Khanty-Mansiysk GP Recap

[Event "KM FIDE GP 2015"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"] [Date "2015.05.16"] [Round "3"] [White "Caruana, F."] [Black "Tomashevsky, E."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D15"] [WhiteElo "2803"] [BlackElo "2749"] [Annotator "Ramriez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2015.05.13"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 {the ...a6 line is so Solid, it has prompted White to try everything under the sun. The idea that Caruana plays is somewhat obscure but had been considered before.} e6 6. Bf4 { Tomashevsky had faced this twice before: a draw against Indjic and a loss to Nakamura last year.} a5 7. e3 Be7 8. g4 $5 {This, however, is totally new. The g4 moves combines something from the Shirov/Shabalov attack in the Semi-Slav, but with the bonus that the bishop on c1 made it out of the pawn chain. How good this is will require more tests. The pawn here cannot be taken.} Na6 (8... Nxg4 9. Rg1 Nf6 (9... h5 10. h3 f5 {is much sillier than it is in the Shirov/ Shabalov variation.} 11. hxg4 $18) 10. Rxg7 $16) 9. g5 Nd7 (9... Nh5 10. Be5 { looks pleasant for White, but maybe it is better than what happened in the game.}) 10. h4 Nb4 11. Be2 b6 12. h5 Bb7 13. cxd5 {Closing the center is logical, but perhaps not completely necessary in this position.} exd5 14. Qd2 f5 $5 {Perhaps Tomashevsky was starting to feel the nooze in this position, as he was quickly running out of moves and of space. However I don't like the idea of opening up the g-file and weakening the e6 square.} 15. gxf6 Bxf6 16. h6 g6 17. e4 $1 {Opening the position against the enemy king.} dxe4 $6 (17... O-O $1 18. e5 Be7 {is the computer recommendation.}) 18. Nxe4 O-O 19. O-O-O Nd5 (19... b5 $1 {This move was very important. It is multi-purpose: Black takes control of c4, it allows the knight to go to b6 and it threatens the pawn on a4 in some variation. The pawn itself is immune on b5 as it would open up the bishop on b7.}) 20. Bg3 Ba6 21. Bxa6 Rxa6 22. Rhe1 Ra8 23. Kb1 Be7 24. Qd3 $14 {White has some nice position pluses now. Black's king is permanently weak and he can attack the c6 square.} Rf5 25. Ne5 Qc8 26. Nc3 (26. Qc4 $1 Nxe5 27. dxe5 Qe6 28. Nd6 $16) 26... Nxc3+ 27. Qxc3 Nxe5 28. Qb3+ {A fancy intermediate that probably was not as good as just taking directly.} (28. dxe5 Qe6 29. Rd6 $1 Bxd6 30. exd6 Qf6 31. Qxc6 {was devastating. Caruana might have underestimated the exchange sacrifice.}) 28... Rf7 29. dxe5 Qf5+ 30. Ka2 Bb4 $2 (30... Qg4 $1 {With the idea of Rf3 in case of e6 was the best chance of holding, but the position might still be lost.}) 31. e6 Re7 32. Bh4 {The blockade is lifted and the rest is easy.} Ree8 33. e7+ Qf7 34. Re6 b5 35. Rd8 {The computer doesn't like this move, but who cares.} bxa4 36. Qe3 Bxe7 37. Rxa8 Rxa8 38. Bxe7 {It's just up a piece now. The pawns are too weak to count as compensation.} Re8 39. Ka1 a3 40. bxa3 Qf5 41. Qc3 {A brilliant game from Caruana, not afraid to get into a messy position.} 1-0

[Event "KM FIDE GP 2015"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"] [Date "2015.05.21"] [Round "7"] [White "Nakamura, Hi"] [Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2799"] [BlackElo "2754"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez, Alejandro"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2015.05.13"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 b6 3. c4 Bb7 4. Nc3 e6 5. a3 d5 6. e3 {Despite the unusual move order this position would not be unknown if the black bishop was on e7 and it was White to move, however MVL can use this tempo to go to d6 directly.} Bd6 7. Bg5 {Avoiding the bishop trade makes sense, but it does cost a tempo.} h6 (7... dxc4 {considering what happened in the game, either this or 0-0 seemed safer.}) 8. Bxf6 {Normally this trade is not desirable, but White has a specific idea in mind.} Qxf6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Qa4+ {It's surprisingly difficult to protect from this check. For example:} Kf8 (10... Bc6 11. Bb5 Bxb5 12. Nxb5 c6 13. Nxd6+ Qxd6 14. Rc1 {gives White a bit of pressure as c6 might be under attack.}) (10... c6 11. Nxd5 {doesn't work.}) 11. g3 c6 12. Bg2 g6 13. Nge2 Kg7 {Black castled artificially, but now White is ready to play e4 thanks to all the tempi he gained from this maneuver.} 14. O-O Qd8 15. e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 Re8 17. Rad1 {White's position is more pleasant. It's difficult to develop Black's pieces. Already MVL should be on high alert to not to fall into a much worse position, though it's difficult to see how.} Na6 18. N2c3 Nc7 (18... Rb8 $1 $14 {As ugly as this move looks, it's time to start preventing all of White's threats.}) 19. Nc5 $1 {A nice tactical trick that makes White's position nearly crushing.} bxc5 20. dxc5 {The piece is regained with big dividends.} Nd5 21. cxd6 Qxd6 22. Ne4 Qe5 23. Rc1 Nb6 24. Qb4 {The smoke has cleared. White has the safer king, the better pawn structure and the better pieces.} Rad8 25. Nc5 Rd4 {A blunder in an uncomfortable position.} (25... Ba8 {would have made the game last a lot longer, at least.}) 26. Qc3 {The bishop is under attack, but Rce1 is also a threat.} Bc8 (26... Rb8 27. f4 Qf6 28. Ne4 {is also hopeless.}) 27. Rce1 {Black simply can't defend all his pieces.} 1-0