[Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.06"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Lodici, Lorenzo"] [Black "Niemann, Hans Moke"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C85"] [WhiteElo "2572"] [BlackElo "2729"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "153"] [GameId "2241388330238322"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,153,11,24,17,13,13,59,24,24,24,24,23,8,9,3,0,-4,4,0,-6,-9,38,-4,61,52,77,32,71,67,86,40,108,61,60,67,95,46,78,98,112,152,126,72,134,123,19,104,111,130,119,138,1,147,24,147,0,169,174,214,209,228,233,228,198,202,159,165,26,26,106,136,104,189,225,242,102,203,-13,179,259,204,267,275,273,274,268,269,138,269,272,58,188,199,144,218,331,215,217,198,63,161,168,177,189,247,158,148,310,124,333,261,573,195,36,139,182,96,127,104,125,41,156,133,211,218,197,190,225,237,237,78,59,1,55,28,143,1,2,0,1,1,0,0,0,1,1418,1507,1830,2069,29983,29984,29985,29986,29987,29988]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Re1 Nd7 8. c3 c5 9. d4 exd4 10. cxd4 O-O 11. Nc3 b5 {An inaccuracy, but maybe this was just Niemann trying to keep the game as complicated as possible.} (11... cxd4 $142 12. Nxd4 Ne5 $11 (12... Nb6 $11)) 12. a4 b4 (12... Bb7 $142) 13. Nd5 $14 Bb7 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. d5 $6 (15. Bf4 $14) (15. Bg5 $14) 15... Rfe8 $6 (15... f5 $1 16. e5 f4 $1 $11) 16. Bg5 $1 Qd6 (16... f6 $142) 17. Qd2 $16 a5 $6 ({Black needed to fight for the e5 square.} 17... f6 18. Bf4 Ne5 $16) 18. Bf4 $16 {/+-} Qb6 19. Rac1 Rad8 20. Qc2 $18 {White has a winning advantage, and he more or less keeps it until near the end. See you there.} Ba6 21. Nd2 Rc8 22. b3 Qf6 23. Bg3 c6 24. d6 Rcd8 25. Nf3 Qg6 26. Nh4 Qe6 27. Nf5 c4 28. Nd4 Qf6 29. e5 Qg6 30. Qxg6 hxg6 31. bxc4 c5 32. Nc6 Ra8 33. Nxa5 Bc8 34. Nb3 Rxa4 35. f4 Ra3 36. Rb1 Ba6 37. Bf2 Rc8 38. Nxc5 Nxc5 39. Bxc5 Bxc4 40. Bxb4 Rd3 41. Rbd1 Rxd1 42. Rxd1 Be6 43. Ba5 Bd7 44. Rb1 Kf8 45. Bc7 Ke8 46. Ra1 Be6 47. Kf2 Kd7 48. h3 Bd5 49. g4 Ra8 50. Ba5 Ke6 51. f5+ gxf5 52. gxf5+ Kd7 53. Ke3 Rh8 54. Kd4 Bb7 55. Be1 f6 56. Bg3 fxe5+ 57. Kxe5 Re8+ 58. Kf4 Kxd6 59. Kg5+ Kc6 60. Rc1+ Kb6 61. h4 Bc8 62. Bc7+ Kb7 63. Bd6 Kb6 64. Bc5+ Kb7 {With opposite-colored bishops Black retains practical chances of saving the draw, but White is objectively winning here. It's not just the extra pawn but the fact that Black's king is very far from where he needs to be.} 65. Bd4 $2 (65. Bd6 $1 {was best, with the useful threat of Rc7+.}) 65... Re4 $1 66. Rxc8 $2 {Lodici misassessed the position - understandably - and now it's objectively drawn. The draw is far from obvious though, and 66 moves into a rapid game accurate calculation of a position like this is just about impossible.} Kxc8 67. Bxg7 Kd7 68. h5 Ke7 69. h6 Kf7 70. Bf6 Kg8 71. Kg6 Rg4+ 72. Bg5 {All of Black's moves since the exchange sac have been perfect - which is not *that* difficult since they've been forced and mostly natural. But now it's the moment of truth. Black has two moves that draw, and finding them is *not* natural, not the sort of move the hand "knows" to play.} Rg1 $2 {This is the move an experienced player wants to make: you send the rook as far away from the opponent's king as possible; all else, more checking distance is better. The problem is that when the time comes, he will be unable to give the check he needs to save the game.} (72... Rg2 $1 73. f6 Rf2 74. Be3 Rg2+ $11) (72... Rg3 $1 73. f6 Rf3 $1 74. h7+ (74. Bc1 Rg3+ 75. Bg5 Rf3 $1 $11) 74... Kh8 75. f7 Rxf7 76. Kxf7 Kxh7 $11) 73. f6 Rf1 74. Be3 $1 {And wins, because Black needs, but lacks, the ability to give a safe check on the g-file.} Rf3 75. h7+ $1 Kh8 76. f7 {Threatening 77.Bd4+.} Rg3+ 77. Bg5 {Black can stop 78.f8Q# or he can stop 78.Bf6+, but he can't stop both except with 77...Rxg5+, which is hopeless. Niemann therefore resigned, and when he was unable to take revenge in the next game he was out of the World Cup.} 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.06"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Kourkoulos-Arditis, Stamatis"] [Black "Nihal, Sarin"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2585"] [BlackElo "2704"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "115"] [GameId "2241388330238325"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,91,17,3,24,29,21,8,39,19,31,31,9,14,28,-4,16,22,39,32,37,40,40,17,42,40,39,30,46,44,34,63,114,105,175,194,229,131,129,113,227,108,116,165,136,125,112,100,101,116,212,191,181,6,-4,81,172,77,106,114,136,185,122,35,51,41,47,8,88,5,64,45,94,58,123,86,152,174,116,138,161,191,178,184,291,186,179,183,199,84,214,134,186,184] It's a good tournament so far for the Greeks, as both Kourkoulos-Arditis and Theodorou advanced. Theodorou was the slight favorite in his match, but K-A was a significant underdog against Sarin. Nevertheless...} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 d6 {Caruana played this relatively rare move against Niemann in the U.S. Championship and won, and Nihal himself played this way against Murzin last year.} 4. c3 f5 5. d3 f4 (5... Qf6 6. O-O (6. Nbd2 f4 7. h4 Nh6 8. Ng5 Bd7 9. Ndf3 Na5 10. Bd5 c6 11. b4 cxd5 12. bxa5 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Qg6 14. Qe2 Bc6 15. h5 Qxg2 16. Rg1 Qh3 17. Bxf4 O-O-O 18. Be3 a6 19. Bb6 Re8 20. O-O-O Qxh5 21. Rh1 Qf7 22. Rdg1 g6 23. Nfg5 Qe7 24. Kb2 Nf5 25. Ka1 Kb8 26. Nf3 Bg7 27. Nfd2 d5 28. Nc5 e4 29. d4 Bb5 30. Qe1 Nxd4 31. Nxa6+ Bxa6 32. cxd4 Rc8 33. Qe3 Bd3 34. Nb3 Rc3 35. Rc1 Rxb3 36. Rxh7 Rb1+ 37. Rxb1 Rxh7 38. Rc1 Rh8 39. Qf4+ Ka8 40. Qg4 Bc4 {0-1 Murzin,V (2648)-Nihal,S (2668) London TechM GCL rapid 2024 (7.3)}) 6... f4 7. b4 Nge7 8. a4 g5 9. b5 Nd8 10. d4 g4 11. Ne1 h5 12. Na3 Ne6 13. b6 c6 14. Ba2 Ng5 15. Nd3 Ng6 16. Nc4 Be6 17. Ba3 Bxc4 18. Bxc4 f3 19. g3 h4 20. Qc2 axb6 21. Rae1 Rd8 22. d5 Rd7 23. dxc6 bxc6 24. Bc1 Rdh7 25. Bxg5 Qxg5 26. Qb3 hxg3 27. Qxb6 Qh4 28. Qb8+ Ke7 {0-1 Niemann,H (2738)-Caruana,F (2789) USA-ch Saint Louis 2025 (7)}) 6. h4 {Not a position you see everyday.} Qf6 7. b4 Nh6 8. Nbd2 (8. Ng5 Nd8 9. d4 {½-½ Van Haastert,E (2427)-Nikcevic,N (2346) EU-chT Seniors 50 Terme Catez 2024 (7.1)}) 8... Ng4 $146 {I have no idea how much of this, if any, was prepared by either player. It's fun and weird, but objectively much better for White. Despite this game and the evaluation of this position, I suspect we'll see more of 3...d6 in the future.} (8... Nf7 9. Bb2 Be7 10. Qc2 Ncd8 11. a4 a6 12. O-O-O Bd7 13. d4 b5 14. Bb3 O-O 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nxe5 Be6 17. Nd3 bxa4 18. Bxa4 Rb8 19. Nb3 Bc4 20. Nbc5 Bxd3 21. Nxd3 c5 22. bxc5 Nc6 23. Bb3 Kh8 24. Bd5 Qh6 25. f3 Nfe5 26. Ba3 Rfc8 27. Qe2 Nxd3+ 28. Qxd3 Ne5 29. Qd4 Nd7 30. Kc2 Bxc5 31. Bxc5 Rxc5 32. Rb1 Rbc8 33. c4 Qg6 34. Rhg1 h5 35. Kd2 Nb6 36. Rbc1 Qd6 37. Qd3 Qf6 38. Qc3 Nxd5 39. exd5 Rxd5+ 40. Ke2 Qe7+ 41. Kf1 Re5 42. Re1 Rcc5 43. g3 Rxe1+ 44. Qxe1 Qf7 45. gxf4 Rxc4 46. Qe5 Rxf4 47. Qb8+ Kh7 48. Qb1+ g6 49. Rg2 Rxf3+ 50. Kg1 Rf4 51. Qe1 Qf6 52. Rg5 Qd4+ 53. Kg2 Re4 54. Qb1 Re2+ 55. Kh3 Re3+ 56. Kg2 Qd2+ 57. Kf1 Rf3+ {0-1 Shogdzhiev,R (2408)-Bellahcene,B (2488) Fujairah op-B 2025 (5)}) 9. Bb2 Bd7 10. a4 Be7 11. Qe2 Nd8 12. d4 Nf7 13. Bb3 O-O-O 14. b5 Kb8 15. a5 Bc8 16. b6 c6 17. a6 Rd7 18. d5 axb6 19. axb7 Bxb7 20. dxc6 Bxc6 21. Qa6 Rc8 22. Bd5 Bxd5 23. exd5 Kc7 24. Nc4 Rb8 25. Qa7+ Rb7 26. Qa8 Rd8 27. Qa4 b5 28. Qa5+ Kd7 29. Qa6 Ke8 30. Qxb7 bxc4 31. Qc6+ Kf8 32. Qxc4 Qg6 33. h5 Qf5 34. Nd2 Qc2 35. Bc1 Nf6 36. f3 e4 37. Qb3 Qd3 38. c4 Qxb3 39. Nxb3 Ne5 40. fxe4 Nxe4 41. O-O f3 42. gxf3 Ng3 43. Rf2 Nxh5 44. Nd4 Rc8 45. c5 dxc5 46. Ne6+ Kf7 47. Ra7 Nf6 48. Ng5+ Kf8 49. Re2 Ng6 50. d6 Bxd6 51. Ne6+ Kg8 52. Rxg7+ Kh8 53. Bb2 Nf4 54. Bxf6 Nxe2+ 55. Kf2 h5 56. Rc7+ Kg8 57. Rxc8+ Kf7 58. Kxe2 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.06"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Sevian, Samuel"] [Black "Tin, Jingyao"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2701"] [BlackElo "2583"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "119"] [GameId "2241388330238326"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,119,18,-4,28,27,24,9,8,21,16,0,8,1,12,-1,13,3,-20,-12,10,10,-41,6,0,-26,0,-7,-49,-11,-16,-4,-12,-20,-19,-1,-1,-71,-19,-46,-29,-66,57,8,80,80,34,53,5,48,100,64,88,101,51,62,156,142,145,162,54,102,161,135,157,141,204,209,212,205,238,234,244,233,234,225,177,215,232,190,159,158,37,111,1,116,105,104,74,112,130,60,134,123,119,133,142,101,138,122,60,130,411,103,149,128,106,138,237,151,118,99,91,120,150,160,215,230,815,877,29993,29994]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 {White's original recipe in the Giuoco Piano. It's nice to see a professional push the d-pawn two squares - and then recapture it on the next move - in this line.} exd4 6. cxd4 (6. e5 {has received plenty of professional attention for a few years now.}) (6. b4 {isn't all that great, objectively speaking, but the always creative Dubov has found some interesting new ideas that make it tricky.}) 6... Bb4+ 7. Nbd2 {This is an interesting contemporary line. Black should equalize, but it's tricky and even if Black equalizes the positions aren't dead.} (7. Bd2 {is almost boring enough to make one pine away for 5.d3 ("almost"), while}) (7. Nc3 {is entertaining but leaves White struggling for equality against a prepared opponent.}) 7... Nxe4 (7... d5) ({and} 7... Bxd2+ 8. Bxd2 Nxe4 {are important alternatives.}) 8. d5 Ne7 9. O-O Bxd2 ({It's more common to capture with the knight.} 9... Nxd2 10. Nxd2 O-O 11. a3 $44) 10. Nxd2 $14 Nd6 11. Bd3 (11. Bb3 $14) 11... O-O 12. Qh5 {You never know... (The idea is to induce a weakness; it's not hope-chess.)} (12. Nf3 $142) 12... f5 13. Nc4 Nxc4 14. Bxc4 d6 15. Re1 $44 {With the two bishops and more space White should have enough for the pawn.