[Event "Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates"]
[Site "Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG"]
[Date "1959.10.03"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Black "Mikhail Tal"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B42"]
[Annotator "Soltis, Andy"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "1959.09.07"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. O-O d5 8.
Nd2 Nf6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. b3 a5 12. Bb2 a4 13. a3 axb3 14. cxb3 Qb6
15. exd5 cxd5 16. b4 Nd7 17. Nb3 e5 18. Bf5 e4 19. Rec1 Qd6 20. Nd4 Bf6 21. Rc6
Qe7 22. Rac1 h6 23. Rc7 Be5 24. Nc6 Qg5 (24... Qf6) 25. h4 Qxh4 26. Nxe5 Nxe5
27. Rxc8 Nf3+ (27... Nd3) 28. gxf3 Qg5+ 29. Kf1 Qxf5 30. Rxf8+ Rxf8 31. fxe4
dxe4 32. Qe3 Rd8 (32... f6) 33. Qg3 g5 34. Rc5 Rd1+ 35. Kg2 Qe6 36. b5 Kh7 37.
Rc6 Qd5 38. Qe5 Rg1+ 39. Kh2 Rh1+ 40. Kg2 Rg1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Menton Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.10.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Wauters, Allain"]
[Black "Lawrence, Al"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2047"]
[Annotator "Lawrence, Al"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.26"]

1. e4 d5 (1... e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7) 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4.
d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. g4 Bg6 8. Ne5 e6 9. Bg2 c6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. f4
Qb6 (11... O-O-O 12. Nc4 (12. Qe2 Qb6 (12... Qb4) 13. Kh1 Qxd4 14. Nxc6 bxc6
15. f5 exf5 (15... Qb6 16. fxg6 hxg6 17. Bf4 g5)) 12... Qa6) 12. Nxd7 Kxd7 13.
f5 exf5 14. Na4 Qa5 15. Nc5+ Bxc5 16. dxc5+ Kc8 17. Be3 Re8 18. Qd4 fxg4 19.
Bf4 Qd8 20. Qa4 Re2 21. Bxc6 {[#]} Be4 (21... bxc6 22. Qxc6+) 22. Bxb7+ (22.
Rfd1 Qe7 23. Rd6 gxh3 24. Bxb7+ Qxb7 25. Rad1 Rg2+ 26. Kf1 Bd3+ 27. R6xd3 Rg1+
28. Ke2 Qg2+ 29. Ke3 Rxd1 30. Rxd1) (22. Rad1 Rg2+ 23. Kh1 Bxc6 24. Rxd8+ Kxd8
25. Qxc6 bxc6 26. Kxg2 gxh3+ 27. Kxh3 Ne4) (22. Bxe4 Rxe4 23. Qb3 Qd4+) 22...
Bxb7 (22... Kxb7 23. c6+ (23. Qb5+ Qb6 24. cxb6 (24. Qxe2 Qxc5+ 25. Be3 (25.
Qf2)) 24... Rg2+ 25. Kh1 Rxc2+ 26. Rf3 Bxf3+ 27. Kg1 Rg2+ 28. Kf1 Be2+) 23...
Bxc6) 23. c6 Qb6+ 0-1

[Event "2nd Soviet Team Cup"]
[Site "Riga URS"]
[Date "1954.09.10"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Lev Aronin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B11"]
[Annotator "Soltis, Andy"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "1954.??.??"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ gxf6 6. Bc4 Qc7 7. O-O Bg4
8. d4 e6 9. Re1 Nd7 10. h3 Bh5 {[#]} 11. Bxe6 (11. d5 cxd5 12. Bxd5 O-O-O 13.
Bb3 Ne5) 11... fxe6 12. Rxe6+ Kf7 (12... Kd8 13. Ng5 Bxd1 (13... fxg5 14. Bxg5+
(14. Qxh5)) 14. Nf7+ Kc8 15. Re8+) (12... Be7 13. Qe2 Nf8 14. Rxf6) 13. Ng5+
fxg5 14. Qxh5+ Kxe6 15. Bxg5 {[#]} Ne5 (15... Bg7 16. Re1+ Be5 (16... Ne5 17.
dxe5 Qf7 18. Qg4+ Qf5 19. Qb4) 17. dxe5) 16. Re1 Qg7 17. Qg4+ (17. Rxe5+ Kd7
18. Qg4+ Kc7 19. Qg3 Kd7 20. Qg4+ (20. Qb3)) (17. dxe5 Rg8 18. Qg4+ Kf7 19.
Qd7+ Kg6 {[#]} 20. Qe6+ Kxg5 21. Re4 Kh5 22. Qf5+ Qg5 23. Qxh7+ Bh6 24. Qf7+)
17... Kd6 18. dxe5+ Kc7 19. e6 Rg8 20. Bf4+ Bd6 21. Bxd6+ Kxd6 22. Rd1+ Kc7 23.
Qf4+ Kc8 24. g4 Rd8 25. Re1 Qc7 26. Qf5 Qe7 27. c4 b6 28. f4 Kb7 29. Qe5 Rd3
30. Qh5 Rd2 31. Re3 Rad8 32. Qf7 Qxf7 33. exf7 Rxb2 34. Re7+ Ka6 35. Kf1 Rf8
36. g5 Rxa2 37. h4 Rh2 38. f5 Rxh4 39. g6 hxg6 40. fxg6 Rg4 41. Re8 Rxf7+ 0-1

[Event "Isle of Man Masters"]
[Site "Douglas IMN"]
[Date "2018.10.25"]
[Round "6.8"]
[White "Vladimir Kramnik"]
[Black "Erwin L'Ami"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2639"]
[Annotator "Soltis, Andy"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2018.10.20"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Qc2 c6 7. Bg5 h6 8.
Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Nh5 10. O-O-O Nxg3 11. hxg3 g4 12. Nh4 Nb6 13. e4 Be6 14. e5 Nc4
15. Bxc4 dxc4 16. Nf5 Qa5 17. Kb1 O-O-O 18. Ne3 Bb4 19. Ne2 b5 20. Nf4 c3 21.
Nxe6 fxe6 22. Rd3 cxb2 23. Qxc6+ Kb8 24. Qxe6 Rc8 25. Qb3 Rc7 26. Qxb2 Bc3 27.
Qb3 Rhc8 28. Rhd1 b4 29. e6 Rb7 30. d5 Bf6 31. Nxg4 Bg7 32. d6 Rc3 {[#]} 33. d7
Rxb3+ 34. Rxb3 Qd8 35. e7 1-0

[Event "Isle of Man Masters"]
[Site "Douglas IMN"]
[Date "2018.10.21"]
[Round "2.8"]
[White "Vidit Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Black "Das Debashis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2711"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[Annotator "Soltis, Andy"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2018.10.20"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8.
Ng3 Be7 9. c4 O-O 10. Bf4 b6 11. Qe2 Bb7 12. Rad1 Re8 13. Bc2 Qc8 14. Ba4 Bf8
15. Ne5 c6 16. Rd3 a6 17. Rc1 Ra7 18. a3 Qa8 19. Ne4 b5 20. Bc2 c5 21. Ng5 bxc4
22. Rg3 g6 23. Nxh7 Nxh7 24. Bxg6 Ndf6 {[#]} 25. Qh5 Nxh5 26. Bxf7+ Kh8 27.
Rg8# 1-0

[Event "Isle of Man Masters"]
[Site "Douglas IMN"]
[Date "2018.10.20"]
[Round "1.29"]
[White "Jeffery Xiong"]
[Black "Eesha Karavade"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2656"]
[BlackElo "2374"]
[Annotator "Soltis, Andy"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2018.10.20"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. Nf3 Bxc5 6. a3 Ne7 7. Bd3 Ng6 8. O-O
O-O 9. Ng5 Be7 10. Qh5 Bxg5 11. Bxg5 Qc7 12. Nc3 Nc6 13. f4 Nd4 14. Rae1 h6 15.
Bf6 gxf6 16. exf6 Nf5 17. Bxf5 exf5 18. Nxd5 Qc5+ {[#]} 19. Re3 Rd8 (19... Kh7
20. b4 Qd6 21. Rh3) 20. Qxh6 Qf8 21. Ne7+ 1-0

[Event "Isle of Man Masters"]
[Site "Douglas IMN"]
[Date "2018.10.22"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Arkadij Naiditsch"]
[Black "Rinat Jumabayev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2721"]
[BlackElo "2605"]
[Annotator "Soltis, Andy"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2018.10.20"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 Be7 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. O-O
Re8 9. Re1 Bf8 10. Nf1 h6 11. a3 b5 12. Bb3 Bd7 13. Ng3 Na5 14. Ba2 c5 15. b4
Nc6 16. Bb2 Be6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. d4 c4 19. a4 Qb6 20. Bc1 Rad8 21. Be3 Qb7 22.
Re2 exd4 23. Nxd4 Ne5 24. axb5 axb5 25. Rea2 Nfg4 26. Bd2 Nf6 27. Ra7 Qb8 28.
f4 Nd3 29. Nh5 Be7 30. R1a6 Rc8 31. Nxe6 Rc6 32. Nexg7 Rxa6 33. Rxa6 Rf8 34.
Nf5 Qb7 35. Nxf6+ Bxf6 36. Rxd6 Kh8 37. Be3 Qxe4 {[#]} 38. Qh5 Bg7 (38... Kg8)
39. Rxh6+ Bxh6 (39... Kg8 40. Rh8+ Bxh8 41. Qg6+) 40. Qxh6+ 1-0

[Event "Isle of Man Masters"]
[Site "Douglas IMN"]
[Date "2018.10.21"]
[Round "2.53"]
[White "Mateusz Kolosowski"]
[Black "Rakesh Kulkarni"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2448"]
[BlackElo "2297"]
[Annotator "Soltis, Andy"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.10.20"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. b3 Be7 6. Bb2 O-O 7. O-O cxd4 8.
exd4 b6 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. a3 Rc8 11. Rc1 d5 12. Re1 a6 13. Qe2 b5 14. Qe3 Qc7 15.
b4 a5 16. c3 Qb6 17. Nb3 Ba6 18. Qe2 Rfe8 19. Ne5 axb4 20. cxb4 Nxe5 21. dxe5
Nd7 22. Nd4 Rc4 23. Bxc4 dxc4 24. Qg4 Qb7 25. Rcd1 Nb6 26. Bc1 Bf8 27. Re3 Rd8
28. Rh3 Qc7 29. Qh4 h6 30. Bxh6 Rxd4 31. Rxd4 Qxe5 32. Be3 f5 33. Qd8 Nd5 {[#]}
34. Rh8+ Kxh8 35. Qxf8+ Kh7 36. Rh4+ Kg6 37. Qe8+ Kf6 38. Bd4 1-0

