[Event "Julius Baer GenCup Prelim"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.09.20"] [Round "9.3"] [White "Keymer, Vincent"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A18"] [WhiteElo "2693"] [BlackElo "2731"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2022.09.18"] {Here's a nice demolition job by the young German.} 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 Ne4 (5... d4) 6. Nf3 Bf5 7. d3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 c5 9. d4 c4 ( 9... Qa5 {is a normal option here. Is it possible that Duda just mixed up his lines?} 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. c4 Qd8 12. Qb3 Be4 13. Qxb7 Rc8 {with interesting play afoot and some advantage to White after} 14. Ng5 Be7 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. d5 Nxe5 17. Qb5+ $14) 10. a4 Qa5 $146 (10... Nc6 11. Be2 Be7 12. O-O O-O {is usual, with Black's queen rarely headed for a5. Interestingly, Keymer lost on the black side of this line a couple of years ago:} 13. Ne1 f6 14. exf6 Bxf6 15. Nc2 Qd7 16. Ne3 Be6 17. Ba3 Rfe8 18. Ng4 Be7 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Bf3 Bxg4 21. Bxg4 Qd6 22. Rb1 Rab8 23. Bf3 a6 24. Rb6 Re7 25. Qb1 Qd7 26. Qc1 Qd8 27. Qb2 Qd7 28. Qa3 Rd8 29. h3 Kf8 30. Rfb1 Na5 31. Re1 Nc6 32. Bxd5 {1-0 (32) Wojtaszek,R (2719)-Keymer,V (2558) Biel 2020. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!} ) 11. Bd2 Be7 12. Be2 Na6 13. O-O Nc7 14. Ne1 $1 $18 {A standard idea in the variation (see above), regardless of the location of Black's queen. White's knight will maneuver to e3, and he's also likely or at least able to drive his f- and g-pawns up the board. Duda tries to impede the latter plan, but it's very weakening.} g5 $6 15. Nc2 Bg6 16. Ne3 Ne6 17. Bg4 h5 {Ok, White's not going to play f4 and g4. That mission has been accomplished. But what exactly is Black planning to do with his king?} 18. Bf5 O-O-O {The question has been answered - but it's not a very good answer. (Unfortunately, there wasn't a better answer, which means that this line is in dire need of repair.)} 19. Rb1 a6 20. Rb2 Rhg8 $2 21. Bxg6 fxg6 22. Qf3 $1 {The obvious threat is Qf7, but Nxc4 is also a big deal.} Nc7 ({Even} 22... Rgf8 {doesn't stop White's second threat. For example:} 23. Nxc4 $1 Qc7 24. Nb6+ Kb8 25. Nxd5 $18) 23. Nxc4 $1 { Even though Qxb7 won't be mate, it still wins.} dxc4 24. Qxb7+ Kd7 25. Rb6 { Threatening e6+.} Rc8 26. e6+ Kd8 {Black has managed to keep his material for the moment. White needs to find a new idea, and he does.} 27. Rfb1 $1 { Threatening 28.Qxc8+! and 29.Rb8#. Now Black must lose at least a piece, whereupon he will be two pawns down with a position that remains a disaster area. Understandably, he prefers to give up.