[Event "Tata Steel Chess Masters 2022"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.15"] [Round "1"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Grandelius, Nils"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C77"] [WhiteElo "2702"] [BlackElo "2672"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Re1 O-O 9. Nbd2 Re8 10. Nf1 b5 {The alternative is 10...h6 and it seems as it pushes to become the main line.} ({A recent top game went:} 10... h6 11. Ng3 d5 12. h3 b5 13. Bb3 Bb7 14. Qe2 dxe4 15. dxe4 Na5 16. Bc2 Qe7 17. b4 Nc4 18. Nd2 Nxd2 19. Bxd2 c5 20. a4 {with tremendous pressure on the queenside in Nakamura, H (2736)-Esipenko,A (2716) Chess.com INT 2021} c4 21. Be3 Qe6 22. f3 h5 23. Nf1 Red8 24. Red1 Bc6 25. axb5 axb5 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. Bf2 Bh6 28. Qe1 Bg5 29. h4 Bh6 30. Ra6 Ra8 31. Rxa8+ Bxa8 32. Qa1 Bc6 33. Qa7 Kg7 34. Qc7 Ne8 35. Qb8 Qd6 36. Qb6 Bc1 37. Be3 Bxe3+ 38. Qxe3 Nc7 39. Qb6 Ne6 40. g3 Qc7 41. Qa5 Qxa5 42. bxa5 Bb7 43. Ne3 Nd8 44. Nd5 Nc6 45. Nc7 Nxa5 46. Nxb5 Kf6 47. Bd1 Ke6 48. Be2 Kd7 49. Na3 Ba6 50. g4 Ke6 51. gxh5 gxh5 52. Kf2 f5 53. exf5+ Kxf5 54. Ke3 Kf6 55. f4 exf4+ 56. Kxf4 Kg6 57. Ke5 Kh6 58. Kd6 Kg6 59. Ke5 Kg7 60. Bxh5 Nb3 61. Bd1 Nd2 62. Be2 Kh6 63. Kd4 Nb3+ 64. Ke3 Na5 65. Kf4 Kg6 66. Bd1 Bc8 67. Ke5 Kh6 68. Nb5 Bd7 69. Nd6 Bh3 70. Be2 Nc6+ 71. Kf4 Ne7 72. Bxc4 Kh5 73. Kg3 Bd7 74. Bd3 Nd5 75. c4 Ne3 76. c5 Nd5 77. Be4 Ne7 78. Bf3+ Kh6 79. Kf4 Ng6+ 80. Kg3 Ne5 81. Be4 Kh5 82. Bd5 Kh6 83. Nc4 Nxc4 84. Bxc4 Bc6 85. Be2 Kg7 86. Bf3 Bb5 87. Kf4 Ba4 88. Ke5 Kh6 89. Kd6 Bb5 90. Bc6 Bf1 91. Ba4 Bg2 92. Bb3 Bh1 93. Bd5 {1-0 (93) Nakamura,H (2736)-Esipenko,A (2716) Chess.com INT 2021}) 11. Bc2 a5 { Grandelius gains space on the queenside, thus limiting the opponent's light-squared bishop. [#]} 12. Bg5 $146 {A logical novelty that fights for the d5-spot.} ({The predecessor saw:} 12. Ne3 a4 13. h3 {Then a fierce battle for the center emerged after} d5 $1 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 Qxd5 16. d4 $1 e4 17. Ng5 f5 18. f3 e3 $1 19. Bxe3 (19. f4 $5) 19... h6 20. Ne4 fxe4 21. Bxe4 Qd7 ( 21... Qd6 $1) 22. Bxg6 {with unclear play in Chen,R (2085)-Repka,C (2488) Chesterfield 2020} Rf8 23. Qe2 Ne7 24. Bd3 c6 25. Bxh6 Bxh6 26. Qxe7 Qxe7 27. Rxe7 Rf7 28. Re2 Bd7 29. a3 Kg7 30. Rae1 Rh8 31. Bb1 Kf6 32. Ba2 Rg7 33. Be6 Re8 34. Bxd7 Rxe2 35. Rxe2 Rxd7 36. g3 Bc1 37. Rc2 Be3+ 38. Kg2 Rg7 39. h4 Bf4 40. g4 Rh7 41. h5 Rd7 42. Kf2 Re7 43. c4 Be3+ 44. Kg3 Bxd4 45. cxb5 cxb5 46. f4 Re3+ 47. Kh4 Rb3 48. h6 Rxb2 49. Rc6+ Ke7 50. g5 b4 51. g6 bxa3 52. g7 Rg2 53. Rc7+ Kd6 54. h7 a2 55. g8=Q Bf6+ 56. Kh3 a1=Q 57. Kxg2 Kxc7 58. Qc4+ Kd6 59. Qa6+ Kd5 60. Qb5+ Ke4 61. Qe2+ Kxf4 62. Qf2+ Kg5 63. Qg3+ Kf5 64. Qd3+ Ke6 65. Qe4+ Kf7 66. Qd5+ Kg7 67. Qd7+ Kg6 68. Qd3+ Kg7 69. Qd7+ Kh8 70. Qe8+ Kxh7 71. Qd7+ Kg8 72. Qe8+ Kg7 73. Qd7+ Kf8 74. Qd6+ Be7 75. Qf4+ Kg8 76. Qc4+ Kh7 77. Qe4+ Kh6 78. Qe3+ Bg5 79. Qh3+ Kg7 80. Qd7+ Kg8 81. Qe8+ Kh7 82. Qd7+ Kg6 83. Qe6+ Bf6 84. Qg4+ Kh6 85. Qf4+ Bg5 86. Qh2+ Kg6 87. Qd6+ Qf6 88. Qd3+ Kh6 89. Qh3+ Bh4 90. Qa3 Qf2+ 91. Kh1 Qe1+ 92. Kg2 Qg3+ {0-1 (92) Chen,R (2085)-Repka, C (2488) Chesterfield 2020}) 12... h6 13. Bh4 a4 14. Ne3 Bb7 (14... Ne7 { would have covered the d5-spot but weakened instead the d4-one, thus inviting} 15. d4) 15. c4 $1 {This is the major problem with the early a-pawn advance. The b5-pawn lacks defends and Van Foresst initiates complications.} Nb4 $5 { Grandelius on his turn decided to sacrifice a pawn.} ({The obvious} 15... bxc4 {was certainly a possibility, when} 16. Nxc4 ({However, the Swedish GM might have disliked the more positional approach} 16. dxc4 g5 17. Bg3 a3 {when it is hard to assess the long-term vulnerability of the black pawn-structure.}) 16... d5 17. Bxf6 ({Stockfish 271221:} 17. exd5 Qxd5 18. Bxa4 e4 19. Ne3 Qxd3 20. Qxd3 exd3 21. Bb5 Red8 22. Rec1 Na7 23. Bc4 Bxf3 24. gxf3 {[%csl Gc7,Gf2,Gf3, Gh2]} g5 25. Bg3 Nh5 26. Rd1 Nf4 27. Bxf4 gxf4 28. Nf5 d2 29. Nxg7 Kxg7 30. a4 Rd4 31. b3 Nc6 32. Kf1 Na5 33. Ra2 Nxc4 34. bxc4 Ra5 35. Rdxd2 Rxc4 $11) 17... Bxf6 18. exd5 Qxd5 19. Bxa4 e4 {promises Black good compensation for a pawn.}) 16. cxb5 Qd7 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 ({The other way of a counterplay quest was related to} 17... Nxc2 18. Qxc2 Bxf6 19. Rac1 (19. Qc4 Ra5 $36 {[%cal Ra5b5,Rd7b5, Gc4b5]}) 19... Qxb5 20. Qxc7 Red8 {[%cal Rb5b2] but this looks less clear than the game continuation.}) 18. Bxa4 Nxd3 {That is the point: Black is grabbing a central pawn.} 19. Qxd3 Rxa4 {And Grandelius achieves an interesting Benko-style compensation. A couple of more useful moves and he may even take over the initiative on the queenside.} 20. Nd1 $1 {Therefore, Van Foreest solidifies his queenside. In the process, however, he loses control of the center, at least for a moment.} ({Black seems to be fine in case of} 20. Nd5 Bxd5 21. Qxd5 Rea8 22. h3 R8a5) 20... Rb4 21. a4 d5 $1 {And Black grabs his chance. The pawns get into motion and the powerful bishops start to reveal their strength.} 22. Qd2 ({The bishop might increase their strength toward the endgame, therefore Black has no fear of} 22. exd5 Qxd5 23. Qxd5 Bxd5 24. Nd2 { [%csl Ra4,Rb2,Rb5,Gc7]}) 22... Qd6 23. exd5 e4 {An obvious move, but certainly not the only way.} ({The simple} 23... Bxd5 {was possible. Then the complications after} 24. Nc3 ({Perhaps White can squeeze a bit of an edge in the endgame after} 24. Ne3 $5 Be6 25. Qxd6 cxd6 26. b3) 24... Ba8 25. Qxh6 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Rh4 27. Qe3 e4 28. f4 Bxc3 29. bxc3 Rg4+ 30. Kh1 Rxf4 {seem perfectly fine for Black.}) 24. Qxh6 Qf8 {Grandelius sensibly decided not to test the queen and knights' might.} ({However} 24... Qxd5 25. Ne3 Qd8 26. Ng4 Bg7 27. Qf4 Qe7 28. Rad1 Bc8 {would not be something that Black can complain about.}) 25. Qxf8+ Kxf8 26. Nd2 Bxd5 27. Re3 {The endgame should be OK for Black, but Grandelius gradually loses the thread.} Bd4 ({Certainly not} 27... Bxb2 $2 28. Rb1) ({However, the trade of more queenside pawns with} 27... c6 $5 {made perfect sense. Then} 28. bxc6 Bxc6 29. Rea3 {can be met with} ({Or} 29. a5 Rd8 30. Nf1 Bb5 {when the black pieces dominate.}) 29... Bxa4 30. Rxa4 Rxa4 31. Rxa4 Rd8 32. Nf1 Rxd1 33. Rxe4 Bxb2 {with a likely draw.}) 28. Rea3 f5 { Black decided that his pieces are strong enough and started pushing for more.} ({This time} 28... c6 29. bxc6 Bxc6 30. a5 {does not promise Black easy living. }) 29. g3 g5 30. Ne3 {The white knights are pretty good too!} Bxe3 31. fxe3 Rxb2 32. Nf1 Bc4 {Too optimistic! This can be labelled as Black's major mistake.} ({It was not too late to switch to a defense with} 32... Ra8 $1 33. Rc1 Rxb5 34. axb5 ({Or} 34. Rxc7 Rb1) 34... Rxa3 35. Rxc7 Ra1 {when the active black pieces should keep him out of trouble.}) 33. Rc3 Be2 {If the bishop makes it to the f3 square in time, Black would even win.} ({The bishop did not come out only to be traded with} 33... Bxf1 34. Rxf1) 34. Rac1 $1 {But Van Foreest is just in time.} ({Not} 34. Rxc7 $4 Bf3) 34... Ra8 (34... Bf3 35. R3c2 Rxc2 36. Rxc2 Ra8 37. Rc4 {transposes to the game.}) 35. R3c2 Rxc2 36. Rxc2 Bf3 37. Rc4 {Now White finally consolidates his extra pawn.} Ke7 {The last desperate attempt.} ({But the truth is that} 37... Ra7 38. Nd2 Be2 39. Rc5 { should be hopeless too.}) 38. Rxc7+ Ke6 39. Rc4 Be2 40. Rb4 Rc8 41. Nd2 Bd3 42. b6 Rc1+ 43. Kf2 Rc2 44. b7 {And the last-year champion starts with a win!} 1-0 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.15"] [Round "1"] [White "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Black "Rapport, Richard"] [Result "*"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [BlackElo "2763"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qb3 Bd6 7. Bg3 dxc4 $146 (7... Bxg3 8. hxg3 Rb8 9. Nc3 a6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Nxd5 Be6 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6 13. Qc2 h6 {Dong,Y (1364)-Leblanc,A (1415) Quebec 2018}) 8. Bxc4 Rb8 9. Nc3 b5 10. Be2 O-O {Duda wasn't sure about his next two moves but thought it was \"very interersting but probably not that great for me.\"} 11. Rd1 Qe7 12. Ne5 b4 13. Na4 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Ne4 15. f3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 Nc5 17. Nxc5 Qxc5 18. Kf2 Qxe5 19. Rd7 a5 20. Rhd1 h5 21. e4 Bg6 22. R1d2 h4 23. gxh4 Qh2 24. Bf1 Qxh4+ 25. g3 Qh5 26. Qe3 c5 ({Duda expected his opponent to play ...f5 at some point in the game and this was a good moment:} 26... f5 $1 {with good counterplay.}) 27. Kg2 a4 28. Bc4 a3 29. b3 {Now White is doing quite well.} Qe5 30. Qf4 Qxf4 31. gxf4 Bh5 32. Kg3 g6 33. R2d3 Rbe8 34. Kh4 Kg7 35. Kg5 Rh8 36. Rc7 Rc8 37. Re7 Rce8 38. Red7 {Duda basically gives his opponent the move, because Black doesn't really have a good move.} Rhf8 39. Rc7 Rh8 40. Rdd7 Rhf8 41. f5 * [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.16"] [Round "2"] [White "Warmerdam, Max"] [Black "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E05"] [WhiteElo "2607"] [BlackElo "2632"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 b5 8. a4 b4 (8... Bb7 9. axb5 a6 10. bxa6 Nxa6 11. Qxc4 Bd5 12. Qc3 c5 13. Be3 Ne4 14. Qe1 Nb4 15. Nc3 Nc2 16. Rxa8 Qxa8 {Giri,A (2772)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2782) Warsaw 2021}) 9. Nfd2 Nd5 10. Nxc4 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. e4 Nb6 13. Ncd2 N8d7 14. a5 Ba6 15. axb6 Rc8 16. Rxa6 $146 {Not a good novelty.} ({Better is} 16. Qd1 $1 Qxb6 {and now} (16... Bxf1 $6 17. b7 $1) 17. Nb3 $1 (17. Rxa6 Qxa6 18. Nb3 Qa2 19. N1d2 Rfd8 {was OK for Black in Sorokin,A (2521)-Hakobyan,A (2598) Las Vegas 2021}) 17... Bxf1 18. Qxf1 {with an edge for White.}) 16... Bxf2+ 17. Kxf2 Rxc2 18. bxa7 Nb6 ({In fact,} 18... Rc8 {was also good:} 19. e5 Nxe5 20. a8=Q Qd4+ 21. Ke2 Qd3+ 22. Kd1 Qc2+ 23. Ke2 Rxa8 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. Bxa8 Nd3) 19. Kg1 Qc8 $1 {Was this what Warmerdam missed?} 20. Rxb6 Qc5+ 21. Kh1 Qxb6 22. Nf3 Qxa7 23. Bf4 Rxb2 24. Nbd2 Qa2 25. Rc1 Rd8 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.16"] [Round "2"] [White "Shankland, Sam"] [Black "Grandelius, Nils"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A37"] [WhiteElo "2708"] [BlackElo "2672"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e5 6. a3 Nge7 7. d3 (7. O-O O-O 8. Ne1 d6 9. Nc2 Be6 10. Ne3 Qd7 11. Ned5 Bh3 12. d3 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 f5 14. f3 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 e4 16. Rb1 exf3+ 17. exf3 Rae8 18. Be3 Bd4 19. Bh6 Bg7 20. Be3 Bd4 21. Bh6 Bg7 22. Be3 {Radjabov,T (2763)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2766) Terme Catez 2021}) 7... O-O 8. Nd2 d6 9. Rb1 Rb8 $146 (9... h6 10. O-O a5 11. Nd5 Be6 12. Nxe7+ Qxe7 13. Ne4 Kh8 14. Nc3 Qd7 15. Bd2 Rab8 16. Qc1 h5 17. Bh6 Bh3 18. Re1 {½-½ Gelfand,B (2733)-Grischuk,A (2747) Kazan 2011}) 10. b4 b6 11. Nf1 Bb7 12. Ne3 Nd4 13. Bxb7 Rxb7 14. bxc5 dxc5 15. O-O f5 16. Ned5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 f4 18. f3 Rbf7 19. Kh1 fxg3 20. hxg3 h5 21. Be3 Nf5 22. Rg1 Qd7 23. Kh2 Qd6 24. Bg5 Nd4 25. Kg2 b5 26. Nc3 bxc4 27. dxc4 Qe6 28. Qd3 Rd7 29. Rgd1 Rff7 30. Rb8+ Kh7 31. Rd8 Rb7 32. Ne4 ({Missing} 32. Rh1 $1 {which attacks h5 and after} Rf5 (32... Qf5 33. Ne4 Rb3 34. g4 $1) 33. Bd2 {and the threat of 34.g4 is hard to meet. White is close to winning.}) 32... Rb3 33. Rxd4 Rxd3 34. R4xd3 Bh6 35. Rd5 Qa6 36. R1d2 ({Another good chance for White was} 36. Rd7 $1 Qxc4 37. R1d2 {threatening 38.Nd6.}) 36... Kg7 37. Rxc5 ({The last chance was} 37. Rxe5 Qxa3 38. Re6 Bxg5 39. Nxg5 Qc1 40. Rd5 Qxc4 41. Rdd6 {although here} Rf5 $1 42. Rxg6+ Kf8 {should hold.}) 37... Qxa3 38. Rxe5 Bxg5 39. Rxg5 Rf5 40. Rd5 Rxg5 41. Nxg5 Qe3 42. Rd7+ Kg8 43. Rd8+ Kg7 44. Rd7+ Kg8 45. Rd8+ Kg7 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.16"] [Round "2"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A50"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2714"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "52"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g4 d5 (3... Nxg4 4. e4 Nf6 5. e5 Bb4+ (5... Ne4) 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Nxd2 Ng8 8. Qg4 g6 9. Bg2 d5 10. O-O-O dxc4 11. Nxc4 Nh6 12. Qf4 Nf5 { Forman,M-Caha,R Svetla nad Sazavou 1995}) 4. g5 Ne4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Kf1 Be7 7. h4 O-O $146 (7... f6 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 c6 10. Qd3 Nd7 11. Nh3 Nb6 {Napoli,N (2353)-Pienabarca,N (2092) Rome 2009}) 8. Nh3 c6 9. Qc2 e5 $5 10. Nd2 (10. dxe5 $6 Bf5 {is unpleasant.}) 10... Nxd2+ 11. Bxd2 exd4 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Nf4 Be6 14. g6 $6 {Premature.} (14. Rd1 {was still highly unclear.}) 14... Nc6 $1 15. gxh7+ Kh8 16. Qb3 Qd7 ({Strong was} 16... Bd6 $1 {and White cannot take on d5 with either minor piece:} 17. Bxd5 (17. Nxd5 Ne7) 17... Bxf4 18. Bxe6 Bxd2) 17. Bxd5 Bxd5 18. Qxd5 Rad8 19. Qxd7 Rxd7 20. Rc1 Kxh7 21. Nd3 Rd5 22. Bf4 Re8 23. Bg3 Bd6 24. Rg1 Re4 25. f3 Re7 26. Bf2 f6 1/2-1/2 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.16"] [Round "2"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E05"] [WhiteElo "2865"] [BlackElo "2772"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 {The preparation for the world championship match keeps giving fruits for the world champion, and in this game he manages to demonstrate one more powerful Catalan idea.} O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Na3 Bxa3 8. bxa3 Bd7 9. a4 $5 {An interesting side-line according to Megabase. White quickly brings his bishop out, but in the process risks to lose his gambited pawn permanently.} ({Black managed to demonstrate equality in this recent top encounter:} 9. Qc2 Bc6 10. Qxc4 Bd5 11. Qc2 Be4 12. Qb2 Nbd7 13. Bf4 Rc8 14. Rac1 Re8 15. Rfd1 Nd5 16. Bg5 f6 17. Bd2 c5 18. dxc5 Nxc5 { Le,Q (2709)-So,W (2772) chess24.com INT 2021}) 9... Bc6 10. Ba3 Re8 11. Qc2 { [#]} Nbd7 $146 {Technically speaking, it is Giri that produces the novelty. However, an important detail: he does this after more than twelve minutes on the clock.} ({The predecessor witnessed White achieing everything he wished for after:} 11... Bd5 12. Rfe1 Nbd7 13. e4 Bc6 14. Nd2 a5 15. Nxc4 Nb6 16. Nxb6 cxb6 17. Bb2 {Cordova,E (2571) -Slade,T (2124) Saint Louis 2019}) ({Instead of the move in the game, another idea is:} 11... Qd5 $5 12. Rac1 Qa5 {first transfering the queen for the attack against the a4-pawn before accomplishing development with} 13. Qxc4 Nbd7) 12. Rac1 {Carlsen eyeballs the c7-pawn. If White can win his pawn back, his advantage will be enormous. The pressure along the b- and c-files a la Benko, coupled with the nasty bishops and the nastier a-pawns would be too much for Black to cope with.} ({Not the instant} 12. Qxc4 Nb6) 12... a6 13. Qxc4 Nb6 14. Qc3 {Played after a lenghty thought.} ( {The more obvious} 14. Qd3 Bxa4 {allows Ba4-b5 next, with a tempo, and might have been the reason for the rejection.}) 14... Nxa4 15. Qb3 Qd5 {For now, the world champion does play} ({Giri was evidently afraid of the positional exchange sacrifice after} 15... Nb6 16. Rxc6 $1 bxc6 17. Ne5 Qxd4 18. Nxc6 { when the white knight somehow manages to dominate both the rooks!}) ({However} 15... Bb5 $5 {might have been a safer alternative.}) 16. Rxc6 $3 {anyway, and even though the black pawns are still intact after} Qxc6 17. Ne5 Qb5 18. Qc2 $1 {Black has serious problems to solve. His queen is exposed, the knight on the rim is in mortal danger, and all the queenside pawns are hanging.} Nd5 { The most natural move turns out to be a serious mistake.} ({The best defense was connected with the cute tactical line} 18... Nb6 $1 19. Bxb7 Nc4 $3 20. Bxa8 Nxa3 {when Black is OK after both} 21. Qc6 ({Interestingly, White can afford sacrificing a piece and entering an endgame with} 21. Qxc7 Rxa8 22. Qxf7+ Kh8 23. Rc1 Qe8 $1 24. Qxe8+ Rxe8 25. Rc6 {when White's initiative should soon net him another pawn} a5 26. Ra6 Nb5 27. e3 Nc3 28. Rxa5 {and all of this leads to approximately even endgame.}) 21... Qxe2 22. Bb7 Qxa2) 19. Rb1 Qa5 20. Bxd5 $1 {Perhaps Giri underestimated this idea.} ({Wrong was instead} 20. Rxb7 $2 Nab6 21. Qc1 Qc3 $1 {when tables are turned in Black's favor.}) ({ However, the capture might have worked even better with the inclusion of the moves} 20. Be4 $5 g6 21. Bxd5 exd5 {As now White has an additional idea} 22. Bb4 $1 Qb6 23. Bc3 Qxb1+ 24. Qxb1 Nxc3 25. Qxb7 Nxe2+ 26. Kg2 Nxd4 27. Qxc7 { and White's queen and knight crash through thanks to the weakened long diagonal.}) 20... exd5 ({There is not enough for the pieces after} 20... Qxd5 21. Qxa4) 21. Rxb7 $1 {A very precise move! Ba3-b4 is a mortal threat and that forces Black to weaken his seventh rank.} ({The resource from above does not work with a black pawn on g7 as the line} 21. Bb4 Qb6 22. Bc3 Qxb1+ 23. Qxb1 Nxc3 24. Qxb7 ({White does not achieve anything more than a balanced position after} 24. Qd3 Nxe2+ 25. Qxe2 f6 26. Qf3 fxe5 27. Qxd5+ Kh8 28. dxe5 Rad8) 24... Nxe2+ 25. Kg2 Nxd4 26. Qxc7 f6 {proves good for Black.}) 21... c5 ({Or} 21... Nc3 22. Bb4 Qxa2 23. Qxc3) 22. Qf5 Rf8 23. Nxf7 Qd8 {A passive defense, but there was nothing else.} ({Or else Black can easily get smothered-mated after} 23... Qe1+ 24. Kg2 Qxe2 25. Qxd5) 24. dxc5 {Wins an inportant pawn, but above all, opens the long diagonal for the bishop.} Qf6 25. Qxf6 gxf6 26. Nh6+ Kh8 27. c6 Rfc8 28. c7 {Next the white knight will come to either d6 or e7, and there is no way out.} Nc3 (28... Kg7 29. Nf5+) 29. Bb2 d4 30. Nf7+ Kg7 31. Nd6 Kg6 32. Kf1 Nb5 33. Nxc8 Rxc8 34. a4 Nxc7 35. Bxd4 Ne6 36. Be3 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Black "Dardha, Daniel"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2632"] [BlackElo "2532"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be6 9. Nc2 Bg5 10. Be2 Bxc1 11. Rxc1 Nf6 12. O-O O-O 13. Qd2 Qe7 14. Nd5 Qd8 15. Nc3 Qb6 16. Rfd1 Rac8 (16... Rfd8 17. b3 h6 18. h3 Qa7 19. Bf3 Ne7 20. Ne3 Nc6 21. Bg4 Nd4 22. Bxe6 fxe6 23. Nc2 Nxc2 24. Rxc2 Rd7 {Carlsen,M (2862)-Hou, Y (2673) Wijk aan Zee 2015}) 17. b3 Rfd8 18. h3 Qa7 19. Bf1 Ne7 $146 (19... Qb8 20. Re1 Qa7 21. Rcd1 Ne7 22. Re3 Rd7 23. Rd3 Ne8 24. Kh2 Rdc7 25. g3 Qc5 { Timoshenko,G (2515)-Kiselev,S (2510) Bucharest 1993}) 20. Ne3 Qb8 21. Qd3 h5 22. h4 Qa7 23. Be2 Kf8 24. Bf3 g6 25. Qd2 Kg7 26. Ne2 b5 27. Ng3 bxc4 28. bxc4 Kh7 29. Rc3 Rc6 30. Nef5 $5 Neg8 31. Qg5 Bxf5 $2 (31... Rd7 $1 {allows} 32. Nxh5 {but} Ne8 $1 33. Nhg3 Rdc7 $1 {will win c4 back in the long run and Black is alright.}) 32. exf5 {Now White has a winning attack.