[Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.29"] [Round "10.1"] [White "Erigaisi, Arjun"] [Black "Keymer, Vincent"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2801"] [BlackElo "2733"] [PlyCount "76"] [GameId "2139522109542088"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,76,20,19,-2,16,20,68,24,7,7,10,17,27,-15,22,34,0,14,16,23,-17,21,7,20,18,53,7,71,9,19,112,0,58,12,20,23,51,69,39,22,58,43,130,39,-10,59,46,58,55,53,71,53,70,-62,66,64,28,75,62,48,69,52,58,48,80,50,28,11,32,21,-1,25,20,18,18,-208,20,-129]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nbd2 Nd4 12. Nxe5 c5 13. c3 Nxb3 14. axb3 $146 {Surprisingly, a novelty: 14.Nxb3 had been played in all 88 previous games. This does transpose to a couple of lower-rated games, though, so it's not a new position.} Re8 15. Ndf3 Bd6 $146 {A second novelty, and a brand-new position.} (15... f6 {was played in (all) four previous games.}) 16. d4 Qc7 (16... cxd4 17. Qxd4 Qc7 18. Bd2 Nf6 19. c4 b4 20. Nd3 Red8 21. Bf4 Bxf3 22. gxf3 Bxf4 23. Qxf4 Qxf4 24. Nxf4 Rd4 25. Ng2 Rd2 $11 {White has too many weak pawns to have serious winning chances.}) 17. Bd2 f6 18. Nd3 (18. Ng4) 18... c4 19. bxc4 bxc4 20. Nc5 {There's nothing better than to return the pawn. White still hopes to have a fragment of an edge with the f3 knight reaching d4, but it's not much.} Bxc5 21. dxc5 Qxc5 22. Nd4 Rxe1+ 23. Qxe1 Nc7 24. Qe2 Re8 25. Qg4 Bc8 26. Qg3 Nb5 27. Be3 Qd5 28. Nc2 Nd6 29. Nb4 Qe6 30. Qf4 g5 31. Qg4 Nf5 32. Bd2 Qf7 33. Re1 Rxe1+ 34. Bxe1 Qe6 35. Bd2 Bb7 36. Nc2 Qe4 37. Qxe4 Bxe4 38. Ne3 Nxe3 1/2-1/2 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.29"] [Round "10.2"] [White "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B50"] [WhiteElo "2695"] [BlackElo "2803"] [PlyCount "136"] [GameId "2139522109546185"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Nc6 6. Qe3 g6 7. Be2 Bh6 8. Qd3 Bg7 9. O-O Bg4 10. Bg5 h6 11. Be3 Rc8 12. Qd2 Bxc3 13. Qxc3 Nf6 14. Qb3 Qd7 15. h3 Be6 16. Qc3 g5 17. Rad1 g4 18. hxg4 Bxg4 19. Bf4 Rg8 20. Qe3 Qe6 21. Rfe1 Nb4 22. Nd4 Nxc2 23. Nxe6 Nxe3 24. Bxe3 Bxe6 25. f3 Bxa2 26. Rc1 Kd7 27. Bxh6 d5 28. e5 Rxc1 29. Rxc1 Ne8 30. Be3 Nc7 31. f4 e6 32. Kf2 Bc4 33. Bxc4 dxc4 34. Rxc4 Nd5 {Let's start here. Black is a little better thanks to his statuesque knight and his outside pawn majority. Objectively, the position is definitely drawn.} 35. Bd2 b5 36. Rc1 b4 37. Ra1 Ra8 38. Ra5 $6 {A poor move, preparing a poor follow-up. Harikrishna is freezing Black's majority, and the only way to get the pawns rolling is to swap the knight for the bishop. In a general way that's a trade White wants to see, but the problem is that he's losing so much time that Black's advantage goes from "the better half of a draw" to "winning, thank you very much".} (38. g4 $11 {is one of many better moves/ideas, getting his own majority rolling.