1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 Re8 10. a4 h6 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. c3 12. Nf1 Na5 13. Ba2 d5 14. Bd2 dxe4 15. dxe4 b4 16. Ng3 c5 17. c3 bxc3 18. Bxc3 Bruzon-Onischuk, Khanty Mansyisk 2005 12... Na5 13. Bc2 13. Ba2 c5 14. Nb3 Nxb3 (14... Nc6 15. Be3 d6 16. Nbd2 d5 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Ne4 Nxe3 19. Rxe3 Na5 20. Nfd2 Rc8 21. axb5 axb5 22. Rf3 c4 23. Nf6+! happened in Akopian-Adams, Oakham 1992) 15. Bxb3 Qc7 16. c4 bxc4 17. Bxc4 d5 18. exd5 Bxd5 19. Bxd5 Nxd5 20. Bd2 Rad8 21. Qc2 Qd6 1/2-1/2, Akopian-Tkachiev, Enghien les Bains 2001 13... c5 Svidler's set-up is some sort of hybrid of the Zaitsev and Chigorin Defence. 14. d4 14. Nh2 d5 15. Ng4 d4 16. cxd4 cxd4 17. Nf1 Nxg4 18. Qxg4 Qc8 19. Bd1 Qxg4 20. hxg4 Mokry-Berzinsh, Olomouc 1997 14... cxd4 15. cxd4 exd4 16. e5 White shouldn't go for 16. Nxd4 because 16... Qb6 is annoying. The e4 pawn is heavily attacked so Nd2 can't really move. After 17. Nf5 the simple 17... g6 is better for Black. 16... Nd5 17. Nxd4 Nb4!? Sacrificing a pawn to obtain the bishop pair. 18. axb5 Anand goes for it. Possible was also 18. Be4 18... Nxc2 19. Qxc2 axb5 20. Nxb5 Qb6 It seems Bla ck has excellent compensation. White needs some time to finish his development. 21. Nc3 Qc6 22. Nf3 Nc4 23. Rxa8 Bxa8 24. Bf4 Bb4 25. Qb3 Ba5 26. Rc1 Qe6 27. Ne1 It's interesting to know why Anand refrained from the more active 27. Nd4 Qa6 (27... Qg6 28. f3) 28. Nce2! Rc8 (28... Bd5? 29. Qd3 (threatening 30.b3) 29... Qg6 30. Qxg6 fxg6 31. b3 Nb6 32. Rc5 Bb4 33. Rb5) 29. Nf5 and White is ready to attack. 27... Bc6 28. Ne2 Returning the pawn to get rid of some of the pressure, but it seems like Black wins two pawns by force, instead of one. 28... Nxe5 29. Qxe6 Rxe6 30. Nd4 30. Nc3 f6 with equal material but unequal position! 30... Bxe1 31. Rxe1 Nd3 32. Nxe6 Nxe1 33. Nd4 Nd3 34. Bd6 Nxb2 The opposite coloured bishops and the fact that there's so little material, makes this ending very hard to win for Black. 35. f3 Nc4 36. Bb4 h5 37. Kf2 f6 38. Nf5 Ne5 39. Bc3 Kf7 40. Nd6+ Ke7 41. Nf5+ Kf8 42. Ke3 g6 43. Nd6 Ke7 44. Bb4 g5 45. Nc4+ Ke6 46. Nxe5 fxe5 47. Bd2 1/2-1/2

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. O-O Nc6 7. e3 Bd7 8. Qe2 8. Nc3 Nd5 9. Nd2 Nb6 10. Qe2 Na5 11. Nde4 Be7 12. Nc5 Bc6 13. Bxc6+ Nxc6 14. Nxb7 Qc8 15. Nc5 O-O 16. N5a4 Nb4 17. Bd2 Rd8 18. a3 Nc6 19. Rac1 Rb8 20. Rfd1 e5 21. Nxb6 cxb6 22. Qxc4 exd4 23. Ne4 dxe3 24. Bxe3 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Qb7 26. Rc1 Ne5 27. Qc7 f6 28. Qxb7 1/2-1/2, Kramnik-Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2007 8... b5 9. Rd1 Be7 10. Nc3 A somewhat unusual move. 10... O-O 10... Rb8 11. e4 O-O 12. Bf4 Re8 13. Ne5 h6 14. Nxf7!? Kxf7 15. e5 Kg8 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Qh5 Nxd4 18. Be5 Bxe5 19. Qxe5 Nf5 Davies-Chandler, Brimingham 1999 10... Nd5 11. a4 O-O 12. axb5 Nxc3 13. bxc3 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. d5 exd5 16. Rxd5 Qe8 Beliavsky-Akopian, Pula 1997 11. Ne5 Qe8 12. b3 Nd5 Black decides to return the pawn and sacrifice another one, to be released from the pressure. 13. Bxd5 exd5 14. Nxd5 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Ra7 16. bxc4 c6 17. Nf4 Qc8 18. Bb2 g5 Magnus thought he was OK here. 19. e4? This sacrifice is not correct, but Aronian missed Black's 20th move. 19... gxf4 20. gxf4 f5! 21. Qe3 Rb7 22. Qg3+ Kf7 23. Qh3 Here Aronian offered a draw. Magnus took a lot of time but then decided to continue. 23... Ke8 24. Qh5+ Rf7 25. Kh1 fxe4 26. Rg1 Bf5 27. Rad1 Black is winning here after two different moves. 27... Rd7? Magnus discarded 27... Bg6 28. Rxg6 hxg6 29. Qxg6 because he missed the move 29... Qh3! 27... Bf8 was also good. 28. e6! This nice move was missed by Carlsen. White now escapes with a perpetual. 28... Bxe6 29. Rg8+ Bf8 30. Rxf8+ Kxf8 31. Qh6+ Ke7 1/2-1/2

