[Event "FIDE Candidates"] [White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Site "Yekaterinburg"] [Round "7"] [Annotator "DF"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2020.03.25"] [PlyCount "83"] 1. e4 e6 {Black decides not to venture the Najdorf against a fellow expert.} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4 Qc7 {Ian repeats his opening from a few rounds before.} 8. h5 (8. Nf3 b6 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Be2 Ba4 11. 0-0 Nd7 12. Be3 h6 13. Ra2 Nf5 14. Bf4 Qc6 15. Rb2 $11 {Alekseenko, K-Nepomniachtchi,I Yekaterinburg 2020} )h6 9. Rb1 b6 10. Qg4 Rg8 $5 (10... Kf8 11. Rh3 Ba6 12. Bxa6 Nxa6 13. Ne2 cxd4 14. cxd4 Qxc2 15. Rb2 Qe4 16. Qxe4 dxe4 17. Nc3 Rc8 18. Bd2 Rc4 19. Nxe4 (19. Nb5 $1 $132 )Rxd4 20. Nd6 Nc5 21. Ke2 Rd5 $17 {Dominguez Perez,L-So,W Saint Louis 2017} )11. Bb5+ {White tries to finesse his bishop to d3 using an idea from various 1.d4 openings such as the Catalan or Nimzo-Indian.} ({Both sides, as well as previous analysts, must have known that White really wants to develop the bishop to d3. However, here there are details that make it a less than ideal plan:} 11. Bd3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Ba6 $1 {Challenging the d3-bishop in this way is Black's main idea in almost any French line involving ...b6.} 13. Bh7 Kf8 $3 $36 {White doesn't have time to take on g8 because of ...Qxc2, thus after the ...Rh8 which Black undoubtedly intends to play next he will have lost 2 tempi.} )Kf8 $146 {A logical novelty.} ({In the previous game Black played} 11... Bd7 { thus renouncing his wish to develop this piece to a6. White reacted with the principled} 12. Bd3 {threatening Bh7 and in my opinion he has a slight advantage here.} Nf5 13. Qf4 Nc6 $4 14. Bxf5 exf5 15. e6 Qxf4 16. exd7+ Kxd7 17. Bxf4 $18 {Bartel,M-Jaroch,K Zgierz 2017} )({After} 11... Nd7 {White is under no obligation to retreat the bishop on b5; it can never really be trapped because he can always take on d7 at the last moment.} )12. Bd3 (12. a4 c4 $17 )Ba6 {Obviously, White isn't going to play Bh7 now as there would be no point; rather, he will try and claim that ...Kf8 was also a concession of some kind.} 13. dxc5 Bxd3 14. cxd3 Nd7 {One of several moves of approximately equal value, in a tremendously complicated position.} (14... bxc5 $11 )({The computer also suggests the remarkably chilled-out} 14... Rh8 { intending ...Kg8-h7.} )15. d4 bxc5 16. Qd1 Qa5 {Over the next few moves Black drifts a bit, not improving his king position but also not grabbing pawns to compensate for it.} (16... Nc6 $5 17. f4 f5 (17... Qa5 $6 {is again a bit slow: } 18. Bd2 Ke7 19. f5 Rab8 20. fxe6 fxe6 21. Ne2 $14 )18. g4 fxg4 19. f5 $1 exf5 20. Ne2 $13 {White has to go all-in, and I think this works out for him.} )({ Therefore, it seems like a better order to start with} 16... Rb8 {:} 17. Rxb8+ (17. Bd2 Nc6 {Back to plan A, now that White can't simply reply with f4.} 18. Ne2 (18. f4 Rxb1 $1 19. Qxb1 Qb6 $15 )Ke7 19. 0-0 Qa5 20. Rxb8 (20. f4 $6 Rxb1 21. Qxb1 Nxd4 $15 ))Qxb8 18. Ne2 c4 $1 {Closing the centre.} 19. 0-0 Qb3 $13 {With the idea of, for instance, ...Nb6 and ...Ke8-d7. Even if White somehow wins a pawn he won't be better.} )17. Bd2 Rb8 18. Ne2 c4 $6 {Black realises the catch-22 a bit late: to connect rooks his king has to get to the 7th rank, which means he has to move one or other knight, but then White will open the centre before Black has connected rooks, either with dxc5 or f4.} ({ There were still some workarounds like} 18... Rxb1 $5 19. Qxb1 Qa6 {followed by ...Ke8-d8-c7 or ...f5.} 20. a4 $5 (20. Be3 cxd4 21. cxd4 f5 $11 )(20. f3 Ke8 21. Kf2 Kd8 22. a4 Kc7 $11 )f5 21. exf6 Nxf6 22. Qb5 Qxb5 23. axb5 Kf7 24. Bf4 cxd4 25. cxd4 Rc8 $132 )19. 0-0 Rb6 20. Qc2 $14 {The problem is that Black cannot prevent f4-f5 in the long term, except by playing the (undesirable) ...f5 himself. Then White may be able to play g4, but definitely taking on f6 is also an option.} Rh8 $6 {This is a 'nothing' move. Against ... Nc6 White might well have intended Qh7, but then again he might not, and removing that optionality is not worth one tempo.} (20... Qxa3 21. Bc1 Qa6 22. Rb2 $1 $16 {A 'computer move' which has the idea of Ra2 and Ba3.} )(20... f5 21. exf6 Nxf6 22. Rxb6 axb6 23. Nf4 Kf7 24. Re1 $16 )({The lesser evil was probably} 20... Nb8 $1 21. a4 Nbc6 $14 {which stalls the idea of Bc1-a3 while also cuing up ...Ke8-d7.} )21. a4 Ke8 22. Rb4 {It seems like White has decided to try and play Ba3 without improving Black's structure.} (22. Rxb6 $5 axb6 23. Bc1 $16 )Nc6 $6 23. f4 $1 Ne7 {After all Black's dithering it seems he now has a nearly lost position.} (23... Nxb4 $2 24. cxb4 Qa6 (24... Rxb4 25. Qc3 $18 )25. b5 Qb7 26. Bb4 $18 )24. Rfb1 f5 25. Rb5 Qa6 26. Bc1 Kf7 $6 {Black makes a decision to more or less sit tight.} ({It was possible to try and run the gauntlet:} 26... g6 27. Ba3 Rxb5 28. Rxb5 gxh5 $16 {though White has numerous appealing options, like the piece sacrifice} 29. Bxe7 Kxe7 30. Ng3 h4 31. Nxf5+ exf5 32. Qxf5 {with a strong attack.} )27. Ba3 Rhb8 28. Bxe7 Kxe7 29. g4 Rxb5 30. axb5 Rxb5 31. gxf5 Rxb1+ 32. Qxb1 exf5 33. Ng3 $1 $18 {The f5-pawn is doomed anyway and it's better to take there with the knight, so that he can continue on his route to d6 in some lines. White finishes very crisply.} Qb6 34. Nxf5+ Kf8 35. Qa1 Qe6 36. Ng3 Qg4 37. Kg2 Qxf4 38. Qxa7 Ke7 39. Qa3+ Kd8 40. Qd6 g5 41. hxg6 h5 42. g7 1-0