Baku 4.1: Eight battles, Four winners

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.20"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Ding, Liren"] [Black "Wei, Yi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A15"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. h4 {The popularity of a quick h4 in the anti-Grunfeld is increasing rapidly. The reason is that with Black's setup it is not so easy to punish such a side attack which also has strong positional foundations.} Bg7 6. h5 Nc6 7. g3 Bg4 8. h6 {Here is one of the many points. The bishop on g7 is lost sooner or later as it will not be safe on f6 (Ne4 could come soon).} Bxc3 9. dxc3 Qd6 (9... Bxf3 10. exf3 {might be your computer's recommendation, but giving up two bishops seems very strange.}) 10. Bg2 O-O-O 11. Ng5 $5 (11. Qa4 {was played against Wei Yi just last month.} Qe6 12. O-O f6 $13 {Wang Yue-Wei Yi, Chinese League 2015.}) 11... Ne5 {there is no other good way of defending f7.} 12. Qa4 Nb6 (12... f6 13. Nf7 Nxf7 14. Qxg4+ {gives White the pair of bishops against two knights, but Black is pretty active. It's an unclear position.}) 13. Qd4 $1 f6 (13... Qxd4 14. cxd4 Rxd4 {leaves White plenty of interesting options here, but personally I like} 15. b3 $1 {when Black's pieces on the long diagonal are very badly placed.}) 14. Bf4 $1 Qxd4 15. cxd4 Nc6 $1 {An exchange sacrifice that changes the character of the position.} (15... Rxd4 16. Bxe5 fxe5 {is not pleasant to defend. Black's up a pawn for now but his structure is just terrible.}) 16. Nf7 Nxd4 17. Rc1 e5 18. Rh4 $1 {Very precise. Otherwise Black gets a nice initiative:} exf4 19. Nxd8 $2 (19. Rxg4 $1 f3 20. Bf1 $1 Rhe8 21. Nxd8 Nxe2 22. Bxe2 Rxe2+ 23. Kf1 Kxd8 24. Rf4 {and Black doesn't quite have enough here.} Rxb2 $6 25. Rxf6 $18) 19... f3 $1 20. exf3 Nxf3+ 21. Bxf3 Re8+ 22. Kd2 Bxf3 { Black's still down the exchange, but White's knight on d8 feels very isolated from the rest of White's pieces.} 23. Nf7 Bc6 $6 {Missing an excellent chance to win with Black.} (23... Re2+ $1 24. Kd3 Re7 25. Nd6+ (25. Nh8 g5 $17) 25... Kd8 {the key difference is that with the king on d3 there is a skewer on e2 no matter where the king goes.}) (23... Re7 $2 24. Nd6+ $14) 24. b4 a6 25. a4 $1 Nxa4 26. Re1 Nb6 27. Rg4 Rg8 (27... Rxe1 $6 28. Kxe1 {White threatens to sacrifice on g6.} g5 29. f4 $16) 28. Re7 $1 Nd5 29. Nd6+ $1 cxd6 30. Rxh7 g5 { White's down a lot of material, but his h-pawn is very dangerous.} 31. Re4 Rg6 $6 (31... Nc7 32. Ree7 Ne8 {and I don't see how to make progress for either isde. For example:} 33. Rhf7 Bd5 $11) 32. Re6 g4 33. Rxd6 Nxb4 34. Rh8+ Kc7 35. Rd4 Nd5 (35... a5 36. h7 Rh6 37. Rxg4 Kb6 {was a better try, but still looks very bad for Black after} 38. Rg7 Be4 39. Re7 Bxh7 40. Rhxh7 $18) 36. h7 Rh6 37. Rxg4 Ne7 38. Rg7 Kd7 39. Rf8 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.20"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E60"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Bg5 {Leave it up to Mamedyarov to do something weird in a crucial game. Black could just play Bg7, but Caruana picks up the gauntlet.} Ne4 4. Bf4 c5 (4... e5 $5 5. dxe5 Bc5 6. e3 Bb4+ 7. Ke2 {is probably not enough for the pawn, but funny looking.}) 5. Qc2 Qa5+ 6. Nd2 f5 7. f3 Nf6 8. d5 d6 {It's unlikely the players knew, but before d6 they were following an old game by Barsov.} 9. e4 {The expansion on the center makes sense, but it does give Black access to many dark squares.} Na6 10. Ne2 fxe4 11. fxe4 Bg7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Be2 Nh5 $5 {Black takes advantage of the f4 bishop's position to improve his position with this knight maneuver.} 14. Bg5 Qd8 $6 {Perhaps believing too much in his kingside chances Caruana decides to let Mamedyarov spoil his kingside structure. This is not such a good idea, as White has good access to the kingside.} (14... Nf4 15. O-O Nxe2+ 16. Nxe2 Bg4 17. Nc3 Nb4 { keeps the position very interesting.}) 15. Bxh5 gxh5 16. Nf3 h6 17. Be3 Bg4 18. O-O e6 {Trying to open up the position, but Mamedyarov is in no mood to oblige. } 19. Qd2 Kh7 20. Rad1 $1 {the pressure on d6 is annoying. Black doesn't want to play e5, but what can he do?} e5 21. Rf2 Nc7 22. Rdf1 Rb8 {Whatever Caruana is doing on the queenside, it is very obviously too slow.} 23. h3 Bd7 24. Ne2 h4 25. Kh2 b6 {this move is completely baffling to me. What was the point of Rb8, then?} (25... b5 {at least makes some sense.}) 26. g3 {The kingside is blasted open and Black's king is feeling the pressure.} hxg3+ 27. Nxg3 Rg8 28. Nh5 {Black simply has created nothing.} Ne8 29. Nxg7 Nxg7 30. Bxh6 Nh5 31. Ng5+ {Black's down material and his getting mated. White has ten thousand million ways to win, and Mamedyarov just chose one of them. The rest doesn't need analysis.} Kg6 32. Rg1 Qe7 33. Nf7+ Kh7 34. Bg5 Qe8 35. Qe2 Ng7 36. Rf6 Rf8 37. Rh6+ Kg8 38. Bf6 Rxf7 39. Qh5 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 2015"] [Site "Baku AZE"] [Date "2015.09.20"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Svidler, Peter"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B51"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3Q4/q3rp1k/2Pp2p1/1p1P2P1/1r5P/4p1P1/4R1K1/3R4 b - - 0 52"] [PlyCount "26"] [EventDate "2015.09.11"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 52... Rbe4 53. Qxd6 {White is very clearly winning. His passed pawns are too powerful} Qa4 54. Rde1 $2 (54. Rc1 $1 {push the passed pawns! Black has nothing here, he can't even make a threat.}) 54... Qc4 {Now the win is not so easy} 55. h5 gxh5 56. Qh6+ $2 Kg8 57. g6 fxg6 $4 (57... f5 {and I don't see what Svidler's next move here was} 58. d6 Qxc6 $1 59. dxe7 Rh4+ {gets White mated}) 58. Qxg6+ Rg7 59. Qxh5 {Now Black's king is simply too weak and d5 is protected.} Qd4 60. Ra2 Rf4 61. Ra8+ Rf8 62. Rxf8+ Kxf8 63. Qh8+ Kf7 64. Rf1+ Ke7 65. Qf8# {Mate on the board! That's World Cup fighting.} 1-0