[Event "Internet Chess Club"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NN"]
[Black "\"guest\""]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 f6 2. d4 c6 3. Nc3 Kf7 4. f4 Ke6 5. f5+ Kd6 {[#]} 6. Bf4+ e5 7. dxe5+ Kc7
8. exf6+ d6 9. fxg7 Bxg7 10. Nf3 Qe7 11. Bd3 Bxf5 12. O-O Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14.
Qe1 Nd7 15. Qg3 Bf6 16. Rae1 Ne5 17. Bxe5 dxe5 18. Kh2 Nh6 19. Nd1 Raf8 20. Ne3
Rhg8 21. Qf2 Bxf3 22. Qxf3 Bh4 23. Nf5 Nxf5 24. exf5 Bg3+ 25. Kh1 Bxe1 26. Rxe1
Qg7 27. b4 h5 28. b5 cxb5 29. Bxb5 Rxf5 30. Qd5 e4 31. Qxe4 Rxb5 32. Qc4+ Kb8
0-1

[Event "London (5)"]
[Site "London (5)"]
[Date "1883.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Mephisto"]
[Black "Chigorin, Mikhail"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C25"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "1883.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3 g5 5. h4 g4 6. Ng5 h6 7. Nxf7 Kxf7 8. d4
f3 9. gxf3 Be7 10. Bc4+ Kg7 11. Be3 Bxh4+ 12. Kd2 d5 13. exd5 Na5 14. Bd3 Be7
15. fxg4 Nf6 16. Bxh6+ Rxh6 17. g5 Rxh1 18. Qxh1 {[#]} Qh8 (18... Nc4+ 19. Bxc4
Ng4) 19. gxf6+ Bxf6 20. Rg1+ Kf7 21. Qe4 Qh6+ 22. Kd1 Bd7 23. b4 Re8 24. Qg6+
Qxg6 25. Bxg6+ Kf8 26. Bxe8 Bxe8 27. Rf1 Ke7 28. d6+ cxd6 29. Nd5+ Kd8 30. Nxf6
1-0

[Event "Den Haag International"]
[Site "The Hague"]
[Date "1921.10.27"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Tartakower, Saviely"]
[Black "Mieses, Jacques"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A82"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "1921.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. f3 d5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Qc2 Nf6 7. Bg5 c5 8. cxd5
cxd4 9. Qa4+ Kf7 10. dxe6+ Bxe6 11. Qxb4 dxc3 12. bxc3 Re8 13. Bb5 Nc6 14. Bxc6
bxc6 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Ne2 exf3 17. O-O Bd5 18. Nd4 a5 19. Qc5 Kg8 20. Nxf3 Re2
21. Rae1 Rxa2 22. c4 Qc3 23. Re7 Bxf3 24. Rxf3 Ra1+ 25. Kf2 Qb2+ 26. Re2 Qb7 {
[#]} 27. Re7 (27. Qe5 $1 {[%csl Ga1,Ge8]}) 27... Ra2+ 28. Kg1 Qb1+ 29. Rf1 Qg6
30. g3 Qh6 31. h4 Qg6 32. Qe5 Rf8 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34. Rb7 Ra1+ 35. Qxa1 Qxg3+
36. Kf1 Qf3+ 37. Kg1 Qg3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Den Haag International"]
[Site "The Hague"]
[Date "1921.11.02"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Alekhine, Alexander"]
[Black "Euwe, Max"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D40"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "1921.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. c4 e6 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. a3 Bd6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. b4
Bd6 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Rc1 Qe7 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 a5 14. Bb5 axb4
15. a4 Rd8 16. Qh5 g6 17. Qh6 Ne5 {[#]} 18. Ng5 $1 f6 (18... Qf6 19. Qxh7+ Kf8
20. f4) (18... f5 19. Bxe5 {[%cal Gb5c4]}) 19. Bxe5 fxg5 20. Bc4+ 1-0

[Event "Den Haag International"]
[Site "The Hague"]
[Date "1921.10.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Rubinstein, Akiba"]
[Black "Marco, Georg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C30"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "1921.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. d3 Nbd7 7. f5 c6 8. a3 b5
9. Ba2 a5 10. Qe2 Qb6 11. Ng5 a4 12. Nd1 d5 13. c3 Ba6 14. Qf3 dxe4 15. dxe4
Rad8 16. g4 Qc7 17. Nxf7 Rxf7 18. g5 Nd5 19. exd5 Nb6 20. d6 Qxd6 21. Bxf7+
Kxf7 22. g6+ hxg6 23. fxg6+ Kxg6 24. Be3 Bxe3 25. Nxe3 Qd2+ 26. Kf1 b4+ 27. Kg1
Be2 28. Qf5+ Kh6 29. Qh3+ Kg6 30. Qf5+ Kh6 31. Qxe5 Rd7 32. h4 Qxb2 {[#]} 33.
Re1 $1 Bd3 (33... Z0 34. Rxe2 Qxe2 35. Nf5+) 34. Ng4+ Kg6 35. Qg5+ (35. Qg5+
Kh7 (35... Kf7 36. Qh5+ g6 37. Qh7+ Kf8 38. Qh8+ Kf7 39. Nh6#) 36. Qh5+ Kg8 37.
Re8#) 1-0

[Event "Wiener SK Meisterturnier"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "1921.05.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Gruber, Theodor"]
[Black "Gruenfeld, Ernst"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B29"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "1921.05.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Qe2 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Nc6
8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 a6 10. Bd3 g6 11. O-O Bg7 12. c3 Bg4 13. Rb1 Qc7 14. h3 Bxf3
15. Qxf3 O-O 16. Be4 Rac8 17. Rd1 b5 18. Ba3 Rfe8 19. h4 e6 20. h5 f5 21. Bd3
Qf7 22. hxg6 hxg6 23. Qg3 Na5 24. Bc5 Nb7 25. Bb4 e5 26. Bc2 Kh7 27. Qh2+ Bh6
28. dxe5 Nc5 29. Rd4 f4 30. Re1 Kg7 31. Rd6 Re6 {[#]} 32. Qh3 $1 Rxd6 (32... Z0
33. Bxc5 {followed by 34. Qxe6}) 33. exd6 Qf8 34. Re7+ 1-0

[Event "Wiener SK Meisterturnier"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "1921.05.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Mueller, Hans"]
[Black "Euwe, Max"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "1921.05.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {Bachmann: Schachjahrbuch 1921, S.155} d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 Qb6
5. Qc2 Bg4 6. e3 e6 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. Bd2 Be7 9. Rc1 O-O 10. Na4 Qc7 11. cxd5 exd5
12. b4 Rac8 13. Ng5 h6 14. Nf3 Rfe8 15. h3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Bf8 17. Bf5 Qf4 18.
Ke2 Qxd4 19. Be4 Qe5 20. Bc3 Qh5 21. Bf5 Rcd8 22. Rcg1 Ne5 23. Rg3 {[#]} d4 $1
24. exd4 (24. Bxd4 Rxd4 25. exd4 Nxf3+ 26. Kf1 Nxd4 (26... Bd6)) 24... Nxf3+
25. Kf1 Nxd4 26. Bxd4 Rxd4 27. a3 Re2 0-1

[Event "Den Haag International"]
[Site "The Hague"]
[Date "1921.10.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Alekhine, Alexander"]
[Black "Tartakower, Saviely"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A90"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "1921.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 O-O 7. Nh3 d5 8.
Na3 Nc6 9. Rd1 Qe7 10. O-O Rd8 11. Qc1 Bd7 12. Nf4 Be8 13. e3 Bf7 14. Qb1 Nb4
15. Nc2 dxc4 16. Bxb7 Rab8 17. Bg2 g5 18. Nh3 Nd3 19. b3 Bh5 20. f3 Nd5 21. Qa1
N3b4 22. Nxb4 Rxb4 23. Rde1 cxb3 24. axb3 Rxb3 25. Qc1 h6 26. e4 fxe4 27. fxe4
Nb4 28. Qc4 Rb2 29. d5 {[#]} exd5 $2 (29... Nc2 $1 30. Rc1 (30. Rf2 exd5) 30...
Ne3) 30. Qd4 Rc2 31. exd5 Qc5 32. Qxc5 Rxc5 33. Re6 Rd6 34. Rxd6 cxd6 35. Rf6
Rc1+ 36. Kf2 Rc2+ 37. Kg1 Nd3 38. Be4 Rc1+ 39. Kg2 Nc5 40. Bf5 a5 41. Rxd6 a4
42. Rd8+ Kf7 43. d6 Rd1 44. Nf2 Rd5 45. d7 Ke7 46. Ra8 Bf3+ 47. Kxf3 Rxf5+ 48.
Ke3 Kxd7 49. Nd3 Nxd3 50. Kxd3 Rf2 51. Rxa4 Rxh2 52. Ke4 Ke6 53. Ra6+ Kf7 54.
Kf3 h5 55. Ra5 Kf6 56. Ra6+ Kf5 57. Ra5+ Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "TCEC Season 20 - Superfinal"]
[Site "https://tcec-chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.23"]
[Round "49.1"]
[White "Stockfish 20210113"]
[Black "LCZero 0.27.0d-Tilps-dje-magi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E87"]
[WhiteElo "3601"]
[BlackElo "3586"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5r1k/2nbq1rp/3p2p1/2pPp1P1/p3P3/P3NPQ1/1PB4R/K6R w - - 0 81"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] Here we see a case of one of Leela's residual weaknesses - the very
occasional tactical oversight. As it turns out, the ensuing play, which
includes a potential queen sac on move 85, is very hard to see within Leela's
type of move search. For more on this, check out GM Matthew Sadler's blog
where he dives deep into the matter and shows exactly how this happened.} 81.
Nf5 $1 {Not anticipated by Leela during the game, although it does end up
seeing it after 19 ply on my (much weaker) home machine. The Leela
adminstrators used an experimental version of their engine for the SuperFinal
- perhaps this is what caused the oversight?} gxf5 ({No better is} 81... Bxf5
82. exf5 {when Black has to pitch material to avoid the f5-f6 pawn fork.}) 82.
g6 f4 83. Qg2 Rff7 ({There's no hope after} 83... Kg8 84. Rxh7 Rxh7 85. Rxh7
Qe8 86. Qg5 {and White wins.}) 84. Rh6 ({White could grab material with} 84.
gxf7 Qxf7 85. Qf2 {but Stockfish decides to just keep ratcheting up the
pressure.}) 84... Bb5 ({If} 84... Rxg6 85. Rxg6 Rg7 86. Rxg7 Qxg7 87. Qh2 {
and White will slowly improve its pieces and win.}) 85. gxf7 Qxf7 ({Grabbing
the queen leads to immediate mate:} 85... Rxg2 $4 86. Rxh7#) 86. Qd2 Qd7 87.
Bd3 Bxd3 88. Qxd3 {Now it's just a waiting game - White manuevers the queen
and waits for the proper moment to strike.} Nb5 89. Qc4 Nc7 90. Qc3 Kg8 91. Qe1
Nb5 92. Qa5 Nc7 93. Qb6 Ne8 94. Qb8 Re7 95. Ka2 Kf8 96. Rg1 Rf7 97. Re6 Re7 98.
Rxe7 Kxe7 99. Rg8 Qd8 100. Qxd8+ Kxd8 101. b3 axb3+ 102. Kxb3 h5 103. Rh8 Kd7
104. a4 Nc7 105. Rxh5 Kc8 106. Rh8+ Kd7 107. a5 Na6 108. Kc4 Nc7 109. Rb8 Na6
110. Rb6 Nb4 111. a6 Nxa6 112. Rxa6 Ke7 113. Kb5 c4 114. Kxc4 Kf6 115. Rxd6+
Ke7 116. Re6+ Kf7 117. Kc5 Kg7 118. d6 Kf7 119. Kd5 Kg7 120. d7 Kf8 121. d8=Q+
Kg7 122. Qd7+ Kf8 123. Re8# 1-0

[Event "TCEC Season 20 - Superfinal"]
[Site "https://tcec-chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.24"]
[Round "52.1"]
[White "LCZero 0.27.0d-Tilps-dje-magi"]
[Black "Stockfish 20210113"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E73"]
[WhiteElo "3586"]
[BlackElo "3601"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. g4 Na6
9. g5 Nd7 10. h4 Ndc5 11. h5 c6 12. Nf3 Bd7 13. Nd2 a4 14. Kf1 f5 15. b4 Nxb4
16. h6 Bh8 17. Bxc5 dxc5 18. a3 Qxg5 $5 {Can an engine be brave? This is
certainly a brave move, giving up a piece for a slew of pawns.} ({One wonders
whether something like} 18... Na6 19. Rb1 Nc7 20. Rxb7 Bc8 21. Rb2 Qxg5 {
would have held.}) 19. axb4 cxb4 20. Nxa4 cxd5 21. Nb6 Rxa1 22. Qxa1 Qxd2 23.
Nxd7 Rc8 24. Rh3 dxe4 25. Nb6 b3 26. Rxb3 Qxh6 27. Ke1 {[#] A fascinating
position. Black has four pawns for the knight, but both Stockfish and Leela
give White the edge.} Rf8 28. Nd5 e3 29. Nxe3 e4 30. Qa5 Bg7 31. Rxb7 f4 32.
Nd1 Kh8 33. Qc7 f3 34. Bf1 Rg8 35. Qd6 Qg5 36. c5 Qc1 {[#]} 37. Rxg7 $1 Rxg7
38. Qd8+ Rg8 39. Qd4+ Rg7 40. Bc4 {Positional domination by Leela, and now the
c-pawn will be a thorn in Black's side.} h5 41. c6 Qg5 42. Bd5 Kh7 43. Ne3 Re7
44. Qc5 Qe5 45. Kd1 Kh6 46. Kc2 Rc7 47. Nc4 Qf4 48. Kb3 h4 49. Be6 Qf6 50. Bd7
h3 51. Ne3 Kh7 52. Nd5 Qf7 53. Qd6 Ra7 54. Bxh3 Ra8 55. c7 Kh6 56. Kc2 Qg7 57.
c8=Q Ra2+ 58. Kb3 Qb2+ 59. Kc4 Ra4+ 60. Nb4 Qc2+ 61. Kb5 Qxc8 62. Bxc8 Ra7 63.
Qf8+ Kh7 64. Nd5 Rg7 65. Nf6+ Kh6 66. Nxe4 Kh7 67. Ng5+ Kh6 68. Nf7+ Kh5 69.
Qh8+ Rh7 70. Qxh7# 1-0

[Event "Airthings Masters KO 2020"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.12.30"]
[Round "1.23"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E10"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2020.12.29"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 dxc4 {Departing from the
"standard"} (5... O-O 6. Bg2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 {as seen in two Dubov-Carlsen games
in this event. Dubov also has had White in this line against Kramnik, Radjabov,
and Vidit.}) 6. Bg2 a5 7. a3 Bxd2+ 8. Bxd2 b5 9. a4 c6 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. h4 $5
Nbd7 12. h5 h6 13. Ne5 Nd5 14. Rh4 N7f6 15. Kf1 Qc7 16. Kg1 Nb4 17. Qc1 Rd8 $6
18. axb5 ({The typical Catalan motif with} 18. b3 $1 {would be powerful here.})
18... cxb5 19. Bxb4 axb4 20. Ra7 Nd5 21. Rg4 Rg8 22. Qc2 ({Tania Sachdev and
Santosh Vidit argued for} 22. Qb1 {on the chess24 broadcast, with the idea} c3
({but the position blows up after} 22... Ra8 $1 23. Rxb7 Qxb7 24. Qh7 Rf8 25.
Rxg7 {when it's anyone's game.}) 23. bxc3 bxc3 24. Qxb5+) 22... c3 23. bxc3
bxc3 24. Ra3 Rc8 25. Nd3 Nf6 26. Bxb7 Qxb7 27. Nc5 $2 Rxc5 28. dxc5 Nxg4 29. c6
Qxc6 30. Rxc3 Qb6 $1 {Presumably the attack on f2 was what Dubov missed. White
has only the faintest hopes of conjuring enough counterplay to survive - a
knight is a knight!} 31. e3 Ke7 32. Rc6 Qd8 33. Qc5+ Kf6 34. Rd6 Qe7 $2 {
Fortune favors the bold once more.} ({Black wins with} 34... Qc8 35. Qd4+ Ke7
36. Rb6 Qc7 {.}) 35. Qd4+ Kg5 36. f3 $1 f5 ({If} 36... Nf6 37. Qe5#) ({while} 
36... Nxe3 {loses to} 37. Qh4+ Kf5 38. Qf4#) 37. fxg4 Rc8 {[#]} {Now Dubov
gets to play a stylish mate.} 38. Qf4+ Kf6 39. Qxf5# 1-0

[Event "Airthings Masters KO 2020"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.12.30"]
[Round "1.21"]
[White "Radjabov, T."]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D42"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2020.12.29"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{"One of the best preparations I had in Airthings Masters." - Radjabov} 1. Nf3
c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd3 Be7 8. a3 cxd4 9.
exd4 O-O 10. O-O b6 11. Qc2 Nf6 12. Rd1 (12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Be4 {
was tried earlier in the match, with the game drawn in 104 moves!}) 12... h6 ({
If} 12... Bb7 {the central break} 13. d5 $1 {gives White the edge with} exd5
14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Bxh7+ Kh8 16. Be4 {.}) 13. d5 exd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 ({Of course
not} 14... Qxd5 $2 15. Bh7+) 15. Qxc6 Be6 16. Qa4 {"A funny looking move, but
quite strong." Later Radjabov explained that there is still a pin on the
d-file, and with either Bd3-e4 or Qa4-e4 White can increase the pressure.} Qc7
$6 {Already slightly inaccurate.} ({The computer gives} 16... Qd6 {as
potentially best, while}) ({The tactical} 16... Bc5 {requires a bit of
knowledge:} 17. Bc4 (17. Bf4 Nxf4 18. Bh7+ Kxh7 19. Rxd8 Nh3+ $1 {and Black
should have enough compensation, according to Radjabov.}) 17... Qe8 18. Qxe8
Rfxe8 19. Bxd5 Rad8 20. b4 Be7 21. Bxh6 {is equal.}) 17. Bd2 $1 {Beginning to
target the queen by opening the c-file.} Rad8 ({Another line from Radjabov:} 
17... Bc5 18. Rac1 Qe7 19. Re1 Rac8 {and "for the computer, maybe it's fine,
but for humans it's kind of unpleasant."}) 18. Rac1 {[#]} Qb7 $2 ({White is
for choice after the better} 18... Qd6 {, while}) ({after the natural} 18...
Qb8 19. Nd4 Bd7 20. Bb5 {White has a risk-free advantage.}) 19. Qe4 $1 {
White wins a pawn and keeps his activity.} g6 ({The point is that} 19... Nf6 $2
{, defending the mate on h7, hangs the queen.}) 20. Bxh6 Bf5 (20... Rfe8 $2 {
loses the exchange with} 21. Bb5) 21. Qa4 Bxd3 22. Bxf8 Be2 23. Bxe7 (23. Re1 {
is "even easier" but the text does keep the pin on the d-file.}) 23... Bxd1 24.
Rxd1 Qxe7 25. Qd4 b5 26. h4 Rd7 {Hoping desperately for ... Nd5-f6, unpinning.}
27. Ne5 Rd6 28. g3 a6 29. Ng4 Rd7 30. Qe5 Qe6 31. Qxe6 fxe6 32. Rxd5 ({The
pawn ending is hopeless after} 32. Rxd5 Rxd5 33. Nf6+ Kf7 34. Nxd5 exd5 35. Kf1
{.}) 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Six position"]
[Black "Introduction"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,86,26,32,21,11,25,7,36,27,18,33,30,34,47,20,23,7,35,20,16,16,8,12,24,
30,43,54,52,56,52,52,52,35,35,28,28,19,28,30,30,14,25,25,11,-5,-4,-17,-12,-25,
-27,-28,-12,-24,-24,-18,-14,-41,-34,-47,-52,-53,-69,-79,-42,-43,-10,3,-9,-7,
-20,-15,-26,-39,-34,-35,-18,-66,-49,-72,-58,-60,-53,-47,6,8,10,13,13] Six
moments from Anish Giri's games in Wijk aan Zee ...  I have long been a fan of
Anish Giri's combative style. From the view of Internet commentators, that
look at the scoreline only, you could hear jokes about his "artistic
tendencies", especially a preference of drawing. However, this is wildly off
the mark. Giri is a very interesting player with lots of fascinating ideas in
the opening. He is not averse to risk at all, but if things go South, he
fights like a tigress protecting her cubs. Thus he rarely actually loses. For
a top grandmaster with a technical style like Giri, occasional games will not
be very interesting. But in most games there will be chances. Moments that
require a bit of energy or accuracy, to give winning chances. Here we shall
look at six very different positions from the tournament, where you can try to
see if you can guess the strong move Giri or his opponent could have (or
actually) played.}  *