} 1-0 [Event "Julius Baer GenCup Prelim"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.09.20"] [Round "9.4"] [White "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Black "Ivanchuk, Vasyl"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2725"] [BlackElo "2678"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2022.09.18"] {[%evp 0,49,24,13,18,-2,51,47,64,52,45,44,63,62,62,31,43,31,34,18,77,48,35,-26, 30,24,82,64,50,51,63,63,52,52,174,151,286,262,235,232,384,372,413,413,418,350, 431,372,416,425,425,421]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3 Be7 6. Bc4 c6 7. a4 O-O 8. O-O h6 9. Be3 Re8 10. Re1 Ng4 11. Bc1 exd4 12. Nxd4 Bf6 13. Nf5 Nb6 $2 (13... Nde5 $3 {would have been fine.} 14. Be2 Bxf5 15. exf5 d5 $1 {The knight on g4 looks hopelessly weak, but it's immune to the immediate dangers.} 16. Bxg4 $2 (16. f4 $4 Qb6+ $19 {leads to smothered mate.}) (16. h3 $2 Nxf2 17. Kxf2 Qb6+ 18. Be3 (18. Kg3 Bh4+ $1 19. Kxh4 (19. Kh2 Nf3+ $1 20. gxf3 Qf2+ 21. Kh1 Bg3 22. Rg1 Qh2#) 19... Qf2+ 20. Kh5 Qxf5+ 21. Kh4 Qf2+ 22. Kh5 Ng6 $19 {with mate in at most two more moves.}) (18. Kf1 $2 Bh4 $19) 18... Bh4+ 19. g3 Bxg3+ 20. Kxg3 Qxe3+ 21. Kg2 Qg5+ $1 22. Kh2 Qf4+ 23. Kg2 d4 $19 { There's no immediate win, but Black's attacking prospects more than compensate for the sacrificed piece.}) 16... Nxg4 17. Rxe8+ Qxe8 18. Qxg4 $4 Qe1#) 14. Bxf7+ $1 Kxf7 15. Qxg4 $16 {/+-} Bxc3 (15... g6 $2 16. Nxh6+ $18) 16. bxc3 Qf6 $2 17. Qh5+ $18 Kf8 (17... g6 18. Nxh6+ $18) 18. Nxd6 $1 {Black is besieged from all directions. He can't capture on d6 because 19.Ba3 would win the queen. } Re5 19. Qd1 Kg8 20. a5 Nd5 21. Nxc8 Nxc3 22. Qd7 Nxe4 23. Be3 Qf7 24. Qxf7+ Kxf7 25. Bd4 $1 {A nice finishing touch. White will play 26.Rxe4 next, as 26... Rxe4 27.Nd6+ regains the rook. White ends up with at least an extra piece in every case, so 1-0.} 1-0 [Event "Julius Baer GenCup Prelim"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.09.20"] [Round "10.5"] [White "Ivanchuk, Vasyl"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E42"] [WhiteElo "2678"] [BlackElo "2861"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "244"] [EventDate "2022.09.18"] {[%evp 0,244,19,25,30,6,6,6,27,17,25,13,32,16,15,14,4,23,6,-10,18,20,30,33,48, 48,20,3,26,26,6,-27,-5,-5,84,128,176,13,-5,5,5,14,-9,-32,0,-26,-54,-12,-17,-26, 6,-30,-40,3,-34,-44,59,59,62,33,42,45,35,35,37,35,39,42,34,39,36,11,38,35,72, 44,54,61,47,47,34,32,30,32,10,48,73,54,0,7,7,42,40,40,53,-65,-68,-68,-94,-116, -116,-105,-103,-116,-116,-116,24,-275,-338,-359,-380,-762,-239,-253,-245,-235, -251,-248,-249,-245,-245,-251,-245,-245,-245,-240,-233,-245,-240,-245,-232, -245,-245,-245,-226,-230,-245,-267,-256,-328,-325,-314,-304,-324,-337,-338, -306,-312,-299,-299,-299,-299,-299,-299,-299,-299,-299,-299,-299,-299,-311, -311,-303,-299,-299,-299,-299,-303,-299,-299,-323,-302,-302,-333,-335,-335, -335,-342,-349,-335,-335,-335,-335,-323,-315,-315,-316,-316,-315,-315,-335, -335,-335,-335,-321,-335,-299,-299,-302,-302,-302,-302,-295,-302,-302,-302, -243,-295,-291,-293,-131,-302,-302,-302,-299,-302,-302,-302,-299,-302,-302, -302,-302,-302,-302,-335,-322,-321,-321,-321,-321,-321,-321,-335,-335,-335, -335,-335,-335,-335,-335,-335,-335,-335,-335,-335,-331]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nge2 