Games
[Event "43rd Olympiad 2018"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.24"] [Round "1.4"] [White "Aithmidou, Mohamed-Mehdi"] [Black "Li, Chao b"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B20"] [WhiteElo "2244"] [BlackElo "2708"] [PlyCount "173"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Morocco"] [BlackTeam "China"] [WhiteTeamCountry "MAR"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. e4 c5 2. d3 e6 3. f4 d5 4. Be2 dxe4 5. dxe4 Qxd1+ 6. Bxd1 Bd7 7. Be3 Bc6 8. Nd2 Nd7 9. Bf3 O-O-O 10. O-O-O h5 11. e5 Ne7 12. Bxc6 Nxc6 13. Ne4 f6 14. exf6 Nxf6 15. Rxd8+ Nxd8 16. Nxf6 gxf6 {Move 16 and not much is left, but Li Chao shows there's still plenty to fight with.} 17. Nf3 h4 18. Kd1 Bd6 19. Nd2 b6 20. Ne4 Be7 21. Ke2 Nf7 22. a4 Rg8 23. Kf2 f5 24. Nd2 Nd6 25. a5 Bf6 {Black's pieces have taken over against their white counterparts.} 26. axb6 axb6 27. c3 e5 28. fxe5 Bxe5 29. Kf3 Nf7 30. Ra1 Bb8 31. Bg1 $2 (31. Nc4 {was necessary to prevent Black's knight from invading on e5.}) 31... Ne5+ 32. Kf2 Nd3+ 33. Kf3 { White tries to hang on to the g-pawn, since an invasion of the rook would be deadly. Now, however, the b-pawn should simply fall.} Ne5+ (33... Nxb2 34. Rb1 Na4 35. Nc4 Bc7 {May look awkward, but White can't increase the pressure and there's no way trap the knight.} 36. Rb3 Rd8) 34. Kf2 Kb7 35. Kf1 h3 36. gxh3 Nd3 37. Nf3 Bf4 38. b3 Nc1 $2 {Too optimistic. White's pawns are fine now on it is actually Black's queenside pawns that eventually fall.} (38... Ne5 { Is likely dead equal, but 2700s don't like to admit that against CMs.}) 39. b4 c4 40. b5 Nd3 41. Ra6 Bc7 42. Ra4 {Black is now scrambling to stay in the game. } Nf4 43. h4 Rd8 44. Bd4 Nh5 45. Rxc4 Ra8 46. Rc6 Ra1+ 47. Kf2 Ra2+ 48. Ke3 Ra5 49. c4 Ra3+ 50. Kf2 Ra2+ 51. Kf1 Ra3 52. Ng5 Ra2 53. Ne6 Bxh2 54. Rxb6+ Kc8 55. Rc6+ Kd7 56. Bf2 f4 57. Kg2 Bg3 58. Nc5+ Ke7 59. Ne4 Bxh4 60. Kf3 Bxf2 61. Nxf2 Ng7 62. Rc7+ Kf6 63. Ne4+ Ke5 64. Re7+ Kf5 65. Nd6+ Kf6 {So far White's technique has been lengthy but fine. Now he missed a nice shot that would have ended things.} 66. Rf7+ (66. Rxg7 $1 Kxg7 67. b6 Rb2 68. Nb5 Rd2 69. b7 Rd8 70. Nd6 Rb8 71. c5) 66... Ke5 67. Rxg7 Ra3+ 68. Kf2 Kxd6 69. Rg6+ Kc5 70. Rc6+ Kd4 71. b6 Ke4 72. c5 Ra2+ 73. Kg1 Rb2 74. Rc7 (74. Rc8 {preserves the win, but Black would have had to play perfectly to hold this, which he did not:}) 74... Rb1+ 75. Kf2 Rb2+ 76. Kg1 Rb1+ 77. Kh2 f3 78. Kg3 Ke3 (78... Rg1+ 79. Kf2 Rg2+ 80. Kf1 Rb2 81. b7 Rb1+ 82. Kf2 Rb2+ 83. Kg3 Rg2+ 84. Kh4 Rh2+ 85. Kg4 Rg2+ { And Black keeps up the checks until White tries to escape. Why is it important to drive the White king to h5? Well, let's see!} 86. Kh5 Rb2 87. c6 Kd5 { And now if the White king was on h4, then Kg3 would win. But now only the rook can stop the f-pawn, so the game would continue} 88. Rc8 f2 89. Rf8 Kxc6 90. Rxf2 Rxb7) 79. Rf7 Kd4 80. Rf5 Ke4 81. Rf8 Kd5 82. Rc8 Rb3 83. Rc7 Ke4 84. b7 Rb2 85. c6 Rg2+ 86. Kh3 Rg8 87. Rf7 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.24"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Baules, Jorge"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E32"] [WhiteElo "2358"] [BlackElo "2763"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Panama"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "PAN"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 b6 5. e4 c5 6. e5 cxd4 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Ng8 9. cxd4 Bb7 10. Nf3 Bxf3 $1 11. gxf3 Nc6 12. Bb2 Nge7 13. Rg1 Rc8 14. Qe4 { Visually the space advantage, bishop pair, and open g-file look impressive for White. But all of his center pawns come under direct fire, and once he "switches" the c6-knight to f5 through some prestidigitation, there will be no fear on the kingside.} (14. Rxg7 Nf5 15. Rg4 h5 16. Re4 Qg5 {Was Nakamura's counterplay for the pawn. The position looks easier to play for the 2700.}) 14... Nf5 15. Bh3 Nce7 {The "switch" is complete.} 16. d5 {Probably just too much when your king is exposed. Black's next move is convincing.} (16. Rc1) 16... b5 $1 {Now White's center disappears.} 17. dxe6 Qa5+ 18. Kf1 dxe6 19. Qb7 O-O 20. Rd1 bxc4 21. Bc1 Qxe5 {Poof! It's gone.} 22. Rd7 Rcd8 23. Rxe7 $2 { Allowing a mate, but White's position was well beyond repair anyway.} Rd1+ 24. Kg2 Nh4+ 25. Kh1 Qe1 $1 {Even 26. Bf1 is answered by 26...Qxf1, so back-rank mate is unavoidable.} 0-1 [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.09.24"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Milligan, Helen"] [Black "Koneru, Humpy"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B08"] [WhiteElo "1942"] [BlackElo "2557"] [Annotator "Surya"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "New Zealand"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "NZL"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] {Koneru Humpy is making her comeback after almost 2 years. She has now a beautiful daughter Ahana which is why she had to take a break from playing tournaments. It’s a great news for Indian team now that Humpy is back and this surely strengthens our team by a great margin. I was personally curious to see how her first tournament game will be after almost two years of gap. I remember when Judit took a break for the same reason and she came back to play her first game she managed to produce a nice game by beating the legendary Peter Svidler in Wijk 2005.} 1. e4 g6 {Humpy was unpredictable and capable of playing any kind of position confidently and she still maintains that. Hence choosing Modern for her first comeback game is not a big surprise after all.} ( {The aforementioned game played by Judit} 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. g3 Bd6 13. Re1 Qd7 14. d3 Qh3 15. Re4 Nf6 16. Rh4 Qf5 17. Nd2 Re8 18. Ne4 Nxe4 19. Rxe4 Rxe4 20. dxe4 Qxe4 21. Bc2 Qe7 22. Bg5 f6 23. Be3 Be6 24. Qf3 Qd7 25. Rd1 Rd8 26. Be4 Bxa2 27. Bb6 Bb3 28. Rd4 c5 29. Bxc5 Qe6 30. c4 { 1-0 (30) Polgar,J (2728)-Svidler,P (2735) Wijk aan Zee 2005 CBM 105 [CB]}) 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 c6 5. a4 Nf6 6. Be2 {There are of course many ways to play against Modern, this being not as ambitious as many other lines but its a very solid line and has it's own subtleties.} O-O 7. O-O Qc7 {Nbd7 or a5 is more popular than the text move} 8. h3 e5 9. dxe5 {a typical idea in this line. White gives away the central control in order make sure black's dark square bishop remains passive for a longer period.} dxe5 10. Be3 {Strange as it may seem, this normal developing move is a slight inaccuracy from white's point of view. It would have been better to first get the other bishop to a better square.} (10. Bc4 $1 {I prefer this move. Anticipating Nh5-Nf4 plan from black it makes more sense not to commit with c1 bishop immediately} Nh5 11. Re1 a5 ( 11... Nf4 12. Bxf4 $1 {being the point of not playing Be3} exf4 13. e5 $16) 12. Be3 {Now that Re1 has been played white is ready to meet Nf4 with same idea} Qe7 {Black has to get Be6 somehow. At this stage I like 13.b3/13. Qd2 or the Karpovian Nb1 to get the knight to c4 eventually} (12... Nf4 13. Bxf4 exf4 14. e5 $16) (12... b6 13. Qe2 Ba6 14. Rad1 $16) 13. b3 (13. Nb1 $5) 13... Be6 14. Bxe6 Qxe6 15. Nd2 $14) 10... Nh5 $1 {Humpy doesn't delay and jumps immediately before white can prepare any e5 ideas after the aforementioned exchange on f4} 11. Bc4 (11. Re1 Nf4 12. Bf1 {is another way but by now black has solved his opening issues}) 11... Nf4 12. Qc1 {a bit aimless move} (12. Bxf4 exf4 13. e5 $5 {while seeing the game live I was thinking about this but somehow it leads nowhere if black simply doesn't accept the pawn sacrifice.} Bf5 (13... Bxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 15. Re1 Qc5 16. b3 {gives white huge compensation}) 14. Re1 Nd7 15. e6 fxe6 16. Bxe6+ Bxe6 17. Rxe6 Nc5 {and black is fine}) 12... Be6 $1 {If we look at the pawn structure then one can argue that black must not exchange the light square bishop but here the issue is black's bishop simply doesn't have any good square while white's light square bishop is finely placed at c4. So, its positionally justified to exchange this piece} 13. Ba2 $6 {white gains nothing by placing the rook on a2 so it makes no sense to play this} (13. Bxe6 {would be a normal move. Though white has zero advantage but he is not worse either}) 13... Bxa2 14. Rxa2 Ne6 {white's one of the main problems is that his pieces lacks clear target. Specially the knight on c3 is totally misplaced and black on the other hand has a clear plan of playing f5 at some point} 15. Rd1 Na6 $1 {first bring more pieces before going for the break} 16. Ne2 f5 { and here it comes} 17. exf5 $6 (17. c3 {its worse but still better than the move played in the game}) 17... gxf5 {now black is clearly better} 18. Ng5 Nxg5 19. Bxg5 f4 20. Ra3 Rf5 21. Bh4 Rh5 22. g3 Rf8 23. Qd2 Nc5 $6 {gives white chance to escape} (23... f3 $1 {would have been killing} 24. Nc3 Nc5 {the point is now white is unable to change queens} 25. Qd6 (25. b4 Qc8 26. Kh2 Bh6 27. Qe1 Rxh4 $19) 25... Qc8 26. Qxc5 Rxh4 $1 {This could be the fine detail missed by Humpy} (26... Qxh3 27. Qc4+ Kh8 28. Qf1) 27. gxh4 Qxh3 28. Qc4+ Kh8 29. Qf1 Qg4+ 30. Kh2 Bh6 $19) 24. Qd6 (24. b4 $1 Qc8 (24... Ne6 25. Qd7) (24... Ne4 25. Qd3) 25. bxc5 Qxh3 26. Qd7 Rxh4 27. Qxh3 Rxh3 28. Rd7 $132) 24... Qxd6 {best under the current situation} 25. Rxd6 fxg3 26. Bxg3 $6 (26. fxg3 Rhf5 $15 ) 26... a5 $1 {Shows good understanding} 27. Kg2 e4 28. Nf4 Rh6 29. Rxh6 Bxh6 30. Ne2 Rd8 $1 {now it got pure technical and Humpy shows no mercy further} 31. Bc7 Rd2 32. Rg3+ Kf7 33. Nf4 Rxc2 34. Nh5 Nd3 35. Bxa5 Rxf2+ 36. Kg1 Rf5 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.24"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Tania, Sachdev"] [Black "Punsalan, Vyanla M"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A87"] [WhiteElo "2400"] [BlackElo "1932"] [Annotator "Sagar"] [PlyCount "133"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "New Zealand"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "NZL"] 1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nf3 d6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Rb1 Qe8 8. O-O e5 9. d5 $6 {This is not usual.} h6 10. b4 Na6 11. Nd2 (11. e4 $5) (11. Qc2 $5) 11... g5 (11... e4 $1 $15) 12. c5 e4 $1 13. cxd6 Ng4 {Suddenly Tania realized that not only is c3 hanging but also e3 is a big threat.} 14. h3 (14. Qc2 e3 $1 $17) 14... Nxf2 15. Rxf2 Bxc3 {Black has a nice position.} 16. Nf1 $2 (16. dxc7 Nxc7 $15) 16... cxd6 $19 {White is just a pawn down now.} 17. Bb2 Bxb2 18. Rxb2 Qe5 19. Qb3 Bd7 (19... f4 $19 {Why not?}) 20. Rc2 Rac8 21. e3 Rxc2 22. Rxc2 Bb5 23. Kh2 Bxf1 24. Bxf1 f4 25. exf4 gxf4 26. Bxa6 bxa6 27. gxf4 Qxf4+ (27... Rxf4 {Would have kept winning chances intact.} 28. Qg3+ Kf7 29. Rc7+ Ke8 $17 { Looks scary but Black is better.}) 28. Qg3+ Qxg3+ 29. Kxg3 {This endgame should be drawn.} Kg7 30. Rc7+ Kf6 31. Kf4 Re8 32. Ke3 Ke5 33. Rxa7 Rg8 34. Rxa6 Rg3+ 35. Kf2 Rxh3 36. b5 Rc3 (36... Kxd5 $11) 37. b6 Kf4 38. b7 Rc2+ 39. Kg1 Rb2 40. Rxd6 Rxb7 41. Rxh6 $2 {A bad move and not at all easy to see that White has blundered.} (41. Kf2 $11) 41... Ke3 $2 (41... Kf3 $3 42. Rf6+ Ke2 43. Rf2+ Kd3 $19 {This endgame is winning for White as Black king is well placed.}) 42. d6 Kd2 43. Rh5 Rd7 44. Rd5+ Ke2 45. Kg2 e3 46. Kg3 Ke1 47. Kf3 e2 48. Ke3 Kf1 $2 {The move that gives the win to White.} (48... Rf7 49. d7 Kf1 50. d8=Q e1=Q+ 51. Kd4 $11 {should be drawn, but not so easy to see during the game.}) 49. Rf5+ Ke1 50. Rh5 Kd1 51. Rd5+ Ke1 52. Rd2 $1 {Great play by Tania.} Kf1 53. Rxe2 Rxd6 54. Rh2 {This is an error. According to the tablebase Rf2+ was the only way to win.} (54. Rf2+ Ke1 55. Rf4 $18) 54... Ra6 55. Kd3 Ke1 $2 (55... Ra8 $11 56. Kc4 Kg1 57. Rd2 Kf1 58. Kb5 Rb8+ {There has to be sufficient checking distance and hence Ra8.}) 56. Kc4 Kd1 57. Kb5 Ra3 58. Kb4 Ra8 59. a4 Rb8+ 60. Kc5 Ra8 61. Ra2 Kc1 62. a5 Kb1 63. Ra4 Kb2 64. a6 Kb3 65. Ra1 Rh8 66. a7 Rh5+ 67. Kd6 {An exciting game and a good warm up for Tania for the crucial upcoming rounds.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.24"] [Round "1.3"] [White "Zhang, Jasmine Haomo"] [Black "Karavade, Eesha"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E46"] [WhiteElo "1899"] [BlackElo "2374"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "New Zealand"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "NZL"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. g3 c6 8. Bg2 Re8 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. O-O Nf8 11. f3 Ne6 12. Rd1 Ba5 13. Kh1 h6 14. Na4 Rb8 15. a3 b5 16. Nc5 Nxc5 17. dxc5 Bc7 18. Nd4 {White is doing fine in this position.} Bd7 19. e4 $2 {Unnecessary.} (19. Bd2 $11) 19... Qe7 (19... Be5 $5 $15) 20. exd5 Nxd5 21. f4 Bg4 22. Rf1 Qf6 23. Qf2 Rbd8 24. Nf3 $2 (24. Bd2 $11) 24... Re7 25. h3 Bf5 26. Nd4 Be4 27. Rd1 Bxg2+ 28. Kxg2 Red7 $19 {Black has just coordinated her pieces tremendously, while the rook on a1 is just a bystander.} 29. Bd2 Nxf4+ 30. Bxf4 Bxf4 31. Qxf4 Qxf4 32. gxf4 Rxd4 {Great play by Eesha.} 33. Rxd4 Rxd4 34. Kf3 a5 35. Rb1 a4 36. b3 Rd3+ 37. Kg2 Rxb3 0-1 [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.09.24"] [Round "1.4"] [White "Aithmidou, Mohamed-Mehdi"] [Black "Li, Chao b"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2244"] [BlackElo "2708"] [Annotator "Surya"] [PlyCount "173"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] {The biggest upset of the day is clearly Li Chao losing to Aithmidou who is about 450 points below him. Li Chao pushed too hard to win and at some point, and got into worse but complicated endgame where things were not that easy to figure out over the board.} 1. e4 c5 2. d3 e6 3. f4 d5 4. Be2 {Kovalev played this line thrice in 2017-18} dxe4 {matter of personal taste.} (4... Nc6 { nothing wrong with this either}) 5. dxe4 Qxd1+ 6. Bxd1 Bd7 {This aims for Bc6-Nd7 setup. I personally liked b6-Bb7-Nc6 setup} (6... b6) 7. Be3 Bc6 8. Nd2 Nd7 9. Bf3 {I already like white's position. His moves are much easier than blacks.} O-O-O 10. O-O-O h5 11. e5 (11. Nh3 $5) (11. Ne2 $5) 11... Ne7 (11... Kc7 12. Bxc6 Kxc6 {was possible as well}) 12. Bxc6 Nxc6 13. Ne4 {not a great position to get against a lower rated player. The problem is not that black is slightly worse but the main issue is it's very difficult for white to go wrong here. His move comes naturally.} f6 14. exf6 (14. Nf3 $1 fxe5 15. fxe5 Ncxe5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Bxc5 $14) 14... Nxf6 15. Rxd8+ Nxd8 16. Nxf6 gxf6 {now black is at least not worse anymore} 17. Nf3 h4 18. Kd1 {bringing the king into play while keeping the d2 square available for the knight just in case} Bd6 19. Nd2 b6 20. Ne4 Be7 21. Ke2 Nf7 {slowly preparing f5} 22. a4 Rg8 23. Kf2 f5 24. Nd2 Nd6 {its still equal but clearly black has made more progress than white} 25. a5 Bf6 26. axb6 axb6 27. c3 e5 28. fxe5 Bxe5 29. Kf3 Nf7 {aiming to come at e5} 30. Ra1 (30. Bf2 $5) 30... Bb8 $1 {slowly and steadily Li Chao managed to outplay his opponent.} (30... Kb7 31. Ra4) 31. Bg1 (31. Nc4 {was a better option} b5 32. Nb6+ Kb7 33. Nd7 {being the point}) 31... Ne5+ 32. Kf2 Nd3+ 33. Kf3 {Here Li Chao thought about 4 min and decided not to take on b2. I am unable to figure out what bothered him here. Computer says its winning but moreover from human perspective I didn't see any reason not take this pawn.} Ne5+ $6 (33... Nxb2 34. Rb1 (34. Ra2 Nd3) 34... Na4 {I find it hard to believe that he missed this but then on the other hand I don't see any other reason not to take the pawn} 35. Nc4 Bc7 (35... Kc7 {also wins}) 36. Ra1 b5) 34. Kf2 Kb7 35. Kf1 {now white just saved the pawn and back in the game} h3 36. gxh3 Nd3 37. Nf3 Bf4 (37... Nxb2 {it was probably a good time to call it a day and make a draw} 38. Bxc5 bxc5 39. Rb1 Kc6 40. Rxb2 $11) 38. b3 Nc1 $6 (38... Ne5 { still enough for draw}) 39. b4 $14 c4 $2 {as the saying goes... mistake never comes alone} (39... Nd3 {still should be holdable}) 40. b5 $16 Nd3 41. Ra6 Bc7 42. Ra4 Nf4 43. h4 Rd8 44. Bd4 Nh5 45. Rxc4 {Rest of which should have been a happy ending, turned out to be a roller coaster instead!} Ra8 46. Rc6 Ra1+ 47. Kf2 Ra2+ 48. Ke3 Ra5 49. c4 Ra3+ 50. Kf2 Ra2+ 51. Kf1 Ra3 52. Ng5 Ra2 53. Ne6 Bxh2 54. Rxb6+ Kc8 55. Rc6+ Kd7 56. Bf2 f4 57. Kg2 Bg3 58. Nc5+ Ke7 59. Ne4 Bxh4 60. Kf3 Bxf2 61. Nxf2 Ng7 62. Rc7+ Kf6 63. Ne4+ Ke5 64. Re7+ Kf5 65. Nd6+ Kf6 66. Rf7+ $4 (66. Rxg7 {and there is nothing to calculate really} Kxg7 67. b6 Rb2 68. b7 Rb6 69. c5 $18) (66. b6 Kxe7 67. b7 {also winning although here probably still white would have had to win a Queen vs Rook endgame}) 66... Ke5 67. Rxg7 Ra3+ $1 68. Kf2 Kxd6 $4 (68... Ra2+ $1 {a clear hallucination! If black can force white one further rank down then there is no reason not to do so.} 69. Kf1 Kxd6 70. Rg6+ Kc5 71. Rc6+ Kd4 72. b6 Ke3 $11 {white king on the base rank makes all the difference.}) 69. Rg6+ Kc5 70. Rc6+ Kd4 71. b6 { now white is winning again} Ke4 72. c5 (72. Rc5 {not an easy move but once you spot it then it becomes clear that this is the simplest way to win.} Ra2+ 73. Ke1 Ra1+ 74. Kd2) 72... Ra2+ 73. Kg1 $1 Rb2 74. Rc7 $4 (74. Rc8 $3 {A very difficult move to make. At first glance it makes no sense as white is still unable to push the pawns. For now, white just stops black's idea. In fact, his next move is Rd8-c6!!} Rb1+ (74... Kf3 75. Rc7 $1 {too computerish. Now that f pawn is blocked white gets back to the standard way of pushing pawns} Rb1+ 76. Kh2 Rb2+ 77. Kh3 Rb1 78. Kh4 Kg2 79. b7 f3 80. Rg7+ Kh2 81. c6 $18) (74... f3 75. c6 $1 Rxb6 76. c7 $18) (74... Rb3 75. Rd8 $1 Rb2 76. c6) 75. Kh2 f3 76. Kg3 $1 Ke3 (76... Rg1+ 77. Kf2 Rg2+ 78. Kf1 Rb2 79. c6 $18) 77. Re8+ Kd4 78. c6 { that is apparently the reason to keep the rook on c8 and not on c7!} Rxb6 79. c7 $18) 74... Rb1+ {now draw again!} 75. Kf2 Rb2+ 76. Kg1 Rb1+ 77. Kh2 f3 78. Kg3 Ke3 79. Rf7 (79. Re7+ Kd4 80. c6 Rxb6 81. c7 Rc6) 79... Kd4 80. Rf5 Ke4 $4 {a tough call over the board without having access to tablebase :P} (80... f2 $1 81. Kxf2 Rb3 $1 $11 {is a tablebase draw} 82. Ke2 Kc4 83. Kd2 Kd4 84. Kc2 Rb5 $1 {and white cant make progress}) 81. Rf8 {finally white wins} Kd5 82. Rc8 Rb3 83. Rc7 Ke4 84. b7 Rb2 85. c6 Rg2+ 86. Kh3 Rg8 87. Rf7 1-0 [Event "Olympiad 2018"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.09.24"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Baules, Jorge"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2358"] [BlackElo "2763"] [Annotator "Surya"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 b6 $5 {Mostly we see 4...0-0, 4...d5 or 4. ..c5 in practice and rather rarely this move has been tried as compared to the three moves mentioned above. Vallejo was playing this line a lot at some point and then it was also played by Ding, Wei Yi, Wojtaszek, Ponomariov, Morozevich etc. That shows the potential of this line. Its typically played when looking for more complex and dynamic positions.} 5. e4 {The most natural response.} (5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Bb7 {is another direction of course}) 5... c5 6. e5 (6. d5 { is also a critical test for black in this system} Qe7 7. Nge2 (7. Be2 d6 8. Nf3 (8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 O-O 10. f3 exd5 11. exd5 Re8 $17 {0-1 (22) Walter,S (2406) -Wojtaszek,R (2746) Germany 2016}) 8... Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 O-O 10. Bg5 Nbd7 $132 { 1/2-1/2 (29) Narciso Dublan,M (2482)-Vallejo Pons,F (2713) Linares 2016}) 7... exd5 8. exd5 O-O 9. Bd2 d6 {was played by Wei Yi and Tomashevsky recently. This would need further test from both sides}) 6... cxd4 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Ng8 {A funny position. After 8 moves only one lonely queen is developed for white while all black's pieces are in their initial square. 32 games reached this position and even in correspondence chess black has decent scores which underlines the solidity of black's position} 9. cxd4 (9. Qe4 Nc6 10. cxd4 { was tried in Correspondence chess and here after the nice} d5 {black managed to get a comfortable game}) 9... Bb7 {At first glance optically, it feels like white should get some concrete advantage. After all he controls the center and has got two bishops. However, with closer look it turns out white's center could easily be a target for black while black doesn't have any obvious weakness.} 10. Nf3 $6 {First of all its a bad move as it creates a bad structure for white thus giving black more targets and Hikaru is also the last person to shy away from giving bishops for knight.} (10. Qd1 $5 {Funny and weird but it does have a point! White surely wants to develop his kingside pieces and the most sensible way would be put the knight on f3 and bishop on d3. In order to achieve the same this weird move comes into consideration.} d5 (10... Ne7 11. Nf3 {if black goes automatic} O-O $6 {Then after} 12. Bd3 { black is already in trouble with Bh7 in the air}) 11. exd6 Qxd6 12. Nf3 Ne7 { and a normal position has been reached. Black having no weaknesses and white has bishop pair. Somewhat like the Karpov system in Nimzo}) (10. Ne2 Nc6 11. Be3 Nge7 12. Ng3 d5 {also gives black a standard play}) 10... Bxf3 {of course!} 11. gxf3 Nc6 12. Bb2 (12. d5 $1 {is not an easy move to play when you are playing a guy who is more than 400 points higher than you but then it’s better to be active than suffer in a passive position for long time.} Nxe5 ( 12... Nd4 {I am pretty sure Hikaru would have played the strongest move here by not accepting the pawn sac} 13. Qd1 Nf5 14. Bd3 Nge7 15. f4 {leads to a dynamically balanced position.}) 13. Bb2 $1 {at least the bishop has got a long vision now :)} Qf6 (13... Nxf3+ $2 14. Ke2 $18 {could lead to some Morphy like games!}) 14. O-O-O Qf4+ {or else black is just worse} 15. Qd2 Qxd2+ 16. Rxd2 f6 $8 17. f4 Ng6 (17... Nf3 18. Re2) 18. dxe6 dxe6 19. f5 $1 exf5 20. c5 $1 {is an amusing computer generated line for which I take no credit. White in order to get advantage of double bishop had to give away every single central pawn and that was very instructive.}) 12... Nge7 13. Rg1 Rc8 {Sharp as always! Hikaru goes for the most dynamic solution.} (13... O-O 14. d5 Na5 {it is understandable that Hikaru did not want to put his knight on edge and inviting a kingside attack for white which can easily turn out to be dangerous. However black has enough resources here to stay solid} 15. Rd1 Nf5 16. Bd3 g6 $132) 14. Qe4 $6 {now finally black takes over as he gets enough time to consolidate. Soon white's pawn weakness will start to be a real pain} (14. Rxg7 {here both Ng6 and Nf5 are tempting and would be hard to tell what Hikaru had in mind} Nf5 {I would say this is most human} (14... Ng6 {is the cold blooded computer way} 15. d5 Nce7 16. Rd1 Nxd5 $1 (16... Nf5 17. dxe6 $18) 17. Rxd5 exd5 18. Qf5 Rf8 19. cxd5 Rc5 {apparently black is slightly better. I personally would have opted for Nf5 had I seen this line!