WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 ROUND 9 – MAGHSOODLOO vs SINDAROV

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 Kings Indian Attack 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.

Maghsoodloo,Parham (2649) - Liang,Awonder (2575)

World Junior U20 Open 2018 Gebze (9.1), 13.09.2018

1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 e5 4.d3 g6 5.0–0 Bg7 6.c3 Nge7 7.a3 0–0 8.b4 d6 9.e4 b6 10.Bb2 A04: Unusual lines after 1 Nf3 and King's Indian Attack [10.Nbd2 h6 11.Re1 Be6 12.Bb2 Qd7 13.Nc4 Rad8 14.b5 Nb8 15.a4 Qc7 16.a5 Nd7 17.axb6 axb6 18.Qa4 1–0 (65) Petrosian,T (2601)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2789) Riadh 2017] 
10...Bb7 11.Nbd2 Qd7 12.Qb3 h6 13.Rfe1 Kh7 

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14.d4N [14.Nc4 f5 15.b5 Nd8 16.a4 f4 17.a5 Qc7 18.axb6 axb6 19.Rxa8 Bxa8 0–1 (34) Hofegger,J (2072)-Vitouch,A (2320) Austria 2016] 
14...cxd4 15.cxd4 Nxd4 16.Nxd4 exd4 17.Nf3 

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17...Ng8 
Find an improvement for Black.

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[17...d5= 18.Bxd4 Bxd4 19.Nxd4 dxe4 20.Bxe4 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Rad8] 
18.Nxd4 Nf6 19.Rad1 Rfe8 20.f3 Rac8 

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Time to Attack! Find the move.

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21.Bf1! a6 

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Don't be shy. Continue building the attack...

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22.b5! Ra8 23.bxa6 Bxa6 24.Nb5 Re6 25.a4 Bxb5 26.axb5 Qc7 27.Rc1 Qa7 28.Ra1 Qb7 29.Ra6 d5 30.Rea1 Rf8 31.Bh3 Ree8 

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Find the move that will capitalize on your space advantage.

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32.e5! Nd7 33.Ra7 Nc5 

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34.Qc2 [Not 34.Rxb7 Nxb3 35.Raa7 Bxe5±] 
34...Qb8 35.f4 Ne6 36.Bxe6 Rxe6 37.Qd3 Kg8 38.Qxd5 Rd8 39.Qf3 Bf8 40.Ra8 Qc7 41.Rxd8 Qxd8 42.Ra8 Qd7 43.Ba3 Re8 44.Rxe8 Qxe8 

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Find White's next move.

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45.Qc6! Qd8 46.Bd6 Kg7 47.Kg2 h5 48.Kh3 Kg8 49.Kg2 Kg7 50.Kf3 Kg8 51.Ke4 

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51...Kg7? 
This was Black's final, critical error. Can you find the improvement?

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[51...Bg7 was called for. 52.Ke3 Bf8] 
52.Kd5 Kg8 53.Qb7+- 1–0