[Event "FIDE Candidates 2020"] [Site "Yekaterinburg"] [Date "2020.03.18"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Alekseenko, Kirill"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "2842"] [BlackElo "2698"] [Annotator "TA"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2020.03.17"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [Tiebreak "Koya+Number of black wins+Number of wins"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 10,67,15,6,13,10,17,17,8,15,19,8,14,9,22,0,0,0,0,-7,-16,-22,23,39,96,55, 52,41,37,38,34,48,44,44,43,39,38,40,93,89,85,66,79,74,81,73,289,276,1044,628, 611,598,586,558,772,727,5066,5078,1940,2151]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 dxe4 {E20: Nimzo-Indian: 4 g3 and 4 f3.} 7. fxe4 c5 { now scores much better than the old 7...e5. Played by Viswanathan Anand in January 2020.} 8. d5 exd5 {The position is equal.} 9. exd5 O-O 10. Be2 Re8 11. Nf3 Bg4 12. O-O Nbd7 {[#]} 13. d6 $146 ({Predecessor:} 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 Bd6 15. Qc2 Qb8 16. Kh1 Bh5 17. Nb5 Bf4 18. d6 Bxd6 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 {0-1 (55) Lombaers,P (2383)-Schoppen,C (2489) Leiden 2020}) 13... Bf8 14. h3 Bh5 15. Nb5 Re6 16. Bf4 a6 (16... Re4 $14 17. Bh2 a6) 17. Nc7 $16 {[%mdl 64] [#] Double Attack} Re4 18. Bh2 Rc8 19. g4 Bxg4 20. hxg4 Nxg4 21. Bd3 Nxh2 22. Bxe4 Nxf1 23. Qxf1 Bxd6 (23... Nf6 $14 24. Re1 (24. Bxb7 Rb8 $17) 24... Qxd6) 24. Nd5 g6 25. Qh3 {Strongly threatening Qxd7!} Kg7 26. Kh1 $40 {[%mdl 128] Threatens to win with Bf5! Black is in trouble.} Ne5 27. Nh4 {aiming for Nf5+!} h5 $2 { Loses the game.} (27... Rc6 $16) 28. Rg1 $18 Bf8 $2 (28... Rc6 29. Nf4 Ng4 30. Nxh5+ {[%mdl 64] Deflection} gxh5 31. Nf5+ {[%mdl 64] Discovered Attack} Kf8 32. Rxg4 Be5 33. Bxc6 (33. Qxh5 $2 Qd1+ 34. Kg2 Qe2+ {[%mdl 64] Double Attack} 35. Kg1 Rg6 $19) 33... hxg4 34. Qh6+ Kg8) 29. Nf4 {[%CAl Rh4g6] Black must now prevent Nhxg6!White is clearly winning.} Ng4 {[#]} 30. Nxh5+ $1 {[%mdl 512]} gxh5 31. Bf5 Be7 32. Bxg4 hxg4 33. Qxg4+ Bg5 34. Qh5 {Accuracy: White = 93%, Black = 58%.} 1-0 [Event "FIDE Candidates 2020"] [Site "Yekaterinburg"] [Date "2020.03.18"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2774"] [BlackElo "2777"] [Annotator "TA"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2020.03.17"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [Tiebreak "Koya+Number of black wins+Number of wins"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 18,80,34,12,28,20,17,9,12,10,19,0,0,0,0,0,0,-14,0,-23,-14,-33,-10,-6, -12,-22,-16,-28,-16,-37,0,-64,-62,-72,-70,-56,-68,-75,-66,-97,-8,-15,-15,-15, -15,-15,-15,-15,-21,-18,-2,-8,-10,-25,0,0,21,21,21,21,21,21,21,21,21]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 h5 {C67: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defence: 4 0-0 Nxe4.} 11. Bf4 Be7 12. Rad1 Be6 13. Ng5 Rh6 14. Rfe1 Bb4 15. a3 Bxc3 16. bxc3 h4 {[#]} 17. Kh2 $146 ({Predecessor:} 17. Ne4 Rg6 18. g4 hxg3 19. fxg3 Kf8 20. Kh2 Ne7 21. g4 Re8 22. Rd3 Kg8 23. Ng3 {1/2-1/2 (49) Vachier Lagrave,M (2778)-Karjakin,S (2750) Saint Louis 2019}) 17... Kf8 18. Rb1 b6 19. Rb4 Re8 20. Ra4 a5 21. Bd2 c5 22. Rf4 Rh5 23. Rf3 Kg8 24. Bc1 (24. g4 $11 hxg3+ 25. fxg3) 24... Ne7 $15 25. g4 hxg3+ $1 26. fxg3 Nc6 27. Bf4 Bc8 {And now ...f6 would win.} 28. Rfe3 { [#]} Nd8 (28... Ne7 $1 $17) 29. Kg2 Ne6 30. Nxe6 Bxe6 31. g4 Rh8 32. Bg5 Kh7 33. Kg3 Rb8 34. Rd3 Rhe8 35. Red1 $1 b5 36. Rd8 {The position is equal.} b4 37. Rxe8 Rxe8 38. cxb4 cxb4 39. axb4 axb4 40. Rd8 Rxd8 {Accuracy: White = 92%, Black = 85%.