[Event "SuperGM"]
[Site "Linares ESP"]
[Date "2002.03.09"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Kasparov, Garri"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Hathaway, Mark"]
[BlackElo "2727"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]

{ At this point in the tournament these two share the lead and this game will probably decide the tournament winner. } 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 { Before this tournament I'd have said this was a pretty good way to aim for a draw. But, the Adams-Anand game showed a new plan which should be studied closely. } 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. c3 { Kasparov follows in the footsteps of Adams. Pc3 defends Pd5 and clears the way for Qd1-a4. } 7... c5 { else White plays b2-b4 and makes it extremely difficult for Black to get any queen-side } 8. Ne5 { The aim of this is to exploit the weak a4-e8 diagonal. } ( 8. Be3 Qc7 9. Ne5 a6 { Adams-Anand, round 6, 1-0 in 44 moves } ) 8... Nd7 ( 8... cxd4 9. Bb5+ Nd7 10. Qxd4 { with a threat of Qd4-f4xf7# } ) 9. Bb5 Bd6 10. Qg4 Kf8 { As in a Caro-Kann variation Black accepts that Pg7 is weak and must be defended this awkward way. However, Qg4 is exposed and Pd4 & Ne5 are ill-supported, so Black has plenty of chances to survive. Perhaps one of the more important details is that White needs to retreat Ne5 to avoid another minor piece exchange. The more exchanges the easier it will be for Black to complete his development and the harder it would be for White to generate an attack. } ( 10... O-O $4 11. Bh6 ( 11. Bxd7 Bxd7 ( 11... Bxe5 $4 12. Bxc8 Bxd4 13. Bxb7 Rb8 14. Be4 Bf6 $18 ) 12. Bh6 Qf6 13. Bg5 $18 ) 11... Bxe5 ( { Malcolm Pein: } 11... Qf6 12. Nxd7 Bxd7 13. Bg5 Qg6 14. Bxd7 h6 { pinning } ) 12. dxe5 g6 13. Bxf8 $16 ) 11. O-O $5 { Kasparov has a lot of courage. Here he offers a pawn, so he can spend the tempo developing pieces. He obviously thinks there's a way to fight for a win if his piece activity is sufficient. } ( 11. Nf3 Nf6 12. Qh4 Bd7 { when Black's development probably compensates for the awkward Kf8. } ) 11... Nxe5 12. dxe5 Bxe5 13. Bg5 Bf6 ( 13... Qc7 ) 14. Rad1 Qc7 { I'm not sure why he's allowing White to capture at f6 to double his f-file pawns, exposing Kf8 a little. Perhaps he thinks he'll be able to play ...Rh8-g8 to help his own piece development. } ( 14... Qe7 { Malcolm Pein: } 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 ( 15... gxf6 16. Qh4 { with very good compensation } 16... a6 ( 16... h6 17. Rd3 { and Black still cannot free himself with ...a6 } 17... a6 18. Rfd1 axb5 19. Rd8+ Kg7 20. Rxh8 Kxh8 21. Qxh6+ Kg8 22. Rd3 ) 17. Qh6+ Kg8 18. Rd3 $18 ) ) 15. Qh4 ( { Malcolm Pein: } 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Qh4 Ke7 17. Rd3 Rd8 18. Qxh7 Rxd3 19. Bxd3 Bd7 { and the worst is over } ) 15... Bxg5 ( 15... Qe7 ) 16. Qxg5 { threat: Rd1-d8+ } 16... f6 17. Qh5 { threat: Qh5-e8# } 17... g6 18. Qh6+ Kf7 19. Rd3 a6 20. Rh3 Qe7 ( 20... axb5 21. Qxh7+ Rxh7 22. Rxh7+ Kg8 23. Rxc7 $18 ) 21. Bd3 f5 { Pawns don't generally fight pieces very well. The pawns move to block and the pieces just go around them. } 22. g4 { But sometimes, to break through a mass of pawns and when a piece sac. isn't going to be enough, another pawn must be used. } ( 22. Rg3 $6 { threatening Rg3xg6 while Rh8 is undefended } 22... Bd7 23. h4 Rag8 $15 { to meet h4-h5 with ...g6-g5, keeping lines closed } ) 22... Qf6 { Malcolm Pein: Ponomariov had been playing much quicker than Kasparov and his next couple of moves came quite fast to my surprise. } ( 22... Bd7 23. Rd1 Rad8 24. gxf5 gxf5 { tries to keep Bd3 at bay, but seems to open up Kf7 to checks from Qh6 and Rh3. It's hard to know whether this is safe. } ( 24... exf5 25. Bc4+ Be6 26. Bxe6+ Qxe6 ( 26... Kxe6 27. Re3+ ) 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 ( 27... Qe1+ 28. Kg2 Qe4+ 29. Kf1 Qb1+ 30. Ke2 Rxd8 31. Qxh7+ Ke6 32. Re3+ Kd5 33. Rd3+ $18 ) 28. Qxh7+ Kf6 ( 28... Kf8 $4 29. Qh8+ Qg8 30. Qf6+ $18 ) 29. Qh4+ g5 30. Qh6+ Kf7 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Re3 ( 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Rh7+ $18 ) 32... Qf6 ) ) 23. Rd1 b5 ( 23... fxg4 24. Rg3 b5 25. Rxg4 ) 24. Be2 e5 ( 24... Ra7 $1 25. Rd6 $4 ( 25. gxf5 exf5 { This might be a good defense for Black. Ra7 can come toward the center, possibly even defending Ph7 in some cases. } ( 25... gxf5 26. Bh5+ Ke7 27. Qe3 $13 ) 26. Qxh7+ $5 Rxh7 27. Rxh7+ ) 25... Qe5 ) 25. Rhd3 Ra7 26. Rd6 Qg7 27. Qe3 Rc7 { One by one White attacks a weakness and Black defends. If White can find two weaknesses (or create them) Black will be hard-pressed to hang on. } 28. a4 e4 { To this point Black has made nine pawn moves compared to White's four. Certainly the extra four moves could have been used by Black to keep his king safer and his pieces more active; but at the beginning it seemed so much easier. It's like watching a small snowball rolling down a hill, growing larger and faster as it goes. } ( 28... c4 29. Qb6 ) 29. axb5 axb5 30. Bxb5 Qe5 { Is there's still no way for Rh8 to move into play? Apparently Pc5 is too weak to spend any "free" tempos on general piece activation. } ( 30... Rf8 31. R6d5 ( 31. Bc4+ Ke7 32. R6d5 ) ) 31. Qg5 Qe7 32. Qh6 Be6 33. Qf4 { Malcolm Pein: John H tells me GK made the control with a couple of minutes to spare. Looks like he missed the kill first time round. MH: This almost looks like an admission his attack has run out of steam. If he can't move Rd6 with an effective discovery on Rc7 and if he can't break through the light squares around Kf7 then Black might be only a little worse (his king is still less secure than Kg1) . } 33... Bc8 { He avoids the most obvious discovery, Rd6xe6. } ( 33... Ra8 34. gxf5 gxf5 ( 34... Bxf5 $4 35. Rd7 ) 35. Rxe6 Kxe6 ( 35... Rg8+ 36. Kf1 Kxe6 37. Bc4+ Kf6 38. Bxg8 $18 ) 36. Bc4+ Kf6 37. Qh6+ Ke5 38. Rd5# ) 34. Qh6 { threatening Rd6xg6 (again) } 34... Be6 35. gxf5 gxf5 36. Be2 Qf6 37. Bh5+ Ke7 38. Rxe6+ { The capture works after all. 38...Qxe6 allows 39. Qg7+ to win Rh8 and 38...Ke6 allows 39. Rd6+ which wins Qf6. This relentless attack wasn't so flashy as many, but it was very accurate and showed the pawns can't leave a king exposed without major consequences. In this case the defense was good, but the position was (apparently) irreparable. That the White pieces won this and the Adams-Anand games using this same (new to my knowledge) opening idea is notable. Anand didn't lose because of it, he misplayed a queen and pawn ending, but Ponomariov never quite recovered from the positional weaknesses around his king, created during the opening and early middle-game. Kasparov takes the lead in the tournament with only one round to go! } 1-0