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Much more quiet than 7.Nb3 but it contains some poison. Some fresh new poison, in this game! 7... Be7 8. Bc4 O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bxe6 This move had never been played before by strong players. 10... fxe6 11. Na4 A whole new concept that will make 7.Nf3 even more popular than it already is. All Najdorf afficianados have worktodo! 11. Qe2 was played in Hammer-Ekeberg, Oslo 2006 11... Ng4 The main idea is that 11... Nbd7? fails to 12. Ng5 And 11... Nxe4? doesn't seem possible either: 12. Nb6 Ra7 13. Qd3 Nc5 (13... d5 14. Nxd5 exd5 15. Bxa7 Nc6 16. Bb6!) 14. Bxc5 dxc5 15. Qb3 as was given by Alexander Baburin (who turned 40 today!) in his excellent daily chess newspaper Chess Today. 12. Qd3 Nxe3 13. Qxe3 b5 14. Nb6 Ra7! Very attractive seems 14... Rxf3 15. gxf3 Bg5 but it's beatifully refuted by 16. f4!! Bxf4 17. Qb3 and now 17... Qxb6? fails to 18. Qxe6+ Kf8 19. Rfd1 as given by Shipov on www.crestbook.com. 15. Nd5 Rb7 16. Qd2 Nc6 16... Nd7 17. Rad1 (17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18. Rad1 Rb6=) 17... Bh4 18. Nb4 Rb6 (Shipov) is an alternative. 17. Rad1 17. Rfd1 Bh4! Baburin 17... Rd7 Again, 17... Rxf3 looks tempting but again it's refuted tactically: 18. Nxe7+ Rxe7 19. Qxd6! (19. gxf3 Nd4) 19... Qxd6 20. Rxd6 Rf4 21. Rxc6 Rxe4 22. Rxa6 Shipov 18. Qc3 Nb8 18... exd5 19. Qxc6 d4 20. c3 is good for White. but the ugly-looking 18... Na7 might be an improvement: 19. Nxe7+ Qxe7 20. Qa3 Rc8 21. Rd2 Rc6 22. Rfd1 Qf6 23. Qb3 Nc8 24. a4 Rb7! (Shipov) 19. Nxe7+ Qxe7 20. Rd3 h6 21. Rfd1 Rfd8 22. h4 Kh7 23. R1d2 Qf8 24. Qb3 Qe8 25. a4 Qg6 26. axb5 axb5 26... Qxe4? is not possible because of 27. Qxe6 axb5 28. Ng5+! hxg5 29. hxg5 27. Re3 Na6 28. Qxb5 Nc5 29. Qc4 Ra7 30. Re1 Or 30. Nxe5 dxe5! 31. Rxd8 Ra1+ 32. Kh2 Qf6 33. Qxc5 Qxh4+ 34. Rh3 Qf4+! 35. g3 Qc1 36. Kg2 Qf1+ 37. Kf3 Re1! (Shipov) and it all ends in a draw, e.g. 38. Kg4 Rxe4+ 39. Kf3 Re1 40. Kg4= 30... Qe8 31. b4 Here 31. Nxe5 seems possble: 31... Ra4 32. b4 dxe5 33. Rxd8 Qxd8 34. Qxc5 Qd2 35. Rb1 Ra2 36. c3 Rc2 37. Rf1 Qxc3 38. Qxc3 Rxc3 39. Rb1 (Shipov) 31... Na4 32. Qb3 Nb6 33. Red1 Rad7 34. Qd3 Rc8! 35. c3 Ra7! 36. Qe3 Ra6 37. Qe2 Nc4 38. Ra2 Rac6?! 39. Ra7 R6c7 40. Rda1 Qf7?? Incredible but true. 41. Qxc4 1-0

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 g6 9. Bd3 Nxd2 10. Kxd2 c5 11. h4 Qa5 "And now for something completely different." From here, Leko comes with a whole new plan; everybody automatically switches the h1 rook to g3 or f3 from here, but not the Hungarian this time. 12. Nf3!? Nd7 13. Rhb1!? cxd4 14. Qxd4 a6 15. Rb4 Qc7 After 15... Nc5 Leko probably planned 16. Bb5+ axb5 (16... Bd7 17. Qxc5 axb5 18. Nd4) 17. Qxc5 continuing with a good knight against a bad bishop. 16. c4 a5 17. Rb3 dxc4 18. Qxc4 Nc5 19. Rc3 b6 Very instructive play by Black. Pawns on black squares, creating a stronghold for the knight... White's new idea suddenly looks much less dangerous than before! 20. Qf4 Bb7 21. Nd4 Qd8 22. f3 g5 23. Qe3 Not 23. hxg5 hxg5 and the h-file will be very useful for Black. 23... gxh4 24. Nb5 Kf8 25. Nd6 An octopus! But Black can play around it. 25... Bd5 26. Rb1 Qg5 I honestly don't understand what's wrong with 26... Bxa2 27. Bf1 Qxe3+ 28. Rxe3 Rb8 29. Bc4 Rg8 30. Re2 Bxc4 31. Nxc4 h3 31... Na4 first might be a bit more accurate. 32. gxh3 Rg3 33. Ke3 Na4 34. Kf4 Rg5 35. Rb3 Ke7 36. h4 Rf5+ 37. Kg3 Rg8+ 38. Kf2 Rf4 39. Nxb6 Rxh4 40. Nxa4 Rxa4 41. Rb7+ 1/2-1/2