WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 3 – JARMULA vs MAGHSOODLOO

The style of analysis in today’s game is the same as that used in my new book: Hidden Lessons From The 2018 Batumi Chess Olympiad.

The 2018 edition of the World Junior Championship has as top seed the phenomenally talented Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran. He has only just turned 18 and already has a live rating of 2667. Winning this tournament now is a massive opportunity as it is a direct seeded slot into the 2019 World Cup, which in turn is a gateway to the next Candidates cycle. In addition it will open the door to invitations to the lucrative super tournament circuit.

It might seem strange to many, but when I look at chess players I always take a close look at the physical condition of the player. This comes from my background in the health and fitness industry.

Physical fitness is a vital ingredient on the classical tournament circuit where it is possible to have consecutive days at the chess board of seven hours or longer. As chess players we know how physically draining long tournament games can be.

Remember how Peter Svidler lost a lot of weight before the Candidates in 2013? It made a huge difference to his performance over the final two rounds when tension was at an extreme level.

It is clear that Parham does not rate working on his fitness highly at all. During an interview Parham indicated that he works at least ten hours every day on his chess. From my perspective, if he took just 30 minutes a day from that schedule for physical training he would be able to absorb so much more during his study sessions.

Aspirant higher level players all realize that having a coach is an important step to improvement. It is just as important to have a coach or personal trainer for the physical aspect of your chess training as well.

Today’s game features a Queens Gambit Declined that includes some Q&A style annotations.

While playing through the game, scroll slowly so that when you get to the questions you can put some time on the clock (ten to fifteen minutes) and try and find the solution.

Jarmula,Lukasz (2504) - Maghsoodloo,Parham (2649)

World Junior U20 Open 2018 Gebze (3.1), 07.09.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Nc3 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 D37: Queen's Gambit (5.Bf4) 
6...Be6 7.e3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 Bd6 [8...h6 9.Bf4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh5 11.Be5 Nhf6 12.Bg3 Nh5 13.Qb3 Nxg3 14.hxg3 1/2–1/2 (48) Karjakin,S (2773)-Caruana,F (2822) Saint Louis 2018] 
9.0–0 c6 10.Bf4 Qc7 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.Qc2 0–0 13.h3 g6 

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14.Rab1N a5 15.a3 b5 16.Ne2 b4 17.axb4 axb4 18.Nc1 c5 19.dxc5 Nxc5 20.Nd4 Rfc8 21.Ncb3 Na4 22.Qe2 Bd7 23.Rfc1 Ne4 24.Ra1 Qf6 25.Bxe4 dxe4 26.Rxc8+ Rxc8 27.Qd2 Qd6 28.Rc1 Rxc1+ 29.Qxc1 f5 [29...Be6!?] 
30.h4 Kg7 31.Qd2 Kf6 32.Nc1 Be6 33.Nce2 Bf7 34.b3 Nb6 

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35.Qb2 
White now has a winning threat on the board. Can you find the move?

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And Nc6 + would win now. 
35...Ke7 36.Qa1 Nd5 

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37.Qa8 Nc6 + is a real threat. 
37...Be8 38.h5 Kf7 39.h6 Nf6 [39...Bd7!= keeps your balance.] 
40.Nf4!± g5 [40...Bd7±] 
41.Nfe6+- Kg6 

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42.Ng7? 
Can you find the improvement on the move White played?

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[42.Qa5+- Nd5 43.Nf8+ Qxf8 44.Qxd5] 
42...Bd7µ threatens ...f4. 
43.Qd8? [43.Qh8µ Qe5 44.Nge6 Bxe6 45.Qg7+ Kh5 46.Qe7] 
43...Qc5 44.Nge6 Qc1+! 45.Kh2 Threatening Nf8+. 
45...f4?‚ Black has some attack. [worse is 45...Bxe6 46.Nxe6 Qa1 47.Qb6=; 45...Qe1!–+ ( -> ...Ng4+) 46.Nf8+ Kf7] 
46.f3? 

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46.f3 was a critical error. How would Black respond to 46.Nf8+ instead?

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What should White have played to save the position?

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[However not 46.Nf8+? Kf7–+; 46.exf4= Bxe6 47.Nxe6] 
Now find Black's crushing respomse.

00000

46...exf3! [Not 46...Bxe6 47.Nxe6 exf3 48.Qd3+ Kh5 49.gxf3µ] 
47.exf4 

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47...Bxe6 
Black missed a forced Mate here. What was it?

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[¹47...f2 48.fxg5 Qg1+ 49.Kh3 Bxe6+ 50.Nxe6 Qh1+ 51.Kg3 Ne4+ 52.Kf4 f1Q+ 53.Ke5 Qf5+ 54.Kd4 Qa1+ 55.Kd3 Nxg5+ 56.Ke3 Qe1+ 57.Kd4 Qee4#] 
48.Nxe6 Qc2 And black Mates. 
49.f5+ Kh5 50.Ng7+ Kh4 51.Qd4+  0–1