Four Knights Game: Spanish, Rubinstein Counter-Gambit
Short–Kramnik, London Chess Classic 2011 · Naiditsch–Anand, GRENKE Chess Classic 2019 · 5:58 · ECO C48
Position as text
FEN:
In this video
Game 1: Nigel Short (2698) vs Vladimir Kramnik (2800)
London Chess Classic 2011, 4 December 2011 · Black won (0-1) · 43 moves
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Key moments
- 5.Nxd4The first move after the opening line0:26
- 14.gxf3The queens come off0:59
- 16.b4The evaluation moves from −0.82 to −2.221:09
- 25...Re8Black stays more than two pawns ahead from here1:56
- 43...Be3Black wins after 43 moves3:26
Evaluation
Above the line, White is better; below it, Black. Scores are in pawns, capped at five either way.
Game 2: Arkadij Naiditsch (2695) vs Viswanathan Anand (2774)
GRENKE Chess Classic 2019, 26 April 2019 · White won (1-0) · 30 moves
Click a move to jump the video to it. Dotted moves are the opening line the video is about.
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Key moments
- 5.Ba4The first move after the opening line3:52
- 26...Rdf8White stays more than two pawns ahead from here5:28
- 29...Qd8The evaluation moves from +2.95 to +4.845:42
- 30.Nxg7White wins after 30 moves5:45
Evaluation
Above the line, White is better; below it, Black. Scores are in pawns, capped at five either way.
About these games
After 4...Nd4 Black ignores the attack on the e5-pawn and puts the knight in the centre, inviting exchanges and offering a pawn for quick development. The main reply 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 clears the board fast and leads to early simplification. White can instead keep pieces on with 5.Ba4 and take the e5-pawn, giving Black active play in return.
Short–Kramnik followed the main line, and after 13...Qxf3 14.gxf3 the queens were off and White's kingside pawns were doubled. Black kept the bishop pair against White's two bishops and slowly improved. The evaluation jumped from −0.82 to −2.22 at 16.b4, which loosened White's queenside. After 25...Re8 and the rook exchange on move 26, Black stayed more than two pawns ahead in a pure bishop ending (−3.53 at 34...Bh5). Black's king walked to f5, and the pawn advances ...g5, ...f5, ...f4 and ...g4 broke White's kingside. After 42...Bxf3 and 43...Be3 Black won.
Naiditsch–Anand went 5.Ba4 c6 6.Nxe5, and White kept the extra pawn (0.00 at 9...Nxd5). Here the queens stayed on and Anand castled long with 15...O-O-O, so the kings sat on opposite wings, unlike the endgame of the first game. White pushed f4, played Re5 and brought rooks to g1 and g5, reaching +1.53 at 19...Ne6 and +2.71 at 24...Rf7, while Black's ...h5-h4-h3 came too slowly. After 26...Rdf8 White stayed more than two pawns up, 29...Qd8 took the score from +2.95 to +4.84, and White won after 30.Nxg7.