[Event "Superbet Classic 2021"]
[Site " Bucharest ROU"]
[Date "2021.06.12"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2820"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
{[%evp 0,96,32,32,24,25,25,14,14,14,14,24,26,10,25,-1,-3,-17,-17,-20,48,40,36,
4,20,-27,-27,-30,-30,-37,-37,-34,-34,-34,-34,-49,-49,-49,-48,-57,-62,-108,-71,
-82,-82,-82,-82,-86,-90,-122,-120,-147,-145,-152,-145,-145,-117,-178,-170,-178,
-161,-183,-182,-258,-248,-310,-310,-211,-203,-204,-206,-206,-221,-221,-203,
-221,-221,-221,-221,-221,-221,-221,-210,-235,-235,-233,-225,-225,-222,-222,
-166,-169,-177,-178,-200,-210,-127,-142,-162]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6
4. d3 Bc5 5. Nc3 (5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O Qe7 7. h3 Rg8 8. Kh1 Nh5 9. c3 g5 10.
Nxe5 g4 11. d4 Bd6 12. g3 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Qxe5 14. Qd4 Qe7 15. h4 c5 16. Qc4 Be6
17. Qb5+ c6 18. Qa4 f5 19. Bg5 Rxg5 20. hxg5 f4 21. Qd1 Rd8 22. Qc1 fxg3 23.
Na3 Rd3 24. Rd1 Bd5 25. f3 gxf3 26. exd5 Qe2 27. Re1 g2+ {0-1 (27) Aronian,L
(2794)-Kramnik,V (2800) Berlin 2018}) (5. c3) (5. O-O Nd4) 5... Nd4 6. Ba4 (6.
Nxe5) (6. Bc4) 6... c6 7. O-O d6 8. Nxd4 Bxd4 9. h3 g5 $5 $146 {Objectively
bad, but very dangerous. If White doesn't handle this precisely, Black will be
at least fine and possibly better.} ({There's absolutely nothing wrong with
Black's position after, say,} 9... a5 $15 {, but Mamedyarov is in a more
aggressive mood.}) 10. Ne2 $2 (10. Nd5 $1 {was the only move that gives White
the advantage, and if} b5 $2 {then} (10... h6 11. c3 Bb6 12. Be3 $16) 11. Bxb5
$1 cxb5 12. Bxg5 $18 {is crushing.}) 10... Bb6 $15 11. c3 (11. Bb3 $142) 11...
Rg8 {It's not exactly Aronian-Kramnik (see above), but it is another instance
of 0-0 and h3 in a 4.d3 Berlin being met by some combination of ...Rg8 and ...
g5.} 12. d4 $1 {A smart pawn sac, going for counterplay.} Nxe4 13. Bc2 ({After
} 13. Ng3 $1 {Black must find a bunch of precise moves to keep an advantage,
and even at the end of the line it's still complicated.} Nxg3 14. fxg3 d5 15.
Qh5 Be6 16. Qxh7 Kd7 17. Bc2 e4 18. Bd1 Qe7 19. Bg4 Raf8 $15 {/-/+}) 13... d5
$17 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. dxe5 Qxd1 16. Rxd1 g4 {White has regained the pawn, but
Black's pieces are far more active, and his bishops are a real problem for
White.} 17. h4 g3 18. Nd4 Bd8 $1 {Sooner or later, this will net a pawn.} 19.
fxg3 Rxg3 20. Re1 (20. Rf1 $142) 20... Rg4 $19 21. Bg5 Bxg5 22. hxg5 Ke7 23.
Rad1 Bd7 24. e6 $5 fxe6 $1 25. g6 hxg6 {At the cost of not one but two pawns,
White has averted potential problems down the g-file while wrecking Black's
kingside pawns. That's the good news. The bad news: he's down two pawns!
Additionally, Black has ...e5 followed by ...Be6, so he remains plenty active.
Caruana fights well, but the game cannot be saved.} 26. Nb3 e5 27. Na5 Be6 28.
