[Event "EICC 2021"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2021.09.04"]
[Round "10.25"]
[White "Petkov, Momchil"]
[Black "Thybo, Jesper Sondergaard"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2443"]
[BlackElo "2587"]
[Annotator "TA"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2021.08.26"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[Tiebreak "Cut1 Buchholz"]
[SourceTitle "playchess.com"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
{[%evp 13,62,18,29,16,17,0,36,39,44,18,32,18,38,39,47,54,61,0,63,68,56,64,102,
91,114,107,120,111,115,122,117,128,141,32,75,0,0,0,15,0,0,-257,-243,-340,-315,
-333,-331,-514,-508,-727,-720]} 1. e4 {Roiz,M: 'Levon Aronian rarely starts
the game with this move, but I guess, Michael wasn't shocked and went for his
usual opening.'} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 d6 7. c3 {
The modern move.} a6 8. Nbd2 {C54: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main lines with 5
d4 and 5 d3.} (8. a4 Ba7 9. O-O {can lead to a fashinable position which was
recently tested on the top level.}) 8... Ba7 {[%csl Rb2,Gb7,Gc2,Rc3,Gd3,Rd4,
Rd7,Re3,Ge4,Rf2,Gf3,Rf7,Gg2][%CAl Ge4d5,Gc6b7,Gc6b5,Gd5c4,Gc4b5,Gc4f7,Ge4f5,
Rf5e6,Re6f7,Re6d7,Rd5e6,Gd4e5,Gf6g7,Gf6g5,Ge5f4]} 9. a4 {Roiz,M: ', switching
to the above-mentioned theoretical position seems more challenging.'} (9. Bb3 {
White hardly can pose Black any problems without seizing space on the
queenside.} Qe7 $1 {Michael is leaving the king in the centre for a while,
keeping in mind the opportunity of queenside castling.} ({But} 9... Be6 $6 {
seems dubious:} 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Qb3 $14 {Hristodoulou,H-Markidis,K (2275)
Kavala 1999}) 10. Nc4 $146 ({The previously played} 10. Qe2 {can be well met by
} Bd7 (10... Nd8 $6 11. d4 g5 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Bg3 $36 {Al Modiahki,M (2571)
-Nezad,H (2400) Abu Dhabi 2013}) 11. Nc4 O-O-O 12. Ne3 g5 13. Bg3 Be6 {with
comfortable play. It would take a long time to activate the poor Bg3.}) 10...
Be6 11. Ne3 g5 12. Bg3 O-O-O {Since White didn't push the q-side pawns,
Black's monarch feels safe now.} 13. Ba4 Nb8 $1 {One more excellent manoeuvre
à la Breyer by GM Michael Adams. Black's setup seems more harmonious now.} 14.
Qc2 (14. b4 Nbd7 15. O-O Nh5 $15) 14... Bxe3 ({Another possibility was} 14...
Nbd7 15. Bb3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 Nh5 17. Bf2 f5 18. Bxe6 Qxe6 19. exf5 Qxf5 $15) 15.
fxe3 Nh5 16. Bf2 f5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. Qe2 Bxd3 $6 {An untypical positional
mistake by GM Michael Adams. Perhaps, he was far from his best at the start of
event.} (18... Rdf8 19. Nd2 Nf6 20. h3 Be6 $15 {Black would benefit from
having the knights in the closed position.}) 19. Qxd3 e4 20. Qd4 c5 {This is
forced.} (20... exf3 $2 {runs into} 21. Qg4+ Nd7 22. Qxh5 fxg2 23. Rg1 $18) 21.
