Vladimir Kamnik vs Levon Aronian, C50, Giuoco Piano (Italian Game)
2018 Chess Candidates Tournament, Round 10
This game will be remembered for a long time to come! Vladimir Kramnik used one of the slowest openings, the peaceful Giuoco Piano, to destroy Levon Aronian. He played in the style of Tal, Morphy and Fischer, building up the pressure and positioning his pieces until he was ready for a blitzkrieg.
Once the attack started it was so relentless and powerful that Aronian had no chance to survive despite having a technically equal position. Vlad the Impaler played a series of tactically brilliant moves until Aronian made his final blunder and resigned.
By far the most beautiful game of the Candidates Tournament so far, but sadly not as important result wise (as both players have virtually no chance to win anymore), which is perhaps what made Kramnik play with no fear in the first place.
Aronian has now confirmed his status as the biggest disappointment of the tournament as he is now in last place with 3.5/10! A very poor performance considering he was the pre-tournament favorite.
This game was a great example of how maneuvering, theoretical openings such as the Italian Game can produce volatile, double-edged attacking positions. It’s also very instructive because Kramnik gave a brilliant example of how going on the offense means a lot more than pawn structure or weak squares, since if your opponent has to defend, he will not have time to exploit his advantages!
Standings after round 10:
Fabiano Caruana 6.5/10
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 6/10
Alexander Grischuk 5.5/10
Ding Liren 5/10
Sergey Karjakin 5/10
Vladimir Kramnik 4.5/10
Wesley So 4/10
Levon Aronian 3.5/10 !