[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2686"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. e3
O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Re1 a5 11. Qd2 $6 {A very strange move. I still believe
that it was a "lapsus manus": Carlsen intended to play the theoretical} (11.
Qe2) 11... e5 12. d5 Nb4 13. e4 c6 14. a3 cxd5 $1 {Quite an obvious refutation
of White's play.} 15. axb4 axb4 16. Rxa8 bxc3 17. bxc3 Nxa8 18. exd5 $6 (18.
Qxd5 $142 Nb6 (18... Qxd5 19. exd5 Nb6 20. Nd2 {[%cal Yc3c4]}) 19. Qa5 {
although Black, controlling the crucial c4-square, keeps a small edge after}
Qf6 20. Bg5 Qc6 {[%csl Gc4]}) 18... Nb6 {[%csl Rd5]} 19. Rd1 $6 (19. d6 Re6 (
19... Nc4 $5)) (19. c4 $5 Nxc4 20. Qb4 Nd6 21. Be3 {getting some activity for
the missing pawn although Black is obviously better.}) 19... e4 20. Ng5 $4 {
[%mdl 8192] Just blundering a piece in a poor position.} (20. Ne1 Bg4 21. f3 e3
22. Qe2 Bd7 23. Bxe3 (23. c4 Nxc4 $1 24. Qxc4 e2 25. Rd2 Qb6+ 26. Kh1 Qf2 $19)
23... Ba4 {[%cal Yb6d5]} 24. Rd2 Bxc3 $19) (20. Nh4 h6 $19 {[%cal Rg6g5]}) ({
It was relatively better (but hopeless enough) just to give up the d5-pawn:} 
20. Nd4 Qxd5 $19) 20... e3 21. Qb2 Qxg5 22. Bxe3 (22. Qxb6 e2 23. Re1 Qxc1 24.
Rxc1 e1=Q+ 25. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 26. Bf1 Bh3 $19) 22... Qg4 (22... Qg4 23. f3 Nc4) 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 {Fernandez,D} e6 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Qb3 {Fernandez,D: 'I was intrigued by
this opening, and looked around it a bit, finding that it is indeed played
reasonably often by really top players, but probably should not promise
anything, at least on a cursory investigation.'} Ba5 (3... a5 {(Fernandez,D)
is a stereotypical 'Bogo' way to play, and after} 4. a3 Bxc3 5. Qxc3 Nf6 6. b3
O-O 7. Bb2 d6 8. e3 e5 9. d4 Nc6 $11 {Black was fine in Aronian,L-Riazantsev,A
Sharjah 2017}) 4. Nf3 c5 (4... Nf6 {(Fernandez,D) was played in an old
Conquest-Rozentalis game, but doubtless Giri had something else quite
inventive up his sleeve, for instance} 5. g4 $5 $13) 5. d4 Nf6 6. dxc5 $6 {
Fernandez,D: 'Not holding back, Giri makes a double-edged decision that might
score worse on the engine pane, but is nearly certain to get him the bishop
pair and hence an imbalanced position.'} (6. e3 {(Fernandez,D) might well be
more solid, and Black needs to be careful that he does not transpose to an
awkward Nimzo. This can be acheived with} cxd4 $6 7. exd4 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9.
Bd3 $14 {and for this reason Black should prefer something like 6...d6.}) 6...
Na6 7. Be3 Ne4 8. g3 Naxc5 9. Qc2 Bxc3+ (9... Nxc3 {(Fernandez,D)} 10. bxc3 b6
11. Bg2 {is a hard thing for a human to play as Black, with the backward
d-pawn and the wayward bishop on a5.}) 10. bxc3 b6 11. Bg2 Bb7 12. O-O O-O 13.
Rfd1 Qe7 {Fernandez,D: 'Now we have more or less the position that White
signed up for on move 6. A simplistic evaluation would be 'equal', a better
one would be 'equal for kids or blitz players, better for Black from 1800 to
2600 in classical, and messy above that!'} (13... Qc7 $5 14. Nd4 Nd6 15. Nb5
Nxb5 16. Bxc5 bxc5 17. Bxb7 Na3 18. Qa4 Qxb7 19. Qxa3 Qc7 $11) 14. a4 $1 {
Fernandez,D: 'One problem Black has is that he cannot block the a5-push.'} d6 (
14... f5 {(Fernandez,D)} 15. a5 e5 16. axb6 axb6 {might have been preferable
for Black, who intends ...f4 soon - the plan is very easy to grasp.}) 15. a5 f5
$2 (15... Nf6 $1 $11) 16. axb6 (16. Nd4 $5) 16... axb6 17. Nd4 $14 Nf6 18. Bxb7
Nxb7 $6 (18... Rxa1 19. Rxa1 Qxb7 20. Nb5 Ng4 $14) 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Nb5 Rc8 $2
{Fernandez,D: 'Leaving the a-file, which White eventually exploits, and he
could in fact have done so a bit faster.'} (20... Nd7 $1 {Fernandez,D: 'is
sensible, heading for c5 with one knight and either a5 or e5 with the other,
and keeping the Nimzo-typical ...Rc8 in reserve. White wins a pawn with'} 21.
Bf4 (21. Nxd6 {Fernandez,D} Nxd6 22. Qd3 Ne5 23. Qxd6 Qxd6 24. Rxd6 Nxc4 25.
Rxe6 {but after} Rc8 $3 {his pieces are so badly tangled that he must give it
back to get out.} 26. Re7 Kf8 27. Rb7 Nxe3 28. fxe3 Rxc3 29. e4 fxe4 30. Rxb6
$11) 21... Ne5 $14) 21. Qa2 (21. Bxb6 $1 Rxc4 22. Ra1 $16) 21... d5 22. Bg5 $5
{It is obvious that White has a risk-free advantage, but this move, a
temporary pawn sacrifice changes the character of the game, shifting the focus
from the weak pawns to the weak king, which is never pleasant, especially in
time trouble.} Rxc4 {Black can afford this capture, since due to some tactical
finesses he doesn't lose by force.} (22... Qd7 $5 {keeps the position together,
but White keeps the initiative with} 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Qa7 Rxc4 25. Nd4 Rc7 26.
Qxb6 Nd8 27. Kg2 {with risk-free torture. Black's position is cramped and his
pieces uncoordinated.}) 23. Qa8+ {This appears to be winning, but Black has a
strong defensive resource.} (23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Qa8+ Kg7 $1 {is the way for
Black to defend if White chooses to reverse the move order.} 25. Ra1 Na5 26.
Qa6 Qc5 27. Nd4 Kf7 {holding on for now.}) 23... Kf7 $1 (23... Qe8 24. Qxb7
Qxb5 {loses to} 25. Qe7 $1 Qc6 26. Ra1) (23... Nd8 24. Bxf6 gxf6 (24... Qxf6
25. Rxd5 exd5 26. Qxd5+ {is the same. White wins a pawn and the game.}) 25.
Rxd5 $1 {the main point.} exd5 26. Qxd5+ Qe6 27. Qxd8+ Kg7 28. Nc7 {and the
queen+knight combo starts performing.} Qf7 29. Ne8+ Kg6 30. Nd6 Qe6 31. Nxc4
Qxc4 32. Qd3 {with a winning queen endgame.}) 24. Ra1 $1 {The second wave of
the attack.} (24. Qxb7 Qxb7 25. Nd6+ Ke7 $1 26. Nxb7 Rc7 {is the point. The
extra knight is trapped.}) 24... Na5 25. Qb8 $1 {White's queen is attacking
from within the enemy camp.} Rc6 $6 {Natural, but it was better to return the
pawn and try and coordinate the pieces.} (25... Nc6 $1 {was a strong defensive
resource:} 26. Qxb6 h6 $1 27. Bxf6 (27. Bc1 $5) 27... Kxf6 $1 28. Ra8 Qd7 $1 {
a couple of more strong computer moves and Black can be proud of having saved
the position that looked on the verge of being lost, just a couple of moves
ago.}) 26. Nd4 $1 Rxc3 $2 {The losing mistake.} (26... Rd6 $1 {was the only
move. It looks extremely suspect, but it was possible to make it, through the
method known as elimination. The continuation in the game looks even more
dangerous.} 27. Nf3 (27. Bf4 Rd7 $1 28. Nf3 Nc4 $1 29. Ra8 Qe8 $1 30. Ng5+ Ke7
31. Qxe8+ Nxe8 32. Nxe6 Kxe6 33. Rxe8+ Kf7 {and Black should hold this endgame
without many problems.}) 27... Qd8 $1 28. Ne5+ Kf8 $1 29. Qa7 Qe7 $1 30. Qa6
Nc4 $1 {and again the computer performed a miracle escape. White is only
slightly better after capturing twice on c4.}) 27. Qxb6 Nc4 28. Qb8 $1 {
Threatening Ra7 and preparing to meet ...Ra3 with Rb1!. Probably that last
detail is what Black overlooked.} Nd7 $2 {loses on the spot.} (28... Ra3 {
was still the best attempt to continue the game:} 29. Rb1 Kg6 30. Rb7 Qe8 {
and now both the lazy 31.Qxe8+ Nxe8 32.Nxe6 and the more ambitious 31.Qc7 are
winning for White.}) 29. Bxe7 $1 {A surprising idea, leading to a clean finish.
} Nxb8 30. Bb4 {Suddenly the rook is trapped almost in the middle of the board.
} e5 31. Ra7+ Kg8 32. Bxc3 exd4 33. Bxd4 Nc6 34. Rxg7+ Kf8 35. Bf6 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A35"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 {For me it is a certainty that my opponents are unable to predict my
first move, because most of the time I am unable to predict it myself.} c5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 {This variation is back in fashion again lately. As a
fashionista, I had a look at it as well.} (3... e5 {is regularly employed by
MVL, while 3...Nf6 is a respected continuation too and was recently employed
by Vishy Anand.}) 4. e3 {This move and 7 that follow were played at a quick
rate. Not trying to reinvent the wheel, both players decided to follow
established theory.} Nf6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qb3 e6 9. Bb5
Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bxc6 {By giving up the bishop, White is ruining Black's
pawn structure. According to established theory, this is White's main attempt
to fight for an edge.} bxc6 {Marin,M: 'I examined this line in my CBM 180
Modern Trends article and later analysed the game mentioned in the next
comment.'} 12. Re1 {An indecisive move played only once in this position which
has occurred around 50 times in practice already.} ({An interesting game was
played by a countryman of Shakhriyar:} 12. Na4 {the most popular continuation}
Qd6 13. Re1 Rb8 14. Qd1 Ne7 15. Bd2 Nf5 16. Bc3 Rd8 17. Nc5 Nxd4 18. Ne4 Qd5
19. Nxd4 Bxd4 20. Qa4 Qb5 21. Qxd4 Rxd4 22. Bxd4 {1-0 (71) Grischuk,A (2772)
-Safarli,E (2639) Riadh 2017, with beautiful compensation for the queen. It is
safe to assume that the analytical forces of Azerbaijan have prepared an
improvement along the way.}) 12... Qd6 $2 {Played almost instantly, probably
incorrectly recalling the game of Safarli.  Marin,M: 'This looks as if played
without noticing that White has deviated from the main line, where the queen
goes, indeed, to d6. As a result Black will have wasting a tempo on the very
next move.'} ({The only previous game is hardly relevant:} 12... Qb6 {Marin,M}
13. Qc2 {½-½ Tomashevsky,E (2710)-Alekseev,E (2622) Sochi 2017, but probably
White can keep an edge because once again the queen is exposed to the knight's
attack:} Rb8 (13... Nxc3 14. bxc3 Qa5 {preventing Ba3 in order to prepare ...
c6-c5 can be met with} 15. Bf4 Ba6 16. Bd6 Rfd8 17. Bc5 $14) 14. Na4 Qb5 15.