}) 15. Rg4 h5 {and black gets good compensation like some lines in French}) (14. d5 $1 {deflection. White first makes sure there will be no Nf5 after Rg7} exd5 (14... Na5 15. dxe6 fxe6 (15... dxe6 16. Rd1) 16. Rxg7) 15. Rxg7 Ng6 16. e6 d4 $8 {I bet this line would have never occurred to either of the players :)} 17. exf7+ Kf8 18. Rg8+ Rxg8 { although on second thought Hikaru might have seen it thanks to his recent Fischer Random tournament :)} 19. fxg8=Q+ Kxg8 20. O-O-O Qf6 {and black is ok but so is white}) 14... Nf5 15. Bh3 Nce7 {most human reaction} (15... Na5 { engine prefers this} 16. Bxf5 exf5 17. Qxf5 g6 $17) 16. d5 b5 $1 {Hits right on the weakest spot. Now the center falls apart} 17. dxe6 Qa5+ $1 {pretty much everything wins but why not to be perfect just in case!} 18. Kf1 dxe6 19. Qb7 O-O 20. Rd1 bxc4 21. Bc1 Qxe5 22. Rd7 Rcd8 {going for nice artistic finish} 23. Rxe7 Rd1+ 24. Kg2 Nh4+ 25. Kh1 Qe1 {a lovely game by Hikaru from start to end} 0-1 [Event "43rd Olympiad 2018"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.24"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Yarmonov, Igor"] [Black "Radjabov, Teimour"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2376"] [BlackElo "2751"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 {Radjabov plays his favourite KID.} 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. c3 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. Nbd2 Nfd7 7. e4 {As Black has moved the same piece twice in the opening, White plays a little more ambitiously than just e3.} e5 8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Be3 Nd7 11. Bc4 Qe7 12. Qe2 Nc5 $6 {Once the knight cannot come to f6, Yarmonov gets ambitious.} 13. h4 $1 {A very strong move.} h5 14. f3 {g4 is going to open the kingside.} Ne6 (14... Be6 15. Bxc5 Qxc5 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. O-O-O $14) 15. g3 (15. O-O-O {followed by g4 looked much more to the point. } Nf4 16. Qf1 $14) 15... c6 16. a4 a5 17. Nb3 Kh8 18. Bb6 Nd4 {Radjabov seeing that he was slowly getting outplayed goes for desperate measures.} 19. Qf2 $1 Nxb3 20. Bxb3 Re8 21. Bc5 Qf6 22. Be3 Qe7 23. Bc5 Qf6 24. Be3 Qe7 25. Bc5 { At this point Radjabov wrote down his move Qf6 and claimed for a draw by threefold repetition. Drawing against opponent rated nearly 400 points below him was not ideal, but the position was not at all great for him.} (25. g4 { Already could have been a good idea.} hxg4 26. h5 $18) 1/2-1/2 [Event "43rd Olympiad 2018"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Dervishi, Erald"] [Black "Leko, Peter"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "2567"] [BlackElo "2690"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Albania"] [BlackTeam "Hungary"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ALB"] [BlackTeamCountry "HUN"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Kh1 Nc6 10. f4 b5 11. Bf3 (11. Be3 Bb7 12. a4 exf4 13. Rxf4 Ne5 14. Qd4 Nc6 15. Qd2 Ne5 16. Qd4 Nc6 {Carlsen,M (2814)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2733) Wijk aan Zee 2011}) 11... b4 12. Nd5 a5 13. fxe5 (13. Be3 a4 14. Nc1 Nxd5 15. exd5 Nd4 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Nd3 Rb8 18. Qd2 Qb6 {Schwetlick,T (2353)-Cesetti,C (2437) corr. 2004}) 13... Nxe5 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. Bg5 h6 16. Bh4 g5 17. Bg3 Bb7 18. Nd4 Nxf3 (18... Nxe4 $5 19. Nf5 Qe6 20. Bxe4 Bxe4 21. Qxd6 Bxf5 22. Bxe5 Bxc2) 19. Nf5 $5 Qe6 20. Nxd6 $5 {This shouldn't work...} Nxe4 21. Nxb7 Nfd2 22. Nc5 Qg6 23. Re1 Rac8 24. Nd3 Rfe8 25. Rc1 Re6 26. Bf2 Rce8 27. Bg1 Nc4 28. b3 Ncd6 29. Qf3 Rf6 30. Qh3 g4 31. Qe3 Nf5 32. Nf4 Qg5 33. Qxe4 Rxe4 34. Rxe4 Nd6 35. Rd4 Nb5 36. Rd8+ Kh7 37. Nd3 Rd6 38. Rc8 Rd8 39. Rc4 Nd6 40. Rc5 Qd2 41. Rf1 Kg7 42. Rf4 f5 43. Rc7+ Kf6 44. Rd4 Nb5 45. Rc6+ Ke7 46. Rdc4 Nd6 47. R4c5 f4 48. Rc7+ Rd7 $2 (48... Kf8 {was still completely winning.}) 49. Re5+ Kd8 50. Rc6 f3 $2 51. Bb6+ Rc7 52. Rxd6+ Kc8 53. Re8+ Kb7 54. Nc5+ 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Fier, Alexandr"] [Black "Aloma Vidal, Robert"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A09"] [WhiteElo "2558"] [BlackElo "2428"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Brazil"] [BlackTeam "Andorra"] [WhiteTeamCountry "BRA"] [BlackTeamCountry "AND"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Na3 a6 4. Nxc4 b5 5. Ne3 Bb7 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 e6 8. O-O Be7 9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 c5 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Rac1 h6 13. Rfd1 Rc8 14. Qb1 Qb6 15. Qa1 Rfd8 16. h3 Bf8 17. d3 Bc6 18. Ng4 Nxg4 19. hxg4 Qb7 20. e4 a5 21. g5 { The move may not look like much, but the Brazilian has an h-file tango in mind. } hxg5 22. Nxg5 {Ok, the knight is cleared out.} a4 23. Bh3 {Now the bishop makes way, but what's the idea?} Re8 24. Kg2 {The king scoots, but why?} axb3 25. Rh1 {The mousetrap is almost spring!} c4 {Black is either oblivious or extremely helpful!} 26. Bxe6 $1 {Bam! Now comes a tactic common in kids books but exceedingly rare in actual chess!} Rxe6 27. Rh8+ (27. Rh8+ $1 {and Black resigned since} Kxh8 28. Rh1+ Kg8 29. Rh8+ Kxh8 30. Qh1+ Rh6 31. Qxh6+ Kg8 32. Qh7#) 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Ovezdurdiyeva, Jemal"] [Black "Zhukova, Natalia"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A77"] [WhiteElo "2075"] [BlackElo "2403"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Turkmenistan"] [BlackTeam "Ukraine"] [WhiteTeamCountry "TKM"] [BlackTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. d4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 exd5 4. cxd5 d6 5. Nc3 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. Be2 Nf6 8. Nf3 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Nd2 Nbd7 11. Qc2 Ne5 12. h3 g5 13. Nc4 Nxc4 14. Bxc4 Nh5 15. Qe2 Nf4 16. Bxf4 gxf4 17. Qf3 Be5 {An important structure to know in Benoni and King's Indian positions. The Black bishop is inviolate, and even though it looks like there's no venom, once the blockade is removed, the White king is denuded.} 18. Rab1 Kh8 19. Qh5 {That queen needed to stay. This amounts to a waste of two moves, which is lethal.} (19. Rfc1 {and getting the king out of Dodge with Kf1 was needed, but Black is still having all the fun.}) 19... Rg8 20. Kh1 Qf6 21. Qf3 Qh6 22. Be2 {Ok so how to release the e5-bishop?} Bg4 $1 { Well that was easy. White now offers the queen because otherwise Black would win with panache.} 23. Qxg4 (23. Qd3 f3 $1 (23... c4 {to get the queen away from defense of h3 also works just fine.}) 24. Bxf3 Qf4 (24... Bxh3 {wins too!} ) 25. g3 Bxf3+ 26. Kh2 {now the funny news is that White is not even threatening the black queen, but} Rxg3 {wins nonetheless. Just brutal.}) 23... Rxg4 24. Bxg4 f3 $1 {It comes anyway!} 25. g3 Rg8 26. Bd7 Qd2 27. Nd1 Bxg3 $1 28. Ne3 (28. fxg3 Rxg3 29. Rg1 Rxg1+ 30. Kxg1 Qg2#) 28... Bxf2 29. Nc4 Qe2 30. Nxd6 Bg3 31. Nxf7+ Kg7 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Pogonina, Natalija"] [Black "Nadirjanova, Nodira"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "2469"] [BlackElo "2167"] [PlyCount "116"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "Uzbekistan"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "UZB"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 e6 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 g6 13. Bh6 Re8 14. Rad1 Qa5 15. a3 Bf8 16. Bxf8 Kxf8 17. Bc2 Kg7 18. Rfe1 Rad8 19. Qf3 Qc7 20. b4 Nf6 21. Qc3 Re7 22. Re3 Red7 23. Qa1 {In this common pawn structure, sometimes seen in openings like the Caro-Kann, Black reckons that her solidness is just as valuable as White's space. Indeed, the immobile d-pawn is the only obvious target on the board, and it doesn't last long.} b5 $1 {Attempting to further weaken the d-pawn but ensuring it can never advance to d5.} 24. Re5 $2 { Too optimistic.} (24. c5 {is ugly but probably required. White will have to admit her only goal in life is to guard the d-pawn, but that's life for you sometimes.}) 24... Rxd4 25. Rc5 {White may have thought that play against the c-pawn and possible pressure on the long diagonal was worth the investment of a pawn, or she may have just not wanted to defend for 40 moves. But the refutation is fairly simple.} Rxc4 26. Rxc4 bxc4 27. Qc3 Rxd1+ 28. Bxd1 Qf4 { Clearly a worse position to defend than the backward pawn position.} 29. Bf3 e5 30. Bxc6 Ne4 31. Qe3 Nd2 32. Qxa7 c3 33. Ba4 Qd4 (33... Qe4 {Was even quicker since the White king is going to get busted.} 34. Kh2 Nf1+ 35. Kg1 Qe1 { and ...Ng3+ and ...Ne2 coming.}) 34. Qxd4 exd4 35. Bc2 Nc4 36. b5 Kf6 37. Kf1 Ke5 38. b6 Kd6 39. Ke2 Nxb6 40. Kd3 Kc5 41. Bb3 Nd7 42. f4 f6 43. g3 Nb8 44. Bg8 h6 45. Bf7 g5 46. Be6 Na6 47. Bb3 Nc7 48. fxg5 fxg5 49. Ke4 Nb5 50. a4 Nd6+ 51. Kd3 Nb7 52. Bd1 Na5 53. Kc2 Kb4 54. Kd3 Nc6 55. h4 g4 56. Ke4 Kc4 57. Bc2 Nb4 58. a5 d3 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Razanadrakotoarisoa, Toavina"] [Black "Abbas, Ali"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B00"] [WhiteElo "2013"] [BlackElo "1912"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Madagascar"] [BlackTeam "Bahrain"] [WhiteTeamCountry "MAD"] [BlackTeamCountry "BHN"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. f4 c6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. Kh1 O-O 9. e5 dxe5 10. fxe5 Nd5 11. Ne2 Nd7 12. Qe1 c5 13. c3 cxd4 14. cxd4 Nc7 15. Nf4 e6 16. Bd2 Nd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Bb4 Re8 19. Bb5 h6 20. Qf2 f5 21. exf6 Bxf6 22. Ne5 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Nxe5 24. Bxe8 Qxe8 25. Qg3 Nd7 26. Qf4 Kg7 27. Qd4+ Kh7 28. Rae1 Qg8 29. Qxd5 $1 exd5 30. Re7+ Qg7 31. Rff7 Rg8 32. Bc3 $1 { How nasty!} (32. Rxd7 Qxf7 33. Rxf7+ Rg7 34. Rxg7+ Kxg7 35. Kg1 {also wins, but much slower.}) 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Shen, Yang"] [Black "Castrillon Gomez, Melissa"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A58"] [WhiteElo "2464"] [BlackElo "2248"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "Colombia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "COL"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. e4 Qa5 9. Nd2 Bxa6 10. Bxa6 Qxa6 11. a4 Ra7 12. Qe2 d6 13. Nb5 Rb7 14. O-O Ne8 15. Re1 Nc7 16. Nxc7 Rxc7 17. Ra3 Rb7 18. Nc4 Nd7 19. Bg5 Nb6 20. b3 h6 21. Bd2 Nxc4 22. Qxc4 Qxc4 23. bxc4 Rb2 24. Rd1 Rfb8 25. Kf1 Rc2 26. a5 Rbb2 27. Ke2 Bc3 28. Kd3 Bxd2 29. a6 {Seems like Black needs to stop everything and tackle the runaway a-pawn. But not so! Instead, this combination of would have golden fleece rain on the board (Georgia's nickname!).} Ra2 (29... Bf4 $3 {You'll have to excuse the continued use of double exclams. Triple might have been more apt.} 30. a7 Rxf2 $3 31. a8=Q+ Kg7 {OK no exclam since there was only three legal moves. Now stop and look at this position. It's not even immediately clear what Black's threat is yet, AND White has a queen! But even with basically two free moves, she can't get back to save her king!} 32. Qa5 ( 32. Kc3 Be5+ 33. Kd3 Rbe2 {And ...Bd4 and ...Re3# coming!} 34. Rf1 Rd2+ 35. Ke3 Bd4#) 32... Rbe2 $3 {And mate is coming on e3 unless White wants to play Qd2 and just be down a piece. Note that} 33. Kc3 Re3+ 34. Rd3 Be5+ 35. Kb3 Rxd3+ 36. Ka4 Rxa3+ 37. Kxa3 Rxg2 {Was the best try for White, but Black should still win by getting her pawns moving.}) 30. Ra1 Rc3+ 31. Rxc3 Rxa1 32. Kxd2 Rxa6 33. Ke3 1/2-1/2 [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Ragger, Markus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2686"] [Annotator "Surya"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "Austria"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "AUT"] {2006 Turin was the last Olympiad where Anand played for India. After a huge gap finally the Tiger is back which is a tremendous boost for the team.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {Italian nowadays is as popular as Spanish specially at top level.} Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bg5 {Although this was first played in 1841 but only got huge popularity after MVL recently started using this idea heavily in this position as well as in some other similar position. I personally had this position few times as white with a4-a5 included.} h6 7. Bh4 Be7 {This was the old conception that after this black has no issues hence Bg5 ideas were not that popular. Thanks to MVL's effort it is now clear that though black is still fine here white does have many interesting tries.} 8. Nbd2 d6 9. a4 Nh5 10. g3 $5 {A rare and very interesting idea from my good friend Sethu. He used this idea to beat Inarkiev in last World Rapid at Saudi. The point is white simply protects the bishop and asks black to show his plans. } (10. Bg3 {MVL played this against Kramnik which is when this whole Bg5 line started picking up rapidly. Since then many games have been played with tries from both sides.} Nxg3 (10... g6 {is the latest trend from black side which was seen in Hari - Inarkiev and Sethu - Giri}) 11. hxg3 Nb8 12. Nf1 c6 13. Ne3 Na6 14. g4 {was the MVL - Kramnik game from where it all started}) 10... Nf6 { a natural response. Now black threatens g5. Another interesting move is Bh3 which I am sure was prepared too.} 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. h4 {That is the idea of this whole g3 business! White gives up the bishop and tries to launch a kingside attack.} Ne7 (12... h5 {was the Sethuraman - Inarkiev game} 13. Nh2 g6 14. g4 hxg4 15. Nxg4 Bxh4 16. Qf3 {and white had good compensation: 1-0 (69) Sethuraman,S (2646)-Inarkiev,E (2689) Riadh 2017}) 13. Nh2 {the most natural way to follow. White has pretty much straightforward plan in this line} d5 14. Bb3 {From human point of view this is most natural. However, engine insist taking on d5} (14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Qf3 Be6 {is dynamically balanced. I like Anand's choice more as it has better practical value.}) 14... c6 (14... d4 { a counter intuitive suggestion from machine. Why would anyone give up the center and open the diagonal for the bishop! Practically it could be easier to play from white side irrespective of the computer evaluation} 15. Qe2) 15. Ng4 Qd6 16. Qf3 Bxg4 17. Qxg4 {Both sides are playing very logically. White's bishop is clearly stronger than its counterpart but black holds the center very strongly and there is no kingside attack coming either.} g6 {Not sure if this was needed right away} (17... Rad8 {Black could play g6 later at anytime}) 18. h5 {after 10min of thought Anand decides to close the kingside and make the black bishop further passive.} g5 {a committal decision but fairly justified one. Black agrees to lock the dark square bishop totally but makes sure kingside is completely closed. His solidity in center always compensates the passiveness of his minor pieces.} (18... Bg7 {would have changed the charactastic of the position completely} 19. hxg6 fxg6 20. O-O-O {can get wild soon}) 19. Qf3 (19. Qe2 {with similar idea as in the game is also doable}) 19... Bg7 20. g4 {now the position is completely closed at kingside. both f4 and f5 squares are weak but white will get his knight faster towards f5 as compared to black knight getting to f4. Thus, black's knight must not jump and rather stay at e7 from where it controls both f5 and d5. White's bishop is also stronger than its counterpart. However black still has a solid control over center which compensate all other things. As long as he can maintain that there is nothing to be worried about.} Rad8 21. Ke2 $5 {Its debatable where the king would be ideal. It does look safe at e2 as of now} a5 22. Rhd1 Rd7 23. Nf1 Rfd8 (23... Qc7 $5 {now that white moved the knight black perhaps could have gone for harassing the b3 bishop.} 24. Qe3 (24. Ne3 Qb6) 24... Rfd8 { with a balanced position}) 24. Ne3 (24. Ng3 $5 {its not clear how to break further but if I had to pick a colour I would pick white}) 24... Qf6 $2 { A strategical error. Only way for white to make some progress is to open up the game but with queens on board it would have been very difficult to do so. Now it would be much easier to create play on queenside and suddenly the king on e2 becomes so much active.} (24... Qc7 {just keeping the queen on b6 would suffice to stop white from opening another front. For the moment its not clear how white will breakthrough. The position remains balanced.}) 25. Qxf6 $1 { of course!} Bxf6 26. Ba2 (26. Bc2 {with the same idea of b4 but this time unstoppable}) 26... Bg7 (26... Ra8 $5 {would have been more tenacious. Stopping b4 for the moment. Although white has all the time to regroup and play b4 eventually}) (26... dxe4 {changing further major pieces doesn't solve the problem of passive minor pieces that black has.} 27. dxe4 Rxd1 {now both Nd1 and Rd1 are good for white} 28. Rxd1 (28. Nxd1 {and no need to calculate any furher variation} Nc8 29. f3 $14) 28... Rxd1 29. Kxd1 {white still keeps some pressure}) 27. b4 {Anand goes for the straightforward plan} (27. Rdb1 { in order not to give black a chance to swap rooks} Nc8 (27... Ra8 28. Bb3 $14 { White can still slowly transfer the bishop to c2 and eventually break on queenside}) 28. b4 dxe4 29. dxe4 axb4 30. cxb4 Rd4 $132) 27... axb4 (27... d4 28. Nc4) 28. cxb4 dxe4 29. dxe4 Rd4 $6 (29... Rxd1 {Good or bad this was the last chance to swap both rooks and black had to opt for it.} 30. Rxd1 (30. Nxd1 Rd4) 30... Rxd1 31. Nxd1 {it is psychologically difficult to take the call from black side if he should aim for this position but judging by the alternative black had this is clearly better choice.} Nc8 32. b5 $1 cxb5 33. a5 $1 {is one of the typical idea when white will take on b7 no matter what} Kf8 ( 33... Ne7 34. Bd5 $1) 34. Bd5 Ke7 (34... Nd6 $4 35. Bxb7 $18) 35. Bxb7 Na7 36. Ne3 $16 {White is clearly better. If he can win or not that is not important from practical point of view. Nevertheless, this is still much better than what happened in the game.}) 30. b5 Rxd1 31. Nxd1 $1 {Subtle. Now that there is no more Rd4 trick Anand refuses to exchange rooks.} (31. Rxd1 Rxd1 32. Kxd1 cxb5 33. axb5 Nc8 34. Nf5 Bf8 {Here black can just escape}) 31... Bf8 (31... Rd4 32. Ne3 $1 {is a nice way to finish} Rxe4 (32... Rxa4 33. Bxf7+) 33. bxc6 Nxc6 (33... bxc6 34. Bc4 $18) 34. Bd5 Rb4 35. Bxc6 bxc6 36. a5 $18) 32. Ne3 cxb5 33. axb5 Nc8 34. Bd5 Nd6 35. b6 $1 {giving no chance to escape. Anand at ease. Once he gets initiative somehow, he makes it look so simple and easy.} Rc8 36. Ra7 Rb8 37. Kd3 $1 {most direct way once again} (37. Ra5 {also equally strong}) 37... Nc8 $8 38. Bxb7 Nxb6 39. Bd5 $1 {the final touch} Rd8 (39... Nxd5 40. exd5 $18) 40. Rb7 Nc8 41. Rb8 $1 {Now black is competely stuck} Re8 42. Bc6 Bd6 (42... Rd8+ 43. Nd5) 43. Ra8 Rf8 44. Nf5 Ne7 45. Nxd6 Nxc6 46. Rxf8+ Kxf8 47. Nf5 {A fine positional masterpiece by Anand.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Dragnev, Valentin"] [Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D41"] [WhiteElo "2508"] [BlackElo "2743"] [Annotator "Sagar"] [PlyCount "128"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Austria"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AUT"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. g3 cxd4 7. Nxd5 Qxd5 8. Qxd4 Qb5 9. e4 Qb4+ 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Qxb4 Bxb4 12. Bb5 Bd7 13. Rc1 Be7 14. Ke2 O-O 15. Rhd1 Rfc8 16. a3 Be8 17. Bc3 a6 18. Bd3 b5 19. Ne5 Nd8 20. Bb1 a5 21. Bd2 Bf6 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Nd3 Nc6 24. f4 Be7 25. Rc1 Rb8 26. Be3 b4 27. axb4 Nxb4 28. Nxb4 Bxb4 29. Bd3 Kf8 30. Bd4 a4 31. Rc2 Be7 32. Ke3 h5 33. Be2 h4 34. Bc4 Bd7 35. Rg2 g6 36. Rc2 Rb4 37. Kd3 Ke8 38. Bc3 Rb7 39. Bd4 Rb8 40. Be5 Ra8 41. Bd4 Rd8 42. Bb6 Rc8 43. Bd4 Ra8 44. Bf2 h3 45. Be3 f5 46. exf5 exf5 47. Bd4 Bc6 48. Ke3 Rb8 49. Be6 Bd7 50. Bc4 Bc6 51. Be6 Bd7 52. Bc4 g5 $5 {Hari doesn't want a draw!} 53. fxg5 Bxg5+ 54. Kf2 f4 55. Re2+ Kd8 56. gxf4 {With this move White starts to go in the wrong direction.} (56. Bc3 $11) 56... Bxf4 57. Bf6+ Kc7 58. Rc2 Kd6 {The h2 pawn has become weak, Black's king is well place now. Something didn't go right for White in the last couple of moves.} 59. Kf1 Rc8 60. Kg1 $2 (60. b3 {was neccessary.} Bb5 $19) 60... Be3+ $1 61. Kf1 Rxc4 {Of course Hari doesn't miss such tactics.} 62. Rxc4 Bb5 63. Ke2 Bb6 64. Kd3 Kd5 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Hernandez Bonilla, Amelia"] [Black "Tania, Sachdev"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D04"] [WhiteElo "2044"] [BlackElo "2400"] [Annotator "Jacob Aagaard"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Venezuela"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "VEN"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Nbd7 5. Bd3 g6 6. Nbd2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1 Qc7 {It's Catalan with reversed colours! Black has equalized in my opinion and I would rather play Black in such positions.} 9. e4 {This is natural for a Colle player, but after the exchanges it is just easier for Black to play.} cxd4 10. cxd4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Nf6 13. Bd3 b6 14. Qe2 e6 15. Bg5 Nd5 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. Qd2 Bb7 18. Be4 Rac8 (18... Rfc8 {was also possible.}) 19. Bh6 Rxc1 20. Rxc1 Bxh6 21. Qxh6 {Normally you cannot take on h6 and allow the queen coming followed by Ng5, but Tania had a nice trick prepared.} Qf4 $1 22. Qxf4 Nxf4 23. Re1 Bxe4 24. Rxe4 Rc8 25. Kf1 Nd3 26. Re2 Nc1 27. Re1 Nxa2 { I was not sure of this pawn grab, but Tania plays the knight endgame very well. } 28. Ra1 Rc1+ 29. Rxc1 Nxc1 30. Nd2 Kf8 31. b3 Ke7 32. Ke1 Kd6 33. Kd1 Nd3 34. Ke2 Nb4 35. Nf3 f6 36. Kd2 Kd5 37. h3 Nc6 38. Kc3 a5 {By Zugzwang the d4 pawn will fall.} 39. g3 b5 40. h4 h5 41. Kd3 e5 42. dxe5 Nxe5+ 43. Nxe5 Kxe5 44. f3 g5 {A very well played game by Tania.} 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Karavade, Eesha"] [Black "Rovira Contreras, Tairu Manuela"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E69"] [WhiteElo "2374"] [BlackElo "2033"] [Annotator "Jacob Aagaard"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "Venezuela"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "VEN"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. e4 c6 9. h3 Re8 10. Be3 Qc7 11. Rc1 h6 12. Qd2 Kh7 13. d5 c5 14. Ne1 Nb6 {The knight is misplaced here.} 15. b3 Ng8 16. Nd3 f5 17. exf5 gxf5 18. f4 e4 19. Nf2 Nf6 20. Qe2 Qd7 21. Ncd1 $6 {A little bit planless as she moves the knight back to c3 again.