Tashkent 09: Costly mistakes

[Event "Tashkent FIDE GP"] [Site "Tashkent UZB"] [Date "2014.10.31"] [Round "9"] [White "Kasimdzhanov, R."] [Black "Gelfand, B."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2706"] [BlackElo "2748"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2014.10.20"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. Bb3 b5 9. Qf3 Qc7 10. Qg3 O-O 11. Bh6 Ne8 12. Rad1 Bd7 13. f4 Nc6 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15. f5 Kh8 16. f6 gxh6 17. fxe7 Qxe7 18. Qf2 Ng7 19. Qb6 (19. Qd4 {was Ivanchuk's choice against Gelfand in 2008. Surely by now the Israeli had an improvement in this position, but Kasimdzhanov deviates first.}) 19... Rfc8 20. Rf2 (20. a3 {Michiels-Bu, 2008}) 20... a5 21. a4 bxa4 22. Bxa4 Rab8 $1 {An important pawn sacrifice. Black needs as much activity as he can get.} 23. Qxa5 Bxa4 24. Nxa4 Qb7 {Black has counterplay all over the board. It is hard for Kasimdzhanov to defend all his pawns and create any kind of progress.} 25. Re2 Rc6 26. b3 f5 27. e5 d5 {With equal pawns Black has the disadvantage of the h6 and h7 structure, which will be weak the entire game, but White has to contend with a weak pawn on e5 which can be attacked in the later game as well as pressure against his queenside pawns.} 28. Rf1 h5 29. Rff2 h4 30. Qd2 Qe7 31. Qh6 Kg8 32. h3 Rb4 33. Nb2 Re4 34. Nd3 Qc7 35. Qg5 Rxe2 36. Rxe2 Rxc2 37. Rxc2 Qxc2 38. Ne1 Qxb3 39. Qd8+ Kf7 40. Nf3 $6 {A rather strange choice; why not repeat moves first at least?} (40. Qf6+ $11) 40... Qe3+ 41. Kf1 h6 42. Qxh4 Kg6 43. Qf6+ Kh7 44. Qd8 Qa7 45. Qh4 {Black is the only one pushing for a win, but that seems almost impossible to achieve. The knight must stay and defend the king and the queen cannot do everything by herself.} Qd7 46. Kg1 Qe8 47. Kh2 Nh5 48. Qb4 Qg6 49. Qe7+ Qg7 50. Qh4 Qf7 51. Nd4 Qg6 52. Qe7+ Ng7 53. g3 Qg5 54. Qxg5 hxg5 55. g4 fxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tashkent FIDE GP"] [Site "Tashkent UZB"] [Date "2014.10.31"] [Round "9"] [White "Radjabov, T."] [Black "Caruana, F."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2726"] [BlackElo "2844"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2014.10.20"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Ke8 10. Nc3 h5 11. Bf4 Bb4 {actually kind of rare. We have seen a lot of duels recently with 11...Be7, but with the amazing draw rate in that line it is refreshing to see something slightly different.} 12. Ne4 (12. Ne2 Be6 13. Rfd1 Bd5 {Bacrot-Sargissian, 2014}) 12... Be6 13. c3 Be7 14. Rfe1 Rd8 15. Neg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 Ke7 17. Ne4 Rd5 18. Rad1 b6 19. b3 h4 20. c4 Rd4 21. g4 (21. Bg5+ Kd7 22. Rxd4+ Nxd4 23. Rd1 c5 24. Be3 Kc6 25. Bxd4 Rd8 $11) 21... hxg3 22. fxg3 c5 23. h4 Rxd1 24. Rxd1 Nd4 25. Kf2 Bf5 26. Nc3 Ke6 27. Rd2 Rc8 28. Ne2 Nc6 29. Bg5 Bg4 30. Nf4+ Kxe5 31. Nd5 Ke4 32. Bf4 Ne5 33. Nc3+ Kf5 34. Nd5 Ke4 35. Nc3+ Kf5 36. Nd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tashkent FIDE GP"] [Site "Tashkent UZB"] [Date "2014.10.31"] [Round "9"] [White "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Black "Nakamura, Hi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E90"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2764"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2014.10.20"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 Nh5 8. g3 Na6 {With the surge of popularity of the 6.h3 system in the Classical King's Indian Nakamura has had to try new things against it. This is his latest attempt, to put both s ides on the rim hoping to counter-attack later.