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Levon Aronian vs Sergey Karjakin
"Preventing a Karjackin" (game of the day Nov-16-2018)
Tata Steel Masters (2014), Eindhoven NED, rd 9, Jan-23
Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto. Check Variation Intermezzo Line (E15)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jan-24-14  tsepwe: Nice endgame technique
Jan-24-14  JohnBoy: <devere> - black's 30...Kh8 eliminates the threat of 31.Rxc6 Bxc6 32.Ne7+. I don't think that's the source of black's problem.

The piece-play from 11 to about 32 amazes me.

Jan-24-14  mrbasso: It is the source! 30...Rfe8 was better.
Although 30...Kh8 is hardly ?? . 30...Rfe8 31.Qh4 looks annoying but then g5! is possible.
Jan-24-14  csmath: 15. ...Bb4

[Following the game
Aronian vs Karjakin, 2013
]

16. Ne2

[Now Aronian changes direction and follows the game Leko vs Karjakin, 2013 ]

18. ...Qd6

[New move, here Karjakin changes from game with Leko obviously as a consequence of analysis.]

23. ...Qf6

[White can be reasonably satisfied keeping minimal opening advantage though black position is solid and the games for now looks like one more uneventful draw.]

25. ...Qg6

[Reasonable decision to go to slightly worse ending but in rather solid position but Aronian will not accept that.]

30. Kh8?

[In trying to avoid tactics with Rxc6 Karjakin is making a strange move that offers Aronian another tactical strike. Simple 30. ...Rfe8 was better. Perhaps Karjakin was not happy with 31. Qh4 threatening Nf6 but 31. ...g5!, 32. Qh5 Nd4, 33. Bg2 Rxe1, 34. Rxe1 Bxd5 looks quite decent for black and surely preferable to losing a pawn.]

31. Nxb6

[This move is entirely visible and yields a pawn with no compensation for black.]

47. ...Kf5

[47. Ke5 going for c6 is the alternative as black rook will not be able to cope with b-pawn alone. Obviously black position is not envious.]

50. ...Kg4?!

[This loses outright although the ending is already quite close to losing anyway.]

53. f4?!

[White is winning but 53. f3 is clearly stronger completely paralizing black king.]

61. Rg7

and black is completely hopeless.

==========

Extremely simple win. Karjakin allowed a trivial combination that lost a pawn with no compensation and then ventured into lost rook ending. Obviously his assessment betrayed him.

Jan-24-14  Marmot PFL: Keeping the queens on (44...Qe4 or Qf5) was necessary. White, being Aronian, could likely still win but it's more complicated. The rook ending with the rook behind the outside passed pawn just requires good technique.
Jan-24-14  csmath: Passer with queens on board is equally bad. As a matter of fact with only queens on board that would have been lost. Karjakin's attempt to provoke weaknesses in white castling was warranted.

I see the only mistake he made was tactical blunder 30. ...Kh8? which turned the game into such a simple execution that there was simply nothing he could do. Prior to that the game was in the realm of a draw.

It happens.

Jan-24-14  Marmot PFL: With queens though black's plan of pushing the h-pawn has to be taken more seriously by white.
Jan-24-14  geigermuller: Aronian is only 1.3 points short of his best ever live rating! (2828.4 now, and he was 2829.7 in April 2012)
Jan-24-14  Ulhumbrus: 14...dxc4 seems consistent, having unpinned his d5 pawn by 13...Na5
Jan-24-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: < "Levon Aronian dealt a huge blow, defeating his main rival Sergey Karjakin. Both combatants repeated the first 15 moves from an earlier encounter in 2013, which Karjakin won. The top-seed deviated, playing 16.Ne2 instead of 16.Na4. On this occasion, Aronian got the advantage after Karjakin played (see diagram) 30. …Kh8?. Aronian replied with the strong 31.Nxb6!, winning a pawn. Aronian: 'I think somewhere he should have had a way to escape but in a practical game it is not easy to do so.' Karjakin failed to find a way out of his predicament. A pawn down, he ended up in an unpleasant ending and was forced to resign on his 61st move. Aronian is now firmly in the lead with 7.0/9, one and a half point ahead of the pack." >

http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tourn...


click for larger view

The previous encounter: Aronian vs Karjakin, 2013. In that game, on Aronian's 16th move, he also moved the c3 knight, but to a4. Here, c3.

Jan-24-14  AuN1: I know it's easy to say in hindsight, but ...Kh8 just seemed like a dubious move? What purpose did it serve other than losing a pawn?
Jan-24-14  devere: <AuN1: I know it's easy to say in hindsight, but ...Kh8 just seemed like a dubious move? What purpose did it serve other than losing a pawn?>

White was threatening Rxc6 and Ne7+. Black apparently missed that after 30...Rfe8 31.Qh4 g5 32.Qxh7+ Qxh7 33.Bxh7+ Kg7 34.Rxe8 Rxe8 35.Rd1 Nd4 36.Rxd4 Re1+ 37.Kg2 Kxh7 38.Kh3 Re2 is approximately equal.


click for larger view

Jan-25-14  SChesshevsky: <On this occasion, Aronian got the advantage after Karjakin played (see diagram) 30. …Kh8?. Aronian replied with the strong 31.Nxb6!, winning a pawn. Aronian: 'I think somewhere he should have had a way to escape but in a practical game it is not easy to do so.'>

Aronian appears to understand that it's easy to pick on ...Kh8 after the fact but at the time Black's worse anyway and that hanging Bishop makes getting the Knight fork off the board a prudent consideration.