Qd1 exf3 22. Qxf3 Nf6 23. Bc2 {Obviously, now White's bishops are much
stronger than a few moves ago.} Nbd7 {Still, the control over e5-spot makes
Black's position quite solid.} (23... Nc6 24. O-O-O Rhf8 25. Bg3 Kb8 26. Rhe1
Ne5 27. Qe2 d5 $132) 24. O-O-O (24. Bg3 $5 Rhf8 (24... Ne5 25. Qe2 Rhf8 26. O-O
$14) 25. O-O-O Ne5 26. Qe2 Qe6 27. Rhf1 $14) 24... Ne5 25. Qe2 Qe6 {Possibly,
Michael had underestimated White's dynamic resourses.} ({Otherwise, he would
have fixed the favourable pawn structure:} 25... d5 26. Bg3 Ne4 27. Bxe4 dxe4
28. Bxe5 Qxe5 $11) 26. Bg3 $1 {I guess, this strong move was underestimated by
GM Adams. White gives up a pawn in order to maintain the tension.} ({Instead,
the natural} 26. Kb1 {could have led to a drawish endgame:} Qg4 $1 27. Qxg4+
Nexg4 28. Bg3 Nxe3 29. Rxd6 Rxd6 30. Bxd6 Nxc2 31. Kxc2 Ne4 $11) 26... Qxa2 27.
Rhf1 (27. Bxe5 $5 dxe5 28. Qf3 Nd7 29. Bb1 Qa4 30. Rd2 {would offer White full
compensation for a pawn, at the very least.}) 27... Nd5 28. Bxe5 dxe5 29. Bb1
Qb3 30. Bc2 Qa2 31. Qg4+ {Levon sensibly doesn't repeat the moves.} Kb8 {
The position is still equal, but Black had to find some precise moves while
under time pressure.} 32. Qe4 Nb6 (32... Ka7 33. Rf7 Qa1+ 34. Bb1 Rhf8 $1 35.
Rxd5 (35. Rxf8 Nxc3 $1 36. bxc3 Qxc3+ 37. Bc2 Qa1+ 38. Bb1 Qc3+ $11) 35... Rxf7
36. Rxd8 Rf1+ 37. Rd1 Rf2 38. Rd2 Rf1+ $11) 33. Qxe5+ Ka8 $4 {As a result,
Michael commits a blunder and loses on the spot.} ({Instead,} 33... Ka7 34.
Qxc5 Qa1+ 35. Bb1 Rxd1+ 36. Rxd1 Rc8 {would leave White nothing better than
accepting a draw:} 37. Qd4 Rc4 38. Qd6 Rc6 $11) 34. Rxd8+ Rxd8 35. Qf6 {
That's it! The rest is just an agony.} (35. Qc7 $18) 35... Nc4 36. Qxd8+ Ka7
37. Qd3 Nxb2 (37... Qxb2+ 38. Kd1 Ne5 39. Qd5 Qxc3 40. Rf5 $18) 38. Qf5 Qa1+
39. Kd2 Nc4+ 40. Ke2 Qxc3 41. Qxc5+ {1-0 (41) Aronian,L (2785)-Adams,M (2748)
London 2016 CBM 176 [Roiz,M]}) (9. O-O O-O 10. a4 g5 (10... Na5 $5 {[%mdl 4]
Exploring less charted territory.} 11. Ba2 g5 12. Bg3 Nh5 13. b4 Nxg3 14. hxg3
Nc6 15. Nh2 $146 ({Predecessor:} 15. Nc4 g4 16. Nh4 Qg5 17. b5 Nb8 18. d4 Nd7
19. Qd3 Nf6 20. b6 Bxb6 21. Nxb6 cxb6 {1-0 (51) Markgraf,A (2492)-Nedic,D
(2320) Germany 2019}) 15... Kg7 16. g4 Qf6 17. g3 Ne7 18. Kg2 Ng8 19. f4 exf4
20. d4 Ne7 21. Nc4 d5 22. e5 Qc6 23. b5 axb5 24. axb5 Qxb5 25. Nd2 Ng6 26. Qc2
Be6 27. Bb1 c5 28. Ndf3 cxd4 29. Rxa7 Rxa7 30. Nxd4 Qb6 31. Nf5+ Kh8 32. Nf3
fxg3 33. Rh1 Qf2+ 34. Qxf2 gxf2 35. Kxf2 Ra1 36. Rxh6+ Kg8 37. Bd3 Rc8 38. N5d4
Nf4 39. Bf5 Rxc3 {0-1 (39) Carlsen,M (2847)-Aronian,L (2781) chess24.com INT
2021}) 11. Bg3 {This position has been reached in quite a few high level games,
with various move orders. Black has a huge choice of options or setups, the
most popular move here being Nh7 preparing h5. The move Vlad chose is also not
new and has been played by theoreticians such as Peter Leko, Wesley So and
Hikaru Nakamura.} Kg7 12. Re1 Nh7 {Following Van Forees J-Leko from 2016 and
Anand-Nakamura from Tata blitz 2019.} 13. b4 {Following in footsteps of Vishy
Anand. He is as massive an authority on the opening theory as ever.} h5 14. h3
h4 (14... g4 {is another way to try and develop the kingside initiative.}) 15.
