Nothing else matters but love

Pentala Harikrishna – 李超 (Lǐ Chāo)
4th Altibox Norway Chess; Stavanger, April 24, 2016
King’s Indian Defence E60

Yesterday 李超 (Lǐ Chāo) forgot all about his secret love’s dilemmas and enjoyed practising at target archery, so today he should feel like Superman. Well, almost officially :). 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 c5 4. d5 d6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Ne2 0-0 7. Nec3 e5 8. g4!? Much more common is 8. Bg5; the text could well be a novelty. 8. ... h5 9. h3 Nh7 10. Be3 h4 11. Qd2 Bf6. Black’s position looks like an hybrid between King’s Indian Defence and the Old Benoni. 12. Rg1 Bg5 13. Bxg5 Qxg5 14. Nb5 Qe7 15. g5! Black must make up something quickly for avoiding a positional crush. 15. ... a6 16. N5c3 Nd7 17. Qg2 Kg7. Most chess engines urge for the very unclear line 17. ... f6 18. gxf6 Rxf6 19. Qf2 g5 20. Qxh4 Rxf3 21. Nd2 Kh8 followed by ... Rf3-f4, but 李超 (Lǐ Chāo) is understandably reluctant to bid farewell to the human race. 18. Nd2 f6 19. gxf6+ Qxf6 20. Nd1! Harikrishna demonstrates superb positional understanding. If 20. 0-0-0 there might follow 20. ... g5! with unclear consequences. 20. ... Rf7! 21. Nf2 Ndf8. After long thought. 22. Nd3 b5! Alternating defence and offense. 23. 0-0-0 g5?? That’s the hero’s “tragic flaw”. Correct was 23. ... Kh8!∞ in order to answer 24. f4!? by 24. ... exf4 25. e5 dxe5 26. Ne4 Qg7 and Black looks fine.

24. f4! Now this is devastating. 24. ... exf4 25. e5! Qf5. Also after 25. ... dxe5 26. Ne4 Qh6 27. Nxe5 Black’s position falls apart. 26. e6 f3 27. Qh2 Bxe6. What else? 28. dxe6 Qxe6 29. Nf2 Qe3 30. Ng4 Qf4 31. Qxf4 Rxf4 32. Nxf3! bxc4. On 32. ... Rxf3 33. Bg2 skewers two Rooks. 33. Ngh2 Ne6 34. Rxd6 Nd4 35. Rd7+ Kh8 36. Ne5 Nf8 37. Rf7 Re4 38. Rxg5 Rd8 39. Rxf8+ Rxf8 40. Ng6+ Kg7 41. Nxf8+ Kxf8 42. Rxc5 1 : 0.

Pentala Harikrishna and 李超 (Lǐ Chāo)
Photo © Jose Huwaidi 2016