} (15. Bg5 Qe8 16. Qxe8 Rxe8 17. Rac1 Bd7 18. Bb3 Rac8 19. Rc3 Kf8 20. Rfc1 Ng6 21. h4 c5 22. dxc6 bxc6 23. h5 Ne5 24. h6 Be6 25. Ba4 Bd5 26. hxg7+ Kxg7 27. Be3 Kf7 28. f3 Rg8 29. Kf2 Rg7 30. Rh1 Rcg8 31. Rh2 Rb8 32. b3 Kg8 33. Rh6 Rd8 34. Rf6 Rf7 35. Rxf7 Kxf7 36. Bxa7 c5 37. Bb6 Ra8 38. Bc7 Ke6 39. Re3 f4 40. Re1 Ra7 41. Bb6 Rb7 42. Ba5 c4 43. Bc3 cxb3 44. Bxb3 Bxb3 45. axb3 Rxb3 46. Bxe5 dxe5 47. Ra1 Rb2+ 48. Kg1 Rb7 49. Ra6+ Kf5 50. Ra8 Rg7 51. Rf8+ Ke6 52. Re8+ Kf6 53. Rf8+ Rf7 54. Rh8 Kg7 55. Re8 Rf5 56. Re7+ Kg6 57. Re6+ Kf7 58. Ra6 h5 59. Ra7+ Kg6 60. Ra6+ Rf6 61. Ra8 Kg5 62. Rg8+ Rg6 63. Rh8 Rh6 64. Rg8+ Kf6 65. Kh2 Rg6 66. Rf8+ Ke6 67. Re8+ Kd6 68. Rh8 Rg5 69. Rh6+ Ke7 70. Ra6 Kf7 71. Ra7+ Kf6 72. Ra6+ Kf5 73. Rh6 e4 74. fxe4+ Kxe4 75. Ra6 Rd5 76. Ra4+ Kf5 77. g3 Rd2+ 78. Kh3 fxg3 79. Kxg3 {½-½ Garayev,K (2341)-Nomin Erdene,D (2395) Budapest FS02 GM 2022 (5)}) 15... Ng6 16. Bg5 Qd7 17. Rac1 Qf7 18. Bb3 $2 (18. Bd2 $44) (18. Bd3 $44) 18... a5 $15 (18... f4 $1 $17) 19. Rc3 $2 a4 $2 (19... f4 $1) 20. Bc2 $11 Re8 (20... f4 $1 $11) 21. Rc1 $2 (21. Rxe8+ $142 Qxe8 22. Bd2 $14) 21... f4 (21... Ra5 $142 $15) 22. Bd3 Bf5 23. Rxc7 Rac8 $1 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 (24... Bxc8 $11) 25. Rxc8+ Bxc8 $11 26. Bd8 Bd7 $2 (26... f3 $1 27. Qxf3 Qd7 $1 {followed by ...Ne5 and ...Nxd3 ought to draw.}) 27. Ba5 $16 Qe8 28. h3 $2 (28. Bc3 $1 $16) 28... Bb5 $2 (28... f3 $1 $11) 29. Bf5 $1 Bd7 30. Bc2 $2 (30. Bxd7 Qxd7 31. Bb4 $18) 30... Bb5 $2 (30... a3 $1 31. bxa3 Qc8 $44) 31. Bc3 (31. Bf5 $1 Bd7 32. Bxd7 $18) 31... Bd7 (31... a3 $1) 32. h4 $2 (32. a3 $18) 32... Qe7 $2 (32... a3 $1 33. bxa3 Qc8 $44) 33. Bxg6 hxg6 34. Qxg6 $18 {Despite the opposite-colored bishops White has a stably winning advantage. He's a pawn up and d6, f4, and g7 are all weak. In fact it's not really *despite* the opposite-colored bishops but to some extent because of them that he's clearly winning: Black's bishop can't really combat White's attack. Sevian goes on to win the game.} Be8 35. Qg4 Qf7 36. f3 Kh7 37. Kh2 Bb5 38. a3 Bc4 39. Bd2 Qxd5 40. Bxf4 Qd4 41. Qg3 Qxb2 42. Bxd6 Qf6 43. Be5 Qf7 44. Qg5 b5 45. h5 Bd3 46. Kg3 Bc4 47. Kh4 Bd3 48. Bd4 Qc7 49. f4 Qd7 50. Be5 Qa7 51. Kg3 Qd7 52. Bc3 Bf5 53. Kh4 Bd3 54. g4 Qc7 55. Qe5 Qb7 56. Bb2 Qh1+ 57. Kg5 Qb7 58. f5 Bc4 59. h6 gxh6+ 60. Kf4 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.06"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Theodorou, Nikolas"] [Black "Indjic, Aleksandar"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "A37"] [WhiteElo "2656"] [BlackElo "2635"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "71"] [GameId "2241388330254747"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,71,18,-1,15,4,13,7,18,13,14,16,16,5,32,31,33,6,9,16,10,6,56,40,61,60,69,7,69,62,63,43,37,43,59,58,90,225,124,132,139,308,166,244,203,346,251,305,274,315,263,318,275,319,280,248,236,203,328,336,408,327,379,304,411,285,550,404,889,901,1058,1076,973,1109] Theodorou will have his work cut out for him in round 3, but congrats to him on getting there.} 1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 Nc6 3. c4 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nc3 d6 6. Rb1 h5 7. a3 Nh6 8. b4 Bf5 9. Rb3 O-O 10. h3 Qc8 $2 (10... Nd4 $11) 11. d3 $16 Re8 12. Nd5 Be6 13. Ng5 $2 (13. bxc5 $1 dxc5 14. Bf4 $18) 13... Bd7 $2 (13... Bxd5 $1 14. Bxd5 cxb4 15. axb4 e6 $11) 14. Ne4 $16 Nf5 15. Rb1 cxb4 16. axb4 b5 17. cxb5 Ncd4 18. b6 Nc2+ $2 ({The ungainly} 18... Nb5 $1 $14 {was best, covering c7. Black is just a little worse here.}) 19. Kf1 $18 Ba4 20. Qd2 Ncd4 21. b7 $1 Qxb7 22. Ndf6+ $1 exf6 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Bxb7 Rab8 {Black's pieces are all very active, but it's not enough to compensate for his substantial material disadvantage. White managed to consolidate and win.} 25. Be4 d5 26. Bxf5 Nxf5 27. g4 Nd4 28. Bb2 h4 29. Bxd4 Bxd4 30. Kg2 Bc6 31. Rhc1 Rb6 32. Qa2 Ba8 33. Qxa7 Rxb4 34. Qd7 Rxe2 35. Rxb4 Rxf2+ 36. Kh1 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.06"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Sadhwani, Raunak"] [Black "Hovhannisyan, Robert"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "A06"] [WhiteElo "2641"] [BlackElo "2629"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "34"] [GameId "2241388330254755"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,34,20,9,40,-6,-16,0,0,-5,0,-85,1,0,17,-17,-14,1,-20,-89,-77,-133,-228,-301,-297,-301,-273,-393,-1261,-29987,-29988,-29991,-29992,-29993,-29994,-29995,-29996]} 1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 Nf6 3. Bb2 Bf5 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 Qd7 6. O-O Bh3 7. Bxh3 $2 {This sort of trade is often good for White. The idea is that unless Black has a mating attack his queen is pulled away from the action.} (7. c4 $11) 7... Qxh3 $17 8. c4 d4 9. b4 $2 (9. e3 $8) 9... Ng4 $19 {You'll notice the implicit "if" in the "unless" in my comment to White's 7th move. Black is very straightforwardly playing for mate here, and his position is already winning The immediate and obvious threat is ...Nce5.} 10. Qa4 h5 $1 {Yes, it really is as easy as that. White has no counterplay to speak of, so this crude anti-Dragon sort of attack is crushing.} 11. Bxd4 h4 12. Nc3 O-O-O 13. Be3 Nce5 {It's already a forced mate (in at most 7 moves, if you're interested, one of which will be White playing Qd7+).} 14. Rfc1 hxg3 15. fxg3 Nxf3+ 16. exf3 Qxh2+ 17. Kf1 Nxe3+ (17... Nxe3+ 18. dxe3 Qh1+ 19. Ke2 Rh2#) 0-1 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.06"] [Round "2.7"] [White "Yu, Yangyi"] [Black "Blohberger, Felix"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C66"] [WhiteElo "2726"] [BlackElo "2510"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "267"] [GameId "2241388330271162"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. O-O g6 7. Re1 Bg7 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Nf1 Re8 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 Na5 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Ne3 Bg7 15. a4 Nc6 16. b4 a6 17. Qb3 Nd8 18. Rad1 c6 19. Nc4 Qc7 20. a5 Ne6 21. d4 Rad8 22. Nb6 Nf8 23. d5 Nd7 24. Nxd7 Rxd7 25. dxc6 bxc6 26. h3 Qb7 27. Qa4 Rb8 28. Nd2 Qb5 29. Qxb5 Rxb5 30. Nc4 Bf8 31. Rd3 Rd8 32. Red1 c5 33. Na3 Rbb8 34. bxc5 Rbc8 35. cxd6 Rc6 36. Nc2 Rdxd6 37. Rxd6 Bxd6 38. Nb4 Bxb4 39. cxb4 Rc4 40. f3 Rxb4 41. Rd6 Ra4 42. Rxa6 Ra2 43. h4 h5 44. Ra8+ Kg7 45. a6 Kf6 46. a7 Kg7 47. g4 Kf6 48. Kf1 Kg7 49. g5 Kh7 50. Ke1 Kg7 51. Kd1 Kh7 52. Kc1 Kg7 53. Kb1 Ra6 54. Kb2 Ra5 55. Kb3 Ra6 56. Kb4 Ra1 57. Kc5 Ra2 58. Kc6 (58. Kd5 $1 {was the path to victory at this point. Black is in zugzwang after} Ra5+ 59. Kd6 {, and the reason it's a zugzwang is seen in the following line:} Kh7 60. Kc6 Ra1 (60... Kg7 $2 61. Kb6 Ra1 62. Rb8 $18 {is too easy.}) 61. Rd8 $1 Rxa7 62. Rd7 {. If Black's king were still on g7 there'd be no problem; in fact, Black would be better if not winning after 62...Ra3. Here, however, Black loses in either the rook ending or the pawn ending.}) 58... Ra1 59. Kd6 (59. Kd5 $1) 59... Ra5 60. Kc6 Ra1 61. Kd6 (61. Kd5 $1) 61... Ra5 62. Rb8 {This ending is drawn, and a relatively easy one at that. After 100 moves in a short time control, playing the fifth high-pressure game of the day, however, almost nothing is easy.} Rxa7 63. Kxe5 Ra5+ 64. Kf4 Ra4 65. Rb7 Rc4 66. Rd7 Ra4 67. Ke3 Ra3+ 68. Rd3 Ra1 69. Kf4 Rh1 70. Kg3 Rg1+ 71. Kh2 Ra1 72. Kg2 Rb1 73. Rd7 Kf8 74. Kg3 Kg7 75. Ra7 Rc1 76. Ra3 Rg1+ 77. Kh2 Rb1 78. Kg2 Rb2+ 79. Kg3 Rb1 80. Rc3 Ra1 81. Rb3 Rc1 82. Rb7 Ra1 83. e5 {White finally makes a move of consequence, threatening e6. Black must remain on the lookout for this move, especially but not only when the f-pawn is pinned.} Re1 84. f4 Kf8 85. Kf2 Re4 86. Kf3 Re1 87. Rb6 Kg7 88. Ra6 Kg8 (88... Rh1 89. Kg3 Rg1+ {would be my choice, bothering the f- and h-pawns and giving checks.}) 89. Ra3 Rh1 90. Kg3 Rg1+ 91. Kf3 Rh1 92. Ra8+ Kg7 93. Ra7 Re1 (93... Kg8) 94. Rb7 Kg8 95. Rb2 Kg7 96. Re2 Rh1 97. Kg3 Rg1+ 98. Kf3 Rh1 99. Kg3 Rg1+ 100. Rg2 Re1 101. Rc2 Re3+ {Not bad, but if White isn't making progress in the positions with Black's rook on the 1st rank why switch to a new setup?} 102. Kg2 Kg8 103. Rc7 Kg7 104. Kf2 Re4 105. Kf3 Re1 106. Rc6 Kg8 107. Rb6 Kg7 108. Rb7 Kg8 109. Re7 Kf8 110. Ra7 Kg7 111. Rb7 Kg8 112. Rb6 Kg7 {After 30 moves of doing nothing (except for tiring Black and maybe running down his clock) White finally goes for his only try.} 113. e6 fxe6 (113... Rxe6 {should draw on the spot. You might object that Black didn't have time to calculate it. You might be right; on the other hand, Black had the chance to think about it during the 30 moves when White did nothing, as the e5-e6 push was inevitable. Blohberger may have believed that this was a draw, but felt that the rook ending is also drawn (which it is) and carried less risk. That's an entirely respectable approach that I would generally endorse as well. Here I'm for the rook capture though as I think it's an automatic draw - no further suffering is required here.} 114. Rxe6 fxe6 115. Ke4 Kf7 116. Kd4 {This is the one tricky move, and probably what scared Blohberger away from 113...Rxe6. Black must find the right move.} (116. Ke5 Ke7 117. Ke4 Ke8 $11 {Not necessary, but why not take the distant opposition?} (117... Kd6 {also draws, provided Black meets} 118. Kd4 {with} Kd7 $1 $11 {, ready to go to c7 or e7 after 119.Kc5 or 119.Ke5, respectively.})) 116... Ke8 $1 $11 {It's not that hard, though. Obviously the king couldn't have gone to e7 because 117.Ke5 would be zugzwang, while keeping the king on the f-file was too passive. Outflanking won't work, while 117.Ke5 Ke7 is obviously drawn. But what else is there?}) 114. Rb7+ Kg8 115. Ra7 Kf8 116. Ra5 Kf7 117. Ra4 {To play Kf2 and chase the rook off the e-file so White's king can get more active.} Rf1+ 118. Ke3 Re1+ 119. Kd4 Rd1+ 120. Ke5 Rd5+ 121. Ke4 Rd7 {White had his rook on the 7th rank earlier, and it was harmless. It still is, so Black should keep things simple by retaining the barrier against White's king.} (121... Rb5 122. Ra7+ Kf8 $11 {White is going nowhere.}) 122. Rb4 Ra7 123. Rc4 Rd7 124. Rc5 Ra7 125. Ke5 Rb7 126. Kd6 {Now, finally, Black must make an accurate move. Someone might call Blohberger's next move "the" losing move, and strictly speaking that's true. Practically though, it's the fruit of a series of inaccuracies here and there, not to mention simple exhaustion after defending for most of the game's 126 moves after four prior games.} Rb4 $2 (126... Rb6+ $1 127. Rc6 Rb8 $1 128. Rc7+ Kg8 $1 129. Kxe6 Rf8 {is objectively drawn, though Black can look forward to another 30-50 moves' worth of suffering before it's all over.