Qd1 $5 ({Useful prophylaxis, taking the queen out of the range of the opposing
minor pieces. If} 15. Nc5 $6 e5 16. Nxe5 Bf5 {Black obtains certain
counterplay.}) 15... Rd8 16. Nc5 $14) ({Marin,M: The most logical move is} 
12... Qc7 {placing the queen on a safe square and preparing ...Rb8. For
instance:} 13. Ne4 c5 $5 14. Nxc5 (14. dxc5 Rb8 15. Qc4 Rb4 16. Qe2 Qc6 {
[%cal Gc8a6] also offers Black very active play for the pawn.}) 14... Bxd4 15.
Nxd4 Qxc5 {True, the g7-square is weak now, but Black is centralised and his
bishop may become dangerous along the long diagonal, too.}) 13. Ne4 $1 {
Now the knight obviously goes via the centre, winning quite some tempi.} Qb4
14. Qc2 $1 (14. Bd2 Qxb3 15. axb3 {is a favourable endgame for White, typical
for this variation, yet the continuation in the game is even stronger.}) 14...
a5 {Taking on d4 was not a good option due to Bd2 followed by Nxd4, when the
dark squares are all gaping.} 15. a3 {A more logical move was Bd2, but it is
good to take away the b4-square from the knight in advance.} Qb6 {There was
something to say for placing the queen on b5, but then Black would always have
to pay attention to Nd6, hitting it.} 16. Nc5 Re8 17. Ne5 $1 {It was also
possible to play more modestly, but given so many extra tempi in the opening I
decided that I deserved to have some fun with my knights.} f6 {Black's only
chance to create any play at all now is connected to f6-e5.} 18. Nc4 Qc7 19.
Bd2 {The a5-pawn is doomed.} e5 20. dxe5 fxe5 21. Qa4 Nb6 $6 {This is a very
sad move. I expected Black to go all desperado and try to create some illusion
of initiative on the kingside. It is difficult to suggest how, but I expected
a move like 21...Rf8 or 21...Bf5.} 22. Nxb6 Qxb6 {At first I thought my
position was overwhelming but then I realised that it is still not so simple
to win it. However after further pondering I came to the realisation that my
position is indeed, as good as it looks, no less.} 23. Qc4+ Kh8 24. Bc3 {
The dumbest way to play, is quite powerful.} Bf5 $2 {The final mistake, now
White gains some extra time thanks to a cute tactic and the game is
essentially decided.} (24... Qb5 {This was the last chance. Now White is
likely to end up a pawn up in an endgame but Black will have slightly more
saving chances than in the game.} 25. Qxb5 (25. Re4 {trying to get a similar
position to the one I got in the game is possible too-} Bf5 26. a4 $1) 25...
cxb5 {and here eventually White will win a pawn, with Rad1-Rd5 or simply} 26.
f4 {while the computer smartly indicates that the best move is very possibly a
waiting 26.h3!?.}) 25. g4 $1 {Sending the bishop home.} Bc8 (25... Bxg4 $2 26.
Na4 $1 {is the point.}) 26. Re4 $5 {26.Rad1 was strong too, obviously, but
this looks more grand.} Qb5 27. Rae1 $1 {This time around White can ignore the
offer of the queen trade and let Black take on c4 himself, keeping all the
queenside pawns weak and isolated.} Qxc4 28. Rxc4 Rb8 29. h3 $1 {Upon closer
examination it becomes apparent that Black has no next move. White will
eventually win a couple of pawns with Ne4 or Ra4 or Rd1-d6, but for now it
makes sense to prepare all of that with some useful moves.} h5 (29... Kg8 {
would be a decent way to pass, now White could continue the sadistic approach
with Kg2, f3, a4 or can simply start picking up the full house with} 30. Ne4 $5
Rb6 31. Ra4 $1) 30. gxh5 $5 {I decided it was time to start picking up the
pawns. 30.Rd1! was very strong as well, preparing to penetrate.} gxh5 (30... e4
{leads to a technically lost endgame a couple of pawns down, but at least
Black would be able to continue the struggle for a while.} 31. hxg6 (31. Rexe4
Rxe4 32. Nxe4 Bxc3 33. bxc3 gxh5 34. Rxc6 {wins as well.}) 31... Bxc3 32. bxc3
Bxh3 33. Rexe4 {and 2 pawns should be enough. Black will regain the g6-pawn
soon but White will in his turn win the a5 or c6 soldier in exchange.}) 31. Rh4
Kh7 {Clever move, preparing to meet Rxh5+ with ...Kg6 but now the final touch
follows:} 32. Ne4 $1 {...and while it seems that the resignation is premature,
once you start calculating the variations you quickly notice that although the
material is still equal, Black's position is collapsing completely (the
computer's +3.00 evaluation indicates White's advantage being equal to three
pawns!).} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2783"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 {I was familiar with this idea which got a boost in
popularity when Topalov introduced it in one of the Norway Blitz events. I had
a short conversation about it with Magnus during that event, who before our
game had told me that he considered to go 3...f5 here. I pushed those devil
thoughts away from me and replied normally.} Nf6 4. d3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. c4 $5 {
very creative, now we land in a variation of some sort of an English, where
white goes e4. True, as the very same Magnus Carlsen showed in his tiebreak
games against Fabiano Caruana, you can play 1.c4 and then e4 or 1.e4 and then
1.c4 it will all boil down to the same thing.} d6 7. h3 O-O 8. Nc3 {very
creative to postpone the short castle. In fact my opponent had to make use of
this nuance later on.} Nd7 {very natural and ambitious. I hesitated quite a
bit, seeing that the variations that arise are going to be very complicated
and as my opponent kept blitzing so far, I was slightly concerned. Yet, I
decided to test my intuition, in hope that at some point his preparation will
end anyway. Another plan that came to my mind was to play for b5, with some a6
Rb8 b5, but it felt like it was from the wrong opera.} 9. Bg5 f6 10. Be3 f5 ({
Possibly my opponent focussed on} 10... Nc5 {in his preparation, which is also
prefered by the computer originally, though for the human player it is pretty
obvious that the reply} 11. d4 $1 {is critical} exd4 12. Nxd4 {and now both,
the f5 break as well as} Ne5 13. Qe2 $1 Ncd3+ 14. Kf1 $1 {aren't hopeless for
Black, but in both cases Black has something to prove, as structurally he is
not doing all too well.}) 11. exf5 gxf5 12. Qd2 $6 {This move was no longer
blitzed out, yet it was pretty unpleasant, as only here did I realize that
0-0-0 is a serious idea.} Nc5 13. O-O $2 {Now Black gets an excellent position.
Given the pawn structure and having the option of going 0-0-0, White
definitely had to use it.} (13. O-O-O {would pose me far more problems, though
as we were both out of book, I wasn't feeling too hopeless. The position is
highly unclear and extremely difficult to play for both sides.}) 13... Ne6 {
I was quite confused, as it looked to me as though my position is excellent.
In fact already on the next move my opponent makes pretty much a decisive
mistake. Incredible how quickly things went south for White, who was narrating
the opening in this game until just two moves ago.} 14. Nd5 $2 (14. Ne2 {
was a better choice, but still Black is better, after the immediate f4 or the
preparatory Qf6.}) 14... f4 $1 {Fortunately I didn't play the automatic Ne7
and spent enough time sitting on my hands to notice this strong resource, or
rather the follow up to it.} 15. gxf4 Ncd4 $1 {suddenly it turns out that c6
is an unstoppable threat and the tactics just don't work out for white.} 16.
Bxd4 exd4 17. Qa5 $5 {The position is actually already lost for white, but
after a 40 minute think my resourceful opponent came up with a very confusing
defensive attempt.} (17. Rae1 c6 18. Ng5 Nxf4 $1 {is the key variation. Once I
saw this, I realized there was no salvation for White.}) 17... b6 (17... Kh8 $5
{was winning as well.} 18. Rae1 (18. Ng5 Nxg5 19. fxg5 Qxg5) 18... b6 19. Qd2
c6) 18. Qe1 (18. Nxb6 {could be a bit of a shocker but it doesn't work for
about 300 reasons. Two of them are} c6 ({and} 18... cxb6 19. Qd5 Kh8 $1 20.
Qxa8 Nxf4)) 18... c6 19. Ng5 Re8 $1 {I managed to calculate a couple of moves
here and seem to have figured out a win.} 20. Qd1 {Desperate, but there was
actually no defense.} (20. Nxe6 Rxe6 {followed by Rg6 wins for Black.}) 20...
Nxg5 21. fxg5 cxd5 22. Bxd5+ Be6 {White has no compensation neither for the
piece after Bxe6, nor for the bishop pair after the move in the game.} 23. Bxa8
Qxa8 24. Qh5 Bf5 {The rest should have been a little more trivial, but my
conversion wasn't entirely to the point. Fortunately the position remained
objectively winning throughout.} 25. Rad1 Re5 26. Rd2 Qd8 (26... Bxh3 $1 {
was an instant clincher.} 27. Qxh3 Rxg5+ 28. Kh2 Qe8 $1 {my opponent saw this,
but for an older player like myself, such things are already too difficult.})
27. h4 Bh3 {The thing was that I played the previous move with the intention
of winning the exchange and although at this point I already realized that
probably it's stronger not to go for the material, but keep the full control
of the light squares with Qc8, I decided to get it over with.} 28. Qf3 Bxf1 29.
Kxf1 h6 {The reason why I took the exchange was that I could split white's
kingside pawns.} 30. gxh6 Bxh6 31. Re2 Qe7 32. Qg4+ {Now white actually ends
up helping me, as the winning plan in this position in general is to
eventually activate the king, as it is otherwise quite hard to win pawns, as
they will eventually all be places on the light squares and black's extra
bishop is going to be staring into the empty pathways.} Kf7 33. Qf3+ Kg7 34.
Qg4+ Kf7 35. Qf3+ Qf6 $1 {as we were playing on last seconds, it took me some
time to make sure I have all checks under control.} 36. Qb7+ Kg6 $1 {The king
heads towards h5, where it is feeling more comfortable than ever.} 37. Rxe5
dxe5 {white can't capture the queenside pawns, as he is going to get mated,
and otherwise Black plans to place the king on h5 , queen to f4 from where it
threatens to penetrate, and eventually either d3 pawn will fall or some e5-e4
break will seal the deal.} 38. Ke2 Qf4 39. Kf1 Kh5 40. b4 Qc1+ 41. Kg2 Kxh4 42.
Qxa7 {desperate. Now white just gets pretty much mated.} (42. Qe4+ Qf4 43.
Qxf4+ {is actually losing to both captures.} Bxf4 44. Kf3 Kg5 45. Ke4 Kf6 46.
Kd5 Kf5 {is the easiest and now if need be Bd2-Ba5 maneuvre will be
implemented.}) 42... Qg5+ 43. Kf1 Kh3 $1 {The king now joins the attack.} 44.
Qh7 Qh5 $1 {The most elegant. The threat is Qd1 mate, Ke1 fails to Bd2+ and
after Qd7+ both Qg4 as well as Kh2 win trivially.} 0-1

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.07.07"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{One may think there was not much to play for, for me, as I was on minus 1
before this round (in fact earlier on in the tournament my situation was even
worse) and there seemed to be little reasons for enthusiasm. Nonetheless, one
way or the other, I was looking forward to an interesting tense game. Man
könnte denken, dass es für mich um nicht allzu viel ging, da ich vor dieser
Runde bei minus 1 lag (wobei meine Situation vorher im Turnier sogar noch
schlechter war). Doch nichtsdestoweniger freute ich mich auf eine interessante
spannungsvolle Partie.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 {At this point in time Ian seemed
to at all cost avoid playing the Najdorf, which used to always be his main
weapon as Black. In Wijk aan Zee earlier this year he even played the Modern
Defence against me, which ended in a disaster for me. I thought it would be
funny to finally hunt him down and force him to actually play the Najdorf, if
even from the white side. Zu gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt scheint Ian es um jeden
Preis zu vermeiden, Najdorf zu spielen, was früher immer seine Hauptwaffe mit
Schwarz gewesen war. Zu Jahresbeginn in Wijk aan Zee spielte er gegen mich
sogar die Moderne Verteidigung, was für mich in einem Desaster endete. Ich
dachte, es wäre lustig, ihn endlich zu stellen und zu einem Najdorf zu
zwingen, und sei es von der weißen Seite.} 3. Bb5+ {And still Ian doesn't
really enter the Najdorf. What he didn't know was that I consider 2...d6 3.