b6 6. a3 Ba5 7. d5 O-O 8. Rb1 Na6 9. f3 exd5 10. cxd5 b5 11. Kf2 Rb8 12. e4 d6 13. Be3 Nd7 14. Ng3 c4 15. b4 cxb3 16. Nxb5 Qf6 17. Bxa7 Nac5 18. Qd4 Qxd4+ 19. Nxd4 Ra8 20. Bxc5 Nxc5 21. Ngf5 Bb6 22. Kg3 Bxf5 23. Nxf5 Rfd8 24. Bc4 Rxa3 25. Rhd1 g6 26. Ne7+ Kg7 27. Nc6 Rc8 28. Bxb3 Bd8 29. Bc2 Bf6 30. Rd2 Rca8 31. Re2 Rc3 32. Bd1 h5 33. Kf2 Nd3+ 34. Kf1 h4 35. Rc2 Rxc2 36. Bxc2 Ne5 37. Bd1 Ra2 38. Be2 Nd7 39. g3 Nc5 40. Rc1 Nb3 41. Rd1 h3 42. Kf2 Bb2 43. f4 Ba3 44. Ke1 Bc5 45. e5 Bg1 46. exd6 Nc5 47. Rc1 Bxh2 48. Rxc5 Bxg3+ 49. Kd1 h2 50. Bf3 Rf2 51. Rc2 Rf1+ 52. Ke2 Rxf3 53. Kxf3 h1=Q+ 54. Kxg3 Qxd5 55. Ne5 {I'm not going to analyze this 122-move monster, but I will point out this critical moment. White was fine until his error on move 47, and things have gotten steadily worse since then. Fortunately for Chuky, Carlsen plays the natural 55...Qxd6, eliminating White's beautiful passer, and after that it's a draw. Carlsen huffs and puffs for a very long time, but Ivanchuk's house of bricks withstands the best efforts of the Big Bad Wolf. Luckily for Ivanchuk, the wolf didn't notice that the front door was wide open...} Qxd6 $4 (55... Qb3+ {is an immediate 0-1.}) 56. Rc6 Qa3+ 57. Nf3 f6 58. Rc4 Kf7 59. Re4 Qd3 60. Rd4 Qe3 61. Rd5 Ke6 62. Rb5 Kd6 63. Ra5 Qc3 64. Rb5 Kc6 65. Rb8 Kd5 66. Rg8 Ke4 67. Re8+ Kf5 68. Re2 Qd3 69. Re1 g5 70. fxg5 Qd6+ 71. Kg2 fxg5 72. Rf1 g4 73. Nh4+ Kg5 74. Nf5 Qd5+ 75. Kh2 Qd2+ 76. Kg1 Qd3 77. Rf2 Kh5 78. Rh2+ Kg6 79. Rf2 Kg5 80. Kg2 Qh3+ 81. Kg1 Kf6 82. Ng3+ Ke5 83. Rg2 Qh6 84. Nf1 Qb6+ 85. Rf2 Qb3 86. Rg2 Kf4 87. Rf2+ Kg5 88. Kg2 Kh4 89. Kg1 Qb6 90. Kg2 Qd4 91. Ng3 Qd5+ 92. Kh2 Qd6 93. Rg2 Kg5 94. Rf2 Kh4 95. Rg2 Qc7 96. Rg1 Kg5 97. Rg2 Kf4 98. Rf2+ Ke3 99. Kg2 Qb7+ 100. Kg1 Qb1+ 101. Kg2 Qh7 102. Nf1+ Kd3 103. Kg1 Qa7 104. Kg2 Qc7 105. Ng3 Qb7+ 106. Kg1 Kd4 107. Kh2 Ke3 108. Kg1 Qb1+ 109. Kg2 Qh7 110. Kg1 Qh3 111. Nf1+ Ke4 112. Re2+ Kf4 113. Rf2+ Kg5 114. Rg2 Qa3 115. Ng3 Qc5+ 116. Rf2 Kh4 117. Kg2 Qd5+ 118. Kh2 Qe5 119. Rg2 Qf4 120. Rg1 Qf3 121. Rg2 Kg5 122. Kg1 Qe3+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "Julius Baer GenCup Prelim"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.09.20"] [Round "11.1"] [White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D85"] [WhiteElo "2696"] [BlackElo "2764"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "144"] [EventDate "2022.09.18"] {[%evp 0,144,14,25,26,6,37,43,61,54,54,67,63,66,66,54,51,31,16,34,34,39,36,36, 