}) 127. Rc7+ $1 Kf8 128. Ke5 $1 Ra4 129. Rb7 Rc4 130. Kf6 $1 Rxf4+ 131. Kxg6 Rxh4 132. Kh6 {If Black could play ...Kg8 and ...Ra8 he'd be perfectly happy - that would be a dead draw even if both his pawns disappear. The problem, of course, is that his rook can't get back in time, so White wins.} Rf4 133. g6 Kg8 {Black to move draws with 134...Rf8. Unfortunately, he doesn't get that one move.} 134. Rb8+ (134. Rb8+ Rf8 135. Rxf8+ Kxf8 136. Kh7 {and the g-pawn promotes well in time to round up Black's passers.}) 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.06"] [Round "2.7"] [White "Narayanan, S.L."] [Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D58"] [WhiteElo "2617"] [BlackElo "2657"] [WhiteFideId "5058422"] [WhiteFideId "4152956"] [PlyCount "151"] [GameId "2241388330271165"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,151,21,29,23,22,27,26,25,28,20,14,36,34,12,25,13,18,8,7,15,4,7,4,15,3,40,28,37,48,43,34,47,5,62,107,75,39,53,56,84,204,57,86,59,67,70,137,80,74,73,116,67,111,150,137,189,173,174,359,170,150,1,111,-98,84,96,70,67,67,83,-58,79,80,79,76,38,56,1,34,36,134,33,31,77,59,448,63,70,185,90,73,174,142,184,179,177,177,211,259,199,299,193,232,203,212,207,213,200,202,205,202,194,193,192,204,213,208,224,199,210,181,173,161,160,116,137,115,137,192,129,116,129,157,183,179,375,107,108,184,125,425,445,33,56,33,19,42,17,32,527,527,537,547]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Be2 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Qe2 Ne4 12. Bg3 Bd6 13. Rac1 Bxg3 14. hxg3 c5 15. Rfd1 Qe7 16. Bb5 Ndf6 17. Nxe4 Bxe4 18. dxc5 bxc5 19. Bd3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Rab8 21. b3 Rfd8 22. Qf4 Rb6 23. Be2 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Rb4 25. Qe5 a5 26. Rc1 Nd5 27. Bf3 f6 28. Qh5 Qf7 29. Qxf7+ Kxf7 30. Rxc5 a4 31. Bxd5 exd5 {Time for another rook ending. The result should be a draw (especially if all the queenside pawns are swapped off), but in rook endings as in all of chess the mistakes are there, waiting to be made.} 32. Rc3 axb3 33. Rxb3 Ra4 34. a3 g5 (34... d4 {makes sense, getting rid of Black's only slightly weak pawn.}) 35. Kf1 h5 36. Ke2 Ke6 37. f3 Ke5 38. Kd2 h4 39. g4 f5 40. gxf5 Kxf5 41. Ke2 g4 {This trade and the last one help Black. Fewer pawns, fewer problems.} 42. Rd3 Ra5 $4 {Blitz chess!} (42... Ke5 {maintains "equality". (Though it's only truly equal for the computer, but that is objectively the correct assessment.}) 43. fxg4+ $4 (43. Rxd5+ Rxd5 44. e4+ {wins on the spot.}) 43... Kxg4 $11 44. Kf2 Kg5 45. Kf3 Rb5 $2 {Allowing the a-pawn to advance is a mistake, as it can be defended by *perfectly placed* rook on d4.} (45... Kg6 $11) (45... Kf6 $11) 46. Rd4 ({Or} 46. a4 {first and only then 47.Rd4.}) 46... Rc5 47. a4 Ra5 48. Rb4 Kh5 49. Rb5 Rxa4 50. Rxd5+ Kg6 51. Rd4 {Here's the problem (for Black). The king and pawn ending is dead lost, so Vitiugov must jettison his remaining pawn to stay alive. About the ensuing endgame: it's known that rook, f- and h-pawn vs. rook is typically drawn. Here everything has been nudged one file over, and this ending is a win for White, though not a trivial one.} Ra1 52. Rxh4 Rf1+ 53. Kg3 Re1 54. Rg4+ Kf5 55. Rf4+ Ke5 56. Kf2 Ra1 57. g4 Ra2+ 58. Kf3 Ra1 59. Rf5+ Ke6 60. Rb5 Kf6 61. Rf5+ Kg6 62. e4 Re1 63. Kf4 Rg1 64. e5 Rf1+ 65. Ke4 Rg1 66. Rf4 Kg5 67. Rf8 {The g-pawn doesn't matter if White can win with the e-pawn. And he can, too, but not easily.} Rxg4+ 68. Kd5 Ra4 69. e6 Ra5+ 70. Kd6 Ra6+ {A key moment. White has three moves that maintain the win. Alas, Narayanan chooses door #4.} 71. Ke7 $2 (71. Kd7 $1 {wins, but it's not easy.} Ra7+ 72. Ke8 $1 Kg6 (72... Ra8+ 73. Kf7 $18 {is easy for White.}) 73. e7 Kg7 74. Rf7+ $1 Kg8 75. Rf6 Kg7 76. Re6 $1 {This does the trick. White's king slides out, ends the checks, and the pawn promotes.} Ra8+ 77. Kd7 Ra7+ 78. Kc6 $18) 71... Kg6 $1 {Now it's a draw, but like White's winning on the previous turn it's easy to mess it up.} 72. Rd8 Kg7 73. Rd6 Ra8 $1 74. Rd2 Kg6 $2 {This loses rather easily and directly.} (74... Ra7+ $1 {It's necessary to check until White blocks with the rook again or lets Black's king get in front of the e-pawn.} 75. Rd7 Ra8 76. Rc7 Ra6 $11) 75. Rg2+ $1 {The only move, but an obvious one.} Kf5 76. Kf7 {Black has no sensible answer to e7-e8Q.} 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.06"] [Round "2.8"] [White "Cheparinov, Ivan"] [Black "Adams, Michael"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C95"] [WhiteElo "2626"] [BlackElo "2635"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "83"] [GameId "2241388330271173"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,83,20,-2,26,24,37,19,20,20,4,16,35,34,33,15,35,29,34,59,38,51,35,41,32,6,29,7,45,34,4,13,17,21,10,20,85,22,5,85,5,-17,-48,-5,6,11,64,-7,22,156,48,-12,64,47,96,85,130,116,183,153,196,109,157,187,187,180,243,253,304,302,298,137,143,162,122,132,130,-1,-1,1,1,-1,1,-1,-1,-1] A battle between two former 2700s. In Adams' case he was over 2700 for many years, and an outstanding performer in the FIDE World Championships when they were essentially World Cups. He only barely lost to Anand in the final in Groningen in 1997, and likewise barely lost to Kasimdzhanov in the final in Tripoli in 2004. He's a relatively old guy now at the age of 54, by the standards of professional chess, but he can still bite. Cheparinov is considerably younger (still just 38 years old) but he is an experienced GM in his own right, best known as Topalov's main second during his (Topalov's) glory years.} 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 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nb3 c5 14. d5 c4 15. Nbd2 Qc7 16. Nf1 a5 17. g4 Nc5 18. Ng3 b4 19. g5 Nfd7 20. Nh2 bxc3 21. bxc3 Nd3 22. Bxd3 cxd3 23. Qxd3 Ba6 24. Qf3 Rac8 25. Bd2 Rb8 26. Nf5 Bf8 27. Ng4 Kh8 28. h4 Nc5 29. h5 Bc8 30. Be3 Nd3 31. Reb1 Bxf5 32. Qxf5 g6 33. Qf3 Bg7 34. h6 Bf8 35. Bb6 Rxb6 36. Rxb6 Qxb6 37. Qxf7 Rb8 {White has succeeded in building up a decisive attack, but he has one last hurdle to clear. White would love to play Nf6, threatening both Qg8# and Qxh7#. Black has no good defensive move against this, but he doesn't need one as 38...Qxf2+ leads to a speedy mate.} 38. Qf6+ $2 {The second-best move; alas, it's far worse than the best move.} (38. Nf6 $4 Qxf2+ 39. Kh1 Qf3+ 40. Kg1 (40. Kh2 Rb2+ 41. Kg1 Qg2#) 40... Qg3+ 41. Kh1 (41. Kf1 Qf2#) 41... Nf2#) (38. Rf1 {looks natural, defending f2 so the Ng4 can happen next. Unfortunately for Cheparinov, Black has a defense:} Qb7 $1 $11 {The only move, but it's good enough.}) (38. Rd1 $1 {is the answer, and because of the threat to the knight Black doesn't have time for 38...Qb7 (compare the 38.Rf1 variation). Black has no sensible defense at all.}) 38... Kg8 39. Qe6+ Kh8 40. Qf6+ Kg8 41. Qe6+ Kh8 42. Qf6+ {Adams thus survived this blitz game, and went on to win the match by winning the Armageddon game.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.07"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"] [Black "Martinez Alcantara, Jose Eduardo"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "2750"] [BlackElo "2644"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "78"] [GameId "2241744491036495"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,78,19,25,26,69,44,16,37,-54,24,35,22,21,33,33,18,29,47,34,28,56,6,1,-70,13,-90,-13,-132,-34,-19,-17,-7,-150,-26,-19,-129,-60,-26,-13,17,-136,80,78,72,102,128,45,-10,19,-1,14,1,-30,-40,-22,-47,-74,140,-52,1,-59,-51,-83,-44,-38,-41,-118,-64,-61,-280,-329,-409,-655,-207,-314,-431,-384,-447,-997,-1032]} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 e5 {Mildly provocative. The issue with this move isn't the swap on e5 followed by a queen trade - that's fairly harmless. Rather, it's the transposition to the Philidor that's surprising.} 3. Nf3 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Bf4 {The most ambitious of White's 6th move options.} O-O 7. Qd2 Nc6 8. O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 a6 (9... Be6 {is by far the most common move, but when Stockfish says "play ...a6" we listen. (Who are we to disagree?)}) 10. f3 b5 11. g4 {By far the most common move, but the engine isn't enamored.} (11. h4 $142) 11... c5 12. Qe3 (12. Qd2 {is more common, keeping up the pressure on d6.} b4 13. Ne2 Qa5 $11 (13... Be6 $11)) 12... b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Rxd5 Be6 15. Bc4 $1 {The best move. Abdusattorov will have sufficient compensation for the exchange.} Bxd5 16. Bxd5 $44 Rc8 ({Black's best was to return the exchange and push his own pawns in search of counterplay.} 16... a5 $1 17. h4 (17. Bxa8 Qxa8 $11) 17... Ra7 18. g5 Kh8 19. Kb1 $44) 17. g5 $14 c4 $6 {Consistent, but Black's problem is that he won't be in time with his queenside counterplay.} (17... Kh8 18. h4 a5 $11 {/?}) 18. Kb1 $1 Qa5 19. h4 Rc5 $2 (19... c3 {is best, trying to poke holes in White's queenside.} 20. h5 (20. Qf2 Rc5 21. b3 Rxd5 22. exd5 Qxd5 23. Re1 Bd8 24. Qf1 $11 {/? is less entertaining, more computer-y line.}) 20... cxb2 21. g6 h6 22. Bxh6 Qc5 $1 23. Bxf7+ Rxf7 24. gxf7+ Kxf7 25. Qxc5 Rxc5 26. Bd2 a5 $11) 20. Qd4 (20. h5 $142 {is the move of an amateur...and in this case it's better than the more sophisticated move chosen by Abdusattorov.} Re8 21. Rd1 {Of course White would rather keep the rook on the kingside, but this is useful to deal with the inevitable exchange sac on d5.} Bf8 22. Qf2 Qc7 23. Be3 Rxd5 24. Rxd5 $16 {/+-}) 20... Rfc8 (20... Rd8 $142 21. Bxc4 d5 $1 22. Bxd5 Rcxd5 23. exd5 Qxd5 $16 {A pawn is a pawn, but it's not too bad as pawn-down positions go.}) 21. h5 Rxd5 $6 (21... Rd8 {was still best.}) 22. exd5 $18 Bf8 23. h6 $2 ({The obvious and stereotyped} 23. g6 {was best, with a clearly winning advantage. I suspect that Abdusattorov simply missed Black's 23rd move.}) 23... Qc5 $1 (23... g6 $4 24. Bxd6 $1 {was the main tactical point behind 23.h6.}) 24. Qe4 g6 {Now this is fine. White is still better, of course, but Black's king is the safest it has been in a very long time.} 25. Be3 Qb5 26. Bd4 $2 (26. Qd4 $1 $16 {/+-}) 26... Re8 $1 27. Qf4 f5 $1 $11 {White's attack is over, and although he's not yet worse the momentum is in Black's favor.