Road roller

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – Magnus Carlsen
2nd Qatar Masters Open; Doha, December 28, 2015
Queen’s Gambit Declined D38

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s specialty. 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6. “6. Bxf6 loses the Bishop pair and the game, a wise man said after watching [Jon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer]’s play”, then Magnus joked. 6. ... Qxf6 7. e3 0-0 8. Rc1 dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. 0-0 cxd4 11. Ne4 Qe7 12. exd4 Rd8 13. Qe2 Nc6 14. Rfd1 Ba5 15. Ng3. For 15. Nc3 Bd7 16. Bd3 Be8 17. Qe4 f5 18. Qe3 Bh5 see Vachier-Lagrave – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), 47th International Chess Festival, Biel/Bienne 2014, while for 15. Bb5 (probably best) 15. ... Bd7 16. Nc5 Be8 17. d5 Rxd5 18. Rxd5 exd5 19. Qxe7 Nxe7 20. Nxb7 Bb6 21. Nd6 Bxb5 22. Nxb5 Nf5 23. Kf1 h5 24. Rd1 Rd8 25. Nc3 Ne7 26. Ne5 see Ruck – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), 18th Corsican Circuit, Bastia 2014. 15. ... Bb6 16. Qe4 Bd7 17. h4!? Mamedyarov’s sharp novelty. Also 17. Nh5 Be8 18. Qg4 g6 19. Ng3 Rac8 leads nowhere for White, Shimanov – Matlakov, 10th Ugra Governor’s Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk 2014. 17. ... Be8. Magnus defends his position Steinitz-like. 18. a3 Rd6! 19. Qg4? Very unsound. Mamedyarov probably got a little depressed when he realized that the immediate 19. d5 would have given him nothing but a slightly worse position (after 19. ... exd5). 19. ... Rad8 20. d5. Consistently consistent.

20. ... Qf8! The pointe. 21. Qe4 Ne7! 22. Bd3 f5 23. Qe5 Nxd5. Cashing in! 24. Bxf5? Mamedyarov eventually self-destructs, but after 24. Bc4 Bf7 White has no compensation at all for the Pawn minus. 24. ... exf5 25. Nxf5 Rc6! 0 : 1. The triumph of defence.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (R.) vs. Magnus Carlsen (L.)
Photo: Katerina Savina

Qatar Masters Open (@Qatar_Masters)