31,36,31,3,8,-6,-6,-18,-6,-6,-4,21,3,37,-2,-37,-33,-42,-61,-57,-62,-63,-82,-73, -56,-79,-58,-75,-81,-80,-75,-85,-89,-89,-52,-60,-54,-46,-54,-67,-38,-44,-36, -55,-56,-65,-63,-67,-74,-74,-82,-78,-77,-88,-78,-101,-96,-94,-94,-103,-105,-97, -90,-70,-51,-65,-49,-103,-72,-93,-65,-102,-118,-120,-52,-57,-57,-57,-63,-57, -57,-65,-65,-65,-65,-78,-78,-96,-78,-110,-91,-127,-128,-128,-128,-128,-128, -128,-123,-123,-77,-128,-123,-123,-77,-77,-66,-97,-115,-118,-117,-117,-117, -117,-77,-117,-117,-117,-112,-112,-112,-29999,-30000]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8. h3 O-O 9. Be2 Nc6 10. Be3 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Qa3 13. d5 Ne5 14. Rb1 Nxf3+ 15. Bxf3 Qxa2 16. O-O a5 17. Re1 a4 18. Bb4 Re8 19. Qd3 b6 20. e5 Bf5 21. Be4 Bxe4 22. Qxe4 Rac8 23. Ra1 Qb3 24. Re3 Rc4 25. Rxb3 Rxe4 26. Rxa4 Bxe5 27. Ra7 Bd4 28. g3 Re2 29. Rf3 f5 30. Kf1 Re4 31. Ba3 h5 32. h4 Bf6 33. Rb7 Rd4 34. Rxb6 Rxd5 35. Bb2 Bxb2 36. Rxb2 Kf7 37. Rb7 Re5 38. Rbb3 Kf6 39. Rfe3 Rxe3 40. Rxe3 e5 41. Kg2 Re6 42. Ra3 g5 43. hxg5+ Kxg5 44. Ra8 Rg6 45. Ra4 e4 46. Ra5 h4 47. Ra8 hxg3 48. Kxg3 Kf6+ 49. Kf4 Rg4+ 50. Ke3 Rh4 51. Rf8+ Ke6 52. Re8+ Kf7 53. Ra8 Rh3+ 54. Ke2 Kf6 55. Kf1 Rb3 56. Kg2 Ke5 57. Re8+ Kf4 58. Re7 Rb2 59. Re8 Ra2 60. Re7 Re2 61. Ra7 Rb2 62. Re7 Rb8 63. Ra7 Rg8+ 64. Kf1 Kg4 65. Ra4 Rb8 66. Kg2 Rb2 67. Rc4 Kg5 68. Kf1 Kf4 69. Rc5 Kg4 70. Rc4 f4 71. Rxe4 Kf3 {And now for something completely egregious.} 72. Ra4 $4 {This is a very good place for the rook in case of 72...Rxf2+. Very subtle. Sometimes, however, one must forget about subtleties...} (72. Re1 $2 {loses, so Wojtaszek's blunder was not as foolish as you might at first think.} Rxf2+ 73. Kg1 Re2 $1 74. Ra1 Kg3 {and White doesn't have time to activate his rook. Black will play ...f3, and with White's rook stuck on the back rank Black wins with the sequence ...Rg2(+), ... Rh2(+), ...f2(+) and ...Rh1+. For example:} 75. Kf1 Rb2 76. Rc1 f3 77. Ra1 Rh2 78. Kg1 f2+ 79. Kf1 Rh1+ $19) (72. Re8 $1 {is the way to draw. (The rook could also go to e5, e6, or e7.) With the rook active, White can defend.} Rxf2+ ( 72... Rb1+ 73. Re1 Rxe1+ 74. Kxe1 Kg2 75. Ke2 Kg1 (75... f3+ $4 76. Ke3 $18 { leaves Black lost in this position of mutual zugzwang.}) 76. Kf3 Kf1 77. Kxf4 Kxf2 $11) 73. Kg1 $1 {The king should almost always go to the short side, so the rook has plenty of room on the long side to give checks. Sometimes the choice is optional; here, it's a must.} Rg2+ 74. Kf1 Ra2 75. Kg1 $1 Ra1+ 76. Kh2 Kf2 {and now we see why White's king had to go to g1 on moves 73 and 75:} 77. Rb8 $1 {The rook could also go to c8, but as a rule one should always move the rook as many ranks (or files, as applicable) away from the enemy king as possible.} f3 78. Rb2+ Ke3 79. Rb3+ $1 Ke2 80. Rb2+ $11) 72... Rb1# 0-1 [Event "Julius Baer GenCup Prelim"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.09.20"] [Round "11.4"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2861"] [BlackElo "2731"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2022.09.18"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Rb1 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nc6 9. Nf3 Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 O-O 12. Bb5 Ne7 13. O-O b6 14. a4 ( 14. h4 {is also strong, played in another of Duda's games. 