WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 5 – BHARATHAKOTI 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 Bogo-Indian 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.

Harsha Bharathakoti (2474) - Maghsoodloo,Parham (2649)

World Junior U20 Open 2018 Gebze (5.1), 08.09.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0–0 5.Bd2 b6 6.Nf3 Bb7 7.Bd3 a5 8.0–0 d5 E11: Bogo-Indian 
9.cxd5 exd5 10.Ne5 Nbd7 11.f4 c5 12.a3 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 c4 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-wq-trk+(
7+l+n+pzpp'
6-zp-+-sn-+&
5zp-+psN-+-%
4-+pzP-zP-+$
3zP-vLLzP-+-#
2-zP-+-+PzP"
1tR-+Q+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

14.Bf5N [14.Bc2 b5 15.Rf3 Ra6 16.Rg3 1/2–1/2 (31) L'Ami,E (2628)-Anand,V (2810) Wijk aan Zee 2011 ] 
14...b5 15.Qe1 Nb8 16.Rd1 Ne8 17.Rf3 Nd6 18.Bc2 Ne4 19.Rh3 Bc8 20.g4 Ra7 [20...Ra6=] 
21.Bxe4² dxe4 

XABCDEFGHY
8-snlwq-trk+(
7tr-+-+pzpp'
6-+-+-+-+&
5zpp+-sN-+-%
4-+pzPpzPP+$
3zP-vL-zP-+R#
2-zP-+-+-zP"
1+-+RwQ-mK-!
xabcdefghy

22.d5 
Can you find an improvement for White?

00000

[White should play 22.f5!² ] 
22...f6!= 23.Nc6 Nxc6 24.dxc6 Qe8 25.Qh4 [Better is 25.Rd6² ] 
25...h6! 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+l+qtrk+(
7tr-+-+-zp-'
6-+P+-zp-zp&
5zpp+-+-+-%
4-+p+pzPPwQ$
3zP-vL-zP-+R#
2-zP-+-+-zP"
1+-+R+-mK-!
xabcdefghy

26.Rg3 
What is White's threat?

00000

Strongly threatening g5. 
26...Qxc6 27.g5 Hoping for gxf6. 
27...fxg5 28.fxg5 Rd7 29.gxh6 Rxd1+ 30.Kg2 g6! 31.h7+‚ White has some attack. 
31...Kf7 32.h8Q Rxh8 33.Qxh8 Bf5! 34.Qg7+ Ke8! 35.Qg8+ Kd7 36.Bxa5 Qd8+ is the strong threat. 
36...Qf6 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+Q+(
7+-+k+-+-'
6-+-+-wqp+&
5vLp+-+l+-%
4-+p+p+-+$
3zP-+-zP-tR-#
2-zP-+-+KzP"
1+-+r+-+-!
xabcdefghy

37.Bc3? 
This was the critical error of the game. What should White have played instead?

00000

[37.Qh7+= Ke6 38.Qg8+ Kd7 39.Qh7+ Ke6 40.Qg8+ Kd7] 
Find a way to punish the error that White made.

00000

37...Bh3+! 38.Kxh3 Qf5+  0–1