FIDE World Team Championship: Russia leads Open and Women

[Event "FIDE World Team Championship"] [Site "Minsk, Russia"] [Date "2017.06.23"] [Round "6"] [White "Fedoseev, Vladimir"] [Black "Gajevski, Grzegorz"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E51"] [Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] {Welcome everyone to the World Team Championship Game of the Day from Round 6! This is GM Aleksandr Lenderman. Despite a few very sharp battles that were played today, I decided to pick Vladimir Fedoseev's win over Gajevski as game of the day since it involved a new, interesting idea in the opening (At least for me), and seemed like a very good positional game with a nice finish.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 {The currently very popular, Ragozin Defence, which is one of the main weapons for Vishy Anand, of whom Gajevski is a main second.} 5. e3 $5 {According to my database this is the first time Vladimir Fedoseev has played with this move order. In the past he has tried a few other moves also with good success. In general I noticed Fedoseev is a very versatile player in the opening, who can play almost any opening with either color.} (5. Qa4+) (5. a3) (5. Qb3 {are the other moves he's tried here. Fedoseev won a particularly important game against his teammate in the World Team Championship, Maxim Matlakov at the Aeroflot Open.} c5 6. dxc5 Na6 (6... Nc6 $5 {is another main move.}) 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. Qxc3 Nxc5 9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. Be3 Nce4 11. Qe5 Qxe5 (11... O-O $5 {Might also be possible.}) 12. Nxe5 Nd5 13. Bc1 Nc5 14. Rb1 f6 15. Nc4 e5 16. f3 Ke7 17. e4 Nf4 18. Be3 Ncd3+ 19. Bxd3 Nxd3+ 20. Ke2 Nf4+ 21. Bxf4 exf4 22. Na5 b6 $6 (22... Rd8) 23. Nc6+ Kd6 $6 (23... Kf7 ) 24. Rbc1 $1 Ba6+ 25. Kf2 {And White soon won. 1-0 (30) Fedoseev,V (2658) -Matlakov,M (2701) Moscow RUS 2017}) 5... O-O 6. Bd2 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Rc1 $5 {An attempted improvement over his own blitz game, also against Maxim Matlakov, where White could only be worse.} (8. Be2 Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rc1 a6 11. a3 Bd6 12. b4 Qe7 13. Qb3 Qd8 {1/2 (13) Fedoseev,V (2661)-Matlakov,M (2695) St Petersburg RUS 2014} (13... c6 $5)) 8... Be7 (8... Bb7 9. Nb5 $5 {Might've been Fedoseev's idea, but I can only guess. This forces a trade of bishops. White was probably happy to get this structure.} (9. Bd3 {It's also possible to put the bishop simply on d3 instead of e2.}) 9... Bxd2+ 10. Nxd2 (10. Qxd2 $5 c5 $5) 10... c6 (10... c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Rxc5 Nc6 $44 {is very sharp and probably works well for Black but still perhaps risky to play for without concrete analysis.}) 11. Nc3 Nbd7 12. Be2 {The position is equal but maybe slightly easier to play for White. It's not so easy for Black to find a clear plan here.}) 9. Bd3 Bb7 (9... c5 $5 {is also interesting and played a few times, including by fellow Polish top player, Wojtaszek, who is also a second for Anand.} 10. O-O Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. Ne5 Bd6 15. Qf3 ( 15. f4 $5) 15... Nbd7 16. Nc6 Qc7 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Qxd5 Rac8 {And after a tough, back and forth struggle White ended up winning though Black did stand well at some point here. 1-0 (65) Vidit,S (2651)-Wojtaszek,R (2734) Berlin GER 2015}) 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Be1 $5 {A very interesting idea, preparing to transfer the bishop to g3 or h4, after playing Ne5 and f3 or f4. Interestingly enough, this idea has already been tried by the current Russian Champion and a coach of the Russian Team, Alexander Riazantsev against none other than Radoslaw Wojtaszek. So this is actually a very intriuging battle, not only at the chessboard, but also in preparation, because it's very likely both players got help in preparation for this game and are very well aware of the game Riazantsev-Wojtaszek.