}) 38... Kc6 39. Be3 $2 {A terrible move, but the whole point of 38.Ra5. Black can't make progress without trading, but now trading is great!} Nxe3 40. Kxe3 Kb6 41. Ra1 a5 $19 42. g4 Kb5 $1 43. b3 a4 $1 44. bxa4+ Rxa4 45. Rb1 Ra3+ $1 46. Kd2 {Caruana has played this perfectly so far, but now the wobbles begin.} Rg3 $2 (46... Rf3 {looks pretty simple. I doubt that Caruana rejected this; more likely he thought his move was just as good.} 47. f5 exf5 48. Rg1 (48. gxf5 Rxf5 49. Re1 Kc4 50. Kc2 Kd5 51. Kb3 Rxe5 $19) 48... fxg4 49. Rxg4 Ka4 50. Kc2 (50. Rg8 Ka3 51. Ra8+ Kb2 52. Ra7 Rf5 53. Re7 b3 54. Re8 Kb1 55. Re7 b2 56. Re8 Rf2+ 57. Kd1 Rf3 58. Ra8 (58. Rd8 Ka2 $19) 58... Rd3+ 59. Ke2 Kc2 $19) 50... Ka3 51. Rg8 b3+ 52. Kd2 b2 53. Ra8+ Kb3 54. Rb8+ Ka2 55. Ra8+ Ra3 $19) 47. g5 b3 48. Rh1 $2 (48. Rf1 $1 {White keeps his pawn and gets his king to b1.} Kb4 49. Kc1 $1 Kc3 (49... Ka3 50. Kb1 $11) 50. Kb1 $8 Kd4 51. Rd1+ Ke4 52. Rd7 $1 $11) 48... Kc4 $19 {Winning again.} 49. Rh8 Rg1 $2 (49... Rf3 $1 50. Rf8 Rf1 $1 {Threatening ...b2.} (50... Rxf4 $2 51. g6 Rd4+ 52. Ke3 b2 53. Rc8+ $1 Kd5 54. Rb8 $1 fxg6 55. Rxb2 Re4+ 56. Kf3 Rxe5 57. Rd2+ $1 $11 {turns out to be drawn, surprisingly. Such endings are drawn when the strong side has f- and h-pawns, but generally nudging the pawns one or more files towards the center changes the evaluation (a- and h-pawns often undermine one's winning chances). Here, it's a draw, though I wouldn't assume that White (or Black, for that matter) would play this position perfectly.}) 51. Rc8+ Kd4 52. Rd8+ Ke4 53. Kc3 Rxf4 54. Kxb3 Kxe5 55. Rg8 {This is similar to a position reached in the game which was drawn, but here Black is winning with correct play.} Ke4 56. Kc2 (56. g6 e5 $3 {Only this wins.} 57. gxf7 (57. g7 Rg4 58. Kc2 f5 $19) 57... Rxf7 58. Kc2 Rd7 $1 59. Rh8 {White would draw with Ri8, if there were one more file to his right. Then there would be three files between the rook, giving checks from the side, and the e-pawn. Here there are only two, and it's not enough.} Kf3 60. Rh3+ {Again, Ri3+ would do the job, if there were an i-file.} Kg4 {Now White needs 61.Ri4+ - this would be the payoff.} 61. Re3 Kf4 62. Re1 e4 $19 {and now it's easy.})) 50. Rc8+ $1 Kd4 51. Rd8+ $1 Kc4 52. Rc8+ $1 Kd4 53. Rd8+ $1 Ke4 54. Kc3 $1 Rg4 55. Kxb3 Rxf4 56. Rg8 Kxe5 57. Kc3 Ra4 (57... Ke4 58. Kd2 $11) 58. Rg7 Ra3+ 59. Kd2 Ra7 60. Kc3 Ra3+ 61. Kd2 Ra2+ 62. Kd3 Rf2 63. Ke3 Rf1 64. Ke2 Rf5 65. Ke3 Kd6 66. Ke4 Rf1 67. Rh7 Rf5 68. Rg7 Ke7 {A double draw offer: first, there was an explicit draw offer; second, the move invites 69.g6, which makes the draw something a beginner could achieve.