Rd2 (28. Nxb7 $2 Rb8 29. Na5 Rxb2 30. Nxc6+ Kf6 31. Rf1+ Kg5 $19 {and White is
completely busted.}) 28... Rb8 29. b4 Kf6 30. a4 Rg3 31. Rxe4 $2 Bd5 32. Rh4
Rxc3 33. Rh7 b6 34. Nxc6 Bxc6 35. Rc7 Rc1+ 36. Kf2 Rf8 37. b5 Ke6+ 38. Kg3 Rc3+
39. Kh2 Rh8+ 40. Kg1 Rh1+ $1 {A nice way to finish things off.} 41. Kxh1 (41.
Kf2 Rf1+ {leads to essentially the same thing.}) 41... Bxg2+ 42. Rxg2 Rxc7 43.
Rxg6+ Kd5 44. a5 Kc5 45. axb6 axb6 46. Re6 Kxb5 47. Rxe5+ Rc5 48. Re1 Rg5 {
With White's king cut off by (approximately) 30 files, the frontal defense is
inadequate.} (48... Rg5 49. Rb1+ Kc6 50. Rc1+ Kb7 51. Rb1 b5 52. Kh2 Kb6 53.
Kh3 Kc5 54. Kh4 Rd5 55. Rc1+ Kb6 56. Rb1 Rd4+ 57. Kg3 b4 {Now that the pawn
has crossed into White's half of the board, the rest is trivial. Once Black's
king defends the pawn, the rook will no longer be needed to help the pawn
advance.} 58. Kf3 Kb5 59. Ke3 Rd8 60. Ke2 Kc4 61. Rc1+ Kb3 62. Rb1+ Kc3 63.
Rc1+ Kb2 {etc.}) 0-1
[Event "Superbet Classic 2021"]
[Site " Bucharest ROU"]
[Date "2021.06.12"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D40"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
{[%evp 0,57,32,35,27,-5,-5,-4,6,6,37,14,23,10,39,17,21,22,38,-20,-8,-20,-21,
-38,4,5,5,10,28,20,27,31,26,23,31,-28,-37,-29,-42,-43,-46,-37,-48,-42,4,-38,
-21,-30,106,102,265,270,267,308,452,371,519,618,624,663]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3.
Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. a3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 a6 8. O-O b5 9. Ba2 Bb7 10. d5 {
Not the main move, but hardly unknown.} (10. Qe2 {is more common, with the
tactical justification that} cxd4 11. Rd1 {lets White regain the pawn.}) 10...
exd5 11. Nxd5 Be7 12. e4 O-O 13. Bf4 (13. Re1 c4 14. b3 Nxd5 15. exd5 Na5 16.
bxc4 Nxc4 17. Bxc4 bxc4 18. Rb1 Rb8 19. h3 Bd6 20. Bb2 Bxd5 21. Qd4 Rxb2 22.
Qxb2 Bxf3 23. gxf3 Qg5+ 24. Kf1 Qf5 25. Kg2 Qg6+ 26. Kf1 Qf5 27. Re3 Qxh3+ 28.
Ke2 Qf5 29. Re4 h5 30. Qc3 Rc8 31. Rd1 Bf8 32. Rdd4 Qb5 33. Rxc4 Bxa3 34. Qd3
Rxc4 35. Rxc4 Bf8 36. Rd4 Qb2+ 37. Kf1 a5 38. Rd8 Qb4 39. Kg2 a4 40. Qd5 a3 41.
Rd7 Qf4 42. Ra7 h4 43. Ra8 Qb4 44. Ra7 Qf4 45. Kh3 g6 46. Ra8 Qb4 47. Ra7 Qf4
48. Ra8 Qb4 49. Ra6 Kg7 50. Qe5+ Kg8 51. Ra8 Qb1 52. Kg2 Qb4 53. Qd5 Qe7 54.
Ra4 Qf6 55. Rg4 Kg7 56. Ra4 Qe6 57. Qxe6 fxe6 58. Rxh4 e5 59. Ra4 Kf6 60. Kg3
Kf5 61. Ra5 Bb4 62. Ra8 Ke6 63. Ra4 Bc5 64. Kg4 Kd5 65. Kg5 Bxf2 66. Rxa3 Bc5
67. Ra5 Kd4 68. Kxg6 Bb4 69. Ra4 Kc4 70. Kf5 Kb5 71. Rxb4+ {1-0 (71)
Mamedyarov,S (2736)-Lagarde,M (2550) Berlin 2015}) 13... c4 14. Re1 {Still
following several predecessors, including a couple of GM games. I'm not sure
how much time Grischuk had at this moment, but after his next move, which was
a novelty - and pretty clearly not one he had prepared beforehand - he was
down to 13 minutes for 26 moves. Ridiculous.} Re8 $5 $146 (14... Rc8 15. Nxe7+
(15. Qd2 Nxd5 16. exd5 Nb8 17. Rad1 Bf6 18. Bb1 g6 19. Ne5 Nd7 20. Nc6 Bxc6 21.
