Sharjah: tres vencedores

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix I"] [Site "Sharjah"] [Date "2017.02.27"] [Round "9"] [White "Ding, Liren"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E05"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [BlackElo "2785"] [Annotator "Alex Yermolinsky - Short version"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2017.02.18"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "UAE"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d4 dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 Bd6 11. Qc1 a5 12. Nc3 Na6 13. Bd2 Nb4 14. Qb1 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 c6 16. Rd1 Qe7 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 Rfd8 19. Bc3 Rd7 20. Rd2 Qd8 21. Rad1 Be7 22. h4 Rb8 23. e3 Nd5 24. Qc2 Qc7 25. Kg2 g6 26. h5 Bf8 27. e4 Nb4 28. Qb3 {A pretty routine play up this point kept a small advantage for White, but here Aronian, who was for sure frustrated with the way this tournament had gone for him, lashed out with the uncharacteristic} c5 $2 {opening up the d-file and the light squares for the opponent.} 29. dxc5 Rxd2 30. Rxd2 Qxc5 31. Rd7 b5 32. axb5 Qxb5 33. Qd1 {The threat of Qd4 appears for the first time, and it won't be the last.} Nc6 34. Be2 Qb6 35. Bc4 Rb7 36. b3 Qa7 37. Rd6 $3 { How about that} ({instead of the standard} 37. Rd3 Qc5 38. Qf3 Qe7 39. Rd1) 37... Bxd6 ({The idea is visible in} 37... Qc5 38. Rxc6 Qxc6 39. Qd4) ({ so, Black's best was} 37... Rc7) 38. Qxd6 Qb6 ({The bishops rule the roost in case of} 38... Rc7 39. Bf6 Qb8 40. hxg6 hxg6 41. Bb5 $1 Qc8 {and it will be over once the white queen finds her way to the h-file:} 42. Qc5 Ne7 43. Qg5 Qf8 44. Qh4) 39. Qf4 Kf8 ({No salvation was to be found in} 39... gxh5 40. Qf6 Kf8 (40... e5 41. Bd5 Rc7 42. Bxe5) 41. Bxe6 Nd8 42. Qg7+ Ke7 43. Bd5) 40. Bxe6 Nb4 41. Qf6 Nd3 (41... Qxe6 42. Qd8+ Qe8 43. Bg7+) 42. Bd4 Qd6 43. Be3 Ne1+ 44. Kf1 {A nice note for Ding to finish the tournament he started with the disheartening loss with White to Rapport. We all know the Chinese star is going to be a contender for the top places in the entire Grand Prix series, while Levon's army of fans once again are left scratching their heads.} 1-0

 

