Dortmund 03: Strange chess

[Event "43rd GM 2015"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2015.06.30"] [Round "3"] [White "Meier, Geo"] [Black "Caruana, F."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A04"] [WhiteElo "2654"] [BlackElo "2805"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "n2q1r2/1p2n1k1/3p2pr/1N1Ppp1b/1P2P2P/4QP1B/P1R5/1K2N2R w - - 0 31"] [PlyCount "42"] [EventDate "2015.06.26"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 31. Qa7 fxe4 32. fxe4 Rf4 {White has more material, the better position... just look at that knight on a8! Black's rook on h6 is not very happy.} 33. Bg2 (33. Qxb7 {was way easier. The discomfort caused by the queen on the 7th means that the rook will have to return soon to defend.} Rxe4 34. Nd3 $1 {Locks the rook out of f4 and the game seems to be over.}) 33... Bd1 34. Rd2 Bg4 35. Qxb7 Rf7 36. Qa6 Nb6 37. Nd3 {Black has some counterplay, but two pawns are two pawns.} Nc4 38. Rc2 $2 (38. Rf2 $18) 38... Bc8 39. Qa8 Ne3 40. Re2 Nxg2 41. Rxg2 Qb6 {Things are far from easy now.} 42. a4 $2 {Weakening even further} Qe3 43. Rd1 Rf1 $2 (43... Qxe4 {keeps the pressure and picks off a very important pawn.}) 44. Rxf1 Qxd3+ 45. Rc2 Qxf1+ 46. Kb2 {Unfortunately for Caruana, he wins a piece but his initiative evaporates. White now has some counterchances.} Qe1 47. Qa7 $2 (47. Nc3 $1 {Is not a human move at all, however the point is simple. Once White solidifies the queenside from mating patterns, he is able to play Qb8,xd6 and create counterplay. I don't blame Meier for missing this, though, it is too computer like.}) 47... Qxb4+ 48. Ka2 Kf6 49. Rf2+ Nf5 {A nice detail.} 50. exf5 Bxf5 {Material is somehow equal, but White's king is much weaker than Black's} 51. Qa8 Rxh4 0-1

[Event "43rd GM 2015"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2015.06.30"] [Round "3"] [White "Kramnik, V."] [Black "Nepomniachtchi, I."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A05"] [WhiteElo "2783"] [BlackElo "2720"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "R7/6k1/3N2p1/3n1p1p/2Nb3P/6P1/5PK1/3r4 w - - 0 42"] [PlyCount "27"] [EventDate "2015.06.26"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 42. Rd8 Ba1 43. Nb6 Nc3 44. Nbc8 Kf6 $2 (44... Nd5 $11) 45. Rd7 $1 Nd5 46. Nb6 $1 Be5 $2 (46... Nxb6 47. Ne8+ {is, of course, impossible.}) (46... Nc3 $1 {is still far from easy, but this is clearly just a computer move.}) 47. Nb7 { Suddenly Black is in danger of losing his knight. His saving resource fails:} Nc3 48. Nd8 $1 {A mate threat out of nowhere! The rooks cant be traded because of the deadly fork.} g5 49. Rxd1 Nxd1 50. Nd7+ Ke7 51. Nxe5 Kxd8 (51... gxh4 52. Nec6+ Kd7 53. gxh4 $18) 52. hxg5 Ke7 53. f4 {The endgame is easily winning. } Nc3 54. Kh3 Ne4 55. Kh4 1-0