} Rcc8 33. Be4 $1 Nxe4 34. Nxe4 Qe7 35. Rg3 $1 Qxg5 36. Nxg5+ Kg7 37. fxg6 Nh6 38. gxf7 Rd7 39. Ne4+ Kf8 40. Rg8+ Nxg8 41. fxg8=Q+ Kxg8 42. Nf6+ 1-0 [Event "http://www.chessbomb.com"] [Site "http://www.chessbomb.com"] [Date "2022.01.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2714"] [BlackElo "2743"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 a6 (8... Bb6 9. Nbd2 Ne7 10. Bb3 Ng6 11. Nc4 Be6 12. Bc2 Bxc4 13. dxc4 Nh5 14. b4 Qf6 15. a4 a5 {Volokitin,A (2677)-Caruana,F (2792) Warsaw 2021}) 9. a4 a5 10. d4 Bb6 11. Bb3 $146 (11. Be3 exd4 12. cxd4 d5 13. exd5 Nb4 14. Nc3 Bf5 15. Bf4 Nfxd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Bxd5 Qxd5 {Anand,V (2758)-Vitiugov,N (2747) Wijk aan Zee 2020}) 11... Re8 12. Bc2 Bd7 13. Na3 Qc8 14. Nb5 Na7 15. Na3 Nc6 16. Nb5 Na7 17. c4 Nxb5 18. axb5 exd4 19. Nxd4 c6 20. bxc6 bxc6 21. Bf4 Qa6 22. Bxd6 Qa7 23. c5 Bxc5 24. Bxc5 Qxc5 25. Qd3 g6 26. Rad1 a4 27. Qe3 Qg5 28. f4 Qh4 29. Nf3 Qg3 30. Ne5 Qxe3+ 31. Rxe3 Reb8 $2 ({Strange.} 31... Re7 {is unpleasant but not more than that, e.g.} 32. Red3 (32. Rd6 Kg7) 32... Be6 33. Nxc6 Rb7) 32. Nxd7 Nxd7 33. Rxd7 Rxb2 {Karjakin must have missed that White can defend this and keep the extra piece:} 34. Re2 a3 35. Rd1 a2 36. Ra1 c5 37. Kf2 Ra3 38. Ke1 c4 39. Kd2 Rg3 40. Kc1 c3 41. Kd1 h5 42. e5 {And with 43.Be4 coming, Black is doomed.} 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Praggnanandhaa, R.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2702"] [BlackElo "2612"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 e6 4. O-O d5 5. Bb5 dxe4 6. Ne5 Qc7 7. Nxc6 $146 (7. Qh5 g6 8. Qg5 f6 9. Qg3 Qxe5 10. Qxe5 fxe5 11. Nc3 Bd7 12. Nxe4 Nb4 {Davis,M (1600)-Godat,T (2137) FICGS email 2008}) 7... bxc6 8. Bc4 Bd6 9. Kh1 Nf6 10. Nc3 e5 11. f3 exf3 12. Qxf3 O-O 13. d3 Be6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15. Bg5 Qd7 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Ne4 f5 18. Nxd6 Qxd6 19. Rae1 f4 20. Re4 Rab8 21. b3 Rb4 22. Rfe1 Rf5 23. Qe2 Rxe4 24. Qg4+ Kh8 25. Rxe4 {Up to here, Praggnanandhaa had played quite well.} f3 $6 ({Humanly, it makes sense to give back the pawn and get some activity, but the engine continues passive defense with} 25... Qf8) 26. gxf3 Qf8 27. Qg3 h6 28. Kg2 Qf6 29. Rg4 Kh7 30. Qh4 Qxh4 31. Rxh4 {The rook endgame is just hopeless due to Black's pawn structure.} Rf4 32. Rg4 h5 33. Rg5 Rf5 34. Rg3 ({Not spoiling anything, but} 34. Rxf5 exf5 35. f4 {would be a fairly easy win in the pawn endgame.}) 34... Rf4 35. Kf2 Rf7 36. Rg5 Rf5 37. Rg1 c4 38. dxc4 e4 39. Rg3 h4 40. Rh3 Kg6 41. Ke3 exf3 42. Rxf3 Ra5 43. a4 Re5+ 44. Kd3 Rg5 45. b4 Rg1 46. b5 c5 47. a5 Rd1+ 48. Ke4 Rd4+ 49. Ke5 Rxc4 50. b6 axb6 51. axb6 Rxc2 52. Rb3 c4 53. Rb1 c3 54. b7 Re2+ 55. Kd4 c2 56. Rg1+ 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Grandelius, Nils"] [Black "Rapport, Richard"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B47"] [WhiteElo "2672"] [BlackElo "2763"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. g4 h6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. f3 a6 9. Qd2 Ne5 10. f4 $146 (10. O-O-O Bb4 11. g5 hxg5 12. Bxg5 b5 13. Qe1 Bxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxc3 15. bxc3 Bb7 16. Bf4 d6 {Manik,M (2495)-Laznicka,V (2480) Brno 2005}) 10... Nc4 11. Bxc4 Qxc4 12. e5 Nxg4 13. Rg1 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 b5 15. O-O-O Bb7 16. Kb1 O-O-O 17. Ne4 Kb8 18. Rd3 Rc8 19. Rgd1 Be7 20. Rc3 Qa4 21. Rcd3 Bxe4 22. b3 Qa5 23. Qxe4 Rc7 24. f5 Rhc8 25. Rg3 Ba3 26. h4 Qb4 27. h5 Rc3 $6 { This actually gives White a chance.} ({The engine prefers} 27... Rxc2 $1 28. Qxc2 Rxc2 29. Nxc2 (29. Kxc2 Qc5+ 30. Kb1 Qxe5) 29... Qf4 30. Rxg7 Qxf5) 28. Rxg7 $2 ({Both players might have missed the remarkable intermediate move} 28. fxe6 $1 fxe6 {when} (28... Rxg3 $2 29. exd7) 29. Rxg7 {does work:} R3c5 (29... Rh3 30. Rxd7 {now threatens mate before Black can do so}) 30. Qe3 Rd5 31. Rd3) 28... Rh3 $1 {An unexpected square but with the lethal threat 29...Qc3.} 29. Qe1 Rh1 $1 {Not difficult, but still pretty.} 30. Rg1 Rxg1 31. Qxg1 Qc3 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Dubov, Daniil"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2720"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 {A Giuoco Pianissimo by Dubov? There is something wrong here, the Russian GM usually sacrifices a pawn around here...} Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 a5 8. Na3 $146 {Ah, that is a juicy novelty! Dubov surprises Vidit on his own territory.} ({An earlier game of the Indian GM went} 8. Nbd2 Ba7 9. O-O g5 10. Bg3 O-O 11. a3 Nh7 12. Kh1 Kh8 13. b4 h5 14. b5 Ne7 15. Bxe5+ dxe5 16. Nxe5 Kg7 17. f4 g4 18. d4 {a true delight for the eye, Adhiban,B (2672)-Vidit,S (2727) Kolkata 2021}) 8... Bxa3 {Vidit accepts the challenge and ruins the opponent's pawn structure.} 9. bxa3 Qe7 {In the spirit of the Four Knights defence. There are also doubled pawns there. True, on the c-file, but still, a blockade on the dark squares makes perfect sense.} 10. O-O Nb8 {The logical follow up.} 11. d4 {Dubov searches for a class. He's got the development, the bishops, the mood.} Nbd7 12. Rb1 $1 {The rook is getting ready to torture the opponent, even if he stays in the center.} g5 13. Bg3 Nxe4 {A most principled move!} 14. Qc2 f5 $1 {The exclamation mark is for the courage. One needs a lot of conviction to play like this.} ({The alternative was} 14... Nxg3 {when} 15. fxg3 $1 {deprives Black of a short castle. How safe the black king is in the center is hard to say, but the impression is that there should be a strong storm gathering around it. True, in the line} Nb6 {White cannot win on the spot with} ({On the other hand} 15... f6 16. Qg6+ Kd8 {promises White a good choice between a knight transfer to e4, or the instant brick-walling} 17. h4) 16. Bxf7+ Qxf7 17. Nxe5 Qh7 18. Qe2 dxe5 19. Qxe5+ Kd8 20. Qf6+ Kd7 21. Rbe1 {because of} Ra6 {when White does not seem to have more than perpetual with} 22. Qe6+ Kd8 23. Qf6+) 15. dxe5 {A file is opened.} dxe5 {And this is correct!} ({As after} 15... Nxe5 16. Bxe5 dxe5 17. Rb5 c5 18. Re1 {Black's situation is delicate, to say the least.}) 16. Rfe1 { Dubov is already creating a bunch of threats: to attack the e5-pawn with Rb1-b5, remove the black knight with the help of Bc4-d5, or even better, a brutal exchange sacrifice.} Nxg3 {Also a correct trade, but look how exposed now the black king becomes!} ({The exchange sacrifice seals the deal after} 16... Kf8 $2 17. Rxe4 fxe4 18. Qxe4) 17. hxg3 e4 18. g4 $1 {Remember, courage and conviction! Strong, strong faith in yourself is needed to enter this position, which is about to collapse at any given moment!} Nc5 {Vidit does not seem to tremble. This knight is his most valuable asset as we shall see.} ({ The other square for the knight was not good} 18... Ne5 19. Nxe5 Qxe5 20. Rb5 c5 21. gxf5 Bxf5 22. Rd1 {and White wins.}) 19. Nd4 ({Not letting the bishop improve:} 19. gxf5 Bxf5 20. Nd4 Bg6) 19... Rf8 $1 {Overprotecting the f5-pawn. Once more, an only move.} ({After} 19... fxg4 {Dubov can remove the defender with} 20. Nb3 $1 {when a nice line that demonstrates how quickly Black's defense may crumble is} Bf5 21. Nxc5 Qxc5 22. Rxe4+ Kf8 23. Rb5 Bxe4 24. Qxe4 { and Black is helpless with his dull rookies.}) 20. gxf5 $1 {Once more, depriving Black of extra possibilities.} ({After} 20. Bb5+ {the black king can run to the hills with} Kf7 21. gxf5 Kf6) 20... Bxf5 {Everything seems protected, Black is ready to castle and his knight does the best of the jobs.} 21. Rxb7 $3 {Not so fast with castling, and yeah, this knight needs to go away from the center.} ({Nothing yields} 21. Bb5+ c6 22. Nxc6 bxc6 23. Bxc6+ Kf7) 21... Rf6 $3 {Not so fast removing this knight!} ({And indeed} 21... Nxb7 { loses after} 22. Bb5+ Kf7 23. Nxf5 {when all the queen retreats lead Black to trouble, e.g} Qf6 ({Or} 23... Qe6 24. Nd4 Qg6 25. Bc6) ({Or finally} 23... Qe5 24. Nxh6+) 24. Qxe4) 22. Qb1 $5 {Dubov is strictly following his plan and wants to have his queen inside the enemy camp. In the process he sets up a nasty trap.} ({Black is stabilizing his position in case of} 22. Bb5+ Kf8 23. Nc6 Qd6) ({However} 22. Nxf5 $5 {seemed playable as well. Then, after} Rxf5 23. Rb5 (23. Qb1 $5) 23... c6 $1 {The further trades might lead to an approximately even endgame} 24. Rxe4 Qxe4 25. Qxe4+ Nxe4 26. Rxf5 O-O-O ({Or} 26... Kd7)) 22... Nxb7 23. Qxb7 ({For the moment rejecting the possible draw after} 23. Nxf5 Rxf5 24. Rxe4 Re5 25. Qxb7 Rxe4 26. Qxa8+ Kd7 27. Qd5+ Ke8 28. Qa8+ $11) 23... Rd8 24. Nxf5 Rxf5 25. Rxe4 Rd1+ $1 {Vidit spots the trap for just a bit more than a minute!} ({The instant} 25... Re5 $2 {would have lost due to} 26. Qc6+ Rd7 27. Qg6+ Kd8 28. Qg8+ Qe8 29. Rxe5 $1) 26. Kh2 Re5 { Now he can. White has a bunch of checks and starts announcing them in the mutual time-deficit.} 27. Qc6+ Kd8 28. Qa8+ ({A nice detail that once more proves why a good move works in multiple lines is} 28. Bb5 Qd6 {Now White wants to checkmate with} 29. Qe8+ {But is checked after} ({Still, a draw is possible after} 29. Qa8+ Ke7 30. Qe8+ Kf6 31. Qh8+) 29... Rxe8+ $1) 28... Kd7 29. Bb5+ Ke6 ({The endgame after} 29... Rxb5 30. Rxe7+ Kxe7 31. Qc6 {is more pleasant for White.}) 30. Qc8+ Kf6 31. Qh8+ Kf5 {And just when Dubov was forced to give a perpetual, he suddenly hesitates...} 32. f3 {...and loses the game!} ({Instead} 32. Qc8+ $3 {would have split the point as} Kg6 {is more or less forced.} ({The greedy} 32... Kxe4 $4 {leads to mate after} 33. Qg4+ Kd5 34. Qc4+ Kd6 35. Qc6#) 33. Qg8+ Kf5 {with repetition.}) 32... Rxe4 33. fxe4+ Kxe4 34. Qa8+ Ke3 {Ironically, the almost mated black king is leading Vidit's army towards the win!} 35. Bc6 Qe5+ 36. g3 g4 37. Qa7+ Kd2 0-1 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.18"] [Round "4"] [White "Maurizzi, Marc`Andria"] [Black "Zhu, Jiner"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2502"] [BlackElo "2478"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Rb1 Be7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Bc4 (9. h4 b6 10. h5 h6 11. Bd3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Nc6 13. Be2 Bb7 14. Rh3 Rc8 15. Rg3 Kh8 {Nepomniachtchi,I (2792)-So,W (2770) Online 2021}) 9... a6 10. a4 Qc7 11. Bd3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Nc6 13. O-O Nb4 14. Ba3 Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Bxa3 16. Qxa3 Bd7 17. Ne5 Rfc8 18. Rfc1 Qd8 19. Rxb7 $146 (19. Nxd7 Qxd7 20. Qb2 Qxa4 21. Rxc8+ Rxc8 22. Qxb7 Qc4 {Akobian,V (2625)-Dominguez Perez,L (2739) Saint Louis 2019}) 19... Bxa4 20. Nxf7 Qxd4 21. h3 Qxe4 22. Nd6 Rxc1+ 23. Qxc1 Qd4 24. Qa3 Rf8 25. Qg3 Bc6 26. Re7 Bd5 27. Kh2 $2 (27. Ne8 g6 28. Nc7 Qf6 29. Nxd5 exd5 30. Ra7 {was good for a draw.}) 27... Rxf2 28. Re8+ Rf8 29. Re7 h6 30. Ne8 Rf7 31. Rxf7 Kxf7 32. Nc7 a5 33. Nb5 Qd2 34. h4 Kg8 35. Nc7 a4 36. Nxd5 Qxd5 37. Qb8+ Kh7 38. Qb1+ Qf5 39. Qb4 Qc2 40. h5 e5 41. Qa3 Qc4 42. Qh3 Qf4+ 43. Kh1 e4 44. Qe6 a3 45. Qg6+ Kg8 46. Qe8+ Qf8 47. Qxe4 a2 48. Qd5+ Qf7 49. Qa8+ Kh7 50. Qe4+ Kh8 51. Qa8+ Qg8 52. Qa5 Qc4 53. Kh2 Qh4+ 54. Kg1 Qd4+ 55. Kh2 a1=Q 0-1 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.18"] [Round "4"] [White "Vogel, Roven"] [Black "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E94"] [WhiteElo "2452"] [BlackElo "2632"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Bg4 8. d5 a5 9. Ne1 (9. Be3 Na6 10. a3 Nh5 11. h3 Bd7 12. Re1 Qe8 13. Nb5 Qd8 14. b4 Nf4 15. Bf1 h6 16. c5 Qe8 17. a4 Qe7 {Yakubboev,N (2621)-Mamedov,R (2673) Riga 2021}) 9... Bd7 10. Nd3 Na6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Be3 b6 13. Qd2 $146 (13. a3 Nc5 14. f3 Ne8 15. b4 axb4 16. axb4 Rxa1 17. Qxa1 Nb3 18. Qb2 Nd4 19. c5 f5 {Antonova,N (2011) -Faqeeh,A (1599) Al Ain 2015}) 13... Kh7 14. f4 exf4 15. Rxf4 Qe7 16. Raf1 g5 17. R4f2 Rae8 18. Bf3 $6 ({Missing a big chance:} 18. e5 $1 dxe5 19. d6 $1 { when Black has to play} Qe6 {and now the engine simply improves the position with} (19... cxd6 20. Rxf6 Bxf6 21. Nd5) (19... Qxd6 20. Rxf6 Bxf6 21. Ne4) 20. Ne1 {and White is doing well.}) 18... Ng4 19. Bxg4 Bxg4 20. h3 Bh5 21. e5 $5 Bg6 22. Rf5 {Incorrect.} ({White should have tried} 22. h4 $1 {when anything can happen.}) 22... Nb4 $5 (22... Bxf5 23. Rxf5 Nb4 {was also possible.}) 23. Nxb4 axb4 24. Ne4 Bxf5 25. Rxf5 Bxe5 {White has nothing.} 26. Qc2 Kg8 27. Nf2 Bg7 28. Ng4 Qe4 29. Qf2 h5 30. Rxg5 hxg4 (30... hxg4 31. Bd4 f6) 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.18"] [Round "4"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2714"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. O-O h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 Bb6 9. a4 a5 10. Nbd2 Ne7 11. Bb3 c6 12. Nf1 Ng6 13. Ng3 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. d4 exd4 16. Nxd4 Re8 17. Rxe8+ Qxe8 18. Bxd5 cxd5 19. Be3 $146 (19. b3 Bd7 20. Be3 Rc8 21. Qd2 Bc7 22. Rd1 Be5 23. Nde2 Nh4 24. Kh2 Nf5 25. Bf4 {½-½ Willmann,B (2345)-Susla,V (2307) LSS email 2020}) 19... Bc7 20. Qd2 Bd7 21. b3 Bxg3 22. fxg3 Qe5 23. Qf2 Rc8 24. Rf1 f6 25. Re1 Qd6 26. Nf5 Bxf5 27. Qxf5 Ne7 28. Qg4 Rxc3 29. Bf4 Qc5+ 30. Kh2 Kh7 31. h4 d4 32. Qe6 ({Understandably, Esipenko didn't like the looks of} 32. Qe6 Ng6 33. Bd6 Qc6 34. h5 Nh8 { although White has an only move there with} 35. Re2 {when a possible line is} d3 36. Qf5+ Kg8 37. Re7 $1 Qxd6 38. Re8+ Kf7 39. Rxh8 {with enough counterplay. }) 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.18"] [Round "4"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2760"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 cxd4 6. Qxd4 exd5 7. e4 (7. Bg5 Be7 8. e3 O-O 9. Be2 h6 10. Bh4 Nc6 11. Qd1 Be6 12. O-O Rc8 13. a3 Ne4 14. Bxe7 Nxe7 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Nd4 Bd5 {Mamedyarov,S (2767)-Vidit,S (2727) Warsaw 2021} ) 7... dxe4 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Ng5 Be6 10. Nxe6+ fxe6 11. Bg5 h6 12. O-O-O+ Ke7 13. Bxf6+ gxf6 14. Nxe4 f5 15. Ng3 $146 (15. Nc5 Kf6 16. Rd8 Bg7 17. Rxh8 Bxh8 18. Bc4 Nc6 19. Nxe6 Ne5 20. Bd5 Nd3+ 21. Kd2 Nb4 {Radjabov,T (2765)-Carlsen,M (2847) Online 2021}) 15... h5 16. Bc4 Nd7 17. Kb1 Ne5 18. Bb3 Kf6 19. Rhe1 Re8 20. Ba4 Re7 21. h4 Ng6 22. Rd4 Rc7 23. Bb3 e5 24. Rd8 Nxh4 25. Re8 $2 ({ Better was} 25. Rh1 Kg5 26. Bc2) 25... Ng6 26. Re6+ Kg5 27. Bc2 h4 $1 {Perhaps Mamedyarov had missed this earlier in his calculations.} 28. Re3 $5 {A good try.} (28. Nxf5 Rxc2) (28. Bxf5 hxg3 29. Bxg6 gxf2) 28... e4 $6 ({Of course not } 28... hxg3 29. Rxg3+) ({but winning was} 28... Bg7 $1 {threatening both 29... Rfc8 and 29...Nf4.}) 29. Nxf5 Kxf5 30. R3xe4 Rxc2 31. Kxc2 Bc5 $6 (31... Bg7 { was also quite good for Black here.}) 32. g4+ $1 {A very nice shot.} Kg5 (32... hxg3 33. fxg3 $11) 33. f4+ $1 Nxf4 34. R6e5+ Kxg4 35. Rxc5 Kf3 $6 {A step in the wrong direction.} ({It was time to go for a draw with} 35... h3 36. Rcc4 Rf8 {(a better version than in the game, where b7 hangs)} 37. Re7 b5 38. Rg7+ Kh4 39. Rd4 Rf5) 36. Rb4 h3 $2 ({The only move was} 36... Ng2 $1 {and it was still enough to draw:} 37. Rc3+ (37. Kd2 Rd8+) 37... Ne3+ 38. Kd2 Rd8+ 39. Rd3 Rxd3+ 40. Kxd3 h3 41. Rxb7 h2 42. Rh7 Ng4 $11) 37. Rc3+ Kg4 38. Rcc4 Rf8 39. Rxb7 {Winning a pawn but also activating it to the perfect square h7.} h2 40. Rh7 Kg3 41. Kb3 {Besides being an exchange down, Black is now completely stuck as well.} 1-0 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.18"] [Round "4"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R.."] [Black "Grandelius, Nils"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D85"] [WhiteElo "2612"] [BlackElo "2672"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "127"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Qa4+ Nd7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Qa3 c5 10. Be2 b6 (10... cxd4 11. cxd4 Nf6 12. Qe3 b6 13. O-O Bb7 14. Bd3 Rc8 15. Bb2 Qd7 16. a4 Rfd8 {Aronian,L (2782)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2763) Online 2021}) 11. h4 e5 $146 (11... Bb7 12. e5 b5 13. O-O a6 14. Bf4 e6 15. Rfd1 Rc8 16. h5 gxh5 17. c4 bxc4 18. Rac1 cxd4 19. Rxd4 c3 20. Rxc3 Rxc3 21. Qxc3 Bd5 {Burmeister,F (2123)-Cousins,R (2288) ICCF email 2020}) 12. d5 Nf6 13. Bg5 $1 {White doesn't want to allow the knight to reach d6.} Qe8 (13... h6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. h5 g5 16. Nd2 {is also nice for White.}) 14. Bxf6 $1 Bxf6 15. h5 Bg4 16. Nd2 {White wouldn't mind ending up with a knight vs. Black's bad dark-squared bishop.} Bd7 17. c4 Qe7 18. Qc3 Bg7 19. Qe3 f5 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. a4 $1 {Grabbing space, knowing that Black doesn't really threaten anything with his f-pawn. It has become an unpleasant King's Indian type of position for Black.} Bf6 22. a5 $1 Bg5 23. Qh3 Qg7 ({The trade} 23... Bxd2+ 24. Kxd2 { makes sense positionally, but after} Qg7 25. Rh2 $1 {White will be in control of the h-file and pushing for an attack.}) 24. Qc3 Qf6 25. Bd3 Qe7 26. Nf3 Bf6 27. Qc2 Rac8 (27... f4 $5 28. Nd2 g5) 28. axb6 axb6 29. O-O f4 30. Ra7 Qd6 ( 30... Qh7 31. Rb1 g5 32. Rxb6 g4 33. Nh2 g3 34. Nf1 {is nothing.}) 31. Be2 Bd8 32. Nh2 Bc7 33. Rfa1 Kg7 34. Bg4 {The desired trade is there, and Black is positionally busted.} Bxg4 35. Nxg4 Rf7 36. f3 Rh8 37. Qb2 Rh5 38. Rb7 Qd8 39. Raa7 Kg8 40. Kf2 Rh1 41. Ra1 Rh4 42. Rxc7 Rxc7 43. Qxe5 Rf7 44. Qe6 Rxg4 45. Qxg4 Kg7 46. Qe6 Qh4+ 47. Ke2 Qg5 48. Kf1 Qh4 49. Kg1 Qf6 50. Qxf6+ Kxf6 51. Kf2 Ke5 52. Ke2 Kd4 53. Rd1+ Ke5 54. Ra1 Kd4 55. Rd1+ Ke5 56. Kd3 Ra7 57. Kc3 g5 58. Kb3 g4 59. d6 gxf3 60. gxf3 Ke6 61. d7 Rxd7 62. Rxd7 Kxd7 63. Ka4 Kc6 64. e5 1-0 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.18"] [Round "4"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D78"] [WhiteElo "2865"] [BlackElo "2702"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "103"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 7. b3 {Carlsen used a version of this solid line to defeat Nepomniachtchi in their final test before their world championship match.} Bf5 {The main line.} 8. Bb2 Nbd7 9. e3 {This is the new trend, according to Megabase, that outshines the older 9.Nbd2. } Ne4 {The most typical maneuver for the line. Black opens up his dark-squared bishop and prepares to swap a pair of light pieces.} ({White definitely had a pull in another top game:} 9... b5 10. cxb5 cxb5 11. Nc3 b4 12. Na4 Rc8 13. Qd2 a5 14. Rfc1 Rxc1+ 15. Rxc1 Qa8 16. Ne5 Rc8 17. Nxd7 Rxc1+ 18. Qxc1 Nxd7 19. Qc7 {and Black's position is unpleasant due to the difference in activity of the queens, Artemiev,V (2704)-Aronian,L (2782) chess24.com INT 2021}) 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 Be4 {This is possible thanks to the previous maneuver.} 12. Qe2 e6 13. Rfd1 {In the meanwhile, the world champion clears the f1-square to avoid the trade of the light-squared bishops. Without them, there is no hope of an edge.