Bb5+ to be a Najdorf already, so I was satisfied at this point nonetheless.
Und dennoch lässt sich Ian nicht wirklich auf Najdorf ein. Was er nicht
wusste war, dass ich 2...d6 3.Lb5+ bereits als Najdorf betrachte, daher war
ich an diesem Punkt trotzdem zufrieden.} Nd7 4. c3 Ngf6 5. Bd3 {A relatively
fresh trend, introduced into Grandmaster practice by Pavel Eljanov and picked
up by Levon Aronian. Previously White would only drop the bishop to d3(or a4)
only after Black would chase it with a7-a6. This move order, however, has a
point, in that Black is now no longer in time to erect the a6-b5-c4 chain and
to stop White from getting the beautiful e4-d4 pawn center. However, when
studying this line a couple of years ago together with my computer, we
realized that it is also possible for Black to use the tempo he saved on not
having gone a7-a6 and go b7-b5 immediately (which I did on move 8). Ein
relativ frischer Trend, von Pavel Eljanov in die Großmeisterpraxis
eingeführt und von Levon Aronian aufgegriffen. Bislang pflegte Weiß den
Läufer erst nach d3 (oder a4) zurückziehen, nachdem Schwarz ihn mit a7-a6
vertrieben hatte. Die Pointe dieser Zugfolge ist hingegen, dass Schwarz nicht
mehr rechtzeitig dazu kommt, die Bauernkette a6-b5-c4 zu errichten und Weiß
daran zu hindern, das schöne e4-d4 Bauernzentrum zu bekommen. Doch als ich
diese Variante vor ein paar Jahren zusammen mit meinem Computer studierte,
begriffen wir, dass es für Schwarz wiederum möglich ist, das durch das
Unterlassen von a7-a6 gesparte Tempo zu nutzen und sofort b7-b5 zu spielen 
(was ich im 8. Zug tat).} g6 {Ian himself, by the way, likes (or at least used
to like) this g6-setup in the Bb5+ Nd7 line, he even played it in worse
versions. Ian selbst übrigens mag (oder mochte zumindest) diesen g6-Aufbau in
der Lb5+ Sd7 Variante, er spielte ihn sogar in schlechteren Versionen.} 6. Bc2
Bg7 7. d4 O-O 8. O-O b5 $5 9. e5 {Principled, as Black's 8...b5 feels somewhat
premature, to strike in the center. The computer at first really appreciates
this move, but it turns out that is only the case because it calculates an
insanely long line and estimates the final position there entirely wrongly.
Curiously, that long and wrong variation happened in our game. Prinzipiell, da
sich das schwarze 8...b5 ein wenig verfrüht anfühlt, im Zentrum
loszuschlagen. Der Computer findet diesen Zug anfangs richtig gut, aber es
stellt sich heraus, dass dies nur daran liegt, weil er eine irrsinnig lange
Variante berechnet und die Schlussstellung dort komplett falsch bewertet.
Kurioserweise kam diese lange und falsche Variante in unserer Partie aufs
Brett.} Ne8 $1 10. e6 fxe6 11. Ng5 Nc7 $1 12. dxc5 Nxc5 $1 {Black keeps
playing in the most ambitious way. Both knights abandon the kingside, but on
the other hand I now have a healthy juicy extra pawn. Knowing that the
computer didn't show this, my opponent decided that there must be a reason for
it and went for the most critical looking line, even though it just doesn't
work. Schwarz spielt weiter höchst ehrzeizig. Beide Springer verlassen den
Königsflügel, aber andererseits habe ich jetzt einen gesunden saftigen
Mehrbauern. Wissend, dass der Computer dies nicht zeigte, entschied mein
Gegner, dass es einen Grund dafür geben müsse und wählte die am
kritischsten aussehende Variante, obwohl sie einfach nicht funktioniert.} 13.
Nxh7 $2 (13. Qg4 {is burning a little less bridges. Black has many ways to get
a very fine, complicated position here, but given that the move in the game
leads to an outright lost position, this really had to be played. I was
chosing here between bricht nicht ganz so viele Brücken hinter sich ab.
Schwarz hat hier viele Wege, eine sehr schöne, komplizierte Position zu
bekommen, aber da der Zug in der Partie zu einer glatten Verluststellung
führt, musste dies unbedingt gespielt werden. Ich schwankte danach zwischen}
e5 14. Qh4 h6 15. Bxg6 Bf5 {and the immediate 13...h6 which is more ambitious
and was more to my liking. White is likely to regain the pawn and then once he
finishes his development he may get his chances. und dem sofortigen 13...h6,
was ehrgeiziger ist und mir mehr zusagte. Weiß wird wahrscheinlich den Bauern
zurückerobern und dann, wenn er einmal seine Entwicklung abgeschlossen hat,
bekommt er vielleicht seine Chancen.}) (13. b4 {only helps Black, as the
knight returns to the defence - hilft nur Schwarz, da der Springer zur
Verteidigung zurückkehrt -} Nd7 $1) 13... Kxh7 14. Qh5+ Kg8 15. Bxg6 (15. Qxg6
Rf6 {- here there is no follow up either. Black is always happy to give up an
exchange, if he is to coordinate his pieces and diffuse White's temporary
kingside initiative. - hier geht es ebenfalls nicht weiter. Schwarz gibt immer
gerne eine Qualität, wenn er damit seine Figuren koordinieren und die
zeitweilige Initiative von Weiß am Königsflügel zerstreuen kann.}) 15... Rf6
{Only moves are easy to make. Einzige Züge spielen sich leicht.} 16. Qh7+ Kf8
17. Bh6 Rxg6 {Only moves are really easy to make... Einzige Züge spielen sich
leicht...} 18. Qxg6 ({From afar, a weak computer is heading in this direction,
thinking White will be up a queen for just 2 minor pieces, but upon closer
examination White is just dead lost here. Aus weiter Ferne strebt ein
schwacher Computer in diese Richtung, in der Annahme, dass der Anziehende die
Dame für nur zwei Leichtfiguren erobert, aber bei genauerer Prüfung steht
Weiß hier einfach komplett auf Verlust.} 18. Qh8+ Kf7 19. Qxd8 Rxg2+ 20. Kh1
Rg6 21. Qxc7 Bxh6 {followed by ...Bb7 and bringing the other rook into attack,
when some sort of a mate is unstoppable. One way is ...Rh8/...Bf4, another is .
..Rag8/....Nd3, basically white king is helpless. nebst ...Lb7 und Einschalten
des anderen Turms in den Angriff, wonach irgendeine Art von Matt unvermeidlich
ist. Ein Weg wäre ...Th8/...Lf4, ein anderer ...Tag8/....Sd3, der weiße
König ist im Grunde hilflos.}) 18... Bxh6 19. Qxh6+ Ke8 {Again, only move.
There was quite a funny moment here - my opponent seemed surprised to see this
move and made a very confused face. My advice to aspiring players: body
language can be a powerful weapon, but for the full effect it has to come
along with the position on the board. Here, the position on the board is
winning for Black, as the king will sit safe on d7 and Black's 2 pieces are
worth much more than the rook and a pawn. One of White's many problems is that
his passed pawns are in front of his king, so pushing them forward is not
really an option. Wieder der einzige Zug. Hier gab es einen ziemlich witzigen
Moment - mein Gegner schien überrascht, diesen Zug zu sehen, und machte ein
ziemlich verwirrtes Gesicht. Mein Ratschlag an aufstrebende Spieler:
Körpersprache kann eine kraftvolle Waffe sein, aber um die volle Wirkung zu
erzielen, muss sie mit der Stellung auf dem Brett einhergehen. Hier ist die
Stellung auf dem Brett gewonnen für Schwarz, denn der König wird auf d7
sicher stehen, und die zwei schwarzen Leichtfiguren sind wesentlich wertvoller
als Turm + Bauer. Eines der vielen Probleme für Weiß ist, dass seine
Freibauern vor dem eigenen König stehen, sodass es nicht wirklich in Frage
kommt, sie vorzustoßen.} 20. b4 Na4 21. Na3 $5 {A creative way to get the
knight into the game, but it doesn't change the assessment of the position
very much. Ein kreativer Weg, den Springer ins Spiel zu bringen, aber an der
Einschätzung der Stellung ändert es nicht viel.} Kd7 (21... Nxc3 22. Qh8+ {
is a nice double attack. ist ein schöner Doppelangriff.}) 22. c4 bxc4 23. Nxc4
Ba6 24. Rac1 Nb6 {I also considered 24...Qh8 and then try to send a knight to
c3 via d5 or b5, but finally decided on the simple solution. Trading off
White's last light piece is efficient. Ich erwog auch 24...Dh8, um
anschließend zu versuchen, einen Springer über d5 oder b5 nach c3 zu
schicken, entschied mich aber letztlich für die einfache Lösung. der
Abtausch der letzten weißen Leichtfigur ist effizient.} 25. Nxb6+ axb6 26.
Rfe1 Bb7 {A small gamble. I felt objectively I should have played 26...Qg8,
but as 27.Rxc7+ is clearly losing anyway, I decided to allow it. Ein kleines
Risiko. Ich fühlte, dass ich objektiv hätte 26...Dg8 spielen sollen, aber da
27.Txc7+ auf jeden Fall klar verliert, beschloss ich, es zuzulassen.} 27. Qe3 {
27.Rxc7+ was the last chance to keep the game going. Now once I stabilize, the
position improves itself very swiftly. 27.Txc7+ war die letzte Chance, die
Partie in Gang zu halten. Jetzt, nachdem ich mich erst einmal stabilisiere,
verbessert sich die Stellung sehr schnell von selbst.} (27. Rxc7+ Kxc7 28. Qxe6
{This is clearly not the fun kind of piece sacrifice, but there can be some
miracles once the queens come off and if Black gets careless allowing White to
push his kingside pawns. Dies ist natürlich nicht die Art von Figurenopfer,
die Spaß macht, aber es kann ein paar Wunder geben, falls die Damen vom Brett
verschwinden und Schwarz so unvorsichtig ist, Weiß das Vorstoßen seiner
Königsflügelbauern zu erlauben.} Qd7 $5 29. Qxe7 Rg8 $5 {is one decent way
of killing White's hope, when after ist eine gute Methode, die Hoffnung von
Weiß zu zerstören, worauf nach} 30. g3 {it's clear the dreams of pushing the
kingside are not going to become a reality. The way to push the pawns would be
h4-f3-h5 when Black is unable to blockade the pawns by his bishop, but here he
wasn't in time as f3 would be met with ...Bxf3. klar ist, dass die Träume,
den Königsflügel vorzustoßen, nicht Wirklichkeit werden. Die richtige
Vorgehensweise wäre h4-f3-h5, wonach Schwarz die Bauern nicht mit seinem
Läufer blockieren könnte, aber hier wird daraus nichts, da f3 mit ...Lxf3
beantwortet würde.} Bc6) 27... b5 28. a3 Bd5 {Blocking the c-file with
Bd5-Bc4 is nicely depressing. White is really helpless. Das Blockieren der
c-Linie mit Ld5-Lc4 ist schön deprimierend. Weiß ist wirklich hilflos.} 29.
Rc3 Qg8 30. Qh3 Qg7 {The queen joins in nicely via this diagonal. Die Dame
greift schön über diese Diagonale ins Geschehen ein.} 31. Rec1 Bc4 32. Re1
Qd4 {Centralization is always good. Zentralisierung ist immer gut.} 33. Rf3 Qd2
{On top of having a lost position in general, White now also gets one of his
rooks trapped. Nicht nur, dass Weiß generell eine verlorene Stellung hat,
jetzt wird auch noch einer seiner Türme gefangen.} 34. Rb1 Nd5 35. Qg3 Be2 36.
