Lost in the Shuffle

Ian Aleksandrovich Nepomniachtchi – Levon Grigori Aronian

2nd Speed Chess Championship; match game 27 (1’+1” per move); Chess.com, August 23, 2017

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Position 631

1. b3 g6 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb2 f5 4. g3 d6 5. f4 Bd7 6. 0-0-0. It could be White’s decisive mistake! 6. ... a5! Black prepares for a straight Pawn sacrifice in order to punish his opponent for having castled on the a-side. 7. Kb1 a4 8. Nxa4 Bxb2 9. Nxb2 Nf6 10. c3 e5 11. d3 e4 12. Qd2 b5 13. Nh3 h6 14. e3 Qf7 15. Nf2 0-0 16. h3? And this is surely White’s crucial mistake, even if it is not clear whether and how he could have avoided the worst of what is about to happen. Stockfish gives 16. dxe4! Rxa2! 17. e5! (17. Kxa2? Ra8+ 18. Kb1 Qxb3 19. Nd3 fxe4 20. Nc1 Qa3 21. Kc2 Be6 also seems to offer Black an overwhelming attack) 17. ... Qxb3 18. exf6 Be6 19. Bd5 Rfa8 20. Bxb3 Bxb3 21. Nbd3 Ra1+ 22. Kb2 R1a2+ with perpetual check.

16. ... Rxa2!! Aronian sacrifices a whole Rook for a mating attack. 17. Kxa2 Ra8+ 18. Kb1 Qxb3. White is harmless against the double threat of ... Bd7-e6 and ... Nc6-b4. 19. dxe4. Desperation, for after 19. Qc2 Ra1+ Black would win very heavy material. 19. ... b4?? A terrible and very strange mistake by Aronian, when by now everything seemed so easy for Black. After 19. ... Be6! White had no (economic) way of parrying the threat of ... Ra8-a1+. 20. Rc1?? And here Nepomniachtchi misses his only (good) chance to claim the point: 20. Qd3! (in order to exchange Queens by Qd3-c4+); Aronian should have probably continued 20. ... bxc3 21. Qc4+ Qxc4 22. Nxc4 Ra4 aimimg for an ending the Exchange down, with all his hopes laid in his (mystical) Knight pair. 20. ... Ra3. Now it is all finished: Black wins. 21. c4 Na5 22. Nd3 Qa2+ 23. Kc2 Ba4 mate.