Author: Dennis Breuker
Date: 02:01:53 05/29/98
In http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/michael53.html Michael Greengard gives some interesting analysis for the third game in the Kramnik-Shirov match. This is the game in PGN: [Event "WCC Cand final"] [Site "Cazorla ESP"] [Date "1998.05.27"] [Round "03"] [White "Kramnik,V"] [Black "Shirov,A"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D88"] [WhiteElo "2790"] [BlackElo "2710"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ne2 c5 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bxf7+ Rxf7 13. fxg4 Rxf1+ 14. Kxf1 cxd4 15. cxd4 e5 16. d5 Nc4 17. Qd3 Nxe3+ 18. Qxe3 Qh4 19. h3 Bh6 20. Qd3 Rf8+ 21. Kg1 Qf2+ 22. Kh1 Qe3 23. Qxe3 Bxe3 24. Rd1 Rf2 25. Ng1 Kf7 26. Rd3 Bb6 27. Rf3+ Ke7 28. Rxf2 Bxf2 29. Nf3 Kd6 30. g3 Bxg3 31. Kg2 Bf4 32. Kf2 Kc5 33. Ke2 b5 34. Kd3 1/2-1/2 Here I quote the relevant part of what Michael Greengard wrote: ------------- <begin quote> 30.g3 looks like a blunder, tossing a pawn and allowing the bishop to protect the weak e-pawn, but upon deeper inspection White has nothing else. 30.Ng5 is the obvious move, winning a pawn and, coincidentally, almost losing the game! You computer analysis addicts out there should toss your Pentium 400 MHz and ChesSpank 6000 out the window on this one as I'm sure they just LOVE 30.Ng5! I'm still looking at side lines, but it's very hard for White to save the game as the queenside pawns are very fast if the knight wanders that far away. (Good thing to remember in your own games. Pawns are slow in the middlegame, but are devilishly fast in endgames vs. knights!) While Black is in trouble if he tries to defend (Black loses after 30.Ng5? 30...h6 or 30...b5 and just barely draws (?) after 30...Ke7), he can go on the offensive with 30...Kc5! and it takes some serious acrobatics for White to even draw this position. [ANALYSIS LINE: 30.Ng5?] 30...Kc5! 31.Nxh7 b5 32.g3 a5 (32...Bxg3? Slowing down the queenside pawns by a crucial tempo and allowing the white king to gain several important tempi hitting the bishop. 33.Nf8 a5 34.Kg2 Be1 35.Nxg6 Kd6 36.Kf1! Bc3 37.h4 b4 38.Ke2 winning) 33.Kg2 Bd4 34.Ng5 (This crazy line which appears to save White is probably better! Lots of analysis needed here: 34.h4 b4 35.h5 gxh5 36.gxh5 a4 37.Nf6 Be3 38.d6 Bg5 39.Ng4 b3 40.axb3 a3 41.Ne3 Bxe3 42.d7 Bg5 43.h6 a2 44.h7 a1Q 45.h8Q Qd4 46.Qf8+ Kb6 47.Qb8+ Kc6 48.Qc8+ Kb5 49.Qb7+ Kc5 50.Qc7+ Kb4 51.Qc4+ Qxc4 (51...Ka3!? 52.Qd5! = (?)) 52.bxc4 Kxc4 = 53.Kf3 Bd8 54.Kg4 Kc5 55.Kf5 Kd6 56.g4 Bc7 57.Kf6 Kxd7 58.g5 Ke8 59.Kg7 Bd8 60.g6 Bh4 61.Kh7 Bf6 62.g7 Bxg7 63.Kxg7 Ke7 64.Kg6 Ke6 65.Kg5 Ke7 66.Kf5 Kf7 67.Kxe5 Ke7 68.Kf5 Kf7 69.e5 Ke7 70.e6 Ke8 71.Kf6 Kf8 72.e7+ Ke8 73.Ke6 stalemate) 34...b4 35.h4 a4 36.h5 gxh5 37.gxh5 b3 38.axb3 axb3 39.Nf3?! (39.h6! b2 40.h7 b1Q 42.h8Q Black wins the knight, but White may have a perpetual check in here. Qg1+ 43.Kf3 Qd1+ 43.Kg2 Qd2+ 44.Kf3 Qxg5 and the checking begins. Can White draw?) 39...Be3 40.Ne1 (40.Nxe5 Kd4 41.d6 Kxe5 42.d7 Bb6 Black wins) 40...Kc4 41.h6 Bxh6 42.d6 Bg5 43.Nf3 b2 44.d7 b1Q 45.d8Q Qc2+ 46.Nd2+ Qxd2+ 47.Qxd2 Bxd2 48.Kf2 Kd3 49.Kf3 Be3 Black wins. Whew! This is just one night's reflection, a lot of work still needs to be done in some lines. But it's enough to see that Kramnik's 30.g3 was the best choice! After 30...Bxg3 it’s a clear draw. (31.Ng5 now doesn't work: 31...h6 32.Nf7+ Ke7 33.Nxh6 Bf4!) So it's Shirov to serve again, let's hope for an ace. ------------- <end quote> Since he is convinced that no computer will see that 30. Ng5 is wrong (is it?), I am very curious what computers will play in the position after Black's 29th move. And maybe some computers can check his analysis? Dennis.
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