[Event "Candidates Tournament"] [Site "Ekaterinburg"] [Date "2020.03.17"] [Round "1"] [White "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Black "Alekseenko, Kirill"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A20"] [WhiteElo "2777"] [BlackElo "2698"] [Annotator "Gelfand,Boris"] [PlyCount "82"] [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"] {Today we had an extremely interesting round and it was hard to choose the most exciting game. Finally I decided on this one.} 1. c4 e5 2. g3 {Modern trend} ({After} 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 {it turned out that Black is not forced to retreat the knight and can play} Bc5 {This was put into high level practice by Alexander Grischuk in Geneva 2017 against Pavel Eljanov. I have played it on White's side three times with mixed results, and it was also employed during the Carlsen-Caruana match.}) 2... Nf6 3. Bg2 Bc5 {For some reason this move is more popular than 3...d5 or 3...c6} 4. d3 { This position occured in 2 out of 4 games today!} ({Alexander suffered a painful loss in the Grand Swiss after} 4. Nc3 c6 5. Nf3 e4 6. Nh4 d5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. d3 Ng4 9. O-O g5 10. d4 Be7 11. h3 Nxf2 12. Rxf2 gxh4 13. Qb3 hxg3 14. Rf4 Nc6 15. Qxd5 f5 16. Bxe4 fxe4 17. Qh5+ Kd7 18. Be3 Qg8 19. d5 Nd8 20. Nxe4 Qg6 21. Qe5 Nf7 22. Rxf7 Qxf7 23. Rc1 Rf8 24. Bg5 {1-0 (24) Anton Guijarro,D (2674)-Grischuk,A (2759) Douglas 2019}) 4... d5 ({Wang Hao went for} 4... O-O 5. Nc3 c6 6. Nf3 d6 7. O-O Re8 8. Na4 Bb4 9. a3 Ba5 10. b4 Bc7 11. e4 a5 { with a complicated game: 0-1 (45) Ding Liren (2805)-Wang Hao (2762) Yekaterinburg RUS 2020}) 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nc3 ({I myself have prefered to avoid exchange on c3:} 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O O-O 8. a3 a5 9. Nxe5 Bxf2+ 10. Rxf2 Nxe5 11. Nc3 Be6 12. Qa4 c6 {with an unbalanced position: 1/2-1/2 (35) Gelfand,B (2686) -Matlakov,M (2716) Khanty-Mansiysk 2019.}) 6... Nxc3 7. bxc3 O-O 8. Qc2 ({ Alexander rejected} 8. Nf3 {probably because of the interesting pawn sac} e4 9. dxe4 Qxd1+ 10. Kxd1 Nc6) 8... Nc6 9. Nf3 {A very rich and interesting position, kind of a reversed Sicilian.} h6 {I don't like this weakening move, but I guess Black wanted to prevent the Ng5-e4 maneouvre.} (9... Re8 10. O-O Rb8 11. Ng5 $5 h6 12. Ne4 Bb6 $13) 10. O-O Rb8 11. Bb2 b6 12. Rad1 Qe8 13. e4 {White wants to build up a very strong center.} ({It is hard to assess if} 13. d4 $5 Bd6 14. Nh4 {was more precise.}) 13... Bd6 $6 {Probably Black was expecting d3-d4, but White had another idea in mind.} (13... Bg4 $5 14. h3 (14. Rde1 Rd8) (14. d4 Bd6) 14... Bd7 15. Nh4 Na5 16. Qe2 $13) 14. Nh4 $1 {Intending both Nf5 and f4.} Bg4 (14... Ne7 15. f4) 15. f3 Bd7 16. f4 exf4 (16... f6 $5) 17. gxf4 { [#]} Na5 $2 ({I would recommend a very concrete move:} 17... f6 $5 {and in case of} 18. Qe2 (18. d4 Qh5) (18. Qf2 g5) 18... g5 $1 19. fxg5 hxg5 20. Nf5 Bxf5 21. Rxf5 Ne7 $1 22. Rf2 Ng6 {- and Black's position looks great!}) 18. Rde1 ({Even more precise was} 18. Qf2) 18... Qd8 19. Qf2 Nc4 $1 {Kirill finds an excellent way to complicate the game.} ({Black's position looks horrible after} 19... Bc5 20. d4 Be7 21. Nf3 Bb5 22. Qg3 $1 Bxf1 23. Bxf1 $44) 20. Bc1 Bc5 21. d4 Be7 22. Nf3 f5 $1 23. Qe2 Nd6 (23... b5 24. exf5 Bf6 25. Ne5) 24. e5 Ne4 {Trying to set up a blockade on the light squares. Actually I tried to do the same in a Petroff against Grischuk in Isle of Man 2019, but Alexander managed to breakthrough and won a very fine game.} 25. Nd2 (25. c4 b5) ({ Retrospectively, it is possible to suggest} 25. d5 $5 b5 26. Nd4 Nxc3 27. Qd3 $44) 25... Nxd2 26. Bxd2 Be6 27. Qd3 {Probably too slow.} (27. a4 $5 Bd5 28. Be3) 27... Qd7 28. Be3 (28. c4 b5 $1) 28... c6 29. a4 {White is one tempo short of playing c4 followed by d5, so Black must act!} (29. c4 b5) 29... a6 $3 {A very creative and daring idea which changes the character of the game in a moment when time trouble is approaching.} (29... Bd5 30. c4 Bxg2 31. Kxg2 b5 32. axb5 cxb5 33. Rc1 $1 {A very difficult move to find.} (33. d5 bxc4 34. Qxc4 Rb2+ 35. Kg1 Rc8 $132) 33... Rfd8 34. Rfd1 bxc4 35. Qxc4+ Qd5+ 36. Qxd5+ Rxd5 37. Rc7 {with good winning chances.}) 30. Qxa6 (30. c4 b5) 30... Ra8 31. Qxb6 Bd5 32. Qb2 $6 ({Being short of time it is almost imposssible to find} 32. Bxd5+ Qxd5 33. c4 $1 Qxc4 34. Rc1 Qd3 35. Bf2 $16) 32... Rxa4 33. Ra1 Rfa8 34. Rxa4 Rxa4 {White's advantage is reduced to a minimum.} 35. Ra1 Rxa1+ 36. Qxa1 Bxg2 37. Kxg2 Qd5+ 38. Kf2 Bh4+ 39. Ke2 Qg2+ 40. Kd3 Qe4+ 41. Kd2 Qg2+ { Alexander Grischuk managed to outplay his young opponent, but kudos to Kirill Alekseenko for his brilliant defence!} 1/2-1/2