1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Ne5 Bg7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bd6 a6 14. a4 e5 15. d5!? This idea was first employed in the previous tournament of Khanty-Manyisk (2005) in the game Izoria-Erenburg. Obviously Gustafsson did some work in this line. 15... c5 16. b4

16... cxb4 17. Bxb4 a5 18. Bd6 b4 19. Nb5 Rc8

20. Bxc4 Rxc4 21. Qb3!? This is the new idea. The aforementioned game continued 21. Rc1 Rxc1 22. Qxc1 Qb6 and White has nothing better but taking a draw with 23. Nc7+ Kd8 24. Nb5 Ke8 25. Nc7+ 1/2-1/2 Izoria-Erenburg, Khanty-Mansiysk 2005 21... Qc8 The next day Harikrishna faced the same position in his tiebreak game with Zhao Jun. TheIndiangrandmastercontinued 21... Rc8 but after 22. Rac1 Bf8 ( or 22... Nf6 23. Rxc8 Qxc8 and now(or 23... Bxc8 24. Qe3 with a strong attack.) 24. Qe3 looks pretty bad since Rc1 is coming.) 23. Rxc8 Qxc8 24. Qe3

24... Nf6 (Rybka likes 24... Qc2 but gets less excited after 25. Rc1 Qb2 26. h3! (JS) when for example 26... b3 27. Rc7 Qa1+ 28. Kh2 b2 29. Qa7 b1=Q 30. Qa8+ mates!) (The other alternative 24... Be7 is no good in view of 25. Rc1 Qd8 26. Bxe7 (26. Rc7!?) 26... Qxe7 27. Rc7 and White wins back the piece with attack to boot..) 25. Rc1 Qd8 26. Bxe5 (even easier was 26. Nc7+ Kd7 27. Bxe5 with a winning position.) 26... Be7 27. d6 and White confidently converted his advantage, Zhao Jun-Harikrishna, Khanty-Mansiysk 2007. 21... Nb6 hasn't been tried yet, and perhaps rightly so; after 22. Rac1 let's first have a lookt at 22... Rxe4 23. Qd3

and now: 23... Ba6 (23... Bxd5 24. Nc7+ Kd7 25. Nxd5 Kxd6 (25... Rd4 26. Qb5+ Ke6 27. Rc6 looks unhealthy for Black.) 26. Ne3+ Rd4 27. Nf5+ Kd7 28. Nxd4 exd4 29. Rfe1 with a winning attack.) (23... Rd4 24. Nxd4 (Unfortunately 24. Qxd4 exd4 25. Rfe1+ Kd7 26. Re7+ Qxe7 27. Rc7+ Kd8 28. Bxe7+ Ke8 29. Nd6# isn't forced. Black has a good position after 27...Ke8.) 24... Qxd6 25. Qb5+ Qd7 26. Qxb6 O-O (or 26... exd4 27. Rfe1+ Kf8 28. Rc7 Qxd5 29. Rxb7 Kg8 30. Ree7 sweeping the 7th rank.) 27. Nc6 with a big advantage.) (23... Nc8 24. Nc7+ Kd7 25. Qb5+ Kxd6 26. Qxb7 mating.) 24. Rc6! (Instead 24. Qxe4 Bxb5 25. Bc7 Qxd5 26. Qxd5 Nxd5 27. axb5 a4 gives Black some chances to hold on.) 24... Rd4 (24... Bxb5 25. Qxb5 Nd7 26. Qb7 seems problematic.) 25. Nc7+! Qxc7 26. Qxa6 Qxc6 27. dxc6 Rxd6 28. Qxb6 and White's technical task shouldn't be very difficult. The other option after 21... Nb6 22. Rac1 Rxc1 for Black is 23. Rxc1 Na8

("Ein Springer im Eck ist ein Schreck!" - Siegbert Tarrasch) 24. Qe3 Bf6! the best defence, now Rybka shows us(24... Qd7 25. Qa7 f5 26. Bc5! Bf8 27. Qb8+ Kf7 28. Nd6+ Bxd6 29. Qxh8 Bxc5 30. Rxc5 fxe4 31. Qxh6) 25. Qf3! to f5! 25... Rg8 Preparing Rg6 after Qf5 but in the meantime losing the right to castle... 26. Qe3! Switchback! Suddenly Black is in trouble as his king is not going anywhere and Qa7 is coming. Rybka is a genius... 22. Bc7

The point, now Black has to give his queen which leads to an interesting material balance. 22... Qxc7 23. Nxc7+ Rxc7 24. Rac1

For the moment the black armada is in disharmony; if he manages to restore coordination he will surely be better. 24... Nc5 25. Qh3 This seems to be leading to a draw if Black plays accurately. A devilish try would be 25. Qf3 Rc8 26. Rfe1!? which looks very innocent but the natural 26... O-O?! leads to a difficult position after 27. Qe3 Nxa4 28. Qa7 Rxc1 29. Rxc1 Ba8 30. Qxa5 Nc3 31. Re1 Instead 26...Ba6 does the trick. 25... Bc8 Black seems to have a good alternative in 25... Bf8!? when 26. Qf5 Bg7 27. d6 (27. Qf3 suddenly leads to the note after White's 25th move, while 27.Qh3 repeats moves. ) 27... Rc6 is simply better for Black. 26. Qf3

26... g4 Black breaks under the pressure, essential was 26... Bd7 and the complications start: 27. d6 Rc6 28. Qe3 Nxa4 29. Rxc6 Bxc6 30. Qa7 O-O 31. d7 Nc3 32. Qc7 Bxd7 33. Qxd7 Rb8! We believe Black has enough play for the queen. 27. Qe3 Bf8

28. f4! gxf3 29. Qxf3 f5?! Hastens the end, tougher is 29... Rg8 30. Qf6 Rg6 31. Qxe5+ Kd8 but White should be winning after, for instance, 32. Rf6 30. Qg3 the queen is invading with decisive effect. Black resigned.

This time Gustafsson decides to play the Moscow from the other side of the board. Not a strange choice given that Aronian experienced some problems in this line against Anand in Mexico.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Ne5 h5 10. h4 g4 11. Be2 Bb7 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Qc2 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bg7 15. Bg3!?

In Mexico, Levon went for the main move 15. Rad1 but Black's novelty on move 17 probably made him go for 15.Bg3 in this game. 15... O-O 16. Bg3 Nd7 17. f3 c5!? 18. dxc5 Qe7 19. Kh1 a6 20. a4 Bc6 21. Nd5 exd5 22. exd5 Be5 23. f4 Bg7 24. dxc6 Nxc5 25. Rd5 Ne4 and Black went on to win, Aronian-Anand, WCC (2) Mexico City 2007 15... Qxd4 16. Rad1 In his highly interesting game with Svidler in Mexico, Grischuk played the other rook. The difference is subtle, and is probably connected with either playing for a4 or f3. 16... Qb6 This looks like the only reasonable move but Black has an interesting alternative in 16... Qc5 when 17. e5 Nd5 18. Ne4 Qb6 19. Nd6+ Kf8 20. Kh1 Kg8 21. Qe4 Rf8 looks fine for Black (Wendt-Van Wely, Minneapolis 2005). Perhaps after 16... Qc5 Aronian intended to play 17. Bd6 Qb6 18. b3 with similar ideas as in the game. 17. b3 cxb3 18. axb3

18... a6 19. Rd2 c5 19... Nd7 20. e5 followed by Ne4 gives huge compensation as well. 20. Rd6 Qa5 20... Bc6!? 21. e5 Nd7 22. Rfd1 O-O-O After 22... Nxe5 23. Ne4! looks very difficult for Black. 23. Ne4 Qc7

24. Nf6! Nxe5?! It doesn't look pretty but tougher seems 24... Bxf6 25. exf6 e5 Closing one diagonal but... 26. Qf5 opening another! 26... Bc6 27. f3! with a clear initative for White. Instead 24... Nb6 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Rxd8+ Kxd8 27. Qd2+ Kc8 28. Qg5 looks good for White, picking up the h-pawn. 25. Bxe5 Rxd6 26. Rxd6 Bxf6 27. Bxf6 Qxd6 28. Bxh8

Black has three pawns but they are no match for the white bishop. White can easily penetrate since Black is suffering chronical dark square problems. 28... Qd5 29. Bf1 Kc7 30. Qc3 Kb6 31. b4 c4 32. Qa1 Kc6 33. Qf6 Qd7 34. Qh6 Qd5 35. Qf8 Qf5 36. Qe8+ Kc7 37. Qe7+

And because of 37. Qe7+ Kc6 38. g3 Black resigned.

16. b4 After the succesful encounter with Rodshtein, Gustafsson decides to repeat his idea. After losing the first game Gustafsson needs to win this one to force a tiebreak. 16... Qb6! Levon is not interested in a complicated game but forces a draw with this strong novelty. The following sequence of moves is forced. 17. bxc5 Nxc5 18. Bxc5 Qxc5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Rxa8+ Bxa8 21. Qa1 O-O 22. Qa5 Rb8 23. Rb1 Bf8

24. Rxb5 24. Nxb5 was an interesting try, when it looks like 24... f5 is the move:(not 24... c3 25. Rc1 c2 26. Bd3) 25. Qa6 fxe4 26. Qe6+ Kh7

Optically things look dangerous for Black, but in fact White only has his queen to attack with. 27. d6 (White can also bail out with 27. Qf5+ Kg8 28. Qe6+) 27... e3 28. Bxc4 exf2+ 29. Kf1 Bg7 30. Bd3+ Kh8 31. Qf5 Kg8 and there is nothing more then perpetual check. 24... Rxb5 25. Qxb5 Qxb5 26. Nxb5 Bb7 The (half) point! White wins the pawn on c4 but the ensuing opposite-coloured bishop ending is completely drawn. Black won the opening battle, and with it, the match. 27. Bxc4 Ba6 28. Kf1 Bxb5 29. Bxb5

29... Bc5 30. f3 Kf8 31. g3 Ke7 32. Kg2 Be3 33. Kh3 Bg1 34. Bc4 Kd6 35. Ba6 Kc7 36. Kg2 Be3 37. h4 gxh4 38. gxh4 Kd6 39. Kg3 Ke7 40. Kg4 f6 draw.

Our conclusion (for the moment): the Moscow is alive and kicking! For the next few weeks we'll keep you updated. Stay tuned! [Erwin l'Ami & Jan Smeets]