[Event "Asian Hybrid Continental "] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.05.??"] [Round "8"] [White "Parham Maghsoodloo"] [Black "Tin Jingyao"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E51"] [WhiteElo "2698"] [BlackElo "2482"] [Annotator "Goh,Kevin"] [PlyCount "106"] [SourceVersionDate "2021.05.29"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd2 $5 {This harmless looking move is actually a trendy line that has been tried by many top players such as Caruana, Vidit, Anton Guijarro and Maghsoodloo himself.} d5 (5... c5 6. a3 Bxc3 7. Bxc3 Ne4 8. Ne2 b6 9. d5 d6 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. Nxc3 e5 12. O-O-O Na6 13. f4 exf4 14. exf4 Nc7 15. Bd3 {with the initiative was played in Maghsoodloo,P (2676)-Tabatabaei,M (2629) Teheran 2021}) 6. Nf3 Re8 {Jingyao has came prepared. This idea has scored tremendously well for Black in recent games.} ({ A recent game that illustrates the potential in White's position continued} 6... b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Rc1 Bb7 9. Bd3 Re8 10. O-O Bf8 11. Ne5 c5 12. f4 { White's play is rather direct and easy to appreciate.} Nc6 13. Ne2 Rc8 14. Be1 cxd4 15. exd4 Ne4 16. Bb5 $1 Re6 17. h3 f6 18. Nxc6 Bxc6 19. Ba6 Rc7 20. f5 Re8 21. Nf4 $14 {and White was better in a tactical slugfest in Vidit,S (2726) -Dominguez Perez,L (2758) chess24.com INT 2021}) 7. Rc1 a6 {Planning to play in the spirit of the Queen's Gambit Accepted.} 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Be2 Bd6 {[#] We have reached the first critical position of this game. Here, Black clearly wants to establish the pawn break with ...c7-c5 after which he would achieve comfortable equality and as such, it is important for White to find a plan to disrupt Black's development.} 11. Ng5 $1 {Played with ideas like Bf3, Nce4, or even Bh5.} ({A quiet move like} 11. O-O {would allow Black to smoothly develop his queenside:} Bb7 12. Ng5 Nbd7 13. Bf3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 c5 { and Black is arguably slightly better in view of White's restricted dark square bishop.}) 11... Nbd7 12. Nce4 Bb7 13. Bf3 {[#] we have now arrived at another important position where Black needs to find a concrete solution to White's threat of Ne4xf6 and winning the b7 bishop. Here, I believe somebody who plays the Queen's Indian Defence such as IM Chan Peng Kong would find the right move rather easily.} Rb8 $6 {This is a strategical mistake that results in an unpleasant position for Black. However, Jingyao excels in defending slightly worse positions so he might have found the resulting middlegame acceptable.} ({Instead, the rather thematic} 13... Qb8 $1 {getting out of any Ba5 ideas, and also preparing Re8-c8 was very strong and equalises cleanly. As mentioned, such moves occur quite frequently in the Queen's Indian which is not an opening in Jingyao's repertoire.} 14. O-O h6 15. Nxf6+ Nxf6 16. Bxb7 Qxb7 17. Qf3 {White must fight for control over the c6 square and this is the only sensible way to do so.} Qd5 $5 18. Qxd5 exd5 19. Nf3 a5 $1 {with complete equality.}) 14. Ba5 $1 {The super Grandmaster does not allow such small opportunities to slip. This Catalan-style type of move exerts unpleasant pressure on Black's queenside and prevents the c7-c5 break effectively. After a long think, Jingyao decides to alleviate the pressure by exchanging a few minor pieces.} Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Bxe4 e5 {[#] Black has achieved a pawn break, although he would much prefer to establish ...c7-c5 instead. In addition, he has given up the bishop pair in a wide-open position which can only be good for White. In short, White has achieved a stable edge from the opening and should be very happy with his chances.} 17. Bc6 $1 {Seizing total control over the light squares on the queenside.} Re7 18. O-O exd4 19. Qxd4 Ne5 20. Rfd1 Qc8 ({Exchanging another minor piece does not help as after} 20... Nxc6 21. Rxc6 {the a6 pawn is an awkward weakness.}) 21. h3 h6 {[%CAl Ge5c6]} 22. Bd5 $5 {While following the game with Junior Tay, we were both a little surprised that White had allowed Black to gain some space with ...c7-c5 followed by ...Qf5 but in fact, White still retains a healthy edge as we will soon see.} ({I personally would have preferred the more restrained} 22. b3 $5 { for example,} Nxc6 23. Rxc6 Qb7 24. Rdc1 {with a solid edge. Black will have to defend very well to hold this.}) 22... c5 23. Qh4 Qf5 {[#] Black must be feeling a little relieved after enduring such a cramp position early on. However, Parham continues to turn on the pressure with some impressively precise play} 24. Be4 $1 ({I was surprised that the insane looking} 24. Bxf7+ $3 {actually works tactically:} Rxf7 (24... Nxf7 25. Rxd6 g5 26. Qg3 Nxd6 27. Qxd6 {is another computerish exchange sacrifice.}) 25. Rxd6 Nc4 26. Rxc4 $1 bxc4 27. Bc3 {[%csl Ga6,Gc4] is apparently much better for White due to the multiple weak pawns in Black's camp. Good luck finding this line!}) 24... Qe6 25. Bc3 $5 Rbe8 (25... Ng6 26. Qh5 Qxe4 27. Rxd6 Rc8 {seems like a reasonable defensive try. Surely Black has to try and swop off one of the bishops.