Bridging the gap from pop to rap

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin – 韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
9th Bilbao Masters Final; Bilbao, July 22, 2016
Queen’s Pawn Game D02

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Bxb1 6. Rxb1 Bb4+ 7. Ke2 dxc4 8. Qa4+ Nc6 9. Ne5 Nd5. For 9. ... Bd6 10. Nxc6 Qd7 11. Qxc4 bxc6 12. g3 Bxf4 13. gxf4 Qd5 14. Qxd5 cxd5 15. Rc1 Kd7 16. f3 Rhb8 17. Rc2 Rb4 18. Kd2 Rab8 19. Kc1 Kd6 see Semeniuk – Iskusnyh, 8th Russian Team Chess Championship, Tomsk 2001. 10. Nxc6 Qd7 11. Rc1. Another try (evidently improvable on the Black’s part) is 11. Bg3 a5 12. a3 Bd6 13. Qxc4 Qxc6 14. Qxc6+ bxc6 15. Rc1 Rb8 16. Rc2 Kd7 17. Kf3 Nb6 18. Be2 Na4 19. Rhc1 with advantage to White, Wojtaszek – Việt Thắng Đồng, 11th World Youth Chess Championship Under-10, Cala Galdana (Minorca) 1996. 11... bxc6 12. Rxc4 Rb8 13. Qxc6 Nxf4+ 14. exf4 Bd6 15. b3 Bxf4 16. Qxd7+ Kxd7 17. d5 Bd6 18. dxe6+ Kxe6 19. Ra4 Kf6 20. Kf3. On 20. Rxa7 Ra8 Black immediately wins back the Pawn.

20. ... Rb4 21. Rxb4. Now the a-Pawn is obviously taboo: 21. Rxa7?? Rf4+ 22. Ke3 Re8+ 23. Kd2 (or 23. Kd3 Re1-+) 23. ... Rxf2+ 24. Kd1 Bf4! with devastating effect. 21. ... Bxb4 22. Bd3 Rd8 23. Ke2 Re8+ 24. Kf3 Rd8 25. Ke2 Re8+ 26. Kf3 Rd8 ½ : ½. Apparently Karjakin will have to work hard to reduce the gap between him and Magnus Carlsen.

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
Photo: bilbaochess2016.com

韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
Photo: bilbaochess2016.com