[Event "43rd GM 2015"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2015.06.30"] [Round "3"] [White "Nisipeanu, LD."] [Black "Hou Yifan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E16"] [WhiteElo "2654"] [BlackElo "2676"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2015.06.26"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 a5 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. Bf4 Be7 9. Nc3 Na6 10. d5 Bb4 11. Nb5 $6 {White's sacrifice does not yield good results. Yifan seizes over the initiative with a good follow up:} exd5 12. Nh4 c6 $1 13. Nd6 Bxd6 14. Bxd6 Re8 {Despite the weaknesses on the dark squares, it will soon become clear that Black's pieces enter the fray very quickly.} 15. cxd5 Ne4 16. dxc6 (16. Bxe4 Rxe4 17. f3 Re8 {is close to equal, but Nisipeanu had to already be thinking about that.}) 16... dxc6 17. Bf4 Qf6 {g5 is a threat.} 18. Be3 c5 {Black is doing quite well despite the pair of bishops. Her pieces are simply better placed.} 19. Qd7 Bc6 20. Qg4 Nb4 21. Rad1 (21. a3 Nc2 22. Rad1 g6 $1 {and b2 is still weak, while f5 is taken away from the white knight.}) 21... Qe6 $2 (21... Qxb2 $1 {The time to be brave and take the pawn was now. Nisipeanu's initiative on the kingside simply does not compensate.}) 22. Nf5 g6 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. Qh4 {White has sufficient counterplay now.} Nc2 25. Ng4 Nxe3 26. fxe3 $1 {Otherwise Black is better again. The inclusion of the rook on the f-file is more important than the structure.} (26. Nxe3 h5 {with a little more pleasant position for Black.}) 26... h5 27. Bxe4 Qxe4 {White is getting mated, but he has a perpetual just on time.} (27... Bxe4 28. Nf6 {doesn't help Black much.}) 28. Qf6+ Kg8 29. Qxf7+ Kh8 30. Qf6+ Kg8 31. Qf7+ Kh8 32. Qf6+ Kg8 33. Qf7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "43rd GM 2015"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2015.06.30"] [Round "3"] [White "So, W."] [Black "Naiditsch, A."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2778"] [BlackElo "2722"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2015.06.26"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. e3 Be7 6. b3 O-O 7. Bb2 b6 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. Qc2 c5 10. cxd5 exd5 11. O-O a6 12. Rfd1 Re8 13. Rac1 Bd6 14. Bf5 Rc8 15. dxc5 bxc5 16. Qd3 Rc7 17. Na4 Qe7 18. Qc3 d4 19. exd4 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 cxd4 21. Ra1 $2 {A move that is too mysterious to understand. So clearly is being ambitious and wants to take on d4, but he grossly underestimates Black's initiative.} (21. Rxc7 Qe1+ {is not playable either.}) (21. g3 Rxc1 22. Bxc1 Ne5 23. Qg2 $11 {is still rather unclear.}) 21... Ne5 22. Qh3 g6 $1 23. Bd3 Nd5 $1 {Black's knights start swarming the position. So regrets having such inactive pieces, like the knight on a4 and the rook on a1. Naiditschs's attack strikes at the right time.} 24. Bxd4 $2 {A clear oversight.} (24. Bf1 {is passive, ugly, but holds for now.}) 24... Nxd3 $2 (24... Nf4 {seems to simply win material.} 25. Qh6 Qf6 $1 {A very difficult move to find, but one that would have ended the game immediately. The point is that Bf8 is a very difficult move to defend against!} (25... Nfxd3 $4 26. Rxd3 $14) 26. Bxe5 (26. h4 Bf8 27. Qg5 Qxg5 28. hxg5 Nexd3 {is over.}) 26... Rxe5 $19 {Bf8, Rh5... too many threats.}) 25. Qxd3 Nf4 {Black's attack is strong regardless.} 26. Qxa6 $2 {Grabbing this pawn seems suicidal, though. A hard move to understand.} (26. Qf3 Ne2+ 27. Kf1 Nxd4 28. Rxd4 Be5 29. Re4 {is ugly for White, but was best case scenario.}) 26... Qg5 27. g3 Ne2+ 28. Kf1 Qg4 29. Be3 Rxe3 {Other moves also won.} 30. Qa8+ Kg7 31. Rxd6 Re4 {White's king is simply getting mated here. Qh3 is a big threat.} 32. Kg2 Nf4+ 33. Kg1 Nh3+ 34. Kg2 Rc2 35. Rf1 Nf4+ 36. Kg1 Qf3 {A very bad game from So, who completely underestimated his opponent's chances.} 0-1