Bh2 g4 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. b5 Ne7 18. d4 Ng6 {I don't know whether my opponent
was aware that we are still following Anand-Nakamura or if he was long
improvising, but one way or the other, it all took him a lot of time. Here
Vishy played the natural Be2, but after some further mutual inaccuracies got
nowhere and had to settle for a draw. I had prepared a more direct
continuation, not fearing the potential doubling of the f-pawns.} 19. bxa6 bxa6
20. Nf1 $5 {This was the new idea. Now over the board I had expected Black to
quickly play Ng5, which to me seemed the most natural, but my opponent came up
with a surprising, but a cool looking alternative.} exd4 (20... Ng5 21. Ne3
Bxf3 22. gxf3 Nh3+ 23. Kg2 Ngf4+ 24. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 25. Kh2 {is the position I had
expected to get. Black has a juicy square on f4, but with h4 pawn shielding
the white king nicely, it is White who has most of the trumps here, which is
what the computer insists on. These days, the computers are almost always
right in such cases.}) 21. cxd4 Bxf3 22. gxf3 $1 (22. Qxf3 {was a little bit
tempting, to keep the kingside pawn structure neutral, but I quickly realized
that after} Bxd4 23. Rad1 Be5 {Black has pretty easy play and is likely to get
away here, thanks to all the dark squares and for now an extra pawn.}) 22... f5
$6 {This move frankly shocked me, but I kind of liked the look of it after a
while. The computer, though, realizing that chess is not all about the pawn
structure, but much more about the king's safety and initiative is shouting
that white has a winning advantage now and in more than one way too.} 23. Ne3 {
I had a lot of time on the clock after blitzing out most of my opening moves,
so I figured I may use some of it to calculate some sort of a long variation.
It wasn't really needed.} (23. exf5 $1 {is sort of very clean, but one has to
understand chess on a very high level to realize that it is time to sacrifice
the beautiful pawn structure in the center to gradually switch to the attack
on the king.} Rxf5 24. Kh1 {it doesn't help Black that even if he attacks f3
pawn one more time, it is still not hanging in view of Bd5 and so Ne3 and Rg1
are coming, when White's attack will quickly develop itself.}) 23... fxe4 24.
fxe4 Qg5+ 25. Kh1 Rxf2 26. Nf5+ $6 {I have to say I was quite mesmerized by
the forced line that ends with 31.Qg1!. I didn't realize I had much better
alternatives at this point, but fortunately the continuation in the game
worked out perfectly too.} (26. Bg1 $5 {was an idea I simply didn't consider,
now one of the possible lines could be} Rb2 27. Qc1 Rab8 28. Bb5 $1 Rb3 29. Qc2
Rxe3 30. Bxe3 Qg3 31. Bf1 {when White is up an exchange for the pawn and does
well.}) (26. Ra2 $1 {first was even stronger, but then again it is important
to see the Bg1 motive later on.} Raf8 27. Rxf2 Rxf2 28. Bg1 $1 Rb2 {now there
seem to be two ways to play, one going directly for the king and another for
positional domination.} 29. Qc1 (29. Rf1 Kh8 30. Ng4 Rd2 31. Qf3 Bxd4 32. Qf7
Ne7 33. Be6 {with a deadly mating attack.} Bxg1 34. Qe8+ Ng8 35. Rxg1 $1) 29...