} (11. Ne5 {Is probably too early.} Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nd7 13. f4 Nc5 14. Bb1 d4 15. Nb5 d3 $132 {And Black gets good counterplay.}) 11... c5 12. Ne5 cxd4 13. Nxd7 $5 {And here is the first major deviation and also a novelty according to my database. Riazantsev played 13. exd4 and that didn't work so well for him in his game since Black quickly got the advantage in their game.} (13. exd4 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nd7 15. f4 Nc5 16. Ne2 d4 17. Ng3 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 Qd5 $15 {And after many more moves, the game was drawn. 1/2 (52) Riazantsev,A (2671)-Wojtaszek,R (2749) Doha QAT 2016}) 13... Nxd7 { Understandable choice.} (13... Qxd7 {This might be stronger, but Gajewski might've rejected this due to Nb5!? which will leave Black with an isolated pawn.} 14. Nb5 {was likely White's idea here.} (14. exd4 Ne4 $11 {Seems harmless for Black.}) 14... Rfc8 15. Nxd4 Rxc1 16. Qxc1 Rc8 17. Qd1 g6 18. Ne2 {Again, the engine says it is equal, but I think White is for choice here, since he has a simple plan with Bc3, Nf4, etc.. putting pressure on the isolated pawn and Black has to find creative ways to get counterplay.}) 14. exd4 Nf6 15. f3 $5 { Now Black is not going to be able to play Ne4, a freeing move and still has some problems to solve.} (15. Nb5 {The engine suggests this move, but I think it's rather harmless.} Ne8 (15... Ne4 $5 {is even more forcing, trying to go Nd6 and discouraging Bd2.}) 16. Bd2 a6 17. Nc3 Bf6 {with a roughly equal game.} ) 15... g6 $6 {In my opinion this is a small strategic mistake. White's intention with the move f3 is not only to stop Ne4, but also to prepare Bh4 and to try to basically force the trade of the dark-squared bishops. What that does is, it leaves in the long run Black with a "bad bishop" on b7 against the good one on d3 because of the fixed pawn structure in the center. On the other hand if Black can keep the dark squared bishops, he can also potentially apply pressure on White's "weakness on d4, not only with the knight but also with the bishop. Then the game would be roughly equal.} (15... Nh5 $1 {In my opinion this was a strong move, after which it seems to me that Black has a decent game without much problems. But it's probably not such an easy move to find during the game.} 16. Bd2 g6 17. Nb5 Bf6 18. Be3 Re8 $1 (18... Ng7 $6 19. Qd2 Ne6 20. f4 a6 21. f5 axb5 22. fxe6 fxe6 23. Bxb5 Rxa2 24. Bh6 Rf7 25. Rf3 Ra5 26. Rcf1 Rxb5 27. Qf2 Ra5 28. Rxf6 Rxf6 29. Qxf6 Qxf6 30. Rxf6 Ra8 31. Rxe6 Kf7 32. Rxb6 $14 {Here White is still pressing.}) 19. Qd2 a6 $1 20. Nc7 Rxe3 21. Qxe3 Rc8 22. Nxa6 Rc4 $1 23. Bxc4 dxc4 24. Rfd1 (24. Rcd1 Bxa6 $17 { This is not a forced line by any means but it shows how quickly Black can also get counterplay.}) 24... Bg5) 16. Bh4 Nh5 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Qd2 Qf6 19. Bb1 { Probably not the only move.} (19. Bc2 $5 {might be an improvement since in one critical line, what has a key move.} Nf4 20. g3 Ne6 21. Rcd1 Ba6 22. Rf2 Rad8 23. f4 Rfe8 24. Ba4 $1 Re7 25. Re1 $1 {And here Black is tied down. Obviously with the bishop on b1, Ba4 wasn't possible.}) (19. Bb5 $5 {Was also possible, trying to induce a6 in some cases and controlling the e8 square in the meanwhile.