Chess World Cup 2017 Round 4 Game 2 - Tblisi

Before we go any further and talk about any of the other games – game of the day has to belong to Maxim Rodshtein. After losing with white yesterday, he faced an absolute must win with white and duly did just that to save the match and take it to tie breaks. We will have to see if he can tap into the energy of the psychological momentum for the rapid games.

The other notable games were the wins by Aronian and Ding that sealed match victory for both players to take them through to the quarter final where Chucky will be waiting…

And that leaves us with the tension of five matches to be decided on roulette spin of the FIDE tie break system.

Here are the full results of Round 4, game 2.

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

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

Anish Giri 2777 vs Vassily Ivanchuk 2727 0.5-0.5

Levon Aronian 2802 (5) vs Daniil Dubov 2666 1-0

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

Vladimir Fedoseev 2731 vs Maxim Rodshtein 2695 0-1

Evgeniy Najer 2694 vs Richard Rapport 2675 0.5-0.5

Liren Ding 2771 (11) vs Hao Wang 2701 1-0

Now let’s analyse a selection of the decisive games:

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

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (4.2), 13.09.2017

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 g6 6.0–0 Bg7 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.Ne5N 

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 A50: Queen's Fianchetto Defence (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 b6) [9.Bg5 f6 10.Be3 Nc6 11.Qd2 0–0 12.Rfd1 Ne7 13.Bh6 Bxh6 14.Qxh6 d5 15.Qe3 Nf5 16.Qc3 c6 1–0 (37) Jakovenko,D (2730)-Ipatov,A (2613) Saint-Quentin 2014] 

9...Bxg2 10.Kxg2 c5 11.Be3 The position is equal. 

11...Bxe5 12.dxe5 Qc7 13.Bd2 Nc6 14.Bc3 0–0–0 [Don't play 14...Nxe5?! 15.f4±] 

15.f4 h5 16.e3 g5 [16...d5= keeps the balance.] 17.Kf2 [17.fxg5± Nxe5 18.h4] 

17...h4 18.g4 gxf4 19.exf4 d6 20.exd6 Rxd6 21.Qf3 Rhd8 22.Kg1 Rd3 [22...Nd4!? 23.Qf2 Qc6=] 

23.Qe4 h3 24.Rae1 Kb7 [24...Qb7=] 25.Re3 [Better is 25.g5² ] 

25...f5= 26.gxf5 Rxe3 27.Qxe3 exf5 28.Qxh3 Rg8+ 29.Kh1 Nd4 30.Bxd4! Qc6+ 

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31.Qf3 [31.Rf3!= cxd4 32.Qh7+ Ka6 33.Qxg8 Qxf3+ 34.Kg1 Qd1+ 35.Kg2] 

31...cxd4µ 32.Qxc6+ Kxc6 Endgame KR-KR 

33.Rg1 Re8 

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 Black has strong compensation. 34.b4? [34.Rg3µ is a better chance.] 

34...b5!–+ Black is clearly winning. 

35.c5 35...Kd5! 36.Rg7 [¹36.Rg6 d3 37.h4 (37.Rd6+? Ke4–+) ] 

36...d3 37.Rd7+ Kc4 38.Kg2 Kc3 39.h4 d2 Precision: White = 37%, Black = 72%. 0–1

Aronian,Levon (2802) - Dubov,Daniil (2666)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (4.2), 13.09.2017

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Nc3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Be3 0–0 9.Be2 b6 D85: Exchange Grünfeld: Unusual White 7th moves and lines with 7 Nf3 [9...Qa5 10.0–0 Rd8 11.Qb3 Qb6 12.Qa3 Nd7 13.e5 Nf8 14.Rfd1 Qc7 15.Ng5 Ne6 16.Ne4 b6 17.d5 Bb7 18.dxe6 Bxe4 19.exf7+ Kxf7 1–0 (51) Ponkratov,P (2590)-Dubov,D (2666) St Petersburg 2017] 

10.Qd2 cxd4 11.cxd4 Bb7 The position is equal. 

12.e5 Nc6 13.h4 Qd5 14.h5 Rfd8 15.Rc1N 

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[15.hxg6 hxg6 16.Rh4 Qa5 17.Qxa5 Nxa5 1/2–1/2 (37) Cuenca Jimenez,J (2498)-Ftacnik,L (2551) Leiria 2017] 

15...Qa5 16.h6 Bf8 17.e6 f6 18.0–0 Qxd2 19.Bxd2 Nxd4 [19...Rac8µ 20.Be3 Nb4] 

20.Nxd4³ Rxd4 21.Be3 Rdd8 22.Bb5 Bd5 23.Bd7! g5 24.f4 Bxh6 White must now prevent ...gxf4. 

25.fxg5! Bg7 26.Bd4 fxg5 27.Bxg7 Kxg7 28.Rf7+ Kg6 29.Rxe7 Rf8 

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30.Re1! Bxa2 [30...a6²] 

31.Bb5!± [Don't play 31.Bc6?! Rac8=] 

31...a6 [31...a5±] 

32.Bd3++- Kf6 33.Rxh7 And now e7 would win. 

33...b5 [33...Rae8± is a better defense.] 

34.Rh6+ White has strong compensation. 

34...Ke7 35.Rh7+ Kf6! 36.e7 Rf1+ is the strong threat. 

