[Event "FIDE Candidates"] [White "Alekseenko, Kirill"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Site "Yekaterinburg"] [Round "6"] [Annotator "Sam Shankland"] [Result "0-1"] [Date "2020.03.23"] [PlyCount "196"] 1. e4 {The other decisive game of the round featured two of the guys at the bottom of the crosstable. Giri managed to reach a pawn-up knight endgame that must be a draw objectively, but there are always practical chances as such positions are very difficult for a human to defend, even a very strong one.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. 0-0 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 0-0 7. Re1 a5 8. Nbd2 Be6 9. Bb5 Ba7 $5 {The first surprise. Almost everyone has been playing Qb8 in this position, and Alekseenko has played this position multiple times with White. Giri therefore could not have been surprised and must have decided to play Ba7 before the game, but I'm not sure the move is equalizing.} (9... Qb8 {This position is probably the most critical one in the entire Italian, and has been contested a lot in the last couple years, including several games from Alekseenko on the white side.} )10. Nf1 Ne7 11. Ng3 c6 12. Ba4 Ng6 13. h3 $6 { This is complacent and slow.} (13. d4 {White should have tried this, taking space in the center and preventing Black from playing d5. I would assume Black would try to make use of the h3-omission by going} Bg4 {But I am not convinced he will equalize. Further tests are of course needed.} )d5 $1 {In general in the Italian, if Black can safely play d5 before White can go d4, he ends up fine. This position is no exception.} 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Bc2 (15. Nxe5 $2 {The pawn is immune due to a well-known tactic.} Nxe5 16. Rxe5 Bxf2+ $1 17. Kxf2 Qf6+ {And Black wins.} )Qc7 16. d4 exd4 17. Nxd4 Rae8 $1 {Not fearing the capture on e6 due to the weakness on f2. Black is a bit more comfortable already, and White will have to be careful to hang on. I think Alekseenko defended well, to a point.} 18. Bg5 (18. Nxe6 $2 Bxf2+ $1 19. Kxf2 fxe6+ $19 {Black will take back his piece on g3, and remain a pawn up with a more active position.} )Ndf4 19. Qd2 Bd5 20. Rxe8 $6 {This feels a little bit desperate, and possibly based on a miscalculation.} (20. Bxg6 Nxg6 21. Ndf5 $11 {The computer suggests this is a convincing route to equality, with Bg5-e3 coming next to challenge Black's bishop pair. I won't argue with the machine.} )Rxe8 21. Re1 $2 Re5 $6 (21... Rxe1+ $1 22. Qxe1 Kf8 $1 { Would have left White with a lot of problems to solve. It's possible both players missed that} 23. Bxg6 {could be met with Nxg2, but even the simple hxg6 is quite good for Black as well.} )22. Bxf4 Rxe1+ 23. Qxe1 Qxf4 {Black missed the best chance but is still pleasantly better due to the excellent unopposed bishop on a7. White tried to halve the bishop pair, but it did not solve his problems.} 24. Qe8+ (24. Ndf5 {The machine prefers this move. It may be right but White still faces a tough defense after} Kf8 $15 )Nf8 25. Bb3 Bxd4 26. cxd4 Bxb3 27. axb3 Qf6 28. Qe4 {One look at White's structure is enough to know he has a long defense ahead of him. Around this point, I think Alekseenko started defending very well and made the good decision to try to liquidate the queenside.} g6 29. Ne2 Ne6 30. h4 h5 31. g3 Qd8 32. Qe5 {Black may have had better choices in the preceding moves, but he still has a nice position after something simple like Qc7 or Kf8. The next move is hard to understand. I imagine Giri must have missed something concrete, but I can't figure out what it might have been. It's hard to believe he would just let White liquidate the d4-weakness due to a lack of understanding.