Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus

Anish Giri – Baadur Jobava
FIDE Grand Prix; Khanty-Mansiysk, May 23, 2015
French Defence C10

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e5 Bd7 5. Nf3 a6 6. a3. For 6. Ne2 Na7 7. Be3 Ne7 8. Ng3 Bb5 9. Bd3 Qd7 see Stock – Bednarski, Sankt Ingbert 1989. 6. ... f6 7. Bd3 fxe5 8. dxe5 Bc5 9. 0-0 Nge7. “In Jobava’s hands, even the stable structures of the Caro-Kann and the French swiftly shapeshift into moving sands”, Olimpiu G. Urcan said. “With ever predictable results...”, Peter Long added. 10. Ne2 0-0 11. Nf4 h6. To prevent Nf3-g5; the ensuing position, however, is anything but easy for Black. More pertinent would have been 11. ... Nf5 in order to answer 12. c4 by 12. ... dxc4 13. Bxc4 Nfd4. 12. c4 Nd4 13. Nxd4 Bxd4 14. cxd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 exd5 16. Bc2 c5 17. Be3 Qb6 18. Bxd4 cxd4 19. Qd3

18. ... Rf5!?? Everyone here would have preferred 18. ... Bf5 with a tenable position, but, of course, Jobava is not a human being like everybody else :). 20. f4 Bb5!? Obviously. 21. Qxf5 d3+ 22. Rf2 Rf8 23. Bxd3. White most conveniently gives up the Queen for the two Rooks plus a Pawn. 23. ... Rxf5 24. Bxf5 Qe3? A grave error, which loses the valuable d-Pawn. But even after 24. ... g6 25. Bc2 either the d-Pawn or the g-Pawn appear hopelessly doomed. 25. Be6+ 1 : 0. Jobava, disgusted with himself, resigned.

Baadur Jobava: I’m only sleeping...
Photo: Kirill Merkurev

Lawrence Trent (@Lawrence Trent)