CBM 220: Gukesh on the way to Olympus

by Nagesh Havanur
8/31/2024 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Our columnist, Nagesh Havanur takes a look at our recent issue, CBM 220. 512 games, 38 annotated from the Candidates’ and 7th Sharjah Masters, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo. lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Gukesh, Firouzja, Giri and Praggnanandhaa among others. The icing on the cake is a special feature on Gukesh with 24 annotated games. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Young talents

Even as I write these lines, the 11th Sinquefield Cup Tournament has drawn to a close with Alireza Firouzja winning the title. Meanwhile chess fans also waited to see the performance of the reigning World Champion, Ding Liren, and the Challenger, Dommaraju Gukesh. Sadly, Ding Liren ended up in the second half of the score table. Apparently, he is still undergoing a crisis in his play. Hopefully, he will recover his ability and strength soon. Gukesh remained undefeated, but was bogged down by draws.

Interestingly Ding Liren and Gukesh met in the very first round and the brief encounter was sharp, finishing with honours even. It appears that both the world champion and the challenger were testing their form weeks before the Match for the title.

How good is Gukesh? The answer may be found in the games of the Candidates Tournament in this issue. He finished with 9/14, only half a point ahead of Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi and Caruana who all finished with 8½/14.

Caruana would have drawn level with Gukesh if he had won the last-round game with Nepomniachtchi. However, he missed a win or two and the game was only a draw. This marathon encounter (109 moves!) is annotated by Anish Giri. Nakamura was also responsible for pushing back Caruana by beating him in the 8th round. But then he spoilt his own chances by losing to Vidit Gujrathi twice in this event. Both these games are annotated by Vidit, who otherwise had a miserable tournament.

One player who did present a challenge to Gukesh was Alireza Firouzja. He was the only player to beat the Indian grandmaster and annotates this important game.

