My thanks to former Irish international Brian Kerr who queries a couple of points from a recent column that examined the game Karjakin v Kamsky from the FIDE World Cup at Nalchik.

S Karjakin - G Kamsky

4th FIDE GP Nalchik

French Winawer

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 cxd4 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 Qc7 10.Ne2 Nbc6 11.f4 dxc3 12.Qd3 d4

Brian pointed out that from the position above my analysis ran: 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Qxd4 Bd7 (If 14...Nf5 15.Bb5+ Bd7 16.Qxd7+ Qxd7 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7 18.Kf2 White is a clear pawn up) 15.Rg1 Nf5 16.Qf2 Qc6 and Black has good play.But after the natural 17.Bd3 which develops and prevents Qe4+ it is hard to see how Black justifys his pawn sacrifice. However, Black can build up his position slowly because White's position lacks coordination and after 17...Qd5 18.Rb1 Bc6 Black's safer king, active queen and white square control give him reasonable chances I suspect. Here are some sample lines: 19.Rb3 0-0-0! giving up a second pawn 20.Rxc3 Kb8 21.Qc5 Rxg2 22.Qxd5 Rxg1+ 23.Kf2 Rdg8! (Threatening mate) 24.Qd8+ Rxd8 25.Kxg1 Rg8+ 26.Kf1 Nh4 and Black has enough play for a pawn. In this line 21.Bd2 Qa2 22.Qc5 Qa1+ 23.Kf2 Rxg2+! 24.Rxg2 Qd1! was good for Black in Gallagher-Nemet 1995. Perhaps 21.g3!? is best.

I also thought 13.Ng3 as played by Karjakin was a relatively new idea but this is not so and to prove the point Brian gave me a nice game he won in 1995 in which Ne2-g3 was played in a very similar position. Note how Black's pawn wedge on d4 and c3 prevents White's rook and bishop getting into the game and permits him to give up the exchange in what proved to be an inspired tactical oversight.

D Okike - B Kerr

London League 1995

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 Nbc6 11.f4 Bd7 12.Rb1 dxc3 13.Qd3 d4

(13...0-0-0? 14.Nxc3 a6 15.Qxa6! is the clever point of 12.Rb1)

14.Ng3 0-0-0 15.Be2 Nf5 16.Nxf5 exf5 17.Bf3 Rg6 18.Kf2 f6! 19.Re1 Re8!? 20.Bh5 Rgg8 21.Bxe8 Rxe8 22.exf6 Rxe1 23.Kxe1 Qd6 24.Qb5 b6 25.Qa6+ Kc7 26.f7 Qe7+ 27.Qe2 Qxf7 28.Rb5 Be6

(Black is better now)

29.Rb4 Qf6 30.Rb1 Ba2 31.Ra1 Bd5 32.a4 Be4 33.Ba3

(33.a5!?)

33...Qe6 34.Kf2 Qh6 35.Kg1 Qxf4 36.Bc1?! Qg4!

(White must exchange queens or lose c2 but it falls later)

37.Qxg4 fxg4 38.Bf4+ Kd7 39.Rc1 Ke6 40.h3 gxh3 41.gxh3 Nb4

(Creating two connected passed pawns)

42.h4 Bxc2 43.h5 Nd3 44.Rxc2 Nxf4 45.h6 d3 46.h7

(46.Rxc3 d2)

46...dxc2 47.h8Q c1Q+ 48.Kf2 Qd2+ 49.Kf3 Nd5 50.Qc8+ Kd6 51.Qf8+ Kc6 52.Qe8+ Kb7 53.Qf7+ Nc7 54.Qe7 c2 55.Qe4+ Qd5 0-1

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