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2705"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/3R3p/6pP/3R2P1/7N/1r3pK1/1b3P2/8 w - - 0 49"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Maybe my favourite moment in Wijk. White to play and win.}  1-0

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2705"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/3R3p/6pP/3R2P1/7N/1r3pK1/1b3P2/8 w - - 0 49"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,103,31,27,23,14,22,22,62,0,56,-12,40,30,26,29,29,18,40,16,20,13,18,19,
36,-1,31,14,14,-11,19,-10,40,17,48,4,37,7,27,27,24,10,10,10,10,24,24,17,17,31,
17,21,21,21,33,38,50,50,49,48,61,83,63,13,46,43,52,52,52,34,36,34,43,37,42,42,
44,45,68,68,68,62,63,71,63,63,63,60,98,94,121,40,55,70,93,96,96,93,282,283,274,
283,29997,29998,29999,-30000]} 49. Rxh7 $1 {Black resigned.} Kxh7 50. Rd7+ Kg8
51. h7+ Kh8 52. Nxg6# 1-0

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2rk1/3q1pp1/pR2p2p/P1Pp4/3N4/n3P1B1/2Q2PPP/5RK1 w - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{From the Armageddon game. Should White throw in 26.c6!? or not?}  0-1

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2rk1/3q1pp1/pR2p2p/P1Pp4/3N4/n3P1B1/2Q2PPP/5RK1 w - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,124,31,27,22,22,25,25,56,24,56,-26,50,29,13,-1,23,6,25,15,14,26,27,29,
32,33,33,9,38,27,27,27,23,29,36,33,73,83,76,69,126,123,131,131,131,131,131,131,
131,85,84,69,109,-61,-64,-64,-64,-63,-59,-63,-60,-64,-60,-61,-61,-61,-62,-65,
-60,-70,-43,-43,-35,-45,-10,-10,-40,-41,-48,-48,-48,-49,-37,-87,-77,-77,-54,
-62,-70,-93,-94,-96,-61,-64,-48,-37,-37,-35,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-14,-26,-11,0,6,0,0,
0,0,324,340,350,318,306,348,344,-528,-535,-544,-544,-721,-721] The answer is
no! 26.Qc3 and White is dominating. After} 26. c6 $2 Nxc2 27. cxd7 Nxd4 $1 {
Black escapes with an extra pawn.} 28. exd4 (28. dxc8=Q $2 Ne2+ 29. Kh1 Nxg3+
30. hxg3 Rfxc8 $19 {would even be technically lost.}) 28... Bxd7 29. Rc1 Bb5
30. Bd6 Rfc8 31. Bc5 Rc7 32. Re1 Rac8 33. f4 h5 (33... Rxc5 $1 {would have
been stronger. After} 34. dxc5 Rxc5 35. h4 d4 {Black has a serious advantage.
However, with this being an armageddon game and White having to win at all
costs, it is natural for Black to keep a very solid position and let his
opponent do all the running.}) 34. Kf2 Kh7 35. h3 Kg6 36. g4 hxg4 37. hxg4 Rc6
38. Rb7 R8c7 39. Rb8 Rc8 40. Rb7 R8c7 41. Rxc7 Rxc7 42. Re5 Bd7 43. Rg5+ Kh7
44. Bf8 g6 45. Re5 f6 46. Re3 Kg8 47. Bc5 Rb7 48. Bb6 Bb5 49. Rxe6 Kf7 50. Re1
Re7 51. Rc1 Re4 52. Kf3 Be2+ 53. Kg3 Re3+ 54. Kf2 Re4 55. Rc7+ Ke8 56. g5 Rxf4+
57. Kxe2 fxg5 58. Ra7 g4 59. Rxa6 g3 60. Ra7 g2 61. Ra8+ Kd7 62. Rd8+ Ke7 0-1

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Tari, Aryan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3k2r/ppp1q3/2p2b2/4p2p/4Ppp1/2BP4/PPPNKP2/R3Q2R w kq - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The young super talent from Norway, Aryan Tari, has sacrificed a piece on the
recommendation of the engines. How should White set up his pieces?}  1-0

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Tari, Aryan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,93,18,28,17,12,13,4,25,23,20,12,17,14,23,23,47,47,92,106,118,118,111,
56,48,23,62,100,107,117,159,157,125,127,113,108,92,79,76,55,46,-65,-122,-103,9,
-44,10,-62,-37,-11,1,-25,-18,-41,53,26,27,-14,0,-8,74,0,79,0,60,0,76,60,81,-19,
48,-19,37,6,17,3,52,59,43,45,68,49,41,41,187,162,230,234,278,276,469,448,587,
549,29987,29988]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O
Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4 $1 Nxg4 9. hxg4 Bxg4 10. Be3 Be7 {At Depth 72, Stockfish
says this is equal. Reality is that Black has a lot to prove and little to
hope for.} 11. Kg2 $1 $146 {Good homework from Giri.} (11. Kh1 $2 f5 12. Rg1 h5
13. Nc3 f4 14. Bd2 g5 {gave Black a winning attack in Nakamura – Carlsen,
Internet (blitz) 2020, although White eventually won the game.}) 11... f5 12.
Qe1 Bxf3+ 13. Kxf3 f4 14. Bd2 g5 15. Bc3 Bf6 16. Nd2 Qe7 17. Rh1 h5 18. Ke2 g4
{[#]} 19. f3 $1 $14 (19. Qg1 f3+ 20. Nxf3 gxf3+ 21. Kxf3 Qf7 {does not offer
White a serious advantage. The h-pawn is a strong asset for Black.}) 19... g3 {
I would be very reluctant to lose the flexibility with the pieces like this.}
20. Kf1 $1 {The king needs a role. What is better than blocking the position
on the kingside, freeing up the other pieces to do more creative things.} h4
21. Rh3 $1 a5 22. a4 b6 23. Kg2 {White has a large advantage and won with
simple means.} c5 24. Qb1 Kf7 25. b3 Rad8 26. Nc4 Kg6 27. Qb2 Rh5 28. Rah1 Rdh8
29. Qa1 Kg7 30. Bb2 Kg6 31. Qb1 Rd8 32. Qe1 Kg7 33. Qa1 Rdh8 34. Na3 Kg6 35.
Nb5 Bg7 36. Nc3 Qd8 37. Ne2 R8h7 38. Qe1 Qd6 39. Qc3 c6 40. Qc4 Rh8 41. Ba3 Qf6
42. Qa6 Rb8 43. Bc1 Bh6 44. Qa7 Qd8 45. Bb2 Qc8 46. Qe7 Bf8 47. Nxf4+ 1-0

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/1p3p1p/2p5/8/6p1/PB2RP1b/2P3rP/R6K b - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{From the first play-off game. Which chance to take a lead in the match did
Giri miss?}  1/2-1/2

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C24"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,87,31,22,22,14,14,-2,6,11,16,19,25,9,-6,15,15,-13,15,0,1,1,20,11,43,
10,-1,-17,-5,-45,-45,-47,-35,-35,-55,-45,-59,-30,-42,-21,-31,-37,-37,-106,-73,
-68,-93,-93,-91,-91,-89,-89,-89,-154,-35,-33,-33,-18,-14,-14,-21,-21,0,0,0,0,0,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,6,-5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6
4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 a5 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 a4 9. Ba2 dxe4 10. Nxe5 O-O
11. O-O Qe7 12. d4 Nbd7 13. Bf4 Nd5 14. Qd2 Nxf4 15. Qxf4 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Ra5 17.
Qxe4 Qxe5 18. Qb4 Rb5 19. Qxa4 Qxc3 20. Bb3 Rg5 21. Rfe1 $2 ({White should
have played} 21. Qf4 Rg4 22. Qe3 Qxe3 23. fxe3 Re4 {, when Black is better,
but with the active} 24. Rad1 $15 {, White would limit his troubles a lot.}) {
[#]} 21... Bh3 $1 {Causing problems on g2.} (21... Qh3 22. Qe4 Bf5 {was less
clear on account of} 23. Re3 $1 Bxe4 24. Rxh3 Rxg2+ 25. Kf1 {, where Black has
a big advantage, but is not totally winning.}) 22. Qf4 $1 {Good defensive play
by Jorden.} (22. g3 Rg4 $1 {and then ...Qf3 would win for Black.}) 22... Rxg2+
23. Kh1 g5 $1 {The only move.} (23... Rg6 $2 24. Qxf7+ $1 Rxf7 25. Re8#) 24.
Qe3 Qxe3 25. Rxe3 g4 26. f3 {[#]} {We have reached our exercise. After} h5 $2 (
{Black could have won the game with the beautiful combination:} 26... g3 $3 27.
hxg3 Rd8 {, where the rooks will dominate on the 2nd rank, before delivering
mate.} 28. Rg1 Rf2 29. Rd3 Re8 30. g4 Ree2 {and Black wins. For example:} 31.
Rg3 Rf1+ 32. Rg1 Bg2+ 33. Kh2 Bxf3+ {with an extra pawn and exchange.}) 27.
fxg4 hxg4 28. Rg1 {White managed to escape to a draw.} Rxg1+ 29. Kxg1 Rd8 30.
Re7 Rd1+ 31. Kf2 Rf1+ 32. Kg3 b5 33. Rc7 Rf6 34. a4 bxa4 35. Bxa4 Rf3+ 36. Kh4
Rf2 37. Bb3 Kf8 38. Rxc6 Rxh2 39. Rf6 Ke8 40. Rxf7 Rxc2 41. Bxc2 Kxf7 42. Bf5
Kf6 43. Bxg4 Bxg4 44. Kxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2679"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5r1k/1pb3pp/p2ppr2/PPq1p3/2P1P3/2Q1RN1P/5PP1/R5K1 w - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Our Dutch hero is entirely lost in this position. A number of moves look very
promising. Please find a clear path to ensure the advantage. What is
particularly difficult in a position like this is to keep control.}  1/2-1/2

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2679"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5r1k/1pb3pp/p2ppr2/PPq1p3/2P1P3/2Q1RN1P/5PP1/R5K1 w - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,51,68,37,38,25,38,22,15,22,26,16,34,36,43,31,34,28,38,44,37,35,40,37,
37,36,38,38,38,35,35,34,28,10,10,0,0,0,0,8,-16,0,-7,-13,-3,-14,0,0,8,0,0,0,0,0]
David Anton played} 29. b6 $5 Bb8 30. Qb3 $6 {only to see his advantage being
far less easy to handle.} (30. Rc1 Rf4 31. Qa3 $1 {would still gives a big
advantage, although the exchange of queens is not guaranteed. Still, the best
White can hope for in this line is a position similar to after 29.Qa3.}) 30...
h6 31. Ra2 Rc8 32. Ra4 $6 (32. Nd2 $1 d5 $5 33. cxd5 exd5 34. exd5 Qc1+ 35. Nf1
Bd6 {would give Black counterplay, although White is still better.}) 32... Rf7
$6 ({Already here Black had the chance to play} 32... d5 $1 {, with
counterplay. White's advantage is dwindling.}) 33. Re1 Rd8 34. Qb4 Qc6 35. Raa1
Rf4 36. Qa4 Rc8 37. Qxc6 Rxc6 38. Nd2 Rf8 39. Red1 Kg8 40. f3 $6 Kf7 41. Kf1
Ke7 42. Ke2 Rc5 43. h4 Rd8 44. Ra2 d5 {Black has equalised.} 45. cxd5 exd5 46.
exd5 Rdxd5 47. Rda1 Bd6 48. Ne4 Rc4 49. Rd2 Rxd2+ 50. Nxd2 Rc5 51. h5 e4 52.
Nxe4 Rxh5 53. Kd3 Kd7 54. Kc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2679"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5r1k/1pb3pp/p2ppr2/PPq1p3/2P1P3/2Q1RN1P/5PP1/R5K1 w - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,51,68,37,38,25,38,22,15,22,26,16,34,36,43,31,34,28,38,44,37,35,40,37,
37,36,38,38,38,35,35,34,28,10,10,0,0,0,0,8,-16,0,-7,-13,-3,-14,0,0,8,0,0,0,0,0]
David Anton played} 29. Qa3 $1 {was the strongest technical move. The tactical
reason is that 29...Qxc4 30.Rc1! would exploit that the bishop is still on c7.
Thus White gets to exchange queens under favourable circumstances.} Qxa3 30.
Rexa3 Rf4 {What Black plays is not so important to illustrate the point of
White's play.} 31. b6 $1 {The bishop now has to return to b8, when Black is in
a terrible bind.} Bb8 (31... Bd8 $6 {loses on the spot to} 32. Rd3 Be7 33. c5
$1 {with the rook coming to d7.}) 32. Rc1 Rc8 33. Nd2 Kg8 34. Rd3 {with the
intention of g3, Nb3 and c5, when Black is struggling a lot. The key point is
that it seems implausible that Black will ever get the bishop back in the game.
} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r7/P5R1/2k5/8/1P3n1P/K7/6P1/8 w - - 0 61"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Giri had a lot of chances to win the tournament, but maybe none more than the
encounter with Firouzja in the penultimate round. A totally winning position
slowly became less and less winning, until we reached this position, where
there was only one chance left.}  1/2-1/2

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r7/P5R1/2k5/8/1P3n1P/K7/6P1/8 w - - 0 61"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,134,19,29,41,47,18,32,59,52,44,-24,7,10,2,33,33,21,44,28,39,31,23,22,
28,25,30,30,16,-18,-8,-8,0,0,31,38,42,42,70,38,45,50,40,54,19,40,47,40,8,-3,4,
0,7,5,-2,-50,-19,-5,0,18,37,29,30,28,45,33,37,65,51,46,67,61,61,55,53,61,87,96,
106,106,96,92,110,110,109,88,94,101,147,133,215,232,249,180,173,170,163,120,
127,127,120,131,124,137,143,151,144,138,139,139,139,151,174,167,176,182,184,
158,163,197,197,145,116,95,117,98,90,81,51,51,104,97,79,90,76,90,76] Gir was
totally winning earlier, but by now the easy win has become a muddled battle.} 
61. g4 $2 {Why he decided to move the worst placed pawn is hard to say.} Ne6 $1
62. Rf7 Nc7 {Black survives.} 63. g5 Rxa7+ 64. Kb2 Ra8 65. g6 Ne6 66. h5 Rh8
67. Rh7 Rg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r7/P5R1/2k5/8/1P3n1P/K7/6P1/8 w - - 0 61"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 61. Ka4 $1 {was the winning move. The key idea is to push the b-pawn.}
Kb6 (61... Ne6 62. b5+ Kb6 63. Rg6 $1 {would be equally painful for Black.
After} Rxa7+ 64. Kb4 Re7 65. h5 Kc7 66. h6 {White is winning. The combined
force of the b-pawn and h-pawn are fully matching the knight. With the g-pawn
and later maybe the white king approaching as reinforcements, White wins. A
key point is that the exchange of rooks will more or less always win for White.
}) 62. g4 $5 {I guess this is the way most people would play.} ({The computer's
} 62. Kb3 $1 {is a curious move. After} Kc6 {, it is not a repetition, as
White's king is better placed. Everything wins, including} 63. Rf7 $5 Nxg2 64.
h5 Ne3 65. h6 Nd5 66. h7 Rh8 67. Rg7 Nf6 {A last trap.} 68. Rg8 $1 {and White
wins.} (68. Rg6 $2 Kb7 69. Rxf6 Rxh7 70. Ra6 Ka8 {is only a draw.})) 62... Ne6
63. Rf7 Nc7 64. h5 Rxa7+ 65. Kb3 {White is completely winning.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.??.??"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Asked to annotate a game by Giri from Wijk aan Zee, it was natural to choose
his most complicated and enterprising game. His opponent, Vachier-Legrave,
lost three games in the Najdorf, clearly unable to remember his analysis in
the games against Grandelius and Caruana. With a total of four losses he
tumbled 10 places down the World rankings to no. 15. Not a good look before
the conclusion of the Candidates Tournament in March.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4
cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 {[#]} 8. g4 $5 {Very off-beat
line.} O-O (8... h6 {is potentially more critical. We can only guess at what
Giri was intending. I believe he wanted to go all in with} 9. Be3 b5 (9... O-O
$2 10. Rg1 {would give White a brutal attack.}) 10. g5 hxg5 11. Nxg5 {with a
very double edged position.}) 9. g5 Nh5 $5 $146 {I assume that Giri had not
looked too deeply at this move, as soon his opening does not turn out well.} (
9... Ne8 {was the only move played on high level previously.} 10. Be3 Nc7 11.
Qd2 Nd7 12. h4 b5 {was played in Timofeev – Smirnov, Samara 2014. After} 13.
O-O-O $5 $146 {, the game would be double-edged.}) 10. Bc4 ({Giri thought for
over 10 minutes and decided to bring out the pieces with normal moves.
Checking everyone's favourite computer programs, we see that White supposedly
has a miniscule edge after} 10. h4 Be6 11. Nh2 $5 Nf4 12. Bxf4 exf4 13. Qd2 {
, although Black should be fine if he plays actively.}) 10... Be6 11. Bb3 g6
12. Be3 Nd7 13. Qd2 Rc8 14. O-O-O Nc5 15. Bxc5 Rxc5 (15... dxc5 $5 {with the
idea} 16. Qxd8 Bxd8 {was an interesting alternative. The play is quite sharp:}
17. Bd5 Nf4 {with counterattack against h3. And after} 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Rd7 b5
20. h4 {Black can force a draw with} Ng2 21. Rh3 Nf4 {at least.}) 16. h4 Nf4 $2
(16... Qa5 $1 17. Kb1 Rxc3 $1 18. Qxc3 (18. bxc3 Bg4 19. Qe3 Nf4 {would offer
Black a lot of compensation in a complex middlegame.}) 18... Qxc3 19. bxc3 Bg4
20. Rd3 Nf4 21. Re3 Ng2 {with a draw.} (21... Bd8 22. Nd2 b5 {would give
compensation for the exchange, but I doubt Black could ever have a real chance
of being better, so MVL would not go for it.})) 17. Kb1 $2 (17. Ne1 $1 {
with the idea Nd3 would give White a nice plus.}) 17... Qa5 $2 ({Black had to
play} 17... Bg4 18. Qe3 Qc8 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Rxd5 Rxd5 21. Bxd5 Be6 {, where a
later ...f6-break will give him counterplay.}) 18. Ne1 $1 Rfc8 19. Nd3 Nxd3 20.
Qxd3 Rxc3 $1 {Black has no alternative. What else is his pieces going to do,
while White attacks on the kingside.} 21. bxc3 d5 {[#]} (21... Rxc3 22. Qd2 Qc5
23. h5 {looks scary for Black too.}) {The first critical moment in the game.
Traditionally, seeing things he does not see quickly, is a big weakness for
Giri. Also here it does not seem that he realised he had serious alternatives.}
22. exd5 $2 (22. Qd2 $3 {would have destroyed Black's position. The key point
is that Black cannot take with a gain of tempo on e4 anymore. After} Ba3 {
23.h5!? Black is under a serious attack.} ({And} 22... dxe4 $6 {is totally
hopeless.} 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. Qd7 {leads to a collapse of the black position.}))
22... Bf5 23. Qd2 Bd6 $1 {Blacking the pawn for now and preparing counterplay
on the dark squares.} 24. c4 Qb6 25. Ka1 {[#]} a5 {This is not really a
mistake, but is the start of Black drifting into a worse position.} (25... e4
$1 {was the best move. Black could get serious counterplay on the dark squares.
There are variations possible, but nothing is very forcing, so they are for
illustration only.} 26. Rhe1 Be5+ 27. c3 Qa5 28. Re3 b5 {with lots of action
and very uncertain outcomes.}) 26. c3 a4 27. Bc2 e4 {Keeping the game muddled
up.} (27... Bxc2 $5 28. Qxc2 Rxc4 {with compensation was simpler.}) 28. Bxa4
Rxc4 29. Bb3 Rc5 {This is a bit artificial. The rook was better off on the 8th
rank.} 30. Rhe1 Be5 31. Re3 Qd6 32. Kb2 b5 33. a3 Rc8 {Clearly a tempo lost.
Black is still OK, but justifying the material investment requires some good
moves down the road.} 34. Ra1 {[#]} b4 $5 {It is not obvious that it is in
Black's interest to clarify the situation. Maybe he was better of with a wait
and see strategy.} 35. axb4 Qxb4 36. d6 $1 {This has two advantages. It gets
the passed pawn moving and it prepares for attacks on the f7-pawn.} Rb8 37. Ra3
{MVL had plenty of time left, but now lost the tread.} Qb7 (37... Qb5 $1 {
would be a strong prophylactic move, eyeing a potential check on f1.}) 38. Kc1
$1 {Black is under a lot of pressure.} Qd7 $2 {Passive play is not possible
when you are playing for compensation.} ({Black could still have held
everything together with} 38... Qb5 $1 39. d7 Bxd7 40. Rxe4 Qc5 $3 {, where
the position remains terribly complicated. White has an exchange and a pawn,
but no clear way to untangle his position after a move like 41.Kb2. And after}
41. Bxf7+ Kxf7 42. Qxd7+ Kf8 $1 43. Qa4 {Black escapes with} Qxf2 44. Rxe5 Qf1+
{with a perpetual after 45.Kc2 Qf2, and enough counterplay against the king
after} 45. Qd1 Rb1+ 46. Kxb1 Qxd1+ 47. Kb2 Qd2+ 48. Kb3 Qd1+ {to make the draw
there too.}) 39. Qd5 Bxd6 {With real time left for move 40, Giri had the
chance to calculate all the way to a clear conclusion.} 40. Ra6 $1 Rd8 41. Rxd6
$1 {Clarity is precious.} Qxd6 42. Qxf7+ Kh8 43. Qf6+ Qxf6 44. gxf6 Rd6 {[#]}
45. f3 $1 {The key point.} Rxf6 (45... exf3 46. Re8#) 46. fxe4 Be6 {Hoping
that there is a chance of survival in the rook ending.} 47. e5 {Giri has
everything under control. If he didn't, he would have played} (47. Bd5 {
, where he is also completely winning.}) 47... Rf1+ 48. Kb2 Bxb3 49. Kxb3 Kg7 {
[#]} {Giri is excellent in converting clear advantages. This is why Firouzja
was so successful defending a lost endgame against him; by creating some
imbalances.} 50. c4 $1 {Usually we would push the most advanced passed pawn.
But in this case, the e-pawn is easily blocked, so it will be the c-pawn's
turn to go.} (50. e6 Kf8 51. e7+ Ke8 52. c4 Rf7 $1 {is an important point.})
50... Rb1+ 51. Ka4 Kf7 52. c5 Ke6 53. c6 {Black cannot take the e-pawn now.
White won easily.} Rc1 54. Kb5 Rc2 55. Re1 Rc3 56. Kb6 Rb3+ 57. Ka6 Ra3+ 58.
Kb6 Rb3+ 59. Ka6 Ra3+ 60. Kb7 Rb3+ 61. Kc8 Rb4 62. c7 Rxh4 {[#]} 63. Rc1 $1 (
63. Kd8 $2 Rd4+ 64. Ke8 Rc4 {would have allowed Black to escape with a draw.
No such luck!}) 63... Rf4 64. Kb7 Rf7 65. Re1 $1 {There is no reason to let go
of the e-pawn.} g5 66. Kb8 Rf8+ 67. c8=Q+ Rxc8+ 68. Kxc8 h5 69. Kc7 h4 70. Kc6
1-0