Rfb3 Bd1 {This move was easy to find, once it was all over the news after
Levon didn't finish off his masterpiece against Mamedyarov (check that one out,
a brilliant game, no kidding!). Dieser Zug war leicht zu finden, nachdem es
zuvor die Runde gemacht hatte, dass Levon sein Meisterwerk gegen Mamedyarov
nicht vollenden konnte (unbedingt anschauen, eine brillante Partie, im Ernst!).
} 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D83"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Rc1 Be6 {At some point
this has become trendy and it has quickly established itself as the main line
against White's Bf4/Rc1 setups.} 7. c5 {The most principled. The pawn push is
justified by the fact that Black has misplaced his c8 bishop for this
structure. On e6 it disturbs the thematic e7-e5 advance.} (7. Qb3 c5 8. Qxb7 {
Here Black gets excellent play with} Qb6 $1 {but it's important to not include
cxd4 exd4 as my opponent once did against Aronian in Wijk aan Zee, as the c1
rook is going to be protected there.} (8... cxd4 9. exd4 {[%cal Gf4c1]} Qb6 10.
Qxa8 $1)) 7... c6 8. Bd3 b6 9. Na4 {This is a new move, previously White has
only tried the more natural way to reinforce the far advanced c5 pawn with
b2-b4.} Nfd7 {Black has too many alternatives to even mention.} 10. h3 {
I had various options here, but finally settled on this move. I had also
considered queen moves Qd2/Qc2 when I wasn't sure how to evaluate the sequence
10...Bg4!? 11.h3 e5! 12.dxe5 Be6. The moves with the g1 knight would also run
into ...Bg4!? and so I was mainly hesitating between h3 and a3, when after
both Black would probably capture on c5 and then try to develop his b8 knight
and push c5.} bxc5 11. Nxc5 Nxc5 12. Rxc5 Qb6 13. Qc2 Rc8 14. Nf3 Nd7 {I must
confess I underestimated the whole 17...Nc5!? idea and was anticipating mainly
14...Na6.} (14... Na6 15. Bxa6 Qxa6 16. b4 ({or the simple} 16. a3 $5 Bf5 17.
Qc3) 16... Bf5 17. Qc3 {the dark square dominance looks good and Be4xf3 I was
not so much worried about, as eventually my king will sit tight on g2.}) 15.
Rc3 c5 16. O-O (16. b3 {deserved attention, but I still wasn't sure if 17...
Nc5, which my opponent later played, was so great for him.} Nf6 17. O-O cxd4
18. Nxd4 Ne4 {also leads to complications where Black should eventually be
fine.}) 16... c4 17. b3 Nc5 $1 {I sort of saw this move from some point
onwards, but I thought one of the many options I have would give me a pleasant
position. Upon a closer look, I dismissed all of them and had come to the
realization that Black is just fine.} ({Before I noticed the move in the game
I was mainly anticipating} 17... cxd3 18. Rxc8+ Nf8 19. Rxf8+ Bxf8 20. Qxd3 Rc8
{with some compensation for the pawn, but obviously such a scenario didn't
worry me much. It is a pawn after all.}) 18. bxc4 (18. dxc5 cxd3 19. cxb6 dxc2
{works just fine for Black.}) 18... Nxd3 19. c5 {I wasn't too optimistic here,
but White should not be worse and at least I would have some trumps in the
arising position.} ({Originally I thought the simple} 19. Qxd3 {with idea 19...
dxc4 20.Qc2 would give me a pleasant position, which is likely the case, but
then I realized that trading a pair of rooks will change the situation
dramatically -} Rxc4 $1 {and here allowing a passed c-pawn is no longer a good
idea and so the position is just equal.}) 19... Nxc5 20. dxc5 Qa5 {I was
mostly expecting 20...Qb4 and turns out 20...Qd8!? was a serious move too.} (
20... Qb4 21. Nd4 Bxd4 22. exd4 Qxd4 23. Be3 Qe4 24. Qd2 {was my plan when I
thought White has fine compensation for the pawn. The passer combined with
some weak dark squares around black king seemed like a good reason for a
reserved optimism.}) (20... Qd8 $5 21. Nd4 Bxh3 $1 22. gxh3 e5 23. Bxe5 Bxe5 {
and likely some Qg5-Qh5 perp is incoming.}) 21. Nd4 Bd7 $1 {cool move,
originally I thought my opponent would play the hasty Bf5.} (21... Bf5 22. Nxf5
gxf5 23. Rb3 Rxc5 24. Qxf5 Qxa2 25. Rb7 {Here I thought I have excellent
compensation for the pawn, but to be frank I didn't realize how good it was,
as the engine gives a +/- here.} Qc2 26. Qd7 $1) 22. c6 Be8 23. Rc5 {Pretty
much a bailout. I knew my opponent had to win in order to win the tournament,
so I had little doubts this was the right thing to do.} ({I could have played
more ambitiously with} 23. Bg3 e5 24. Nb3 {but I felt with both the knight on
b3 and the bishop on g3 being somewhat passive, I am risking to have my c7
pawn surrounded. It is, however, rea-aa-lly far advanced, so who knows.
According to the engine, the position would still be more or less balanced,
but regardless, it's a total mess.}) 23... Qa6 24. Rxd5 Bxc6 25. Nxc6 Rxc6 26.
Qd2 {The position is pretty equal, but as we still have to make some moves,
mine are slightly easier to make.} Bc3 $6 {A blunder, but fortunately for
Black, the material is so limited, he is still much within the drawing margin.}
(26... h5 $1 {would be easier, with a complete equality.}) 27. Rd8+ $1 Rxd8 (
27... Kg7 28. Be5+ $1 {is the key cheapo that Black must have missed.}) 28.
Qxd8+ Kg7 29. Qxe7 Bf6 $5 {A cool way to defend. The 4 vs 3 endgame on one
wing is a well known draw.} (29... Qxa2 30. Be5+ Bxe5 31. Qxe5+ f6 {is
slightly icky for Black. What Ian does in the game is a classy solution.}) 30.
Be5 Qxa2 31. Ra1 Qe6 32. Bxf6+ Qxf6 33. Qxa7 Rc2 34. Rf1 h5 35. Qb7 Rb2 36. Qd5
Re2 {There is no real way for white to make progress without trading queens,
so I decided while doing it, to at least offer the non-standard 4 vs 3, when
perhaps it is slightly less obvious for Black how to defend. However, as I
realized later, it wasn't a particularly challenging version of a 4 vs 3
either.} 37. Qf3 $5 Qxf3 38. gxf3 Ra2 39. Rd1 Ra5 40. Kg2 Rg5+ 41. Kh2 Rf5 42.
f4 Ra5 43. Kg3 Ra2 44. Rd5 f5 {I should have probably not allowed this and
started with e4 earlier somewhere. Anyway, the margin for a draw in this
endgame is enormous.} 45. Kf3 Kf6 46. Rd6+ Kg7 47. Rd1 Kf6 48. Re1 Rb2 49. Re2
Rb1 50. Kg3 Rg1+ 51. Kh2 Ra1 52. Rb2 Rc1 53. Ra2 Rb1 54. Kg2 Re1 55. Rb2 Kg7
56. Kf3 Kf6 57. Re2 Rg1 58. Rd2 {I got in a clumsy situation once Black stops
me from even pushing f3-e4. Here Black can just wait endlessly with rook on g1
and only after Ke2 go Rh1. However, allowing f3 is obviously also fine.} Re1
59. Kg2 Kg7 60. Ra2 Kf6 61. Ra3 Kf7 62. f3 Re2+ (62... h4 {is much easier. No
way White can ever do anything here. In fact Black could safely push h4 even
earlier, because even if I pick it up with my rook, the rook will be stuck on
h4 after Kg7.}) 63. Kg3 Kf6 64. Kh4 Re1 (64... Rf2 {was the easiest:} 65. Ra6+
Kg7 66. Kg3 Re2 67. Re6 Kf7 68. Re5 Kf6 {and it's an easy draw.}) 65. Ra6+ Kf7
(65... Kg7 {is much easier too.} 66. e4 fxe4 67. fxe4 {Here Black can try to
be subtle or just go} Rxe4 $5 68. Kg5 Kh7 $1 ({or} 68... Re3 $5 69. Rxg6+ Kf7
70. Rf6+ Ke7) 69. Ra7+ Kg8 {when White can't make any progress:} 70. Kxg6 Rxf4
71. Ra8+ Rf8) 66. Kg5 {Actually, while I realized full well that this should
still be a draw, I was absolutely shocked to get this far. Now the king comes
in and Black needs to calculate a little bit.} Rg1+ 67. Kh6 Rg3 68. Ra7+ Kf6
69. e4 Rxf3 (69... fxe4 70. fxe4 Rxh3 {This is a draw, but not too obvious -}
71. e5+ $1 (71. Ra6+ Kf7 72. Rxg6 Rh4) 71... Kf5 $1 72. Rf7+ Kg4 $1 73. Kxg6
Re3 $1) 70. e5+ Ke6 71. Ra6+ Ke7 72. Ra4 {This is actually a great attempt,
because White's only chance is to keep both his f4 and e5 pawns alive. Black
has to now calm down and start thinking clearly, because the situation is
becoming critical.} Rg3 $4 {The black rook had to keep an eye on the f4 pawn,
and defending g6 had to be done by the king.} 73. Ra7+ Ke6 74. Ra6+ Kf7 75.
Rf6+ Ke7 76. Rxg6 Rxh3 (76... h4 {was a better defense, but actually it is
totally lost too, for example} 77. Ra6 Rxh3 78. Kg5 {and the two passers will
decide, as the h-pawn will be controlled by White's rook from behind.}) 77. Kg5
{A confusing end!} 1-0

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "Ekaterinburg"]
[Date "2021.04.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Wang, Hao"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2763"]
[BlackElo "2762"]
[Annotator "Giri, Anish"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2020.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 202"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2021.05.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.05.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,77,13,19,27,-16,-10,-16,-3,-37,-10,3,14,9,20,-24,-9,-5,-5,4,1,5,5,1,1,
1,20,30,18,18,19,19,16,21,22,12,50,35,38,39,39,37,54,41,60,34,39,34,47,33,33,
15,26,36,26,12,44,43,59,19,50,41,42,62,29,-4,5,5,-9,17,217,228,228,217,238,146,
229,217,414,532]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 {Wang Hao is very
solid against all the openings, and the Catalan wasn't an exception. This is
the classical system, where Black chooses to stay a little passive, but it is
incredibly solid and robust, the favourite of Vladimir Kramnik.} 5. Bg2 O-O 6.
O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 {In the past the theoretical debate was mainly
revolving around the position after 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2!, but by now
Black has solved his opening problems there as well and for the past few years,
people started returning more and more to this sideline, which by now is
probably the mainline. With a4 White stops the b7-b5 push, but does weaken the
b4 square and loses some time.} Bd7 {The problem for Black in this line is his
c8 bishop and now that b5 has been hindered, solving the development problem
this way is the most common option.} 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 {The idea is that the
natural 10. Nc3 is met with b5!-b4!, so White usually develops the bishop
first. Alternatively, 10.Bg5 is also a major move, that I had surely tried a
bunch of times as well.} Bd6 {Old theory used to be 10...a5 followed by Na6,
but the move Hao played is the trendiest. Black hints at trading the bishops.}
11. Nc3 {Previously I followed the main paths and used to address the issue of
Bxf4, either with 11.Bg5 or the cunning 11.Qc1!?, which was a new idea I had
many years ago, that by now has been played in hundreds of games. Both of
these options remain critical, but for this game, I wanted to try the somewhat
rare move, hoping to catch Hao slightly off guard. Indeed, he started taking
some time.} Bxf4 {Principled.} 12. gxf4 a5 {Black is often choosing in this
system between a5-Na6 and Nbd7 development. Each has its pros and cons, but
sticking the knight on the weak b4 square is definitely tempting.} 13. e3 Na6
14. Ne5 {Offering another trade of bishops. So far this has all been played,
though the highest rated encounter So-Navara saw Wesley not trade the bishops
yet and go for Kh1 Rg1 first.} Bxg2 15. Kxg2 c6 {Five of the six games in the
database saw Nb4 first, which was also what I expected. Hao keeps the knight
on a6 and retains the option of challenging the center with c5. I had studied
this position enough, to know that c5 break often doesn't solve all the
problems here, as the weakness of b5 square will be felt and the knight on e5
becomes only more powerful, once the d-file gets opened.} 16. h3 {Usually
White was going for Kh1 Rg1 plan here. This subtle move allows the option of
Kh2 instead, which is ever so slightly different.} Qb6 {Clearly hinting at c5.
