[Event "Riga"] [Site "Riga"] [Date "2021.11.06"] [Round "10"] [White "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Black "Howell, David W L"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2770"] [BlackElo "2648"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 h6 6. c3 d6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 a5 (8... Bb6 9. Nbd2 Ne7 10. Bb3 c6 11. Nc4 Bc7 12. d4 Ng6 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nfxe5 dxe5 15. Qf3 Qe7 {Vachier Lagrave,M (2763)-Carlsen,M (2855) Online 2021}) 9. Nbd2 Be6 10. Bb5 Ba7 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. Ng3 c6 13. Ba4 b5 14. Bc2 a4 (14... c5 15. d4 Qc7 16. Be3 Rac8 17. d5 Bd7 18. a4 c4 19. Nxe5 Bxe3 20. Rxe3 dxe5 21. d6 Qb6 22. dxe7 Rfe8 {Dominguez Perez,L (2750)-Fedoseev,V (2683) Hengshui CH$146 2019} ) 15. d4 Ng6 16. Be3 Re8 17. Bd3 Bb6 18. a3 Qc7 19. Rc1 Ba5 20. Re2 Qb7 21. c4 bxc4 22. Bxc4 d5 23. Bd3 exd4 24. Nxd4 Bd7 ({Perhaps preferable was} 24... Bc7 25. Nxe6 Rxe6 26. exd5 Nxd5 27. Bd4 Ngf4 28. Rxe6 Nxe6) 25. Ndf5 Bc7 26. exd5 cxd5 $6 ({Here} 26... Nxd5 27. Bd4 Ndf4 {offered better chances.}) 27. Bd4 { White's pieces start to look rarther menacing.} Be5 28. Nxh6+ $5 ({Even stronger was} 28. Rxe5 $1 Nxe5 (28... Rxe5 29. Nxh6+ $1 gxh6 30. Bxg6 Rg5 31. Bb1 {and Black's kingside has been weakened too much}) 29. Nd6 Qb8 30. Nxe8 Qxe8 31. Bb1 {and White's advantage is huge.}) 28... gxh6 29. Bxg6 Bxg3 30. Rxe8+ Rxe8 31. Qf3 $6 ({If Firouzja had seen Black's reply he would have gone for} 31. fxg3 fxg6 32. Bxf6) 31... Qc6 $3 {Played with just four seconds left on the clock $1} 32. Bc2 $1 {Firouzja said he was lucky he wasn't losing on the spot.} (32. Rxc6 Re1#) 32... Bb8 $6 (32... Qxc2 33. Qxg3+ Qg6 34. Qxg6+ fxg6 35. Bxf6 Kf7 36. Bd4 h5 {provides better drawing chances than in the game. }) ({Also} 32... Be5 {was possible when} 33. Bxe5 Rxe5 34. Bh7+ Nxh7 35. Rxc6 Bxc6 36. Qg4+ Kh8 37. Qf4 f6 38. Qxh6 Be8 {could well be a fortress.}) 33. Qxf6 Qxf6 34. Bxf6 {This endgame is a tough one and Howell eventually goes down:} Rc8 35. Bc3 d4 $6 ({The last chance was} 35... Bd6 $1 36. Bd3 Be5 {when White has some difficulty to untangle.}) 36. Bd2 Kg7 37. Bd3 Rxc1+ 38. Bxc1 h5 39. h4 Bc6 40. g3 Bd7 41. Kf1 Be5 42. Ke2 Bg4+ 43. Kd2 Bd7 44. Kc2 Be6 45. Bb5 Bb3+ 46. Kd3 Kg6 47. Bd7 Bd1 48. Bd2 f5 49. Bf4 Bg7 50. Bd6 Bf6 51. Be8+ Kh6 52. Bc5 f4 53. Bxd4 Bd8 54. Kd2 Bb3 55. Be5 fxg3 56. fxg3 Ba5+ 57. Kc1 1-0 [Event "Riga"] [Site "Riga"] [Date "2021.11.06"] [Round "10"] [White "Keymer, Vincent"] [Black "Alekseenko, Kirill"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2639"] [BlackElo "2710"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ (5. e3 O-O 6. Bd2 b6 7. Rc1 a6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 Bb7 10. O-O Bd6 11. Ne5 c5 12. Ne2 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. dxc5 bxc5 {Keymer,V (2591)-Alekseenko,K (2699) Biel 2021}) 5... Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Qc2 (7. Bd2 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Bd6 9. Qc2 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. f4 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 g6 {Xiong,J (2700)-Caruana,F (2800) Saint Louis 2021}) 7... Re8 8. Bd2 h6 9. Rd1 Bf8 10. Be2 $146 (10. Bc1 a6 11. b3 Qe7 12. Bb2 dxc4 13. Bxc4 b5 14. Be2 Bb7 15. O-O e5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Qxe5 18. Nd5 Qg5 19. f4 Qh4 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. g3 Qh3 22. Bg4 {1-0 (22) Weichselbaumer,E-Benkner,O Saarbruecken 1950}) 10... a6 11. a3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 b5 13. Bd3 Bb7 14. Ne4 Nd7 15. Ng3 Ne7 16. b4 f5 17. O-O Nf6 18. Rfe1 Nc8 $6 ({Better was} 18... Bxf3 19. gxf3 Ng6 20. Kh1 Nh4 21. Be2 Qd7 {but White is better there as well.}) 19. Ne5 Bd6 20. e4 $1 {Already a decisive breakthrough.} fxe4 21. Nxe4 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Nxe4 23. Bxe4 Bxe4 24. Rxe4 {With Ra8 and Nc8 out of play, Black cannot defend his kingside.} h5 25. Bh6 Qe7 26. Re3 (26. Re3 gxh6 27. Qg6+ Kh8 28. Rg3) 1-0 [Event "Riga"] [Site "Riga"] [Date "2021.11.06"] [Round "10"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2766"] [BlackElo "2791"] [Annotator "Peter,Doggers"] [PlyCount "105"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. Bd2 b4 11. c3 Rb8 (11... bxc3 12. bxc3 Na5 13. Ba2 Rb8 14. Bg5 Nd7 15. Be3 Bc6 16. Nbd2 Nb6 17. Bxb6 Rxb6 {Santos Latasa,J (2616)-Anton Guijarro,D (2659) Linares 2021}) 12. cxb4 (12. a5 Bc8 13. Bc4 bxc3 14. bxc3 Be6 15. Qa4 Bxc4 16. Qxc4 Qd7 17. Qxa6 Ra8 18. Qc4 Nxa5 19. Qa2 Qc6 {Pichot,A (2630)-Nihal,S (2620) Biel SUI 2021}) 12... Bc8 (12... Ba8 13. Bc4 Nxb4 14. Nc3 Nd7 15. Na2 a5 16. Nxb4 axb4 {½-½ Smagin,S (2500)-Geller,E (2525) Moscow 1986 }) 13. b5 axb5 14. axb5 Rxb5 15. h3 (15. Ra8 Rb8 16. Rxb8 Nxb8 17. d4 exd4 18. Nxd4 c5 19. Nf3 Nc6 20. Bc3 Be6 21. Nbd2 d5 {Vachier Lagrave,M (2775) -Tomashevsky,E (2716) Tbilisi 2015}) 15... Rb8 16. Nc3 Be6 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Bxd5 Nxd5 19. exd5 Nb4 20. Qb3 c5 21. Ra4 $146 (21. dxc6 Nxc6 22. Qc4 Qd7 23. Ra6 Rfc8 24. Qa4 Rb7 25. Rc1 Nb8 26. Rxc8+ Qxc8 27. Ra7 Bf8 28. Rxb7 Qxb7 29. Qe8 Na6 30. Bc3 {½-½ Liang,A (2572)-Gledura,B (2621) Saint Louis 2018}) 21... Na6 22. Qa2 Nc7 23. Ba5 Qd7 24. Bxc7 Qxc7 25. Nd2 Qb7 26. Ra7 Qb4 27. Rd1 Rb7 28. Nc4 Rxa7 29. Qxa7 Qb3 30. Re1 Qxd3 31. Qxe7 Qxc4 32. Qxd6 Qd4 33. Qxe5 (33. Rxe5 h6 34. b3 Ra8) 33... Qxe5 34. Rxe5 f6 35. Rf5 Rb8 36. d6 Rxb2 37. Rxc5 Rd2 38. Rc8+ Kf7 39. Rc7+ Kf8 40. Rd7 g5 41. g3 h5 42. h4 gxh4 43. gxh4 Ke8 44. Rh7 Rxd6 45. Rxh5 Kf7 46. Kg2 Kg6 47. Ra5 Rd3 48. h5+ Kh6 49. f3 Rd1 50. Kg3 Rg1+ 51. Kf4 Rh1 52. Rf5 Rh4+ 53. Kg3 1/2-1/2