[Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.22"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Mendonca, Leon Luke"] [Black "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "E10"] [WhiteElo "2639"] [BlackElo "2801"] [PlyCount "60"] [GameId "2136992957707383"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,60,12,22,22,15,18,22,64,39,44,24,22,36,19,27,35,32,49,49,33,54,47,58,55,-70,58,-88,52,66,65,68,71,45,36,62,49,56,56,52,71,53,59,65,67,74,72,71,220,69,77,55,83,35,63,37,30,30,30,27,34,27,34]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5 {The Blumenfeld Gambit isn't popular at the highest level...or any other level, for that matter. But it has value as an occasional surprise weapon, and Erigaisi himself had played it at least once before, against Vidit this past November.} 5. Bg5 (5. dxe6 {An old adage says that the only way to refute a gambit is to accept it. The adage is complete nonsense, but it does seem that the biggest test of the Blumenfeld is to take the pawn, and it's the approach that contemporary top GMs seem to prefer (Ding, Nakamura, Duda, Giri, Le Quang Liem, Vidit, etc.).} fxe6 6. cxb5 d5 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. e4 Bb7 9. e5 Ng4 10. Ng5 Ngxe5 11. Nxe6 Qe7 12. Nxd5 Nf3+ 13. gxf3 Qxe6+ 14. Ne3 Ne5 15. Be2 Rd8 16. Bd2 Be7 17. Rg1 O-O 18. Qc2 Nxf3+ 19. Bxf3 Bxf3 20. Bc3 g6 21. Qb3 Rd5 22. Qc4 Rfd8 23. Kf1 Qh3+ 24. Ke1 Bh4 25. Rd1 Qe6 26. Rd3 Kf8 27. Qf4+ Ke8 28. Rxd5 Rxd5 29. Qxf3 Rf5 30. Qa8+ Kf7 31. Qb7+ Kf8 32. Qb8+ Kf7 33. Qb7+ Kf8 34. Kd1 Rxf2 35. Qa8+ Ke7 36. Qxa7+ Ke8 37. Qa8+ Ke7 38. Nd5+ Kf7 39. Qb7+ Kf8 40. Qg7+ Ke8 41. Nc7+ {1-0 Vidit,S (2739)-Erigaisi,A (2799) Tata Steel India Blitz Kolkata 2024 (16)}) 5... exd5 6. cxd5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Qc2 ({In case any Blumenfeld players think I'm dissing your opening, here's a success story you can hang your hat on: the world's usual #2 player was able to defeat a rank-and-file GM with it in blitz chess. So how bad can it be?} 8. Nc3 b4 9. Na4 d6 10. e4 Nd7 $15 11. Bb5 Be7 12. O-O O-O 13. a3 Rb8 14. Be2 Ne5 $17 15. axb4 Rxb4 16. Nc3 Rxb2 17. Rxa7 Ng6 18. Qc1 Rb4 19. g3 Bg4 20. Nd2 Bh3 21. Re1 Rfb8 22. Nc4 $4 Nh4 $4 (22... Rxc4 23. Bxc4 Ne5 24. Bf1 Nf3+ 25. Kh1 Nxe1 26. Qxe1 Bxf1 $19) 23. Qe3 $4 Ng2 $19 24. e5 dxe5 25. Qd2 Nxe1 26. Qxe1 Bd8 27. d6 Rxc4 28. Bxc4 Qf3 29. Bd5 Qxc3 30. Bxf7+ Kh8 31. Qd1 Qf3 32. Bh5 Qg2# {0-1 Drygalov,S (2547)-Caruana,F (2786) Titled Tuesday intern op 03rd Oct Late Chess.com INT blitz 2023 (9)}) 8... g5 $2 {Rare, and rightly so. The move is just plain bad, according to the engine, but sometimes one needs an engine to show why a move really is a mistake. Let's see how Mendonca copes with the challenge.} (8... d6 {is the most common move (based on old games, but it has been abandoned as it's bad), while}) (8... c4 {is the engine's top choice (and not coincidentally, a move that gets a lot of attention [relatively speaking] in recent years).}) 9. Nc3 $16 Bg7 10. Nxb5 $1 Na6 11. e3 {Okay, but why not go to e4?} (11. e4 O-O 12. a3 d6 13. Nd2 $16 {/+- It's difficult to be impressed by Black's compensation here. Benko-style counterplay seems too slow, while play based on ...f5 seems fairly easy to neutralize if White develops his bishop to d3.