1-0 (90) So,W (2770) -Duda,J (2743) chess24.com INT 2021}) 14... Bb7 15. Rfe1 $146 Qd6 $6 (15... h6) (15... Rc8) 16. Ne5 $6 (16. d5 $1 exd5 17. e5 $16 {followed by Nd4 is a well-known idea for White in the Semi-Tarrasch, so it's a little funny to see Black walking into it with ...Qd6. It's an unusual setting though, so it seems to have missed both players' minds.}) 16... Rfd8 17. Rbd1 Rac8 18. h4 f6 $2 { White's knight is annoying, but this isn't the right way to get rid of it.} ( 18... Nc6 $11) (18... Ng6 $11 {/+/=}) 19. Nc4 $16 Qc7 20. Rc1 (20. Na3 $3 $16 { The players can certainly be forgiven for missing this move. White is ready to start lining things up against e6, and the main thing is to get the knight out of the way. Odd as it is, it's the best place for it at the moment, and may even leap into b5 someday soon.}) 20... Qb8 21. e5 $6 (21. Rcd1 $1 Qc7 22. Na3 $3 {was best, but of course there was no way this was going to happen.}) 21... a6 $2 {Black takes the bait, and is punished severely.} (21... Nf5 $1 22. Qe2 $1 Nxd4 23. Qg4 $44 {offers White more or less sufficient compensation for the pawn, not more.}) 22. exf6 $1 gxf6 23. Qe2 $1 Kh8 (23... Bd5 24. Bxa6 $18) 24. Qxe6 Nd5 25. Bd7 Rc7 {Since Duda spent more than three minutes on 23...Kh8, he probably hadn't reached this point in his calculations when he played 21...a6. If he had, however, he is now in for a nasty surprise.} 26. Ne5 $1 Rxc1 (26... fxe5 27. Qxe5+ Kg8 28. Rxc7 Qxc7 29. Be6+ Kf8 30. Qh8+ Ke7 {and now practically everything wins. The fastest White win leads to mate in 5:} 31. Bg4+ Ne3 32. Qg7+ Kd6 33. Qe5+ Kc6 34. Rc1+ Nc4 35. Rxc4#) 27. Nf7+ Kg7 28. Rxc1 Qf4 29. Re1 Rg8 30. Nd6 Ba8 31. Re4 1-0 [Event "Julius Baer GenCup Prelim"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.09.20"] [Round "11.8"] [White "Niemann, Hans Moke"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2688"] [BlackElo "2759"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2022.09.18"] {[%evp 0,41,14,14,47,47,78,78,51,53,58,37,46,32,64,42,18,38,15,19,43,36,26,18, 23,26,37,9,21,15,15,15,305,305,305,311,378,389,413,386,530,585,29995,29996]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd3 {An increasingly popular move over the last couple of years.} g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Be2 $146 {Er, what?} (8. Be3 Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. O-O-O {is normal, when the inclusion of Bd3 and ...a6 compared to a normal Dragon seems to be in White's favor.}) 8... Nbd7 {Perhaps Aronian wanted to play a somewhat unusual move to avoid Niemann's prep.