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters playoff"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2021.01.31"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2021.01.31"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{After two nervy five-minute games, Giri and van Foreest had to play an
Armageddon game, with White getting 5 minutes and Black 4, with 3 seconds per
move added after move sixty. After the arbiters drew lots Giri took the White
pieces, meaning that van Foreest had draw odds.} 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 c5
4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 e6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bg3 h6 8. Bb5 Be7 9. Ne5 Qb6 10. a4 O-O 11.
O-O a6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. b4 Be7 15. a5 Qb7 16. Nd3 Nd7 17. Nb3
Qb5 18. Nd4 Qb7 19. Rb1 Nf6 20. Nc5 Bxc5 21. bxc5 Qd7 22. Rb6 Ne4 {The
commentators originally lauded the following knight-jumps by van Foreest, but
as it turns out, Black is struggling mightly here.} 23. Rxc6 Nxc3 24. Qc2 Nb5
25. Rb6 Na3 26. c6 $2 {So tempting, but flawed!} ({With} 26. Qc3 $1 Nc4 27. c6
Qe7 28. e4 {White's pieces are full of life, and if Black tries} Nxb6 29. axb6
{the two passed pawns spell doom for Black.}) 26... Nxc2 27. cxd7 Nxd4 28. exd4
({One suspects that Girl overlooked} 28. dxc8=Q $2 Ne2+ $1 {on his 26th move.
The position is now just equal.}) 28... Bxd7 29. Rc1 Bb5 30. Bd6 Rfc8 31. Bc5
Rc7 32. Re1 Rac8 33. f4 h5 34. Kf2 Kh7 35. h3 Kg6 36. g4 hxg4 37. hxg4 Rc6 38.
Rb7 R8c7 39. Rb8 Rc8 40. Rb7 R8c7 41. Rxc7 Rxc7 {[#] It's hard to see how
White can make progress, but in a blitz game, anything can happen... and here,
it does!} 42. Re5 Bd7 43. Rg5+ Kh7 44. Bf8 g6 45. Re5 f6 46. Re3 Kg8 47. Bc5
Rb7 48. Bb6 Bb5 $6 49. Rxe6 Kf7 50. Re1 Re7 51. Rc1 Re4 52. Kf3 Be2+ 53. Kg3
Re3+ 54. Kf2 Re4 55. Rc7+ Ke8 56. g5 Rxf4+ $4 {Winning a pawn but losing a
piece!} 57. Kxe2 fxg5 58. Ra7 g4 {With almost no time for both players, the
DGT board could not keep up with the pieces flying about, and the move
transmission ended about here with Giri appearing to have everything under
control. So imagine everyone's surprise when we discovered what actually
transpired!} 59. Rxa6 g3 60. Ra7 $4 g2 $1 {There's no way to stop the g-pawn
from queening!} 61. Ra8+ Kd7 62. Rd8+ Ke7 {Giri resigned, giving van Foreest
the tournament victory.} 0-1

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2021.01.31"]
[Round "13.4"]
[White "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Black "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2663"]
[Annotator "Watson"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[Tiebreak "Koya+Number of wins"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This game was arguably the most important of the tournament,as it led to the
eventual winner reaching the playoff.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4
Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Qd3 {An excellent practical choice for the last round, since
Van Foreest needed a win.} Nbd7 {Giri suggests this in his Najdorf Sicilian:
Lifetime Repertoire course on chessable.com. Van Foreest anticipated that it
might well be Grandelius' choice.} ({The Swedish number one had already faced
6 Qd3 in a game against Carlsen four rounds earlier. Black was under a little
pressure after} 6... e6 7. a4 Nc6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. Qg3 Bb7 10. Be2 {and
eventually lost.}) 7. Be2 b5 (7... Nc5 8. Qe3 e5 {has been played in numerous
games}) 8. a4 Nc5 $1 ({Giri's recommendation. Two earlier games had gone} 8...
b4 9. Nd5 Bb7 10. Nxf6+ (10. Qc4 $1 {with the idea} Nxd5 11. exd5) 10... Nxf6
11. Bf3 $14) 9. Qe3 b4 10. Nd5 Ncxe4 11. a5 {A new idea. Giri analyses two
other moves, i.e.,} (11. Nxb4 {, when a direct line is} e5 ({more ambitious} 
11... Qc7 {, e.g.,} 12. f3 Nc5 13. O-O g6 14. Rd1 Bg7) 12. Ndc6 Qc7 13. Bf3 Bb7
14. Bxe4 Nxe4 15. Qxe4 Rc8 16. Qe2 Bxc6 17. Qxa6 Bxg2 18. Qb5+ Qd7 19. Rg1 Be4)
(11. Nc6 $5 {is messy and balanced, for example,} Nxd5 12. Qxe4 Nf6 13. Qd4 $5
Qc7 14. Nxb4 Bb7 15. O-O e5 16. Qc3 Qxc3 17. bxc3 Be7 18. Rd1 O-O) 11... Nxd5
12. Qxe4 e6 (12... Bb7 13. c4 $5 bxc3 14. Bd1 $1 Qc8 15. Ba4+ Kd8 16. O-O {
gives interesting play for a pawn. The engine likes Black, but in practice
Black's king position will make life difficult for him.}) 13. O-O Bd7 ({
My engine likes} 13... Bb7 {, but again, in practice,} 14. c4 bxc3 15. Bd1 {
with the idea Ba4+ isobviously scary.}) 14. Bd2 Be7 15. Bf3 O-O 16. Qd3 Qb8 17.
c4 {Van Foreest said that he and his coach had this position on the board
before the game and that the engine gave White a small advantage after 17 c4,
but that he didn't know what to do with it afterwards. A remarkable example of
modern preparation, since the whole line beginning with 8 a4 is so little
known.} bxc3 $1 18. bxc3 Ra7 $2 (18... Bf6 $1 {was the way to reorganize, with
the point} 19. c4 (19. Rfb1 Qa7) 19... Qa7 $1 {, e.g.,} 20. Nb3 Bxa1 21. Rxa1
Nf6 22. Be3 Qb8 23. Bxa8 Qxa8 24. Qxd6 Bc6 $11) 19. Rfb1 Qc8 20. c4 Nf6 {[#]}
21. Nb5 $1 {A pretty sacrifice, which took courage to play under the
high-stakes circumstances.} axb5 22. cxb5 Bxb5 {It's easy to say this is
forced because of the passed pawns, but White had to be sure there was no
blockade. One line is} (22... Nd5 23. Bxd5 ({or} 23. b6 Qa6 24. Qxa6 $1 Rxa6
25. Be2) 23... exd5 24. b6 Bf5 25. Qb5 Bxb1 26. Rxb1 {and Black has to return
the rook and more by} Ra8 27. b7 Qc2 28. bxa8=Q Rxa8 29. Qb7) 23. Qxb5 Nd7 {
Right after the game, Van Foreest said that he was surprised by this move and
expected} (23... d5 {. The may be better, but} 24. Be3 Ra8 25. a6 {is
nevertheless terribly difficult to defend against.}) ({Best is probably} 23...
Nd5 24. Bxd5 exd5 25. Qxd5 {, but the a-pawn is still terribly strong.}) 24.
Bb7 Qd8 25. a6 Bf6 26. Ba5 $5 {A good move, but it turns out that} (26. Be3 $1
{is better still, for example,} Nc5 (26... Bxa1 $2 27. Bxa7 Bf6 28. Be3 Qe7 29.
a7) 27. Ra2 Qc7 28. Rd2 Be7 29. Rc1 Rd8 30. g3 h6 31. Rc3 {and Black is
running out of moves, e.g.,} Bf6 32. Rxc5 $1 dxc5 33. Rxd8+ Qxd8 (33... Bxd8
34. Bxc5) 34. Qxc5 Qd1+ 35. Kg2 $18) 26... Qe8 27. Bc7 $5 ({It's difficult to
see, but} 27. Ra2 $1 Bd4 28. Rd2 Bc5 29. Bb4 {is more accurate.}) 27... Bxa1
28. Rxa1 $5 {White chooses what seems to be a safe advantage. The engines and
various commentators all proclaimed that} (28. Bxd6 $1 {was winning, but it's
not so easy, for example, you have to calculate} Bd4 29. Bxf8 Kxf8 30. Rc1 Nc5
$1 31. Rxc5 Qxb5 32. Rxb5 {and assess it as winning, which is not at all clear
to me. Who would choose this over the board?}) 28... d5 $2 {As always, the
clock is a factor. Black has the nice trick} (28... Nc5 $1 29. Qb6 Qd7 $1 {
with the idea} 30. Bxd6 (30. h4 Nxa6 31. Rxa6 Rxa6 32. Bxa6 d5 $14) 30... Qxb7
$1 31. Bxc5 Rfa8 {and a draw will result.}) 29. Bd6 Qd8 30. Rc1 (30. Bxf8 Nxf8
31. Rc1 {looks killing, but} Qd6 32. g3 h5 33. Rc6 Qe5 34. Qb6 Qe1+ 35. Kg2
Qe4+ {isn't worth allowing unless you're absolutely clear that} 36. Kf1 {
is winning.}) 30... g6 $2 (30... Re8 31. h3 $1 {threatens Rc7} (31. Rc7 Nb8 $1
32. Rc8 $2 Qxc8)) 31. h3 Re8 32. Rc7 Nf6 $5 {At least this prepares some
tricks.} (32... Nb8 33. Rc8 Qxc8 34. Bxc8 Rxc8 35. Bxb8 Rxa6 {, and now} 36.
Be5 $1 {is much easier than} (36. Qxa6 Rxb8)) 33. Be5 Ne4 34. Qc6 $1 Rf8 35.
Bd4 (35. Rc8 Qe7 36. f3 {was simpler.}) 35... Qb8 36. f3 Rxa6 $1 {An ingenious
counterattack which only just falls short.} 37. Bxa6 Qb4 38. Be5 $1 (38. fxe4
$4 Qxd4+ 39. Kh2 Qe5+ 40. g3 Qb2+ 41. Qc2 Qxc2+ 42. Rxc2 dxe4 $11) 38... Qe1+
39. Kh2 Nf2 {Imagine playing this in time trouble.} 40. Qc3 $1 Qh1+ 41. Kg3 Qg1
42. Rc8 Nh1+ 43. Kh4 Qf2+ 44. g3 g5+ $1 {A last stab} 45. Kxg5 f6+ 46. Kh6 $1
fxe5 (46... Qa7 47. Rxf8+ Kxf8 48. Bd6+ Kf7 49. Qc8 {will mate.}) 47. Qxe5 (47.
Qxe5 {White threatens both Qg7# and Qh8+! , and} Qxg3 48. Qxe6+ {also mates. A
nerve-shattering struggle!}) 1-0

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Asked to annotate a game by Giri from Wijk aan Zee, it was natural to choose
his most complicated and enterprising game. His opponent, Vachier-Legrave,
lost three games in the Najdorf, clearly unable to remember his analysis in
the games against Grandelius and Caruana. With a total of four losses he
tumbled 10 places down the World rankings to no. 15. Not a good look before
the conclusion of the Candidates Tournament in March.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4
cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. g4 $5 {Very off-beat line.}
O-O (8... h6 {is potentially more critical. We can only guess at what Giri was
intending. I believe he wanted to go all in with} 9. Be3 b5 (9... O-O $2 10.
Rg1 {would give White a brutal attack.}) 10. g5 hxg5 11. Nxg5 {with a very
double edged position.}) 9. g5 Nh5 $5 $146 {I assume that Giri had not looked
too deeply at this move, as soon his opening does not turn out well.} (9... Ne8
{was the only move played on high level previously.} 10. Be3 Nc7 11. Qd2 Nd7
12. h4 b5 {was played in Timofeev – Smirnov, Samara 2014. After} 13. O-O-O $5
$146 {, the game would be double-edged.}) 10. Bc4 ({Giri thought for over 10
minutes and decided to bring out the pieces with normal moves. Checking
everyone's favourite computer programs, we see that White supposedly has a
miniscule edge after} 10. h4 Be6 11. Nh2 $5 Nf4 12. Bxf4 exf4 13. Qd2 {,
although Black should be fine if he plays actively.}) 10... Be6 11. Bb3 g6 12.
Be3 Nd7 13. Qd2 Rc8 14. O-O-O Nc5 15. Bxc5 Rxc5 (15... dxc5 $5 {with the idea}
16. Qxd8 Bxd8 {was an interesting alternative. The play is quite sharp:} 17.
Bd5 Nf4 {with counterattack against h3. And after} 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Rd7 b5 20.
h4 {Black can force a draw with} Ng2 21. Rh3 Nf4 {at least.}) 16. h4 Nf4 $2 (
16... Qa5 $1 17. Kb1 Rxc3 $1 18. Qxc3 (18. bxc3 Bg4 19. Qe3 Nf4 {would offer
Black a lot of compensation in a complex middlegame.}) 18... Qxc3 19. bxc3 Bg4
20. Rd3 Nf4 21. Re3 Ng2 {with a draw.} (21... Bd8 22. Nd2 b5 {would give
compensation for the exchange, but I doubt Black could ever have a real chance
of being better, so MVL would not go for it.})) 17. Kb1 $2 (17. Ne1 $1 {
with the idea Nd3 would give White a nice plus.}) 17... Qa5 $2 ({Black had to
play} 17... Bg4 18. Qe3 Qc8 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Rxd5 Rxd5 21. Bxd5 Be6 {, where a
later ...f6-break will give him counterplay.}) 18. Ne1 $1 Rfc8 19. Nd3 Nxd3 20.
Qxd3 Rxc3 $1 {Black has no alternative. What else is his pieces going to do,
while White attacks on the kingside.} 21. bxc3 d5 {[#]} (21... Rxc3 22. Qd2 Qc5
23. h5 {looks scary for Black too.}) {The first critical moment in the game.
Traditionally, seeing things he does not see quickly, is a big weakness for
Giri. Also here it does not seem that he realised he had serious alternatives.}
22. exd5 $2 (22. Qd2 $3 {would have destroyed Black's position. The key point
is that Black cannot take with a gain of tempo on e4 anymore. After} Ba3 {
23.h5!? Black is under a serious attack.} ({And} 22... dxe4 $6 {is totally
hopeless.} 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. Qd7 {leads to a collapse of the black position.}))
22... Bf5 23. Qd2 Bd6 $1 {Blacking the pawn for now and preparing counterplay
on the dark squares.} 24. c4 Qb6 25. Ka1 a5 {This is not really a mistake, but
is the start of Black drifting into a worse position.} (25... e4 $1 {was the
best move. Black could get serious counterplay on the dark squares. There are
variations possible, but nothing is very forcing, so they are for illustration
only.} 26. Rhe1 Be5+ 27. c3 Qa5 28. Re3 b5 {with lots of action and very
uncertain outcomes.}) 26. c3 a4 27. Bc2 e4 {Keeping the game muddled up.} (
27... Bxc2 $5 28. Qxc2 Rxc4 {with compensation was simpler.}) 28. Bxa4 Rxc4 29.
Bb3 Rc5 {This is a bit artificial. The rook was better off on the 8th rank.}
30. Rhe1 Be5 31. Re3 Qd6 32. Kb2 b5 33. a3 Rc8 {Clearly a tempo lost. Black is
still OK, but justifying the material investment requires some good moves down
the road.} 34. Ra1 b4 $5 {It is not obvious that it is in Black's interest to
clarify the situation. Maybe he was better of with a wait and see strategy.}
35. axb4 Qxb4 36. d6 $1 {This has two advantages. It gets the passed pawn
moving and it prepares for attacks on the f7-pawn.} Rb8 37. Ra3 {MVL had
plenty of time left, but now lost the tread.} Qb7 (37... Qb5 $1 {would be a
strong prophylactic move, eyeing a potential check on f1.}) 38. Kc1 $1 {
Black is under a lot of pressure.} Qd7 $2 {Passive play is not possible when
you are playing for compensation.} ({Black could still have held everything
together with} 38... Qb5 $1 39. d7 Bxd7 40. Rxe4 Qc5 $3 {, where the position
remains terribly complicated. White has an exchange and a pawn, but no clear
way to untangle his position after a move like 41.Kb2. And after} 41. Bxf7+
Kxf7 42. Qxd7+ Kf8 $1 43. Qa4 {Black escapes with} Qxf2 44. Rxe5 Qf1+ {with a
perpetual after 45.Kc2 Qf2, and enough counterplay against the king after} 45.
Qd1 Rb1+ 46. Kxb1 Qxd1+ 47. Kb2 Qd2+ 48. Kb3 Qd1+ {to make the draw there too.}
) 39. Qd5 Bxd6 {With real time left for move 40, Giri had the chance to
calculate all the way to a clear conclusion.} 40. Ra6 $1 Rd8 41. Rxd6 $1 {
Clarity is precious.} Qxd6 42. Qxf7+ Kh8 43. Qf6+ Qxf6 44. gxf6 Rd6 45. f3 $1 {
The key point.} Rxf6 (45... exf3 46. Re8#) 46. fxe4 Be6 {Hoping that there is
a chance of survival in the rook ending.} 47. e5 {Giri has everything under
control. If he didn't, he would have played} (47. Bd5 {, where he is also
completely winning.}) 47... Rf1+ 48. Kb2 Bxb3 49. Kxb3 Kg7 {[#]} {Giri is
excellent in converting clear advantages. This is why Firouzja was so
successful defending a lost endgame against him; by creating some imbalances.}
50. c4 $1 {Usually we would push the most advanced passed pawn. But in this
case, the e-pawn is easily blocked, so it will be the c-pawn's turn to go.} (
50. e6 Kf8 51. e7+ Ke8 52. c4 Rf7 $1 {is an important point.}) 50... Rb1+ 51.
Ka4 Kf7 52. c5 Ke6 53. c6 {Black cannot take the e-pawn now. White won easily.}
Rc1 54. Kb5 Rc2 55. Re1 Rc3 56. Kb6 Rb3+ 57. Ka6 Ra3+ 58. Kb6 Rb3+ 59. Ka6 Ra3+
60. Kb7 Rb3+ 61. Kc8 Rb4 62. c7 Rxh4 {[#]} 63. Rc1 $1 (63. Kd8 $2 Rd4+ 64. Ke8
Rc4 {would have allowed Black to escape with a draw. No such luck!}) 63... Rf4
64. Kb7 Rf7 65. Re1 $1 {There is no reason to let go of the e-pawn.} g5 66. Kb8
Rf8+ 67. c8=Q+ Rxc8+ 68. Kxc8 h5 69. Kc7 h4 70. Kc6 1-0

