[Event "FTX Road to Miami KO 2022"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.07.17"] [Round "3.21"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E24"] [WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2775"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "122"] [EventDate "2022.07.14"] [EventType "k.o."] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 {Long moribund, the traditional Saemisch (as opposed to the Neo-Saemisch line 4.f3) has been making a comeback.} Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 b6 (5... c5) 6. f3 {This move has been behind the comeback. It used to be thought that White couldn't get away with this, but had to play e3, then (eventually) f3, then e4.} Nc6 7. e4 Na5 8. Bd3 (8. c5 $5 $146) 8... d6 { Not popular, but it has scored well and Aronian himself has used it twice before.} (8... Ba6 {is usual.}) 9. f4 (9. Nh3 Ba6 10. Qe2 e5 11. Be3 Qd7 12. a4 Qc6 13. d5 Qd7 14. O-O Qe7 15. Nf2 Nd7 16. Rab1 O-O 17. g4 Rac8 18. Nh1 c6 19. Ng3 g6 20. c5 Bxd3 21. cxd6 Bxe2 22. dxe7 Bxf1 23. exf8=Q+ Kxf8 24. Kxf1 cxd5 25. exd5 Rxc3 26. Bd2 Rxf3+ 27. Ke2 Rb3 28. Rc1 Rb2 29. Rc7 Nf6 30. Kd3 Nxd5 31. Bh6+ Ke8 32. Rxa7 Rb3+ 33. Kc2 Ne3+ 34. Bxe3 Rxe3 35. g5 Nc6 36. Rb7 Nb4+ 37. Kd2 Rd3+ 38. Ke2 Rd4 39. Rxb6 Nd5 40. Ra6 Nc3+ 41. Ke3 Nxa4 42. Ra5 Rb4 43. Ne4 Nb6 44. Rxe5+ Kf8 45. Rc5 Rc4 46. Rb5 Nd7 47. h4 Ra4 48. Kf4 Rc4 49. Ra5 Rb4 50. Ra8+ Ke7 51. Ra7 Ke6 52. Ra6+ Ke7 53. Ra7 {1/2-1/2 (53) Carlsen,M (2882)-Aronian,L (2765) Saint Louis 2019}) (9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Ba6 11. Qe2 Qd7 12. a4 Qc6 13. d5 Qb7 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Rb1 Qc8 16. Nh3 Nb7 17. Nf4 h5 18. g4 hxg4 19. fxg4 Nc5 20. Nh5 Ke7 21. O-O Rh6 22. Qe3 Qh8 23. Rf2 Rg8 24. Rg2 Nxd3 25. Qxd3 Rhg6 26. Qf3 Bxc4 27. Rd1 Rxg4 28. Rxg4 Qxh5 29. h3 Rxg4+ 30. hxg4 Qg5 31. Kf2 Bb3 32. Rh1 exd5 33. exd5 Bxd5 34. Re1+ Be6 35. Re4 a5 36. Qe3 Kd7 37. Kg3 Qg6 38. Kf2 f5 39. gxf5 Qxf5+ 40. Ke1 Qd5 41. Rf4 Qb3 42. Qd3 Qb2 43. Rh4 Qc1+ 44. Kf2 Qg5 45. Qd4 Qe5 46. Qd2 Bd5 47. Qd3 Qf6+ 48. Kg3 Qg5+ 49. Rg4 Qe5+ 50. Rf4 Qe1+ 51. Kh2 Qh1+ 52. Kg3 Qg2+ 53. Kh4 Be6 54. Qb5+ Kc8 55. Qd3 Qg7 56. Qf3 Kd7 57. Rd4 f6 58. Qh5 Qg2 59. Qh7+ Kc8 60. Qh8+ Kb7 61. Qxf6 Qh3+ 62. Kg5 Qg3+ 63. Kh6 Qxc3 64. Qf4 Bd7 65. Kg6 Bc6 66. Kf6 Bxa4 67. Ke7 Bc6 68. Kd8 Qh3 69. Qg4 Qh8+ {0-1 (69) El Gindy,E (2431)-Aronian,L (2758) Khanty-Mansiysk 2019} ) 9... Bb7 10. Qe2 Nb3 11. Rb1 Nxc1 12. Rxc1 e5 13. Nf3 $2 $146 {New, and apparently bad.} (13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Nf3 {is correct, and has been tested.}) 13... exf4 14. O-O O-O $2 (14... Ng4 $1 $19) 15. Nd2 $15 g6 16. Rxf4 Nh5 17. Rf2 Qg5 18. Rcf1 Rae8 19. Nf3 Qg4 20. Nd2 Qxe2 21. Rxe2 Bc8 {Despite the missed opportunity on move 14, Aronian has still come out of the opening and into whatever this is (late middlegame? Early endgame? Quasi-endgame?) in terrific shape. White has several pawns that are targets, most immediately his e-pawn. Wei Yi takes care of that potential problem, but that leads to further difficulties.} 22. Ref2 Re7 23. Nf3 Nf6 24. e5 dxe5 25. Nxe5 {Okay, great: no more e-pawn for White to worry about, but it comes at the cost of an ending in which Black's kingside majority can produce a passer while White's queenside majority can't. That doesn't mean that Black is winning, but it does mean that every exchange brings White closer to a potential king and pawn ending, which would almost certainly be lost. Typical technique for Black in such cases is to trade and to use the threat of trades to gain more ground and force further concessions.