One Day at a Time

Aryan Tari – Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa
56th World Junior Chess Championship; Tarvisio, November 22, 2017
Spanish Game C78

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4 Bb6 9. a4 Rb8 10. a5!? Ba7. Not 10. ... Nxa5? because of 11. Rxa5! Bxa5 12. dxe5 Ng4 13. Bg5 f6 14. exf6 gxf6 15. Bh4 with crushing consequences, