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By GM Arkadij Naiditsch, #1 German chess player, FIDE 2710
Andreikin had an "easy" plan for the World Cup. Make 2 draws in normal chess and then win in rapid or blitz, which has been working just excellently. In 1/4 finals he won a very important and nice game against his countryman Peter Svidler. Let us take a closer look at what happened.
Dmitry Andreikin vs. Peter Svidler (Susan Polgar watching)
Photo from the official website of the World Cup
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Not the most ambitious opening...
2...e6 3.Nd2 It is clear that White is just trying to get into the game without any hopes for an opening advantage.
3...h6 4.Bh4 White continues just being solid without giving away his f6 bishop.
4...c5 Very typical play for this kind of structures.
5.e3 White keeps the central pawn like a rock! 5...Be7 6.c3 Now Black has to choose, to play d5 and Nc6 or t0 go for b6 and Bb7, both setups are very playable.
6...b6 7.Ngf3
7...Ba6 also looks very solid, but it may not be the most easy solution. [7...Bb7 looks like the best move to me and I don't think that White has anything here.] 8.Bxf6! A very good positional decision by White.
8...Bxf6 9.Bxa6 Nxa6 10.Ne4 White wants to play d5 next.
10...cxd4 11.Nxf6+ Qxf6 12.cxd4 We are now in an almost symmetrical position, but only almost! The position is actually not that pleasant to play for Black. The knight on a6 is a major problem and White will be now very fast to win the only open c-file. 12...Qe7 Black is bringing his queen back, as this move is needed anyway. 13.00 [Of course not 13.Qa4? Qb4+]
13...00 14.Qa4 Nc7 Black is bringing his knight to d5. 15.Rac1 Nd5 White has the c-file, but Black's position is of course very solid. What can be White's plan now?
16.Ne5! Another very good move by Andreikin. The white knight would be passive on f3 in case Black would be in time to play d6 next, so White is transporting it to d3.
16...d6 17.Nd3 [White could have tried 17.Nc6 Qd7 18.Rc2 but it seems that Black is fine after 18...a5]
17...Rfc8 Black is fighting for the c-file.
18.h3 White does not need to hurry.. . The e4 push can be done at any moment.
18...Qb7! A good move. Black is putting his queen to a nice square and Black should almost be careful about Rxc1 and Rc8 now. 19.Qa3 Whites brings his queen to a6 but Black is getting the d7 square in exchange.
19...Qd7 20.Qa6 We can clearly see that Black is very close to equalize completely, his only problem is the c-file.
20...f5 I don't like this move. Black creates a lot of weaknesses in the position. [20...Ne7 would have been a much more solid decision. Black just wants to play Rxc1 and Rc8 next, exchanging both pairs of rooks. Of course White is still a bit more active, but the position should be very close to a draw.]
21.Rfe1 Andreikin continues putting his pieces onto good squares. 21...Kf7 White has a couple of ideas now. One is to try and push e4 somehow, another one might be to try and go for f3 and e4. It could also be an idea to play a4 followed by a5, but Andreikin had another very creative move in mind.
22.Nf4!? I like this move a lot!
22...Nb4?! This move clearly looks too dangerous. [A safer option was 22...Nxf4 23.exf4 but here too Black still needs to "suffer" a lot for a draw. The queen on a6 is very unpleasantly placed and the d6e6f5 structure could become weak at any moment.]
23.Qe2! White of course doesn't care much about the pawn on a2, as the black king on f7 is clearly in big danger.
23...Nxa2 Svidler is going for it... 24.Rxc8 Rxc8
25.e4! What now... White is crushing on the e-file and the black knight on a2 is totally out of the game.
25...Nb4 Svidler tries to bring the knight back into the game.
26.exf5 exf5 27.Qf3 Andreikin is very ambitious. White is a pawn down, but he has a lot of threats, one of them being to play Qb3 next. [White also had the option of playing 27.Qh5+ Kg8 28.Ng6 Re8 29.Rxe8+ Qxe8 30.Qxf5 With a probably slightly better position for White.]
27...a5 Protecting the knight, which is very logical.
28.Re6! A very strong move. Now White even wants to play d5 next. We can clearly see that the clouds around the black king are getting darker.
28...Kg8 It is already hard to find a good move for Black. [28...d5 29.Rxb6 Rc6]
29.Qg3! Another very strong move by White. Now Rxh6 is a threat and also a move like Nh5 with a triple attack on g7, Nf6 or just Rxd6. Black's position is almost lost.
29...Nd5? And Svilder puts an end to the game himself...
30.Qb3! A small tactic after a great positional game! Now of course after 30...Nxf4 White has 31.Re7+. This game is a great example of how unpleasant it is to play a slightly worse position with no counterplay.
