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(875532) Kasparov,G (2851) - Leko,P (2725) [B33]
Corus 2000 Wijk aan Zee (11), 28.01.2000
[Rohde]
1.e4 Kasparov likes to mix up his openings. Here he plays 1 e4. 1...c5 The Sicilian Defense. 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 When facing the Sicilian, Kasparov always plays the Open Sicilian. 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 Leko plays the super-sharp Sveshnikov Variation against Kasparov. 6.Ndb5 The variation 6 Nf5 d5 is not particularly effective for White. 6...d6 This stops the check on d6. 7.Bg5 The main line. Positional alternatives for White designed to avoid most of the complications are 7 a4 and 7 Nd5. 7...a6 The knight has to be chased away right now. 8.Na3 The move 8 Bxf6 is considered inaccurate as then after 8 ... gxf6 9 Na3 Black has the move 9 ... f5! as well as the sacrifice 9 ... d5. 8...b5 Sticking to the main line. A thorny alternative is 8 ... Be6. 9.Bxf6 The sharper way. 9 Nd5 is Karpvo's line. 9...gxf6 9 ... Qxf6 10 Nd5 Qd8 11 c4 is good for White. 10.Nd5 f5 A modern sub-variation is 10 ... Bg7 with a very quick ... Nc6-e7. 11.c3 Bg7 11 c3 was a little trick - 11 ... fxe4 12 Bxb5 axb5 13 Nxb5 is very good for White. 12.exf5 Bxf5 13.Nc2 Be6 The fight begins over control of d5. 14.a4 Combining play on the queenside with the kingside light-square battle. In this line it isfelt that Black cannot worry about this. Instead of 13 ... Be6, 13 ... Rb8 would forestall this but then White would just play Nce3. 14...0-0 Tactically defending the threatened pawn. 15.axb5 This saddles Black with an isolated b-pawn but the position is wide open. 15...axb5 16.Rxa8 White needs to keep his queen where it is, controlling the center. 16...Qxa8 The b-pawn is not in danger as 17 Bxb5? would be met by 17 ... Nd4! 17.Nce3 Qb7 On 17 ... f5, White would not play 18 Bxb5 f4. Instead he would play the positional move 18 f4 himself. 18.g4 To control the light squares, radically prevent the move ... f7-f5 and prepare a possible fianchetto opposing his own bishop against the enemy queen. I am not sure whether Leko would have been better off playing the dynamic 17 ... f5 instead of the defensive 17 ... Qb7. 18...Ne7 The exchange of a pair of knights in this kind of position is necessary sooner or later to start breaking up White's grip on d5 and f5. 19.Bg2 Black may respond to this with 19 ... Nxd5 20 Nxd5 Kh8 so as not to have to lose time with his queen at the moment. 19...Nxd5 20.Bxd5 Angling for a knight- against-bishop scenario but this is not generally enough for a big edge. Kasparov must have felt that 20 Nxd5 Kh8 with ... f7-f5 to follow was not good enough. 20...Qe7 It will be very difficult for Kasparov to make anything concrete out of this position. 21.h4 Denying this square to the Black queen. The advance of the g- and h-pawns is positionally sound as it comports with White having an outpost on d5, but at the same time it is not very threatening. 21...Rc8 The rook activates itself to participate in the central battle. 22.g5 Now White can castle behind these pawns if he needs to. 22...Rc5 The rook settles on a nice spot. From here it powerfully influences d5, guards the b5 pawn, and cannot be budged by White's pieces as the e3 knight is not in touch with c5, while b2-b4 always weakens the c-pawn. 23.Be4 This move eyes h7 meaningfully as Qd1-h5 is threatened thanks to White's advanced kingside pawns. 23...d5 A necessary, but quite thematic, pawn sacrifice in the Sveshnikov Variation and no cause for alarm. He has to get the White bishop away from pointing at h7, and meanwhile White is forced to lose time while Black opens the position for his own dark-squared bishop. 24.Nxd5 He cannot do 24 Bxd5? Bxd5 25 Nxd5 Qb7. 24...Bxd5 This move establishes opposite-colored bishops. This is why the sharp Sveshnikov often can become drawish. 25.Bxd5 e4 The clearly thematic followup to the d-pawn sacrifice. WHite's bishop is denied the e4 square, the dark- squared long diagonal is opened up, possibly for a disabling break with ... b5- b4, the move ... e4-e3 becomes an idea, and the Black queen gets use of the e5 square. 26.Ke2 Daring! 26 ... e4-e3 is stopped, but Kasparov needs to make sure that no annoying checks occur on the kingside light squares as well. 26...Qe5 Black would not get anything out of 26 ... Qd7 27 Bxe4. 27.Bb3 Qc7 Leko decides not to peruse the kingside with 27 ... Qf5 because of 28 Qd8+ Bf8 29 Qf6! Instead, he covers the d8 checking square and stops Qd1-d7, as well as guarding f7. 28.Qg1 Kasparov has retained a pull here as he is managing to generate his own threats while containing Leko's, even while he also keeps the extra pawn. Now the ideas are Qg1-g4 or h4-h5 and g5-g6. Meanwhile, 28 ... Qd6 can be met by 29 Rh3 and 28 ... Qd7 accomplishes nothing due to 29 Qg3. 28...b4 Leko needs to open up space on the queenside. 29 cxb4 runs into 29 ... Rc2+! 29.g6 With the c-file being ripped open, Kasparov cannot wait on this. 29...hxg6 30.Qxg6 Kf8 Definitely not 30 ... bxc3?? 31 Rg1. 31.Qg3 This move is basically a draw offer. It turned out that 28 ... b4 was quite an equalizer. 31...Qxg3 Exchanging queens to win back the pawn is the most sensible course. 32.fxg3 bxc3 33.bxc3 Rxc3 Neither one of these proud players wants to offer the draw. 34.Bd5 Leko is thinking about playing 34 ... e3 with the idea of ... Bg7-d4 but White has play also with 35 Rf1. 34...Rxg3 The players agreed to a draw here. 1/2-1/2
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