[Event "23rd European Teams"] [Site "Terme Catez SLO"] [Date "2021.11.16"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Sargissian, Gabriel"] [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D19"] [WhiteElo "2664"] [BlackElo "2770"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2021.11.12"] [WhiteTeam "Armenia"] [BlackTeam "France"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"] [BlackTeamCountry "FRA"] {[%evp 0,110,21,18,21,-23,32,36,30,2,1,-7,6,13,14,14,14,20,29,12,21,27,20,9,9, 12,24,20,20,23,18,39,40,40,18,6,30,-30,-30,-35,-36,-22,-18,-14,-27,-13,-11,-29, -29,-22,-2,0,0,-62,0,-13,-19,-107,-110,-152,-96,-107,-101,-101,-94,-88,-77, -102,-88,-84,-78,-129,-94,-140,-141,-138,-121,-113,-121,-115,-133,-116,-120, -114,-120,-117,-92,-90,-117,-124,-169,-403,-144,-149,-156,-164,-169,-169,-174, -174,-188,-188,-193,-189,-195,-195,-181,-183,-165,-165,-161,-165,-168]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 Bg6 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Rd1 Qc7 ({From the Grand Swiss a couple of weeks ago:} 12... Qa5 13. Qc2 c5 14. Na2 cxd4 15. Nxb4 Qxb4 16. Rxd4 Rac8 17. Qe2 Qb6 18. a5 Qc7 19. a6 e5 20. axb7 exd4 21. bxc8=Q Rxc8 22. b3 Ne5 23. exd4 Nxc4 24. bxc4 Qxc4 25. Qxc4 Rxc4 26. Be3 Rc7 27. d5 Nxd5 28. Bxa7 g5 29. h3 f6 30. g3 Kf7 {1/2-1/2 (30) Yu,Y (2704)-Firouzja,A (2770) Riga 2021}) 13. e4 e5 14. d5 Bxc3 15. d6 Qa5 16. bxc3 b5 (16... Qxc3 17. Ra3 Qb4 18. Rg3 {1/2-1/2 (18) Bonin,J (2388)-Solonkovich,I (2120) Nassau 2009}) 17. Ba2 bxa4 18. Ba3 $146 (18. Bg5 Nc5 19. f3 Rab8 20. Qc4 Nb3 21. Bxb3 Qb6+ 22. Kf1 axb3 23. Ra6 Qb7 24. Rxc6 Rbc8 25. Rc7 Rxc7 26. dxc7 b2 27. Qb4 Qxc7 28. Qxb2 Rb8 29. Qa3 Qc4+ 30. Kf2 a6 31. Bxf6 gxf6 32. Kg3 Kg7 33. Rd7 Rb3 34. Qe7 Rb8 35. Rd6 Qxc3 36. Qxf6+ Kg8 37. Rxa6 Re8 38. Ra7 Qc4 39. Re7 Rxe7 40. Qxe7 Qc3 41. Qf6 Qe1+ 42. Kh3 Qc3 43. g3 Qc8+ 44. Kh4 Qc1 45. Kg4 Qc8+ 46. Kh4 Qc1 47. Qxe5 Qh6+ 48. Kg4 Qxh2 49. f4 Qh6 50. Qg5 Qh1 51. Qd5 Kg7 52. Qe5+ f6 53. Qe7+ Kh6 54. Qf8+ Kh7 {1/2-1/2 (54) Lekic,D (2433)-Anurag,M (2405) Anogia 2014}) (18. f3 $146 { followed by 19.Be3 is Stockfish's suggestion, claiming a slight plus for White. }) 18... Qxc3 {White has full compensation, with two good bishops and a far-advanced passed pawn making up for his two missing pawns. Given Black's ragged queenside structure one might even think that Black is in trouble, but those pawns have more of a future than one might suspect.} 19. f3 (19. h3 $5) 19... Rab8 ({On the off-chance you were wondering,} 19... Qxa3 $4 {is a blunder, losing the queen (and a pawn) for only the two bishops.} 20. Bxf7+ Rxf7 21. Rxa3 $18) 20. Rdc1 Qd4+ 21. Kh1 c5 22. Rd1 Qc3 23. Rdc1 {Implicitly offering a draw, which Firouzja rightly rejects, altogether apart from questions of ambition and rating.