} 9. Be3 f5 10. exf5 gxf5 11. Ng5 Qe8 12. Be2 Nf6 13. Qd2 Qg6 14. O-O-O Bd7 15. h4 {It is always difficult to assess this kind of positions. Black has counterplay all over the board and can quickly break with c6 or sometimes even b5. He can also push his central pawns to create more space, or put his knight on c5 and follow it up with a5. White has a space advantage but it is not very big, meanwhile he is trying to cause problems by ramming the h-pawn forward. Only many practical tests usually determine whether the position is sound or not.} Ng4 16. h5 Qe8 17. Bxg4 fxg4 18. Qe2 (18. a3 {and the computer claims White is better, much better, but I don't trust it.}) 18... h6 19. Nge4 Qf7 20. a3 Bf5 21. Rh4 Qd7 22. Qd2 {It's still hard to understand what is happening in this position. The players repeat as they both lack a clear plan.} Kh7 23. Qc2 Kh8 24. Qd2 Kh7 25. Qc2 Kh8 26. Qd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tashkent FIDE GP"] [Site "Tashkent UZB"] [Date "2014.10.31"] [Round "9"] [White "Jakovenko, D."] [Black "Mamedyarov, S."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A04"] [WhiteElo "2747"] [BlackElo "2764"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2014.10.20"] 1. Nf3 f5 {This move-order is usually not recommended, maybe Mamedyarov had some plan.} 2. c4 (2. d3 {is supposed to be annoying for Black as e4 is usually strong.}) 2... Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. b4 d6 5. d4 Bg7 6. Bb2 e5 7. dxe5 Nfd7 8. Bg2 dxe5 (8... Nc6 {is more common b ut scores horribly. The text move is not usually seen.}) 9. O-O Qe7 10. e4 O-O 11. b5 {Overall Jakovenko can be very happy with the opening. He has a good amount of space on the queenside, pressure against a potentially weak e5 pawn and Mamedyarov has yet to develop any sort of counterattack.} Nc5 12. Nc3 Be6 13. Nd5 Qd6 14. Ng5 Nbd7 15. Ba3 ( 15. Nxe6 Nxe6 16. exf5 gxf5 17. Ne3 f4 18. Qxd6 cxd6 19. Bd5 $14) 15... Bf7 16. Qc2 c6 17. Nb4 a5 18. Rad1 Qf6 19. Nd3 Qxg5 20. Nxc5 Nxc5 21. Bxc5 Rfd8 22. Bb6 Rdc8 23. exf5 Qxf5 24. Be4 {After the small tactical melee White still retains some advantage with control over the d-file and a blockade against e5. He does have to be careful about opening the c-file, though.} Qe6 25. bxc6 bxc6 26. c5 $2 {This move is just very strange.} (26. Rc1 $14) 26... Qxa2 27. Qxa2 Bxa2 28. Rd6 Bc4 {perhaps in time pressure Jakovenko forgot that the bishop can return in time to defend c6. Now White suffers material losses.} 29. Rb1 (29. Ra1 Bb5 30. Rxa5 Rxa5 31. Bxa5 Bf8 $17) 29... a4 $1 {Very powerful. Because the rook is on b1 this advance of the pawn is too fast.} (29... Bb5 $2 30. Rxb5 cxb5 31. Bxa8 Rxa8 32. c6 {is, in fact, losing for Black.}) 30. Rxc6 a3 31. Rxc8+ Rxc8 32. c6 a2 33. Ra1 Bf8 34. c7 Bd6 {The rook is pinned down to defending against Black's promotion and it cannot help the c7 pawn.} 35. Bb7 Bxc7 36. Bxc8 Bxb6 { Bd4 is unstoppable, and the game is over.} (36... Bxb6 37. Ba6 Bf7 (37... Bxa6 38. Rxa2 {makes things unnecessarily complicated.})) 0-1

