[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2021.01.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Esipenko, Andrey"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B84"] [WhiteElo "2677"] [BlackElo "2862"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2021.01.15"] {[%evp 0,75,21,20,52,59,89,49,62,36,36,38,50,42,61,58,57,49,39,34,32,-4,-3,-3, 24,8,74,59,47,65,65,55,21,21,75,51,51,68,68,65,71,76,156,138,138,136,145,117, 107,119,72,73,118,105,109,114,99,127,136,136,140,121,137,129,223,233,221,224, 653,159,418,470,470,412,1252,1272,1272,1006]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 (6... e5 {is the better option, in my opinion. (I don't mean that I prefer it as a matter of taste; I think it's an objective recommendation.) But obviously I'm not telling Carlsen anything, and even if he agrees with me he may have felt that while 6...e6 is riskier it would also give him more winning chances against the (comparatively) low-rated Esipenko.}) 7. Be3 Be7 (7... Qc7 8. Qd2 b5 {seems to be the hotter line at present, which doesn't necessarily mean it's best.}) 8. g4 {Why not? Generally White waits until Black has castled kingside, but it looks pretty reasonable here as well.} b5 ({The thematic} 8... d5 {also merits consideration.}) 9. g5 Nfd7 {Black allowed 9.g5 in return for a double attack of sorts. The g-pawn is threatened, but so is ...b4, kicking White's knight to an awkward post. Unfortunately for Carlsen, this has all been played before, and Esipenko either knew the theory or worked out the right strategy over the board.} 10. a3 $1 {It took players some time to figure out that ...b4 is the threat White should stop first, and Black has been suffering ever since. It's surprising at first that White would surrender the g-pawn when Black hasn't committing to castling kingside, but when we reflect on the alternatives available to Black's king it makes more sense. Thanks to ...b5 the queenside is unlikely to be a safe haven, while an eventual running of White's f-pawn will undermine the long-term safety of Black's king if it stays in the center.} Bxg5 11. Qd2 Bxe3 {Black has more frequently retreated the bishop to e7 or f6, without sterling results.} 12. Qxe3 Qh4 $2 $146 {A new move (but there had only been two predecessors), and a bad one.} (12... Qe7 13. Rg1 g6 14. O-O-O Bb7 15. f4 Nc5 16. Nf3 Nc6 17. e5 d5 18. Rxd5 exd5 19. Nxd5 Qf8 20. Nf6+ Kd8 21. b4 Na4 22. Rd1+ Ke7 23. Rd7+ { 1-0 (23) Webbink,A (2091)-Baron Gonzalez,A (1998) ICCF email 2018}) (12... Bb7 13. O-O-O Qe7 14. Nb3 Nc6 15. Qg3 Nc5 16. Nxc5 dxc5 17. Qxg7 Rf8 18. Bg4 Nd4 19. Ne2 O-O-O 20. Nxd4 cxd4 21. Rxd4 Rg8 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. Qc3+ Qc7 24. Qxc7+ Kxc7 25. Bf3 f5 26. Re1 Kd7 27. Kd1 Rf8 28. Ke2 fxe4 29. Bh5 Rc8 30. Kd2 Rg8 31. Ke3 Bc6 32. Be2 {1/2-1/2 (32) Frotscher,T (2363)-Gomila Marti,S (2375) ICCF email 2019}) 13. Rg1 $16 (13. O-O-O {first may be even better, so that} Ne5 {can be met by} 14. f4 $18) 13... g6 14. O-O-O Qe7 {The right move, but then what was the point of ...Qh4?} 15. f4 (15. Qh6) (15. e5) 15... Bb7 16. Kb1 {Black is in a bad way. His next move is natural and probably best. Despite that, it has a serious drawback, one apparently overlooked by Carlsen...but not by Esipenko.