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1.e41,165,57054%2421---
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1.d4 Having played only 1.e4 with White in the last rounds, this could be a bit of surprise for my opponent. Nf6 2.Bf4 London in Toronto. A solid and slow system, but I try to add some spice to it as usual. d5 There are a lot of ways to play against the London, my opponent chooses one of the most principled ways, ...d5 and ...c5. 3.e3 c5 Another line is 3...Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.exd4 a6 6.Nf3 Bg4 Black wants a fixed centre, depriving White of the options dxc5 and c4. 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Nc6 9.0-0-0 e6 10.g4 Bd6 11.Be3 Qa5 12.Kb1 Nb4 13.Bc1 Rc8 14.a3 Nc6 15.g5 Nd7 16.h4 Qb6 17.Bh3 Nxd4 18.Qe3 Be5 19.f4 Rxc3 20.Qxc3 Nb5 21.Qf3 Bd4 22.Ka2 g6 23.h5 Nc5 24.Bf1 Ne4 25.Bxb5+ axb5 26.hxg6 fxg6 27.Rhe1 Rf8 28.Qd3 Firouzja,A (2759)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2769) Wijk aan Zee 2024. 4.Nd2 Nc6 5.Ngf3 Bg4 6.Bb5 cxd4 7.exd4 e6 8.0-0 Bd6 9.Bxd6 Qxd6 10.c3 Santos Latasa, J (2656)-Grandelius,N (2684) Baku 2023. 4.dxc5 e6 5.b4 a5 5...b6! 6.cxb6 Qxb6= 6.c3 Nc6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Qb3 Giri,A (2780)-Esipenko,A (2675) Dusseldorf 2023. 4...e6 5.Nbd2 Qb6 5...Nc6 is the main move, but this is also one of the main plans in French pawn structures to exchange the light-squared bishop with Qb6/Bd7/Bb5. 6.Rb1 cxd4 6...Bd7 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.c4 7.exd4 Bd7 8.c3 Bb5 9.h4 The idea is to activate the rook via h3-g3 and also to play h5 to stop ...Nh5 ideas some times. Nbd7 9...Nc6 10.Bxb5 Qxb5 11.Qb3 a6 12.Qxb5 axb5 13.a3 0-1 (97) Tabatabaei,M (2689)-Keymer,V (2690) Baku 2023. 10.Rh3?! It's clear that Black is going to castle short and that White should try to attack on the kingside, but it's not easy to find an effective plan for that, since Black is too solid and coordinated. 10.h5 was more precise. Bxf1 11.Kxf1 h6 12.Ne5 Be7 13.Rh3 0-0 14.Kg1= 10...Be7 A natural move. 10...h5‼ The knight is going to be super strong. 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Ng4 13.Bg3 Bd7 11.h5 h6 12.a4 Bxf1 13.Kxf1 0-0 14.Kg1 Qc6 Attacking the a4-pawn and forcing White to make a decision about it. 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Nd7 17.Rg3 Kh8 18.a5 Qc7 19.Nf3 Qxa5 There was always the possibility for a repetition and bail-out for White, but I decided to go all-in and unbalance the position. 20.c4!? 20.Bxh6 gxh6 21.Qd2 Kh7 22.Qd3+ Kh8 23.Qd2= 20...Rg8 21.Ra1? 21.cxd5 Qxd5 22.Qxd5 exd5 23.Nd4= 21...Qb4 22.b3 Nc5 23.Nd4 Ne4 24.Re3 Qc5! 24...Rgd8 25.cxd5 exd5 26.Rd3 25.Rc1 25.cxd5 Qxd5 25...Rgd8 White has 5 minutes for 15 moves vs 15 minutes for Black. 26.b4! He was playing really well in the last couple of moves and was building on his advantage, but this move made everything complicated, especially in time trouble. Qxb4 27.cxd5 Nxf2! Black sacrifices the knight with the hope of regaining it on d4 immediately, but there is a hidden money move for White. 27...exd5 28.Rb3 Qa4 29.Rxb7 Qxd1+ 30.Rxd1 Bc5 31.Be3= 28.Kxf2 Rxd5 29.Re4‼ 29.Rd3 Rad8 30.Be3 Bc5 31.Rb1 Qc4 32.Qb3 Qa6 33.Rbd1 Rxe5 34.Nf3 Rxd3 35.Rxd3 Bxe3+ 36.Rxe3 Rxh5 29...Rad8 29...a5! This was Black's best move here which is super hard to find. 30.Qd2 Qxd2+ 31.Bxd2 a4 30.Be3 Bc5 31.Qb3‼ He missed this move. Miraculously everything works for White. Qxb3 31...Rxd4 32.Rxd4 Qxb3 33.Rxd8+ Kh7 34.Rxc5 Qb4‼ 35.Kf3 32.Nxb3 Bxe3+ 33.Rxe3 Now the position is equal according to the engine, but it's Black who should be careful to control the knight's activity. But at this point we were both under time pressure, so it's easier to play for White. a5 33...b6 could be smarter. 34.Rc6 R8d7= 34.Rc7 a4 35.Nc5 Ra8 Again, the position is defendable for Black with precise play, and as we will see there are nice variations for a draw, but there was a huge problem for him. 35...b5 36.Rf3 Rxe5 37.Rfxf7 a3 38.Rxg7 Rxc5 39.Rh7+ Kg8 40.Rcg7+= 36.Nd7! Kh7?? His first and last mistake in the game. 36...b5 37.Rf3 Rd2+ 38.Ke1 Rd4‼ 39.Rxf7 a3 40.Nf8 Rg4 41.Ng6+ Rxg6 42.hxg6 a2 43.Ra7 a1Q+ 44.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 45.Kf2= 36...a3 37.Rxa3‼ He missed this move and panicked. 37.Rf3 a3 38.Rxf7 Kh8 39.Nf8 a2 40.Ng6+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Firouzja,A2760Gukesh,D27431–02024FIDE Candidates 2024

It is to the credit of Gukesh that he kept his resolve to win the tournament in spite of this terrible loss. When they met again in the penultimate round, Gukesh managed to beat him.

Dommaraju Gukesh, Alireza Firouzja

Dommaraju Gukesh and Alireza Firouzja | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

This was a critical encounter and I have given it here with my own commentary:

