Game of the week August 3, 2025 by Robert Huntington [Event "Soviet Junior Championship"] [Site "Pinska 1989"] [Round "?"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Rublevsky, Sergei"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "ATH"] [ECO "B23"] [PlyCount "109"] [GameId "2125412143345160"] [EventDate "1989"] [EventCountry "EST"] [SourceTitle "LF14_08"] [SourceDate "2014.08.06"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2014.08.06"] [SourceQuality "2"] 1. e4 c5 2. f4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Bb5 Nd4 6. O-O Nxb5 7. Nxb5 Nf6 (7... a6 $5) 8. Nc3 (8. e5 Nd5 9. d4 Nc7 10. Nc3 cxd4 11. Qxd4 O-O 12. f5 $1 $14 {Crawley-Ravisekhar, BCF-ch 1986}) 8... d6 9. d3 O-O (9... b6 10. Qe1 Bb7 11. Bd2 Qd7 $11 {Westerberg-Smith, Malmo rapid 2021}) 10. Qe1 e6 (10... Ne8 $11) 11. Kh1 (11. Qh4 Nd7 $11) 11... b6 12. Qh4 Nd7 13. Qg3 (13. Qh3 $5) 13... f5 14. Bd2 Nf6 (14... Bb7 15. Rae1 Qc7 $11) 15. e5 Nh5 (15... dxe5 16. Nxe5 a6 17. Rae1 Qc7 $11) 16. Qf2 Bb7 17. Rae1 Bxf3 (17... a6 18. a4 Rb8 $11) 18. Qxf3 d5 (18... dxe5 19. fxe5 Qd7 $11) 19. Nb5 (19. d4 Qd7 (19... cxd4 $2 20. Nb5 $14) 20. dxc5 bxc5 $11) 19... Bh8 $6 (19... Qd7 20. Nd6 Nf6 $1 21. b3 (21. exf6 Bxf6 22. Nxf5 exf5 $11) 21... Ne8 $11) 20. Nd6 (20. Re2 $1 Ng7 21. c4 $14) 20... Ng7 $6 (20... Nf6 21. b4 $1 $14) 21. c4 dxc4 22. dxc4 Ne8 23. Bc3 Nxd6 24. Rd1 Ne4 $2 (24... Qe8 25. exd6 Bxc3 26. Qxc3 Rd8 27. Qe5 $14) 25. Rxd8 Rfxd8 26. Kg1 $1 Rd7 (26... Bg7 {is slightly better, according to Stockfish, but not enough to matter}) 27. Rd1 Rad8 ({ditto with} 27... Re7) 28. Rxd7 Rxd7 29. Kf1 (29. Be1 {is stronger but it doesn't really matter. Black doesn't have enough for the queen.}) 29... Bg7 30. Ke2 (30. Be1 {See the last note}) 30... Bf8 31. Be1 {From here on, I will point out whatever Stockfish regards as an improvement but will only comment or analyze if it would have mattered.} Be7 (31... Bh6) 32. Qa3 (32. g4) 32... Kf7 33. Qa4 (33. g4) 33... Rc7 34. Qb5 (34. g4 $1 {is more than a pawn (or is it point?) stronger so this probably prolongs the game}) 34... h6 $2 {is more than a point (or pawn) weaker so this probably shortens the game. For the rest of the game, I will simply use an ! or ? to indicate when the move played is that much worse than Stockfish's recommendation. In no case, does it change the outcome.} (34... g5) 35. a4 (35. g4) 35... Bd8 (35... g5) 36. a5 (36. g4) 36... Re7 37. b4 (37. g4) 37... g5 38. g3 (38. g4 $1) 38... g4 39. Qc6 (39. Kf1 $1) 39... Bc7 (39... Rc7) 40. bxc5 (40. Qa8 $1) 40... bxc5 (40... bxa5) 41. Qa8 h5 42. Qxa7 (42. Kf1 $1) 42... Bxe5 43. Qb6 (43. Qa8) 43... Bc7 44. Qc6 (44. Qb2) 44... e5 $2 (44... h4) 45. fxe5 (45. a6 $1) 45... Bxe5 46. Kf1 h4 (46... Kg7) 47. gxh4 Bxh2 48. h5 Bd6 49. a6 g3 (49... Be5) 50. Qb6 f4 (50... Re8) 51. a7 f3 (51... Rxa7 $1) 52. a8=Q g2+ 53. Kg1 Nf6 (53... Re6) 54. Bf2 (54. Qxf3) 54... Bf4 (54... Re6) 55. Qxf3 1-0 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts Views: 0