Gashimov R5: New Leader Emerges!

[Event "Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2014"] [Site "Shamkir"] [Date "2014.04.24"] [Round "5"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D90"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [BlackElo "2783"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "7k/4ppqp/3b4/2pP3Q/2P2P1P/3BPK2/8/8 w - - 0 61"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] {White has been biding his time for a few moves, moving his bishop back and forth along the diagonal. It is clear that he is better, up a pawn and with pressure, but it is entirely unclear how to proceed. Any bishop endgame will be drawn and advancing the e-pawn causes White's king to be weak. He cannot so easily transfer to d7 where he would be relatively safe, so Mamedyarov bites the bullet and sacrifices his bishop.} 61. e4 $5 {Practical chances! White gives up his bishop but retains the better position.} Qc3 62. Qxf7 (62. Ke3 Qc1+ $11) 62... Qxd3+ 63. Kg4 Qe2+ 64. Kf5 {Black is out of checks and White is threatening checkmate in one move, but it is not over yet.} h5 (64... h6 65. e5 $18 {It is important for Black to control the g4 square.}) 65. Qf8+ Kh7 66. Qf7+ Kh8 67. Qg6 $1 {The queen secures e4, al lowing the move Ke6 to be played. Black cannot afford to trade queens immediately.} Qxc4 $4 {A hard move to justify, as the c4 pawn was basically worthless and now Black's king comes under a mating attack while the queen is far away. Fatigue takes its toll!} ( 67... Qg4+ 68. Qxg4 hxg4 69. Kxg4 Kg7 70. Kf5 {is quite obviously losing for Black.}) (67... Qf3 $1 {Was the only saving move. Here White cannot make progress.} 68. Ke6 Qxf4 $11 (68... Qg4+ {also should work.})) 68. Qxh5+ Kg7 69. Qg6+ Kh8 70. Ke6 {e5 is a huge threat, White's pawns are extremely dangerous and Black's bishop is not really playing.} Qf1 71. Qh6+ Kg8 72. Qg6+ Kh8 73. Qh5+ Kg7 74. Qg4+ Kf8 75. Qh5 Kg7 76. Qg5+ Kf8 77. e5 Qb1 (77... Qd3 78. f5 $1 Qe4 79. Qh6+ Kg8 80. Qg6+ Kh8 81. Kf7 $18) 78. Qh6+ Kg8 79. Qg5+ Kf8 80. f5 Bxe5 81. Qxe7+ Kg8 82. Kxe5 Qb2+ 83. Ke6 Qe2+ 84. Kf6 {Sheer persistance!} 1-0

[Event "Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2014"] [Site "Shamkir"] [Date "2014.04.24"] [Round "5"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Radjabov, Teimour"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E70"] [WhiteElo "2881"] [BlackElo "2713"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nge2 {One of the ways for White to side-step the main line theory of the King's Indian. Black has many ways of setting up now, Radjabov chooses a very classical King's Indian style instead of going for a Benoni structure with an eventual c5.} O-O 6. Ng3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. Be2 Na6 9. h4 h5 {The weakness on g5 is more important than the one on g4, this is the idea of h4.} 10. Bg5 Qe8 11. Qd2 Nc5 {Probably around here the players were completely out of book. The position has been seen before but never in a high level match.} 12. O-O-O Ng4 $5 13. Bxg4 (13. Rdf1 f6 {is the point.}) 13... Bxg4 14. f3 Bd7 15. Be3 {Black can't really complain about his position. He has the two bishops, and although they are not active yet he has potential breaks on both sides of the board to cause problems. White enjoys a solid position with a space advantage but he will have to be careful if the position opens up.} b6 (15... b5 {was also possible, but Radjabov didn't like his structure being compromised.} 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Nxb5 Bxb5 18. cxb5 Qxb5 19. Kb1 $13 {it is unclear if Black's pressure on the queenside compensates for his terrible structure, the game is still possible to play for both sides. Personally I would rather be Black.}) 16. Kb1 Kh7 17. Qc2 a4 (17... Bh6 {is a sound positional idea, but both players agreed that after} 18. Bxc5 bxc5 19. a4 {it was not so easy for Black to prove anything as even if Black's bishop reaches d4 it is not doing anything as long as White's knight blockades on b5.} ) 18. Nge2 f5 $5 19. exf5 {Magnus mentioned he was trying to get creative with this move. Now the position is rather complicated and both kings will be slightly exposed with the opening of the center.} gxf5 (19... Bxf5 20. Ne4 Bxe4 21. fxe4 Bh6 {was also possible.}) 20. Rh3 $5 {Creative play for sure! The rook here plans to pressure the open g-file, although the route to get there is certainly unusual.} Kh8 21. f4 Ne4 (21... a3 {throwing this move in before Ne4 seems a tad more exact to me, but the difference might be negligible.}) 22. Nxe4 fxe4 23. Rg3 Bg4 24. Rxg4 $5 {By all means this was the World Champion's idea. He sacrifices an exchange for some light square control and some open lines against Black's king, potentially, while the rook on a8 is not playing yet.} hxg4 25. f5 Rxf5 26. Ng3 Rf8 27. Qxe4 (27. Nxe4 $2 Qg6 $17 {in the words of Carlsen: "As soon as this queen controls the diagonal I am screwed".}) 27... Qd7 28. a3 $5 b5 $1 {Radjabov senses the urgency to open some lines and counter attack. If White is allowed to simply bring all his pieces out and push h5h6 he will have more than enough for the sacrificed exchange.} 29. c5 ( 29. cxb5 Qxb5 30. Qxg4 Rab8 31. Rd2 {was mentioned in the press conference, here Black has a very strong move} Qb3 $1 {And White can't keep his position together.}) 29... dxc5 30. h5 c4 31. h6 Bf6 32. Bc5 Rf7 {It seems that White has failed to really prove anything for the exchange. Some compensation still exists, but it seems that it will evaporate quickly. White is grasping at ideas.} 33. Rf1 Re8 $1 34. Bb4 Bg5 $1 {Radjabov plays with great precision. Now that Whites' attack is being pushed back the material difference will tell. } 35. Nf5 c6 36. Bd6 (36. d6 Ref8 37. Qxe5+ Kh7 $19 {was the point.}) 36... Bf4 37. Ng7 Qxd6 38. Nxe8 Qxd5 $1 {Simplest and best.} 39. Qxd5 cxd5 40. g3 Kh7 41. gxf4 exf4 {White is up a piece, but the pawns are clearly to strong for the stranded knight on e8 and the far away king on b1.} 42. Nd6 Rf6 43. Nxb5 f3 44. Nd4 Kxh6 45. Kc2 Kg5 46. Kd2 f2 47. Ne2 Rf3 {White is paralyzed and all that is left is for the king to come in.} 48. Kc2 Kh4 49. Rh1+ Rh3 50. Rf1 g3 51. Kd2 Kg4 {A complex game that Radjabov simply seemed to understand better than Carlsen.} 0-1