[Event "Tashkent FIDE GP"] [Site "Tashkent UZB"] [Date "2014.10.31"] [Round "9"] [White "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Black "Giri, A."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2757"] [BlackElo "2768"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2014.10.20"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d5 {Side-stepping some theory here. The normal move is 0-0 or d6, but d5 is logical if Black can get away from it. Kryvoruchko tried it recently with success agaisnt Hansen.} 6. Nbd2 ( 6. Nxe5 O-O 7. Bxc6 bxc6 {leaves White's position rather shaky. With e4 hanging and his lack of development it doesn't seem he can find a path to an advantage, actually he should be careful not to be worse.}) 6... dxe4 7. dxe4 O-O 8. Qe2 a5 9. O-O Qe7 {The symmetrical position is not worse for Black in this scenario.} 10. Nh4 Bg4 11. Ndf3 Nh5 12. Qc4 Na7 13. Bg5 Qd6 14. Nf5 (14. Rad1 Bxf2+ $1 15. Kxf2 $6 (15. Kh1 Qc5 $11) 15... Qb6+ $17) 14... Bxf5 15. exf5 h6 16. Rad1 Qb6 (16... Bxf2+ 17. Kxf2 Qb6+ 18. Be3 Qxb5 19. Qxb5 Nxb5 20. Nxe5 $11) 17. Rd5 c6 18. Qxc5 Qxb5 19. Qxf8+ $1 {The only way to keep equal chances. } (19. Qxb5 Nxb5 {leaves White's rook on d5 and White's bishop on g5 hanging.}) 19... Rxf8 20. Rxb5 cxb5 21. Be3 Nc6 22. Rd1 Nf6 {Neither side can claim to anything in this position.} 23. h3 Rc8 24. g4 Kf8 25. Bc5+ Kg8 26. Be3 Kf8 27. Kf1 Ke8 28. Ke2 Rc7 29. Bc5 Ne4 30. Rd5 Nf6 31. Rd1 Ne4 32. Rd5 Nf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tashkent FIDE GP"] [Site "Tashkent UZB"] [Date "2014.10.31"] [Round "9"] [White "Jobava, Ba"] [Black "Andreikin, D."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "2717"] [BlackElo "2722"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2014.10.20"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 {Leave it up to Jobava to make the game weird on move two.} Bf5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. Bd3 Bxd3 8. Qxd3 {White has a slight lead in development and has pushed g4, which si gnals that he will castle queenside and expand on the kingside. Well, normal people would do that. } Bxf4 9. exf4 h5 10. gxh5 (10. f5 $5 hxg4 11. fxe6 gxf3 12. exd7+ (12. exf7+ Kxf7 13. Nxd5 {is too optimistic.}) 12... Qxd7 13. O-O-O {is probably not good for White.}) 10... Rxh5 11. Rg1 Qf6 {White's structure is ruined, but he has some activity to show for it.} 12. Ne5 c6 13. Na4 $2 {A hard move to understand. Jobava himself mentioned it was a rather bad idea. That being said, White was probably already worse.} Qxf4 14. Nf3 e5 15. Rxg7 O-O-O $19 {Black simply has a huge initiative now. With his king tucked in safely on c8 it is White's king on e1 that is about to come under attack.} 16. Qe3 Qf6 17. Rg3 exd4 18. Qxd4 Qxd4 19. Nxd4 Rxh2 {White loses a pawn, but even worse his king is still weak. He cannot 0-0-0 as f2 is hanging.} 20. Nf3 Rh1+ 21. Rg1 Rxg1+ 22. Nxg1 d4 23. b3 Ngf6 24. Nf3 c5 25. Nb2 Kc7 26. a4 Re8+ 27. Kf1 Ne4 28. Nd3 b6 29. a5 Kb7 30. b4 Nc3 31. axb6 axb6 32. bxc5 bxc5 33. Nd2 Re2 34. Nb3 Kb6 35. Ra8 Rxc2 {Now it is clear that it's over.} 36. Ndxc5 Nxc5 37. Nxd4 Rc1+ 38. Kg2 Nd5 39. Rf8 Ne6 0-1