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Gukesh avoids the Berlin endgame and opts for middlegame play. Months later the Berlin endgame surfaced in a game between the same opponents. 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 Gukesh,Dommaraju (2743)-Firouzja,Alireza (2760) 1/2 -1/2 (/ \73 moves), 11th Sinquefield Cup 2024 . 4...Bc5 5.0-0 Not 5.Nxe5?! Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe5 5.c3 prevents the knight advance on d4 and prepares d2-d4. Howerver, Black's freeing advance comes first. 0-0 6.0-0 d5 Vidit Gujrathi surprised the unsuspecting Nakamura with 6...d6 7.h3 Ne7 8.d4 c6!? 9.Bd3 Bb6 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxh3‼ (0-1,.. 29 moves) Nakamura, Hikaru (2789)-Vidit,S (2727 ) Candidates' Tournament 2024 5...Nd4 6.Nxd4 Bxd4 7.Nd2 7.c3 Bb6 is another line. 7...c6 7...0-0 is more usual. 8.Bc4 d6 9.c3 Bb6 10.Bb3 a5 In BCM, May 2024 issue Aleksandar Colovic pointed out that this is an idea of Aronian. Among other things it allows the bishop to retreat to a7 in the event of Nc4 and remain on the diagonal a7-g1. Again 10...0-0 is possible. However, Firouzja is aiming for counterplay on the queenside. 11.Nc4 Ba7 The bishop remains on this diagonal to check the White pawn advance, d3-d4. However, it prevents the rook from acting on the a-file. The restrained 11...Bc7 is more often played and better. It strengthens the pawn chain d6-e5 and importantly keeps the a-file for use by the rook on a8. 12.Ne3 The first new move in this position. 12.Kh1 b5 12...a4 13.Bc2 Ng4 13.Ne3 d5= 12.a4 preventing ...b7-b5 advance is an alternative. 12...0-0 13.Qf3 d5 14.Bc2 Not 14.exd5?! a4 15.Bc2 cxd5 14...g6 15.Re1 Be6 If unchecked, Black can advance with...d5-d4. So White moves first to stop it all. 16.exd5 cxd5 17.h3 Preventing...Ng4 ideas so that the knight can mov to f1 freeing the diagonal for the other bishop. Re8 Preparing the advance of the e-pawn. 18.Ba4 e4 19.dxe4 dxe4 20.Qe2 Re7 21.Nf1 Planning to play Be3 to neutraize his counterpart on a7. Qc7 However, Firouzja is on the alert. 22.Bb3 Now 22.Be3 is met by Bc4 23.Qd2 Not 23.Qc2? b5 24.Bb3 Bxf1 25.Rxf1 a4-+ 23...Rd8 24.Qc1 Bb8 22...a4 23.Bxe6 If 23.Bxa4? Bc4 24.Qc2 Bd3 25.Qd2 Bxf1 26.Rxf1 Bb8-+ 23...Rxe6 24.Be3 a3 Sharpening the play at all costs. Otherwise 24...Nd5 centralizing the knight comes into consideration. 25.c4 Nh5! Commencing a kingside attack. The simplifying line 25...axb2 26.Qxb2 Qxc4 27.Qxb7 Qc6 28.Qb3 Bxe3 29.Nxe3 Nd5= would not have suited him. 26.g3 Bc5 Threatening 27...axb2 and it is easily met. He could have tried 26...Bxe3 27.Nxe3 Nxg3 28.fxg3 Qxg3+ 29.Qg2 Qxg2+ 30.Kxg2 axb2 31.Rab1 Rxa2 32.Re2 Rb6 33.Nd5 Rb3 34.Nf6+ Kg7 35.Nxe4 h5∞ 27.b3 f5 28.Bxc5 Qxc5 29.Rad1! Centralization is the right way to meet a kingside offensive. Rf8 After the immmediate 29...f4 30.Qg4 Rf6 31.Re2= the game is still level. 30.Rd5 The point. Qe7 31.f4! Nf6 32.Rd2 g5!? 32...h5 is the engine's suggestion. 33.Ne3 33.fxg5 Nd7 34.Qe3 Ne5 gives Black counterplay for the sacrifced pawn. 33...gxf4 34.gxf4 Not 34.Nxf5? Qc5+ 35.Nd4 Rd6 36.Red1 e3 37.Rd3 Ne4-+ 34...Qf7 35.Kh2 Again 35.Nxf5?? loses to Nh5 36.Rd6 Rg6+ 37.Rxg6+ Qxg6+ 38.Qg2 Rxf5-+ 35...Nh5 36.Qf2 Rg6 37.Rd5 Ng7 38.Red1 Rh6 Clearing the path for the queen to occupy h5. 39.Rg1 If 39.Rd7 Qh5 40.Qg2 Rg6= 39...Rg6 39...Qh5 is simply met by 40.Rg3 40.Rgd1 Rh6 41.Rg1 Rg6 42.Qh4 Rxg1 43.Kxg1 Kh8 Firouzja moves the king to a safe corner.This is fine, but not the idea of vacating g8 for the rook. He had an elegant draw with 43...Qg6+ 44.Kf2 Ne6 45.Rd6 Rf7 Colovic gives a similar line, 45...Kh8 46.Nd5 Qg7! 47.Rxe6 Qd4+ 48.Ke2 Qd3+= 46.Nd5 Kh8 47.Ne7 Qg7 48.Rxe6 48.Nxf5 Qb2+= 48...Qd4+= 44.Kf2 Rg8? A passive move. After 44...Qg6! followed by 45..Ne6 Black has sufficient counterplay to draw. 45.Qg5? Looks obvious and wrong. It was hard to see 45.Qh6! Qe7 46.Ke2! Qf7 47.Kd2 Re8 47...Rf8 48.Qd6+- 48.Qg5+- 45...Qg6?? A tragic blunder. 45...Ne6! 46.Qxf5 Qg7 47.Qe5 Qxe5 48.Rxe5 48.fxe5 Rf8+ 49.Ke1 Rf3 48...Nxf4 49.Rxe4 Nxh3+ 50.Ke2 Rf8= 46.Qxg6 hxg6 47.Rd6 Re8 A brave attempt at creating counterplay in a lost position. Passive defence is of no avail. 47...Kh7 48.Rb6 Rb8 49.Nd5 followed by 50. Ke3 and White wins. Similarly 47...Nh5 loses to 48.Nd5 followed by Ke3. In each case White would advance his queenside pawns assisted by the king and the rook. 48.Rxg6 Ne6 49.Nd5 Nd4 50.Rb6 Nc2 51.Rxb7 Re6? He could have created more complications with 51...e3+!? 52.Ke2 Re6 Or 52...Nd4+ 53.Kd3 e2 54.Nf6 Re3+ 55.Kxd4 Rxh3 56.Re7 Rh2 57.Kc5 e1Q 58.Rxe1 Rxa2?? 59.Rg1+- 53.Re7 Rxe7 54.Nxe7 Nb4 55.Kxe3 Nxa2 56.Kd2 Nb4 57.Kc1 not 57.Kc3?? Nd3!-+ 57...Nd3+ 58.Kb1 Nxf4 59.Nxf5+- 52.Re7 Rh6 53.c5 Nd4 53...Rxh3 54.c6 Rf3+ 55.Kg2+- 54.Kg2 Rg6+ 55.Kf2 Rh6 56.b4 Rxh3 57.Kg2 Rh6 If 57...Rd3 58.Nf6 Rd2+ 59.Kh3 Rd3+ 60.Kh4 Nf3+ 61.Kh5+- There are no more checks and Black has to give up the knight to prevent 62.Rh7 mate. Much of this analysis emanates from Alexander Grischuik in "64 Chess Review", 06/2024 issue. 58.Rb7 Kg8 59.b5 Kf8 60.b6 Rg6+ 61.Kf2 Rh6 62.Rc7 Rh2+ 63.Kg3 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gukesh,D2743Firouzja,A27601–02024