Rb8 30. Nf5+ Kh8 31. Bh2 {and Black can trade into an engame, but there
despite being a pawn up for now, he is completely dominated and lost.}) 26...
Kh8 27. Rg1 {From now it's all forced.} Rxh2+ $1 28. Kxh2 Qf4+ 29. Kh3 Ng5+ 30.
Rxg5 Qxg5 31. Qg1 $1 {I was too fascinated with the idea of trading the queens
in order to force a pretty checkmate and also I noticed a nice motif after 31.
Qg1! Nf4+ 32.Kh2 Qxg1 33.Rxg1 d5 34.Bxd5 Nxd5 35.exd5 Rd8 and now 36.Rg4! when
Black can't ever capture on d5, also not after 36...Kh7 37.Kh3!. However, upon
reaching closer to the position I realized that while the domination does work
in some of the lines, in reality Black also has many defensive resources in
the endgame that I so happily went for.} (31. Qf3 {has a pretty threat of Rg1,
but it is strongly met with} Bxd4 $1 32. Nxd4 Ne5) 31... Nf4+ (31... Qh5 {
seemed insanely risky and is simply losing after} 32. Qe3 {followed by Rg1.})
32. Kh2 Qxg1+ 33. Rxg1 d5 $5 ({My opponent didn't have much time, but while he
spent the remainder of it, I thought I found a draw for him. Fortunately it
wasn't as easy as I thought it was.} 33... Rb8 $5 34. Rg4 Rb2+ 35. Kg1 Ne2+ 36.
Kf1 $1 {I hadn't considered this option, missing 37.Ke1!.} (36. Bxe2 Rxe2 37.
Rxh4+ Kg8 38. Ne7+ {and here I noticed the precise} Kg7 $1 {point being that
after} 39. Nc6 Bb6 40. a5 Rc2 $1 41. axb6 Rxc6 {I don't have any Rh7/Rh8+
things.}) 36... Ng3+ 37. Ke1 $1 Nxf5 38. exf5 {here Black has to still show
some resourcefulness not to lose on the spot-} d5 $1 39. Bxd5 Rb6 $1 40. Rxh4+
Kg7 {and the line continues, but while white keeps the extra pawn and winning
chances, objectively it should be within for Black.}) 34. Bxd5 Nxd5 $1 (34...
Rb8 {here looked quite shaky and indeed there is no easy save here, contrary
to what my opponent had suggested after the game-} 35. Bc4 Rb2+ 36. Kh1 {
here Vlad pointed out} Nh5 {but missed that there is a pretty refutation-} 37.
e5 $1 Ng3+ 38. Rxg3 $1 hxg3 39. e6 $1 {and White will win the rook for the
passer.}) 35. exd5 Re8 $2 {The natural 35...Rd8 fails to the aforementioned 36.
Rg4! idea, based on a fork. Instead, however Black could force a draw brutally
here.} (35... Rg8 $1 {I thought trading rooks was incredibly dangerous for
Black and most likely losing, which is evidently what my opponent thought too,
but we missed some important saving resources here.} 36. Rxg8+ Kxg8 37. Kh3 Kf7
38. Kxh4 {now it seems that White is in time to block the Black king from
bothering his central configuration, but Black has a forced solution-} Kf6 39.
Kg4 Bxd4 $1 40. Nxd4 Ke5 {and it is not that hard once in this position, to
realize that Black is just in time to capture both remaining pawns.}) 36. Kh3
$5 {It is logical to assume that if Black didn't trade the rooks on the
previous move, he isn't going to do it now and at the same time I wasn't sure
if the natural 36.Rg4 doesn't allow Black a miraculous escape after he
activates his rook.} (36. Rg4 Re1 $1 {the computer defends very precisely, in
fact White wants to activate his king anyway, so there is no need to rush it
with check.} (36... Re2+ {is what I wasn't sure about.} 37. Kh3 Ra2 38. Kxh4
Rxa4 39. Kg5 {here White actually creates a mating net with the remaining
forces.}) 37. a5 h3 $1 {This is just math.} 38. Kxh3 Ra1 39. Rh4+ Kg8 40. Ne7+
Kf7 41. Nc6 Rh1+ $1 {the point of h3!} 42. Kg3 Rxh4 43. Kxh4 Bxd4 {here it is
particularly miraculous that Black is saving it, but he does.} 44. Nxd4 Ke7)
36... Bb6 $2 {Black really had to trade rooks.} (36... Re4 $1 37. Rg4 Rxg4 38.
