[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.04"]
[Round "3.21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Magnus won the first "set", but one of the advantages of the system is that
even when ahead, you cannot sit on your lead and cruise to victory:} 1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 $5 {While its "only" rapid, clearly the players
treat it like a serious event, with opening preparation trying to surprise the
opponent. Giri here chooses the Semi-Tarrasch, an opening having a renaissance
due to Kramnik making it an efficient "blocking" weapon, most recently in the
2018 Candidates where Anish was his second!} 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3
cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 {Recently Magnus has tried
11 Bd3, but Giri certainly can be trusted to have solved that problem.} Nd7 {
The modern way. In the old days 11...Nc6 looked more natural, but while at
fist it appears more active, the knight tends to end up at a5 leaving the
black king more exposed, illustrated by the beautiful classic Polugaevsky- Tal
from the 1969 Soviet Championship.} 12. O-O b6 13. Rad1 Bb7 14. Rfe1 Rc8 15.
Bb3 Re8 {While Magnus earlier tried a more positional plan with a4-a5, all
this is pretty standard with Kramnik having had this position as black several
times. Black stays flexible, ready to make exchanges in the e-line after a
possible d5 exd5 exd5. Making a useful more for White is not trivial, themost
popular choice being 16.h3 passing the move back to Black.} 16. Re3 $5 {
An odd looking move, as arranging an attack via g3 certainly not is possible,
but it has a more subtle hidden point.} Nf6 {The point of the modern
Semi-Tarrasch, instead of a5 the knight ends up at f6, not only attacking the
white centre but also providing protection for the black kingside ( no Bxh7+
sacrifice!)} 17. d5 {Technically speaking only this is the novelty.} exd5 18.
e5 Ne4 19. Qe1 {This is the point of White's opening concept. At first sight
it might look like a pawn down and a strong black knight at e4, but due to
tactics in the e-file White indirectly protects the pawn on e5, thus having
the unstoppable plan of Nd4 and f3, forcing the black knight to retreat.} Qc7 {
Giri thought for a while. After the match he said he was aware of the white
concept, but obviously had troubles recalling the right antidote. Black's move
is logical, but has the downside that Nb5 wins a tempo aiming for the d6
square, but similar could be said of 19...Qe7 with a then possible Nf5.} 20.
Nd4 a6 {Stopping Nb5.} (20... Qxe5 21. f3 f5 22. fxe4 fxe4 {is 3 pawns for the
piece, but while by the classic scale that is just enough for a knight, then A)
modern computers does give numbers like 3.1 or 3.2 instead of the traditional
3, but more importantly B) the white knight on d4 makes it intolerable for
Black.}) 21. h4 $5 {Magnus later admitted that his preparation ended around
here.} (21. f3 {also was logical, but given the chance why not stay on brand
and add some Alphazero flavor.}) 21... Rcd8 22. f3 Nc5 23. h5 {Whites position
is starting to make sense. E5 is now well protected and the h-pawn does a
great job of discouraging ...g6 keeping the white knight away from f5, as then
apart from hxg6 and attack down the h-line, the Alphazero h6!? very much
becomes an option. Black really has his hands full already, not to mention
this is a 15 minute game and Anish having spent quite some of the precious
minutes already.} Ne6 24. Nf5 d4 {Giri said that this move gave him hope, as
optically the bishop on b7 springs to life, and Black appears to have some
activity.} 25. Red3 $1 {A "slow" looking move, but White now threatens the
trivial Nd6 followed by Bxe6 and Rxd4 getting the pawn back, but keeping a
dominant position.} Nc5 {Life is not really fair towards Giri here.} (25... Bd5
{should bring relieving exchanges, but} 26. Nd6 Bxb3 27. Nxe8 {works
tactically, when despite Black having a pawn and solidity for the exchange,
White's win is just a matter of technique.}) {And now it looks like White's
e-pawn is en prise, but back rank tactics also makes that an illusion.} 26.
Rxd4 Rxd4 27. Rxd4 Nxb3 28. Qg3 {Material being equal (when White recaptures
on b3) and all Black's pieces being on seemingly optinal squares, it is hard
to believe that Black is just lost. However, another Alphazero theme comes to
mind: Black's king is confined to g8, while White's has space around it,
making it easily escape the black back rank threats on the safe haven h2. The
black king, however, is caught in a mating net.} g6 ({If} 28... f6 {then} 29.
Rg4 $1 {immediately wins, with} Qxe5 30. Rxg7+ Kh8 31. Rxh7+ {the principal
point mating on g7 next move.}) 29. axb3 Rd8 $6 {Allows a very beautiful
finish, making the difference between a great game and a classic.} (29... Bxf3
{was better way to muddy the waters, when White has several ways to keep a
winning edge, but by far most convincingly by} 30. Rc4 $1 {when} Bc6 31. Nd4 {
cynically ends the game.}) 30. e6 $3 {Hitting where it hurts the most.} Qc1+ ({
Black's queen is overloaded as} 30... Qxg3 {is met by} 31. Rxd8#) 31. Kh2 Rxd4
32. e7 $3 {The true moment of beauty, it is the least valued piece that breaks
Black's resistance.} Qc8 ({The key idea is that} 32... Bc6 {stopping
promotions fails to the back rank mate after} 33. Qb8+) 33. Qe5 $1 {
Threatening mate on g7 as well as queening the pawn. All that is left for
Black is to give a check.} Rh4+ 34. Kg3 $1 {A fitting end, illustrating the
difference in king safety, the white monarch safely steps forward, even
attacking the rook on h4, while Black's king is caught on its castling square.