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2021.01.24"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Esipenko, Andrey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "2677"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. g4
b5 $5 9. g5 Nfd7 10. a3 $1 Bxg5 11. Qd2 Bxe3 12. Qxe3 {White has excellent
compensation for the pawn.} Qh4 $6 13. Rg1 g6 14. O-O-O Qe7 15. f4 Bb7 16. Kb1
Nc6 $2 {[#] This developing move is a surprising error by the World Champion,
but Black was already in difficulties.} ({It's far too risky to try} 16... O-O
{as White will just open lines to the king with} 17. h4 {.}) ({The engine
suggests} 16... Nc5 {when White blasts open the center with} 17. e5 d5 18. f5 {
with terrific initiative.}) {Now Esipenko pounces.} 17. Ncxb5 $1 axb5 18. Nxc6
Bxc6 19. Qc3 {[%csl Gb5,Gd6][%cal Gc3h8,Gc3c6] A classic double attack,
retaining the material with interest. The weaknesses on b5 and d6 will prove
Black's downfall.} O-O 20. Qxc6 d5 21. exd5 Rfc8 22. d6 $1 {Precise.} Qd8 (
22... Rxc6 {fails to} 23. dxe7 {.}) 23. Qxb5 Rcb8 24. Qc4 Rxa3 25. Qc7 $1 Qe8
26. Rg5 $1 {The last difficult move for White, activating the rook and
bringing it to the queenside to snuff out any Black counterplay.} Ra4 27. Ra5
Rab4 28. b3 R4b7 29. Qc3 Qd8 30. Bf3 Rb4 31. Qc7 Qf6 32. Ra8 Rxa8 33. Bxa8 Qf5
34. Kb2 Rb5 35. Qxd7 Rc5 36. Rc1 Qxf4 37. Qe8+ Kg7 38. d7 1-0

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2021.01.26"]
[Round "9.4"]
[White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[Annotator "Watson"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[Tiebreak "Koya+Number of wins"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 (6... Bg4 {would
transpose after 7 0-0 e5, but White more often plays} 7. Be3 {, and if} e5 8.
d5 {, White can benefit from not having played 0-0, for example,} a5 9. h3 Bd7
10. g4 {or 10 Nd2 is a very good version of the h3 systems in the King's
Indian.}) 7. O-O Bg4 $5 {A rare variation which has only recently gained the
attention of a few strong players. This is its first test on an elite level.}
8. Be3 (8. d5 {is an important alternative. Black can set up by} a5 9. Be3 Na6
{, with the feature that after h3 at some point, ...Bd7 retains Black's usual .
..f5 counterattacking ideas. Similarly,} 10. Nd2 Bd7 {has been played in
recent GM games.}) 8... Bxf3 $1 (8... Nc6 9. d5 {and}) (8... Nfd7 9. d5 {
both give White long-term advantages, with space and either the bishop pair or,
if the light-square bishops are exchanged, the better bishop.}) 9. Bxf3 exd4 $1
{A new move that has revived 7...Bg4. The idea is very concrete. Otherwise
White gets d5 in with a serious positional advantage.} 10. Bxd4 Nc6 11. Be3 Re8
{Pressure on the e-pawn is key. Alternatively,} (11... Nd7 12. Qd2 (12. Rc1)
12... Nc5 {might be tried} (12... Re8 {transposes to the game}) {, although}
13. Bh6 {limits Black's dynamic potential.}) 12. Qd2 ({Some inspiration for
Caruana's idea may have come from the instructive game E Gubsky-M Antipov,
Sochi 2019, which continued} 12. Qc2 h5 13. h3 Nd7 14. Rad1 Bxc3 $1 15. Qxc3
Qf6 $1 16. Qb3 (16. Qxf6 Nxf6 {and White can't defend his e-pawn}) 16... Nc5 $1
(16... Rab8 $11) 17. Qc2 (17. Bxc5 dxc5 18. Qxb7 Ne5 19. Be2 Rab8 20. Qxc7 Rxb2
{with ample compensation}) 17... Re5 $5 18. Rfe1 Rae8 19. Bc1 R5e7 {and White
is tied to the defence of the e-pawn, while ...Nd4 or ...Ne6 might follow, E
Gubsky - M Antipov, Sochi 2019}) 12... Nd7 13. Rad1 {[#]} Bxc3 $1 {As in
Gubsky-Antipov.This exchange provoked some interesting Twitter reactions, with
the massively knowledgeable Ivan Sokolov exclaiming "If this decision is good
for Black, I need to learn chess again." and Nigel Short adding "I viewed 
[Caruana's] 13...Bxc3!? with the same mixture of shock, horror and revulsion
that a Victorian clergyman would have had upon reading Charles Darwin's "On
the Origin of Species" for the first time." In fact, you could look at this as
a move that will be forced, now or soon thereafter, if Black is to avoid being
squeezed to death by the bishops.} ({A correspondence game saw the similar
theme} 13... Nc5 14. Rfe1 a5 15. b3 Bxc3 $1 16. Qxc3 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Rxe4 18. Bh6
Re5 19. Rxe5 Nxe5 20. f4 Qh4 21. fxe5 Qxh6 22. exd6 cxd6 23. Rxd6 Re8 24. h3
Qh4 25. Qd4 {1/2-1/2 A Sirota - V Salceanu, ICCF email 2000}) 14. Qxc3 Qf6 $1 {
It's important to realize that if White gets time to consolidate, he's simply
better, since two bishops and space are permanent advantages. Indeed, these
are the reasons Black seldom plays 7...Bg4 and ...exd4, much less ...Bxc3,
leading to serious dark-square kingside weaknesses on Black's kingside. There
are a couple of other King's Indian variations in which Black plays this
combination of three moves, but with very accurate play White tends to retain
a long-term advantage. In the game, because White can't exchange queens
without losing his e-pawn and ...Qxc3 is threatened, Black gains time to tie
down White's pieces to defense of the e-pawn.} 15. Qc1 ({A sample continuation
after} 15. Qd2 {is} Nc5 ({or} 15... Qe6 16. b3 Nc5) 16. b4 $5 (16. Qc2 a5 {
leaves White without a lot of useful moves, and ....Re7/...Rae8 can follow})
16... Nxe4 17. Qc2 Ng5 18. Bd5 Ne6 19. Qd2 Rab8 20. Rfe1 Ne5 $1 21. f4 Ng4 22.
Bxa7 Ra8 23. h3 Rxa7 24. hxg4 Rea8 {, which is dynamically equal.}) ({After} 
15. Qxf6 Nxf6 16. c5 $1 dxc5 17. Bxc5 Nxe4 18. Be3 Re7 19. Rfe1 Rae8 {,
White's bishop pair gives him compensation for the pawn, but nothing more.})
15... Nc5 {Black threatens e4, but also intends ...a5 and doubling on the open
e-file.} 16. Qb1 $5 {Caruana was critical of this. It would be depressing, but
White could consider bailing out with} (16. Bg5 Qg7 17. Bh6 Qf6 18. Bg5 (18.
Rfe1 $2 Ne5 19. Be2 Nxe4)) 16... Qe6 $5 (16... a5 $1 {is safe and sound; I
prefer Black.}) 17. Rfe1 (17. b4 $5 Nxe4 18. Rc1 $1 {gives White surprising
compensation, e.g.,} Re7 19. b5 Na5 20. Rfe1 Rae8 21. Bxa7 f5 22. Bd4 Nxc4)
17... Qxc4 18. b3 Qc3 19. Bd2 Qf6 20. Bc1 {Finally getting to the weakened
long diagonal.} h5 $5 (20... Ne5 21. Be2 g5 {is another sound setup.}) 21. Bb2
Ne5 22. Be2 h4 23. Qc1 {Threatening f4.} g5 24. Bb5 $6 ({My engine suggests} 
24. b4 $1 Ne6 (24... Nxe4 $5 25. f3 {, although} Ng3 26. hxg3 hxg3 {is wild
and unclear}) 25. Bg4 Qf4 26. Bxe6 Rxe6 27. Bxe5 Qxc1 28. Rxc1 dxe5 29. Rxc7
Rb6 30. a3 a5 $11) 24... Re7 25. Re3 Qg6 (25... Ne6 $1 $15) 26. Be2 (26. Bxe5
$1 Rxe5 27. b4 Ne6 28. Bd7 {, for example,} a5 $5 29. Bxe6 Qxe6 30. Qxc7 axb4
$11) 26... Rae8 27. Qc2 Ne6 (27... g4 $1) 28. f3 $2 (28. h3) 28... Nf4 29. Bf1
c6 {Black has superb knights and an attack to go along with his pawn.} 30. Qf2
Re6 31. Rc3 d5 32. g3 $4 {A blunder.} (32. Re3 {is better, but} dxe4 33. Rxe4
Qf5 {follows.}) 32... hxg3 33. hxg3 dxe4 (33... g4 $1 {is terribly strong.})
34. gxf4 $2 (34. fxe4 Nh5 35. Qf5 $1 Qh6 $1 36. Bc1 Rg6 {and Black is still
much better, but it's a fight.}) 34... gxf4+ 35. Qg2 exf3 ({Not} 35... Nxf3+
36. Rxf3 exf3 37. Qxg6+ fxg6 38. Bc4 $11) 36. Qxg6+ Rxg6+ 37. Kh1 f2 38. Bh3
Nc4 $1 39. Rxc4 Re1+ 0-1

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2021.01.21"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Tari, Aryan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2679"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Watson"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/2p5/2p3k1/1p2Br2/p4P1R/7P/bP4P1/6K1 w - - 0 37"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] After a well-played middlegame, White has reached a position with three
passed pawns and even some threats against Black's king. Although Black has a
few queenside threats, this looks fairly easy; the main problem is time
trouble.} 37. Rh8 $1 b4 38. Rb8 (38. Ra8 $1 {is clearer still:} a3 (38... Bb3
39. g4 Rf7 40. f5+ Kh6 41. h4 $1) 39. bxa3 b3 40. Rb8 c5 41. Kf2 c4 42. Ke3) ({
On the other hand,} 38. g4 $5 Rxe5 $1 39. fxe5 c5 40. Ra8 $4 (40. Kf2) 40... a3
$1 41. bxa3 b3 {will only draw.}) 38... c5 39. Rb5 $2 (39. Kf2 $1 b3 40. Ke3 c4
41. Kd4 a3 42. Kc3 {gets to the queenside just in time.}) 39... b3 {Okay, but}
(39... Rxe5 $1 40. fxe5 b3 41. Rxc5 a3 42. bxa3 b2 43. Rb5 b1=Q+ 44. Rxb1 Bxb1
{is an easy draw. The sort of trick that drives you crzay when battling the
clock.}) 40. Rxc5 Rxe5 41. Rxe5 a3 42. bxa3 b2 43. Rb5 b1=Q+ 44. Rxb1 Bxb1 {
Can White win this? The widely separated rook pawns would seem to help, but
White's pawns aren't advanced enough to prevent a blockade.} 45. Kf2 Bc2 46. g4
c5 47. Ke3 Kf6 48. Kd2 {A draw looks inevitable, but White figures that he has
no losing chances and plays on a bit.} Ba4 49. h4 (49. Kc3 Bb5 50. h4 Kg6 51.
f5+ Kf6 {and the pawns are stopped.}) 49... Bd7 50. f5 Ba4 51. Ke3 c4 52. Kf4
$4 {I'm sure that White never dreamed he could actually lose such a position!
It was time to take the draw, e.g.,} (52. Kd4 Bd1 53. Kxc4 Bxg4 $11 {or}) (52.
Kd2 c3+ 53. Kxc3 Bd1) 52... c3 $1 53. g5+ Kf7 54. Ke3 c2 $4 {Doubtless there
was little time for thought. Out of nowhere, Black had} (54... Bb5 $1 55. a4
Bc4 {[#] and remarkably, White's king can't waste a tempo, so he simply has to
advance his pawns until they are all captured! I've never seen this idea and
don't doubt that I could have fallen for it myself. Play could go, for example,
} 56. a5 Ba6 57. h5 Kg7 58. h6+ Kh7 59. f6 Kg6 60. h7 Kxh7 61. f7 Kg7 62. g6
Kf8 63. Kf4 c2 {, etc.}) 55. Kd2 Kg7 56. h5 Bb3 57. Kc1 Ba4 58. Kb2 Bb3 59. Kc1
Ba4 60. Kb2 {A comedy of errors, but indicative of how difficult it is for
even very strong players to keep a clear head under pressure.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch U10 Girls"]
[Site "Bratislava"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Danilchenko, Mari"]
[Black "Krush, Irina"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B56"]
[Annotator "Krush"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/4kpp1/8/1B6/8/K3R3/5p2/2r1b3 b - - 0 63"]
[PlyCount "2"]
[EventDate "1993.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "SVK"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Diagram [#] One of the most memorable games of my life :) It was the last
round of the World Girls U-10 Championship; I was nine years old. I had 8/10
and if I'd win this ending with three extra pawns, I'd get to 9/11 and a tie
for first place with Georgian player Ana Matnadze (now IM). Alas, I kept my
king too safe...} 63... Kf8 $4 64. Re8# {I cried for a long time after this
game. I came in fourth place, just out of the medals! It took me another four
years to finally medal at a world youth event.} 1-0

[Event "American Continental 2nd"]
[Site "Buenos Aires"]
[Date "2003.08.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Zambrana, Oswaldo"]
[Black "Krush, Irina"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2404"]
[BlackElo "2449"]
[Annotator "Krush"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2003.08.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "ARG"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{In 2003, I learned the "boring" Petroff, quite a switch-up for a lifelong
Sicilian player. But the Petroff worked out to be a very exciting opening for
me, and in the summer of 2003 I won nice games in it against Ivan Cheparinov
and "the Zambrana". This was the final round of the American Continental
Championship, my first time in Argentina. I was so fond of this opening I was
planning to call my future dog "Petroff".} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4.
Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 c6 9. Qc2 Na6 10. a3 (10. Bxe4
dxe4 11. Qxe4 Re8 {gives Black compensation for the pawn.}) 10... f5 {A risky
move, but I guess I really liked the knight on e4.} 11. Nc3 Nc7 12. c5 Be7 13.
Ne2 Ne6 14. b4 Bf6 15. Bb2 Qc7 16. Nd2 Bg5 17. Nb3 Bd7 18. Bc1 f4 19. f3 Nf6
20. a4 g6 21. b5 Ng7 22. Rb1 (22. g4 $5 {is a very reasonable prophylactic
move, although he'd have to calculate sacs on g4. Probably my opponent didn't
sense the danger on the kingside yet.}) 22... Bf5 23. Bd2 Rfe8 24. Nec1 Kh8 25.
Na5 {Diagram [#]} Ne4 $1 {The first part of the concept I have been preparing.
I have to do something quickly, since White has made a lot of progress on the
queenside.} 26. Be1 {Diagram [#]} (26. bxc6 Nxd2 27. Qxd2 b6) 26... Ng3 $3 {
Pretty sure this is the only time in my life I put a piece en prise on two
consecutive moves :) I distinctly remember enjoying this part of the game.} 27.
hxg3 fxg3 {The concept is very simple: the g3 pawn is the anchor for the
attack on White's king. Black just needs to get the queen to the h-file.} 28.
f4 (28. Ne2 {would have allowed me to play more nice moves :) :} Rxe2 $1 29.
Qxe2 Re8 30. Qc2 Be3+ 31. Kh1 Qf4) 28... Rxe1 {Okay, this is still not too bad,
I'm giving away a good deal of material :)} ({A shame that I didn't play the
spectacular queen sacrifice} 28... Qxf4 $3 {which would be such a worthy
followup to the knight's efforts. After my game with Tatev at the 2020 US
Women's, when the commentators pointed out a splendid win I'd missed to crown
off my attack, I told them "I only have so much Mikhail Tal in me".} 29. Bxf5 {
Most likely this move was what I couldn't work out} (29. Rxf4 Rxe1+ 30. Rf1
Be3+ 31. Kh1 Rxf1+ 32. Bxf1 Bxc2 {here it's rather prosaic as White's whole
position is falling apart.}) 29... Rxe1 30. Rxe1 Nxf5 {Let's see, I am down a
rook, but I will quietly bring in my pieces and eventually mate the white king.
..} 31. Nab3 Rf8 {with ...Qh4 next.}) 29. Rxe1 Qxf4 30. Bxf5 Qxd4+ 31. Kf1 Rf8
32. Rb3 Bxc1 (32... Nxf5 $1 33. Rf3 Qh4 {was way better than what I did.}) 33.
Rf3 Nxf5 34. Qxc1 Qh4 35. Ke2 ({Due to my imprecision my opponent could have
found the only defense in:} 35. Qd1 $1 Qh1+ 36. Ke2 Qxg2+ 37. Kd3 {with the
key point that the queen protects the f3 rook. But he was in time trouble and
it's not a very easy move to spot.}) 35... Nd4+ {Diagram [#] I need to create
something like this at least one more time in my life :)} (35... Nd4+ 36. Kd2
Nxf3+ 37. gxf3 Rxf3 $19) 0-1

