[Event "Candidates 2020"] [Site "Yekaterinburg, Russia"] [Date "2020.03.25"] [Round "7"] [White "Vachier-Lagarve, Maxime"] [Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C18"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2774"] [Annotator "Llewellyn,Alan"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] {[%evp 0,83,14,9,36,31,29,35,28,32,19,13,24,34,17,-8,-6,-42,-8,-18,-19,-14,-12, -24,-28,-9,0,-17,-13,-13,-13,-12,-13,-25,-32,-32,9,-28,19,23,21,27,36,41,53,35, 44,32,45,29,34,35,35,35,44,52,116,104,96,116,116,108,97,97,104,104,123,135,151, 169,146,146,206,202,272,274,276,269,285,269,375,383,1161,1275,1216,1362]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4 Qc7 8. h5 h6 9. Rb1 b6 10. Qg4 Rg8 11. Bb5+ Kf8 12. Bd3 Ba6 13. dxc5 Bxd3 14. cxd3 Nd7 15. d4 bxc5 16. Qd1 Qa5 17. Bd2 Rb8 18. Ne2 c4 19. O-O Rb6 20. Qc2 Rh8 21. a4 Ke8 $6 22. Rb4 $6 (22. Rxb6 Nxb6 23. Ra1 Kd7 24. Bc1 Nc6 25. Qb1 Rb8 26. Ra2 Kc7 27. Qh7 Nd7 28. Qxg7 Rb1 29. Qxh6 Qb6 30. Kh2 Qb3 31. Rd2 Rxc1 32. Nxc1 Qxc3 33. Ne2 Qb4 $18) 22... Nc6 23. f4 $3 {a nice little move which i had missed in my analysis earlier.} Ne7 (23... Nxb4 24. cxb4 Qa6 25. b5 Qc8 26. f5 Nf8 27. Bb4 exf5 28. Nf4 Qd7 29. Bd6 Ne6 30. Nxd5 Rb7 31. Qxc4 Rf8 32. Ne7 f4 33. d5 Ng5 34. Qxf4 a6 35. Rc1 f6 36. bxa6 Ra7 37. Rc8+ Kf7 38. e6+ Nxe6 39. dxe6+ Qxe6 40. Rxf8+ Kxf8 41. Nc6+ Kf7 42. Nxa7 Qe1+ 43. Kh2 $18) 24. Rfb1 f5 25. Rb5 Qa6 26. Bc1 Kf7 27. Ba3 Rhb8 28. Bxe7 Kxe7 29. g4 Rxb5 $2 $16 {releasing the tension was wrong here Nepo under pressure wilts a bit.} (29... Rf8 30. Rxb6 Nxb6 31. Kh2 Rf7 32. Kg3 Kf8 33. Qa2 fxg4 34. Qa3+ Kg8 35. a5 Nd7 36. Kxg4 $14 {lots of acurate computer moves later and nepo is defending but in human moves otb things are different...}) 30. axb5 Rxb5 31. gxf5 Rxb1+ 32. Qxb1 exf5 $6 { the weakness on the white squares in Blacks position is decisive} 33. Ng3 Qb6 34. Nxf5+ Kf8 35. Qa1 Qe6 36. Ng3 Qg4 $4 37. Kg2 Qxf4 38. Qxa7 Ke7 39. Qa3+ Kd8 40. Qd6 $5 {the d5 pawn is hanging and the threat of e6 by MVL is compulsive.} g5 {a desperate lunge which loses quicker...} (40... Qf8 41. Qxd5 Kc7 42. Qxc4+ Kb7 43. Qd5+ Kc7 44. Qa5+ Kb7 45. Ne4 Qf4 46. Nd6+ Kb8 47. Qb5+ Kc7 48. Qb7+ Kd8 49. Qc8+ Ke7 50. Qe8#) 41. hxg6 h5 42. g7 {42...Qg5 43 Qf8+!! Nxf8 44 gxf8Q+ gets a won endgame, when its a matter of technique to win these players aint going to make a mistake or well very rarely. To conserve energy for future rounds Nepo trusts in MVLs technique and resigns here.} 1-0