} (68... Ke7 69. g6 Kf8 70. Rxf7+ Rxf7 71. gxf7 Kxf7 {and as long as White knows the elementary (but foundational) concept of the opposition (which, obviously, Harikrishna has known for decades) the draw is automatic. In case some of you are new to the game, here's what that might look like:} 72. Ke5 Ke7 73. Ke4 Kf6 74. Kf4 e5+ 75. Ke4 Ke6 76. Ke3 Kd5 77. Kd3 e4+ 78. Ke3 Ke5 79. Ke2 Kf4 80. Kf2 e3+ 81. Ke2 Ke4 {So far, White has only needed to avoid bizarre moves. This is the one spot where he must play the one and only correct move to draw.} 82. Ke1 $1 (82. Kf1 $4 Kd3 ({or} 82... Kf3) 83. Ke1 e2 84. Kf2 Kd2 $19) (82. Kd1 $4 Kd3 ({or} 82... Kf3) 83. Ke1 e2 84. Kf2 Kd2 $19) 82... Kf3 83. Kf1 e2+ 84. Ke1 Ke3 $11) 1/2-1/2 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.29"] [Round "10.3"] [White "Praggnanandhaa, R."] [Black "Fedoseev, Vladimir"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D32"] [WhiteElo "2741"] [BlackElo "2717"] [PlyCount "89"] [GameId "2139522109546186"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,89,17,30,18,19,17,13,27,49,24,25,38,16,32,28,31,14,53,64,74,80,65,74,118,58,-30,88,98,-11,48,93,85,-36,87,93,-39,93,85,-83,73,96,78,71,78,114,175,96,99,77,233,113,295,116,98,40,107,159,51,78,49,39,73,43,63,63,94,130,109,116,148,46,164,86,111,131,131,140,247,252,-45,265,366,378,447,434,572,683,789,894,862,760]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nf6 ({Yeeeeeeears ago, I was taught that in the Tarrasch Black should develop his knights in alphabetical order - precisely because of the line that happens in the game. This is still standard practice now, so it would be interesting to know what Fedoseev had in mind with this more unusual move order. It seems unlikely, but maybe Fedoseev was just careless here? I saw something that said that his 8th move had to do with having confused something in the opening, so perhaps that confusion already happened here.} 5... Nc6 {is usual, and after} 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 {the hot line for a few years has been Dubov's} cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bc5 {.}) 6. Bg5 $1 Be6 7. e3 (7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. e4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Qf4 10. Bb5+ Nc6 11. Qe2 Be7 12. O-O O-O 13. Nxc5 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Bxc5 15. Nxe6 fxe6 {gives White some hopes based on the weakness of e6, but Black's counterplay vs. f2 is just about enough for equality.}) 7... c4 8. Bxf6 gxf6 $2 (8... Qxf6 {is normal and better. White's best try in practice has been} 9. a3 $1 {, but despite White's excellent results Black's position is certainly playable.} (9. Qa4+ $5 Nc6 10. Bxc4 dxc4 11. d5 Bd7 12. dxc6 Qxc6 13. Qxc6 Bxc6 $11) 9... Nc6 10. g3 Bd6 (10... Qd8 11. Bg2 $14) 11. Bg2 O-O 12. O-O Rfd8 {and if there's anything for White, it's going to be with} 13. b3 ({or} 13. Nd2 {.})) 9. g3 $16 Bb4 (9... b5 $5 10. Bg2 (10. Nxb5 $2 Qb6 $15 {/?}) 10... b4 11. Ne2 Bd6 12. Nd2 $1 Nd7 13. e4 Nb6 14. O-O O-O 15. exd5 Bg4 16. h3 Bh5 17. Ne4 $14 {/?