ROUND 2 FIDE CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT 2020

Caruana – Alekseenko  WHITE WINS!

Nepomniachi – Grischuk  DRAW

Wang – Giri  DRAW

Vachier-Lagrava –  Ding  WHITE WINS!

Game one is between Fabiano Caruana with White against Kirill Alekseenko with Black.

This game features a Nimzo-Indian Defence. To learn more about the Nimzo-Indian Defence, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Caruana,Fabiano (2842) - Alekseenko,Kirill (2698)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (2.1), 18.03.2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 E20: Nimzo-Indian: 4 g3 and 4 f3. 

7.fxe4 c5 now scores much better than the old 7...e5. Played by Viswanathan Anand in January 2020. 

8.d5 exd5 9.exd5 0–0 10.Be2 Re8 11.Nf3 Bg4 12.0–0 Nbd7 13.d6N [13.Bg5 h6 14.Bh4 Bd6 15.Qc2 Qb8 16.Kh1 Bh5 17.Nb5 Bf4 18.d6 Bxd6 19.Nxd6 Qxd6 0–1 (55) Lombaers,P (2383)-Schoppen,C (2489) Leiden 2020] 

13...Bf8 14.h3 Bh5 15.Nb5 Re6 16.Bf4 a6 17.Nc7 Double Attack 

17...Re4 18.Bh2 [Of course not 18.Nxa8?! Rxf4 19.Nc7 Nb6³; 18.Qd2±] 

18...Rc8 19.g4 Bxg4 20.hxg4 Nxg4 21.Bd3 Nxh2 22.Bxe4 Nxf1 23.Qxf1 Bxd6 24.Nd5 g6 25.Qh3 Kg7 26.Kh1 Ne5 27.Nh4 h5? [27...Rc6±] 

28.Rg1 Bf8? 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+rwq-vl-+(
7+p+-+pmk-'
6p+-+-+p+&
5+-zpNsn-+p%
4-+P+L+-sN$
3zP-+-+-+Q#
2-zP-+-+-+"
1+-+-+-tRK!
xabcdefghy

[28...Rc6 29.Nf4 Ng4 30.Nxh5+ Deflection 30...gxh5 31.Nf5+ Discovered Attack 31...Kf8 32.Rxg4 Be5 33.Bxc6 (33.Qxh5? Qd1+ 34.Kg2 Qe2+ Double Attack 35.Kg1 Rg6–+) 33...hxg4 34.Qh6+ Kg8] 

29.Nf4 [¹29.Nxg6! fxg6 (29...Nxg6 30.Nf4) 30.Nf4] 

29...Ng4 30.Nxh5+! gxh5 31.Bf5 Be7 32.Bxg4 hxg4 33.Qxg4++- Bg5 34.Qh5+- 1–0

Game two is between Ian Nepomniachi with White against Alexander Grischuk with Black.

This game features a Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defence. To learn more about the Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defence, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2774) - Grischuk,Alexander (2777)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (2.2), 18.03.2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 h5 C67: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defence: 4 0–0 Nxe4. 

11.Bf4 Be7 12.Rad1 Be6 13.Ng5 Rh6 14.Rfe1 Bb4 15.a3 Bxc3 16.bxc3 h4 17.Kh2N [17.Ne4 Rg6 18.g4 hxg3 19.fxg3 Kf8 20.Kh2 Ne7 21.g4 Re8 22.Rd3 Kg8 23.Ng3 ½–½ (49) Vachier Lagrave,M (2778)-Karjakin,S (2750) Saint Louis 2019] 

17...Kf8 18.Rb1 b6 19.Rb4 Re8 20.Ra4 a5 21.Bd2 c5 22.Rf4 Rh5 23.Rf3 Kg8 24.Bc1  

XABCDEFGHY
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4-+-+-+-zp$
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[24.g3= keeps the balance. 24...hxg3+ 25.fxg3] 

24...Ne7 25.g4 hxg3+! 26.fxg3 Nc6 27.Bf4 Bc8 28.Rfe3 Nd8 [28...Ne7!µ] 

29.Kg2 Ne6 30.Nxe6 Bxe6 31.g4 Rh8 32.Bg5 Kh7 33.Kg3 Rb8 34.Rd3 Rhe8 35.Red1 b5 36.Rd8 b4 37.Rxe8 Rxe8 38.cxb4 cxb4 39.axb4 axb4 40.Rd8 Rxd8² ½–½

Game three is between Hao Wang with White against Anish Giri with Black.