} a5 {Black uses the given time to prepare counterplay on his own.} 14. Bf1 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Nc5 {This maneuver is also possible thanks to the ...Nf6-e4-xc3 one. So many possibilities, just because a pair of light pieces have been traded!} 16. Be1 Ne4 17. Bd3 $146 {This is a novelty.} ({In the predecessor:} 17. a4 f5 18. Qe2 Rf7 19. Bg2 Bf8 20. f3 Nf6 21. Bc3 Bb4 22. Bb2 Qe7 23. e4 fxe4 24. fxe4 Nxe4 25. Bxe4 dxe4 26. Qxe4 {White seemed to have a slight pull, but Bu quickly executed e6-e5 and the game petered out into a draw, Ganguly,S (2644) -Bu,X (2711) Liaocheng 2017}) 17... f5 {Van Foreest is shifting into a Stonewall where Black has kept a valuable pair of light pieces alive.} 18. Rac1 {Still, Carlsen has a serious plan in stock: the preparation of the e3-e4 break. Black's next maneuver is designed to stop this for good.} g5 19. Qe2 { And after some thought, Van Foresst went for} g4 $3 {Thus sacrificing a pawn!} 20. Bxe4 fxe4 {The point.} ({The move in the game is needed as} 20... dxe4 { would lead to a quick collapse in the center due to} 21. d5 $1 exd5 22. cxd5 cxd5 23. Rc5 d4 24. exd4 {and the game opens in White's favor. In fact, the machine evaluates this as a winning edge for the first player.}) 21. Qxg4 { I browsed through the games at that point and a quick glance at the position, count of the pawns, and a peek at the computer bar made me think that Van Foreest had badly messed up.} Qe8 {None of the above is true! Black has solid compensation thanks to the half-open files on the kingside, and the holes on the light-squares only facilitate his play.} 22. cxd5 {In order to open a file for his rooks.} ({It also made sense to bring the bishop out as soon as possible.} 22. b4 $5 h5 ({Black cannot lock the flank with} 22... a4 23. cxd5 exd5 {due to} 24. b5 $1) 23. Qh3 axb4 24. Bxb4 Rf6 25. Rd2 {There are two files on which the white rooks can work now, but what's more, he can eventually maneuver his bishop toward the e5 square.}) 22... exd5 23. Rc5 { The logical follow-up.} ({Though} 23. b4 $5 axb4 24. Bxb4 h5 25. Qh3 Rf6 26. Rc2 {was still possible.}) 23... h5 ({There was also} 23... b6 $5 24. Rc2 h5 25. Qh3 Rf6 {when Black can later shift his second rook toward the kingside via the a7-square.}) 24. Qh3 Qf7 {Van Foreest keeps the queenside stable.} ({ Here} 24... b5 $5 {looked attractive and after} 25. Rdc1 Rf6 {the black rooks can attack along the sixth rank while defending the c6 weakness.}) 25. Qg2 { Now the a5-pawn is in danger.} (25. Rc2 $5) 25... a4 26. b4 ({It is only Black who can benefit from the opening on the queenside at the moment.} 26. bxa4 Rxa4 27. Rc2 Rfa8) 26... Qd7 27. b5 (27. Rdc1 Rf6 28. b5 {would have likely transposed.}) 27... h4 $1 {Black is consistent with his plan.} ({He should certainly avoid} 27... cxb5 28. Qf1 $1) 28. Rdc1 ({Or another transposition after} 28. bxc6 bxc6 29. Rdc1 Rf6 30. g4) 28... Rf6 29. bxc6 bxc6 30. g4 $1 { A tough decision! Carlsen tries to seal the kingside, but his opponent is alert.} ({After} 30. Bb4 hxg3 31. hxg3 Raf8 32. R1c2 Rh6 {Black will soon prepare infiltration along the h-file.}) 30... h3 $3 {A second pawn is offered for even more files.} 31. Qxh3 Raf8 $1 ({Correctly not craving the g4-pawn, as after} 31... Rg6 32. Qh5 $1 Rxg4+ 33. Kf1 {the white king escapes and Black's attack fizzles.}) 32. Qg2 ({Here} 32. Qh5 $2 Rh6 33. Qg5 Rff6 {makes no sense for White.}) ({And if the king leaves} 32. Kf1 Rh6 33. Qg2 Rh4 {the white pawns will be in trouble.}) 32... Rg6 {The most obvious attempt gives Carlsen some addiitonal chances.} ({The other file might have been more important! After} 32... Rh6 $5 33. h3 Rf3 {attacks the h3-pawn at once. True, White still has} 34. g5 {and may even win a third pawn at once after} Rh4 35. Rxc6 { at least for a moment. Nevertheless, after} Rfxh3 36. Rc8+ Bf8 37. R1c7 Qf5 { Black has enough threats to secure a draw, as in this pretty line} 38. Bb4 Rh1+ $1 39. Qxh1 Qg4+ 40. Qg2 Qd1+ 41. Qf1 Qg4+) 33. g5 $1 {Best! The pawns are further separated, but this bold move slows down Black's initiative.} ({ After the solid} 33. h3 {Black's attack may develop as in this line.} Rf3 34. Ra5 Rh6 35. Rxa4 $2 {And now} Rfxh3 36. Ra8+ Kh7 37. Rb1 R6h4 38. Kf1 c5 $3 { opens the a6-f1 diagonal, thus keeping the white king in mortal danger all the time. The threats may turn into a full point after, say,} 39. dxc5 Qc7 $1 40. Ra5 Rh2 41. Qg3 Qxg3 42. fxg3 Rh1+ 43. Ke2 R4h2+) 33... Rf5 {Once again, the most obvious move.} ({However, there was a strong argument for} 33... Rf3 { The difference here, in comparison with the line from above, is that White can defend with} 34. h4 Rh3 35. Rxc6 Rxc6 36. Rxc6 Rxh4 {And with the rook on this exact square} 37. f3 $1 {becomes possible. Still, after} Qxc6 38. Bxh4 Qc1+ 39. Kh2 Qxe3 {Black has very little to worry about in the arising endgame.}) 34. h4 Bf8 35. R5c2 Be7 $1 {With the inevitable capture on g5, one way or the other!} 36. Rb2 $1 {Not just activating the rook, but avoiding the additional chances that the black queen might take. Also inviting Black to a self-pin.} ({As in the case of} 36. Kf1 Bxg5 (36... Qc8 $5) 37. hxg5 Rfxg5 38. Qh2 Qb7 $1) 36... Bxg5 {Van Foreest errs!} ({Strong was a rook capture} 36... Rfxg5 $1 {This, or the other one, it leads to the same after} 37. hxg5 Rxg5 38. Qxg5+ Bxg5 { With approximate equality, e.g} 39. Rb8+ Kf7 40. Rb6 Bxe3 ({Or} 40... Bd8 41. Ra6) 41. fxe3 Qg4+ 42. Kf1 Qf3+ 43. Bf2 Qh3+ 44. Ke2 Qf3+ 45. Ke1 Qh1+ 46. Kd2 Qg2 $11) 37. Kf1 Qa7 ({The computer claims that} 37... Qd6 {is the best defense, but then White escapes the threats with} 38. hxg5 Rgxg5 39. Qh3 Rh5 40. Qg4+ Rhg5 41. Qd1 $1 {and White keeps the extra material.}) 38. Qg4 { Alas, Carlsen transposes the moves, and misses the win!} ({In the line} 38. Ke2 $1 Qa6+ 39. Kd1 Qd3+ 40. Rd2 Qb5 {White does not have} 41. hxg5 $2 ({However, the strong} 41. Qg4 $1 {spoils the rooks' coordination, and apparently it wins. }) 41... Rfxg5 42. Qh3 Rg1 {and the threat of Rxe1+ and mate on the back rank forces White to give a perpetual.} 43. Qc8+) 38... Qa6+ $1 {Locks the king in!} 39. Kg1 {The world champion spots the deadly trap, just in time.} ({The trap is revealed in the line} 39. Qe2 Qc8 $1 40. Rcb1 Bd8 $1 {Making sure the queen is not pinned} 41. Rb8 {And now the fabulous} Rfg5 $3 {sacrificing almost every piece of his leads to a mate!}) 39... Rg7 40. Rb8+ {Now the forcing line} Bd8 41. Rxd8+ Rf8 42. Rxf8+ Kxf8 43. Bb4+ Kg8 44. Qxg7+ Kxg7 45. a3 {leads to a likely fortress.} Kg6 46. Kg2 Kh5 47. Rh1 {White threatens to transfer his rook to the third rank, therefore with} c5 {Van Foreest forces a perpetual} 48. Bxc5 Qg6+ 49. Kf1 Qa6+ 50. Kg2 Qg6+ 51. Kf1 Qa6+ 52. Kg2 1/2-1/2 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.20"] [Round "5"] [White "Rapport, Richard"] [Black "Praggnanandhaa, R..."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E36"] [WhiteElo "2763"] [BlackElo "2612"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 {Still the main choice against the Nimzo-Indian Defense.} O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Bg5 c5 ({Another fashionable choice is:} 7... h6 8. Bh4 c5 9. dxc5 d4 10. Qf3 Nbd7 11. O-O-O e5 12. e3 e4 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Qf4 d3 {White can also undermine the opponent's center here with} 15. f3 Be6 16. fxe4 g5 17. Qe5 Bxc4 18. Qc3 Ba6 19. Bxd3 Bxd3 20. Qxd3 Qxd3 21. Rxd3 Nxe4 22. Nh3 Nxc5 {and Black was doing fine in Mamedyarov,S (2767)-Piorun,K (2640) Warsaw 2021}) ({The main line, however, remains} 7... dxc4 8. Qxc4 b6 9. Rd1 Ba6 {Here is an effort by Rapport from last year} 10. Qa4 h6 11. Bh4 Qe7 12. Nf3 Rd8 13. e3 Bxf1 14. Rxf1 c5 15. dxc5 Rxd1+ 16. Qxd1 g5 17. Bg3 Qxc5 18. Qd8+ Kg7 19. Be5 Qc1+ 20. Ke2 Qc4+ 21. Ke1 Qc1+ 22. Ke2 Qc4+ {1/2-1/2 (22) Rapport,R (2763)-Nakamura,H (2736) Saint Louis 2021}) 8. dxc5 d4 9. Qg3 {Rapport has an opinion of his own. The move 9.Qf3 gained popularity, thanks to the efforts by the world champion.} ({This is what the world champion played recently} 9. Qf3 Nbd7 10. e3 h6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. O-O-O e5 13. Ne2 Bg4 14. Qg3 Ne4 15. Qxg4 Nxf2 16. Qf3 Nxd1 17. exd4 Nxb2 18. Kxb2 {Carlsen,M (2847)-Aronian,L (2781) chess24.com INT 2021}) 9... Nbd7 10. Nf3 e5 11. Rd1 {A risky move. White postpones castling, thus putting his king in serious danger. On the other hand, in an over-the-board game, this is a novelty. It happened in an email game though.} ({White dared to capture the second pawn in the following game} 11. Nxe5 Nxc5 12. Nd3 Nce4 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. e3 Re8 15. O-O-O dxe3 16. fxe3 Bg4 17. Rd2 Qb6 {but Black had more than enough for the pawn in Georgiev,K (2669)-Kosintseva,N (2552) Caleta 2011. Mainly because of the loose white king.}) 11... Re8 12. b4 a5 $1 {All is correct—the white king can be attacked from any open file.} 13. Nd2 axb4 14. axb4 Kf8 $146 {Only this, technically speaking, is a novelty, played after more than 20 minutes on the clock. Praggnanandhaa prepares the swap of the opponent's dark-squared bishop.} ({An email predecessor saw:} 14... Qc7 15. e3 Nh5 16. Qh4 Nf4 17. Ne4 Ng6 18. Qg3 f6 19. Bd3 fxg5 20. O-O Nf6 21. Nd6 Re7 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. exd4 exd4 24. Qxg5 Bf5 25. Rxd4 {with enough compensation for a piece in Lautenbach,W (2260)-Ugrinovsky,A (2167) ICCF email 2011}) ({The move in the game looks safer than} 14... Kh8 {which prepares the same idea, but the king is more exposed in the corner. For instance after} 15. Qb3 h6 {the bishop does not even need to leave, and White can try} 16. h4 {besides the simple retreat.}) 15. Qb3 {Rapport also hesitates. And he keeps neglecting the development of the kingside.} ({Had the Hungarian wanted to play it safe, he would have opted for} 15. e4 h6 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Be2 Bd7 18. O-O Ra2 19. Qb3 { but Black seems to have enough activity after} Qa8 {to compensate him for the slight material deficit.}) 15... h6 16. Bh4 e4 $1 {A very logical follow-up, e4-e3 is a huge threat. Therefore} 17. e3 {Is forced, and now, unfortunately for him, Praggnanandhaa closed the position with} d3 ({A pity, as the bold} 17... Ne5 $1 {would have led to much more interesting play, when Black seems more than fine, for example} 18. Nxe4 ({Worse seems} 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Nxe4 ({ Or} 19. exd4 Nf3+ $1 {and White collapses at once.}) 19... Qh4 {and Black crashes through.}) 18... g5 19. Nd6 gxh4 20. Rxd4 h3 $1 {and Black mounts enough kingside pressure.}) ({Note that the preliminary} 17... g5 18. Bg3 { and then} Ne5 {is not as effective due to} 19. Bxe5 ({Or even} 19. Qb2) 19... Rxe5 20. Qb2 $1) 18. h3 {Finally preparing the kingside development with g2-g4 and a fianchetto.} (18. Bg3 Ne5 {is not as effective for White.}) 18... g5 { Black prevents this plan.} 19. Bg3 Ne5 {But it also commits a serious inaccuracy at once.} (19... Kg8 $1 {is necessary, when Black is still in game after} 20. Bd6 b6) 20. Qb2 {Now Rapport makes the best out of his dark-squared supremacy to force massive trades.} (20. Qc3 $5 {would have been similar.}) 20... Qe7 21. Ra1 $1 {Safeguards the king from the left.} Rxa1+ 22. Qxa1 Bf5 23. Bxe5 Qxe5 24. Qxe5 Rxe5 25. g4 $1 {Both the white extra pawn and the iffy king survived the middlegame, and now it is Black's turn to suffer.} Bg6 26. Bg2 {White's plan is obvious: bring the king out, ideally to c3 or even d4, and then get the open file for the rook. Since Rapport owns all the long-term trumps, Praggnanandhaa needs to find counterplay as soon as possible.} (26. Kd1 $5) 26... Re8 ({In case of} 26... Re6 {White can parry the opponent's activity with} 27. Nb3 Ra6 28. Na5 Nd7 29. Nxb7 Ra1+ 30. Kd2 Ra2+ 31. Kc3 Rxf2 32. c6 $1 ) 27. Nb1 $5 {Looks like the fastest way to achieve the desired setup.} (27. Nb3 Ra8 28. Na5 Nd7 {would have likely transposed to the line from above.}) 27... Nd7 {Black is wasting a precious tempo.} ({The only chance is the dynamic play with} 27... Ra8 $1 28. Nc3 Nd7 {Then} 29. Nxe4 ({Whereas the planned} 29. Kd2 {is not as clear as it seems as the line} Ne5 30. Bxe4 Bxe4 31. Nxe4 Ra2+ 32. Kc3 Ra3+ 33. Kd4 Nc6+ 34. Kd5 d2 $1 {shows. Black is suddenly threatening mate in one, and a possible (but certainly not forcing) follow-up might be} 35. Kd6 Rd3+ 36. Kc7 d1=Q 37. Rxd1 Rxd1 38. Kxb7 Nxb4 39. c6 Rb1 40. c7 Nd5+ 41. Kc6 Ne7+ 42. Kd7 Rc1 43. c5 Rc2 44. c8=Q+ Nxc8 45. Kxc8 Ke7 {with a likely draw.}) 29... Ra2 30. O-O Rb2 {should not scare Black too much.}) 28. Kd2 Ra8 29. Kc3 {Now White is almost in time.} Ra2 30. Rd1 ({ Nothing is clear yet in case of} 30. Kd4 Rxf2 31. Bxe4 Bxe4 32. Kxe4 Rb2 33. Kxd3 Rxb4 34. Kd4 Rb2) 30... Rxf2 31. Rd2 Rf6 {There is simply no time for this. After this, Black's central pawn pair cannot survive.} ({It sounds counterintuitive, but the rook swap would have helped better.} 31... Rxd2 32. Nxd2 Nf6 33. Kd4 ({Or} 33. Nb3 Nd7 34. Na5 Ne5 {when} 35. Nxb7 $2 {fails to} Nxc4 $1) 33... Ke8 $1 {The neatest. We can see clearly now why the rooks are better off the board for Black—his pawn on e4 is immune. Furthermore, it seems that White cannot force zugzwang, say} 34. b5 (34. Ke5 Ke7) 34... Ke7 35. Ke5 Nd7+ 36. Kd5 Nf6+ 37. Kd4 Bh7 {shuffling the bishop back and forth.}) 32. Kd4 Re6 33. Nc3 Nf6 34. b5 {Black has too many things to worry about as the a-file becomes another weakness.} Kg7 35. Ra2 h5 36. gxh5 Bf5 37. Rb2 ({Or} 37. Ra7 d2 38. Ra1 {liquidating the pawn.}) 37... Kh6 38. Rf2 Bh7 39. Nd5 {Rapport does not want to rush in the time trouble.} ({Also good is} 39. Rxf6+ $1 Rxf6 40. Bxe4 Bxe4 41. Nxe4 Rf1 42. Kxd3 {gradually winning.}) 39... Nxh5 40. Rxf7 d2 41. Nc3 Ng3 {Black tries his last chance.} 42. Nd1 Ne2+ 43. Kd5 Re8 44. Kd6 ({Actually} 44. Rxb7 {wins as well after} Nf4+ 45. exf4 e3 46. Bf3 e2 47. fxg5+ Kxg5 48. Bxe2 Be4+ 49. Kd4 Bxb7 50. Bg4) 44... Bg6 45. Rd7 Nf4 $1 {That's the tactic Praggnanandhaa was looking for.} 46. Kc7 $1 {The simplest. The advanced passer quickly wrap up the game tahnks to the king support.} ({The alternative is} 46. exf4 gxf4 47. Bxe4 Rxe4 48. Kc7 Rxc4 49. c6 bxc6 50. b6 Rb4 51. Rxd2) 46... Nxg2 47. Rxd2 Ne1 48. Kxb7 Nd3 49. c6 Bf5 50. c7 Re5 51. Nb2 Nc5+ 52. Kc6 Nb3 53. Rd8 Rc5+ 54. Kd6 g4 55. hxg4 Bxg4 56. b6 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.20"] [Round "5"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C80"] [WhiteElo "2702"] [BlackElo "2767"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. a4 $5 b4 10. Be3 Be7 11. a5 O-O 12. Qd3 Nc5 13. Bxc5 Bxc5 14. c3 Ne7 $146 (14... d4 15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. c4 Rf4 17. Nbd2 Qd7 18. b3 Rf5 19. Rfe1 Raf8 { Louro,E (1906)-Cabrera Trujillo,C (1876) IECC email 2018}) 15. Nbd2 bxc3 16. bxc3 Ba7 17. Nd4 Bd7 18. N2f3 c5 19. e6 $5 Be8 20. Ng5 $6 {Too risky, according to Mamedyarov.} f5 21. Nf7 Rxf7 $1 ({Not} 21... c4 22. Qd2 Bxf7 23. exf7+ Rxf7 24. Ba4 {with nice compensation.}) 22. exf7+ Bxf7 {It's easy to see that White will lose another minor piece for the rook.} 23. Nxf5 c4 24. Bxc4 Nxf5 25. Bxa6 Nd6 26. Qf3 Bc5 27. Bd3 Rxa5 28. Rxa5 Qxa5 29. h4 h5 30. g3 Ne8 31. c4 dxc4 32. Bh7+ Kf8 33. Bg6 Nf6 34. Bxf7 Kxf7 35. Rc1 Qc7 36. Kg2 Bd4 37. Qa8 c3 38. Qa2+ Kg6 39. Qc2+ Kh6 40. Qd3 Qb7+ 41. f3 Qb2+ 42. Rc2 Qb1 43. Qf5 Be3 44. Kh3 Qd1 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.20"] [Round "5"] [White "Grandelius, Nils"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B48"] [WhiteElo "2672"] [BlackElo "2865"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. g4 Nxd4 (7... b5 8. Nxc6 Qxc6 9. Qd2 b4 10. Ne2 Qxe4 11. Rg1 Qc4 12. Nf4 Qc7 13. O-O-O Nf6 14. Bg2 Bb7 15. g5 Ne4 16. Qd4 Nd6 17. Qxb4 Bxg2 18. Nxg2 Rb8 19. Qa4 a5 { Karjakin,S (2758)-Rapport,R (2760) Stavanger 2021}) 8. Qxd4 b5 9. O-O-O Bb7 10. f3 Rc8 11. Qd2 Bb4 12. Bd4 f6 13. g5 h6 $146 (13... Bd6 14. Kb1 Bf4 15. Qg2 Bxg5 16. e5 b4 17. Ne4 Bxe4 18. fxe4 Qc6 19. Bd3 Ne7 {Tari,A (2642)-Suvorov,A (2363) Struga 2021}) 14. gxh6 Nxh6 15. a3 Bxa3 16. bxa3 e5 17. Nxb5 axb5 18. Bb2 {So far this must have been in either player's laptop but with the following move, Carlsen seems to be mixing up things.} d5 $6 19. Bxb5+ Kf8 20. Ba4 ({Best was} 20. Qb4+ $1 Kg8 21. Qb3 {and White can take on d5 next. After} Nf7 22. exd5 Nd6 23. Rd3 {White is doing quite well.}) 20... d4 21. Bb3 Nf7 22. Qb4+ Kg8 23. Rd2 Ba6 24. f4 Rb8 25. Qa4 Bb5 26. Qb4 Ba6 27. Qa4 Bb5 28. Qb4 Rh3 29. fxe5 fxe5 30. Rg1 Be2 31. Bxf7+ Kxf7 32. Qa4 Qb7 33. Qb4 Qc7 34. Qa4 Bb5 35. Rdg2 Rh7 36. Qb3+ Bc4 37. Qg3 Qb6 38. Qg6+ Qxg6 39. Rxg6 Rc8 40. R6g5 $6 ({ After} 40. Kb1 {White doesn't have any problems.}) 40... Bd3 $1 {Slightly unpleasant.} 41. Rf5+ Kg8 42. Rf2 Rh6 43. Rd1 Bxe4 (43... Bb5 $5) 44. Re1 Rh4 45. a4 Rc5 $6 46. Ba3 Rc8 47. Be7 Rg4 48. h3 Rg2 49. Rxg2 Bxg2 50. Rxe5 d3 51. Bc5 Ra8 52. cxd3 Rxa4 53. Kd2 Bxh3 54. Re4 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2022.01.17"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Dubov, Daniil"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2720"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "Shahid"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2022.01.15"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 a5 8. Na3 Bxa3 9. bxa3 Qe7 10. O-O Nb8 11. d4 Nbd7 12. Rb1 g5 13. Bg3 Nxe4 14. Qc2 f5 $5 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Rfe1 Nxg3 17. hxg3 e4 18. g4 Nc5 19. Nd4 Rf8 20. gxf5 Bxf5 21. Rxb7 Rf6 (21... h5 $4 22. Bb5+ $18) (21... Nxb7 22. Bb5+ Kf7 23. Nxf5 $18) 22. Qb1 (22. Bb5+ $2 Kf8) 22... Nxb7 (22... Qe5 23. Rb8+ Rxb8 24. Qxb8+ Ke7 25. Qh8 $18) 23. Qxb7 Rd8 24. Nxf5 Rxf5 25. Rxe4 Rd1+ (25... Re5 $4 26. Qc6+ Rd7 ( 26... Kf8 27. Qxh6+ $18) 27. Qg6+ Kd8 28. Qg8+ Qe8 29. Rxe5 $18) 26. Kh2 Re5 27. Qc6+ Kd8 28. Qa8+ Kd7 29. Bb5+ Ke6 30. Qc8+ Kf6 31. Qh8+ Kf5 32. f3 $4 (32. Qc8+ Kf6 (32... Kxe4 $4 33. Qg4+ Kd5 34. Qc4+ Kd6 35. Qc6#) 33. Qh8+) 32... Rxe4 33. fxe4+ Kxe4 34. Qa8+ Ke3 35. Bc6 Qe5+ 36. g3 g4 37. Qa7+ Kd2 0-1 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.21"] [Round "6"] [White "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2632"] [BlackElo "2627"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 {Probably the most fashionable Italian line nowadays.} d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Be3 f6 ({The world champion defended confidently by pinning the white knight at once with:} 10... Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. Qc2 Nxc3 13. bxc3 f6 14. exf6 Qxf6 15. Be2 Na5 16. O-O Bxf3 17. Bxf3 c6 18. Rae1 Nc4 19. Bc1 Qg6 {in Nepomniachtchi,I (2792) -Carlsen,M (2855) Stavanger 2021}) 11. exf6 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Qxf6 13. O-O Bg4 {And this pin is still there.