[Event "Isle of Man Masters"]
[Site "Douglas IMN"]
[Date "2018.10.27"]
[Round "8.11"]
[White "Rasmus Svane"]
[Black "Vidit Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D14"]
[WhiteElo "2595"]
[BlackElo "2711"]
[Annotator "Soltis, Andy"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2018.10.20"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Bf4 Nc6 5. e3 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bf5 7. Nf3 e6 8. Qb3
Bb4 9. Ne5 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Nxe5 11. Bxe5 O-O 12. Be2 Rc8 13. f3 Qa5 14. Rc1 Rc6
15. g4 Bg6 16. h4 h6 17. h5 Bh7 18. g5 Nd7 19. gxh6 Nxe5 20. dxe5 gxh6 21. Rg1+
Kh8 22. Kf2 Rb6 23. Qd1 Rb2 24. a4 Rc8 25. c4 dxc4 26. Qd4 {[#]} Rxe2+ 27. Kxe2
Bd3+ 28. Kd1 (28. Kf2 Qd2+ 29. Kg3 Rg8+) 28... Qxa4+ 29. Ke1 Qa2 0-1

[Event "National Chess Congress"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.11.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pranav Shankar"]
[Black "Kameliia Sharuda"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "1604"]
[BlackElo "1920"]
[Annotator "Alburt, Lev"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2019.02.25"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 {[#]} 4. Nf3 (4. Be3 Bg7 (4... Ng4 5. Bg5) 5. Qd2
O-O 6. O-O-O) 4... Bg7 5. Bc4 (5. h3 O-O (5... c5 6. dxc5) 6. Be3 b6 7. e5) (5.
Be2) 5... O-O (5... Nxe4 6. Nxe4 (6. Bxf7+)) 6. Be3 (6. O-O) (6. Bb3) (6. Qe2)
6... Nxe4 7. Nxe4 d5 8. Bd3 dxe4 9. Bxe4 {[#]} Nd7 (9... f5 10. Bd3 f4) 10. O-O
Nf6 11. Bd3 Bg4 (11... b6) (11... Nd5) 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 c6 {[#]} (13... Nd5
14. Be4 Nxe3 15. fxe3 c6) 14. c4 (14. c3) 14... Qa5 (14... Ne8) 15. b4 Qxb4 (
15... Qa3 16. Qe2) 16. Rab1 Qa3 17. Rb3 {[#]} Qd6 (17... Qa6 18. Rfb1 (18. c5
Qxa2 19. Rxb7 Nd5)) (17... Qxa2 18. Rxb7) 18. Rxb7 e5 (18... Rfd8 19. Rfb1) 19.
dxe5 Qxe5 (19... Qxd3 20. exf6) 20. Qxc6 {[#]} Rfd8 21. Be2 Ne8 (21... Ne4) 22.
c5 Nf6 23. Bc4 Nd5 24. Bxd5 Qxd5 25. Qxd5 Rxd5 26. c6 {[#]} Rdd8 27. Rc1 (27.
c7) 27... Be5 28. a4 a5 29. Bb6 Rdc8 30. Rc5 Bd6 31. Rc4 {[#]} Ra6 32. c7 Raa8
33. Rd4 Be7 34. Ba7 Kf8 35. Rb8 f5 36. Rxa8 Rxa8 {[#]} 37. Bb8 Kf7 38. c8=Q h5
39. Rd7 h4 {[#]} 40. Rxe7+ (40. Qd8) 40... Kxe7 41. Bd6+ Kxd6 42. Qxa8 g5 43.
Qxa5 g4 44. hxg4 fxg4 45. Kf1 Kc6 46. Qh5 h3 47. gxh3 gxh3 48. Qxh3 Kb7 49. Qh6
Ka7 50. Qc6 Kb8 51. Qd7 Ka8 {[#]} 52. Ke2 (52. a5) 1-0

[Event "London Chess Classic"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.13"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Fabiano Caruana"]
[Black "Hikaru Nakamura"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[Annotator "Hess, Robert"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. cxd5 (7. Qc2 Bb7
8. Rd1 Bd6 9. Bg3) 7... Nxd5 8. Nxd5 {[#]} Qxd5 9. Bd3 (9. Be2 Bb7 10. Bxc7
Qa5+ 11. Kf1 Nd7 12. h4 Rac8 13. Bf4 Rfd8 14. Kg1 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 e5) 9... Qa5+ (
9... Ba6 10. O-O (10. Bxc7 Qa5+ 11. Kf1) 10... Bxd3 (10... c5 11. e4 Qb7 12. d5
exd5 13. exd5) 11. Qxd3 c5 12. e4 Qb7 13. d5 exd5) 10. Kf1 Ba6 (10... c5 11.
Be4) 11. Bxc7 Bxd3+ 12. Qxd3 Na6 13. Bg3 Nb4 14. Qe2 {[#]} Rfc8 (14... Rac8 15.
a3 Qa4 16. Kg1 Na2 17. h3 Nc1 18. Qf1 Qc2 19. Kh2 Ne2 20. Be5 Qxb2 21. d5 Nc3
22. dxe6 (22. d6 Bf6 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Qd3 Qb5) 22... fxe6 23. Rd1 Bf6 24. Bxf6
Rxf6 25. Qa6 Rcf8 26. Rd2 Qb5 27. Qxb5 Nxb5) 15. a3 Qa4 16. Kg1 Na2 (16... Rc2
17. Qd1 Nd5 18. Ne1 Rc4 19. b3) 17. h3 (17. Rxa2 Rc1+ 18. Ne1 Qc2 19. Kf1 Qb3
20. Qd2 Rac8) 17... Nc1 18. Qf1 Qc2 19. Kh2 Ne2 20. Be5 (20. b4 a5) 20... Qxb2
21. d5 Nc3 22. dxe6 (22. d6 Bf6 23. Bxf6 (23. Rc1 Bxe5+ 24. Nxe5 Nd5 25. f4
Qxa3 (25... Nxe3 26. Qf3 Nd5 27. Nc6) 26. e4 Nf6 27. Nc6) 23... gxf6 24. Qd3
Qb5 25. Qd4 Qd5 26. Rhc1 Rc5 27. Qxd5 exd5 28. Nd4 Rd8 29. Nf5 Kf8) 22... fxe6
{[#]} 23. Rd1 (23. Nd4 Ne4 (23... Kf7 24. Qa6 Re8 25. Qb7) 24. Nc6 Bd6 25. Ne7+
) 23... Qxa3 (23... Bf6 24. Bxf6 gxf6 25. Rd6) 24. Rd7 Nd5 25. Nd4 (25. Qa1
Qxa1 (25... Nf6 26. Rb7) 26. Rxa1 a5 27. e4) (25. Qb1 Qa4 26. Ng5 Rc2) 25...
Bf6 26. Bg3 (26. Bxf6 Nxf6 27. Rb7 Qd6+) 26... Bxd4 27. exd4 Qa4 28. Rd6 Rc6
29. Rd7 Rcc8 30. Rd6 Qe8 {[#]} 31. Qa6 Rc6 32. Ra1 Rxd6 33. Bxd6 Qd7 34. Be5
Nb4 35. Qe2 Nc6 36. Bg3 Qd5 (36... Nxd4 37. Qg4) 37. Qa6 Nxd4 38. Rc1 Nf5 39.
Rc8+ (39. Rc7 Nxg3 (39... h6 40. Rxa7 Rxa7 41. Qxa7 Nxg3) 40. fxg3 h6 41. Qa1
e5 42. Re7) 39... Rxc8 40. Qxc8+ Kf7 41. Qc7+ Kf6 42. Bf4 (42. Qxa7 Nxg3 43.
fxg3 b5) 42... e5 43. Bc1 h6 44. Bb2 (44. Qxa7 Qc5) 44... Qc5 45. Qb8 a5 46. f4
Kg6 47. Bxe5 Qc6 {[#]} 48. Qa7 (48. Qd8 Kf7 (48... Kh7 49. Qd3 Qg6 50. g4 Ne7
51. f5) 49. Qd3 Ne7 50. Qg3 g6) 48... h5 49. h4 (49. g4 Qc2+ 50. Kg1 Qc1+ 51.
Kf2 Qd2+ 52. Kf3 Qe3+ 53. Kg2 Qe2+ 54. Kg1 Qe1+ 55. Kg2 Nh4+ 56. Kh2 Qf2+ 57.
Kh1 Qg2#) (49. Qa6 a4 50. Qd3 h4 51. Bxg7) 49... a4 50. Qa6 Kh7 51. Qd3 Qg6 52.
g3 Nh6 53. Qc4 Ng4+ 54. Kh3 Qb1 0-1

