[Event "Candidates Tournament"] [Site "Ekaterinburg"] [Date "2020.03.22"] [Round "5"] [White "Alekseenko, Kirill"] [Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2698"] [BlackElo "2767"] [Annotator "Edouard,Romain"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2020.03.15"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "14"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [EventCategory "21"] [SourceTitle "CBM 195"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2020.04.30"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2020.04.30"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e6 7. Be3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. a3 $5 {This is the latest fashion, when people used to all play 9.g4.} h5 $5 (9... Bb7 10. g4 h6 $5 11. O-O-O Rc8 12. h4 {is another debate:} d5 $5 ( 12... Ne5 13. Rg1 Nfd7 14. g5 hxg5 15. hxg5 g6 16. f4 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. f5 Nc5 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. b3 Rxc3 21. Qxc3 Nxe4 22. Qd3 Qd7 23. Ne2 $14 {1/2-1/2 (37) Perez Ponsa,F (2563)-Pichot,A (2522) ARG 2015}) (12... Nb6 13. Kb1 Nfd7 14. Qe1 Ne5 15. Rh3 Qc7 16. Bc1 Be7 17. g5 Nec4 18. Na2 d5 19. gxh6 gxh6 20. exd5 (20. Bxc4 $5 Qxc4 21. e5 $14) 20... Nxd5 21. Bxc4 Qxc4 22. f4 Bf6 23. Qf2 {½-½ Leko,P (2703)-Steinberg,N (2532) Minsk 2017}) 13. Rg1 $5 (13. Bh3 $5 b4 $1 (13... e5 $2 14. g5 $16) (13... dxe4 14. g5 hxg5 15. hxg5 Nd5 16. Nxe4 { should be good for White.}) 14. axb4 Bxb4 15. g5 Ne5 $1 16. gxf6 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Nc4 18. Qe1 Qa5 19. Kb1 Na3+ 20. Kc1 Nc4 {½-½ Peng,H (2347)-Xu,Y (2532) Qinhuangdao 2019}) 13... dxe4 (13... b4 14. axb4 Bxb4 15. g5 hxg5 16. hxg5 Bxc3 17. bxc3 {and there is no ...Ne5-c4 here.}) 14. g5 hxg5 15. hxg5 Nd5 16. Nxe4 g6 17. Bf2 b4 18. axb4 Bxb4 19. c3 Qa5 20. Nc2 $1 $14 (20. Kb1 $6 Be7 $6 (20... Nxc3+ $1 21. Nxc3 Bxc3 22. bxc3 Bd5 $44) 21. Bd3 $14 {1-0 (38) Arjun,K (2484) -Solomon,K (2383) Cattolica 2019})) 10. O-O-O Bb7 {Maxime decides to transpose into two games he got during his match against Magnus Carlsen, Londres 2019. Strangely enough, this position had been reached through the move order 6.Bg5 e6 7.f3!? h6 8.Be3 b5 9.a3 Nbd7 10.Qd2 Bb7 11.0-0-0 h5!?.} 11. Kb1 Be7 12. Rg1 $1 {That was Carlsen's improvement in his second game against MVL.} ({The first one had continued} 12. Qe1 Rc8 13. Rg1 Qc7 14. g3 Ne5 15. Rg2 O-O 16. h3 d5 17. f4 Nc4 18. e5 Nxe3 19. Qxe3 Ne4 {and Black was fine. The rest of the game was quite elegant, by the way:} 20. Nxe4 dxe4 21. Re2 Bd5 22. Bg2 Qc4 23. Nb3 Bc5 $1 24. Nxc5 Qa2+ 25. Kc1 Rfd8 $1 26. c4 bxc4 27. Red2 Qa1+ 28. Kc2 Qa2 29. Kc1 Qa1+ 30. Kc2 Qa2 31. Kc1 {½-½ (32) Carlsen,M (2872)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2780) London 2019.}) 12... Rc8 13. Be2 Nb6 14. Qe1 Nfd7 15. g4 $1 hxg4 16. Rxg4 {Until now, we are repeating game 9 of the Carlsen-MVL match.} g6 $1 $146 {This was the Frenchman's improvement.} ({Maxime had chosen} 16... Bf8 $2 { in the previous game, but after} 17. Bg5 $1 $146 Qc7 18. Rh4 $1 {the engine thinks White gets a serious advantage, taking the h-file to his advantage.}) ( 16... Kf8 $5 {was played in a correspondence game, and might deserve investigation.}) 17. Rxg6 $5 {The logical follow-up. In London, Maxime said this pseudo rook sacrifice was the reason by he did not play the most natural 16...g6.} Rxc3 $1 {But of course, Maxime is no longer in unexplored teritories - he knows what he's going!} (17... fxg6 $4 18. Nxe6 $18) (17... e5 $2 18. Qg1 $1 exd4 19. Bxd4 Rf8 20. Rh6 {is very difficult for Black according to the engine.}) 18. Nxe6 $5 {Again the computer move! Both players are just playing their home prop, hoping to see the opponent go wrong, for example by forgotting his home analysis, which regularily happens, even at such high level.} (18. Qxc3 Na4 $1 {is fine for Black; a fun draw is} 19. Qb3 fxg6 20. Nxe6 Qc8 21. Ng7+ {and Black cannot go} Kd8 $4 {due to} 22. Qf7 $1 $18) 18... Qc8 19. Ng7+ Kf8 20. Rh6 {With this manoeuvre White saves both of his hanging pieces on the kingside. On the other hand, the c3-rook is still in the air!} Rxh6 21. Bxh6 Rxc2 $1 22. Nf5+ (22. Rxd6 $5 Na4 (22... Bxd6 $4 23. Nf5+ $18) 23. Rd2 Rxd2 24. Qxd2 Qc6 $13) 22... Ke8 23. Nxe7 (23. Ng7+ $4 Kd8 $19) (23. Be3 $5 {with the idea of Bd4 might be worth a try in a future game:} Bf8 24. Bd4 Na4 25. Bd3 Rg2 26. Qh4 $44) 23... Kxe7 24. Qh4+ $1 f6 (24... Nf6 {leads to a draw as well:} 25. Rxd6 $1 Nbd7 26. Rxd7+ Kxd7 27. Qxf6 Rxe2 28. Qxf7+ Kc6 29. Qg6+ Kc5 30. Qg1+ Kc6 31. Qg6+ $11) ({But not} 24... Ke8 $2 25. Rg1 Nf8 26. Bxf8 Kxf8 27. e5 $3 Rxb2+ (27... Rxe2 28. Qh8+ Ke7 29. Qf6+ Kf8 30. Qxd6+ Ke8 31. Rg8#) (27... dxe5 28. Qh8+ Ke7 29. Qxe5+ Kd7 30. Qf5+ Ke7 31. Qxc2) 28. Kxb2 Na4+ 29. Kb1 Qf5+ 30. Kc1 Qc8+ 31. Kd1 $18) 25. Bf4 Rxb2+ $1 {Radically forcing a draw.} 26. Kxb2 Na4+ 27. Kb1 Nc3+ 28. Ka1 Nxd1 29. Qh7+ Kd8 30. Qg8+ Ke7 31. Qh7+ (31. Qxc8 Bxc8 32. Bxd1 Ne5 {with the idea ...Bh3 and ...Bg2 would definitly not be better for White.}) 31... Kd8 32. Qg8+ Ke7 33. Qh7+ { Honestly, that looked like two identical opening preparations facing each other!} 1/2-1/2