}) 11... O-O 12. a3 $1 d6 $6 (12... Rb8 $142 $16) 13. Bd3 $16 {/+- Here too it's hard to like Black's position.} Bd7 14. Nc3 Nc7 15. O-O Rab8 16. Nd2 Qe7 17. e4 $1 {A good move, even if it could and should have been pushed there six moves ago.} a6 {In a normal Benoni, Black would threaten ...b5 with this move. He still is, in a sense, only it's not the pawn but the knight that's heading there.} 18. Rab1 $6 (18. a4 $18 {should have been played, as it would have been in the normal Benoni scenario. Yes, it does create a potential outpost for Black's knight on b4, but as the former Reginald Dwight might say, "I think it's gonna be a long, long time" before that happens.}) 18... Nb5 19. Ne2 $1 {White is still much better.} Kh8 20. Nc4 Nd4 21. Nxd4 Bxd4 22. Na5 (22. b3) 22... Rb6 23. Nc4 Rbb8 24. Na5 {Uh oh.} Rb6 25. b3 {There we go. Yes, Erigaisi is (well, was) 2800, but if you know you're better, keep playing.} Qf6 26. Kh1 Rfb8 27. Nc4 (27. Be2 {followed by a4 and then either a plan with f4 or Nc6 looks like a way forward. It's not a straightforwardly winning position by any means, but it's closer to a white win than one Black should draw.}) 27... R6b7 28. Na5 Rb6 29. Nc4 R6b7 30. Na5 Rb6 {The players remain tied for last.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.22"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Wei Yi"] [Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C11"] [WhiteElo "2751"] [BlackElo "2695"] [PlyCount "44"] [GameId "2136992957715576"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,44,16,-5,29,17,31,26,-20,0,1,0,-43,18,8,8,-6,-77,-13,3,18,0,0,-27,-44,-33,-47,-43,-43,-43,-42,-52,-79,-57,-42,-48,-97,1,1,1,1,-1,1,1,1,1,-1]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 {After all the recent games with 5.Nce2, the traditional main move, played tens of thousands of times, suddenly looks weird.} c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5 9. h4 {A minor option, but one which has been tried by Vidit and Niemann the past year or two.} (9. dxc5) ({and} 9. Be2 {seem to be the most popular moves at the moment.}) ({A tip for those who play White in this variation: it's not safe to castle long when Black's c-pawn remains. After} 9. O-O-O $4 c4 $19 {it's only a slight exaggeration to say that White can already resign.}) 9... Bb7 10. Bd3 $146 (10. Qf2 $142) (10. h5) 10... b4 (10... Qb6 {is a good alternative.}) 11. Na4 (11. Nd1 $142) 11... Nxd4 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Bxd4 Bc6 14. b3 Bxa4 15. bxa4 Bc5 (15... Qc7 $142 $15 {Strange prep by White, especially since he has made all the major choices so far with the minor exception of Black's 10th move.}) 16. Bxc5 Nxc5 17. Qxb4 Nxd3+ (17... Qe7) 18. cxd3 Rb8 19. Qc5 Rc8 20. Qb4 Rb8 21. Qc5 Rc8 22. Qb4 Rb8 1/2-1/2 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.22"] [Round "5.3"] [White "Fedoseev, Vladimir"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2717"] [BlackElo "2803"] [PlyCount "119"] [GameId "2136992957715577"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,119,19,3,6,7,18,15,17,23,13,19,14,21,21,14,12,26,8,24,35,33,21,-23,15,-22,19,12,15,14,-16,-2,-23,-10,48,-38,-151,-50,-36,-43,20,-42,-28,19,-25,-31,-20,-76,63,-16,7,16,-138,8,29,24,20,37,-53,31,-26,55,-40,42,44,31,25,26,36,16,14,33,20,-10,4,12,-31,10,4,5,4,4,35,15,-92,103,104,131,94,232,176,149,343,222,198,214,253,234,243,229,227,227,388,269,196,236,269,234,250,190,213,236,206,273,375,269,302,382,381,342,4,334]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8. e3 O-O 9. Be2 dxc4 10. O-O Qe7 11. Bxc4 Na5 12. Bd3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 b6 14. Qb4 Qd6 15. Rfd1 Bb7 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. Qxd6 cxd6 18. Nd2 Rc7 19. Rc2 Rfc8 20. Rdc1 Kf8 21. f3 Ke7 22. e4 g5 23. Kf2 e5 24. Nf1 exd4 25. cxd4 Rxc2+ 26. Rxc2 Rxc2+ 27. Bxc2 Bc8 28. Bd3 Nc6 29. Ke3 {The game has proceeded conventionally so far. Rough equality has prevailed, with Black generally needing to do a bit more than White to keep things that way. It looks as if the players are trading their way to a draw, but now things get interesting and even a bit weird.} a6 {Preparing ...b5. Normally you don't want to put pawns on the same color square as your bishop, but the other side is that Black has a 2-1 majority and would like to activate it as soon as possible.} 30. Nd2 b5 31. Nb3 d5 $5 {Apparently Caruana doesn't want to see White play d5 followed by Nd4, but putting still another pawn on a light square while creating an outpost on c5 isn't what I'd call intuitive. Then again, Caruana's intuition is one reason (of many!) why he's playing in Wijk aan Zee and I'm not. His move is objectively fine, but it still seems to me one of those "do not try this at home; he's a trained professional" moves.} 32. Nc5 Kd6 33. Bc2 Ne5 (33... Na5 {was fine, but it's fun to show off sometimes.}) 34. Bb3 Nc4+ 35. Kd3 Nb6 {Looking to finally mobilize the queenside pawns starting with ...a5.} (35... f5 $5 $11) 36. Kc3 a5 37. a3 f6 38. Ba2 Kc6 39. g3 Bh3 40. Nb3 Na4+ 41. Kc2 {The game has grown considerably more complicated over the past 10-12 moves, and while both players have negotiated the challenge well so far, that starts to change now.} Bg2 $2 {This one error is already the losing move.} (41... g4 42. exd5+ Kxd5 43. fxg4 Bxg4 $11) (41... dxe4 42. fxe4 f5 43. Nxa5+ Kb6 44. Nb3 fxe4 $11) 42. e5 $1 $18 fxe5 43. dxe5 b4 ({It's hard to believe that Caruana missed that} 43... Bxf3 $4 {loses on the spot to the simple knight fork} 44. Nd4+ $18 {, but then what was the idea of 41...Bg2?}) 44. Nd4+ $1 Kc5 45. e6 $1 {This was impossible when Black's bishop was on h3 - he could take the knight and meet e7 with ...Bd7.} Kd6 46. axb4 axb4 47. Bxd5 $1 {One extra pawn often proves insufficient to win, and that would be true here as well if Black could eliminate the e-pawn at the cost of his b-pawn. Such a trade will prove impossible here, alas for Caruana.} Bf1 48. Bb3 $1 Nc5 49. Nf5+ $1 Ke5 (49... Kc7 50. e7 Bb5 51. Bf7 $18) 50. e7 Bd3+ 51. Kd2 Bb5 52. Bc4 $1 Ba4 53. Ng7 {White's e-pawn will win a piece, and Black will be unable to swap off White's remaining pawns.} g4 54. f4+ Kd4 55. Bf7 Ne4+ 56. Ke1 Kc3 57. e8=Q Bxe8 58. Nxe8 b3 59. Bxb3 $1 {Simplest.