Baku 1.1: Upsets here and there

[Event "FIDE World Chess Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku"] [Date "2015.09.11"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Cori T, Deysi"] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2419"] [BlackElo "2777"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2r1k2r/1b2qp2/p2b2pp/1pnp4/6P1/2N1PN2/PPQ2P1P/1K1RB1R1 b k - 0 17"] [PlyCount "29"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] {Cori (Desiy, not Jorge!) was feeling rather ambitious, but her g4 advances were not fast enough and Black has a clear initiative. Black could simply play 17...0-0 and enjoy a big advantage, but Kramnik already smells blood.} 17... d4 $1 18. exd4 (18. Nxd4 b4 {drops the knight on c3, because if it moves...} 19. Nce2 Be4 {the queen is lost!}) 18... Bxf3 19. dxc5 Bxd1 20. Qxd1 Rxc5 {White has some minor compensation for the exchange, mainly she can play 21.f3 and Ne4, trying to establish some counterplay. However she tries to counteract immediately.} 21. Qf3 O-O 22. Ne4 Rc4 23. Nf6+ Kg7 24. Bd2 Be5 25. g5 hxg5 26. Nh5+ Kg8 (26... gxh5 27. Bxg5 {only leads to a draw, but Black doesn't have to take the knight, of course.}) 27. Bxg5 Qb4 28. Nf6+ Bxf6 29. Qxf6 {White is threatening 30.Bh6 with mate, but Black has enough time to stop this.} Rg4 $1 30. Rd1 {Allowing a pretty finish} (30. Rxg4 Qxg4 {threatens mate on d1.}) 30... Qe4+ 31. Ka1 Qd5 $1 {The queen is taboo due to the back rank mate, and this costs White her bishop on g5.} 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Chess Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku"] [Date "2015.09.11"] [Round "1.1"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Maghsoodloo, Parham"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A30"] [WhiteElo "2773"] [BlackElo "2447"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "6k1/2q4p/2p2QpP/2Nb1p2/8/5P2/r5P1/4R1K1 b - - 0 38"] [PlyCount "10"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] 38... Ra8 {A crucial position. So has built up his position, and now is the time to strike.} 39. Nd7 $2 {I believe this move should end in a draw, but it is still tough to calculate.} (39. Re7 Ra1+ 40. Kf2 Ra2+ 41. Ke3 Ra3+ 42. Nd3 $1 {otherwise it is unclear} Qb6+ 43. Kf4 {Black has no good queen checks on the fourth rank} Ra4+ (43... Qb8+ 44. Ne5 Rxf3+ 45. gxf3 Qb4+ 46. Nc4 $1 {only move} Qxc4+ 47. Kg3 f4+ 48. Kh4 {and White wins}) 44. Kg3 $18) 39... Qxd7 40. Re7 Qxe7 $4 {So's young opponent is unable to find the correct resource} (40... Qa7+ 41. Rxa7 (41. Kh2 Qa1 $1 42. Re8+ Rxe8 {is similar.}) 41... Rxa7 42. Qe5 Rf7 {And even though I'm not 100% sure about this, I simply don't see how White breaks through Black's defenses:} 43. Kf2 Kf8 44. Kg3 Kg8 45. Kf4 Kf8 46. Kg5 {perhaps the king can go around through the queenside? But then what? It seems unlikely to me.}) 41. Qxe7 Bf7 42. Qf6 Kf8 43. Qh8+ 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Chess Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku"] [Date "2015.09.11"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Perez Ponsa, Federico"] [Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B94"] [WhiteElo "2563"] [BlackElo "2732"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "4k3/2q1pp2/p2p3r/1prbn3/3N3P/8/PPP2QP1/1K1R1BR1 w - - 0 20"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] 20. g4 {A very weird position. Black's kingside has been annihilated, White hasn't developed his f1 bishop but has a passed pawn on h4... Black needs to create somethig on the queenside, but it seems as if everything falls short.} Qa5 21. Nb3 $1 Bxb3 22. axb3 Rf6 23. Qg2 $1 {The best placement of the queen. It can now eye the a8 square and give potentially annoying checks.} d5 24. Bd3 Nc6 $6 {It's hard to recommend something, and trading on d3 is undesirable, but this almost loses on the spot.} 25. c3 (25. g5 $1 Rd6 26. Qf2 d4 27. c3 $1 {is a beautiful trick, following up with b4.}) 25... b4 26. g5 $1 Rd6 27. c4 $1 {White's position advantage is very clear. His king is surprisingly safe on b1, while Black will have to deal with his own problems for his majesty and deal with the passed pawns on the kingside.} dxc4 28. Bxc4 Ne5 (28... Rxc4 29. bxc4 Nd4 {was more challenging. Black is threatening b3 with some ideas of counterplay and White would have had to find} 30. Rxd4 $1 Rxd4 31. Qa8+ Qd8 32. Qxd8+ Rxd8 33. h5 $16 {with what should be a winning endgame.