ROUND 3 FIDE CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT 2020

Ding – Caruana  WHITE WINS!

Giri – Vachier-Lagrava    DRAW

Grischuk – Wang  DRAW

Alekseenko – Nepomniachi  DRAW

Game one is between Liren Ding with White against Fabiano Caruana with Black.

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

Ding,Liren (2805) - Caruana,Fabiano (2842)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (3.1), 19.03.2020

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.f3 Bb4 8.Nxc4 0–0 9.Kf2 now scores much better than the old 9.Bg5. D17: Slav Defence: 5 a4 Bf5: Lines with 6 Nh4 and 6 Ne5. 

9...e5N [9...Nd5 10.Na2 b5 11.Nxb4 bxc4 12.Na2 c5 13.e4 cxd4 14.Bxc4 Nb6 15.Be2 Bg6 16.a5 Nc8 1–0 (60) Anton Guijarro,D (2674)-Hovhannisyan,R (2639) Douglas 2019] 

10.Nxe5 Bc2 11.Qd2 c5 12.d5 Bb3 13.e4 Re8 14.Qf4 c4 15.Nxc4 Nbd7 16.Be3 Nf8 17.Bd4 Ng6 18.Qf5 Bxc4 19.Bxc4 Qc7 20.Be2 Bc5 21.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 22.Kf1 h6 [22...Re5² 23.Qh3 Qb4] 

23.Rd1 Qb6 [¹23...Qb4] 

24.Rd2! Qe3 

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25.Rc2! a6 26.Qh3 b5 27.Qg3 [Of course not 27.axb5?! axb5 28.g3 Ra1+ 29.Nd1 (29.Kg2 Qg5–+) 29...Qb3=] 

27...b4 28.Nd1 Qb3 

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29.Rd2! Qxa4 30.Qf2 Qd7 31.g3 Qh3+ 32.Kg1 a5 33.Qd4 Nh5 34.Nf2 Qd7 35.f4 Nhxf4 36.gxf4 Nxf4 37.Kf1 Qd6 38.Rg1 f6 39.Bb5 Re7 40.b3 Rf8 41.Rc2 Ne6 42.Qe3 Ng5 43.h4 Nf7 44.Rc6 Qb8 45.Qc5 Qd8 46.Rxf6 Kh8 47.Rf5 Rc7 48.Bc6 a4 49.bxa4 b3 50.Rg3 b2 51.Rb3 Nd6 52.Rxf8+ Qxf8 53.Rxb2 Qf4 54.Rb8+ Kh7 55.Qc2 Re7 

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56.e5+ Discovered Attack 

56...Nf5 57.Qe4 Qc1++- 58.Kg2 g6 59.Rb3 1–0

Game two is between Anish Giri with White against Maxime Vachler-Lagrave with Black.

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

Giri,Anish (2763) - Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2767)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (3.2), 19.03.2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Bg7 6.e4 Nxc3 7.Bxc3 c5 8.d5 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 0–0 10.Qd2 D85: Exchange Grünfeld: Unusual White 7th moves and lines with 7 Nf3 [10.Rb1 e6 11.Bc4 Qf6 12.Ne2 Nd7 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.0–0 Nb6 15.Bb3 Qe5 16.Qd3 Qc7 17.Qe3 c4 18.Bc2 e5 19.Qg5 Nd7 20.Rbd1 b6 21.f4 Qc5+ 22.Kh1 exf4 23.Rd5 Qe3 24.Nxf4 Nc5 Lastin,A (2590)-Yandemirov,V (2515)/Voronezh 2007/CBM 118 ext/1–0 (34)] 

10...Qd6 11.f4 e6 12.Bc4 b5 Black threatens to win material: b5xc4 

13.Bxb5 exd5 14.Bc4 White threatens to win material: Bc4xd5 

14...Bb7 15.Nf3 White plans e5 

15...Nd7 16.0–0 Nb6 Black threatens to win material: Nb6xc4 

17.Be2 d4 18.e5 White threatens to win material: e5xd6 

18...Qd7 19.cxd4 Rad8 20.Rad1 Bxf3 21.Rxf3 [21.gxf3?! cxd4 22.Qb4 Nd5 23.Qxd4 Qc8=] 

21...Qxd4+ 22.Qxd4 Rxd4 23.Rxd4 cxd4 Black has a new passed pawn: d4.  