This game features an English Opening. To learn more about the English Opening, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Wang,Hao (2762) - Giri,Anish (2763)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (2.3), 18.03.2020

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.Nf3 e6 6.h4 A37: Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 Nf3. 

6...h6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nb5 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.0–0 Nf6 11.Bf4 0–0 12.Qc1N [12.Nfxd4 a6 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Nd4 Qb6 15.Nb3 Ng4 16.Bd6 Re8 17.Bc5 Qb5 18.Rc1 Qxe2 19.Qxe2 Rxe2 ½–½ (37) Sandipan,C (2575)-Leenhouts,K (2486) Dieren 2017] 

12...a6 [Black should try 12...Ne4³ ] 

13.Nbxd4 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 Kh7 15.Rd1 Re8 16.Qc7 Qxc7 17.Bxc7 Bg4 18.f3 Rac8 19.Ba5 Bd7 20.Kf2 h5 21.Bf1 Ng8 22.Bc3 Bh6 23.Rd3 Ne7 24.Rad1 Bg7 25.e3 Kg8 26.R3d2 Ba4 27.Re1 Bd7 28.Ne2 Rc7 29.Bxg7 Kxg7 30.Nc3 Be6 31.Red1 b5 32.a3 Rb8 33.Ne2 a5 34.Nd4 Bd7 [34...b4=] 

35.b4 axb4 36.axb4 Ra8 37.Rb2 

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1+-+R+L+-!
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[Reject 37.Nxb5 Bxb5 38.Bxb5 Rb8=] 

37...Ra4 38.Rdb1 [Reject 38.Nxb5?! Rb7=] 

38...Rb7 39.Rc1 Rba7 40.Nxb5 Bxb5 41.Bxb5 Ra3 42.Be2! Rb7 43.b5 Rb6 44.Rd1 Kf6 45.Rdd2 Rb7 46.Bd3 Nc8 47.e4 dxe4 48.Bxe4 Rb6 49.Rd7 Rc3 50.Rb7 Rxb7 51.Bxb7 Nb6 52.Be4 Ke5 53.Rd2 Rb3 54.Bc6 [54.Bd3!±] 

54...Nc4 55.f4+ Kf6 56.Rd8 Rb2+ 57.Kf3 Nd2+ 58.Ke3 Nf1+ 59.Kf3 Nd2+ 60.Ke2! Ne4+± 61.Kf3 ½–½

Game four is between Maxime Vachler-Lagrave  with White against Liren Ding with Black.

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

Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime (2767) - Ding,Liren (2805)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (2.4), 18.03.2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 Nowadays more popular than 10...Na5. 

11.Nc3 Rfe8 C88: Closed Ruy Lopez: Anti-Marshall Systems. 

12.Bd2 Nd8 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.exd5 c5 15.a4 f5N [15...f6= keeps the balance. 16.axb5 axb5 17.Rxa8 Bxa8 18.c4 Rf8 19.cxb5 Qxb5 20.Bc4 Qb7 21.b4 cxb4 22.Qb3 Nf7 23.Ra1 f5 24.Ra4 Qd7 25.Rxb4 Bf6 26.Bc3 h6 ½–½ (26) Zeihen,P (2315)-Schulz,R (2263) ICCF email 2019] 

16.axb5 axb5 17.Rxa8 Bxa8 18.c4 Nf7 19.cxb5! g5 20.Nh2 Kg7 21.Bc4 Kg6 22.g4 Nh6 23.Qf3 Bd8 24.Qg2 f4 [24...Kg7±] 

25.b4 Bb6 

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[25...Nf7 might work better. 26.bxc5 dxc5] 

26.Qe4+ Kg7 27.bxc5 dxc5 28.Nf3 Nf7 29.Bc3 Bc7 30.b6 Bb8 31.Qf5 [¹31.Bb3] 

31...Qxf5 32.gxf5 Kf6 33.Nd2 Rd8 34.d6 Rxd6 35.Rb1 Nd8? [35...Bc6 36.Ne4+ Bxe4 37.dxe4 h5] 

36.b7 Bxb7+- 37.Ba5 1–0