(1) Gelfand,B (2737) - Polgar,Ju (2707) [E01]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (4), 15.01.2008
[Mihail Marin]



1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 [This move might have come as a surprize for Gelfand, since prior to this game Judit usually played 3...d5 here.]

4.Nf3 [There has been some intense theoretical and practical discussion at top level in the variation 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 b5 . White has been quite successful sofar and Gelfand himself had won a good game against Aronian in Mexico. By refraining from the advance of the d-pawn, he probably wanted to avoid Judit's specific preparation. It should be said that 4.Nf3 is part of Gelfand's repertoire, too.]

4...cxd4 5.Nxd4 d5 6.Bg2 e5 7.Nf3 d4 8.0-0 Nc6








The game had started as a Catalan, offered some hopes for a Benoni, transposed to the English opening instead and, finally, reached a position that is classified under Catalan ECO codes anyway! Could they not have come here straight somehow? What's even more weird is that, having prevented Judit for playing a Benoni structure, he has got a position that strongly resembles the reversed version of this opening! Just move the e2-pawn to d3 and you will understand what I mean...

9.e3 White is slightly better developed and has a strong light-squared bishop, but has to question Black's advanatge of space in order to avoid being just worse.

9...d3!? A courageous move. The pawn will remain cut from the rest of his colleagues, but will not be easy to eliminate.

10.Nc3 Bb4 11.Bd2 0-0 12.a3 Bxc3 13.Bxc3










13...Ne4!? An interesting pawn sacrifice for the initiative. If allowed to play Nd2 and b4, White would get good control on dark squares.

14.Bxe5 Bg4 15.Bd4 Ng5 16.Bc3 Rc8 17.b4 Re8








Black has more or less finished her development and has active play. Strategically, White has a nice position, but is confronted with the irritating problem of how to unpin his knight. Also, the far advanced pawn hinders the communication between White's opposite wings. The position is very sharp, with approximately equal chances for both sides.

18.h4 This is a radical solution to the Gordian knott, but now the kingside will remain weak.

18...Ne4 19.Bb2 Qd7 20.Qc1 d2 [The pawn becomes threatening. It was impossible to block while on d3 and even now it faces White with problems of coordination. Placing a rook in front of it would leave the knight pinned again. However, it would have also made sense to refrain from this new advance for the time being and play some strategically useful move such as 20...Bh3 . One should note that the mini-group formed by e4-knight and the d3-pawn create some sort of barrier for the white pieces (c3, c2, d2, e2), while after ...d2 the queen will get the possibility of being activated.]

21.Qc2 Bf5 22.Qb3 Be6 23.Qc2 Bf5










24.Qa4 Gelfand bravely decides to avoid the repetition, but sending the queen in a mission far from the centre is a bit risky.

24...Qd3 [Burning all the bridges behind... Before activating her play, Blac could have considered taking some preventive measures on the queenside with 24...a6 or 24...b6.]

25.b5 Nd8 26.Qxa7 Ne6








Black only needs one tempo to consolidate with ...N6c5, with crushing domination. White has to hurry.

27.g4!? Bxg4 28.Ne5 Qc2 29.Nxg4 Qxb2 30.Bxe4 Rxc4








White has won a piece, but his king is weak, the queen somewhat out of play and the d-pawn... alive!

31.Bf3? [This loses material. The only way to try questioning the corectness of Black's 24th move was 31.Rab1!? ]

31...Rc1! 32.Raxc1 dxc1Q 33.Rxc1 Qxc1+ 34.Kg2 h5








Black is an exchange up and has attacking chances. For a player of Judit's style, the rest must have been easy.

35.Nh2 Nc5 36.Bxb7 Qc2 37.Bd5 Qg6+ 38.Kh1 Nd3 39.Nf3 Nxf2+ 40.Kh2 Ng4+ 0-1