Xiong en el Memorial Capablanca

[Event "51st Capablanca Mem Prem"] [Site "Varadero CUB"] [Date "2016.06.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Xiong, Jeffery"] [Black "Gomez Garrido, Camilo Ernesto"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2627"] [BlackElo "2546"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 {Jeffery has studied under the guidance of Garry Kasparov. Should it come as a surprise that he has the Scotch in his repertoire?} Bb4+ 5. c3 Bc5 6. Be3 Bb6 7. Nf5 g6 (7... Bxe3 {is the mainline, but the move played in the game has become more and more popular recently.}) 8. Bxb6 axb6 9. Ne3 Nf6 10. f3 Qe7 11. Be2 (11. c4 Qb4+ 12. Qd2 {is the usual way to continue, including a game Wang Hao-Aronian. Jeffery deviates just a bit.}) 11... O-O 12. c4 Qc5 13. Qd2 Nd4 14. Bd1 b5 $1 {Black tries to put pressure on White as he is better developed. If White finishes his development the bind with the pawns on c4 and e4 will give him an advantage.} 15. b4 $1 {The appropiate response! This might seem risky considering how many lines will be opened, but everything is cooly calculated.} Qe5 16. Nc3 c5 17. Rc1 $1 { An excellent move. White prepares Ncd5 and is not afraid of any pawn trade on the queenside.} cxb4 18. Ncd5 Nxd5 19. Nxd5 d6 20. O-O $1 {White is down a pawn but knows he will regain it sooner rather than later. It is already apparent that White has a bind and will be able to kick out the knight from d4 soon, leaving him with a nice advantage.} Ne6 $6 {Helping White's cause.} 21. cxb5 Qd4+ 22. Qxd4 Nxd4 23. Rc4 b3 {This was Black's idea, but it is a miscalculation.} 24. Rxd4 bxa2 25. Ba4 $1 Be6 26. Ra1 Bxd5 27. exd5 Ra5 28. Rxa2 Rfa8 {Perhaps Black was hoping that this bind was permanent, but White has a way to untangel himself.} 29. Rb4 b6 30. Kf2 Kg7 31. Ke3 Kf6 32. Kd4 h5 33. Kc3 g5 34. Kb2 Re8 35. Bd1 Rxa2+ 36. Kxa2 Re1 37. Rd4 Ke5 38. Re4+ $1 { Again, very precise.} Rxe4 39. fxe4 g4 40. h3 gxh3 41. gxh3 h4 42. Bh5 Kxe4 43. Bxf7 Kd4 44. Kb3 Kc5 45. Kc3 Kxb5 46. Kd4 Kb4 47. Ke4 Kc5 48. Kf5 b5 49. Ke6 b4 50. Bg6 {The endgame is, of course, hopeless.} 1-0

[Event "51st Capablanca Mem Prem"] [Site "Varadero CUB"] [Date "2016.06.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Gonzalez Vidal, Yuri"] [Black "Xiong, Jeffery"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2555"] [BlackElo "2627"] [PlyCount "114"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4 d6 9. Rd1 Nbd7 10. Be3 Rc8 11. Rac1 a6 12. b3 O-O 13. Qh4 Rc7 {All of this is recommended by yours truly in the Benko 2 DVD, which deals with anti-Benkos. You can find the explanation of Black's previous moves there.} 14. g4 $5 Rc8 $1 {An idea that can be attributed to Karjakin.} 15. Bh3 b5 16. cxb5 axb5 $5 { A novelty, and a very interesting one. Previously Karjakin and Sargissian had tried} (16... Qa5 $5) 17. g5 (17. Nxb5 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 Qa5 19. Nc3 Rc8 {is kind of dangerous for White.}) 17... Rxc3 $1 {Forced} (17... Nh5 18. Nxb5 {Leaves Black without justification for the pawn.}) 18. Rxc3 Nd5 19. Rcd3 Nc3 {White must give the exchange back.} 20. Rxc3 (20. R3d2 Nxe2+ 21. Rxe2 Bxf3 {forces Black to give the exchange back anyway, but down a pawn.}) 20... Bxc3 21. Nd4 b4 22. Nf5 $5 {Yuri starts a powerful attack on the kingside. His threats cannot be underestimated, but if the fire is extinguished from the kingside then he will be in a tough position structurally.} Ne5 (22... gxf5 23. Bxf5 { is unplayable, of course.}) 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. f4 Nd7 25. f5 Qc7 $5 {Jeffery isn't intimidated easily: even though it seems that his king is in danger, he simply chooses to develop} (25... Ne5 {again putting the knight on this great square, was perhaps the best move.}) 26. f6+ exf6 27. Nf5+ $1 Kh8 (27... gxf5 28. Qh6+ Kg8 29. Bxf5 {is again bad.}) 28. Qh6 {Black is holding on by a thread, but it is sufficient.} fxg5 29. Rd4 (29. Bd4+ Bxd4+ 30. Rxd4 Rg8 { is also fine for Black.} 31. Nxd6 Qc1+ 32. Kf2 Ne5 $1 {and the counterplay is at least enough for a perpetual.}) 29... Rg8 30. Nxd6 Nf6 $1 {Again forced but sufficient. Black is parrying all the threats.} 31. Qxg5 Bxd4 32. Bxd4 Qxd6 33. Qxf6+ $6 (33. Bxf6+ Rg7 34. Be5 Qc5+ 35. Kf1 Qf8 {is just about enough for equality.}) 33... Qxf6 34. Bxf6+ Rg7 {Black is cramped, but he will slowly untangle and emerge up a pawn.} 35. Kf2 h5 36. Ke3 Kh7 37. Bxg7 Kxg7 38. Kd4 f5 {White will win b4, true, but Black's pawns on the kingside are very fast.} 39. Kc5 Kf6 40. Kxb4 g5 41. Bf1 g4 42. e3 $6 {Not the best, but I think White was aleady lost. If he wasn't, it would take a tremendous effort.} Ke5 43. Kc5 h4 44. b4 h3 {The winning plan: Black threatens to play g3.} 45. Bxh3 gxh3 46. b5 Ke4 $1 {The only winning plan is to queen Black's f-pawn.} 47. a4 Kxe3 48. a5 f4 49. a6 Bc8 $1 {The only way to stop the pawns.} (49... Be4 50. b6 f3 51. b7 f2 52. b8=Q f1=Q 53. a7 {is probably winning, but quite unclear.}) 50. Kb6 Bf5 $1 {Again the only move for the bishop, as anything else would put it on the way of the f-pawn or too close to the White king.} 51. Ka7 f3 52. b6 f2 53. b7 f1=Q 54. b8=Q Qf2 55. Qe5+ Kd3+ 56. Kb7 Be4+ 57. Kc7 Qa7+ {A magnificent display of precision.} 0-1