24.Rd3 White threatens to win material: Rd3xd4 

24...Rd8 25.Bd1 Nc4 26.Kf2 Nb2 Black threatens to win material: Nb2xd3 

27.Rd2 White threatens to win material: Rd2xb2 

27...Nc4 Black threatens to win material: Nc4xd2 

28.Rd3 Nb2 29.Rd2 Twofold repetition 

29...Nc4 30.Rd3 ½–½

Game three is between Alexander Grischuk with White against Hao Wang with Black.

This game features a French Defence: Exchange Variation. To learn more about the FrenchDefence: Exchange Variation, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Grischuk,Alexander (2777) - Wang,Hao (2762)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (3.3), 19.03.2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 Nf6 6.d4 d5 7.Bd3 Bd6 8.Qe2+ Be6 C01: French: Exchange Variation. 

9.Ng5 Qe7 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.c3 c5 12.Nd2N [12.dxc5 Bxc5 13.Nd2 e5 14.Nb3 Bb6 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.Qxe3 0–0 17.0–0 Nc6 18.Rad1 Rae8 19.Qc5 Qe6 20.f3 ½–½ (43) Szczepanski,Z (2337)-Andeer,S (2383) ICCF email 2004] 

12...Nc6 13.Nf3 0–0 14.0–0 cxd4 15.cxd4 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 Qxe5 18.Qxe5 Bxe5 19.f3 Bd4+ 20.Kh1 Rac8 21.Rd1 Rfe8 22.g3 Kf7 23.Kg2 g6 24.Bd2 Be3 25.h4 Re6 26.Bxe3 Rxe3 27.Kf2 Re6 28.Rd2 Ke7 29.Rad1 Rec6 30.g4 a6 31.h5! Kf7 32.a3 Re8 33.hxg6+ hxg6 34.g5 [White should play 34.Rc2± ] 

34...Ne4+! 35.Bxe4 dxe4 36.Re1 exf3 37.Rd7+ Double Attack 

37...Kf8 38.Rh1 Kg8 39.Rxb7 Rc2+ 40.Kxf3 Rc5 41.Rh4 Rxg5 42.b4 Rge5= 43.Rd4 Re3+ 44.Kf4 Rxa3 45.Rd6 Ra1 46.Rxg6+ Kh8 47.Rh6+ Kg8 48.Rg6+ Kh8 49.Rh6+ Kg8 ½–½

Game four is between Kirill Alekseenko with White against Ian Nepomniachi with Black.

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

Alekseenko,Kirill (2698) - Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2774)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (3.4), 19.03.2020

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.h4 Qc7 8.Nf3 b6 9.Bb5+ C19: French: 3 Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7 Nf3 and 7 a4. 

9...Bd7 10.Be2 Ba4 11.0–0N [11.Bd3 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qc3+ 13.Bd2 Qxd3 14.cxd3 Bxd1 15.Rxd1 Nbc6 16.h5 h6 17.g4 0–1 (24) Borgmeyer,M (2044)-Doering,A (1895) Chemnitz 2009] 

11...Nd7 12.Be3 h6 13.Ra2 Nf5 14.Bf4 Qc6 15.Rb2 a6 16.dxc5 Qxc5 17.Rb4 b5 18.Bd3 Ne7 19.Bd2 Nc6 Double Attack 

20.Qe2 Nxb4 21.axb4 Qc7 22.Re1 Nb8 23.Nd4 Nc6 24.Qg4 Nxd4! 25.cxd4 g6 [Wrong is 25...Bxc2? 26.Qxg7 0–0–0 27.Rc1+-; 25...g5!?] 

26.h5 [26.Bxg6!² fxg6 27.Qxe6+ Qe7 28.Qxg6+ Double Attack 28...Kd7 29.Qb6] 

26...gxh5 27.Qxh5 0–0–0 28.f4 Kb8 29.c3 Bb3 30.f5 Bc4 31.Bc2= Rdg8 32.Kf2 a5 33.bxa5 Qxa5 34.Qxf7 Qa2 35.Qxe6 Qxc2 36.Qb6+ Kc8 37.Qc6+ Kb8 38.Qb6+ Kc8 39.Qc6+ Kb8 40.Qb6+ ½–½