Fine by me.} 17. Qe2 {really not resisting the c5 plan, which I felt was
mistimed here.} c5 18. Rfd1 {This decision and a few subsequent ones, took me
a long time. I assumed that I am just better even if nothing special happens
and we just trade the c-pawn for d-pawn and my pieces enjoy all the standard
squares. However, it was hard to tell how much it was and at the same time the
forcing option of Qb5!? now and two moves later was incredibly tempting.} (18.
Qb5 Qxb5 19. axb5 {taking with the knight leads to a slightly better endgame,
but then I probably rather keep the queens on.} cxd4 20. bxa6 dxc3 21. axb7
Rab8 22. bxc3 Rxb7 23. Rxa5 {At first I thought this was good enough, but as I
started digging a bit deeper I realized that Black will easily hold-} Ne4 $1
24. c4 {and now both Rc8 followed by f6, as well as Rb2!? seemed good enough
to eventually hold. I couldn't afford to give my opponent such an easy life,
being in a must win situation.}) 18... cxd4 {Logical, as the natural 18...Rfd8
would now be met with 19.Qb5! when the trade here is just losing for Black.
However, the computer points out that it was not the end of the world and 18...
Rfd8! 19.Qb5 Qc7! was a better attempt to keep White's advantage minimal.} 19.
Rxd4 Rad8 20. Rxd8 $5 {Another very heavy decision. Here 20.Qb5 seemed even
more tempting, but again I decided to avoid simplifying, even though I
believed it would give me a better endgame.} (20. Rad1 {is the simplest option,
but then after} Rxd4 21. Rxd4 Nc7 $1 {I wasn't sure it is that much. White is
clearly better in general, thanks to the excellent knight on e5, but it is not
easy to get something tangible going.}) (20. Qb5 $5 {I spent loads of time on
this one.} Qxb5 21. axb5 Rxd4 22. exd4 Nc7 $1 {the right square.} 23. Rxa5 {
here I considered two options.} Ra8 $1 {Black uses the fact that White's pawn
structure is shattered and goes for an acceptable knight endgame.} (23... b6
24. Ra7 Nfd5 25. Nxd5 Nxd5 {at first this seemed solid for Black, but then I
realized that White has huge winning chances. I calculated the simple 26.Rb7,
but the fancy 26.f5! looks even stronger.}) 24. Rxa8+ Nxa8 25. Nc4 {I honestly
didn't see how exactly Black is going to hold this, as b6 looked like a threat
and 25...b6? would be met by 26.f5! exf5 27.d5!, but my intuition didn't
betray me. Black does hold.} Kf8 $1 {and apparently b6 is not such a big deal.
The pawn is very weak there and the fact that the knight is temporarily locked
in the corner is more of an aesthetic issue, than a real one.}) 20... Qxd8 $1 {
Hao stays afloat. The natural 20...Rxd8 allows 21.Qb5 and the a5 pawn may
suddenly fall.} (20... Rxd8 21. Qb5 Qc7 22. Nc4 $1 {There is actually no way
to save the a5 pawn.}) 21. Rd1 Qa8 $5 {Odd, but really not bad. The queen is
okay there, and does a fine job defending the queenside pawn weaknesses. Also,
right now there is an x-ray to the king on g2.} 22. Kg1 {I was very proud of
this move, as compared to the natural 22.Kh2, the f2 pawn is protected, which
may come in handy once things get concrete, and the Black knight appears on e4
or Black queen on d2.} (22. Qb5 Nc7 $1 {was a bummer, as the White queen has
no attractive square to go to.}) 22... Nb4 {I have to say somewhere around
here I started wondering where my advantage is and if I have any left at all.
I slightly regretted not having gone for Qb5 on move 20.} 23. Qb5 {I had high
hopes for my queen here, but as Black guards the a5 and b7 pawn firmly, I
didn't exactly see how to add more pressure and gain something tangible.} Nbd5
24. Nxd5 Nxd5 25. Rc1 {The -sort of- original intention was 25.Nc4, but by now
I had long realized that 25.Nc4 b6! solves Black's problems. Without much
enthusiasm I decided to just continue making moves.} (25. Nc4 b6 $1 26. Nxb6
Nxb6 27. Qxb6 Rb8 {Alternatively, Rc8! was also a fine option, apparently.} 28.
Qc7 Rc8 {chasing the queen first, as not to allow Rd7.} 29. Qd7 h6 {I didn't
see any realistic winning chances here at all. White king is too weak and the
extra pawn on the queenside too insignificant, as the majority can't get going,
with a5 pawn controlling both my pawns.}) 25... h6 {fine move. In hindsight,
though, maybe 25...Rd8 would be a good option as well, stopping Qd7 altogether.
I was hoping for b6, when I could offer a queen trade with Qc6 at some point
and aim for a better endgame, but there is no reason for Black to do that
voluntarily, without White attacking the a5 pawn.} 26. Qd7 $5 {I didn't see if
I have anything more than a move repetition, but there were some tricks, so I
decided to try and send my queen in.} Nf6 (26... Nb6 {was also not an easy
solution-} 27. Qd6 Qd8 $1 28. Nxf7 $5 {this looks like a winning tactic, but
the line continues-} Kxf7 29. Rc7+ Kg8 30. Qxb6 Rf7 $1 {provoking Rxb7 first.}
31. Rxb7 Qd1+ 32. Kh2 Qf3 {and White can't avoid a perpetual.}) 27. Qd6 $1 {
Obviously not repeating with 27.Qe7 Nd5. Here I thought Black was still
completely fine, but as Hao started to think more and more, I realized that
suddenly he is under quite some pressure again.} g6 $4 {One question mark for
the strength of the move and another for the time my opponent spent making it.
Black weakens the kingside tremendously and left himself with final seconds on
the clock.} (27... Nd5 {was the move I expected at first, but I was missing a
strong resource for myself.} 28. f5 $1 Rd8 29. Nd7 $1 {the knight does a great
job here, blocking the rook and Black has nothing better but to go for passive
defense with 29...Re8.}) (27... Qe8 $1 {was the way to go.} 28. b3 b5 29. Qc6 {
I would have gone for the endgame by now, but it is really not much.} bxa4 30.
Qxe8 Rxe8 31. bxa4 Nd5 {Black is solid, intending Ra8-Ra7 next, guarding the
a5 pawn if needed. Black should eventually hold, with accurate play in this
slightly lightly worse endgame.}) 28. b3 $1 {I actually didn't see a good move
for either of us and decided to just make a waiting one, not realizing how
huge my advantage has suddenly become.} h5 {Black is running out of moves.} 29.
Kh2 $1 {Another good one. As Ne4-xf2 is not possible, this is an excellent
waiting move, not to mention some Rg1 ideas.} Kg7 {The game has clearly turned
heavily in my favour, not only does White has a bunch of attractive options,
but also Hao was playing on the increment here and was barely in time to
complete his moves. Still, he was completing them and to win the game, I had
to pose him some real question.} 30. Qd4 {I decided to setup a nasty pin.} (30.
Qb6 $1 {would be a forced win, though I have to say I didn't really consider
gifting Black Nd5 for free.} Nd5 31. Qd4 $1 {turns out Black is facing
concrete issues. 20...f6 is met with 21.Nd7! and if 21...Rd8 then 22.Nxf6!
wins, followed by 23.Rc7, while if 20...Kh7, then 21.e4! cracks the position,
kicking the knight away from d5 and intending Rc7 next.}) 30... Rd8 31. Qb2 Qb8
{My original intention here was some Nf3-Ng5 rerouting, trying to use the pin,
but then I spotted the idea of 32.b4 followed by a very elegant rook lift and
didn't hesitate for a second. Objectively, though, it was a big mistake, as it
allows Black a miraculous escape, that he fortunately was unable to find on
seconds.} 32. b4 $2 (32. Qc3 $1 {was the winning move. I have to say I didn't
really consider going after a pawn this way, as I thought the queen is one
piece I shouldn't be improving, as it already does a great job paralyzing the
f6 knight.} Nd5 33. Qxa5 {Black has no compensation for the pawn at all.} f6
34. Nf3 g5 {doesn't work-} 35. Qc5 $1 {the strongest. gxf4 can always be met
with e4.}) 32... axb4 33. Rc4 b3 $2 {Typical, actually. Dropping to the very
final seconds and not seeing a defense, Black decided to postpone a decision
for one more move.} (33... Rd1 $1 {Obviously I saw the ideas of Black trying
to setup some counterattack, but I was convinced they weren't working. Wrongly
so, as Black has a beautiful draw here down the mainline.} 34. Rxb4 {This was
obviously the plan.} Qd8 35. Rxb7 Qd5 {Setting up a couple of checks ...} 36.
Rxf7+ Kh6 37. Rxf6 {I don't know if Hao saw this far, but even if he did, he
had to see further-} Rh1+ $1 38. Kg3 Rxh3+ $3 39. Kxh3 Qh1+ 40. Kg3 h4+ $1 41.
Kg4 Qg2+ {and it's a perpetual. Not too hard, as all the moves were checks,
but you do have to see it all the way in advance and one way or the other, we
both obviously missed it.}) 34. Rb4 {Still, a defense has to be calculated.}
Qa7 $2 {Hao must have missed the resource after 34...Qd6 35.Rxb7, because this
is just losing.} (34... Qd6 $1 {here White would have to take with the queen
on b3.} 35. Qxb3 $1 (35. Rxb7 Qd2 $1 {I might have missed this one and the
fact that the rook can't return in time.} 36. Rxf7+ Kg8 37. Qxd2 Rxd2 38. Rxf6
Rxf2+ $1 {forcing the king to the g-file, blocking Rxg6-Rg1 return.} 39. Kg3 b2
{and Black queens and holds.}) 35... Qd2 36. Kg2 $1 {and White keeps a large
advantage, but the game goes on.}) (34... Rd1 {no longer works here.} 35. Qxb3
$1 {and Rxb7 next.}) 35. Rxb3 Qxa4 36. Rxb7 Qe8 37. Ra7 $1 {It's an
interesting question whether the position after 37.Rxf7 is a fortress and
since most likely it's not, how easy it is to win it. Not a relevant question
though, as White has a few more straightforward wins. 37.e4 looked great as
well.} Rd5 {There was no defense. I was mainly hoping for 37...Rb8 38.Qc2!
winning on the spot, due to two threats- Rxf7 and also Qxg6!. This move loses
as well.} 38. Qb7 {Black can't even give up an exchange here, as after 38...
Rxe5 39.fxe5 he will lose more material with Ra8 incoming.} Ne4 39. Nxf7 {
An important victory.} 1-0

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "Ekaterinburg"]
[Date "2021.04.23"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C85"]
[WhiteElo "2763"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[Annotator "Giri, Anish"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2020.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 202"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2021.05.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.05.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,57,80,23,42,26,56,20,-9,-25,-26,-95,-27,-60,-29,-36,14,-29,-7,-3,-3,
-27,-1,-62,1,-42,15,-16,22,-29,-8,-3,28,-21,61,30,86,72,68,57,124,102,104,94,
79,72,125,-44,-39,-116,-116,-182,-108,-108,21,6,172,172,233,246]} 1. e4 e5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 $5 {As Ding Liren confessed
after the game, he never took this line seriously. This is a very common way
of preparing against a well prepared opponent these days. You pick a line that
is so dumb, that the opponent just didn't bother taking a good look at it.}
dxc6 7. d3 {We have an interesting version of a very topical 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6
variation in the Berlin defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6). If Black puts
the bishop on d6 it can transpose, but here he has an extra move a7-a6 that is
a tiny nuance that could very slightly change some of the things down the line
to the tiniest of the extents.} Bd6 {I mostly anticipated 7... Nd7 here, as
this was the setup that I saw Ding succesfuly employ. After some thought, he
decided to slightly surprise me.} 8. Nbd2 Be6 {This is a big tabia of the
aforementioned Anti-Berlin line, but now with the move a6. Hard to imagine
that this would be really harmful for Black, but I was curious as to how well
Ding knows these positions, as even in the Anti-Berlin, he was going only for
the Nd7 setups.} 9. Nb3 $1 $146 {A strong novelty! Just kidding, with the pawn
on a7 this idea has been played recently by Dominguez against Aronian and MVL
against So. The point is to open the c1 bishop and sometimes hit the b7 pawn
with Na5, which may be awkward to meet.} Qe7 $5 {Even more hilarious is that
after 9...a5 we are directly transposing to Dominguez-Aronian. Ding decides to
go for the long castle, which is very critical as well, though obviously risky.