}) 10. Bg2 $16 Nc6 11. O-O O-O 12. Ne2 (12. Nh4 $142 Ne7 13. Qh5 $16 {/+-}) 12... Rc8 13. Nh4 Kh8 (13... f5 {creates a target, but it's probably worth it to allow Black's queen to react f6 for defensive purposes. It also prevents White from playing e4 to get the bishop into the attack.}) 14. a3 Be7 15. e4 $1 Rg8 16. Re1 Bf8 17. Qc2 $1 b5 18. Rad1 Ne7 19. Nc3 a6 20. exd5 Nxd5 21. Be4 (21. Nxd5 Bxd5 22. Be4 $1 $18) 21... Nf4 $2 {This doesn't help - but then again, what does?} (21... b4 {might give Black a little action.}) 22. Bxh7 $18 (22. d5 $18 {is also good, breaking Black's blockade over d5.}) 22... Rg5 23. Be4 (23. d5 $1 Nxd5 $2 24. Nf3 Rh5 25. Bg6 $1 $18 {should win quickly.}) 23... Qd7 24. Kh1 Rh5 25. Bf3 $2 (25. Rg1 $142) 25... Rh6 $2 (25... Bg4 $16) 26. d5 $1 $18 Bh3 27. Be4 Rh5 28. Ne2 $2 (28. Rg1 $1 $18) 28... Nxe2 29. Qxe2 Re5 $16 30. f4 (30. Nf3 $142) 30... Bg4 $14 31. Qf1 (31. Qxg4 $1 Qxg4 32. fxe5 c3 33. bxc3 fxe5 34. Bf5 Qc4 35. Bxc8 Qxc8 36. Rxe5 Qxc3 $14) 31... Rh5 $6 (31... Rxe4 $1 32. Rxe4 Bxd1 33. Qxd1 Kg8 $1 $11) 32. Bf3 $16 c3 $2 33. bxc3 Rxc3 $2 34. Bxg4 Qxg4 35. Qe2 $6 (35. d6 $18 {is cleaner, but the text should be good enough.}) 35... Qxe2 36. Rxe2 Bd6 (36... Rc7 $142) 37. Re8+ Kh7 38. Rd8 Bxf4 39. d6 $1 Bxg3 40. d7 {Black's counterplay is a move too slow, especially with 41.Rh8+ on tap.} Rxh4 41. Rc8 Rxh2+ 42. Kg1 Rxa3 43. d8=Q Be5 (43... Raa2 44. Qg8+ Kh6 45. Qxg3 $18) 44. Qg8+ Kh6 45. Qf8+ {Collecting the rook on a3.} 1-0 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.29"] [Round "10.4"] [White "Warmerdam, Max"] [Black "Gukesh, D."] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B20"] [WhiteElo "2646"] [BlackElo "2777"] [PlyCount "68"] [GameId "2139522109550283"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,68,11,13,38,1,5,11,5,18,5,47,13,32,34,33,52,52,35,45,45,59,77,6,57,57,22,27,74,25,18,10,16,-183,10,25,76,-37,60,66,44,43,30,58,51,50,48,27,-17,12,-121,0,-31,81,-49,-6,-20,-5,-164,-127,62,-179,-44,-165,20,-162,-210,-245,-199,-66,-207]} 1. e4 d6 $6 {Scraping the bottom of the barrel.} 2. g3 $6 {Immediately forgiving Black. Warmerdam should have remembered his game against Erigaisi, where he played in the most principled way against the latter's garbage 7...g5 line and won convincingly.} c5 3. Bg2 g6 4. c3 $1 {Much better than going into a normal Dragon, as the Fianchetto System isn't particularly dangerous for Black.} Bg7 5. Ne2 Nc6 6. d4 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nf6 8. Nbc3 O-O 9. h3 (9. d5 $16) 9... Bd7 10. O-O $16 Rb8 11. Be3 b5 12. b3 (12. Rc1) 12... b4 13. Na4 $6 (13. Nd5 $1 $16) 13... e6 $14 14. Nb2 a5 15. a4 bxa3 16. Rxa3 Nb4 (16... Qe7 $142) 17. Nc3 (17. Qd2 $142 $1) 17... Bb5 $6 (17... Qc8 $1 18. Qd2 e5 19. dxe5 dxe5 20. Kh2 Rd8 $11) 18. Re1 (18. Nxb5 $142 Rxb5 19. Qe2 Rb8 20. Rc1 $14 {/?}) 18... d5 (18... Ba6 $142) 19. e5 Nd7 20. Qd2 (20. Nxb5 $1 $14 {/?