} Nc6 17. Ncxb5 $1 axb5 18. Nxc6 Bxc6 19. Qc3 {Tactics! White regains the piece, and Black is unable to obtain meaningful counterplay on the queenside, despite the open files.} O-O 20. Qxc6 $18 d5 21. exd5 Rfc8 22. d6 $1 Qd8 23. Qxb5 {Despite having three open files against White's king, Black has no meaningful counterplay whatsoever.} Rcb8 24. Qc4 Rxa3 25. Qc7 $1 {Keeping Black's queen from joining the action.} Qe8 (25... Qf6 26. Qxb8+ $1 Nxb8 27. bxa3 $18) 26. Rg5 Ra4 27. Ra5 Rab4 28. b3 R4b7 29. Qc3 Qd8 30. Bf3 Rb4 31. Qc7 Qf6 32. Ra8 Rxa8 33. Bxa8 Qf5 {Hoping to play ...Rxb3+.} 34. Kb2 Rb5 35. Qxd7 Rc5 36. Rc1 Qxf4 37. Qe8+ Kg7 38. d7 (38. d7 {Black's rook can't give itself up for the d-pawn (though even if he could he'd still be dead lost), and last ditch efforts at a counterattack are easily neutralized, e.g.} Qf6+ 39. c3 Qf2+ 40. Rc2 {and that's the end of Black's pseudo-play.}) 1-0 [Event "82nd Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2021.01.27"] [Round "10.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E00"] [WhiteElo "2823"] [BlackElo "2862"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2021.01.16"] {[%evp 0,83,26,30,14,-11,-11,-19,-24,-9,8,6,18,25,37,40,47,31,36,35,26,6,0,10, 10,18,18,15,15,-12,-11,-3,68,83,72,72,65,62,61,66,66,64,45,40,40,40,58,36,51, 32,55,52,52,49,53,74,72,96,78,81,61,50,50,49,50,62,53,62,65,65,57,66,0,0,0,0, 18,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bd6 6. Bg2 c6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Qb3 Nd7 11. O-O Qe7 12. c5 Bc7 13. e4 b6 14. exd5 (14. Qa4 $142 $14) 14... exd5 15. Rfe1 Qf6 $2 (15... Qd8 $11 { avoids the combination in the game.}) 16. Nxd5 $1 {Another slip for Carlsen, as in his game vs. Esipenko?} cxd5 17. Qxd5 Rb8 18. c6 Rd8 19. cxd7 Bxd7 20. Ne5 $2 {Surprisingly, this turns out to be an error.} (20. Rac1 $14 {/+/-}) 20... Be6 21. Qe4 Bxe5 22. dxe5 $11 {I'm amazed. When I went through the game I assume that Carlsen drew smoothly because (1) hey, he's Carlsen, and (2) maybe Caruana was a little too relaxed and allowed his opponent to drum up counterplay. So I came back here, to the spot where Caruana first won the pawn, and checked with the engine. Surprisingly, even here, right at the beginning, it says that White has nothing.} Qe7 23. Qe3 Rbc8 (23... Qd7) 24. Be4 Qc5 25. Qxc5 Rxc5 26. f4 {Now it thinks White has a slight edge, or nearly a slight edge. Maybe. Very surprising.} g6 27. Kf2 a5 28. Ke3 (28. Re2) 28... a4 { Now it's more clear that Black is fine. White's a-pawn is a problem, and pushing it to a3 has its own problems. As for White's kingside majority, good luck getting it going with Black's bishop parked on e6.} 29. Rec1 Rb5 $1 30. Rc2 Rb4 31. Bd3 h5 {White's plans are all stymied.} 32. Rd2 b5 33. a3 Rb3 34. Rc1 b4 {Otherwise Rc3 would at last give White a meaningful edge.} 35. axb4 a3 $1 {Taking care of Rc3 once and for all.} 36. bxa3 (36. Rc3 $4 a2 37. Rd1 Rxc3 38. bxc3 Bf5 $19) 36... Bf5 {And White is stuck, forever.