} 10. Na5 O-O-O {Also possible was Rb8, but Ding goes for it.} 11. Qe2 {
I have to be frank, that while I did have a large portion of my analysis
devoted to this position, I thought it was so unlikely to happen in this
particular game that I had to start improvising quite early on. Already here,
I am not sure this was the best move, as perhaps it made more sense to start
pushing the queenside pawns. Still, most likely the move I made is useful
anyway.} Bg4 {Interesting decision. I was expecting the simple h6-g5 plan, but
this is certainly also logical. Black wants to go for Bg4 Nd7 setup and annoy
me with the pin.} 12. c3 {Alternatively, White could go for a3-b4 or even Rb1
first.} c5 {This, followed by c6 surprised and confused me.} 13. a3 (13. b4 $5
{feels more dynamic and perhaps was more practical-} cxb4 14. Rb1 {not
spending any time on the move a3 at all.}) 13... c6 {Creative. I expected
Black to go for Nd7, but he spends two tempi, to safeguard his own king a
little first, before going for kingside play.} 14. b4 Bc7 15. Nb3 {This and
the next few moves weren't the best. I was somewhat confused and missed a few
good resources by Black at this stage. Returning to c4 was probably better.}
Nd7 16. h3 Bh5 {here I already realized that f5 is coming and things aren't
going according to the plan. Still, I didn't have to fall right into it.} 17.
Be3 $6 {I saw 17...c4!? 18.dxc4 f5! and I didn't really like it for White, but
I also thought that I don't really have a better option. In fact I did and
keeping the bishop away from the f5-f4 avalanche was not a bad idea. 17.Rb1
would have been quite useful and the complications after 17...c4 18.dxc4 f5 19.
exf5 e4 20.g4 acceptable and also the prophylactical 17.Re1! was clever,
keeping control of the e4 square and preventing this c4-f5 operation
altogether.} (17. Re1 Qe6 18. Rb1 {and now c4 dxc5 f5, cxb axb f5 or the
direct f5, all give Black excellent play, but White is not worse in the
complications either.}) 17... f5 $1 {I didn't see this coming, as 17...c4!
first was strong enough to bother me as well, but it didn't take me very long
to realize that this is bad news as well.} (17... c4 $5 18. dxc4 f5 $1 {
here I was very bothered, but planned the following-} 19. Nc5 f4 20. Nxd7 Rxd7
{if fxe3 White can just return with Nc5 and should be okay.} 21. Ba7 $1 {
and while White is not doing great, the fight goes on.}) 18. Bxc5 Qf7 19. Rab1
{I didn't like my position and was only dreaming that one day the rook on b1
will be activated if the b-file is ever to come open. Alternatives were also
sad. Black clearly has more than enough for his pawn and can easily regain it
in most lines, thanks to the pressure along the f-file.} g5 $5 {Very ambitious.
I expected simplifications, which would lead to a comfortable endgame for
Black. That said, I can understand Ding was getting more ambitious than that,
at this point and in a way, he had his right.} (19... fxe4 20. Qxe4 $1 {
the better of the two options. Here I expected Black to trade everything and
be on the comfortable side of a drawish endgame, but it is also possible to
play for more as Black.} (20. dxe4 {is just really sad.} Nxc5 21. Nxc5 Rhf8 {
and while it's not lost, it is definitely much worse for White and unpleasant
too.}) 20... Nf6 $5 {possibly the strongest of the options.} (20... Bg6 {
is well met with} 21. Ng5 $1 Qf6 22. Qe3 b6 {and here is the first time we see
a sacrifice, similar to the one that I had eventually made in the game.} 23.
Ne4 $1 Bxe4 24. Qxe4 bxc5 25. bxc5 {with some practical compensation for the
piece.}) (20... Bxf3 {this is the endgame-} 21. Qxf3 Qxf3 22. gxf3 Nxc5 23.
Nxc5 Bb6 {and here I wasn't sure what is the cleanest way to hold, but no
doubt I would realize it is} 24. Rfe1 {with a drawish rook endgame to ensue.})
21. Qf5+ Qd7 22. Qxd7+ Rxd7 23. d4 {and now after} Bxf3 24. gxf3 e4 {Despite
being a pawn down Black is clearly better. White is uncoordinated has a poor
pawn structure on the kingside and the c5 bishop is in some trouble.}) 20. exf5
g4 $2 {Natural, but Ding overlooks a strong reply here.} (20... Qxf5 {was
simple and stronger. Black is still in full control here.} 21. Qe4 {I was
counting on this one, but Black can just take a step back.} Qf6 22. Nfd2 {
the issue of the pin is solved, but Black still has all the potential for a
powerful kingside initiative.} Bg6 23. Qe2 g4 $5 {opening up files on the
kingside. Black's initiative against the king is just faster, though the game
is still very much messy and ongoing.}) 21. Ng5 $1 {Strong sequence that Ding
missed.} Qxf5 22. h4 $1 {An important move. Now the kingside is suddenly
closed, White king is safe again and the knight will enjoy the e4 square. The
concrete lines work out for White and Ding soon realized that things have
turned around.} b6 {Played after a very long think. The natural 22...Nf6 fails
to 23.Be7!, another tempting move 22...e4 is met with 23.Qxe4! when the Black
queen has no good retreat. With all that in mind, Ding understandably makes a
desperate move, weakening his queenside for no apparent reason. Instead, Black
had to try the sophisticated 22...Qg6!?.} (22... Nf6 23. Be7 g3 {here it's
important to play the calm} 24. Qe1 $1 {and Black is losing material,
especially as Bb6 can always be met with Nc5.}) (22... e4 23. Qxe4 $1) (22...
Qg6 $5 {here Black keeps decent practical chances for the pawn and his
position is not too bad.} 23. Ne4 (23. g3 $5 e4 $5 {now with the inclusion of
Qg6 g3 it is more interesting for Black, especially that Qxe4 can be met with
Rhe8!, with counterplay in the endgame.}) 23... g3 {Black gets to open the
g-file and has some compensation for the pawn. The c7 bishop is sad, but at
this point, Black can't have it all.}) 23. Ne4 $5 {This move was praised so
much that it is hard for me to give it a question mark, which according to the
computer it fully deserves. The simple retreat 23.Be3 was winning, though it
seemed not so clear to me during the game.} (23. Be3 $1 Nf6 24. d4 b5 {I
thought Black for now slows down White's queenside play and at the same time,
his bishops are about to come alive, but the engine upon some thought gives
White a winning advantage here.} 25. Nc5 g3 26. Qe1 {and it seems Black
doesn't really have a follow up, while the king on c8 is not going to be safe
forever, with the knight on c5 and the possibility of a4 and the opening of
the a-file.}) 23... bxc5 $2 {This justifies my previous move fully, which led
many to believe it was great.} (23... g3 $1 {Black had to ignore the gift and
focus on opening the g-file for what it's worth.} 24. Qb2 gxf2+ 25. Rxf2 Qg4 {
Black is very much in the game. White doesn't have a clear follow up on the
queenside, while the open g-file, although doesn't bring anything concrete yet
either, is still an asset for Black. The engine evaluates the position as
slightly better for White.}) 24. bxc5 {Now White will be the one having all
the fun and I was fortunate that it was also objectively as good as it looked.}
Nf6 (24... Nb8 {was the move I was anticipating.} 25. Qb2 Kd7 26. Nbd2 {
is a beautiful regroup. The heavy pieces are ready to penetrate from the
b-file, and the second knight joins the attack via c4 as well. Black's problem
is that fleeing to the center of the board, or even the kingside, doesn't
quite help, as there is no safe shelter for the king there either (in theory
it may be safe on h8, but that's just too far and the king will never get
there).} Ke7 27. Nc4) 25. Nd6+ $1 {Opens more files and squares, all with
tempo.} Bxd6 26. cxd6 Rxd6 27. d4 $1 {I was considering Nc5 first, but this is
a better order, as 27.Nc5 Nd7! 28.d4 Nxc5 followed by Rd3 slows White down
immensely.} c5 {Not helping at all, but there was just no defense at this
point.} 28. Nxc5 Re8 29. Qc4 {the knockout blow. I received much more praise
for this game than I deserved, but it was still very nice.} 1-0

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "Ekaterinburg"]
[Date "2021.04.24"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[Annotator "Giri, Anish"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2020.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 202"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2021.05.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.05.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,90,58,17,67,80,113,62,64,77,83,67,18,37,58,75,58,63,57,14,29,36,52,50,
53,29,46,29,44,19,45,18,86,49,75,59,40,69,24,1,31,8,80,32,41,25,62,25,61,44,78,
48,25,40,16,2,28,6,7,-48,-20,-41,-46,-46,-39,-73,-42,-30,-30,-37,-37,-37,-8,
-90,-90,-101,-98,-185,-147,-187,-187,-310,-118,-134,-125,-257,-236,-297,-291,
-362,-231,-231,-620]} 1. e4 {Fabiano has a very versatile opening repertoire
and he has many deadly weapons, but his 1.e4 is perhaps still the most feared.}
c5 2. Nf3 e6 {I was hoping this would come as a minor surprise, as earlier in
the event I played 2. ..Nc6 and in general I played a lot of 2...d6 lately,
intending the Najdorf. That said, I was certain to expect Fabiano to have
something prepared everywhere, so the surprise value should also not be
overestimated.} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 {The Four Knights Sicilian
has been around since forever and is sometimes trendy and random points in
time. The critical variation here begins with 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5, but not all
players are feeling like getting into that mess.} 6. a3 $5 {With this move
White usually hopes to shift the focus of the game onto the middlegame. White
prevents Bb4, but Black usually gets a fine version of the Scheveningen, with
White having played a3 rather early. It is a useful move, but perhaps not
always the main priority.} Be7 {Shakhriyar played 6...Qc7 against Fabiano here,
in the Bundesliga game last year.} 7. Be3 O-O 8. Be2 d6 9. Qd3 $5 {Interesting
move, adding a modern twist to the 6.a3 system. Previously you would expect
players to castle short automatically. Curiously, two days later, when in the
last round Grischuk also played the Four Knights Sicilian against Fabiano, the
move Qd3!? came as early as move 6.} Bd7 $5 {As 9.Qd3 is one of the top moves
of the engine, I had seen it before as well and thought that this could be
clever.} 10. f4 {Natural, as long castle allows Ne5, which leads to different
kind of complications.} e5 $5 {I remembered some vague messy lines here and
was hoping that Fabiano would remember it at the very least just as vaguely.}
11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O {instead, 12.0-0-0 is met by Ng4, but 12.Rf1!? first
deserves attention. The move Fabiano chose looked very harmless, but I
realized there was some venom there too.} exf4 {I considered a5 followed by
Bc8 with idea Ba6 as well, but finally decided to go for the natural response.
