Spider Dance

Michael Adams – Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov
8th London Chess Classic; London, December 12, 2016
Spanish Game C65

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Be6 7. 0-0 Bd6 8. d4 Nd7 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Bxe5 11. f4 Bd4+. 11. ... Qd4+ looks somewhat risky: 12. Kh1 Bd6 13. Qe2 0-0-0 14. f5 Bd7 15. Nf3 Qa4 16. b3 Qa5 17. Bd2 Bb4 18. Bxb4 Qxb4 19. Qf2 b6 20. Ng5 Qe7 21. f6 gxf6 22. Qxf6 Qxf6 23. Rxf6 Be8 24. Nxf7 Bxf7 25. Rxf7 Rd2 26. Rc1 Rg8 27. Rg1 Rxc2 28. Rxh7 Rxa2 29. g4 Ra5 30. h4 Re5 31. g5 Rxe4 32. g6 Ree8 33. h5 a5 34. g7 Kb7 35. Rh6 Re5 36. Rh8 Rxg7 37. Rxg7 b5 38. Rg3 c5 39. h6 Rh5+ 40. Kg2 c4 41. bxc4 b4 42. Rh3 Rg5+ 43. Kf3 b3 44. Kf4 a4 45. Kxg5 1 : 0 Nakamura – Aronian, 5th Zürich Chess Challenge, Zürich 2016. 12. Kh1 f6. Another try is 12. ... f5 13. Qh5+ g6 14. Qe2 0-0 15. Nf3 Bf6 16. e5 Be7 17. Rd1 Qe8 18. Nd4 Qf7 19. Nxe6 Qxe6 20. Be3 Rfd8 21. c4 a6 22. b3 Kf7 23. a4 Ke8 24. h3 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Rd8 26. Rxd8+ Bxd8 27. Bc5 Kf7 28. Qd2 Bh4 29. Kh2 h5 30. a5 Qe8 31. Ba3 Qd8 32. Qb4 b6 33. Qc3 c5 34. Bb2 Qd1 35. e6+ Kxe6 36. Qe5+ Kd7 37. Qg7+ Be7 38. Qxg6 Qc2 39. Be5 h4 40. axb6 cxb6 41. Qxb6 Qd3 42. Qb7+ Ke8 43. Qa8+ Kd7 44. Qb7+ Ke8 45. Qc6+ Kf8 46. Qa8+ Bd8 47. Bc3 Qg3+ 48. Kh1 Qd3 49. Qb8 Kf7 50. Qb7+ Be7 51. Be5 a5 52. Bb8 Qb1+ 53. Kh2 a4 54. Qd5+ Kf8 55. Bd6 axb3 56. Qa8+ Kf7 57. Qd5+ Kf8 58. Qa8+ Kf7 ½ : ½ Caruana – Grischuk, 7th London Chess Classic, London 2015. 13. c3. The Spider’s novelty. On the other hand, 13. f5 Bf7 14. Qg4 Qe7 15. c3 h5 16. Qe2 Be5 17. Nf3 0-0-0 18. Nxe5 Qxe5 19. Bf4 Qc5 gives Black no worries, Brkić – Hovhannisyan, 18th European Team Chess Championship, Porto Carras 2011. 13. ... Bb6 14. f5 Bf7 15. e5!? White plays very sharply in search of the initiative. 15. ... fxe5 16. Qg4 Qd3!? It’s not clear whether Topalov had better options. I can only say that the text is a bit risky; maybe he couldn’t resist echoing Morphy’s exegi monumentum... 17. Qxg7 Rg8 18. Qxe5+ Kd7 19. Qe4 Qa6? Comparatively best was 19. ... Qd5!? 20. c4! Qd4! 21. Rd1 Kc8 22. a4!? and although White stands clearly better, Black retains some vague hope of finding compensation for the minus Pawn. 20. f6! Rae8. Some commentators suggested 20. ... Rad8 as a stronger option here, but 21. Qe7+ Kc8 22. Qxf7 Qe2 23. g3 appears to win easily. 21. Qf5+ Kd8. Not 21. ... Be6? on account of 22. Qxh7+ Kc8 23. f7 and wins.

22. c4!! The coup de grâce. Just as easy as like human-problem-solving. 22. ... Qa5 23. Qh3! Qb4 24. Qxh7 Qf8 25. b3 Bd4 26. Qd3 Qd6 27. Ne4 Qd7. More tenacious was 27. ... Rxe4 28. Qxe4 Bxa1, although after 29. Bf4 Rg4 30. Bxd6 Rxe4 31. Be7+ Ke8 32. Rxa1 White should win, if nothing else because Adams is the magician of the Bishops of opposite colour endgames. 28. Rd1 Kc8 29. Qxd4 Qg4. 29. ... Qxd4 30. Rxd4 c5 31. Rd2 Rxe4 32. h3! was a little better but not so much. 30. Bg5! Rxe4? Also after 30. ... Qxe4 31. Qxe4 Rxe4 32. h4 White wins, if more prosaically. 31. Qxa7 Bd5 32. Qa8+ Kd7 33. Rxd5+ 1 : 0.

Michael Adams
Photo: Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour)