Tal Round 1: Nepo crushes

[Event "10th Tal Mem 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.09.26"] [Round "1"] [White "Svidler, P."] [Black "Kramnik, V."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A30"] [WhiteElo "2745"] [BlackElo "2808"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "131"] [EventDate "2016.09.25"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4 O-O 9. Rd1 d6 10. Bg5 Nc6 11. Qd2 Qb8 12. Rac1 Rd8 13. b3 h6 14. Bf4 Ne5 15. Nd4 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Qb7+ 17. f3 g5 $6 {This weakening of the position is a bit too ambitious.} (17... Ng6 $1 18. Be3 {what else?} d5 {was a better way to achieve the break that Kramnik wanted. Black is slightly better already, as White has some problems down the d-file and with Ba3 coming.}) 18. Be3 d5 19. Bxg5 $1 {Svidler is quick to pick up the gauntlet. This is the only reaction that White truly has against the break in the center.} hxg5 20. Qxg5+ Ng6 21. Nxe6 {The point, really. White has netted three pawns for the piece, but also Black's king is a bit loose and his coordination has suffered because of it.} Rd6 22. Nf4 Ne4 23. Qg4 Nxc3 (23... Nf6 24. Qf5 {allows White to keep up the pressure.}) 24. Rxc3 d4 25. Rcd3 Rad8 $6 (25... Qc8 {it was probably time to trade the queens. Black will lose d4 anyway.}) 26. Nd5 Bf8 27. Rxd4 Bg7 28. R4d2 (28. Nf6+ $6 Bxf6 29. Rxd6 Rxd6 30. Rxd6 Qe7 31. Rd2 Qe3 32. Rc2 Bd4 { looks like it gives Black enough counterplay to hold the game.}) 28... b5 29. Qe4 Qb8 30. c5 Re8 31. Qg4 (31. Qxe8+ $1 Qxe8 32. cxd6 Qd7 33. Nc7 $1 {In time pressure it is difficult ot assess a position like this, but Black should be lost here. The rooks are dangerously close to coordinating in such a way to kick the blockader from d7 and push the pawn, while Black has no real counterplay.}) 31... Rde6 32. e4 Qc8 33. Rc2 Ne5 34. Qf5 Qb7 35. f4 {Perhaps not a bad move, but very committal in a time trouble situation.} (35. h4 $1 $16 ) 35... Nc6 36. e5 Nb4 37. Rcd2 f6 {Risky, but in time trouble it makes sense to make the position explode.} 38. Qe4 (38. Kh3 $1 {A crazy move to play in time trouble, but the point is that after the forced} Nxd5 39. Rxd5 {Black cannot play fxe5} fxe5 40. Rd7 {with Qf7+ winning. The Rh6+ does little after Kg4.}) 38... Nxd5 39. Rxd5 fxe5 40. f5 Ra6 41. R1d2 $16 {Things are not so easy anymore, but we have crossed the 40th move and time control was reached.} Kh8 42. h4 Rh6 43. Kf3 $2 (43. b4) 43... Rh5 $1 44. Qg4 $6 (44. Rxe5 Qxe4+ 45. Rxe4 Rxf5+ 46. Kg4 Rfe5 $1 {is close to a draw.}) 44... Rxf5+ $1 45. Qxf5 Rf8 46. Qxf8+ Bxf8 {With White's queen off the board, perhaps Black can even think of winning the game. That being said, it's still a lot of pawns and the rooks can coordinate well against the king even now.} 47. b4 Qf7+ 48. Kg2 e4 49. Re5 $1 {After the mistakes, Svidler plays well again to not allow winning chances.} Qf3+ 50. Kh2 Qc3 51. Rdd5 e3 52. Re8 Kg7 53. Kh3 Qe1 54. Rde5 Qxb4 55. Rg5+ Kf7 56. Rxe3 Bxc5 57. Rf3+ Ke6 58. Rg6+ Ke7 59. Rg7+ Ke6 60. Rg6+ Kd7 61. Rg7+ Be7 62. Re3 a5 63. h5 (63. Rexe7+ Qxe7 64. Rxe7+ Kxe7 65. h5 Kf6 $19 {Black stops the pawns and queens on the queenside.}) 63... Kd8 (63... a4 64. h6 {is winning as Black now can't stop Rxe7.}) 64. Rg8+ Kd7 65. Rg7 Kd8 66. Rg8+ { An interesting draw that surely leaves Svidler with a sour taste.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "10th Tal Mem 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.09.26"] [Round "1"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, I."] [Black "Tomashevsky, E."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "2740"] [BlackElo "2731"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2016.09.25"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 {Nepo has been using the Scotch lately, including two victories against Chinese players in Danzhou and being held to a draw by Brunello in the Olympiad. It must not have come as a surprise to Tomashevsky.} Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. c4 Ba6 {Even though this was played almost exclusively for some time, the move 8...Nb6 has become more popular in recent years. Both should be perfectly playable for black.} 9. b3 g6 10. f4 (10. g3 {is the other idea in the position and leads to entirely different lines.}) 10... Bg7 $2 {Is this a mistake? It is the most popular move, as it has been played over 200 times, and by a couple strong players. The computers hate this move, and it has a very bad score on the database (61% for White). Not only that, but all the top grandmasters choose something else (Kasparov chose f6, while Jakovenko chose g5). Perhaps it is this early that we can point out where things started to go wrong for Tomashevsky.} 11. Qf2 Nf6 (11... Nb6 12. Ba3 Qe6 13. Nd2 $6 d6 14. O-O-O O-O 15. Ne4 dxe5 $1 {Gave Black compensation for the exchange (though he eventually lost) in Macieja-Kryvoruchko, 2012. That being said, White can improve on Nd2?!}) 12. Ba3 (12. Be2 {also looks quite annoying for black.}) 12... d6 $6 (12... Ng4 $1 {is probably Black's best, as in Shabalov-Granda Zuniga from 2005.}) 13. Nc3 { Already Black has huge problems. The threat of 0-0-0 with pressure on d6 is not easy to handle.} O-O (13... Qe6 14. Be2 dxe5 15. O-O {looks extremely risky. Black's king is completely stuck in the center.}) 14. O-O-O Ne8 15. g3 { simple chess is strong. Notice that due to the pin on a3-e7, there is no way that Black can break the bind in the center. The simple threat of Bg2 is hard to parry already. Black doesn't have the luxury of playing c5 either.} Bb7 ( 15... c5 16. Bg2 Rb8 17. Rhe1 {and e5 is still untouchable.}) (15... Qe6 16. Bg2 Bb7 17. Rhe1 {is miserable.}) 16. Bg2 f6 17. exd6 $1 Nxd6 (17... cxd6 18. Rhe1 Qd8 19. f5 $18 {is surprisingly less disastrous than the game.}) 18. c5 { The knight has no good squares to go to.} Nf5 (18... Nb5 19. Nxb5 {is winning due to the pin.}) (18... Nf7 19. Rhe1 {immediately traps the queen.}) (18... Ne8 19. Rhe1 Qf7 20. Bf1 {is the same as the game.}) 19. Rhe1 Qf7 20. Bf1 { The game is over. There is no way to prevent Bc4 - not only is it a pin, but it just traps the queen on that square!} Rfd8 21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Bc4 Rd5 23. Qe2 {Black loses the exchange and his position is still bad. Absolutely demolition.} 1-0