} h5 22. Nc3 Kh8 23. g4 $1 {White is winning now.} hxg4 24. hxg4 Nxg4 25. Nxg4 fxg4 26. Nxe4 Qd8 27. f5 Qh4 28. f6 Bh6 29. Bxh6 Qxh6 30. Qf2 Rf8 31. Qf4 {When you are winning it is a good idea to play safe. Of course there are all sorts of ways to create an attack, but Qf4 and the knight takes the pawn on d6 is easily winning. There is nothing to calculate.} Qxf4 32. Rxf4 Nd7 33. Rcf1 Ne5 34. Nxd6 Bd7 35. Nxb7 Nd3 36. Re4 Rab8 37. Re3 Rxb7 38. Rxd3 Bc8 39. d6 Rbf7 40. Bc6 Bd7 41. Bxd7 Rxd7 42. Kg2 Kg8 43. Kg3 Kf7 44. Kxg4 Ke6 45. Re1+ Kxf6 46. Rf1+ Kg7 47. Rxf8 Kxf8 48. Kf5 Kf7 49. Ke5 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Patino Garcia, Corals"] [Black "Padmini, Rout"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E67"] [WhiteElo "2023"] [BlackElo "2338"] [Annotator "Jacob Aagaard"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Venezuela"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "VEN"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. e3 Re8 9. b3 c6 10. a4 Nf8 11. Ba3 e4 12. Nd2 Bf5 13. Rc1 Qd7 14. Qc2 d5 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. Nb5 Rec8 17. Qb2 Rc6 18. Rxc6 bxc6 19. Nc3 Ne6 20. b4 Ng5 21. Ne2 Bf8 22. Nf4 Bg4 {White's position is not so bad, but the next move is just horrific.} 23. f3 $2 exf3 24. Nxf3 Bxf3 25. Bxf3 Re8 26. Qc3 Nxf3+ 27. Rxf3 Ne4 28. Qd3 Qe7 $1 {A nice little point where Black threatens Ng5 and a5.} 29. Ng2 a5 30. Qc2 axb4 31. Bb2 Qb7 32. Rf1 b3 33. Qc1 Ra8 34. Nf4 Rxa4 35. Nd3 Rc4 36. Qa1 Rc2 37. Ne5 f6 ({Black can also play} 37... Qb5 38. Rxf7 Qe2 39. Rxf8+ Kxf8 40. Qa8+ Kg7 41. Qb7+ Kh6 42. Nf7+ Kh5 {No more checks and it is mate. But it is simply not correct approach to calculate this way. The way Padmini played was much better.}) 38. Ng4 Qe7 39. Bc1 h5 40. Nf2 Nxf2 41. Rxf2 b2 42. Bxb2 Qxe3 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.25"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Diermair, Andreas"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C95"] [WhiteElo "2711"] [BlackElo "2501"] [Annotator "Sagar"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "Austria"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "AUT"] 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. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15. b3 (15. a4 {is the main move.}) 15... Rb8 {Not so common.} (15... Bg7 16. d5 Rc8 17. c4 c6 {is a common way to play when the rook is better placed on c8 than on b8.}) 16. d5 c6 17. c4 Qc7 18. Bg5 h6 19. Be3 Nc5 20. Qd2 h5 {As Vidit said after the game, that after this move he was sure he was better because he got the g5 square for his pieces.} (20... Kh7 {was definitely the lesser evil than pushing the pawn to h5.}) 21. b4 Ncd7 22. dxc6 Bxc6 23. cxb5 axb5 24. Bb3 {White has all the positional trumps and is just better.} Nb6 (24... Nxe4 25. Nxe4 Bxe4 26. Ng5 $18) 25. Bxb6 $1 {This may seem a bit strange, but the main idea is to clear the path of the queen going to g5.} Qxb6 26. Qg5 $1 {The knight on f6 is hanging and so is the pawn on g6. It is all over.} d5 27. Qxf6 Be7 28. Qxe5 Bxb4 29. Qf4 Bxe1 30. Rxe1 Rbd8 31. Qh6 Rd7 32. e5 {A clinical performance by Vidit.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.26"] [Round "3.3"] [White "Beradze, Irakli"] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D45"] [WhiteElo "2495"] [BlackElo "2779"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Georgia 2"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Bb2 Qe7 9. Bd3 Re8 10. Ne2 e5 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Bxe5 13. Bxe5 Qxe5 14. O-O Ng4 15. Nf4 (15. Bxh7+ {White should go for it.} Kh8 16. Ng3 (16. Nf4 $2 g5 17. h3 Nf6 {The difference between this and the game is that the Bh7 is hanging.}) 16... g6 17. Bxg6 fxg6 18. Qxg6 $13) 15... g5 16. h3 gxf4 17. exf4 Qxf4 18. hxg4 Bxg4 19. Rfe1 (19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Qc1 {was safer}) 19... h5 (19... d4) 20. cxd5 cxd5 21. Qc5 Re5 22. Qc3 $2 (22. Rxe5 Qxe5 23. Rb1 {And it is still not clear if Black can force the pawn through or attack the white king.}) 22... Rg5 {Now the pressure continues.} 23. Bf1 d4 24. Qc1 Qf6 25. Re4 d3 26. Qe3 $2 { Losing. Black get his rook out of danger and thus threatens the Ra1, so White has no time to save it and block the passer with Qd2.} Rd5 27. Rb1 d2 28. Qg3 Qg6 29. Bd3 Bf5 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.26"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Hansen, Eric"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "2629"] [BlackElo "2771"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Canada"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CAN"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 a6 5. Ba4 Bg7 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 exd4 8. cxd4 d6 9. h3 Nf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Bb7 12. Nbd2 Nb4 13. Nf1 c5 14. a3 Nc6 15. d5 Nd4 {"The central moment" according to Anand. White must figure out how many times to capture -- 0, 1 or 2.} 16. Nxd4 (16. Bg5) 16... cxd4 17. Qxd4 { Hansen chose two.} (17. Bf4) 17... Nxd5 18. Qd3 Nb6 {Backing up to get to c5 or e5, or to just come forward right away.} 19. Rd1 Rc8 20. Ng3 {The adage about knights not belonging on b3, b6, g3, or g6 holds. Yes, Anand put his there, but it's not staying for long.} (20. Ne3) 20... Nc4 21. Rb1 h5 22. f3 Qb6+ 23. Kh1 d5 (23... Qf2) 24. exd5 Rfd8 25. Bf4 (25. Bxc4 bxc4 26. Qe3 Qxe3 27. Bxe3 Rxd5 {Won't be too much fun for White, but Hansen would have held out longer than in the game.}) 25... Qf6 26. Bc1 Rxd5 27. Qe2 Re5 28. Qf2 Rce8 29. Bxc4 bxc4 30. Nf1 Be4 31. Ra1 Bd3 32. Ne3 Qb6 33. Re1 R5e6 {...Bd4 is coming and the double pin is nasty.} 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.26"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Sanikidze, Tornike"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C19"] [WhiteElo "2768"] [BlackElo "2497"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "Georgia 2"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4 Qc7 8. h5 h6 9. Nf3 Nbc6 10. a4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Nb4 12. Kd2 $5 {Wow! The king often comes here anyway but it is certainly adventurous in this exact position.} (12. Bb5+ {had previously been played, where White sometimes just castles and offers the c-pawn for quick development.}) 12... O-O (12... Nec6 13. Bd3 Bd7 {Keeps more options open.}) 13. Ba3 Nbc6 14. Bd6 Qd8 15. Bd3 f5 16. c3 Na5 17. Nh4 $1 { With the center stable, now White launches the traditional play on the kingside.} Bd7 18. f4 Rf7 19. g4 fxg4 20. Bxe7 Qxe7 21. Qc2 {Those white squares around the king are quite weak. Black can't to sit around, with things like} (21. Qxg4 {is more basic but maybe even better}) 21... g5 (21... Rc8 22. Bh7+ Kh8 23. Ng6+ {coming.}) (21... Nc4+ 22. Ke2 g5 {is the small improvement by the CPU}) 22. Ng6 Qd8 23. Rhg1 {Seems hard to believe Black survived this and nearly won, but let's see it unfold.} Rb8 24. Rxg4 b5 25. Ke3 bxa4 26. fxg5 Bb5 27. Bxb5 Rxb5 28. Rxa4 (28. Nf4 Kh8 29. Qg6 {looks convincing} Rh7 (29... Qc8 30. Qxf7 Qxc3+ 31. Kf2 Qxd4+ 32. Kg2 Rb2+ 33. Kh1 Qe4+ 34. Rg2 {is the line that perhaps Nepo was scared of, but the checks end.}) 30. Nxe6) 28... hxg5 29. Nh4 $2 (29. Nf4 $3 Rxf4 30. Qg6+ Kf8 31. Qh6+ Ke8 (31... Ke7 32. Qxg5+ Kd7 33. Qxf4) 32. Rxg5 {is diabolical but required to win.}) 29... Kf8 30. h6 Qc7 $1 {Now ...Nc4+ and ...Rb2 are coming.} 31. Rxa5 Rxa5 32. Qb3 Rb5 (32... Qb6 33. Qxb6 axb6 34. Ng6+ Ke8 35. Rxg5 Rh7 $15) 33. Qxb5 Qxc3+ 34. Qd3 Qe1+ 35. Qe2 Qc3+ 36. Qd3 Qc1+ 37. Qd2 Qa3+ 38. Qd3 Qc1+ 39. Qd2 Qxd2+ 40. Kxd2 gxh4 41. Rxh4 Kg8 42. Kc3 Rb7 43. Rf4 a5 44. Rf6 Rb6 45. Rg6+ Kh7 46. Rg7+ Kxh6 47. Ra7 Kg5 48. Rxa5 Kf4 49. Ra1 Ke3 50. Re1+ Kf2 51. Rh1 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.26"] [Round "3.4"] [White "Shankland, Samuel"] [Black "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "2722"] [BlackElo "2624"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Netherlands"] [BlackTeamCountry "NED"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. e3 Bg4 5. cxd5 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 cxd5 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. O-O e6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. Bd2 O-O 11. Qh3 Nb4 12. Bb1 Qb6 13. a3 Nc6 14. b4 a5 15. b5 Na7 16. Bd3 Nc8 17. Rfc1 Nd6 18. Na4 Qd8 19. Qf3 Nd7 20. Qd1 Nb6 21. Nxb6 Qxb6 22. Qa4 Rfc8 23. Rxc8+ Nxc8 24. Rc1 Qd8 25. Rc3 g6 26. g3 Nb6 27. Qc2 Bd6 28. Kg2 Qf8 29. Bc1 Rc8 30. e4 Rxc3 31. Qxc3 Qc8 32. Qxc8+ Nxc8 33. e5 Be7 34. a4 Bb4 35. Kf3 Nb6 36. Bc2 Bc3 37. Ke3 Bb2 $2 {Black just has to do nothing to hold, but instead he does something. The race to simplify caused an oversight.} (37... Kg7) (37... Bb4 {or any other "passing" move is fine.}) 38. Bxb2 Nc4+ 39. Ke2 $1 {Not terribly hard to find, but the idea is just to avoid future checks and be in position to corral the wayward knight.} Nxb2 40. Bb3 {And there you go. The knight trapped himself.} b6 41. Kd2 h6 42. Kc3 Nxa4+ (42... Nc4 43. Bxc4 dxc4 44. Kxc4 Kf8 45. d5 Ke7 46. d6+ Kd7 {is hopeless as Black can't keep the kingside completely closed.}) 43. Bxa4 Kf8 44. Kd3 Ke7 45. Ke3 Kf8 46. Kf4 Kg7 {Black resigned rather than wait to have his kingside opened, for example with h2-h4-h5.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.26"] [Round "3.2"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "L'Ami, Erwin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2776"] [BlackElo "2639"] [PlyCount "103"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Netherlands"] [BlackTeamCountry "NED"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O g6 6. d4 Bd7 7. d5 Ne7 8. Bxd7+ Nxd7 9. c4 Bg7 10. Be3 h6 11. Nfd2 f5 12. f3 f4 13. Bf2 g5 14. Nc3 Ng6 15. c5 { A thematic idea in what has become a King's Indian-type structure.} Nxc5 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Qb3 b6 18. d6 $1 {Pawn sac number two to grab control of d5 and also open the d-file.} Qxd6 19. Nc4 Qc6 {With compensation.} 20. Rfd1 Nf8 { So did not like this move after the game. Black may "dream" of d4 for the knight but his position is too loose to have that kind of time.} (20... Rd8) ( 20... h5) 21. Rd5 Ne6 (21... Qe6 22. Nb5 Rc8 23. Nxa7 Ra8 24. Nb5 Rc8 25. Qa4) 22. Nxe5 Bxe5 23. Rxe5 c4 24. Qa3 Kf7 25. Rf5+ Kg6 26. Nd5 Qc5+ 27. Qxc5 Nxc5 { Black achieves and endgame but his king is still not out of danger.} 28. Rf6+ Kg7 (28... Kh5 {Takes guts but actually avoid getting harassed more by the rooks.} 29. Rc1 $14) 29. Rc6 Rhe8 30. Rxc7+ Kg6 31. h4 Rad8 $2 (31... gxh4 32. Nxf4+ Kg5 {Again the brave king was needed, but Black is still significantly worse.}) 32. h5+ Kxh5 33. Nf6+ Kh4 34. Nxe8 Rxe8 35. Kh2 g4 36. Rh1 g3+ 37. Kg1+ Kg5 38. Kf1 Rd8 39. Ke2 Ne6 40. Rxc4 Nd4+ 41. Ke1 h5 42. Rc7 Kg6 43. Rc3 Kg5 44. Rd3 h4 45. Kd1 a5 46. a4 Rd6 47. e5 Rd8 48. Rd2 Kh5 49. Re1 h3 50. gxh3 Kh4 51. e6 Nxe6 52. Rxe6 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.26"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Bellahcene, Bilel"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2501"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "France"] [BlackTeam "Algeria"] [WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"] [BlackTeamCountry "ALG"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bg5 Nbd7 9. a4 h6 10. Be3 Ng4 11. Bc1 Ngf6 12. O-O Nc5 13. Nd2 O-O 14. b4 Ne6 15. Nc4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 d5 17. Ned2 $2 (17. Bb2) 17... dxc4 18. c3 Nf4 19. Nxc4 Qc7 20. Bxf4 exf4 21. a5 $2 f3 $1 22. Bd3 Be6 23. Nb6 fxg2 24. Re1 Rad8 25. Qf3 Bf6 (25... Bd6 {Presses the advantage but it almost seems that Black is content to trade, even with the advantage.}) 26. Rac1 Rfe8 (26... Rd6 {With idea of ... Rc6 was the way to play for more.}) 27. Kxg2 Bg5 28. Rcd1 Qf4 29. Qxf4 Bxf4 30. Bc4 $5 {The sign of a man who still wants to win since it all but forces the coming sac.} Bd2 31. Rxe6 fxe6 32. Na4 Rc8 33. Bxa6 bxa6 34. Rxd2 Rc6 35. f3 Rec8 36. Kf2 Kf7 37. Rd7+ Kf6 38. Ke3 g5 39. Rh7 Ke5 40. Rxh6 Rxc3+ 41. Nxc3 Rxc3+ 42. Kf2 Rb3 43. h4 gxh4 44. Rxh4 Kd5 45. Rh5+ Kd4 46. Rc5 Rxb4 47. Rc6 Ra4 48. Rxa6 e5 49. Ra8 e4 50. f4 Ra2+ 51. Kg3 e3 52. f5 Ra1 53. Re8 Rxa5 { After all that, Black still has his draw, until...} 54. Kf4 Rxf5+ $4 {Disaster. } (54... Ra3 $10 55. f6 Ra6 56. Kf5 Rxf6+ 57. Kxf6 Kd3 58. Kf5 e2 59. Kf4 Kd2 60. Kf3 e1=Q 61. Rxe1 Kxe1) 55. Kxf5 Kd3 56. Kf4 {The pawn is going to be caught.} 1-0 [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.09.26"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Black "Preotu, Razvan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B53"] [WhiteElo "2743"] [BlackElo "2513"] [Annotator "Surya"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "Canada"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "CAN"] 1. Nf3 c5 {In recent times Preotu was mostly responding 1...c5 against Nf3} 2. e4 {Hari simply transposes to Sicilian but with this move order he simply made sure he has to see only Sicilian and not 1...e5 which was the other line Preotu plays.} d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 {Not a big surprise. Recently Hari beat Navara by playing this line} Nc6 (4... Nf6 5. Be2 Nc6 6. Qe3 {Was the actual move order of Hari - Navara game}) 5. Qe3 {Not as popular as Bb5 but since it has already played by Hari before and then followed by Andreikin it will soon gain more followers.} Nf6 6. Be2 {Now we are back to Hari - Navara game.} Bg4 { There are many ways black can chose his setup and this is one of them. Both Hari and Andreikin faced this move as white against Navara and Korobov} 7. O-O e6 (7... g6 {was David's choice} 8. Rd1 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Bg7 10. c4 Qc7 11. Nc3 $14 {1-0 (33) Harikrishna,P (2732)-Navara,D (2727) Prague 2018}) 8. Rd1 Qb8 { A novelty but not clear why the queen should be better placed on b8 after all.} (8... Be7 9. c4 Qc7 10. Nc3 a6 11. b3 O-O 12. Bb2 {was seen in the game.... 1-0 (39) Andreikin,D (2702)-Korobov,A (2667) Minsk 2018}) 9. c4 Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. b3 {white achieved his typical setup with more space and enjoys slightly better position.} Bd8 {getting the bishop to a better diagonal} 12. Na4 { Hari didn't want to allow Bb6. However, in the process black now gets d5 tactically.} (12. Qd3 $142 Bb6 {Probably this is something Hari didn't like as white is not really threatening to take on d6 yet.} (12... Ba5 13. Bb2) (12... Nb4 13. Qd2) 13. Bg5 $1 $14 {now that black bishop is not protecting f6 knight this causes some trouble for black. Its not much but white still maintains some pressure.} (13. Qxd6 Bc7)) 12... d5 $1 13. h3 (13. exd5 exd5 14. cxd5 Re8 15. Qd2 Nxd5 $132 {As the knight is on a4 now e2 bishop hangs.}) 13... Bh5 ( 13... Bxf3 $1 14. Bxf3 d4 {This way black could solve his problems in the center.} 15. Qe2 (15. Rxd4 $2 {Not only it doesn't work on general ground but also loses tactically on the spot.} Nxd4 16. Qxd4 Ng4 $1 $19) 15... Nd7 { The position remains dynamically balanced.}) 14. g4 (14. cxd5 {Now there was a chance to grab the pawn. However, it involves certain amount of complications and things are not that obvious or else Hari would have surely taken the pawn. He likes to grab pawns in general : )} exd5 15. exd5 Re8 16. Qd2 $1 Ne4 (16... Ba5 17. Qb2 {Cannot be the reason to refuse the pawn grab.}) 17. Qf4 $1 (17. Qe1 Bf6 {also not very clear}) 17... Bc7 18. Qh4 {looking from far this may look scary over the board.} Nf6 (18... Bh2+ {doesn't really work for number of reasons but one has to pay attention during the game}) 19. dxc6 (19. Bg5 { Also strong but this is not the way human brain works specially when seeing such lines from far.} Rxe2 20. Bxf6 Bxf3 21. Qg5 {is the point} Qf8 22. gxf3 $16) 19... Rxe2 {[%eval 60,0] In a tournament game it is natural to stop here and rather look for something less complicated way before. Of course, while analysing and with computer everything essentially comes down to numbers and in this case that is} 20. Bb2 $1 Re4 21. Qg5 h6 22. Qb5 bxc6 23. Qxb8+ Rxb8 24. Bxf6 gxf6 25. Rd7 $14 {After series of precise moves white finally got into a pleasant endgame.}) 14... Bg6 (14... dxe4 15. gxh5 exf3 16. Bxf3 {Looks much easier to play from white side.}) 15. e5 {Hari in his usual style keep things under control.} Ne4 16. Ba3 Be7 $6 (16... Re8 $1 {Black had to stick to his active pawn sacrifice strategy here also.} 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Rxd5 Bc7 19. Bb5 ( 19. Bb2 Nf6 $1) 19... a6 (19... Nf6 20. Rc5 Bd6 21. Rxc6 $1 bxc6 22. Bxd6 Qxb5 23. Nd4 $36) 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Rd7 Bxe5 (21... Nf6 22. Rd6 $5) 22. Nxe5 Qxe5 23. Bb2 Qg5 {Black should be able to hold here}) 17. cxd5 $1 {The correct way. Now black will be forced to accept a bad pawn structure.} exd5 (17... Bxa3 18. dxc6 b5 19. Nc3 Bc5 20. Nd4 $16) 18. Bxe7 Nxe7 19. Nc5 {White got clear advantage with black having limited counter play. rest part of the game Hari plays flawlessly.} Rd8 20. Rac1 Nc6 $2 {It was already worse but this mistake makes it irreparable.} 21. Na6 $1 Qc8 (21... bxa6 22. Rxc6 $18) 22. Nd4 $18 { There are simply too many threats white has in this position.} Nxd4 23. Rxd4 ( 23. Rxc8 $4 {Turns the table} Nxe2+ 24. Qxe2 Raxc8 25. Nb4 Nc3 $19) 23... bxa6 (23... Qd7 24. Nb4 $18) 24. Rxc8 Raxc8 25. Bxa6 {I told earlier! Hari likes pawns :) Although here it was also partly in order not to let black double on 'c' file.} Rc3 26. Qe1 Rxh3 27. Qa5 Rf8 28. Rxd5 h5 29. Bf1 Rc3 30. Rd8 Rc8 31. Rxf8+ Rxf8 32. gxh5 Bxh5 33. e6 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.27"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E03"] [WhiteElo "2827"] [BlackElo "2771"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "India"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Be3 $146 { A novelty prepared before the game, directed against 7...c5.} (7. Qc2 c5 8. Nf3 b5 9. Ne5 Nd5 10. Nxd7 Bxd7 11. Bxd5 exd5 12. dxc5 Bc6 13. O-O d4 14. Bf4 Qd5 15. f3 d3 16. exd3 Qxc5+ 17. Qxc5 Bxc5+ 18. Kg2 Bd4 19. Nc3 Kd7 20. Rae1 { Giri,A (2752)-Anand,V (2767) Wijk aan Zee 2018}) 7... Bd6 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Nh3 $5 e5 10. O-O h6 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nc3 Qe7 13. Rad1 Re8 14. Nf4 c6 15. Bd4 g5 $5 { After a 15-minute think, Anand decides that he needs to play actively, even though his kingside is weakened this way.} 16. Nd3 Nxd3 17. Rxd3 Be5 18. Qd2 Bf5 19. e4 Bg6 20. f4 {Of course.} gxf4 $2 {A miscalculation.} ({Also after} 20... Bxd4+ 21. Rxd4 gxf4 22. gxf4 Rad8 {White is better.}) 21. Bxe5 $1 Qxe5 22. gxf4 Qc5+ 23. Kh1 Nxe4 24. Nxe4 Rxe4 {This looks quite nice, but also fails tactically.} ({The problem was} 24... Bxe4 25. Bxe4 Rxe4 26. Qg2+) 25. Rg3 $1 Rd4 26. Qe3 (26. Qe3 {White wins a piece:} Kh7 27. f5 Bxf5 (27... Bh5 28. Rh3) 28. Rxf5 Rd1+ 29. Rf1) 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.27"] [Round "4.2"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Mamedjarova, Zeinab"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "2423"] [BlackElo "2358"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeamCountry "AZE"] 1. c4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Qf3 Bg6 8. Bxf6 gxf6 9. h4 h5 10. Nh3 Bb4 11. Qd1 Nd7 12. Nf4 Qa5 13. Qc1 Bd6 14. Be2 Nf8 15. Qd1 Qb6 16. Qd2 Ne6 17. g3 Nxf4 18. exf4 O-O-O 19. O-O {It turns out this structure is just much easier for White. Black can't really ever break through on the kingside, as only a moral victory can be had by putting a rook on the g-file to try to sac on f4.} Kb8 20. a3 Qc7 21. b4 {Meanwhile White can leisurely build up to attack the "hook" on c6.} Ka8 22. Rfc1 Qd7 23. b5 Bf5 24. bxc6 bxc6 25. Na4 Rb8 26. Nc5 Qe7 27. Rc3 Qd8 28. Na6 Rb6 29. Rac1 Qc8 30. Nb4 Bxb4 31. axb4 {b5 is coming} Qd8 (31... Qd7 32. b5 $1 cxb5 33. Rc7 Qd8 34. Qa5 Qb8 35. Bf3 (35. Rxf7 Rh7) 35... Be4 36. Bxe4 dxe4 37. Rxf7 {The bishoop trade prevented the ..R7 defense}) 32. Rxc6 Rxc6 33. Rxc6 Qe7 34. b5 Qe4 35. Bf1 Rc8 36. Qc3 Kb8 37. Qc5 Rxc6 38. bxc6 Kc7 39. Bg2 Qe1+ 40. Kh2 Be4 41. Qe7+ Kxc6 42. f3 {The White king is still untouchable.} Kb5 43. fxe4 Kc4 44. Qc5+ Kd3 45. exd5 Qb1 46. d6 {Positional mastery from White.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.27"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Adams, Michael"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D41"] [WhiteElo "2820"] [BlackElo "2712"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeam "England"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 Nd7 12. O-O b6 13. Rad1 Bb7 14. Rfe1 Rc8 15. Bb3 h6 (15... Nf6 16. Qf4 Re8 17. h3 Nh5 18. Qe5 Nf6 19. Qf4 Nh5 20. Qg4 Nf6 21. Qf4 {½-½ So,W (2780)-Wei,Y (2729) chess.com INT 2018}) 16. h3 Re8 17. Re3 Qf6 18. Qe2 Qf4 19. g3 $146 (19. Ne1 Red8 20. Nd3 Qf6 21. d5 exd5 22. e5 Qf5 23. e6 fxe6 24. Rxe6 Nf8 25. Re7 Rd7 {Sakaev,K (2619)-Hera,I (2527) Budva 2009}) 19... Qc7 20. d5 exd5 21. exd5 Rxe3 22. Qxe3 Qc5 23. Qf4 Qc3 24. Nd4 Re8 25. d6 Nf6 26. Kh2 Qb2 27. Nc2 Qc3 28. Nd4 Qb2 29. d7 $1 Rd8 30. Nf5 Be4 (30... Rxd7 31. Rxd7 Nxd7 32. Nxh6+) (30... Nxd7 31. Nxh6+) 31. Nd6 Bg6 32. Nc4 $1 Qe2 33. Ne5 Kh7 34. g4 {Black is helpless.} b5 35. Qe3 Qb2 36. Kg1 b4 37. Nxg6 (37. Nxg6 fxg6 38. Qe7) 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.27"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Mammadzada, Gunay"] [Black "Zatonskih, Anna"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C07"] [WhiteElo "2438"] [BlackElo "2431"] [PlyCount "211"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. N2f3 Bb4+ 8. Bd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 Nb6 11. Be2 Qf6 12. Qg5 N8d7 13. Qxf6 Nxf6 14. c4 Rd8 15. b3 Bd7 16. Ne5 Be8 17. Rd1 Nbd7 18. Nxd7 Rxd7 19. f3 Rad8 20. Nc2 Kf8 21. Kf2 Ke7 22. Ke3 Rxd1 23. Bxd1 Nd7 24. f4 a5 25. a3 f6 26. Bf3 Bg6 27. Nd4 e5 28. fxe5 fxe5 29. Nb5 Nc5 30. b4 Rd3+ 31. Ke2 axb4 32. axb4 Ne6 33. Bxb7 Rb3 34. Rc1 Nf4+ 35. Kd2 Rd3+ 36. Ke1 Rb3 37. Rc3 Rxb4 38. Re3 Kf6 39. Nd6 Ke6 40. Nb5 Rxc4 41. Nc3 Rb4 42. Bf3 Rb2 43. Kf1 Bd3+ 44. Kg1 Rc2 45. Ne4 h6 46. h4 Be2 47. Nc5+ Rxc5 48. Bxe2 Kf5 49. Bf3 Rc4 50. g4+ Kf6 51. Kf2 Ne6 52. Ra3 Rb4 53. Ke3 Nc5 54. Ra5 Rb3+ 55. Ke2 Rc3 56. Kf2 e4 57. Be2 Ke5 58. Ra7 Ne6 59. Ra5+ Rc5 60. Ra7 Rc7 61. Ra5+ Rc5 62. Ra7 g6 63. Re7 Rc2 64. Ke3 Rc3+ 65. Kd2 Rc8 66. g5 Rd8+ 67. Ke3 Kd6 68. Rh7 hxg5 69. Kxe4 Re8 70. Bb5 Rb8 71. Rd7+ Kc5 72. Rd5+ Kb4 73. Be2 gxh4 74. Bg4 Nc5+ 75. Kf4 Kc4 76. Rd6 Rf8+ 77. Ke3 Re8+ 78. Kf4 Rf8+ 79. Ke3 Re8+ 80. Kf4 g5+ 81. Kf5 Ne4 82. Rd7 Rf8+ {It is correct to try drive the white king farther from the show.