[Event "AlphaZero vs. Stockfish"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.12.06"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "AlphaZero"]
[Black "Stockfish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A17"]
[Annotator "Hartmann, John"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "England"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 a5 7. b4 d6 8. e3
Ne4 9. Qc2 Ng5 10. b5 Nxf3+ 11. gxf3 Qf6 12. d4 $5 ({Sadler and Regan expected
} 12. Bb2 Qxf3 13. Rg1 {but AlphaZero instead plays for long-term compensation.
}) 12... Qxf3 13. Rg1 Nd7 14. Be2 Qf6 15. Bb2 Qh4 16. Rg4 $5 {Giving up the
h-pawn to open the file. Stockfish sees this position as better for Black,
while AlphaZero thought that White had a slight advantage.} Qxh2 17. Rg3 f5 18.
O-O-O {Offering pawn number three!} Rf7 ({After} 18... Qxf2 19. Rdg1 Rf7 20.
R1g2 Qe1+ 21. Bd1 {White's compensation is undeniable.}) 19. Bf3 Qh4 20. Rh1
Qf6 {What does AlphaZero have for the two pawns? Two half-open files and
massively superior mobility. This is a key idea for Sadler and Regan. As they
explained in a conference call for chess journalists - the first such
promotional call I've been on for a chess book! - the concept of mobility is
fundamental for understanding how AlphaZero plays. It works to maximize the
mobility of its pieces and minimize the mobility of its opponent's. One of
AlphaZero's most striking tendencies, the pushing of its rook pawns to
restrict the opponent's king, is emblematic of its style. Here, having opened
lines for its rooks, AlphaZero now proceeds to open diagonals and further
increase its mobility.} 21. Kb1 g6 22. Rgg1 $5 a4 23. Ka1 Rg7 24. e4 f4 25. c5
Qe7 26. Rc1 Nf6 27. e5 dxe5 28. Rhe1 (28. dxe5 {, as Sadler and Regan note,
closes lines and is inconsistent with AlphaZero's style.}) 28... e4 29. Bxe4
Qf8 {This is a key position in the game, and in the book. Sadler and Regan use
it to illustrate AlphaZero's "thought processes" in Chapter 4.} (29... Nxe4 $2
30. Qxe4) 30. d5 $1 {AlphaZero sacrifices another pawn to open the a1-h8
diagonal!} exd5 31. Bd3 $1 Bg4 32. f3 Bd7 (32... Bxf3 $2 33. Rf1 Be4 34. Rxf4 {
and White's initiative grows.}) 33. Qc3 Nh5 34. Re5 {AlphaZero rates its
winning chances at 80.3% here. (It evaluates positions by percentage of wins
in Monte Carlo game rollouts). Stockfish 8 thinks White is significantly
better, but newer versions of the engine more clearly understand the danger.}
c6 35. Rce1 Nf6 36. Qd4 cxb5 37. Bb1 {Targeting yet another weakness, the pawn
on d5.} Bc6 38. Re6 Rf7 {Stockfish hopes to return some of its material
advantage and weather the storm. AlphaZero does not oblige.} 39. Rg1 Qg7 40.
Qxf4 Re8 41. Rd6 Nd7 42. Qc1 Rf6 43. f4 $1 Qe7 44. Rxf6 Nxf6 45. f5 Qe3 {
Tantamount to capitulation.} 46. fxg6 Qxc1 47. gxh7+ Kf7 48. Rxc1 Nxh7 49. Bxh7
Re3 50. Rd1 Ke8 51. Ka2 Bd7 52. Bd4 Rh3 53. Bc2 Be6 54. Re1 Kd7 55. Kb2 Rf3 56.
Re5 Rg3 57. Re3 Rg2 58. Kc3 Rg4 59. Rf3 Ke8 60. Rf2 Rg3+ 61. Kb4 Rg4 62. Rd2
Bd7 63. Ka5 Rf4 64. Be5 Rf3 65. Rd3 Rf2 66. Bd1 Bc6 67. Kb6 1-0

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.17"]
[Round "2.8"]
[White "Nakamura, Hi"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Hess, Robert"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rn1qr1k1/pp2ppbp/2b3p1/8/3P4/B3PN2/P3BPPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 13"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

{[#]} 13. Rc1 $1 {A natural move that poses subtle problems.} (13. Ne5 {
was tried by Nakamura in the first two iterations of the opening, but MVL
found a solid continuation. Here he tried to replicate that successful setup,
though quickly found himself in trouble.}) 13... Qa5 14. Qb3 Nd7 15. Bb4 Qf5
16. Bd3 Qh5 17. e4 e6 18. h3 Rad8 19. Rfe1 a5 20. Bd2 a4 21. Qb1 Rc8 22. Be2
Bf6 23. Rcd1 Red8 24. Ng5 Qh4 25. g3 Qh6 26. Nxf7 Qxh3 27. Bf1 Qh5 28. Be2 Qh3
{[#]} 29. Bg4 $1 {Trapping the queen since Qxg4 is met by 30. Nh6+} 1-0

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.11"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[Annotator "Ipatov, Alexander"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

{Already in his first game of the event, Fabiano switched from 1.e4 that he
relied upon in his match against Magnus, to 1.d4.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5
4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 {One of the tabiyas of the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Black has different plans at his disposal. The main continuations are: the
direct 6...c5 striking White in the center immediately, the flexible 6...Nd7
and the text move.} b6 {Black aims to solve the problem of the c8-bishop as
soon as possible. It is often Black's worst piece in the d5-e6 pawn structure.
Nakamura had already played this move against Magnus Carlsen earlier this year.
} (6... c5 {was tested twice in the Carlsen-Caruana match just a month earlier,
and in the game Aronian-Caruana from the London Classic (see below).}) 7. Qc2 (
7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Ba6 9. Qe2 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. O-O Nc6 13.
Rac1 {with some positional pressure for White due to the weakness of the
c5-pawn. Carlsen,M (2842)-Nakamura,H (2777) Saint Louis 2018}) 7... Bb7 8. Rd1
{A natural developing move aimed to save a tempi if Black took ...d5xc4.} ({
White didn't achieve anything in the following high-stake game after} 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. Bd3 h6 11. e4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Bb4 13. Rc1 c5 14. dxc5 Nd7
15. c6 Rac8 16. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 17. Qd2 Qxd2+ 18. Kxd2 Bxc6 $11 {Nepomniachtchi,I 
(2705)-Nakamura,H (2816) Baku 2015}) (8. Bd3 $143 {is harmless as Black can
now take ...d5xc4, forcing the white bishop to move again.} dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 $11
) 8... Bd6 9. Bg3 $146 {[#] A novelty. White is happy to trade bishops but
only on his condition - that is if the h-file gets open.} (9. Bg5 Nbd7 10. cxd5
exd5 11. Bd3 h6 12. Bh4 a6 13. Bf5 Qe8 $13 {Kveinys,A (2545)-Xu,Y (2518)
Reykjavik 2017.}) 9... Nbd7 10. cxd5 Nxd5 (10... exd5 $143 11. Bxd6 cxd6 12.
Bd3 {would lead to a risk-free long-term advantage for White.}) 11. e4 Nxc3 12.
bxc3 Bxg3 13. hxg3 e5 14. Bb5 {It is useful to force ...c7-c6 as the latter
significantly limits the activity of the b7-bishop.} c6 15. Be2 {I prefer
White's position: he has a strong center and the open h-file on which he can
launch direct attack against the black king. .... Draw on move 51.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.13"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[Annotator "Ipatov, Alexander"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 {And yet another
theoretical discussion in this line.} 7. Rc1 {And this time Fabiano is the
first one to deviate.} Ba6 $5 {However, Hikaru doesn't wish to play in the
opponent's territory in the main lines and chooses a very rare continuation,
seen just in 7 out of 361 games as of time of writing.} 8. Qa4 dxc4 (8... Bxc4
9. Bxc4 dxc4 10. Qxc4 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Rfd1 Qc8 14. Nb5 {
Although the position is symmetrical, White has a risk-free initiative
Mamedyarov,S (2753)-Carlsen,M (2864) Moscow 2013.}) 9. Bxc4 Bb7 $5 {Black
wants to follow up with something along the lines of ...a7-a6, ...Nb8-d7 and ..
.c7-c5. It is good to have the light-squared bishop covering the c6-square in
comparison to Mamedyarov-Carlsen game.} 10. O-O a6 11. Be2 Nbd7 12. Rfd1 b5 13.
Qc2 Rc8 14. Ne5 c5 15. dxc5 Rxc5 {[#] Black finally played the liberating ...
c7-c5 and visually stands OK. If White wants to pose further problems, he has
to play very concretely. Fabiano failed to do that and even lost. As a side
note, 16.b4!? deserves serious attention. In the game Fabiano played} 16. Qb1 {
allowing Black to unpin himself with ...Qd8-c8. ... 0-1 on move 50.} 0-1

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.17"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Ipatov, Alexander"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2
Nc6 9. Rd1 Qa5 10. a3 Rd8 $5 {Fruit of Caruana team's preparation for the WC
match. This is funny but Alejando Ramirez, the coach of SLU chess team and
Fabiano's second, forced us to analyze this variation after the WC match and
before this game was played!} 11. Nd2 {The critical test to 10...Rd8.} ({
Having faced a rare move, Magnus chose the safe} 11. Be2 {which enabled
Caruana to solve his problems in a straightforward way.} Ne4 12. O-O Nxc3 13.
bxc3 h6 14. a4 Ne7 15. Ne5 Bd6 16. cxd5 Nxd5 17. Bf3 Nxf4 18. exf4 Bxe5 19.
Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. fxe5 Qc7 {and it was White who had to show some precision.
Carlsen,M (2835)-Caruana,F (2832) London 2018}) 11... d4 12. Nb3 Qb6 13. Na4
Bb4+ 14. axb4 Qxb4+ 15. Nd2 Qa5 {[#] It is a total mess which is hard to
rationalize without computer's assitance. What I am certain about is that
Black objectively has enough compensation, otherwise Fabiano would have never
played it in the WC match.} 16. Qb3 e5 17. Bg5 Nb4 18. Be2 Bd7 19. Bxf6 gxf6
20. Ra1 dxe3 21. fxe3 b5 22. O-O bxa4 23. Qc3 f5 24. Nf3 f6 25. Nh4 Nc6 26. Qa3
{We had this position at SLU chess team's training in the beginning of
December. It wasn't hard to reach it because all the preceding moves were
basically the first line.} e4 27. Bd1 Ne5 28. Bxa4 Qxa4 29. Qxa4 Bxa4 30. Rxa4
f4 31. Rxf4 Rd1+ 32. Rf1 Rxf1+ 33. Kxf1 Rb8 {And the draw was soon agreed. A
superb opening preparation by Fabiano and his team. Magnus should not regret
that he didn't check Fabiano in 10.Nd2 line!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.12"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Ipatov, Alexander"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

