Khismatullin’s Unusual Gruenfeld game, AEROFLOT

14 February 2011, Kuala Lumpur – Here is an interesting and entertaining Gruenfeld defence played by GM Dennis Khismatullin (2649) against GM Igor Kurnosov (2662) of the round 6, AEROFLOT Open 2011.

Khismatullin played 3.f3 and 10.Nh3 early in the game, castles queenside and even sacrificed a piece to expose the black King of its defences. Khismatullin pushes the black King to the first rank and encirlces the black king with two rooks and a knight in a checkmate trap in three moves.

[Event "Aeroflot Open A"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.02.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Khismatullin, Denis"]
[Black "Kurnosov, Igor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2649"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2011.02.08"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2
f5 9. e5 Be6 10. Nh3 Nc4 11. Bxc4 Bxc4 12. O-O-O c5 13. Bh6 Qxd4 14. Qg5 Qxe5
15. Rhe1 Qf6 16. Bxg7 Qxg5+ 17. Nxg5 Kxg7 18. Rxe7+ Kf6 19. Rxh7 Kxg5 20. Rd6
Bg8 21. h4+ Kf4 22. Rxb7 Bc4 23. Re7 Na6 24. b3 Bf1 25. Nd5+ Kg3 26. Rxg6+ Kf2
27. Nf4 Bxg2 28. Nd3+ Kxf3 29. Ne1+ Kf2 30. Rxg2+ Kf1 31. Ree2 1-0

Pix 1. Position after 31. Ree2. Checkmate by white in three moves.

Links:

• 10th Aeroflot Open (Moscow RUS)
  Mon 7th Feb 2011 - Sat 19th Feb 2011 - Official Site
• Open A (9 Rds Swiss Indiv TC:120m:60m:15m+30spm(61)) - Games in PGN: A-Group Games | Live Open A
• Open B (9 Rds Swiss Indiv TC:120m:60m:15m+30spm(61))
• Open C (9 Rds Swiss Indiv TC:90m+30spm(1))

(as suggested by Mohd Zullghafari Saparmin, Johor)