dxc6 Nc5 22. Qe3 Qb6 23. Bd6 Qxc6 24. Bxf8 Rxf8 25. b4 cxb3 26. Rc1 Rc8 27. Be4
Qd6 28. Bb1 Bd4 29. Qf3 Qf6 30. Qg3 h5 31. Re2 Rd8 32. h4 Kg7 33. Rce1 Bc3 34.
Rf1 Bd4 35. Kh1 Na4 36. f4 Nc3 37. Ree1 Nxb1 38. Rxb1 b2 39. Rbd1 Re8 40. Qg5
Be3 41. Rfe1 Qxg5 42. fxg5 Bc1 43. Rxe8 b1=Q 44. Ree1 Qf5 45. Rxc1 Qf4 46. Kg1
Qd4+ 47. Kf1 Qxh4 48. Rc5 Qf4+ 49. Ke2 Qe4+ 50. Kf1 Qd3+ 51. Re2 Qxa3 52. Rc7
Qd3 53. Rb7 Qb1+ {0-1 (53) Kozionov,K (2458)-Vorobiov,E (2566) Moscow 2019})
15... Nxe7 16. Qc2 Ng6 17. Rad1 Qb6 18. Bg5 Rfe8 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. Bb1 Rcd8 21.
Rxd8 Rxd8 22. Qc3 Nf4 23. Qxf6 gxf6 24. Kf1 Nd3 25. Rd1 Bxe4 26. Ne1 Kg7 27.
Bxd3 cxd3 28. f3 Bg6 29. Rd2 Kh6 30. Kf2 b4 31. axb4 Rd4 32. g3 Rxb4 33. Nxd3
Bxd3 34. Rxd3 Rxb2+ 35. Ke3 a5 36. Rd5 a4 37. Ra5 Rb4 38. g4 Kg7 39. Ra6 f5 40.
gxf5 Rh4 41. h3 Rb4 42. Kd3 Rf4 43. Ke3 Rc4 44. Kd3 Rb4 45. Ke3 h6 46. Kf2 h5
47. Ke3 Rb3+ 48. Kf4 a3 49. Kg5 Rxf3 50. f6+ Kh7 51. h4 Rb3 52. Kxh5 Rb5+ 53.
Kg4 Rb4+ 54. Kg5 Rb5+ 55. Kg4 Rb4+ 56. Kg5 Rb5+ {1/2-1/2 (56) Shimanov,A (2587)
-Abdusattorov,N (2644) Moscow 2020}) 15. Qd2 {A reasonable move, but a mistake
if I'm right that 15.Nc7 works.} ({At first sight, it appears that White can
grab the exchange.} 15. Nc7 Nh5 16. Bg3 $1 Nxg3 17. Nxe8 Nh5 18. Qxd8 $1 Rxd8
19. Nc7 Nf4 20. Rad1 Nd3 21. Re2 $18 {Does Black have better?} Bf6 $2 22. Nd5
$1 Bxb2 23. Rxd3 cxd3 24. Rxb2 $18) 15... Bc5 16. Bg5 Be7 17. h4 $5 h6 18. Bf4
Bc5 $11 19. Bc7 $8 Qc8 20. Nxf6+ gxf6 21. Qf4 {This looks scary, but White's
bishops are so goofy that Black is fine, at least objectively. The position is
dangerous though, and with Grischuk having almost no time on the clock his
chances aren't very good.} Nd4 $2 {Losing.} (21... Ne5 $1 22. Bxe5 $8 fxe5 23.
Qxh6 Qe6 24. Qxe6 (24. Qg5+ Kh7 $44) 24... Rxe6 25. b3 a5 $1 26. bxc4 b4 $44 {
Black's terrific bishops offer him full compensation for the pawns.}) (21...
