London Rd9: Gelfand loses, Mamedyarov takes the lead

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix - London 2012"] [Site "London"] [Date "2012.10.01"] [Round "9"] [White "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2754"] [BlackElo "2738"] [Annotator "Ramirez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventCountry "ENG"] {Let us not forget that Gelfand eliminated Grischuk in the finals of the Candidate's Matches last year to play Anand for the World Championship. Judging by this game, Grischuk certainly has not forgotten!} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Back when the Sveshnikov was a big deal this used to be one of the many ways to try to avoid it and still get an edge. The point of developing the knight on c3 and not the one on f3 is that White still retains the possibility to push f4 in a given circumstance, so Bxc6 is a positional threat, which isn't necessarily the case with Nf3.} Nd4 4. Nf3 e6 5. O-O a6 6. Bd3 Nc6 $5 (6... Ne7 {was Gelfand's choice against Vallejo in the Olympiad.}) 7. Be2 { "threatening" to transpose to a normal Paulsen Sicilian after d4!} Nd4 8. Bd3 Nc6 9. b3 d6 10. Bb2 Nf6 11. Re1 Be7 $6 {I actually don't like this move. In most cases the e5 break shouldn't bring White anything, but it does free up some of his pieces, namely the bishops. It was more solid to simply closed down that center.} (11... Qc7 $5) (11... e5 $5) 12. e5 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Bd7 14. Ne4 Nxe5 15. Bxe5 {It's become obvious that White has a little bit of pressure, but I wouldn't be surprised that with exact play Black can neutralize it.} Bc6 16. Qf3 $1 {This temporary pin allows Grischuk to maneouver his queen to an attacking square on the kingside.} Rc8 (16... O-O 17. Nxf6+ Bxf6 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Qh5 g6 20. Qxc5 {Costs a pawn, and although the computers think it's compensated it looks pretty free to me.}) 17. Re3 $1 {Grischuk's play was super powerful. I don't think I would've looked at this move twice, but the more I consider it, the stronger it becomes.} b5 (17... Nd5 18. Qg3 $1 $40) ( 17... h6 18. Rae1 O-O 19. Qg3 $14) (17... h5 $5) 18. Rae1 c4 {loses a pawn. Gelfand miscalculated the consequences of White's attack at the end.} 19. bxc4 bxc4 20. Bxf6 Bxe4 21. Rxe4 Bxf6 (21... cxd3 22. Bxe7 Qxe7 23. Qxd3 $14) 22. Bxc4 Qxd2 $2 (22... O-O $1 {Should've forced Grischuk to show a great deal of technique in converting this game. With his king safe, White's only advantage is his extra pawn, which is very far from being converted. Not only that, now the opposite colored bishops work in Black's favor.}) 23. Bxe6 $1 {Grischuk doesn't forgive. This pretty move gains a strong advantage.} fxe6 24. Rxe6+ Kd7 $2 (24... Kf7 25. Qh5+ $1 g6 26. Qf3 $1 {This is the 'point' if you will. Now Black cannot defend against both the hanging bishop on f6 and the queen check on b7 which costs the c8 rook. Maybe Black is 'only' down a pawn, but with his weak king on top of that its hard to survive.}) 25. Qg4 {The nude king will not live long against an onslaught by the coordinated major pieces.} Kc7 26. Qc4+ Kd7 27. Qa4+ Kd8 28. Qxa6 Kd7 29. Qb5+ Kd8 30. Re8+ {The super solid Gelfand is not dismantled like this every day. Kudos to Grischuk for playing such nice and unusual moves like Qf3! and Re3!} (30. Re8+ Rxe8 31. Rxe8+ Kc7 32. Qc5+ {And the rook falls with check, with mate following soon after.}) 1-0