} 28. gxf6 Qxd5 29. b3 Kf7 30. Qg4 Qf5 31. Qg2 c3 32. a4 bxa3 33. Ka2 {White's last two moves are reminiscent of Black's ...f5 and ...Kf7. Always "steal" good ideas, even from your opponent! (Don't worry, I know that Abdusattorov - and players much weaker than him - already knew this defensive motif.)} a5 {Unlike White, who can't play f4-f5, Black can play ...a5-a4 to start busting up the White king's protection.} 34. Rh4 $2 {A big error, possibly in time trouble.} (34. Qf2 $1 a4 35. bxa4 $1 Qd5+ 36. Ka1 $11 {and White's king is safe for the time being.}) 34... a4 35. Bxc3 ({A critical difference between 34.Rh4 and 34.Qf2 is seen in this line:} 35. bxa4 Qd5+ 36. Ka1 Re1#) (35. Re4 {is best - and presumably the reason for 34.Rh4 - but nowhere near good enough to save the game.} axb3+ 36. cxb3 Rc8 $1 $19) 35... axb3+ 36. Kxb3 (36. cxb3 Qd3 $19) 36... Rb8+ 37. Rb4 Qe6+ 38. Kxa3 d5 {Ouch. Black's long-dead bishop finally comes to life, and it's fatal for White.} 39. Qf1 d4 $1 {This gives Black's heavy pieces access to the a2 square, and now mate and/or catastrophic material losses are inevitable.} (39... d4 $1 40. Bd2 Bxb4+ 41. Bxb4 Ra8+ 42. Kb2 Qa2+ 43. Kc1 Qa1+ 44. Kd2 Qxf1 $19) 0-1 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.07"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Black "Dardha, Daniel"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B66"] [WhiteElo "2690"] [BlackElo "2598"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "49"] [GameId "2241744491040607"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,49,25,22,21,7,24,17,18,16,23,21,35,39,19,0,23,36,42,43,37,47,-63,47,45,59,52,15,83,86,79,85,102,65,89,19,164,131,152,276,151,308,150,299,171,262,164,254,216,161,174,130]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. Nxc6 (8. O-O-O {used to be automatic and is still by far the main move, but the text has become somewhat popular the last few years.}) 8... bxc6 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Bc4 {It looks like White is developing into a brick wall, but f4-f5 will put some pressure on those bricks.} Bb7 12. Rhe1 (12. Bb3 {is also common. The two moves sometimes transpose.}) 12... Qa5 ({The more compact} 12... Qc7 {is also playable.}) 13. Kb1 {A standard "part" of queenside castling, and a very typical motif (especially) in Sicilians with the queens opposite each other on d2 and a5 with the White knight in between.} Qc5 $2 $146 {A novelty, but not a good one. The idea is a good one: Black moves the queen so that ...d5 won't run into any Nxd5 tricks. Still, it loses too much time (especially since White was going to play Bb3 in any case) when White plays Na4 or e5 followed by Ne4. But Black is banking on the power of ...d5 to solve his problems.} ({Speaking of N(x)d5 tricks, we see that Kb1 was in part prophylaxis against this very advance.} 13... d5 $2 14. Nxd5 $1 Qxd2 15. Nc7+ Kd7 (15... Kf8 $2 16. Rxd2 Ra7 {White's knight is trapped, but Black cannot win it.} 17. Rd7 $18) 16. Nxa8 $1 Qxd1+ 17. Rxd1+ Bd6 18. Nb6+ Kc7 19. Na4 $16 {The two bishops don't offer much compensation for the pawn. (And don't take on h2 - after 20.g3 the bishop is trapped and soon lost.)}) (13... O-O-O {is a normal option. White can grab the e7-bishop, but Black is solid enough after} 14. Nd5 (14. Bb3 {maintains the tension. Black has tried three moves here, all of which probably maintain equality.} d5 (14... h5) (14... Kb8)) 14... Qxd2 15. Nxe7+ Kd7 16. Rxd2 Kxe7 $11 {; in fact, Black has gone 2-0 from here, though that's probably more a function of Black's higher rating in the games than any particular problem White faces now, especially with a rook lift like} 17. Rd3 {.}) (13... h5 $11 {is a typical move for Black in the Rauzer, even with the bishop on e7 rather than back on f8. It keeps White's queen out of h6 (or h5, when it's played with White's queen still on d1) and sometimes helps put a little pressure on the g-file in conjunction with ...h4. Black has a brilliant score from here: 5-1, but once again this is largely a function of Black typically outrating White. That said, Black is fine here.}) 14. Bb3 $16 d5 15. Na4 Qa7 16. c4 (16. Qa5) ({and} 16. f4 {are also good (arguably even better), but there's something refreshing about Harikrishna's direct and human approach.}) 16... Rd8 $2 {Allowing White to open the center by taking everything he can on d5 isn't likely to go well, but Dardha probably thought (or at least hoped) he had found a tactical solution to his problems.} (16... dxc4 17. Bxc4 Rd8 {was better, but Black's position is nothing to brag about after} 18. Qf4 $16 {Still: there's bad (which this is) and there's losing (as in the game).}) 17. cxd5 cxd5 18. Nc3 $1 $18 {Black is clearly lost.} (18. exd5 $2 Bxd5 $14 {is only a tiny bit better for White despite Black's suboptimal king placement.}) 18... dxe4 {This works well against all but one move. Unfortunately, that move is fairly obvious and completely crushing.} (18... d4 $2 19. Ba4+ Kf8 20. Qh6+ Kg8 21. Rd3 {is game over.}) (18... O-O 19. Qh6 Kh8 20. exd5 $18) (18... h5 19. exd5 $18) 19. Ba4+ Kf8 20. Qh6+ Kg8 21. Rxd8+ Bxd8 {Time to finish Black off.} 22. Re3 {Threatening 23.Rg3#.} Bc7 23. Nxe4 {Threatening 24.Nxf6#.} Bxe4+ (23... Be5 {allows White to demonstrate a textbook overload pattern.} 24. Rg3+ Bxg3 25. Nxf6#) 24. Rxe4 {Threatening 25.Rg4#! (Notice a pattern?)} f5 25. Rxe6 $1 (25. Qg5+ Kf8 26. Rxe6 $1 fxe6 27. Qf6+ Kg8 28. Bd7 $18 {is similarly horrendous for Black.}) (25. Rxe6 $1 fxe6 26. Bb3 {Threatening 27.Bxe6#.} Kf7 (26... Bd8 {drags the game out, but without any hopes of saving it in classical chess against an elite GM.} 27. Bxe6+ Qf7 28. Bxf7+ Kxf7 29. Qxa6 $18) 27. Qxe6+ Kg7 (27... Kf8 28. Qf7#) 28. Qf7+ Kh6 29. Qf6+ Kh5 30. Bd1#) 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.08"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Gukesh, D."] [Black "Svane, Frederik"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2763"] [BlackElo "2640"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "110"] [GameId "2241995318621458"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {Sad news: The World Champion is now unable to qualify for the Candidates, and so cannot earn the right to play himself for the title. (/sarc) It's good news for Frederik Svane, however, who took out one of the top players in the event and booked his passage into the fourth round.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 {I'm surprised that there are only 51,657 games from this position in the online database, but it should be kept in mind that there are transpositional possibilities as well. For instance, while "only" 17,783 games were played with 5.c3, there are another 37,436 games that transpose. (The story is similar with 5.0-0 and 5.Nc3.)} 5. O-O d6 6. c3 a5 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 h6 9. Nbd2 {There are still 1,345 games here, but that number gets winnowed down considerably after Black's next move.} Bb6 {Down to 76 games.} (9... Be6 {is the main move here by a long way.}) 10. a4 {Back to 146 games.} Bd7 {Five games.} (10... Ne7) (10... Be6) 11. b3 $146 (11. Nf1) 11... Be6 {Two games.} 12. Bb2 $146 {And, at last and for good, the players are in new territory.} (12. Nf1) 12... Kh8 (12... Nh5 $143 {isn't best here.} 13. d4 $14) 13. Ra2 (13. Bb5 $142) (13. Nf1 $142) 13... Nh5 $1 {Now it works, thanks to White's last move.} 14. Nf1 (14. d4 exd4 15. cxd4 Nb4 $1 {This is the point. After White's rook moves Black's knight can jump into f4 without any worries about the d4-d5 fork.}) 14... Nf4 15. Bc1 Qf6 16. Ng3 g5 $1 $11 17. Nh2 (17. d4 {is playable but very sharp after} g4 $1 18. Bxf4 gxf3 $1 {, when one representative possibility is} 19. Be3 exd4 $1 20. cxd4 Nxd4 {is an obvious reason for White to avoid the line, but after} 21. Nh5 Qe5 22. Bxd4 Bxd4 23. Qxf3 $11 {when it's not clear whose attacking prospects are greater.}) 17... Qg6 18. Be3 d5 $1 19. exd5 Bxd5 20. Bxb6 cxb6 21. Nf3 (21. Bxd5 Nxd5 22. Rd2 $11) 21... Rad8 22. Rd2 (22. Bxd5 Rxd5 23. d4 exd4 24. cxd4 Rfd8 25. Rd2 g4 26. hxg4 Qxg4 27. Qc1 $11 {Black's pieces are more active. On the other hand, he has two isolated pawns and doubled, semi-backward b-pawns. As long as White doesn't get mated, he should be fine.}) 22... Bxc4 23. dxc4 f6 24. Ne4 (24. Qb1 $1 {looks smart, aiming to blockade on e4 and/or f5. Black can avoid this with some trades, e.g.} Qxb1 25. Rxb1 Rxd2 26. Nxd2 f5 {, but that makes White's kingside a far safer place. Also, he can go for his queenside play with} 27. b4 axb4 28. cxb4 $11 {when he should be safe in the ending. Of course, all this talk about safety is easy when we know the result of the game.}) 24... Rxd2 25. Qxd2 Rd8 26. Qe3 f5 $1 {Desirable, obviously, but Black must be sure that his e-pawn will survive.} 27. Ng3 Nd3 28. Rd1 (28. Re2 $1 f4 29. Qe4 Kh7 30. Qxg6+ Kxg6 31. Ne4 $11) 28... f4 29. Qe4 Kh7 30. Qxg6+ Kxg6 31. Ne4 Kf5 $15 32. Nfd2 Nc5 (32... h5 $142 $15) 33. Re1 (33. g4+ $1 fxg3 34. fxg3 $1 {is equal and easy to miss (though easy to calculate once you consider it). The critical point is that} Nxe4 $2 {not only fails to win a piece because of} 35. Rf1+ {, it also leaves Black with a horrible position.} Kg6 36. Nxe4 $18) 33... Nd3 (33... h5 $142 $15) 34. Rb1 h5 35. Kf1 $11 Nc5 36. f3 Rd3 37. Kf2 g4 38. hxg4+ hxg4 {The engine still says "equal" (0.00, in fact), but as I've written on the blog many times such evaluations are often almost meaningless. It *can* mean that the position is a dead draw, or it could mean that it's completely equal - that's true. But it can *also* mean that one side has all the winning chances, but the weaker side can save the game by playing 20 only-moves that are each almost impossible for a human to find. The engine has found them, so it can yawn and say "0.00", but our chances of finding them are, well, functionally 0.00%. White's position isn't quite *that* bad, but it's not easy either.} 39. Re1 $2 {This is perhaps the third best move, and...it loses, even though it doesn't blunder anything and looks quite sensible.} (39. Rh1 {is the only move that fully maintains the "balance", and}) (39. Ke2 {is decent as well, forcing the rook to retreat or go to e3 in the next move or two.