} Kxb3 60. Ke2 {White will win at least one more pawn after Ke3 and then Nf6. With two extra pawns White would win even if Black's king could teleport to g6; with it in left field on b3 it's even easier. Fedoseev is having quite the event all of a sudden: he's undefeated, with back-to-back wins over 2800s (and he managed to defeat Magnus Carlsen himself just a few months ago at the Olympiad - might he be on the way to reaching the super-elite tier?), and has reached a new career high on the rating list.} 1-0 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.22"] [Round "5.4"] [White "Warmerdam, Max"] [Black "Praggnanandhaa, R."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C10"] [WhiteElo "2646"] [BlackElo "2741"] [PlyCount "79"] [GameId "2136992957715578"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,79,11,25,-44,27,27,17,14,20,29,14,2,32,19,12,12,7,4,20,22,32,37,13,29,24,22,-7,10,2,13,30,27,14,10,53,34,35,27,139,22,171,15,9,20,17,17,17,4,20,99,14,-41,-2,-34,1,-70,-19,5,-18,-6,-2,-161,-37,-53,-9,39,-9,12,-39,4,7,4,2,13,1,1,-1,-1,1,1,1]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 (4... Nf6) 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bb5 Bb4 7. O-O O-O {I would like to make some dry comment making fun of this variation, but the problem is that I'm not sure who to blame. If it were dead equal that would be one thing, but White seems to enjoy a little advantage here.} 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. Ne5 Bxc3 (9... c5) 10. bxc3 Ne4 {The symmetry continues.} 11. Re1 (11. f3) 11... f6 12. Nxc6 Qd7 13. Nb4 a5 14. Nd3 Nxc3 15. Qf3 Ne4 16. Ba3 Re8 17. Nc5 Qf5 18. c4 Be6 (18... Qxf3 $142 19. gxf3 Nd6 $11) 19. Nxe4 Qxf3 20. gxf3 dxe4 21. fxe4 Bxc4 {White's structure is prettier, but between the limited material and the opposite-colored bishops the draw looks inevitable.} 22. Rac1 Bxa2 23. Rxc7 f5 24. f3 fxe4 25. fxe4 Ra6 26. Re2 Bf7 27. Kf2 Rf6+ 28. Ke1 Rfe6 (28... Rf4 $142) 29. e5 Rg6 30. Rf2 (30. Rc5 $142) 30... Bb3 31. Kd2 h6 32. Rf3 a4 33. Rg3 Rxg3 34. hxg3 Re6 35. Ke3 Rg6 36. Kf2 Rg4 37. Rd7 Re4 38. Bb4 Bd1 39. Bc5 Re2+ 40. Kf1 1/2-1/2 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.22"] [Round "5.5"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteElo "2680"] [BlackElo "2768"] [PlyCount "94"] [GameId "2136992957723771"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,94,17,0,18,16,19,35,26,16,7,13,6,2,15,18,20,17,15,17,48,48,50,70,127,98,60,50,68,66,70,64,82,48,59,60,35,35,27,8,9,41,-11,-42,-63,-58,-83,-78,-45,-41,-73,-76,-28,-80,-85,-120,-102,-145,-150,-163,-148,-98,-182,-121,-239,-142,-42,-143,-136,-138,-252,-243,-335,-244,-321,-118,-335,-390,-240,-298,-309,-331,-245,-335,-398,-259,-408,-408,-229,-227,-161,-419,-407,-414,-426,-435,-385]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nge2 Ne7 7. a3 Ba5 8. b4 Bc7 9. Ng3 $146 {Already leaving theory behind.} Bg6 $6 (9... O-O $142 $11) 10. h4 h6 11. h5 $16 Bh7 12. Qg4 Rg8 13. Be2 dxc4 14. Bxc4 Nd7 15. O-O Nf5 16. Be3 Qe7 17. b5 $6 {Looking to make the queenside inhospitable for Black's king, but the flip side is that it destabilizes his center after Black's obvious and correct reply.} c5 $11 18. Nxf5 Bxf5 19. Qf3 O-O-O $1 $15 20. Nd5 $5 (20. Rfc1 Kb8 21. Be2 cxd4 22. Bxd4 Bxe5 23. Bxe5+ Nxe5 24. Qf4 Qd6 25. b6 $1 $44) 20... exd5 21. Bxd5 Kb8 22. Qxf5 Nxe5 23. dxe5 Rxd5 {The forcing moves have come to an end, and the result is an advantage for Black. His king is safe enough, while White's e-pawn is weak (and probably best jettisoned).