This issue also includes games from the Women's Candidates Tournament. I would have liked to see greater coverage of this event with annotated games. For now, let us see a game by the winner Tan Zhongyi:

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1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Nc6 6.0-0 b6 7.Bb2 Bb7 8.Nbd2 Rc8 9.a3 Be7 10.Ne5 cxd4 11.exd4 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.Qg4 g6 14.b4 a5 15.Nf3 0-0 16.Rae1 axb4 17.axb4 Ra8 18.h4 Ra4 19.h5 Rxb4 20.Nd4 g5 21.Bc3 Ra4 22.f4 Qc8 23.Bb2 Nc5 24.f5 exf5 25.Bxf5 Qd8 26.h6 Bc8 27.e6 f6 28.Bxh7+ Kxh7 29.Qf5+ Kh8 30.Nc6 Qe8 31.Qxg5 Rg8 32.Rxf6 Bxf6 33.Qxf6+ Kh7 34.Ne7 Re4 35.Rxe4 Nxe4 36.Nxg8 Qxg8 37.Qf7+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Tan,Z2521Muzychuk,A25201–02024Candidates Tournament (Women)6

A dramatic game in which Tan Zhongyi took some terrible risks to win. Her opponent, Anna Muzychuk, also should be commended for putting up a courageous fight.

A young star from Iran

This issue also has games from the 7th Sharjah Masters in this issue. 17-year-old Bardiya Daneshvar took first place on tiebreaks from experienced players Volodar Murzin, Sam Shankland and Shamsiddin Vokhidov, who all scored 6½/9 points. It was a strong field with 88 players and included Arjun Erigaisi, Teimour Radjabov, Andrey Esipenko and Vladimir Fedoseev, among others.

I was fascinated to see the following encounter:

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 a6 7.a4 h6 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Re1 Re8 10.Nf1 Ba7 11.Qb3 Rf8 12.a5 Bg4 13.Qxb7 Qd7 14.Qb3 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Ne7 16.Ng3 d5 17.Bxa6 Rfb8 18.Qa4 Qd6 19.Bb5 Qc5 20.d4 Qxb5 21.exd5 Qxd5 22.Rxe5 Qd8 23.Re2 Rc8 24.Ne4 Nxe4 25.fxe4 c5 26.d5 Ng6 27.Kh1 Qh4 28.Qd7 Qh5 29.Re3 Rd8 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Sindarov,J2684Daneshvar,B25820–12024Sharjah Masters 7th5

Black's play has a touch of jujutsu. First, it appeared that White was attacking, and then he was put down with a series of quiet blows.

