Things are starting to wind down for the year, and we've reached Christmas Eve, so it must be time for my annual round-up of my favourite master games of the year. As ever, I must warn that favourite doesn't necessarily mean best!
Keeping up this emerging tradition has been a little more difficult this year - in previous years I kept a shortlist running through the year, but never got round to it this time. Hopefully a true gem hasn't slipped through, but I've ended up with an exciting enough list anyway.
As usual my own tastes shine through - there is plenty of unabashed hackery and some deep preparation, whilst Adorjan fans are advised to look away now since black is decidedly not OK. But I assure you it's more fun this way! In chronological order as ever...
T. Hillarp Persson 1-0 J. Hector, Danish Team Championship - It takes two to tango, and any game between these two famously creative Swedish GMs promises to be interesting. Predictably the board soon explodes into total mayhem, but when the dust settles black is too far behind in development.
V. Anand 1-0 L. Aronian, Candidates Tournament - Though I wrote after the last match that Anand was being written off prematurely, it was still a pleasant surprise when he won the Candidates - easily. This first-round masterpiece set him on his way: Anand returns a gambit pawn and gives a textbook demonstration of the powers of two Bishops in the endgame, finally picking off black's hapless Knight. As Carlsen said, it's rare to beat a world number two by pure technique.
M. Cebalo 1-0 E. Vasuikov, European Senior Team Championship - Petrosian once quipped that "if your opponent wants to play the Dutch... let him." It all goes horribly wrong for black, and with some lovely tactical blows it's all over in just 13 moves.
M. Carlsen 0-1 T. Radjabov, Gashimov Memorial - I admit that I'm tempted to just put every game Carlsen loses onto these lists, but nowadays it's rare to see a King's Indian in elite circles. Radjabov weathers a fierce attack despite severe time pressure, and then neatly converts an ending in which his extra pawns outweigh the piece.
F. Caruana 1-0 P. Svidler, Norway Chess - Caruana seems to be the only leading Grandmaster who mostly plays 1. e4 mainlines at the moment, so his games are often of interest. This battle with another noted theoretician is a ferociously complicated Sicilian; white's piece sacrifice isn't objectively decisive, but very tough to defend in a practical game. Black gives up his Queen for a lot of wood, but in the end his forces prove too scattered.
K. Lie 0-1 Z. Kozul, Tromso Olympiad - An obscure masterpiece pointed out by Simon Williams, so you know there's carnage ahead. White plays a powerful attack and is close to a superb win. But he stumbles and allows black to give up his Queen for a blistering counter-attack with his minor pieces. Just a reminder that black can win brilliancies in the Sicilian sometimes too...
A. Shirov 1-0 S. Sulskis, Tromso Olympiad - This game looks about 150 years old: Sulskis, a 2544 GM, makes the extraordinary decision to defend the Fried Liver Attack... against Shirov! White's line of attack may not be sound, but again you just can't defend these over-the-board and black dies a horrible death.
F. Caruana 1-0 V. Topalov, Sinquefield Cup - Caruana set the chess world ablaze with his 7/7 start to this tournament, playing fantastically energetic (and well-prepared!) chess along the way. Some shrewd psychology is on display here too, as Topalov decides to avoid an endgame only to be flattened by another piece sacrifice on e6.
V. Kramnik 1-0 E. Inarkiev, Petrosian Memorial - Kramnik is really just a very deep hacker - sounds difficult to believe, but honestly it's true! What amazes me, and makes his games so fascinating to watch, is that violent attacks emerge from the most inauspicious of openings. This game looks like being a fairly placid QGD, but somehow black's pieces get lost on the Queenside, and the end can be seen from a mile off as their white counterparts drift across to the Kingside and then crack it open for a brutal victory.
V. Kramnik 1-0 A. Morozevich, Petrosian Memorial - And here he is again! Once more the opening doesn't promise very much - but then white castles Queenside, throws some pawns at the enemy King and starts sacrificing pieces! Even a player as inventive as Morozevich is bamboozled...
A. Giri 1-0 M. Oleksienko, Qatar Open - This is how the top players deal with the 'mere' 2600 crowd - black plays a Caro-Kann but then decides to be ambitious after all, and his pawn-grabbing leads to a wipeout in only 18 moves.
M. Adams 1-0 F. Caruana, London Chess Classic - It's a refreshing change to see an old-school Ruy Lopez for once rather than a Berlin endgame - and these are lines you're just not allowed to play against Adams! Even so black has the better of things early on, but crosses his wires and ends up boxed into a corner by a piece sacrifice. Both sides miss some chances but in the end white is allowed a nice combination to get into a Queen ending which he wins with typical precision.
A whistlestop tour of the year then, but like 2013 there's plenty of enterprising chess if you look for it. Even at this exalted level, chess doesn't have to be boring! I'm not sure if I have one favourite game, but surely the Nerves of Steel Award has to go to Sulskis - taking on Shirov with a move that every beginning junior is taught is just too risky! Like I said though, it takes two to tango.
After some vascillation, I decided (18 seconds before the entry deadline) that I will play in the London Junior U-18/21 after all. My chess year isn't done yet then, but my blogging year might well be thanks to exam revision for January. In that case it only remains to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a profitable 2015.
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