}) 20... Ba6 $11 21. Rc1 Rc8 22. Raa1 Qb6 23. Nca4 Qb8 24. Bf1 $6 {White is right to want to get rid of Black's light-squared bishop. But the way to do it was to swap it off with his knight when he had the chance to. Using the bishop leaves some potentially weak light squares around his king, so Black takes the opportunity to start opening up that part of the board.} Bxf1 25. Kxf1 f6 $1 26. exf6 Nxf6 27. Rxc8 Qxc8 28. Rc1 $4 {Of course such a move, coming with tempo, is normally not only attractive but correct. Further, he may have been concerned about possibilities with ...e5, clearing the way for ...Qxh3+. But this is small potatoes compared to the threat he has overlooked.} (28. Nc3 {had to be played, covering the e4 square.}) 28... Ne4 $19 {Just like that, it's game over.} 29. Qd1 Qb8 30. Kg1 (30. Kg2 Bh6 $1 {demonstrates the overload on the bishop and especially the f2-pawn.} 31. Qg4 (31. f4 Nxg3 $1 32. Kxg3 Bxf4+ 33. Bxf4 Qxf4+ 34. Kg2 Qe4+ 35. Kg1 Qe3+ {and mate is coming in a few moves.}) 31... Bxe3 32. fxe3 Rf2+ 33. Kg1 Kg7 34. Nc5 h5 35. Qh4 g5 36. Nxe6+ Kg6 37. Nxg5 Nxg5 $1 38. Kxf2 Qf8+ $19 {Black's pieces coordinate beautifully, and White will either lose the queen for a knight (e.g. 39.Qf4 Nxh3+ and 40...Nxf4) or get mated.}) 30... Nxg3 31. Nc5 Nf5 32. Qg4 Qe8 33. Nbd3 Nc6 (33... h5 $1 34. Qd1 Nxd4 $19) 34. Nf4 Bxd4 0-1 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.29"] [Round "10.5"] [White "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"] [Black "Sarana, Alexey"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2768"] [BlackElo "2677"] [PlyCount "101"] [GameId "2139522109550284"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,101,18,-5,25,19,30,52,11,10,7,14,19,0,11,14,3,-3,0,0,-2,-7,-4,-2,0,-4,-13,-13,9,-38,-13,-14,-47,-45,-8,8,13,-16,-1,1,-7,121,-2,0,9,-10,8,-12,-56,8,-11,-3,0,40,25,-13,-58,-58,0,-57,-29,96,-49,-85,29,83,34,47,-34,-6,62,94,52,-7,-81,0,-128,-9,95,69,126,330,180,299,227,335,318,362,578,547,573,646,675,752,756,859,860,939,1095,693,731,840,735,833]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nb3 {Here's my best try for a one-sentence explanation of this slightly odd move: the standard Najdorf move ...e5 gives White what he wants, while White is happy to play against all the other moves even if there's no advantage against them.} e6 (6... e5 7. Bg5 {lets White go for the One True Plan (the plan of trying to "colonize" d5 for a knight against a bad bishop on e7, ideally swapping all the other minor pieces along the way) without wasting a tempo. (Compare for example 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3, when the bishop will subsequently move to g5. Or 6.Be2 e5 7.Nf3, when the bishop may move again to c4.)}) 7. g4 {White would never voluntarily play Nb3 in the Keres Attack against the Scheveningen (it's a waste of time and the knight won't contribute to the hoped-for kingside attack), but even in this inferior version White's kingside play can still be dangerous.