Chess World Cup 2017 Round 4 Game 1 - Tblisi

Chucky is on fire! First he slashed Kramnik with black, and today with white he inflicted mental anguish on Giri. It will be tough for Giri, the draw master, to fight back – even though he has white in game 2.

The only other decisive game of the day was Fedoseev winning with black against Rodshtein. Perhaps the Israeli player was a little rusty having last played 5 days ago when he won with black against Michael Adams – before his default wins during the shorts fiasco.

Here are the full results of Round 4, game 1.

Svidler, Peter 2756 (16) vs Xiangzhi Bu 2714 0.5-0.5

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2804 (8) vs Alexander Grischuk 2788 (9) 0.5-0.5

Vassily Ivanchuk 2727 vs  Anish Giri 2777 (13) 1-0

Daniil Dubov 2666 vs  Levon Aronian 2802 (5) 0.5-0.5

Wesley So 2792 (2) vs Baadur Jobava 2702 0.5-0.5

Maxim Rodshtein 2695 vs  Vladimir Fedoseev 2731 0-1

Richard Rapport 2675 vs Evgeniy Najer 2694 0.5-0.5

Hao Wang 2701 vs Liren Ding 2771 (11) 0.5-0.5

Now let’s analyse a selection of the games, starting with the two decisive ones:

Ivanchuk,Vassily (2727) - Giri,Anish (2777)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (4.1), 12.09.2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 7.0–0 Bd6 8.Qh5 Qf6 C43: Petroff Defence: 3 d4 

9.Be3 

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aiming for f3. [9.Nc3 Qxd4 10.Be3 Qe5 11.Qxe5+ Bxe5 12.Nxd5 Nf6 13.Bf4 Bxf4 14.Rfe1+ Kf8 15.Nxf4 g5 16.Ne2 1/2–1/2 (59) Lu,S (2619)-Wang, Y (2718) China 2016] 

9...0–0–0N [9...Bf5=; 9...Bf5 10.f3 g6 11.Qh6 Bf8 12.Qf4 Bd6 13.Qh6 Bf8 14.Qf4 1/2–1/2 (14) Iordachescu,V (2564)-Landa,K (2570) Reggio Emilia 2006] 

10.Nc3 Nxc3 White is slightly better. 

11.bxc3 Qe6 12.Rfe1 f6 13.Bd2 Qg8 [13...Be8= 14.Qf3 (14.Rxe6 Bxh5 15.g3 Bf7=) 14...Qf7] 

14.Rab1² Kb8 15.h3 [15.Ba6² b6 16.h3] 

15...b6 16.Ba6 g5 17.Qf3 [17.c4!² stays ahead.] 

17...g4µ 

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18.hxg4 [Don't go for 18.Qxf6? gxh3 19.Bf1 hxg2–+] 

18...Bxg4 19.Qxf6 Rf8 20.Qh4 h5 [20...Bf3µ 21.Bf1 h6] 

21.Bg5³ Rh7 [Black should play 21...Qg6= 22.c4 Rhg8] 

22.Re3 [22.Bd3!?] 

22...Bc8 [22...Bf5=] 

23.Bxc8² Kxc8 24.Rbe1 Qg6 25.Be7 Bxe7 26.Rxe7 Qxc2 27.Qg3 Rxe7 28.Rxe7± Endgame KQR-KQR 

28...Qc1+ 29.Kh2 Qf4 30.f3‚ White wants a kill. 

30...a5 

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31.Re5 [31.Re8+!± Kb7 (31...Rxe8 32.Qxf4) 32.Qxf4 Rxf4 33.Re5] 

31...Qf7 32.Qh3+ Kb7 33.Rxh5 [33.Qe6=] 

33...a4 [Better is 33...Qf4+³ 34.Qg3 Qd2] 

34.Rh7 Qf4+? [34...Qe8!= and Black stays safe.] 

35.Qg3+- a3 36.Qxf4 Rxf4 37.Re7 Rf6 38.Re3 Rh6+ 39.Kg1 

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39...Ka6? [39...Kc6 40.g4 Kb5] 

40.f4 c5 [¹40...Kb7 41.Kf2 Kc8] 

41.f5 Precision: White = 51%, Black = 38%. 1–0

Rodshtein,Maxim (2695) - Fedoseev,Vladimir (2731)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (4.1), 12.09.2017

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Bb4+ 5.Nd2 0–0 6.Ngf3 b6 7.0–0 Bb7 8.a3 Be7 E16: Queen's Indian: 4 g3 Bb7 5 Bg2 Bb4+ 

9.b4 [9.cxd5 exd5 10.b4 a5 11.b5 c6 12.bxc6 Nxc6 13.e3 b5 14.Ne5 Bd6 15.Bb2 a4 16.Qb1 Rb8 17.Bc3 Ba8 18.Nxc6 Bxc6 1/2–1/2 (69) Wei,Y (2728)-Yu,Y (2749) Beijing 2017] 

9...c5 10.bxc5 bxc5 The position is equal. 

11.Rb1 Qc8 12.Bb2 [12.Qb3!? Ba6 13.Bb2=] 

12...Nbd7 13.dxc5 Nxc5 14.Qc2 

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14...Nfe4N [14...Nce4 15.Nxe4 Nxe4 1/2–1/2 (25) Lputian,S (2590)-Yudasin, L (2625) Philadelphia 1994] 

15.Rfc1 f6 16.cxd5 Bxd5 17.Nd4 f5 18.Nxe4 fxe4 19.Qc3 [19.Bc3!?] 