} Qb6 $6 33. d5 $1 {White takes his chance to exchange off one of his weak pawns. I think Giri must have thought Nc5 or Qc5 or something worked well for him here and miscalculated.} cxd5 34. Qxd5 Kf8 35. Nc3 Qc7 36. Ne4 $11 {White should be fine here, but somehow he lost control.} Qc1+ 37. Kg2 Qxb2 38. Qd7 $2 (38. Qxb7 $11 {I don't know what White could have missed. This seems to be an immediate draw.} )b6 39. Nd6 Qf6 40. Qe8+ Kg7 {Time control has been reached and White is a pawn down. It should still be a draw due to his activity, but care must be taken.} 41. Qd7 Kg8 42. Qe8+ Nf8 43. Qc6 $1 {A good decision. Black turtled up on the kingside to avoid a perpetual and now has trouble defending b6.} Qd8 44. Nc4 $6 {White misses a nice tactical resource.} (44. Nb7 {The machine finds this move and equalizes after} Qd4 45. Nd6 $1 {when Black's queen is locked away from the kingside and Ne6 will always be impossible due to Qe8+. Black is out of tricks to try as Qc7 is on the way.} )Ne6 (44... Qd7 $1 45. Qxb6 Qd5+ $1 46. Kh2 a4 $1 $17 {Surprisingly, White has real trouble keeping everything protected. It may still be holdable, but he is almost in zugzwang and the machine is recommending bxa4, going a piece down.} )45. Nxb6 Nd4 46. Qc5 $2 (46. Qb7 $1 {This would have saved the day after} Nxb3 47. Nd7 $1 {when Ne5 will come next and White has enough counterplay to hang on.} )Nxb3 47. Qb5 Nd2 $1 {Alekseenko may have underestimated this idea. He gets the a5-pawn back but suddenly faces mating threats.} 48. Qxa5 Qd3 49. Qa1 Qe4+ 50. Kg1 Nf3+ 51. Kf1 Nxh4 {Black has taken a pawn and the knight is immune due to the skewer. Alekseenko made the right choice to go into the knight endgame, but although it is probably a draw objectively, it was hard to hold and he eventually faltered.} 52. Qa8+ Qxa8 53. Nxa8 Nf3 54. Kg2 Ne5 55. f4 Ng4 56. Nb6 Kf8 57. Nd5 Ke8 58. Nc3 Ke7 59. Ne4 Ne3+ 60. Kf3 Nc4 61. Ng5 Kf6 62. Ne4+ Kf5 63. Nf2 Nd2+ 64. Ke3 Nf1+ 65. Kf3 Nh2+ 66. Kg2 Ng4 67. Nh3 f6 68. Kf3 Ke6 69. Ke4 Kd6 70. Ng1 Kc5 71. Kd3 Nh6 72. Ke3 Nf5+ 73. Kf3 Kc4 74. Nh3 Nd4+ 75. Ke3 Nf5+ 76. Kf3 Kd4 77. Nf2 Nd6 78. Nh3 Ne4 79. Ng1 Kd3 80. Kg2 Nd2 81. Kf2 Ke4 82. Ne2 Nb1 83. Ng1 h4 84. Nh3 Kf5 85. gxh4 Kg4 86. f5 gxf5 87. Ke3 Nc3 88. Nf2+ Kg3 {Finally, after a long game with lots of mistakes made and opportunities missed, Alekseenko was the last one to err.} 89. Nd3 $2 (89. h5 $1 {Sending the pawn would have saved the game. It's possible Alekseenko missed } Nd5+ 90. Kd4 $1 (90. Ke2 $2 Nf4+ $19 ))Nd5+ $1 90. Kd4 Nf4 $1 {Now Black ends up with two extra pawns, and even though they are doubled, they are decisive. This game contained a lot of errors, but despite the simple-looking nature of the queen and knight endgame, it actually was a very tough position to play and I find it unsurprising even two very strong combatants made so many oversights. Although it looked like the evaluation bounced around a lot, it was always between equal and in Black's favor. It is exhausting to be on the worse side of the game for so long, and finally on move 90, Alekseenko reached a position that could no longer be saved. This game reminded me a lot of a loss I had to Wesley So, also as White in an Italian, where a simple-looking position was very hard to play well; we both made lots of errors, the evaluation bounced around a lot between equal and much better for Black, and ultimately the game was decided by a very simple blunder at the end when I finally had the draw within reach, mostly due to fatigue from such a long defense. So, I can empathize with Alekseenko here.} 91. Nc5 Kxh4 92. Ke3 Kg3 93. Nb3 Ne6 94. Nd2 f4+ 95. Ke2 Ng5 96. Kf1 f3 97. Kg1 f2+ 98. Kf1 f5 0-1