} b5 8. a3 Bb7 9. Bg2 Nc6 (9... Nfd7) 10. g5 Nd7 11. h4 Rc8 (11... Be7 12. f4 h6 13. Qg4 b4 14. Ne2 bxa3 15. bxa3 Qc7 16. Bb2 hxg5 17. hxg5 Rxh1+ 18. Bxh1 g6 19. Qh3 Na5 20. Qh8+ Nf8 21. Nxa5 Qxa5+ 22. Bc3 Qc5 23. Qh3 e5 24. Rb1 Bc6 25. Bb4 Qc4 26. Rb3 Bb5 27. Bf3 a5 28. Bd2 Bd7 29. f5 Qxc2 30. Rc3 Qb1+ 31. Rc1 Qb3 32. Nc3 Rc8 33. Qf1 Bxg5 34. Bxg5 Rxc3 35. Rxc3 Qxc3+ 36. Kf2 gxf5 37. Qb1 Ne6 38. Bf6 Nd4 39. Be2 Qc2 40. Qxc2 Nxc2 41. exf5 Bxf5 42. a4 Bd7 43. Bd1 Nb4 44. Bg5 Nd3+ 45. Kg3 Nb2 46. Be2 Nxa4 47. Bd2 Nc5 48. Bxa5 Ke7 49. Bb4 f5 50. Ba3 Kf6 51. Bc4 Be6 52. Bb5 f4+ 53. Kf3 Kg5 54. Bc6 Bg4+ 55. Kg2 e4 56. Bxc5 dxc5 57. Bxe4 Kf6 58. Kf2 Ke5 59. Bg6 {0-1 Nepomniachtchi,I (2751)-Oparin,G (2604) Zuerich Chess Challenge Blitz2 6th 2017 (7)}) 12. Qe2 $146 (12. f4 h6 (12... Be7 13. Be3 h6 14. Qe2 hxg5 15. hxg5 Rxh1+ 16. Bxh1 Na5 17. Nxa5 Qxa5 18. O-O-O Nb6 19. g6 Nc4 20. gxf7+ Kf8 21. Rg1 Nxb2 22. Bd4 e5 23. fxe5 Nc4 24. Qh5 dxe5 25. Qh8+ Kxf7 26. Rxg7+ Ke6 27. Qh3+ Kd6 28. Qh6+ Kd7 29. Qh3+ {½-½ Cvak,R (2339)-Johnson,H (2135) SA-2017-0-00582 LSS email}) 13. Be3 hxg5 14. hxg5 Rxh1+ 15. Bxh1 Nb6 16. Qe2 Nc4 17. O-O-O Qc7 18. Bf2 g6 19. e5 dxe5 20. Ne4 Be7 21. Bc5 Nd4 22. Nxd4 exd4 23. Bxe7 Kxe7 {0-1 Anand,V (2756)-Svidler,P (2729) Amsterdam Levitov rapid 2019 (7)}) 12... Be7 (12... g6 $5) 13. f4 h6 $146 (13... Nc5 14. Be3 b4 15. axb4 Nxb3 16. cxb3 Nxb4 17. O-O O-O 18. f5 exf5 19. exf5 Bxg2 20. Qxg2 Re8 21. Bd4 d5 22. f6 Bc5 23. Bxc5 Rxc5 24. fxg7 Re3 25. Rxf7 {½-½ Matozo,P (2176)-Kaupert,V (2289) BRA/CUP28/SF01 ICCF email 2017}) (13... O-O 14. Be3 Na5 15. Nxa5 Qxa5 16. O-O Qc7 17. Rae1 Rce8 18. h5 Nb6 19. f5 Nc4 20. f6 Bd8 21. e5 Nxe5 22. fxg7 Kxg7 23. Bf4 Bxg2 24. Qxg2 f5 25. gxf6+ Kh8 26. Qg7+ Qxg7+ 27. fxg7+ Kxg7 28. Ne4 Nc4 29. Nxd6 Nxd6 30. Bxd6 Rxf1+ 31. Kxf1 Bg5 32. Ke2 Rc8 33. c3 Rd8 34. Bb4 Rd5 35. Kf3 Kf7 36. Ke4 Bf6 37. Rh1 Rd2 38. b3 e5 39. a4 bxa4 40. bxa4 Ke6 41. a5 Rf2 42. Rd1 Rf4+ 43. Kd3 Kf5 44. Kc2 Rf2+ 45. Kb3 e4 46. Rd4 Bxd4 {0-1 Lyashenko,S (1936)-Murillo,F CADAP-RUS email ICCF email 2017 [129]}) 14. O-O hxg5 15. hxg5 Nb6 16. a4 (16. Rf2 $142 Qd7 {Now that Black's knight can't go to d7 - see the next note - White should play a4.} 17. a4 $1 $11) 16... Nc4 (16... b4 $142 17. Nd1 Nd7 $3 $15 {There are two points to this amazing move. First, to play ...Na5, second, more subtly and more importantly, to go ...Nf8-g6.