So, don't screw up the opening so badly Mr.Giri
"At first sight the infinite variety of combinations that are possible on the chessboard
may appear a most discouraging obstacle in the way of achieving success in the game..."
- Wilhelm Steinitz
- Wilhelm Steinitz
The Father of Chess was alluding to the number of permutation combinations possible to play the opening moves and Anish Giri certainly tried some weird options today which would have made Steinitz squirm in his coffin!
Michael Polanyi, in his "The Study of Man" said something which all of us know tacitly(!), "We use instruments as an extension of our hands and they may serve also as an extension of our senses. We assimilate them to our body by pouring ourselves into them. And we must realise then also that our body has a special place in the universe: we never attend to our body as an object in itself. Our body is always in use as the basic instrument of our own intellectual and practical control over our surroundings. Hence in all our waking hours we are subsidiarily aware of our body within our focal knowledge of our surroundings, And, of course, our body is more than a mere instrument..."
And so are Chess Openings: which is more than a mere development of pieces.... once the pawn gate is opened, the Bishop, Queen and Rook - with the lone exception of the Knight which will 'jump the wall' - will be all too willing to stray at large! The role of human mind is to control, command and orchestrated their innate desire and capacity to move at large!
'Giri was in a hurry'... how else will you explain for those opening moves and the movement of same pieces so many times and end up self inflicting.
White: Wesley So - Black: Anish Giri
1) c4 g6; 2) e4 e5; 3) d4 Nf6
Dusted from 'annus mirabilis'.... to surprise or...
4) de5 Ne4; 5) Bd3 Bb4; 6) Kf1!? ....get surprised!
The adventurous Timman tried this opening against 'the gobbler' Kortchnoi in 1976 when Korchnoi playing White opted for 6.Nd2 and Timman indulged in further adventure by giving a piece to make the White King lose castling, but ended up losing the battle!
Certainly, there was nothing wrong upto this point, but Wesly So prefered to lose castling in advance and rightly so!
6) .....Nc5; 7) Nf3 Ne6
There is nothing wrong with this move too, which actually does something good by defending the g5 point.
8) a3 Be7?!
The first illogical continuation. With the g5 square covered, Black could have executed the manoeuvre Bb4-f8-g7 right away which would have protected the hole created by g7-g6.
It is easy to suggest in hindsight, but surely Anish Giri would have thought of some method to his madness! Moreover, sitting on the board the dynamics are entirely different from sitting in front of an engine: in front of a live human and tense tournament atmosphere, even a simple move will throw waves of faux pas; whilst the engine and the comfort of home will make even the bizarre and complex choice seem logical and natural!
9) Nc3 d6; 10) ed6 Bd6; 11) b4 Bf8!
Better late than never! And the machine approves this move which vindicates the earlier crime, whilst condemning White's 11.b4: for, the action is happening on the other side and on the other diagonal!
12) Qe2! Bg7; 13) Bg5 Bf6
This Bishop, making its fifth move, was competing with the Knight, which ate four moves of the total 13 moves made so far. As a result, Black's queenside remains stillborn.
Anish Giri would have got hanged for a similar 'crime' 150 years back!
Despite this, Black's position is not all that bad and if common sense had prevailed subsequently, Black may have emerged scot free.
14) Bf6 Qf6; 15) Qd2 OO; 16) Re1 Qd8; 17) Rd1 a5; 18) h4!
The first signs of denouement! The move ushers the Rook into action right from the cradle. So, approving So's choice of sidestepping the King to safety on f1-square and allowing everything else to happen around it! Overuse of anything, even the pun is detrimental and so...!
This move in consonance with the dark square weakness around Black King, compounded by the dormant queenside pieces, creates unrest in the mind of defender.
Just don't try to over analyse the position, it does not lead you to better understanding - for such threadbare analysis of the parts miss out the relevance of human element in the fight! More microanalysis of chess and cancerous production of moves and variations only succeed in confusing the more confused human mind!
Perhaps, if we are privileged like Alice to step into the wonderland of a player's minds and become privy to their thought process, state of mind and preconditions, the truth and true meaning may reveal itself. On the contrary, just probe the position deeper by taking sides and see how your mind reasons or fathoms it. I would dread to sit on the Black side of this position and therefore even the natural moves may look strange to me. The ghost 'Check-Mate' may also start appearing with White Queens access to the 'h6' square, h-file getting opened and the possibility of Knight coming to 'f6'......things on the rear-view mirror may look near and real!
18) .....ab4; 19) ab4 Nd7
At last!
20) h5 Nf6
I was astounded at the engine suggestion 20) .....g5!!?! If a player plays such a move on the board, then the arbiter is duty bound to pay a visit to the toilet!!
21) c5?!
The human move! Human mind prevents what the machine mind allows!!
But yes, removing the Queen from the d-file and threatening a discovered attack is not only good, but a very human option too!
21) .....b6
God knows why?
22) hg6; fg6; 23) Qe3 Qe7; 24) Bc4 bc5; 25) b5 Rb8
Now it is the turn of this Rook to take an unconventional route to 'develop' and by the way the game is nearing conclusion.
26) Re1!
The Knight on e6 is dead and Anish Giri could have returned back to hotel.
26) ..... Rb6; 27) Na4 Rd6; 28) Nc5 Ng4; 29) Qe4 Nf2; 30) Kf2 Rd2; 31) Kg3 Rf3!! 32) gf3 Resigns!
It definitely would have been very painful as it was mostly self inflicted. So, all that So needed to do, in this game, was to follow Anish Giri and help him dig his own trench!
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