} (8... Nc6 {is the normal developing move for that knight in the Dragon, and the engine has no objections.}) ({Other moves are also possible, like} 8... Qc7) ({or} 8... b5 {.}) 9. O-O (9. Be3) 9... b6 10. Be3 Bb7 11. Qd2 Qc7 12. g4 $6 (12. a4 $142) 12... Ne5 $6 (12... h6 $1) 13. g5 Nfd7 14. b3 {Preventing ... Nc4.} e6 $4 {Missing or underestimating a typical Sicilian tactic.} (14... Rc8 $1 {needed to be played.} 15. Nd5 Qd8 $1 $11 {/+/=}) 15. f4 Rc8 $2 (15... Nc6 { was better, though it has the same problem.} 16. Ndb5 $1 axb5 17. Nxb5 Qb8 18. Nxd6+ Ke7 19. Rad1 Rd8 20. f5 $1 {and White's attack will break through.}) 16. Ndb5 axb5 17. Nxb5 Qxc2 18. Nxd6+ Ke7 19. fxe5 $1 Nxe5 (19... Qxd2 20. Rxf7+ Kd8 21. Bxd2 Bxe5 22. Nxb7+ Kc7 (22... Ke8 23. Raf1 $18) 23. Rc1+ Kxb7 24. Rxd7+ $18) 20. Qb4 $1 Qxe2 21. Nf5+ (21. Nf5+ Kd7 22. Qd6+ Ke8 23. Nxg7# (23. Qe7#)) 1-0 [Event "Julius Baer GenCup Prelim"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.09.20"] [Round "12.6"] [White "Gelfand, Boris"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D27"] [WhiteElo "2668"] [BlackElo "2861"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2022.09.18"] {[%evp 0,62,14,25,25,6,31,32,40,24,47,51,55,48,49,51,46,26,31,26,71,57,57,51, 34,25,27,23,24,37,19,11,23,18,48,5,10,21,24,-15,0,-12,-3,-61,-83,-64,-52,-78, -60,-60,-61,-54,-65,-51,-52,-158,-194,-124,-101,-105,-113,-423,-416,-416,-439] } 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bd3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 c5 7. O-O a6 8. b3 Nbd7 9. Bb2 Be7 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. Nbd2 b6 12. Nd4 Bb7 13. Be2 O-O 14. Bf3 Nd5 15. Rc1 Rc8 16. a3 Be7 17. Rxc8 Qxc8 18. Nc4 Qc7 19. Nf5 Bf6 20. Bxf6 N7xf6 21. Nd4 b5 22. Nd2 Nc3 23. Qc1 Rc8 24. Bxb7 Qxb7 25. Qb2 e5 26. N4f3 Qd5 {Gelfand has been under pressure for a while, but he has just about managed to escape. Unfortunately, he gets distracted by a shiny object...} 27. Nc4 $4 {The move makes lots of sense. He attacks the knight on c3, and since he's also threatening Nb6 and (for good measure) the e5 pawn it looks like he is successfully swapping his way to a draw.} ({Simple improving moves like} 27. h3 ) ({and} 27. Re1 {would have kept him alive and with good chances to hold the draw.}) 27... Qd3 $1 {Nope. This defends the knight on c3, avoids the fork on b6, and perhaps most importantly, threatens ...Ne2+ followed by ...Ng3+ and ... Qxf1+. Just like that, White is lost.} 28. Ncd2 (28. Ncxe5 $2 Ne2+ 29. Kh1 Ng3+ 30. hxg3 Qxf1+ 31. Kh2 Rc1 32. Kh3 Ne4 $19) 28... Ne2+ (28... Ng4 $1 {was even better, setting up mating ideas. Carlsen's move is nevertheless good enough to win.}) 29. Kh1 e4 30. Ng5 $2 (30. Ne1 Qc3 31. Qxc3 Rxc3 $19 {leaves White paralyzed. Despite maintaining material equality, White has (virtually) no chance to survive this.}) 30... Rc2 31. Qe5 Rxd2 {There's no back rank mate (32.Qb8+ Qd8), so Black is up a piece for nothing.} 0-1