{Maxime's choice against 1.d4 is well-known: Grunfeld. So how to get a
playable position against it? Interestingly, in this particular tournament,
the answer was clear: try} 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 {and after} d5 4. cxd5
Nxd5 {push the e-pawn! This position appeared whole five times during the
event with Maxime being Black in all games. He drew the first four, but lost
in the last blitz game against Hikaru.} 5. e4 {was played only once. The
remaining four times White opted for 5.e3, that we will examine in the
following games.} Nb4 6. Bc4 Nd3+ 7. Ke2 Nf4+ 8. Kf1 {White lost the right to
castle which is offset by temporarily better development that he should try to
monetize on. Both Aronian and MVL had had this position before.} Ne6 9. d4 $5 {
[#] A very rare move.} ({The somewhat unexpected} 9. b4 {is the main
continuation. Aronian had beaten Topalov with it.} cxb4 10. Nd5 g6 11. d4 Bg7
12. Be3 Nc6 13. Rc1 Bd7 14. Qd2 Qa5 15. h4 {With compensation. Black is unsure
what side to castle. Aronian,L (2781)-Topalov,V (2803) London 2015.}) (9. d3 {
allows Black to get good position with relatively simple moves:} Nc6 10. h4 g6
11. h5 Bg7 12. Be3 Ned4 13. h6 Bf6 14. Nd5 Bg4 15. Nxf6+ exf6 16. Bxd4 Nxd4 17.
Qa4+ Qd7 18. Qxd7+ Bxd7 19. Nxd4 cxd4 $11 {Svidler,P (2753)-Vachier Lagrave,M 
(2779) Biel 2018}) 9... cxd4 10. Bxe6 Bxe6 11. Nxd4 Nc6 {Maxime decides to
simplify the position as much as possible. Not a bad strategy after being
surprised early on!} 12. Nxe6 Qxd1+ 13. Nxd1 fxe6 14. Bd2 e5 15. f3 e6 16. Be3
Bb4 17. Nf2 {White is better thanks to the superior pawn structure. Maxime
managed to hold. ... Draw agreed on move 58.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.13"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Ipatov, Alexander"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 {In his next game with White, Levon
went for} 5. e3 {the trend was later picked up by Hikaru.} Nxc3 ({Last year I
faced} 5... Nc6 {which is yet another major move for Black.} 6. Bb5 Nxc3 7.
bxc3 Bd7 8. Rb1 e6 9. d4 cxd4 (9... Be7 $142 $11) 10. exd4 Be7 11. Bd3 Qc7 12.
O-O O-O 13. Re1 {with some pressure. Ipatov,A (2662)-Xiong,J (2652) Saint
Louis 2017}) 6. bxc3 g6 {As a true Grunfeldist, MVL chooses to develop the
dark-squared bishop to g7.} 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8. Be2 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 {This
position had been previously seen in a handful of top-level games. I'm sure
both players were aware of them. Having faced this position for the first time
in the tournament, Maxime played} Nc6 {This is the most popular move along
with 10...Qa5.} ({However, in all of the following games against Nakamura, MVL
switched to} 10... Bc6) 11. Rb1 Qc7 (11... Na5 12. Ba3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Be6 14.
Qa4 Bxa2 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Qxa2 {with significant positional advantage that
White managed to convert. Malakhov,V (2697)-Dubov,D (2648) St Petersburg 2016})
12. e4 Bg4 13. d5 Ne5 14. c4 b6 15. Nxe5 (15. Nd2 $5 {with the idea not to
trade, but kick the opponent's knight away from e5.}) 15... Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Bxe5
17. f4 {[#] But even after the game's continuation, White stands superior
thanks to his fantastic pawn center. ... Draw agreed on move 47.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.17"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Ipatov, Alexander"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 g6 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8.
Be2 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 {[#] Nakamura followed Aronian's footsteps being
perfectly satisfied with the position that the latter got against Maxime
earlier on in the tournament, but here he had to face the first surprise.} Bc6
$5 {There is only one game with this move in the database, namely
Fressinet-Nepomniachtchi from the World Cup 2015.} 11. Ba3 cxd4 ({In that game,
Black equalised after} 11... b6 12. dxc5 Bxc3 13. Rc1 Bf6 14. Qb3 Qd7 15. Bb2
Bd5 16. Qa3 Nc6 17. Rfd1 Qe6 18. Bxf6 exf6 19. Qc3 Rac8 $11 {Fressinet,L (2702)
-Nepomniachtchi,I (2705) Baku 2015}) 12. cxd4 Re8 {[#] We can call it a tabiya
of the Nakamura-MVL match of the London Chess Classic 2018. This position was
disputed three times in the playoff for the trophy. All of this is the new
territory that is likely now being analysed by other players.} 13. Ne5 Qa5 14.
Qb3 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Qxe5 16. Bc4 {White has a very good human compensation. The
dark-squared bishop is especially dangerous given the weakness of the a1-h8
diagonal.} Rf8 17. f4 Qe4 18. Rf2 Nd7 19. Rd1 {Black's position is objectively
fine, although it is one thing to analyze it with an engine and the other
thing to defend it over the board in a game with shorter time control.
Nakamura was seriously pushing but MVL managed to escape. ... Draw on move 61.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.17"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Ipatov, Alexander"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 g6 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8.
Be2 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 Bc6 11. Ba3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Re8 13. Ne5 Qa5 {Nakamura
deviates first from the previous game, likely thinking that 13.Qb3 Bxe5 14.
dxe5 Qxe5 had been analysed until draw by MVL's team during the break between
games. However, I'm not sure whether the text move is challenging for Black.
He can equalise relatively easily without putting too much thought.} 14. Nxc6
Qxa3 15. Ne5 {[#]} (15. Nxb8 Raxb8 16. Qb3 {is comp's suggested improvement,
but for humans it is just a draw. Black has to suffer for a little bit, but in
the end of the day it shouldn't be difficult to equalise given the presence of
opposite-colored bishops.}) 15... Bxe5 16. dxe5 e6 17. Rb1 Nc6 18. Rxb7 Qxa2
19. f4 Red8 20. Qe1 Rab8 21. Rxb8 Rxb8 {and Black was totally fine. ... Draw
on move 41.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "10th London Classic 2018"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2018.12.17"]
[Round "2.8"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Ipatov, Alexander"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2018.12.11"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 g6 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8.
Be2 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 Bc6 11. Ba3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Re8 13. Rc1 {[#] Nakamura
switches to a new move. Now, he aims to complete his development and put
long-term pressure on Black's position rather than give it another try with
the straightforward 13.Ne5.} Qa5 14. Qb3 Nd7 15. Bb4 {Given the nature of the
blitz game and various possibilities, Maxime erred with} Qf5 {deliberately
putting his queen into danger.} (15... Qa4 $5 {was safer either trading queens
or kicking the white queen from a good square.}) 16. Bd3 Qh5 17. e4 {White got
an objectively superior and easy-to-play position. The latter factor is
perhaps even more important in blitz! ... Maxime couldn't find a satisfactory
way to get his queen out of trouble and had to resign as early as move 29.} 1-0