} 14. Be2 Bxf3 {This is the second most popular choice, although Black is not forced to part with his bishop pair.} ({ The most common continuation is} 14... Rae8 {when after} 15. h3 {Black often keeps his bishop alive.} Bh5) 15. Bxf3 Rad8 16. Be2 $1 {The bishop has done its job, and now it is time to look for a better diagonal.} Na5 $146 {This move is a novelty. The knight needs to step out of the pawn's way for the black bishop, which has also done its job and seeks a better diagonal.} ({ In the predecessor, however, a different route was chosen for the horse:} 16... Ne7 {The knight can indeed be more useful on the kingside and the online game ended quite uneventfully after} 17. Qd2 c6 18. Bg5 Qf7 19. Bh5 g6 20. Rfe1 Rd7 21. Bg4 {1/2-1/2 (21) Harshad,S (1939)-Ravi,T (2294) Rajapalayam 2018}) 17. a4 c6 {That's the plan.} (17... Nc4 $2 18. Bxc4 dxc4 19. a5) 18. Bd3 Bc7 {Ganguly is following his path.} ({However, it seems as if he needed to challenge the enemy bishop pair at once with} 18... Nc4 $1) 19. Qg4 Rde8 20. Rae1 {Now Erigaisi consolidates and starts building concrete threats. His bishops will soon prove priceless.} Bd8 $1 {A prophylaxis against the Be3-g5 maneuver.} ({ Why this is important can be illustrated by the line} 20... Nc4 21. Bg5 Qf7 22. Qh4 h6 23. Be7) ({The other way to stay away from the trouble was} 20... Qf7 $5 ) 21. g3 Qf3 {Ganguly must have miscalculated something. This move only helps White!} ({Better was} 21... Nc4 22. Bf4 Qf7 {with defensible, albeit passive, position.}) 22. Qh3 $1 {The queen communicates well with the bishops, and the black kingside is defended by just two pawns. So why trade?} ({True, the endgame is also somewhat better} 22. Qxf3 Rxf3 23. h4 {but the move in the game promises White more.}) 22... g6 ({Perhaps Ganguly missed that in the line } 22... h6 23. Bg6 Re7 24. Bf4 $1 Rxf4 25. Rxe7 Bxe7 26. Bh5 $1 {he would lose material.}) 23. Be2 Qf5 24. Bg4 {This is the more dangerous of the two bishops as it does not have an opponent.} Qf6 25. Bf4 {Beautiful, harmonious play by the pair! Once the kingside has been softened, they look to occupy the free diagonals close to the enemy king.} ({And} 25. Bd7 $5 Re4 26. f3 {looked good too.}) 25... h5 ({Had Black have given away the file at once with} 25... Rxe1 26. Rxe1 h5 {he would have suffered along the sixth rank} 27. Re6 $1 Qf7 28. Be2 $1 {as the bishop gets back to the b1-h7 diagonal with decisive effect.}) 26. Bd7 $1 {This not only wins the open file, but Erigaisi is preparing the decisive infiltration.} Rxe1 27. Rxe1 Kh7 ({The most resilient defense was} 27... Nc4 28. Re6 Qg7 29. Be8 Bf6 {Although here, too, Black's position remains suspicious and White has a pleasant choice between the positional} 30. Qf1 $5 ({And the more direct} 30. g4 $5)) 28. Re6 Qf7 ({Or} 28... Qg7 29. Be8 Bf6 30. Bd6 Rh8 31. Be5 {when Black is helpless.}) 29. Rd6 $1 {Through the sixth rank, the rook get access to the seventh one!} Qe7 30. Be6 {That is it; the light squares cannot be defended.} Rxf4 31. Rd7 Rf6 32. Rxe7+ Bxe7 33. Bc8 {And there is even more pain on light squares.} Rd6 34. g4 Nc4 35. gxh5 gxh5 36. Be6 Kg7 37. f4 Nd2 38. f5 Rxe6 39. fxe6 Ne4 40. Qxh5 Ng5 41. Qe8 Kf6 42. Qd7 {The seeming ease with which Erigaisi outplayed his creative compatriot was mind-boggling.} 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.21"] [Round "6"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A07"] [WhiteElo "2792"] [BlackElo "2772"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 Bf5 3. Bb2 e6 4. g3 h6 5. Bg2 Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. d3 O-O 8. Nbd2 a5 9. a3 c6 10. Re1 Bh7 11. e4 Nbd7 12. Qe2 Qb6 13. a4 (13. e5 Ne8 14. h4 a4 15. b4 c5 16. Bc3 Nc7 17. bxc5 Bxc5 18. d4 Be7 19. Reb1 Qc6 {Radjabov,T (2765) -Ding,L (2791) Online 2020}) 13... Rfc8 $146 (13... dxe4 14. dxe4 Nc5 15. Nc4 Qa6 16. e5 Nd5 17. Nd4 Rfd8 18. h4 Nb4 19. Na3 Qxe2 20. Rxe2 Rd7 21. Rd1 { Ternault,M (2324)-Flom,G (2499) Online INT 2020}) 14. Rac1 Bc5 15. e5 Ne8 16. Nf1 Qd8 17. Ne3 Nc7 18. Kh1 b5 19. Nd4 bxa4 20. bxa4 Nb6 (20... Na6 $5) 21. Ra1 Na6 22. Nb3 Be7 (22... Bxe3 $1 {followed by 23...c5 was good for Black.}) 23. f4 Qd7 24. f5 $1 {A nice pawn sacrifice after which Bh7 will be out of play.} exf5 25. Qf3 Nc5 26. Nxc5 Bxc5 27. d4 Be7 28. Bh3 g6 29. g4 f4 30. g5 Qa7 31. Bxc8 $2 ({Virtually winning was} 31. Ng4 $1 Bxg5 32. Bc1) 31... fxe3 32. e6 Bxg5 33. Bd7 fxe6 34. Bxe6+ Kh8 {Now Black is doing very well.} 35. Ba3 Nc4 36. Bc5 Qg7 37. Qg4 Bf6 (37... Nd2 $5) 38. Rab1 g5 39. Bf5 Re8 $6 40. Rb6 $4 { Tragic.} ({Giri had seen the move} 40. Qh5 $1 {and White is out of trouble.}) 40... Nxb6 41. Bxb6 Bxf5 42. Qxf5 Bxd4 43. Bxa5 Bc3 44. Bxc3 Qxc3 45. Kg2 Qd2+ 46. Kf1 Kg7 47. Qd7+ Kf6 48. Qd6+ Kf5 49. Qd7+ Re6 50. Qh7+ Kg4 51. Qf7 Re4 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.21"] [Round "6"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Rapport, Richard"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E04"] [WhiteElo "2865"] [BlackElo "2763"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. O-O Rb8 7. Be3 (7. Nc3 Be7 8. Qa4 O-O 9. Qxc4 Nd5 10. Rd1 Na5 11. Qd3 b6 12. e4 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 Bb7 14. d5 exd5 15. exd5 Bf6 16. Qc2 b5 {Giri,A (2777)-Mamedyarov,S (2762) Online 2021} ) 7... Bd6 8. Qc1 $146 (8. Nfd2 O-O 9. Nxc4 Ne7 10. Bg5 Nd7 11. e4 f6 12. Be3 Nb6 13. Nbd2 Nxc4 14. Nxc4 b5 15. Na5 c6 16. Qd2 Bd7 {Mulyar,M (2385)-Zeng,S (1863) Philadelphia 2018}) 8... b5 9. b3 Bb7 10. bxc4 bxc4 11. Qxc4 Nb4 12. a3 Nbd5 13. Bg5 O-O 14. Nbd2 h6 15. Bxf6 Nxf6 16. Rfc1 Nd7 17. Qa4 c5 {Carlsen thought this was \"reasonable,\" but he didn't like Black taking on f3 on the next move.} 18. Qxa7 Bxf3 $6 (18... Bd5) 19. Bxf3 cxd4 20. Ra2 Qe7 $2 {The real mistake.} ({Carlsen probably underestimated} 20... Ne5 $1 {or might have missed the tactic} 21. Qxd4 Bxa3 $1 {and Black is equal instantly.}) ({Another try is} 20... Ne5 21. Bg2 {when} d3 $1 {gives counterplay.}) 21. a4 {Now it's very hard to stop the pawn.} Rfd8 22. Qxd4 Rb4 23. Qc3 Nb6 24. a5 Qa7 25. Qe3 Be7 26. Rcc2 Bg5 27. Qc5 Be7 28. axb6 Qxa2 29. Qxe7 Qxc2 30. Qxd8+ Kh7 31. b7 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.22"] [Round "7"] [White "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Black "Shankland, Sam"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B48"] [WhiteElo "2714"] [BlackElo "2708"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. g4 b5 8. Nxc6 Qxc6 9. Qd2 b4 10. Ne2 Qxe4 11. Rg1 Qc4 12. Ng3 (12. Nf4 Qc7 13. O-O-O Nf6 14. Bg2 Bb7 15. g5 Ne4 16. Qd4 Nd6 17. Qxb4 Bxg2 18. Nxg2 Rb8 19. Qa4 a5 {Karjakin, S (2758)-Rapport,R (2760) Stavanger 2021}) 12... Qc7 13. O-O-O Ne7 14. Nh5 Nd5 15. Bd4 Rg8 16. Qd3 g6 $146 (16... b3 17. Qxb3 Rb8 18. Qc4 Qa5 {Raja,H (2484) -Gledura,B (2652) Dulles 2022}) 17. Bg2 gxh5 18. Bxd5 Bb7 19. Bxb7 Qxb7 20. gxh5 Rxg1 21. Rxg1 Qd5 22. b3 f5 23. Qe3 Qe4 24. Qd2 Rc8 25. Kb1 f4 26. Qd1 d6 27. f3 Qd5 28. Qd3 Rc7 29. Re1 Re7 30. Re4 e5 31. Qxa6 Kf7 32. Bb2 Qd1+ 33. Bc1 d5 34. Re2 Rc7 35. Rf2 d4 36. Qb6 ({Winning was} 36. Qa5 Rc5 37. Qa7+ Be7 38. Rg2 $1 {threatening 39.Rg7+!}) 36... Rc3 37. Qb7+ Be7 38. Qe4 {Esipenko said that when he played this move, he missed Black's 39th move.} ({Right after the game, Esipenko thought} 38. Qd5+ {was perhaps better but he couldn't see a win after} Kf6 39. Qg8 d3 40. Rd2 dxc2+ ({better is} 40... Qxf3 $1) 41. Kb2 Bc5 { but White has} 42. Qd8+ {followed by taking the queen.}) 38... Ke6 39. Qxh7 Qg1 40. Qg6+ Qxg6 41. hxg6 Kf6 42. Bd2 Rc8 43. Rg2 Kg7 44. Re2 Bd6 45. h4 Rh8 46. Be1 Kxg6 47. Kc1 Ra8 48. Kd2 Rxa2 49. Kd3 Kf5 50. h5 Bf8 51. h6 Bxh6 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.22"] [Round "7"] [White "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [BlackElo "2792"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7. c3 b6 (7... Nc6 8. h3 Nd7 9. O-O e5 10. dxe5 Ndxe5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Bxe5 Nxe5 13. Nf3 Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 Be6 15. Qa4 Qb6 16. Qb3 Rfd8 17. Rfd1 Rd7 18. Rd2 Rad8 19. Qxb6 axb6 20. a3 f5 21. Rad1 Kg7 {½-½ Kamsky,G (2662)-Andreikin,D (2728) Chess. com 2021}) 8. Ne5 Nfd7 9. h4 Nxe5 $146 (9... f6 10. Nxd7 Qxd7 11. e4 Bb7 12. h5 Rd8 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. Qb3 e6 15. e5 f5 16. c4 Nc6 {Parramon Ros,F (2067) -Medina Masdeu,R (1923) Girona 2012}) 10. Bxe5 Nc6 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. h5 Qd6 13. Qa4 cxd4 14. exd4 Bf5 15. Nf1 g5 16. Ne3 Bd7 17. h6+ Kh8 18. Qb3 e6 19. Rd1 Rac8 20. Qc2 f5 21. c4 Ne7 22. Qc3 Ng6 23. b3 Qe7 24. g3 Bc6 25. Rh5 Qf6 26. Rd2 Ne7 27. Nc2 f4 28. gxf4 gxf4 29. Kd1 Be8 30. Rh3 Bg6 31. Ne1 Bf5 32. Rh1 dxc4 33. bxc4 b5 34. c5 Nd5 35. Qb2 b4 36. Bd3 a5 $6 ({Strong was} 36... e5 $1 37. dxe5 Nc3+ $1 38. Kc2 Qxe5 {with a winning attack.}) 37. Kc1 Nc3 38. Nf3 Rfd8 39. Qc2 Bxd3 40. Rxd3 Rd5 41. Ne5 $6 ({This was a good moment for} 41. Rxc3 $1 bxc3 42. Qe4 {with good compensation. White is not worse.}) 41... Nb5 42. Rhd1 $2 (42. Qb2) 42... Nxd4 43. Rxd4 Rcxc5 44. Rxd5 Rxc2+ 45. Kxc2 exd5 46. Rxd5 Kg8 47. Rxa5 Qf5+ 48. Kb3 Qb1+ 49. Kc4 Qe4+ 50. Kb3 f3 51. Nc4 Qb1+ 52. Ka4 Qxa2+ 53. Kb5 b3 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.22"] [Round "7"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E36"] [WhiteElo "2702"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Nf3 dxc4 8. Qxc4 b6 9. Bg5 Bb7 10. Ne5 (10. Rd1 Nbd7 11. Ne5 h6 12. Bh4 c5 13. f3 cxd4 14. Qxd4 Nxe5 15. Qxe5 Qe7 16. e4 Rfd8 {So,W (2778)-Robson,R (2669) Saint Louis 2021}) 10... Qd6 11. e3 c5 $146 (11... Bd5 12. Qd3 Nbd7 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. f3 h6 15. Bf4 e5 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17. Qd4 Rfe8 {Radovic,G (1837)-Milovanovic,S (2069) Nis 2019}) 12. Bf4 Qe7 13. dxc5 Rc8 14. Be2 Rxc5 15. Qd4 Nd5 (15... Rd5 { \"should be like a repetition.\" - Van Foreest}) 16. Bg3 f6 17. Nc4 Ba6 18. b3 Nc6 19. Qb2 e5 20. Rd1 Na5 21. O-O Nxc4 22. bxc4 Nc7 23. Qb3 Qe6 24. f4 exf4 25. Rxf4 Re8 26. Bf2 Qf7 27. Rfd4 Bc8 28. Bg3 {Finally having activated his dark-squared bishop, Van Foreest started to get optimistic about his chances.} Ne6 29. Rd5 Rxd5 30. cxd5 Nc5 31. Qc3 Ne4 32. Qd4 Bd7 33. Bf4 g5 34. Bc7 Kg7 35. Rf1 Qe7 36. Bh5 Rc8 $2 {This allows a winning sequence for White.} ({ The best square was} 36... Rf8 {to cover the f7-square when} 37. d6 {can be met by} Qe5 38. Qxe5 fxe5) 37. d6 Qe6 38. Bf3 Nc5 (38... Re8 39. Bxe4 {and f6 will hang.}) 39. Bd5 Qe5 40. Qxe5 fxe5 41. Rf7+ Kg6 42. Rxd7 $1 Nxd7 43. Be6 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.22"] [Round "7"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R.."] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D27"] [WhiteElo "2612"] [BlackElo "2865"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 dxc4 4. e3 a6 5. Bxc4 Nf6 6. O-O c5 7. b3 b6 (7... cxd4 8. Nxd4 Be7 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Nd2 b5 11. Be2 Bb7 12. a4 bxa4 13. Rxa4 Nbd7 14. Ra1 Nb6 {Vidit,S (2727)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2761) Warsaw 2021}) 8. Ba3 Nbd7 9. d5 exd5 10. Bxd5 Rb8 11. Bb2 Be7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Qc2 b5 $146 (13... Qc7 14. Rad1 b5 15. Be4 Nb6 16. Bd3 Bb7 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Bxe4 Bxe4 19. Qxe4 Rbe8 { Romig,J (2141)-Domingo Gadea,J (1892) FICGS email 2018}) 14. Rfd1 Qc7 15. a4 h6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Qe2 Qb6 18. e4 Re8 19. Qd2 Bf8 20. Qf4 b4 21. Na4 Nxd5 22. Rxd5 Qe6 23. Rad1 ({Perhaps White should have tried} 23. Nxc5 Bxc5 24. Rxc5 Nxc5 25. Qxb8) 23... Ra8 24. Qc1 Qxe4 25. h3 Ra7 26. Qd2 Qg6 27. Nh4 Qe6 28. Nf5 c4 $6 {The only flaw in the game for Black.} (28... Bb7) 29. Qd4 ({Missing } 29. Bxg7 $1 Bxg7 30. Nxg7 Kxg7 31. Rd6 Qe7 32. Qxh6+ Kg8 33. R6d4 Nf8 34. Nb6 {and Black still has the better chances but it's a completely different story of course.}) 29... Nf6 30. Nb6 c3 31. Nxc8 Qxd5 32. Qxd5 Nxd5 33. Nxa7 cxb2 34. Rb1 Re2 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.22"] [Round "7"] [White "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [BlackElo "2792"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 {An unexpected opening choice by Duda, at least for his opponent.} g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7. c3 b6 {\"I knew this line is playable. Black accepts a slightly worse position.\" (Caruana)} ({Black can also play for an equality with} 7... Nc6 8. h3 Nd7 9. O-O e5 10. dxe5 Ndxe5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Bxe5 Nxe5 13. Nf3 Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 Be6 {Kamsky,G (2662) -Andreikin, D (2728) Chess.com 2021}) 8. Ne5 Nfd7 9. h4 {A very straightforward and logical attempt, but Black was not too worried about it.} (9. Ndf3 $5 {\"and then try to prepare h2-h4 more slowly\" (Caruana)}) 9... Nxe5 $146 ({In an earlier gamew Black did not defend as effectively after} 9... f6 10. Nxd7 Qxd7 11. e4 Bb7 12. h5 Rd8 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. Qb3 e6 15. e5 {Parramon Ros,F (2067) -Medina Masdeu,R (1923) Girona 2012}) 10. Bxe5 Nc6 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. h5 Qd6 { \"After this I did not think I was any worse. He is only attacking with a pawn, the rest of his pieces are not attacking.\" (Caruana)} 13. Qa4 cxd4 14. exd4 Bf5 15. Nf1 g5 $1 {An important move that seals the kingside, in the spirit of the Sicilian Dragon.} 16. Ne3 Bd7 17. h6+ {Otherwise Black will place his pawn on this square.} (17. O-O-O h6 $1) 17... Kh8 18. Qb3 (18. O-O-O {was what Black expected with a typical double-edged game. Both sides will try and organize attacks against the opponent's kings and this was apparently the type of play that Black was aiming for.}) 18... e6 19. Rd1 {A couple of strange moves, according to Caruana and now the white king remains in the center till the rest of the game.} Rac8 20. Qc2 {Duda does not yet execute his idea.} ({ The immediate} 20. c4 {was already possible due to the little tactic} Na5 ({ Black can as well react as in the game with} 20... Ne7 $5) 21. c5 bxc5 22. Qa3 Nc6 23. dxc5 {But it is not clear what did White achieve after say} Qf4) 20... f5 $1 21. c4 Ne7 22. Qc3 Ng6 (22... Ng8 $5) 23. b3 Qe7 $1 {A nice maneuver! Black is occupying both long diagonals with his bishop and queen and gets ready for the opening of the center. That would certainly be most painful for the white king.} 24. g3 Bc6 25. Rh5 Qf6 26. Rd2 ({Perhaps} 26. Qb4 {and then c4-c5 to somewhat close the position was objectively better, but that would have been an acknowledgement of a conceptual failure.}) 26... Ne7 27. Nc2 f4 $1 {It is time to open up some files against the white king.} 28. gxf4 gxf4 29. Kd1 Be8 {The same policy of a gradual improvement before any forcing moves. Indeed, the white king is permanently weak, and there is no need to rush.} ({ Here} 29... Nf5 $1 {improving the knight looked even stronger, with ideas like} 30. Kc1 dxc4 31. bxc4 Nd6 32. f3 Bd5 $1 {and Black should be able to break through.}) 30. Rh3 Bg6 31. Ne1 Bf5 (31... Nf5 $1 {bringing the knight to the optimal d6-square looked again as the way to make it, but Caruana has another plan for that piece.}) 32. Rh1 dxc4 33. bxc4 b5 34. c5 Nd5 {This also looks great and Duda is completely outplayed, but the time-trouble is about to take its toll.} 35. Qb2 b4 36. Bd3 a5 {Solid, obvious and wise in time-trouble.} ({ However, the opening of another file would have been even stronger:} 36... e5 $1 {when the line} 37. Bxf5 (37. dxe5 Nc3+ 38. Qxc3 bxc3 39. exf6 cxd2 { wins material for Black.}) 37... Qxf5 38. dxe5 Nc3+ {would have more or less finished the job as the white king cannot find peace.}) 37. Kc1 $1 {Duda exploits the slightest hesitation.} Nc3 (37... e5 38. dxe5 Rxc5+ 39. Rc2 { is not convincing any more.}) 38. Nf3 Rfd8 ({Apparently, Caruana did not have the time to evaluate the consequences of the tactical lines} 38... Ne4 39. Rc2 (39. Re2 Nxc5) 39... Nxf2 40. Rxf2 Bxd3 41. Ne5 {when White seems to have enough for the pawn.}) 39. Qc2 Bxd3 40. Rxd3 Rd5 {The time-trouble is over, and it is evident that White made a lot of a progress. Duda's next move though turned out to be a mistake.} 41. Ne5 {\"I was kind of happy to see this.\" (Caruana)} ({\"I was worried about\"} 41. Re1 {\"and then he sacrifices the exchange on c3 at some point and then we get a very messy position that goes on and on.\" (Caruana)}) ({The immediate exchange sacrifice} 41. Rxc3 {also made a lot of sense with very unclear play after} bxc3 42. Qe4 {The knight getting on e5 would not be weaker than any of the black rooks.}) 41... Nb5 $1 { \"After this it was a very straightforward calculation.\" (Caruana)} 42. Rhd1 { And this might be the last mistake.} ({The threat of a capture on d4 was not as mortal as it looked and} 42. Qb2 $3 {might have still saved Duda thanks to the little tactical detail in the line} Nxd4 43. Rxd4 Rcxc5+ 44. Kb1 Qxe5 45. Rxf4 $1 {and thanks to the back-rank mating threats White should be able to hold} Qxb2+ 46. Kxb2 Rd2+) 42... Nxd4 $1 {Now it workd even better than in the line above.} 43. Rxd4 Rcxc5 44. Rxd5 Rxc2+ 45. Kxc2 exd5 46. Rxd5 Kg8 $1 { The king runs into safety and Black converts his material advantage.} 47. Rxa5 Qf5+ 48. Kb3 Qb1+ 49. Kc4 Qe4+ 50. Kb3 f3 $1 51. Nc4 Qb1+ 52. Ka4 Qxa2+ 53. Kb5 b3 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.23"] [Round "8"] [White "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Black "Bjerre, Jonas Buhl"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B44"] [WhiteElo "2632"] [BlackElo "2586"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. O-O Nf6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Be7 9. h3 (9. Nc3 O-O 10. h3 h6 11. Be3 Re8 12. Re1 Bb4 13. a3 Bxc3 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. bxc3 Bf5 {Xiong,J (2710)-Mamedyarov,S (2782) Saint Louis 2021}) 9... O-O 10. Be3 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bf5 $146 (11... Be6 12. Nd2 Rc8 13. c3 Ne8 14. Qb3 Nd6 15. Rfe1 Qa5 16. Qd1 Nf5 {Chadaev,N (2591)-Sevian,S (2553) Chess.com 2015}) 12. Nc3 Ne4 13. Re1 Bf6 $6 ({Here Bjerre wanted to play} 13... Bb4 { but, with his bishop in his hand, noticed that it is met by} 14. Bxg7 $1 { so he had to make another move with that bishop because of the touch-move rule. }) 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Qxd5 Qxd5 17. Bxd5 Bxc2 18. Re7 Rad8 19. Bxb7 a5 20. Rae1 a4 21. Bc6 Rd4 22. Rd7 Rb4 23. Rd2 Bf5 24. a3 Rb6 25. Bxa4 Bxh3 26. Re5 Rfb8 27. Rb5 Kf8 28. Rd8+ Rxd8 29. Rxb6 Be6 30. Bb3 1-0 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.23"] [Round "8"] [White "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2714"] [BlackElo "2772"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "98"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {The Italian is as common nowadaysdays as the Ruy Lopez was before.} Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d5 {The most direct try for an equality.} 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Re1 {The immediate pressure against the e5-pawn is White's best chance.} Bg4 9. Nbd2 ({White can also throw in:} 9. a4 a5 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nbd2 Nb6 12. Bb3 Qxd3 13. Nxe5 Qf5 14. Nef3 Rad8 15. Qe2 {also with symmetrical position in Firouzja,A (2804)-Aronian,L (2772) Warsaw 2021}) 9... Nb6 {That is the thing, Black can aslo attack the opponent's central pawn.} 10. h3 Bh5 11. Bb3 {According to Megabase, this retreat is recently more successful than 11.Bb5.} Qxd3 12. Nxe5 Qf5 13. Nef3 Rfe8 $5 {\"This is a rare move, but people obviously know about it. It is on my course for White; I say White is slightly better in this game,\" said Giri, with mischievous smile on his face.} 14. g4 {Esipenko accepts the challenge.} Bxg4 15. hxg4 Qxg4+ 16. Kh1 Ne5 17. Nh2 Qg6 18. Bc2 Nd3 19. Bxd3 Qxd3 {Up to here, everything was more or less forced. White needs to quench the opponent's initiative as quick as possible.} 20. Ndf3 $146 {Thus, the trade of the queens is offered, but at the price of a pawn. Giri, however, had memories that he offered another square for the knight.} ({And this might be the b3-square, as in the email predecessor:} 20. Nb3 Qxd1 21. Rxd1 Bxf2 22. Ng4 Bh4 23. Rg1 Kf8 24. Kg2 { and the game eventually ended in a draw, Rohs,R (2318)-Larsson,M (2287) ICCF email 2016}) 20... Qxd1 21. Rxd1 Bxf2 {Black has three pawns for the piece, and as a rule this translates into more pieces traded=the more valuable the pawns become. Their potential value can improve from three to thenty-seven pawns in theory, which means that Esipenko will need to wisely positon his pieces to actively suppress the pawns.} 22. Bf4 c6 23. Rd2 {\"This move is not critical.\" (Giri) And the Dutchman quickly proves why.} ({More in the spirit of the position might have been} 23. Ng4 Bc5 24. b4 Re4 25. Be5 Rxg4 26. bxc5 Nd5 {with approximate equality. A white bishop on d4 will make a difference.}) 23... Be3 $1 {\"After the trade of the bishops I was comfortable. Generally, if I trade the right pieces, and if White does not jump quickly on my king with some Nh2-g4 and Ra1-g1 then I am safe.\" (Giri)} 24. Bxe3 Rxe3 25. Nd4 Nc4 26. Rf2 Rae8 27. Raf1 ({It made sense to centralize the knights at once with} 27. Nf5 $5 Re1+ 28. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 29. Kg2 Kf8 30. Nf3 {when it is still about even.}) 27... Nd6 28. Nf5 ({Here, too} 28. Ng4 {is possible, but without the bishop on board, not as impresisve and Black can fight for the initiative with either} Rg3 ({Or} 28... Re1)) 28... Nxf5 29. Rxf5 f6 30. Kg2 Kf7 31. Rd1 h5 $1 {Using a small tactic Giri brings his pawns into motion. This is why Esipenko needed more pieces on board; it would have been riskier then, pushing the foot-soldiers in front of the king.} 32. Rf2 ({The forcing line} 32. Rxh5 Re2+ 33. Kg3 Rxb2 34. Rd7+ Re7 35. Rxe7+ Kxe7 36. Ra5 a6 {forces White to a gloomy defense.}) 32... g5 33. Rd7+ {\"I think this was his mistake. He should have freed the knight to either f1, or via f3-d4-square and then enter with the rook behind, and then I was not thinking I would be able to win this game.\" (Giri)} ({But how exaclty? The line} 33. Nf3 Kg6 34. Nd4 Re1 $1 35. Rdd2 g4 $1 {looks more than fine for Black as his pawns keep moving.}) ({Whereas} 33. Nf1 {can be met with} Re2 34. Ng3 Rxf2+ 35. Kxf2 h4 36. Nf5 Kg6 {once again lifting the loose White blockade.}) 33... R3e7 34. Rd6 Re6 {Black would love to swap one pair of rooks, when his pawns would move effortlessly.} 35. Rd7+ R8e7 36. Rd8 $1 {Not allowing further trades.} g4 $1 {But now the knight is depressed.} 37. Rh8 ({Still, it was not too late to bring this piece back to the game with} 37. Nf1 $1 {Then in the forcing line} h4 38. Rh8 g3 39. Rf4 Re2+ 40. Kg1 g2 41. Nh2 Rxb2 42. Rh7+ Ke8 43. Rxe7+ Kxe7 44. Rxh4 Rxa2 45. Rh7+ { White is just in time to hold on to the material equlibrum.}) 37... Kg6 38. Rg8+ Rg7 39. Rf8 Kg5 {More progress is made by Black in the time-trouble.} 40. Nf1 h4 41. a4 a5 $1 {Another instructive decision by Giri. He wants to build a self-sufficient queenside setup, put the rook on e5-square and finally push f6-f5. Therefore, the pawn is ideally located on the fifth rank.} ({Here and on the next move Black correctly avoids} 41... g3 42. Nxg3 $1 hxg3 43. Kxg3 { which should likely lead to a draw despite the extra pawn for Black.}) 42. b4 b6 43. bxa5 bxa5 44. Ra8 Re5 {All set for f6-f5.} 45. Nd2 {And Esipenko blunders under pressure, practically blitzing this natural move.} ({He should have improved the knight, no question about that, but only after the preliminary} 45. Rc8 Rc5 {and now} ({Instead Black could have fought further with the cunning} 45... Rg6 $5 46. Rxc6 f5 47. Rc8 f4 {This looks very scary for the first player, but perhaps he might be able to survive. The key is to sacrifice the knight in the proper moment for a blockade, as in the following (non-forcing) line} 48. Rb2 h3+ 49. Kf2 Kh4 50. Rh8+ Rh5 51. Rxh5+ Kxh5 52. Ng3+ $1 fxg3+ 53. Kxg3 {and White seems to hold.}) (45... Re6 46. Ra8) 46. Nd2 $1) 45... g3 $1 {Esipenko obviously missed an important detail in his calculations.} 46. Nf3+ Kf4 $1 {Under a discovered check! Such moves are easily missed, even by top-grandmasters.} ({Maybe the Russian GM only saw} 46... Kh5 $2 47. Rh8+ {from afar, which is winning, but for White.}) 47. Rf1 ({ Or else White loses too much material.} 47. Nxe5+ gxf2+ 48. Kxf2 fxe5) 47... h3+ $1 {The final, neat move! Black wins by force.} ({Weaker was} 47... Re2+ 48. Kg1 g2 49. Rf2 {when White defends.}) 48. Kxh3 ({A prettier finish would have been} 48. Kg1 g2 49. Rf2 Kg3 50. Nxe5 h2#) 48... g2 49. Rf2 Ke3 0-1 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.23"] [Round "8"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Grandelius, Nils"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A48"] [WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2672"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. e5 (5. Bd3 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. c3 e5 8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Nc4 Nh5 {Xiong,J (2709)-Grandelius,N (2661) World Cup 2021}) 5... Nh5 {Provoking White's next move, and Vidit is up for the challenge.} 6. g4 $5 Nf4 7. Ne4 d5 8. Ng3 Ne6 9. Nf5 $5 {A nice follow-up.} c5 (9... gxf5 10. gxf5 {with the knight trapped on e6 cannot be recommended.}) 10. Nxg7 Nxg7 11. h3 cxd4 12. Bh6 $146 (12. Nxd4 Nc6 13. Bg2 Nxe5 14. O-O Nc6 15. Re1 Re8 16. Bh6 e5 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. c4 Bb7 {Doluhanova,E (2264) -Dolzhikova,K (2161) Kharkov 2021}) 12... Qa5+ 13. Qd2 Qxd2+ 14. Nxd2 Nc6 15. f4 f6 16. exf6 exf6 17. O-O-O Re8 18. Nb3 $6 {This allows a tactic that Grandelius misses.} (18. Bg2) 18... Ne6 $6 ({With} 18... Bf5 $3 {Black suddenly equalizes, e.g.} 19. Bb5 (19. gxf5 Nxf5 {wins back the bishop on h6}) 19... Be4 20. Rh2 Rac8) 19. Bg2 Nc7 20. f5 $5 gxf5 21. Rhf1 Kf7 (21... fxg4 22. Rxf6 gxh3 23. Bf3 {looks very dangerous for Black.}) 22. gxf5 Rg8 23. Rd2 Ne5 $6 ({The best chance was again} 23... Bxf5 $1 24. Rxf5 Kg6 {with good chances to save the game.}) 24. Nxd4 {Now White is in full control.} Bd7 25. b3 Rae8 26. a4 a6 27. Bf4 Re7 28. Rff2 Bc6 29. Kb2 Rd7 30. Ka3 Ne8 31. c4 Ng7 32. Nxc6 bxc6 33. cxd5 Rgd8 34. dxc6 1-0 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.23"] [Round "8"] [White "Shankland, Sam"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D32"] [WhiteElo "2708"] [BlackElo "2865"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 cxd4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxd4 exd5 7. Qxd5 Nf6 8. Qb3 (8. Qd1 Bc5 9. Nf3 O-O 10. e3 Qe7 11. Be2 Nc6 12. O-O Ne5 13. Bd2 Rad8 { Salem,A (2690)-Tari,A (2653) Warsaw 2021}) 8... Na6 9. Nf3 Nc5 10. Qc2 Rc8 11. e3 Nce4 12. Bd3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nd5 $146 (13... Bd6 14. O-O Qc7 15. Bb2 Bc6 { Nita,C (1800)-Mosshammer,M (1873) ICCF email 2008}) 14. O-O Nxc3 15. Bb2 Bb4 { Earlier in his calculations, Shankland had missed that he cannot put a rook on c1 here because of ...Nxa2. \"At this point I already felt my position was uncomfortable.\"} 16. Bxc3 {\"Damage control.\" (Shankland)} Bxc3 ({Shankland thought} 16... Rxc3 {was much stronger.}) 17. Rab1 Bf6 18. Qe2 Rc7 19. e4 O-O 20. e5 Be7 21. Nd4 Bc5 22. e6 {\"At first I thought my position should be very good but then I started thinking after...} Bxe6 23. Nxe6 fxe6 24. Qxe6+ Kh8 { was on the board, I didn't really see a great way through.\" (Shankland)} 25. Qh3 h6 26. Qg3 Rd7 27. Rb3 ({Shankland had seen that} 27. Rxb7 $2 {fails to} Bxf2+ $1 ({not} 27... Rxb7 28. Qg6 {with an immediate draw:} Kg8 29. Qh7+ Kf7 30. Qg6+ Kg8) 28. Rxf2 Rxb7 29. Qg6 Rb1+ $1 {and Black wins.}) 27... Rf6 28. h3 b6 29. Be2 Rd2 30. Rd3 Rxd3 31. Bxd3 Qd6 32. Qxd6 Rxd6 33. Rd1 g5 34. Kf1 Kg7 35. Bc2 1/2-1/2 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.23"] [Round "8"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Praggnanandhaa, R...."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A20"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2612"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. c4 e5 2. g3 c6 3. d4 e4 4. Qa4 $5 d5 5. cxd5 {Now the c-pawn is pinned, which is the main point behind White's fourth move.} b5 6. Qb3 Nf6 7. Bg5 $146 (7. Bg2 cxd5 8. Bg5 Qa5+ 9. Nc3 b4 10. Qa4+ Qxa4 11. Nxa4 Nbd7 {Eccles, A-Sherwood, R (2361) ICCF email 2019}) 7... Qa5+ 8. Nc3 b4 9. Nd1 Nxd5 10. Bh3 Bxh3 $6 {This helps White's development too much.} (10... Nd7) 11. Nxh3 Nd7 12. Rc1 h6 13. Bd2 Rc8 14. f3 N7f6 (14... N5f6 $5) 15. Nhf2 exf3 16. e4 Nb6 (16... Qb5 17. Qxf3 Nc7) 17. O-O Be7 18. Ne3 {With the white knight looking at f5, Black is in big trouble.} Qa4 19. Qd3 Qb5 20. Qxb5 cxb5 21. Rxc8+ Nxc8 22. e5 Nd7 23. Nf5 g6 24. Rc1 Ndb6 25. Nxe7 Nxe7 26. Bxb4 Nbd5 27. Bxe7 Kxe7 28. Ne4 g5 29. h3 f6 30. Rc5 f5 31. Nd2 Rd8 32. Nxf3 b4 33. Kf2 Nb6 34. Rc6 Rc8 35. Rxc8 Nxc8 36. h4 g4 37. Ne1 Nb6 38. Ng2 Na4 39. Ne3 Nxb2 40. Nxf5+ Ke6 41. Nxh6 Nd1+ 42. Ke1 Nc3 43. Nxg4 Nxa2 44. h5 Nc3 45. Kd2 Ne4+ 46. Kc2 1-0 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.23"] [Round "8"] [White "Dubov, Daniil"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E04"] [WhiteElo "2720"] [BlackElo "2760"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. Qa4 Bd7 8. Qxc4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Rc8 10. Nc3 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bc5 12. Qf4 (12. Qh4 O-O 13. Bxb7 Rb8 14. Bf3 {½-½ Chigaev,M (2639)-Kryvoruchko,Y (2689) Mali Losinj 2021}) 12... Bc6 13. Bxc6+ Rxc6 14. Rd1 Qc8 15. Be3 O-O 16. Bd4 $146 (16. Rd3 a6 17. Rad1 Be7 18. Bd4 b5 19. Be5 Rc4 20. Qf3 Qc6 {Kachar,V (2373)-Kanko,I (2265) Naumburg 2002}) 16... Bxd4 17. Rxd4 Re8 18. Rd6 Rxd6 19. Qxd6 Rd8 20. Qf4 h6 21. Rc1 Qc6 22. Qe3 a6 23. f3 Nd5 24. Nxd5 Qxd5 25. b3 Qd2 26. Qxd2 Rxd2 27. Rc8+ Kh7 28. Kf2 (28. Rc7 {was probably simpler.}) 28... b5 $1 {Now Black will end up with an extra pawn, but it's still a draw.} 29. a4 bxa4 30. bxa4 Rd4 31. h4 $1 {It's useful to prevent ...g5.} Kg6 32. Rc5 Rxa4 33. h5+ Kf6 34. f4 a5 35. Kf3 Ra1 36. g4 a4 37. g5+ Ke7 38. Rc7+ Ke8 39. g6 $1 {Active play is almost always good in rook endgames.} fxg6 40. hxg6 a3 41. Kf2 a2 42. Ra7 Kd8 43. Kg2 Ke8 44. Kf2 h5 45. Kg2 h4 46. e4 h3+ 47. Kh2 Re1 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.25"] [Round "9"] [White "Zhu, Jiner"] [Black "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C70"] [WhiteElo "2478"] [BlackElo "2632"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bc5 5. c3 Nge7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb4+ 8. Bd2 (8. Nc3 d5 9. e5 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. gxf3 O-O 12. Qd3 Ng6 13. h4 Ncxe5 14. dxe5 d4 15. Qe4 b5 16. Bc2 f5 17. exf6 Re8 18. Bb3+ Kh8 19. Kf1 Rxe4 20. fxg7+ Kxg7 21. Nxe4 Qf8 {Vachier Lagrave,M (2838)-Nihal,S (2667) Riga 2021}) 8... Bxd2+ 9. Qxd2 d5 10. exd5 Qxd5 11. Nc3 Qe6+ 12. Kf1 Qc4+ 13. Kg1 Be6 $146 ( 13... O-O 14. d5 Nb8 15. Re1 Ng6 16. h4 h5 17. Re4 Qc5 18. Qg5 b5 19. Bb3 Nd7 { Bernadskiy,V (2600)-Petrov,N (2570) Novi Sad 2021}) 14. Ne5 Qb4 15. a3 Qb6 16. Bxc6+ Nxc6 17. Nxc6 Qxc6 18. h4 ({Better was} 18. d5 O-O-O 19. Rd1 Qb6 20. Qe3 Qxe3 21. fxe3) 18... O-O-O 19. h5 Bd5 20. f3 Qf6 21. Qf2 Bb3 22. Rh4 Rhe8 23. Rg4 Qh6 24. Re1 f5 25. Rh4 Bf7 26. Kh2 Bxh5 27. Rxe8 Rxe8 28. Qg3 Qg6 29. Qf4 Qf7 30. d5 Bg6 31. d6 Rd8 32. dxc7 Qxc7 33. Qxc7+ Kxc7 34. Ne2 Rd2 35. Nf4 Rxb2 36. Nxg6 hxg6 37. Rh7 Kb6 38. Rxg7 Ka5 39. Rxg6 Ka4 40. Rg5 f4 41. Rf5 Kxa3 42. Rxf4 b5 43. Kh3 b4 44. g4 b3 45. Rf5 Ra2 46. g5 b2 47. Rf6 a5 48. Rb6 Ra1 49. f4 b1=Q 50. Rxb1 Rxb1 51. g6 Rg1 52. f5 Rg5 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.25"] [Round "9"] [White "Rapport, Richard"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "2763"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "117"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c5 (3... e6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Nbd7 {So,W (2760)-Aronian,L (2772) Bucharest 2019}) 4. c4 cxd4 5. Nf3 dxc4 6. Qxd4 Bd7 7. O-O e6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Qxc4 Rc8 10. Qf4 $146 (10. Bg5 Be7 11. Rfd1 Qb6 12. Qb5 Qxb5 13. Nxb5 Ne4 14. Be3 a6 15. Nfd4 axb5 16. Bxe4 Na5 {Matnadze,A (2412)-Ozturk Orenli,K (2293) Belgrade 2013} ) 10... h6 11. Nb5 Nb4 12. Rd1 Nbd5 13. Nd6+ Bxd6 14. Qxd6 Bb5 15. Qxd8+ Rxd8 16. Nd4 Ba6 17. Bd2 O-O 18. a4 Rd7 19. Nb5 Rfd8 20. Be1 b6 21. Rdc1 Ne7 22. e4 Ng4 23. Bc3 Nc6 24. Bf1 Nge5 25. Be2 Bb7 26. Rd1 a6 27. Rxd7 Rxd7 28. Rd1 Rxd1+ 29. Bxd1 axb5 30. axb5 Ne7 31. Bxe5 Bxe4 32. Be2 f6 33. Bd4 Nd5 34. f3 Bc2 35. Bc4 Kf7 36. Kf2 h5 37. Ke2 Ke8 38. Kd2 Bf5 39. Bxd5 exd5 40. Kc3 Bh3 41. Bxb6 Bf1 42. Kb4 g6 43. Bd4 f5 44. f4 Kd7 45. Kc5 Kc7 $5 ({Although} 45... Bg2 { was fine as well, Vidit correctly sees that he doesn't need his d-pawn to draw. }) 46. Bf6 (46. Kxd5 {is met by} h4 $1 ({not} 46... Bxb5 $2 47. Ke6 Be8 48. Ke7 Bb5 49. Kf7 Be2 50. Kxg6 Bg4 51. Kg5 {followed by 52.Kh4 and 53.h3, when White will create a second passed pawn.}) 47. gxh4 Be2 $1 48. Ke6 Bh5 49. Kf6 Kb7 { and White cannot make progress.}) 46... Bg2 47. Be7 d4 48. Kxd4 Kd7 49. Bh4 Ke6 50. Kc5 Kd7 51. Bf6 Bf3 52. Kb6 Bg2 53. Ka7 Kc8 54. Bc3 Bf3 55. Ba5 Bg2 56. Bb6 Bf3 57. Ka6 Bb7+ 58. Ka7 Bf3 59. Ka6 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.25"] [Round "9"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R.."] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2612"] [BlackElo "2743"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "106"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 Nh5 (5... Qb6 6. dxc5 Qxb2 7. Rb1 Qc3 8. Bb5 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. e4 O-O 11. e5 Nd7 12. Nb3 Qb4 {Aronian,L (2782)-Ding,L (2799) Chess.com 2021}) 6. dxc5 Nxf4 7. exf4 g6 8. c3 Bg7 9. Bb5 Qc7 10. Nb3 $146 (10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. Qa4 O-O 12. O-O Bf5 13. Rfe1 Rac8 14. Nb3 Be4 15. Nfd2 Bd3 {Karlik,V (2277)-Jirka,J (2339) Czech Republic 2002}) 10... a6 11. Bxc6+ bxc6 12. Qd2 O-O 13. h4 $5 Bg4 14. h5 a5 ({After} 14... Bxh5 { White indeed goes} 15. Rxh5 {like in the game.}) 15. Nbd4 (15. h6 Bf6 16. Nbd4 {was another option. Modern engines tend to like those far advanced pawns.}) 15... Bxh5 16. Rxh5 gxh5 17. Qe3 a4 18. O-O-O e6 19. Rh1 Rfb8 20. Ne5 Qb7 21. Nd3 Qa6 22. a3 Qc4 23. Rxh5 Bxd4 24. Qxd4 Qxd4 25. cxd4 f6 26. Kc2 Rb3 27. g4 Rab8 28. Rh3 Kg7 29. Re3 Kf7 30. Rh3 Kg6 31. Re3 Kf7 32. Rh3 Kg6 33. Re3 h5 $6 ({After} 33... Re8 {Black is still better.}) 34. gxh5+ Kf5 35. Nb4 $1 Rxe3 36. fxe3 Ke4 37. Nxc6 Rc8 38. Na7 $1 Ra8 39. Nb5 Kxe3 40. c6 $2 {The wrong pawn!} ( {After} 40. h6 $1 {the best move is} e5 $1 {but here White can hold with} 41. fxe5 fxe5 42. dxe5 d4 43. Nd6 d3+ 44. Kd1 Rg8 45. Nf5+) 40... e5 $5 ({Even more accurate was} 40... Rc8 $1 41. c7 e5 $1 42. fxe5 fxe5 43. dxe5 d4 44. h6 d3+ 45. Kd1 Rg8 {and wins.}) 41. dxe5 $6 ({The best chance was} 41. fxe5 $1 Rc8 (41... fxe5 42. Nc7 $1 Rc8 43. Nxd5+ Kxd4 44. Nb4 Rh8 45. h6 $1) 42. exf6 Rxc6+ 43. Nc3 Kxd4 44. f7 Rf6 45. Nxa4 {although Black is probably still winning.}) 41... Rc8 42. Kd1 Rxc6 43. Nd6 fxe5 44. fxe5 Kd3 45. Ke1 Rc7 46. Kf2 Re7 47. Kg3 Rxe5 48. Kg4 Re6 49. Nf5 Ke4 50. Ng3+ Ke5 51. Kg5 Re8 52. h6 Rg8+ 53. Kh4 Rg6 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee "] [Site "Wijk aan Zee "] [Date "2022.01.25"] [Round "9"] [White "Grandelius, Nils"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C02"] [WhiteElo "2672"] [BlackElo "2792"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 Nge7 7. O-O Ng6 8. Be3 Be7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Re1 a5 $146 (10... Rc8 11. Nf1 cxd4 12. cxd4 Nb4 13. Bd3 Nxd3 14. Qxd3 Qb6 15. b3 Bb5 16. Qd1 Bb4 {Vachier Lagrave,M (2766)-Caruana,F (2791) Chess.com 2021}) 11. a3 a4 12. Bd3 cxd4 13. cxd4 h6 14. Qe2 b5 15. g3 Qb6 16. h4 Rfc8 17. Nf1 $6 (17. Kh1 $1 b4 18. h5 Nf8 19. g4 bxa3 20. bxa3 Qb2 21. Rg1 {and White's attack is real.}) 17... b4 18. N1h2 Rab8 19. h5 Nf8 20. Ng4 bxa3 21. bxa3 Qb2 22. Nd2 Kh8 $1 ({The immediate} 22... Nxd4 {fails to} 23. Nxh6+ $1 gxh6 24. Qg4+ Kh8 25. Bxh6 {so Caruana prepares it with an excellent move.}) 23. Qf3 Be8 {With everything defended, the d4-pawn will fall.} 24. Nf6 $5 Nxd4 ({Of course not} 24... gxf6 25. exf6 Bxa3 26. Qf4) 25. Qg4 Nf5 (25... Nc6 {was perhaps a tad more accurate.}) 26. Nxe8 Rxe8 27. Bxf5 exf5 28. Qxf5 ({ A better try was} 28. Qxa4) 28... d4 $1 29. Bf4 Ne6 30. Ne4 Nxf4 31. Qxf4 d3 32. Rad1 Bxa3 {It's over.} 33. Nd6 Bxd6 34. exd6 Rxe1+ 35. Rxe1 Qc3 $2 { A mistake in time-trouble.} 36. Rd1 $2 ({Missing the counter-intuitive} 36. Rc1 $1 d2 37. Rd1 {which is good for a draw.}) 36... Qc2 $1 37. Qd2 a3 $1 38. d7 a2 39. Qe1 Qe2 40. Kg2 Kh7 {Almost sadistic.} 41. Qxe2 dxe2 42. Ra1 Rd8 43. Kf3 Rxd7 44. Kxe2 Ra7 0-1 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.25"] [Round "9"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E04"] [WhiteElo "2865"] [BlackElo "2767"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] {[%evp 0,53,30,30,30,27,24,0,4,-46,0,0,24,11,25,2,0,1,28,24,22,2,-3,-6,20,2,97, 88,105,37,107,108,108,123,123,104,113,91,124,89,143,136,145,89,75,97,108,108, 202,148,245,271,268,268,240,268]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. g3 {Carlsen keeps milking his amazing Catalan WCC preparation.} dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ { Mamedyarov chooses a line that was tested by Topalov in both his WCC matches against Kramnik and Anand—and which was also often a choice of Carlsen himself.} 6. Bd2 a5 7. O-O O-O 8. e3 {A very fresh line.} ({Another try is:} 8. Bg5 c6 9. Ne5 b5 10. a3 Bd6 11. a4 Ra6 12. Nc3 h6 13. Bf4 Nd5 {when a recent top GM game witnessed unusual cruelty towards the pieces after} 14. axb5 Nxc3 15. bxa6 Nxd1 16. a7 Bb7 17. axb8=Q Bxb8 18. Rfxd1 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Qb6 {and White did not have enough for the sacrificed material, Caruana,F (2792) -Cheparinov,I (2664) Warsaw 2021}) 8... Ra6 {Sensibly clearing the long diagonal, as the Catalan bishop is always a pain. Up to here, Mamedyarov was practically blitzing.} 9. Qc2 $146 ({The only predecessor was a blitz game that finished quickly after a blunder:} 9. a4 c5 10. Qc2 cxd4 11. Nxd4 e5 12. Nb5 Be6 13. Rd1 Qe7 14. N1a3 Rc8 15. Rac1 h5 16. b3 Bxa3 {0-1 (16) Skatchkov,V (2242)-Korobov,A (2688) Chess.com INT 2020}) 9... b5 10. a4 c6 11. Nc3 Rb6 12. e4 {Carlsen is happy with the compensation for the pawn. He intends to gain more space in the center and gradually shift his pieces toward the enemy kingside.} Be7 {And Mamedyarov offers, in return, the pawn back.} 13. e5 { Not taking it.} ({Black does not seem to experience problems after} 13. axb5 cxb5 14. Rxa5 Bb7) 13... Nd5 14. axb5 cxb5 {And Black does not stop with a pawn sacrifice only. \"I think the exchange sacrifice was quite expected. It was also his style, one hundred percent, but maybe in hindsight, there were other options there.\" (Carlsen)} ({With the help of the in-between} 14... Nb4 {Black could have saved the exchange still, but he likely did not like the attack after} 15. Qe4 {\"followed by\"} cxb5 16. Qg4 {\"and then Nc3-e4-g5, with an attack\" (Carlsen) Only the future analyses will prove how well can Black defend in the hypothetical line} f5 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Ne4 e5) 15. Nxd5 exd5 ({Certainly not} 15... Qxd5 $4 16. Ng5 {[%cal Rc2h7,Rg5h7,Rg2d5]}) 16. Bxa5 Nc6 17. Bxb6 Qxb6 {\"I think he had reasonable compensation.\" (Carlsen)} 18. Ra8 h6 {Played without much thought. The air is useful for the black king, but this allows White a valuable tempo to co-ordinate his major pieces.} ({ Better was to attack the d4-pawn at once with} 18... Be6 19. Rxf8+ (19. Rfa1 Nxd4) 19... Bxf8 20. Qd2 {and only then go for} h6) ({The immediate} 18... Nxd4 {does not work so well for Black due to} 19. Nxd4 Qxd4 20. Rd1 Qxe5 21. Rxd5 Qe1+ 22. Bf1 Qb4 23. Rb8 {and Black would soon lose his queenside pawns.}) 19. Rfa1 Be6 {A move too late, and that's all the world champion needs!} ({However, in the line} 19... b4 {Mamedyarov might have feared the powerful opposite-colored bishop attack with} 20. Rxc8 $1 ({Slow-grinding with} 20. h4 $5 {looks good for White too.}) 20... Rxc8 21. Qf5 Rd8 22. e6 Bf6 23. exf7+ Kf8 $1 {The only move, but then White infiltrates along the e-file with} 24. Re1) 20. Qd1 $1 {White is perfectly coordinated and ready to improve the remainder of his army.} b4 {And this activity only makes things worse.} ({Maybe Black should have tried to hold passively with} 20... Qb7 21. Rxf8+ Bxf8 22. h4 { although this does not seem solid enough for Mamedyarov. White has too many improving maneuvers.}) 21. b3 $1 c3 {\"Capitulation, but did not see what he could do there.\" (Carlsen)} ({After} 21... cxb3 22. R8a6 $1 Qb7 23. Qxb3 Rb8 { the white pieces dominate.}) 22. R8a6 Qc7 23. Ne1 $1 {A star maneuver! The knight opens the road for the bishop and the white kingside pawns, and it is also ready to block the enemy passer.} f6 {A desperate try, but Carlsen is in control.} ({Or} 23... Rb8 24. Nc2 Bd8 25. h3 {followed by a kingside expansion with g3-g4 and f2-f4-f5.} ({Or the direct} 25. Ne3)) 24. Nd3 {Very energetical play!} ({The game move is even better than} 24. exf6 Bxf6 25. Nc2) 24... fxe5 { The opening of the position leads to further material losses for Black, but there was no way out.} ({The central pawn is immune due to the little trick} 24... Nxd4 25. Rxe6 $1 Nxe6 26. Bxd5 {and the knight is lost on the pin.}) 25. Nxe5 Nxe5 26. Rxe6 c2 27. Qe1 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.25"] [Round "9"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Shankland, Sam"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A07"] [WhiteElo "2772"] [BlackElo "2708"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Nc6 6. e4 dxe4 7. dxe4 Qxd1 8. Rxd1 Bg4 9. c3 Nf6 10. Nbd2 O-O-O 11. Re1 Bh6 $146 (11... h6 12. Nc4 Nd7 13. Be3 Be6 14. Nfd2 Nb6 15. Nxb6+ axb6 16. Bf1 h5 {Santos Latasa,J (2639) -Gumularz,S (2539) Warsaw 2021}) 12. Nc4 Bxc1 13. Raxc1 Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Ne8 15. Rcd1 Nd6 16. Bg4+ Kb8 17. Nxd6 Rxd6 18. Rxd6 cxd6 19. Re3 Kc7 20. Rf3 Nd8 21. h4 d5 22. exd5 f5 23. Bh3 Kd6 24. c4 b6 $2 ({Critical was} 24... e4 25. Ra3 ( 25. Rf4 Nf7 26. g4 $4 {fails to} Ke5) 25... a6 {and Black still has drawing chances.}) 25. g4 $1 {Now Black cannot hold things together anymore.} Nf7 26. gxf5 g5 27. Ra3 gxh4 28. Rxa7 Ng5 29. Kg2 Rc8 30. b3 b5 31. Ra6+ Kd7 32. f6+ Nxh3 33. Kxh3 bxc4 34. Rc6 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.25"] [Round "9"] [White "Bjerre, Jonas Buhl"] [Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D40"] [WhiteElo "2586"] [BlackElo "2627"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "121"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. a3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 a6 8. O-O b5 9. Ba2 Bb7 10. Qe2 cxd4 (10... Qc7 11. d5 exd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. Bxd5 Be7 14. a4 Qb6 15. e4 O-O 16. Bf4 Nb4 {Navara,D (2691)-Keymer,V (2630) Riga 2021}) 11. Rd1 b4 12. exd4 bxc3 13. d5 Nxd5 14. Rxd5 Qc7 15. Rd3 Be7 16. Rxc3 O-O $146 (16... Bf6 17. Rc2 O-O 18. Be3 Rfd8 19. Rac1 Qd7 20. Bb6 Rdc8 21. Rd1 Qe8 22. Rcd2 Ne7 {Manolache,M (2514)-David,A (2428) Mamaia 2021}) 17. Ng5 h6 $6 { After this, White gets a rook and three pawns for two minor pieces.} ({Solid and safe was} 17... Bf6 $1 18. Rh3 Qe5 $1 19. Qxe5 Bxe5 {and now} 20. Rxh7 { looks too dangerous:} Rfd8 21. Be3 Nd4) 18. Nxf7 $1 Rxf7 19. Qxe6 Raf8 20. Bxh6 $1 Bf6 (20... gxh6 21. Qxh6 {loses of course with Rc3 already joining the fun.} ) 21. Rc2 Kh7 22. Be3 Qd7 (22... Re7 $2 23. Qh3+ Kg6 24. Qg4+ {wins on the spot.}) 23. Qe4+ g6 24. Bxf7 Rxf7 25. Rd2 $6 {Allowing some counterplay.} (25. Qa4 Qe6 26. Qc4) 25... Nd4 $1 26. Qf4 Qc6 27. f3 g5 $1 28. Qg3 Nf5 29. Qf2 Kg6 30. Rad1 Qc7 31. Rc2 Qb8 32. h3 Be5 33. Ba7 Bh2+ 34. Kh1 Qf4 35. Qb6+ Kg7 36. Qe6 Bg3 37. Rd7 Nd6 38. Bb8 Qa4 39. Bxd6 Rxd7 40. Bxg3 Rd1+ 41. Kh2 Qxc2 42. Qe7+ Kg6 43. Qxb7 Qb1 $2 ({A better square was} 43... Qc1 $1 {when} 44. Qxa6+ { only draws:} Kh5 45. Be1 Qc7+ 46. f4 gxf4) 44. Qxa6+ Kh5 45. Be1 $1 {Possible because it threatens 46.g4+ and mate on the next move.} Qxb2 46. Qe6 Qb8+ ( 46... Qc2 47. Bc3 Qg6 48. Qe2 Rd5 49. f4+) 47. Kg1 Qa7+ 48. Kf1 {Now Black has nothing better than...} Rxe1+ 49. Qxe1 Qxa3 {...but this is an easy win:} 50. Qe5 Qa6+ 51. Kg1 Kh6 52. Kh2 Qb6 53. Kg3 Qa6 54. Kg4 Qc8+ 55. Kg3 Qa6 56. h4 gxh4+ 57. Kxh4 Qb6 58. f4 Kh7 59. f5 Qh6+ 60. Kg4 Qd2 61. Qe7+ 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.26"] [Round "10"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Praggnanandhaa, R...."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E36"] [WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2612"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "156"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Bg5 c5 (7... h6 8. Bh4 c5 9. dxc5 d4 10. Qf3 Nbd7 11. O-O-O e5 12. e3 e4 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Qf4 d3 {Mamedyarov,S (2767)-Piorun,K (2640) Warsaw 2021}) 8. dxc5 d4 9. Qf3 ({ In the fifth round, Pragg faced} 9. Qg3 Nbd7 10. Nf3 e5 11. Rd1 Re8 12. b4 a5 { Rapport,R (2763)-Praggnanandhaa,R (2612) Wijk aan Zee 2022}) 9... Nbd7 10. e3 h6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. O-O-O e5 13. Ne2 d3 14. Nc3 Bg4 15. Rxd3 Qa5 (15... Qxd3 16. Bxd3 Bxf3 17. gxf3 {is very good for White.}) 16. Qg3 Qxc5 17. Rd2 Be6 $146 (17... Rac8 18. Bd3 Be6 19. Rhd1 Qa5 20. Kb1 Bxc4 21. Bxc4 Rxc4 22. Qf3 b5 23. Nd5 Nxd5 24. Qxd5 Re8 25. g3 a6 26. Qd7 {½-½ Woelfelschneider,P (2277)-Silva, R (2352) ICCF email 2017}) 18. b4 Qc8 19. Qxe5 Bxc4 20. Kb2 a5 21. b5 Bxf1 22. Rxf1 Qc4 23. Rc1 a4 24. Nb1 Qb3+ 25. Ka1 Rac8 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27. Qf5 Qc4 28. Rd4 Qc7 29. g3 b6 30. Rxa4 Nd7 31. Re4 (31. Rd4) 31... g6 32. Qf4 Qc5 33. Qxh6 $2 { A miscalculation.} ({Better was} 33. Rb4 Qc1 (33... Qc2 34. Rb2) 34. Qd4 Nc5 35. Qd2 {but Black has counterplay with} Qf1) 33... Qxb5 $1 34. a4 ({Perhaps Vidit intended} 34. Rh4 {but then Black has} Qe5+ {and White must go back with} 35. Rd4 ({as} 35. Ka2 {is mate in three:} Rc2+ 36. Kb3 Qb2+ 37. Ka4 Nc5#)) 34... Qc6 35. Qf4 Nc5 36. Rc4 Rd8 $6 ({Winning was} 36... Ra8 $1 37. Nc3 b5 $1) 37. Rc2 $6 (37. Rb4) 37... Qh1 $6 ({Again the winning move was} 37... Ra8 $1 { because of} 38. Ra2 Nb3+ $1 39. Kb2 Qc1+ $1 40. Kxb3 Qxb1+ 41. Rb2 (41. Ka3 b5) 41... Qd1+ 42. Rc2 Rc8 43. Qe4 Qb1+) 38. Qb4 Nxa4 39. Rd2 ({In hindsight, Vidit should perhaps have gone for} 39. Qxa4 Ra8 40. Qxa8+ Qxa8+ 41. Kb2 { which might well be a fortress.}) 39... Rc8 (39... Ra8 $1) 40. Qe7 Qa8 $1 41. Ra2 b5 42. Qb4 Qh1 43. Ra3 Qxh2 44. Qd2 Qh5 45. f4 Qf5 46. Qd3 Qf6+ 47. Qd4 Qe7 48. Rb3 Ra8 49. Ra3 Rd8 50. Qe5 Qxe5+ 51. fxe5 Re8 52. Rb3 Rxe5 53. Na3 Nc5 54. Rxb5 Rxe3 55. Nc4 Re1+ 56. Kb2 Ne4 57. g4 Re2+ 58. Kc1 Nf2 59. g5 Kg7 60. Nd2 Re8 61. Kb2 Rc8 62. Rd5 Nd1+ $1 {En route to trade knights.} 63. Ka3 (63. Kb3 Rb8+ 64. Ka3 Nc3 {also trades the knights.}) 63... Ne3 64. Rd3 Nc4+ 65. Kb4 Nxd2 66. Rxd2 {This is won for Black because the white king is cut off so far away from the pawns.} Rc1 67. Ra2 Kg8 {Winning some time on the clock.} 68. Ra8+ Kh7 69. Ra2 Kg7 70. Ra5 Kf8 71. Ra7 Ke8 $1 {Using Zugzwang.} 72. Ra5 (72. Kb3 Rc5) (72. Kb5 Rg1) (72. Rb7 Rb1+) 72... Kd7 73. Ra6 Ke7 {And again!} 74. Ra2 Ke6 75. Ra5 Rf1 76. Ra6+ Ke5 ({Not falling for} 76... Kf5 $4 77. Rf6+) 77. Ra5+ Kf4 78. Kc3 Kg4 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.26"] [Round "10"] [White "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Black "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2714"] [BlackElo "2702"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Nc3 h6 6. Be3 Bb6 7. Nd5 d6 8. h3 ( 8. O-O Be6 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. c3 O-O 12. Re1 Qe8 13. Qb3 Nh5 { Dubov,D (2710)-Fressinet,L (2638) Online 2021}) 8... Bxe3 9. fxe3 Na5 $146 ( 9... O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Nd2 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 c6 13. Bb3 Nxb3 14. Nxb3 Qg5 15. Qf3 Be6 {Muniz,H (1279)-Faris,R (1720) Sao Paulo 2022}) 10. Nxf6+ Qxf6 11. Bb3 Nxb3 12. axb3 O-O 13. O-O Qe7 14. Qe1 f5 15. exf5 Rxf5 ({Esipenko thought} 15... Bxf5 {was a bit better.}) 16. Qb4 c5 {Esipenko also wasn't sure about this.} 17. Qe4 Be6 18. Nh4 Rg5 {In hindsight, the decision that cost Van Foreest the game. This rook will remain stuck on g5 for a long time.} (18... Rxf1+ 19. Rxf1 Re8 {was quite playable.}) 19. Qf3 ({Esipenko had seen that} 19. Ng6 Qd7 20. Rxa7 Rb8 {is welcomed by Black, who will take on h3 next.}) 19... a6 20. e4 Rd8 21. Rf2 Kh7 22. Kh2 Qc7 23. Qe2 a5 24. Raf1 b5 ({Esipenko suggested} 24... Qe7 {not allowing the trade of rooks.}) 25. Rf8 a4 26. bxa4 bxa4 27. c4 Qe7 28. Qf3 Bg8 29. Rxd8 Qxd8 30. Qf8 Qa5 31. Rf2 Be6 32. Re2 $6 (32. Qxd6 $2 {would be wrong because of} Bxh3 $1 33. gxh3 (33. Kxh3 Qe1 {even loses}) 33... Qe1 34. Rg2 Qxh4 35. Qf8 {with a draw.}) ({However, strong was} 32. g4 $1 Qc7 (32... Qe1 33. Ng2 Qd1 34. Qe8) 33. Qe8 Bg8 34. Rf8 {and wins.}) 32... a3 33. bxa3 Qxa3 34. Qxd6 Bxc4 35. dxc4 Qg3+ 36. Kh1 Qxh4 37. Qxc5 Qf4 38. Qe3 Qf1+ 39. Kh2 Rg6 40. c5 Rc6 41. Rc2 Qd1 42. Qf2 Qd3 43. Qf5+ Rg6 44. Rf2 Qc3 $2 ({Black had to play} 44... Qg3+ 45. Kh1 Qe3 46. Rf1 Qd3 47. Rc1 Qd2 48. Rg1 Qc3 {and it's not easy to win this as White.}) 45. Rf3 Qxc5 46. h4 h5 47. Rg3 Qd6 48. Rg5 Qc6 49. g3 Qa6 50. Kh3 Qc6 51. Rxh5+ Kg8 52. Qxe5 Rd6 53. Qc5 Qd7+ 54. Qf5 Re6 55. Qd5 Qxd5 56. exd5 Re4 57. Rg5 Rd4 58. h5 Rd3 59. Kh4 Kf7 60. Rf5+ 1-0 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.26"] [Round "10"] [White "Dubov, Daniil"] [Black "Grandelius, Nils"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B50"] [WhiteElo "2720"] [BlackElo "2672"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "164"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. c3 Ngf6 6. Qe2 e6 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4 {Let's quickly skip the opening, saying that the solid Rossolimo quickly led to an innocent-looking French pawn structure.} d5 9. e5 Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Nbxd2 Ng8 {At least innocent-looking up to here, when there came...} 12. O-O-O $146 {\"Very interesting! And it took me completely by surprise. This is Daniil Dubov: he is going long-castle whenever possible\" (Grandelius)} ({ White got a slight edge after the conventional:} 12. O-O Ne7 13. Rac1 O-O 14. Qb5 Nb6 15. Rc3 Nc6 16. a3 Rc8 17. Rfc1 h6 18. h3 a6 19. Qb3 Rb8 20. Qc2 { in the predecessor Riazantsev,A (2634)-Matlakov,M (2674) Warsaw 2021}) 12... Ne7 13. Kb1 Nc6 14. h4 {Dubov is not hiding his intentions at all. He wants to push all his pawns on the kingside and mate whenever the black king shows itself there. If not—well, he will have a kingside edge and potentially an open c-file.} Qb6 ({Definitely not castling into it yet.} 14... O-O 15. h5) 15. Qe3 Rc8 {Grandelius is somehow finding the most precise moves, gaining enough counterplay. But this comes at a price as he is burning loads of time on his clock.} 16. h5 h6 17. g4 Qb5 $1 {Just in time. The further advance of the white pawns is coming with a price, and Black is creating threats on his own.} 18. Rc1 $1 {Pinning the rook at once.} ({As, otherwise, the knight has interesting routes like} 18. g5 Ne7 $1) ({Or} 18. Rhg1 Nb4 $1) 18... O-O $1 { The rooks need to be defended to resume the threats!} 19. a3 $5 {This stops the Nc6-b4 maneuver and avoids the trade of the rooks.} ({In case of} 19. g5 Nb4 $1 {Black is just in time if he chooses the proper trades in the line} 20. gxh6 Nd3 21. Nb3 Rxc1+ $1 {Trading both the white rooks is mandatory!} ({ But not} 21... Nxc1 22. Nxc1 {when White would soon mate.}) 22. Rxc1 Nxc1 23. Nxc1 (23. hxg7 Kxg7 {is similar.}) 23... gxh6 24. Qxh6 Rc8 {And this is somehow balanced, e.g.} 25. Qg5+ Kf8 $1 26. h6 Qc4 {Yes, Black also has threats and this forces White into a passive defense} 27. Qd2 Qf1 ({Or even} 27... Kg8)) 19... Ne7 $1 {The ideal square for the knight. Time to offer the rooks swap once again.} 20. Nh4 ({As before} 20. g5 {is met with} Nf5) ({And} 20. Rhg1 Rxc1+ 21. Rxc1 Nb6 {will prepare Rf8-c8.}) 20... Nb6 21. Ka2 {Dubov is still trying to deviate from the threats, but he apparently starts to burn the bridges.} ({After} 21. f4 {Grandelius can proceed with the trades} Rxc1+ ({ Or he can search for counterplay with} 21... Nc4 $5 22. Nxc4 dxc4) 22. Rxc1 Rc8 ) 21... Nc4 22. Qb3 {Maybe here Dubov realized that he miscalculated a thing or two.} ({As in the line} 22. Nxc4 dxc4 $1 23. g5 c3 $3 {when it is Black who wins by force with tactical shots} 24. bxc3 Nd5 25. Qd2 Nxc3+ $1 26. Rxc3 Qd5+) 22... Qa6 {Black is playing for an attack now!} ({Although he had quite a decent choice with} 22... Qxb3+ 23. Nxb3 g5 $1) 23. Nhf3 {A sad retreat.} ({ However} 23. Rcd1 Nc6 {was even worse.}) 23... Rc6 {This is why Black avoided the trade of the queens, but as he was very low on time, Grandelius soon accepted a safe choice.} 24. Qd3 Qb5 25. Qb3 Qa6 26. Qd3 Rfc8 27. Rc3 {This only makes things worse.} ({It is still not convincing to go for} 27. g5 $5 Qb5 28. Qb3 {due to} Qa5 $1) ({But perhaps White should have gone in full passive mode with} 27. Nb3 Qb5 28. Rc3 a5 29. Rb1) 27... Nxd2 28. Qxd2 ({Black wins too many pawns in the line} 28. Qxa6 bxa6 29. Nxd2 Rxc3 30. bxc3 Rxc3 31. Nb3 Rc2+) 28... Rxc3 29. bxc3 Qc4+ {Now the white king is badly exposed.} 30. Kb2 Qb5+ 31. Ka2 Qc4+ 32. Kb2 Rc6 33. Qc2 Rb6+ (33... Qb5+ 34. Kc1) 34. Kc1 Ra6 35. Kb2 Rb6+ {Too bad that Grandelius was that low on time.} ({The win, however, was far from trivial} 35... Nc6 $1 36. g5 Rb6+ 37. Kc1 Qa6 $3 ({Or the equally hard, study-like maneuver} 37... Na5 38. gxh6 Nb3+ 39. Kd1 Na1 $3) 38. Kd2 ({ No time for} 38. gxh6 Qxa3+ 39. Kd2 Rb2) 38... Na5 $1 {and the threat of decisive infiltration with Rb6-b2! decides the outcome of the game.}) 36. Kc1 Qb3 {\"This decision was heavily influenced by my [lack of] time.\" (Grandelius)} 37. Qxb3 Rxb3 38. Kc2 Rxa3 39. Kb2 Ra4 40. Nd2 {Now White is threatening to resume the motion of his kingside pawns, even in the endgame.} Nc6 41. Nb3 b5 42. Rc1 Na5 43. Nd2 {A strange decision.} ({After the natural} 43. Nxa5 Rxa5 44. f4 Ra4 45. Rg1 a5 46. g5 {Dubov had all the chances to survive.}) 43... b4 44. cxb4 {It was not too late to enter the rook endgame once more.} ({Strong was} 44. c4 dxc4 45. Nxc4 Nxc4+ 46. Rxc4 a5 47. Rc8+ Kh7 { with the following beautiful counterplay} 48. d5 $3 exd5 49. Rf8 b3 50. Rxf7 Rb4 51. e6 a4 52. e7 Re4 53. Rf4 $1 {and White should once again survive.}) 44... Rxb4+ 45. Kc3 Nc6 {Now Black is once again winning.} 46. Kd3 ({White is naturally avoiding the knight endgame.} 46. Nf3 Rc4+ 47. Kb2 Rxc1 48. Kxc1 f6 { which should be a technical win for the second player.}) 46... Nxd4 {The next string of moves is quite forcing:} 47. Rc8+ Kh7 48. Rc7 a5 49. Rxf7 Nc6 50. f4 a4 51. Rc7 Rb6 52. Rc8 a3 53. Ra8 Nb4+ {And, Grandelius is once again short of time and rushes a bit.} ({The neat} 53... a2 $1 {threatening the same maneuver as in the game, would have won as} 54. Kc3 ({Or} 54. Ke3 Nb4) 54... Rb4 $1 { would mop up all the white pawns.}) 54. Kc3 Na6 55. Nb3 a2 56. Na1 Rb1 57. Nc2 {Seems to be White's last chance.} ({However, the rook endgame might have still worked} 57. Rxa6 $1 Rxa1 58. Kb2 Rf1 59. Kxa2 Rxf4 60. Rxe6 Rxg4 { Now White needs to see in advance the accurate counterplay} 61. Kb3 $3 { It is mandatory to activate the king.} ({Or else White loses to} 61. Rd6 Rh4 62. Rxd5 Rxh5) 61... Rh4 62. Kc3 Rxh5 63. Kd4 $1 {And the white passer, nicely supported by both the rook and the king, should yield White enough play.}) 57... a1=Q+ 58. Nxa1 Rxa1 59. f5 $1 {This breakthrough is obviously what Dubov was pinning his hopes on.