} 24. f4 $6 (24. Rfd1 $1 Rxe5 25. Rd7 $1 Rxf5 26. Rxe7 $15) 24... Rgd8 $17 25. Qe4 f6 26. a4 fxe5 27. a5 $6 Qe8 $1 28. b6 $6 {Consistent with the last move, but the whole idea fails.} axb6 29. axb6 Bxb6 $19 30. fxe5 Bc7 $2 (30... Rxe5 $1 31. Bf4 Bc7 32. Bxe5 Bxe5 33. Rae1 Bd4+ 34. Kh2 Qxh5+ 35. Kg3 Rd5 {forces White to go for a queen swap.} 36. Qe8+ Qxe8 37. Rxe8+ Kc7 $19 {Still, this is losing for White - three pawns for the exchange is at least one too many for White to combat.}) 31. Bf4 $2 (31. e6 $1 Re5 $1 32. Qf3 Qxe6 33. Bf2 {puts up more of a fight.}) 31... Rd4 $1 (31... Rxe5 $1 {transposes to 30...Rxe5 31.Bf4 Bc7.}) 32. Qe2 $6 (32. Qe1 Rxf4 33. Rxf4 Bxe5 34. Re4 Bd4+ 35. Kh1 Qxh5+ 36. Rh4 {This last move shows the point of 32.Qe1. All the same, White is lost here, too.} Rd5 $1 $19) 32... Rxf4 $1 33. Rxf4 Qxe5 $1 (33... Bxe5 $4 34. Re1 $15 {is the point to 32.Qe2.}) 34. Qa2 $1 {Defending the a1-rook directly and the other rook indirectly.} Qe3+ $1 (34... Qxf4 $4 35. Qa8#) 35. Rf2 (35. Kh1 Bxf4 $19 {White will speedily run out of checks.}) 35... Bg3 {Black has correctly worked out that White's checks will come to an end.} 36. Qa8+ Kc7 37. Qa5+ b6 38. Qa7+ Kc6 39. Qa4+ b5 40. Qa6+ Kd5 41. Qb7+ Kc4 42. Qf7+ Rd5 {No more (sensible) checks.} 43. Raa2 Bxf2+ 44. Rxf2 Qd4 45. Kh2 Qe5+ 46. Kg1 Kb4 47. Rf1 Rd2 0-1 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.22"] [Round "5.6"] [White "Gukesh, D."] [Black "Keymer, Vincent"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D45"] [WhiteElo "2777"] [BlackElo "2733"] [PlyCount "143"] [GameId "2136992957723772"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,143,9,0,16,15,14,20,19,10,12,-9,3,3,19,1,20,22,27,18,32,25,-126,38,48,-72,25,16,25,13,-75,25,33,-7,0,6,4,0,4,36,29,37,29,101,58,75,75,98,87,78,128,-14,24,78,78,120,95,48,86,128,62,147,176,146,146,164,158,118,161,153,143,152,161,252,174,158,36,174,132,158,155,161,166,125,171,141,163,148,252,192,242,238,231,216,87,212,204,125,219,169,88,182,61,212,163,182,163,156,156,1,136,9,146,55,162,156,17,123,1,138,152,-14,158,157,177,105,211,212,183,188,156,163,157,185,19,78,24,112,221,175,166,108,247,104,196,352] Boss vs. second.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd2 d5 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Be2 b6 9. O-O a5 10. a3 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Ne4 12. Be1 Ba6 13. Bd3 h6 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. Nd2 f5 16. f3 exf3 17. Nxf3 c5 18. Rd1 cxd4 (18... Qe7 $11) 19. Rxd4 $1 {It looks a little ugly, but White's activity makes up for the e3/e4 weaknesses.} Qe8 20. Bg3 e5 21. Rd6 Rc8 22. Rfd1 f4 $6 (22... Rf7 {is a little passive, for the moment, but the pawn duo on e5 and f5 was worth preserving.}) 23. exf4 exf4 24. Bf2 $14 {Now White is rid of his weak pawn, and Black's position has weaknesses all over the place: b6, the vulnerable knight, and the light-squared diagonals on the kingside.} Rf7 25. R1d4 Bb7 26. Qd1 Bc6 27. b4 axb4 28. axb4 $16 Qe7 29. Qd3 Nf6 30. Rxf4 $2 (30. h3 $16 {was better, tightening the thumbscrews for a while. Black's weaknesses on b6 and f4 won't repair themselves anytime soon.