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Good day everyone and welcome to the live commentary of the World Chess Cup. Gata Kamsky - Ahmed Adly will be broadcast today, according to our readers' votes. Gata Kamsky is making his second run on the World Championship title after coming back to competitive chess. He just finished playing at the Tal Memorial 2007, and some of the games, against Gelfand, Mamedyarov and Alekseev, proved that he is in good shape. Moreover, he tied 3rd place in the crazy strong World Blitz Championship. Ahmed Adly is current World Junior Champion. He played some uncompromising chess in Erevan, without draws, to claim the title. This mini match against Kamsky should show if he is ready to play on the next, higher level.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 Slightly surprising to see Kamsky running into the sharp lines of Naidorf Sicilian. Adly is almost exclusively playing Naidorf and perhaps Kamsky has something prepared.
8.Qf3 Be7 9.Bd3 Rare but solid. Most common continuations are 9.Bc4 and 9.g4.
9... Qb6 An early novelty! Adly wants to kick possibly dangerous Nd4 out of center. 9...Qc7 was seen in 12 games.
10.Nb3 h6 Forcing white to decide what to do with his Bishop. On the other hand, h6 might be weakening because g4-g5 will make pawn contact sooner than usual.
11.Qh3 Ng4!? Young Adly is not afraid of complications. 12. Be7 should be critical (11... O-O 12.Bh4 e5 13.f5 d5 was interesting) (11... Rg8 12.Bh4 Nh5 13.Bxe7 Nxf4 14.Qg3 Nxd3+ 15.cxd3 Kxe7 16.d4 with wonderful compensation for white)
13.Kd1 Ne3+ 14.Kc1 Kxe7 Now Kamsky will try to find the best plan on how to take the advantage of exposed Ne3 and Qf2. One of the possibilities is 15. Qg3 Qxg3 16. hxg3 with idea Kd2, Raf1 and strong pressure on the king-side.
15.Qg3 Qxg3 16.hxg3 Ng4 17. Be2 and g4 could be strong. Another idea is Kd2, with Rh4 and Rf1.
17.Be2 Ngf6 18.g4 Rg8 Preparing to take should white continue with g5. Still 19. g5 hxg5 20. fxg5 Ne8 is looking good for white. Nevertheless, Kamsky has plenty of perspective plans, it will be interesting to see his choice.
19.g5 hxg5 20.fxg5 Ne8 21.Nd4 (21.g6!?)
21... Ne5 White has doubled pawns, but black pieces are lacking in space and good squares. Ne5 was necessary in order to prevent g5-g6.
22.Nf3 Bd7 Adly completes his development and is close to equalizing.
23.Kd2 Rc8 24.Nxe5 Kamsky decided to prevent possible Nc4. Now black is getting some nice outposts on d4 and f4 to be used later.
24... dxe5 25.Rh7 Trying to make use of the open h-file.
25... Nd6 (25... Bc6 26.Ke3 Rd8 with idea Rd4 was interesting.) ( also 25... b5!? 26.Bd3 Bc6 27.a3 Nd6 with a5 and b4 after white was forced to play a3.)
26.Bd3 Bc6 27.Ke3 a5 28.b3 b5 after King has reached e3, there is no need for a3.
29.Ne2 Rh8 30.Rah1 Rxh7 31.Rxh7 g6 Adly is cleaning on the kingside and prepares to press on the other flank. ( Still, maybe better was 31... b4!? () 32.Rxg7?! (32.c3 singular move) 32... Rh8! (32... Kf8) 33.g6 Kf6 34.Rh7 Rxh7 35.gxh7 Kg7 and black has better endgame.)
32.Ng1 Good idea, Kamsky is aiming at pawn e5.
32... Be8 Adly is overprotecting f7 pawn, but perhaps Bb7 was better, keeping an eye on e4 pawn.
33.Nf3 Rc5 Game is equal after 34.c3 or 34.a3.
34.a3 b4 35.a4 Bc6 White can continue Rh8, Rh4 or Nd2.
36.Rh4 Nb7 37.Kd2 Nd6 38.Ng1 Ba8 39.Ne2 Kamsky is preparing c3, perhaps black can go with f5 at some moment?
39... Rc8 40.c3 Somewhat risky, but Kamsky clearly playing for full point. 40...bxc3 41. Nxc3 Nb7! with idea Nc5 looking good for Adly.
40... bxc3+ 41.Nxc3 Nb7! 42.Bc2 (42.Ba6 Rd8+ 43.Ke3 Nc5 44.Bc4 Rd4 45.Rh8 Bb7)
42... Rd8+ Now 43.Ke3 Nc5 and Rb8
43.Ke1 Nc5 44.Nb1 Probably best, shifting Knight to c4.
44... Bb7 45.Nd2 Ba6 Maybe 46.Nf3 now
46.Nf3 Nd7 (46... Bd3 47.Bxd3 Nxd3+ 48.Ke2 was equal)
47.Rh1 Rb8 48.Kd2 Rb4 49.Rh8 Bb7 50.Ke3 In spite of severe time trouble, Kamsky is firmly covering his weaknesses while e5 pawn is giving him some counterplay
50... Nc5 51.Nd2 Ba6 52.Ra8 Rb7 53.Nf3 Kd6 54.g3 Rc7 55.Nd2 Rb7 56.Bd1 Kc6 57.Nf3, 57.Rc8 or 57.Rf8 are all giving even game.
57.Bc2 Rd7 58.Nf3 Kd6 59.Rb8 Kc7 60.Rh8 Bd3 61.Rh2 Only move, 61.Bxd3 Rxd3 would be losing.
61... Bxc2 62.Rxc2 Rd3+ 63.Ke2 Kd6 64.Rd2 Rxd2+ 65.Nxd2 Adly continues to play fast even if he has almost one hour on the clock. After the massive exchanges, game should be drawn soon.
65... Ke7 66.Kd1 f5?! Maybe a bit too soon. Black King can't make any progress on the kingside anyway. (66... Nd3!? 67.Kc2 Nf2)
67.gxf6+ Kxf6 68.Kc2 Kg5 69.Kc3 Maybe 69.Nc4! was stronger
69... Kg4 70.Kc4! Nb7? Mistake after which white is in winning position. 70...Nd7 was better
71.Kb5! Kxg3 72.Kc6! 72.b4! also strong
72... g5 (72... Nd8+ 73.Kc7 Nf7 74.b4! and game is over)
73.Kxb7 Kf2 74.b4! Both are promoting at the same time, but Kamsky has an extra Knight.
74... axb4 75.a5 g4 76.a6 g3 77.a7 g2 78.a8=Q g1=Q Kamsky should avoid Qa7 and Qg1 because black would manage to capture e4 pawn and reach the draw.
79.Qa7+ Kg2 80.Qa2 Still not easy to win the game with reduced material and Kamsky is also down to only few minutes on his clock.
80... Qe3 81.Nc4+?! (81.Kc6 Qa3! 82.Qxe6 Qc3+ 83.Nc4 b3 84.Kd6 b2 85.Nxb2 Qxb2)
81... Qf2 82.Qb1 (82.Qxf2+ Kxf2)
82... Qd4! 83.Qxb4 Adly managed to reach drawish endgame and players have agreed to split the point. Excellent effort by both of them, it will be interesting to see how will Adly attempt to break Kamsky's Slav defence in the second game. Thank you everyone for following Chessdom live coverage of the World Cup, see you again tomorrow at 5 EST/11 CET.
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