Also after ...Rfe8 Whites Nc7 looks like it gets the rooks unaligned, puts c6 under a lot of pressure and with the Rook forced off 8, c8 has a lot of coverage and it could get really ugly if a white rook gets there covered with the Q on h3.

I haven't calculated all the complications out but it looks like it could have the possibilities of putting White much better and that has to be considered OTB and if there's any time pressure its easily understandable why Black wouldn't want to go the ...Rfe8 way. Usually there are pretty good reasons behind any move a GM makes.

Jan-25-14  mrbasso: <devere> Rxc6 was not a threat. You apparently missed some tactics.
Jan-25-14  Garech: <SimonWebbsTiger>

Thanks very much, I did not know the TPR were available there.

-Garech

Jan-25-14  devere: <mrbasso: <devere> Rxc6 was not a threat. You apparently missed some tactics.>

I missed your analysis, that's for sure, because you were too lazy to give any.

Whether Rxc6 or Ne7 come into play depends on Black's 30th move. If Black plays h5 or Rc8, Rxc6 wins. If he plays Nd4 Ne7+ wins. So Black had tactical reasons for playing the error 30...Kh8.

Jan-25-14  devere: <SChesshevsky: Aronian appears to understand that it's easy to pick on ...Kh8 after the fact but at the time Black's worse anyway>

Black was not worse before Kh8, it was an equal position after 30...Rfe8.

Jan-26-14  SChesshevsky: Thinking about 30...Rfe8 further. An interesting line was 31. Qg4 g5 32. Bxh7+.

Taking 32..Qxh7 33.Qxh7 Kxh7 seems to allow Nf6 fork and 32...Kh8 probably isn't recommended. I again didn't work it all out but clearly Black has a lot to consider in the position.

Nov-16-18  OrangeTulip: Another great game in this great tournament
Nov-16-18  Ironmanth: Tremendous fight! Thanks for this, chessgames. All have a great weekend, everywhere!
Nov-16-18  thegoodanarchist: As for the pun? Groan!

Sargon keeps his forum closed so us wiseguys won't flood it with complaints about the puns.

Nov-16-18  alshatranji: No offense to anyone, but this pun is rather lame. It just repeats the name, and where is the "car"jacking? It's not like Aronian wwon with a counterattack or something? He was better the whole game.
Nov-16-18  cormier:


click for larger view

Analysis by Houdini 4

24...Rad8 25.Nf4 g6 26.h4 Qf5 27.Rb2 Nb4 28.Bxb7 Rxd1 29.Rxd1 Re8 30.Rbd2 Kg7 31.Kg2 Nc2 32.Ne2 Re7 33.Bf3 Rc7 34.Nd4 Nxd4 35.Rxd4 Rc2 36.R1d2 Rxd2 37.Rxd2 Qe6 38.b4 Qe7 39.a3 Qe6 40.Bd5 Qd6 41.Rd1 b5 42.Bf3 Qe6 43.h5 Kf6 - / + (-1.09) Depth: 28 dpa

Nov-16-18  cormier:


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Analysis by Houdini 4 d 24 dpa

1. + / = (0.62): 24.h4 Qf6 25.Qe2 Rac8 26.Qe4 Rc7 27.b4 a6 28.Rec1 Qd6 29.Rc3 Rd8 30.Rbc1 Rdc8 31.a3 b5 32.Rc5 Kh8 33.Kg2 h6 34.Kg1 Qf6 35.Kg2 Qd6 36.Kg1

2. + / = (0.53): 24.Qd2 Rad8 25.Rbd1 Qf6 26.Qe3 g6 27.b4 Nxb4 28.Bxb7 Nc2 29.Qe2 Nxe1 30.Rxe1 Qd4 31.Bc6 Rd6 32.Bb5 Qc3 33.a4 Rd2 34.Qe7 a5 35.Re5 Rfd8 36.Re3 Qd4 37.Qc7 Qc5 38.Qb7 Qc1+ 39.Kg2

3. + / = (0.53): 24.Qc1 Qf6 25.Qe3 Rad8 26.Rbd1 g6 27.b4 Nxb4 28.Bxb7 Nc2 29.Qe2 Nxe1 30.Rxe1 Qd4 31.Bc6 Rd6 32.Bb5 Qc3 33.a4 Rd2 34.Qe7 a5 35.Re5 Rfd8 36.Re3 Qd4 37.Qc7 Qc5 38.Qb7 Qc1+ 39.Kg2

Nov-16-18  cormier:


click for larger view

Analysis by Houdini 4 d 24 dpa

1. = (0.13): 20...Nxd4 21.Ng4 e5 22.Nh5 Be7 23.Nxe5 Bxd5 24.Ng6 hxg6 25.Qxd4 gxh5 26.Bxd5 Rad8 27.Rfd1 Qg6 28.Rbc1 Bf6 29.Qe3 Rfe8 30.Qf3 Re7 31.Bc6 Rxd1+ 32.Rxd1 Qg4 33.Rd8+ Kh7 34.Kg2 Qxf3+ 35.Bxf3 g6 36.Bd5 Kg7 37.Bc4 h4 38.Kf3

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