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix I"] [Site "Sharjah"] [Date "2017.02.27"] [Round "9"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakh"] [Black "Hou, Yifan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "2766"] [BlackElo "2651"] [Annotator "Alex Yermolinsky"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2017.02.18"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "UAE"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 (3... c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 Bd6 6. e4 Bc7 7. Nf3 d6 8. h3 O-O 9. Bd3 Ba5 {The original Snake Benoni}) 4. f3 {Mamedyarov's favorite reply to the Nimzo. He took up where Shirov blazed the trail some twenty years ago, and ever since the Azeri star has been the main driving force behind the development of this line.} c5 {Transposing to a Snake Benoni is one of many options available for Black. The advantage is in getting there quicker, but the question still remains how good Black's position really is.} ( {Karpov used to play} 4... d5) ({and there's} 4... O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nh5 {Karjakin-Carlsen, 2014.}) 5. d5 O-O (5... b5 6. e4 O-O {transposes.}) 6. e4 b5 ({Some player prefer to hide their intentions a bit and first go} 6... d6 { Just five days ago it was seen in a blitz game between Mamedyarov and So. There followed} 7. Bd3 b5 (7... Nbd7 8. Nge2 Ne5 {gets the bishop, but White may be OK with that as} 9. Bg5 {creates problems with the pin.}) 8. Nge2 bxc4 9. Bxc4 exd5 10. Bxd5 Nxd5 11. Qxd5 {this appears to be the problem with putting the pawn on d6 - Black doesn't have Nc6 to save the rook. Wesley, as we might always expect, had something prepared.} Qb6 12. Bf4 Be6 13. Qxa8 Nc6 14. Qxf8+ Kxf8 15. Bxd6+ Kg8 16. O-O-O Na5 {with extra-sharp play. In the end of that crazy game Shakh was able to inflict a rare defeat on the hard-to-beat Wesley}) 7. e5 {No looking back.} ({The positional approach} 7. Nh3 d6 8. Nf4 e5 9. Nfe2 {spends too much time, and Black gets to start his own play with} Nh5 10. g4 Qh4+ 11. Kd2 Nf4 12. Nxf4 exf4 13. Kc2 {occured in Eljanov-Harikrishna, Stavanger 2016.}) 7... Ne8 8. f4 d6 9. Nf3 exd5 10. cxd5 Nc7 ({The game that started it all was a classic battle Shirov-Kramnik, Shanghai 2010:} 10... c4 11. a4 Bg4 (11... Nd7 12. Be2 Qb6 13. axb5 Nc7 { in the later game Mamedyarov-Karjakin.}) 12. axb5 Nd7 13. e6 fxe6 14. dxe6 Nb6 15. Be2 Nc7 16. Ng5 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 d5 ({Possibly better was} 17... Qf6 18. O-O h6 19. Nce4 Qf5) 18. O-O Qf6 19. f5 $1 {leading to a victory for the Latvian.}) 11. a4 {There comes a novelty.} (11. Bd3 c4 12. Be4 f5 $1 {worked out well for Black number of times, including Shirov-Grandelius, 2016.}) 11... Bb7 12. Bd3 h6 $2 {Hou chooses the wrong way to secure the king.} ({Granted, it was hard to ignore the threat, but} 12... Nxd5 13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14. Ng5+ Kg8 (14... Kg6 15. f5+ {crashes}) 15. Qh5 Qxg5 16. fxg5 Nxc3 {might just be playable for Black, e.g.} 17. O-O g6 18. Qg4 Nc6 19. bxc3 Bxc3 20. Ra3 Bd4+ 21. Be3 b4) ({ Best was} 12... g6 13. O-O c4 14. Be4 Nd7 15. exd6 Ne8) 13. O-O Bxc3 ({Now in case of} 13... c4 {White has a powerful idea in} 14. Bb1 dxe5 15. fxe5 Nxd5 16. Qc2) 14. bxc3 dxe5 15. axb5 e4 (15... Nxd5 16. fxe5 {with his bishop pair and strong pawn on b5 White should be very optimistic here:} Nxc3 17. Qd2 Nd5 18. Be4 Qd7 19. Ba3 $16) 16. Bxe4 Bxd5 17. Bb1 $1 Nd7 18. c4 $1 Bb7 ({Naturally, not} 18... Bxc4 $2 19. Qc2) ({but} 18... Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Ne6 {was a must, although I doubt Black can survive this.}) 19. Ra3 $1 {Shakh is incredibly strong in such positions.} Ne6 20. Qc2 ({A mere extra pawn after} 20. Rd3 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 Nd4 22. Qf2 Qc7 23. Bb2 Nf6 24. Bxd4 {etc. was not good enough for Shakh.}) 20... Nf6 21. Bb2 Ne4 ({Black should have tried her luck in the endgame:} 21... Be4 22. Bxf6 Bxc2 23. Bxd8 Bxb1 24. Be7 Rfe8 25. Bxc5 Nxc5 26. Rxb1 Re4 {although White then has the powerful} 27. b6) 22. Rd3 Qc7 23. f5 { Black's pieces are totally overwhelmed.} Nd4 24. Nxd4 cxd4 25. Bxd4 a6 26. b6 Qc6 27. f6 Rfd8 28. fxg7 Rd6 29. c5 Rg6 30. Ba2 Ng5 31. Rg3 Nh3+ {one last try, but} 32. Kh1 {forced resignation. It seemed Hou was a bit out of her league challenging Shakh in his home turf, but overall, she showed solid play in Sharjah. Shakh, in his stead, must be content with making up for his loss to Grischuk in the previous round and gaining a share of first place.} 1-0