[Event "ch-USA 2022"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2022.10.15"] [Round "10.1"] [White "Liang, Awonder"] [Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B51"] [WhiteElo "2608"] [BlackElo "2747"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "2022.10.05"] {[%evp 0,90,22,19,74,36,66,54,67,47,43,24,39,8,25,-31,7,1,87,-10,20,2,14,8,5,-2,-3,-33,22,15,33,22,21,21,16,18,18,19,15,20,22,22,56,38,39,36,27,37,25,-10,0,0,25,-16,-3,-16,-25,0,0,-5,0,0,0,0,6,0,0,0,0,-15,2,0,7,10,14,7,9,9,9,9,9,9,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,6,5]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O a6 5. Bd3 Ngf6 6. Re1 e6 7. c3 b5 8. a4 Bb7 9. Bc2 c4 10. d4 cxd3 11. Qxd3 Nc5 12. Qe2 bxa4 13. Be3 Nfd7 14. Bd4 e5 15. Bxc5 Nxc5 16. Bxa4+ Nxa4 17. Rxa4 Be7 18. c4 Bc6 19. Ra2 a5 20. Nc3 Qb8 21. Nd5 Bd8 22. c5 O-O 23. Qc2 Re8 24. Nd2 a4 25. Rea1 Ra7 26. h3 h6 27. Nc3 dxc5 28. Nxa4 Be7 29. Nxc5 Rxa2 30. Rxa2 {White has won a pawn, but with two good bishops against two knights Black has no problems whatsoever. He soon regains the pawn after mass liquidations, and the draw is a fait accompli.} Rc8 31. Ra5 Qb4 32. Qc3 Qxc3 33. bxc3 Be8 34. Na4 Bg5 35. Nf3 Bxa4 36. Rxa4 Rxc3 37. Nxg5 hxg5 38. Rb4 f6 39. Rb7 Kh7 40. f3 Rc2 41. Ra7 Rb2 42. Rd7 Rc2 43. Ra7 Rb2 44. Rd7 Rc2 45. Ra7 Rb2 1/2-1/2 [Event "ch-USA 2022"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2022.10.15"] [Round "10.2"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A28"] [WhiteElo "2755"] [BlackElo "2774"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "2022.10.05"] {[%evp 0,35,22,-20,-5,-29,-19,3,-24,-60,-38,-21,-25,-19,-16,4,18,12,34,-17,-13,-47,-42,-23,-18,-31,-21,-59,-51,-63,-34,-57,-30,-62,-47,-60,-42,-47]} 1. c4 (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bc4 $6 Nxe4 $1 {Here taking on f7 is absolutely terrible. White's best is} 5. Nxe4 d5 6. Bd3 {, and now Black has a choice between the interesting and relatively rare 6...Nb4 and the usual, obvious, and good} dxe4 7. Bxe4 Bd6 {when the (mild) burden is on White to prove equality.}) 1... e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bb4 ({As a public service: If you see this line and wonder why Black plays ...Bb4 first, and then soon (sometimes two moves later, after 5...d6) brings the bishop back to c5, the answer is that the immediate ...Bc5 allows the so-called fork trick.} 4... Bc5 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 {, which offers White an edge. See also the note to move 1, with the best-known version of the fork trick. (Kids, you especially should take note of this, as it comes up in scholastic chess ALL THE TIME.)}) 5. d3 d6 6. Be2 Bg4 7. O-O Bxf3 8. Bxf3 Bc5 9. Kh1 a5 10. Qe1 Nd4 11. Bd1 Ne6 12. g3 h5 13. h4 c6 14. Kg2 Bd4 15. Ne2 Bc5 16. Nc3 Bd4 17. Ne2 Bc5 18. Nc3 {Not exactly fighting to the final bullet, but these two greats of contemporary chess are having a lousy event, and probably hope to reach the end without doing too much further damage to their ratings.