Allonsanfàn

Wesley So – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
3rd Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 23, 2015
English Opening A 15

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 c5 7. Qa4+!? A controversial variation: White exploits immediately his lead in development to go Pawn hunting. 7. ... Nc6 8. Ng5 e6 9. Nge4 Nb6! A dynamic Pawn sacrifice. 10. Qb5 c4 11. Na4!? The most consistent continuation, as 11. Qc5 is met by 11. ... Bf8, whilst 11. Nc5 0-0! 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Qxc6 e5 gives Black a dangerous initiative (Karpov’s analysis). 11. ... 0-0! 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. Qxc4. “A critical position in the evaluation of the worth of both sides’ opening strategy. White has won a valuable Pawn, yet at the cost of time and having the Queen temporarily placed on c4. Black’s question is how he can take advantage of the above factors. The answer is not obvious and in fact Karpov thought for a whole hour here“, Grandmaster Edmar Mednis wrote in his book “How Karpov Wins”, Toronto, General Publishing Company, 1994, p. 368.

13. ... e5! The sharpest move. Maxime evidently studied the past games of 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov! 14. Qc2 Be6. The aforementioned Karpov’s game ran as follows: 14. ... Nd4 15. Qb1 f5 16. Nc3 e4 17. d3 b5 18. Be3 b4 19. Nd1 Re8 20. dxe4 fxe4 21. Bxd4 Qxd4 22. a3 Bg4! 23. Qc2 Qd3!! 24. exd3 exd3+ 25. Kd2 Re2+! 26. Kxd3 Rd8+ 27. Kc4 Rxc2+ 28. Kxb4 Rcd2 29. f3 Bf8+ 30. Ka5 Bd7! 0 : 1 Tatai – Karpov, Las Palmas 1977. 15. Nc3 b5! Continuing to play with great energy. Vachier-Lagrave sacrifices yet another Pawn! 16. Bxc6. Wesley cannot accept the offered gift, since after 16. Nxb5? Nb4! 17. Qxd1 Bd5! 18. f3 Qb6 White would be in very serious trouble. 16. ... bxc6 17. b3 Bf5 18. d3 e4! Black opens up the position for his two Bishops with devastating effect. 19. dxe4 Bxe4 20. Nxe4. In sheer desperation, White has nothing better than to give up the Exchange for no compensaton. 20. ... Bxa1 21. 0-0 Re8. The rest is easy. 22. f3 Bd4+ 23. e3 Bg7 24. Rd1. Or 24. Qxc6 Qd3 with an overwhelming advantage. 24. ... Qc7 25. Rd6 c5 26. Rd5 Re5 27. Rd1 c4 28. a3 Re7 29. bxc4 Qxc4 30. Qd2 Qb3 31. Qd6 Rc8! 32. Nf2 Rec7 33. Bd2 Bf8 34. Qd4 Bxa3 35. Kg2 Bb2 0 : 1.

Stefano Tatai vs. Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Las Palmas, 1977)
Photo: Mariano García Díez