Game of the Century Revisited

"The Game of the Century" (with JavaScript gameboard) is revisited at ChessBase, which has posted the wonderful section of Frank Brady's Endgame that tells the story of Fischer's famous masterpiece (with some great pictures not in that book), accompanied by GM Sergey Shipov's first-rate annotations of the game.  See "Frank Brady's Endgame: Review and Webliography" for my comments on Dr. Brady's masterpiece, which I heartily recommend. 

Cavewoman!

White to play.

I have annotated the game Lahno - Khotenashvili, European Women's Individual Championship, Tbilisi 2011.  It received passing reference from Malcolm Pein and was brought to my attention by Caveman aficionado Michelangelooo.  It is a pleasure to see GM Kateryna Lahno playing the Caveman Caro-Kann, which I have written about here a number of times.  GM Lahno may be the highest rated player to have used this tricky line, which invites her opponent to chase after a Rook with her Queen at the risk of falling into a wooly mammoth trap in the process.  Though Khotenashvili did not test her preparation fully, Lahno played a very nice game and concluded things in stunning fashion (see diagram above).  Previous pieces on the Caveman Caro-Kann include:

• The Caveman Caro-Kann
• Caveman Redux
• Caveman Blitz
• Caveman Sighted at Hastings

Candidates Ends and It Will Be Gelfand vs Anand

I never would have predicted that Boris Gelfand would win the FIDE Candidates matches to decide the World Championship challenger.  He will now play Vishinathan Anand in 2012.  His final game against Grischuk may have been the best game of the entire Candidates cycle and it has already been widely annotated.  I will post additional links and video as it becomes available.

• Lubomir Kavalek, "It's Anand vs Gelfand for the World Chess Crown" in Huffington Post
• Alejandro Ramirez, "FIDE Candidates Finals: Gelfand Wins Right to Challenge Anand in 2012" at ChessBase
• Dennis Monokroussos, "Gelfand's Game Six Win over Grischuk" from The Chess Mind
• Sergey Shipov, "Candidates Matches Final, Game Six" translated from Crestbook
• Peter Doggers, "Gelfand Beats Grischik, Wins Candidates" at ChessVibes

Winning with a Forced Draw in the Petroff

Black to play after 6.Nxf7!?

I have annotated the game Mangion - Kernighan, KCC Quads 2011, which featured the Petroff line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5.  I have previously analyzed 5.dxe5 in my "Anti-Petroff Repertoire with d4."  However, 5.Nxe5 is the more popular move, and though it leads to more symmetrical positions it can be very sharp and interesting.  Kernighan's response 5...Nd7 was recently analyzed in "Plugging Away at the Petroff" (Chess Life, March 2011), where Andy Soltis told how the famed Harvard economist Ken Rogoff developed the line, which theory had previously frowned upon, and helped make it the most popular response to 5.Nxe5.  Soltis also points out that Mangion's surprising 6.Nxf7!? (shades of The Cochrane Gambit) was first played in Zaitsev - Karpov, Leningrad 1966 (a "GM draw" frequently repeated, including in a 2009 US Championship game).  

Mangion had looked over these lines and felt secure in being able to force a draw with 6.Nxf7!? against his higher rated opponent.  After 6....Kxf7 (Karpov's 6....Qe7! is probably more interesting -- see my annotations) 7.Qh5+ Ke6!? 8.Qe2 (threatening f3 to regain the piece with attack), Kernighan likely should have chosen 8...Kf7 when White simply repeats with 9.Qh5+ etc. splitting the point.  Instead, he chose the more "principled" but losing continuation 8....Kd6? when followed a typical Kernighan king walk and speedy victory for Mangion.

With his win over NM Kernighan, Mangion (rated 1971) has beaten two masters in as many weeks (having defeated KCC Champion Ken Chieu in the first game of the quad).  If he has success in his final game, he should break the 2000 rating barrier.

Fun with Don and Arnold

Don Carrelli has posted an excellent video at the Kenilworth Kibitzer, which includes commentary by Arnold Schwarzeneger.  How Arnold found time to comment on chess with all that he's going through this week I'll never know....