Symphony No. 8

David Navara – Anish Giri
78th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 18, 2016
Grünfeld Defence D97

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 0-0 7. e4 a6 8. Be2 b5 9. Qb3 c5 10. dxc5 Bb7 11. e5 Nfd7 12. Be3 e6 13. 0-0 Qc7 14. Rad1 Nxc5 15. Qa3 Ne4!? Maybe a new idea. For 15. ... Ncd7 16. Qe7 Rc8 see Onischuk – Domínguez Pérez, 41st International Chess Festival, Biel 2008. 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Ng5 Bc6 18. f4 Qb7. “Here I could have played 18. ... h6 for the purpose of avoiding any trouble – my position would have probably been quite reasonable. But I decided it was not necessary – everything was apparently protected... I was too optimistic”, then Giri said. 19. Bc5 Re8

And here comes the bombshell: 20. f5!! exf5 21. Rxf5! gxf5 22. Bh5 Bd5. The most resilient defence, maybe the only one left on board. 23. Rxd5! Qxd5 24. Bxf7+ Qxf7 25. Nxf7 Kxf7 26. Qb3+ Kg6. “At first, I foresaw a draw in the line 26. ... Re6 27. Qd5 Nc6 28. Qd7+ Ne7 29. Bxe7 Rxe7, but suddenly I noticed the deadly check 30. Qd5+”, Giri said. 27. Qg3+ Kf7 28. Qb3+ Kg6 29. Qg3+ Kf7 30. Qf3 Nd7 31. Qd5+ Kg6 32. Qc6+ Nf6? According to HAL 9000 Black could have reduced damage to a minimum by 32. ... Bxf6. 33. exf6 Rac8 34. Qxa6 Ra8 35. f7+! Kxf7 36. Qxb5. The two united passed Pawns on the Queenside don’t leave any hope to Giri. 36. ... Rad8 37. Qb3+ Kg6 38. Qg3+ Kf7 39. Qb3+ Kg6 40. Bd6? Last move before the time control and the Czech artist paints this kind of cupio dissolvi. 40. ... Bxb2. Naturally! 41. Qxb2 Rxd6 42. h3 Ra6 ½ : ½. Just like Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony”.

David Navara vs. Anish Giri
Photo: Tata Steel Chess (Facebook)