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.20"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Krush, Irina"]
[Black "Carlsson, Pontus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E55"]
[WhiteElo "2473"]
[BlackElo "2501"]
[Annotator "Krush"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{I played in Wijk aan Zee only once in my life, and it was definitely a
memorable tournament from the chess point of view. It's very long (13 rounds);
the place itself is cold and windy; I remember almost nothing about it except
the games. The start was quite rough for me; I was miscalculating a lot and so
early that I'd be defending bad positions without even getting a chance to
play. I remember climbing up on a sand dune one night and shouting into the
wind that I knew this was a test and I was going to get myself together and
pass it (don't worry, I was by myself, so no one else saw the craziness). And
I did turn it around, winning a bunch of games in the second half, including
against the eventual winner Caruana.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O
5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nbd7 9. Qb3 cxd4 10. exd4 Bxc3 11. bxc3
Qc7 12. Re1 b6 13. Ba3 Rd8 {Diagram [#] What a provocation :)} 14. Bxe6 fxe6
15. Qxe6+ Kh8 16. Ng5 Nf8 {Diagram [#] But here I just couldn't see the win...
there is no smothered mate. I felt like there should be something but I just
couldn't find it...so I spent something like 40 min on this move. It was very
satisfying to finally see it!} 17. Nf7+ (17. Qf7 Qf4 18. Bc1 Qf5 {is a key
defensive line for Black.}) 17... Kg8 18. Nh6+ Kh8 {Will there be a repetition?
} 19. Qf7 $1 {Ah, found you! The point is that the knight is much better on h6
than on g5 for this move.} Qf4 20. Bc1 {Diagram [#] No ...Qf5 here! And any
other move invites the famous smothered mate. I don't think I've ever gotten
so close to a smothered mate against a strong player.} Be6 21. Bxf4 Bxf7 22.
Nxf7+ Kg8 23. Nxd8 Rxd8 24. Be5 Nd5 25. c4 Nb4 26. Rab1 Nc6 27. c5 bxc5 28.
dxc5 Ne6 29. Bf6 Re8 30. Bc3 Kf7 31. Rb7+ Kg6 32. Rd7 Kf5 33. Rd5+ 1-0

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 9th"]
[Site "Caleta"]
[Date "2011.01.27"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Krush, Irina"]
[Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2483"]
[BlackElo "2678"]
[Annotator "Krush"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2011.01.25"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Gibraltar has been one of my favorite tournaments; there's no open tournament
abroad I've played more. I began playing it in 2007, and my most recent year
was 2016, so long ago now! Gibraltar has given me the chance to face so many
strong players; in my first ever event in 2007, I was paired in round 1
against Vladimir Akopian (2700). I think it was the only time in my life I
wore black leather pants to a game, but they gave me the confidence to win :)
Nisipeanu is a world class player so I was surprised myself at how smoothly
this game went.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3
h6 $5 {He wants to get off the beaten track, practically forcing me to develop
my bishop to b2...} 7. e3 b6 8. Nf3 Bb7 9. Be2 d6 10. b4 Ne4 11. Qc2 a5 12. Bb2
axb4 13. axb4 Rxa1+ 14. Bxa1 Ng5 {Diagram [#]} 15. Nd2 $1 {This is really the
only strong move of the game, but it's very typical. I don't mind giving the
g2 pawn for some initiative on the g-file.} Bxg2 16. Rg1 Bh3 (16... Bb7 17. d5
e5 18. f4) 17. d5 f6 (17... e5 18. f4) 18. dxe6 Nc6 19. f4 Nxe6 20. Rg3 Nxb4
21. Qb1 Qa8 22. Kf2 $1 {Strong players are tricky, so it's important not to
blunder anything :)} (22. Rxh3 Qxa1 23. Qxa1 Nc2+ {was Black's hope.}) 22...
Ng5 23. fxg5 fxg5+ 24. Kg1 Bf5 25. Qb2 Rf7 26. Rf3 Nd3 27. Bxd3 Bxd3 28. Rxf7
Kxf7 29. Qxg7+ Ke6 30. Qxh6+ Kd7 31. Qg7+ Kc6 32. Qd4 Qa5 33. Qxd3 1-0

[Event "USA-ch"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2009.05.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Krush, Irina"]
[Black "Gulko, Boris F"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2452"]
[BlackElo "2561"]
[Annotator "Krush"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2009.05.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{I've always enjoyed playing the legendary Boris Gulko, and somehow I have
played two games against him that would go into my "Best Games" collection.
One thing that I remember about this game is that it was very tough (just
surviving the opening/middlegame part).} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2
O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Nf3 dxc4 8. Qxc4 b6 9. Bf4 Ba6 10. Qxc7 {I was
clearly unprepared for this Nimzo line, but I am surprised that I decided to
take this pawn. Falling behind in development is surely playing with fire. I'm
sure I knew enough theory to know it wasn't that great, but I still decided to
take it!?} Qd5 11. Qd6 Qe4 12. Rc1 Nbd7 13. Nd2 Qg6 14. f3 {I have to work so
hard just to get my pieces out :)} Rac8 15. Rxc8 Rxc8 16. Kf2 Qc2 17. e4 Bxf1
18. Rxf1 Qxb2 19. Qb4 Qc2 20. Qb3 Ne8 21. Ke2 Qc6 22. Nb1 Qc2+ {This queen
trade is handing White a small edge, but I was about to play Rc1 and Boris
probably didn't think the endgame was too dangerous for Black.} 23. Qxc2 Rxc2+
24. Bd2 f6 25. Kd3 Rc8 26. Rc1 Rxc1 27. Bxc1 Kf7 28. a4 Nd6 29. Na3 a6 30. Nc4
Nxc4 31. Kxc4 g5 32. Ba3 h5 33. Bd6 Ke8 34. g3 Kf7 35. f4 gxf4 36. gxf4 Kg6 {
Diagram [#]} 37. f5+ $1 {A pretty move to break through with the king.} Kf7 (
37... exf5 38. Kd5 fxe4 39. Kc6 {Diagram [#] hmm, where shall the knight go? :)
}) 38. Kb4 {Black's in zugzwang.} e5 39. Kc4 b5+ 40. axb5 axb5+ 41. Kxb5 exd4
42. Kc4 Ne5+ 43. Kxd4 Ng4 44. Bg3 Ke7 45. Kd3 Nh6 46. Ke3 Nf7 47. Bf4 Kd7 48.
Kf3 Kc6 49. Kg3 Kc5 50. Kh4 Kd4 51. Kxh5 Kxe4 52. Kg4 Kd5 53. h4 Kc6 54. Kh5 {
I guess I must have studied some endgame books when I was young :) Exploiting
an extra center pawn is a classic idea.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 1"]
[Black "Karwowski-Mokshanov"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/1p3qpp/p1pnrp2/2Qp4/PP1P4/3NP2P/1R3PP1/4R1K1 b - - 0 25"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,52,25,27,27,4,9,4,8,9,45,18,16,-8,30,37,15,26,25,24,26,26,33,33,28,
-14,16,-16,-22,-22,-15,-48,-5,-12,-4,-14,-17,-31,-27,-25,-14,-27,-33,-54,-28,
-18,-26,-19,-5,-11,-10,-162,-161,-717,-753] [#]} 25... Nc4 $1 26. Rbe2 b6 {
The queen is trapped. White resigned.} *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 12th Jan"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2021.01.12"]
[Round "11"]
[White "3.1 Karwowski, K."]
[Black "Mokshanov, A."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2243"]
[BlackElo "2448"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2021.01.12"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,52,25,27,27,4,9,4,8,9,45,18,16,-8,30,37,15,26,25,24,26,26,33,33,28,
-14,16,-16,-22,-22,-15,-48,-5,-12,-4,-14,-17,-31,-27,-25,-14,-27,-33,-54,-28,
-18,-26,-19,-5,-11,-10,-162,-161,-717,-753]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4.
Nf3 c6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 Bf5 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 O-O 10. O-O Re8
11. a3 Nbd7 12. b4 a6 13. Rab1 Ne4 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Nd2 Nxc3 16. Qxc3 Nb6 17.
Qc2 Nc8 18. Rfe1 Nd6 19. Qc5 Qd7 20. a4 Re6 21. Nf3 Rae8 22. Ne5 Qe7 23. h3 f6
24. Nd3 Qf7 25. Rb2 {[#]} Nc4 $1 26. Rbe2 b6 {The queen is trapped. White
resigned.} 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 2"]
[Black "Zhigalko-Lysyj"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5r1k/1pp2p1p/1p2b2p/4N2Q/q7/2P3R1/r4PPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,53,27,28,28,28,20,17,7,-12,-33,-56,-36,-55,24,3,-6,-18,-15,-59,-5,-16,
9,-23,111,36,19,12,19,21,17,-1,7,-33,-36,-42,-96,-96,-13,-96,-89,-89,-93,-93,
-93,-116,-78,-86,-101,36,375,418,29989,29990,29995,29996] [#]} 27. Nxf7+ {
Black resigned as Black has no way of stopping Qe5+ with mate to follow.} *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 12th Jan"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2021.01.12"]
[Round "11"]
[White "3.2 Zhigalko, S."]
[Black "Lysyj, I."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C52"]
[WhiteElo "2572"]
[BlackElo "2605"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2021.01.12"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,53,27,28,28,28,20,17,7,-12,-33,-56,-36,-55,24,3,-6,-18,-15,-59,-5,-16,
9,-23,111,36,19,12,19,21,17,-1,7,-33,-36,-42,-96,-96,-13,-96,-89,-89,-93,-93,
-93,-116,-78,-86,-101,36,375,418,29989,29990,29995,29996]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 d6 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. O-O Bb6 9. Nbd2 Na5 10.
Qc2 Nxc4 11. Nxc4 Qc6 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. dxe5 dxe5 14. Nxe5 Qa4 15. Qd3 Nf6 16.
Qg3 O-O 17. Bh6 Nh5 18. Qf3 Nf6 19. Qg3 Nh5 20. Qf3 gxh6 21. Qxh5 Qxe4 22. Rfe1
Qf4 23. Re3 Be6 24. Rf3 Rxa2 25. Rd1 Qa4 26. Rg3+ Kh8 {[#]} 27. Nxf7+ {Black
resigned as Black has no way of stopping Qe5+ with mate to follow.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 3"]
[Black "Caruana-Carlsen"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2rk1/p1bn1pp1/1pp2q1p/2Pp4/3P4/1QN2NP1/PP3PBP/R3R1K1 w - - 0 16"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 16. Nxd5 $1 {Black's clumsily organized pieces allows White this strike
that wins a pawn.} cxd5 17. Qxd5 Rb8 18. c6 {The point behind the knight
sacrifice: Black's knight on d7 is trapped.} Rd8 19. cxd7 Bxd7 20. Rac1 {
White has won a pawn and has clearly better chances.} ({In the game, Fabiano
played} 20. Ne5 $2 {when} Be6 21. Qe4 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Qe7 23. Qe3 Rbc8 {when
Black's activity provided good compensation for pawn and eventually a draw was
the happy result for Black.}) *

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2021.01.27"]
[Round "10.1"]
[White "3.3 Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bd6 6. Bg2 c6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Qb3 Nd7 11. O-O Qe7 12. c5 Bc7 13. e4 b6 14. exd5 exd5 15.
Rfe1 Qf6 {[#]} 16. Nxd5 $1 {Black's clumsily organized pieces allows White
this strike that wins a pawn.} cxd5 17. Qxd5 Rb8 18. c6 {The point behind the
knight sacrifice: Black's knight on d7 is trapped.} Rd8 19. cxd7 Bxd7 20. Rac1
{White has won a pawn and has clearly better chances.} ({In the game, Fabiano
played} 20. Ne5 $2 {when} Be6 21. Qe4 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Qe7 23. Qe3 Rbc8 {when
Black's activity provided good compensation for pawn and eventually a draw was
the happy result for Black.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 4"]
[Black "Anton Guijarro-Tari"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/5k2/5P2/b1p2KPP/P7/8/8 b - - 0 52"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,119,16,28,38,44,16,8,32,10,38,25,67,80,80,66,71,58,58,67,64,59,77,66,
66,68,75,71,71,33,46,62,75,60,48,38,77,61,34,12,17,0,13,0,27,29,57,45,52,39,39,
39,20,23,25,3,36,33,39,48,44,74,66,66,59,-19,-6,0,25,39,38,66,98,94,161,118,
138,182,144,87,226,117,172,6,9,16,23,25,26,25,28,15,22,11,42,46,18,0,42,0,0,18,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-43,46,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0] [#]} 52... c3 $1 ({Black can also
win with} 52... Bb5 $3 53. a4 c3 $1 (53... Ba6 {also wins}) 54. g5+ Kf7 55. Ke3
Ba6 {transposing to our main line.}) 53. g5+ Kf7 54. Ke3 Bb5 $3 ({In the game,
Black missed his chance and played} 54... c2 {which led to a draw after} 55.
Kd2 Kg7 56. h5 Bb3 57. Kc1 Ba4 58. Kb2 Bb3 59. Kc1 Ba4 60. Kb2 {and neither
side can make progress.}) 55. a4 Ba6 {The bishop has to stay on this diagonal
to prevent the white king from getting closer to the c3-pawn. Therefore, also
55...Bc4 and 55...Bf1 would have won for Black.} 56. h5 Kg7 57. a5 Bb5 58. f6+
Kf7 59. h6 Kg6 {White is in zugzwang because any move with his king will let
the c-pawn queen. Black can continue to put White in this zugzwang until he
has captured all of White's pawns.} 60. f7 Kxf7 61. h7 Kg7 62. g6 Ba6 {and it
would have been pointless for White to continue.} *

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2021.01.21"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "3.4 Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Tari, Aryan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2679"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,119,16,28,38,44,16,8,32,10,38,25,67,80,80,66,71,58,58,67,64,59,77,66,
66,68,75,71,71,33,46,62,75,60,48,38,77,61,34,12,17,0,13,0,27,29,57,45,52,39,39,
39,20,23,25,3,36,33,39,48,44,74,66,66,59,-19,-6,0,25,39,38,66,98,94,161,118,
138,182,144,87,226,117,172,6,9,16,23,25,26,25,28,15,22,11,42,46,18,0,42,0,0,18,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-43,46,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4.
O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Be7 10. Nc3 Nh4
11. Nxh4 Bxh4 12. Be3 h5 13. Rad1+ Ke8 14. Ne4 Bf5 15. Ng5 Rf8 16. Rd4 Bxg5 17.
Bxg5 f6 18. exf6 gxf6 19. Bh4 Kf7 20. Rf4 Kg6 21. Re1 Bxc2 22. Re6 Bf5 23. Re3
Bb1 24. Rg3+ Kh7 25. Bxf6 Rf7 26. Rg5 Kh6 27. Be5 Raf8 28. Rxf7 Rxf7 29. f4 h4
30. Rg4 Kh5 31. Bg7 Rf5 32. Bc3 Bxa2 33. Be1 a5 34. Rxh4+ Kg6 35. Bc3 a4 36.
Be5 b5 37. Rh8 b4 38. Rb8 c5 39. Rb5 b3 40. Rxc5 Rxe5 41. Rxe5 a3 42. bxa3 b2
43. Rb5 b1=Q+ 44. Rxb1 Bxb1 45. Kf2 Bc2 46. g4 c5 47. Ke3 Kf6 48. Kd2 Ba4 49.
h4 Bd7 50. f5 Ba4 51. Ke3 c4 52. Kf4 {[#]} c3 $1 ({Black can also win with} 
52... Bb5 $3 53. a4 c3 $1 (53... Ba6 {also wins}) 54. g5+ Kf7 55. Ke3 Ba6 {
transposing to our main line.}) 53. g5+ Kf7 54. Ke3 Bb5 $3 ({In the game,
Black missed his chance and played} 54... c2 {which led to a draw after} 55.
Kd2 Kg7 56. h5 Bb3 57. Kc1 Ba4 58. Kb2 Bb3 59. Kc1 Ba4 60. Kb2 {and neither
side can make progress.}) 55. a4 Ba6 {The bishop has to stay on this diagonal
to prevent the white king from getting closer to the c3-pawn. Therefore, also
55...Bc4 and 55...Bf1 would have won for Black.} 56. h5 Kg7 57. a5 Bb5 58. f6+
Kf7 59. h6 Kg6 {White is in zugzwang because any move with his king will let
the c-pawn queen. Black can continue to put White in this zugzwang until he
has captured all of White's pawns.} 60. f7 Kxf7 61. h7 Kg7 62. g6 Ba6 {and it
would have been pointless for White to continue.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 5"]
[Black "Taghizadeh-Bajarani"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r2k/1b2qppB/r7/p1ppPQ2/Pb6/4P1P1/1B2RPP1/3R2K1 w - - 0 25"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,53,22,-12,7,-22,4,-17,-12,-12,0,-1,14,14,15,29,31,30,35,28,44,31,25,
29,15,21,35,22,7,2,-7,-34,-6,5,-4,-24,-24,-34,-11,-20,48,54,78,91,99,99,108,
115,169,67,200,150,444,369,29995,29996] [#]} 25. e6 $1 {Opening the long
diagonal to prevent Black's rook from a6 to move to h6 to be used as a
defender.} ({Note that} 25. Qh5 $4 Rh6 {wins for Black.}) 25... Rxe6 26. Qh5 (
26. Qh3 {is just as good.}) 26... d4 ({The point behind White's 25th move is
that now} 26... Rh6 {is not possible due to} 27. Qxh6 {because the g7-pawn is
pinned.}) ({A much better defense is} 26... Qd7 {although White also win in
that case but the line is a lot longer:} 27. Bf5+ Kg8 28. Qh7+ Kf8 29. Bxg7+ ({
or} 29. Qxg7+ Ke7 30. Bf6+ Kd6 31. e4 Qxa4 32. Ra1 Qd7 33. exd5 Bxd5 34. Rd1
Kc6 35. Re5 {and White is winning}) 29... Ke7 30. e4 Qxa4 31. Ra1 Qd7 32. exd5
Bxd5 33. Rd1 Kd6 34. Re5 {and White is winning.}) 27. Bg6+ {and Black resigned.
} *

[Event "Pan-Am Intercollegiate"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2021.01.06"]
[Round "8"]
[White "3.5 Taghizadeh, Rayan"]
[Black "Bajarani, U."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2311"]
[BlackElo "2458"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2021.01.04"]
[EventType "team (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "CAL_B"]
[BlackTeam "UTRGV_B"]

{[%evp 0,53,22,-12,7,-22,4,-17,-12,-12,0,-1,14,14,15,29,31,30,35,28,44,31,25,
29,15,21,35,22,7,2,-7,-34,-6,5,-4,-24,-24,-34,-11,-20,48,54,78,91,99,99,108,
115,169,67,200,150,444,369,29995,29996]} 1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3
Be7 5. c4 b6 6. Nc3 Bb7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. d4 Nbd7 9. Bd3 a6 10. O-O O-O 11. Qc2
Bd6 12. Rac1 Qe7 13. Ne2 c6 14. Rfe1 Rfe8 15. Rcd1 b5 16. a4 Ne4 17. Ng3 Bb4
18. Re2 bxa4 19. bxa4 a5 20. Ne5 Nxg3 21. Bxh7+ Kh8 22. hxg3 Nxe5 23. dxe5 c5
24. Qf5 Ra6 {[#]} 25. e6 $1 {Opening the long diagonal to prevent Black's rook
from a6 to move to h6 to be used as a defender.} ({Note that} 25. Qh5 $4 Rh6 {
wins for Black.}) 25... Rxe6 26. Qh5 (26. Qh3 {is just as good.}) 26... d4 ({
The point behind White's 25th move is that now} 26... Rh6 {is not possible due
to} 27. Qxh6 {because the g7-pawn is pinned.}) ({A much better defense is} 
26... Qd7 {although White also win in that case but the line is a lot longer:}
27. Bf5+ Kg8 28. Qh7+ Kf8 29. Bxg7+ ({or} 29. Qxg7+ Ke7 30. Bf6+ Kd6 31. e4
Qxa4 32. Ra1 Qd7 33. exd5 Bxd5 34. Rd1 Kc6 35. Re5 {and White is winning})
29... Ke7 30. e4 Qxa4 31. Ra1 Qd7 32. exd5 Bxd5 33. Rd1 Kd6 34. Re5 {and White
is winning.}) 27. Bg6+ {and Black resigned.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 6"]
[Black "Espienko-Carlsen"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3k2r/1b1nqp1p/p1npp1p1/1p6/3NPP2/P1N1Q3/1PP1B2P/1K1R2R1 w kq - 0 17"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,43,16,28,46,46,85,72,61,32,36,30,64,22,61,66,67,53,35,39,43,6,8,5,25,
4,63,25,75,57,50,40,53,20,99,94,88,77,80,77,63,82,156,134,135,141] [#]} 17.
Ncxb5 $1 {A thunderbolt that exploits the loose pieces in Black's set-up.} axb5
18. Nxc6 $1 Bxc6 19. Qc3 $1 {The point: a double threat, hitting both c6 and
h8.} O-O 20. Qxc6 d5 21. exd5 Rfc8 22. d6 {and White was winning and
eventually won.} *

