Giant in a Vintage Dress

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov – Peter Veniaminovich Svidler
24th Russian Team Chess Championship; Sochi, May 5, 2017
Grünfeld Defence D85

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Qa4+ Nd7 8. Nf3 0-0 9. Be2 c5 10. 0-0 a6 11. Qa3 Qc7 12. e5 Nb6!? A novelty. For 12. ... b6 13. Bg5 Re8 14. h4 Bb7 15. h5 b5 16. Rac1 Rac8 see Riazantsev – Nepomniachtchi, World Rapid Chess Championship, Berlin 2015. 13. Qa5! Bf5 14. dxc5! Nd5 15. Qxc7 Nxc7 16. Nd4 Be4. 16. ... Bxe5 17. Nxf5 gxf5 18. Bf3 would result in a very unpleasant position for Black. 17. f3 Bd5 18. f4 f6 19. exf6 Bxf6 20. Be3 Nb5 21. Rac1! In his crystal-clear, inimitable style Karpov will succeed in maintaining both the extra Pawn and his positional advantage. 21. ... Rfd8. Not 21. ... Nxd4? 22. cxd4 Bxa2 because of 23. Bf3 eventually followed by Rf1-f2-b2. 22. a4 Na3 23. Bf2 Nc4

24. c6! Neat and elegant as usual. However, Karpov, as often happened to him in his second forty years, is very short of time. 24. ... bxc6 25. Nxc6 Rdc8 26. Nb4 Be4 27. Bg4 Rc7 28. Rfe1 Bb7 29. Nd3 Bc8 30. Bf3. Very natural and certainly not wrong, but 30. Be2 followed by Nd3-c5 (Stockfish) seems apparently stronger. 30. ... Bb7 31. Bxb7. White’s best chance for exploiting his plusses appears to be again 31. Be2 Bd5 32. Nc5 (Stockfish). 31. ... Rxb7 32. Nc5 Rb2. Now Svidler gains sufficient counterplay for the Pawn, and Karpov will have to content himself with a draw. 33. Bd4 Rd8 34. Rcd1 a5 35. Bxf6 Rxd1 36. Rxd1 exf6 37. Rd8+ Kf7 38. g4 Ne3 39. h3 Rg2+ 40. Kh1 Rg3 41. Rd7+ Kg8 42. Kh2 Nf1+ 43. Kh1 Ne3 44. Kh2 Nf1+ 45. Kh1 ½ : ½.

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (right) vs. Peter Veniaminovich Svidler (left). Photo: Salim Fazulyanov.