(2) Kramnik,V (2751) - Kasparov,G (2830) [D85]
BGN World Chess Championship (2), 10.10.2000
[Mig]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 And here we are in the ultra-topical line of the Grunfeld Exchange. I'm sure neither player was surprised to be here. This has been played by both players before and is one of the most complicated battlegrounds in the world of opening preparation. 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 Bg4 10.Rb1 This was the first move that caused the GMs and journalists in the press room to turn on their databases! This aggressive move, instead of 10.Rc1, has been played a few times, but is far from being the main line. Kasparov himself faced the 10.Rc1 variation against American GM Yermolinsky in Wijk aan Zee last year and the Champion won handily. [10.Rc1 Bxf3 (10...0-0 11.Ng5 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Nc6 14.d5 Na5 15.Bd3 h6 16.h3 Bd7 17.Nf3 e6 18.Bc5 Rfe8 19.Bb4 exd5 20.exd5 b6 21.Rc7 Rad8 22.Re1 Rxe1 23.Kxe1 1/2-1/2 Yermolinsky,A-Svidler,P/Wijk aan Zee NED 1999 (23)) 11.gxf3 e6 12.d5 exd5 13.exd5 Nd7 14.c4 Qb6 15.Bh3 f5 16.0-0 Qd6 17.Bf4 Be5 18.Rfe1 0-0-0 19.Bxe5 Nxe5 20.Qc3 Rhe8 21.Re3 Qf6 22.f4 Nd7 23.Bg2 Qxc3 24.Rcxc3 Nf6 25.Bf3 Rxe3 26.fxe3 Rd6 27.Ra3 Kb8 28.Rb3 Ra6 29.a3 Ne8 30.e4 fxe4 31.Bxe4 Nd6 32.Bd3 Ra4 33.Rc3 Kc7 34.Kf2 b5 35.cxb5 Kb6 36.Ke3 c4 37.Bc2 Nxb5 38.Bxa4 Nxc3 39.Be8 Kc5 40.d6 Nd5+ 41.Ke4 Nf6+ 42.Ke3 Kxd6 43.Bf7 Kc5 44.h4 Ng4+ 45.Kd2 Kd4 46.h5 gxh5 47.Bxh5 Nf6 0-1 Yermolinsky,A-Kasparov,G/Wijk aan Zee NED 1999 (47)] 10...a6 [10...Bxf3 11.gxf3 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Nc6 14.d5 0-0-0 15.Ba6 bxa6 16.Rhc1 Rd6 17.Ke2 Kc7 18.Bc5 Kd7 19.Rb7+ Kc8 20.Bxd6 Kxb7 21.dxc6+ Kb6 22.Bxe7 Rc8 23.Bc5+ Kb5 24.Bxa7 Rxc6 25.a4+ 1-0 Rivas Pastor,M-Georgiev,K/Plovdiv 1984/MCD (25); 10...cxd4 11.cxd4 Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 0-0 13.Rxb7 Nc6 14.d5 Rfd8 15.Bd3 f5 16.Rc1 Rac8 17.Ng5 fxe4 18.Bxe4 h6 19.f3 Bf5 20.Nh3 e6 21.Nf4 g5 22.Bxf5 exf5 23.Rxg7+ Kh8 24.Rxc6 1-0 Nemeth,M-Zimmersmann,R/HUN-ch (Women) 1992/EXT 97 (24)] 11.Rxb7 And this is the real novelty, believe it or not! Any patzer would take this undefended pawn, but GM Jan Timman of Holland played the more passive 11.Rb3 and soon had the worse of things in a game against Ivanchuk in 1992. [11.Rb3 b5 12.d5 Nd7 13.c4 b4 14.Qc2 Qc7 15.Nd2 Nb6 16.f4 a5 17.Bd3 a4 18.Rb1 g5 19.f5 Be5 20.h3 Bg3+ 21.Kf1 Bh5 22.e5 Qxe5 23.Ne4 Qxf5+ 24.Kg1 Qe5 25.Bxc5 b3 26.axb3 Nd7 27.Ba3 axb3 28.Rxb3 Qa1+ 29.Qb1 Rxa3 30.Rxa3 Qxa3 31.Nxg3 Bg6 32.Qb7 0-0 33.Qxd7 Qxd3 34.Kh2 h5 35.Re1 h4 36.Nf1 Qxc4 37.Qxe7 Qf4+ 38.Kg1 Rb8 39.d6 Qd4+ 40.Kh2 Qf4+ 41.Kg1 Qd4+ 42.Kh2 1/2-1/2 Timman,J-Ivanchuk,V/Linares 1992/CBM 28 (42)] 11...Bxf3 12.gxf3 Nc6 13.Bc4 0-0 Kasparov prepares to abandon the e7 pawn and gets his king to safety. You can't play the Grunfeld if you care too much for pawns! Activity is far more important in this opening, unless of course one of those pawns turns into a winning passer! 14.0-0 cxd4 15.cxd4 Bxd4 16.Bd5 Bc3!? Wow! This aggressive move shocked the crowd. Kasparov could have swapped queens and gone directly into an endgame, but instead plays this sharp move. [16...Qxd2 17.Bxd2] 17.Qc1 Nd4 18.Bxd4 Bxd4 19.Rxe7 Okay, now White has his extra pawn and Black has an opposite-colored bishop endgame with decent drawing chances. One of the keys to the rest of the game is that the black bishop never finds a safe home. 19...Ra7 20.Rxa7 Bxa7 21.f4 Qd8 This looks a little passive and the shift to the kingside just doesn't slow White's pawns down enough. 22.Qc3 [22.Qc4 The move expected by many observers, particularly the computers!] 22...Bb8 23.Qf3 Qh4 24.e5 g5 25.Re1 Qxf4 26.Qxf4 gxf4 Kasparov has regained the pawn, but only for a moment. Look at the difference in power between the white and black pieces. Kramnik's next wins a pawn and makes his pieces even more active. It's possible that Black is already objectively lost here. 27.e6 fxe6 28.Rxe6 Kg7 Stepping out of the discovered check. 29.Rxa6 White is back to a pawn advantage, but more importantly it's going to be very hard for Kasparov to activate his pieces. The black bishop is hemmed in by the f4 pawn and it won't be easy for Black to establish an effective blockade of the a-pawn runner. 29...Rf5 30.Be4 Re5 31.f3 Re7 32.a4 Ra7 Kasparov had been depending on this move, but Kramnik keeps the rooks on the board as he must. A bishops-only ending would be a clear draw. 33.Rb6 Be5 34.Rb4 Rd7 35.Kg2 Rd2+ 36.Kh3 h5 Stopping the white king from infiltrating but now the h-pawn is another potential weakness. 37.Rb5 Kf6 38.a5 Ra2 At this point several GMs thought that black was on the verge of escaping. His rook is behind the pawn, following Tarrasch's maxim, and it won't be easy for White to make progress. But Kasparov was down to one minute for his final moves. 39.Rb6+ Ke7?? WHAT?! A shocking blunder from the world champion, losing in one move! Kasparov had one minute on his clock and had to make two moves to make the time control at move 40. 39...Kg7 was forced as this loses to a relatively simple double attack. 40.Bd5 And that's the end. The bishop simultaneously attacks the a2 rook and threatens a rook check on e6 winning the bishop! Not something Kasparov would usually miss even on a bad day. If he plays 40.Re2 protecting the bishop, the a-pawn runs down the board unhindered. 1-0