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "ch-USA 2022"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2022.10.15"] [Round "10.3"] [White "Sevian, Samuel"] [Black "Robson, Ray"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2684"] [BlackElo "2690"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2022.10.05"] {[%evp 0,73,22,25,25,-14,3,6,6,6,33,-26,-28,-38,-8,-8,37,11,39,7,13,24,17,17,23,18,17,12,23,10,28,33,30,40,35,14,8,5,6,6,3,9,7,4,2,-4,23,3,15,30,31,24,29,19,26,24,54,51,50,50,52,47,46,-204,-203,-199,-199,-200,-200,-200,-200,-198,-199,-199,-202,-203]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd2 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Bd6 9. Nb5 Bd7 10. Nxd6 cxd6 11. Qa3 Ne4 12. Bd3 Nxd2 13. Nxd2 d5 14. O-O Qa5 15. Qxa5 Nxa5 16. Rfc1 Rfc8 17. f3 a6 18. Nb3 Nxb3 19. axb3 Rxc1+ 20. Rxc1 Rc8 21. Rxc8+ Bxc8 22. b4 b6 23. e4 f6 24. e5 f5 25. h4 g6 26. g4 Kg7 27. Kf2 fxg4 28. fxg4 h6 29. g5 h5 30. Ke3 b5 {Here, any move - from now until forever - that doesn't lose the bishop makes a draw. As Sevian shows, White can even lose the bishop and make a draw, provided he does it in the right way.} 31. Bxb5 $1 {Very good.} axb5 {Now it's impossible for either player to lose, even if they wanted to. (Or is it? I'm not sure if one could lose the game by running out of time. That would be an absurd result, but perhaps the laws of chess would allow it.) Meanwhile, it's fun snickering at Stockfish's evaluation of -0.20, holding steady at depth 76, but now at depth 79 the eval has dropped down -0.07. I don't know if my computer has enough juice to make it to depth 100, when the 50-move rule would kick in...but as I type this it finally reaches triple zeros at depth 82, and it's sticking to it at depth 89. It's a bit sad: we can recognize this immediately, but while the engine is clueless it gets to the same conclusion by brute force methods. Depth 89!} 32. b3 {An aesthetic blight - White should keep all his units on dark squares, and Black keep his on the light squares.} Kf7 33. Kd2 Ke7 34. Ke3 Kf7 35. Kd2 Ke7 36. Ke3 Kf7 37. Kd2 1/2-1/2 [Event "ch-USA 2022"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2022.10.15"] [Round "10.4"] [White "Moradiabadi, Elshan"] [Black "Niemann, Hans Moke"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E60"] [WhiteElo "2534"] [BlackElo "2699"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2022.10.05"] {[%evp 0,76,25,25,25,25,52,43,31,43,43,34,62,2,13,-5,28,3,3,2,5,5,5,0,2,11,8,5,3,-10,3,2,3,4,8,3,-14,-17,-16,0,-28,-31,15,19,10,-20,10,1,0,-7,-7,-7,-13,-64,-10,-39,-26,0,-18,-13,43,44,34,34,45,49,75,90,71,73,109,59,63,-1,0,0,4,-83,-246]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. d5 d6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Be2 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. Qc2 Ndf6 12. Nd2 a6 13. a4 Bd7 14. a5 (14. Ra3 $142) 14... Rb8 15. O-O (15. Bd3 $142) 15... Nxg3 16. hxg3 Ng4 17. Qd1 $6 (17. Ra3 $142) 17... f5 $15 18. e4 Ne5 19. exf5 Bxf5 20. Nf3 $6 (20. f4 $1 gxf4 ({The more patient} 20... Nd7 {is a good alternative.