} exf5 60. gxf5 Rc1+ $1 {But this spoiler keeps Grandelius in charge!} ({The Swedish GM correctly avoided} 60... Re1 61. f6 $1 gxf6 62. exf6) ({As well as} 60... Rf1 61. Rxa6 Rxf5 62. Kd4 $1) 61. Kd2 ({ Or another spoiler after} 61. Kd4 Rd1+ $1) 61... Rf1 62. f6 {The last chance!} Nc5 {The knight somehow survived.} 63. Ra7 Kg8 $1 ({Not} 63... Ne6 64. Re7) 64. Rxg7+ Kf8 65. Rc7 Ne6 66. Rb7 Ng5 {Not a bad move, but a more central square would have worked better.} (66... Nd4 $1 {would have been a neat win after, say,} 67. Rd7 ({Or} 67. Ke3 Nc6 $1) 67... Rf5 68. Rxd5 Nf3+) 67. Ke3 Rf5 { This, however, is a mistake, and Dubov, who had almost an hour more on the clock, gets a chance to survive once again.} ({Pushing the enemy king toward his own seems suicidal, and yes, in time-trouble all sorts of scary mating pictures appear, but the line} 67... Re1+ $1 68. Kf4 (68. Kd4 Nf3+) 68... Ne6+ 69. Kf5 Nd4+ 70. Kg6 Nc6 $1 {was just winning.}) 68. Rb8+ Kf7 69. Rb7+ Kf8 70. Rb8+ Kf7 71. Rb7+ Ke8 72. Re7+ $1 {That is the thing: this check now works for White!} ({Not} 72. Rb8+ Kd7) 72... Kf8 73. Kd4 Nf7 74. Kxd5 Rxh5 75. Ke4 Rg5 76. Kf4 {Alas, Dubov became careless and let the half-point fly away.} ({After } 76. e6 $1 Nd8 ({Maybe the Russian GM missed that in the line} 76... Nd6+ { he has the only move} 77. Kd3 $3 Rd5+ 78. Kc2 Re5 79. Rh7 $11) 77. Rh7 Nxe6 78. Rxh6 $11) ({even the neutral} 76. Re6 {would have been a draw according to the machine.}) 76... Nh8 $3 {Or maybe White simply missed this non-obvious move! The knight is never shy to step back in order to jump to a better square.} 77. Ke4 Ng6 78. Rh7 ({Or} 78. Re6 h5) 78... Rxe5+ 79. Kd4 h5 80. Rg7 Rg5 81. Rh7 Ne5 82. Rg7 Nf7 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.26"] [Round "10"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Rapport, Richard"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A19"] [WhiteElo "2792"] [BlackElo "2763"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c5 4. e5 Ng8 5. d4 ({More popular is} 5. Nf3) 5... cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nc6 7. Qf4 {Following an idea of Dubov's.} ({And here} 7. Qe4 { is almost exclusively played.}) 7... d6 8. Nf3 Nh6 9. exd6 $146 (9. Bd2 dxe5 10. Nxe5 Bd6 11. Nxc6 Bxf4 12. Nxd8 Bxd2+ 13. Kxd2 Kxd8 14. Bd3 Ke7 15. Rhe1 Rd8 16. Kc2 Ng4 17. f3 Nf6 {Dubov,D (2710)-Pichot,A (2630) Online 2021}) 9... Bxd6 10. Qg5 Qxg5 11. Bxg5 f5 12. O-O-O Bc5 13. Ne5 Nf7 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Be3 Bxe3+ 16. fxe3 Ke7 17. Be2 g5 18. Na4 h5 19. Nc5 h4 20. g4 Ne5 21. Rd4 $2 { A big mistake, which can be called a blunder at this level.} (21. Rhg1) 21... Nxg4 $1 22. Bxg4 e5 $1 {The point, Black wins a huge pawn.} 23. Rd2 fxg4 24. Nd3 Rh6 ({The engine finds another nice idea:} 24... Bf5 $5 {the point being} 25. Nxe5 Ke6 $1 26. Nxc6 (26. Nd3 Rad8 27. Nc5+ Ke5 {is beautiful centralization, after which the kingside majority will decide.}) 26... Be4 27. Nd4+ Ke5 28. Rg1 g3 29. hxg3 h3 30. Rh2 g4 {and White is completely dominated.} ) 25. Nxe5 Re6 26. Nxg4 Re4 27. Nf2 Rxc4+ 28. Rc2 Rxc2+ 29. Kxc2 Be6 {White got back the pawn but his knight is worse than the bishop and Black's two vs. one on the kingside is tough to defend against.} 30. Rg1 Rf8 31. Nd3 g4 32. Nf4 Bf5+ 33. Kd2 Rd8+ 34. Ke2 ({More tenacious was} 34. Kc3) 34... Kf6 35. b3 a5 36. Ke1 Ke5 37. Ng2 Rh8 38. Nf4 g3 39. Rg2 Be4 40. Rd2 h3 41. a3 Rd8 $1 { Many moves win, but this one is rather pretty.} 42. Rb2 Bf3 $1 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.26"] [Round "10"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A18"] [WhiteElo "2772"] [BlackElo "2760"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 6. bxc3 Qxf6 7. Nf3 ({ Deviating from the main line} 7. d4) 7... c5 8. Bd3 (8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 O-O 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. O-O Rd8 {Anand,V (2788)-Naiditsch,A (2689) Moscow 2009}) 8... Bd7 {Played after a seven-minute think, this move seems to have confused Giri.} 9. Be4 $6 {This seems to be the wrong move order as Black now can develop his knight to c6.} ({Slightly preferable is} 9. Rb1 Bc6 10. Qe2 Nd7 ({White does need to fear} 10... Bxf3 11. gxf3 Qe7 12. Be4 Nc6 {as he can try the pawn sacrifice} 13. d4 $5) 11. Be4 {but after} Bd6 $1 { Black also doesn't need to worry about a doubled pawn and is OK after} 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. O-O O-O 14. d4 h6) 9... Bc6 10. Qc2 Bxe4 11. Qxe4 Nc6 12. Rb1 O-O-O { This turns out to be completely fine for Black.} 13. d4 Qg6 14. Qxg6 hxg6 15. Be3 f6 $146 (15... Be7 16. Ke2 Bf6 17. Rhd1 cxd4 18. cxd4 Rh5 19. d5 Ne5 20. dxe6 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 fxe6 22. Bxa7 Nxc4 {Javakhadze,Z (2417)-Stukopin,A (2574) Dallas 2015}) 16. Ke2 g5 17. h3 Be7 18. dxc5 {White's extra pawn isn't worth much. Some call it the Irish Pawn Center.} e5 19. Rbd1 Na5 20. Nd2 Rd7 21. Rb1 f5 22. f3 Rhd8 23. Rb2 Rd3 24. Rc2 Bf6 25. g4 g6 26. gxf5 gxf5 27. Rg1 e4 28. Bxg5 Bxg5 29. Rxg5 e3 30. Nb3 Nxc4 31. f4 Na3 32. Rc1 Nb5 33. Nd4 Rxc3 34. Rxc3 Nxc3+ 35. Kxe3 Nd1+ 36. Kd3 Nb2+ 37. Kc3 Nd1+ 38. Kc4 Nb2+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "Tata Steel Challengers 2022"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.28"] [Round "11"] [White "Bjerre, Jonas Buhl"] [Black "Murzin, Volodar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D12"] [WhiteElo "2586"] [BlackElo "2519"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Be2 (7. Qb3 Qc7 8. Bd2 Be7 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. g3 Nbd7 11. Rc1 Nb6 12. c5 Nbd7 {Niemann,H (2645) -Dubov,D (2720) Warsaw 2021}) 7... Nbd7 8. O-O Bd6 9. g3 Qe7 10. c5 Bc7 11. b4 a6 12. a4 O-O $146 (12... e5 13. Bd2 O-O 14. Nxg6 hxg6 15. b5 exd4 16. exd4 axb5 17. axb5 Rxa1 18. Qxa1 Nxc5 19. dxc5 d4 20. Bf3 {½-½ Malhotra,A (2171) -Vibbert,S (2313) Phoenix 2015}) 13. Nxg6 hxg6 14. f4 Rfb8 15. Ba3 Qd8 16. Qc2 b6 17. cxb6 Nxb6 18. a5 Nc4 19. Bxc4 dxc4 20. Nd1 Bd6 21. Qxc4 Qf8 22. Rb1 c5 23. dxc5 Bxc5 24. Rb3 Ba7 25. Nf2 Qe8 26. Rfb1 Nd5 27. Bc1 Rb5 28. Bd2 Rc8 29. Qe2 e5 30. Qf3 exf4 31. gxf4 Rc2 32. Rd3 Qe6 33. Rd1 Kh7 34. Kh1 Nf6 35. Bc3 Rh5 36. Bxf6 gxf6 37. Rd6 Qa2 38. Rf1 Kg7 39. Rd7 Bxe3 $4 ({After} 39... Bb8 { Black is not worse.}) 40. Qxe3 Qc4 {Was Murzin thinking he would win either the rook on f1 or d7? That issue is easily solved.} 41. Rfd1 Rh4 42. Kg1 Re2 43. R7d4 Qb5 44. Qd3 Qe8 45. Re4 Rxe4 46. Qxe4 Qb8 47. Rd4 Qc7 48. Kg2 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.28"] [Round "11"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R.."] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D45"] [WhiteElo "2612"] [BlackElo "2792"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2 b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bb2 Qe7 11. a4 a5 12. Bd3 (12. e4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Qxe4 Nf6 15. Qh4 c5 16. Bd3 h6 {Andreikin,D (2725)-Artemiev,V (2709) Online 2021}) 12... Bb4 $146 (12... Rac8 13. e4 e5 14. Rfe1 dxc4 15. Bxc4 g6 16. Rad1 exd4 17. Nxd4 Ne5 18. h3 Rfd8 {Ding,L (2791)-Yu,Y (2709) Chess.com 2020}) 13. Rac1 h6 14. Qe2 Rad8 15. Rfd1 Rfe8 16. Bb1 Bd6 17. Re1 Bb4 18. Red1 Rc8 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Nd7 21. Qc2 Nf8 22. Ne2 b5 23. Nd4 $2 ({After} 23. Ng3 {Black cannot respond as in the game:} dxc4 $6 (23... bxa4 24. bxa4 Ba6 {still gives Black an edge.}) 24. bxc4 bxa4 $6 25. c5 a3 26. Bd4 {and the knight on g3 will reach d6 soon.}) 23... dxc4 24. bxc4 bxa4 25. Qxa4 (25. c5 a3 26. Ba1) 25... c5 26. Ne2 (26. Nb5 $5) 26... Red8 {It's easy to see that Black is clearly better now. } 27. Qc2 Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Rd8 29. Rxd8 Qxd8 30. Nc3 $6 {This also helps Black, who now has a concrete way to move forward.} Bxc3 31. Bxc3 Be4 32. Qc1 (32. Qb3 a4 $1 {would lose even quicker.}) 32... Bxb1 33. Qxb1 a4 34. h3 a3 35. Kh2 Qa8 36. Qb3 a2 37. Ba1 Qa5 38. Kg3 g5 39. h4 gxh4+ 40. Kxh4 Ng6+ 41. Kg3 h5 42. Qb2 Qd8 43. f4 Qh4+ 44. Kf3 Qe1 45. Qxa2 Nh4+ 46. Ke4 Qf1 $1 {The killing threat is Nh4-f5-g3 checkmate.} 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.28"] [Round "11"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E24"] [WhiteElo "2702"] [BlackElo "2772"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] {[%evp 0,83,19,31,14,-14,-11,-3,4,-10,-10,-1,-4,-21,20,27,63,25,64,18,18,35,37, 50,74,62,76,61,53,51,52,47,37,-44,-13,-89,-17,-1,0,-47,-49,-49,0,-23,0,-17,-9, -17,14,64,59,59,65,45,56,56,196,188,173,213,218,218,219,219,241,185,169,197, 213,147,224,321,327,333,331,200,208,214,174,208,279,282,277,189,189,436]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 b6 6. f3 {The Samisch line. As in all the relative lines that are named after the German GM, the modest f2-f3 move aims for a solid central occupation, followed by a monstrous kingside attack.} Nc6 7. e4 Na5 ({Instead} 7... d6 8. Nh3 Na5 {was recently tested in another hot game that went} 9. Bd3 Ba6 10. Rb1 Qd7 11. Qe2 c5 12. O-O Qa4 13. Bf4 Rd8 14. Bxd6 Rxd6 15. e5 Rd8 16. exf6 gxf6 17. d5 {and anything was possible in Carlsen,M (2855)-Aronian,L (2782) Online 2021}) 8. Bd3 Ba6 9. Qe2 d6 10. f4 {\"I wanted to go for a fight today after my loss two days ago so I thought, let's give it a try.\" (Van Foreest) What the young Dutch meant was that he was basically burning the positional bridges behind him. If his kingside attack would not succeed, he was doomed to a miserable failure on the opposite wing.} (10. Nh3 {is certainly a move too.}) 10... Qd7 {Giri started to burn quite a lot of time on the clock, but follows the most straightforward path towards the enemy weaknesses.} 11. Nf3 Qa4 12. Nd2 e5 $146 {A novelty, played after a lengthy thought.} ({Black ran away from the fire as fast as he could in this game:} 12... O-O-O 13. O-O Nd7 14. Rb1 Nb8 15. Rb5 c5 16. Rb1 Rd7 17. f5 exf5 18. exf5 Nbc6 19. Ne4 Bxc4 {and that worked pretty well for the second player in Deze,V (2220)-Aleksic,N (2420) Barcelona 1991}) 13. O-O O-O { Now that is certainly play with the fire game.} ({This was the last moment for } 13... O-O-O) 14. fxe5 dxe5 15. Rb1 {After a lot of hesitation, White finally declines the immediate sacrifice.} ({The instant} 15. Rxf6 $3 {was great though, with the following out-of-the-space line to follow} gxf6 16. Qf2 $3 { All of this is absolutely illogical to the human eye.} ({The human way would be } 16. Qf3 Qc6 17. d5 Qd6 18. a4 c5 19. Nf1 $1 {which however leads to a very similar situation as in the game as the c4-pawn is immune due to the line} Bxc4 20. Ne3 $1 Bxd3 21. Nf5 {and wins.}) 16... Qd1+ 17. Nf1 $3 {Go figure!} Qxd3 ({ Perhaps Black needs to try and defend with} 17... Qg4 18. Be2 Qg6 19. Ng3 { but his chances of a successful defense are very slim.}) 18. Qh4 $3 {The main point is that the black queen cannot help her king.} h5 (18... Bb7 19. d5 h5 20. Bh6 Kh7 21. Ne3 $3 Bc8 22. Qxh5 {and White wins according to the machine.}) 19. Bh6 Kh7 20. Qxh5 Qxe4 21. Bxf8+ Kg8 22. Be7 {and wins. Luckily, people still do not see that much!}) 15... c5 {But Giri invites the sacrifice once more! He desperately needs to win in the contest for the first place and this might explain the logic behind his decision.} ({The move} 15... Ne8 $1 { was more or less mandatory. It does not even matter if White will win a pawn, or not, as in the line} 16. Nf3 f6 17. dxe5 fxe5 18. Nxe5 Rxf1+ 19. Qxf1 Nd6 { The king priority is all that matters.}) 16. Rxf6 $3 {And White does not need a second invitation! From the times of Bronstein, this might be White's most famous sacrifice in the Nimzo-Indian. The first player often even sacrifices a pawn there with some f5-f6, lures the black knight back on the f6-square and then takes it.} ({Instead} 16. d5 $4 Ne8 {would be the typical Nimzo-Indian failure for the first player once that the black knight reaches d6.}) 16... gxf6 17. Qf3 $1 {The point behind the sacrifice is that the black king has been weakened forever. And that is a permanent weakness. Which, by the Dorfman theory, means that White needs not to rush; he holds the long-term trumps!} ({ The greedy machine wants its material back and suggests instead} 17. Nb3 Nxb3 18. Bh6 Kh8 19. Qf3 Qc6 20. d5 Qd6 21. Bxf8 Rxf8 22. Rxb3 {but this seems much easier to defend for Black as there will be no white Nf5.}) ({The inhuman sacrifice from above} 17. Qf2 {does not work this time as after} Qd1+ 18. Nf1 Qxd3 19. Qh4 {Black would not take a second rook} Qxb1 $2 ({But would defend instead with} 19... Bb7 $1 20. d5 ({Or} 20. Bh6 $2 Qxe4) 20... h5 21. Bh6 Kh7 22. Bxf8 Qxb1 23. Qxf6 Rxf8 24. Qf5+ $11 {with a perpetual check.}) 20. Bh6) 17... Qc6 18. d5 Qd6 19. Nf1 Kh8 {Giri is in a hurry to bring the rook out to defend the f6-pawn.} ({We already know what happens after} 19... Bxc4 $2 20. Ne3 $1 Bxd3 21. Nf5) 20. Ne3 Bc8 ({A more resilient defense was} 20... Rg8 $1 21. Bd2 ({After} 21. Nf5 Qd8 {the white c4-pawn finally starts to hang.}) 21... Rg6 22. Be1 Rag8 23. Bh4 Bc8 {and in comparison to the game the black queenside rook is where it is needed.}) 21. Bd2 {No rush! Just bring everyone out there and the weaknesses will start dropping.} Rg8 22. Be1 Rg6 23. Bh4 Rh6 ({After} 23... Bd7 {White would have likely continued as in the game} 24. Qf2 $5 Kg7 25. Be2) 24. Qf2 Bd7 {Giri does everything that he can but the avalanche is about to move.} 25. Rf1 {Now almost all the white pieces are where they are needed, just one last reserve player is left behind.} Kg7 { This can hardly be called a mistake.} ({Although, bringing the knight into the game with} 25... Nb7 $1 {as Van Foreest suggested might have been better, True, Black needs to find a further pawn sacrifice:} 26. Be2 f5 27. exf5 f6 {and self-lock his rook which also lowers his chances for a survival, but that is another story.}) 26. Be2 $1 {Last reserves en route.} Rg6 ({Or else the light squares will be cleared after} 26... Rg8 27. Bg4 Kf8 28. Bxd7 Qxd7 29. Bxf6) 27. h3 $1 {A pretty way to make it to the f6-pawn!} ({The alternative was} 27. Bh5 $1 Rf8 28. h3) 27... Bxh3 28. Bh5 {It is not just the exchange that Black loses, it is mainly about the f6-pawn.} Bd7 29. Bxg6 fxg6 30. Bxf6+ {and Black is due to collapse on the dark squares.} Kg8 31. Qh4 ({Or} 31. Qg3 Re8 32. Qg5) 31... Rf8 32. Rf3 ({A tad faster was} 32. Qg5 $1 Re8 33. Nf5 Bxf5 34. exf5) 32... Rf7 33. Qg5 Qf8 34. Qxe5 Nb7 35. Qf4 Nd6 36. e5 Ne8 37. d6 ({Here} 37. g4 $1 {followed by g4-g5 would have been nice too.}) 37... Nxf6 38. exf6 Qe8 39. Nd5 Qe1+ 40. Kh2 Qd1 41. Ne7+ Kh8 {For a moment Van Foreest is frustrated, but then finds the last brilliancy:} 42. Rh3 $3 ({Giri resigned as in the line} 42. Rh3 Bxh3 43. d7 $1 {the back rank is opened and the only way to prevent the mate from there is} Rf8 {which allows} 44. Nxg6+ $1 hxg6 (44... Kg8 45. Nxf8) 45. Qh6+ Kg8 46. Qg7#) 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.28"] [Round "11"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2865"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Bc5 5. Nc3 h6 6. h3 a6 7. a4 d6 8. Be3 Bxe3 9. fxe3 Be6 10. b3 O-O 11. O-O d5 $146 (11... Nb8 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. d4 Nbd7 14. Qd3 Qe7 15. a5 Rac8 16. Qc4 Kh7 {Aronian,L (2772)-Giri,A (2772) Warsaw 2021}) 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Qd2 Nxc3 14. Qxc3 Qd6 15. Nd2 f5 16. Bxe6+ Qxe6 17. Qc4 Qxc4 18. bxc4 e4 $1 19. d4 (19. dxe4 Rad8 $1 20. Rad1 Nb4) 19... f4 $1 {Excellent, concrete play from Vidit.} 20. Rxf4 Rxf4 21. exf4 Nxd4 22. Nxe4 Ne2+ 23. Kf2 Nxf4 24. Rb1 b6 25. c5 Rf8 26. cxb6 cxb6 27. c4 Nd5+ 28. Ke2 Re8 $6 {The first slip.} ({The simplest was} 28... Nf6 $1) 29. cxd5 Rxe4+ 30. Kd3 Rxa4 $2 ({The increcible} 30... Rf4 $3 {draws, and the path is very narrow after the best try} 31. g3 $1 (31. Rxb6 Rxa4 32. d6 Kf7 33. Rb7+ Ke8 34. Rxg7 a5 $11) (31. d6 Kf7 32. Rxb6 (32. Re1 Rf6) 32... Rxa4 {transposes to the earlier line.}) 31... Rf6 $1 32. Ke4 Kf7 33. Rc1 Rg6 $1 34. g4 Rg5 $1 35. Re1 Rg6 $1 36. Ke5 Ke8) 31. d6 Kf7 32. Re1 $1 {Carlsen thought Vidit might have missed this move when he played 28...Re8.} Ra5 33. Kd4 Ra2 34. Kd5 Rd2+ 35. Kc6 b5 36. d7 $2 ({The winning maneuver wasn't easy:} 36. Re7+ Kf6 (36... Kf8 37. Rc7 {followed by 38.Rc8+ and 39.d7}) 37. Re4 $1 {(improving the rook's position while preventing 37...b4)} ({not e.g.} 37. Re1 b4 38. d7 b3 39. Kc7 a5 40. d8=Q+ Rxd8 41. Kxd8 a4 42. Rb1 Ke5 43. Kc7 Kd4 44. Kb6 Kc3 45. Ka5 Kc2 46. Rg1 b2 47. Kxa4 b1=Q 48. Rxb1 Kxb1 {would be a draw}) 37... Rc2+ (37... Kf5 38. Re8 Rc2+ 39. Kb7 Rd2 40. Kc7 Rc2+ 41. Kd8 Rxg2 42. d7) 38. Kb6 Rd2 39. Kc7 Rc2+ 40. Kd8 Rxg2 (40... Rd2 41. d7 Kf5 42. Re8) 41. Rd4 Rc2 42. d7 Kf7 43. Rf4+ Ke6 44. Ke8) 36... Rc2+ 37. Kb6 Rd2 38. Kc7 Rc2+ 39. Kd8 b4 40. Re7+ Kf8 41. Re3 Kf7 42. Re7+ Kf8 43. Re5 g6 44. Re6 b3 45. Rf6+ Kg7 46. Ke7 Re2+ 47. Re6 Rxe6+ 48. Kxe6 b2 49. d8=Q b1=Q 50. Qc7+ Kg8 51. Qd8+ Kg7 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.29"] [Round "12"] [White "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"] [Black "L'Ami, Erwin"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2627"] [BlackElo "2622"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Na4 Bb6 7. a3 O-O 8. O-O h6 9. h3 (9. Re1 Re8 10. b4 Ne7 11. h3 Ng6 12. Bb3 c6 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. d4 exd4 15. Qxd4 Be6 {Aronian,L (2772)-Matlakov,M (2674) Warsaw 2021}) 9... Re8 10. b4 Be6 11. Bxe6 Rxe6 12. Nxb6 $146 (12. c4 Nd4 13. Bb2 Nxf3+ 14. Qxf3 Nd7 15. Nxb6 axb6 16. a4 Rg6 17. Kh2 c5 {Angermann,I (1817)-Krammel,J (1699) GER email 2017} ) 12... axb6 13. c4 $2 {This is refuted nicely:} Nxb4 $1 14. Bxh6 Nxd3 $1 15. Ng5 Nc5 $1 16. Nxe6 Nxe6 17. Be3 Nxe4 {This is hardly a sacrifice.} 18. Qd5 Nf6 ({Keeping b7 with} 18... N6c5 {was also possible, but l'Ami decides to head straight into a promising endgame.}) 19. Qxb7 Ra4 20. Rfc1 Qa8 21. Qxa8+ Rxa8 22. a4 Ne4 23. Ra3 f5 24. f3 N4c5 25. Rca1 Nb7 26. g4 f4 27. Bf2 g5 28. Kg2 Na5 29. Rc1 Kf7 30. h4 gxh4 31. Bxh4 e4 32. fxe4 Nc6 33. Rh1 Ne5 34. Be1 Ng5 35. Rf1 f3+ 36. Kg3 Kg6 37. a5 bxa5 38. Rxa5 Rf8 39. Kf2 Nxg4+ 40. Kg3 Ne5 41. Kf2 Nxe4+ 42. Ke3 Ng5 43. Ra4 Ng4+ 44. Kd3 f2 45. Ba5 c5 46. Ra2 Rf3+ 47. Ke2 Re3+ 48. Kd1 Ne4 49. Bd2 Rd3 50. Ke2 Rb3 51. Bf4 Kf5 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.29"] [Round "12"] [White "Shankland, Sam"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "2708"] [BlackElo "2743"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 5. d5 b5 6. e4 d6 7. Bd2 (7. Nge2 bxc4 8. Nf4 g5 9. Nfe2 exd5 10. exd5 Qe7 11. Kf2 Nbd7 12. Ng3 Nb6 13. Nce4 h6 14. a3 Ba5 {Mamedyarov,S (2765)-Ding,L (2799) Chess.com 2021}) 7... a6 8. a4 bxc4 9. Bxc4 Nbd7 10. dxe6 fxe6 11. Bxe6 Ne5 12. Bxc8 Qxc8 13. Bf4 c4 14. Bxe5 dxe5 15. Nh3 Bc5 $146 (15... Qc5 16. Nf2 Bxc3+ 17. bxc3 Qe3+ 18. Kf1 Qxc3 19. Rc1 Qa3 20. Qc2 Rc8 {Basso,P (2538)-Alsina Leal,D (2500) Cattolica 2021}) 16. Qe2 Rb8 17. Nf2 Qb7 $6 {The first step in the wrong direction.