Kxg4 Kg8 39. Kxh4 Kf7 40. Kg5 {here Black doesn't draw by the bishop sac on d4,
but he can still setup the final line of defense.} Ke8 41. Kf4 Kd7 42. Ke4 c6
$1 {it is essential to push this quickly. When I was thinking about this
endgame during the game, I assumed Black wouldn't help white in creating the
passed pawn, but then white would actually win by means of endless knight
jumps provoking a5 and so on, although it is all not obvious even after all
that.} 43. dxc6+ Kxc6 44. Ne7+ Kd7 45. Ng6 Kd6 46. Ne5 Bb8 {and Black sets up
some sort of a defense, which it seems can not be broken.}) 37. Kxh4 Rd8 38.
Rg5 $5 {It was incredibly tempting to try and mate the Black king and it seems
it was possible to do so. The move I made keeps the position winning and is a
lot more prosaic.} (38. Kh5 $5 Bxd4 {was my issue and now I calculate a few
moves further-} 39. Rh1 Kg8 40. Kg6 Bc5 {I thought this was key. Here I didn't
find a mate, but I actually stopped looking just a tad too early.} 41. Rh7 Rxd5
42. Rxc7 $1 {and white mates after all. The position after Black sacs the
exchange is not a draw, by the way.} Rxf5 43. Kxf5 Bb4 {Black king is cut off
very badly here, the easiest win would be-} 44. Kf6 a5 45. Rf7 Bc3+ 46. Kg6 {
also possible is to bring the king to b5, with king cut off on the f-file it
is too far to come back in time to c8.} Bb4 47. Rf5 {with a zugzwang.}) 38...
Kh7 {loses, but otherwise Kh5-Kg6 was a threat. Black's position seems lost
already.} 39. Rh5+ Kg6 40. Ne7+ Kf6 41. Nc6 {It was tempting to dominate the
bishop with the knight like that, but it was only after I saw that I win by
force that I had decided to go for this. Sometimes positions are too pretty to
be won, but this was fortunately not the case here.} Re8 42. Re5 Rh8+ 43. Kg4
a5 (43... Bxd4 {is met with the intermezzo} 44. Re6+) 44. Rf5+ $1 {At first I
was tempted to try and push the Black king down to the 8th rank, but after
further searching I found a more forcing way to win.} Kg6 {This loses on the
spot, but the only alternative lost by force too.} (44... Kg7 45. d6 $1 {
As so often, you have to free the dominated opponent briefly, in order to
convert the positional advantage into some concrete gain.} cxd6 46. Rb5 Bd8 {
and here I intended the simple} 47. Nxd8 $5 Rxd8 48. Kf5 {with an easily won
rook endgame.}) 45. Ne5+ Kg7 46. Rg5+ Kh7 47. Rh5+ Kg7 48. Rxh8 Kxh8 {with
Black king so far from the action the endgame is dead lost.} 49. Nc4 {the
quickest path to resignation.} Kg7 50. Kf5 Kf7 51. d6 {1-0 (51) Giri,A (2768)
-Kovalev,V (2660) Wijk aan Zee 2020 CBM 194 [Giri,A]}) 9... Qe7 (9... g5 10.