[Event "National K-12 Grade Championships"]
[Site "Orlando, Florida, United Stat"]
[Date "2018.12.16"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Ling, Evan Max"]
[Black "Niemann, Hans Mo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2161"]
[BlackElo "2517"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,135,19,38,25,7,30,17,7,-11,44,1,36,33,55,42,44,9,52,47,48,42,-6,-30,
-17,-49,-24,-18,14,10,13,1,-13,-75,-75,-75,-75,-72,49,70,119,111,99,114,103,
105,114,113,116,97,117,84,82,65,98,88,109,102,118,77,84,85,66,63,95,79,75,60,
44,0,71,69,67,64,62,-25,13,13,22,25,56,9,17,17,17,46,150,103,149,153,151,117,
118,167,175,75,82,59,112,67,67,59,142,59,59,59,59,59,159,166,228,254,297,234,
364,386,446,385,400,351,404,426,445,477,526,526,522,409,456,511,546,453,467,
496,530,1016,1016,1016]} 1. e4 e5 {[%emt 0:00:59]} 2. Nf3 Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:06]}
3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:13] A good choice when you play against someone much
higher-rated than you.} Nf6 {[%emt 0:04:41]} 4. a3 $5 {[%emt 0:00:20] An
original move. It is kind of a 'pass' move.} d6 $5 {[%emt 0:02:28] Niemann
decides to keep as many pieces on the board as possible.} ({Because} 4... Bc5
5. Nxe5 Nxe5 (5... Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Nxe5 7. d4 Neg4+ 8. Kg1 {is better for white.}
) 6. d4 Bd6 7. dxe5 Bxe5 8. Nb5 $1 a6 9. f4 {and white seems to have the upper
hand.}) (4... d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Bb5 {is a typical resversed four knights
position with an extra a-pawn move for white.}) 5. Be2 $6 {[%emt 0:02:50]
passive} (5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 g6 7. Bg5 Bg7 8. Nd5 O-O 9. Nb5 Be6 {with an
unclear position.}) 5... g6 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 6. d4 $1 {[%emt 0:00:33]
Otherwise black would control the center very soon.} exd4 {[%emt 0:00:43]} 7.
Nxd4 Bg7 {[%emt 0:00:48]} 8. O-O {[%emt 0:00:38]} O-O {[%emt 0:02:20]} 9. Be3
Re8 10. Nxc6 {[%emt 0:07:54]} bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 11. Bf3 $6 {[%emt 0:04:01]
The prospect of the move e5 does only 'look' good.} (11. Rb1 $1 a5 12. Re1 Bb7
(12... Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Rxe4 14. Bf3 Rc4 15. b3 Rc3 16. Bd2 Rc5 17. Be3 {leads to
equality as well.}) 13. Bd3 {and now black cannot play Ng4.}) 11... Nd7 $5 {
[%emt 0:00:14] A typical maneuver.} 12. Bd4 {[%emt 0:03:13]} Ne5 {[%emt 0:00:
49]} (12... Ba6 13. Re1 Ne5 {looks better. The inclusion of Ba6 gives black
few extra tactical possiblities.}) 13. Be2 Qf6 {[%emt 0:03:31]} (13... c5 14.
Be3 Rb8 15. Rb1 Be6 16. Qd2 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Bxc4 18. Rfd1 Qf6 {is also a good
positional alternative for black.}) 14. Kh1 {[%emt 0:07:09]} g5 $5 {[%emt 0:00:
07]} (14... c5 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. Bc3 {Maybe ok, but no one would voluntarily let
his/her opponent land a knight on d5!}) 15. Qd2 $6 {[%emt 0:02:05] A tactical
oversight.} (15. Rb1 Qg6 16. b3 Rf8 17. f3 Be6 {with an unclear position.})
15... Nc4 $1 {[%emt 0:05:15]} 16. Bxf6 $2 {[%emt 0:00:31] But this move loses
material.} (16. Bxc4 Qxd4 17. Bd3 {would have kept the material balance.})
16... Nxd2 17. Bxg7 {[%emt 0:01:51]} Kxg7 {[%emt 0:00:49]} 18. Rfe1 Rb8 $4 {
[%emt 0:00:39] [#] An odd blunder. Black could easily grab the pawn on e4.} (
18... Nxe4 19. Bf3 Nxf2+ 20. Kg1 Rxe1+ 21. Rxe1 Ng4 22. Re7 Ne5 23. Rxc7 d5 {
and black should have good chances to convert his extra pawn into a full point.
}) 19. Bd3 $1 {[%emt 0:05:28] The missed finess, the knight on d2 is trapped
now!} Rxb2 {[%emt 0:06:52]} 20. Re2 {[%emt 0:02:28]} Nb3 {[%emt 0:00:55]} 21.
cxb3 Rxb3 22. Rc2 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Be6 {[%emt 0:00:11] Now this is technically
winning for white, but there is an ocean between 'technically' and 'actually'
when the clock is ticking against a player who is almost four hundred points
higher than you!} 23. a4 {[%emt 0:02:01]} (23. g3 Reb8 24. Kg2 c5 25. Bf1 c6
26. Nd1 {And white starts to regroup his pieces.}) 23... Reb8 {[%emt 0:03:47]}
24. Rcc1 {[%emt 0:01:16]} Kf6 {[%emt 0:02:31]} 25. Rab1 {[%emt 0:02:09]} Ke5
26. Bc2 {[%emt 0:01:25]} R3b4 {[%emt 0:00:47]} (26... Rxb1 27. Nxb1 c5 {
would have already put black back on the map.}) 27. g3 {[%emt 0:01:42]} Bc4 {
[%emt 0:00:50]} 28. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:22]} h5 {[%emt 0:01:35]} 29. Kf3 {[%emt 0:
04:13]} a5 {[%emt 0:00:59]} 30. Ke3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} g4 {necessary. f4 should
be prevented.} 31. Bd3 {[%emt 0:03:20]} Be6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 32. Ne2 {[%emt 0:
00:52]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:57]} 33. Nc3 {[%emt 0:01:12]} c6 34. Be2 {[%emt 0:01:47]
} Rb3 {[%emt 0:02:29]} 35. Rxb3 {[%emt 0:04:06]} Rxb3 {[%emt 0:00:37]} 36. Bd1
Rb4 {[%emt 0:01:02]} 37. Rb1 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Rc4 {[%emt 0:02:05]} 38. Kd3 {
[%emt 0:00:26]} Rb4 {[%emt 0:02:27]} 39. f4+ {[%emt 0:00:43]} gxf3 {[%emt 0:00:
10]} 40. Bxf3 d5 {[%emt 0:00:37] Now Niemann is close to get his hand on half
a point if he gets to trade another couple of pawns.} 41. Rxb4 {[%emt 0:02:52]}
cxb4 {[%emt 0:00:23]} (41... axb4 {[#]} 42. a5 $3 Bc8 (42... bxc3 {loses to}
43. a6) 43. exd5 $1 bxc3 44. dxc6 {And white has a simple winning bishop
endgame.}) 42. exd5 {[%emt 0:01:28]} cxd5 $4 {[%emt 0:01:15] loses on the spot.
} (42... Bf5+ 43. Be4 Bg4 {Was Niemann's last chance. It seems to me that this
was the saving maneuver.} 44. Ne2 cxd5 45. Bg2 Bd7 $1 {and by winning the a4
pawn black will manage to save himself. For instance:} 46. Nf4 Bxa4 47. Bxd5 h4
48. Bxf7 hxg3 49. hxg3 Kf5 {And soon the game will peter out.}) 43. Nb5 {
[%emt 0:03:23]} Bf5+ 44. Kd2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Bg6 45. Bd1 $1 {[%emt 0:02:03]
Good technique. This move secures the pawn on a4.} f6 {[%emt 0:00:46]} 46. Ke3
h4 {[%emt 0:00:36]} 47. Nd4 {[%emt 0:00:32]} (47. gxh4 f5 48. h5 {Would have
been winning as well.}) 47... hxg3 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 48. hxg3 Be8 49. Bc2 {
[%emt 0:00:38]} Kd6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 50. Bb3 {[%emt 0:00:25]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:00:
16]} 51. Kd3 {[%emt 0:02:07]} Kc5 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 52. Bd1 {[%emt 0:00:55]} Kd6
{[%emt 0:00:10]} 53. Bc2 {[%emt 0:00:18]} Bc8 {[%emt 0:00:06]} (53... Be8 54.
Bb3 Bd7 55. Ke3 Bc8 56. Bd1 Bd7 57. Ne2 Ke5 58. Nf4 d4+ 59. Kd3 Be8 60. Bb3 f5
61. Kd2 Bc6 62. Nd3+ Ke4 63. Ke2 Ba8 64. Bf7 {and white's minor pieces magic
will finally workout. Though, finding the entire winning plan, which is based
on zugzwang is not easy at all!}) 54. Nb3 {[%emt 0:00:34]} Ke5 {[%emt 0:00:45]}
55. Nxa5 {[%emt 0:00:15] Now it is actually winning!} Bd7 {[%emt 0:01:24]} 56.
Nb7 {[%emt 0:00:28]} f5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 57. Nc5 {[%emt 0:00:19]} Bc6 {[%emt 0:
00:05]} 58. a5 {[%emt 0:00:19]} Bb5+ {[%emt 0:00:37]} 59. Ke3 {[%emt 0:00:57]}
d4+ 60. Kd2 Bc4 {[%emt 0:00:54]} 61. a6 {[%emt 0:00:24]} Kd6 {[%emt 0:00:14]}
62. a7 {[%emt 0:00:41]} Bd5 {[%emt 0:00:13]} 63. Bb3 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Bg2 {
[%emt 0:01:17]} 64. Ne6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Bb7 {[%emt 0:00:46]} 65. Nf4 {[%emt 0:
00:03]} Kc7 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 66. Bd5 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Bxd5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 67.
Nxd5+ {[%emt 0:00:05]} Kb7 68. Nxb4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 1-0

[Event "Orlando, Florida, United State"]
[Site "Orlando, Florida, United State"]
[Date "2018.12.16"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Niemann, Hans Mo"]
[Black "Miyasaka, Marcus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2517"]
[BlackElo "2288"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,58,31,30,24,-16,3,-10,17,-7,-7,-7,4,-19,0,4,9,-37,-19,-19,7,-10,-24,
19,2,6,36,36,39,48,53,23,42,31,35,34,25,-35,110,110,146,125,121,145,154,159,
154,121,186,186,181,183,320,347,329,337,337,251,357,347,1065]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4
e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 $5 {A good choice for a must win situation.} d5 {[%emt 0:
00:42]} 5. Bg2 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:38]} 6. Nf3 {[%emt 0:02:40]}
dxc4 {[%emt 0:00:37]} 7. O-O Rb8 {[%emt 0:03:22]} (7... O-O 8. Qa4 Nd5 9. Qc2
Be7 10. Rd1 {Is the common method among the strong GMs these days. For
instance, in the armageddon game for the London classic between Fabiano
Caruana and Wesley So, the follwing moves were played:} Bd7 11. e4 $6 {A bit
reckless, it gives up the d3 square.} Ncb4 12. Qd2 Nb6 13. Ne5 Nc6 14. Nxc6
Bxc6 15. Qc2 f5 16. a4 fxe4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 Qd7 {1-0 (62) Caruana,F 
(2822)-So,W (2780) Saint Louis 2018 and in a balanced fight Caruana beat his
Olympiad teammate to get his ticket to London classics!}) 8. Qc2 {[%emt 0:12:
15]} O-O {[%emt 0:06:33]} 9. Rd1 {[%emt 0:00:18]} b5 $6 {[%emt 0:11:22]
unnecessary but Ne5 is an annoying move anyways.} (9... Re8 {is an interesting
waiting move.}) (9... Qe7 10. Ne5 Na5 $5 {is also an interesting alternative.}
11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 h6 {and now} 13. b3 {looks very annoying for black.}) 10.
a4 {[%emt 0:08:24] I am not sure what can white achieve with this move. Though,
objectively it should not be a bad move.} (10. Ne5 $1 Ne7 $1 (10... Nxe5 11.
dxe5 Nd7 12. Be3 {Looks convincingly better for white.}) 11. a3 (11. e4 Bb7 12.
Ne2 {is unclear.}) 11... Bxc3 12. bxc3 Bb7 13. e4 {with a pleasant intiative
for white.}) 10... a6 {[%emt 0:24:07]} 11. axb5 {[%emt 0:01:05]} axb5 {[%emt 0:
00:28]} 12. Ne5 $1 {finally,} Nxe5 {[%emt 0:05:52]} 13. dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:31]}
Nd7 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 14. Be3 $1 {[%emt 0:00:33]} Bb7 $1 {[%emt 0:10:39] Both
players are playing the best moves.} 15. Ba7 $6 {[%emt 0:02:06] Risky, but
understandable. Draw is a meaningless result for Hans.} Bxg2 16. Bxb8 Bc6 {
[%emt 0:00:26]} 17. Ba7 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Qg5 $2 {[%emt 0:00:24]} (17... Qc8 $1
{The queen stay on the queenside to guard it. Black is just fine after} 18. Bd4
Be7 19. Ne4 Bb7 20. f3 h6 {and black is ready to start his activities on the
queenside with c5.}) 18. f3 $2 {[%emt 0:04:56] As the game reaches it climatic
time, the common scenario of 'mutual errors' begins.} (18. Ra6 Bb7 19. Be3 $1 {
Hard to see inbetween move.} Qxe5 20. Ra7 Bc6 21. Bf4 Qh5 22. Rxc7 Nb8 23. Bd6
{And white's rooks' activity is the decisive factor.}) 18... Nc5 $4 {[%emt 0:
05:55] This returns the favor.} (18... Nb6 $1 {Now black can caputre the pawn
on e5 with ease and his pair of biship will soon become decisive factors.} 19.
Ne4 Qxe5 20. Kf1 h6 {and it is very hard to suggest a move for white.}) 19. Na2
$1 {[%emt 0:03:37] Now most of the important pieces in black's compensation
get traded, and black's remaining counter-play fizzles out quickly.} Na6 {
[%emt 0:03:34]} 20. Nxb4 {[%emt 0:00:34]} Nxb4 21. Qd2 $5 {solid and ensuring.}
Qxd2 {[%emt 0:01:26]} 22. Rxd2 Ra8 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 23. Rad1 {[%emt 0:00:32]}
Nd5 24. Bc5 f5 {[%emt 0:02:48]} 25. exf6 {[%emt 0:01:08]} gxf6 {[%emt 0:01:18]}
26. e4 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Nb6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 27. Bxb6 {[%emt 0:00:22]} cxb6 28.
Rd8+ {[%emt 0:00:05]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:40]} 29. Rxa8 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 1-0