} (17... Bd4 {is better.} ) 18. O-O Qxb2 19. Qxc4 $1 {A temporary piece sacrifice.} Bxf2+ 20. Kh1 Qb3 21. Qc7 $1 {Now e5 is attacked by the white queen and, also, 22.Rab1 is threatened, which would come, for example, if Black would castle.} ({Shankland said that his opponent probably counted on} 21. Qc6+ {when} Kf7 {actually holds or more than that.}) 21... Qb6 {What else?} 22. Qxe5+ Kf7 23. Nd5 $1 {It's all forced.} Nxd5 24. Qxd5+ Ke7 25. Qe5+ Kf7 26. Rac1 $1 (26. Rac1 Rhc8 {loses to} 27. Rxc8 Rxc8 28. Qf5+) 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.29"] [Round "12"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2767"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. Nbd2 Bb6 9. h3 Ne7 10. d4 (10. Bb3 Ng6 11. Nc4 Be6 12. Bc2 Bxc4 13. dxc4 Nh5 14. b4 Qf6 15. a4 a5 16. Ba3 Nhf4 {Volokitin,A (2677)-Caruana,F (2792) Warsaw 2021}) 10... Nc6 11. a4 exd4 $146 (11... a5 12. Ba2 exd4 13. Nc4 dxc3 14. Nxb6 c2 15. Qxc2 cxb6 16. Bd2 Be6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Qb3 Qe8 {Alekseenko,K (2698)-Caruana,F (2842) Ekaterinburg 2021}) 12. cxd4 d5 $5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. b3 Be6 15. Ne4 Re8 16. Bb2 Na5 17. Ne5 c6 18. Qf3 f6 19. Nd3 Bf7 20. Re2 Bc7 21. Rae1 b6 22. Bc1 Re6 23. Bd2 Nxc4 24. bxc4 Ne7 25. Bxh6 Qxd4 26. Qg4 $4 {A huge oversight, forgetting that Black's next move covers g7.} ({Mamedyarov said that after} 26. Bf4 {\"Black is still OK, maybe better, I don't know. I was happy with my position,\" but the engine disagrees and shows a sneaky way to win a pawn for White:} Bxf4 27. Nxf4 Re5 28. Qg4 $1 {(threatening 29.Nxf6+.)} Kf8 29. Nxf6 $1 Rxe2 (29... gxf6 $2 30. Ng6+) 30. Nh7+ Kg8 31. Rxe2) 26... f5 {Winning a piece in every line.} 27. Bxg7 Qxg7 28. Qxg7+ Kxg7 29. Ng5 Rxe2 30. Rxe2 Ng6 31. Ne6+ Bxe6 32. Rxe6 Rd8 33. Rxc6 Bb8 34. Ne1 Ne5 35. Re6 Kf7 36. Rh6 Rd1 37. Kf1 Nxc4 38. Rh4 Ne3+ 0-1 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.29"] [Round "12"] [White "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Black "Rapport, Richard"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2714"] [BlackElo "2763"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7 $5 5. Nc3 ({Of course not} 5. Nxe5 $4 c6 {and, after the bishop moves, 6...Qa5+ wins the knight on e5—called by Rapport a \"kindergarten tactic.\"}) (5. O-O c6 6. Ba4 Ng6 7. Re1 Be7 8. d4 d6 9. c3 O-O 10. Nbd2 h6 11. Nf1 Re8 {Carlsen,M (2855)-Rapport,R (2760) Stavanger 2021}) 5... c6 6. Bc4 d6 7. O-O h6 8. d4 Qc7 9. Nh4 g5 $146 (9... g6 10. f4 exd4 11. Qxd4 Bg7 12. e5 dxe5 13. Bxf7+ Kxf7 14. fxe5 Rd8 {Saric,I (2689) -Fedorchuk,S (2626) Rio Achaea 2018}) 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qf3 Bg7 12. Nf5 Bxf5 13. exf5 Rd8 14. Bd3 Ned5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Be4 Nf6 17. c3 O-O 18. h3 Qb6 19. Qe2 Rd7 20. a4 Rfd8 21. Be3 Qc7 22. Qc4 Rd6 23. b4 b6 24. b5 Nxe4 25. Qxe4 cxb5 26. axb5 Qxc3 27. Rxa7 Qb3 28. Qb7 e4 29. Kh2 Rf8 30. Qxe4 Qxb5 31. Rb1 Qe5+ 32. Qxe5 Bxe5+ 33. g3 Rb8 34. Rb5 Bd4 35. Bxd4 Rxd4 36. Ra3 1/2-1/2 [Event "Chess.com"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2022.01.29"] [Round "12"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2792"] [BlackElo "2865"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "98"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 {This is what we call the Classical Rossolimo. In the beginning, it was all about White expanding in the center.} Nf6 6. Re1 O-O 7. d4 d5 {Black naturally would not give the most vital part of the board without a fight.} 8. e5 Ne4 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Qb6 11. Qe2 ({Another way to play the position was demonstrated by Kryvoruchko:} 11. Bxc6 Qxc6 12. Nfd2 Be6 13. f3 Nxd2 14. Qxd2 Rfc8 15. Nc3 Qa6 16. Ne2 Rc7 17. Nf4 Rac8 {although Black was fine at the end in Kryvoruchko,Y (2686) -Shevchenko,K (2632) Riga 2021}) 11... Bd7 12. Ba4 Rac8 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Qd8 $1 {A brilliant move that defends the bishop, thus preparing the knight maneuver via a5 towards the c4-square, while creating the tactical threats of Nc6xd4! and/or Nc6xe5!} 15. Bb3 ({Perhaps} 15. Rab1 {was to be preferred, when none of the tricks seem to work.} Nxd4 ({Similar is} 15... Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bxa4 17. Rxb7) ({The other idea behind the move is to meet} 15... Na5 {with} 16. Bxd7 Qxd7 17. Qb5 $1) 16. Bxd4 Bxa4 17. Rxb7) 15... Na5 $146 {Carlsen is strictly following his plan, but this move is surprisingly a novelty.} ({ Interestingly, there is an email predecessor up to this point that went:} 15... Bf5 16. Nh4 Be6 17. Bd2 Na5 18. f4 Nc4 19. Bxc4 Rxc4 20. f5 gxf5 21. Rf1 { and it was unclear in Brundisch,V (2067)-Taksrud,V (2090) ICCF email 2019}) 16. Rac1 Nxb3 {A hefty bishop pair has been acquired…} 17. axb3 {at the expense of the improved pawn structure for White. However, one should not forget that pieces almost always have priority to pawns.} Qb6 {Carlsen is trying to discourage the c3-c4 break, thus gaining stability.} ({The immediate} 17... a5 18. c4 a4 {was also possible but unclear.}) 18. Qa2 a5 19. Qa3 (19. c4 a4 20. Rb1 dxc4 21. bxc4 Qa6 {would have been similar to the game.}) 19... Rfe8 20. c4 dxc4 21. bxc4 Qa6 {At the end of the day, Black would provoke the advance of the c-pawn and this will promise his solid control of the light squares.} 22. c5 ({However, after moves like} 22. Qa2 b5) ({Or} 22. Nd2 b5 {White would have also experienced difficulties—as an outside passer(s) would be added as an asset to Black's treasure box.}) 22... Bc6 23. Rb1 a4 {\"I went for a somewhat risky plan here, as I have to spend some time later for Qa6-a8-c8, bringing the bishop back into the game.\" (Carlsen)} ({Wrong was the hunt for pawn weaknesses in the line} 23... Bxf3 $2 24. gxf3 Qe6 25. Qb3 Qh3 26. Qxb7) 24. Rec1 {Caruana has two major problems: his two minor pieces... None of them has any prospects—the bishop being particularly bad, but the knight too, does not have any good outposts. Take all the minors away and White would do great, but how to deal with them now?} ({Perhaps} 24. Nd2 Rcd8 25. Qc3 Qa8 26. f3 { would have been a minor improvement in comparison to the game.}) 24... Rcd8 25. Nd2 Qe2 {Black spots a chance and grabs it! The queen is heading toward the kingside.} 26. f3 ({The line} 26. Re1 Qh5 27. f3 f6 {opens the black bishops in his favor.}) ({But} 26. Nf3 {seems mandatory when} Bxf3 {does not win material due to} 27. Re1) 26... Rxd4 {\"The exchange sacrifice was screaming to be played.\" (Carlsen)} 27. Bxd4 Qxd2 28. Rd1 Qf4 {For the exchange, Black already got one pawn and is about to take a second one which, combined with his strong pieces, will promise him an edge. How serious that advantage would be is the question.} 29. Qb4 {The wrong plan according to the world champion.} ({Carlsen suggested instead} 29. Qb2 $5) ({Another idea was} 29. Bb2 $5 Bxe5 30. Bxe5 Qxe5 31. Rd2 {trying to survive the middlegame. With the queens on, White may make use of the open d-file and sometimes speculate with mating threats.}) 29... e6 30. Bc3 Qxb4 {\"It's very much in my interest to exchange queens there. My bishops are so strong in the endgame that he stands no chance. \" (Carlsen) Indeed, the strength of the bishop pair increases in the endgame.} 31. Bxb4 Bxe5 32. Ba3 {For the time being, the white rooks control the open files, but their functions are purely defensive. Whereas Black can soon open a file for his rook as well while protecting all the entry squares.} Bf6 33. Kf2 Be7 34. Rb6 Rc8 35. Rd2 f6 36. f4 e5 {Creates a passer at once while opening the f-file for his rook and the e6-square for the king.} (36... Kf7 $5 { Preparing h7-h6 and g6-g5 also looked great.}) 37. fxe5 fxe5 38. Re2 Rf8+ 39. Ke1 Rf5 40. Rb1 e4 41. Rc1 Bh4+ 42. g3 Bg5 43. Rb1 Rf3 {The black pieces steadily put the situation under control.} 44. Bc1 Bf6 45. Rb6 Rf5 ({Or the alternative win} 45... Bc3+ 46. Bd2 a3) 46. Ba3 Kf7 47. Rf2 Rf3 48. Rxf3 exf3 49. Kf1 Bd4 {And Caruana resigned as the second bishop is en route to the a6-f1 diagonal.} 0-1 [Event "Tata Steel Chess Masters 2022"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.30"] [Round "13"] [White "Grandelius, Nils"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B66"] [WhiteElo "2672"] [BlackElo "2760"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O h6 9. Bf4 Bd7 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. f3 Qb6 12. Bc4 Rd8 13. Bb3 Be7 14. Be3 Qc7 15. Qf2 Qb8 $146 (15... Nd7 16. Qg3 Kf8 17. Ne2 Rc8 18. Kb1 Nc5 19. Bd4 Rg8 20. e5 d5 21. Qf2 b6 {Unzicker,W-Pustina,Y Siegen 1970}) 16. Bb6 Rc8 17. g4 O-O 18. h4 Nd7 19. Bd4 $6 ({Does White really need that bishop? Something could be said for} 19. g5) 19... Nc5 20. Rhg1 $6 ({Again} 20. g5 h5 21. f4) 20... b5 21. h5 b4 22. g5 $5 ({After} 22. Ne2 Nxb3+ 23. axb3 a5 {Black is faster.}) 22... Bxg5+ 23. f4 Nxb3+ 24. axb3 f6 $1 {Missed by Grandelius. This is an excellent idea from Duda.} 25. fxg5 fxg5 26. Qe3 bxc3 $2 {But this is a mistake.} (26... Qb7 $1) 27. Bxg7 $1 {Grandelius grabs his chance, and the remainder is forced:} cxb2+ 28. Kxb2 Kxg7 29. Rxg5+ $1 hxg5 30. Qxg5+ Kf7 31. Rf1+ Ke8 32. Qg6+ Kd8 33. Rxf8+ Kc7 34. Rxc8+ Qxc8 35. h6 Bxe4 36. Qxe4 Qh8+ 37. Ka2 Qxh6 38. Qc4+ Kb7 39. Qb4+ Kc7 40. Qc4+ Kb7 1/2-1/2 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.30"] [Round "13"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R.."] [Black "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E29"] [WhiteElo "2612"] [BlackElo "2714"] [Annotator "Bojkov,Dejan"] [PlyCount "117"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 {The Nimzo-Indian defense was quite popular in The Netherlands in the past couple of weeks.} 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 c5 {The first mini-thought by Esipenko. Which line would be most unpleasant for his lesser experienced opponent?} 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Ne2 b6 9. e4 Ne8 { A notable maneuver that aims to attack c4 whenever a chance is given, but also intends to meet the dangerous f2-f4 thrust with an identical f7-f5 block.} 10. O-O Ba6 11. f4 f5 {There it is.} 12. exf5 exf5 13. dxc5 {Better a damaged pawn structure, with diagonals for the bishops, than a blocked one!} bxc5 14. Be3 d6 15. Ng3 Ne7 {Here and on the next few moves, Esipenko will try to avoid the weakening g7-g6 move.} ({Nakamura did not try to be that sophisticated and was eventually successful against the world champion after} 15... g6 16. Re1 Nf6 17. Bf2 Qd7 18. Nf1 Na5 19. Bh4 Rae8 20. Rxe8 Qxe8 21. Bxf6 Rxf6 22. Qf3 Re6 { Carlsen,M (2863)-Nakamura,H (2736) Online 2020}) 16. Qf3 $146 {This is a novelty.} ({In an earlier game, the queen traveled to the wrong side of the board:} 16. Qa4 Nc7 17. Rfd1 Qe8 18. Qc2 Rb8 19. Re1 Qf7 20. Bf2 Rbe8 21. Qa4 Ng6 {and Black did not experience any difficulties in Chiong Zacarias, R (2373) -Zarnicki,P (2536) Dos Hermanas 2003}) 16... Nc7 {Still avoiding g7-g6.} ({ Although there does not seem to be anything particularly wrong with} 16... g6 17. Bf2 (17. Rfe1 Nf6) 17... Nf6 18. Rab1 Qd7) 17. Rab1 (17. Rad1 $5) 17... Qd7 {The queen is heading to the a4-square. Therefore...} 18. Rfe1 g6 {Finally, Esipenko decided that he cannot go without this push.} ({The pawn is immune:} 18... Qa4 $2 19. Bxc5) ({And} 18... Rfe8 {leaves the f5-pawn unattended, as in the line} 19. Bf2 Qa4 20. Bxf5) ({Last, but not least, the idea that happened in the game} 18... Nc8 {does not seem to work here due to} 19. Nxf5 $1 ({ Or the alternative capture} 19. Bxf5 $1) 19... Rxf5 20. Bxf5 Qxf5 21. Qc6 Qf7 22. Bf2 {when Black is paralyzed.}) 19. Bf2 Nc8 {Black wants to keep more pieces on the board and put pressure, at last, on the weak c4-pawn.} ({However, it made sense to trade a pair of rooks first with} 19... Rab8 20. Nf1 Rxb1 21. Rxb1 {and then go for} Nc8) 20. Nf1 $1 {After provoking a kingside weakness, the horse steps back to open the road for the bishop. In the meantime, it gets closer to the fabulous d5-outpost.} Nb6 21. Ne3 Rae8 22. Bh4 Qg7 23. Rbc1 Re6 24. a4 $1 {A strong move! In return for the pawn, the bishop on h4 gets a couple of strong supporters.} Nxa4 25. Nd5 {Black already faces serious problems.} Bb7 ({It seems like the idea} 25... Rxe1+ 26. Rxe1 Bb7 $1 {promised better drawing chances to Black, for example} 27. Ne7+ Qxe7 28. Bxe7 Bxf3 29. Bxf8 Kxf8 30. gxf3 Nxc3 {with a much better version of the exchange sacrifice than the game continuation.}) 26. Rxe6 Nxe6 27. Re1 Qd7 ({It was not too late to switch to the line from above with} 27... Nc7 28. Ne7+ Qxe7 29. Bxe7 Bxf3 30. Bxf8 Kxf8 31. gxf3 Nxc3 32. Ra1 d5 33. Rxa7 Ne6 {when a draw seems like the most likely outcome.}) 28. Qg3 ({Also good was} 28. Qf2 $5 {with the idea to meet} Bxd5 {with} 29. cxd5 Ng7 30. Re7 Qc8 31. Qa2 $1 {But Praggnanandhaa is not afraid of losing this pawn.}) ({Certainly not} 28. Nf6+ $4 Rxf6) 28... Rf7 {And Black finds nothing better but to sacrifice the exchange!} ({In case of} 28... Kg7 29. Ne7 $1 {\"...his king is just very weak.\" (Praggnanandhaa) And a line like} Kh8 30. Bxf5 gxf5 31. Bf6+ Rxf6 32. Qg8# {can prove his statement.}) ({Black also barely moves after} 28... Bxd5 29. cxd5 Ng7 30. Re7 Qc8 31. Bb5) 29. Nf6+ Rxf6 30. Bxf6 Kf7 31. Qh4 h5 32. Bg5 $1 {It is important to set the white queen free. Black does not have enough for the exchange.} Qc6 33. Qh3 $1 {A very accurate move.} ({Not} 33. Qg3 Nxc3 $1) 33... Nxg5 ({Now} 33... Nxc3 {loses on the spot due to} 34. Bxf5 $1) 34. fxg5 Bc8 35. Qe3 ({ Here the inhuman breakthrough} 35. g4 $3 {would have finished the game faster.} ) 35... Qd7 36. Qe2 $1 Qd8 ({Here and in the future, the c3-pawn is never an option for Black:} 36... Nxc3 $2 37. Qb2) 37. Qa2 {Once the queen is successfully transferred to the queenside, Black needs to part with yet another pawn.} Bd7 38. Bc2 Nb6 39. Qxa7 Nc8 40. Qb7 {\"I think I played well until move 40 and then I think my technique wasn't that good. I think I should have finished much earlier.\" (Praggnanandhaa)} Ne7 41. h4 Be6 42. Ra1 (42. Qa6 {was somewhat more accurate.}) 42... Qc8 {Esipenko's last chance is the fortress.} 43. Qxc8 Nxc8 44. Bb3 Ke7 45. Ra6 Kd8 46. Kf2 {However, after a few maneuvers, Praggnandhaa finally finds a way to break through.} Kc7 47. Ra1 Bf7 48. Ke3 Be6 49. Kf4 Kd8 50. Ra8 Kc7 51. Ra2 Bf7 52. Ra1 Kd8 53. Ke3 Be6 54. g3 Kc7 55. Kf4 Bf7 56. Ba4 $1 {\"When I got [this] I was sure I would win.\" (Praggnanandhaa)} Nb6 ({The point is that} 56... Bxc4 57. Be8 Ne7 58. Ra7+ Kd8 59. Rxe7 Kxe7 60. Bxg6 {leads to a kingside collapse.}) 57. Bb5 Nc8 ({Or} 57... Bxc4 58. Be8) 58. Ke3 Be6 59. Be8 {And the counter-exchange sacrifice as in the line above is unstoppable.} 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.30"] [Round "13"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Shankland, Sam"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2702"] [BlackElo "2708"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "137"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 c5 5. Be2 Nc6 (5... Bd6 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 Nc6 9. Nc3 a6 10. Rc1 d4 11. exd4 Nxd4 12. Be5 Nc6 {Rapport,R (2735) -Shankland,S (2731) Saint Louis 2019}) 6. O-O cxd4 7. exd4 Bd6 8. Bxd6 Qxd6 9. c3 O-O 10. Re1 e5 $146 (10... b6 11. Bd3 Qc7 12. a3 Bb7 13. Nbd2 Qf4 14. g3 Qh6 15. a4 Nd7 {Cros Goma,A (2108)-Lecha Gonzalez,J (2198) ICCF email 2016}) 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Qxe5 13. Bf3 Ne4 14. Na3 Bf5 15. Nc2 Rfe8 16. Qd4 Qxd4 17. Nxd4 Bd7 18. c4 $1 {Winning a pawn.} Kf8 19. h4 Rac8 20. cxd5 Nd6 {This knight is so well placed, that Black still has good drawing chances.} 21. Rxe8+ Bxe8 22. Rd1 Bd7 23. Kh2 Ke7 24. g4 h6 25. h5 Kf6 26. Kg3 Rc4 27. Kf4 Rc5 28. Rd2 g5+ 29. hxg6 fxg6 30. Rd1 Ra5 31. a3 Nc4 32. Nb3 Rb5 33. Nd2 g5+ 34. Kg3 Nxd2 35. Rxd2 Rb3 36. Kg2 Ke5 37. Re2+ Kf6 38. Rc2 Ke5 39. Rc7 Kd6 40. Rc1 Rb6 41. b4 Ke5 42. Rc7 Kd6 43. Rc3 a5 44. bxa5 Rb5 45. Rc1 Rxa5 46. Rh1 Rxa3 47. Rxh6+ Kc5 48. Rh7 Kd6 49. Rh6+ Kc5 50. Rh7 Kd6 51. Rg7 b5 52. Rxg5 b4 53. Rg8 Ra5 $2 {This seems to be the decisive mistake.} (53... b3 $1 54. Rb8 Kc5 $1 55. g5 Bf5 $1 {is a perfect setup for Black and still good for a draw, it seems, e.g.} 56. Bh5 Bc2 57. Bf7 (57. g6 Ra7) 57... Ra6 58. d6 Rb6 $1 59. Rxb6 Kxb6 60. g6 b2 61. g7 b1=Q 62. g8=Q Be4+ $1 63. f3 Bxf3+ $1 64. Kxf3 Qd3+ 65. Kf2 Qxd6) 54. g5 b3 55. g6 b2 56. Rb8 Rb5 57. Rxb5 Bxb5 58. g7 b1=Q 59. g8=Q Qf1+ 60. Kg3 Qd3 61. Qe6+ Kc7 62. Qe5+ Kd7 63. Qe3 Qb1 64. Qe6+ Kd8 65. d6 Qh7 66. Qf6+ Kd7 67. Bg4+ Ke8 68. Qe5+ Kd8 69. Qg5+ 1-0 [Event "Wijk aan Zee"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2022.01.30"] [Round "13"] [White "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C47"] [WhiteElo "2743"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "127"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. Bd2 O-O 9. O-O Bxc3 (9... a5 10. Re1 Re8 11. a3 Bg4 12. Qc1 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 dxe4 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Bxe4 Re6 {Karjakin,S (2743)-Mamedyarov,S (2767) Warsaw 2021}) 10. Bxc3 dxe4 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Bxe4 Qxb2 13. Bxc6 Rb8 14. Rb1 Qxb1 15. Qxb1 Rxb1 16. Rxb1 Rd8 17. Bf3 Kf8 18. Rb8 Re8 19. h4 Ba6 20. Rb3 Re5 $146 (20... Re1+ 21. Kh2 Re5 22. Rc3 Be2 23. Bxe2 Rxe2 24. Kg3 Re4 25. Rxc7 Ra4 26. c4 Rxa2 27. c5 a5 28. Ra7 a4 29. c6 Rc2 30. c7 Ke8 31. Rxa4 {½-½ Mastrovasilis,D (2619)-Grischuk,A (2773) Terme Catez 2021}) 21. Rc3 Re7 $6 ({Here} 21... Be2 { was the best try, e.g.} 22. Bxe2 Rxe2 23. Rxc7 Re4 24. Rxa7 Rxh4 {with still good drawing chances.}) 22. Ra3 Re6 23. Bd5 Rb6 24. Bb3 c5 25. Ra4 g6 $6 (25... Be2 $1 {was again the move:} 26. Rxa7 c4 27. Ba4 g6) 26. f3 Rd6 27. c4 $1 Ke7 28. Ra5 Kd8 $6 ({And here} 28... Rc6 29. Ba4 Rb6 30. Rxc5 Rb4 {was more resilient:} 31. Ra5 (31. Bb3 Kd6 32. Ra5 Bxc4 33. Bxc4 Rxc4) 31... Bxc4 32. Rxa7+ Kf6 33. a3 Rb1+ 34. Kh2 Ra1) 29. Rxc5 Bc8 30. Kf2 Rd2+ 31. Kg3 h6 32. h5 Rd6 33. hxg6 fxg6 34. Kf4 g5+ 35. Ke5 Re6+ 36. Kd4 Re2 37. g4 Rd2+ 38. Ke3 Rd6 39. Ra5 Re6+ 40. Kd4 Rf6 41. Bd1 a6 42. Be2 Rf4+ 43. Ke3 Bb7 44. Rf5 Rxf5 45. gxf5 Ke7 46. c5 Kf6 47. Bd3 Ke5 48. Be4 Bc8 49. c6 h5 50. c7 a5 51. a4 Kf6 52. Kf2 h4 53. Kg2 Ke5 54. Kh2 Kf6 55. Bd3 Ke5 56. Bf1 Kf6 57. Bh3 Bd7 58. Bg4 Bc8 59. Kg2 Bd7 60. Kf2 Bc8 61. Ke3 Bd7 62. Kd4 Bc8 63. Kc5 Kf7 64. Kb6 1-0