36...Rg8 37.Rh6+ Kf7 [37...Kg7 was necessary. 38.Rh7+ Kf6 39.Rf1+ Ke6 40.Re1+ Kf6] 

38.Rh7+ Kf6! 39.Be4 Rae8 40.Rh6+ Kf7 41.Bc6 [Don't take 41.Rxa6?! Be6±] 

41...Bc4 42.Bxe8+ Rxe8 43.Rxa6 Rxe7 44.Rxe7+ Kxe7 Endgame KR-KB 

45.Kf2 Kf7 [45...b4± was worth a try. 46.Ra4 Bg8 47.Rxb4 Kf6] 

46.Rb6 Be6 47.Rxb5 Kf6? [47...Kg6± 48.Kf3 Bd7] 

48.Kf3 Bf5 49.Rc5 Bd3 50.Ke3 Bf5 51.Kd4 Bb1? [51...Be6+- 52.Ke4 Bd7] 

52.Rc1 Bg6 53.Rc6+ Kg7 54.Ke5 Bb1 55.Ra6 Bc2 56.Rd6 Kf7 57.Rf6+ Kg7 58.Rf2 Bb1 59.Rb2 Bd3 60.Rd2 Bb1 61.Ke6 Be4 62.Re2 Bd3 63.Rd2 

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[¹63.Rb2 Bh7 64.Rb5 Bg8+ 65.Kf5 g4 66.Rb7+ Kh6 67.Rb4 Bd5 68.Rxg4] 

63...Be4! 64.Ke5 Bb1! 65.Rd4 [65.Rd6+- Kf7 66.g4] 

65...Kf7 66.Ra4 Bc2 67.Ra5 Bb1 68.Rc5 Kg6 69.Rc1 Bd3 70.Rd1 Bc2 71.Rd2 Bb1 72.Ke6 [¹72.Rb2 Bd3 73.g4 Kg7 74.Rb7+ Kg6 75.Rb6+ Kf7 76.Rb7+ Kg6 77.Rb3] 

72...Be4 73.g3? [73.g4 Kg7 74.Rd7+ Kg6 75.Ke5 Bc2 76.Rd6+ Kf7 77.Rd2 Bb1 78.Rd7+ Kg6 79.Rb7] 

73...Bb1? [73...Bf3+- 74.Ke5 Kh5] 

74.Rb2? [74.g4 Kg7 75.Rd7+ Kg6 76.Ke5 Bc2 77.Rd6+ Kf7 78.Rb6 Kg7 79.Rb7+ Kg6 80.Rb2] 

74...Bd3? [74...Bf5++- 75.Ke5 Bd7 76.Rb6+ Kh5] 

75.Ke7? [75.g4! Kg7 76.Rb7+ Kg6 77.Ke5 Bc2 78.Rb6+ Kg7 79.Rb7+ Kg6 80.Rb6+ Kg7 81.Rb7+ Kg6] 

75...Be4? 

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[75...Kf5±] 76.Rb6+? [76.g4! Bf3 77.Rb6+ Kh7 78.Rb4 Kg6 79.Ke6 Be2 80.Ke5 Bd3 81.Rd4] 

76...Kg7? [76...Kf5±] 

77.Rb5 Kg6 

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78.Rb4? [78.g4! mates 78...Bf3 79.Rb6+ Kh7 80.Rb4 Kg6 81.Ke6 Bd1 82.Ke5 Bc2 83.Rb6+ Kf7 84.Rb2] 

78...Bc2? [78...Kf5± 79.Rc4 Bb7] 

79.Kf8? [79.Ke6 Hoping for g4. 79...Bf5+ 80.Ke5] 

79...Kf6? [79...Kh5 80.Ke7 Bd3] 

80.Kg8 Bd3? Precision: White = 49%, Black = 35%.[80...Kg6 81.Kf8 Kf6]  1–0

Ding,Liren (2771) - Wang,Hao (2701)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (4.2), 13.09.2017

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.0–0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bg5 h6 E05: Open Catalan: 5 Nf3 Be7 

11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Nc3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 c6 14.e3 a5 15.b4 axb4 16.Qxb4 Ra7 17.a5 Na6 18.Qb6 

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18...Qa8N 19.Ne4 Bd8 20.Qb2 Nb8 21.Nd6 Bxa5 22.Nxb7 [22.Rfb1±] 

22...Qxb7 [22...Rxb7= 23.Rxa5 Qxa5 24.Qxb7 c5] 

23.Qxb7² Rxb7 24.Rxa5 Rc8 25.Rc1 Rbc7 26.Ra8 Kf8 27.h4 Ke7 28.h5 Kd6 29.e4 Ke7 30.e5ƒ White is pushing. 

30...Rd8 [30...Kd8=] 

31.Kg2 Rb7 32.Rc4 f6 33.Be4 fxe5 34.dxe5 Rb2 35.Bg6 Nd7 [35...Rb7± was necessary. 36.Bh7 Nd7 37.Rxd8 Kxd8] 

36.Ra7+- Rf4 is the strong threat. 

36...Re2 

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37.Re4! [Much less strong is 37.Rxc6 Rxe5 38.f4 Rd5] 

37...Rxe4 38.Bxe4 Endgame KRB-KRN 

38...Rc8 39.f4 Kd8 40.Kf3 c5 41.Ke3 Rc7 42.Ra8+ Rc8 43.Ra6 Ke7 44.Ra7 c4 45.Kd2 c3+ 46.Kc2 Kd8 47.Bd3 Rc5 48.Ra8+ Ke7 49.Ra7 Kd8 50.Ra3 Nb6 Black hopes to continue with ...Nd5. 

51.Rxc3 Rxc3+ 52.Kxc3 KB-KN 

52...Nd5+? 

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[52...Nd7 53.Kd4 Ke7] 53.Kd4 Ke7 54.Be4 Nb4 55.Kc5 White mates. 

55...Na2 56.Kc4 Nc1 57.Bd3 Precision: White = 85%, Black = 54%. 1–0