If 34...gxf5 promoting with check and the collecting the rook on h4 wins
trivially. It might still feel like classical chess should produce more
interesting opening concepts, higher quality in games but these "youngsters"
playing Clutch chess or Chessable Masters do a very impressive job of making
that point of view sound old and grumpy. The World Champion plays close to
prefection, and Giri forces him to illustrate both positional sacrifices and
sharp tactics by putting up strong resistance. All in the space of half an
hour.} 1-0

[Event "Norm Congress-GM 2018"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.02.12"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Bartholomew, John"]
[Black "Patel, Advait"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A65"]
[WhiteElo "2472"]
[BlackElo "2478"]
[Annotator "Contora"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Qd2 exd5
9. cxd5 Re8 10. Nge2 Nbd7 11. Ng3 a6 12. a4 Qa5 13. Be2 b5 14. O-O b4 15. Nd1 {
[%mdl 32768] Black to move} c4 $1 16. Bxc4 (16. Rc1 c3 17. bxc3 b3 $44) 16...
Qc5+ 17. Ne3 h6 $1 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Rac1 Qd4 $1 (19... Bxb2 20. Qxb2 Qxe3+ 21.
Kh1 Rb8 22. f4 $36) (19... Bd4 20. Rfe1 $16) (19... Qb6 20. Kh1 Nc5 21. b3 $16)
20. Rc2 $1 Nb6 (20... Nc5 21. b3 Qxd2 (21... Kg7) (21... Bg7) 22. Rxd2 Bd7 $44
(22... Bc3)) (20... b3 $5 21. Bxb3 Nc5 22. Ba2 (22. Bc4) 22... Bd7 $44) 21. Bb3
Bd7 (21... a5 22. Ne2 $1 Qxd2 23. Rxd2 $14) 22. a5 Na4 $44 1/2-1/2

[Event "Netanya Open 2019"]
[Site "Netanya ISR"]
[Date "2019.07.02"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Moiseenko, Alexander"]
[Black "Rozentalis, Eduardas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2540"]
[Annotator "Contora"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2019.06.23"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 g6 6. Qc2 Bxf3 7. exf3 Bg7 8. Be3
Nc6 9. O-O-O Ne7 10. g4 (10. d5) 10... d5 11. h4 dxc4 12. h5 Nfd5 13. Bxc4 Nxc3
14. Qxc3 c6 15. h6 Bf6 {[%mdl 32768] White to move} 16. g5 Nd5 17. Bxd5 cxd5
18. Qc6+ Kf8 19. Kb1 Rc8 20. Qb7 (20. Qa4 Bxg5 21. Bxg5 Qxg5 22. Qxa7 Qd8 23.
Rc1 $16) 20... Rc7 21. Qa6 Bxg5 22. f4 Bf6 23. Rc1 Ke7 24. f5 Rd7 (24... gxf5
25. Bf4 Rd7 26. Rc2 $40 {[%csl Re7][%cal Gh1c1]}) (24... Re8 25. Bf4) 25. Bd2
Bxd4 26. Bb4+ Kf6 27. Qd3 Bc5 28. fxe6 fxe6 29. Qf3+ Ke7 30. Rxc5 bxc5 31.
Bxc5+ Ke8 32. Re1 Re7 33. Qg4 Qd7 34. Bxe7 Kxe7 35. Qg5+ Kf7 36. Qf4+ Ke7 37.
Qg5+ Kf7 38. Qe5 Rf8 39. Rc1 Kg8 40. Rc7 Rf5 41. Rc8+ Rf8 42. Qh8+ 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch m1-2"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "1997.06.01"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2640"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "1997.05.19"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 059"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1997.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "1997.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxd5 4. d4 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. c4 Nb6 7. Nc3 e5 8. g4
{After this natural move black faces serious problems.} exd4 9. Nxd4 Bg6 10.
Bg2 c6 11. O-O Be7 12. f4 h6 13. f5 Bh7 14. c5 $1 (14. b3 O-O 15. Bf4 $14)
14... N6d7 (14... Bxc5 15. Re1+ Kf8 (15... Be7 16. f6 $1 gxf6 17. Bxh6 $18 {
[%csl Re8]}) 16. Be3 {[%csl Gc5][%cal Gd4e6]} Na6 17. Ne4 $40) 15. g5 $3 {
Svidler carries out the attack with great energy and creativity.He does'nt
give black a time to breath.} O-O (15... hxg5 16. Ne6 Qa5 (16... fxe6 17. Qh5+
g6 18. fxg6 $18) 17. Qh5) (15... Bxg5 {Finkel,A} 16. Ne6 $1) 16. g6 $1 fxg6 17.
Ne6 Qc8 18. Nxf8 Bxc5+ 19. Kh1 Bxf8 20. fxg6 Bxg6 {[%tqu "De","Weiß hat zwar
eine Qualität mehr, aber wenn Schwarz sich in Ruhe zuende entwickeln kann,
wird es schwer...","","","c1h6","",8]} 21. Bxh6 $3 {Without this suprising
move white's advantage would'nt be so big. Now the game is almost finished.}
Ne5 (21... gxh6 22. Qg4 Kg7 (22... Kh7 23. Rf6 $18) 23. Be4 Qe8 24. Rae1 $18)
22. Bf4 Nbd7 23. Ne4 Qe8 24. Qb3+ Qf7 25. Qg3 Bxe4 26. Bxe4 Nf6 27. Bg2 Nh5 28.
Qg5 Nd3 29. Be5 Qe7 {Looses on the spot,but black could only prolong his
suffer,because white's advantage is decisive.} 30. Qxh5 Qxe5 (30... Nxe5 31.
Rae1 Re8 32. Be4 $18) 31. Qf7+ Kh8 32. Rf5 Nf2+ 33. Kg1 Nxh3+ 34. Kf1 1-0