[Event "National K-12 Grade Championships"]
[Site "Orlando, Florida, United State"]
[Date "2018.12.16"]
[Round "6.10"]
[White "Yang, Jack Natha"]
[Black "Zhao, Erick"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D85"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[PlyCount "156"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,156,30,23,35,-19,48,49,74,62,62,50,51,43,51,51,51,33,33,17,40,40,20,
20,20,27,40,54,53,52,38,17,38,3,85,83,96,89,89,88,88,87,94,87,88,75,75,82,82,
72,83,94,80,39,39,47,34,46,51,46,45,51,46,38,42,26,42,24,35,30,30,30,25,-36,0,
-45,-53,-54,-15,-58,-13,-3,-12,-72,-37,-84,-13,-98,-101,-70,-84,-126,-131,-121,
-130,-136,-149,-150,-150,-166,-183,-248,-268,-308,-315,-457,-445,-448,-438,
-518,-526,-613,-628,-627,-659,-696,-751,-888,-962,-962,-667,-972,-667,-734,
-770,-1012,-1012,-1012,-1140,-1247,-1290,-1257,-1284,-1459,-1390,-1449,-1479,
-1466,-1746,-1867,-1463,-1825,-2024,-28445,-1954,-29983,-29986,-29991,-29990,
-29991,-29992,-29993,-29994,-29995,-29996,-29997,-29998,-29999,-30000]} 1. d4 {
[%emt 0:00:13]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 2. c4 g6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:
00:10]} d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 5. e4 Nxc3 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 6. bxc3 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} Bg7 {[%emt 0:01:45]} 7. Be3 {[%emt 0:00:23]} c5 8. Qd2 {
[%emt 0:00:13]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 9. cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:
25]} 10. Rd1 {[%emt 0:01:25]} O-O {[%emt 0:01:21]} 11. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Bg4
{[%emt 0:00:03]} 12. Be2 {[%emt 0:00:21]} Qa5 {[%emt 0:00:42]} 13. Qxa5 {
[%emt 0:02:08]} Nxa5 14. O-O {[%emt 0:00:08]} Rac8 {[%emt 0:00:43]} 15. Rc1 {
[%emt 0:00:15]} Bxf3 {[%emt 0:01:48]} 16. gxf3 {[%emt 0:01:15]} Rfd8 {[%emt 0:
04:30]} 17. d5 {[%emt 0:03:17]} b6 {[%emt 0:05:01]} 18. Ba6 Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:
17]} 19. Rxc1 Be5 {[%emt 0:01:48]} 20. h3 Kg7 {[%emt 0:03:46]} 21. f4 {[%emt 0:
03:13]} Bb8 {[%emt 0:00:44]} 22. Bd4+ {[%emt 0:00:24]} f6 {[%emt 0:02:23]} 23.
Be3 {[%emt 0:01:07]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:01:09] [#] White couldn't ask for more: pair
of bishops, and control of the c-file. An almost dream Grunfeld endgame for
white.} 24. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Rd7 {[%emt 0:01:47]} 25. Kf3 {[%emt 0:01:49]}
Nb7 {[%emt 0:02:12]} 26. Bxb7 $6 {[%emt 0:00:57] I understand that Nc5 looked
like an unplesant move to face. Yet, white could make better use of his bishop
somewhere else:} (26. Rc8 Nc5 27. Bc4 Rc7 28. Rxc7 Bxc7 29. Bd4 a6 30. e5 {
With good winning chances for white.}) 26... Rxb7 {[%emt 0:00:21]} 27. Bd4 {
[%emt 0:00:42]} Rd7 {[%emt 0:01:51]} 28. Rc6 {[%emt 0:00:57]} Bb4 $5 {[%emt 0:
01:02] e5 must be prevented.} 29. Rc4 {[%emt 0:01:25]} Bd2 {[%emt 0:02:41]} 30.
Rc2 {[%emt 0:00:15]} Bb4 {[%emt 0:01:43]} 31. Rc4 {[%emt 0:00:23]} Ba3 {
[%emt 0:01:55]} 32. Ra4 {[%emt 0:00:57]} Bc1 {[%emt 0:00:16] white's plan
should be to as follow: First place the rook on c6, and then bring the king to
c4 and finally push e5. However, black's resurgence made white impatient and
he decided to go with a more aggressive but somewhat ill-prepared breakthrough.
} 33. e5 $6 {[%emt 0:01:43]} Rxd5 {[%emt 0:06:35]} 34. exf6+ {[%emt 0:00:43]}
Kf7 $1 {[%emt 0:00:08] Or it could be the case that white missed this move.
Now the position is almost even.} 35. fxe7 {[%emt 0:00:42]} b5 $1 {[%emt 0:00:
23] accurate play.} 36. Rb4 $6 {[%emt 0:01:05]} (36. Ke4 bxa4 37. Kxd5 Kxe7 38.
f5 gxf5 39. Ke5 a6 40. Kxf5 {still gives white some chances, although draw is
the most likely result.}) 36... a5 {[%emt 0:03:56]} 37. Rb1 $6 {[%emt 0:01:24]
Now black has the upper hand.} (37. Ke4 Rf5 38. Rb3 Rxf4+ 39. Kd5 {And now
white is threatening to reinforce the pawn on e7 with bishop c5, while
preparing to take on b5. This would have kept the balance for white.}) 37...
Rxd4 {[%emt 0:03:07]} 38. Rxc1 Kxe7 39. Rc7+ {[%emt 0:00:35]} Rd7 {[%emt 0:00:
17]} 40. Rc5 {[%emt 0:00:17]} Rb7 $1 {Good endgame technique. The rook should
always stays behind the pawn, whether it is yours or your opponent's!} 41. Ke4
Kd6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 42. Kd4 {[%emt 0:00:43]} a4 {[%emt 0:00:24]} (42... Rf7
43. Rxb5 Rxf4+ 44. Ke3 Ra4 {would have caused more challenge to black's
position.}) 43. Rd5+ $2 {[%emt 0:00:20] probably the losing blunder.} (43. f5 {
with the idea of reducing the pawns on the board was probably best path to
achieve a draw.}) 43... Ke6 $2 {[%emt 0:00:22] returns the favor.} (43... Kc6
$1 44. f5 (44. Rc5+ Kb6) 44... Rf7 45. Rc5+ Kb6 46. fxg6 hxg6 47. Rc2 Rf4+ 48.
Ke5 Rf3 49. h4 Ka5 {and black is much faster than white!}) 44. Re5+ {[%emt 0:
00:45]} Kf6 45. Kc3 $4 {another losing blunder in time pressure.} (45. a3 b4
46. axb4 Rxb4+ 47. Ke3 Rb3+ 48. Ke4 Rxh3 49. Ra5 Ra3 50. Ra6+ Kg7 51. f5 {
and white's activity is enough for black's extra pawn.}) 45... b4+ {[%emt 0:00:
08]} 46. Kb2 {[%emt 0:00:09]} b3 {[%emt 0:01:30] white is not down any
material, but his passive king and shattered pawn structure does not leave him
any chance. White had to go for active solution while giving up a pawn.} 47.
Ra5 {[%emt 0:02:21]} bxa2+ {[%emt 0:00:33]} 48. Kxa2 {[%emt 0:00:15]} Rb4 $1 {
Now the white's king is cut-off and his kingside's pawns would fall one after
the other.} 49. Ra7 {[%emt 0:01:07]} h5 {[%emt 0:00:28]} 50. Ka3 {[%emt 0:01:
37]} Rxf4 {[%emt 0:00:10] The rest doesn't require so much comment!} 51. Ra6+ {
[%emt 0:00:08]} Kg5 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 52. h4+ {[%emt 0:00:20]} Rxh4 {[%emt 0:00:
33]} 53. Ra5+ {[%emt 0:00:11]} Kh6 54. Ra6 Rf4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 55. Ra7 {
[%emt 0:00:18]} h4 {[%emt 0:00:43]} 56. Ra8 Kg5 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 57. Rh8 {
[%emt 0:00:48]} Kg4 58. Rh6 g5 59. Rh7 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:19]}
60. Rh5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rg4 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 61. Rh8 Kxf2 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 62.
Rf8+ {[%emt 0:00:13]} Rf4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 63. Rh8 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Kg2 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} 64. Rh5 {[%emt 0:00:18]} Rg4 65. Rh7 {[%emt 0:00:05]} h3 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} 66. Rc7 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Rf4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 67. Rc2+ {
[%emt 0:00:29]} Rf2 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 68. Rc4 h2 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 69. Rg4+ {
[%emt 0:00:18]} Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 70. Rxg5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} h1=Q {[%emt 0:
00:08]} 71. Rf5+ {[%emt 0:00:12]} Ke2 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 72. Rxf2+ {[%emt 0:00:
26]} Kxf2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 73. Kxa4 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Qb1 74. Ka5 Ke3 {[%emt 0:
00:11]} 75. Ka6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Kd4 76. Ka7 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Kc5 {[%emt 0:00:
20]} 77. Ka8 Kc6 78. Ka7 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Qb7# {[%emt 0:00:35]} 0-1