Re7 {is less flashy than 21...Ne5, but just as good.} 22. Bd6 Bxd6 23. Qxd6 Qg4
24. Qxf6 Re6 25. Qf5 Qg7 $44) 22. Nxd4 Bxd4 23. Rad1 $18 Bc5 $2 (23... Be5 24.
Bxe5 fxe5 25. Qxh6 Re6 26. Qh5 Rg6 27. b3 $18 {This time, Black has no
compensation for the pawn; in fact, White has both the pawn and the
compensation, as Dzindzhi used to say.}) 24. Bb1 $1 Bf8 25. Re3 $1 {Here comes
everybody...} Bg7 26. Rg3 Kh8 27. e5 Qe6 28. Bf5 Qe7 29. Rd7 {Oof.} (29. Rd7
Qf8 30. exf6 Bxf6 31. Rxf7 $1 Qxf7 32. Qxh6+ {and mate next move.}) 1-0
[Event "Superbet Classic 2021"]
[Site " Bucharest ROU"]
[Date "2021.06.12"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8.
Bxc4 c5 9. e5 Qd8 10. O-O cxd4 11. Ne4 O-O 12. Qe2 Be7 13. Rad1 Qc7 14. Ng3 Bd7
15. Nh5 g6 16. Bd3 Bc6 17. Nxd4 Nd7 18. Rfe1 Nxe5 19. Qxe5 Qxe5 20. Rxe5 gxh5
21. Nxc6 bxc6 22. Rxh5 Kg7 23. Kf1 Rfd8 24. Ke2 Rd5 25. Rh3 Rad8 26. Rg3+ Kf8
27. Bc2 Re5+ 28. Re3 Rxe3+ 29. fxe3 Rxd1 30. Kxd1 Bf6 31. Be4 Bxb2 32. Bxc6 a5
33. a4 Be5 34. g3 Ke7 35. Ke2 Kf8 36. Kd1 Ke7 37. Ke2 Kf8 38. Kd1 1/2-1/2
[Event "Superbet Classic 2021"]
[Site " Bucharest ROU"]
[Date "2021.06.12"]
[Round "7.4"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
{[%evp 0,99,32,18,30,6,14,23,83,71,81,46,64,28,52,62,60,16,41,15,33,24,53,48,
51,54,46,20,26,55,55,35,32,-4,-3,3,22,9,39,26,40,45,58,47,70,75,68,56,68,60,77,
66,65,48,49,43,58,43,44,50,51,55,67,60,49,55,56,63,66,71,72,68,75,62,72,73,102,
92,93,113,115,72,101,76,98,120,140,140,132,112,132,153,156,147,192,237,171,278,
345,368,368,250]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. d4 Nxc3 6. bxc3
g6 7. e3 (7. e4 {would transpose to a normal Gruenfeld.}) 7... Bg7 8. Bb5+ Bd7
9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Qa5 $146 (10... Nc6 11. Rb1 b6 12. d5 Na5 13. c4 e6 14. e4
exd5 15. cxd5 Re8 16. Re1 c4 17. Bc2 Qc7 18. d6 Qc5 19. Be3 Qh5 20. Bd4 Bxd4
21. Qxd4 Rac8 22. Qc3 Rc5 23. e5 Nc6 24. Ba4 Rd8 25. Bxc6 Rxc6 26. Nd4 Rc5 27.
e6 fxe6 28. Nxe6 Bxe6 29. Rxe6 Qf5 30. Rbe1 Rf8 31. Re8 Qxf2+ 32. Kh1 Rd5 33.
Rxf8+ Qxf8 34. Qxc4 Qf7 35. Qc7 Qe6 36. Qd8+ Kf7 37. Rf1+ Rf5 38. Qc7+ Kg8 39.
