Arctic Mood

Alexander Igorevich Grischuk – Magnus Carlsen
6th Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 24, 2018
Benkö Counter-Gambit A58

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. c4 0-0 5. d4 d6 6. 0-0 c5 7. d5 b5!? It should’ve been a surprise to Grischuk, but instead no. 8. cxb5 a6 9. bxa6 Bf5!? “Fun fact about Magnus Carlsen’s 9. ... Bf5 — it has been played by Kasparov in 1994 and Anand in 1996 :-)”, International Master Venkat Saravanan tweeted. On the other hand, the more prosaic 9. ... Bxa6 10. Nc3 Nbd7 has also its merits; for instance: 11. Bf4?! (11. Qc2 Qa5 12. b3⩲ Nxd5? 13. Nxd5 Bxa1 14. Bd2±) 11. ... Qa5! 12. Qc2 Rfb8 13. h3? (13. b3 c4? 14. Nd4!) 13. ... Rxb2! 14. Qxb2 Ne4! 15. Qc2 Nxc3 16. Bd2 Nxe2+ 17. Kh2 Qa3! 18. Qe4 Ne5! 19. Nxe5 Bxe5 20. Rae1 Nxg3 21. fxg3 Qxg3+ 22. Kg1 Qh2+ 23. Kf2 Bxf1 24. Kxf1 Rxa2 25. Be3 Qg3 26. Rb1 Rxg2 27. Rb8+ Kg7 28. Qxg2 Qxe3 0 : 1 Giustolisi – R. Primavera, 1st International Festival “Capodanno in Calabria”, Cirella di Diamante 1975/1976. 10. Nfd2 Nxa6 11. Nc3 Nb4 12. Nc4 Nc2!? This is a novelty and probably not an improvement over 12. ... Bc2 13. Qd2 Bb3 14. Na3 Bxd5 15. Nxd5 Nfxd5 16. Nc4 Nc7(!) 17. Bxa8 Qxa8 where Black seems to have more than enough for the sacrificed Exchange, Draško – Bejtović, 10th Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina Team Chess Championship, Neum 2011.

13. g4! Grischuk delivers a violent — however quite thematic — counterblow (with a powerful symbolic value) which seems to catch Carlsen off guard. 13. ... Nxg4 14. e4 Nxa1 15. exf5 Bxc3!? Black keeps playing very optimistically! 15. ... Ne5 suggests itself, as 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. Bd2 doesn’t seem to give White any transcendental advantage. 16. bxc3 Nf6 17. Qe2 Re8 18. Bg5! Carlsen ended up on the brink of ruin, but, luckily for him, Grischuk has spent an infinity of time as usual, when there are still some not-so-easy “next” moves to make. 18. ... Qd7 19. fxg6 hxg6 20. Rxa1 Qf5 21. Bxf6? 21. h4(!) actually seems the strongest move here, leaving Black in a sad plight. But Grischuk is overanxious about his time shortage, so he goes for a risk-free way, that not surprisingly proves to be not enough to win. 21. ... Qxf6 22. Qf3 Qh4 23. Qe4 Qf6 24. Qf3 Qh4 25. Qe4 Qf6. White repeated moves to gain time, but now he has to tell what he will do next: 26. Qd3. Of course, winning is better than drawing, but drawing is better than losing. Jokes aside, 26. a4 Qxc3 27. Ra3 Qc1+ 28. Bf1 would have perhaps kept Black still out of his comfort zone, at least for a while. 26. ... Reb8!= 27. a3 Rb3 28. Rc1 Ra4 29. Qc2 Qf4 30. Qxb3 Qxc1+ 31. Bf1 Qg5+ 32. Bg2 Qc1+ 33. Bf1 Qg5+ 34. Bg2 Qc1+ ½ : ½.