[Event "23rd European Teams"] [Site "Terme Catez SLO"] [Date "2021.11.20"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C78"] [WhiteElo "2773"] [BlackElo "2770"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "171"] [EventDate "2021.11.12"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "SLO"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1411"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2021.11.22"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2021.11.22"] [SourceQuality "2"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "France"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "FRA"] {[%evp 0,171,19,38,25,16,14,23,25,0,10,12,12,16,22,14,22,34,33,6,12,13,30,32, 17,33,35,-20,-2,-17,-14,-10,84,60,66,66,73,34,44,40,48,48,67,68,69,63,82,71,71, 63,56,63,64,61,68,39,67,83,82,60,112,71,71,79,66,51,54,57,71,63,87,80,109,114, 110,109,114,108,118,109,118,119,119,55,56,57,57,56,57,57,60,60,57,52,60,57,57, 56,57,53,57,55,56,57,57,57,57,57,57,48,57,57,73,62,78,63,67,67,90,86,97,67,67, 57,85,57,85,65,57,57,68,68,61,60,57,57,57,57,57,57,57,57,57,57,57,57,57,57,103, 85,114,107,97,97,97,85,85,75,78,74,74,74,74,74,74,5,4,4,4,4,4,4,3,0]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4 Bb6 9. Be3 O-O 10. Nbd2 Rb8 11. h3 Re8 12. Re1 Bb7 13. Ng5 Re7 14. d5 Bxe3 15. Rxe3 Na7 16. a4 Nc8 17. axb5 axb5 18. c4 c6 $6 (18... h6 19. Ngf3 c6 {seems absolutely fine for Black, and with no special risk at all. Firouzja clearly felt the risk was manageable, but I'm not sure what benefit he hoped to accrue by rolling the dice.}) 19. dxc6 Bxc6 20. cxb5 Bxb5 $2 (20... Rxb5 $142) 21. Bxf7+ $1 {Now Firouzja is in trouble.} Rxf7 22. Qb3 d5 23. Nxf7 Kxf7 24. exd5 Qxd5 25. Qxd5+ $2 {With the queens off the board, Black's prospects for a successful defense are greatly enhanced.} (25. Qc3 $1 $18 {was much better. The e-pawn is almost certainly going to fall in any case, but Black must also worry about his king's safety.}) 25... Nxd5 26. Rxe5 $16 {From here Black gets to suffer until the end of the game - entirely needlessly. To his credit, he held his nerve, defended well, and saved the game.} Nf6 27. Ne4 Nd7 28. Rd5 Bc6 29. Rd2 Ne5 30. Re1 Bxe4 31. Rxe4 Nc6 32. Rd3 N8e7 33. b3 Kg8 34. g3 Nf5 35. Kg2 Nfd4 36. Rexd4 Nxd4 37. Rxd4 Rxb3 38. Rd7 h5 39. Rd5 g6 40. Rd7 Kf8 41. g4 hxg4 42. hxg4 Ra3 43. f3 Rb3 44. Kg3 Rb4 45. Kh4 Rb5 46. Kg3 Rb4 47. f4 Rb3+ 48. Kf2 Ra3 49. Rd5 Kf7 50. Re5 Kf6 51. Re3 Ra4 52. Kf3 Ra1 53. Rb3 Rf1+ 54. Ke3 Re1+ 55. Kf2 Re7 56. Kg3 Ra7 57. Rb5 Ra3+ 58. Kh4 Ra7 59. Rb6+ Kg7 60. Re6 Kf7 61. Rd6 Kg7 62. Rd3 Kf6 63. Kg3 Rb7 64. Kf3 Re7 65. Rd5 Kf7 66. Rd6 Kg7 67. Rc6 Kf7 68. Rc4 Kf6 69. Re4 Ra7 70. Rd4 Re7 71. Rd3 Kf7 72. Ra3 Kf6 73. Kg3 Kf7 74. Kh4 Rb7 75. Kg5 Kg7 76. Ra5 Rc7 77. Ra6 Rc5+ 78. f5 gxf5 79. gxf5 Rc7 80. Rg6+ Kf7 81. Rh6 Kg7 82. f6+ Kg8 83. Kg6 Rg7+ 84. Kf5 Ra7 85. Kg6 Rg7+ 86. fxg7 1/2-1/2 [Event "23rd European Teams"] [Site "Terme Catez SLO"] [Date "2021.11.21"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2770"] [BlackElo "2765"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2021.11.12"] [EventType "team"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "SLO"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1411"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2021.11.22"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2021.11.22"] [SourceQuality "2"] [WhiteTeam "France"] [BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"] [WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"] [BlackTeamCountry "AZE"] {[%evp 0,101,38,19,16,23,15,13,13,17,17,18,19,29,51,-26,5,-48,-17,-37,-23,-30, -14,-21,-18,-48,-48,-34,-27,-10,-3,-28,2,7,-3,-17,0,0,-1,-80,73,73,73,76,76,76, 98,80,144,56,73,9,24,46,46,46,46,56,56,69,61,52,63,56,69,66,83,81,91,89,61,68, 68,75,81,69,69,74,74,69,75,21,44,42,41,38,40,42,55,62,66,66,66,66,77,77,60,55, 71,74,77,54,77,94]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 h6 6. c3 d6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 a5 9. Nbd2 Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Nb3 Ba7 