Svidler – Karjakin TEST Posted on November 7, 2015 by CAQ Media NOTE: WEBSITE TEST – CONTENT TAKEN FROM CHESSBASE [Event "RUS-ch 68th"] [Site "Chita"] [Date "2015.08.18"] [Round "9"] [White "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Black "Svidler, Peter"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C78"] [WhiteElo "2753"] [BlackElo "2739"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah/Mokal,A"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "1r3rk1/2pq1ppp/1b1p1nn1/1N1Pp3/2P1P1b1/5N2/1PB2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 0 16"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2015.08.09"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [EventCategory "18"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2015.09.14"] {The annotations to this game have been taken from the latest issue of ChessBase Magazine, i.e CBM 168.} 16. h3 {Karjakin knows that Svidler will sacrifice his bishop on h3 but he is up for the challenge.} Bxh3 $5 {One could say this is a brave move but on the other hand if you look at it closely, it is practically forced. The most interesting thing to note here is that this same sacrifice was played nine years ago by Radjabov against Karjakin, when he was just 16 years old with a rating of 2672!} 17. gxh3 Qxh3 {All these moves were made quickly by Svidler, which means he was still in his preparation.} 18. Ng5 $1 {The only defensive move available to White.} Qg3+ 19. Kh1 Qh4+ 20. Kg2 Nf4+ 21. Bxf4 exf4 22. Nf3 Qg4+ 23. Kh1 Rfe8 $1 {A very strong move by Svidler bringing a new piece into the game.} 24. Ra3 {This was played after 18 minutes of thought. The rook stands well on a3 and will help in the defence.} Nxe4 25. Bxe4 Rxe4 26. Rc3 Ba5 $6 {Moving the bishop away from the b6-square was a mistake as we shall see in the game. It is well placed on the a7-g1 diagonal and on the new one (a5-e1) it does nothing much.} ({The right way to continue would be} 26... Qh5+ 27. Nh2 (27. Kg2 Qg4+ 28. Kh1 Qh5+ $11) 27... Qxd1 28. Rxd1 Re2 $1 {Black has two pawns for a piece and now wins the third one.} 29. b4 Bxf2 $11 {Black should have excellent chances to hold this position.}) 27. Rc1 Rbe8 28. Nh2 Qh4 (28... Qxd1 29. Rfxd1 Re2 30. b4 $1 $16 {[%csl Rc7]}) 29. Nd4 {This move would not have been possible had the bishop been on b6.} h5 30. Qd3 Qf6 31. Nc6 Bb6 32. b4 $1 f3 33. Qxf3 Rf4 34. Qc3 {The threat of c4-c5 forces Black to exchange the queens.} Qxc3 (34... Qh4 35. c5 $18) 35. Rxc3 $16 {The queens have been exchanged and Karjakin managed to convert this into a win.} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
