ROUND 4 FIDE CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT 2020

Caruana – Nepomniachi  DRAW

Wang – Alekseenko  DRAW

Vachier-Lagrave – Grischuk  DRAW

Ding – Giri  DRAW

Game one is between Fabiano Caruana with White against Ian Nepomniachi 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.

Caruana,Fabiano (2842) - Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2774)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (4.1), 21.03.2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0–0 9.0–0 Nc6 10.Be3 b6 now supersedes 10...Qc7. 

11.Qd2 D87: Exchange Grünfeld: Classical Line: Variations without ...cxd4. 

11...Bb7 12.Rfd1 cxd4 13.cxd4 Rc8 14.Rac1 Na5 15.Bd3 Qd7 16.h4 Rxc1 17.Rxc1 Rc8 18.h5 Rxc1+ 19.Qxc1 19...Qc8N [19...e6 20.h6 Bf8 21.Bg5 Qa4 22.Qb1 Nc6 23.Bc2 Qc4 24.Bd3 Qa4 25.Bb5 Qa5 26.Be3 ½–½ (26) Hort,V (2595)-Chiburdanidze,M (2555) Biel 1988] 

20.h6 Bf8 21.d5 e6 22.Nc3 Nc4 23.Bxc4 Qxc4 24.Qd2 exd5 25.Nxd5 Bxd5 26.exd5 Qb4 27.Qd3 Qa3 [27...Bd6= 28.g3 Kf8] 

28.Qc2 [28.Qd1²] 

28...Qa5 29.Qd1 Bd6! 30.g3 Kf8! 31.Qf3 Qe1+ 32.Kg2 f5 33.g4 Qb1 34.Bd4 Kf7 35.Qe3 Qe4+ 36.Qxe4 fxe4 37.f3 exf3+ 38.Kxf3 Ke7 39.Ke4 Kd7 40.a4 Bc7 41.Be3 a6 42.Bd2 b5 43.axb5 axb5 44.Kd4 Bb6+ 45.Kd3 Bc5 [45...Kd6!? 46.Ke4™ Bc5=] 

46.Bc3 Ba3 47.Bg7 Bc5 48.Bc3 Bf8 [48...Kd6!? 49.Ke4™ Kd7=] 

49.Bg7 Be7 50.Kd4 Bd6 51.Bf6 Kc7 52.Bg5 Kb6 53.Bd8+ Ka6 54.Kd3 Bf8= 55.Kd4 Bd6 ½–½

Game two is between Hao Wang with White against Kirill Alekseenko 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.

Wang,Hao (2762) - Alekseenko,Kirill (2698)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (4.2), 21.03.2020

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6 5.0–0 0–0 6.c4 c6 7.Nbd2 a5 8.b3 Bf5 9.Bb2 a4 D78: Fianchetto Grünfeld: 6 0–0 c6. 

10.bxa4 Qa5 11.Qb3 Nbd7 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Rfc1 13...Ra6N [13...Qxa4 14.Qxa4 Rxa4 15.Ne5 Rb8 16.Rc7 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Ne8 18.Rc5 e6 19.a3 Bf8 20.Rcc1 b5 21.Bf1 b4 22.axb4 Rxa1 23.Rxa1 Bxb4 24.Nf3 Nc7 25.h4 ½–½ (25) Sukhanitskij,S (2083)-Fekih,B (2269) ICCF email 2015] 

14.e3 Qxa4 15.Bf1 Qxb3 16.axb3 Rxa1 17.Rxa1 Nb6 18.Ra7 Rb8 19.Ne5 Nfd7 20.Bb5 f6 21.Nxd7 Bxd7 22.Ra5 Bf5 23.Ba3 Bf8 24.Bc5 Nd7 25.Ra7 Nxc5 26.dxc5 e5 27.b4 b6 28.c6 Bxb4 29.e4 Promotion 

29...dxe4 [Avoid the trap 29...Bxd2? 30.exf5 Kh8 31.c7+-] 

30.Nxe4 Bxe4 31.c7 Rf8 32.Bc4+ Kh8 33.Be6 Bf5 34.c8Q! Rxc8 35.Bxc8 Bxc8 36.Ra8 Kg7 37.Rxc8 Bc5 38.Rc7+ Kh6 39.h4 f5 40.Kg2 e4 41.Kf1= ½–½

Game three is between Maxime Vachler-Lagrave 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.

Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime (2767) - Grischuk,Alexander (2777)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (4.3), 21.03.2020

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.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 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.g4 hxg3! 18.fxg3 Ne7 19.h4N [19.g4 Nd5 20.Bd2 Nb6 21.Kg2 Rd8 22.Kg3 Nc4 23.Bf4 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Nxa3 25.Ra1 ½–½ (67) Vachier Lagrave,M (2779)-Nakamura,H (2777) chess.com INT 2018] 

19...Nd5 20.Bc1 Nxc3 21.Rd3 Na4 22.Rf3 Bd5 23.Rf4 Nb6! 24.Ref1 Rg6 25.Rf5 Bc4 26.Re1 Ke7 27.h5 Rh6 28.g4 Rhh8 29.a4! Nxa4 [29...Be6= remains equal. 30.Ba3+ Kd7] 

30.Ba3+ [30.Re4!± Be6 31.Nxe6] 

30...c5 31.e6 f6 32.Bxc5+ Nxc5 33.Rxc5 Double Attack 

33...fxg5 34.Rxc7+ Double Attack 

34...Kd6 35.Rxc4 a5 36.Rd1+ [36.Rd4+± Kc5 37.Rd7] 

36...Ke7 37.Re4 Rhd8 38.Rb1 Rdb8 39.Rb5 a4 40.Rxg5 Rg8 41.h6 gxh6 [41...a3!? 42.h7™ Rge8=] 

42.Rxg8 Rxg8 43.Rxa4 h5 44.Kf2 Rxg4 45.Rxg4 hxg4 46.Kg3 Kxe6 47.Kxg4 Ke5 48.Kf3 Kd4 49.Ke2 Kc3 50.Kd1 b5= [50...b6!?] 

51.Kc1 b4 52.Kb1 b3 53.cxb3 Kxb3 ½–½

Game four is between Liren Ding with White against Anish Giri with Black.

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

Ding,Liren (2805) - Giri,Anish (2763)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (4.4), 21.03.2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0–0 7.Qc2 is now more promising than 7.0–0. Played by Ian Nepomniachtchi in December 2019. 

7...c5 E11: Bogo-Indian. 

8.cxd5 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Qb6 10.e3 exd5 11.0–0 Nc6 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.Rc1 Rb8N [13...Be6 14.Nc3 c5 15.Na4 Qa7 16.Bc3 Bxc3 17.Qxc3 Rac8 18.Qa3 c4 19.Rd1 h5 ½–½ (86) Esipenko,A (2590)-Riazantsev,A (2594) Tallinn 2019] 

14.Bxb4 Qxb4 15.b3 h5 16.Nc3 h4 17.Ne2 Bd7 18.Nf4 hxg3 19.hxg3 Rfc8 20.Bf3 a4 21.bxa4 Ra8 22.Nd3 Qxa4 23.Qxa4 Rxa4 24.Nc5 Ra5 25.a4 Rca8 26.Bd1 Be8 27.Kf1 Kf8 28.Rab1 Ne4 29.Nxe4 dxe4 30.Rb7 c5 31.Bb3 R5a7 32.Rxa7 Rxa7 33.Ke1 Ke7 34.Ra1 c4 35.Bc2 Kd6 36.Kd2 Kc5 37.Kc3 Ra6! 38.g4 g5 39.a5 Bc6 40.Ra2 Ra7 41.Ra1 Ra6= 42.Ra2 Kd5 ½–½