Rd1 Qe2 40. Qc1 Rg5 41. Qc8+ Kg7 42. Qb7+ Kf8 43. Rg1 Qd2 44. Qe7+ Kg8 45. d7
Rd5 46. Rf1 {1-0 (46) Jakovenko,D (2681)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2774) Khanty
Mansiysk 2019}) 11. Qb3 Qc7 12. Rb1 b6 13. Ba3 Nc6 14. dxc5 Be6 15. cxb6 axb6
16. Qxb6 Qxb6 17. Rxb6 Rxa3 18. Rxc6 Bd5 {MVL heads for opposite-colored
bishops. The draw is not guaranteed, especially with all four rooks still on
the board, so the question is whether it gives better chances to split the
point than keeping the bishop pair would.} (18... Bxc3 $142 $11 19. Rxe6 $5
fxe6 20. Bc4 $44) 19. Rc5 Bxf3 20. gxf3 Bxc3 21. Bc4 Bb4 22. Rb5 Bd6 23. Rc1
Rfa8 24. f4 Kg7 25. Bb3 R8a5 26. Rd5 Rxd5 27. Bxd5 h6 28. h3 g5 29. fxg5 hxg5
30. Bb3 Ra5 31. a4 Rc5 32. Rb1 Kf6 33. Kg2 Bc7 34. Bd1 Rd5 35. Rc1 Bd6 36. Be2
Rc5 37. Ra1 Rc3 $2 {Note the word "especially" in my comment to Black's 18th
move. Yes, opposite-colored bishops are harder to hold with rooks on the board,
but even in their absence a draw isn't guaranteed. Giri avoided the trade on
the previous moves, but in the game scenario, his a-pawn has made enough
progress to justify it.} (37... Bc7 $14) 38. a5 Ra3 39. Rxa3 Bxa3 40. Kf3 $16
e6 41. Bd3 Ke7 42. Kg4 Kf6 $2 {And this loses.} (42... f6) 43. a6 Bc5 44. Bb5
$1 {Giri has a very nice, concrete idea in mind.} Ba7 45. Be8 Ke7 46. Bxf7 $1
Kxf7 47. Kxg5 Kg7 48. h4 e5 49. Kf5 Bb8 50. Ke4 (50. Ke4 Kh6 51. Kd5 Kh5 52.
Kc6 Ba7 53. Kb7 Bc5 54. a7 Bxa7 55. Kxa7 Kxh4 56. Kb6 Kg4 57. Kc5 Kf3 58. Kd5
Kxf2 59. e4 $18) 1-0
[Event "Superbet Classic 2021"]
[Site " Bucharest ROU"]
[Date "2021.06.12"]
[Round "7.5"]
[White "Lupulescu, Constantin"]
[Black "Deac, Bogdan-Daniel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2656"]
[BlackElo "2627"]
[PlyCount "150"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. e3 Nc6 4. a3 g6 5. d4 exd4 6. exd4 d5 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Nf3
O-O 9. Be2 Be6 10. cxd5 Bxd5 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. Bh6 Re8 13. O-O Bf6 14. Rc1 a6
15. Bc4 Qd6 16. Ba2 Bg7 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Qb3 Nce7 19. Rfe1 Qb6 20. Qxb6 cxb6
21. Re5 Red8 22. g3 Rd7 23. Re2 f6 24. Bxd5 Nxd5 25. Rec2 g5 26. Kf1 Re8 27.
Re2 Red8 28. Ne1 Kf7 29. Nc2 b5 30. Ne3 Ne7 31. Rd2 h5 32. Rcd1 Nc8 33. d5 Nd6
34. Rc2 Kg6 35. Rd4 Re8 36. h4 Ne4 37. Kg2 Nd6 38. Kf1 Rde7 39. Rc1 Ne4 40. Ng2
Nd6 41. Ne3 Rf7 42. Kg2 Re5 43. Kg1 Rd7 44. Kf1 Rde7 45. Kg2 Rd7 46. Kf1 Rde7
47. Kg2 gxh4 48. gxh4 Re4 49. Rcd1 f5 50. Kf3 Kf6 51. Ng2 Ke5 52. Rxe4+ fxe4+
53. Ke2 Nc4 54. Ne3 Nxb2 55. d6 Rd7 56. Rd5+ Ke6 57. Rxh5 Kxd6 58. Rh8 Nc4 59.
h5 Ke5 60. Re8+ Kf4 61. Rf8+ Kg5 62. Rf5+ Kh4 63. Nxc4 bxc4 64. Rc5 b5 65. a4
Rh7 66. axb5 axb5 67. Rxb5 Rxh5 68. Rb8 Rc5 69. Re8 c3 70. Rxe4+ Kh3 71. Kd1
c2+ 72. Kc1 Kg2 73. Re2 Kf3 74. Rxc2 Rxc2+ 75. Kxc2 Kxf2 1/2-1/2
