ROUND 7 FIDE CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT 2020

Caruana – Wang  DRAW

Vachier-Lagrave – Nepomniachi  WHITE WINS

Ding – Alekseenko  DRAW

Giri – Grischuk  DRAW

Game one is between Fabiano Caruana with White against Hao Wang with Black.

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

Caruana,Fabiano (2842) - Wang,Hao (2762)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (7.1), 25.03.2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0–0 8.Qd2 C42: Petroff Defence: 3 Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves. 

8...Nd7 9.0–0–0 Nf6 The modern move. 

10.Bd3 c5 11.Rhe1 Be6 12.Kb1 Qa5 13.c4 Qxd2 14.Nxd2 Rad8N [14...Rfe8 15.f3 Rad8 16.a4 b6 17.b3 h6 18.Ne4 d5 19.cxd5 Nxd5 20.Bd2 Nc7 ½–½ (30) Razumikhin,A (2433)-Serner,A (2409) ICCF email 2019] 

15.f3 b6 16.g4 d5 17.g5 Nh5 18.cxd5 Bxd5 19.Ne4 f5 20.gxf6 Nxf6 21.Bg5 Kf7 22.Ng3 c4 23.Bf1 b5 24.a4 a6 25.axb5 axb5 26.Nf5 Bc5 27.Re5 Bxf3 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Rxc5 Rd1+ Double Attack 

30.Ka2 Rxf1 31.Rxb5 c3 32.Bxf6 Kxf6 33.Ne3 Rf2 34.Rf5+ Ke6 35.Ka3 cxb2 36.Kxb2 h5 [36...Rxc2+!µ 37.Kb3 Ba8] 

37.h4 Rxc2+! 38.Kxc2 [38.Kb3= remains equal.] 

38...Be4+ Double Attack 

39.Kd2 Bxf5 40.Ke2 Ke5³ 41.Kf3 Bd3 ½–½

Game two is between Maxime Vachler-Lagrave 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.

Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2767) - Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2774)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (7.2), 25.03.2020

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 6...Qa5 deserves study. 7.h4 Qc7 8.h5 C18: French: 3 Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7 h4 and 7 Qg4. 

8...h6 9.Rb1 b6 10.Qg4 Rg8 11.Bb5+ Kf8N [11...Bd7 12.Bd3 Nf5 13.Qf4 Nc6 14.Bxf5 exf5 15.e6 Qxf4 16.exd7+ Kxd7 17.Bxf4 cxd4 18.cxd4 Nxd4 1–0 (36) Bartel,M (2629)-Jaroch,K (2254) Zgierz 2017] 

12.Bd3 Ba6 13.dxc5 Bxd3 14.cxd3 Nd7 15.d4 bxc5 16.Qd1 Qa5 17.Bd2 Rb8 18.Ne2 c4 19.0–0 Rb6 20.Qc2 Rh8 21.a4 Ke8 22.Rb4 Nc6 23.f4 Ne7 [But not 23...Nxb4 24.cxb4 Qa6 25.b5=] 

24.Rfb1 f5 25.Rb5 Qa6 26.Bc1 Kf7 27.Ba3 Rhb8 

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28.Bxe7! Kxe7 29.g4! Rxb5 30.axb5 Rxb5 31.gxf5 Rxb1+ 32.Qxb1 exf5 33.Ng3 [White should play 33.Kf2+- ] 

33...Qb6 34.Nxf5+ Kf8 35.Qa1 Qe6 

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[¹35...Kg8 36.Ne3 Nf8] 

36.Ng3! Qg4 37.Kg2 Qxf4 38.Qxa7 Ke7 39.Qa3+ Kd8 40.Qd6 g5 41.hxg6 h5 42.g7 1–0

Game three is between Liren Ding with White against Kirill Alekseenko with Black.

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

Ding,Liren (2805) - Alekseenko,Kirill (2698)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (7.3), 25.03.2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0–0 7.0–0 Nbd7 8.Qc2 c6 9.Bf4 [9.Rc1 a5 10.a3 h6 11.e3 Re8 12.b3 a4 13.b4 Ne4 14.c5 Bf6 15.Nc3 e5 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Bxe5 19.Bc3 Bxc3 20.Qxc3 Bg4 21.Ra2 ½–½ (70) Ding,L (2811)-Alekseenko,K (2671) Khanty-Mansiysk 2019] 

9...b6 10.Rd1 Ba6 E08: Closed Catalan: Main Line: 7 Qc2. 

11.Nbd2 Rc8 12.Rac1 Nh5 13.Be3 Nhf6 14.Bg5 Bb7 15.Ne5N [15.Qb1 h6 16.Bxf6 Nxf6 17.e4 dxc4 18.Nxc4 b5 19.Ne3 Qb6 20.b4 a5 21.a3 Rfd8 22.e5 Nd5 23.Ne1 axb4 24.Bxd5 bxa3 1–0 (31) Joie,S (2363)-Monceau,E (1987) Charleville Mezieres 2017] 

15...Nxe5 16.dxe5 Ng4 17.Bxe7 Qxe7 18.Nf3 f6 19.exf6 Nxf6 20.Bh3 Rce8 21.Qa4 c5 22.b4 cxb4 23.Qxa7 Ne4 24.Qxb6 Nc3 Double Attack 

25.Re1! dxc4 26.a3! Bd5 [Black should try 26...Nxe2+!= 27.Rxe2 Bxf3 28.Rxe6 Qg5 29.Rxc4 Rb8] 

27.Qxb4 Qxb4 28.axb4 Nxe2+ 29.Rxe2 Rxf3 30.Bg2 Rff8 31.Rd2 Rb8 32.Bxd5 exd5 33.Rxd5 Rxb4 34.Rc2 Rc8 35.Kf1 c3 36.Ke2 Rb7 37.Rd3 Rb2 38.Kd1 Rb1+ 39.Ke2 Rb2 40.Kd1= Rb1+ ½–½

Game four is between Anish Giri with White against Alexander Grischuk 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.

Giri,Anish (2763) - Grischuk,Alexander (2777)

FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg (7.4), 25.03.2020

1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Nd4 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nc2 A20: English Opening: 1...e5. 

6...Nf6 7.Nc3 Qe5 8.Bg2 Na6 9.0–0 Be7 10.Ne3N [10.d3 exd3 11.Qxd3 Nc5 12.Qd4 Qxd4 13.Nxd4 0–0 14.Bf4 g6 15.b4 Ne6 16.Nxe6 Bxe6 1–0 (64) Tomashevsky,E (2705)-Grischuk,A (2777) Moscow 2019] 

10...h5 11.d4 exd3! 12.exd3 Qd4 13.Nc2 Qg4 14.Bf4 Qxd1 15.Raxd1 Bg4 16.Rd2 0–0–0 17.d4 Nc7 18.Ne3 Be6 19.d5 Ncxd5 20.Ncxd5 Nxd5 21.Nxd5 Bxd5 22.Rxd5 Rxd5 23.Bxd5 cxd5 24.Rc1+ Kd7 25.Rc7+ Ke6 26.Rxb7 Rc8 27.Rxa7 Rc2 28.Be3 Bf6 29.Ra4 Bxb2 30.Kg2 d4= 31.Bxd4 Bxd4 32.Rxd4 Rxa2 33.Re4+ Kf6 34.Rf4+ Ke6 35.Re4+ Kf6 36.Rf4+ Ke6 37.Re4+ Kf6 38.Rf4+ Ke6 39.h4 g6 40.Re4+ Kf6 ½–½