[Event "National K-12 Grade Championships"]
[Site "Orlando, Florida, United State"]
[Date "2018.12.16"]
[Round "7.7"]
[White "Huston, Gus"]
[Black "Thomforde-Toates"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B27"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]

{[%evp 0,75,19,38,40,41,106,92,74,52,52,38,31,31,57,17,40,16,81,58,71,72,52,54,
56,54,43,34,14,11,22,-3,9,9,20,13,6,7,8,5,8,4,23,14,11,26,19,19,7,10,5,15,16,
-64,-63,-59,-40,-71,-75,-78,-78,-120,-106,-132,-150,-152,-170,-223,-226,-449,
-554,-1030,-1117,-1208,-1032,-1121,-1145,-28720]} 1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:46]} c5 2.
Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:30]} 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Qa4 d6 {[%emt 0:
00:19]} 7. e5 dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 8. Nxe5 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Bd7 9. Nxd7 Nxd7 {
[%emt 0:00:25]} 10. Be3 {[%emt 0:02:13]} Bg7 11. Be2 O-O {[%emt 0:01:44]} 12.
O-O Nb6 {[%emt 0:02:00]} 13. Qb3 Bxc3 {[%emt 0:12:36]} 14. Qxc3 {[%emt 0:03:59]
} Nd5 {[%emt 0:00:59]} 15. Qd2 {[%emt 0:00:23]} Nxe3 {[%emt 0:01:25]} 16. Qxe3
{[%emt 0:00:36]} Qc7 {[%emt 0:01:36]} 17. c3 {[%emt 0:00:44]} a6 {[%emt 0:02:
17]} 18. Rfd1 {[%emt 0:01:27]} Rfd8 {[%emt 0:02:43]} 19. h3 {[%emt 0:02:49]}
Rab8 {[%emt 0:01:53]} 20. Qc5 {[%emt 0:02:43]} Qe5 {[%emt 0:06:49]} 21. Qxe5 {
[%emt 0:01:36]} Nxe5 {[#] I joined the commentary team (NM Aramil, and WGM
Jennifer Yu) for the last round, and once the diagram's position ensued, we
thought that a draw is the most probable result, although I personally believe
that black has few difficult moves to 'achieve' the draw.} 22. f4 $1 Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:16]} 23. Rxd8+ {[%emt 0:02:19]} (23. Bf3 f5 24. b4 Kf8 (24... Kf7
25. Kf2 e5 26. Bxc6 bxc6 27. fxe5 Ke6) 25. Kf2 e5 26. Bxc6 bxc6 27. fxe5 Ke7 $1
{And black should be able to make a draw.}) 23... Rxd8 {[%emt 0:04:14]} 24. Rd1
Rxd1+ 25. Bxd1 {Now draw is a plausible outcome but white's bishop gives him
obvious superiority for at least trying to win. Though, what happened next was
beyond our imagination....} e5 $5 {[%emt 0:01:17] Necessary. Black needs to be
ready to face the threat of Bf3.} 26. Bf3 $4 {[%emt 0:00:47] giving up on f4
pawn?} (26. fxe5 Nxe5 27. b4 Kf8 28. Kf2 Ke7 29. Ke3 f6 30. Kd4 (30. Bb3 Kd6
31. g4 b6 32. Ke4 h6) 30... Kd6 {with attainable draw for black but nothing
more.}) 26... exf4 {[%emt 0:02:29]} 27. Bxc6 $4 {[%emt 0:02:34] and
voluntarily going for the pawn endgame?!} bxc6 {[%emt 0:03:10]} 28. Kf2 {
[%emt 0:02:43]} f5 {[%emt 0:01:35] White cannot recoup the material. Black is
simply winning.} 29. Ke2 {[%emt 0:02:15]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:01:35]} 30. Kd3 Ke6 31.
Kd4 {[%emt 0:00:13]} g5 {[%emt 0:02:10]} 32. b4 {[%emt 0:00:51]} h5 {[%emt 0:
01:06]} 33. c4 {[%emt 0:02:47]} h4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 34. a4 {[%emt 0:01:30]} g4
{[%emt 0:00:45]} 35. a5 {[%emt 0:01:19]} g3 {[%emt 0:02:59] f3 is a threat now.
} 36. b5 {[%emt 0:00:13]} cxb5 {[%emt 0:01:00]} 37. cxb5 f3 {[%emt 0:00:19]}
38. bxa6 {[%emt 0:01:01]} 0-1

[Event "3rd Chinggis Invitational"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "GM Timur Gareyev"]
[Black "GM Elshan Moradiabadi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5k2/5p1K/3p3P/3P4/8/7r/6R1/8 b - - 0 61"]
[PlyCount "1"]

{[#]} 61... f6 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PUZZLE 1"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Benko, Pal"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "qkN5/N2K4/Q1P5/8/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]

{[#]}  0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PUZZLE 2A"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A40"]
[Annotator "Benko, Pal"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[SourceDate "2019.03.06"]

1. d4 Nh6 2. d5 e5 3. dxe6 Bc5 4. Bxh6 Bd4 5. Qxd4 O-O 6. Qxg7# 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PUZZLE 2B"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A40"]
[Annotator "Benko, Pal"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[SourceDate "2019.03.06"]

1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Bd6 3. Qxd6 Nh6 4. Qxh6 f5 5. exf6 O-O 6. Qxg7# 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PUZZLE 3"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Annotator "Benko, Pal"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5P2/7P/p7/P2Pp2p/P2pPkpP/p2P1p1p/rb3K2 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "13"]

{[#]} 1. f8=B h1=N 2. Bb4 axb4 3. h7 b3 4. h8=R b2 5. Rg8 g2+ 6. Rxg2 Ng3+ 7.
Rxg3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow-ch"]
[Site "Moscow URS"]
[Date "1945.??.??"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Black "Mikhail Pavlovich Kamishov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C40"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini, Bruce"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "1945.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 {[#]} 3. Nxe5 (3. exf5 e4 4. Ne5 Qf6 5. Qh5+) 3... Qf6 4.
Nc4 (4. d4 d6) 4... fxe4 5. Nc3 Qg6 (5... Bc5 6. Nxe4 (6. Qh5+)) 6. d3 Bb4 (
6... exd3 7. Bxd3 Qxg2 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Qe5+ Kd8 10. Be4) 7. Bd2 Bxc3 (7... exd3
8. Bxd3) 8. Bxc3 d5 (8... Nf6) 9. Ne5 Qf5 10. dxe4 Qxe4+ (10... dxe4 11. Bc4)
11. Be2 Nf6 (11... Qxg2 12. Bf3 (12. Bh5+)) 12. O-O c6 (12... Qf5) 13. Bh5+ Kf8
(13... Nxh5 14. Qxh5+ g6) 14. Re1 Qh4 15. Bg6 (15. Be2) (15. Bf3) 15... Na6 (
15... hxg6 16. Nxg6+) (15... Nbd7) 16. Qe2 Bh3 17. Nf3 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PROBLEM I"]
[Black "Mating Net"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini, Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/4q3/8/8/8/5Rb1/6B1/3Q1K2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]

{[#]}  0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PROBLEM II"]
[Black "Mating Net"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini, Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/3r4/1k6/8/3n3R/1pB5/1P6/2K5 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]

{[#]} 1... Ne2+ 2. Kb1 Rd1# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PROBLEM III"]
[Black "Mating Net"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini, Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3q4/6k1/8/r1b1p3/8/8/1Q1P4/3RKB2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]

{[#]} 1... Qh4+ 2. Ke2 Qe4# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PROBLEM IV"]
[Black "Mating Net"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini, Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/1k5q/8/4Q3/8/1n1P4/NP6/1K6 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "1"]

{[#]} 1... Qxd3# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PROBLEM V"]
[Black "Mating Net"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini, Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1k6/1b6/2q5/8/8/6b1/2QP2B1/2BK2R1 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]

{[#]} 1... Qf3+ 2. Bxf3 Bxf3# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PROBLEM VI"]
[Black "Mating Net"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini, Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "k4qr1/2Q5/8/8/8/3b1N2/3P2P1/2RK4 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]