} (23. Bc4 $142 $11) 23... Qa5 $1 24. Rd1 Qb5 (24... Nb6) 25. Bc4 Qc6 26. Rac1 (26. Ra2 $142 $15) 26... Rb6 $6 (26... Ne8 $142 $17) 27. Qf2 (27. Rc3 $11) 27... Qc8 28. Qg3 $2 {Blundering away his pride and joy, the passed d-pawn. (Okay, it's a swap, but White's d-pawn is far, far more important than Black's doubled pawn on g6.)} (28. h3 $11) 28... Qb8 29. Ba2 Rxd6 30. Qxg6 $6 Rxd1+ $6 {Not a bad move in its own right, but he missed a nice trick.} (30... Nd5 $1) 31. Rxd1 Qb5 {White has no attack, and is threatened by a queen raid to e2. It's time for White's queen to beat a hasty retreat.} 32. Qg5 Qe2 $2 (32... Rc8 $142) 33. Qd2 Qxd2 34. Rxd2 Rc8 $17 {/-+} 35. Kg1 $2 (35. Rc2 {had to be played, slowing Black down as much as possible.} ) 35... c4 $19 36. Rc2 Nb6 37. Kf2 Nfd7 38. Ke3 Nc5 $1 {Obviously desirable, and it works thanks to a nice tactical trick.} 39. Bb2 (39. Bxc4 $4 Ne6 40. Bd3 Rxc2 41. Bxc2 Nc4+ $19) 39... Nd3 (39... Na6) 40. Bc3 a3 41. Bd2 $2 (41. Bxc4 Nf4 $1 $19) 41... Rc5 42. Ke2 Nf4+ 43. Kf1 Rb5 {White's bishops aren't getting anywhere, but Black's pieces are.} 44. Bc1 Rb3 $1 45. Rxc4 Nxc4 46. Bxb3 Nd3 $1 47. Bg5 Na5 $1 48. Ba2 Nb4 49. Bd2 Nxa2 50. Bxa5 Nc1 {The rest is automatic.} 51. Bc3 a2 52. Bxe5 Nb3 53. Ke2 a1=Q 54. Bxa1 Nxa1 55. Kd3 Nb3 0-1 [Event "23rd European Teams"] [Site "Terme Catez SLO"] [Date "2021.11.16"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Shirov, Alexei"] [Black "Erdos, Viktor"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C92"] [WhiteElo "2673"] [BlackElo "2615"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2021.11.12"] [WhiteTeam "Spain"] [BlackTeam "Hungary"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ESP"] [BlackTeamCountry "HUN"] {[%evp 0,91,21,10,13,19,20,11,16,1,6,3,22,-11,7,10,16,-25,-11,-22,-3,-14,-8, -21,-21,-8,-8,-4,0,0,-3,31,25,42,21,13,46,22,49,58,87,74,45,-231,-95,-147,-74, -86,27,62,75,39,94,125,57,53,73,62,36,45,36,36,36,36,33,40,43,23,97,102,113, 130,169,170,188,182,217,220,181,152,245,216,323,323,397,649,701,756,1056,1272, 1717,1892,2399,29098]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. d4 Bb7 11. Ng5 Rf8 12. Nf3 Re8 13. a3 {Almost unknown, in the big picture, but it has become moderately popular since 2015.} (13. Nbd2 {is the classic move, and after} Bf8 14. a3 {is one of White's main options.}) 13... h6 14. Ba2 (14. Nbd2 Bf8 {transposes to the big line mentioned on move 13.}) 14... Bf8 15. d5 {This position has only arisen twice before, but both games featured at least one super-GM.