The March of the Six

Anish Giri – Michael Adams

"读特杯" (“Dú Tè Cup”) 龙岗 (Lónggǎng) Chess Masters; 深圳 (Shēnzhèn), March 23, 2017

Spanish Game C83

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 0-0 11. Bc2 f5 12. Nb3 Qd7 13. Nbd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 c5 15. Nxe6 Qxe6 16. f3 Ng5 17. a4 Rad8 18. axb5 axb5 19. Bxg5 Bxg5 20. f4 Be7 21. Kh1 d4. The alternative is 21. ... Qb6 22. Qd3!? c4 23. Qh3 g6 24. g4 d4 25. gxf5 Qc6+ (very probably Black shouldn’t have exchanged Queens; Stockfish’s 25. ... d3! seems, indeed, more to the point) 26. Qg2 Qxg2+ 27. Kxg2 d3 28. Bd1 Rxf5 29. Bg4 Rff8 30. Ra5 h5 31. Bd1 b4 32. Ra6 bxc3 33. bxc3 Kh7 34. Ra7 Rf7 35. Rc7 with a very favourable endgame for White, Karjakin – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), 3rd Gashimov Memorial, Şəmkir 2016. 22. cxd4 c4 23. b3 Bc5 24. bxc4 Rxd4

25. Qf3!? Giri’s new idea, which may be well regarded as tantamount to a draw offer in a drawish position. The usual course was here 25. Qb1 bxc4 26. Ra5 Qc6 [for 26. ... Qb6 27. Rb5 Qc6 28. Bd1 g6 29. Bf3 Qc8 30. Rb7 see Sebag – A. Muzychuk, 4th SportAccord World Mind Games, Women’s Rapid Event, 北京 (Beijīng) 2014] 27. Bd1 Qc7 28. Qb5 Bb6 29. Ra6 Rb8 30. Bf3 c3 31. Rc1 Kh8 32. Ra8?? (32. g3) 32. ... Rxa8 33. Bxa8 Rd8!−+ Sebag – M. Muzychuk, 11th Women’s European Team Chess Championship, Reykjavík 2015. 25. ... bxc4 26. Rfd1 g6 27. Rxd4 Bxd4 28. Ra8 Rxa8 29. Qxa8+ Kg7 30. Qb7+ Qf7 31. Qxf7+ ½ : ½.

Standing from left are the six participants to the "读特杯" (“Dú Tè Cup”) 深圳 (Shēnzhèn) 龙岗 (Lónggǎng) Chess Masters: Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler, Michael Adams, Pentala Harikrishna, 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī), and Anish Giri. Photo: cca.imsa.cn.