}) 26. Qh5 Bc7 27. b3 Rd7 28. Rxd7 Qxd7 29. Rd1 Qe7 30. Bd5 {White has made a lot of progress in the last few moves and this could not have been pleasant for Jingyao. However, he is an extremely resilient player and he found the most solid set-up to frustrate his opponent.} Kf8 $1 {getting out of the long diagonal.} 31. Qf5 Rd8 32. Qh7 Qf6 {This looks really scary for Black but actually he is not really getting mated. One has to really applaud Black's creativity in even considering this idea of allowing Qh7.} 33. Qc2 {A rather sheepish retreat!} Qg6 34. Qe2 Nc6 35. g3 Ne7 36. Bb7 Rxd1+ 37. Qxd1 Qb6 38. Ba8 Qe6 {Black has done realllyyyyyyy well to exchange rooks and get to this position. However, White's raking bishops remain a force to be reckoned with.} 39. Kg2 Nf5 {Going for the cheapo with ...Qxe3! Not surprisingly, White defended this threat easily} 40. Qf3 Be5 {Time control reached. It is hard to be critical of a move that gets rid of White's powerful dark square bishop but it does loses a pawn. However, the famous Queen and Knight tag-team means there will always be some practical chances of counterplay. To be completely frank, I was not optimistic with Black's chances as I felt that the position was technically winning. This was certainly not the case, as Junior pointed correctly that White had to play really precisely to convert his edge. And well, the passed c-pawn might prove to be a nuisance one day.....} 41. Bxe5 Qxe5 42. Qc6 Nd6 43. Qxa6 c4 44. bxc4 bxc4 45. Qc6 Kg8 $5 {[#] This sets a really crafty trap which fortunately for us, White walked straight into.} 46. a4 $4 {[#] The Iranian superstar probably got too cozy and overlooked Jingyao's sneaky idea behind his last move.} ({Both} 46. Qd5 {and my preferred solution}) (46. Qc7 $1 {would have pretty much won the game. White's queen and bishop coordinates beautifully and controls both the critical dark squares and light squares. The pin on the d6 knight renders it completely helpless and White would simply start charging his a-pawn down the board.}) 46... Qa5 $3 { A fantastic resource by the Singapore National Champion! Speaking to Jingyao after the game, he believed that this was the turning point of the game. And now we also better understand the idea behind 45...Kg8. Qxd6 no longer comes with check!} 47. Kf1 (47. Qxd6 Qxa8+ 48. Kg1 Qxa4 49. Qd8+ Kh7 50. Qd5 { would have been an easy draw but White was too shellshocked to adapt to the turning of the tide.}) 47... Qd2 48. Qd5 Qb4 49. Qd1 c3 50. Bd5 {Parham had recovered well and is now threatening Qb3, after which the pawn is well and truly stymied. Obviously, any queen exchange would be diastrous for Black as White's a-pawn would like promote with the help of the light square bishop.} Nc4 $5 {Stopping the said Qb3 threat and also preparing ....Na3, further supporting the c-pawn. At this juncture, the Singapore crowd following the game could hardly contain their excitement since the c-pawn was tantalisingly close to promotion. Given Black's dire situation early on in the game, this complete turn around gave everyone hope that a huge upset could be on the cards. Message after message appeared on various whatsapp groups and I had to turn my phone off to pay attention to the game.} 51. Qd3 $1 {Another fantastic move by Parham, showing no sign of fear for Black's scary looking passed pawn. In general, Parham played at a really high level throughout this game and if I was not Singaporean, I would have felt really sorry for him that he in fact, had to resign just 2 moves later.} Na3 $3 {[#] This is the first, and maybe the last time I would ever give 2 exclaims to a move that in fact loses by force! The reason why I have done so is that this is perhaps the only move that gives Black winning chances and it paid off handsomely in the game.} ({ My trusty engine spat out the following prosaic continuation that saves the game for Black:} 51... Nd2+ 52. Ke2 Qb2 53. Qb5 Nb3+ 54. Kd3 Nc1+ 55. Kc4 Qxb5+ 56. axb5 c2 57. Kc3 Na2+ 58. Kxc2 Nb4+ 59. Kc3 Nxd5+ {and somehow draw. Yeah right.....................}) 52. Kg2 $4 {A fatal oversight, based on the right idea but a flawed execution.} ({In fact,} 52. Qa6 $3 {combining the mating threat on the backrank and also playing Qc6, completely paralysing the passed c-pawn would have won the game on the spot. Perhaps, some might think that this is engine-like and illogical but I actually disagree because of White's continuation in the game. I believe he had found the same idea of manoeuvring the queen to the c6 square but just missed Black's devastating final move of the game.} Qb8 (52... c2 53. Qc8+ Kh7 54. Kg2 $1 $18 {[%CAl Gd5f7,Gc8c2]}) 53. Qc6 $1 c2 54. Be4 $18) 52... c2 53. Qg6 {[#]} (53. Be4 g6 $3 (53... c1=Q 54. Qd8+ Qf8 55. Bh7+ Kxh7 56. Qxf8 Qc6+ 57. Kh2 Qxa4 58. Qxf7) 54. Qd8+ Kg7 55. Bxc2 Nxc2 56. a5 Qb7+ {[%CAl Gc2b4]}) 53... Qb7 $3 {A fantastic final position, where both queens are hanging, but only Black could resurrect his.} (53... Qe7 54. Qc6 {as mentioned was White's idea.}) ({After} 53... Qb7 $3 54. Qxc2 Qxd5+ 55. e4 Nxc2 56. exd5 {the position is a trivial win for Black and hence, White resigned in disgust.}) 0-1