Upside Down

Pavel Eljanov – Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
6th Chess World Cup; tie-break game 3 (Blitz 10+10); Baku, September 29, 2015
Réti Opening A05

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. 0-0 e5 5. e4 Be7 6. Nc3 d6 7. d3 0-0 8. a4 Nb4 9. h3. Departing from the first tie-break game when he played 9. Nd2. 9. ... Re8 10. Re1 Bd7 11. Nd2 Bc6 12. Nc4 Bf8 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Na5 Bd7 16. Nb5 Qd8 17. Nc4 Be6 18. c3 Nc6 19. Ne3 a6 20. Na3 Rb8 21. Nd5 Ne7 22. Nc4 b5 23. axb5 axb5 24. Nce3 Nxd5 25. Nxd5 g6 26. Ra7 Bxd5 27. exd5 Qb6 28. Qa1 c4 29. dxc4 bxc4 30. Re2 Rb7 31. Ra6 Qb3 32. g4. Peter Veniaminovich Svidler calls it “very, very brave”. 32. ... Rb6 33. Ra5 Rb7 34. Be4 Qb6 35. Ra6 Qd8 36. Qa4 Qb8 37. Kg2 Rd8 38. Qxc4 Rxb2 39. Rxb2 Qxb2 40. Ra7 Qb6 41. Rc7 Bg7

42. h4? Eljanov gets the wrong idea. He could have consolidated his manifest advantage by 42. Qc6. 42. ... Bf6! It’s cool to be clever! 43. h5?? And now Eljanov blunders away the game. There was still time for 43. Qc6. 43. ... Bh4! “Poor Elanjov just went red – he missed 43. ... Bh4!”, Grandmaster Daniel W. Gormally said. Game over. 44. Kh3 Qxf2 45. Qd3 gxh5 46. gxh5 Bg5 47. Qg3 Qf1+ 48. Qg2 Qf4 49. Qg4 Qe3+ 50. Kg2 Rb8 51. Rc8+ Rxc8 52. Qxc8+ Kg7 53. Qc4 Qd2+ 54. Kh3 Qd1 55. Qd3 Qxh5+ 56. Kg2 Qg4+ 57. Kh1 Bh4 58. Bf5 Qg5 59. Qf3 Be1 60. Bc2 Bd2 61. c4 Qh4+ 62. Kg2 Qxc4 63. Qf5 Qxd5+ 64. Be4 Qe6 65. Qh7+ Kf8 0 : 1.

Pavel Eljanov vs. Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
Photo: chess24.com (@chess24com)