}) 39... g3+ $1 40. Ke2 Re3+ 41. Kd1 Rxe1+ 42. Kxe1 Ke6 $1 $19 {The point isn't the king is magnificent on e6; rather, it's clearance for the c6-knight to reach e3 or h4 via e7 and (relevant to the last move) f5.} 43. Kd1 Ne7 44. Ke2 Nf5 45. Ng5+ (45. Kf1 Ne3+ 46. Kg1 Nd3 $19 {and Black's intrusive knights will ransack White's pawns. (A funny possibility that's probably unlikely but would get me to burn a little time on the clock is something like ...Nc1-e2+ followed by ...Nd1-f2, hopefully with mate.)}) 45... Ke7 46. Nge4 Ke6 47. Ng5+ Kf6 48. Nge4+ Ke7 {No draw, of course; Svane was just short of time and giving himself some extra time to think with the 30" increments.} 49. Nxc5 bxc5 50. Ne4 b6 51. Kd3 ({Passive defense will eventually fail. For instance,} 51. Kf1 Ne3+ 52. Kg1 Ke6 53. Ng5+ Ke7 54. Ne4 Nf5 55. Kf1 Ke6 56. Ng5+ Kf6 57. Ne4+ Ke7 58. Kg1 Nd6 59. Nd2 (59. Nxd6 Kxd6 60. Kf1 e4 61. Ke2 Ke5 62. Kf1 Kf6 63. Ke2 (63. fxe4 Ke5 64. Ke2 Kxe4 $19) 63... Kg5 64. Kf1 (64. fxe4 Kg4 65. e5 Kf5 66. Kf3 Kxe5 $19) 64... Kh4 65. Ke2 (65. fxe4 Kg5 66. Ke2 Kf6 67. Kd2 Ke5 68. Kd3 f3 69. gxf3 g2 $19) 65... exf3+ 66. Kxf3 (66. gxf3 Kh3 $19) 66... Kg5 67. Ke4 Kg4 $19) 59... Ke6 60. Kf1 Kf5 61. Ke2 e4 $19) 51... Nh4 52. b4 Nxg2 53. bxc5 bxc5 54. Nxc5 Ne3 55. Ke2 {Otherwise the g-pawn promotes directly.} Nxc4 (55... Nd1 $1 {is a fun move to show off, but Svane's normal move is more than good enough.}) 0-1 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.08"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Donchenko, Alexander"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "E48"] [WhiteElo "2641"] [BlackElo "2769"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "93"] [GameId "2241995318621461"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {Gukesh was not the only high-profile player to be eliminated today, or for that matter the only player who didn't need to qualify for the Candidates (or beyond). Here we see Giri losing as well - and to another German player.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 Re8 (5... d5 {is by far the most commonly chosen move.}) 6. Nge2 d5 7. O-O Bf8 8. e4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Nd7 11. Qc2 f5 $146 (11... Nf6 12. Bf3 c5 (12... e5 $142 $146 13. dxe5 Ng4 14. e6 Bxe6 15. h3 Ne5 16. Bxb7 Bxc4 17. Rd1 Bd3 18. Qc3 Rb8 19. Be4 Bb4 20. Rxd3 Nxd3 21. Qxd3 Qxd3 22. Bxd3 Rbd8 23. Bc4 Rd1+ 24. Kh2 $11 {/?}) 13. Rd1 (13. dxc5 $142 $16) 13... cxd4 14. Nxd4 Qb6 15. Be3 Bc5 16. b4 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 Qxb4 18. Rab1 Qe7 19. Be5 Rd8 20. h3 h6 21. Qc3 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Ne8 23. c5 f6 24. Bd6 Nxd6 25. cxd6 Qd7 26. Qa3 a5 27. Rc1 Ra6 28. Rc7 Qd8 29. Qc5 Qxd6 30. Rxc8+ Kh7 31. Bxb7 Rb6 32. Qxd6 Rxd6 33. f3 Rd1+ 34. Kh2 Ra1 35. Rc2 Kg6 36. Bc6 f5 37. a4 {1-0 Abdisalimov,A (2504)-Xu,X (2628) Kazan BRICS Games Rapid Team 2024 (5.5)}) 12. Bf3 c6 13. g3 (13. Nf4) 13... e5 $11 14. Bg2 exd4 $6 {White's position is better suited for the position's opening up, especially thanks to ...f5.} (14... e4) (14... Qf6) (14... a5) 15. Nxd4 $14 Ne5 16. Rd1 Qf6 17. c5 a5 18. b3 Qf7 $6 (18... Qe7 $1 19. Ba3 Qf7 {was better, first displacing White's bishop on a3.}) 19. h3 (19. Re1 $142 $14 {/?}) 19... h6 (19... Qe7 $142) (19... Qf6 $142) 20. Re1 $1 Bd7 21. f4 Ng6 22. Be3 {The Black pawn on f5 is like the giving tree in Shel Silverstein's book. First, it's a target. Second, it shuts in the d7-bishop. Third, it opens the a2-g8 diagonal (beware of Bf1-c4!). And fourth - though this is relatively unlikely to matter - it creates a potential White outpost on e5.} Re7 $2 (22... Ne7 $1 $14 {was best, considerably improving the knight as it goes to d5 and from there to b4 or f6 on the way to e4.}) 23. Bf2 $16 (23. Bf1 $1 $16 {/+-}) 23... Rae8 24. Rxe7 (24. Red1 $142) 24... Nxe7 25. Re1 Nd5 $1 {Giri rightly sacrifices the f-pawn, as he gains a considerable degree of freedom as compensation.} 26. Rxe8 Qxe8 27. Nxf5 Nb4 28. Qb1 Qh5 $2 (28... Qe6 $142 29. Nh4 {Best.} g5 $1 30. fxg5 hxg5 31. Nf3 g4 32. hxg4 Qxg4 33. Ne5 Qf5 34. Qe1 $11 {/?}) 29. Nd6 $16 {/+- The problem.} Bxh3 $2 (29... Bxd6 $1 30. cxd6 Qe2 $1 $16 {/+- was necessary though nowhere near sufficient for equality.}) 30. Bxh3 Qxh3 31. Qg6 $18 Qd7 $8 32. f5 $2 (32. Kh2 $1 $18 {was best. This Kasparovian prophylactic move puts the king on a great square, away from potential checks, and next he'll play Bd4, Nf5, or Ne4. Black is "cooked", as the kids say. (For those of you who think I meant "Karpovian", nope. Check out some of Kasparov's wins against Karpov in the Zaitsev Variation of the Ruy Lopez [and elsewhere]. Just before launching the final, decisive wave of the attack he'd regularly take time out for a move like Kh2, avoiding tactical possibilities based on back-rank or other checks.)}) 32... Nd5 $14 33. Bd4 Qe7 $1 {Black's opportunities for counterplay are obvious here.} 34. Kf1 b5 (34... Ne3+ $1 {was best, but especially short of time it's hard for Black to calculate and assess the endgame arising after} 35. Bxe3 Qxe3 36. Qe6+ Qxe6 37. fxe6 {. Black is in fact okay, but it's also understandable that Giri wouldn't feel comfortable choosing this without having the time to work it out.} b6 $1 38. Ke2 Be7 $1 39. Kf3 Kf8 40. Ke4 h5 41. Kf5 bxc5 42. Nb7 c4 43. bxc4 a4 44. Na5 Bd6 45. Nxc6 Bxg3 $11) 35. a4 bxa4 36. bxa4 Qd7 $2 ({But now} 36... Ne3+ $1 {had to be played.} 37. Bxe3 Qxe3 38. Qe6+ Qxe6 39. fxe6 g6 $1 {The only move, but it's good enough. Everything else is losing, here and back on move 36.} 40. Nb7 Kg7 41. Nxa5 Bxc5 42. Nxc6 (42. Nb7 Bb4 43. a5 Bxa5 44. Nxa5 Kf6 45. Nxc6 Kxe6 {This is a draw, believe it or not.} 46. Kf2 Kf5 47. Kf3 h5 48. Nd4+ Ke5 49. Ne2 Kf5 50. Nf4 Kg5 $11 {Black can't force the exchange of White's last pawn, but any attempt by White to make progress will result in that exchange after all.}) 42... Kf6 43. a5 (43. e7 Bxe7 44. Nxe7 Kxe7 45. Ke2 h5 46. Kf3 g5 $8 47. Ke4 h4 $11) 43... Kxe6 44. a6 Kf5 45. Kg2 g5 46. Kf3 (46. Kh3 h5 47. a7 Bxa7 48. Nxa7 Ke4 49. Nb5 Kf5 $11 {and as in the 42.Nb7 line above Black can't force the trade and White can't make progress.}) 46... g4+ 47. Kg2 Kg5 48. a7 Bxa7 49. Nxa7 h5 50. Nc6 h4 $11) 37. f6 $1 $18 Nxf6 38. Bxf6 Qe6 {This works against every move but one.} 39. Ne4 $1 Qc4+ 40. Kg2 Qe2+ 41. Kh3 Qf1+ 42. Kg4 Qd1+ 43. Kf5 Qd7+ 44. Kf4 {No more checks. White consolidates his extra piece, winning the game and the match.} Qe6 45. g4 Qc4 46. Bc3 Qf1+ 47. Ke5 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.08"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Martinez Alcantara, Jose Eduardo"] [Black "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B22"] [WhiteElo "2644"] [BlackElo "2750"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "103"] [GameId "2241995318629657"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,103,20,23,26,-47,14,-12,5,5,23,24,60,11,42,43,23,27,31,18,19,18,21,22,35,36,46,9,20,-4,20,48,40,42,38,14,51,95,109,191,86,1,83,-54,79,95,58,69,52,45,63,59,56,61,54,60,4,62,62,44,66,59,57,55,-4,51,-46,72,7,40,88,53,228,169,147,203,95,151,137,74,54,47,52,80,55,85,116,100,178,204,241,105,175,-1,1,-1,-1,-1,373,365,164,219,589,533,630,522]} 1. e4 c5 2. c3 {The usual choice of players needing only a draw to clinch victory in a knockout context. Martinez ("Jospem") won the first game, as we've already seen, and is looking for safety in the rematch.} Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 e6 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. cxd4 b6 7. Bd2 Bb7 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. Bxc3 Na6 10. a3 Nc7 11. Bd3 Be7 12. Qe2 O-O 13. h4 h6 14. Bd2 f5 15. exf6 Bxf6 16. Rh3 d6 $2 (16... Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Bg5 {was worth trying. White is somewhat worse unless he gives up the queen with} 18. Qxf8+ Qxf8 19. hxg5 {, and Black has achieved an interesting and imbalanced position after} h5 $1 20. Rxh5 Nd5 $11 {It does feel as if there might be a perpetual check lurking here, so that may be what scared Abdusattorov away from this.}) 17. Rc1 $6 $16 (17. O-O-O $1 $18 {followed by an all-out kingside attack will probably result in a quick win for White. But that's the dilemma for White in such situations: when a draw is enough one wants to minimize risk.}) 17... Qd7 18. Bb1 Nd5 19. Qd3 Kf7 20. Rg3 Ke8 21. Kf1 Kd8 22. Re1 Kc7 23. Qe2 Rae8 24. Bd3 Bc6 25. Kg1 Kb8 $11 {White is fine, but so is Black. The advantage is gone and now a full-blooded fight is in prospect. Sometimes the biggest risk is not to take a risk!} 26. Bg6 Re7 27. Be4 Bb7 28. Qd3 Rc8 29. Qb3 Qd8 30. a4 a6 31. Bd3 Ka7 32. Rg4 Qd7 33. Ne5 Qd8 34. Nc4 g5 35. hxg5 Bxg5 $2 (35... hxg5 $11 36. Bxg5 (36. Rxg5 $2 Bxd4 $1 $19) 36... Bxg5 37. Rxg5 Rc6 $15) 36. Rxg5 $1 {That's the problem with Black's last move.} hxg5 37. Bxg5 Qc7 38. Bxe7 Qxe7 39. Be4 $2 (39. g3 $16) 39... Qc7 $11 40. Nd2 Qg7 41. Nc4 Qc7 42. Nd2 {Repeating moves is fine for White, who clinches match victory with a draw.} Rh8 $6 (42... Rf8 $11) 43. Qg3 Qf7 44. Nc4 $6 (44. a5 $1 $16) 44... Nf4 $1 {A fully correct piece sacrifice. The only problem is that White can force Black to make a perpetual check.} (44... Qf6 $5 {is worse but maybe necessary under the circumstances.} 45. Qxd6 Qxd4 46. Ne5 $16) 45. Nxd6 Qf6 (45... Qf8 $142 $11) 46. Nxb7 (46. a5 $1) 46... Qh6 47. f3 Qf6 48. Re3 Rf8 {(?)} (48... Qxd4 {is the only move that doesn't lose the game, but it still loses the match:} 49. Qxf4 $8 Qd1+ 50. Kf2 Qd2+ 51. Kg1 $8 Qd1+ 52. Kf2 Qd2+ 53. Kg1 $11) 49. Nd6 $18 Qxd4 50. Kf1 $1 Kb8 (50... Qxe3 51. Qg7+ Kb8 52. Qb7#) 51. Nf5 $1 Qe5 (51... exf5 52. Qxf4+ Kc8 (52... Ka7 53. Qc7#) 53. Bb7+ $18) 52. Qg7 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.08"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Grandelius, Nils"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "A22"] [WhiteElo "2742"] [BlackElo "2661"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "102"] [GameId "2241995318629658"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,102,21,18,18,4,-37,0,4,9,9,9,7,15,16,9,17,6,34,13,0,11,40,-3,-2,10,25,65,31,138,22,22,30,37,145,-1,44,8,66,2,15,7,106,167,142,163,145,163,197,177,215,116,102,156,54,0,98,1,-28,1,42,-1,-1,-86,-1,1,1,1,21,1,14,1,1,1,3,-57,1,1,-1,-1,1,1,-1,-22,1,1,-1,-1,1,-1,-1,-72,-1,-52,-1,-26,1,-158,-311,-312,-344,-405,-292,-476,-508] Yet another elite player gets shown the exit.} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2 Bg4 7. d3 Bxe2 8. Qxe2 Nc6 9. O-O Nd4 10. Qd1 c6 11. f4 b5 12. Kh1 Rb8 13. a3 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Ne6 15. cxb5 cxb5 16. d4 Re8 17. Qd3 a6 18. Be3 Rc8 19. a4 d5 20. fxe5 dxe4 21. Qc2 Nd5 22. Qxe4 Nxc3 23. Qf3 Nxd4 24. Qxf7+ Kh8 25. Rad1 Nxd1 26. Rxd1 Rf8 27. Qh5 Rc4 28. axb5 axb5 29. e6 Qf6 30. Rxd4 Rxd4 31. e7 Qxe7 32. Bxd4 {The beginning of a tense endgame. It's equal and remains equal for a long time, but in the end it's Mamedyarov who cracks.} Qe1+ 33. Bg1 b4 34. Qc5 Re8 35. Qb5 h6 36. h4 Qe5 37. Qd3 Rb8 38. Kh2 b3 39. Ba7 Qb5 40. Qg6 Qe8 41. Qd6 Rd8 42. Qb4 Qe6 43. Bg1 Kh7 44. Bc5 Kh8 45. Qa5 Qf6 46. Bb4 Rc8 47. Qb5 b2 48. Bd2 $6 {This holds too, but only if White finds a spectacular resource on the next move.} ({It's getting precarious for White but he can still save the game, e.g. with} 48. Ba3 Rc2 49. h5 Qe6 50. Bxb2 Qe4 51. Bxg7+ Kh7 52. Qf1 Kxg7 53. Kh1 Qe5 54. Qf3 $11) 48... Qd4 49. Bf4 $2 ({Only} 49. Be3 $3 {draws. Surprisingly, Black cannot win the ending after} Qxe3 50. Qxb2 {despite being a full exchange ahead. Had the players realized this the game would have ended in a draw long ago.}) 49... Rc2 $19 50. Qb7 Qd3 51. Bxh6 gxh6 {White has some checks, but no perpetual.} 0-1 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.08"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Adams, Michael"] [Black "Lodici, Lorenzo"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C02"] [WhiteElo "2635"] [BlackElo "2572"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "78"] [GameId "2241995318629659"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {In round 2 Lodici eliminated Hans Niemann, and now it's Michael Adams turn to be dispatched by the Italian grandmaster. That said, the result could easily have gone the other way as Adams had a winning advantage before going awry.} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 f6 7. O-O fxe5 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. dxe5 Qc7 10. Bf4 Ne7 11. Nd2 O-O-O 12. b4 Ng6 13. Bg3 Nxe5 14. c4 Bc6 15. Bg4 $18 dxc4 16. Qe2 {Not terrible, but there was better.} (16. Bxe6+ {Why not?} Kb8 {Now there's nothing wrong with 17.Qe2, which is winning handily, but White can also spice it up with} (16... Bd7 17. Bxc4 $18) 17. Nxc4 $1 Rxd1 18. Raxd1 Ka8 19. Bxe5 {Black's tiny material advantage doesn't matter as his king is desperately weak.} Qe7 20. Rd3 h5 (20... cxb4 21. Rfd1 $18) (20... b5 21. Na5 c4 (21... Qxe6 22. Rd8+ Qc8 23. Rxc8#) 22. Rd6 Qxd6 23. Bxd6 Bxd6 24. Nxc6 $18) 21. Nb6+ axb6 22. Ra3+ Ba4 23. Rxa4#) 16... Rxd2 17. Qxd2 Qd7 18. Qf4 $2 ({White is still winning, provided he comes up with} 18. Qxd7+ $1 Nxd7 19. Rfe1 cxb4 20. Rxe6 Bc5 21. Rxc6+ $1 bxc6 22. Rd1 Rd8 23. Bh4 $18) 18... Bd6 19. Rad1 Nf3+ 20. Bxf3 $2 $11 {After this White is not only not winning; he's not even better.} (20. Qxf3 $1 Bxf3 21. Bxf3 Bxg3 $8 22. Rxd7 Kxd7 23. fxg3 $1 cxb4 24. Bxb7 {is probably still winning for White.}) (20. gxf3 Bxf4 21. Rxd7 Bxd7 22. Bxf4 cxb4 23. Rd1 $16) 20... Bxf4 21. Rxd7 Bxf3 $2 {It's Christmas in November as Adams gets one final chance to win the game.} (21... Kxd7 $1 $11) 22. Bxf4 $4 (22. Rxg7 Bxg3 23. hxg3 Bd5 24. b5 $18 {Black's c-pawns aren't dangerous without the help of the b-pawn, and with White's rook on the 7th rank and a usable kingside pawn majority White should win fairly comfortably.}) 22... Kxd7 23. gxf3 cxb4 $15 {Black has three pawns for the piece and a threatening mass of pawns on the queenside. With best play White should survive, but it's not going to be easy.} 24. Rd1+ Kc6 $1 25. Rd6+ $2 ({White needed to bring the king over ASAP rather than go for active counterplay. That goes against what we're usually taught about rook endgames.} 25. Rd4 $1 Kb5 26. Kf1 $1 a5 27. Ke2 Rf8 28. Bc1 {and White's turtling should save him.}) 25... Kb5 $19 26. Rd7 a5 27. Rxb7+ Ka4 {The pawns are too strong.} 28. Kf1 Rd8 {No help is coming from White's king.} 29. Ke2 Ka3 30. Ra7 Rd5 31. Bc7 a4 32. Bf4 c3 33. h4 c2 34. Bd2 Kb2 35. Rc7 b3 36. axb3 axb3 37. Rc3 h5 38. f4 Rd7 39. Ke3 Rb7 {Next up: ...Kb1, ...b2, ...c1Q.} 0-1 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.08"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Black "Fedoseev, Vladimir3"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "2660"] [BlackElo "2717"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "39"] [GameId "2241995318629667"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 25,59,23,193,160,178,185,316,314,486,460,497,446,526,473,553,492,594,599,768,831,874,729,696,792,731,691,702,603,947,951,981,1071,1108,1228,1328,1289] Fedoseev had lost the first game and decided to play extra risky chess with Black in this one. It didn't go well!} 1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. e4 Bb7 4. Bd3 f5 $2 {It's bad but tricky, and has been played many times even when Black has not been in a must-win situation.} 5. exf5 $1 Bxg2 $2 {From bad to worse. This can be tried in blitz, but against an elite GM in classical chess? It's begging for a loss.} (5... Bb4+ {is the "real" move, when play continues} 6. Kf1 $1 Nf6 {and now White has a variety of promising moves. The line is objectively bad for Black, but it's so complicated that even elite players have become bamboozled in the complications and lost. The most common moves by White are 7.c5 and 7.Nf3, but Stockfish prefers two other moves: 7.a3, which has been played a fair number of times with good results, and 7.h4, which is almost entirely unheard of. It claims that White has a decisive advantage in both cases.}) 6. Qh5+ g6 7. fxg6 Bg7 8. gxh7+ Kf8 9. Bg5 (9. Ne2 $18 {also wins, and can transpose.}) 9... Nf6 10. Qh4 Bxh1 11. Ne2 {Black is up a rook for two pawns, but the threat of Nf4-g6+ is very bad news.} Nc6 12. Nbc3 $2 {A sudden chance for Black. This is shocking, as almost everyone in this position found the correct move - even in blitz and *bullet* games.} (12. Nd2 {was the right way, to meet} e5 {with} 13. f3 $18 (13. O-O-O $18 {is also winning.})) 12... e5 $1 {Now there's no f3, and after} 13. O-O-O exd4 {White's knight is under attack, which would not have been the case after 12.Nd2.} 14. Rxh1 dxc3 15. Nf4 Ne5 $15 16. Bc2 $2 {Incredibly, Fedoseev's garbage opening has given him a winning advantage. But here, alas, he is hoist with his own petard. The complicated nature of the position led Wojtaszek astray, and now it's Fedoseev who gets confused and blunders back.} (16. Be4) 16... Kf7 $2 (16... Nf3 17. Ng6+ Ke8 18. Qf4 Nxg5 19. Qxg5 Rxh7 $19 {White retains some compensation - he's a full rook down - but it's not enough. If you're tempted to regain some material with} 20. Re1+ Kf7 21. Ne5+ Kg8 22. Bxh7+ Nxh7 {the problem is that almost every queen move is met by ...Qg5(+), getting the queens off the board, and if} 23. Qe3 {, to meet ...Qg5 with 24.f4, Black instead plays} Qf6 $19 {and starts moving forward with an extra piece and attacking chances.}) 17. Nh5 $18 Nf3 18. Qf4 Nxg5 19. Qxg5 Qf8 $2 (19... Nxh5 20. Qxh5+ Kf8 21. Qf3+ $1 {There's no ...Qf6 because the a8-rook is hanging.} Bf6 22. Rd1 $1 $18 {It's easy to say that White is winning while running an engine, but Black is still up a rook for just one pawn (and can make it a full rook if he wants by taking on b2) and isn't facing any immediate threats. All the same, it is winning, and Black's problem is that he can't really "fix" his position. White's attack will last forever.}) 20. Bg6+ (20. Bg6+ Ke7 21. Re1+ Kd8 22. Re8+ Qxe8 23. Bxe8 {Material is equal but Black has too many loose pieces. Add to that a bad king and White's h-pawn, and the contest is over.}) 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.08"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Liang, Awonder"] [Black "Svane, Rasmus"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D77"] [WhiteElo "2701"] [BlackElo "2609"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "131"] [GameId "2241995318637862"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 dxc4 7. Na3 c5 8. dxc5 c3 9. Nb5 Na6 10. Nxc3 Nxc5 11. Be3 Nfe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Bd4 Bxd4 14. Qxd4 Qxd4 15. Nxd4 Nd6 16. Rac1 Rd8 17. f4 Kf8 18. Kf2 Ne4+ 19. Ke3 Nf6 20. Bf3 Rb8 21. Rfd1 Ng4+ 22. Bxg4 Bxg4 23. Nb5 Rxd1 24. Rxd1 a6 25. Nc3 Ke8 26. a4 Bd7 27. Rd4 h5 28. Kd3 f6 29. e4 Be6 30. Rb4 b6 31. Rd4 Rc8 32. Rb4 Rb8 33. Nd5 Bxd5 34. exd5 a5 35. Rb3 Kd7 36. Kd4 Kd6 37. h3 Rb7 38. g4 hxg4 39. hxg4 Rb8 40. Kc4 Rc8+ 41. Kd4 Rb8 42. g5 fxg5 43. fxg5 e6 44. dxe6 Kxe6 45. Kc4 Kf5 46. Rb5+ {Liang has been milking his slight advantage for a long time and has done very well to keep forcing Svane to solve fresh problems. Svane has done well though and is still headed for a draw. Unfortunately, he now chooses the only move that doesn't draw.} Ke4 $2 {Black doesn't want White to play Kd5, but (a) the king does nothing on e4 and (b) he could have achieved the same goal while keeping his king in touch with his pawns by retreating to e6 instead.} (46... Ke6 $11 47. b4 axb4 48. Kb3 Kd6 49. a5 Kc6 $11) (46... Kf4 $11 47. b4 axb4 48. Kxb4 (48. Kb3 Ra8 $11) 48... Ra8 $11) (46... Kg4 $11 47. b4 axb4 48. Kxb4 (48. Kb3 Ra8 $11) 48... Ra8 $11) 47. b4 $1 $18 axb4 48. Kb3 $3 {Preparing a5 in a way that doesn't allow Black to escape with a check (either from the rook or by ...bxa5). Now Black loses the b-pawn without getting White's g-pawn in return.} (48. Kxb4 $2 {lets Black fix his mistake.} Kf4 $1 49. Kb3 {To play a4-a5.