} Ng4 {A first trade.} 26. Nxg4 Bxg4 27. h3 Bd7 28. Re2 {More trades.} Rxe2 29. Bxe2 Re8 30. Kf2 Bc6 {Threatening ...Bxg2, exploiting White's overloaded king.} 31. d5 {If the rooks were off the board, White would probably be lost. White of course realizes this, and aims instead to break on the queenside to activate his rook and swap off as many pawns as possible.} Bd7 32. Rb1 {Intending c4-c5.} Bf5 33. Rb2 Be4 {Prophylaxis against c4-c5.} 34. a4 Kf8 35. Bf3 (35. a5 Ke7) 35... Bxf3 36. Kxf3 (36. gxf3 {looks ugly, but keeps Black's rook out of e1.}) 36... Re1 37. c5 Rc1 38. Rb3 bxc5 ({Perhaps the more patient} 38... Ke7 {improves.}) 39. Rb7 Rxc3+ 40. Ke4 Ke7 41. Rxc7+ Kd6 42. Rc6+ Kd7 43. Ra6 (43. g4 $1 Rxh3 44. Ra6 $11) 43... f5+ 44. Kf4 Rc2 45. g4 Rc4+ 46. Kf3 Rc3+ 47. Kf4 Rc4+ 48. Kf3 Rc3+ 49. Kf4 Rxh3 50. gxf5 gxf5 51. Kxf5 { While it has been Black who has been pressing throughout the ending, Wei Yi has handled his defensive task very well, and despite being a pawn down the game should end in a draw. If only there wasn't time trouble...} h5 52. Ke4 Kc7 53. Rxa7+ Kb6 54. Ra8 c4 55. Rc8 Kb7 56. Rc5 Rg3 57. d6 h4 58. a5 h3 59. Rc7+ Ka6 60. Rh7 $6 (60. Kd4 $1 {would have made the draw easy:}) 60... Rd3 $1 { Now White has only one move to save the game.} 61. Rh6 $2 (61. d7 $8 Kxa5 { Here, it's even less obvious what White should do.} 62. Kf5 $3 (62. Ke5 $3 { is also fine. What White should not do is swap pawns.}) (62. Rxh3 $2 Rxd7 $19) 62... Kb6 {Now for another unobvious move that is, yet again, the only way to save half a point.} (62... c3 63. Rxh3 $11) 63. Rh4 $1 Kc5 (63... Rxd7 64. Rxc4 $11) 64. Ke6 $11) 61... Kxa5 0-1 [Event "FTX Road to Miami KO 2022"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.07.17"] [Round "3.22"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Wei, Yi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "2775"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2022.07.14"] [EventType "k.o."] {[%evp 0,119,17,15,68,83,114,69,88,39,67,67,74,36,60,41,36,25,26,22,19,11,40, -1,24,-16,-14,-3,18,15,-6,-17,25,-7,-17,-17,2,-7,11,-32,16,-32,-35,14,14,0,22, -7,-7,-28,-25,26,42,-4,-4,-4,-22,0,-4,-38,-53,-73,-90,-54,-54,-115,-122,-122, -28,0,76,59,102,57,120,120,180,114,91,26,26,33,72,0,0,0,0,-18,-32,-42,0,0,3,10, 44,52,103,103,137,156,141,141,124,124,128,88,144,84,90,86,88,92,92,0,0,0,0,0,0, 0,0,0] Aronian was winning, off and on, through much of this game, but Wei Yi escaped to keep the match going. A win here would have terminated the event, with the unusual consequence that although Aronian would have won the overall match, one cannot say what the winning match score would have been. (He won the first day's mini-match, but - had he won this game - his 2-0 score would not have won the second day's mini-match. Rather, he would have guaranteed that the most Wei Yi could do is tie the mini-match, were it to continue, which would be in vain as Aronian would still be the overall match winner, 1. 5-0.5.) There have been past Meltwater Tour events where that has happened, but this turned out not to be one of them.