By {vbar} Lubomir Kavalek
Monday, May 29, 2006

After yesterday's seventh round, Armenia is the surprising leader at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy, scoring 21 points in 28 games. Russia, the favorite team to win the gold, has 20 points. On Saturday the Russians lost narrowly 1 1/2 -2 1/2 to the Dutch team. Cuba is third with 19 1/2 points. The U.S. team has 18 1/2 points and is still within medal reach. The olympiad concludes Sunday.

The classical world champion Vladimir Kramnik is healthy enough to anchor the Russian team. He scored four points in five games. His win in the Reti opening against the top Armenian grandmaster, Levon Aronian, is a positional masterpiece.

Kramnik-Aronian

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 g6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Qxd4 Bg7 8.Nc3 d6 9.Rd1 Nbd7 10.Be3 Rc8 11.Rac1 a6 12.b3 0-0 13.Qh4 Rc7 14.Bh3!? Qb8 15.Bg5! (A new move, increasing the pressure along the diagonal d8-h4, specifically on the knight on f6. Interestingly, the high scoring 15.g4!? was played in the game Aronian-Kramnik, St.Vincent 2005. It was drawn in 85 moves.) 15...Bxf3?! (Black tries to ease his defense by simplifying, but he is surrendering the light squares.) 16.exf3 b5 17.Bxd7 Rxd7 18.Nd5! (Creating a powerful outpost on the square c6.) 18...Nxd5 (Forced, since after 18...bxc4 19.Bxf6 Bxf6 20.Nxf6+ exf6 21.Qxc4 black's pawn structure is falling apart.) 19.cxd5 Rc7?! (After 19...Qb7 20.Rc6 the undermining of the rook on c6 with 20...e6!? is met with 21.Bf6! and white has a clear advantage, e.g. 21...exd5 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 [On 22...Qxc6 23.Qf6! wins.] 23.Qd4+ Kg8 and now either 24.Rb6 or 24.Qb6 is better for white.)

20.Rc6! (Kramnik keeps the pressure on. After 20.Bxe7 Re8! black buys some freedom for his pieces.) 20...Rxc6 21.dxc6 (Trading the outpost on c6 for a strong passed pawn that ties black up.) 21...Rc8 22.Rc1! e6 23.Bd2 Qc7 (The queen is a poor blocker, but white threatened 24.Ba5. After 23...Qb6 24.c7! seals white's advantage, for example 24...Bd4 25.Qe7! Bxf2+ 26.Kg2 Bc5 27.Bh6! and white wins.)

24.a4! (Undermining black's queenside pawns gives white new targets.) 24...d5 25.axb5 axb5 26.Qb4 (The white queen now infiltrates black's position via the a-file.) 26...Rb8 27.Qa3 Bd4 28.Qa6 Be5 (After 28...Rb6 29.Qa5! the pin is unpleasant and white threatens 29.Be3 Bxe3 30.fxe3 with the queen sacrifice on b6 in the air.) 29.f4 Bd6 30.Ba5 Qc8 31.Qa7 Ra8 32.Qb6 Rb8 33.Qd4! (Suddenly, black has problems on the diagonal a1-h8. White threatens 34.Bc3.) 33...b4?! 34.c7! Ra8 (After 34...Rb7 35.Qf6 Bxc7 36.Qe5! white wins a piece.) 35.Qb6 Bf8 36.Bxb4 Bxb4 37.Qxb4 Qe8 (After 38.Qb7 Rc8 39.b4 the b-pawn marches to victory.) Black resigned.

Last year Aronian won the World Cup and this year finished first in Linares, Spain. He is currently rated No. 3 in the world. Yesterday in Turin, he showed his great tactical skills, defeating the Dutch grandmaster Ivan Sokolov with the Nimzo-Indian defense in a mere 19 moves.

Sokolov-Aronian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c5 7.dxc5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 (I discovered this move order when I was preparing Nigel Short for his world championship match against Garry Kasparov in 1993. The idea is to play after 10.e3 Qa5!, eliminating 11.Bb5+.) 10.Bxb8?! (Based on 10...Rxb8? 11.Qa4+! and white wins a piece.)

10...Qf6!! (A shocking novelty. The previously played 10...Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Rxb8 12.Qa4+ Bd7 13.Qd4 0-0 14.f3 gave white an edge.) 11.Bg3 (A forced retreat. After 11.0-0-0 Bxc3 12.Bg3 Bf5 13.Qa4+ Kf8 14.Qb3 Bd4 white struggles. The wild 11.Qa4+?! Bd7 12.Qxb4 Qxf2+ 13.Kd1 Qxf1+ 14.Kc2 Qxa1 is dangerous for white, for example 15.Nxd5 Bf5 16.Qd4 Nxc5+ 17.Kc3 0-0 18.Ne7+ Kh7 19.Nxf5 Qc1+ 20.Kb4 Ne6 21.Qf6?! a5+! 22.Kb3 a4+ 23.Ka3 Qc5+ and black's attack wins; or 15.Qxb7 Nxc3 16.Bd6 Qd1+ 17.Kxc3 d4+ 18.Kc4 Rc8 and black should win.) 11...Nxc3 12.a3 Bf5 13.Qd2 Ba5 14.b4? (Loses quickly. White had to try either 14.Nf3 Nb1 15.Qxa5 Qxb2 16.Qa4+ Bd7 17.Be5 Nc3 18.Qd1 Nxd1 19.Bxb2 Nxb2 20.e3; or14.e3 0-0! [Not 14...Nb1? 15.Qxa5 Qxb2 16.Qb5+ and white wins.] 15.b4 Ne4 16.Qd4!) 14...Ne4 15.Qc1 Rc8! (An incredibly powerful move, threatening 16...Rxc5.) 16.Ra2 (After 16.bxa5 Rxc5 the white queen is overloaded and black wins. But it is too late for white anyway, for example 16.Nf3 Rxc5 17.Be5 Rxc1+ 18.Rxc1 Qb6 wins; or 16.f3 Rxc5 17.fxe4 Rxc1+ 18.Rxc1 Qb2 19.Rd1 Qc3+ 20.Rd2 Bb6 21.exf5 Be3 22.Nf3 g4 23.Be5 Bxd2+ 24.Nxd2 Qxe5 wins for black.) 16...Rxc5 17.Qa1 Qc6! (White can't defend well against the mating threats on the first rank.) 18.Qe5+ Kd8 19.Qxh8+ (After 19.Rd2 Re8 wins.) 19...Kd7 (White gets mated either after 20.Rd2 Rc1+ 21.Rd1 Qc2 22.Qd4 Rxd1+ 23.Qxd1 Qc3+ 24.Qd2 Qxd2 mate; or after 20.e3 Rc1+ 21.Ke2 Bg4+! 22.f3 Qc4 mate.) White resigned.

Solution to today's composition by A. Gurvitch (White: Kb1,Rg1,Bg5,Na4; Black: Ka3,Rc4,Na7,P:a6,b3,b7): 1.Nb2! Re4 (Or 1...Rc7 2.Bf4 Rd7 3.Bd6+! Rxd6 4.Nc4+ wins.) 2.Be3! Nc6 (Or 2...Rxe3 3.Nc4+ wins.) 3.Bc5+ Nb4 4.Nd3 a5 5.Bxb4+ axb4 6.Rg8 Re6 7.Ra8+ Ra6 8.Rxa6+ bxa6 9.Nb2 a5 10.Ka1 a4 11.Nc4 mate.