}) 21. gxf4 Nd3 22. g4 e6 $1 23. Kg2 Nxb2 24. Qe1 Bh7 25. Qg3 Qf6 26. Rac1 Rbe8 {may be slightly in Black's favor, but it's so complicated that any result is possible.}) 20... Qe8 {Niemann is focused on playing for mate.} (20... b6 $142 21. axb6 Rxb6 22. Nxe5 Bxe5 23. Ra2 Qb8 (23... Qd7 {is a good alternative, preventing 24.Bg4.}) 24. Bg4 Rxb2 25. Bxf5 Rxf5 26. Rxb2 Qxb2 27. Qd3 Rf7 28. Nd1 Qd4 $15 {looks highly unpleasant for White, despite the engine's assurances that his position remains tenable.}) 21. Nxe5 Bxe5 22. Bh5 Bg6 23. Bxg6 Qxg6 24. Qe2 $11 Rf7 (24... h5) 25. Ne4 $6 (25. Ra3 $142) 25... Bd4 $17 26. Ra3 g4 27. Rd3 Rf5 $2 {Niemann's hyper-focus on the kingside could have proved his undoing in this game.} (27... b5 $1 28. axb6 Rxb6 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. Rd1 Rf5 31. Rxd4 Re5 32. f4 gxf3 33. gxf3 a5 $17 {/-+ White's position doesn't have the solidity required to construct a viable fortress, and he shouldn't be able to achieve meaningful counterplay on the kingside either.}) 28. Qd2 $11 Rbf8 29. b4 $1 Re5 (29... h5 $142) (29... Qg7 $142) 30. bxc5 dxc5 31. Rxd4 $1 cxd4 32. Nc5 Ref5 $2 (32... Qf5 $142 $11) 33. Qxd4 $16 h5 34. Ne6 $2 (34. Qe4 $142) 34... R8f6 $2 (34... Qf6 $142 $11) 35. Nf4 $6 (35. Qb6 Rf7 36. Qxb7 Qf6 37. Qb8+ Kh7 38. Qb6 $18 {Black's attack is at a standstill (and ...h4 won't accomplish anything). White will take a little time to finish consolidating, and then if nothing else the c-pawn will advance. White is winning.}) 35... Qh7 $16 36. Qa7 $2 (36. Qd1 $1 Re5 (36... h4 37. Qxg4+ Kf7 38. Re1 hxg3 39. fxg3 Rh6 40. Kf2 $16 (40. Nh3 $16)) 37. c5 Qf5 38. d6 exd6 39. cxd6 Qd7 40. Qb3+ Kg7 41. Qc3 Qxd6 42. Rb1 $16) 36... h4 $11 37. Qxb7 $2 {Missing a nice little trick.} (37. Re1 Rh6 38. Qb8+ Rf8 39. Qe5 hxg3 40. fxg3 $11 {still holds.}) 37... hxg3 $19 38. fxg3 $4 (38. Qc8+ Kf7 39. fxg3 Rh6 $1 40. Kf2 Re5 $1 41. Qc5 $1 Rh1 42. Rxh1 Qxh1 43. Nd3 Rf5+ 44. Nf4 Qa1 $1 45. Qb6 $1 Rf6 $1 46. Qc5 {will eventually lose against best play, but it is not easy for Black to get here in the first place.}) 38... e5 $1 {Oops! It's amazing how often a player will miss or disregard a tactical possibility when it involves pushing a pawn that can be taken en passant. Whatever the psychological story, the story on the board is that White is losing a piece, and so he resigns.} (38... e5 $1 39. Qc8+ (39. dxe6 $4 Qxb7 $19) (39. Qxh7+ Kxh7 $19 {wins for Black, as there is no "delayed en passant" capture.