{[#]} 1... Qxf3+ 2. Ke1 (2. gxf3 Rg1#) 2... Qe2# 0-1

[Event "Pro Chess League "]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.02.19"]
[Round "6.7"]
[White "Smirnov, Anton"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2549"]
[BlackElo "2615"]
[Annotator "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bc5 6. Be3 Bb6 7. Nxc6 bxc6
8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bd3 Bxe3 10. Qxe3 d5 11. Qg3 dxe4 12. Bc4 Qd4 13. Bb3 Ba6 14. Qe3
Qd6 15. Rd1 Qe5 16. f4 Qh5 17. h3 Rad8 18. Kf2 Qh4+ 19. g3 Qh5 20. Kg2 Bc8 21.
g4 Qg6 22. Rhe1 Rxd1 23. Nxd1 h5 24. g5 Bf5 25. Nc3 Rd8 26. Qxa7 {[#]} Bxh3+
27. Kh2 (27. Kxh3 Qf5+ 28. Kg2 Qg4+ 29. Kf1 Qh3+ (29... Qf3+ 30. Qf2) 30. Kg1
Qg3+ 31. Kf1 Ng4 32. Re2 (32. Nxe4 Nh2+ 33. Ke2 Qf3#) 32... Qxf4+ 33. Kg1 h4)
27... Qf5 (27... Rd2+ 28. Re2 Rxe2+ 29. Nxe2 Bg4 30. Qe3 (30. gxf6 Bf3 31. fxg7
Qg4) (30. Ng3 Nd5 31. Bxd5 cxd5 32. a4 c5 33. c3) 30... Nd5 31. Bxd5 cxd5 32.
a4 c5 33. c3 Qa6) 28. gxf6 Qxf4+ 29. Kxh3 Qg4+ 30. Kh2 Qh4+ 31. Kg2 Qxe1 32.
Bxf7+ Kh7 (32... Kh8 33. Qxc7 (33. Bc4 gxf6 34. Ne2)) 33. Bxh5 e3 34. Qxc7 Rd2+
35. Ne2 Rxe2+ 36. Bxe2 Qxe2+ 37. Kg3 {[#]} Qf2+ 38. Kg4 Qg2+ (38... Qxf6 39.
Qh2+ Kg8 (39... Qh6 40. Qxh6+) 40. Qb8+ Kf7 41. Qb3+) (38... Kg8) 39. Qg3 Qe4+
{[#]} 40. Kh3 (40. Kg5 Qg6+ (40... gxf6+ 41. Kxf6 Qd4+ 42. Kf7) 41. Kf4 Qh6+ (
41... Qxf6+ 42. Kxe3 Qxb2 43. Qh4+) 42. Ke4 Qxf6) 40... Qh1+ 41. Qh2 Qf3+ (
41... Qxh2+ 42. Kxh2 e2) 42. Kh4 (42. Qg3 Qh5+ 43. Kg2 Qe2+ 44. Kh3 gxf6 45.
Qf4) 42... gxf6 43. Qc7+ Kh6 44. Qe7 Qf4+ 45. Kh3 Qf3+ 46. Kh4 Qf2+ 47. Kg4 f5+
48. Kh3 Qf3+ 49. Kh2 Qf2+ 50. Kh3 Qf1+ 51. Kh2 Qf4+ 52. Kh3 Qg4+ 53. Kh2 e2 54.
Qf6+ Kh5 55. Qh8+ Kg6 56. Qg8+ Kf6 57. Qf8+ Ke6 58. Qe8+ Kd6 59. Qf8+ Ke5 60.
Qc5+ Kf4 61. Qf2+ Ke4 62. a4 Qf3 (62... f4) 63. Qe1 Qf1 (63... Qg4) 64. Qb4+
Ke5 65. Qe7+ Kf4 66. Qh4+ (66. Qb4+ Ke5 67. Qe7+ Kd5 68. Qf7+) 66... Ke3 67.
Qg5+ f4 68. Qe5+ Kd2 69. Qc3+ Kd1 70. Qd4+ Kc1 71. b4 e1=Q 72. Qa1+ Kxc2 73.
Qa2+ Kd3 74. Qb3+ Qc3 0-1

[Event "41st Annual World Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.07.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Friedel, Joshua E"]
[Black "Harmon-Vellotti, Luke"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E08"]
[WhiteElo "2506"]
[BlackElo "2368"]
[Annotator "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 a6 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. d4
c6 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. Bf4 Re8 11. Rad1 Nf8 12. Ne5 Ne6 13. Bc1 Bf8 14. f4 Nc7 15.
Kh1 Nb5 16. a4 Nxc3 17. bxc3 Bd6 18. c4 Qe7 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Qb3 Bd7 21. Bb2
Rab8 22. Kg1 a5 23. Bxd5 Nxd5 24. Qxd5 Bxa4 25. Ra1 b5 26. Nc6 Qe3+ 27. Rf2
Rbc8 28. Qxd6 Re6 29. Qa3 Qxa3 30. Bxa3 Rexc6 31. Bc5 f5 32. e3 Kf7 33. Rd2 Rd8
34. Re2 Re8 35. Kf2 Re4 36. Rb2 Rh6 37. Kf3 Rc6 38. g4 g6 39. Rg2 Rce6 40. d5
Re8 41. gxf5 Bb3 42. fxg6+ hxg6 43. Rg5 a4 44. h4 Rc4 45. d6 Bc2 46. Bb6 Be4+
47. Kg3 Bc6 48. Rf1 Bd7 49. h5 gxh5 50. Rxh5 Rg8+ 51. Rg5 b4 52. Bd4 Rxd4 53.
exd4 b3 54. Rb1 Bf5 55. Rb2 Rxg5+ 56. fxg5 Ke6 57. Kf4 Bc2 58. g6 Bxg6 {[#]}
59. Ke3 Bc2 60. Kd2 a3 61. Rxb3 (61. Rxc2 a2 (61... b2 62. Rxb2)) 61... Bxb3
62. Kc1 Ba2 63. Kc2 Kxd6 64. Kc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Pro Chess League "]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.02.19"]
[Round "6.7"]
[White "Smirnov, Anton"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2549"]
[BlackElo "2615"]
[Annotator "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bc5 6. Be3 Bb6 7. Nxc6 bxc6
8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bd3 Bxe3 10. Qxe3 d5 11. Qg3 dxe4 12. Bc4 Qd4 13. Bb3 Ba6 14. Qe3
Qd6 15. Rd1 Qe5 16. f4 Qh5 17. h3 Rad8 18. Kf2 Qh4+ 19. g3 Qh5 20. Kg2 Bc8 21.
g4 Qg6 22. Rhe1 Rxd1 23. Nxd1 h5 24. g5 Bf5 25. Nc3 Rd8 26. Qxa7 {[#]} Bxh3+
27. Kh2 {[#]} (27. Kxh3 Qf5+ 28. Kg2 Qg4+ 29. Kf1 Qh3+ (29... Qf3+ 30. Qf2) 30.
Kg1 Qg3+ 31. Kf1 Ng4 32. Re2 (32. Nxe4 Nh2+ 33. Ke2 Qf3#) 32... Qxf4+ 33. Kg1
h4) 27... Qf5 (27... Rd2+ 28. Re2 Rxe2+ 29. Nxe2 Bg4 30. Qe3 (30. gxf6 Bf3 31.
fxg7 Qg4) (30. Ng3 Nd5 31. Bxd5 cxd5 32. a4 c5 33. c3) 30... Nd5 31. Bxd5 cxd5
32. a4 c5 33. c3 Qa6) 28. gxf6 Qxf4+ 29. Kxh3 Qg4+ 30. Kh2 Qh4+ 31. Kg2 Qxe1
32. Bxf7+ Kh7 (32... Kh8 33. Qxc7 (33. Bc4 gxf6 34. Ne2 {[#]} Rg8+ 35. Bxg8
Qxe2+ 36. Qf2 Qxf2+ 37. Kxf2 Kxg8 38. a4 h4 39. a5 h3 40. a6 e3+ (40... h2 41.
Kg2 e3 42. a7) 41. Kxe3 h2 42. a7 h1=Q 43. a8=Q+ Kf7)) 33. Bxh5 e3 34. Qxc7
Rd2+ 35. Ne2 Rxe2+ 36. Bxe2 Qxe2+ 37. Kg3 Qf2+ 38. Kg4 Qg2+ 39. Qg3 Qe4+ {[#]}
40. Kh3 (40. Kg5 Qg6+ (40... gxf6+ 41. Kxf6 Qd4+ 42. Kf7) 41. Kf4 Qh6+ (41...
Qxf6+ 42. Kxe3 Qxb2 43. Qh4+) 42. Ke4 Qxf6) 40... Qh1+ 41. Qh2 Qf3+ (41...
Qxh2+ 42. Kxh2 e2) 42. Kh4 (42. Qg3 Qh5+ 43. Kg2 Qe2+ 44. Kh3 gxf6 45. Qf4)
42... gxf6 43. Qc7+ Kh6 44. Qe7 Qf4+ 45. Kh3 Qf3+ 46. Kh4 Qf2+ 47. Kg4 f5+ 48.
Kh3 Qf3+ 49. Kh2 Qf2+ 50. Kh3 Qf1+ 51. Kh2 Qf4+ 52. Kh3 Qg4+ 53. Kh2 e2 54.
Qf6+ Kh5 55. Qh8+ Kg6 56. Qg8+ Kf6 57. Qf8+ Ke6 58. Qe8+ Kd6 59. Qf8+ Ke5 60.
Qc5+ Kf4 61. Qf2+ Ke4 62. a4 Qf3 (62... f4) 63. Qe1 Qf1 (63... Qg4) 64. Qb4+
Ke5 65. Qe7+ Kf4 66. Qh4+ (66. Qb4+ Ke5 67. Qe7+ Kd5 68. Qf7+) 66... Ke3 67.
Qg5+ f4 68. Qe5+ Kd2 69. Qc3+ Kd1 70. Qd4+ Kc1 71. b4 e1=Q 72. Qa1+ Kxc2 73.
Qa2+ Kd3 74. Qb3+ Qc3 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.02.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Blantny, Pavel"]
[Black "Jones, Daniel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A01"]
[Annotator "Kelly, Nathan"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 d5 3. e3 c6 4. Ne2 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. d3 {A rather passive
opening for white.} Nbd7 7. Nd2 e5 8. g4 Bg6 9. Bg2 Bd6 10. a3 Qe7 11. Ng3 e4 {
Too fast. Black should have castled to finish his development first.} 12. g5
Ng8 13. Bxg7 Bxg3 14. Bxh8 {Overcomplicates unnecesarily. Simple fxg3 leaves
white winning the rook next move.} (14. fxg3) 14... Qxg5 (14... exd3 15. cxd3 (
15. fxg3 Qxe3+ 16. Kf1 dxc2 17. Qc1 Bd3#) 15... Qxe3+ {was a greater
alternative.}) 15. fxg3 Qxe3+ 16. Qe2 Qxg3+ 17. Qf2 Qxf2+ 18. Kxf2 exd3 19.
Rhe1+ Kd8 20. cxd3 Bxd3 21. Rac1 f6 22. Nf3 Kc7 23. Bg7 f5 24. Ne5 Be4 25. Nxd7
Kxd7 26. Bxe4 fxe4 27. Rg1 Ne7 28. Rg5 b6 29. Rh5 c5 30. Rxh7 Ke6 31. Ke2 Nf5
32. Rg1 d4 33. Rg6+ Kf7 34. Rf6+ Kg8 35. Rxf5 Kxh7 36. Be5 (36. Rf8 {
neutralizing the opponent's pieces is the key to defeating the counterplay.})
36... Rg8 37. h4 Rg2+ 38. Kf1 Ra2 39. h5 e3 40. Bf4 $4 {Backward moves are
usually the word. Especially in an endgame.} (40. Rf8 Kh6 41. Rf5 $11) 40...
Rf2+ 41. Kg1 d3 42. h6 Rxf4 43. Rxf4 d2 44. Rf7+ Kxh6 45. Rd7 e2 0-1