}) 17. axb5 axb5 18. Qf2 b4 19. Nd1 Ra8 20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. Nd2 (21. Ne3 $142 $11) 21... Nxd2 22. Bxd2 Bd8 $1 $15 23. b3 Qa5 (23... Bc7 24. Be3 Ne7 25. Bb6 Bxe4 $1 26. Bxc7 Bxg2 27. Qxg2 Qa7+ 28. Nf2 Qxc7 29. Qa8+ $8 Nc8 30. Qa4+ Kf8 31. Qxb4 Qxc2 32. Ra1 $44) (23... Ba6 $1 24. Re1 e5 $15) 24. Be3 $11 Ba6 25. Re1 e5 26. Qd2 Bc7 (26... exf4 $142 27. Qxd6 fxe3 28. Qxc6+ Kf8 29. Nxe3 Qb6 30. Qxb6 Bxb6 $44) 27. f5 $6 (27. Qd5 $142) 27... Nd4 $1 28. Bf2 $2 Rh5 $2 (28... Bb6 $17 {/-+}) 29. g6 (29. Bxd4 $1 exd4 30. Bf3 $15) 29... Bd8 $6 (29... fxg6 30. fxg6 Bb6 $1 31. Ne3 $8 Bb5 $1 32. Qd1 Rh8 $17) 30. gxf7+ $2 (30. Bxd4 exd4 31. e5 $1 $11) 30... Kxf7 $17 {/-+} 31. Ne3 $6 Bg5 $2 (31... Bh4 $1 $19 {Both players are consistently underestimating how bad White's position will be if the dark-squared bishops are exchanged. White will have no healthy way to get rid of the monster knight on d4, his remaining bishop is bad, and White's king is more vulnerable as well.}) 32. Qd1 $1 $11 Rh8 33. Qg4 {Suddenly White has activity and the safer king, while Black's attractive knight isn't actually doing anything.} Qd8 34. Nd5 Rh6 $2 (34... Kf8 $1 35. Bxd4 exd4 36. e5 (36. Ra1 Bb7 $11) 36... dxe5 37. Rxe5 Rh4 38. Qg3 Bb7 $11) 35. Bxd4 $1 {Finally!} exd4 36. e5 $2 (36. Ra1 $1 $16 {Black cannot play ...Bb7 here (compare the note to Black's 34th move) because of 37.Ra7, which means among other things that the Nd5 is permanent.}) 36... dxe5 37. Rxe5 Qd6 38. Qxd4 Bf6 (38... Bb7 $1 39. Re6 Qh2+ 40. Kf1 Ba6+ 41. Rxa6 Rxa6 42. Nxb4 Rd6 43. Qg4 $11) 39. Qa7+ Kf8 $4 {Losing.} (39... Kg8 $1 {Black's king needs to be able to hide on h7.} 40. Nxf6+ Rxf6 41. Qa8+ Kh7 42. Qd5 $11 {Black should hold, whether he trades queens or not.}) 40. Nxf6 Qd1+ (40... Rxf6 41. Qa8+ Kf7 42. Qe8#) 41. Kf2 Qxc2+ 42. Kg3 Rxf6 43. Bd5 $1 {Keeping the king in what Aagaard calls the killing zone.} Qd3+ 44. Re3 $1 Rg6+ {Hoping against hope to scare up a perpetual.} (44... Qxd5 {falls prey to a mating idea we saw in the 40...Rxf6 line.} 45. Qb8+ Kf7 46. Qe8#) 45. Kf4 $1 {Even better than taking the rook, which also won.} Qf1+ 46. Bf3 Rg4+ 47. Kxg4 Qg1+ 48. Kf4 Qh2+ 49. Ke4 (49. Kg5 $1) 49... Qh4+ 50. Kd5 Qd8+ 51. Kc6 {Not a good game, but a good fight, and there are few better fighters in the chess world than Nodirbek Abdusattorov.} 1-0 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.29"] [Round "10.6"] [White "Wei Yi"] [Black "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C55"] [WhiteElo "2751"] [BlackElo "2680"] [PlyCount "45"] [GameId "2139522109550285"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,45,16,25,22,16,35,4,8,9,14,23,24,32,5,6,24,25,25,25,7,34,23,28,61,27,30,21,32,12,6,11,3,8,21,23,20,14,3,12,5,9,6,31,15,16,13,21]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. Nc3 d6 6. a3 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Nd4 9. Qd1 c6 10. O-O O-O 11. Ne2 (11. Ba2) 11... Ne6 12. Ng3 d5 13. Ba2 Bc5 14. Bd2 {An unprepossessing move, for those of you who like your words with multiple prefixes. The justifying idea is to continue with Bc3, arguing that all of Black's sensible replies have drawbacks that outweigh the aesthetic blight of 14.Bd2.} (14. Re1) 14... a5 15. Bc3 Nd4 16. Bd2 {Or perhaps not.