[Event "First Saturday GM October 2021"] [Site "Budapest, Hotel Budapest"] [Date "2021.10.03"] [Round "2.2"] [White "FM Siddharth, Jagadeesh"] [Black "GM Pap, Misa"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A61"] [WhiteElo "2336"] [BlackElo "2397"] [Annotator "Junior Tay"] [PlyCount "125"] [EventDate "2021.10.02"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "HUN"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 d6 5. Nc3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6 7. Bf4 ({6 years ago, GM Wong Meng Kong tortured IM Tin Jingyao with this line after} 7. h3 a6 8. a4 Qe7 9. Bf4 Bg7 10. Nd2 O-O 11. e3 Nbd7 12. Nc4 Ne8 13. h4 $5 h6 14. Qc2 Ndf6 15. Be2 Bf5 16. Qd1 Ne4 $6 17. Nxe4 Bxe4 18. f3 g5 19. hxg5 hxg5 20. Bg3 Bg6 21. Bd3 f5 22. Qb3 Rd8 23. O-O-O Rf7 24. a5 Nf6 25. Bc2 Nh7 26. Be1 Nf8 27. Bc3 Bxc3 28. Qxc3 Qf6 29. Rh6 Kg7 30. Rdh1 Qxc3 31. bxc3 {but somehow JY managed to defend his way to a 91 move draw, Wong,M (2249)-Tin,J (2401) Singapore 2015}) 7... Bg7 8. h3 O-O 9. e3 Na6 {A favourite of the mercurial Danni Dubov.} (9... a6 {is mainly recommended in the last 3 Benoni treatises I looked (The Modernized Benoni/Lifetime Repertoires Modern Benoni/ Reloaded Weapons in the Benoni)}) 10. Be2 Nc7 11. O-O Re8 ({GM John Emms pointed out the possibility of} 11... Rb8 12. a4 a6 13. a5 b5 14. axb6 Rxb6 15. Ra2 $2 Ncxd5 $1 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Qxd5 Be6 {skewering the queen to the rook (Chesspublishing.com)}) 12. Bh2 Rb8 13. a4 a6 14. a5 {[#]} Bf8 $146 {With the idea of dissuading White's Nd2-c4 press since covering the d6-pawn might discourage White from un-defending the d5-pawn with Nf3-d2.} (14... b5 15. axb6 Rxb6 16. Nd2 $1 Rb4 (16... Ncxd5 $4 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Nc4 Be6 19. Nxb6 Qxb6 $18 {Gordievsky,D (2559)-Gabrielian,A (2463) Chess.com INT 2020}) 17. Nc4 Bf8 18. Qd2 Ne4 19. Nxe4 Rxe4 20. Rac1 Bb7 $16 {Bartholomew,J (2653)-Donchenko,A (2674) Chess.com INT 2019}) 15. Nd2 $5 {Siddharth plays it anyway!} Bd7 $2 ({The Serbian GM decided not to risk swiping the d5 pawn and it is actually not easy to see the whole continuation through. After} 15... Ncxd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Nc4 Be6 18. e4 Nf6 19. Nxd6 {, Black must find} Bb3 $1 (19... Bxd6 20. Qxd6 Qxd6 21. Bxd6 {is clearly better for White with the bishop pair and the weakened Black queenside pawns.}) 20. Qxb3 (20. Qd2 Nxe4 21. Nxe4 Rxe4 $11) 20... Bxd6 21. Bxd6 Qxd6 {to hold the balance.}) 16. Qb3 $1 $18 {Black's queenside has been stymied and now White is getting ready to put his rooks behind the e- and d-pawns and start the big central push, with the help of the incoming Nd2-c4.} Bb5 {Trading the a-pawn for White's d-pawn but this does not faze Sidd as the Black centre will come under fire soon.} 17. Nxb5 axb5 18. Bxb5 Nxb5 19. Qxb5 Nxd5 20. Rfd1 Re6 21. Nc4 {An unpleasant state of affairs for Black who has not successfully extricated from White's bind even after the past exchanges.} Nc7 22. Qb3 Qd7 23. Qb6 $1 {with the idea of Qxc5 and also Nxd6 is in the works.} Na6 24. Rd2 {Siddharth could have taken on d6 but decides he prefers pressure to pocketing pawn.} d5 {Not waiting to be suffocated to death, Black lashed out and sacrificed two rooks for the queen instead.} 25. Bxb8 Rxb6 26. Nxb6 Qe6 27. Bg3 Nb4 {Black has a temporal big centre but the White heavies are gonna wreck it soon enough.} 28. Rad1 d4 29. exd4 cxd4 30. Rxd4 Nc6 31. Rd5 Bb4 32. Nc4 h5 33. Ne5 $1 {By trading off the knights, the rooks get to extend their power across the board.} h4 34. Bf4 Kh7 35. Nxc6 bxc6 36. R5d4 Bxa5 37. Bg5 Bb6 38. Rxh4+ Kg7 39. Bd2 f6 40. Re1 Qd6 41. Bh6+ Kf7 42. Rhe4 $6 {White had to retreat the bishop at this juncture as the veteran GM seized the opportunity to jam the bishop's scope immediately.} g5 $1 43. h4 ({The ending with} 43. Re7+ Qxe7 44. Rxe7+ Kxe7 {isn't better for White as he has to return the pawn with h3-h4 soon enough to extricate the jammed bishop.}) 43... Qg3 $2 {Flashy but misguided....It seems that the GM will snag the h-pawn with the attack to follow but Siddharth demonstrated why this idea is flawed.} ({ Instead,} 43... Qd2 {is most annoying for White as after} 44. R4e2 Qf4 45. hxg5 fxg5 {, Black's pressure on f2 gives him good holding chances.}) 44. R1e2 gxh4 $4 {[%mdl 8192]} 45. Re7+ $1 {Opps, and all of a sudden Black has to cough up the exchange with a won ending for Siddharth.} Kg6 46. Rg7+ Kxh6 47. Rxg3 hxg3 {[%mdl 4096]} 48. Re6 Bxf2+ 49. Kf1 Bd4 50. b4 Bc3 51. Re4 Be5 52. Rc4 Bd6 53. Rxc6 Bxb4 54. Rxf6+ Kg5 55. Rb6 Bc3 56. Ke2 Kg4 57. Rc6 Be5 58. Rc4+ Bf4 59. Ra4 Kf5 60. Kf3 Bd6 61. Ra5+ Be5 62. Rxe5+ Kxe5 63. Kxg3 {As Siddhath's dad indicated, "GM Misa Papp had denied him the IM norm last time in Boblingen last round when a draw was needed to get the norm and Siddharth overextended in a totally drawn ending". The legendary Serbian GM had also generously noted "This time you played well!", a gesture much appreciated by Siddharth.} 1-0