} 83. Ke5 $2 (83. Kg6 { holds but}) (83. Kxe4 Rf4+ {does not}) 83... Re8+ $2 {But the inverse is of course true. It is not correct to drive him back!} (83... Nf2 {wins. Despite White's checks that drive the Black king away, the knight supports both pawns.} ) 84. Kf5 Nf2 85. Bh5 Re1 (85... Rg8 86. Bf7+) 86. Kxg5 h3 87. Bf3 h2 88. Kf4 { Now the best Black can hope for is a pawnless ending with the extra knight, but Zatonskih can still make some small corrections before entering it.} Nd3+ 89. Kg3 Ne5 90. Rc7+ Kd4 91. Bg2 h1=Q 92. Bxh1 Rxh1 {White's king is already getting corralled, but this is still one of the drawn positions of course.} 93. Rc2 Ke3 94. Rc3+ Ke4 95. Kg2 Rh8 96. Rh3 Rg8+ 97. Rg3 Ra8 98. Rb3 Nd3 99. Rb7 Nf4+ 100. Kf2 Ra2+ 101. Ke1 Nd5 102. Rf7 Ke3 103. Kf1 Ra1+ 104. Kg2 Nf4+ 105. Kg3 Rg1+ 106. Kh4 $4 {White apparently resigned on her opponent's move. Instead 106...Kh2, the only other move, draws. White can be cornered but not mated. One important detail: After the text, 107. Kf3 Rg7 is not a stalemate since 108. Rh1+ Kg5 109. Ne6+ is a fork.} 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.27"] [Round "4.3"] [White "Tomczak, Jacek"] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2614"] [BlackElo "2779"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Poland"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "POL"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. h4 Qe6 (8... a5 9. c4 Nb6 10. Nd2 Qe6 11. Nf3 Bb4+ 12. Bd2 Bxd2+ 13. Nxd2 O-O 14. O-O-O Re8 {Nakamura,H (2787)-Robson,R (2660) Saint Louis 2018}) 9. g3 Nb4 10. c4 $146 (10. a3 Qd5 11. Rg1 Ba6 12. c4 Qa5 13. Nc3 O-O-O 14. Rb1 Nd5 15. Bd2 Qc5 16. Qe4 f5 {Diaz,J (2375)-Arencibia Rodriguez,W (2555) Las Tunas 1996}) 10... Ba6 11. Bf4 (11. b3 $5 Qf5 12. Kd1) 11... d5 12. a3 Bxc4 13. Qd1 Bxf1 ( 13... Qf5 $5 14. Bxc4 dxc4 15. O-O Nd3) 14. Kxf1 Na6 15. Nc3 Nc5 16. b4 d4 17. bxc5 dxc3 18. Qd4 Rd8 (18... Qd5 $5 19. Qxd5 cxd5) 19. Qxc3 Qd5 20. Kg1 Bxc5 21. Rc1 Bb6 22. h5 O-O 23. h6 Rfe8 24. hxg7 Re6 25. Bg5 Qa2 26. Rh2 Rd5 $2 { Blundering away the game.} (26... Rd4 {was unclear.}) 27. Qb4 $1 {Over and out. } c5 28. Qh4 h6 29. Bxh6 Qb3 30. Bd2 Kxg7 31. Qh8+ Kg6 32. Qh7# 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.27"] [Round "4.3"] [White "Ushenina, Anna"] [Black "Krivec, Jana"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A41"] [WhiteElo "2451"] [BlackElo "2185"] [PlyCount "103"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Ukraine"] [BlackTeam "Slovenia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"] [BlackTeamCountry "SLO"] 1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 Bg4 3. e4 Nd7 4. Be2 e5 5. O-O Be7 6. Nc3 c6 7. a4 Ngf6 8. Be3 O-O 9. Nd2 Bxe2 10. Qxe2 Ne8 11. Nc4 Nb6 12. Rad1 Nxc4 13. Qxc4 Qc8 14. Rd2 exd4 15. Bxd4 Qe6 16. Qd3 f5 17. Re2 f4 18. f3 a6 19. a5 Nc7 20. Na4 Bf6 21. Bb6 Rac8 22. Rd1 Ne8 23. Bd4 Rd8 24. Nb6 Be7 25. Qc4 Qxc4 26. Nxc4 Kf7 27. Red2 Ke6 28. Bc3 Nf6 29. Bb4 Ne8 30. Rd3 Rf7 31. Kf1 g5 32. Re1 Bf8 33. Kf2 Bg7 34. Red1 Bf8 35. Nb6 Nc7 36. Na4 Rfd7 37. c4 Bg7 38. R1d2 Bf8 39. b3 Rf7 40. Ba3 Rfd7 41. e5 $1 d5 (41... Kxe5 42. Nc5 {Giving up the exchange is the "best" of bad choices since things like} Rf7 43. Nxb7 Rb8 44. Nxd6 {is hopeless for Black.}) (41... dxe5 42. Rxd7 Rxd7 43. Rxd7 Kxd7 44. Bxf8) (41... Ne8 {is almost too ugly to show, but} 42. Nb6 {is convincing enough}) 42. Bxf8 Rxf8 43. Nc5+ Ke7 44. Nxd7 Kxd7 45. Rd1 Ke6 46. h4 h6 47. hxg5 hxg5 48. Rh1 Rf7 49. Rdd1 {White has been insisting on the e-pawn getting captured!} Kxe5 50. Rh6 Rg7 51. g4 fxg3+ 52. Kxg3 1-0 [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.09.27"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E03"] [WhiteElo "2827"] [BlackElo "2771"] [Annotator "Surya Sekhar Ganguly"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Be3 $5 $146 {Fabiano comes up with a very interesting novelty as early as move 7 in a popular line of Catalan system. The idea is as obvious as it looks. White stops c5 for the moment. Anand already had this position as black against Anish in 2018 Wijk where Anish played the most popular move 7.Qc2} (7. Qc2 c5 8. Nf3 b5 9. Ne5 Nd5 10. Nxd7 Bxd7 11. Bxd5 exd5 12. dxc5 Bc6 {Anand came up with this nice pawn sac idea in that game and drew comfortably. ½-½ (20) Giri,A (2752)-Anand,V (2767) Wijk aan Zee 2018}) 7... Bd6 {In order to have the e5 option in future.} (7... Nd5 8. Bxd5 Nb6 {doesn't work due to} 9. Bc6+) (7... b5 {in order to exploit the fact that white queen is still on c4} 8. Qc1 (8. Qc2 Nd5) 8... Rb8 {is another way of playing which needs further tests.} ( 8... Nd5 9. Bg5)) (7... Be7 $5 8. Qc2 $140 Nd5 9. Bd2 c5 {in this particular line black bishop is better placed on e7 than on d6}) 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Nh3 $5 { Fabiano was still blitzing out all these weird looking moves which shows the depth of his preparation. The knight on h3 might look odd for the moment but in return the bishop on g2 remains open thus black will not be able to develop normally on queenside easily.} e5 (9... Ng4 10. Bg5 $14) (9... Rb8 10. O-O b5 11. Nc3 $14) 10. O-O h6 {now threatening Ng4} (10... Ng4 11. Bg5 f6 (11... Ndf6 12. f3 h6 13. Bc1 Nxh2 {leads nowhere} 14. Kxh2 exd4 15. e4 $1) 12. dxe5 Ndxe5 13. Bd2 c6 {An interesting computer suggestion. I somehow still like white's position more here.}) 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nc3 Qe7 (12... Neg4 13. Bf4 g5 14. Bc1) 13. Rad1 {For the first time Fabi started to think. It showed a great amount of preparation starting with an uncommon setup form white side.} Re8 (13... Ng6 {In order to keep the h3 knight out of the game for a while} 14. Bd4 Be5 15. Bxe5 Nxe5 16. Nf4 c6 {similar to the game but without the dark square bishops which reduces white's advantage a bit.}) 14. Nf4 c6 15. Bd4 g5 $6 {After 15min of thought Anand took this decision. Clearly his first choice would have been just to play Bd7 but something bothered him there hence he opted for this desperate solution. Or perhaps he just wanted to change few pieces to reduce white's advantage.} (15... Bd7 16. Ne4 (16. Na4 g5 {now that the other knight is in corner g5 becomes strong.}) (16. e4 {even here moves are not that easy for black but at least he has no obvious weakness.} b5) 16... Nxe4 17. Bxe4 { White still maintains some pressure}) 16. Nd3 Nxd3 17. Rxd3 $1 Be5 (17... Bf5 { loses on the spot} 18. Bxf6 $1 Qxf6 19. Rxd6 $18) 18. Qd2 {After a very long thought. White goes for f4 ideas in order to open up the kingside.} (18. Re3 Ng4) (18. Bxe5 Qxe5 19. e4 {was also possible}) 18... Bf5 {Ideally black wouldn't want to lock his bishop on g6 but how else to develop?} 19. e4 Bg6 20. f4 $1 (20. Bxe5 Qxe5 21. f4 Qc5+) 20... gxf4 $2 {This turns out to be a big mistake based on some nice tactics.} (20... Bxd4+ {The line looks ugly but this was more or less the only decent option black had.} 21. Rxd4 Rad8 22. e5 Nh5 23. f5 (23. Rd6 gxf4) 23... Rxd4 24. Qxd4 Bh7 {looks horrible at first sight. Engine as usual doesn't think about how it looks and says black is not that worse after all! During a game it could be very frustrating to aim for this position.} 25. Bf3 (25. Re1 $2 Bxf5 26. g4 Rd8 $1 $17 {is a nice tactical point}) 25... Ng7 26. g4 Qxe5 27. Qxe5 Rxe5 {at some point black will sac the piece and will be able to hold}) 21. Bxe5 Qxe5 22. gxf4 Qc5+ 23. Kh1 {Now everything comes down to one single question. Can black take on e4 or not? If he can’t then it is surely lost. Both players were looking this form far and lines are not trivial to calculate with so many options. Especially overt the board during game.} Nxe4 (23... Rxe4 24. f5 $1 Bxf5 25. Qxh6 $18) 24. Nxe4 Rxe4 {Here too it is not that obvious how white is better. Fabiano finds the only precise way to win the game.} (24... Bxe4 25. Bxe4 Rxe4 26. Qg2+ {is one of the tactical point that had to be foreseen long back}) 25. Rg3 $1 (25. f5 { looks super tempting but spoils the advantage immediately.} Bxf5 26. Qxh6 Bg6 $1 27. Rg3 (27. Rh3 $2 Qd4) 27... Re6 {Only move but good enough to hold the balance.}) 25... Rd4 {Here too white had to find the only way to win....} 26. Qe3 $1 {Now black loses a piece. Anand resigned. Great preparation and great game by Fabiano.} (26. Qf2 $2 Kh8) (26. Qe3 $1 Kh7 (26... Kh8 27. f5) 27. f5 Bxf5 (27... Bh5 28. Rh3 $18) 28. Rxf5 Qxf5 29. Qxd4 Qb1+ 30. Qg1 $18) 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C80"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2820"] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Armenia"] [BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"] [BlackTeamCountry "AZE"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 Be7 7. Re1 b5 8. Rxe4 d5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Rxe5 bxa4 11. Qe1 f6 12. Re3 c5 13. Qd1 O-O 14. Nc3 Rb8 15. b3 cxd4 16. Qxd4 Bd6 $5 {This ends up offering the d- and a-pawns!} ({ Let's be honest, how many of us would have just played} 16... axb3 {or}) (16... Bb7) 17. Qxd5+ Kh8 18. Rd3 Qe8 19. Bb2 (19. Nxa4 Qe1#) 19... Be5 20. Nxa4 { The materialistic computer likes White but there is an ominous lack of pieces around his king.} Rb5 21. Qf3 (21. Qc4 Be6 22. Qh4) 21... Bb7 22. Qe3 {You can see why Aronian chose this path for the queen -- it looks like some things are about to get traded, until...} Be4 $1 23. Rd2 (23. Qxe4 Bxh2+ 24. Kxh2 Qxe4 { is the point}) (23. Rad1 Bxd3 24. Qxd3 $13 {is one way to diffuse the attack, that is, if you see it coming!}) 23... Bxg2 $3 {Classic Shak.} 24. Kxg2 Qg6+ 25. Kf1 (25. Kh1 Bxh2 $1 26. Nc5 Qh5 $17) 25... Bxh2 {Threatening ...Re8 and then mate with ...Qg1.} 26. Re1 (26. Nc5) (26. f4 Bxf4 27. Qe7 Rg8 {is a mess but White's king still looks perilous.}) 26... Rg5 27. Ke2 $2 (27. Nc3 Qh5 28. f3 {was the best hope of surviving but Black still has his teeth out}) 27... Re8 28. Kd1 Rg1 $1 (28... Rxe3 $2 29. Rd8+ Re8 30. Rexe8+ Qxe8 31. Rxe8#) 29. Be5 Bxe5 30. Rde2 h5 31. Qd3 Qg2 32. Nb6 Rxe1+ 33. Rxe1 Qxf2 34. Nd5 Rd8 35. c4 Qxa2 36. Qf3 g6 37. Re3 Kg7 38. Qh3 Qf2 39. Rd3 Qg1+ 40. Kc2 Qh2+ 41. Qxh2 Bxh2 42. Rh3 Be5 43. Kd3 a5 44. Ke4 Kf7 45. Kf3 Rh8 46. Kg2 g5 47. Ne3 Ke6 48. Kf1 f5 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.4"] [White "Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs"] [Black "Yu, Jennifer"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "2367"] [BlackElo "2268"] [PlyCount "124"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Mongolia"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "MGL"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 b5 6. O-O Bb7 (6... e6 7. a4 Bb7 8. Ne5 a6 9. b3 cxb3 10. Qxb3 Be7 11. Nc3 b4 12. Rd1 a5 {Mchedlishvili,M (2603) -Eljanov,P (2711) Riadh 2017}) 7. b3 cxb3 8. axb3 e6 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10. Qc2 Nd5 $146 (10... Be7 11. Rd1 Qb6 12. Ne5 Rc8 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. e4 O-O 15. Nc3 Rfd8 { Clarac,J (2129)-Peralta,F (2549) France 2007}) 11. Nc3 Be7 12. Ne4 O-O 13. Rfc1 a5 14. h4 h6 15. Ne5 Nb4 16. Qc3 Nd5 17. Qd2 Bb4 18. Qc2 Rc8 19. Nc5 Nxc5 20. dxc5 Qe7 21. Nd3 Rfd8 22. Be5 Ra8 23. e4 Nf6 24. Bd6 Qe8 25. Qb2 Qd7 26. Nxb4 axb4 27. Qd4 Ne8 28. e5 Nc7 29. Qxb4 Nd5 30. Qd4 Qe8 31. Be4 Rxa1 32. Rxa1 Ra8 33. Re1 Bc8 34. h5 Ra7 35. Bd3 g6 36. Qg4 Kg7 37. Qf3 Qd8 38. Kg2 Ra2 39. Rh1 Qg5 40. hxg6 Ne3+ 41. Kg1 Ra1+ 42. Kh2 Ng4+ 43. Kg2 Ra7 44. Be4 (44. Ra1 $1) 44... fxg6 45. Qf8+ Kh7 46. Bb1 (46. Qxc8 {just wins because} Ra2 47. Rf1 Ne3+ 48. Kg1 Nxf1 {actually is a forced mate:} 49. Qd7+ Kg8 50. Qe8+ Kh7 51. Qf7+ Kh8 52. Bf8) 46... Qd2 47. Rh4 $2 ({Here} 47. Qf3 {is just over.}) 47... Qd5+ 48. Qf3 Rf7 $1 {The best chance...} 49. Qxd5 $6 {...and it works.} ({White could still win a pawn with} 49. Bxg6+ $1 Kxg6 50. Rxg4+ Kh7 51. Qe4+ $1 { (neither player wants to take the other's queen)} Kh8 52. Rh4 Kg7 53. b4) 49... exd5 {White is not better anymore...} 50. f4 $2 {...and this is a fatal weakening of the kingside.} Kg7 (50... Ra7 $1) 51. Kf3 h5 52. Rh1 Ra7 { Everything went wrong for White.} 53. f5 Bxf5 54. Bxf5 Rf7 $2 (54... gxf5) 55. e6 Rxf5+ 56. Ke2 Rf2+ 57. Kd3 Rf3+ 58. Kd2 Rf2+ 59. Kd3 Rf3+ 60. Kd4 $4 Nf2 61. Rf1 Kf6 62. Be5+ Kxe6 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2827"] [BlackElo "2703"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Israel"] [BlackTeamCountry "ISR"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. O-O Ne8 9. Be3 b6 10. e5 f6 11. Re1 Nc7 12. Qd2 fxe5 13. Bh6 Rxf3 $5 (13... Bxh3) 14. Bxg7 (14. gxf3 Bf6) 14... Kxg7 15. gxf3 Bxh3 16. Rxe5 e6 17. Rg5 { Caruana said at some point he just starting attacking with brute, but it worked!} (17. a4) 17... Qf6 18. Rg3 Bf5 19. Kg2 h5 20. Rh1 Rh8 21. Ne4 Qxb2 22. Qf4 Nd5 23. Qd6 e5 $2 {Sealing off Black's queen from defending key squares like f6.} (23... h4 24. Qd7+ Kg8 25. Rxh4 Rxh4 26. Qd8+ Kg7 27. Qxh4 Qxc2 $13) 24. Rh4 (24. Rg1 {is diabolical but best} h4 25. Rxg6+ $1 Bxg6 26. Kh2 Rh6 27. c4 $1 Nf4 28. Qe7+ Kh8 29. Qf8+ Kh7 30. Nf6#) 24... Qd4 25. Kg1 Rf8 26. Rxh5 Bxe4 27. Qd7+ Kf6 28. Qxc6+ Kg7 29. Qd7+ Kf6 30. fxe4 Nf4 31. Rf5+ gxf5 32. Qxf5+ Ke7 33. Rg7+ 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Black "Anton Guijarro, David"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E14"] [WhiteElo "2710"] [BlackElo "2639"] [PlyCount "133"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Ukraine"] [BlackTeam "Spain"] [WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"] [BlackTeamCountry "ESP"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 b6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. b3 Re8 9. Ba3 Bg4 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. Nc3 c6 12. Rc1 Nbd7 13. Be2 Rac8 14. Qc2 Ne4 15. Nd2 Nxd2 16. Qxd2 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Nf6 18. Rc2 Rc7 19. Rfc1 Ree7 20. Qf3 Ne8 21. Ne2 Rc8 22. Qf4 Qg6 23. h3 h6 24. Qg4 Qxg4 25. hxg4 Rec7 {Not a fun ending for Black as he is glued to the backward pawn. But can White punch through? Yes!} 26. Nf4 Kf8 (26... Nd6 27. Nxd5) 27. Nd3 Ke7 28. Nb4 (28. Ne5 Kd6) 28... Kd6 29. Na6 Rb7 30. b4 b5 (30... Nf6 31. b5 c5 32. dxc5+ bxc5 33. Nxc5 Rxb5 34. Nb7+) 31. Nc5 Rb6 (31... Rbc7 {and now White may choose a setup with Rc2-c3-a3-a6 and Nc5-b3-a5 and then play for e4 to break through!}) 32. Nd3 f6 33. Rc3 Kd7 34. Nc5+ {a7 is still a problem} Ke7 35. Ra1 Ra8 36. Nb3 Nd6 37. a4 Nc4 38. Rc2 Kf7 39. Rca2 Kg6 40. axb5 Rxb5 41. Rxa7 Rxa7 42. Rxa7 Rxb4 { White had to reduce the number of pawns to gain an active rook, but luckily there's still a weak c-pawn to target.} 43. Nc5 Nd6 44. Rc7 Rb6 45. Ne6 Ne8 46. Re7 Rb8 47. f4 f5 48. g5 hxg5 49. fxg5 Nd6 50. Rxg7+ Kh5 51. Rh7+ Kg4 52. g6 f4 53. g7 Nf5 54. exf4 Re8 55. Kf2 Ra8 56. Rh3 Ra2+ 57. Kg1 Ra8 58. Kh2 Re8 59. Rc3 Rg8 60. Ra3 Re8 61. Ra6 Nxg7 62. Nxg7 Re7 63. Ra3 Kxf4 64. Rf3+ Kg4 65. Nf5 Re4 66. Ne3+ Kg5 67. Nc2 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Nomin-Erdene, Davaademberel"] [Black "Krush, Irina"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B41"] [WhiteElo "2377"] [BlackElo "2423"] [PlyCount "149"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Mongolia"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "MGL"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Qc7 7. a3 b6 8. Be3 Bb7 9. f3 d6 (9... Nc6 10. Rc1 Bc5 11. Qd2 O-O 12. Be2 Rac8 13. b4 Bxd4 14. Bxd4 Nxd4 15. Qxd4 d6 16. O-O Rfd8 {Ponomariov,R (2694)-Fedorchuk,S (2648) Riadh 2017}) 10. Rc1 Be7 11. b4 O-O 12. Be2 Nbd7 13. O-O Rfc8 14. Qd2 Rab8 15. Rc2 Ne5 16. Na4 Ba8 17. Rfc1 Qd7 18. Nb2 Qe8 $146 (18... Qd8 19. Nb3 h5 20. Nd1 Qe8 21. Nf2 Bf8 22. Bd4 {½-½ Ibarra Jerez,J (2496)-Illescas Cordoba,M (2603) Ceuta 2008}) 19. Nb3 h6 20. Qe1 Qd8 21. Kh1 Nfd7 22. a4 a5 23. c5 bxc5 24. b5 Qf8 25. Nxa5 f5 26. exf5 Qxf5 27. Nac4 Nxc4 28. Rxc4 d5 29. R4c2 c4 30. Qg3 Kh8 31. f4 Rf8 32. Bd4 Bf6 33. Bg4 Qe4 34. Ba7 Rbe8 35. Re2 Qg6 36. a5 Bd8 37. a6 Bc7 38. Bh3 Qf6 39. Rf1 Bxf4 $2 (39... Bb6 $1 40. Bxb6 Nxb6 {nicely controls the passers, and only Black can be better.}) 40. Qe1 $1 {Attacking both e6 and Bf4 (with the threat 41.g3).} Qg6 41. Bd4 $6 ({The straightforward} 41. Rxe6 $1 {was the way to go:} Rxe6 42. Qxe6 Qxe6 43. Bxe6 {with a winning endgame.}) 41... c3 $2 (41... Bd6) 42. Bxc3 (42. Qxc3) 42... d4 {Krush goes all-in to create threats toward the white king, and her gamble will get rewarded.} 43. Bxd4 Qh5 44. Kg1 $6 ({The computer keeps an edge for White with} 44. Nd3 $1 Bd6 45. Rxf8+ Nxf8 46. Re3 Qxb5 47. Qa1) 44... Qxb5 45. a7 e5 46. Bf2 Nc5 {Krush takes over, and doesn't let go.} 47. Bg3 Ne4 48. Bxf4 exf4 49. Bg4 Qc5+ 50. Kh1 Qxa7 51. Nd3 g5 52. Qb4 Nf6 53. Rxe8 Rxe8 54. Qc3 Qg7 55. Bf5 Nd5 56. Qxg7+ Kxg7 57. Ra1 Ne3 58. Bd7 Bxg2+ 59. Kg1 Re7 60. Nc5 Bd5 61. Kf2 Bf7 62. h3 Re5 63. Rc1 Rd5 64. Bc6 Rd2+ 65. Kg1 Rc2 66. Rxc2 Nxc2 67. Kf2 Kf6 68. Bd7 Ke5 69. Nd3+ Kd6 70. Bg4 Bg6 71. Nc1 Ne3 72. Be2 Bf5 73. h4 g4 74. Ba6 g3+ 75. Ke1 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2739"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "France"] [BlackTeam "Poland"] [WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"] [BlackTeamCountry "POL"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bf5 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. Re1 Nc6 11. d5 Nd6 12. dxc6 Nxc4 13. Qa4 Nb6 14. Qf4 Bg6 15. cxb7 Rb8 16. Nc3 Bd6 17. Qg4 Qd7 18. Qh4 Rxb7 19. Bf4 Bxf4 20. Qxf4 c5 21. Rad1 Qf5 22. Qe3 Bh5 23. Rd8 $1 {Not winning but a fun way to get MVL going.} Nd7 24. Rxf8+ Nxf8 25. Ne5 Rxb2 26. h3 Bg6 {It's getting tough to defend. White's position may not look like much for the pawn, but Black's back rank is tenuous.} (26... f6 {is weird but may hold the balance after} 27. Nc6 Qg5) 27. Nd5 (27. Nc6 Qd7 28. Ne7+ Kh8 29. Rd1 Qc7) 27... Qc2 $2 (27... Qe6) 28. Ne7+ Kh8 29. Qf3 f6 (29... Rxa2 30. Qxf7 $1 Bxf7 31. Nxf7#) 30. Qd5 Qxf2+ 31. Kh2 Qxg2+ {Black has to return material to stop the mate on g8.} 32. Qxg2 Rxg2+ 33. Kxg2 fxe5 34. Rxe5 Bd3 35. Rxc5 g6 36. Ra5 a6 37. Nd5 Ne6 38. Nb4 Bc4 39. Nxa6 g5 40. a4 Kg7 41. Nc7 Nf4+ 42. Kh2 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.3"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Stocek, Jiri"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B69"] [WhiteElo "2742"] [BlackElo "2574"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "Czech Republic"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "CZE"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Be7 9. f4 Bd7 10. Nf3 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Kb1 Qb6 13. g3 b4 14. Ne2 a5 15. f5 e5 16. Nc1 Rc8 17. Qd5 (17. Qh6 {To prevent castling might have been an improvement. It doesn't seem so at first, but Black's king actually needs the option to castle to get to safety.}) 17... Na7 18. Nd2 Bc6 19. Qd3 a4 20. Nc4 Qc5 {Already Black is making progression toward the king, while White is not.} 21. Qf3 Nb5 22. Qe3 {Just wow. How many moves is that with the wandering white queen? It's like Wei Yi just gifted his opponent three tempos in a position where one could be deadly.} (22. Ne3) 22... Nd4 {Of course no queen trade, not when you're going to win the race.} 23. Bd3 $2 d5 $1 {Activating the light-squared bishop and Black always has an escape valve (0-0) if the center becomes too open.} 24. Nd2 a3 25. exd5 Bxd5 26. Ne4 Qc6 27. Nb3 O-O 28. Rhe1 Nxc2 29. Qh6 {There's no such thing as fashionably late in the Najdorf.} Bxb3 30. Ng5 Bxa2+ (30... fxg5 31. f6 {is the idea, but it still doesn't work!} Bxa2+ 32. Kxa2 b3+ 33. Kb1 (33. Kxb3 Rb8+ 34. Ka2 Rxb2#) 33... a2+ 34. Kc1 a1=Q+ 35. Kd2 Bb4+ 36. Ke2 Qg2#) 31. Kc1 Nxe1+ 32. Kd2 Nf3+ 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Black "Bacrot, Etienne"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2678"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Poland"] [BlackTeam "France"] [WhiteTeamCountry "POL"] [BlackTeamCountry "FRA"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 c6 8. O-O Nh5 9. Rc1 Nxf4 10. exf4 {If you are looking for another example of this exact pawn structure for White, and how useful it can be, just go back to round four's report and GM Irina Krush's game.} b6 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. Qe2 {Black's problem is, and will continue to be, the light-squared bishop.} a6 14. Rfe1 Bd6 15. Ne5 b5 16. Nb1 {A normal but still pleasing re-routing of the knight.} Nf6 17. Nd2 Qb6 18. Ndf3 Rac8 19. Rxc8 Bxc8 20. Qe3 h6 21. h4 Ne4 22. Rc1 (22. Bxe4 $2 dxe4 23. Qxe4 Bb7 {Black is more than happy to ditch a pawn to get a piece! Well, to activate a dead piece.}) 22... f6 $6 {Black tires of passive defense but this eventually leads to an outpost and weakening of e6.} 23. Ng6 Re8 24. Nd2 f5 25. Nb3 Qd8 26. h5 Bb7 27. Ne5 Qe7 28. Be2 Rc8 29. g3 Qe8 30. Kg2 Nf6 31. Nd3 Rxc1 32. Qxc1 Kh7 33. Qd1 Ne4 34. Ne5 Nf6 35. Nc5 Qc8 36. b4 {Pretty much your textbook position of how to play with knights against bishops.} Bc6 37. g4 Be8 38. Bd3 Kh8 39. f3 a5 $2 {OK now again, Black needed to be passive.} (39... Ng8 {for example}) 40. bxa5 Bxc5 41. Qc2 Qa8 42. Qxc5 Qxa5 (42... Kg8 43. Qc7 {and the a-pawn is too far away for Black's minors to help}) 43. Qf8+ Kh7 44. gxf5 Qd2+ 45. Kh3 {Tripled pawns can protect kings!} Qe1 46. fxe6+ Ne4 47. Bxe4+ {One last accurate move} (47. fxe4 $2 Qh1+ 48. Kg3 Qg1+ {is drawn since} 49. Kf3 Bxh5+ 50. Ng4 Bxg4#) 47... dxe4 48. Qxe8 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.4"] [White "Zhukova, Natalia"] [Black "Khotenashvili, Bela"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D31"] [WhiteElo "2403"] [BlackElo "2469"] [PlyCount "166"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Ukraine"] [BlackTeam "Georgia 1"] [WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 (6. e3 Bf5 7. Nge2 Nd7 8. Ng3 Bg6 9. Be2 Ngf6 10. h4 h5 11. Bg5 Ne4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 {Navara,D (2741) -Harikrishna,P (2739) Linares 2018}) 6... Nf6 7. e3 Nh5 8. Be5 Nd7 9. Be2 Nxe5 10. dxe5 g6 11. Bxh5 gxh5 12. Nf3 f6 13. e4 d4 14. exf6 Bxf6 15. O-O-O O-O $146 (15... Bg4 16. e5 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Bxe5 18. Qf5 Qf6 19. Qxh5+ Kd7 20. Ne4 Qf4+ 21. Kb1 b6 {Vakhidov,J (2578)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2703) Tashkent 2016}) 16. Ne2 c5 17. Qxc5 Be6 18. Kb1 Rc8 19. Qa3 Be7 20. Qd3 Bc4 21. Qd2 d3 22. Nc1 Qb6 23. Nxd3 Bf6 24. e5 Bg7 25. Qe3 Qg6 26. Nh4 Qa6 27. Nc1 Be6 28. Nb3 Qc4 29. Nf3 a5 30. Rc1 Qb4 31. Nfd4 Bd5 32. Rxc8 Rxc8 33. Rc1 Re8 34. a3 Qb6 35. f4 Kh8 36. Nd2 Rd8 37. Nc2 Qg6 38. Qc5 b6 39. Qc7 Rf8 40. g3 Be6 41. Nf3 Rc8 42. Qd6 Bf8 43. Qd2 Bg8 44. Nfd4 Qe4 45. Qe3 Qd5 46. e6 Bg7 47. Re1 Qc5 48. Qe4 Bf6 49. h3 Qc4 50. g4 h6 51. g5 Bh7 52. g6 Bg8 53. Nf5 $2 ({The winning plan was} 53. f5 Kg7 54. Rd1 Qc5 55. Nf3 Kh8 56. Rd7 Bg7 57. Nfd4) 53... Bxe6 54. Qxc4 Bxc4 55. Nd6 Rc6 56. Nxc4 Rxc4 57. f5 $6 (57. Rf1 Kg7 58. f5) 57... Rc5 $6 (57... Rf4 $1) 58. Re8+ Kg7 59. Ne3 Rb5 60. Kc2 Bg5 $2 {Giving White another chance.