} Ne6 {Draw?} 17. Bc3 {Maybe.} Nd4 {Draw?} 18. Re1 {No, psych!} Re8 {Okay then, let's go.} 19. Bd2 {Draw? I promise I'll let you kick the football this time, Charlie Brown.} Ne6 {Okay...} 20. Qf3 {Hey, I've found another way to pretend I'm playing for a win!} Nd4 21. Qd1 Ne6 {Draw?} 22. Qf3 {Yeah, okay.} ({To take a break from making fun of the quick draw, there is one obvious question that needs to be addressed. White isn't winning material with} 22. exd5 cxd5 23. Rxe5 $6 {because of} Qc7 $1 {, when a rook retreat to e2 or e1 would blunder a piece to 24...Qxg3. White is losing the exchange here, e.g.} 24. Bc3 d4 25. Rxc5 Qxc5 26. Bd2 $15) 22... Nd4 23. Qd1 1/2-1/2 [Event "87th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2025.01.29"] [Round "10.7"] [White "Mendonca, Leon Luke"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D12"] [WhiteElo "2639"] [BlackElo "2731"] [PlyCount "60"] [GameId "2139522109550286"] [EventDate "2025.01.18"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. e3 {It has been a while since I've seen the Slow Slav - or any Slav - in top-level chess.} Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. Bd2 Be7 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qc2 dxc4 {This is rare - Black often tries to wait until White moves the f1-bishop before grabbing on c4.} 11. Bxc4 Nd5 12. Kf2 $5 $146 (12. O-O-O {has been played in a few high-level games - not always successfully.} Nb4 13. Qb1 Nd7 14. Ne4 b5 15. Be2 a5 16. a3 Nd5 17. Qc2 b4 18. a4 b3 19. Qxb3 Rb8 20. Qc2 O-O 21. h4 Bb4 22. h5 g5 23. h6 g6 24. h7+ Kh8 25. Bc4 Bxd2+ 26. Qxd2 Rb4 27. Bxd5 cxd5 28. Nc5 Qc7 29. Kb1 Rfb8 30. Rc1 Nxc5 31. dxc5 Rxb2+ 32. Qxb2+ Rxb2+ 33. Kxb2 Qb7+ 34. Kc2 Qb4 35. c6 Qxa4+ 36. Kd2 Qb4+ 37. Rc3 d4 38. exd4 Qxd4+ 39. Kc2 Qa4+ 40. Kb2 Qb5+ 41. Rb3 Qe5+ 42. Kb1 a4 43. Rd3 Qb5+ 44. Kc2 Qxc6+ 45. Kd2 Qc7 46. g3 Qa5+ 47. Kc2 a3 48. Rc3 Qa6 49. g4 Qe2+ 50. Kb3 Qb2+ 51. Kc4 a2 52. Rcc1 Qa3 53. Kd4 Qd6+ 54. Kc4 Qa3 55. Kb5 Qb3+ 56. Ka5 Qa3+ 57. Kb6 Qb3+ 58. Ka7 Qa3+ 59. Kb8 Qb3+ 60. Kc8 Qxf3 61. Kd7 Qb7+ 62. Ke8 f5 63. Rhd1 fxg4 64. Rd7 Qa8+ 65. Rd8 a1=Q {0-1 Yu,Y (2729)-Giri,A (2768) Chessable Masters Div 2 Lose Chess.com INT rapid 2023 (5.3)}) 12... a6 13. Rad1 Nd7 14. g3 Rc8 15. Kg2 (15. e4 Nb4 16. Qb1 b5 17. Bf1 c5 18. d5 c4 19. a3 Nd3+ 20. Bxd3 cxd3 21. Qxd3 Ne5 22. Qe2 Nc4 23. Bc1 Bf6 24. Kg2 Bxc3 25. bxc3 {looks like good compensation to me. White's d-pawn is nice, but the knight on c4 is magnificent.}) 15... O-O (15... b5 16. Be2 c5) 16. Be2 (16. h4) 16... c5 $1 $11 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Qb3 Qb6 (18... Nf6 $1) 19. Qxb6 Nxb6 20. dxc5 (20. Ba5) 20... Rxc5 21. Rc1 Nc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. Bb4 Rc7 24. Bxe7 Rxe7 25. Rxc4 (25. e4 b5 $11) 25... Rxe3 26. Rf1 Rd8 27. Rf2 Red3 28. Re2 f6 29. h4 Kf7 30. Kf2 R3d4 1/2-1/2