Cheval Blanc

Baadur Jobava – Boris Abramovich Gelfand
FIDE Grand Prix; Khanty-Mansiysk, May 16, 2015
Grünfeld Defence D90

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qa3!? “Prepared especially for the Grand Prix”, then Jobava said. White sacrifices a Pawn for attacking chances on the Kingside!

7. ... dxc4. The critical line, testing the validity of White’s idea. 7. e4 b5 8. e5 Ng4 9. h3 Nh6 10. b3 a5 11. Qb2 b4 12. Ne4 c3 13. Qc2 0-0 14. Bc4. “Black needs to be very careful not to get mated!”, then Jobava said. 14. ... Bc6 15. h4 Nf5 16. Qd3 Nd7!? Gelfand is playing with fire and leaves White with a free hand to attack the Kingside. A safer course was 16. ... h5 as after 17. e6 fxe6 18. Neg5 Bd5 19. Nxe6 Bxe6 20. Bxe6+ Kh8 White still must prove compensation. 17. h5. Alea iacta est! 17. ... Nxe5!? Black meets fire with fire! Gelfand sacrifices his Knight to swap off Queens and mobilize his Pawn majority on the Queenside. 18. dxe5 Qxd3 19. Bxd3 a4 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. bxa4 Rfd8 22. Bc2 Bxa4 23. Bxa4 Rxa4 24. 0-0!? Gelfand was most worried about 24. Nc5 Raa8 25. Nb3 c5 26. Nxc5 Rd5 27. Nb3 Bxe5 28. Nxe5 Rxe5+ 29. Kf1 Rd8 30. g3 leaving Black with insufficient compensation. 24. ... Ra5 25. Rb1 c5 26. a3 bxa3 27. Nxc3 Nd4 28. Bf4 a2 29. Ra1 Rda8 30. Rfd1 g5 31. Nxg5 f6 32. Nge4 Nb3. Black is regaining his piece pushing the game towards a draw. 33. Rxa2 Rxa2 34. Nxa2 Rxa2 35. exf6 Bxf6 36. Rd7 Kf7 37. Rc7 Nd4 38. Bg3 Ne2+ 39. Kh2 Nxg3 40. fxg3 Bd4 ½ : ½.

Baadur Jobava
Photo: Kirill Merkurev