} (60... Rxb2+ 61. Kd3 Rf2) 61. Nc4 $2 (61. a4 $1 Rc5+ 62. Kd3 {was winning again.}) 61... Rxf5 62. Re6 Rf2+ 63. Kd3 Rh2 64. Rxb6 Rxh3+ 65. Ke4 Rh4+ 66. Kd5 Bf6 67. Ne5 Bxe5 68. Kxe5 Rg4 69. b4 axb4 70. axb4 h4 71. Ra6 h3 72. Ra3 Rh4 73. Ra1 Kxg6 74. b5 Kg5 75. Rh1 Kg4 76. b6 Rh5+ 77. Ke4 $2 {Now White even loses.} (77. Kd6 {draws because of} h2 78. b7 Rb5 79. Kc6 Rb2 80. Rxh2 $1) 77... Rb5 78. Rg1+ Kh4 79. Kf3 h2 80. Rh1 Kh3 81. Kf2 Rxb6 82. Rc1 Rf6+ 83. Ke2 Kg2 0-1 [Event "chess24.com"] [Site "chess24.com"] [Date "2018.09.28"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Delgado Ramirez, Neuris"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2619"] [Annotator "Surya"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "Paraguay"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "PAR"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 e5 {A rarely played line at top level. Although it has been tried by Carlsen and Kramnik but it never gained popularity and that is for some concrete reason. As we will see this game demonstrate quite nicely why this line never got that much attention from black side.} 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 {It's a bit surprising that black started to think after this move despite this being one of the main moves and more importantly had been played by Anand himself against Kramnik back in 2003.} Nxe4 7. Nxe4 Qd4 8. Qe2 Qxe5 9. f4 Qe7 ({The aforementioned Anand - Kramnik game continued in the following way...} 9... Qxf4 10. d4 Qh4+ 11. g3 Qe7 { and white had great compensation in: 1/2-1/2 (40) Anand,V (2753)-Kramnik,V (2807) Monte Carlo 2003}) 10. f5 Bd7 $6 (10... g6 {This is by far the best move and was seen in some correspondence game which went} 11. fxg6 (11. O-O $5 Bxf5 12. Nd6+ Kd7 13. Qxe7+ Bxe7 14. Nxf5 {also gives white slight edge}) 11... hxg6 12. d3 Bg7 13. Bg5 Qe6 14. O-O {and white had slightly better position: 1/ 2-1/2 (39) Nekhaev,A (2514)-Klügel,D (2507) ICCF 2016}) 11. O-O $1 (11. Nd6+ { leads nowhere.} Kd8 12. Qxe7+ Kxe7 13. Nxb7 Bxf5) 11... O-O-O 12. d3 $16 { Now white had clear target in the queenside and his king is safer than its counterpart.} c4 {a new move which doesn't change the fact that black is having a horrible position.} (12... Re8 13. Bf4 Qd8 14. Bg3 $16 {0-1 (72) Kozganbayev,E (2362)-Ismagambetov,A (2508) Astana 2014}) 13. Be3 {Strong but there was a much stronger move than this} (13. Qf2 $1 {Keeping the option for c1 bishop open and making black's life much more difficult} c5 (13... Kb8 14. Be3) 14. Re1 $1 {basically kills!} Qe5 15. Bg5 f6 16. Nxf6 Qxf5 17. Nxd7 Qxg5 18. Re5 {followed by Nc5 and white is crushing.}) 13... Qe5 14. Qf2 $1 cxd3 ( 14... b6 15. a4 {doesn't look that promising either.}) 15. cxd3 Be8 {When one has to play moves like this it is clear something has gone horribly wrong.} 16. Bxa7 $1 Rxd3 17. Rae1 {With all his forces together and black's pieces hardly developed there is no way black can save the game.} Bd6 (17... Bd7 18. Nc3 Qa5 (18... Qf6 19. Qc2 $18) 19. Bb6 Qa6 20. Re4 $18) 18. Nxd6+ (18. g3 {would also suffice.}) 18... Qxd6 19. Bc5 (19. Bb6 Rd5) 19... Qd5 20. Bb6 $1 Bd7 $2 (20... c5 {was the last chance to activate the bishop.} 21. Rc1 Bc6 22. Rxc5 Rd2 23. Rxd5 Rxf2 24. Rfd1 Bxd5 25. Kxf2 Bc6 26. g4 $16) 21. Re7 Rd1 22. h3 {Not in a hurry.} Rxf1+ 23. Qxf1 Qd6 (23... Qd2 24. Qf3) 24. Qe1 $1 {The killer blow. Nothing stops the queen anymore.} c5 25. Qa5 Qd4+ 26. Kh1 {A very smooth and instructive game by Anand.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Koneru, Humpy"] [Black "Zatonskih, Anna"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2557"] [BlackElo "2431"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. e3 Nc6 9. Qc2 Qa5 10. Rd1 Re8 11. Nd2 e5 12. Bg5 Nd4 13. Qb1 Bf5 14. Bd3 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Ne4 16. Nxd5 Nxg5 17. exd4 Bxd4 18. b4 Qd8 19. Qb3 Ne6 20. O-O Qd7 21. Nf3 Rad8 22. a4 f6 23. a5 Qf7 24. Qa2 Rd7 25. Nxd4 Nxd4 26. f4 Nf5 27. fxe5 Rxe5 28. Qf2 Nd6 29. Qxa7 Nxc4 30. a6 Nd6 $2 {Setting up a winning tactic. Instead} (30... Re8 {was the savior.}) (30... bxa6 $2 31. Nxf6+ gxf6 32. Rxd7) 31. Nb6 { Now the a-pawn will play since Black has no protection of the last rank.} Rd8 32. Rxd6 $1 Rxd6 33. axb7 Re8 34. b8=Q Qe6 35. Qbc7 {Two queens are better than one, in case that's an expression that needs to be coined.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Harika, Dronavalli"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D30"] [WhiteElo "2423"] [BlackElo "2500"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "India"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. Nc3 h6 6. Bh4 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Qc2 c5 9. dxc5 Nxc5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Be2 Bg4 14. O-O Rac8 15. Nd4 Ne6 16. Qd2 Bxe2 17. Nxe2 Rfd8 18. Rac1 Rc4 19. Rfd1 Qg5 20. Rc3 Rxc3 21. Qxc3 Qg4 22. Qd2 Qc4 23. a3 Qb3 24. h3 a6 25. Qc1 Rd6 26. Rd2 Rd8 27. Nd4 Qb6 28. Qc3 Qc7 29. Qxc7 Nxc7 30. Rc2 {It doesn't look like much, but the singular weakness on d5 is all it takes for a licensed surgeon like Krush.} Rd7 31. Kf1 Kf8 32. Ke2 g6 33. Nb3 Ne6 $2 {A strategic mistake. Once the knights leave the board, White's king can then camp out on d4 and Black will be strained for the rest of the game with very little counterplay.} 34. Nc5 { Forces the knights to leave since} Nxc5 (34... Rc7 35. Nxe6+ fxe6 36. Rxc7) 35. Rxc5 Ke7 36. Kd3 h5 37. h4 Ke6 38. Kd4 {GM Robert Hess gave several ideas for White, one of which was to play b4, a4, b5, eventually get a rook to b6 and King to e5, and then target g6 with f4-f5.} b6 {Black doesn't stand by for all of this to happen.} 39. Rc6+ Rd6 40. Rc7 (40. Rxd6+ Kxd6 {seems drawish, plus no one in a "must-win" team event would let the rooks go.}) 40... a5 41. b4 axb4 42. axb4 Rd8 43. b5 Rd6 $2 {Probably losing, but at least Black can cause some concern with} (43... Ra8 {and going after some of her own pawns}) 44. Rb7 Kf6 45. f3 Ke6 46. g4 Kf6 47. g5+ Ke6 48. f4 {This is just to easy for White. Black can't withstand all this space and lack of moves.} Kf5 (48... f5 49. Rg7) (48... f6 49. Rg7) 49. Rxf7+ Kg4 50. Rf6 Rd8 51. Rxg6 Kxh4 52. Rxb6 Kg4 53. Rh6 h4 54. b6 h3 55. b7 Rb8 56. Rh7 Kf5 57. Kxd5 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Navara, David"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D41"] [WhiteElo "2820"] [BlackElo "2740"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeam "Czech Republic"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"] [BlackTeamCountry "CZE"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 Nd7 12. O-O b6 13. Rad1 Bb7 14. Rfe1 Rc8 15. Bb3 Re8 16. h3 (16. h4 h6 17. Qf4 Qc7 18. Qxc7 Rxc7 19. d5 Nc5 { Vachier Lagrave,M (2779)-Dominguez Perez,L (2739) chess.com INT 2018}) 16... h6 17. Qf4 Qc7 18. e5 $146 (18. Qh4 Nf6 19. Ne5 b5 20. Rd3 Nd7 21. Ng4 Qf4 22. Rg3 Kf8 23. Rf3 Qg5 24. Qg3 Rc1 {Galliamova,A (2424)-Shuvalova,P (2413) Satka 2018} ) 18... Nf8 19. Nd2 Ng6 20. Qg4 b5 21. Ne4 Bxe4 22. Qxe4 a5 23. d5 exd5 24. Rxd5 a4 25. Bd1 Qb7 26. Bf3 Ne7 27. Rd6 Qxe4 28. Bxe4 Ng6 $2 ({After} 28... Kf8 {Black is only marginally worse.}) 29. e6 $1 {Suddenly it's very awkward for Black to defend.} Nf4 30. exf7+ Kxf7 31. g3 Ke7 32. Rd2 Ne6 33. Rd5 b4 34. f4 b3 35. axb3 axb3 36. Bg6 Rf8 37. f5 Rf6 38. Rxe6+ Rxe6 39. fxe6 b2 40. Rb5 Kf6 41. Bh7 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.3"] [White "Mammadova, Gulnar"] [Black "Krumina, Linda"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B28"] [WhiteElo "2355"] [BlackElo "2081"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeam "Latvia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"] [BlackTeamCountry "LAT"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 3. b3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. c4 Nc7 6. Bb2 Nc6 7. Nc3 Ne6 8. Nd5 Ned4 9. Nxd4 cxd4 10. c5 d6 11. Nb6 Rb8 12. Nxc8 Rxc8 13. e6 f6 14. Bd3 g6 15. f4 dxc5 16. O-O Bg7 17. f5 Ne5 18. Be4 Qb6 19. d3 Bh6 20. Bc1 Bxc1 21. Rxc1 Kf8 22. h4 Kg7 23. g4 h5 24. g5 Ng4 25. Qf3 Qc7 26. Qf4 Ne3 27. Rf2 Qxf4 28. Rxf4 fxg5 29. hxg5 gxf5 30. Bxb7 Rc7 31. Bf3 Kg6 32. Rxd4 Kxg5 33. Rd7 Rxd7 34. exd7 Kf4 35. Bxh5 Rg8+ 36. Kf2 Rd8 37. Re1 Nd5 38. Be8 e5 39. Rc1 Nf6 40. Rxc5 Nxe8 41. dxe8=Q Rxe8 42. Rc6 Rh8 43. Rxa6 Rh2+ 44. Kg1 Rd2 45. b4 Rxd3 46. b5 Kf3 47. b6 e4 $2 {After playing a great game, Krumina only had to find that} (47... Rd1+ {first was necessary.} 48. Kh2 e4 49. b7 Rb1 {is of course hopeless for White. But now...}) 48. Ra3 $3 {Maybe the move of the women's event thus far, especially since it turned the result of the match. This is the only move that draws.} Rxa3 49. b7 {And the rook is paralyzed from stopping the pawn. Black can at least still hold, but that's not good enough for Latvia.} Rxa2 50. b8=Q Rd2 51. Qb5 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Mkrtchian, Lilit"] [Black "Goryachkina, Aleksandra"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D47"] [WhiteElo "2384"] [BlackElo "2535"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Armenia"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. Bd2 Bb7 10. Rc1 Rc8 11. Ne2 O-O 12. O-O b4 13. e4 c5 14. e5 Bxf3 15. exd6 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Qb6 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Bb1 Ncd7 19. Be3 Qxd6 20. Bxa7 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Ra8 22. Be3 Nd5 23. Bd2 Ne5 24. h3 Ng6 25. Qe4 f5 26. Qd4 h6 27. Re1 Kh7 28. Qd3 Kh8 29. Qc4 Rd8 30. Bc1 Ndf4 31. Bc2 Qb8 32. Bb3 Rc8 33. Qa6 Nxg2 $2 {It wasn't actually panic time yet for Black.} (33... Rd8) 34. Kxg2 Nh4+ 35. Kf1 Nf3 36. Bf4 $1 {First strong bishop.} (36. Rd1 {is also fine, making Black's 33rd all the more mysterious}) 36... Qxf4 37. Qxc8+ Kh7 38. Qxe6 { Now the other bishop plays.} Nd2+ 39. Ke2 Ne4 40. Qg8+ Kg6 41. Rg1+ Kh5 42. Qf7+ {After 42...Kh4 43. Rg4+ would be a sweet way to win the queen.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A18"] [WhiteElo "2768"] [BlackElo "2771"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 Ne4 6. Nf3 Bf5 7. d3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 c5 9. d4 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. c4 $146 (11. Be2 Be7 12. O-O O-O 13. a4 Rac8 14. Ra2 a6 15. Rb2 c4 16. Ne1 b5 17. axb5 axb5 {Nakamura,H (2769)-Ding,L (2791) Stavanger 2018}) 11... Qd8 12. Qb3 Be6 13. Qxb7 Rc8 14. Ng5 Nxd4 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Rb1 Be7 17. Bd3 Kf7 $5 ({Apparently Anand didn't like} 17... O-O 18. O-O Rb8 19. Qa6 (19. Qxa7 Ra8 20. Qb7 Ra3) 19... Qc7 20. f4) 18. O-O Nc6 {The computer is not a fan of this.} 19. Be2 Nd4 20. Bd3 Nc6 21. Rfd1 Rc7 22. Qb3 Nd4 23. Qb2 Rd7 24. cxd5 Rxd5 25. Bc4 Rxe5 26. Qb7 Qa8 27. Bf4 $6 ({Strong was } 27. Qc7 $1 {when} Qe4 {loses an exchange to} 28. f3 $1 Qf5 (28... Ne2+ 29. Bxe2 Qxe2 30. Re1) 29. f4 Re4 30. Bd3) 27... Re4 28. Bg5 Nf5 29. Bf1 Rb4 $1 { Black is out of trouble now.} 30. Rxb4 cxb4 31. Rd7 Qxb7 32. Rxb7 a5 33. Ra7 Rd8 34. Bxe7 Nxe7 35. Rxa5 Rb8 36. Bb5 Nf5 37. h4 Nxh4 38. Bc4 Ng6 39. Ra7+ Kf6 40. Ra6 Nf4 41. g3 Rc8 42. Bb3 Ne2+ 43. Kg2 Nd4 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.3"] [White "Ushenina, Anna"] [Black "Huang, Qian"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D15"] [WhiteElo "2451"] [BlackElo "2446"] [PlyCount "288"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Ukraine"] [BlackTeam "China"] [WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. g3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bg2 Nc6 9. O-O Be7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Bg5 f6 13. Rc1 Bb6 14. Bd2 Be6 15. b4 O-O 16. Qb3 Bf7 17. Qb2 Re8 18. e3 a5 19. bxa5 Nxa5 20. Bc3 Nc4 21. Qb5 Nd6 22. Qb4 Ba5 23. Qb2 Bxc3 24. Rxc3 Rxa4 25. Rd1 Qa5 26. Rc2 Bg6 27. Rcc1 Be4 28. Ra1 Rxa1 29. Rxa1 Qb5 30. Qd4 Rc8 31. Nd2 Nf5 32. Qa7 Bxg2 33. Kxg2 Rc2 34. Qb8+ Kf7 35. Qf4 Qd3 36. Nf1 d4 37. Ra7 Qb5 38. exd4 Qd5+ 39. Qf3 Qxf3+ 40. Kxf3 Nxd4+ 41. Ke4 Rxf2 42. Rxb7+ Kg6 43. Kxd4 Rxf1 44. Ke3 Kh6 45. Ke2 Rf5 46. h4 Kg6 47. Ra7 Rb5 48. Kf3 Rb3+ 49. Kf2 Rd3 50. Rb7 f5 51. Kg2 Re3 52. Ra7 Kf6 53. Rb7 h6 54. Ra7 Rd3 55. Rb7 Rd2+ 56. Kf3 g5 57. hxg5+ hxg5 58. Ke3 Rd6 59. Rb8 Ra6 60. Rb5 Ra3+ 61. Kf2 Ra2+ 62. Kf1 Rd2 63. Ra5 Rd4 64. Kf2 Ke6 65. Ke3 Rc4 66. Ra8 Rc3+ 67. Kf2 Rc2+ 68. Ke3 Rc3+ 69. Kf2 Rd3 70. Re8+ Kf7 71. Re5 Kg6 72. Ra5 Rd2+ 73. Kf1 Kf6 74. Rb5 Ra2 75. Kg1 Ra4 76. Kf2 Ke6 77. Ke3 Rc4 78. Kf2 Rd4 79. Ke3 Rd5 80. Rb8 Ra5 81. Rg8 Kf6 82. Kf2 Ra2+ 83. Kf1 Rd2 84. Kg1 Re2 85. Kf1 Re7 86. Kf2 Rg7 87. Re8 Kf7 88. Ra8 Rg8 89. Ra5 Kg6 90. Kf3 Rb8 91. Kf2 Rb6 92. Kg1 Rf6 93. Kf2 Rf8 94. Kf3 Rc8 95. Kf2 Rd8 96. Kf1 Kf6 97. Kf2 Rd2+ 98. Ke3 Rc2 99. Ra6+ Kf7 100. Kf3 Rd2 101. Ke3 Rd7 102. Kf3 Re7 103. Rb6 Re6 104. Rb8 Ra6 105. Rb5 Kf6 106. Kf2 g4 107. Kf1 Ke6 108. Kf2 Rd6 109. Ke3 Rd5 110. Rb8 Rd1 111. Rb6+ Ke5 112. Rb5+ Kf6 113. Rb6+ Ke5 114. Rb5+ Rd5 115. Rb8 Ra5 116. Rb3 Ra2 117. Rb5+ Kf6 118. Rb6+ Kg5 119. Rb8 $2 {Oh no. Likely just forgetting that the next move is possible, or miscalculating very late in the game.} (119. Rb3 Rg2 120. Kd4 {still holds since} f4 121. Rb5+) 119... Rg2 {and the pawn is lost.} 120. Rg8+ Kf6 121. Rf8+ Kg6 122. Kf4 (122. Rg8+ Kf7 123. Rg5 Kf6) 122... Rf2+ 123. Ke5 Re2+ 124. Kd4 (124. Kf4 Re4# {may have also been the miscalculation}) 124... Rg2 125. Ke5 Rxg3 126. Rxf5 Rf3 127. Rf4 Kg5 128. Ra4 g3 129. Ra8 Re3+ 130. Kd4 Re1 131. Kd3 Kg4 132. Kd2 Re7 133. Rg8+ Kh3 134. Rh8+ Kg2 135. Rg8 Re5 136. Rg7 Kh2 137. Rh7+ Kg1 138. Rg7 g2 139. Rg8 Rh5 140. Ke2 Kh2 141. Kf2 Rf5+ 142. Ke2 g1=Q 143. Rh8+ Kg2 144. Rg8+ Kh1 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.4"] [White "Yu, Jennifer"] [Black "Karavade, Eesha"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "2268"] [BlackElo "2374"] [PlyCount "109"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "India"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. dxc5 Nc6 9. Qa4 Qe7 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Rac1 Qe7 13. Nd4 Qxc5 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Ne4 Qa5 16. Qxa5 Bxa5 17. Rxc4 Rb8 18. b3 Rd8 19. Rxc6 Bb7 20. Rc2 Bxe4 21. Bxe4 Rbc8 22. Rfc1 Rxc2 23. Rxc2 Kf8 24. Bd3 Rd7 25. Rc8+ Ke7 26. Kg2 Rc7 27. Rb8 Bb6 28. a4 Rd7 29. Bb5 Rd4 30. Rb7+ Kf8 31. Bc4 Rd2 32. f4 $1 {Hess was particularly impressed with this move. The idea is to go for more than just a passer on the queenside. White wasn't another pawn, and f7 is looking tasty.} ( 32. Kf3 {with the idea of e3, and maybe b4 and a5 was another idea. But Hess pointed out that after e3 Black would get some counterplay with ...g5.}) 32... g6 33. h3 h5 34. g4 hxg4 35. hxg4 Rd4 36. Kf3 Rd1 37. Ke4 Rd4+ (37... Rf1 { or 37...Rg1 is a better attempt to slow down the advance.}) 38. Ke5 {No fear! (The move is best)} Rd1 39. f5 Bd4+ 40. Kf4 (40. Kd6 $1 {is even possible, but the youngster's move is just fine.}) 40... gxf5 41. gxf5 exf5 42. Rxf7+ Ke8 43. Kxf5 a5 44. Ke6 Bc5 45. Rc7 Rd6+ 46. Ke5 Ba3 47. Ra7 Bb4 48. Rb7 Rh6 49. Rxb4 $1 axb4 50. Kd5 Kd7 51. Kc5 Rh5+ 52. Bd5 Kc7 53. e4 Rg5 54. a5 Rg6 55. Kxb4 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.4"] [White "Adhiban, Baskaran"] [Black "Jakovenko, Dmitry"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2668"] [BlackElo "2747"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 b6 7. Qc2 Bb7 8. Rd1 dxc4 9. e4 {Adhiban, of course, goes for the most aggressive way to play.} b5 10. h4 $5 {If you are in doubt about what to play these days, push your h-pawn. } Nbd7 (10... a5 11. Ng5 $13) 11. Ng5 Nh5 12. Bc1 h6 13. Nxb5 $1 hxg5 14. hxg5 Bxg5 (14... g6 15. g4 {regains the piece with a strong attack.} (15. Be2 { also looks good.})) 15. Rxh5 Bxc1 16. Qxc1 Nf6 (16... Bxe4 17. Bxc4 $14) 17. Rh3 Nxe4 18. Bxc4 {The material is even but the Black king is slightly exposed. } Qg5 19. Qxg5 Nxg5 20. Rh5 Ne4 21. f3 g6 22. Re5 Nd6 23. Bd3 Nxb5 24. Rxb5 Bd5 25. b4 Rfd8 26. Ra5 Kf8 27. Rc1 c6 28. Bc4 (28. Ke2 $14 {And slowly improving the position would be a nightmare for Black.}) 28... Rd7 29. Ke2 (29. Bxd5 $5 { This was an improvement over what Adhiban played in the game.} cxd5 30. Rc6 $16 {As Adhiban said during the post-game interview, he saw this move, but he didn't go for it because he didn't see a clear path for himself to improve the position. But no direct path was required. You just keep playing this better position.}) 29... g5 30. Ke3 Ke7 31. Ra6 Rb8 32. Rc3 Rb6 33. Ra5 Bxc4 34. Rxc4 f6 35. Rc1 Kd6 36. Rh1 Rb5 37. Rxb5 cxb5 38. Rh6 f5 {The position is just equal now.} 39. Rh8 Rc7 40. Kd3 Rc6 41. Rd8+ Ke7 42. Rb8 Rb6 43. Rxb6 axb6 44. g4 f4 45. Ke4 Kd6 46. Kd3 Kd5 47. Kc3 Kd6 48. Kd3 Kd5 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E21"] [WhiteElo "2743"] [BlackElo "2779"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. Rc1 h6 7. Bh4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 d5 9. cxd5 g5 10. Bg3 Qxd5 11. a3 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Ne4 13. f3 Nxg3 14. hxg3 Kg7 15. e4 Qe5 16. Kf2 Bd7 (16... Qf6 $5 {With the idea of e5 is interesting.}) 17. Qd2 Qc5 18. Qe3 b6 19. e5 Nc6 20. f4 f6 $1 {Kramnik breaks the position and the game quickly peters out into an equal position.} 21. Rd1 fxe5 22. Nf5+ Rxf5 23. Rxd7+ Rf7 24. Qxc5 bxc5 25. Rxf7+ Kxf7 26. Rxh6 exf4 27. gxf4 gxf4 { White is a pawn down, but he will recover it.} 28. Kf3 Ke7 29. Ke4 Kd6 30. Bc4 Re8 31. Kxf4 Ne5 32. Be2 Rf8+ 33. Ke3 Rg8 34. Rh7 Rxg2 35. Rxa7 Rg3+ 36. Ke4 Rxc3 37. Bb5 c4 38. Ra6+ Kc5 39. Ba4 Rxa3 40. Kxe5 Kb4 41. Rb6+ Ka5 (41... Kxa4 42. Kd4 $11) 42. Rb8 Rxa4 43. Kd4 Rb4 44. Rc8 e5+ 45. Kc3 Rb7 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Koneru, Humpy"] [Black "Zatonskih, Anna"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2557"] [BlackElo "2431"] [Annotator "Sagar"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. e3 Nc6 9. Qc2 Qa5 10. Rd1 Re8 11. Nd2 e5 12. Bg5 Nd4 13. Qb1 Bf5 14. Bd3 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Ne4 16. Nxd5 Nxg5 17. exd4 Bxd4 18. b4 Qd8 19. Qb3 Ne6 20. O-O Qd7 21. Nf3 Rad8 22. a4 f6 23. a5 Qf7 24. Qa2 Rd7 25. Nxd4 Nxd4 26. f4 Nf5 (26... Qh5 $14) 27. fxe5 Rxe5 28. Qf2 Nd6 (28... a6 29. g4 Nd6 30. Nb6 Rd8 31. c5 $18) 29. Qxa7 Nxc4 30. a6 $1 Nd6 (30... Rexd5 31. axb7 $18) 31. Nb6 Rd8 32. Rxd6 Rxd6 33. axb7 Re8 34. b8=Q Qe6 35. Qbc7 {Excellent tactical agility shown by Humpy to capture the pawn on a7 and then prepare the move a6.} 1-0 [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Harika, Dronavalli"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D61"] [WhiteElo "2423"] [BlackElo "2500"] [Annotator "Surya Sekhar Ganguly"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 {Surprise! According to my megabase Irina had this position 172 times and 166 times she opted for Nc3.} Nf6 4. Bg5 {Second surprise! Thrice she had this position before and in all those games she had played 4.Nc3.} Nbd7 {After about 5min of thought. In 2018 Harika played this at China so one can assume that Irina was perhaps expecting this.} 5. Nc3 h6 ( 5... c6 {would lead to a different chapter of theory.}) 6. Bh4 Be7 7. e3 O-O { Now it got transposed into QGD Nbd7 line (I have no idea what is the exact name of this line though!) which is very trendy nowadays. May top games have been played and it is gaining almost equal popularity as Tartakower or Lasker variation.} 8. Qc2 c5 9. dxc5 (9. cxd5 Nxd5 {is how Harika played at China this year. 1/2-1/2 (33) Zhai,M (2310)-Harika,D (2503) China 2018}) 9... Nxc5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Be2 {Many top players reached this position. Both Anand and Kramnik had it twice as black. Irina was still blitzing and was probably happy to get such a risk-free position against Harika by playing some line which she has never played before.} Bg4 14. O-O Rac8 15. Nd4 {There are many tries from white side and this is one of them.} ( 15. Rfd1 {it would be unwise not to mention that Kasparov had this position as white in 2017!} Rfd8 16. h3 Ne6 17. Qa4 Bh5 18. Rd2 d4 $1 {and the game was eventually drawn at Saint Louis against Dominguiz. ½-½ (29) Kasparov,G (2812) -Dominguez Perez,L (2739) Saint Louis 2017}) 15... Ne6 16. Qd2 Bxe2 $146 (16... Qg5 {was seen in Naka - Kramnik in Baku Olympiad 2016.} 17. Bxg4 Qxg4 18. Ne2 Rfd8 19. Rac1 Rxc1 20. Rxc1 d4 $11 {1/2-1/2 (42) Nakamura,H (2789)-Kramnik,V (2808) Baku 2016}) 17. Nxe2 Rfd8 18. Rac1 {White can be happy about the outcome of the opening. It’s not much but at least black is not getting immediate d4 while white can slowly play against the isolated pawn. By no means black should be worse here nevertheless it is easier to play from white side as he has long term strategic advantage.} Rc4 (18... Rc6 $5 {I like the rook here more}) 19. Rfd1 Qg5 20. Rc3 Rxc3 $6 {A hasty decision. Without being provoked there was no need to surrender both 'c' file and the nice diagonal for white's queen which will now prevent Qf6 ideas.} (20... Qf6 $1 {Was the most natural move. Later black could take on c3 when Qc3 could have been met by queen exchange followed by d4.} 21. h3 {to show black's idea.} (21. Rdc1 Rxc3 22. Rxc3 d4) 21... Rxc3 22. Qxc3 Qxc3 23. Nxc3 d4 $11) 21. Qxc3 Qg4 { most likely this was part of the plan of Rc3.} 22. Qd2 Qc4 {Gets the 'c' file but only temporarily.} 23. a3 (23. b3 $14 {was more precise.}) 23... Qb3 24. h3 a6 (24... Rd6 25. Rc1 Rc6 26. Rc3 $1 Qa2 27. Kh2 $14) 25. Qc1 {white threatens Nd4 now. Something black should not allow.} Rd6 {Not a bad move. This stops Nd4. Although black had a better option than this.} (25... Qc4 $1 26. Kf1 Kf8 $11 {with the idea to change queens and play d4. Black is doing fine.}) 26. Rd2 (26. Nd4 Nxd4 27. Rxd4 Rc6 $132) 26... Rd8 $6 {This didn't make any sense whatsoever. Just one move before the rook came to d6 in order to stop Nd4 and now it goes back allowing the same.} (26... Rc6 27. Nc3 Rd6 {Looks artificial but has a point. White didn't get Nd4.}) 27. Nd4 $14 {Now white has got some edge} Qb6 (27... Nxd4 28. Rxd4 {Such positions are very annoying for the defending side. Reminds me of famous Korchonoi - Karpov game from their world championship match at Merano 1981 when in similar structure with queen and two rooks Karpov from black side played an amazing game and won. White had the isolated 'd' pawn there.}) 28. Qc3 Qc7 (28... Rd7 {I would rather prefer to keep the queen as of now.}) 29. Qxc7 Nxc7 30. Rc2 {Now the 'c' file is permanently gone} Rd7 31. Kf1 Kf8 32. Ke2 g6 $2 {Why not to bring the king first? No need to play this move yet as Nf5 is not a threat after Ke7. Already black is worse and this loses a crucial tempo.