Bg3 Qe7 11. O-O Nd7 12. Kh1 Nf8 13. Ng1 h5 14. f3 Ng6 15. b4 h4 $146 ({
Predecessor:} 15... Nf4 16. Nb3 Nd8 17. d4 Nde6 18. Bf2 f6 19. b5 h4 20. dxe5
Nh5 21. Ne2 Bxf2 22. Rxf2 fxe5 23. bxa6 bxa6 {1-0 (49) Lazov,T (2331)-Karisik,
N (2179) Belgrade 2017}) 16. Bf2 Bxf2 17. Rxf2 Nf4 18. Nf1 Qf6 19. Ne3 Ne7 20.
d4 Nh5 21. Ne2 Ng3+ 22. Kg1 Nxe2+ 23. Bxe2 Ng6 24. Nd5 Qd8 25. dxe5 dxe5 26. a5
Be6 27. Bf1 Bxd5 28. exd5 O-O 29. c4 Kg7 30. Qd2 f5 31. c5 Qf6 32. Rd1 Rad8 33.
Qb2 Nf4 34. Bc4 Rfe8 35. b5 axb5 36. Qxb5 e4 37. fxe4 Rxe4 38. Bf1 Rd4 39. Re1
Nxd5 40. Qxb7 Rb4 41. Qa7 Qd4 42. Qa6 Rb2 43. Ree2 Rxe2 44. Qxe2 Rb8 45. a6 Rb1
46. Qd2 Qxd2 47. Rxd2 Ne3 48. Kf2 Rxf1+ 49. Kxe3 Ra1 50. Rd7+ Kf6 51. Rxc7 Rxa6
52. c6 Ke5 53. Rc8 Ra3+ 54. Kd2 Ra2+ 55. Kc3 Kd6 56. c7 Rxg2 57. h3 g4 58. hxg4
fxg4 59. Rh8 Kxc7 60. Rxh4 Kd6 61. Kd4 Ke6 62. Ke4 Kf6 63. Kf4 Kg6 64. Rh8 Kf6
65. Rg8 Kf7 66. Rg5 Kf6 67. Ra5 Kf7 68. Ra6 Ke7 69. Rb6 Kd7 70. Rf6 Ke7 71. Rg6
Kf7 72. Rxg4 Rxg4+ 73. Kxg4 {1/2-1/2 (73) Demchenko,A (2599)-Anton Guijarro,D
(2673) Tornelo INT 2021}) 10. O-O {White is slightly better.} Bg4 $5 {[%mdl 4]
[#] A promising side line.} 11. Kh1 $146 ({Predecessor:} 11. h3 Bd7 12. b4 g5
13. Bg3 Nh5 14. Kh2 Nf4 15. b5 Na5 16. bxa6 bxa6 17. Bxa6 {0-1 (36) Lazov,T
(2310)-Anurag,M (2454) Skopje 2017}) 11... g5 12. Bg3 h5 {[#] And now ...h4
would win.} 13. h4 Nh7 14. b4 Nf8 15. Qb1 (15. Qb3 $14) 15... gxh4 (15... Bxf3
$11 16. Nxf3 g4) 16. Bxh4 $14 f6 17. b5 Nd8 18. bxa6 bxa6 19. Bxa6 Ng6 20. Bc4
c6 21. a5 Rh7 22. d4 Ne6 23. Bxe6 (23. a6 $16) 23... Qxe6 24. d5 ({Better is}
24. a6 $16) 24... Qc8 $1 $11 {White should prevent ...Bxf3.} 25. dxc6 ({
Much less strong is} 25. Bxf6 $6 Rf7 $14) 25... Bxf3 26. Nxf3 {Hoping for Qd1.}
Qg4 $1 $40 {[%mdl 128] Black is up to no good.} 27. Nh2 $2 {[%mdl 8192]} Qxh4
$19 28. Qb5 {Black must now prevent c7+.} Rc7 ({Weaker is} 28... Bxf2 29. c7+
Rd7 30. Qb8+ Rxb8 31. cxb8=Q+ Rd8 32. Qb3 $11) ({Less strong is} 28... Qxe4 29.
Rae1 $17) 29. Qd5 Ne7 {[%mdl 64] [#] Double Attack} 30. Qe6 (30. Qxd6 {might
work better.} Rxc6 {[%mdl 64] Double Attack} 31. Qd2) 30... Rxc6 31. Rab1 {
Rb7 is the strong threat.} d5 {[%mdl 64] Discovered Attack. Weighted Error
Value: White=0.62/Black=0.11} 0-1