} Nb8 $146 (15... Ne7 16. b3 c5 17. c4 bxc4 18. bxc4 Ng6 19. Bb3 Bc8 20. Ba4 Bd7 21. Nc3 Rb8 22. Bd2 Nh5 23. g3 Re7 24. Kg2 Qc8 25. Bxd7 Rxd7 26. Nh2 Nf6 27. Qf3 Rb3 28. Nf1 Rdb7 29. Ne3 Ne7 30. h4 h5 31. Qd1 Qd7 32. Qf3 Ng4 33. Nxg4 Qxg4 34. Qxg4 hxg4 35. Nd1 Rd3 36. Ba5 Rd4 37. Rc1 f5 38. exf5 Nxf5 39. Re2 Rd3 40. Bc3 Rb3 41. Be1 g6 42. Nb2 Rf3 43. Rb1 Rxa3 44. Nd1 Rfd3 45. Re4 Rd4 46. Re2 Rxc4 47. Rb8 Rc1 48. Nb2 Raa1 49. Kf1 Nd4 50. Re4 Nf3 51. Rxg4 Nh2+ {0-1 (49) Firouzja,A (2759)-Le,Q (2709) chess24.com INT 2021}) (15... Na7 16. c4 bxc4 17. Bxc4 c6 18. Nc3 Nb5 19. dxc6 Bxc6 20. Nd5 Nxd5 21. Bxd5 Qd7 22. Be3 Bxd5 23. Qxd5 Nc7 24. Qa5 Reb8 25. Red1 Qe7 26. Rac1 Ne8 27. Rc2 Rb5 28. Qa4 Qb7 29. Bc1 Nf6 30. Re1 Rc8 31. Rxc8 Qxc8 32. b4 Nxe4 33. Bb2 Nf6 34. Nd2 Nd5 35. Ne4 Nf4 36. Qb3 Qe6 37. Qxe6 fxe6 38. Ba1 Rd5 39. Kf1 Rd3 40. Nc3 Rd2 41. a4 Nd3 42. Rb1 d5 43. b5 axb5 44. axb5 Rxf2+ 45. Kg1 Bc5 46. Kh1 Rf7 47. Na4 Bd6 48. b6 e4 49. b7 Bb8 50. g4 e3 51. Nc3 d4 52. Ne2 e5 53. Kg1 Nc5 54. Rc1 Nxb7 55. Nxd4 exd4 56. Bxd4 Bf4 {0-1 (54) Suetin,A-Gligoric,S Budva 1967}) 16. c4 c6 17. Nc3 bxc4 18. dxc6 Bxc6 19. Bxc4 $14 Qc7 $2 (19... Nbd7 $142) 20. Nh4 Bd7 $2 21. Nd5 $1 {This is the Shirov we all know and love - or at least those of us who were around for some or all of his heyday from the early-to-mid '90s through the start of the last decade. He produced one tactical, sacrificial masterpiece after another, very much in the style of Mikhail Tal.} Qxc4 22. Nxf6+ gxf6 23. Qh5 f5 24. Bxh6 $6 {Alas, not the best move.} (24. exf5 $1 {was best, and after} Be7 {it's time for another spectacular blow:} 25. Ng6 $1 {This doesn't win right away, but Black cannot defend here without returning his material gains and then some. A possible line:} Nc6 26. Bxh6 $1 Bxf5 $8 27. Qxf5 Qe6 28. Qxe6 fxe6 29. Rac1 Nd4 30. Nxe7+ Rxe7 31. Be3 $18 {With two connected passers on the kingside and a queenside (at least the a-c files portion of it) majority to boot, the ending is an easy win for White.}) 24... Bxh6 25. Qxh6 f4 26. Nf5 $2 ({It was important to first transfer the queen to f6, and only then play Nf5.} 26. Qg5+ Kf8 27. Qf6 Kg8 28. Nf5 $18) 26... Bxf5 27. exf5 f6 28. Qg6+ Kf8 29. Qxf6+ Qf7 30. Qxd6+ Qe7 31. Rad1 Qxd6 32. Rxd6 {Black survived the attack, but White is still doing fine. As Shirov shows, Black has not solved all the problems that White can pose, even if the position is "officially" equal.} Ra7 33. g4 Rh7 $2 {It doesn't seem as if not taking on g3 en passant should matter very much; if anything, one might think that it's in Black's best interest to do so. (Why eliminate White's doubled pawn?) But among other things, it gives White a valuable tempo, and Shirov puts it to good use. White's herd of pawns quickly decides the game.} (33... fxg3 34. fxg3 Rb7 35. Re2 a5 $11) 34. Kg2 $18 Nd7 35. b4 $1 Rc8 (35... a5) 36. Red1 $1 Rc7 37. g5 e4 38. g6 Rg7 39. h4 Ne5 40. h5 Nd3 41. h6 Rgd7 42. Rxd7 Rxd7 43. h7 Kg7 44. f6+ Kh8 45. Rh1 f3+ 46. Kg3 {White will make a new queen, and Black will be mated. An imperfect game by Shirov, yes, but an attractive, energetic effort all the same.} 1-0