Kamsky – Gelfand (game 3)
Will Gata open with 1.e4 or 1.d4?
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 (The most popular line here is c3. 5.Nc3 and 5.Be2 have also been played many times. Not a very agressive opening choice but of course the London system is very playable.)
5.Bb5 (A rare move but has been played. But Gata spent around 20 minutes for this move.)
5…cxd4 (I don’t recall of seeing any game with this move. I have seen 5…Bg4 or Qa5+ or Qb6. It looks like a reasonable move. I think the idea of 5.Bb5 is to throw the opening book and theories out the window since Gata is not so strong in the openings anyway.)
6.exd4 (6.Nxd4 is also playable)
6…Qa5+ 7.Nc3 Bg4 8.0–0 e6 = 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Rc8 (Not much is happening really. White has a Bishop pair and faster development. In spite of this, because of the Knight on c3 which potentially could be a target, the position is equal. The bad news is Gata is down to less than 40 minutes on his clock for 30 moves. The good news is this position, not much will happen so finding safe moves won’t be that hard. It is just harder to find a lethal plan.)
11.Rfd1 Be7 12.Bf1 0–0 13.Ne2 b5 14.c3 = (Black’s plan is obvious, the c3 pawn and c semi open file. White’s plan is harder to come up with.)
14…b4 15.Qd3 Qb6 16.cxb4 Nxb4 17.Qb3 Ne4 18.a3 Nc6 19.Qxb6 axb6 20.b4 (I do not like this move. I prefer 20.Rac1. It is a lot safer, especially when Gata was in severe time pressure.)
20…g5 21.Be3 Nd6 22.Nc1 f5 23.Nb3 Nc4 24.b5 Nd8 25.a4 Nb7 26.Bc1 f4 27.Be2 Bb4 28.Ra2 Nbd6 29.Bd3 (I think 29.Bd2 is much better. This would help clear up his position.)
29…Ra8 30.Kf1?? (Making a bad position worse. His position simply falls apart here.)
30…Nxb5 31.Rc2 Nbd6 32.Bd2? (Too little too late. This should have been player several moves ago. As a basic rule of thumb of chess, don’t exchange pieces when behind in materials. The rest is just a matter of techniques and Gelfand is very sound technically.)
32…Rxa4 33.Bxb4 Rxb4 34.Nc1 Nf5 35.Bxf5 Rxf5 36.Nd3 Rb3 37.Ra2 Rf7 38.Ke2 Nd6 39.Rda1 Nb5 40.Kd2 Nxd4 41.Rc1 Rb5 42.Rc8+ Rf8 43.Rc7 Ra5 44.Rb2 Rf7 45.Rc8+ Kg7 46.Ne5 Rb7 47.h4 gxh4 48.Rb4 Ra2+ 49.Kd3 Nf5 50.Rxf4 Rba7 51.Rc3 R7a3 52.Rxa3 Rxa3+ 53.Ke2 b5 54.Rg4+ Kf6 55.Nd3 Ra8 56.Kd2 e5 57.Rb4 e4 58.Nc5 Rg8 Black wins 0-1
A disappointing loss for Gata. He simply wasted too much time in the opening and this costed him the game. I hope he can bounce back.
1.d4
>Will Gata open with 1.e4 or 1.d4?
Yes.
If he’s ready to risk, he may try 1.g4!? – The Gee opening, which had brought many victories to top level players. If not ready to risk, my guess is that Gata will play 1.d4.
c4
Hello Susan and greetings from Israel!
Gata for sure will play 1. d4, as he can’t allow Gelfand to play the Najdorf or any other sharp Sicilian line.
I also think that Gelfand will push in this game, in spite of playing black. He’s tired of the draws, already.
Of course, as an Israeli, I’m a fun of Boris.
YEVLEV.
d4 seems a better idea than e4 against Gelfand.
Lets’s ask him!?
“Kamsky – Gelfand (g3)”
Since it is “g3”, white will play g3!! And win!!!
Mr. Gata needs as many well-wishers today as can be. Let’s give him all our support!
Does kamsky seriously believe he can become world champion without any kind of opening preparartion?
kamsky and gelfand are taking too long in the opening…especially boris’ 5th move…isnt this theory?
aronian – shirov is getting wild! griscuk – rubvlesky interesting sicilian game..bareev too weak…grischuk is some talent, he’ll be a force to reckon in mexico! hope shirov gets another chance!
who am i to question kamsky with my elo being 2071, but still it seems to me that he has already let black equalise,
if your going to play the london, you have to delay nf3, play bf4 before, so you can play c3/c4 after playing e3,
by already playing nf3, it makes it too easy for black to equalise
what do you think susan??
it’s unbelievable, the course of this game.
I don’t know if Kamsky’s attempt to deviate Gelfand (an excellent theoretician) from well known lines will bring him success, but i reckon it is going to be tough for Boris Gelfand.
All other games are much more interesting than Gata’s.
We are eager to see Susan’s comments on those games.
i notice you put = sign after 8…e6,
this relates to my earlier point about how to play the london…
i know kamskys openings aren’t 2750 standard, but still this suprises me
76 minutes for 9 boring moves – gata must be on benzos.