} Rc8 50. Rxb6 Kxg5 $11) 48... Rd8 49. Rxb6 Rd3+ 50. Kxb4 Rd4+ 51. Ka5 Kf5 52. Rb4 Rd6 53. Rb5+ Ke4 54. Kb4 Rd4+ 55. Kb3 Rd3+ 56. Kb2 Rd2+ 57. Kc3 Rd3+ 58. Kb4 Rd4+ 59. Ka5 Rd6 60. Rc5 Kd4 61. Kb5 Re6 62. a5 Rd6 63. Rc4+ Kd3 64. Rc6 Rd5+ 65. Rc5 Rd6 66. a6 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.08"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Alekseenko, Kirill"] [Black "Leko, Peter"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2666"] [BlackElo "2660"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "84"] [GameId "2241995318646064"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,84,23,33,25,21,9,12,0,9,9,7,15,7,13,10,13,11,10,-27,6,34,54,-6,-6,0,-7,0,18,-1,-13,-29,-3,-124,-46,-42,-10,-28,21,-36,-39,-8,-30,-44,0,-71,-121,-71,-111,-106,-97,-79,-126,-82,-42,-53,-89,-48,-50,-100,-38,-10,-57,-88,1,-1,1,-1,1,-1,1,-1,-1,-314,-338,-387,-375,-365,-347,-404,-343,-432,-344,-507,-472,-480,-440] Peter Leko was once the youngest grandmaster ever and a world championship finalist back in 2004 who came within a game of becoming the 15th World Chess Champion. He's still very strong, but is unfortunately best known nowadays as a commentator and as Vincent Keymer's trainer. So far, he's proving that he can still play, too, and I for one would love to see him qualify for the Candidates.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 {This reeks of scholastic chess, but it has been gaining in popularity in the big leagues too.} Nf6 5. d3 a6 (5... d6 6. Na4 {is one of White's ideas.}) 6. a4 d6 7. O-O O-O 8. Bg5 {Still very "scholastic", but one difference between "normal" kids and the pros is that they won't miss White's threat of Nd5, destroying Black's kingside.} h6 (8... Nd4 $4 9. Nxd4 Bxd4 10. Nd5 c6 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Bh6 Re8 13. Qf3 {and Black is finished.} Kh8 {is best but} 14. Bxf7 $18 {will leave White at least the exchange and a pawn ahead.}) 9. Bh4 Nd4 {Now this is fine.} 10. Nxd4 Bxd4 11. Ne2 Ba7 12. Kh1 {With the obvious and dangerous threat of f4.} g5 $1 13. Bg3 Nh5 14. f3 c6 15. b4 (15. c3) 15... Kh7 {White wanted to play f4, and now Black wants to play ...f5.} 16. b5 d5 $1 17. Bb3 Qd6 18. bxc6 bxc6 19. exd5 cxd5 20. d4 Nxg3+ 21. Nxg3 exd4 $1 {Not greed but self-defense, as dxe5 was a serious threat.} 22. c3 (22. f4 $1 gxf4 23. Nh5 f5 24. Nxf4 Bb7 25. Re1 Rae8 26. Rxe8 Rxe8 27. Qh5 Rf8 {is messy. Black is a pawn up with the bishop pair, but his kingside is a bit drafty and all five of his pawns are isolated.}) 22... Rb8 $15 23. cxd4 Rb4 24. Rc1 $6 Kh8 $6 $15 (24... Kg8 $1 $17) 25. Qd3 a5 26. Rfe1 (26. Bc2 $142 f5 27. Ne2 $15) 26... Bd7 (26... Bxd4 $15) 27. Bc2 f5 28. Ne2 (28. Rb1) 28... Re8 (28... Bb8 $142 {Earlier we had a copycat situation with White going for f4 and Black going for ...f5; now, White set up the "double-A battery" with the queen and bishop pointing to h7 and now Black doing the same against h2.} 29. g3 h5 {with the beginnings of a kingside attack.}) 29. g4 $1 {Back to White's battery.} Rf8 30. Rb1 Bc8 31. Rxb4 axb4 32. Ng3 Ba6 (32... Qf4 $11) 33. Qd2 fxg4 34. Nf5 Qf4 35. Qxf4 gxf4 {Both sides have played very well so far, but now Alekseenko cracks.} 36. fxg4 $4 {Time trouble?} (36. Re6 $1 Bc4 37. fxg4 f3 38. Rxh6+ Kg8 39. Rg6+ {and Black must allow the perpetual check (39...Kf7?? 40.Rg7+ and 41.Rxa7 wins).} Kh7 40. Rh6+ Kg8 41. Rg6+ $11) 36... f3 {The f-pawn wins the game.} 37. Re6 {If White's last two moves were played the other way around he'd be fine. Here, there's a fatal problem.} ({Maybe Alekseenko assumed he'd have} 37. Kg1 {, only to realize a move too late that Black wins with} Rxf5 38. Bxf5 Bxd4+ 39. Kh1 f2 $19) 37... Rxf5 $1 38. Rxh6+ (38. gxf5 f2 $19) 38... Kg8 39. Rxa6 f2 40. Bd3 f1=Q+ 41. Bxf1 Rxf1+ 42. Kg2 Rf7 {The b-pawn will cost White his rook.} 0-1 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.09"] [Round "3.3"] [White "Shankland, Sam"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2649"] [BlackElo "2715"] [WhiteFideId "2004887"] [WhiteFideId "5029465"] [PlyCount "150"] [GameId "2242368917182950"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. b4 b6 9. a3 a5 10. Bd3 Ba6 11. O-O Qc8 12. Re1 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Qb7 14. Rec1 h6 15. h3 Rfc8 16. Qd1 Ra7 17. Rab1 axb4 18. axb4 b5 19. Ra1 Rca8 20. Rxa7 Qxa7 21. Qc2 Bd8 22. Nd2 Qa3 23. Rb1 Nf8 24. Rb2 Qa1+ 25. Kh2 Ng6 26. Nb3 Qa7 27. Ra2 Qb7 28. Kg1 Nxf4 29. exf4 Bc7 30. g3 g6 31. h4 h5 32. Kg2 Kg7 33. Rxa8 Qxa8 34. Qa2 Qb7 35. Ne2 Ne4 36. Nec1 Nc3 37. Qc2 Ne4 38. Qa2 Nf6 39. Nd3 Ng8 40. Ne5 Ne7 41. Kf1 f6 42. Nd3 Nf5 43. Ke2 Kf7 44. Kd2 Bb8 45. Kc3 Bc7 46. Qa1 Bb8 47. Qe1 Qa8 48. Kb2 Bc7 49. f3 Qh8 50. Kc3 Ke7 51. Na5 {Shankland has been trying to squeeze blood from a stone since the opening, without success. Finally, though, his persistence pays off. It turns out that this stone is of the blood-oozing variety.} Kd7 $5 {Vidit decides to give Shankland the chance to do something, and now both sides get to play for a win.} (51... Qa8 {also leads to mutual chances:} 52. g4 $1 Nh6 53. f5 $1 gxf5 54. g5 Nf7 {with a complicated mess.}) 52. Nxc6 $1 Qa8 $1 53. g4 $1 Qa3+ $6 {It's still equal after this, but harder for Black to maintain.} (53... hxg4 54. fxg4 Nh6 {and now White has many tries. Let's survey some of them:} 55. Na5 (55. g5 Qa3+ 56. Kc2 Qa2+ 57. Nb2 Nf5 $1 58. gxf6 Kxc6 59. f7 $8 Nxd4+ 60. Kd3 Qxb2 61. f8=Q Qb3+ 62. Kxd4 e5+ $1 63. fxe5 Qc4+ 64. Ke3 Qe4+ 65. Kf2 Qxh4+ $11 {Black will keep giving skewer checks that force White's king to stay attached to the original queen, which will allow a perpetual.}) (55. f5 Qxc6 56. fxg6 e5 57. dxe5 Nxg4 58. g7 Qe6 59. c6+ Ke7 60. exf6+ Nxf6 61. Qxe6+ Kxe6 62. Nc5+ Kd6 63. h5 Ng8 64. Kd4 Kxc6 65. Ne6 Bb6+ 66. Ke5 Be3 67. Nd8+ Kd7 68. Ne6 $11) 55... Bxa5 56. c6+ Kd6 $1 57. Nc5 Bd8 $8 58. Qxe6+ Kc7 59. Qd7+ Kb6 60. Kb2 $1 Bc7 $8 61. f5 (61. Qe6 Qxc6 62. Qc8 Ka7 {will likely transpose (unless White decides to repeat right away with 63.Ne6 Kb6 64.Nc5 Ka7 65.Ne6 etc.).}) 61... g5 62. Qe6 Qxc6 63. hxg5 fxg5 $8 64. Nd7+ Kb7 65. Nc5+ Kb6 66. Qc8 Ka7 $8 67. f6 Nf7 $1 {and now White really has nothing better than to repeat:} 68. Ne6 Kb6 69. Nc5 Ka7 $8 70. Ne6 $11) 54. Kc2 hxg4 $2 (54... Nxh4 $1 55. f5 $1 gxf5 $1 56. Qxh4 Qa4+ $1 $11) 55. fxg4 $18 {And White lived happily ever after, enjoying the fruit of his labors? Not in this story.} Ng7 56. Na5 $1 Qa4+ 57. Kc3 (57. Kb2 $142 Bxa5 58. bxa5 Qxd4+ 59. Qc3 $18) 57... Bxa5 58. bxa5 Qxa5+ 59. Nb4 $2 (59. Kb2 Qa4 60. Nb4 $18 {Black has no checks, and White will combine threats to advance his c-pawn with the option of h4-h5 if Black's knight ever runs to the queenside. White is clearly winning.}) 59... Qa3+ 60. Kc2 Qf3 $1 $11 {Now it's anyone's game.} 61. Nd3 Qxg4 62. Qa5 Nf5 63. Qa7+ (63. Qxb5+) 63... Ke8 64. c6 $2 {The c-pawn is dangerous, but not dangerous enough.} Qe2+ 65. Kc3 b4+ $1 {This nasty shot is clearly what Shankland missed--White loses his knight. His c-pawn might let him collect Black's knight, but even then he will end up several pawns down and without a perpetual check.} 66. Kxb4 Qxd3 67. Qd7+ Kf8 68. c7 Qxd4+ 69. Kb5 Qc4+ 70. Kb6 Qb4+ 71. Ka6 Qc4+ 72. Ka7 Ne7 73. Kb7 d4 74. f5 gxf5 75. h5 Qd5+ 0-1 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.09"] [Round "3.4"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Shankland, Sam"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "2715"] [BlackElo "2649"] [WhiteFideId "5029465"] [WhiteFideId "2004887"] [PlyCount "97"] [GameId "2242368917182961"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,97,14,10,28,-46,30,-20,30,28,25,26,38,37,38,38,30,28,35,36,90,27,46,68,71,46,139,44,34,61,37,48,40,28,-29,35,17,33,53,42,50,42,55,64,33,46,-122,33,13,28,39,3,10,10,61,33,-49,17,75,8,-6,20,75,58,54,154,67,46,27,-38,1,-7,-19,-132,-162,-132,-136,-183,-199,-192,-1,-257,-219,-299,-307,-101,-330,-437,-435,-514,-408,-556,-519,-408,-306,-427,-472,-545,-627,-578] Thanks to his somewhat fortunate win in the first game, all Vidit needs is a draw with White to advance to the fourth round. Piece of cake!} 1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 c6 8. Re1 h6 9. h3 Re8 10. Be3 Bf8 11. a5 exd4 12. Bxd4 Qc7 13. Bf1 (13. Ba2) ({and} 13. Nh4 {are the usual moves here.}) 13... Ne5 $6 (13... Rb8 $14 {(or the weird-looking 13...Qb8) was better, intending ...b5.}) 14. Nh2 $14 {/?} (14. Nd2 $16 {was a better version of the same idea, and a move that had been played before.}) 14... g5 15. Qd2 (15. g3) 15... Be6 16. f4 gxf4 17. Qxf4 Bg7 18. Qf2 a6 (18... b5 $1 19. axb6 $6 axb6 20. Bxb6 Qb7 $44) 19. Na4 (19. Kh1 $142 $16) 19... Qe7 20. Nb6 $6 (20. Bxe5 $142 dxe5 21. Nc5 $16) 20... Rad8 $11 21. Rad1 Nfd7 22. Nxd7 Rxd7 23. Re3 Kh7 24. Rg3 Rg8 25. Kh1 Rdd8 26. Be2 Bh8 27. Nf1 Rg6 28. Rxg6 fxg6 29. Nh2 Rf8 (29... c5) 30. Qg3 h5 31. Nf3 Nxf3 32. Bxf3 h4 33. Qf2 Be5 {Shankland has outplayed Vidit somewhat over the past 20 moves, but if White had swapped bishops he still would have been fine. Yes, White's bishop isn't amazing, but if that's the only thing he has to worry about he'll be fine.} 34. c3 $6 (34. Bxe5 $142 dxe5 $11) 34... Qg5 $6 (34... Bg3 $1 35. Qe2 Qf7 $1 {Threatening ...Bxh3. White can't play Rf1 because of ...Bc4, so this threat is surprisingly annoying.}) 35. Bxe5 $1 dxe5 36. Qd2 $6 {The pawn-down rook ending is still drawn, but you know what's better than making a draw a pawn down? Making a draw with even material!} (36. Rf1 $11) (36. Qc5 $11) 36... Qxd2 37. Rxd2 Bxh3 38. gxh3 Rxf3 39. Rd7+ Kh6 40. Rxb7 $2 {Losing--it turns out that not all rook endings are drawn.} (40. Kg2 $8 Rg3+ 41. Kh2 Kg5 $1 42. Rxb7 $8 Kf4 43. Rb6 {and White's counterplay is just in time to draw.}) 40... Rxh3+ $19 {It's not the number of pawns that matter. White is losing not because of the pawn count, but because Black now has connected passers.} 41. Kg2 Rd3 42. Rb6 g5 43. Rxa6 g4 44. Rxc6+ Kg5 45. Rc8 h3+ 46. Kf2 Rd2+ 47. Ke3 (47. Kg3 Rg2#) (47. Kg1 g3 48. a6 Rd1#) 47... Rxb2 48. Re8 h2 49. Rxe5+ {I don't know if White resigned without waiting for Black's reply, or if the old problem of players and arbiters not knowing how to properly put the result on the DGT board, but the game score I downloaded ended here. Every legal move wins here, with 49...Kh4 50.Re8 Kg3 probably the easiest way to finish things off. Good job by Shankland, and now the players continue to another round of tiebreaks.