[Event "Candidates 2020-21"] [Site "Yekaterinburg, Russia"] [Date "2021.04.24"] [Round "12"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B41"] [WhiteElo "2820"] [BlackElo "2776"] [Annotator "Llewellyn,Alan"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] {[%evp 0,90,58,32,79,79,81,50,50,50,45,34,50,58,58,52,58,59,66,18,53,48,49,49, 42,27,36,28,37,-44,29,-11,75,60,63,40,39,19,23,19,4,-23,63,25,34,25,29,25,68, 44,62,62,25,10,10,10,16,6,-15,-48,-21,-49,-48,-52,-31,-31,-14,-39,-39,-44,-44, -44,-84,-92,-92,-105,-95,-177,-158,-186,-177,-296,-125,-125,-122,-236,-236, -295,-323,-624,-639,-646,-622]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. a3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Be2 d6 9. Qd3 $146 {this is a novelty, putting the Queen where it can be attacked seems strange and putting the Queen infront of the e2 Bishop instead of behind the e3 bishop does seem counter inttuitive but hey the computer doesnt dismiss the move...} Bd7 10. f4 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O exf4 13. Bxf4 Be6 14. Qg3 $1 {the idea behind Qd3} Nd7 $6 $14 15. Rad1 Re8 16. Kh1 $1 (16. Bxd6 Qb6+ 17. Kh1 Qxb2 18. Bxe7 Rxe7 19. Rb1 Qxa3 20. Nd5 $3 Qxg3 21. Nxe7+ Kf8 22. hxg3 Kxe7 $11) 16... Qb8 17. b4 Ne5 18. b5 Rc8 19. bxc6 Rxc6 20. Nd5 Qf8 $6 $11 21. c3 Rac8 22. Rc1 Ng6 23. Bd2 Bh4 24. Qe3 Rc5 25. c4 h6 26. Qb3 $6 $11 Bg5 27. Bxg5 hxg5 28. Qg3 $6 $15 Qd8 29. Rcd1 $6 $17 Bxd5 30. exd5 Nf4 $1 31. Qf2 R8c7 32. Rd4 Qe8 33. Bf3 Rxc4 34. Rxc4 Rxc4 35. Qxa7 Ra4 36. Qf2 $2 $17 (36. Qc7 $15) 36... Rxa3 37. h4 $6 $19 {Opening up the King position and he(Fabiano) is become passive...} Qe5 38. hxg5 Qxg5 39. Re1 Ra8 40. Be4 Ra2 $2 $19 41. Rb1 $1 Ra8 (41... Rxf2 $4 42. Rb8+ Qd8 43. Rxd8#) 42. Re1 f5 43. Bb1 $6 $19 Kf7 44. Re3 Rh8+ 45. Kg1 Nxg2 $3 $19 (45... Nxg2 46. Rg3 Qc1+ 47. Kxg2 Qh1# {brilliantly seen by Anish...}) 0-1 [Event "Candidates 2020-21"] [Site "Yekaterinburg, Russia"] [Date "2021.04.24"] [Round "12"] [White "Wang, Hao"] [Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2763"] [BlackElo "2789"] [Annotator "Llewellyn,Alan"] [PlyCount "118"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] {[%evp 0,118,25,11,50,23,23,-13,57,57,57,18,18,-3,27,-22,45,37,40,51,69,57,54, 21,42,-14,-11,-13,-13,-13,-13,-33,5,4,10,-11,31,-11,-11,6,48,-9,42,20,27,-15, -12,-24,13,-8,7,0,5,-21,0,-20,-12,-41,-40,-23,-3,-17,-23,-23,-10,-10,-1,-21, -21,-66,-30,-67,-42,-65,-43,-45,-31,-35,-57,-107,-94,-94,-47,-129,-122,-122, -134,-134,-134,-136,-91,-88,-63,-63,-106,-95,-95,-99,-127,-112,-71,-65,-70,-76, -70,-78,-78,-89,-65,-76,-91,-148,-152,-152,-146,-152,-137,-151,-124,-166,-155] } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3 Nf6 6. d4 d5 7. Bd3 Bd6 8. Qe2+ Qe7 9. Qxe7+ Kxe7 10. O-O Nc6 11. c3 h6 12. Nh4 Re8 13. Nf5+ Bxf5 14. Bxf5 Kf8 15. g3 Ne7 16. Bh3 Nc8 17. Nd2 a5 18. a4 c6 19. Rd1 h5 20. Nf1 g6 21. f3 $6 $11 Nb6 22. b3 Kg7 23. Kf2 Nbd7 24. Bg5 Nf8 25. Re1 Ne6 26. Be3 Rac8 27. Bd2 c5 28. dxc5 Bxc5+ 29. Kg2 Bb6 30. Rab1 Rc6 31. b4 Nc7 32. Rxe8 Ncxe8 33. bxa5 $6 $15 (33. Rb3 axb4 34. Rxb4 Nd6 35. Bf4 Bc5 36. Bxd6 Bxd6 37. Rxb7 Rxc3 38. a5 Ng8 39. Rd7 Bb4 40. Rxd5 Ra3 $11) 33... Bxa5 34. Rxb7 Nd6 35. Ra7 Bxc3 36. Bd7 $1 $11 {white has a problem Bishop on h3 and this is entirely the right way to go about solving the problem by swapping it off...} (36. Bxc3 $11) 36... Nxd7 ( 36... Rc4 37. Bxc3 Rxc3 38. Kf2 Rc2+ 39. Ke1 Nxd7 40. Rxd7 Nc4 41. Rxd5 $11) 37. Bxc3+ Rxc3 38. Rxd7 Rc6 39. Re7 $2 $17 (39. Kf2 $11) 39... Rc2+ 40. Kg1 { now the King is trapped. And thus the pawn on d5 takes on a new found dynamism. ..} d4 41. Rd7 Nf5 42. a5 Ra2 43. Ra7 (43. g4 Nh4 44. gxh5 Nxf3+ 45. Kh1 gxh5 46. Rd6 h4 47. h3 Rxa5 48. Kg2 Ra3 49. Nh2 Ne5 50. Rxd4 Ra2+ 51. Kf1 $19 (51. Kg1 Rxh2 52. Kxh2 Nf3+ 53. Kg2 Nxd4 $19)) 43... Kf6 44. a6 h4 45. Ra8 h3 46. a7 Ke7 47. g4 Nd6 48. Rb8 $2 $17 (48. Nd2 $3 $17 Rxd2 $4 49. Rb8 Ra2 50. a8=Q $16) 48... Rxa7 49. Rb4 d3 50. Rb3 Ra2 51. Rxd3 Nc4 52. Ng3 Rg2+ 53. Kh1 Kf8 54. Rc3 Nb2 55. Rc8+ Kg7 56. Rd8 Rf2 57. Kg1 (57. Rb8 Nd3 58. Rb1 Rg2 59. Rf1 Nf2+ 60. Rxf2 Rxf2 61. Kg1 Rxf3 62. Ne4 Kh6 63. g5+ Kh5 64. Nf2 Rxf2 65. Kxf2 Kxg5 $19) 57... Rxf3 58. Ne4 Re3 59. Ng3 Ra3 {Hao had just about had enough, and now Nepo is favourite to challenge Magnus.} 0-1