That obsession to plant the knight on e5, must be the trauma that was induced
to me by all the Najdorf lately.} 13. Bxf4 Be6 $6 {I slightly misjudged things
here and the standard Najdorf idea of Be6 Nd7, rerouting the knight to e5, is
going to take quite some effort to implement.} (13... Ng4 {felt like it should
equalize too, but after} 14. Bxd6 Qb6+ 15. Kh1 Bxd6 16. Qxd6 Rad8 {even the
simple capture on g4, followed by Qg3 seemed not hundred percent fine to me
and it also felt a little sad to play such a one sided position.}) (13... Bg4
$1 {It is interesting as to why this move is so strong, because at first, one
might argue that Black's light squared bishop is the better one of the two.
That in itself being true, I think there may be other factors at play here. In
some way Black has less space and the bishop on e6 is blocking the rook's view
on the e-file potentially. Also White has to deal with some concrete issues
such as Qb6+ or d5 at the right moment. But perhaps above all, it is because
there is no other way to reroute the knight to e5 comfortably.} 14. Kh1 {
There are alternatives, but this is the most natural.} Bxe2 15. Qxe2 (15. Nxe2
d5 $1 16. e5 Ne4 {solves the opening problems.}) 15... Re8 {intending (if
allowed) Bf8 Re6, pressuring the e4 pawn and at the same time neutralizing
white's potential pressure along the f-file, which would be a good
demonstration on why it can be nice to get rid of the light squared bishops.})
14. Qg3 $1 {The queen is well placed here, still hitting the d6 pawn and also
with some Bh6 in mind, at the right moment.} Nd7 {I was only really choosing
between Nd7-Ne5 and d6-d5 ideas and the second one being far too unattractive 
(with Rad1 and Be5 and all coming up) I didn't hesitate too much here.} (14...
h5 $1 {is the engine's top choice, with idea to chase the queen away from its
ideal position on g3 and then eventually hit in the center with d5. I have to
say it really didn't occur to me, especially as one would think that pushing
kingside pawns is only further softening the king's shelter is
counterintuitive.} 15. Kh1 h4 16. Qe1 Re8 17. Rd1 Qb6 18. b3 d5 {is how the
play may have developed.}) 15. Rad1 $1 {Stronger than the natural Kh1, when
Black would be able to establish the knight on e5 directly. It turns out that
Qb6-xb2 is not a real threat} Re8 {a fine waiting move. There was no easy way
to get the knight to e5 and I had to watch out for Bh6. Alternatively I was
considering 15...Kh8!? and it is still hard for me to say which one was better.
} (15... Qb6+ {made some sense, but not with the idea of capturing the b2 pawn.
} 16. Be3 $1 Qxb2 $2 {there is something to say for 16...Qd8!, when the bishop
on e3 is worse placed than on f4, but I am not this deep.} 17. Nd5 $1 {is bad
news.} cxd5 18. Bd4 {and White wins the queen.}) 16. Kh1 Qb8 $5 {I disliked 16.
..Qb6, as after 17.b4 Ne5 white gets 18.Na4 with a tempo, but objectively it
is not clear which move was better.} 17. b4 $6 {I actually thought this was a
very challenging idea as well, but it seems it wasn't as good as we both
initially thought it was.} (17. b3 $1 {White could play it slowly. His only
issue is the knight on c3, which is dominated by the c6 pawn (a common theme
in many early middlegame positions) . Fabiano decided to solve that issue by
removing the c6 pawn altogether, but there was an alternative way.} Ne5 18. Bh5
$1 {Very strong. The bishop attacks nothing, but is merely freeing the e2
square for the knight. On d4, the knight will stand a lot better. Black is
lacking a clear plan. The problem is, it is hard to further improve the pieces
and it's unclear how to really make use of the pretty knight on e5.}) (17. Na4
{is another logical idea, sending the knight to c5.} Ne5 18. Nc5 Qxb2 {I
didn't see how White can do anything here, other than massive trades and a
draw. The queen is fine on b2.}) 17... Ne5 18. b5 {Clearing the way for the c3
knight.} Rc8 $1 {Much stronger than taking the pawn and allowing the Nxb5-Nd4
rerouting.} 19. bxc6 Rxc6 {The rook is doing a great job putting pressure on
the open c-file. White has cleared the path for the knight, but in the process
has created a couple more isolated pawns, which may backfire...} 20. Nd5 Qf8 $1
{I was very happy with this move, but actually the simple Bf8 was also
excellent. Black is out of any danger and White has a tough choice here. Is he
going to play ambitiously at the risk of overpressing? And what for?} 21. c3 {
Playing for a win in a very passive way. Fabiano was in a very tough spot,
given the tournament standing and I am the last person to criticize him here,
falling for the same mistake myself in the very next round. In some positions
playing for a win is basically playing for a loss. But probably you still
gotta try. I don't know.} (21. c4 $1 {in hindsight it was best for white to
just force a draw here.} Nxc4 {Black also can't play for more here.} 22. Bxc4
Rxc4 23. Nxe7+ Qxe7 24. Bxd6 Qe8 25. Be5 Qf8 26. Bd6 {with a move repetition.})
21... Rac8 22. Rc1 Ng6 $5 {my first instinct was to take on d5 and play Rc5
which was fine, but this move seemed very interesting as well, asking White
more questions.} 23. Bd2 $6 {it was only after this move when I really felt
things started to turn around. Here I expected 23.Bg4!? or 23.Bb5!? when I
didn't think White had crossed too many lines just yet.} (23. Bg4 $1 Nxf4 $1 {
A move I had to see before going for Ng6. Giving up a strong knight, but
taking an important bishop.} 24. Qxf4 Qe8 {Black is on a slightly better side
of things, with White having perhaps a tad more pawn weaknesses, but the
position is too simplified to have serious hopes here for a victory.}) 23...
Bh4 $1 {White's queen doesn't have a comfortable square and also the ideas of
trading the dark squared bishops start appearing.} 24. Qe3 $6 {White is
placing too many pieces on the c1-h6 diagonal, setting himself up for a trade
of dark squared bishops which is going to be a positional disaster.} (24. Qd3
$1 {was better, running away from the trade-} h6 25. Rb1 Bg5 26. Be1 {hiding
the bishop away from the trade. White is still very passive, but at least he
keeps the good bishop.}) 24... Rc5 25. c4 h6 $1 {Now the trade of bishops is
inevitable and the situation clarifies. White is facing a very depressing task
ahead. He has to stand and wait passively, hoping his position won't collapse.}
26. Qb3 Bg5 27. Bxg5 hxg5 {The doubled g-pawns are even nice. The pawn on g7
is guarding the king and the f6 square, while the g5 pawn is protecting the f4
square and can be pushed forward without compromising the king's safety.} 28.
Qg3 Qd8 {Already for a while, on every move I was choosing whether to take on
d5 or not. It was hard to choose, because both seemed good, at the same time,
it wasn't too concerning, as I felt I just couldn't go wrong at this point, as
Black would be better either way.} 29. Rcd1 {Alternatively 29.Ne3 was a better
option, not allowing Black to clarify the situation further and keeping more
pieces and a little more intrigue on the board.} Bxd5 $1 {Finally I decided
that it was time to start cashing out.} 30. exd5 Nf4 $1 {Usually the knight is
great on the e5 square, but here I am going after the c4 pawn. Pretty knight
is good, but an extra pawn, that's a whole another level.} 31. Qf2 {White gets
to keep the pawn for now, but I had seen this coming.} R8c7 $1 {guarding all
the pawns on the 7th rank.} 32. Rd4 Qe8 $5 {A sophisticated move. I had
calculated a long line, which seemed to be winning the pawn for me.} 33. Bf3
Rxc4 $5 {This wasn't as winning as I thought it was, but still a fine
practical choice, as there was no obvious way to get anything more than what I
got.} 34. Rxc4 Rxc4 35. Qxa7 Ra4 {I had calculated Qc7/b6 here and then Rxa3
Qxd6 Rxf3! trick worked. Strangely Fabiano comes up with h4 idea, which is
something I didn't see at all, but in the wrong position.} 36. Qf2 $2 {White
can't defend such an ugly position passively. Despite being a pawn down, he
also has a bad bishop vs. a good knight, a weaker king and what not.} (36. Qc7
$1 {This would offer White chances to hang on.} Rxa3 {now Qxd6 Rxf3! followed
by invasion with Qe2 wins indeed, but White has a strong intermezzo.} 37. h4 $1
{defending from Rxf3. Black is still much better, of course, but there is no
win.} Ng6 38. hxg5 Ra4 {this is quite nasty, but White can resist-} 39. g3 $1
Ne5 {and White has a tough task ahead, but the game goes on, as the material
is reasonably limited, with only three pawns each.}) 36... Rxa3 37. h4 Qe5 $1 {
Centralization. White is lost.} 38. hxg5 Qxg5 39. Re1 Ra8 40. Be4 Ra2 {A funny
40th move moment. I thought this was a clincher, but actually after Fabiano
finds the only defense, which I missed, I have to go back. Fortunately nothing
got ruined here, as my advantage is far too overwhelming and a tempo or two
doesn't really matter.} 41. Rb1 Ra8 42. Re1 {Giving me a second chance, but
now with a little more time and a fresh look, finding a forced win wasn't hard.
} f5 {The slow g6 or Nh5 would win easily as well.} 43. Bb1 Kf7 {The threat of
Rh8+ is unstoppable.} 44. Re3 Rh8+ 45. Kg1 Nxg2 {If Rg3 there is Qc1+ followed
by Qh1 mate. A pleasant victory and an important one as well. Or well, it
could have been.} 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel 83rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2021.01.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[Annotator "Giri,Anish"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 200"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,139,58,32,100,90,88,111,89,36,65,64,81,48,48,29,41,13,30,30,59,39,23,
-16,21,27,33,-10,16,-5,8,-19,5,-52,-40,-66,-10,-47,-26,-36,-35,-19,-24,-16,85,
120,138,118,129,105,144,124,157,147,157,161,169,164,167,117,181,160,162,108,
135,130,87,53,91,61,123,124,124,80,33,31,99,78,162,149,149,77,134,93,106,104,
104,106,106,106,139,139,101,127,105,108,117,126,125,93,125,123,136,123,123,123,
123,145,151,151,148,148,151,255,229,285,285,285,241,241,284,237,237,218,240,
238,218,218,218,238,204,178,220,355,369,369,497,507,509,517,517,527]} 1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 {Although Maxime has tried out a
few different openings against 1.e4, his choice in the Wijk aan Zee tournament
has exclusively been the beloved Najdorf.} 6. h3 e5 7. Nf3 {In combination
with h3 this retreat is not the most common and the game quickly takes an
independent course.} Be7 8. g4 $5 {This is a very rare idea, but a very
logical one. The kingside expansion has been tried in many similar positions,
so why not here.} O-O {Not the only move at all.} 9. g5 Nh5 {Again, Black had
options. On h5 the knight blocks the kingside pawns from advancing and the
tempting 10.Nxe5 trick doesn't work, making it a very decent option.} 10. Bc4 {
I got creative here. 10.Nxe5 would give Black huge compensation, but a more
standard move like 10.h4 or 10.Be3 was likely stronger objectively.} (10. Nxe5
$6 dxe5 11. Qxh5 Nc6 {and with Nd4 coming, Black has more than enough for the
pawn.}) 10... Be6 11. Bb3 g6 {I was happy to see this move, because I was
quite sceptical about taking on e5 after Nc6 or Nd7 anyway.} 12. Be3 Nd7 13.
Qd2 Rc8 {Black has plenty of options and setups. Besides the one that Maxime
chose in the game, the plan of b5 Nb6 looks very decent as well.} 14. O-O-O Nc5
15. Bxc5 {It is quite common to capture the knight with the bishop.} Rxc5 {
Maxime took instantly with the rook, which surprised me, as I thought taking
with the pawn was very much an option as well.} (15... dxc5 16. Qxd8 Rcxd8 {
and White can install a piece on d5, but Black can play around it, be it the
knight or the bishop. White has a bunch of weak squares on the kingside, which
may be felt in the endgame.}) 16. h4 {Reinforcing the g5 pawn and preparing a
journey for the f3 knight, towards the d5 square. The position looks very
double edged and it is clear that Black will probably end up sacrificing an
exchange on c3 in order to avoid White's eventual domination over the d5
square.} Nf4 {Also possible was to start with Qa5, but bringing the knight
closer to the action makes sense.} 17. Kb1 {I wanted to delay the Rxc3
sacrifice a little.} (17. Ne1 {was more direct and challenging. I suspect
Maxime would play something similar as to what he did in the game eventually-}
Rxc3 $5 18. bxc3 d5 $5 {and practically things are murky, though objectively,
at least according to the computers first impressions (and they are quite good
these days!), White should end up on top.}) 17... Qa5 $6 {Natural and worked
out fine for Black, but there was an objectively stronger solution.} (17... Bg4
{I obviously saw this move, but not the follow up.} 18. Qe3 {here all I saw
was that Ng2 can be met with Qxc5!, but there is a lot more to this position.