}) 30... Be4 $2 (30... Ne8 $1 31. Rxf7 (31. Rxc6 Rxc6 32. Rxf7 Kxf7 $1 33. Qd5+ Re6 $8 34. c5 $44) 31... Qxd6 $1 32. Qxd6 (32. Qf5 Bxf3 33. gxf3 Rxc4 $11) 32... Nxd6 33. Rf4 Bxf3 34. gxf3 Rxc4 $11) 31. Qd4 $16 {/+- Back on top. Now White will keep his extra pawn, and Black has nothing to show for it. Black fought for a long time, but the boss ultimately prevailed.} Bxf3 32. Rxf3 Qe2 33. Rd8+ Rxd8 34. Qxd8+ Rf8 35. Qd3 Qxd3 36. Rxd3 Rc8 37. Rd4 Kf7 38. Kf1 Ra8 39. Ke2 Ra4 40. Be1 Ke6 41. Bd2 h5 42. Kd3 Ng4 43. Kc3 Nf6 44. Kb3 Ra1 45. Bc3 Rb1+ 46. Kc2 Rf1 47. Rd2 Ne8 48. Kb3 g6 49. Bd4 Rb1+ 50. Ka4 Rc1 51. Bxb6 Rxc4 52. Kb5 Rc1 53. Bc5 Nf6 54. Rd6+ Kf5 55. Kc6 Ng4 56. Rd2 Ke6 57. Rd6+ Kf5 58. b5 Ne5+ 59. Kd5 Nd3 60. Rc6 Nf4+ 61. Kd6 Rd1+ 62. Kc7 Nd5+ 63. Kc8 Rc1 64. Kd7 Rc2 65. Bd6 Rxg2 66. Rc5 Ke4 67. Ke6 Rd2 68. h4 Nb6 69. Rc6 Nd5 70. b6 Nxb6 71. Rxb6 Kf3 72. Be7 1-0 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.22"] [Round "5.7"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Sarana, Alexey"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C55"] [WhiteElo "2731"] [BlackElo "2677"] [PlyCount "85"] [GameId "2136992957723773"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,85,17,19,-7,16,22,11,0,14,14,13,21,11,27,28,17,22,21,25,17,24,18,20,28,26,19,73,22,24,23,23,36,14,36,12,30,19,26,26,20,62,11,8,37,20,20,39,-1,34,38,35,39,74,45,25,55,67,24,32,30,31,40,14,1,42,40,26,-134,28,-37,21,14,35,39,47,41,33,20,80,40,20,31,-1,30,2,43,14]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. Nc3 d6 6. a4 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Nd4 9. Qd1 c6 10. Ba2 Ne6 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 (12. Be3 {has been usual, but not based on many games.}) (12. Ne2 {looks sensible as well: the knight isn't going to d5 in any case, and White would like to play either d4, f4, or Ng3-f5 - all moves and plans that are aided by this move. The only drawback is that} d5 {is an effective response.}) 12... Qc7 13. Be3 $146 a5 14. Qf3 Rad8 15. Rab1 {Is b2-b4 a real threat? I don't think so: Black can play ...axb4 Rxb4 Nd7, stopping any Bb6 business, and he'll subsequently bring a knight to c5. But perhaps Rb1 is prophylaxis - there may be some Black ideas, e.g. to play ...g6 followed by ...Nh5, and the b4 axb4 Rxb4, Bb6 idea might be on in that case.} Nd7 16. h4 (16. Ne2 $142) 16... Nd4 (16... Bxh4 $142 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Qh3 Be7 19. Qxe6+ Rf7 $11) 17. Bxd4 exd4 18. Ne2 Bxh4 19. Nxd4 $14 {The swap favored White, who obtained a center pawn for a rook's pawn; additionally, the knight is one step away from supreme happiness on f5.} Bf6 20. Nf5 g6 21. Qg3 Be5 22. f4 Bg7 23. Nxg7 Kxg7 24. d4 Nf6 25. c3 (25. e5 $14) 25... h5 $1 $11 {A nice resource. Despite White's enormous center, Black's pieces have enough squares and activity to keep the game level.} 26. Re2 Ng4 27. Rbe1 Rfe8 28. f5 Qe7 29. Rf1 Qg5 30. f6+ Kh6 $5 31. Bxf7 Rf8 32. Be6 Rxf6 33. Rxf6 Nxf6 34. Qxg5+ Kxg5 {Black has no problems at all.} 35. e5 Nd5 36. g3 dxe5 37. Rxe5+ Kf6 38. Bh3 Kf7 39. Bg2 b6 40. Bf3 Kf6 41. Kf2 Ne7 42. g4 hxg4 43. Bxg4 1/2-1/2