} 0-1 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.09"] [Round "3.5"] [White "Shankland, Sam"] [Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2649"] [BlackElo "2715"] [WhiteFideId "2004887"] [WhiteFideId "5029465"] [PlyCount "76"] [GameId "2242368917191161"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,76,18,10,16,16,19,18,19,31,17,24,7,31,30,1,-61,10,-10,-12,0,2,-3,15,18,9,18,1,63,-60,81,73,-4,19,-60,7,34,0,31,55,53,53,-18,105,38,45,48,54,-59,70,96,112,107,227,114,54,-1,54,54,58,55,26,31,43,52,77,60,60,49,27,41,21,24,31,16,21,24,9,-1]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 Bb4 6. cxd5 exd5 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 c5 9. e3 Qa5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. dxc5 Qxc5 12. Be2 Ne4 13. O-O Qxc3 14. Qxd5 Ndf6 15. Qd4 (15. Qa2 $1 Be6 16. Qb1 $14 {/? gives White a nice edge thanks to the bishop pair. The dark-squared bishop is especially nice, heading for e5.}) 15... Bg4 16. Rfc1 (16. Be5 $142) 16... Qxd4 17. Nxd4 Bxe2 18. Nxe2 Rfc8 {Now that White's bishop pair is gone Black is fine.} 19. f3 Nc5 20. e4 Nd3 21. Rxc8+ Rxc8 22. Be3 a6 (22... b6 $142 $11) 23. a4 h6 24. Rd1 Nb2 (24... Ne5 $142) 25. Rb1 Nxa4 26. Rxb7 Nc3 27. Nxc3 $6 {Acquiescing in a draw.} (27. Ng3 $14 {/? followed by Nf5 and g4 is pretty nice for White.}) 27... Rxc3 $11 28. Bd4 Rc1+ 29. Kf2 Rc2+ 30. Kg3 Nh5+ 31. Kg4 Nf6+ 32. Kh3 Nh5 33. Be5 Rc5 34. f4 Nf6 35. Bxf6 gxf6 36. Rb6 Kg7 37. Rxa6 Rc4 38. e5 Rxf4 1/2-1/2 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.09"] [Round "3.5"] [White "Dubov, Daniil"] [Black "Meier, Georg"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C27"] [WhiteElo "2674"] [BlackElo "2596"] [WhiteFideId "24126055"] [WhiteFideId "4675789"] [PlyCount "47"] [GameId "2242368917191163"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,47,13,11,14,18,-11,13,23,17,22,-52,-66,173,18,105,97,97,55,98,64,106,57,-38,-58,-12,-25,7,0,23,26,4,12,-76,-89,-38,-112,-45,-206,-21,-38,-33,-1,1,1,-1,417,258,414,416] A brief interlude before we see the finale of the Shankland-Vidit match. Georg Meier can play exciting chess, but his repertoire (especially against 1.e4) is solid to the point of being excruciatingly dull. For some reason he decided in this game, without being in a must-win situation, to go for a sharp line with a bad reputation against one of the most tactically gifted players on the planet. Very strange.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxe4 4. Qh5 Nd6 5. Bb3 Nc6 $6 {This does have one of the cooler opening names - the "Frankenstein-Dracula Gambit" - and the variation is a lot of fun. But not for a possible Candidates spot!} (5... Be7 {is safer *and* better.}) 6. Nb5 g6 7. Qf3 Nf5 $6 (7... f5 {is the standard move. After} 8. Qd5 Qe7 (8... Qf6 {is also tried on occasion but considered the weaker of the two moves.}) 9. Nxc7+ Kd8 10. Nxa8 b6 {Now White usually tries 11.Qf3 or 11.d3, but the engine recommends 11.Ne2 or 11.Qd3 instead, with a nice edge. As the two lines transpose let's try one of them and see where it leads:} 11. Ne2 Bb7 12. Qd3 Bxa8 13. O-O h5 14. Qh3 g5 15. d4 $1 h4 16. c3 f4 17. Bd5 exd4 18. Bxc6 Bxc6 19. Nxd4 {White has a healthy edge according to the computer, but in its only test (in correspondence chess, of course) Black held:} Bb7 20. Rd1 (20. a4 {may improve.}) 20... Kc8 21. b3 Qf7 22. f3 Bg7 23. Re1 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Qxe8 25. Ba3 Bxd4+ 26. cxd4 Nb5 27. Rc1+ Kb8 28. Bb2 a5 29. Kh1 Qe2 30. Ba1 Nd6 31. d5 Bxd5 32. Qg4 Ne4 33. Be5+ Ka8 34. Bd4 Be6 35. Qh5 h3 {½-½ Saglione,E (2415)-Glovaski,O (2225) ARG-ch35 email ICCF email 2022 White must force a perpetual before he gets mated:} 36. Qe8+ Ka7 37. Bxb6+ $1 Kxb6 38. Qb8+ Ka6 39. Qa8+ Kb6 $8 40. Qb8+ Ka6 41. Qa8+ $11) 8. Qd5 Nh6 9. d4 $6 (9. d3 $142 $1 d6 (9... g5 10. Nf3 f6 11. h4 a6 12. Nc3 Ne7 13. Qe4 c6 14. hxg5 d5 15. Qe2 Nf7 16. gxf6 Ng6 17. Nxe5 Nfxe5 18. d4 Qxf6 19. dxe5 Qxe5 20. Be3 $16) 10. Bxh6 Be6 11. Bg5 $1 Qxg5 (11... Bxd5 12. Bxd8 Bxg2 13. Bf6 Rg8 (13... Bh6 $2 14. Bxh8 Ke7 15. Nxc7 Rxh8 16. Bd5 $18 {Compare the similar line in the game - 9.d3! means that 16...e4 here is meaningless - 17.Bxe4+-.}) 14. Nxc7+ $16 {/+-}) 12. Nxc7+ Kd8 13. Qxe6 ({or} 13. Nxe6+ fxe6 14. Nh3 Qf6 15. Qxe6 Qxe6 16. Bxe6 Nd4 17. Bb3 $16) 13... Kxc7 14. Qxf7+ Be7 15. Qd5 $16) 9... d6 $11 10. Bxh6 Be6 11. Qf3 (11. Bg5 $146 {isn't as effective this time.} Bxd5 12. Bxd8 Bxg2 13. Bf6 Bh6 $1 14. Bxh8 Ke7 15. Nxc7 (15. dxe5 $142 $11) 15... Rxh8 16. Bd5 e4 $1 {is the tiny detail that makes 9.d3 good and 9.d4 (relatively) bad. With the pawn on d3 White plays 17.Bxe4 and it's game over. Here it's still the right move, but it costs a piece.} 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. f3 Bxc2 $15) 11... Bxb3 12. Bxf8 Bc4 13. Bg7 Bxb5 14. dxe5 $146 (14. Bxh8 $143 Nxd4 15. Qf6 Nxc2+ 16. Kd2 Nxa1 17. Nf3 Qd7 $15 18. Rxa1 Qg4 19. Re1 Qb4+ 20. Kc2 Qa4+ 21. Kb1 Bd3+ 22. Ka1 Bc4 23. a3 Qb3 24. Kb1 Bd3+ {½-½ Ioseliani,N (2305)-Litynska,M URS-ch (Women) 42nd Tallinn 1982}) 14... Rg8 15. Bf6 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 $6 {An inaccuracy, but on the plus side it may have drawn Meier out of his preparation.} (16. Qxb7 Bc6 17. Qxc6+ Nxc6 18. Bxd8 Kxd8 19. O-O-O Re8 $11 {was quite possibly on Meier's laptop.}) 16... Qe7 (16... Bc6 $1 17. Qe2 dxe5 18. Qxe5+ Kf8 $15) 17. O-O-O $1 $11 Bc6 (17... Qxe5 18. Qxb7 (18. Rd5 Qe1+ 19. Rd1 Qe5 $11) 18... Kd7 $11) 18. Qc3 dxe5 19. Nf3 f6 20. Rhe1 Kf8 (20... Kf7 $11 {looks more natural, clearing the way for the g8-rook to centralize, but the text is also fine.}) 21. Nxe5 $1 (21. g4 $5 {is another way to break up Black's center, aiming to play g5.}) 21... fxe5 22. Rxe5 Qf6 $4 {Losing immediately.} (22... Qh4 $1 {was forced.} 23. g3 $1 Qh6+ $1 24. Re3 (24. f4 Rg7 25. b4 $1 $44) 24... g5 $1 {White has a perpetual but not more.} 25. Qb4+ Kg7 $8 26. Qd4+ Kf8 27. Qb4+ $11) 23. Re8+ $1 Kf7 (23... Rxe8 24. Qxf6#) 24. Qc4+ (24. Qc4+ Kg7 25. Qxg8+ Kh6 26. Rxa8 $18) 1-0 [Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"] [Site "Goa IND"] [Date "2025.11.09"] [Round "3.6"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Shankland, Sam"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "2715"] [BlackElo "2649"] [WhiteFideId "5029465"] [WhiteFideId "2004887"] [PlyCount "119"] [GameId "2242368917191165"] [EventDate "2025.11.01"] [EventType "k.o."] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 c6 8. a4 Re8 9. h3 h6 10. a5 (10. Be3 {was played in their fourth game.}) 10... exd4 11. Nxd4 Bf8 12. Bf4 Nc5 13. e5 $146 (13. Qf3 $14 {was played in all 12 previous games to reach the position after 12...Nc5. Here are two high-level examples:} Ne6 (13... Bd7 14. e5 d5 15. exf6 Qxf6 16. Bxd5 cxd5 17. Rxe8 Bxe8 18. Be3 Qxf3 19. Nxf3 Bc6 20. Rd1 Na4 21. Nxa4 Bxa4 22. b3 Bc6 23. Ne5 a6 24. Nxc6 bxc6 25. c4 dxc4 26. bxc4 Bb4 27. Bb6 Re8 28. Kf1 h5 29. g3 f6 30. Rd7 Re1+ 31. Kg2 Ra1 32. Rc7 Bxa5 33. Rxc6 Bxb6 34. Rxb6 Rc1 {½-½ Svidler,P (2701)-Berkes,F (2671) EU-Cup 36th Struga 2021 (7.1)}) 14. Bxe6 Bxe6 15. a6 bxa6 16. Rxa6 Bc8 17. Raa1 Qb6 18. Nb3 Nd7 19. Qg3 Re6 20. Be3 c5 21. Nd5 Qd8 22. Bd2 Rg6 23. Ba5 Qe8 24. Qe3 Rb8 25. Bc3 a6 26. Nd2 h5 27. Nc4 Ne5 28. Bxe5 dxe5 29. b3 h4 30. Rad1 Rb7 31. Rd3 Bd7 32. Qf3 Rg5 33. Red1 f5 34. Nde3 fxe4 35. Qxe4 Bc6 36. Qxh4 Be7 37. Ng4 e4 38. R3d2 Rd5 39. Qg3 Rxd2 40. Rxd2 Rd7 41. Qe5 Qd8 42. Qe6+ {1-0 Abdusattorov,N (2766)-Rapport,R (2715) Gashimov Memorial Rapid 10th Shusha 2024 (6)}) 13... dxe5 14. Bxe5 Ncd7 15. Bf4 Rxe1+ 16. Qxe1 $14 Nc5 (16... Nb6 $1 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. axb6 Qxb6 19. Bb3 Bb7 {is only a touch better as Black's queenside pawns are more ugly than weak.}) 17. Qe3 Bd7 18. Be5 Qe7 19. Re1 Re8 20. Qf3 (20. Qf4 $142 $14) 20... Qd8 $2 ({As on move 16, Black's best move relies on a little tactical trick.} 20... Na4 $1 $11 21. Nxa4 Qb4 $11) 21. Re3 $2 (21. Re2 $142 $16 {/+- is much better, because Black's resource after 31.Re3 doesn't work here.} Qxa5 $4 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Qg3+ Kh8 (23... Bg7 24. Rxe8+ Bxe8 25. Nf5 $18) 24. Bxf7 $18) 21... a6 $2 (21... Qxa5 $3 22. Bxf6 Rxe3 23. fxe3 gxf6 24. Qxf6 Be6 25. Nxe6 Nxe6 26. Bxe6 fxe6 27. Qxe6+ Kh7 $1 $11 {White's extra pawn won't be easy to convert. The open board favors the bishop and White's b- and e-pawns are somewhat vulnerable.}) 22. b4 $1 $18 {Chasing the active knight and securing a5. White is winning, but very little in this match went according to the script.} Ne6 23. Bxe6 $2 (23. Bxf6 $1 Qxf6 24. Qxf6 gxf6 25. Ne4 $3 {Without this, White's advantage would be minimal.} Rd8 26. Nxf6+ Kg7 27. Nh5+ Kg8 28. Nxe6 Bxe6 29. Bxe6 fxe6 30. c3 $18) 23... Bxe6 24. Bxf6 Qxf6 25. Qxf6 gxf6 26. Ne4 Be7 27. c3 $14 {White is better because of his superior pawn structure, but with two bishops against two knights Black will have winning chances, too.} Kf8 28. g4 Bc8 29. Nb3 $6 {A strange move - why play g4 if not to prevent or at least impede ...f5? Now it not only happens, but equalizes the pawn structure.} (29. f4) 29... f5 30. gxf5 Bxf5 31. Nec5 Bc8 $15 32. Kg2 Rd8 33. Kg3 Rd6 34. Ne4 Rg6+ 35. Kh2 Be6 (35... Bd8 {followed by ...Bc7+ and ...h5 looks like progress.}) 36. Nbc5 f5 37. Nxe6+ Rxe6 38. Ng3 $2 (38. Nc5 $1 Rxe3 39. fxe3 Bxc5 40. bxc5 {is equal.}) 38... Rxe3 39. fxe3 Bf6 40. Ne2 Ke7 $4 (40... Bg5 {wins a pawn and the game.} 41. Nd4 Bxe3 42. Nxf5 Bd2 $19) 41. Kg3 $11 Ke6 42. c4 $1 Be7 43. Nf4+ Kd7 44. Nd3 Ke6 45. Kf3 Bd6 46. e4 fxe4+ 47. Kxe4 Kf6 48. c5 (48. Nc5 Kg5 49. Nxb7 Bxb4 50. Ke5 Kh4 51. c5 Kxh3 52. Kd6 h5 53. Kxc6 h4 54. Kb6 Bxc5+ 55. Nxc5 Kg2 56. Kxa6 h3 57. Kb7 h2 58. a6 h1=Q 59. a7 $11) 48... Bc7 49. Nb2 Be5 50. Nc4 Bc3 51. Nd6 Bxb4 52. Nxb7 Ke7 {Another critical moment; it's White to move and draw.} 53. Kd4 $2 (53. Nd6 $1 Bxc5 54. Nf5+ $11) 53... Kd7 $2 (53... h5 $1 54. Kc4 Be1 55. Nd6 Bxa5 $19 {and White doesn't have a fork to pick up the h-pawn.}) 54. Kc4 $2 (54. Nd6 $11) 54... Be1 $19 55. Kd3 Bg3 {White's knight is trapped.} 56. Ke4 Kc7 57. Nd6 Bxd6 58. cxd6+ Kxd6 59. h4 c5 60. h5 {The notation ends here, but I suspect this is yet another DGT error. (Sigh.) Black probably played 60...Ke6 (60...Kc6 is also possible), White resigned, and then Black's king was picked up and put on e5 before White's king was put on d4. That erases Black's last move by the king. It would be nice if arbiters and players all knew how to record the result in these situations, or - better - if DGT would redesign their boards with an alternative way of recording the result. But there are many worse things in the world, including the popularity of the Giuoco with 4.d3, so this is just one of those things we'll must continue to learn to live with.} 0-1