FAMOUS CHESS PLAYERS              

Updated : Feb 2009  

SERGEY KARJAKIN SPECIAL PAGE


No27  :  KARJAKIN Sergey    (UKR)

Born:   1990

Rating :   2706   (Jan. 2009, 17 games)

   «© Karjakin Sergey - ChessBase News»
The unstopable Sergey Karjakin!


Sergey Karjakin, born 12 January, 1990 in Simferopol, is an Ukrainian grandmaster ranked 27th in the FIDE ratings list and ranked 2nd in the Junior FIDE ratings (behind Magnus Carlsen). The level he has at 19 years old, and the amazing increase of his ELO rating graph during the last decade enable us to expect this prodigy will become, after a while, one of the most important actors of the chess scene. He earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 12 years and 7 months, making him the youngest grandmaster in history (this still remains the record). He was already known before this; in 2002 he was the official second of fellow Ruslan Ponomariov in the FIDE World Chess Championship. In 2004 he defeated reigning World Chess Champion Kramnik, in a blitz game. The same year he defeated the computer Deep Junior on the occasion of the Man vs Machine World Team Championship.
Karjakin entered the FIDE ratings TOP 100 in April 2005, where he was ranked 64th and rated 2635. He passed for the first time the elite 2700 mark in January 2008 with a rating of 2732, ranked 14th, thus not far from the eminently enviable and extremely coveted world's TOP 10. In 2007 World Cup he reached the semi-finals where he was eliminated by Alexei Shirov. In February 2009 he has won the sole 1st place in the Wijk Aan Zee Corus A Chess Tournament, having been the only one among the 6 concurrents to the 1st place to win his game in the final round. This victory qualifies him for the Bilbao 2009 Grand Slam Tournament, making him the second finalist to qualify after Veselin Topalov who won Bilbao 2008. On the FIDE ratings list established in January 2009 he has a rating of 2706 (but this doesn't take into account his victory at the Corus).

   «Sergey Karjakin - GNU Free Document
Sergey Karjakin at the Corus
Tournament, January 2006 »

    Sergey Karjakin at the Corus
    Tournament, January 2006  


We choose, as an illustration of the Karjakin's style, a brief game recently played by Sergey against the American grandmaster Gata Kamsky (Corus Wijk aan Zee 2006).

Karjakin, Sergey (2660) - Kamsky, Gata (2686)
- (B42) Sicilian Defense: Kan,
Gipslis (Modern) Variation, 0-1 - Corus
Wijk aan Zee Tournament, 2006 -


     1.e4    c5      Sicilian
     2.Nf3    e6
     3.d4    cxd4
     4.Nxd4    a6      Kan variation
     5.Bd3 (B42)      ...


It acts of one significant line regularly played since 1859 (Suhle, Berthold - Anderssen, Adolf 0-1 (B42) Cologne, 1859) with today more than 13 000 games in databases. According to our theoretical study (see in the "New Chess Theory" Lecture:      NCT V - "Opening new understanding" ), concerning a refinement of the classical Opening Classification, the present beginning is a B42-Relatively Mixed Opening (B42 - A31, A34, B33, B41, B42, B43, B46, B48, B50, B57, B60, B80, B82, B93, B95).

DIAG 1 :


This beginning is also a commonly known crossroad of the Kan Variation, with the following possible continuations:

  • 5...Nf6
  • :    this classical answer (1873) is the Main line, played in the present game.

  • 5...Bc5!?
  • :    a relatively recent good idea (1960) offering identical chances to Black and White. For example: 5...Bc5!? 6.Nb3 Ba7 7.Qe2 Nc6 8.Be3 d6 9.f4 b5 10.a4 = (Karjakin, Sergey (2658) - Arencibia, Walter (2510) ½-½ (B42) WchT 6th Beersheba, 2005).

  • 5...Qc7?!
  • :    an old retort (1892) always played today but not at the Top level; an illustration is given by the game: 5...Qc7?! 6.0-0 Nf6 7.Nc3 Bc5 8.Nb3 Ba7 9.Qe2 d6 10.Be3 = (Ginzburg, Mikhail (2344) - Corbin, Philip (2243) ½-½ (B43) EU-cup 21st Saint Vincent, 2005).

  • 5...Nc6
  • :    the controversed Anderssen's move (1859), practised today and sometimes renovate with new ideas, like this: 5...Nc6 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.Nd2 e5 8.Nc4 Nf6 9.Bd2 Bc5 10.Qf3 Qe7 11.h3 b5 12.Ne3 g6 = (Raud, Rainer (2356) - Miezis, Normunds (2527) 0-1 (B42) Keres mem-A Tallin rapid, 2005).

