Vlad the Impaler

As I write, the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is leading in the Norway tournament in Stavanger. The line-up is impressive, including Magnus Carlsen, Lev Aronian, Fabiano Caruana and Sergei Karjakin, and missing only Viswanathan Anand, who was defeated in last year’s World Championship match by Carlsen.
 
At his best Kramnik is a subtle tactician, with a penchant for extraordinarily complex middlegames. Sometimes the search for complications lets him down, as in his notorious last-round loss to Ivanchuk in the final round of last year’s Candidates tournament in London. This deprived Kramnik of the right to challenge Anand for the world title, ceding the palm to Carlsen, who went on to victory.
 
This week’s game is vintage Kramnik from the Norway tournament.
 
Giri-Kramnik: Norway Chess 2014; Catalan Opening
 
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 g3 Be7 5 Bg2 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 7 Qc2 a6 8 a4 Bd7 9 Qxc4 Bc6 10 Bf4 Bd6 Part of White’s strategy in the Catalan is to exert pressure in the c-file against Black’s queenside pawns.