}) 29. Rxd6 exd6 { The attack simply plays itself out for White now} 30. Qa8+ (30. Qe4 $1) 30... Qd8 31. Qe4 Qe7 32. Re1 Kd8 33. Qa8+ Rc8 34. Qxa6 Qd7 35. Qb6+ Ke7 36. Qf2 Kd8 37. Qb6+ Rc7 38. Bb5 $1 Qf5+ 39. Ka2 Kc8 40. Qxd6 {White is up two pawns and has a crushing attack.} Nc6 41. Ba6+ 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Chess Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku"] [Date "2015.09.11"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Mareco, Sandro"] [Black "Ni, Hua"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A09"] [WhiteElo "2599"] [BlackElo "2704"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "7r/1p1kn1pp/1Pp1bp2/p1R5/3r4/P1N2B2/5PPP/4R1K1 w - - 0 25"] [PlyCount "16"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] 25. Rxa5 {Black's position isn't a lot of fun. He has some problems with his king which are not trivial to solve, but he should still be able to hang on} Bd5 $2 {Ni Hua must have forgotten about a small detail!} (25... Bf5 $1) (25... Rb8 $1 26. Ne4 Bf5 27. Nc5+ Kd6 {and I don't see any immediate problems with Black's position.}) 26. Na4 $1 Rc4 (26... Rb8 27. Nc5+ Kd6 28. Bxd5 {doesn't work anymore, as Black simply gets mated on e6 if he retakes the bishop!}) ( 26... Rxa4 27. Rxa4 Bxf3 28. gxf3 Nd5 {was best case scenario, but still heavily favoring White.}) (26... Bxf3 27. Nc5+ Kd6 28. Nxb7+ Kd7 29. Nc5+ Kd6 30. gxf3 $18) 27. Be2 $1 Rxa4 28. Rxa4 Kd6 29. Bd3 c5 30. Be4 Rc8 31. Rd1 Kc6 32. Bxd5+ Nxd5 {The win is still far from trivial, but Mareco's technique was fabulous and he converted his extra exchange in a long endgame.} 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Chess Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku"] [Date "2015.09.11"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Robson, Ray"] [Black "Vovk, Yuri"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C11"] [WhiteElo "2680"] [BlackElo "2628"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bc5 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O a6 11. Nb3 Bb4 12. Bd3 b5 13. Nd4 {Very rare. Almost everyone playis 13.g4, and it scores very well. Surely Vovk knew what he was doing as he was playing very quickly until 13.Nd4 appeared on the board.} (13. g4 Na5 14. Bd4 Nc4 $13 {Gharamian-Ni Hua 2011, for example.}) 13... Bb7 { Natural. The position is a very clear sharp French. Black's attack on the queenside looks menacing, but you can never underestimate how fast White can achieve things on the kingside.} 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15. Bd4 Nc5 16. Qf2 Nxd3+ 17. Rxd3 Be7 18. Nd1 b4 19. Rh3 Rc8 20. Ne3 f5 {A classic idea. Winning some space on the kingside allows Black more defensive resources on that side. However, it does allow White a break on that side of the board.} 21. g4 $6 (21. exf6 Bxf6 $17 {is not playable when White is so committed to the kingside.}) (21. Rg1 {preparing g4 was better.}) 21... fxg4 22. Nxg4 Be8 $1 {Suddenly the bad French bishop is jumping to g6 with devastating effect!} 23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24. exf6 Bg6 $1 25. fxg7 Rf7 {The pawn on g7 does not harm White. He now has very difficult problems to solve on the kingside.} 26. Be5 (26. c3 Qa5 $1 $19 {for example:} 27. Rg1 Qxa2 {leads to beautiful continuations, but honestly I doubt this was Vovk's idea.} (27... Bf5 {is more human and probably what Vovk had in mind. White cannot prevent Qxa2.}) 28. Rxg6 Qa1+ 29. Kc2 (29. Kd2 Qxb2+ 30. Ke3 Rxc3+ $1 31. Bxc3 Qxc3+ 32. Ke2 Qb2+ 33. Ke1 Qxf2+ 34. Kxf2 hxg6 {winning.}) 29... b3+ $1 30. Kd3 Qd1+ $1 31. Qd2 (31. Ke3 e5 $3 32. Bxe5 Rc4 {with a decisive attack.}) 31... Qf1+ 32. Qe2 Qxh3+ $19) 26... Qg5 $3 {Brilliant. The queen attacks e5 and reinforces all the threats on the queenside by placing itself on f5 when the time is right.} 27. Re3 Bxc2 $1 28. Kd2 Bg6 29. Rc1 Rxc1 30. Kxc1 Qf5 {in opposite colored bishop situations, the most important thing is king safety. It is obvious that White is the one suffering here.} 31. Qe2 d4 $1 32. Rb3 (32. Bxd4 Qb1+ 33. Kd2 Rc7 $19) (32. Rg3 {was the best try, but already White is losing.} Qb1+ 33. Kd2 Qxb2+) 32... Qb1+ 33. Kd2 Qc2+ 34. Ke1 d3 $1 35. Qd1 Rd7 36. Rxb4 d2+ 37. Ke2 Qxd1+ {A fantastic game.} 0-1