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2021.01.24"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "3.6 Esipenko, Andrey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "2677"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,43,16,28,46,46,85,72,61,32,36,30,64,22,61,66,67,53,35,39,43,6,8,5,25,
4,63,25,75,57,50,40,53,20,99,94,88,77,80,77,63,82,156,134,135,141]} 1. e4 c5 2.
Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. g4 b5 9. g5
Nfd7 10. a3 Bxg5 11. Qd2 Bxe3 12. Qxe3 Qh4 13. Rg1 g6 14. O-O-O Qe7 15. f4 Bb7
16. Kb1 Nc6 {[#]} 17. Ncxb5 $1 {A thunderbolt that exploits the loose pieces
in Black's set-up.} axb5 18. Nxc6 $1 Bxc6 19. Qc3 $1 {The point: a double
threat, hitting both c6 and h8.} O-O 20. Qxc6 d5 21. exd5 Rfc8 22. d6 {and
White was winning and eventually won.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 7"]
[Black "Wojtaszek-Caruana"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/pp3p2/2p1r1q1/3pn1p1/4Pn2/1PR2PP1/PB3Q2/3R1BK1 b - - 0 33"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,78,12,-33,-2,-11,11,34,35,25,18,32,42,55,61,37,62,19,5,11,11,19,15,5,
18,0,-6,-16,17,14,3,-16,-18,-50,-40,-65,-72,-65,-40,-73,-73,-83,-74,-45,-45,
-42,-50,-15,-19,-62,-32,-52,-30,-40,-53,-38,-33,-69,-71,-74,-43,-51,-32,-63,
-74,-96,-95,-134,-45,-155,-40,-352,-354,-365,-337,-428,-425,-425,-443,-438,
-456] [#]} 33... g4 $1 ({In the game Black played the less accurate} 33... dxe4
{but was immediately rewarded when White played} 34. gxf4 $4 (34. fxe4 Nh5 35.
Qf5 Nf6 {would have kept Black's advantage within limits}) 34... gxf4+ 35. Qg2
exf3 $1 36. Qxg6+ Rxg6+ 37. Kh1 f2 $1 38. Bh3 Nc4 39. Rxc4 Re1+ {and Black
resigned. In any case, an impressive conclusion to a great game by Caruana.})
34. Bc1 ({Or} 34. fxg4 Qxg4 35. Rd4 Nh3+ 36. Bxh3 Qxh3 37. Qf1 Qxf1+ 38. Kxf1
Ng4 {and Black has a decisive advantage.}) 34... Nh3+ 35. Bxh3 gxh3 36. Bf4 ({
If} 36. exd5 {, then} Nd3 $1 37. Rcxd3 Re2 38. Rd4 Rxf2 {and Black is winning.}
) 36... dxe4 37. Bxe5 Rxe5 {and Black has a decisive advantage.} *

[Event "83rd Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2021.01.26"]
[Round "9.4"]
[White "3.7 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2021.01.16"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,78,12,-33,-2,-11,11,34,35,25,18,32,42,55,61,37,62,19,5,11,11,19,15,5,
18,0,-6,-16,17,14,3,-16,-18,-50,-40,-65,-72,-65,-40,-73,-73,-83,-74,-45,-45,
-42,-50,-15,-19,-62,-32,-52,-30,-40,-53,-38,-33,-69,-71,-74,-43,-51,-32,-63,
-74,-96,-95,-134,-45,-155,-40,-352,-354,-365,-337,-428,-425,-425,-443,-438,
-456]} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Bg4
8. Be3 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 exd4 10. Bxd4 Nc6 11. Be3 Re8 12. Qd2 Nd7 13. Rad1 Bxc3 14.
Qxc3 Qf6 15. Qc1 Nc5 16. Qb1 Qe6 17. Rfe1 Qxc4 18. b3 Qc3 19. Bd2 Qf6 20. Bc1
h5 21. Bb2 Ne5 22. Be2 h4 23. Qc1 g5 24. Bb5 Re7 25. Re3 Qg6 26. Be2 Rae8 27.
Qc2 Ne6 28. f3 Nf4 29. Bf1 c6 30. Qf2 Re6 31. Rc3 d5 32. g3 hxg3 33. hxg3 {[#]}
g4 $1 ({In the game Black played the less accurate} 33... dxe4 {but was
immediately rewarded when White played} 34. gxf4 $4 (34. fxe4 Nh5 35. Qf5 Nf6 {
would have kept Black's advantage within limits}) 34... gxf4+ 35. Qg2 exf3 $1
36. Qxg6+ Rxg6+ 37. Kh1 f2 $1 38. Bh3 Nc4 39. Rxc4 Re1+ {and Black resigned.
In any case, an impressive conclusion to a great game by Caruana.}) 34. Bc1 ({
Or} 34. fxg4 Qxg4 35. Rd4 Nh3+ 36. Bxh3 Qxh3 37. Qf1 Qxf1+ 38. Kxf1 Ng4 {
and Black has a decisive advantage.}) 34... Nh3+ 35. Bxh3 gxh3 36. Bf4 ({If} 
36. exd5 {, then} Nd3 $1 37. Rcxd3 Re2 38. Rd4 Rxf2 {and Black is winning.})
36... dxe4 37. Bxe5 Rxe5 {and Black has a decisive advantage.} 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 8"]
[Black "Drygalov-Dragun"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3k2r/pp3p2/2nqp1p1/3p3p/3Pb1n1/2P2NPP/PPN1BP2/R2Q1RK1 b kq - 0 14"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,34,22,22,74,55,55,55,58,37,37,23,40,1,59,5,2,-3,-16,-15,-16,-19,-16,
-31,-18,-32,22,4,12,-9,29,-294,-294,-980,-1372,-29995,-29996] [#]} 14... h4 $1
{Crashing through to White's king.} 15. hxg4 ({Or} 15. Nxh4 g5 ({but not} 15...
Rxh4 16. Bxg4 {and White survives}) 16. Bxg4 ({also} 16. hxg4 gxh4 17. Bf3 hxg3
18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. f4 Qe7 {wins for Black, e.g.,} 20. Qe2 Rh2 21. Qxe4 {
followed by ...g3-g2.} Qh4) 16... gxh4 17. f3 {and several moves win for Black,
for instance,} Bg6 {and 17...Qxg3+.}) ({Also} 15. Nfe1 {loses after} Nxf2 16.
Rxf2 hxg3 17. Rf3 Rxh3 18. Bf1 Rh4 {and White will not survive Black's attack.}
) 15... hxg3 $1 16. Ne3 ({Or} 16. Bd3 g2 $1 17. Bxe4 gxf1=Q+ 18. Kxf1 dxe4 {
and it is curtains for White.}) 16... g2 $1 17. Nxg2 {Everything loses, but
this does so immediately.} Bxf3 {and White resigned as he cannot prevent mate.}
*

[Event "Collegiate RUS-USA 2021"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2021.01.09"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "3.8 Drygalov, Andrey"]
[Black "Dragun, K."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2493"]
[BlackElo "2569"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2021.01.09"]
[EventType "team (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "UrSMU (Russia)"]
[BlackTeam "UTRGV (USA)"]

{[%evp 0,34,22,22,74,55,55,55,58,37,37,23,40,1,59,5,2,-3,-16,-15,-16,-19,-16,
-31,-18,-32,22,4,12,-9,29,-294,-294,-980,-1372,-29995,-29996]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4
d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 g6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. Be2 e6 8. Nf3 Bd6 9. Bxd6
Qxd6 10. O-O Nf6 11. Na3 h5 12. Nc2 Ng4 13. h3 Be4 14. g3 {[#]} h4 $1 {
Crashing through to White's king.} 15. hxg4 ({Or} 15. Nxh4 g5 ({but not} 15...
Rxh4 16. Bxg4 {and White survives}) 16. Bxg4 ({also} 16. hxg4 gxh4 17. Bf3 hxg3
18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. f4 Qe7 {wins for Black, e.g.,} 20. Qe2 Rh2 21. Qxe4 {
followed by ...g3-g2.} Qh4) 16... gxh4 17. f3 {and several moves win for Black,
for instance,} Bg6 {and 17...Qxg3+.}) ({Also} 15. Nfe1 {loses after} Nxf2 16.
Rxf2 hxg3 17. Rf3 Rxh3 18. Bf1 Rh4 {and White will not survive Black's attack.}
) 15... hxg3 $1 16. Ne3 ({Or} 16. Bd3 g2 $1 17. Bxe4 gxf1=Q+ 18. Kxf1 dxe4 {
and it is curtains for White.}) 16... g2 $1 17. Nxg2 {Everything loses, but
this does so immediately.} Bxf3 {and White resigned as he cannot prevent mate.}
0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 9"]
[Black "Bauer-Sonis"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3rnk1/1p1n2pp/1qp2p2/p1b1p1B1/P3P2N/5QPP/1PP2P1K/R2R1B2 w - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "17"]
[EventDate "2021.01.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,53,22,12,75,40,47,8,25,23,38,25,25,9,15,25,23,12,17,1,16,18,26,29,14,
16,16,-24,-9,-10,0,-26,17,11,24,24,76,97,139,77,77,239,177,304,304,350,260,340,
338,338,338,338,876,874,29993,29994] [#]} 19. Bc4+ $1 ({Strictly speaking,
White could also have played} 19. Bh6 $1 {, transposing to the same line.})
19... Kh8 20. Bh6 $3 gxh6 ({Or} 20... Re7 21. Nf5 gxh6 22. Qg4 Ng6 23. Nxe7
Nxe7 24. Rxd7 {and White is winning.}) ({Also} 20... Rad8 {loses after} 21.
Bxg7+ Kxg7 22. Qg4+ Ng6 23. Rxd7+ {and White breaks decisively through.}) 21.
Qg4 $1 {The threat of Qg8 costs Black a piece but White keeps the attack going.
} Ng6 22. Rxd7 {Black has no defense against White's invading forces.} Re7 23.
Nxg6+ hxg6 24. Rad1 Rxd7 25. Rxd7 Bf8 26. Kg2 Rd8 27. Qxg6 {and Black resigned.
} *

[Event "1st Cappelle Online Blitz"]
[Site "Europe-Echecs INT"]
[Date "2021.01.10"]
[Round "11"]
[White "3.9 Bauer, Ch"]
[Black "Sonis, Francesco"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2639"]
[BlackElo "2483"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2021.01.10"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,53,22,12,75,40,47,8,25,23,38,25,25,9,15,25,23,12,17,1,16,18,26,29,14,
16,16,-24,-9,-10,0,-26,17,11,24,24,76,97,139,77,77,239,177,304,304,350,260,340,
338,338,338,338,876,874,29993,29994]} 1. e4 c6 2. d3 d5 3. Qe2 dxe4 4. dxe4 e5
5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Nbd2 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Nxf3 Nbd7 9. g3 Bc5 10. Bg2 O-O 11. O-O a5
12. a4 Qb6 13. Kh2 Rfe8 14. Nh4 Qa6 15. Qf3 Nf8 16. Bg5 N6d7 17. Rfd1 f6 18.
Bf1 Qb6 {[#]} 19. Bc4+ $1 ({Strictly speaking, White could also have played} 
19. Bh6 $1 {, transposing to the same line.}) 19... Kh8 20. Bh6 $3 gxh6 ({Or} 
20... Re7 21. Nf5 gxh6 22. Qg4 Ng6 23. Nxe7 Nxe7 24. Rxd7 {and White is
winning.}) ({Also} 20... Rad8 {loses after} 21. Bxg7+ Kxg7 22. Qg4+ Ng6 23.
Rxd7+ {and White breaks decisively through.}) 21. Qg4 $1 {The threat of Qg8
costs Black a piece but White keeps the attack going.} Ng6 22. Rxd7 {Black has
no defense against White's invading forces.} Re7 23. Nxg6+ hxg6 24. Rad1 Rxd7
25. Rxd7 Bf8 26. Kg2 Rd8 27. Qxg6 {and Black resigned.} 1-0

[Event "Final Swiss qualifier "]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2020.12.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2797"]
[BlackElo "2789"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi"]
[PlyCount "27"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,27,27,27,15,19,11,-8,4,-8,21,-6,-5,17,7,7,24,24,59,41,37,5,74,19,31,8,
33,13,657,656]} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Qc2 O-O 6. e3 h6 7.
Bxf6 Bxf6 8. Nc3 {I'd forgotten about this transposition during the game.} (8.
h4 {Is more principled.}) 8... c5 {Now Black equalizes.} 9. dxc5 Qa5 10. cxd5
exd5 11. Rd1 Be6 12. Bd3 $6 ({Better (or at least closer to equal!) is} 12. Nd4
Qxc5 13. Bb5 Rc8 14. Ba4 Nc6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. O-O Rab8 17. Rd2 Qa5 18. Rc1 c5
19. Nde2 d4 20. Ne4 Be7 21. a3 Bb3 22. Qd3 f5 23. N4g3 {and GMs Portisch and
Ivkov agreed to a draw here (Budapest 1960).}) 12... Nd7 13. O-O Qxc3 $4 {
A premove? Surely Tang meant to play ... Bf6xc3. Because this move was played
instantly, I am convinced that it was nothing but a bad mouse slip.} ({Black
is totally fine after} 13... Bxc3 14. bxc3 Nxc5 {.}) 14. bxc3 1-0

[Event "USA-ch Online qf"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.12.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[Black "Yoo, Christopher Woojin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2555"]
[BlackElo "2455"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r2k1/1pnrqpp1/p1p1p3/8/2QP4/P2R1BP1/1P2PP2/3R2K1 b - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "32"]
[EventDate "2020.12.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] I was unable to put pressure on Christopher in the opening, and needing a
draw to secure the tie for first pace, he equalized comfortably. In this
position my only advantage was on the clock... and against a fast player like
Christopher, that's not much! But somehow the gravity of the situation got the
best of the young IM and he lost patience, blundering into the following
losing position:} 26... e5 $4 ({Black can simply sit on the position with} 
26... Ne8 {. White cannot make much progress.}) 27. dxe5 Rxd3 28. Rxd3 Rxd3 29.
Qxd3 Qxe5 {[#]} 30. Qd8+ $4 {This mouse-slip returned the favor.} ({I intended
to play the move} 30. Qd7 {which simply wins the game:} g6 31. Qc8+ Kg7 32.
Qxb7 c5 33. Kg2 {and here White gradually can consolidate and win. It is not
exactly easy, but it is not that difficult either. In all fairness, I
hallucinated and thought the two moves (30. Qd8+ and 30. Qd7) did not differ
in essence; I expected ... Nc7-e8 against Qd3-d7 too. Ultimately I feel less
pain over this unfortunate mistake because I didn't realize how decisive it
was during the game.}) 30... Ne8 {Now White has no chance of winning, and the
game shortly ended in a draw.} 31. Bg4 Kh7 32. Qd7 Nd6 33. b4 g6 34. Bf3 Kg7
35. Kg2 Kf8 36. Qd8+ Kg7 37. Qc7 Kf8 38. Qb8+ Kg7 39. Qc7 Kf8 40. Qd8+ Kg7 41.
Qd7 Kf8 42. Qd8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "USA-ch Online qf"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.12.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2555"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/p2q1pb1/Pp1p1npp/3P1n2/2P5/5N1P/Q2N1PPB/1R4K1 b - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2020.12.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 26... g5 $2 {This was a tough result, but also a fascinating lesson for
me. After deeply analyzing this game with Stockfish and his allies I am sadly
convinced that most of my positional deduction were in fact erroneous.} ({
Securing the knight on f5 is key:} 26... h5 27. Qa3 h4 28. Bf4 Ne4 29. Nxe4
Rxe4 {and Black is slightly better.}) 27. g4 $6 ({The key} 27. Qa3 $1 {is a
hard move to see. After} g4 28. hxg4 Nxg4 29. Qd3 {Black has no attack against
White's king.}) 27... Nxg4 $1 28. hxg4 Nd4 29. Qa3 {Now the game becomes
complicated.} Qxg4+ 30. Kh1 Qh3 31. Rg1 ({Things are far from clear after} 31.
Qa4 Re4 $1) 31... Ne2 32. Rg2 g4 33. Qa4 Re7 34. Ng1 Nxg1 35. Rg3 Qh5 36. Rxg1
Re2 37. Nf1 $4 {[#]} Rxf2 $4 ({My first big miss was} 37... Qf5 $1 38. Qd1 Qe4+
39. Rg2 Rxf2 ({after} 39... Re1 40. Qxg4 Rxf1+ 41. Bg1 {White is still
fighting.}) 40. Qxg4 (40. Ne3 h5 41. Bg3 Rf3 42. Nf1 Qxc4 {and Black wins})
40... Rxf1+ 41. Bg1 Qxg4 42. Rxg4 Kf8 {and Black is winning handily.}) 38. Qd7
$4 f5 $4 {But this one was elementary, Elshan!} ({It's lights out after} 38...
g3 $1 39. Qe8+ Kh7 40. Rxg3 Rxf1+ 41. Kg2 Rf5 {.}) 39. Qxd6 Kh7 40. Qg3 Rf3 41.
Qg2 f4 $4 42. Qe2 $4 ({White should have played} 42. Qc2+ Kh8 43. d6 g3 44. d7
{and Black is busted.}) 42... Qf5 $4 (42... Qe5 $1 {keeps the game going.}) 43.
Nd2 Rd3 44. Bxf4 $4 ({Much cleaner is} 44. Rxg4 Rxd2 45. Rxg7+ {.}) 44... Rh3+
45. Bh2 Be5 46. Rg2 g3 47. Nf3 Bd6 48. Qe6 Qxe6 49. dxe6 gxh2 $6 {This is an
unneccessary complication in time pressure.} ({Black has easy equality after} 
49... Kg6 {, especially in time pressure.}) 50. Rd2 {[#]} Bf4 $4 {And here is
my 4th blunder in this game. Caissa wouldn't let go of so many spoiled
opportunities.} ({Black holds with} 50... Bc5 $1 51. Rd7+ (51. Ne5 Re3 52. Nc6
(52. Rd7+ Kg8 53. Nc6 Rxe6 54. Nxa7) 52... Rxe6 53. Nxa7 Re1+ 54. Kxh2 Ra1 55.
Nc6 Rxa6) (51. Nd4 Re3 52. Nb5 Rxe6 53. Nxa7 Re1+ 54. Kxh2 Ra1) (51. Nxh2 Re3
52. Rd7+ Kg6 53. Rxa7 Rg3) 51... Kg6 52. e7 (52. Rf7 Bd6 {is better for Black})
52... Bxe7 53. Rxe7 Rxf3 54. Rxa7 Rf1+ 55. Kxh2 Ra1 {and the position is
finally equal.}) (50... Rxf3 {loses to} 51. Rxd6 Kg6 52. Rd7 Ra3 53. Rxa7 Ra2)
(50... Kg6 {is also bad:} 51. Rxd6 Rxf3 52. Rd7 Re3 53. e7 {and White wins.})
51. Rd3 Kg7 52. e7 {Now I run into a discovered attack. The rest is simple for
Tang.} Kf7 53. Ne5+ Bxe5 54. Rxh3 Kxe7 55. Rxh6 Bc7 56. Rh8 Kd6 57. Ra8 b5 58.
cxb5 Bb6 59. Rc8 Bc7 60. Kg2 Kd7 61. Ra8 Bb6 62. Kxh2 Kc7 63. Rg8 Kd6 64. Rc8
Kd7 65. Rc6 1-0

