(1) Morozevich,A (2758) - Svidler,P (2735) [C45]
WCh Mexico City MEX (3), 15.09.2007
[Mihail Marin]



1.e4 e5 2.Cf3 Cc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Cxd4 Ac5 5.Ae3 Df6 6.c3 Cge7 7.Ac4 0-0 8.0-0 Ce5


9.Ab3!?
Morozevich remains faithful to his style. Instead of the approved 9.Be2, he plays a move that has been only rarely seen in games between strong players.

9...d6 10.f3
But this is "almost" a novelty. In most of the games, White preferred to develop his queen's knight, ignoring the threat ...Ng4.

10...Ae6 11.Rh1 Ac4 12.Tf2 d5
White's opening experiment seems to have ended into a complete fiasco. He is behind in development and his advantage of space is just about to vanish.

13.Ac2 dxe4
[Black had a wide choice of tempting moves. The most logical seems to be 13...Tad8 , but then White could consider playing f4, immediately or after driving the bishop away with b3.; Maybe 13...Dh4 is best, preventing f4 in view of ...Ng4 and planning to place his rooks on the open files. It would not have been easy for White to complete his development.]

14.Cd2!
White hurries to bring his pieces into play. The point behind his last move is that 14...exf3? loses a piece to 15.Nxc4 Nxc4 16.Qd3, atacking c4 and h7.

14...Ad3?!
[After this move White is back in the game. Once he cleared the d5-square with his previous move, Black should have used it with 14...Cd5 for instance 15.Cxe4 Db6 and White is still under pressure.]

15.Cxe4 Axe4 16.fxe4 Dg6 17.Tf4
White has a normal position now; chances are about equal. Svidler must have ben still under the impression of his missed advantage, because in the next phase of the game he effectuates a series of pseudo-active moves, completely losingcoordination.

17...Cc4 18.Ag1 Dh6 19.Tf3 Dd2 20.Db1 Ab6 21.Ab3!
Suddenly, Black is in trouble. If the knight moves, Be3 wins the queen.

21...Axd4 22.cxd4
But now, White's pair of bishops and his mobile centre offers him a huge advantage.

22...Ca5 23.Ac2 Tad8 24.Tc3 Cac6 25.d5 Cb4 26.Ab3 Ca6 27.Ae3 De2 28.Ac4 Dg4 29.h3 Dh4 30.Axa6 bxa6 31.Txc7 f5 32.Ac5 Tfe8 33.d6 Cg6 34.exf5 Cf4 35.Dc2 Te2 36.Db3+ Rh8 37.Tg1 1-0