A Hatful of Rain

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov
3rd Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 29, 2015
Spanish C67

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 h6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. Nc3 Ne7 12. Nd4 Ng6 13. f4 Bc5 14. Be3 h5 15. Ne4 Bxd4 16. Rxd4 h4 17. Rad1 Bf5

18. e6! Nihil sub sole novum, but very unpleasant for Black. 18. ... Bxe6. “18. ... fxe6 19. Ng5 Bxc2 20. R1d2 Bf5 21. Rd7 Ne7 22. Bc5 Nd5 23. R2xd5 cxd5 24. Rxc7 is an amusing line. White is down a Rook for a Knight and Pawn, but Black’s King is being hunted and he’ll lose many Pawns”, Grandmaster Robert Lee Hess said. 19. Nc5 Rh5. 19. ... b6 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Rd7 Ne7 22. Rxc7 is no better at all: 22. ... Rf8 23. c4 e5 24. fxe5 Rf5 25. Bf2 g5 26. e6 Re5 27. Re1 Ra5 28. Bd4 Rc8 29. Rd7 Rf5 30. Rxa7 c5 31. Bc3 Rc6 32. a4 Ng6 33. e7 Rc8 1 : 0 Šarić – Šulava, 11th Croatian Chess Championship, Marija Bistrica 2011. 20. Nxb7 Rd5 21. b3 Rb8 22. Rxd5 cxd5 23. Nc5. “Black’s pawn structure seems fixed, but the a7 Pawn is vulnerable. White has no weaknesses, while Black is likely to lose a Pawn at any moment”, Hess said. 23. ... c6 24. Rd4 Bc8 25. Ra4 Ra8 26. c4 dxc4 27. Rxc4 Bf5 28. Nb7 Kd7 29. Rd4+ Kc7 30. Nd6. White’s finally cashing in! 30. ... Bb1 31. Nxf7 Re8 32. Kf2 Bxa2 33. f5 Nf8 34. Ra4 Bxb3 35. Rxa7+. 35. Bf4+! wins on the spot, but even this does not give Black any hope. 35. ... Kb8 36. Nd6 Rd8 37. Rxg7 1 : 0.

Nigel David Short (@nigelshortchess)