}) 39... Rf8 40. Qe6+ Qf7 $19 {White loses a piece.}) 0-1 [Event "ch-USA 2022"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2022.10.15"] [Round "10.5"] [White "Yoo, Christopher Woojin"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A35"] [WhiteElo "2563"] [BlackElo "2763"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "135"] [EventDate "2022.10.05"] {[%evp 0,135,25,16,44,14,27,27,11,-3,6,-3,12,13,6,0,4,10,0,2,19,28,28,28,28,15,17,19,59,39,44,30,28,34,34,16,24,35,24,27,69,60,50,64,67,52,61,55,65,58,55,54,54,29,40,24,22,0,42,53,44,36,24,24,59,8,8,-4,18,0,0,-54,-80,-80,19,25,15,18,11,11,11,8,25,3,16,9,7,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,2,3,3,7,0,3,2,4,2,3,3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 dxc4 7. Nxc6 Qxd1+ 8. Nxd1 bxc6 9. Bg2 Nd5 10. Ne3 e6 11. Nxc4 Ba6 12. b3 Bb4+ 13. Bd2 Ke7 14. Rc1 Rac8 15. Bxb4+ Nxb4 16. a3 Nd5 17. Na5 c5 18. O-O Rhd8 19. Rc2 Rd7 20. Rfc1 Rdc7 21. e4 Nb6 22. Bf1 Bxf1 23. Kxf1 g5 24. Ke2 h5 25. h3 f5 26. Ke3 Kf6 27. f4 gxf4+ 28. Kxf4 fxe4 29. Kxe4 Ke7 30. g4 hxg4 31. hxg4 Kf6 32. g5+ Kg6 33. Rf1 Rd7 34. Rf6+ Kxg5 35. Rxe6 Rd4+ 36. Kf3 c4 37. Nxc4 Nxc4 38. bxc4 Rcxc4 39. Rxc4 Rxc4 {The game could have ended here (or in several moves, with a deliberate repetition), but for some reason it continues for almost 30 more moves. Why, I have no idea - did this get addressed in the post-game interviews?} 40. Ra6 Kf5 (40... Rc7 41. Ke4 Re7+ 42. Kd5 Kf5 {is fine for Black, but there is no danger for him in jettisoning the pawn, either.}) 41. Ke3 Ke5 42. Rxa7 Kd6 43. Kd3 Rh4 44. Ra5 Kc6 45. Kc3 Kb6 46. Rg5 Kb7 47. Kb3 Rf4 48. Rb5+ Ka6 49. Rb4 Rf5 {Huh?} (49... Rxb4+ {expedites matters.}) 50. Ra4+ Kb6 51. Rc4 Ka6 52. Rc3 Kb6 53. a4 Rf4 54. Rh3 Rg4 55. Rh6+ Ka5 56. Rh5+ Kb6 57. Rb5+ Ka6 58. Rb4 Rg3+ {Seriously, what is this? I assume it was a joke, but it's just so weird.} (58... Rxb4+) 59. Kb2 Rg2+ 60. Ka3 Rg3+ 61. Rb3 Rxb3+ {The third time's the charm.} 62. Kxb3 Ka7 63. a5 Ka8 64. Kb4 Ka7 65. Kb5 Ka8 66. Kb6 Kb8 67. a6 Ka8 68. a7 1/2-1/2 [Event "ch-USA 2022"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2022.10.15"] [Round "10.6"] [White "Lenderman, Aleksandr"] [Black "Swiercz, Dariusz"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A50"] [WhiteElo "2535"] [BlackElo "2652"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "98"] [EventDate "2022.10.05"] {[%evp 0,98,25,16,25,6,31,32,41,33,35,39,37,27,19,4,5,-9,36,24,21,42,42,42,50,43,42,-7,24,3,21,45,58,70,59,56,42,34,32,37,27,12,-1,-4,3,-13,-13,-22,-4,-13,-14,-4,-23,0,6,0,8,-19,53,25,30,28,32,22,22,37,43,40,41,37,34,34,39,42,42,42,44,19,41,41,56,59,69,61,90,68,74,67,70,72,79,75,67,63,79,70,67,57,85,75,67] This comment field is intentionally left blank.