GM Einar Gausel annotates the
Corus tournament
Kramnik
(2772) - Van Wely (2700)
Wijk aan Zee (2), 2001
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3
c5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.Rc1 cxd4 11.cxd4 Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 0-0 13.d5
Rd8 14.Ke1
14...Na5
In his recent rapid match against Kramnik, Peter Leko tried 14...Ne5,
but White quickly got the better of it after 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.f4
Bd6 17.Kf2 e5 18.Bc5 Bxc5+ 19.Rxc5 exf4 20.Kf3. The game finished
20...Bd7 21.Bd3 Rac8 22.Rhc1 g5 23.Rc7 Rxc7 24.Rxc7 Ba4 25.Kg4
h6 26.Rxb7 Rd7 27.Rb4 Bd1+ 28.Kf5 Kg7 29.h4 f6 30.hxg5 hxg5 31.e5
fxe5 32.Kxe5 f3 33.gxf3 Bxf3 34.d6 Rd8 35.Bf5 Bc6 36.d7 Rf8 37.Rd4
resigns.
15.Bg5 Bd7 16.Bd3 Rdc8 17.Ke2 e6
18.Be3
A good example of how NOT to play White's position is Tatai-Ftacnik,
Dortmund 1981: 18.Rxc8+ Rxc8 19.Rc1 Rxc1 20.Bxc1 exd5 21.exd5 b5
22.Be3 a6 23.Bd4 Bxd4 24.Nxd4 Kf8 25.Ke3 Ke7 26.Nf3 f6 27.Kd4 Kd6
28.Nd2 f5 29.f4 Be8 30.Nf1 Bf7 31.Ne3 Bxd5 32.Nxd5 Nc6+ 33.Ke3
Kxd5 34.h4 Kc5 35.h5 Nb4 0-1. So, White needs to keep at least
one rook on the board to support his passed d-pawn and, if necessary,
hamper Black's queenside majority. This, in effect, means it's
imperative to stop Black from hosing the rooks off on the c-file.
18...exd5 19.exd5 b6
Van Wely's idea is to go Rxc1 and Rc8, but Kramnik has no intention
of allowing this.
20.Ba6! Rd8 21.Rhd1
21...Bc8?!
21...Ba4, intending b5 and Nc4, was more in keeping with the spirit
of the Grunfeld.
22.Bxc8 Raxc8 23.Rxc8 Rxc8 24.Nd4 Bf8?
After the game, Kramnik suggested 24...Bxd4 25.Rxd4 f6. This would
certainly make it harder for White to force his d-pawn through,
since Black would have firm control over the queening square.
25.Nb5 a6
26.d6! Rc2+
26...axb5 27.d7 Rd8 (27...Rc2+ 28.Kd3) 28.Bxb6 Nc6 29.Bxd8 Nxd8
30.Rd5 f6 (30...b4 31.Re5) 31.Rxb5 and White's a-pawn will decide
the issue.
27.Kd3 Rxa2?
After this it's easy.
28.d7 Nb7 29.Nc3 Rb2 30.Nd5 Rb5 31.Kc2 Bc5
32.Bh6!
Threatening Nf6+ and d8Q+.
32...f6 33.Nc7 resigns.
1-0
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Einar Gausel