SHAMKIR CHESS 2018 ROUND 6

There are three rounds remaining in Shamkir and four players are still in line for the Giri award. Strangely though, Anish is not one of those four players. Even Giri himself tweeted: “Shattered dreams”.

Giri’s win in round 6 takes him level with Carlsen, just a half point behind Topalov.

Carlsen’s prospects look interesting. He faces Topalov in round 7 and Giri in round 8, so a lot can still happen when seven players still have a realistic chance of winning.

Giri,Anish (2777) - Navara,David (2745)

5th Shamkir Chess 2018 Shamkir (6), 25.04.2018

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 Qb6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Na4 B12: Caro-Kann: Advance Variation 

8...Qa5+ 9.c3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Ne7 12.0–0 Nc6! 13.b4 Qc7 14.Rc1 Be7 

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15.g4N [15.b5 Nxd4 16.cxd4 1–0 (32) Bok,B (2611)-Saltaev,M (2477) Germany 2018] 

15...Be4 16.f3 Bg6 17.f4 Be4 18.Nc5 a5 19.Be3ƒ White is pushing. 

19...axb4 20.cxb4 Ra3 [20...Rxa2? 21.Nxe4 Bxb4 22.Nc3+-] 

21.Bf2 Black must now prevent b5. 

21...Bxc5 [Not 21...Rxa2? 22.Nxe4 Bxb4 23.Nc3] 

22.Bxc5 

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And now b5 would win.
22...Rxa2 23.b5 [23.Ra1= Rxa1 24.Qxa1]
23...Bc2? [23...Na5=]
24.b6 White is clearly winning.
24...Bxd1 25.bxc7 Kd7 26.Bxd1 Kxc7 27.Bd6+ Kd7 28.Rb1 1–0