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Nf3 e6 8. Be2 Nd7 9. O-O Be7 10. Nb5 O-O 11. Bc7 Qc8 12. Bg3 Qd8 13. Qb3 Nb6 14. Rfc1 Rc8 15. Ne5 Na5 16. Rxc8 Qxc8 17. Qd1 a6 18. Rc1 Qd8 19. Nc3 Bd6 20. Qe1 Bxe5 21. dxe5 Nc6 22. Bf1 Bg6 23. e4 dxe4 24. Nxe4 Qd4 25. Nc3 Qb4 26. b3 Rd8 27. h3 h6 28. f3 Nd7 29. Rd1 Nc5 30. Rxd8+ Nxd8 31. Bf2 Nc6 32. Qe3 Nd3 33. Bxd3 Qxc3 34. Bxg6 Qa1+ 35. Qe1 Qxe1+ 36. Bxe1 fxg6 37. f4 Kf7 38. Bc3 b5 39. Kf2 h5 40. Ke3 Ke8 41. Ke4 Ke7 42. g4 hxg4 43. hxg4 Kf7 44. Bd2 Ke7 45. Be1 Kd7 46. Bc3 Ke7 47. Be1 Kd7 48. Bc3 Ke7 49. Be1 Kd7 1/2-1/2 [Event "ch-USA 2022"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2022.10.15"] [Round "10.7"] [White "Xiong, Jeffery"] [Black "Shankland, Sam"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D30"] [WhiteElo "2690"] [BlackElo "2712"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "152"] [EventDate "2022.10.05"] {[%evp 0,152,19,16,29,6,6,6,6,6,6,-33,4,4,8,4,-2,12,8,-5,12,4,-1,-25,5,-4,-1,-10,-10,-23,-33,-33,-31,-43,-28,-29,-34,-25,-26,-33,-18,-20,-1,-6,17,27,16,8,31,12,53,35,8,-11,20,-2,39,40,39,38,75,71,51,47,82,54,53,47,53,47,67,0,0,0,0,0,-22,-32,0,0,0,62,62,74,74,72,78,72,66,75,91,87,95,96,96,106,101,102,116,116,116,116,116,116,116,117,114,113,125,114,122,117,126,93,109,107,108,112,115,72,89,133,148,72,83,85,64,60,55,51,53,53,53,54,55,53,55,55,55,53,55,55,55,44,41,3,3,41,43,43,43,43,42,47,47]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Be7 5. b3 O-O 6. Bb2 b6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nbd2 Bb7 9. a3 Nd7 10. Be2 c5 11. dxc5 Nxc5 12. b4 Nd7 13. O-O a5 14. b5 Bf6 15. Nd4 Nc5 16. Nc4 Rc8 17. Rc1 Qc7 18. Qc2 Rfd8 19. Rfd1 Ne7 20. Bf3 Bd5 21. Bxd5 exd5 22. Nd2 Qd7 23. N2f3 Re8 24. a4 Rc7 25. Ba3 Rec8 26. Ne2 g6 27. h3 Bg7 28. Qa2 h6 29. Rc2 Bf8 30. Bb2 Ne4 31. Rxc7 Rxc7 32. Be5 Rc8 33. Nf4 Nc3 34. Bxc3 Rxc3 35. Nxd5 Nxd5 36. Qxd5 Qxd5 37. Rxd5 Ra3 38. Rd4 Bc5 39. Rc4 Bb4 40. Rc6 Bc5 41. Ne5 Rxa4 42. Nd7 Rb4 43. Nxc5 bxc5 44. Rxc5 h5 45. g3 Kg7 46. b6 Rxb6 47. Rxa5 {With Black having set up the ideal defensive structure on the kingside there is little reason to think White should get anywhere. Nevertheless, it's appropriate for White to try - even Garry Kasparov lost a rook and three vs. rook and four ending once (against Jeroen Piket in an online event).} Rb2 48. Ra6 Rc2 49. Kg2 Rb2 50. Kf3 Rc2 51. Rd6 Rb2 52. g4 hxg4+ 53. hxg4 Ra2 54. Kg3 Ra3 55. Kf4 Ra5 56. Ke4 Ra4+ 57. Rd4 Ra5 58. f4 Ra1 59. Ke5 Re1 60. e4 Rg1 61. f5 {A good try.} gxf5 (61... Rxg4 $4 62. f6+ Kh6 (62... Kg8 63. Rd8+ Kh7 64. Rf8 $18) 63. Rd7 $18) 62. gxf5 Ra1 63. Rc4 Ra5+ 64. Kf4 f6 65. Rc7+ Kf8 66. Ke3 Ra4 67. Kd3 Rb4 68. Rc4 Rb7 ({Unlike the Yoo-Caruana ending, a rook trade is not feasible here.} 68... Rxc4 $4 69. Kxc4 Ke7 70. Kc5 $1 Kd7 71. Kd5 Ke7 72. Kc6 $18 {and White's king zigzags its way to win the f-pawn.}) 69. Kd4 Re7 70. Kd5 Re5+ 71. Kd6 Kf7 72. Rc7+ Kf8 73. Rc8+ Kf7 74. Rc7+ Kf8 75. Rc8+ Kf7 76. Rc7+ Kf8 1/2-1/2