GIRI vs NEPOMNIACHTCHI – ROUND 1 TATA STEEL MASTERS 2019

This game is from round 1 of the Tata Steel Masters 2018, fully annotated. It is between Anish Giri with White against Ian Nepomniachtchi with Black.

This game features a Pirc Defense. To learn more about the Pirc Defense, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Giri,Anish (2783) - Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2763)

81st Tata Steel Masters 2019 Wijk aan Zee (1), 12.01.2019

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 a6 5.Qd2 b5 6.f3 Nbd7 7.0–0–0 B07: Pirc Defence: Miscellaneous Systems [7.Nh3 Bb7 8.Be2 Bg7 9.0–0 0–0 10.a4 c6 11.Nf2 e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.Rfd1 Re8 14.Bf1 Nf8 15.Qxd8 Rexd8 16.Rxd8 Rxd8 17.axb5 cxb5 18.Na2 N8d7 19.Nb4 Bf8 20.Nfd3 Ra8 21.c3 Bd6 Ibragimov,I (2578)-Wojtkiewicz,A (2576)/Connecticut 2001/CBM 081 ext/½–½] 

7...Nb6 [7...Bb7 8.g4 c5 9.dxc5 dxc5 10.g5 Nh5 11.Bh3 e6 12.Bg4 Ne5 13.Qe2 Qa5 14.Bxh5 b4 15.Bf4 Be7 16.Nd5 Qxa2 17.c3 Nc4 18.Nc7+ Kf8 0–1 Fernandez,D (2447)-Rodriguez Vila,A (2547)/Villa Martelli 2007/CBM 119 ext] 

8.g4 [8.Bd3 Nfd7 9.f4 Bg7 10.Nf3 0–0 11.f5 c5 12.Bh6 c4 13.Be2 b4 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 c3 16.Qg5 cxb2+ 17.Kb1 Nf6 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.Bd3 Nh7 20.Qe3 Bb7 21.h4 Bxd5 22.Nd2 f5 Potikha,L (2099)-Borsuk,A (2298)/Ramat Aviv 2000/CBM 077/0–1 (51); 8.b3 Bb7 9.Kb1 c6 10.g4 Qc7 11.h4 e6 12.h5 c5 13.hxg6 fxg6 14.Nh3 b4 15.Ne2 c4 16.Ng5 c3 17.Qe1 Bc8 18.Nf4 Qg7 19.Ngxe6 Bxe6 20.Nxe6 Qe7 21.d5 Nbxd5 22.exd5 Nxd5 Barria,D (2349)-Luque Canalejo,F/Coria del Rio 2005/CBM 104 ext/1–0] 

8...Bb7 9.Nh3 Nfd7 10.Be2 e6 Black should quickly conclude development. 

11.Bg5 White threatens to win material: Bg5xd8 

11...Be7 12.Qe3 Bxg5 13.Nxg5 h6 14.Nh3 

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14...Qh4 Black threatens to win material: Qh4xh3 

15.Nf2 0–0–0 16.f4 [16.b3!?=] 

16...f5³ 17.Bf3 b4 18.exf5 bxc3 19.fxe6 cxb2+ 20.Kb1 Nf6 21.Bxb7+ Kxb7 22.Qf3+ d5 [22...Ka7 23.f5–+] 

23.Nd3 

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23...Ne4 [23...Nxg4?! 24.Rhg1 Nxh2 25.Nc5+ Kc6 26.Qc3=] 

24.Nc5+ 

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24...Ka7 [24...Nxc5 25.dxc5 Nc4 26.Rxd5µ] 

25.Qa3? [¹25.Nxe4 dxe4 26.Qxe4µ] 

25...Nxc5–+ 26.Qxc5 

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26...Kb7 [26...Kb7 27.Rhg1 Rd6–+]  0–1