Backstage Stories

Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler – Garry Kimovich Kasparov
Online training match; Lichess, September 3, 2020
rbqnkrbn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBQNKRBN w FAfa - 0 1

Position #604

Kasparov “declassified” six of sixteen games from his online Fischerandom training match with Svidler as handed them for publication to the popular Russian web site Chess-News.ru. “A few nice ones, definitely went better than my tournament game against him!”, Kasparov said. Finally, here’s one of the games, dated but unnumbered, most likely played with a rapid time control. 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Ng6 3. g3 f5 4. b3 f4 5. f3 Be5 6. Bxg6+. This isn’t exactly developing with tempo, however it may seem so. 6. ... hxg6 7. Qc2 Qc6 8. 0-0-0?! White’s King did not feel at its ease in the centre, but it’s not safe on the a-side either. 8. ... Bxc3! 9. Qxc3 Ne6 10. gxf4 b5! 11. Be3 bxc4 12. bxc4 d5! 13. cxd5 Qxd5 14. d3 Qxa2 15. Rd2 Qa4 16. Rc2?! This move may work better than it looks. If 16. Ng3 Black would probably continue with 16. ... Rc8⩱ intending ... Ne6-c7-d5.

16. ... Nd4! 17. Bxd4?! Critical was 17. Rb2! Nb3+ 18. Kc2 c4 19. Rfb1 g5! (opening the diagonal h7-b1) 20. fxg5 Rd8∓↑ with powerful compensation for the Pawn. 17. ... cxd4 18. Qc6+ Qxc6 19. Rxc6 Rf6 20. Rc5. The exchange of a pair of Rooks wouldn’t make White’s ending any easier due to Black’s passed a-Pawn. 20. ... a5 21. Kd2 Rb6 22. Ra1 a4 23. Nf2 a3 24. Ng4 Rb2+ 25. Rc2

25. ... Bb3! 0 : 1. For after 26. Rxb2 axb2 27. Rxa8+ Kd7 White has only a few useless checks and no more.