24-13  RookFile: Good for you, Kramnik! Keep it up!
Mar-24-13  Eyal: <Orders from the Kremlin? Pity they didn't organise it earlier and Kramnik could be +3 already, with another gift from Grischuk to come.>

Speaking of Grischuk, it's a pity they didn't organize it back in 2011, so that Kramnik could qualify to the finals against Gelfand. Also in the 2007 world championship, what were they thinking allowing Morozevich to beat Kramnik and spoil his chances to win.

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