  • 5...g6
  • :    relatively recent secondary line (1961), played from time to time with balanced chances... Thus 5...g6 6.0-0 Bg7 7.c3 d5!? 8.Nd2 Ne7 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.N2f3 0-0 11.Re1 +/= (Arancibia, Eduardo (2414) - Flores, Diego (2479) 0-1 (B42) Las Condes zt, 2005).

  • 5...Qb6!?
  • :    an interesting alternative always tested today (see: Korbut, Ekaterina (2409) - Khurtsidze, Nino (2449) 1-0 (B42) EU-cup (Women) 10th, 2005).

  • 5...Ne7!?
  • :    a doubtful choice (1962) rarely played today.


         5...    Nf6  
         6.0-0   (6.c4!?)             d6    (Qc7)
         7.c4!   (7.Nc3)    g6    Gipslis Variation


    The Gipslis Variation of the Kan appears in fact for the first time in the game: De Rool, Paul - Darga, Klaus 0-1 (B42) Hoogovens Beverwijk, 1964. But Aivars Gipslis, 8 times champion of Latvia, played this line leading Black, many times with success, in particular during the 34th USSR Championship in Tbilisi, 1966.

    DIAG 2 :


    This complex and rich beginning, offering identical chances to White and Black, is typically a B42-Totally Pure Opening (see at this subject the "New Chess Theory" Lecture:      NCT V - "Opening new understanding").

         8.Nc3 Main line   Bg7  Main line
         9.Be3 Main line   0-0    Main line
         10.Rc1!? Main line    ...


    DIAG 3 :


    It is judicious to consider 9...d6 as the end of the Opening Theoretical Phase (OPTP:) and thus 10.Rc1!? as the beginning of the Opening Speculative Phase (OPSP:) (see the "New Chess Theory" Lecture:      NCT IV - "Unfolding of a game").

    Effectively in all this line 10.Rc1!? is the first move not unanimously recognized, as it appears, considering all candidate moves routinely played in the position occurring after 9...d6: 10.Rc1 = (Nikolai V Krogius, 1969), 10.Qe2?! =/+ (Manfred Schoeneberg, 1968), 10.h3?! =/+ (Borislav Milic, 1965), 10.Be2!? +/= (Milan Matulovic, 1967), 10.Re1!? +/= (Efim P Geller, 1966), 10.f3?! =/+ (Paul de Rool, 1964).

         10...    Nbd7!?  (Qc7)
         11.Qd2!N Novelty   ...


    DIAG 4 :


    At this stage of the game, corresponding to the Opening Critical Phase (OPCP:), a great number of moves have been played, amongst other things:

  • 11.b4!?
  • :    since the game: 11.b4!? (with the idea: Nb3) Re8 12.h3 b6 13.Nb3 Bb7 14.a4 d5 = (Rogers, Ian (2400) - Ftacnik, Lubomir (2475) ½-½ (B42) Dubai (Men), 1986).

  • 11.f3!?
  • :    for example: 11.f3!? Qc7 12.b3 b6 13.Qd2 Bb7 14.Rfd1 = (Malinovsky, Karel (2309) - Pisk, Petr (2319) ½-½ (B42) Olomouc Inline Czechia Cup, 2005).

  • 11.h3!?
  • :    with eventually the recent treatment: 11.h3!? b6 12.Qd2 Bb7 13.Bb1 Rb8 14.b3 Nc5 15.Bg5 = (Astaneh Lopez, Alex (2304) - Manolache, Marius (2462) ½-½ (B42) Villagarcia de Arosa, 2005).

  • 11.Qe2
  • :    introduced in 1979 and rarely played today.


         11...    Qc7    Thematic
         12.f3 Thematic   b6       Thematic
         12.Rfd1 Thematic    Bb7     Thematic
         14.Bf1!? (14.b4)   Rfc8    (Rfd8!?)
         15.b4 Thematic   Bf8?!    (Ne8!?)


    Was playable 12.Bh6!? Bxh6 13.Qxh6 Nc5 14.Bb1 Ng4 15.Qh4! Ne5 16.b3 Bd7 +/=, but the Sergey's plan is to exploit the d-open file (open in the Pachman's meaning!) and in particular to create a pressure on the weak d6-pawn. By the way, perhaps a more efficient Black defense was: 14...Rfd8 15.b4 Rac8 16.Nb3 Ne8 17.Qf2 +/= with nevertheless a clear White domination.

    DIAG 5 :


         16.a3 Thematic   Rab8   Counterplay
         17.Kh1 Prophylaxy   Qd8     (Ne5!?)
         18.Qf2!? Initiative   ...