[Event "USA-ch Online qf"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.12.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Yoo, Christopher Woojin"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2455"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2020.12.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,101,27,27,22,0,0,0,24,28,28,24,25,25,42,37,37,37,52,7,40,40,47,25,25,
25,25,-3,10,10,6,15,16,7,33,20,25,27,9,5,5,5,6,14,21,40,40,0,0,3,3,-39,-39,0,0,
0,0,0,0,0,21,0,0,0,31,27,46,31,41,7,7,36,36,10,10,0,16,23,313,313,313,321,302,
295,532,536,536,536,536,538,538,538,642,538,1100,1118,29989,29990,29991,29992,
29993,29994,29995,29996]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6.
e3 b6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Qxd5 9. Bxc7 $5 {[#] This is an interesting choice.
Back in 2011 I was working on a book on the Queen's Gambit Declined for
Quality Chess which never came to pass. My analysis, then and now, shows that
Black should be fine in this position. However, it requires a lot of knowledge
and accuracy from both players.} Qa5+ {Today's engines like this move.} ({
My analysis from 2011 (using Houdini!) ran as follows:} 9... Bb4+ 10. Nd2 Nc6
11. a3 (11. f3 Bd7 $5 12. a3 Bxd2+ 13. Qxd2 Rac8 14. Bg3 Na5 15. e4 Qb3 {
with initiative}) 11... Bxd2+ 12. Qxd2 Bb7 13. f3 (13. b4 Rfc8 14. Bg3 Ne7 15.
f3 Qb3 {and Black has compensation - just as I thought in 2011!}) 13... Rac8
14. Bg3 Na5 15. Rd1 Qb3 16. Bd3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Qd3 Qxd3 19. Rxd3 Rc2 {
and Black had compensation for the pawn in Thiel-Singer (Bad Wiessee 2012).})
10. Nd2 Ba6 11. Bxb8 Bxf1 $1 {A novelty.} ({White is a healthy pawn up after} 
11... Raxb8 $2 12. Bxa6 Qxa6 13. Qe2 Qa4 14. b3 Qc6 15. O-O {.}) 12. Kxf1 Raxb8
13. Nf3 Rbc8 14. Qd3 {I am certain that Black's compensation is not sufficient.
While I thoroughly believe that 9. ... Qa5+ should work for Black, I recommend
that our readers consider 9. ... Bb4+ first for now!} Rc7 15. Ke2 Qb4 ({
Much better is} 15... Rfc8 {.}) 16. Rab1 Qa4 17. a3 $2 ({The right move is} 17.
Rhc1 $1 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 Qxa2 19. Qb5 {when White will reroute the knight to d3
and starts expanding his pawns on the kingside. It is hard to imagine any form
of counterplay for Black.}) 17... Rc2+ 18. Kf1 Qc6 19. Ne1 Rc4 20. Rd1 Rc8 21.
Qe2 e5 22. dxe5 Qe4 23. Rd4 Rxd4 24. exd4 Qxd4 25. g3 Qd5 26. Nf3 g5 27. h3 h5
28. g4 hxg4 29. hxg4 Rc1+ 30. Kg2 Rc4 31. Kg3 Qe6 32. Nd2 Rc5 33. Nf3 Rc4 34.
Ne1 Qd5 35. f3 Rd4 36. Rh2 {Tang has full compensation for the pawn, and in a
normal order of matters a draw is an expected result. But here Andrew pushes a
bit too hard.} Rd1 37. Qe3 Qc4 38. Re2 {[#]} Bc5 $4 {A sad blunder in time
pressure. Yoo does not give Tang a second chance from here onward.} 39. Qxg5+
Kf8 40. Rh2 $1 {The strongest winning move.} Ke8 41. Ng2 Rf1 42. Rh8+ Bf8 43.
e6 {A cute finish!} Qxe6 44. Qb5+ Ke7 45. Qb4+ Kd7 46. Qxf8 Qe5+ 47. f4 Qxb2
48. Qc8+ Kd6 49. Rd8+ Ke7 50. Rd7+ Kf6 51. Qh8+ 1-0

[Event "USA-ch Online qf"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.12.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Yoo, Christopher Woojin"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2455"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2020.12.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This was a game between the two early leaders. Yoo showed some interesting
opening preparation.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nge2 Nc6 4. g3 d5 ({Another path is
} 4... Nf6 5. Bg2 d5 6. exd5 exd5 7. d4 {.}) 5. exd5 exd5 6. d4 Bg4 $5 {
I was surprised to see how much theory existed in this position prior to this
game.} 7. Bg2 Nxd4 ({After} 7... cxd4 {White should play} 8. h3 $1 Bxh3 9. Rxh3
dxc3 10. Nxc3 d4 11. Nd5 Nge7 12. Rh5 Nxd5 13. Rxd5 Qb6 14. Qg4 {with a decent
advantage.}) 8. h3 Bf3 9. Kf1 Nxe2 $2 {A mistake.} ({Stockfish prefers} 9...
Qf6 10. Qd3 Bxg2+ 11. Kxg2 Nxe2 (11... O-O-O $2 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Nb5 {and
White is on the move}) 12. Qxe2+ Ne7 13. Nb5 Rd8 14. Nxa7 Qe6 15. Re1 Qxe2 16.
Rxe2 f6 {with equality.}) ({Another idea is} 9... Qd7 10. Bxf3 Nxf3 11. Qxd5
Qxd5 12. Nxd5 O-O-O $11) ({And finally:} 9... Ne7 $5 10. Bxf3 Nxf3 11. Nf4 d4 (
11... Nd4 12. Be3 Qb6 13. Bxd4 cxd4 14. Ncxd5 Qb5+ 15. Qe2 Qxe2+ 16. Kxe2 Nxd5
17. Nxd5 {GM Torre-GM Rahman (Kolkata 2001).}) 12. Qxf3 dxc3 13. Qxc3 Qd6 14.
Qf3 Qc6 15. Kg2 Qxf3+ 16. Kxf3 Nf5 17. Re1+ Kd7 18. c3 Bd6 $11) 10. Bxf3 Nxc3
11. bxc3 Nf6 12. Rb1 Qd7 13. c4 Rd8 $2 ({Black had to try} 13... Be7 14. cxd5
O-O {.}) 14. cxd5 Bd6 15. Qe2+ $1 {Accurate and necessary! White is already
winning!} Kf8 16. Kg2 b6 17. Qc4 h5 18. a4 Qf5 19. a5 Nd7 20. Be4 Qf6 21. h4
Qd4 22. Qxd4 cxd4 23. axb6 axb6 24. Rd1 Bc5 25. Bf4 Re8 26. Re1 g6 27. d6 Ne5
28. Bxe5 Rxe5 29. d7 Kg7 30. Bc6 Re6 31. Rxe6 fxe6 {[#] Yoo maintained his
advantage and now has a winning endgame. Christopher converts gradually but
surely} 32. Ra1 Kf6 33. Ra7 Ke5 34. f4+ Kf6 35. Kf3 e5 36. Rc7 Rd8 37. Rc8 Be7
38. fxe5+ Kxe5 39. Bb5 g5 40. hxg5 Bxg5 41. Ke2 h4 42. gxh4 Bxh4 43. Kd3 Be7
44. Rc7 Kd5 45. Ba4 Kd6 46. Rb7 Kc5 47. Ke4 Kb4 48. Bb3 Kc5 49. Ke5 Bd6+ 50.
Ke6 b5 51. Bd5 Bg3 52. Be4 Bf4 53. Ra7 Kb6 54. Ra1 Kc7 55. Ra6 Be3 56. Rc6+ Kb8
57. Rb6+ Ka7 58. Rxb5 Bf2 59. Rh5 Bg3 60. Ke7 Bc7 61. Rc5 Kb6 62. Rc6+ Kb7 63.
Bd5 d3 64. cxd3 Kb8 65. Ra6 1-0

[Event "USA-ch Online qf"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.12.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Swiercz, Dariusz"]
[Black "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B36"]
[WhiteElo "2649"]
[BlackElo "2624"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi"]
[PlyCount "203"]
[EventDate "2020.12.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,203,27,0,28,29,34,11,15,9,4,23,29,29,41,51,30,-2,-6,13,22,13,16,8,38,
33,38,52,25,21,25,27,25,27,2,-3,6,17,0,-11,2,23,17,-21,29,24,27,22,36,23,19,18,
40,38,75,74,93,62,104,76,62,50,104,104,104,96,101,80,92,84,115,129,136,135,141,
144,141,138,138,108,149,108,147,91,155,138,138,116,138,141,138,131,138,138,138,
155,155,155,229,204,238,252,266,269,302,239,324,240,235,235,230,225,242,264,
276,142,151,134,134,134,154,151,151,151,151,145,142,156,176,179,176,176,176,
176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,
176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,176,67,67,67,67,66,67,
66,66,66,66,66,66,66,66,63,58,48,48,47,47,47,47,47,47,47,47,47,47,47,47,47,47,
47,47,0,1,0,0,0]} 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 {I was surprised by this move from
Lenderman, who himself plays Maroczy structures with the White pieces. Aleks
is a practical player who tries to surprise his opponents and force them into
psychologically undesirable positions.} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nc3
Nxd4 7. Qxd4 d6 8. f3 Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 Be6 11. Rc1 Qa5 12. Be2 Rfc8 13.
b3 a6 {This position has been played at every level thousands of times.
Swiercz's choice is the only one that promises White some chance of advantage.}
14. Na4 ({White gets nothing after} 14. O-O b5 $1 15. Nd5 (15. cxb5 axb5 {
and you can't touch b5!}) 15... Qxd2 16. Bxd2 Nxd5 17. cxd5 Bd4+ {.}) 14...
Qxd2+ 15. Kxd2 Nd7 16. g4 $1 f5 17. exf5 gxf5 18. h3 Rf8 19. Rhf1 {Swiercz
avoids the well-known paths.} (19. f4 Rad8 20. Nc3 d5 21. cxd5 Bxd5 22. Nxd5
Nf6 23. Bc4 b5 24. Ke2 Nxd5 25. Bxd5+ Rxd5 26. g5 Rfd8 27. h4 e5 28. Rhd1 Rxd1
29. Rxd1 Rxd1 30. Kxd1 e4 31. h5 Bc3 32. a3 Ba5 33. Ke2 Bc7 34. a4 Kf7 35. Kd2
Ba5+ 36. Kc2 Ke6 37. axb5 {1/2-1/2 (37) Havumaki,A (2419)-Parsons,L (2430)
ICCF email 2018}) 19... d5 ({A possible novelty here is} 19... b5 $5 20. cxb5
axb5 21. Bxb5 Ra5 22. Be2 f4 23. Bf2 Rd5+ 24. Ke1 Ne5 {with enough
compensation. Still, even this final position would requires home analysis to
be played comfortably during a game.}) 20. Nc5 Nxc5 21. Bxc5 dxc4 22. Bxc4 Bxc4
23. Rxc4 b5 24. Rc2 {White has a symbolic edge but not more. A draw is a
plausible outcome, but...} Rf7 25. Ke2 e5 $2 {Quite unnecessary.} ({Black
would have an easy draw after} 25... Rc8 26. Rfc1 fxg4 27. hxg4 Rcf8 28. Rf1
Rc8 {.}) 26. Be3 fxg4 $6 {White now has a long-lasting edge in this endgame
with the pawn on e5 being a reachable target. The pawn on e7 was out of the
way of Black's pieces, and the Black bishop was active.} 27. hxg4 Rf6 28. Rc7
Raf8 29. Bc5 Re8 30. Be3 Ref8 31. g5 Re6 32. Rfc1 Rd8 33. Ra7 $6 {Perhaps too
ambitious.} ({I am sure Karpov would have played} 33. R1c6 {without batting
his eyes. White has a tremendous position after} Rde8 34. Rxe6 Rxe6 35. Kd3 h6
36. gxh6 Bxh6 37. Bxh6 Rxh6 38. Ra7 {.}) 33... Rg6 34. Rcc7 Rf8 35. Re7 Rc8 36.
Kd3 $1 {[#] Swiercz secures a winning position, but what happens next is
rather tragic for the top-seed, who was a bit out of form in this event.} Rf8
37. Ke4 Rc8 38. Rac7 Rf8 39. Rb7 Rc8 40. Rec7 Rf8 41. Re7 Rc8 42. Rbc7 Rf8 43.
Red7 Re8 44. Rf7 Rd8 45. Rcd7 Rc8 46. Ra7 Rd8 47. a4 bxa4 48. bxa4 a5 {White
is completely winning, but if he could remove a pair of rooks from the board,
it would be much simpler given the time pressure.} 49. Rfc7 Rf8 50. Rxa5 h5 51.
Raa7 (51. Rb5 {was easier as it also paves the way for white's a-pawn.}) 51...
h4 52. Rc2 h3 53. Rh2 ({More convincing was} 53. a5 Rd6 54. a6 {.}) 53... Rc6
54. Rxh3 Rc4+ 55. Kd5 Rc3 56. Bb6 Rf4 57. Rc7 $4 {A very hard move to explain.}
({Still on track was} 57. a5 Rd3+ 58. Ke6 Rf8 59. Rh4 {and with Rh4-a4 coming,
freeing the a7-rook to move, White shall win with the a-pawn.}) 57... Rxc7 58.
Bxc7 Rxa4 59. Ke6 ({Perhaps Dariusz missed} 59. Bxe5 $2 Ra5+ {.}) 59... Ra3 60.
Kf5 Re3 61. Bb6 Rb3 62. Bd8 Kf7 63. Bf6 Bxf6 64. gxf6 Rb1 65. Rh7+ Kf8 66. Rd7
({It's a draw after} 66. Kxe5 {as White does not have shelter for the king:}
Rf1 67. f4 Ra1 68. Kf5 Rb1 {and the White king has no chance to create a
serious mating net because of the Black checks from behind.}) 66... Rb2 67. Ke6
Rb6+ 68. Rd6 Rb8 69. Ra6 Rc8 70. Ra7 Rc6+ 71. Kf5 Rc1 72. Rd7 Rc2 73. Ke6 Rc6+
74. Rd6 Rc8 75. Rb6 Ra8 76. Rb4 Ra6+ 77. Kf5 Ra1 78. Rb6 Kf7 79. Rb7+ Kf8 80.
Rd7 Ra2 81. Ke6 Ra6+ 82. Rd6 Ra8 83. Kxe5 Ra1 84. Rd7 Re1+ 85. Kf5 Ra1 86. f4
Rb1 87. Ra7 Rc1 88. Rh7 Ra1 89. Rg7 Rb1 90. Rc7 Ra1 91. f7 Ra6 92. Kg5 Rg6+ 93.
Kf5 Ra6 94. Rd7 Rb6 95. Ke5 Ra6 96. f5 Rb6 97. Ra7 Rc6 98. Kf4 Rb6 99. Kg5 Rc6
100. f6 Rc5+ 101. Kg6 Rg5+ 102. Kxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "USA-ch Online qf"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.12.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Lenderman, Aleksandr"]
[Black "Gareyev, Timur"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2624"]
[BlackElo "2606"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2020.12.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{A must win game for both players. With Yoo at 4/6 heading into the final
round, three players - Gareyev, Lenderman, and yours truly - were tied for
second place with 3.5/6. I faced off with Yoo, while Lenderman was paired with
Gareyev. Both had to win to keep hopes of a tiebreak round alive.} 1. Nf3 d6 2.
d4 Nf6 3. c4 Bf5 {As always, Gareyev opts out of mainstream theory as soon as
he can. Even here, though, there is still theory!} 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O
O-O 7. Qb3 (7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Nh4 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bc8 10. f4 c5 {is one of the
mainlines that Gareyev wished to reach.}) 7... Qc8 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Rd1 (9. d5 Nd8
10. Ne1 $5 {with the idea of Ne1-d3 or e2-e4 is interesting. White can also
try 10. Re1.}) 9... Ne4 10. Nd5 a5 11. Qe3 $6 {This is an odd square for the
queen.} e6 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 e5 {[#] Gareyev achieved a comfortable
position. It is safe to say his opening choice paid off.} 14. Be3 Bg4 $1 {
Increasing the pressure.} 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Rd2 Re8 17. Rad1 h6 18. Qa3 e4 ({
Better is} 18... a4 $1 19. Ne1 e4 20. Nc2 Be6 {with an edge for Black.}) 19.
Nd4 Ne5 20. Qa4 Bd7 21. Nb5 Bc6 22. Qb3 a4 23. Qb4 f5 24. Bh3 {The players are
making good moves so far. The position remians balanced but dynamic.} Nf7 25.
Bf4 e3 $1 {Things are still equal, but here Gareyev seize the moment to start
a fire. Unfortunately for him the smoke from that fire makes him go astray!}
26. fxe3 $4 ({White needed to try} 26. Bxe3 Rxe3 27. fxe3 Qe8 28. Nxc7 Qxe3+
29. Kf1 Qe4 30. Qb6 Ng5 31. Nxa8 Nxh3 32. Rd8+ Kh7 33. Ke1 Ng5 34. R8d3 Qh1+
35. Kd2 Ne4+ 36. Kc1 Qxh2 {and while the engine spits out triple zeros,
Black's two bishops are the very least worthy of white's two rooks!}) 26... g5
$1 27. Qc5 Ne5 $4 ({Gareyev would have gone to the tiebreak had he found} 27...
gxf4 28. Bxf5 Bf8 $1 {.}) 28. Na7 $5 Qb8 $2 {Things are already bad, but this
is just losing.} 29. Nxc6 Nxc6 30. Qxf5 $1 {Now it is Black who has his king
in the crosshairs, and he has no material to defend it.} gxf4 31. Rd7 Qa7 32.
Qf7+ 1-0

[Event "US qualifier Armageddon "]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2020.12.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Lenderman, Alexander"]
[Black "Yoo, Christopher"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2803"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,153,17,43,20,-8,22,22,25,25,24,6,12,-2,25,29,27,12,18,10,12,11,30,7,
-4,0,-13,-5,44,45,112,85,91,100,100,95,95,95,94,91,99,98,90,102,134,136,119,
122,158,154,159,223,425,422,439,361,375,341,337,361,364,376,359,363,358,306,
355,359,333,369,381,339,416,375,394,398,407,322,331,336,362,381,385,385,378,
377,382,385,385,389,392,433,516,539,539,561,561,577,696,708,913,1016,2020,2769,
29979,565,574,497,482,482,482,482,482,555,610,634,634,656,646,646,646,482,646,
610,646,631,646,732,741,815,1243,788,885,958,1016,1444,29981,1587,1677,1727,
29979,29978,29981,29982,29983,29984,29985,29986,29987,29988,29989,29988,29991,
29992,29993,29994]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. c3 $5 {
Interesting choice in an interesting opening! This avoids forced lines.} d6 6.
Bc4 g6 7. Ne2 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. f4 Qd8 10. Nd2 d5 11. Bb3 dxe4 12. Nxe4 b6 13.
N2g3 Nd7 14. d5 $5 Nc5 $4 {An unfortunate mistake.} ({Engines say the position
is equal after} 14... Nf6 15. dxe6 Bxe6 16. Bxe6 Nxe4 17. Bxf7+ Rxf7 18. Nxe4
Qxd1 19. Raxd1 Re8 20. Ng3 (20. Rde1 $2 Rfe7 $19) 20... Bf8 {and I won't
disagree with them, but it is not easy to see this line in a blitz game.}) 15.
Nxc5 bxc5 16. dxe6 Bxe6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Qg4 Qf6 19. Rad1 {[#] Black's
structure is totally shattered. White must be technically winning.} Rab8 20.
Qe2 Rfd8 21. Ne4 Qf5 22. g4 $1 {This move seals the deal. Under a lot of
pressure and stress Yoo cracks and soon the game is basically over.} Qf8 23.
Rxd8 Qxd8 24. Nxc5 Qd5 25. Nxe6 Rf8 26. Nxf8 Bxf8 27. Qg2 Qxa2 28. Kh1 Qc4 29.
f5 g5 30. Rd1 Kg7 31. Rd4 Qb5 32. Rd5 Qc4 33. Rd7+ Kf6 34. Rd4 Qb5 35. c4 Qe5
36. Qe4 Bd6 37. Qxe5+ Bxe5 38. Re4 h5 39. h3 hxg4 40. hxg4 Bxb2 41. Re6+ Kf7
42. Ra6 Bd4 43. Rc6 Be5 44. Kg2 Bf4 45. Kf3 Be5 46. Ke4 Bg3 47. Kd5 Ke7 48. Ra6
Bf2 49. c5 Kd7 50. Rxa7 Be3 51. c6+ Kd8 52. Ra8+ Ke7 53. Rc8 Bf4 54. Rg8 Kf7
55. Rd8 Ke7 56. Rd7+ Kf6 57. Rh7 Bg3 58. Rh6+ Kf7 59. Rg6 Bf4 60. Kc4 Ke7 61.
Kb5 Kf7 62. Ka6 Ke7 63. Kb7 Kf7 64. Re6 Bg3 65. Kc8 Bf4 66. Kd7 Bg3 67. Re8 Bf4
68. Rc8 Kf6 69. Rxc7 Bxc7 70. Kxc7 Ke5 71. Kd7 Kf4 72. f6 Kxg4 73. f7 Kh3 74.
f8=Q g4 75. Qh6+ Kg2 76. c7 g3 77. c8=Q 1-0