} (32... Ke7 $14 {most natural move.} 33. Nf5+ {is not a threat which is why I assume g6 was played.} Kf6) 33. Nb3 $1 Ne6 34. Nc5 $16 Nxc5 (34... Re7 35. Kd3) 35. Rxc5 {I am not sure if this can be saved anymore. May be with some extensive analyses with engine it 'might' be possible (although I doubt even that) but in a practical game holding this would be immensely difficult.} Ke7 36. Kd3 {That tempo of g6 is being counted now. White is just on time to meet Kd6 with Kd4. Otherwise black would not be totally lost.} h5 37. h4 Ke6 38. Kd4 b6 $6 (38... f6 {mostly also loses but at least creates some sort of counter play on kingside.} 39. f3 g5 40. g3 gxh4 41. gxh4 Rg7 42. Rxd5 Rg2 43. Rxh5 Rxb2 {This should also be lost but better than sitting passively.}) 39. Rc6+ Rd6 40. Rc7 a5 41. b4 axb4 42. axb4 Rd8 43. b5 {Black lacks any kind of counter now.} Rd6 44. Rb7 Kf6 45. f3 $1 {Creating a second weakness} Ke6 46. g4 {Now either black has to allow a passed pawn or let white play g5. In either case it is lost.} Kf6 47. g5+ Ke6 48. f4 Kf5 49. Rxf7+ Kg4 50. Rf6 Rd8 51. Rxg6 Kxh4 52. Rxb6 Kg4 53. Rh6 h4 54. b6 h3 55. b7 Rb8 56. Rh7 Kf5 57. Kxd5 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.09.30"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A18"] [WhiteElo "2768"] [BlackElo "2771"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 Ne4 6. Nf3 Bf5 7. d3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 c5 9. d4 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. c4 $5 (11. Be2 {was seen in Nakamura vs Ding. }) 11... Qd8 12. Qb3 Be6 13. Qxb7 Rc8 14. Ng5 {This all seemed as if Ian was well prepared.} Nxd4 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Rb1 Be7 17. Bd3 Kf7 $6 {The king is not going to feel any safer here.} (17... O-O {was the most natural move, but I feel that Anand was not happy that his king had no one protecting it.}) 18. O-O Nc6 19. Be2 (19. Rfd1 Nxe5 20. Bf4 $18) 19... Nd4 20. Bd3 Nc6 21. Rfd1 Rc7 22. Qb3 Nd4 23. Qb2 Rd7 24. cxd5 Rxd5 25. Bc4 Rxe5 {White has played excellently. He sacrificed a pawn, opened lines and now the king on f7 is not feeling too safe. But it is important to continue accurately.} 26. Qb7 (26. Bf4 Rf5 27. Bg3 $16) 26... Qa8 27. Bf4 $6 (27. Qc7 $1 {With Rb7 coming in, Black is struggling. }) 27... Re4 $1 {This is the move Ian missed.} 28. Bg5 Nf5 29. Bf1 Rb4 $1 30. Rxb4 cxb4 {With excellent play, and mistakes by White, Black has managed to equalize the game.} 31. Rd7 Qxb7 32. Rxb7 a5 33. Ra7 (33. g4 h6 $11) 33... Rd8 34. Bxe7 Nxe7 35. Rxa5 Rb8 36. Bb5 Nf5 37. h4 Nxh4 38. Bc4 Ng6 39. Ra7+ Kf6 40. Ra6 Nf4 41. g3 Rc8 42. Bb3 Ne2+ 43. Kg2 Nd4 {A fighting game and one which could have changed the final outcome of the match.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.01"] [Round "7.3"] [White "Avramidou, Anastasia"] [Black "Gunina, Valentina"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D31"] [WhiteElo "2260"] [BlackElo "2528"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Greece"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "GRE"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 h6 (7... Nbd7 8. Bd3 h6 9. Bf4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. Be5 Nhf6 12. Bg3 Nh5 {Karjakin,S (2773)-Caruana,F (2822) Saint Louis 2018}) 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. Qb3 Ra7 10. Be2 $146 (10. Bd3 Nd7 11. O-O Bd6 12. Rae1 O-O 13. Bb1 Qd8 14. Qc2 g6 15. e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 Bd5 17. Qc3 a5 {Matlakov,M (2707)-Nabaty,T (2690) Batumi 2018}) 10... Bd6 11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Qd8 $4 (12... Qf4) 13. d5 $1 {The evaluation immediately jumps from equal to plus four!} Bxd5 14. Nxd6+ ({Not} 14. Qxd5 $4 Bb4+) 14... Qxd6 15. Qe3+ {Oops.} Kd7 16. Qxa7 Nc6 17. Qe3 Re8 18. Qd2 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Nd4 20. Qxd4 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.01"] [Round "7.2"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Mkrtchian, Lilit"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "2423"] [BlackElo "2384"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Armenia"] [BlackTeamCountry "ARM"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bf5 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O Nbd7 9. e3 O-O 10. Qe2 h6 (10... Qa5 11. Nc3 Ne4 12. Bd2 Nxd2 13. Nxd2 Rfd8 14. Rfd1 Rac8 15. e4 Bg6 {Bu,X (2725)-Shankland,S (2671) Liaocheng 2018}) 11. Rd1 Qc7 12. Nc3 Ne4 13. Ne1 Nxc3 14. bxc3 e5 15. e4 Bh7 $146 (15... Be6 16. Be3 Rfd8 17. f4 f6 18. Nf3 exf4 19. gxf4 Bf7 20. Nh4 Bf8 21. Qg4 Nb6 {Bente,B (2226)-Kopisch,M (2147) Hamburg 2014}) 16. f4 Qa5 17. dxe5 Qxc3 18. Bb2 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 Rfd8 20. a4 Qa5 21. Nf3 Nc5 22. Nd4 Bf8 {The first critical moment.} 23. Nf5 $6 ({Krush said she didn't look at a slow plan like} 23. Qc2 Rd7 24. f5 Rad8 25. Bf3 a6 26. Kg2 {followed by pushing Harry and Garry.}) 23... Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Rd8 (24... Qxa4 {was entirely possible too.}) 25. Nd6 Nxa4 26. Ba1 Qb4 27. Qc2 $6 (27. h4 $5 Bxd6 28. exd6 Rxd6 29. f5) 27... Bxd6 28. exd6 Rxd6 29. f5 Nb6 30. h3 Rxd1+ 31. Qxd1 Qe7 32. g4 f6 33. Bc3 Kh8 34. Qa1 Nd7 35. Qxa7 Qc5 36. Qxb7 (36. Qxc5 Nxc5 37. e5 fxe5 38. Bxe5 {perhaps could have worked as well.}) 36... Qxc3 37. Qxd7 Qc1+ 38. Kh2 Qf4+ 39. Kg1 Qe3+ 40. Kh1 Qc1+ 41. Kh2 (41. Kh2 {At the advice of her team captain, Mkrtchian offered a draw here. It's quite possible that she was winning, e.g.} c5 {and now if} 42. e5 Qf4+ 43. Kh1 Qxe5 44. Bd5 {Black first plays} Qe1+ (44... Bg8 $6 45. Be6 $1) 45. Kg2 Qd2+ 46. Kg3 {and then} Bg8) 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.01"] [Round "7.1"] [White "Navara, David"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B35"] [WhiteElo "2740"] [BlackElo "2703"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Czech Republic"] [BlackTeam "Israel"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CZE"] [BlackTeamCountry "ISR"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 Re8 9. f3 d5 10. exd5 Nb4 11. Nde2 e6 12. Bd4 exd5 13. Qd2 Nc6 14. O-O-O Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Bd7 16. g4 Bc6 17. Kb1 Nd7 18. h4 Nc5 19. h5 a5 20. a4 Qb6 21. hxg6 hxg6 22. g5 Nxb3 23. cxb3 Qxd4 24. Qxd4 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 Kg7 26. f4 Re3 27. Ka2 Ra6 28. Nxd5 Bxd5 29. Rxd5 Rb6 30. Rd8 Rexb3 31. Rh2 {Everything is still just fine for Black. Now, he might be fearing an idea like Rdh8 and mates on h7, but that can be repelled by ...Rxb2+. How about doubling rooks on the 8th rank to mate the Black king? Again, Black just takes on b2 and has at least a draw. So while all seems under control, Gelfand plays the careless} f5 $2 ( 31... R6b4 {Basically just toggling is fine due to the lines shown above.}) 32. Rd7+ Kg8 33. Rc2 {The ladder mate! A third motif wins the day.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.01"] [Round "7.2"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Bosiocic, Marin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2776"] [BlackElo "2600"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Croatia"] [BlackTeamCountry "CRO"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be2 Be7 9. h4 h5 10. Nd5 Bxd5 11. exd5 Nbd7 12. c4 g6 13. g3 b6 14. Nd2 a5 15. f4 $5 {Ray Robson was reviewing the game after it ended and paused at this move. Strangely it fits Robson's style perhaps more than So's! Wesley is nothing if not consistent after the lunge. Just watch how he goes after Black on the f-file.} (15. O-O Nc5) 15... Qc8 16. O-O Nc5 17. Kg2 Ra7 (17... Qf5 {is a funny idea to try to prevent further advancement. It's not entirely clear how to remove the blockade.}) 18. Qc2 Bd8 $2 (18... exf4 19. Bd4 $1 Ncd7 20. Rae1 $1 fxg3 21. Qc3 O-O 22. Qxg3 {and White gets a whole lot of attack for one pawn }) 19. f5 $1 {Allowing the advance simply opens the floodgates and Black is now lost.} Rg8 20. fxg6 Rxg6 21. Rf5 b5 22. Raf1 Rc7 23. Bxh5 {All of White's moves are too easy and Black has no counterplay.} Nxh5 24. Rxh5 Rg8 25. Qh7 Qg4 26. Rg5 Rxg5 27. Bxg5 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.01"] [Round "7.4"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Fridman, Daniel"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2624"] [BlackElo "2591"] [PlyCount "133"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Netherlands"] [BlackTeam "Germany"] [WhiteTeamCountry "NED"] [BlackTeamCountry "GER"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Bg4 8. c4 Nf6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Be4 Be6 12. Qb3 Ncb4 13. Re1 Nf6 14. d5 Nbxd5 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Bxd5 Qxd5 17. Qc2 Qd6 18. Nh4 Qc6 19. Qxc6+ bxc6 20. Bg5 Kd7 21. Nf5 Bb4 22. Bxf6 Bxe1 23. Rd1+ Ke6 24. Bxg7 Kxf5 25. Bxh8 Bb4 26. Bg7 f6 27. Bh6 Bd6 28. Rc1 Rb8 29. b3 a5 30. Rxc6 a4 31. Rc3 Be5 32. Rd3 axb3 33. axb3 c5 34. Kf1 Rc8 35. Rf3+ Ke4 36. Bg7 Ra8 37. Bh6 Rc8 38. Bd2 c4 39. bxc4 Rxc4 40. Ke2 Rc2 41. Ra3 Kf5 42. g3 Kg6 43. Rd3 f5 44. Rd5 Bf6 45. Rd6 Kf7 46. Kd3 Rc8 47. Ra6 Rd8+ 48. Ke2 h5 49. Be3 Re8 50. Kf3 Re6 51. Ra4 Kg6 52. h3 Rd6 53. Rb4 Re6 54. g4 hxg4+ 55. hxg4 fxg4+ 56. Kxg4 Bg7 57. Bg5 Rd6 58. f4 Rd7 59. Rb6+ Kf7 60. f5 Rd4+ 61. Kh5 Rd7 62. Re6 Ra7 63. Rc6 Rd7 64. Bh4 Ra7 {After a long fight, Black stood his ground on the last white square between the pawn and paydirt. The problem with an idea like} 65. Kg5 (65. f6 Bf8 {and you can never really remove the Black king from f7. He's perfectly inviolate to checks. }) 65... Rb7 66. Bg3 Rd7 67. Rc7 1/2-1/2 [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.10.01"] [Round "7.2"] [White "Adly, Ahmed"] [Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E04"] [WhiteElo "2620"] [BlackElo "2743"] [Annotator "Surya Sekhar Ganguly"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Egypt"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "EGY"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. O-O e6 6. c4 dxc4 {Hari has been playing this line as black in Catalan very frequently these days. It could not have come as a surprise to Adly yet it is astonishing to see how immediately out of the opening he got into a completely lost position.} 7. Ne5 Bd7 8. Na3 cxd4 9. Naxc4 Be7 {Here Qb3 is the most popular move and the 2nd most popular move is Bf4. Earlier Hari only faced Bf4 against Yu Yangi.} 10. Qb3 {Adly shows that he was prepared for this line as he kept on blitzing is every single move until this point.} (10. Bf4 Nd5 11. Nxd7 Nxf4 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Nde5 {was seen in: 1/2-1/2 (110) Yu,Y (2751)-Harikrishna,P (2744) Huaian 2017}) 10... Qc7 {Qc7 and Qc8 are both equally popular and considered as main move. At top level Qc7 was first seen in Ivanchuk - Leko 2009. Hari took his time to recall the lines and to choose which one to opt for.} 11. Bf4 {After 17min of thought!! Until 9...Be7 Hari had a game as black even in 2017.10.Qb3 was blitz out. 10....Qc7 is the very main move and then white starts to think for 17 min without having a clue what is to be done. All I can say is 'Adly prepared badly' :)} Nh5 12. Nxc6 Nxf4 13. Nxe7 Nxg2 {Somewhere around 2009 already these positions were well analysed (probably much long back for some players!) and the conclusion was that black is ok here. I remember first time I saw this position I was excited to see the odd placement of the knights at enemy camp.} 14. Qb4 $2 {That is a common problem when you enter a complicated line without knowing anything about it. It was a bit unprofessional approach against such a strong player as Hari. As we will see this casual approach will not go unpunished.} (14. Kxg2 Qc5 {I also vividly remember that this move made a strong impression back then.} 15. Rac1 (15. Ng8 $2 {Just for pure aesthetic value it would be nice to put the knight at its counterparts starting square and one can as well argue that this way white can stop black from short castling (not always we get a chance like this after all!) but this would have been interesting if black didn't have the option of castling on the other side! } O-O-O $17 {Now the knight on g8 looks really stupid}) 15... Kxe7 16. Nd2 Bc6+ $11) (14. Rac1 Qc5 15. Qxb7 Kxe7 16. Rfd1 Rac8 {black was fine in ½-½ (32) Teske,H (2545)-L'Ami,E (2606) Germany 2010}) 14... a5 $1 {By the way if not this move then black can as well resign.} 15. Nd5 {Another 15min of thought. Hari knew Qb4 doesn't work so there was no question of getting scared due to some discovered checks and illusionary attack.} (15. Nd6+ Kxe7 {White's attack is nothing but an optical illusion.} 16. Nf5+ Kf6 17. Qe7+ Kg6 (17... Kxf5 { Being so greedy however is not advisable.} 18. Qxf7+) 18. Nxd4 (18. Nd6 Rhf8 { With Qd8 coming next white is totally lost here.}) 18... Rhe8 $1 19. Qa3 e5 $19 {Black was completely winning but eventually the game ended in a draw. ½-½ (29) Ramirez,A (2577)-Yang,D (2417) Richardson 2010}) 15... exd5 16. Nd6+ Kf8 17. Qa3 Kg8 $19 {Black is now safe. The knight is happily sitting at white king’s lap for last four moves and will continue enjoying the royal facility for quite long time.} 18. Rac1 (18. Kxg2 Ra6 {Give and take!}) 18... Qb6 19. Qc5 (19. Kxg2 h5 $1 {A nice multipurpose move.} (19... Ra6 $2 20. Nc8) 20. Qc5 (20. e4 {white can save the knight this way but not the game} dxe4 21. Nxe4 h4 $19) 20... Ra6 $1 21. Qxb6 (21. Nc8 Qe6 $19) 21... Rxb6 22. Nc8 Rxb2 $19) 19... Qxc5 20. Rxc5 Bh3 {Now the smoke is cleared and black is one whole piece up. Although that piece is stuck but on the other hand it cannot be attacked. Its matter of time when it will eventually come out.} 21. Rfc1 (21. Rxd5 Ne3 $19) 21... h5 (21... d3 {Nothing wrong with Hari's move but this would have been cleaner.} 22. exd3 h5 {Now with 'e' file open the knight on g2 will come out faster.}) 22. Rxd5 Rd8 23. Rxd4 Rh6 24. Nf5 Rxd4 25. Nxd4 Rd6 {While playing h5 I am certain Hari had seen this position and correctly assessed this as completely winning for him without any risk.} 26. e3 b6 {Hari never minds playing a long slow game as long as it keeps control. There were other ways too but remaining in total control Hari first stops any kind of Rc5 ideas for white and prepares to take over the 'c' file himself with Rd5-Rc5 plan next.} ( 26... Rb6 {is the active computer way}) 27. b3 Rd5 {Now rook is coming to c5 and white will have to give the file.} 28. Kh1 {A nice try to stop Rc5 but it doesn't work} f6 {Preparing Rc5 again but this was not really needed. Black could directly play Rc5 since white's little trap is met by another nice counter trap.} (28... Rc5 $1 29. Rxc5 bxc5 30. Nf3 {Was the idea behind Kh1. Now white threatens Ng5 and Ng1 at the same time.} Bc8 $3 {or Bf5} (30... f6 31. Ng1) 31. Kxg2 Bb7 {was the nice little trick. Now white will comes into etarnal pin which will cost him the knight.}) 29. a4 Rc5 30. Rg1 (30. Rxc5 bxc5 31. Nf3 g5 {Was Hari's point of playing f6} 32. Ng1 g4) 30... g5 31. Rd1 Rc3 32. Kg1 Kf7 {Before taking on e3 black first makes maximum progress as white is totally stuck anyways.} 33. Kh1 h4 34. Rb1 hxg3 35. hxg3 Nxe3 {Finally!} 36. fxe3 Rxe3 37. Kh2 Bg4 38. Rb2 Rd3 39. Nb5 Bd1 40. b4 Bxa4 41. bxa5 bxa5 42. Nc7 Bb3 {A very clean and controlled game by Hari} 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.3"] [White "Abrahamyan, Tatev"] [Black "Di Benedetto, Desiree"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B47"] [WhiteElo "2361"] [BlackElo "2321"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Italy"] [BlackTeamCountry "ITA"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. f4 a6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. Bd3 d5 9. Qe2 Nf6 10. O-O Be7 11. Bd2 O-O 12. Rae1 g6 13. Kh1 dxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Bxe4 a5 16. Rf3 Ba6 17. Qf2 Rad8 18. Bc3 Rfe8 19. a3 {Kind of a high-class waiting move. Abarhamyan told Chess.com she just tried to prevent .. .Bb4. But little did she know she would "provoke" the losing move!} Bd6 $4 ( 19... f5) 20. Qh4 {Yep, that's as winning as it looks.} e5 (20... Be7 21. Qxh7+ Kxh7 22. Rh3+ Kg8 23. Rh8#) 21. Rh3 (21. f5 {right away is also just fine}) 21... f5 22. Bxf5 (22. Bxc6 {everything wins!} Qxc6 23. Qxh7+ Kf8 24. Qh8+ Ke7 25. Rh7+ Ke6 26. Rxe5+ Bxe5 27. Qxe5#) 22... gxf5 (22... Qe7 23. Be6+ $1) 23. Rg3+ Kf7 24. fxe5 (24. Qxh7+ Ke6 25. Rg6+ Kd5 {and the king escapes, although Black is still lost} 26. Qh5) 24... Rxe5 25. Bxe5 Bxe5 26. Qxh7+ {Back resigns since 26...Kf6 and Rg6# or 26...Ke6 removes defense of the queen since Black self-pins the bishop.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A25"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2739"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Armenia"] [BlackTeam "Poland"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"] [BlackTeamCountry "POL"] 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Rb1 d6 6. b4 f5 7. b5 Nce7 8. d3 Nf6 9. e3 O-O 10. Nge2 g5 (10... h6 11. a4 Rb8 12. a5 g5 13. Ba3 Be6 14. Qd2 Rf7 15. O-O Ng6 16. Nd5 f4 {Zhao,J (2611)-Xu,X (2581) Tianjin 2018}) 11. f4 exf4 12. exf4 g4 13. O-O h5 14. Re1 h4 15. Be3 a6 $146 (15... hxg3 16. hxg3 c6 17. bxc6 bxc6 18. Qd2 Re8 19. Nd4 Bd7 20. Bf2 Rb8 {Lange,C-Rechel,R (2165) Kassel 1996}) 16. a4 axb5 17. axb5 c6 18. Na4 Rf7 19. Bf2 Nh5 20. Nb6 Ra3 21. bxc6 bxc6 22. Nd4 hxg3 23. hxg3 Ra2 24. Nxc6 ({Strong was} 24. Nxc8 Qxc8 25. Ne6 { but one can hardly blame Aronian for not foreseeing what comes...}) 24... Nxc6 25. Bxc6 Rxf2 $3 {A fantastic drawing combination.} 26. Kxf2 Bd4+ 27. Kg2 Nxf4+ $1 28. Kf1 (28. gxf4 $2 Qh4 {is killing.}) 28... Bb7 $3 {Getting out of Re8+ without losing a tempo.} 29. Bxb7 Nh5 {A rook down, White has nothing better than to accept a move repetition.} 30. Kg2 Nf4+ $1 31. Kf1 Nh5 32. Kg2 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.4"] [White "Brunello, Marina"] [Black "Yu, Jennifer"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2294"] [BlackElo "2268"] [PlyCount "116"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Italy"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ITA"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Bc4 Be6 9. Bxe6 fxe6 10. Nd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 e5 12. Qe4 c6 13. O-O-O O-O 14. h4 Qc8 15. f3 Qf5 16. c4 Qxe4 17. fxe4 Kf7 18. Kd2 Ke6 19. Ke2 a6 20. h5 b5 21. b3 Rfb8 22. Kd3 bxc4+ 23. bxc4 Rb2 24. a3 Rab8 25. Bd2 Ra2 26. Ra1 Rbb2 27. Rxa2 Rxa2 28. Bb4 a5 29. Bc3 Rxa3 30. h6 Kf7 31. Rf1+ Kg6 32. hxg7 Kxg7 33. Rb1 a4 34. Rb7 Kf8 35. Kd2 Bg5+ 36. Kd3 Bh4 37. Rb1 Ke8 38. Rh1 Bd8 39. Kd2 Bg5+ 40. Kd3 h6 $2 {Might still be winning, but must clearer was the pleasant} ( 40... Be3 $1 41. Kxe3 (41. Rxh7 Bd4) 41... Rxc3+ 42. Kd2 Rxc4 43. Rxh7 (43. Kd3 Rd4+ 44. Ke3 a3 45. Rxh7 Ra4 46. Rh1 a2 47. Ra1 Kf7 48. Kd3 Kf6 49. Kc3 c5 50. Kb3 Rxe4 51. Rxa2 Re2) 43... Rxe4 $19) 41. Rh3 Bc1 42. Ke2 Kd7 43. Kd1 Bg5 44. Rd3 Kc8 (44... Ke6 45. Rxd6+ Kxd6 46. Bb4+) 45. c5 $1 {A great idea to blunt any ideas of ...d5 later. The game now seems headed for a draw until White gives one more chance...} dxc5 46. Bxe5 Rxd3+ 47. cxd3 Kd7 48. Kc2 Ke6 49. Bc7 Bf6 50. Kb1 Be5 51. Bd8 Bd6 52. Bh4 Bf4 53. Ka2 $2 Bc1 (53... Ke5 54. Bf2 c4 $1 {A taste of White's own medicine!} 55. dxc4 Bc1 $1 {should win for Black}) 54. Bg3 h5 55. Bc7 Kd7 56. Bg3 Ke6 57. Bc7 Kd7 58. Bg3 Ke6 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C80"] [WhiteElo "2827"] [BlackElo "2820"] [PlyCount "127"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeamCountry "AZE"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7 11. Bc2 d4 12. Nb3 d3 13. Bb1 Nxb3 14. axb3 Bf5 15. Be3 O-O 16. Bd4 Qd5 17. Re1 d2 18. Re2 Bxb1 19. Rxb1 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Bg5 21. g3 c5 22. Nf5 Qd3 23. Nd6 Qg6 24. h4 Bf4 {Deviating from his game with Anand from last month. Caruana knew it was a good move, but couldn't remember the analysis.} (24... Bh6 25. h5 Qxh5 26. Rxd2 Qxe5 27. Rd5 Qf6 28. Ra1 g6 29. Ne4 Qc6 30. Nxc5 Rfe8 {Anand,V (2768)-Mamedyarov,S (2801) Saint Louis 2018}) 25. Ne4 $146 (25. h5 Qe6 26. Ne4 Bxe5 27. Rxd2 Qf5 28. Nd6 Qe6 29. Qe2 b4 30. Ne4 Rac8 {Stoeckert,M (2460)-Delavekouras,S (2427) corr. 2013}) 25... f5 26. Nxd2 Rad8 27. Ra1 {With this move, Caruana decided to play for a win.} (27. e6 { was more drawish.}) 27... Rfe8 ({Caruana had calculated} 27... Rd3 28. Qc2 Rxg3+ 29. fxg3 Qxg3+ 30. Rg2 {and}) (27... Bxg3 28. fxg3 f4 29. Qe1) 28. Qe1 Bxd2 29. Rxd2 Rxd2 30. Qxd2 Rxe5 31. Qd8+ Re8 32. Qd5+ Qe6 33. Rd1 {With a slight edge for White, and a solid enough position to continue playing for a while.} c4 34. bxc4 bxc4 35. Qb7 Re7 36. Rd8+ Kf7 37. Qf3 g6 38. Qf4 Qc6 39. Rd1 Re4 40. Qh6 Kg8 41. h5 Re8 42. hxg6 hxg6 43. Kf1 Re6 $6 ({Caruana suggested } 43... Re4 $5) 44. Qh4 $1 {An unexpected move back with the queen, which is annoying. The threat is 45.Rd8+ and White wins the c-pawn.} Re8 45. Rd4 Rc8 46. Qh6 Qe6 47. Rh4 Kf7 48. Qh7+ (48. Qf4) 48... Kf6 49. Rd4 Qe7 50. Qh6 {Caruana said he was playing this phase "move by move," constantly trying to and find something that will keep his opponent busy.} Kf7 51. Qd2 (51. g4) 51... Rc7 52. Rh4 (52. Rd8) 52... Kf6 53. Qd4+ Qe5 54. Qb6+ Kg7 55. Qb8 Kf6 56. Qh8+ Ke6 57. Qg8+ Kf6 58. Rd4 Qe7 59. Rd8 Kg5 $6 (59... Rd7) 60. f4+ Kh5 61. Rd2 Qg7 62. Rh2+ Kg4 63. Kg2 $1 g5 (63... Qxg8 64. Rh4#) 64. Qe8 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Goryachkina, Aleksandra"] [Black "Lanchava, Tea"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "2535"] [BlackElo "2339"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "Netherlands"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "NED"] 1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. e5 Ng4 7. Ng5 Nxe3 8. fxe3 {Black's position is already becoming tough, but then next move makes it downright indefensible.} Bb7 $2 (8... f6 {Is the world's worst bughouse move but may be called for here.}) (8... Bh6 9. Nxf7 {is the computer's idea of some fun.} Kxf7 10. Qf3+ Kg7 11. Qxa8 Bd7 12. a4 $16) 9. e6 {There's that e6-move again. This time it is not even a sac.} fxe6 10. Nxe6 Qc8 11. d5 { Black king, welcome to the center. Get comfy.} c6 12. e4 {The one White knight equals the game right now.} Nd7 13. Be2 Ne5 14. O-O Qb8 15. dxc6 Bxc6 16. Nd5 { Uh-oh. Two knights.