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "FIDE Candidates 2020"] [Site "Yekaterinburg"] [Date "2020.03.18"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Wang, Hao"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A37"] [WhiteElo "2762"] [BlackElo "2763"] [Annotator "TA"] [PlyCount "121"] [EventDate "2020.03.17"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [Tiebreak "Koya+Number of black wins+Number of wins"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 9,121,0,16,7,27,-4,0,0,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,-27,23,23,26,30,28,13,20,17,21,16, 29,28,25,13,25,22,29,17,17,15,23,29,17,0,23,15,23,16,39,29,29,29,46,41,34,31, 18,6,23,7,14,2,14,14,43,18,68,68,71,80,87,87,87,94,141,141,141,141,141,141,158, 141,150,141,141,141,147,143,147,150,151,151,151,151,173,173,173,143,162,167, 183,137,130,76,71,54,54,35,56,44,56,13,12,0,43,53,72,0]} 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. h4 {A37: Symmetrical English vs ...g6:4 Bg2 Bg7 5 Nf3.} h6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nb5 {The position is equal.} d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. O-O Nf6 11. Bf4 {[#] Nc7+ is the strong threat.} O-O {[#]} 12. Qc1 $146 ({ Predecessor:} 12. Nfxd4 a6 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Nd4 Qb6 15. Nb3 Ng4 16. Bd6 Re8 17. Bc5 Qb5 18. Rc1 Qxe2 19. Qxe2 Rxe2 {1/2-1/2 (37) Sandipan,C (2575) -Leenhouts,K (2486) Dieren 2017}) 12... a6 13. Nbxd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Kh7 15. Rd1 Re8 16. Qc7 Qxc7 17. Bxc7 Bg4 18. f3 Rac8 19. Ba5 Bd7 20. Kf2 h5 21. Bf1 Ng8 22. Bc3 Bh6 23. Rd3 Ne7 24. Rad1 Bg7 25. e3 Kg8 26. R3d2 Ba4 27. Re1 Bd7 28. Ne2 Rc7 29. Bxg7 Kxg7 30. Nc3 Be6 31. Red1 b5 32. a3 Rb8 33. Ne2 a5 34. Nd4 Bd7 35. b4 axb4 36. axb4 Ra8 37. Rb2 ({Reject} 37. Nxb5 Bxb5 38. Bxb5 Rb8 $11) 37... Ra4 38. Rdb1 Rb7 39. Rc1 Rba7 40. Nxb5 Bxb5 41. Bxb5 Ra3 42. Be2 Rb7 43. b5 Rb6 44. Rd1 Kf6 45. Rdd2 Rb7 46. Bd3 Nc8 47. e4 dxe4 48. Bxe4 Rb6 49. Rd7 Rc3 50. Rb7 Rxb7 51. Bxb7 $18 {[%mdl 4096] Endgame Strongly threatening b6. KRB-KRN} Nb6 52. Be4 Ke5 53. Rd2 Rb3 {[#]} 54. Bc6 (54. Bd3 $142 $1) 54... Nc4 $16 55. f4+ Kf6 56. Rd8 Rb2+ 57. Kf3 Nd2+ 58. Ke3 Nf1+ 59. Kf3 {Hoping for Rd3. } Nd2+ 60. Ke2 Ne4+ 61. Kf3 {Black escapes into a draw. Accuracy: White = 87%, Black = 91%.} ({Better is} 61. Ke3 $16 Nxg3 62. Rd1) 1/2-1/2 [Event "FIDE Candidates 2020"] [Site "Yekaterinburg"] [Date "2020.03.18"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Ding, Liren"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2805"] [Annotator "TA"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2020.03.17"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [Tiebreak "Koya+Number of black wins+Number of wins"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 20,73,25,19,21,11,8,9,12,27,26,25,91,91,89,84,81,86,93,77,106,107,125, 105,107,115,138,136,125,108,230,209,319,298,312,289,543,528,522,510,480,477, 409,337,314,278,266,252,290,242,246,270,530,530,530,514]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Qd7 {The modern move.} 11. Nc3 Rfe8 {C88: Closed Ruy Lopez: Anti-Marshall Systems.} 12. Bd2 Nd8 13. Nd5 Nxd5 {The position is equal.} 14. exd5 c5 15. a4 {[#]} f5 $146 (15... f6 $11) ({Predecessor:} 15... f6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 18. c4 Rf8 19. cxb5 Qxb5 20. Bc4 Qb7 21. b4 cxb4 22. Qb3 Nf7 23. Ra1 f5 24. Ra4 Qd7 25. Rxb4 Bf6 26. Bc3 h6 {1/2-1/2 (26) Zeihen,P (2315)-Schulz,R (2263) ICCF email 2019}) 16. axb5 $16 axb5 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 18. c4 Nf7 {[#]} 19. cxb5 $1 g5 20. Nh2 Kg7 21. Bc4 Kg6 22. g4 Nh6 23. Qf3 Bd8 24. Qg2 f4 (24... Kg7 $16 {is a better defense.}) 25. b4 Bb6 (25... Nf7 $142 26. bxc5 dxc5) 26. Qe4+ Kg7 27. bxc5 dxc5 $2 (27... Bxc5 {might work better.} 28. d4 Bxd4) 28. Nf3 $18 Nf7 29. Bc3 {[%CAl Rf3e5]} Bc7 30. b6 Bb8 31. Qf5 Qxf5 32. gxf5 Kf6 33. Nd2 Rd8 34. d6 Rxd6 35. Rb1 {Threatens to win with b7.} Nd8 $2 {[#]} (35... Bc6 36. Ne4+ Bxe4 37. dxe4 Rd7) 36. b7 $1 {[%mdl 512]} Bxb7 37. Ba5 {Black did not feel at home in the position after the opening. Accuracy: White = 100%, Black = 56%.} 1-0