}) 19... Rfe8 $6 {In my opinion another inaccuracy, which allows White to execute his dangerous plan and now Black's position starts to become critical.} (19... Nf4 {If In were Black I would prefer to activate the knight and to try to create counterplay right away on the weak d4 pawn. The position is still ok for Black but it's becoming already more difficult to play than had he played Nh5 earlier.} 20. g3 Ne6 21. Rcd1 Ba6 22. Rf2 (22. Nxd5 $2 Qd8) 22... Rad8 23. f4 Rfe8 $1 24. f5 Ng5 25. fxg6 (25. Kg2 Ne4 $132) 25... Nh3+ 26. Kg2 Nxf2 27. gxh7+ Kh8 28. Qxf2 Rd6 $11) 20. f4 Re7 {A logical move, but the drawback of this move is that it misplaces the black rook in some cases.} ( 20... Rac8 21. g4 (21. Rcd1 $5 {would keep the pressure though, preparing for Rc4 and still it's not easy for Black to play. White has a lot of ideas and Black sort of has to wait.}) 21... Ng7 22. f5 Qh4 $1 $132 {Would still be ok for Black concretely.}) 21. g4 Ng7 22. f5 g5 $2 {The decisive mistake, after which his position becomes undefensable.} (22... gxf5 {Good or bad, this had to be tried, to at least keep some counterplay chances alive.} 23. Bxf5 Qh4 $1 24. Qf2 Qh3 (24... Qxf2+ 25. Rxf2 Rae8 26. Kg2 $14 {Is also only slightly worse for Black.}) 25. Qf3 Qh6 $14 {And White is only slightly better. Black still has counterplay.}) (22... Qh4 $2 {Now this doesn't work thanks to the rook being on e7.} 23. f6 Qxg4+ 24. Kh1 $16 {Is also winning for White.}) 23. h4 h6 24. hxg5 hxg5 25. Rf3 Kf8 26. Rh3 Ke8 27. Nb5 Kd8 28. Qh2 $1 {The most effective move. The game is completely lost for Black.} Rc8 29. Rxc8+ Bxc8 30. Rh6 Re1+ 31. Kf2 Qe7 32. Qd6+ {Black will either be mated or down a rook. A very nice quick win by Vladimir Fedoseev, using a nice opening idea, and outplaying Black in an equal position where just a couple of inaccuracies and a big mistake is all it took for Black to lose quickly. This game was a crucial game for Russia to win their very important match against Poland, who has been doing very well up to this point.} 1-0

[Event "11th World Teams 2017"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"] [Date "2017.06.23"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Yilmaz, Mustafa"] [Black "Adhiban, Baskaran"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D46"] [WhiteElo "2630"] [BlackElo "2670"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "169"] [EventDate "2017.06.17"] [WhiteTeam "Turkey"] [BlackTeam "India"] [WhiteTeamCountry "TUR"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O dxc4 9. Bxc4 Qe7 (9... b5 {is the normal way to play in the Meran. But Adhiban goes for a line that is not played so much now.}) 10. h3 e5 11. Bb3 Bc7 12. Rd1 h6 $6 (12... Rd8 13. Nh4 (13. Ng5 Rf8 $11) 13... Nf8 $11) 13. Nh4 Rd8 14. Nf5 Qf8 15. Nb5 $1 Bb8 (15... Bb6 16. Nbd6 $18) 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17. Rxd8 Qxd8 18. Nbd4 $14 a5 19. a4 Ba7 20. Bd2 c5 $5 21. Nb5 c4 22. Ba2 {Black has bitten more than what he can chew. Now there are weaknesses all over in the position and so Adhiban has to continue with his aggressive play.} Nf3+ (22... Bxf5 23. Qxf5 Qxd2 24. Qxe5 $16) 23. gxf3 Bxf5 24. Qxf5 Qxd2 25. Bxc4 {The most human move to play.} (25. Nxa7 $1 {was the winning move, but it is very difficult to see through all the complications.} Qxb2 26. Rd1 $3 Qxa2 27. Nc8 {Now threatening Rd8+} g6 28. Rd8+ Kg7 29. Qc5 {Theres a mate on f8} Qb1+ 30. Kg2 Qb4 {This might have been what Yilmaz saw and left it. But White has a killer move.} 31. Qc7 $3 {The idea is to play Nd6.} h5 32. e4 $3 $18 {Once again Black is all tied up and e5-e6 is just too powerful.