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Rxe3 a4 14. Nbd2 d5 15. Re2 b5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. a3 (17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. Rxe5 a3 $44) 17... Nf4 18. Re3 Qe8 $2 (18... Nd5 $11) 19. g3 $1 Nxh3+ 20. Kg2 Ng5 21. Nxg5 hxg5 22. Qg4 $16 Rf5 23. Nf3 Qf7 24. Qe4 Rf8 25. Rh1 g6 26. Qxc6 g4 27. Kg1 Rxf3 28. Rxf3 Qxf3 29. Qxe6+ Qf7 30. Qxf7+ Rxf7 31. Rh4 Rd7 32. Rxg4 Rxd3 33. Rxg6+ Kf7 34. Rc6 Rd2 35. c4 Rxb2 36. Rxc7+ Ke6 37. Rc6+ Kf5 38. cxb5 Rb3 39. b6 Rxa3 40. b7 Rb3 41. Ra6 Rxb7 42. Rxa4 e4 {Mamedyarov has defended well, and his reward is a theoretically drawn ending. It's not a trivial draw, perhaps, but it's a known type of ending that he has almost certainly studied at some point.} 43. Ra5+ Kf6 44. Kf1 Rb3 45. Ke2 Rc3 46. Ra8 Rb3 47. Rf8+ Ke5 (47... Kg5 $2 {(See the comment at the end of the 48...Rb2 line, below.)} 48. Rf4 Rb4 49. Ke3 $18) 48. Kf1 {This is the critical moment. If Firouzja's king is allowed to travel up the board, he wins.} Kd4 $2 (48... Rb2 $2 {doesn't prevent White's king walk, as} 49. Kg2 e3 {is refuted by} 50. Re8+ $18 { and 51.Rxe3. (This might lead one to think that Black should have tried 47... Kg5 instead, to avoid this tactical nuance, but that also failed.)}) (48... Rf3 $1 {had to be played. It's odd to voluntarily trade into a king and pawn ending down material, but this is an exception.} 49. Rxf3 ({White can remain in the rook ending with} 49. Re8+) ({or} 49. Rd8 {, for example, but a combination of the setup Black had been using, together with this ...Rf3 trick, should suffice for Mamedyarov to hold.}) 49... exf3 50. Ke1 (50. Kg1 Kf5 $8 51. Kh1 Kg5 $8 52. Kh2 Kg4 $8 {inhibits any progress by the white king.}) 50... Ke4 51. Kd2 Kd4 52. Kc2 Kc4 53. Kd2 Kd4 54. g4 Ke4 55. g5 Kf5 56. Ke3 Kxg5 57. Kxf3 Kf5 $11 {Black seizes the opposition and draws.}) 49. Kg2 {And White wins!} Rb7 50. Kh3 Ke5 51. g4 1-0 [Event "GM Warmup Match 2021"] [Site "Hangzhou CHN"] [Date "2021.11.22"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Lu Shanglei"] [Black "Ding Liren"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2616"] [BlackElo "2799"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2021.11.22"] [EventType "match"] [EventRounds "4"] [EventCountry "CHN"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1411"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2021.11.22"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2021.11.22"] [SourceQuality "2"] {[%evp 0,74,29,23,23,23,21,23,16,10,-2,-15,23,-37,-21,-14,11,11,68,30,35,29,29, 14,3,1,-16,13,16,-8,32,-80,-6,8,21,-64,-79,-63,-63,-112,-57,-154,-133,-220,-58, -172,-12,-41,-36,-36,-57,-66,-60,-65,-55,-146,-68,-154,-91,-68,-65,-75,-75,-82, -71,-71,-54,-71,-52,-58,-63,-72,-73,-126,-116,-134,-138]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4 Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. e5 Ne8 11. Qxd4 c5 12. Qe4 Rb8 13. c4 Bb7 14. Qg4 bxc4 15. Bc2 Bd5 16. f4 Bc6 17. Qh3 g6 18. f5 Bg5 19. Nd2 Rb4 20. fxg6 fxg6 21. Nxc4 Ng7 22. a3 Rb8 { Through this point, White has been equal or better, but now things go upside-down in a hurry.} 23. Qg4 (23. Be4 $142) 23... Ne6 $15 24. Bxg5 Qxg5 25. Qxg5 Nxg5 26. Rf1 $6 (26. b3 $142) 26... Ne6 $17 27. Rf6 $2 Nd4 $6 (27... Rxf6 28. exf6 Nd4 $19) 28. Bd3 $6 (28. Rxf8+ Kxf8 29. Bd3) 28... Rb3 $2 (28... d5 $1 $19 {is a sneaky move. It seems that even the world's best players have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to en passant situations. White cannot play 29. exd6, as that hangs his rook.}) 29. Rxf8+ Kxf8 30. Bf1 $17 {/-+} Ke7 31. Rc1 Bd5 (31... Bb5 $142) 32. a4 Nc6 (32... Ke6 $142) 33. Rc2 $17 Nb4 34. Rd2 $6 ( 34. Rf2 $17 {prevents the procedure in the game, as swapping on c4 followed by ...Re3 would be met by 36.Rf7+.}) 34... Bxc4 35. Bxc4 Re3 36. e6 $2 (36. Rf2 $1 {was still best.}) 36... d6 {Now it's just over. If White plays 37.Rf2, then .. .d5. Alternatively, if White tries to maintain control over the d5 square, as in the game, Black first retreats the rook to e5 and then plays ...d5 anyway.} 37. a5 Re5 0-1