} 37. Rcd1 Rxa3 38. b5 Bg4 39. Rc1 Bf5 40. Rcd1 Bg4 41. Rc1 Bf5 42. Rcd1 1/2-1/2 [Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2021.01.27"] [Round "10"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2764"] [BlackElo "2705"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2021.01.15"] {[%evp 0,97,24,21,23,7,27,28,58,40,54,-17,33,20,32,20,32,20,47,23,18,13,9,13, 15,-1,27,6,4,-16,16,-12,45,10,25,-7,37,27,32,32,34,25,25,25,24,10,10,10,10,18, 21,18,14,9,46,49,48,36,32,31,39,36,44,33,44,44,49,48,48,34,37,32,42,34,32,32, 50,50,61,69,62,66,73,57,64,59,65,60,59,65,65,65,77,59,73,86,92,94,262,280]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 Bg4 6. c3 e6 7. Qb3 Qc8 8. h3 Bh5 9. Be2 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Qd1 Nd7 12. Re1 Qd8 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. b4 Nd7 15. a3 Nb6 16. Rc1 f6 17. e4 e5 18. Be3 Bf7 19. Bxb6 axb6 20. exd5 Bxd5 21. a4 f5 22. b5 e4 23. bxc6 exf3 24. Bxf3 bxc6 25. Bxd5+ cxd5 26. Nf3 Bf6 27. Re6 Kh8 28. Qb3 Qd7 29. Rxb6 Rxa4 30. Rd1 Raa8 31. Rxd5 Qc7 32. g3 Qxc3 33. Qxc3 Bxc3 34. h4 Kg8 35. Rb7 Rad8 36. Rc5 Rc8 37. Rd5 Rcd8 38. Rdb5 Rd6 39. Rc7 Ba1 40. Kg2 Ra6 {The time control has passed, and it's hard to believe that White could have anything here. He's a little better after his next move, as the f5-pawn is a slight weakness (Black does not want to play ...g6 to defend it if he can help it) and because the knight is generally slightly better than the bishop when all the pawns are on one flank, but this is pretty thin gruel. One would expect a 2700 to make a draw here.} 41. h5 $1 Ra2 42. Rd5 Ra6 43. Nh4 g6 { Not forced, but survivable.} (43... Raf6 {was possible.}) 44. h6 $1 f4 45. g4 f3+ 46. Kg3 {Black's position is getting creaky: weak f-pawn, weak h-pawn, weak king. But thanks to a nice tactical trick, he's still okay - if he finds it.} Rb6 $2 (46... Rd6 $1 47. Ra5 (47. Rxd6 Be5+ $11) 47... Ra6 $1 48. Rb5 Rb6 $1 {forces a repetition or a rook trade, unless White chooses} 49. Rg5 { . But Black is happy here, too:} Re6 {Threatening ...Be5+.} 50. Nxf3 Ref6 51. Nh4 Bd4 $1 52. f4 (52. f3 Be3 53. Rg7+ Kh8 54. Rd5 Bxh6 $11) 52... Be3 $11) 47. Rcd7 $1 Rb3 48. g5 {It's still not clear if White is winning against best play, but those concerns go out the window after Black's next move.} Bb2 $4 {Perhaps Black thought there were no mating ideas for White, since the bishop covers the g7 square. If so, he was wrong.} (48... Rf7 $16) (48... Rb4 $16 {I'll leave it to the reader to figure out why that improves over the game continuation.}) 49. Rxh7 $1 (49. Rxh7 $1 {is a very nice shot, and it must have come as a shock to Wojtaszek. If Black doesn't take the rook, the win will be trivial as Black has problems with both remaining pawns. And if he does take?} Kxh7 50. Rd7+ Kg8 (50... Kh8 51. Nxg6+ Kg8 52. h7#) (50... Rf7 { avoids the mate, and} 51. Rxf7+ Kg8 {gives White a small test: take on f3, or stay on the 7th rank?} 52. Rd7 {(or 52.Re7 or 52.Ra7) is correct, renewing the mating idea and keeping control.} (52. Rxf3 $4 Rb5 $1 53. Kg4 Bc1 {takes advantage of White's clumsy pieces to win the g-pawn (and soon the h-pawn), with an easy draw. White could avoid that with} 54. Rf4 {, but this isn't a serious winning try either after} Bxf4 55. Kxf4 Kh7 $11) 52... Rb6 53. Kxf3 $18 ) 51. h7+ {The h-pawn proves its worth; not by supporting Rg7+ Kh8 Nxg6# (obviously ...Bxg7 would put paid to that idea), but by contributing to a different mating pattern.} Kh8 52. Nxg6#) 1-0