}) 25... Bb6 26. Qd3 Rd8 27. Qb3 Qd7 28. Kg2 $16 {Adhiban is a pawn down and has a huge defensive task ahead. Not that he is not capable of defending such positions. He has done much better before. But landing in such situations is not a good idea, in any case!} Nh7 29. h4 Bc5 30. Nc3 Qe7 31. Rd1 Rxd1 32. Qxd1 Nf6 (32... Qxh4 33. Bxf7+ Kxf7 34. Qd5+ $16) 33. Qd3 Bb4 34. Ne2 Nd7 35. Qf5 Ne5 36. Bd5 b6 37. f4 Nd7 38. Ng3 {The opposite coloured bishops is making Black's defensive task tougher because White is playing on the light squares.} Nf6 39. Bb3 Qc7 40. e4 Qc6 41. Qg6 Qb7 42. Kf1 Kf8 43. Qf5 Qd7 $1 44. Qxd7 Nxd7 {This is just what the doctor ordered for Black. The queens are off and the drawing chances have increased.} 45. Bc2 Bd2 46. f5 Ne5 47. Ke2 Bf4 48. Nh5 Bc1 49. b3 Ng4 50. Kf3 Ne5+ 51. Kg3 Nc6 52. Bd1 Nd4 53. Nf4 Bxf4+ $2 {A bad decision by Adhiban that lands him in a lost endgame.} (53... b5 $1 {keeping the bishops on the board would have increased his chances of draw.}) 54. Kxf4 Ke7 55. e5 f6 56. Ke4 fxe5 57. f4 $1 {it could be that Adhiban missed this.} Nc6 58. fxe5 $18 {Now white is just winning and went on to convert the game, but we have a interesting case of a photographic draw pointed out by one of the readers.} Nb4 59. Be2 {Position number one - Ke4, Be2 vs Ke7, Nb4 and Black to play.} Nc6 60. Bf3 Nb4 61. Bg2 Nc2 62. Bf1 Nb4 63. Be2 {Position number two - Ke4, Be2 vs Ke7, Nb4 and Black to play.} Nc2 64. Kd3 Nb4+ 65. Kc4 Nc6 66. Kd5 Nb4+ 67. Kd4 Nc6+ 68. Ke4 Nb4 {Now one might assume that this is the third time that the position was repeated and claim a photographic draw. However, a difference is that it is White to play here, and while on the last two occasions it was Black to play. Hence, this is not a draw yet.} 69. Bb5 Nc2 70. Bf1 Nb4 71. Kd4 (71. Be2 {would have been a photographic draw.}) 71... Nc2+ 72. Kd3 Ne1+ 73. Ke3 Nc2+ 74. Ke4 Nb4 75. Kd4 Nc2+ 76. Kd3 Ne1+ 77. Kc4 $1 Nf3 78. Kb5 Nxe5 79. Kxb6 Kd6 80. Kxa5 Nc6+ 81. Kb6 Nd4 82. a5 Nxb3 83. a6 Nc5 84. a7 Nd7+ 85. Ka5 {Quite an untypical loss for Adhiban after three excellent wins in the last three rounds.} 1-0

[Event "11th World Teams Women"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"] [Date "2017.06.23"] [Round "6.4"] [White "Girya, Olga"] [Black "Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D25"] [WhiteElo "2480"] [BlackElo "2375"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2017.06.17"] [WhiteTeam "Russian Federation"] [BlackTeam "India"] [BlackTeamCountry "IND"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 Bg4 5. Bxc4 e6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Bb5 Bd6 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Qc2 {I would already say that White has a risk free edge here. The two bishops do not compensate for the weaknesses down the c-file.} Qd7 11. e4 $1 Bf4 12. Ne5 $1 {Great play by Girya.} Qxd4 (12... Qd6 13. Ndc4 $18) (12... Qe8 13. Ndc4 $1 Bxc1 14. Raxc1 $18) 13. Ndf3 Qd6 (13... Bxf3 14. Nxf3 {A piece is lost here.}) 14. Bxf4 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Nh5 {It was obvious that Viji was not counting on this tactic. Something had gone wrong on the earluer moves. White has three ways to save her piece.} 16. Rad1 (16. Rfd1 {also wins.}) (16. Bg3 $5 Nxg3 17. Nc4 $18 {also wins.}) 16... Qe7 17. Bg3 $18 {White is a piece up.} f6 18. Nxc6 Qf7 19. Rd2 e5 20. Rfd1 Qxa2 21. Rd7 g5 22. Rxc7 Rf7 23. Rxf7 Qxf7 24. Nd8 Qe7 25. Qc4+ Kg7 26. Nc6 Qf7 27. Qxf7+ Kxf7 28. Rd7+ Kg8 29. Rxa7 Rxa7 30. Nxa7 Ng7 31. Nc6 Kf7 32. Nxe5+ fxe5 33. Bxe5 Ne6 34. b4 Ke7 35. Kg2 Kd7 36. Kg3 Kc6 37. Kg4 Kb5 38. Kf5 Nd8 39. Bd6 h6 40. Be7 Nc6 41. Bc5 Kc4 42. e5 Kd5 43. e6 Nd8 44. e7 Ne6 45. Kf6 1-0