19...Rf7! 20.Qe3 Qd7 21.Ba1 Raf8 22.f4 e5 [Better is 22...exf3= 23.Nxf3 Qd6] 

23.fxe5² Qg4 Black wants to play ...Bg5. 

24.Rf1 h5 [24...Rxf1+² 25.Rxf1 Rxf1+ 26.Kxf1 Qh5] 

25.h3 Qg6 26.Kh2 h4 

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next ... Bg5 is good for Black. 

27.g4 [27.Rxf7² Rxf7 28.g4] 

27...Bg5 28.Qc3 Rxf1 29.Rxf1 Rxf1‚ Black has some attack. 

30.Bxf1 Qf7 31.Nf5 Ne6 32.Kg1 g6 33.Nd6 Qf4 34.Bg2 Bd8 35.Nc4? 

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[35.Qe1=] 35...e3!–+ 36.Bxd5 Qf2+ 37.Kh1 Qf1+ 38.Kh2 

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38...Bg5! Black is clearly winning. 

39.Bxe6+ Kg7 40.Qxe3 Bxe3 41.Nxe3 Qxa1 Precision: White = 44%, Black = 59%. 0–1

Rapport,Richard (2675) - Najer,Evgeniy (2694)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (4.1), 12.09.2017

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qb3 Na5 8.Qa4+ D10: Slav Defence: 3 cxd5 (without early Nf3) and 3 Nc3 

8...Bd7 9.Qc2 e6 [9...Rc8 10.Bd3 e6 11.Nf3 b5 12.a3 Be7 13.Qe2 a6 14.Ne5 0–0 15.0–0 Qb6 16.a4 b4 17.Nb1 Ra8 18.Bg5 Be8 19.Nd2 h6 20.Bh4 1–0 (57) Howell,D (2684) -Melkumyan,H (2613) Minsk 2017] 

10.Bd3 Be7 11.Nf3 Nc6 12.a3 Nh5 13.Be5 f6 14.Bf4 Nxf4 [14...g5!? 15.Bg3 Kf7=] 

15.exf4 g6N 

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[15...Qb6 16.Bxh7 Nxd4 0–1 (26) Sagar,S (2433)-Soumya,S (2346) Pune 2016] 

16.0–0 Kf7 17.Rfe1 Rc8 18.h4 f5 19.Qb3 [19.h5!?] 

19...Bf6 20.Nb5 [20.Ne5+= Kg7 21.Qxb7] 

20...Be8 [20...Kg7³ 21.Ne5 Be7] 

21.Rad1 a6 22.Nc3 b5 23.Re2 [23.g3 with more complications. 23...Nxd4 24.Nxd4 Bxd4 25.Bxf5 Bxf2+ 26.Kxf2 gxf5 27.Ne2] 

23...Nxd4 [23...Bd7 seems wilder. 24.Bb1 Kg7 25.g3 Qb6 26.Ba2 Rhe8] 

24.Nxd4 Bxd4 

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25.Bxf5! Bxf2+ [25...exf5 26.Rxd4] 

26.Rxf2 gxf5 

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27.Nxd5! Qxh4 [27...exd5 28.Rxd5] 

28.Ne3 Qf6 29.Rd6 [29.g4!?] 

29...Rc1+ 30.Rf1 Rc6 31.Rfd1 Rg8 32.Rxc6 Bxc6 33.Rd6 Rc8! 34.Qd1 [34.Qc2!? Bb7 35.Qd1=] 

34...Ke7 35.Qd2 a5 36.Rd3 h5 37.Rc3 Rd8 38.Qe1 Be4 39.Qe2 Qh4 40.Qxb5 With the idea Qe5. 

40...Qxf4 Threatens to win with ...Bxg2! 

41.Qxa5 Rd7 42.Qc5+! Qd6 43.Qxd6+ Rxd6= Endgame KRB-KRN 

44.Nf1 [44.g3=] 

44...Rd1µ ...Bd3 is the strong threat. 

45.Kf2 

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45...f4 [Black should play 45...Bd3!µ 46.Ne3 Rd2+ 47.Kg1 Be4] 

46.Rh3 [46.g3!³] 

46...Bd3 [Black should try 46...Kf6! aiming for ...Bd3. 47.Rxh5 Rb1 48.Rh6+ Ke5] 

47.Nh2 Bg6 White must now prevent ...Rd2+. 

48.Nf3 Rb1 [48...Kf6 is interesting. 49.Rh4 e5 50.g3 fxg3+ 51.Kxg3 Rd3] 

49.Rh4 Rxb2+ 50.Kg1 Ra2 51.Rxf4 Rxa3 52.Kf2 Bf5 53.Nh4 Bg4 54.Ng6+ Kd6 55.Rd4+ Kc5 56.Rd2 Bf5 57.Ne5 Rb3 58.Nf3 Be4 59.Nd4 The position is equal. 

59...Rb6 60.Ke3 Bd5 61.Kf4 Rb1 62.Ke5 Kc4 63.g3 Rg1 64.Rc2+ Kd3 

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65.Rc3+! Kxc3 66.Ne2+ Kd3 67.Nxg1= KB-KN 

67...Ke3 Hoping for ...Bg2. 

68.Nh3 Kf3 69.Nf4 Kg4 70.Ne2 Bc4 71.Nf4 Bb3 72.Ne2 Bc4 73.Nf4 Bd5 74.Ne2 Bb3 75.Nf4 Bc4 76.Ke4 Ba6 [76...Bd5+!? 77.Ke5 Bb3³] 

77.Nxe6 Kxg3 And now ...h4 would win. 

78.Ng7 h4 79.Nf5+ Kg4 

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80.Nxh4! Precision: White = 59%, Black = 55%. ½–½