[Event "Moscow"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1945.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Smyslov, Vassily"]
[Black "Rudakovsky, Iosif"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B83"]
[Annotator "Stallings"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "1945.06.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Be3 Nc6 9. f4 Qc7 10. Qe1 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 e5 12. Be3 Be6 {[#]} 13. f5 Bc4 14.
Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Bg5 Rfe8 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nd5 Bd8 18. c3 b5 19. b3 Qc5+ 20. Kh1
Rc8 21. Rf3 Kh8 22. f6 gxf6 23. Qh4 Rg8 24. Nxf6 Rg7 25. Rg3 Bxf6 26. Qxf6 Rcg8
27. Rd1 d5 28. Rxg7 Rxg7 29. Rxd5 Qf8 30. Rd8 Qxd8 31. Qxd8+ Rg8 32. Qf6+ Rg7
33. Qxe5 h6 34. Qxb5 Kh7 35. Qf5+ Kh8 36. c4 Rg6 37. c5 Kg7 38. Qxg6+ fxg6 39.
c6 Kf7 40. c7 Ke7 41. c8=Q 1-0

[Event "Simul, Los Angeles, 2011"]
[Site "Santa Clarita"]
[Date "2011.08.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Adams, GM Michael"]
[Black "Stallings, Jay"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[BlackElo "2100"]
[Annotator "Stallings"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 g6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nc3 f5 6. g3 c5 7. dxc5 Qa5 8.
Qd2 Qxc5 9. Rc1 b6 10. Bg2 Nc6 11. Nd5 O-O 12. b4 Qd6 13. Nf3 Bb7 14. O-O Ne7
15. Nxe7+ Qxe7 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 {John, What do you think about starting HERE
instead? This is really when his plan became clear.} 17. Ne1 Bc6 18. Nd3 g5 {
[#]} 19. b5 Be4 20. Nb4 h6 21. Bxe4 fxe4 22. Nd5 Qd6 23. Qc2 f5 24. c5 bxc5 25.
Qxc5 Qxc5 26. Rxc5 Bf8 27. Rc7 Kf7 28. a4 Ke6 29. Rc4 Bd6 30. g4 Rac8 31. gxf5+
Ke5 32. Rxc8 Rxc8 33. Ne3 Rc5 34. Ng4+ Kxf5 35. Rxd6 Kxg4 36. Kg2 Rc7 37. Rxh6
Kf5 38. e3 Ke5 39. Rg6 Kf5 40. Ra6 Rb7 41. Kg3 Ke5 42. Kg4 d6 43. Rc6 Rh7 44.
h3 Rg7 45. Rc2 Rh7 46. a5 Rg7 47. Rb2 Rh7 48. b6 axb6 49. axb6 Rb7 50. Rb5+ Kf6
51. f3 d5 52. fxe4 dxe4 53. Rb2 Kg6 54. Rb1 Kf6 55. Rb5 1-0

[Event "Hastings 1966/67"]
[Site "Hastings ENG"]
[Date "1966.12.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Yuri Balashov"]
[Black "Jonathan Penrose"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E93"]
[Annotator "Stallings"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "1966.12.28"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 Nbd7 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. h4 Nxg3 12. fxg3 gxh4 13. Nxh4 Qg5 {[#]} 14. Bg4
Nc5 15. Bxc8 Qxg3+ 16. Kf1 Raxc8 17. Nf5 Qf4+ 18. Qf3 Kh7 19. Ke2 Rh8 20. Rh4
Qxf3+ 21. gxf3 Rcg8 22. Rah1 Ra8 {[#]} 23. Nd1 Nd7 24. Nde3 Kg8 25. Rg1 Rh7 26.
Rhg4 1-0

[Event "Barmen Barmen"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1905.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carl Schlecter"]
[Black "William John"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A84"]
[Annotator "Stallings"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "1905.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 f5 4. Nf3 c6 5. Bf4 Bd6 6. e3 Nf6 7. Bd3 Qc7 8. g3 O-O
9. O-O Ne4 10. Qb3 Kh8 11. Rac1 Bxf4 12. exf4 Qf7 13. Ne5 Qe7 14. Bxe4 fxe4 15.
f3 exf3 16. Rce1 Qc7 17. Qa3 Kg8 18. Rxf3 Na6 19. b3 Qd8 20. c5 Nc7 21. Qb2 Bd7
22. Qc2 Qe7 23. Ref1 Rae8 24. g4 Bc8 25. Rh3 g6 26. b4 Qf6 27. Rhf3 Re7 28. a4
a6 {[#]} 29. Nd1 Rg7 30. Ne3 Qe7 31. g5 Bd7 32. N3g4 Be8 33. Nh6+ Kh8 34. Qe2
Qd8 35. Neg4 Bd7 36. Qe5 Ne8 37. Rh3 Qc7 38. Nf6 Qxe5 39. fxe5 Re7 40. Rhf3
Nxf6 41. Rxf6 Rxf6 42. exf6 Re8 43. Nf7+ Kg8 44. Ne5 Rd8 45. Kg2 Kf8 46. h4 Be8
47. Kf3 Bf7 48. Kf4 Ke8 49. Rb1 Kf8 50. b5 cxb5 51. axb5 a5 52. c6 Be8 53. f7
Bxc6 54. bxc6 bxc6 55. Rb7 Kg7 56. Nd7 Kxf7 57. Nf6+ Kf8 58. Nxh7+ Ke8 59. Nf6+
Kf8 60. h5 e5+ 61. Kxe5 Re8+ 62. Nxe8 Kxe8 63. h6 Kd8 64. h7 Kc8 65. Rf7 Kd8
66. h8=Q# 1-0

[Event "Euwe - Flohr"]
[Site "Amsterdam NED"]
[Date "1932.03.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Salomon Flohr"]
[Black "Max Euwe"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[Annotator "Stallings"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "1932.03.25"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. cxd5 exd5 7. e3 Be7 8.
Bd3 O-O 9. Qc2 Re8 10. O-O Nf8 11. Ne5 Ng4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nxg4 Bxg4 14. Rfe1
Rad8 15. Ne2 Rd6 16. Ng3 Rh6 17. Bf5 Qg5 18. Bxg4 Qxg4 19. h3 Qd7 20. b4 Ne6
21. Rab1 Nc7 22. a4 a6 {[#]} 23. Nf1 Re7 24. Nh2 Rhe6 25. Nf3 f6 26. Nd2 Re8
27. Nb3 R6e7 28. Nc5 Qc8 29. Rec1 Rd8 30. Nd3 Qb8 31. Nf4 Ne6 32. Nxe6 Rxe6 33.
b5 axb5 34. axb5 cxb5 35. Rxb5 b6 36. Qb3 Qd6 37. Rb1 Rd7 38. Rxb6 Qxb6 39.
Qxb6 Rxb6 40. Rxb6 Kf7 41. Kh2 Ke7 42. Kg3 Ra7 43. Kf4 g6 44. g4 Ra2 45. Rb7+
Ke6 46. Kf3 1-0

[Event "CCC13: Finals (15|5)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.04.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Lc0 (Leela Chess Zero)"]
[Black "Stockfish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A83"]
[Annotator "Stallings"]
[PlyCount "251"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 g6 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. Nge2 c6 7. d5 e6 8. Nxe4
O-O 9. d6 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Qe5 11. Nxf6+ Qxf6 12. f4 Qxb2 13. Rb1 Qf6 14. O-O Qf5
15. Kh1 Qc5 16. f5 Qxc4 17. Rf4 Qd5 18. fxg6 hxg6 19. Rg4 Rf6 {[#]} 20. Nc3 Qh5
21. Ne4 Rf7 22. Ng3 Qh7 23. Bg5 c5 24. Rh4 Qxh4 25. Bxh4 Nc6 26. Qg4 Ne5 27.
Qa4 b6 28. Rxb6 Nc4 29. Rb1 Nxd6 30. Qg4 Bb7 31. Qxg6 Bc6 32. h3 Nf5 33. Nxf5
exf5 34. Re1 Be4 35. Rxe4 fxe4 36. Qxe4 Rb8 37. Bg3 Rb2 38. Qc4 Bd4 39. Kh2 Kg7
40. h4 Rb6 41. c3 Bf6 42. Qxc5 Re7 43. Bf2 Rc6 44. Qd5 Be5+ 45. g3 Rd6 46. Qc5
Rde6 47. Bd4 Bxd4 48. cxd4 Kf6 49. Kh3 Re1 50. Qxa7 Rh1+ 51. Kg2 Rhe1 52. Qc5
Ke6 53. Kf2 Kf7 54. Qc2 R1e6 55. a4 d5 56. Qb3 Rd6 57. Qb4 Rc6 58. Qb3 Rd7 59.
Kg2 Rc4 60. Qb5 Rd6 61. Qb8 Rd7 62. Qb5 Rd6 63. Qb8 Rd7 64. Qe5 Rc6 65. Qf5+
Ke7 66. Qg5+ Kf7 67. Qd2 Ke8 68. a5 Kd8 69. Kh3 Kc7 70. Qe2 Rd8 71. a6 Kb6 72.
a7 Ra8 73. Qf3 Rd6 74. h5 Rxa7 75. Qf8 Rad7 76. Qb8+ Kc6 77. Qe8 Kb5 78. Qc8
Rd8 79. Qc5+ Ka4 80. g4 Rh6 81. Qc1 Rb6 82. Qc7 Rdd6 83. g5 Rb3+ 84. Kg4 Rdb6
85. Qxb6 Rxb6 86. g6 Ka5 87. g7 Rb1 88. Kf5 Rf1+ 89. Ke6 Rg1 90. h6 Kb4 91. h7
Rxg7 92. h8=Q Rg5 93. Qh6 Rg2 94. Kxd5 Rg8 95. Ke5 Re8+ 96. Kf4 Re1 97. d5 Rf1+
98. Ke3 Re1+ 99. Kd2 Re4 100. d6 Kb5 101. d7 Rd4+ 102. Ke3 Rxd7 103. Qe6 Ra7
104. Kd4 Rc7 105. Qe5+ Kb6 106. Qd6+ Kb7 107. Kd5 Kc8 108. Qe5 Kb7 109. Kd6
Rc6+ 110. Kd7 Rb6 111. Qa5 Rh6 112. Qd5+ Kb6 113. Qf5 Kb7 114. Qe4+ Ka6 115.
Kc7 Ka5 116. Qe5+ Kb4 117. Qf4+ Kc5 118. Qxh6 Kd4 119. Qh1 Ke3 120. Kd6 Kd2
121. Qf3 Kc1 122. Kd5 Kb1 123. Kc4 Ka2 124. Qb7 Ka1 125. Kc3 Ka2 126. Qb2# 1-0

[Event "Candidates qf1"]
[Site "Bled"]
[Date "1965.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Tal, Mihail"]
[Black "Portisch, Lajos"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "1965.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 Nd7 7. d4 Ngf6 8.
Bd3 Nxe4 {[#]} 9. Qxe4 e6 10. O-O Be7 11. c3 Nf6 12. Qh4 Nd5 13. Qg4 Bf6 14.
Re1 Qb6 15. c4 Nb4 16. Rxe6+ fxe6 17. Qxe6+ Kf8 18. Bf4 Rd8 19. c5 Nxd3 20.
cxb6 Nxf4 21. Qg4 Nd5 22. bxa7 Ke7 23. b4 Ra8 24. Re1+ Kd6 25. b5 Rxa7 26. Re6+
Kc7 27. Rxf6 {[#]} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 1"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini,Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/6k1/8/Q7/8/1b1q4/6P1/R3K3 b Q - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 2"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini,Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/7k/8/5b2/8/4qB2/6PP/Q4K1R b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 3"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini,Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r3/7k/6b1/8/Q7/4qP2/6B1/3R1K2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 4"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini,Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1r1/1k4b1/8/8/8/4qR2/7P/3Q1KRB b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 5"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini,Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2k5/1p2r3/1P6/1b6/8/4q3/3QB2P/3RKR2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.01.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 6"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini,Bruce"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2b4k/8/1b6/8/8/4qB2/4N1P1/4QK2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2021.02.01"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "Stockholm casual"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "1919.12.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bogoljubow, Efim"]
[Black "Spielmann, Rudolf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C14"]
[Annotator "Watson"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "1919.12.??"]
[EventType "game"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,53,28,39,39,39,24,23,39,19,36,38,30,32,35,38,16,14,14,14,14,9,-11,-50,
-51,-129,0,0,0,-19,20,-68,1,1,-30,0,228,271,277,277,365,359,363,448,884,885,
885,871,893,917,29989,29990,29995,29996,29999,-30000]} 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. Nf4
a6 11. O-O-O c5 12. Qg3 Nb6 13. dxc5 Qxc5 14. Bd3 Qf8 {[#]} 15. Be4 $3 dxe4 (
15... h5 16. Bxd5 $1 exd5 17. Ncxd5 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Qh6+ 19. Kb1 O-O 20. Rxh5 $1
Qxh5 21. Nf6+) 16. Nxe4 N8d7 17. Qc3 $1 Qe7 18. Nf6+ Nxf6 (18... Kd8 19. Qa5 $1
Kc7 20. N4d5+) 19. exf6 Qf8 20. Qc7 Nd7 21. Nd5 $1 exd5 (21... h5 22. Ne7 Qh6+
23. f4) 22. Rhe1+ Ne5 23. Rxe5+ Be6 24. Kb1 $1 Rd8 25. Rdxd5 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 Bxd5
27. Qc8# 1-0

[Event "URS-ch17 Semifinal"]
[Site "Tbilisi"]
[Date "1949.??.??"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran V"]
[Black "Pogrebissky, Iosif"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D75"]
[Annotator "Watson"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "1949.04.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "17"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,55,28,13,30,4,35,40,37,26,17,17,6,6,28,24,26,21,15,23,8,-57,-64,-101,
6,4,-28,-34,-17,-10,21,5,-15,-15,39,63,91,97,84,26,126,64,80,50,98,6,324,324,
890,983,906,424,1112,1236,1236,1314,29993,29994]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7
4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. O-O c5 8. e4 Nf6 9. e5 Nfd7 10. Ng5 $5 {
This aggressive and fearless move characterizes a fair amount of young
Tigran's play. Objectively it's not very sound.} cxd4 11. f4 Nc5 $5 12. b4 $1
f6 13. exf6 exf6 14. Nxh7 $1 Kxh7 15. bxc5 {An unclear position,
whichPetrosian handles brilliantly.} Nc6 16. Bb2 Qc7 17. Nd2 Be6 18. Ne4 Rad8 {
Here a move such as 19.Nd6 suggests itself, or 19. Qa4.} 19. h4 $1 {But
Petrosian goes for the king!} Qd7 20. h5 Bg4 $2 21. hxg6+ Kxg6 {[#]} 22. f5+ $1
Bxf5 ({Black may have been counting upon} 22... Qxf5 {, but} 23. Qb1 $1 {
is decisive, e.g.,} Qe5 24. Nxf6+ Bf5 25. Rxf5 $1 Qxf5 26. Be4) 23. Nd6 Bg4 24.
Be4+ Kh5 25. Rf4 $1 f5 (25... Bxd1 26. Rh4+ Kg5 27. Bc1#) 26. Rxg4 $1 fxg4 27.
Qd2 Rh8 28. Kg2 {Rh1 with mate will follow.} 1-0

[Event "Moscow"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1981.04.??"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran V"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2585"]
[Annotator "Watson"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r2r2k1/6qp/1p3ppP/p1bPp3/b1PpPP2/3B2Q1/1R1B2P1/5RK1 b - - 0 31"]
[PlyCount "23"]
[EventDate "1981.04.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

31... Qc7 {[#] White has a powerful attack and the win looks straightforward,
but finishing Petrosian off was never easy:} 32. f5 $5 g5 33. Bxg5 $1 fxg5 $5 (
33... Kf7 {is objectively better, but this lures White into playing a simple
and apparently wining sequence:} 34. Bd2 {+/- Kasparov} Rg8 35. Qh4 Ke7 {
35...Be8} 36. g4 Be8 $1 37. g5 fxg5 38. Bxg5+ Kd7 39. Kh1 Bf7 {/\ Qd6, a4-a3})
34. Qxg5+ Kf8 35. Qf6+ $4 (35. f6 $1 {would have generated too much pressure
after} Qf7 36. Qxe5 {, but Kasparov was in severe time pressure.}) 35... Ke8
36. Ra1 {Where can the bishop go?} Qe7 $3 $17 {Played instantly. Suddenly
Black stands better.} (36... Bd7 {loses to} 37. Qh8+ Bf8 38. Qxh7) 37. Qe6 $5 (
37. Qxe7+ Kxe7 38. Rxa4 Rd6 $17 {leaves White in a terribly passive ending.})
37... Rd6 $1 38. Qg8+ Qf8 39. Qg3 Qxh6 $5 40. Rxa4 $4 {Cracking at the time
control.} Qc1+ 41. Kf2 Qxb2+ 42. Kf3 Kf7 0-1

[Event "North American Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.12.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Eckert, Doug"]
[Black "Harriott, Tyrell"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2272"]
[BlackElo "2181"]
[Annotator "Eckert"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2qr2k1/p4pp1/7p/4p3/P2nQ3/2NP2P1/1B1bPP1P/1R4K1 w - - 0 31"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "CL March 2021"]
[SourceDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] The game was played in the 2012 North American Open in Las Vegas. My
opponent sacrificed a pawn putting me under immense pressure.} 31. Nd1 $2 ({
White should try} 31. Nb5 Nxb5 ({if} 31... Qc2 $2 32. Na3 {with a big advantage
}) 32. axb5 Qc2 33. Qxe5 $1 {and I saw the idea that follows, but not that it
only works by sacrificing a rook with check:} Qxb1+ 34. Kg2 f6 35. Qe6+ Kh8 36.
Bxf6 Rg8 37. Bxg7+ $1 {with a perpetual.}) 31... Qc2 32. Ra1 Nb3 $2 ({My
friend GM Jacob Aagaard constantly reminds us our calculations are usually
wrong on the first move of the variation... in this case, it was the second
move I neglected.} 32... Bc1 $1 33. Bxd4 Qxd1+ 34. Kg2 exd4 35. Qc6 Qxe2 36.
Rxc1 Qxd3 {.}) 33. Qxe5 f6 34. Qe6+ Kh8 35. Bxf6 Rg8 $2 {[#] Now this move
loses.} ({It's a draw after} 35... Nxa1 36. Bxg7+ {.}) 36. Ne3 $1 {MY BEST
MOVE, which I had seen as a trap when playing my 31st move.} Bxe3 37. Qxe3 Kh7
({The only move that avoids mate is} 37... Qd2 {but of course it loses.}) 38.
Qe4+ Kh8 39. Qg6 Qd2 40. e3 {What made 36. Ne3 so memorable was not that it
was my best move objectively, but its aftermath. Tyrell congratulated me,
called his wife over and said, "you have to take my picture with Doug! Look at
this move and what happened to me! I need my picture with anyone that can do
that." Tyrell's enthusiasm for the art of chess itself made the move great.
His sportsmanship and attitude made a lasting impression and I'll be forever
grateful to him for providing that moment.} 1-0