} Qa7+ 17. Kh1 Rc8 18. Qd2 h5 19. a4 Bh6 20. Qa5 bxa4 21. Bxa6 Nc4 22. Qc3 Qxa6 23. Nec7+ 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Haast, Anne"] [Black "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2345"] [BlackElo "2559"] [PlyCount "52"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Netherlands"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "NED"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. Bg3 d6 9. d4 Nh5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nxg3 12. hxg3 dxe5 13. Nd5 Bc5 14. Qe2 Be6 15. O-O-O c6 16. Ne3 Qg5 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Rd3 Rad8 19. Rhd1 Rd4 20. Kb1 Rxe4 21. Rd7 Rd4 22. R1xd4 Bxd4 23. Rxb7 Bxe3 24. fxe3 (24. Qxe3 Qxe3 25. fxe3 Rf1#) 24... Qg4 $1 25. Qe1 (25. Qxg4 Rf1+) 25... Qxg3 $1 26. Qe2 (26. Qxg3 Rf1+) 26... Qg4 $1 {Again! And now if 27. Qe1 then Black goes back again for more pawns with 27...Qxg2! Since the rook will finally get to f1 there, White has seen enough of her back-rank for one day.} 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.3"] [White "Lei, Tingjie"] [Black "Cosma, Elena-Luminita"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C13"] [WhiteElo "2468"] [BlackElo "2328"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "Romania"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "ROU"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4 Bxg5 7. hxg5 Qxg5 8. Nh3 Qe7 9. Qg4 g6 10. Ng5 h5 11. Qf4 Nc6 12. O-O-O Nf8 13. g4 Nh7 14. Nxh7 Rxh7 15. Bg2 Rh8 16. Bxd5 $3 {White offered the h-pawn in a known line, but you aren't supposed to get it back this quickly. And a center pawn!} Bd7 (16... exd5 17. Nxd5 {is annihilation.} Qd8 18. Nf6+ Kf8 19. d5 {would make you want to quit chess.}) 17. Bf3 {The bishop still want not in danger but re-routes to target even more pawns.} O-O-O 18. gxh5 gxh5 19. Rxh5 Rxh5 20. Bxh5 Rh8 21. Bg4 Qh4 22. d5 Nb8 23. dxe6 fxe6 24. Ne4 Qh6 25. Qxh6 Rxh6 26. Nf6 c5 27. Rxd7 $1 Nxd7 28. Bxe6 {That bishop simply cannot be stopped.} Kd8 29. Bxd7 Rh2 (29... Rxf6 30. exf6 Kxd7 31. Kd2) 30. f4 Rf2 31. f5 Ke7 32. Kd1 1-0 [Event "Batumi"] [Site "Batumi"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.4"] [White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"] [Black "Stocek, Jiri"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C18"] [WhiteElo "2672"] [BlackElo "2574"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] 1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 2. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d5 {[%emt 0: 00:09]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:25]} Bb4 {103} 4. e5 {[%emt 0:00:35]} c5 {[%emt 0: 00:36]} 5. a3 {[%emt 0:00:28]} Ba5 {99} 6. b4 {256} cxd4 {278} 7. Nb5 {103} Bc7 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 8. f4 {83 LiveBook: 508 Games} ({Of course not} 8. Nxd4 Bxe5 9. Be2 Bf6 $17) ({Don't play} 8. Qxd4 Nc6 $15) 8... Bd7 {99} 9. Nxc7+ {[%emt 0: 00:48]} Qxc7 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 10. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:07] 56 C18: French: 3 Nc3 Bb4: Main line: h4 and 7 Qg4} Ba4 {394} 11. Bd3 {447} Ne7 {247} 12. O-O {93} a6 {610} (12... Qb6 13. Kh1 Bb5 14. Nxd4 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Nbc6 16. Nf3 a6 17. Be3 Qb5 {½-½ (40) Vidit,S (2715)-Vitiugov,N (2730) Linares 2018}) 13. f5 $146 {1108} (13. Bb2 $11) ({Predecessor:} 13. Nxd4 Nbc6 14. Be3 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 g6 16. Qd2 Qd7 17. Bc5 Bb5 {1-0 (34) Kuipers,S (2484)-Wilschut,P (2306) Leiden 2018}) 13... Nxf5 {167} 14. Bxf5 {141} exf5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 15. Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:25]} O-O {423} 16. Bb2 {755} Bd7 {366} 17. Nxf5 {418} Bxf5 {[%emt 0:00:27]} 18. Rxf5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Nc6 {137} 19. Qd3 {324} Ne7 {428} 20. Rf2 {280} Rac8 {222} 21. Raf1 {291} Qd7 {1467} 22. Bd4 {799} ({Reject} 22. e6 Qxe6 23. Re2 Qd7 $15) 22... Rc4 {[%emt 0:00:48]} (22... Nc6 $14) 23. Bc5 {168} Re4 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 24. Qg3 {199} Qe6 {199} 25. Bd6 {84} Rg4 $1 {74} 26. Qf3 {211} Re4 {131 [#]} 27. Qg3 {93} (27. Qc3 $1 $16) 27... Rg4 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 28. Qh3 {[%emt 0:00: 11]} Rg6 {[%emt 0:00:44]} 29. Qf3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} b5 $16 {174} 30. c3 {101} h6 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 31. h4 {[%emt 0:00:58]} Qd7 {64} 32. Qh5 {[%emt 0:00:36]} Kh7 {257} 33. Rxf7 {[%emt 0:00:55]} Rxf7 {[%emt 0:00:28]} 34. Rxf7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} d4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 35. Qf3 {[%emt 0:00:55]} Qc6 {83} 36. h5 {[%emt 0:00:28]} 1-0 [Event "Batumi"] [Site "Batumi"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Laznicka, Viktor"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2711"] [BlackElo "2662"] [PlyCount "133"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventCountry "GEO"] 1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 { [%emt 0:00:00]} 3. Bc4 {218} Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:26]} 4. d3 {[%emt 0:00:15]} Nf6 { [%emt 0:00:18]} 5. O-O {118} O-O {[%emt 0:00:12]} 6. h3 {266 C50: Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} (6. c3 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Re1 Bg4 9. Nbd2 Nb6 10. Bb5 Bd6 11. h3 Bh5 12. Ne4 Re8 13. Bg5 f6 14. Be3 a6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Ng3 Bf7 17. c4 Bb4 18. Re2 Bf8 19. b3 c5 {0-1 (89) Nakamura,H (2777)-Grischuk,A (2766) Saint Louis 2018}) 6... Re8 {307} 7. c3 {50 LiveBook: 5 Games} h6 {343} 8. b4 {802} Bb6 {394} 9. a4 {83} a6 $146 {[%emt 0:00:35]} ({Predecessor:} 9... a5 10. b5 Ne7 11. Nxe5 d5 12. exd5 Nexd5 13. Re1 {1-0 (25) Fernandez, P-Majumdar,B IECG email 2003}) 10. Qb3 {319} Re7 {130} 11. Be3 {266} Bxe3 {213} 12. fxe3 {155} d6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 13. Nh4 {213} Be6 {[%emt 0:00:27]} 14. Nf5 { 113} Re8 {186} 15. Nd2 {128} Kh7 {440} 16. Rf3 {159} Nb8 {879} 17. Raf1 {91} Nbd7 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 18. a5 {106} g6 {315} 19. Ng3 {213} Qe7 {60} 20. d4 {515} Bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 21. Qxc4 {88} Kg7 22. Ne2 {694} Rac8 {738} 23. b5 {255} axb5 {119} 24. Qxb5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Rb8 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 25. c4 {195} Rf8 {295 } 26. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:43]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 27. Qb2 {110} Ne8 {239} 28. Na4 {71} c5 {549} 29. Nb6 {204} Nef6 {45 [#]} (29... Nxb6 $11 30. Qxb6 (30. axb6 Kg8 $11) 30... Ra8) 30. dxc5 $1 {67} dxc5 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 31. Nd5 {101} Nxd5 { [%emt 0:00:05]} 32. exd5 {167} Qd8 {252} 33. Qb5 {71} Qc7 {148} 34. g4 { [%emt 0:00:31]} Ra8 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 35. Ne4 {[%emt 0:00:25]} f6 {360} 36. h4 { 263} (36. Rb1 $16) 36... Rxa5 {[%emt 0:00:50]} 37. Qb1 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Ra6 { 101} (37... Ra4 $1 $14) 38. h5 {[%emt 0:00:40]} gxh5 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 39. gxh5 {[%emt 0:00:30]} Kh8 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 40. d6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Qb6 {[%emt 0:00: 00]} 41. Qc2 {641} Rg8+ {222} 42. Kh2 {93} Qd8 {198} 43. Rf5 {196} Rg7 {598} 44. R1f3 {352} Qa8 {602} 45. Rf2 {[%emt 0:00:24]} Qd8 {312} 46. Rg2 {325} Qg8 $2 {75} (46... Rxg2+ $11 47. Qxg2 Qe8) 47. Nxf6 {129} Rxg2+ {[%emt 0:00:35]} 48. Qxg2 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Qxg2+ {[%emt 0:00:25]} 49. Kxg2 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Rxd6 {11 [#]} 50. Nxd7 {[%emt 0:00:13]} ({White has to play} 50. Ne4 $1 $16 Rd3 51. Rf7 Rxe3 52. Nf2) 50... Rxd7 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 51. Rxe5 {[%emt 0:00:26]} b6 {63} 52. Re6 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:51]} 53. Rxb6 {224} Rd2+ {[%emt 0:00: 13]} 54. Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Rc2 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 55. Rb7+ {75} Kg8 {[%emt 0: 00:03]} 56. Kf4 {[%emt 0:00:35]} Rxc4+ {[%emt 0:00:05]} 57. Kf5 {[%emt 0:00:04] } Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 58. Kg6 {64} Kf8 {138} 59. Kxh6 {[%emt 0:00:30]} c4 { [%emt 0:00:16]} 60. Rc7 {114} c3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 61. e4 {101} Ke8 {[%emt 0:00: 42]} 62. e5 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Kd8 {[%emt 0:00:40]} 63. Rc5 {119} Ke7 $11 { [%emt 0:00:22]} 64. Rc6 {[%emt 0:00:39]} c2 {[%emt 0:00:21]} 65. Kh7 {[%emt 0: 00:25]} Rh1 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 66. Rxc2 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Rxh5+ {[%emt 0:00:07]} 67. Kg6 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi"] [Site "Batumi"] [Date "2018.10.02"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"] [Black "Laznicka, Viktor"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C50"] [WhiteElo "2711"] [BlackElo "2662"] [PlyCount "133"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventCountry "GEO"] 1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 { [%emt 0:00:00]} 3. Bc4 {218} Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:26]} 4. d3 {[%emt 0:00:15]} Nf6 { [%emt 0:00:18]} 5. O-O {118} O-O {[%emt 0:00:12]} 6. h3 {266 C50: Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo} (6. c3 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Re1 Bg4 9. Nbd2 Nb6 10. Bb5 Bd6 11. h3 Bh5 12. Ne4 Re8 13. Bg5 f6 14. Be3 a6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Ng3 Bf7 17. c4 Bb4 18. Re2 Bf8 19. b3 c5 {0-1 (89) Nakamura,H (2777)-Grischuk,A (2766) Saint Louis 2018}) 6... Re8 {307} 7. c3 {50 LiveBook: 5 Games} h6 {343} 8. b4 {802} Bb6 {394} 9. a4 {83} a6 $146 {[%emt 0:00:35]} ({Predecessor:} 9... a5 10. b5 Ne7 11. Nxe5 d5 12. exd5 Nexd5 13. Re1 {1-0 (25) Fernandez, P-Majumdar,B IECG email 2003}) 10. Qb3 {319} Re7 {130} 11. Be3 {266} Bxe3 {213} 12. fxe3 {155} d6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 13. Nh4 {213} Be6 {[%emt 0:00:27]} 14. Nf5 { 113} Re8 {186} 15. Nd2 {128} Kh7 {440} 16. Rf3 {159} Nb8 {879} 17. Raf1 {91} Nbd7 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 18. a5 {106} g6 {315} 19. Ng3 {213} Qe7 {60} 20. d4 {515} Bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 21. Qxc4 {88} Kg7 22. Ne2 {694} Rac8 {738} 23. b5 {255} axb5 {119} 24. Qxb5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Rb8 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 25. c4 {195} Rf8 {295 } 26. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:43]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 27. Qb2 {110} Ne8 {239} 28. Na4 {71} c5 {549} 29. Nb6 {204} Nef6 {45 [#]} (29... Nxb6 $11 30. Qxb6 (30. axb6 Kg8 $11) 30... Ra8) 30. dxc5 $1 {67} dxc5 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 31. Nd5 {101} Nxd5 { [%emt 0:00:05]} 32. exd5 {167} Qd8 {252} 33. Qb5 {71} Qc7 {148} 34. g4 { [%emt 0:00:31]} Ra8 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 35. Ne4 {[%emt 0:00:25]} f6 {360} 36. h4 { 263} (36. Rb1 $16) 36... Rxa5 {[%emt 0:00:50]} 37. Qb1 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Ra6 { 101} (37... Ra4 $1 $14) 38. h5 {[%emt 0:00:40]} gxh5 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 39. gxh5 {[%emt 0:00:30]} Kh8 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 40. d6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Qb6 {[%emt 0:00: 00]} 41. Qc2 {641} Rg8+ {222} 42. Kh2 {93} Qd8 {198} 43. Rf5 {196} Rg7 {598} 44. R1f3 {352} Qa8 {602} 45. Rf2 {[%emt 0:00:24]} Qd8 {312} 46. Rg2 {325} Qg8 $2 {75} (46... Rxg2+ $11 47. Qxg2 Qe8) 47. Nxf6 {129} Rxg2+ {[%emt 0:00:35]} 48. Qxg2 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Qxg2+ {[%emt 0:00:25]} 49. Kxg2 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Rxd6 {11 [#]} 50. Nxd7 {[%emt 0:00:13]} ({White has to play} 50. Ne4 $1 $16 Rd3 51. Rf7 Rxe3 52. Nf2) 50... Rxd7 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 51. Rxe5 {[%emt 0:00:26]} b6 {63} 52. Re6 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:51]} 53. Rxb6 {224} Rd2+ {[%emt 0:00: 13]} 54. Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Rc2 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 55. Rb7+ {75} Kg8 {[%emt 0: 00:03]} 56. Kf4 {[%emt 0:00:35]} Rxc4+ {[%emt 0:00:05]} 57. Kf5 {[%emt 0:00:04] } Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 58. Kg6 {64} Kf8 {138} 59. Kxh6 {[%emt 0:00:30]} c4 { [%emt 0:00:16]} 60. Rc7 {114} c3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 61. e4 {101} Ke8 {[%emt 0:00: 42]} 62. e5 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Kd8 {[%emt 0:00:40]} 63. Rc5 {119} Ke7 $11 { [%emt 0:00:22]} 64. Rc6 {[%emt 0:00:39]} c2 {[%emt 0:00:21]} 65. Kh7 {[%emt 0: 00:25]} Rh1 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 66. Rxc2 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Rxh5+ {[%emt 0:00:07]} 67. Kg6 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.2"] [White "Gara, Anita"] [Black "Krush, Irina"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B41"] [WhiteElo "2370"] [BlackElo "2423"] [PlyCount "235"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Hungary"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "HUN"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Qc7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Be2 Bb4 8. Nc2 Be7 (8... Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 d6 10. f3 O-O 11. O-O Nbd7 12. Qd4 e5 13. Qf2 Nc5 14. Bg5 Nfd7 {Ganguly,S (2652)-Bocharov,D (2573) Ulaanbaatar 2018}) 9. O-O b6 10. f4 Bb7 11. Qd3 d6 12. b4 O-O 13. Bb2 Nc6 $146 (13... Nbd7 14. a3 Rac8 15. Rac1 Qb8 16. Qg3 Rfe8 17. Ne3 Bf8 18. f5 Bxe4 19. fxe6 Rxe6 {Miton,K (2596)-Smirin, I (2625) Czech Republic 2017}) 14. a3 Rfd8 15. Rac1 b5 16. cxb5 axb5 17. Qe3 Na7 18. Nxb5 Nxb5 19. Bxb5 Bxe4 20. Nd4 Qb6 21. Bc6 Bxc6 22. Rxc6 Qa7 23. Kh1 d5 24. Rfc1 Bd6 25. Qf3 Qb7 26. b5 Ne4 27. R1c2 Qe7 28. b6 h6 29. Nb5 Qb7 30. Nxd6 Nxd6 31. h3 Ra6 32. Qc3 Nf5 33. Rc8 Qxb6 34. Rxd8+ Qxd8 35. g4 {Black loses a piece, and is completely lost for many moves to come...} d4 36. Qc8 Ra8 37. Qxd8+ Rxd8 38. gxf5 exf5 39. Kg2 d3 40. Rd2 g5 41. Kf3 Kh7 42. Bf6 Rg8 43. Rxd3 Kg6 44. Rd6 Kh5 45. Bd4 Rb8 46. Rb6 Ra8 47. Bc5 Rc8 48. Bb4 Rc4 49. Bd2 Rd4 50. Be3 Ra4 51. Rb3 Kh4 52. Kg2 Kh5 53. Kg3 Re4 54. Rc3 Ra4 55. Bc1 Rd4 56. Rf3 Kg6 57. Rb3 Rc4 58. Bd2 Rd4 59. Bb4 Rxf4 60. a4 Rc4 61. a5 Rc6 62. Be7 f4+ 63. Kf3 Kh5 64. Bd8 Kh4 65. Ke4 Rc4+ 66. Kf5 Rd4 67. Bb6 Ra4 68. Bf2+ Kh5 69. Bb6 Kh4 70. Rd3 Ra2 71. Bd8 Kh5 72. Rf3 Rd2 73. Bb6 Ra2 74. Rd3 Kh4 75. Bc7 Ra4 76. Bd8 Kh5 77. Ke5 Ra2 78. Bb6 Kh4 79. Kd5 Ra1 80. Kc4 f5 81. Kd5 $2 {Going for the wrong plan of trying to eliminate the kingside pawns, while her own passer was already a decisive factor.} (81. Kb5 g4 82. hxg4 fxg4 83. a6 g3 84. a7 g2 {and now e.g.} 85. Bf2+ Kg4 86. Rd8) 81... g4 82. Bd8+ Kh5 83. Ke5 g3 $2 {Missing her first chance, but miraculously, she'll get a second...} ({Drawing was} 83... f3 $1 {but it has two important points:} 84. Kxf5 g3 85. Rxf3 g2 86. Bb6 {and now first} Rxa5+ $1 87. Kf4 Ra1 88. Rg3 {and then also} Rf1+ $1 89. Ke4 g1=Q 90. Bxg1 Kh4 {and Black wins the h-pawn, but will have to defend like Duda vs Caruana.}) 84. Kxf4 g2 85. Bb6 Rf1+ 86. Ke5 g1=Q 87. Bxg1 Rxg1 88. Ra3 Kg5 89. a6 Re1+ 90. Kd5 Rd1+ 91. Ke5 Re1+ 92. Kd4 Re8 93. a7 Ra8 94. Ke3 Kh4 95. Kf4 h5 96. Kxf5 Rf8+ 97. Kg6 Rg8+ 98. Kf7 Ra8 99. Kf6 Rf8+ 100. Ke7 Ra8 101. Kd6 Rd8+ 102. Kc7 Rg8 103. Ra5 Rh8 104. a8=Q Rxa8 105. Rxa8 Kxh3 106. Kd6 h4 107. Ke5 Kg3 108. Rg8+ $4 {This check throws away the win, and one match point for Hungary.} ({The two winning moves were} 108. Kf5 {and}) (108. Ra3+) 108... Kf3 $1 {Now it's a draw.} 109. Rh8 Kg3 110. Ke4 h3 111. Ke3 Kg2 $1 112. Rg8+ Kf1 113. Rf8+ Kg1 114. Ke2 h2 115. Rg8+ Kh1 116. Ra8 Kg2 117. Rg8+ Kh1 118. Kf2 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.4"] [White "Lei, Tingjie"] [Black "Dauletova, Gulmira"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B48"] [WhiteElo "2468"] [BlackElo "2263"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "Kazakhstan"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "KAZ"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 Nf6 8. O-O-O Ne5 9. Qg3 b5 10. f4 (10. a3 Bb7 11. Bxb5 Rc8 12. Ba4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Bxe4 14. Bf4 Qc4 15. Bxe5 Qxa4 {Vachier Lagrave,M (2789)-Anand,V (2776) Karlsruhe/ Baden-Baden 2018}) 10... Neg4 11. Bg1 h5 12. h3 b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Nf6 15. dxe6 dxe6 16. Bd3 Be7 $146 (16... h4 17. Qf3 Rb8 18. f5 e5 19. Qc6+ Qd7 20. Qxd7+ Nxd7 21. Nc6 Ra8 22. Bh2 f6 {Padmini,R (2338)-Dauletova,G (2287) Hamedan 2018}) 17. Nb3 g5 $2 {Interesting, but incorrect.} (17... h4 18. Qe1 a5 { and Black looks alright.}) 18. Qxg5 Rg8 19. Qa5 Qxa5 ({It's always tricky to open more lines with a king that will have to stay in the center:} 19... Qxf4+ 20. Kb1) 20. Nxa5 Bd8 21. Nc4 Bc7 22. Nb6 Bxb6 23. Bxb6 {An extra pawn with the bishop pair is a technical win.} Bb7 24. Bd4 Ne4 25. Rhe1 f5 26. Bc4 Ke7 27. g4 Rac8 28. Bd3 a5 29. gxh5 Kf7 30. Rg1 Bd5 31. h6 Nf6 32. b3 Bf3 33. Rde1 Bg2 34. Bc4 Be4 35. Rg5 Rxg5 36. fxg5 Nh7 37. h4 Rc6 38. Rg1 f4 39. h5 Kg8 40. g6 f3 41. gxh7+ Kxh7 42. Be3 e5 43. Rg7+ Kh8 44. Rf7 a4 45. Bg5 axb3 46. Rf8+ 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.3"] [White "Mammadova, Gulnar"] [Black "Ushenina, Anna"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B52"] [WhiteElo "2355"] [BlackElo "2451"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeam "Ukraine"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"] [BlackTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. c4 g6 5. d4 (5. Nc3 Bg7 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8. O-O O-O 9. f3 Bxb5 10. cxb5 a6 11. Be3 axb5 12. Ndxb5 Nc6 {Karjakin,S (2773)-Duda,J (2737) chess.com INT 2018}) 5... a6 6. Bxd7+ Nxd7 7. O-O Bg7 8. Nc3 $146 (8. Be3 cxd4 9. Bxd4 Ngf6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Re1 Re8 12. b3 Rb8 13. a4 b6 14. Qc2 Nc5 15. Rad1 Qc8 {Fierro Baquero,M (2252)-Duarte,T (2146) Havana 1999}) 8... cxd4 9. Nxd4 Ngf6 10. Qe2 Rc8 11. a4 Qa5 12. Nb3 Qc7 13. Nd2 O-O 14. b3 Rfe8 15. Ba3 e6 16. Rac1 Ne5 17. Rfd1 Red8 18. h3 Qb6 19. b4 Nh5 20. a5 Qa7 21. Kf1 Nf4 22. Qe3 Qxe3 23. fxe3 Nxc4 $6 ({Both} 23... Nfd3 24. Rc2 d5 {and}) ( 23... Nh5 {are better for Black.}) 24. Nxc4 Rxc4 25. Na4 (25. exf4) 25... Rxc1 26. Rxc1 Nh5 27. Rc7 {Now White has enough counterplay.} Ng3+ 28. Ke1 Rb8 29. Nb6 Nxe4 30. Nd7 Ra8 31. Rxb7 Nc3 32. Bb2 Nb5 33. Bxg7 Kxg7 34. Nb8 $5 Nc7 35. e4 g5 36. Kd2 Kg6 37. Kc3 f5 38. Rxc7 Rxb8 39. Rc6 Ra8 ({As so often in rook endings, passivity is bad. Here,} 39... fxe4 $1 {draws:} 40. Rxa6 d5 41. Rc6 Kf5 42. a6 e3 43. a7 Ra8 44. Ra6 d4+ 45. Kd3 Ke5 46. b5 Kd5) 40. Rxd6 fxe4 41. g4 Kf6 42. Kd4 e3 43. Kxe3 Ke5 44. Rb6 Ra7 45. b5 axb5 46. Rxb5+ Kf6 ({The last chance was} 46... Kd6 47. Rxg5 (47. Kd4) 47... e5 48. Rh5 Kd5) 47. Kd4 h5 48. gxh5 Rd7+ 49. Kc5 Rd3 50. a6 Rxh3 51. a7 Ra3 52. Kb6 g4 53. Ra5 Rb3+ 54. Ka6 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Mammadzada, Gunay"] [Black "Muzychuk, Anna"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2438"] [BlackElo "2555"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeam "Ukraine"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"] [BlackTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4 Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. e5 Ne8 11. c3 c5 12. cxd4 c4 13. Bc2 d5 14. Nc3 Nc7 15. a3 a5 16. Qh5 g6 17. Qh6 Ra6 18. Be3 f5 19. g3 f4 $1 {The start of a wonderful idea to trap the white queen.} 20. Bxf4 Ne6 21. Be3 {White of course doesn't want her king exposed after a trade on f4, but this is too slow. Now comes the real cruncher.} Ng5 22. e6 {Desparation.} Rxe6 (22... Nf3+ 23. Kh1 Nxe1 24. Bxg6 hxg6 25. Qxg6+ Kh8 26. Qh6+ $10) 23. Nxb5 $2 Rxe3 $1 {Removing the bishop sets up the queen's cage.} 24. Rxe3 Nh3+ 25. Kh1 Bg5 26. Qxf8+ Qxf8 27. f4 Bf6 28. Kg2 Bd7 29. Ba4 g5 30. f5 g4 31. Nc3 Bxa4 32. Nxa4 Bxd4 33. Re2 Qxf5 34. Rf1 Qf3+ $3 {Quite the finish! Now if 35. Rxf3 gxf3+ 36. Kxf3 Ng1+.} 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2661"] [BlackElo "2780"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Germany"] [BlackTeam "France"] [WhiteTeamCountry "GER"] [BlackTeamCountry "FRA"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bc1 Nf6 9. Bc4 e6 10. Bb3 Be7 11. Be3 Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Qf3 Qc7 14. Qg3 Bb7 15. O-O-O g5 16. h4 gxh4 17. Rxh4 O-O-O 18. Rxh6 Rxh6 19. Bxh6 c5 20. e5 dxe5 21. Rxd8+ Bxd8 22. Bc4 Nd5 23. Bd2 Kb8 24. Qg8 Ka7 25. Na4 Qe7 26. b3 Nb6 27. Nxb6 Bxb6 28. Qg7 e4 29. g4 Bd5 30. g5 Qb7 31. Be3 Bxc4 32. bxc4 a5 33. a4 Qc7 34. Qh7 Qb7 35. Kd1 Qd7+ 36. Ke1 Qxa4 $2 {Black was already worse but didn't want to wait to see how White would improve the position. But this leads to a lost pawn race. Well, Black doesn't really lose the race, just the game.} 37. Qxf7+ Ka6 38. Qxe6 Qxc2 39. Qc8+ Ka7 40. Qd7+ Ka6 41. Qd5 Ka7 42. g6 a4 43. Kf1 a3 44. g7 a2 45. g8=Q $2 (45. Kg2 $1 {first is even better since it prevents the queen trade the comes with the text.} a1=Q {Black wins the race!} 46. g8=Q { But White wins the game. Black's queens are impotent to stop the mate on a8.}) 45... Qd3+ 46. Kg2 (46. Qxd3 $2 a1=Q+ $1 47. Ke2 exd3+ 48. Kxd3 Qb1+ 49. Ke2 Qc2+ 50. Kf3 Qf5+ {And White's task is difficult.}) 46... Qxd5 47. Qxd5 a1=Q 48. Qd7+ Ka6 (48... Ka8 49. Bxc5) 49. Bxc5 Bxc5 50. Qb5+ Ka7 51. Qxc5+ Kb7 52. Qd5+ Kb6 53. Qxe4 Qg7+ 54. Kf3 Qf6+ 55. Qf4 Qc6+ 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.3"] [White "Piorun, Kacper"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "2612"] [BlackElo "2763"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Poland"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "POL"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Bf4 Nc6 9. Qd2 b6 10. Rad1 Bb7 11. Rfe1 e6 12. Bh6 Ne7 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Ne5 Rc8 15. Qf4 a6 16. Rd3 b5 17. a3 Qd6 18. b4 Rcd8 19. Red1 Nfd5 20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Qh4 f6 22. c4 g5 23. Rg3 Ne7 24. Qh5 Be4 25. Re3 Bf5 26. c5 Qd5 27. Bf3 Qa2 28. Nc6 Nxc6 29. Bxc6 Qc4 30. Be4 Bxe4 31. Rxe4 e5 32. h4 h6 33. Qf3 Qd5 34. h5 exd4 {Everything seemed to be under control for Black until this move. White's rooks proved more capable of invading after the positioned opened.} (34... Kg8 {Is one idea but not really Nakamura's style to just wait. Maybe he didn't like } 35. Qf5 Qf7 36. g4 {with the chance of running out of moves or space, although Black's position may still be defensible.}) 35. Rdxd4 Qf7 36. g4 Rxd4 37. Rxd4 Qe6 38. Qd3 f5 39. Rd7+ Rf7 40. Qd4+ Kh7 41. Rd8 Rg7 42. Rf8 {A little but like Caruana yesterday, Piorun is slowly massaging the Q+R ending.