Old East Slavic

Anish Giri – Peter Veniaminovich Svidler
6th Chess World Cup; match game 1; Baku, September 27, 2015
Spanish C92

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. c3 d6 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Nbd2 exd4 12. cxd4 Nd7 13. Nf1 Na5 14. Bc2 Bf6 15. Rb1. Curiously enough, 15. N1h2 occurred in a game where Svidler played White: 15. ... c5 16. Ng4 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Bxd4 18. Qxd4 Rc8 19. Qd1 h5 20. Nh2 Qc7 21. Bb1 Nf6 22. Bg5 Nxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe4 24. Qxh5 Bg6 25. Qh4 Qc4 26. Ng4 f5 27. b3 Qf7 28. Ne3 Re4 29. Bf4 d5 30. f3 Ree8 31. Rad1 Rcd8 32. Rc1 d4 33. Nf1 Rd7 34. Bd2 Nb7 35. Rxe8+ Qxe8 36. Rc6 a5 37. Qg5 Rd6 38. Rxd6 Nxd6 39. Bxa5 Qe6 40. Qd8+ Be8 41. Bb4 Nf7 42. Qxd4 Qe5 43. Qd2 f4 44. Bc3 Qc5+ 45. Bd4 Qf5 46. Qc3 Qg6 47. Nd2 Bc6 48. Kh1 Nh6 49. Bf2 Nf5 50. Qe5 Ng3+ 51. Kh2 Nh5 52. Ne4 Qe8 53. Qxe8+ Bxe8 54. Nc5 Nf6 55. a4 bxa4 56. bxa4 Kf7 57. a5 Nd5 58. h4 Bb5 59. a6 Kg6 60. a7 Bc6 61. Bd4 Kh5 62. Bxg7 Kxh4 63. Ne6 1 : 0 Svidler – Kjartansson, 13th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, Catalan Bay 2015. Instead, after 15. Bf4 Svidler usually answers 15. ... Nf8 16. Ng3 g6 (or 16. ... Ne6 17. Bd2 Nc4 18. Bc3 c5 19. e5 dxe5 20. dxe5 Be7 21. b3 b4 22. bxc4 Qxd1 23. Raxd1 Bxf3 24. gxf3 bxc3 25. Ne2 Rab8 26. Nxc3 Nd4 27. Be4 Rb4 28. Bd5 Rb2 29. Rb1 Rc2 30. Rbc1 Rb2 31. Rb1 Rc2 32. Rbc1 Rb2 ½ : ½ Motylev – Svidler, 68th Russian Chess Championship, Chita 2015) 17. Rb1 c5 18. d5 Nc4 19. Qc1 Nd7 20. Nf1 Rc8 21. N1h2 Nce5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Ng4 Nxg4 24. hxg4 c4 25. g5 Bg7 26. Bd2 a5 27. Bc3 b4 28. Bxg7 Kxg7 29. Qe3 Qe7 30. f4 Qc7 31. Qd4+ Kg8 32. Re3 Qc5 33. Qxc5 Rxc5 34. Kf2 Bc8 35. Ba4 Re7 36. Rh1 Rec7 37. Bc6 Bb7 38. Bxb7 Rxb7 39. Reh3 h5 40. gxh6 c3 41. Rb1 cxb2 42. Rxb2 Rc4 43. Re2 Re7 44. Kf3 Rc3+ 45. Re3 f5 46. Rxc3 bxc3 47. exf5 gxf5 48. Rh1 c2 49. Rc1 Rc7 50. Ke3 Rc5 51. Kd3 Rxd5+ 52. Kxc2 Rc5+ 53. Kd2 Rxc1 54. Kxc1 Kh7 55. Kc2 Kxh6 56. Kb3 d5 57. Kc3 Kh5 58. Kd4 Kg4 59. Kxd5 Kxf4 60. a4 Kg3 61. Ke5 Kxg2 62. Kxf5 ½ : ½ 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) – Svidler, China – Russia Match, 宁波市 (Níngbō) 2015. 15. ... c5 16. d5 Nc4 17. b3 Nce5 18. N3h2 Ng6 19. Ng3. Giri managed to find a new move. For 19. Bd2 Bg5 20. Ne3 Nf6 21. Nf5 Bxd2 22. Qxd2 Nh5 23. g3 Bc8 24. Kg2 Ra7 see Bauer – Svetushkin, Spanish Team Chess Championship, León 2012. 19. ... Bc8 20. Rf1. “It’s funny to witness that Giri is following my own preparation for the first game against Svidler so far :)”, Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov said. 20. ... Nb6 21. Ng4 Bxg4 22. hxg4 h6 23. Nf5 Ne7 24. Ne3 b4 25. g3. Intending Kg1-g2 followed by Rf1-h1, as well as Ne3-g2-f4-h5. 25. ... a5 26. Kg2. Svidler afterwards suggested 26. a4 (26. ... bxa3 27. Bxa3), but Giri prefers not to lose time. 26. ... a4 27. bxa4 Qd7

28. Qd3. Giri starts to go astray. After 28. a3! Nxa4 29. Rb3 Reb8 30. f4 White could still hope for a certain initiative. 28. ... Ng6 29. Nf5. A sounder continuation appears to be 29. a3 as 29. ... c4 30. Nxc4 Nxc4 31. Qxc4 Qxg4 32. Bd1 Nh4+ 33. Kh2 (but not 33. Kg1? because of 33. ... Qh3! 34. gxh4 Be5 with an overwhelming attack) 33. ... Nf3+ leads to a draw by perpetual check. 29. ... Nxa4 30. Bxa4? Here Giri offered a draw that Svidler understandably refused. It is not easy to suggest a way to add fuel to White’s attack, but (of course) the text cannot be good. 30. ... Rxa4 31. Rh1. “Giri goes ‘all-in’ with 31. Rh1”, says Grandmaster Evgenij Miroshnichenko. 31. ... Ne7! 32. g5? To make things worse, Giri keeps attacking. 32. ... hxg5 33. Ne3 Rxa2 34. Bd2 Ng6 35. Nf5 Ne5 36. Qe2 g6 37. Nh6+ Kg7 38. Nf5+. Giri tried a last-ditch bluff. 38. ... Kg8. Just to gain time on the clock. 39. Nh6+ Kg7 40. Nf5+ gxf5. Time control is reached and White can resign without regret. 41. Qh5 Ng6 0 : 1. “Looks like Anish Giri is having his off day and getting punished. More reason it would be insane to consider this as a World Championship”, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura said.

Anish Giri vs. Peter Veniaminovich Svidler
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili