Aronian vs. Kramnik, April 2012 Match

[Do it Right]

Oh come on. Chessdom, I have to register to download the game as a PGN? Really?

Even better, the email isn't instantaneously delivered.

[Do it Right]

Originally Posted by Do it Right

Oh come on. Chessdom, I have to register to download the game as a PGN? Really?

Even better, the email isn't instantaneously delivered.

Oh wow.

I finally get the email. I go to the site and login.

I try to download the PGN again. It makes me login again which I do with a somewhat growing frustration.

And I get: "Only Premium accounts can download PGN. Get Premium Now."

Hahahaha. Oh these guys are comedians. I guess I'll go through the 5 seconds of effort to manually enter the moves so I can see the board from black's perspective.

[Do it Right]

Here's the PGN from chessbase, available free of charge and registration:

[Event "Zurich Chess challenge Kramnik vs Aroni"]
[Site "Zurich"]
[Date "2012.04.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2820"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Bd3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 g6 10. O-O Bg7 11. Re1 O-O 12. e4 e5 13. d5 {0.11/0} Rd8 {0.04/0}
(13... Nb6 14. Bb3 Bd7 15. h3 Rac8 16. Qe2 Rfe8 17. Rad1 Bf8 18. a3 h5 19. Rd3
Bh6 20. Red1 cxd5 21. Bxd5 Rc7 22. Nd2 Qe7 23. Nc4 Nxc4 24. Bxc4 Bc6 25. Bd5
Kh7 26. Bxc6 bxc6 27. Na4 {1/2-1/2 (101) Leko,P (2734)-Gelfand,B (2739) Miskolc
2010}) 14. Re3 {-0.13/0 This move was first played by WGM Valentina Gunina earlier
this year, with a successful result. It has to be uplifting to her to have a
player of Kramnik's calibre, and level of preparation, giving it his own stamp
of approval.} b5 {-0.15/0} 15. dxc6 {-0.06/0} bxc4 {-0.12/0} 16. Nd5 {-0.56/0}
Qe6 {-0.45/0} (16... Qd6 17. cxd7 Bxd7 18. Nd2 Bb5 19. Qc2 Rab8 20. Rc3 Qa6
21. a4 Bf8 22. Nf1 Bc5 23. Qc1 Bc6 24. Nf6+ Kg7 25. Ng4 g5 26. Rxc4 Rd1 27.
Qxd1 Qxc4 28. Qf3 Qxe4 29. Rc1 Qg6 30. Qc3 Qe4 31. Qxe5+ Qxe5 32. Nxe5 Bxf2+
33. Kxf2 Rxb2+ 34. Ke3 Bxg2 35. Ng3 Bd5 36. Nh5+ Kf8 37. Rd1 Be6 38. Rd8+ {1-0
(38) Gunina,V (2511)-Muzychuk,A (2583) Gaziantep 2012}) 17. cxd7 {-0.40/0} Rxd7
{-0.21/0 Even though Kramnik is the one who chose to go down this path, and
one cannot believe Re3 was played by accident, the fact is that he was consuming
a lot of time on his clock while Aronian was playing quite quickly.} 18. Qa4
{-0.41/0} Bb7 {-0.50/0 Played immediately by Levon.} 19. Qxc4 {-0.67/0} Bxd5
{-0.31/0} 20. exd5 {-0.52/0} Qxd5 {-0.34/0} 21. Qxd5 {-0.46/0} Rxd5 {-0. 50/0}
22. Rae1 {-0.46/0} Re8 {-0.31/0 The general consensus among masters and grandmasters
watching the game was that Kramnik was undoubtedly worse, but would eventually
hold.} 23. g4 {-0.30/0 A surprising decision to some, but the idea is to contain
Black's progress, and make ...f5 less attractive.} Kh7 {-0. 33/0} ({After the
immediate} 23... f5 {White plays} 24. Nh4 {and after} fxg4 25. Nxg6 {should
be fine. The attempt to box in the knight with} Bf6 {does not work as it escapes
with} 26. Nf4) 24. g5 {-0.39/0 Again a decision that caught many by surprise.
It is true that White's knight will finally gain some activity, but the question
is whether this will outweigh the long-term weaknesses in his pawns.} hxg5 {-0.50/0
Aronian wasted very little time on this decision.} 25. Nxg5+ {-0.24/0} Kg8 {-0.39/0}
26. f4 $2 {-1.18/0 This is a mistake. Perhaps White was anxious to end his agony,
and thought to achieve quick parity and shake hands. Instead he is much worse
now.} Rb8 $1 {-1.17/0} ( 26... Bh6 {looks attractive, but isn't as strong as
the game. White removes the rook from the pin with} 27. R3e2 {and will then
have Ne4, threatening Nf6+. }) 27. fxe5 {-0.64/0} Rxb2 {-1.22/0} 28. Nf3 {-1.26/0
White is understandably concerned with Rdd2 and seeing Black double his rooks
on the second rank.} Rxa2 {-0.90/0} 29. e6 {-1.04/0} fxe6 {-2.22/0 Things are
now looking very grim. The bishop is now completely free, and the a-pawn is
a very real threat.} 30. Rxe6 {-1.84/0} Rf5 {-2.16/0} 31. Nh4 {-2.18/0} Rf4
{-1.80/0} 32. R6e4 {-2.16/0} (32. Nxg6 $2 Bd4+ 33. Kh1 Rff2 {is the end.}) 32...
Rf6 {-1.53/0} 33. Rg4 {-1.71/0} Kf7 {-1.59/0} 34. Rc1 {-1.82/0} Bh6 {-1.55/0}
35. Rc7+ {-1.97/0} Ke8 {-1.70/0} 36. Re4+ {-1.82/0} Kd8 {-2.00/0} 37. Rh7 {-2.15/0}
Bf8 {-2.03/0} 38. Rd4+ {-1. 29/0} Kc8 {-1.39/0} 39. Rc4+ {-1.68/0} Kb8 {-1.89/0}
40. Rd7 $2 {-5.88/0} ({ Even without the game's blunder, Black is most likely
won. The combination of sprinting a-pawn with two rooks and bishop against Whites
exposed king should decide it. A sample line might be} 40. Rc1 a5 41. Ng2 (41.
Rb1+ Ka8 42. Rc1 Bd6 {with the idea Bb8 to cover the mate threats.}) 41... a4
42. Ne3 a3 $19) 40... g5 $19 41. Ng6 Bd6 {The knight is lost since White must
also protect against the threat Bxh2+ Kh1 and Rf1 mate.} 0-1

[ganstaman]

If you watch the post-mortem now, you can see what I assume is Kramnik's daughter (ETA: she's 3 years and 4 months old) at the board with the two of them messing around with things. Aronian and Kramnik are ignoring her, or at least trying to. She's writing on the scoresheet or something, putting pieces in the corner or otherwise arranging the captured pieces off the board. It's somewhat entertaining/cute.

[NajdorfDefense]

Originally Posted by John_Douglas

Lol, basing on a 1-game sample I could prove anyone to be a patzer.

Yes, and you're using a zero-game sample to attempt to argue your side. Totally laughable, I concur.

[NajdorfDefense]

Originally Posted by Do it Right

Here's the PGN from chessbase, available free of charge and registration:

I have Fritz/playchess but am a n00b at figuring out how to get stuff from them in PGN - could you [anyone] let me know the best/easiest way to do that?

Or do I need chessbase also?

[All-inMcLovin]

Originally Posted by NajdorfDefense

It's not an angle-shot, but nice try.

You said you wanted to bet on Aronian winning outright. I offered you odds on him to win and made it obvious what the bet was. You're not interested, so that's fine. You didn't say you wanted to bet on Kramnik not winning.

3-way lines are very common in soccer, hockey, etc. If you pull up the Chelsea-Barca line, it will have a Barca wins, Chelsea wins, and draw odds.

If you're serious, feel free to offer terms and odds that you like. Although I guess there's not much time left.

You tried to hustle me, I called you out, that is fine.

Go Aronian, oh snap he won the first game with Black.

[Do it Right]

Originally Posted by NajdorfDefense

I have Fritz/playchess but am a n00b at figuring out how to get stuff from them in PGN - could you [anyone] let me know the best/easiest way to do that?

Or do I need chessbase also?

In Fritz there should be some sort of functionality to simply paste a game. At worst simply stick it in your clipboard, open up a new board press ctrl+v and see what happens. If that fails simply copy that text to a plain text file, rename it .pgn and open up. One of those programs will absolutely support .pgn files.

[NajdorfDefense]

Originally Posted by All-inMcLovin

You tried to hustle me,

I didn't try to hustle you. You asked for Aronian to win odds, and I provided them, quite explicitly.

Oh, I see, you were trying to hustle me! You wanted the higher win odds, but were going to claim a draw if Kram didn't win. Very sneaky, sis. Nice try!

[All-inMcLovin]

Explicit hustling is still hustling.

I wasn't the one who set terms, you were. lol @ me trying to hustle you. Take that weak **** to the back rank.

Hey, at least Aronian won the first game.

[mightytiny]

Ok for those who know chess more than I or are at least better humans that I am (most if not all of the population) I have a question. The computers, and most if not all the announcers on both ICC and the official sites broadcast has it conceded to a draw quite a while before the three hour mark. Chessbomb has different engines working on it while it goes on..they scream draw. Now the magic 5 MINUTES after the three hour mark, LOW AND BEHOLD they agree to a draw.

I am irked because I assume the players knew it was a draw and just did some fancy country line dancing to avoid a rapid game...am I paranoid or was it the players intent to circumvent the under three hour draw rule in Game 2.

[Pokerfarian]

Don't think so. Kramnik in fact offered a draw around move 17ish (with ...Nf5 iirc) but Aronian declined because he was a tiny bit better. The position was always very drawish and computers could see far enough in advance to evaluate it 0.0 fairly quickly, but Aronian always had a tiny bit of pressure and a freeroll. Kramnik found a few accurate moves (Rd1+ and Rd2 when going passive would've been terrible; Rxc2 instead of Rxf2? Rxc6 Rxc2?? losing to a Nd4 trick; allowing his king to be pushed back when it didn't actually matter), and held the draw. This was always 90%+ to happen but I don't think we can fault Aronian for trying.

[roblin]

edit wrong thread, gogo aronian!

[smilingbill]

Game 3 going now, Kramnik went for 1.e4 as well

[Noir_Desir]

Aronian blundered his queen, this would never have happened to Smyslov, Fischer or Karpov.