} Qc4 43. Qxc4 bxc4 44. Rxf5 c6 (44... Rd7 45. Kg2 Kg7) 45. Re5 Rd7 46. Re4 Rd1+ 47. Kg2 Rc1 48. Kf3 Kg7 49. Ke3 Kf6 50. Kd4 c3 51. Re8 c2 52. Kc3 a5 53. Rc8 axb4+ 54. axb4 Ke5 55. Rxc6 Rb1 56. Kxc2 Rxb4 57. f3 Kd4 58. Rxh6 Rc4+ 59. Kd2 Rxc5 60. Re6 1-0 [Event "Batumi"] [Site "Batumi"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.3"] [White "Adhiban, B.."] [Black "Melkumyan, Hrant"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2668"] [BlackElo "2660"] [Annotator "TA"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 {5 D37: Queen's Gambit Declined: Bf4} (6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Ba6 9. Qe2 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Rac1 Rc8 14. Ne5 Qb6 15. Nxc6 Rxc6 {1-0 (97) Carlsen,M (2842)-Nakamura,H (2777) Saint Louis 2018}) 6... dxc4 7. e3 Nd5 8. Bxc4 Nxf4 9. exf4 c5 {LiveBook: 3 Games} 10. d5 $146 ({Predecessor:} 10. O-O cxd4 11. Qxd4 Qxd4 12. Nxd4 Bd7 13. Rfd1 Nc6 {1/2-1/2 (57) Parligras,M (2584) -Landa,K (2626) Germany 2016}) 10... exd5 11. Bxd5 Nc6 12. O-O Bg4 13. h3 (13. Bxc6 $5 Qxd1 14. Rfxd1 (14. Raxd1 bxc6 15. Rde1 Bd6 $11) 14... bxc6 15. Re1 $14 ) 13... Bxf3 $1 14. Qxf3 Nd4 15. Qe4 Bf6 16. Rfe1 Re8 17. Qd3 Qd7 18. Re3 Rad8 19. Rae1 b5 20. Ne4 Be7 21. Nc3 Bf6 22. Ne4 Be7 23. Nc3 Bf8 24. Rxe8 Rxe8 25. Rxe8 Qxe8 26. Ne4 h6 27. Qd1 Qd7 28. Qh5 c4 29. Kf1 Qf5 30. Qxf5 Nxf5 $11 { Endgame KBN-KBN} 31. g4 Nd6 32. f3 Nxe4 33. fxe4 {KB-KB} g5 34. fxg5 hxg5 35. Bc6 a6 36. Bb7 {The position is equal.} Bg7 37. Bxa6 Bxb2 {[#] And now ...c3 would win.} 38. Bxb5 c3 39. Ba4 Bxa3 40. Ke2 Bd6 {Precision: White = 54%, Black = 63%.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi"] [Site "Batumi"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2780"] [Annotator "TA"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Re1 a6 { [%emt 0:00:05] C4: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main lines with 5 d4 and 5 d3} 8. a4 Ba7 9. h3 {LiveBook: 116 Games} Kh8 (9... h6 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. Nf1 Be6 12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. Nxe3 d5 {1/2-1/2 (32) Anand,V (2768)-Grischuk,A (2766) Saint Louis 2018}) 10. d4 (10. b4 {looks sharper.} h6 11. Na3 Qe7 12. Bb3 Be6 13. Nc4) 10... h6 $146 ({Predecessor:} 10... Nxe4 11. Rxe4 d5 12. Re1 dxc4 13. Nxe5 Na5 14. Qh5 Be6 {1-0 (25) Brkic,A (2579) -Henrichs,T (2475) Austria 2017}) 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. Nd2 Kg8 15. Nf3 Re8 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. Rxe3 Be6 18. Nxe5 Bxc4 19. Nxc4 Rxe4 20. Rxe4 Nxe4 $11 {Endgame KRN-KRN} 21. f3 Nc5 22. b4 Ne6 23. Rd1 Kf8 24. Kf2 Ke7 25. Ke3 Rd8 26. Rxd8 Nxd8 $14 { KN-KN} 27. f4 Ke6 {The position is equal.} 28. Nd2 Nc6 29. Nc4 Nd8 30. Ke4 f5+ 31. Kd3 Nc6 {Precision: White = 43%, Black = 70%.} 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.04"] [Round "10.3"] [White "Balajayeva, Khanim"] [Black "Sargsyan, Anna M."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B10"] [WhiteElo "2326"] [BlackElo "2331"] [PlyCount "122"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Azerbaijan"] [BlackTeam "Armenia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"] [BlackTeamCountry "ARM"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Ne5 Nf6 5. d4 Nc6 6. c3 g6 7. Bb5 Bd7 8. Nxd7 Qxd7 9. O-O Bg7 10. Nd2 O-O 11. Re1 e6 12. Nf3 Qc7 13. Bd3 a6 14. a4 Rab8 15. Bg5 b5 16. Qd2 Qb7 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ne5 Nd7 19. Nxc6 Qxc6 20. Be7 Rfe8 21. Bb4 Bf8 22. Bxf8 Nxf8 23. Ra7 b4 24. Rea1 bxc3 25. bxc3 Rec8 26. h4 Rb7 27. Rxb7 Qxb7 28. h5 Qb3 29. Rc1 gxh5 30. f4 Ng6 31. f5 exf5 32. Bxf5 Ra8 33. Rf1 Re8 34. Bb1 Qb5 35. Qf2 Re7 36. Ba2 Qa5 37. c4 Ra7 38. Bb1 dxc4 39. d5 Rb7 40. Qf3 Qc5+ 41. Kh1 Rc7 42. Re1 Re7 43. Rxe7 Qxe7 44. Be4 Qh4+ 45. Kg1 Qe1+ 46. Kh2 Ne5 47. Bxh7+ Kxh7 48. Qxh5+ Kg7 49. d6 Ng6 50. d7 Qd2 51. Qh3 c3 52. d8=Q Qxd8 53. Qxc3+ Qf6 54. Qc8 Ne5 55. Kg1 Qf4 56. Qc3 Kg6 57. Qc2+ Qf5 58. Qb2 Ng4 59. g3 Qf3 $4 60. Qb1+ $2 (60. Qg7+ $1 {Missing a stalemate trick!} Kh5 (60... Kf5 61. Qxf7+ {is a "normal" draw}) 61. Qg5+) 60... Kh6 $4 (60... Qf5 {is a way out of the stalemate, but it seems Black just wasn't thinking about this option.}) 61. Qg6+ Kxg6 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi"] [Site "Batumi"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.4"] [White "Martirosyan, Haik M"] [Black "Sasikiran, Krishnan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2597"] [BlackElo "2672"] [Annotator "TA"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8. e3 O-O {D38: Damengambit (Ragosin-Verteidigung)} 9. Be2 Bd7 (9... dxc4 10. O-O Bd7 11. Bxc4 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Rfd8 13. Qa3 Qe7 14. Qxe7 Nxe7 15. Rab1 b6 16. Ne5 { 1/2-1/2 (39) Karjakin,S (2782)-Aronian,L (2764) Stavanger 2018}) 10. Qb3 dxc4 11. Qxc4 Qe7 12. O-O {LiveBook: 12 Partien} Bd6 13. Ne4 Rfc8 {[#]} 14. Rfc1 $146 ({Vorgänger:} 14. Rac1 e5 15. d5 Nd8 16. Nfd2 {1/2-1/2 (73) Moiseenko,A (2677) -Michalik,P (2558) Minsk 2017}) 14... e5 15. d5 Nd8 16. Nxd6 cxd6 17. Qb4 b6 18. Nd2 Nb7 19. Rxc8+ Bxc8 20. Rc1 Nc5 21. Qa3 $36 {Weiss hat Druck.} Bf5 22. b4 Ne4 23. Bd3 $1 Nxd2 24. Bxf5 Qg5 {[#]} (24... e4 $16) 25. Qxa7 $1 $18 Rf8 (25... Rxa7 26. Rc8+) 26. Bh3 ({Günstiger ist} 26. Bd7 $18) 26... Nf3+ 27. Kh1 (27. Kf1 $1 $14 Nxh2+ 28. Ke1) 27... Qh4 $1 $11 28. Qxb6 Ng5 29. Kg1 Nxh3+ (29... Ne4 $1 $11 {hält das Gleichgewicht.}) 30. gxh3 $16 Qxh3 (30... Qg5+ $16 31. Kf1 Qf5) 31. Qxd6 $11 {Endspiel KDT-KDT} Qg4+ 32. Kf1 Qe4 {[#]} ( 32... Qh3+ $16 {war angesagt.} 33. Ke1 Qxh2) 33. Qc6 (33. Qc5 $1 $18) 33... Qxb4 $14 34. d6 {zielt auf Dc7 ab.} Qd2 {[#]} ({Besser ist} 34... Rd8 $1 $14) 35. Qc7 $1 $18 g6 $2 (35... Kh7 $16 {ist zäher.} 36. d7 Rd8) 36. d7 h5 (36... g5 $142 37. a4 f5) 37. Qc8 Kh7 38. Rc4 Qd1+ 39. Kg2 e4 40. Rc1 ({Nicht} 40. Qxf8 Qg4+ 41. Kh1 Qf3+ 42. Kg1 Qd1+ 43. Kg2 Qg4+ 44. Kh1 Qf3+ 45. Kg1 Qg4+ 46. Kh1 $11) ({Weniger gut wäre} 40. Rxe4 Qd5 $18) 40... Qg4+ 41. Kf1 Qh3+ 42. Ke1 Qxh2 43. Qxf8 Qg1+ 44. Ke2 Qg4+ 45. Kd2 Qxd7+ 46. Ke1 Qd5 47. Rc8 g5 48. Qc5 { Precision: Weiß = 59%, Schwarz = 26%.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.04"] [Round "10.1"] [White "Ding, Liren"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2804"] [BlackElo "2739"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "Poland"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "POL"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nxb5 Nb6 8. Be2 Nc6 9. O-O Be7 10. Qd2 (10. Be3 O-O 11. Nc3 Rb8 12. a3 Bb7 13. Qc2 Na5 14. Rad1 h6 15. Nd2 Qd7 16. f4 Nd5 {Mamedyarov,S (2801)-Caruana,F (2822) Saint Louis 2018}) 10... O-O 11. Qf4 Rb8 $146 (11... Nb4 12. Qg4 Re8 13. Rd1 Bb7 14. h4 Qd7 15. Nc3 Rad8 16. h5 f5 17. exf6 Bxf6 {Dreev,A (2649)-Grachev,B (2626) Moscow 2018}) 12. Nc3 f5 13. Qg3 Kh8 14. Rd1 Nb4 15. b3 cxb3 16. axb3 a6 17. Bc4 Nc2 18. Ra2 Nb4 19. Ra1 Nc2 20. Ra2 Nb4 21. Re2 {Looking at the his team members' positions, Ding decided to play for a win.} a5 22. d5 $1 exd5 23. e6 Bd6 24. Qh3 Qf6 25. Nb5 $3 {A fantastic piece sacrifice.} ({After} 25. Bg5 {Ding didn't like} Qg6 ({not} 25... Qxc3 26. Rc1)) 25... dxc4 26. Nxd6 cxd6 27. e7 Re8 28. Ng5 Qg6 ({Against} 28... h6 {Ding had planned the winning} 29. Qh5 $1 ( {as} 29. Rxd6 {fails to} f4 30. Qh5 Bg4)) 29. Rxd6 $1 f4 $1 30. Qh4 Qb1 31. Re1 Bf5 $6 ({The more tenacious} 31... Bd7 {is met by} 32. f3 $1 {and now a beautiful line goes} N4d5 33. Bxf4 Qc2 {(the queen needs to keep guarding h7)} 34. bxc4 Nxf4 (34... Nxc4 35. Rxd5) 35. Qxf4 Nxc4 (35... Qf5) 36. Rh6 $3 gxh6 37. Qf6+ Kg8 38. Nf7 Qg6 39. Nxh6+ Qxh6 40. Qxh6 {and wins.}) 32. Rd8 $1 Bg6 33. Rxb8 Rxb8 34. Qxf4 Rg8 35. Nf7+ Bxf7 36. Qxf7 Nd7 37. e8=Q Nf6 38. Bg5 { A lovely, final developing move to finish the game.} 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.04"] [Round "10.4"] [White "Dragun, Kamil"] [Black "Li, Chao b"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D10"] [WhiteElo "2568"] [BlackElo "2708"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Poland"] [BlackTeam "China"] [WhiteTeamCountry "POL"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Bf4 e6 5. Nc3 Bd6 6. Bxd6 (6. Bg3 Ne7 7. e3 Nf5 8. Bd3 Nxg3 9. hxg3 h6 10. f4 Nc6 11. Rc1 Bd7 12. Nf3 Rc8 {Rakhmanov,A (2654)-Kamsky,G (2676) Sochi 2017}) 6... Qxd6 7. e3 Ne7 8. Bd3 Nbc6 9. f4 Bd7 10. Nf3 f6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rc1 $146 ({Predecessor (3):} 12. Qd2 Be8 13. e4 Bh5 14. e5 Qd8 15. exf6 Rxf6 16. Ne5 Qb6 {Smirnov,P (2618)-Kamsky,G (2740) Moscow 2013}) 12... Be8 13. Nh4 Bf7 14. Qg4 a6 15. Qh3 h6 16. Rf3 e5 17. Rg3 Be6 18. f5 Bd7 {Here White still looks OK, but it's hard to find a good plan.} 19. Qg4 ({A nice prepatory move was} 19. Bc2 {of which the point becomes clear after} g5 (19... Rf7) 20. Ng6 $1 {and Black cannot go} Nxg6 $2 21. Qxh6 Nge7 {for several reasons, one being} 22. Ne4 dxe4 23. Bb3+) 19... g5 20. Qh5 Kg7 21. Ng6 Be8 {The end of White's attack, and so Black is just better.} 22. h4 $2 Bxg6 $6 ({Missing} 22... e4 $1 23. hxg5 fxg5 {and everything hangs.}) 23. fxg6 e4 24. hxg5 fxg5 25. Rh3 Ng8 26. Bc2 Nce7 {Li Chao probably missed the quicker win because this line was easy to calculate, and should also win easily. White's h3-rook is very bad now.} 27. Bb3 Rac8 28. Rc2 b5 29. a3 Qd7 30. Qe2 Nf6 31. a4 b4 32. Nd1 Rxc2 33. Bxc2 a5 34. Qa6 Qc7 35. Bb3 g4 36. Rh1 Nf5 37. Qe6 Ng3 38. Rh4 Ne2+ 39. Kf2 Nc1 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.04"] [Round "10.3"] [White "Fressinet, Laurent"] [Black "Stevic, Hrvoje"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "2649"] [BlackElo "2579"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "France"] [BlackTeam "Croatia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"] [BlackTeamCountry "CRO"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 a6 5. Bxc6 (5. Ba4 Bg7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 b5 8. Bc2 d6 9. d5 Na5 10. O-O Nc4 11. Nc3 Ne7 {Caruana,F (2816)-Mamedyarov,S (2808) Leuven 2018}) 5... dxc6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bg4 8. Qb3 Bxf3 9. gxf3 Bg7 10. Be3 Ne7 11. Nc3 Bxd4 12. O-O-O $146 (12. Bxd4 Qxd4 13. Qxb7 O-O 14. Qxc7 Rab8 15. O-O Rxb2 16. Qxe7 Qxc3 17. Kg2 Rc2 {Karjakin,S (2763)-Mamedyarov,S (2809) Berlin 2018}) 12... Bxe3+ 13. fxe3 Qc8 14. h4 b6 15. h5 Qe6 16. Qa4 O-O 17. Qd4 c5 18. Qd7 Rac8 19. f4 Nc6 $2 ({Black had to try} 19... Qxd7 20. Rxd7 Nc6 {but White is clearly better after} 21. hxg6 hxg6 22. Nd5) 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. Qd2 $1 {Now the attack is already winning.} Kg7 22. Nd5 Nb4 23. f5 $1 Nxa2+ 24. Kb1 Qxe4+ 25. Kxa2 Qxf5 26. e4 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.04"] [Round "10.3"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Howell, David W L"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A48"] [WhiteElo "2779"] [BlackElo "2689"] [PlyCount "125"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "England"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. c3 O-O 5. Nbd2 d6 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 c5 (7... Nbd7 8. Bd3 e5 9. O-O Qe8 10. e4 Nb6 11. a4 a5 12. Re1 Bd7 13. Bc2 Nh5 14. Nf1 Nf4 {Artemiev,V (2677)-Demchenko,A (2628) Skopje 2017}) 8. dxc5 dxc5 9. Qc2 $146 (9. Bc4 Nc6 10. O-O Bf5 11. Qe2 Na5 12. e4 Bc8 13. Bd3 Nh5 14. Bg3 Nxg3 15. hxg3 Qc7 {Stanec,N (2566)-Lehner,O (2428) Gmunden 2005}) 9... Nc6 10. Bc4 Na5 11. Be2 Be6 12. O-O Qb6 13. e4 Rfd8 14. Rfe1 g5 15. e5 gxh4 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Ne4 Bd5 18. Bf1 Kg7 19. Qc1 Nc6 20. Qf4 Bxe4 21. Qxe4 Rd6 22. Bc4 Rg8 23. Qf4 Qd8 24. Qg4+ Kf8 25. Qh5 Rg6 26. Bb3 Qd7 27. h3 Bxc3 $5 {A very interesting idea, which, however, is not correct.} 28. bxc3 Qxh3 29. Ng5 ({ Even the blunt} 29. g3 {works.}) 29... Qxc3 30. Nxf7 Rdf6 31. Rad1 $1 {Even in the wildest positions you sometimes just need to get all your pieces into play. } c4 32. Re3 Qb2 33. Re2 Qc3 34. Bc2 Kxf7 35. Rde1 (35. Bxg6+ Rxg6 36. Qxh4) 35... Qd4 (35... Kg7 $5 36. Bxg6 Rxg6) 36. Bxg6+ Rxg6 37. Re4 Qf6 38. Qd5+ Kg7 39. Re6 $1 {When you're up material, you trade.} Qg5 40. Rxg6+ Qxg6 41. Qxc4 Qf6 42. Qg4+ Qg5 43. Re4 a5 44. a4 Kh7 45. Qxh4 Qd5 46. Qg4 Qf7 47. Qd7 Qg6 48. f3 Qg5 49. Qd3 Kh8 50. Qc3+ e5 51. Rg4 Qd8 52. Qb3 h5 53. Re4 Qe7 54. Qe3 Qf6 55. f4 exf4 56. Rxf4 Qg6 57. Kh2 Kh7 58. Qc5 Qe8 59. Qf5+ Kg8 60. Qg5+ Kh7 61. Rh4 Qg6 62. Rxh5+ Kg7 63. Qxg6+ 1-0 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.04"] [Round "10.3"] [White "Notkevich, Benjamin Arvola"] [Black "Zajic, Milan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C95"] [WhiteElo "2493"] [BlackElo "2497"] [PlyCount "135"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Norway"] [BlackTeam "Serbia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"] [BlackTeamCountry "SRB"] 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. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15. a4 c5 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 Be7 (17... h6 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Qd2 h5 20. Bg5 Bg7 21. Rf1 Qc7 22. Bh6 Bh8 23. Ng5 Nh7 {Zherebukh,Y (2605)-Caruana,F (2817) Saint Louis 2017}) 18. Be3 Qc7 19. Nh2 Nc5 20. Rf1 h5 $146 (20... Bf8 21. Bg5 Bg7 22. f4 exf4 23. Rxf4 Nfd7 24. Ng4 bxa4 25. Bxa4 f6 26. Bh6 Nxa4 27. Bxg7 Kxg7 { Serazeev,A (2527)-Zajontz,R (2494) corr. 2015}) 21. axb5 h4 22. b6 Qc8 23. Ne2 Ncxe4 24. Ra5 Nc5 25. f4 Nxd5 26. Qd2 Nxe3 27. Qxe3 Qc6 28. Rf2 f5 29. Nf3 Nd3 30. fxe5 Nxf2 31. Ba4 Nxh3+ 32. Kh2 Qe4 33. Qh6 f4 $6 ({Black has been winning for a while now, and could have decided the game here with} 33... Ng5 $1 34. Qxg6+ Kh8 {when everything wins, e.g.} 35. Bxe8 (35. Qh6+ Nh7 36. Bxe8 Rxe8) 35... Nxf3+ 36. gxf3 Qxe2+ 37. Kg1 Qe3+ 38. Kh2 Bxf3) 34. Bxe8 Rxe8 35. Kxh3 Qf5+ 36. Kh2 Bxf3 37. exd6 Bf8 $6 (37... Qd3 $1 38. d7 Rd8 39. Re5 Bxg2 $1 40. Kxg2 Rxd7 $1 {is still very good for Black.}) 38. Rxf5 Bxh6 39. d7 $1 Rd8 40. Rc5 Bg4 $2 {That 40th move.} ({With} 40... Bb7 $1 {Black could hold the balance:} 41. Rc7 f3 42. gxf3 Bxf3 43. b7 Bxb7 44. Rxb7 Be3) 41. b7 Bxd7 42. Rd5 $1 {Winning back material.} f3 43. Rxd7 Re8 44. Re7 $1 Rxe7 45. b8=Q+ Kh7 46. gxf3 Rxe2+ 47. Kh3 Bg7 48. Qf4 Rxb2 49. Qxh4+ Kg8 50. Qxc4+ Kh7 51. Qh4+ Kg8 52. Qd8+ Kh7 53. c4 Rb3 54. Qh4+ Kg8 55. Qd8+ Kh7 56. Kg4 Rc3 57. Qd5 a5 58. Qb5 Ra3 59. c5 a4 60. c6 Ra1 61. Qc4 a3 62. c7 a2 63. c8=Q Rg1+ 64. Kh3 Rh1+ 65. Kg2 a1=Q 66. Q8g8+ Kh6 67. Qf4+ g5 68. Qe6+ {What a game!} 1-0 [Event "Batumi"] [Site "Batumi"] [Date "2018.10.03"] [Round "9.2"] [White "Sargissian, Gabriel"] [Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E04"] [WhiteElo "2691"] [BlackElo "2743"] [Annotator "TA"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. Qa4 Bd7 8. Qxc4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Rc8 10. Nc3 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bc5 12. Qh4 {LiveBook: 70 Games} h6 { 5 E04: Open Catalan: Nf3} (12... O-O 13. Bxb7 Rb8 14. Bf3 h6 15. Qf4 Re8 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Qxe4 Qc7 18. b3 f5 19. Qb1 e5 20. Bb2 {1-0 (56) Fedoseev,V (2718) -Vidit,S (2715) Riadh 2017}) 13. Bxb7 Rb8 $1 14. Bf3 Rb4 {The position is equal.} 15. Qh3 e5 16. Qg2 Qc8 $146 {next ...Bh3 is good for Black.} ({ Predecessor:} 16... O-O 17. Rd1 Qc8 18. a3 Rb6 19. e3 Bh3 20. Qh1 {0-1 (31) Vantika,A (1842)-Azimova,K (2063) Pune 2014}) 17. a3 Rb6 {White must now prevent ...Bh3.} 18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. Bxd5 O-O {[#] Strongly threatening ... Bh3.} 20. Qe4 Bd4 21. e3 Bf5 22. Qf3 Bg4 23. Qe4 Bf5 24. Qf3 Bg4 25. Qe4 Bf5 26. Qf3 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.05"] [Round "11.1"] [White "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"] [Black "Ju, Wenjun"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2559"] [BlackElo "2561"] [PlyCount "190"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "China"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bf5 7. O-O Be7 8. Nbd2 (8. Re1 O-O 9. Nbd2 Nd6 10. Nf1 c6 11. Ng3 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Na6 13. c3 Nc7 14. Re2 Re8 {Aronian,L (2767)-Giri,A (2782) chess.com INT 2018}) 8... Nd6 9. Nb3 $146 (9. Bxf5 Nxf5 10. Re1 O-O 11. Nf1 c6 12. Qd3 g6 13. Ng3 Nxg3 14. hxg3 Nd7 15. Bf4 Re8 {Dervishi,E (2552)-Ni,H (2671) Riadh 2017}) 9... O-O 10. Bf4 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 Nd7 12. Rfe1 Ne4 13. c4 Bd6 14. Be5 dxc4 15. Qxe4 cxb3 16. Qxb7 bxa2 17. Bxd6 cxd6 18. Rxa2 a5 19. h3 h6 20. Re3 Nf6 21. Rea3 Re8 22. Qb5 Qc7 23. Rc3 Qb8 24. Rb3 Qc8 25. Rc3 Qe6 26. Rxa5 Rxa5 27. Qxa5 Qe2 28. Qa4 Qxb2 29. Qc2 Qa1+ 30. Qc1 Qa8 31. Rc6 Ne4 32. Qc2 Qb7 33. Rc7 Qd5 34. Rc8 Rxc8 35. Qxc8+ Kh7 36. Qc2 g6 37. Nd2 Ng5 38. Qc4 Qf5 39. Qe2 Kg7 40. Qe3 Qd5 41. h4 Ne6 42. Nf3 g5 43. hxg5 hxg5 44. Kh2 Kg6 45. Qd3+ Qf5 46. Qc3 Qe4 47. Qc8 Kf6 48. Qh8+ Ke7 49. Qh5 Qf5 50. Kg1 Qb1+ 51. Kh2 Qe4 52. Kg1 f6 53. Qh8 g4 54. Nh2 f5 55. Qh7+ Kd8 56. Nf1 Nxd4 57. Ne3 Kc8 58. Qg8+ Kd7 59. Qf7+ Qe7 60. Qd5 Qe5 61. Qb7+ Ke6 62. Qc8+ Kf7 63. Qc4+ Ne6 64. g3 Kg6 65. Qc8 Nd4 66. Qg8+ Qg7 67. Qe8+ Qf7 68. Qc8 Nf3+ 69. Kg2 Ng5 70. Kf1 Qe6 71. Qd8 Nf3 72. Qb8 d5 73. Kg2 d4 74. Nc2 d3 75. Ne3 d2 76. Qd8 Kf7 77. Qc7+ Kf6 78. Qd8+ Kf7 79. Qc7+ Ke8 80. Qb8+ Kd7 81. Qb7+ Kd6 82. Qb6+ Ke7 83. Qc7+ {Here Kosteniuk incorrectly claimed a three-fold repetition} Kf6 84. Qd8+ Kg6 85. Nd5 $2 ({Now if White just waits with e.g.} 85. Kf1 Qa6+ 86. Kg2 {it's not clear how Black can make progress. Ukraine would have won gold.}) 85... Qf7 $6 ({One can hardly blame Ju for missing} 85... Kh7 $1 86. Qc7+ Kh6 87. Ne3 d1=N $3 {and wins.} (87... d1=Q $2 88. Nxf5+ $1 Qxf5 89. Qh7+ $1 {would have been something!})) 86. Qd6+ Kg7 87. Nf4 $2 {This is where the Olympiad gold was decided.} (87. Ne3 {was still a draw.}) 87... Kh7 $1 {Very unpleasant. White doesn't have a good move.} 88. Ne6 d1=Q 89. Nf8+ Kg8 90. Qxd1 Kxf8 91. Qa1 Kg8 92. Qa8+ Kh7 93. Qa5 Ng5 94. Qb5 Kg6 95. Qc6+ Qe6 0-1 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.05"] [Round "11.4"] [White "Lei, Tingjie"] [Black "Girya, Olga"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B11"] [WhiteElo "2468"] [BlackElo "2462"] [PlyCount "121"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 Nf6 6. d3 e6 7. Bd2 Qb6 8. O-O-O d4 9. Ne2 a5 (9... c5 10. e5 Nd5 11. Nf4 Nb4 12. Kb1 Nd7 13. Qe4 Nc6 14. Nh5 O-O-O 15. f4 c4 16. dxc4 Ba3 17. Bc1 Nc5 18. Qf3 d3 19. cxd3 Na4 20. Rd2 Nd4 21. Qf2 Nc3+ 22. Ka1 Qb3 23. bxc3 Qxc3+ 24. Bb2 Bxb2+ 25. Rxb2 Qc1+ 26. Rb1 Nc2+ 27. Qxc2 Qxc2 28. g3 b5 29. cxb5 Rd4 {0-1 was the famous Karjakin,S (2760) -Esipenko,A (2564) Riadh 2017}) 10. g4 Na6 $146 (10... Bd6 11. g5 Nfd7 12. Qh5 O-O 13. f4 e5 14. f5 g6 15. Qg4 Nc5 {Bencheikh,I (2134)-Fournier,D (1977) Issy les Moulineaux 2013}) 11. e5 Nd5 12. Qe4 Bc5 13. f4 Nac7 14. Bg2 Nb5 15. Rdf1 { White doesn't see it coming.} Ba3 $1 {Black gets a winning attack.} 16. bxa3 Nxa3 17. Kd1 Qb1+ 18. Nc1 Nc3+ ({Easier was} 18... Qxc2+ 19. Ke1 (19. Ke2 Nc3+) 19... Nb1 20. Qe2 Ndc3 21. Bxc3 Qxc1+ 22. Qd1 Qxd1+ 23. Kxd1 Nxc3+) 19. Bxc3 Qxc2+ 20. Ke1 Qxc1+ 21. Kf2 Qxc3 22. Kg3 Nc2 23. Rb1 Nb4 24. Rhd1 O-O-O 25. a3 Qxa3 26. Ra1 Qb3 27. Bf3 Qd5 28. Qe2 Qb5 29. Ra3 Kc7 30. Rda1 Ra8 31. Rc1 Nd5 32. Rc4 Nc3 33. Qf2 Rhd8 34. Rxd4 Rxd4 35. Qxd4 Nd5 36. Qa1 a4 37. Qc1 Qb4 38. Bxd5 exd5 39. Qa1 d4 40. Qa2 Kb6 41. Qa1 Ra5 42. g5 Ka6 43. Kg4 b5 44. Qa2 Qe7 45. f5 Kb6 46. h4 Qxe5 47. Qxf7 b4 48. Ra2 b3 49. Rf2 Ra7 50. Qf8 a3 51. Qb4+ Qb5 52. Qxd4+ Ka6 (52... Qc5 53. Qd8+ Ka6 54. Qc8+ Ka5 55. Qd8+ Qb6 {is curtains.}) 53. f6 gxf6 $2 {Now it's a draw, although Lei's body language suggested that she still thought she would lose.} (53... c5 $1 {was still winning:} 54. fxg7 (54. Qd6+ Qb6) 54... cxd4 55. g8=Q b2 56. Qa2 (56. Rf6+ Ka5) 56... Qxd3 57. Rxb2 Re7) 54. Rf5 Qb6 55. Qc4+ Kb7 56. Rxf6 a2 57. Rf7+ Ka8 58. Rf8+ Kb7 59. Rf7+ Ka8 60. Rf8+ Kb7 61. Rf7+ 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.05"] [Round "11.3"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D17"] [WhiteElo "2763"] [BlackElo "2712"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "United States of America"] [BlackTeam "China"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8. Ne5 a5 9. h4 (9. e3 Nfd7 10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. Nxd3 e6 12. O-O Be7 13. Qb3 O-O 14. e4 Ra6 {Giri,A (2782)-Aronian,L (2767) chess.com INT 2018}) 9... e6 10. f3 h6 11. e4 Bh7 12. Be3 Nfd7 13. Nd3 Bd6 14. Ne2 O-O 15. Qb3 Kh8 (15... Qe7 16. Nef4 Rfe8 17. Kf2 Bc7 18. Be2 Rab8 19. g4 e5 {Swiercz,D (2617)-Petrosian,T (2623) Abu Dhabi 2015}) 16. Nef4 $146 Nc8 17. Rd1 ({After 22 minutes of thinking, Nakamura decides against} 17. Qxb7 $5 {which was definitely playable.}) 17... Qc7 18. Kf2 b6 19. e5 (19. Rc1 $5) 19... Be7 20. g4 c5 21. Qc3 $6 ({It seems White can still claim an edge after} 21. d5 Nxe5 22. Nxe5 Qxe5 23. dxe6 fxe6 24. Qxe6 Qxb2+ 25. Be2) 21... Qb7 22. dxc5 bxc5 23. Nxc5 Nxc5 24. Bxc5 Bxc5+ 25. Qxc5 Qxb2+ 26. Kg3 Qb4 27. Qxb4 axb4 28. Rd4 Rxa4 29. Bb5 Ra7 30. Rxb4 Rb7 31. Rb3 Na7 32. Ba4 Rxb3 33. Bxb3 Nc6 34. Re1 Ra8 35. Re3 Ra3 36. Rc3 Nd4 37. Rc8+ Bg8 38. Bd1 Ra1 39. Be2 Ra5 40. Bd3 Rxe5 41. h5 1/2-1/2 [Event "Batumi GEO"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.10.05"] [Round "11.4"] [White "Zhukova, Natalia"] [Black "Yu, Jennifer"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D17"] [WhiteElo "2403"] [BlackElo "2268"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2018.09.24"] [WhiteTeam "Ukraine"] [BlackTeam "United States of America"] [WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8. g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 f6 12. Ne3 (12. O-O g5 13. Nxe5 gxf4 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. a5 fxg3 16. hxg3 Qxd1 17. Rfxd1 a6 {So,W (2775)-Akopian,V (2648) Doha 2015}) 12... Be6 13. O-O O-O-O 14. Qc2 Nc5 $146 {Not a good novelty.} (14... g5 15. Bxe5 Nxe5 16. a5 a6 17. Ne4 Be7 18. Nc5 Bxc5 19. Qxc5 Qd6 20. Qc3 Qd2 21. Qa3 Rhe8 {Pogorelov,R (2422)-Martin Rueda,D (2297) Madrid 2012}) 15. b4 Nb3 16. Rad1 Nd4 17. Qb2 g5 18. Bxe5 ({Black's 14th move could have been refuted by the pretty} 18. Ncd5 $1 cxd5 19. Bxe5 Qxe5 (19... fxe5 20. Rc1 Nc6 21. b5) 20. Rxd4 {with a clear advantage.}) 18... Qxe5 19. b5 c5 20. b6 a6 21. Rd2 f5 22. Rfd1 Bg7 {Black is OK now.} 23. Qa3 f4 24. Nf1 Bc4 $6 (24... Nb3) 25. e3 Nb3 $2 (25... fxe3 26. Nxe3 Be6) 26. Bh3+ $1 Be6 27. Rd5 $1 { Good, but there was even better.} ({For humans it looks a bit scary, but} 27. exf4 gxf4 28. gxf4 {was completely crushing:} Qf6 29. Nd5 $1 Rxd5 (29... Qg6+ 30. Ng3) 30. Qxb3) 27... Rxd5 28. Rxd5 Qxc3 29. Bxe6+ Kb8 30. Rd7 Na5 31. Qa2 Qe5 $6 32. Bh3 $6 (32. Bg8 $1 {plays with the same theme of the back rank.}) 32... Rf8 $6 (32... fxe3) 33. Qd2 (33. Qf7 $1) 33... Nc6 34. Rc7 g4 35. Bxg4 ( 35. Qd7 Na5 36. Bxg4) 35... fxe3 36. fxe3 Qb2 37. Qxb2 Bxb2 38. Nd2 Ne5 39. Be6 Bc1 40. Nf1 Nf3+ 41. Kg2 Ne1+ 42. Kh3 h6 43. Bd5 Rxf1 44. Rxb7+ Kc8 45. Ra7 Rf2 46. Bc6 Kd8 47. Rd7+ Kc8 48. b7+ 1-0