} 1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. c3 Nd7 5. Bd3 e5 6. O-O Ne7 7. Re1 O-O 8. Nbd2 b6 9. Nf1 Bb7 10. Ng3 c5 11. d5 h6 12. Bc2 f5 13. exf5 Nxf5 14. c4 b5 15. cxb5 Nb6 16. a4 a6 17. bxa6 Rxa6 18. Ra3 Ne7 19. Be4 Qe8 20. Nh4 Rxa4 21. Rxa4 Nxa4 22. Qb3 Bc8 23. Qc2 Rf6 24. Bd3 g5 25. Nhf5 Nxf5 26. Bxf5 Bxf5 27. Nxf5 Nb6 28. Ne3 Qf7 29. b4 cxb4 30. Qb3 Rf4 31. Bd2 Rxf2 32. Bxb4 e4 33. Bc3 Bxc3 34. Qxc3 Rf4 35. Qc6 Nd7 36. Qxd6 Nf6 37. Rc1 Qd7 38. Qb8+ Ne8 39. Rc8 Rf8 40. h3 Qf7 41. Kh1 Nd6 42. Rxf8+ Qxf8 43. Qxf8+ Kxf8 44. h4 Kf7 45. h5 Kf6 46. Ng4+ Kf5 47. Nxh6+ Kf4 48. Kg1 g4 49. Ng8 Kg5 50. h6 Kg6 51. Kf2 Nf5 52. h7 g3+ 53. Ke2 Kxh7 54. Nf6+ Kg6 55. Nxe4 Nh4 56. Kf1 Kf5 57. Nd2 Nxg2 58. Kxg2 Ke5 59. Ne4 Kxd5 60. Nxg3 1/2-1/2 [Event "FTX Road to Miami KO 2022"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.07.17"] [Round "3.23"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E00"] [WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2775"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "52"] [EventDate "2022.07.14"] [EventType "k.o."] {[%evp 0,52,17,15,29,-6,-6,-65,-29,-29,-29,-47,-47,-27,-20,-23,-36,-67,-7,-35, -11,-17,-24,-7,-11,50,47,-21,-13,-20,140,32,72,44,15,-15,47,-28,9,-39,-39,-30, 48,36,29,-9,19,14,29,-100,-82,-45,101,-107,-107]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g4 { Shirazi chess! (Kamran Shirazi is an Iranian-American-French IM known and appreciated for his crazy play, which includes his often absurd opening experiments.)} Bb4+ (3... Nxg4 $1) 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 {Aronian is playing it safe, somewhat unnecessarily. Nevertheless, White's freewheeling treatment of his kingside will come back to bite him soon enough, even with equal material.} (5... Nxg4) 6. Nc3 dxc4 7. g5 Nd5 8. h4 Bd7 (8... Nd7) 9. e4 Nb6 10. Nf3 Nc6 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. d5 Nb4 13. Qd4 f6 {Whose position do you prefer? Is White's extra space a sign of good health, or a case of possibly fatal overextension?} 14. e5 $2 (14. gxf6 $142 gxf6 {is equalish.}) 14... O-O-O $2 ( 14... fxe5 $142 15. Nxe5 O-O-O $17) 15. d6 (15. gxf6 $142 gxf6 16. exf6 Qf7 17. Bxc4 Nxc4 18. Qxc4 Qxf6 19. Ng5 Nxd5 20. Rxd5 $1 exd5 21. Nxd5 Qe5 22. Nf7 Bb5 $1 23. Qg4+ Bd7 24. Qc4 Bb5 {would have made for an aesthetically pleasing draw. Unfortunately for Wei Yi, that would mean losing the match, so from here he'd have to try} 25. Nxe5 Bxc4 26. Ne7+ Kb8 27. Nxc4 Rhf8 {, when Black is slightly better but White can hope that the tricky knights will bamboozle Aronian once the players are down to the increment.}) 15... cxd6 16. exd6 Qf7 ( 16... Qe8 $142) 17. Qc5+ Nc6 18. a4 $2 {Natural, but it forces Black to make a very useful move. It was better to develop with 18.Nd4 or 18.Bg2.} Kb8 19. a5 Nd5 $17 {/-+} 20. Bxc4 Nxc3 (20... fxg5 $1 $19) 21. bxc3 Rc8 22. Bb3 Qh5 23. Rd3 $2 {The move has its virtues - it defends the knight and the vulnerable c-pawn while setting up a nice cheapo. And yet, it's still an error.} (23. Nd4 $142 $17) 23... e5 $1 $19 {Threatening ...e4. That threat is easily dealt with, but the other threat, of ...Nd4, poses a nearly insuperable problem.} (23... Ne5 $4 {appears to be winning at first sight, and it is - for White.} 24. Nxe5 $1 Rxc5 (24... fxe5 25. Qxe5 $18) 25. Nxd7+ $18 {followed by 26.Nxc5, with a decisive material advantage. (Not to mention - oops - that the d-pawn will soon force the win of even more material.)}) 24. Nd2 Nd4 25. Qb4 Qe2 26. Bd5 Bc6 ({After} 26... Bc6 27. Bxc6 Rxc6 28. Rhh3 {White can stave off significant material losses for a while. But only for a while, and there are so many weak points in his position that his resignation (or did he lose on time?), while perhaps slightly premature, is not unreasonable.}) 0-1