After move 10. Qxf3, Gata now ahead in development and has the Bishop pair.
White is fine here so far.
bishop pair yes, but black has no weakness
Thanks Susan. We’re really excited.
Your support last year really helped our project. People involved felt they were involved in something ‘BIG’, which was good for morale across our whole community!
I’m no great chess player- but I enjoy developing projects that engage kids. This has been a lot of fun. See you in Scotland.
Who cares what Fritz thinks.
You have a brain, try using it.
How does a grandmaster get to a point where he has to make 30 moves in 40 minutes? This has always confounded me.
Did Leko miss 23.f4 (instead of 23.Ba4) ?
Jerry,
Are you familiar with Reshevsky? From what I have read, he would consume large amounts of time in the opening on purpose for 2 reasons: First of all, the opening was his weakest phase of the game. Second, because his opponents often had extreme difficulty dealing with his late-game blitzing.
I’m not sure if Kamsky is employing this strategy on purpose, but some people tend to work better under pressure.
Jerry,
In this specific case, Kamsky is probably confident he can make several quick moves becuase of the nature of the position is such that there are not many complications. Therefore, taking his time and exhausting all posibilities at this phase of the game is good game management.
It is bad chess to think you can ‘save time’ for later in the game. You never ar esure there will be a ‘later’.
kamsky is down to only 18 minutes for 25 moves. not a good prospect..
sorry guys, ambitious gata will lose on time! go boris!
Hello Everyone from sunny Wales !
Shouldn’t Gelfand have played 4…, Qb6 to force some move to protect or sacrifice the pawn on b2 ? Is Kamsky’s odd 5.Bb5 an attempt to take advantage of this as well as avoid theory ? If the times on the Global Chess site are correct, Kamsky is already in time trouble with only 14 minutes left for 25 moves ! He’s really impressed me up to this game but I much prefer Black’s position after the 15 moves that have been played. Come on Gata, get moving !
20 moves and three minutes on the clock…huh gata…?
spent 30 secs after gelfand played 20… g5…. now 19 moves and 2.30 mins…
I’m not optimistic about Kamsky’s chances to hold. His pieces are tied in knots and he only has 2.5 minutes for 19 moves. Ugh.
kamsky is blitzing his moves now…crazy..anything can happen…
Obviously anything can happen in 13 moves, but supposing Kamsky manages to blitz his way to the time control, how much worse will he be?
74 secs for 11 moves, he’ll probably make the time control but his position is already bad and will probably be a disaster after the time control
actually the wheels are coming off kamsky now…dropping pawns…
there goes another pawn…its lost now…
14 secs left for 6 moves…!
gelfand is blitzing too in a won position although he has lots of time left…smart play
gata made the time control but dropped three pawns in the last 10 moves…i think he’ll resign now…
No he plays on!
This is interesting–Kamsky must be much worse, but he’s got that rook on b3 hemmed in, and his own rooks can go to the 7th or 8th (depending on where the other black rook moves) without freeing the b3 rook–some ideas with rooks to a8, c8, and the knight to e5…there’s certainly the potential for counterplay if Gelfand isn’t careful. But 3 pawns down is a lot. Kamsky needs a knockout.
Kamsky just decided to sac a pawn being three pawns down! He really should resign now and lose with dignity.
He’s stretched the game out to 55 moves so far, but, really, Kamsky was lost after move number 5 because he’d already burned so much time off the clock.
Well Gata has regained the pawn. Wasn’t really a sac, but it didn’t help him anyways. Gata plays allright with the black pieces but his repertoire with white is less than convincing. He plays very passively.
>>James said…
Jerry,
Are you familiar with Reshevsky? From what I have read, he would consume large amounts of time in the opening on purpose…>>
Yeah, if Reshevsky could become World Champion without an opening repertoire, so can Kamsky.
Ok so it seems pretty clear that Kamsky needs to work on having some semblance of an opening repetoire–and that probably means having a secodnd or two in the future. Seconds don’t have to be American, of course, but who are our best theoreticians? Kamsky’s clearly strong enough to make a lot of noise if he gets has the right supprt and background–who should we try to draft as his cornermen?
Anonymous @ 12:36:
Reshevsky was never the World Champion. He was, however, world class and a many-time U.S. Chess Champion.
Nobody can take a 10 year holiday from chess and come back to beat Gelfand in a match. Kamsky is not strong enough, American passport or not.
Great result 🙂
Hi,
Gata has lost, Gelfand has not won.
Rgds
Pony.
Kamsky needs to sleep while his seconds find good opening play. I bet he was up all night looking for a way to beat Gelfand and then he slept at the board.
I am upset with today’s action.
USCF should be ashamed of itself. But it cares for nothing but its selfish self. Throw the bums out susan. You have my vote.
This guy Gelfand is quite ominous behind the black pieces, isn’t he!
For Kamski supporters not a worrying time just yet, it seems just a bad day at the office.
I recommended 20.Rac1 on ICC myself; someone else pointed out the strength of 20…Na5.