A Gukesh Special

This issue has a special feature on Gukesh with a selection of 24 annotated games. The opponents include Abdusattorov, Esipenko, Keymer, Maghsoodloo, Predke, Van Foreest and Volotkin, among others.

I would have liked to see a game or two with Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen.

Dommaraju Gukesh

Opening videos

The Candidates Tournament held in April this year was remarkable for its contribution to opening theory. Round after round theoretical novelties appeared on the board testing the mettle of both players. The opening videos in this issue offer brief lectures on three of these experiments.

In the first video, Rustam Kasimdzhanov deals with a line with Black in the Sicilian Rossolimo Variation:1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 (B30).

The line was played thrice by Caruana against Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi in the Candidates Tournament this year. He drew with Firouzja with relative ease and was lucky with Vidit and beat Pragg in a long ending.

In the second video, Luis Engel gives an introduction to a rare variation in the Sicilian Defence: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5!? (B56)

It was employed by Nakamura, who obtained a draw with it in his game against Caruana in the Candidates 2024.

In the third video, Mihail Marin has a discussion of an old countergambit line in the Ruy Lopez, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 f5!? (C70)

In the English-speaking world, it is known as Schliemann Defence Deferred, named after Adolf Schliemann (1817-1872). In Russia, it is called Delayed Jaenisch Gambit after Carl Jaenisch (1813-1872). This particular line was employed by Praggnanandhaa against Vidit Gujrathi with success in the recent Candidates Tournament. Pragg has also annotated the game in this issue. Readers would do well to study both his analysis of the game and Marin's commentary on the line.

Opening Surveys

There are as many as 11 opening surveys ranging from the Ruy Lopez to the Reti in this issue. Among them I would single out Romain Edouard's survey on the Elephant Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5!? (C40). If we go by his analysis, the outlook is not favourable for Black. Maybe, a correspondence game might find a small improvement in a sideline in the years to come.

Besides opening surveys, this issue has standard features on tactics, strategy and the endgame.

Endgame Play

In the regular column "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge", Karsten Müller offers a demo. lecture on knight and a pawn versus pawns. Knight endings are not easy. However, Dr. Müller has a way of explaining that puts the learner on the comfort level.

There is another demo lecture on the endgame, and it's on the "Fortress" theme by Dorian Rogozenco. Useful advice for the tournament player.

This section also offers a column dubbed "Readers write", in which we find contributions by well-known experts like Charles Sullivan and Zoran Petronijevic, besides newcomers, Herbert Bastian and Wolfram Schön, among others.

Summing up

The main database of the issue has 512 games, of which 38 are deeply annotated. There is much else in this DVD that deserves to be explored. Apart from the players I have already mentioned, the commentators include Petra Papp, Krisztian Szabo and Tanmay Srinath among others. It may be noted that there are more annotated games in the opening and training sections of this issue. Well, practice makes perfect.

Notes

1) Jonathan Speelman's writings offer an insight into the Candidates 2024:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/speelman-agony-214

https://en.chessbase.com/post/speelman-agony-215

2) Among others, I have found the commentary on the Candidates 2024 helpful in the following magazines: New in Chess Magazine # 3/2024, 64-Шахматное обозрение, 06/2024 and British Chess Magazine, June 2024

3) Tan Zhongyi has annotated her game Anna Muzychuk in New in Chess Magazine, #3/2024

4) Here is a final view of the Women's Candidates Tournament:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-tournament-2024-women-14

5) More on Bardia Daneshvar's victory at the Sharjah Masters 2024:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/sharjah-masters-2024-9

This is followed by an interview with the winner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahtr5uHxYIE

2024 Candidates Tournament with analyses by Gukesh, Pragg, Vidit, Firouzja and Giri. Kasimdzhanov, Engel and Marin show opening trends from Toronto in the video. 10 repertoire articles from English to Queen's Indian and much more!

Links

Prof. Nagesh Havanur (otherwise known as "chessbibliophile") is a senior academic and research scholar. He taught English in Mumbai for three decades and has now settled in Bangalore, India. His interests include chess history, biography and opening theory. He has been writing on the Royal Game for more than three decades. His articles and reviews have appeared on several web sites and magazines.
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