Keeping the Wild

Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik – Pentala Harikrishna
4th Gashimov Memorial; Şəmkir, April 24, 2017
Spanish Game C84

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 0-0 9. Nc3 Nb8 10. Ne2 Nbd7 11. c3 Bb7. For 11. ... Nb6 12. Ng3 c5 13. d4 Qc7 see Kobalia – Kovalev, 17th European Individual Chess Championship, Gjakova 2016. 12. Ng3 c5 13. Re1 Rc8 14. Nf5!?? White impatiently opens hostilities. 14. ... c4! 15. dxc4 Bxe4 16. Nxe7+ Qxe7 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Bg5 Nc5 19. Ba2!?? ’Tis not the safer place, but apparently White’s Bishop didn’t want to surrender the death diagonal. 19. ... h6 20. Bh4??!! This is an incredible decision by Kramnik, who voluntarily entombs his own Bishop. 20. Bxf6 Qxf6 was certainly more pleasant for Black, but yet defendable from White’s viewpoint, so the 14th World Chess Champion must have ineffably felt something wild. 20. ... g5 21. Bg3 Bh7 22. Qe2 Kg7 23. Rad1 Nfe4 24. Rd5!? Another wild intuition leads Kramnik on more and more romantic tracks. 24. ... f5. Manifestly threatening ... f5-f4.

25. Rxe5!! A fantastic sacrifice! White gives up the Rook for three Pawns, dramatically upsetting his opponent’s inner balance. 25. ... dxe5 26. Bxe5+ Nf6? As pointed out by all chess engines, after 26. ... Kg6! 27. Bd4 Bg8! Black would have successfully defended. But humans are not machines. If not, we would not look at their games. 27. Qxb5! Yet another remarkable intuition by Kramnik. 27. ... Ne4 28. Bd4 Rfd8 29. h3! A devilish waiting move. “Isn’t it amazing that with a Rook down Kramnik played h2-h3 against Harikrishna and wins this game with White?”, Grandmaster Judit Polgár wonders. 29. ... Rb8 30. Qe2 Bg8 31. Bb1 Qb7 32. b4 Re8 33. c4 Qc6? Harikrishna ends up losing the thread under the heavy burden of defence duty. Stockfish gives 33. ... Qa6 34. b5 Qd6 35. Qb2 Bxc4 36. a4 Ra8 which is quite unclear and not so easy to draw for White. 34. Qb2 Rbd8 35. c5 Qe6 36. b5 Kf8? Here apparently Black misses his last chance for survival. Grandmaster Tiger Christopher Robin Hillarp-Persson, who commented the game for ChessBase.com’s web site, recommends 36. ... Qb3! 37. Qa1 Kg6! with mid-long lines leading to roughly balanced outcomes. 37. c6 g4? White’s Pawns are unstoppable, so Black tries to distract them from their march. What a pity, however, that the text loses a clear piece... 38. hxg4 fxg4 39. Bxe4 gxf3. Not 39. ... Nxe4? 40. Rxe4 Qxe4?? 41. Bg7+ Ke7 42. Qf6 mate. 40. Bxf6 Rd6. Or 40. ... Qg4 41. Be7+! Rxe7 42. Qf6+ Bf7 43. Qxe7+ Kxe7 44. Bf5+ and wins. 41. Bg7+ Kf7 42. Be5 1 : 0.