    Black strategy is not clear, but it is rather difficult for Gata Kamsky, in this position, to find a valuable counterplay; if 16...Rab8 was certainly an appropriate move, one does not see very well how Black can continue. To illustrate this opinion let us notice that 17...Ne5!?, instead of 17...Qd8, is not either an adequate solution, taking into account the foreseeable continuation: 18.Na4 Ba8 (Ned7 19.Nb3 Rd8 20.Be2 Ne8 21.Bg5 f6 22.Bf4 +/=) 19.Nb3 Nfd7 20.Be2! Rd8 21.f4 Bxe4 22.fxe5 Bxg2+ 23.Kxg2 Qc6+ 24.Kg1 Qxa4 25.Nd4 Nxe5 26.Qa2 +/- with White initiative.

       «Sergey Karjakin - Copyright © ChessBase
    Corus Chess Tournament - Wijk aan Zee 2005»

              Sergey Karjakin, the
    Ukrain prodigy at Corus Chess
    Tournament - Wijk aan Zee 2005  


         18...    Ne5
         19.Na4  Initiative  Nfd7  Defensive
         20.Nb3  Initiative  Ba8    Defensive


    In this position, it is not difficult to justify the opinion of the White superiority, as it appears by observing the following features:

  • White has the initiative and Black does not develop a counterplay.
  • White pieces are very well coordinated.
  • White has a clear plan based on a pressure exerted on Black pawns a6, b6, d6 and in the threat of use, at the proper time, the Break move (BREM:) c5.
  • White has a dominating position.


  • DIAG 6 :


    This interesting game offers to us a new occasion to illustrate our point of view related to "Control and Domination" (NCT: "New Chess Theory" Lecture). You may refer yourself to:      NCT VII - "Control and Domination I" and      NCT VIII - "Control and Domination II" The cartography of this position (DIAG 6) is the following:


    In this conditions we have the numerical values:

    | W | = 32
    | B | = 24
    | Y | = 1
    | R | = 7


    Of this values we immediately deduce the "Radiation rates":

      WRR  =   100  x   32 / (64  -  8)   %   =  57   %
      BRR   =   100  x   24 / (64  -  8)   %   =  43   %


    Thus White domination is really important!

       «Sergey Karjakin ©- Hastings Chess Congress
    Luke McShane (ENG) vs Sergey Karjakin (UKR)»

        Sergey Karjakin ©- Hastings Chess Congress
    Luke McShane (ENG) vs Sergey Karjakin (UKR)  


         21.Nb2!? (21.Be2!?)   Rc7    (Qc7)
         22.Na4 (22.Be2!?)   Rcc8  Defensive
         23.Bd4  Initiative  Rc6    (Bh6!?)


    May be envisaged: 22.Be2!? (idea: f4) Rcc8 23.f4 Nc6 24.Rd3 Qc7 25.Rcd1 Rd8 26.Bf3 +/=.

         24.c5! Break move   ...                 


    DIAG 7 :


    Now it is difficult for Black to find a good defense.

         24...    bxc5    (Bh6?!)
         25.Naxc5 Initiative   Nxc5    (Rbc8?!)
         26.Nxc5 Initiative    ...    


       «Sergey Karjakin ©- www.echecs.com/
    Sergey Karjakin vs Teimour Radjabov»

    Sergey Karjakin vs Teimour Radjabov
    Le Cap d'Agde 2006 (Final)


    DIAG 8 :


    Evidently Sergey Karjakin does not sacrifice his Knight: 26...dxc5?? 27.Bxe5 Qe8 28.Bxb8 +-.

         26...    Qc8     (Qc7!?)
         27.Qe3! (27.Nb3)   Bb7      Only choice
         28.Bxe5! (28.b5!?)    dxe5    Only choice
         29.Nd7! Initiative   ...  


    DIAG 9 :


    This time Sergey Karjakin owns a decisive advantage. Was not better for Kamsky: 26...Qc7!? 27.Qg3 Bg7 28.Nb3 a5 29.b5! Rxc1 30.Rxc1 Qd8 31.a4 +/-.

       «Sergey Karjekin ©- Corus Chess 2007
    Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin»

    Sergey Karjekin ©- Corus Chess 2007
    Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin


         29...    Rxc1       Only choice
         30.Qxc1 (30.Rxc1??)   Ra8?       (Qxc1)
         31.Nb6!? (31.Qb2!)    Qxc1       Only move
         32.Rxc1    Rd8 +-    1-0


    DIAG 10 :


    The game may continue like this: 33.Rc7 Ba8 34.g3 a5 35.bxa5 Bxa3 36.Nc4! Bb4 37.a6 +-. A very fine game magnificently played by Sergey!

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