C11 Kramnik Vladimir (RUS) - Bischoff Klaus (GER) Brissago (Switzerland) 29. 1.2004

[#]1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.e5 ¤fd7 5.f4 c5 6.¤f3 ¤c6 7.¥e3 a6 8.£d2 b5

[8...cd 9.¤d4 ¥c5 10.O-O-O O-O 11.h4 ¥d4 12.¥d4 b5 13.¦h3 b4 14.¤e2 a5 15.h5 ¥a6 16.g4 ¦c8 17.g5 £c7 18.¥g1 ¤e7 19.¤d4 ¥f1 20.¦f1 £c4 0-1, Pavasovic Dusko 2475 - Bischoff Klaus 2550 , Lippstadt 1998 It (cat.9)]

9.a3=/=/+ cd

[9...£b6 10.¤e2 c4 11.g4 h5 12.gh ¦h5 13.¤g3 ¦h8 14.f5 ef 15.¤f5 ¤f6 16.¤g3 ¤g4 17.¥f4 ¥e6 18.c3 ¥e7 19.¤g5 O-O-O 20.¤e6 fe 21.¥e2 ¤ge5 22.£e3 ¤d7 23.£e6 ¥h4 24.£g4 g5 25.¥d2 ¦de8 26.O-O-O ¤a5 27.¦df1 ¤b3 28.¢d1 ¥g3 29.¦f7 ...0-1, Kasparov Garry 2831 - Radjabov Teimour 2656 , Linares 2003 It (cat.20);

9...¥b7 10.¥e2 cd 11.¤d4 ¥c5 12.O-O £b6 13.¦ad1 ¦c8 14.¥f2 O-O 15.¤c6 ¥f2 16.¦f2 ¦c6 17.¥d3 f6 18.ef ¤f6 19.h3 ¦c7 20.£e2 ¦cf7 21.¦df1 g6 22.¢h2 ¤d7 23.¦f3 £d6 24.g3 e5 25.fe ¤e5 26.¦f7 ¦f7 27.¦f7 ¢f7 28.£f2 ¢g8 29.¤e2 ...0-1, Kolev Atanas 2520 - Glek Igor V 2670 , Linares 1996 It (open)]

10.¤d4 ¤d4 11.¥d4 +0.24 CAP ¤b8N

[11...¥c5 12.¥c5 ¤c5 13.b4 (13.£f2 £e7 14.¥d3 O-O 15.O-O ¥d7 16.¦ae1 ¤d3 17.cd g6 18.¤d1 b4 19.ab ¦ab8 20.¤e3 f5 21.ef £f6 22.¤g4 £e7 23.£d4 £g7 24.¤e5 ¦b7 25.¦a1 ¦fb8 26.¦a6 ¥c8 27.¦c1 £f8 28.£c5 ¦b4 29.£f8 ¢f8 30.¦a7 ¦b2 31.¦cc7 ...1-0, Lejarre Ludovic 2295 - Boukobza Adrien 2152 , Avoine 2003 It (open)) 13...¤d7 14.¥d3 ¤b6 15.O-O O-O 16.£f2 ¥d7 17.¤e2 a5 18.¤d4 ¤c4 19.¤b3 ab 20.ab £c7 21.£c5 £c5 22.¤c5 ¥c6 23.¢f2 ¦fd8 24.¤b3 ¢f8 25.¤d4 ¥d7 26.¥c4 dc 27.¢e3 ¢e7 28.g3 f6 29.c3 fe 30.fe ¥e8 31.¦a5 ...1/2-1/2, Kovalev Andrei 2545 - Laznicka Viktor 2429 , Cartak 2003 It]

12.¥d3 ¤c6 13.¥f2 ¥d7 14.O-O ¥e7 15.¤e2 b4 16.a4 +0.10

[16.c3!? bc 17.¤c3 a5 18.¦ae1 +0.46]

16...¤a5 +0.43

[16...O-O!? 17.£e3 f5 18.¦fd1 £e8 +0.10]

Here, instead of the calm 17.b3 with a slightly better position for White, Kramnik rightly starts an attack: 17.f5 (!) 17...ef 18.¤d4 g6 19.e6 = (!)

[The pawn thrust suggests itself; however, another development of events deserves attention according to computer analysis: 19.£h6!? ¥f8 20.£f4 ¥e7 21.¦ae1 ~0+0.50 += As we can see, in this case White has improved positions of his queen and his queen's rook having not completely discarded the idea of e5-e6. Meanwhile, cute maneuvering of the white queen forced Black to waste time on useless bishop's moves (e7-f8-e7).]

19...fe 20.£e2?! -0.47

[White could have kept his queen on the dark squares: 20.¦ae1!? £c8 21.£h6 ¥f8 22.£h4 +0.16]

20...¤c6?! +0.37

[20...£c8!? 21.¦fe1 (in the case of 21.¦ae1 it is impossible to hold the extra pawns by 21...¢f7 due to 22.¥f5! gf 23.¤f5 , with White's crushing attack) 21...¥f6 22.¤e6 ¥e6 -0.47]

21.¤e6 ¥e6 22.£e6 £d6 23.£e2 (?!) Alas, Kramnik fails to logically complete his design.

[Oddly enough, he should instead have exchanged the queens: 23.¦fe1! £e6 24.¦e6 ¢d7 25.¦ae1 ¥d6 and then played 26.h4! threatening with h4-h5. In that case Black cannot untangle himself and retain his extra material. For example, 26...¦he8 loses the a6-pawn and White obtains advantage in resulting endgame.]

23...O-O 24.¥a6 ¥f6 25.¦ad1 ¤e5 26.¥b5 +0.37 [...] A draw was agreed there. Apparently, after having realized that he wasted his advantage, Kramnik decided not to push his luck.

[It might yet have been continued with 26...¤g4 27.¥g3 £c5 28.¢h1 ¤e3 29.¥f2 d4 30.¥e3 de]

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