Besides putting pressure with Qa5/ Qc7 or even Qc8, there is a surprising
direct equaliser.} Rxc3 $5 19. Qxc3 {and now the point-} Qc8 $1 {suddenly the
pin of the f3 knight is quite deadly. White has to either return the exchange
in the unpromising endgame after Qxc8, give it back with 20.Rd3 or allow a
move repetition after 20.Qe3 Ng2 and then back 21...Nf4.}) 18. Ne1 {I also
considered Ng1 to e2, but this is more natural and stronger. Now, if White
gets to trade the knights without any accidents on the way, the control over
the d5-square will be all white's and the path for the h-pawn forward is open.}
Rfc8 19. Nd3 Nxd3 20. Qxd3 {I also considered cxd3, against which Maxime
planned something epic.} (20. cxd3 {I felt this isn't much even in the endgame
after 20...Qb4 21.Nd5, which is why I hadn't played it, but Maxime told me he
planned a double exchange sac.} Rxc3 $5 21. bxc3 Rxc3 22. Kb2 Rxb3+ $1 {
I didn't take this seriously, but it is actually quite correct too.} 23. axb3
Qb6 24. Qc2 d5 $1 {with monster bishops. Very impressive.}) 20... Rxc3 {
I anticipated this one, obviously, but not the follow up.} 21. bxc3 d5 $5 {
This came as an unpleasant surprise and unfortunately I decided not to dwell
too much and just keep up the pace. Wrongly so, as this was a good moment to
take the time and see if there is something hidden. And there was.} (21... Rxc3
22. Qd2 Qc5 23. h5 {was the king of lines I was concerning myself with. I
wasn't sure how good this is and if perhaps I am winning here already, but one
way or the other, it was clear to me that White is holding all the cards. It
is not even so much about the extra exchange, but the fact that White's
kingside play comes faster than Black's on the queenside.}) 22. exd5 $2 {
I quickly realized that of the two captures on d5 this is a better one and
just went with it.} (22. Qd2 $1 {as simple as that actually. Black just
doesn't have enough compensation here, as he can't get what he wants, which is
what happened in the game. 22...Rxc3 is met with 23.exd5 and d6! next, while
22...Bd6 can now be met with Bxd5! when compared to 22.Bxd5 Rxc3, Black is a
full tempo down and doesn't have enough counterplay for the material.}) 22...
Bf5 23. Qd2 Bd6 $1 {Blocking the d-pawn, which is huge on many levels. Not
only is the passed d-pawn eternally immovable now, but it also blocks the
diagonal for the b3 bishop and the file for White's heavy pieces on the d-file.
Very depressing position, but being up an exchange and a pawn and with some
potential to open the h-file, I felt I should still be able to have things
under control.} 24. c4 Qb6 $5 {I was expecting Black to send the queen towards
a3, where I would have a choice between trying to eternally chase it with
Qc1-d2 or try to consolidate and play on with some Ka1 c3 ideas.} 25. Ka1 {
White's position remains ugly, but there are some ideas of h5 and a well timed
c3 Bc2, so I wasn't all too pessimistic here. Black needs to act as well.} a5
26. c3 {I was happy to relocate the ugly bishop.} a4 27. Bc2 {I could have
also taken the pawn first, and after 27.Bxa4 Rxc4 28.Bc2 e4 29.Bb3 we would
transpose into the game.} e4 $5 {I was actually not so sure what was going on
after Bxc2 followed by Rxc4, but Maxime decided to keep more tension.} (27...
Bxc2 28. Qxc2 Rxc4 29. h5 e4 {I don't think White is going to have much fun
here, but objectively it is still around balanced. Opening the h-file isn't
going to bring much just yet and one of the ideas computer is consider is to
stick the h-pawn to h6 in hope for it to be useful one day.}) 28. Bxa4 {
I have to take the pawn after all.} Rxc4 29. Bb3 Rc5 {In hindsight going back
to c8 may have been stronger, though we both didn't have time to understand
the intricacies here.} 30. Rhe1 Be5 {Strong regrouping, the pawn will be
blockaded by the queen now and the bishop will enjoy the long diagonal.} 31.
Re3 Qd6 32. Kb2 {It was a hard choice between the Rc1 Kb1 setup and Kb2 a3,
but finally I decided that I don't want to face the x-ray of the f5 bishop and
the constant threat of b4 cxb4 Qe5 hanging over my head, even though at the
moment both of these motifs are still rather abstract.} b5 33. a3 {this was my
line of defence. I wasn't happy with my position, but I thought that very
likely my defences are good enough and the position is still around balanced
objectively. White is on the ugly side of things, but an exchange and a pawn
should still count for something, as long as there is no direct way for Black
to break through.} Rc8 {Rook swings over, which is why, practically speaking
29...Rc8 would be perhaps more unpleasant. Though there too, White should be
fine, it is just that the same defensive setup wouldn't have been possible.}
34. Ra1 {very ugly, but tight. Bracing for b4, and if Black chooses to wait, I
was planning to wait as well. Besides, there is the idea of f3, which bothered
Maxime.} b4 {I felt somewhat relieved here, as things get moving now. If Black
was bothered by f3 ideas, perhaps a decent move would have been Bg4!?. The
position would objectively be equal, but it is not easy to sit still in an
ugly position, though that was exactly what I was intending to do.} 35. axb4
Qxb4 36. d6 $5 {Finally pushing that pawn forward and opening up the poor b3
bishop.} Rb8 37. Ra3 Qb7 $2 {Maxime was clearly already looking for some way
out, as the clock was ticking, but as the simple Qxd6 wasn't giving Black full
equality, he started considering clever moves. This one indeed looks very good,
intending Be6 and Bxd6, having moved the queen away from the threat of the
c3-pawn. Black did overlook my reply, which I have to say I was quite
fortunate to stumble upon.} (37... Qxd6 38. Qxd6 Bxd6 39. Ra4 {Black has quite
a bit of compensation here, but there is no direct draw. Still, he could have
gone for it and tried making it slowly.} Bc5 40. Re2 Be6 41. c4 Kg7 {Black has
beautiful positional compensation and the potential to get some counterplay on
the kingside with h6 and so on. A draw is incredibly likely here.}) (37... Qb5
$5 {this would be the right way to keep the tension, apparently. The
calculations are really deep, which is demonstrated by the following engine
variation-} 38. Qd1 Qb7 39. Kc1 Qb5 40. Kb2 {I don't know exactly why these
are the top choices of the computer, though both sides do have alternatives.})
38. Kc1 $1 {This move essentially turns things around completely. The king
unpins itself and suddenly Qd5 is a serious threat.} Qd7 $2 {Inviting White to
trade stuff with Qd5 and Ra8, hoping to hold. In fact it is too late to look
for compromise here and Black's best bet was to keep things murky till the end.
} (38... Be6 {against this I had planned the pawn push-} 39. d7 $1 {but as I
started thinking deeper, I wasn't sure what exactly is going on after} Bc7 $1 {
the b3 bishop is still pinned and although White has a few decent options,
like 40.Ba2, 40.c4 or even the imaginative 40.f3!?, Black is still very much
in the game here.}) 39. Qd5 Bxd6 {I still had some time left to complete move
40 and it came in very handy here. My first thought was to trade into a
slightly better position with 40.Ra8, but then I noticed that I am now
actually calling the shots and have a strong alternative.} 40. Ra6 $1 {at
first I thought I would just get good winning chances, but in fact it seems
that this move leads to a winning endgame by force.} Rd8 {the most resilient.}
(40... Bf4 41. Qxd7 Bxe3+ {even worse is 41...Bxd7? 42.Bxf7+! Kxf7 43.Rf6+
picking up the f4 bishop.} 42. fxe3 Bxd7 43. Bd5 {and the endgame is winning
for White.}) 41. Rxd6 {I actually hesitated quite a bit, thinking that the
resulting endgame may just not be enough to win, but it seems I could have
been more optimistic.} Qxd6 42. Qxf7+ Kh8 43. Qf6+ {I tried drawing some
triangles with the king with all sorts of deep Kb1-Kb2 moves, but finally
there was not a better version of the endgame than this one.} Qxf6 44. gxf6 Rd6
{I thought only this was a losing mistake, but actually there no longer was
salvation, which is also what Maxime told me after the game.} (44... Rf8 45. f7
Kg7 {this didn't seem hopeless, but it is.} (45... h6 46. Bd5) 46. Bd5 $1 Kf6
47. c4 $1 Be6 48. Rxe4 Bxd5 49. cxd5 {and Black can't get rid of the f-pawn as
pawn endgames after Rf4+ are lost.} g5 50. hxg5+ Kxg5 51. Kd2 Rxf7 52. Ke3 {
with a lost rook endgame, though I have to be frank, even here, I wouldn't be
able to be 100% sure about it, with so little material left on the board.}) 45.
f3 $1 {giving up on the f6 passer, but creating another one, that will run
fast.} Rxf6 46. fxe4 Be6 (46... Bd7 {was a decent defensive attempt actually.
Now the cleanest win is just 47.Bd5! followed by pushing the c-pawn forward.
Note that the direct attempt to queen the e-pawn fails remarkably.} 47. e5 Rf2
48. e6 Be8 49. Rd3 Kg7 50. Rd8 Rf8 51. e7 Rh8 $1 {and amazingly Black is
holding here. So ugly, yet so effective.}) 47. e5 {I was happy to get the rook
endgame that I thought I had calculated to a win, but there was also a more
thematic way of winning this, with 47.Bd5!? followed by c4 and just gradually
queening the c-pawn.} Rf1+ 48. Kb2 Bxb3 49. Kxb3 Kg7 50. c4 $1 {this is
important, now 50...Kf7 loses to 51.c5! Ke6 52. c6! and the pawn is far
enoughaway that 52...Rc1 53.Rc3! secures a winning pawn endgame. The rest is
conversion.} Rb1+ 51. Ka4 Kf7 52. c5 Ke6 53. c6 Rc1 54. Kb5 {Black couldn't
stop this from happening. Now he has to wait.} Rc2 (54... h6 {loses, the
cleanest being} 55. Rg3 $1) 55. Re1 Rc3 56. Kb6 (56. Re4 {actually also wins,
though after} Kd5 57. e6 Rb3+ {White has to find} 58. Ka5 $3 {only here, and
now after} Kxe4 59. c7 Ra3+ 60. Kb6 Rb3+ {and though it looks as though the
checks will hold, there is a win after all-} 61. Kc6 Rc3+ 62. Kd7 Rd3+ 63. Kc8
$1 {White can afford to lose a tempo here, as there is no stopping e7 next.})
56... Rb3+ 57. Ka6 Ra3+ 58. Kb6 {making it to move 60 and gaining the extra 15
mins to be able to calculate things out properly.} Rb3+ 59. Ka6 Ra3+ 60. Kb7
Rb3+ 61. Kc8 Rb4 {and here 62.Rh1 is winning as well, but I could just
calculate the straightforward winning line.} 62. c7 Rxh4 63. Rc1 $1 Rf4 64. Kb7
Rf7 65. Re1 {there are other wins, but this is as straightforward as it gets.}
g5 66. Kb8 Rf8+ 67. c8=Q+ Rxc8+ 68. Kxc8 h5 69. Kc7 h4 70. Kc6 {the king will
slowly but surely return. The route is simple: c5-d4-e4-f3.} 1-0

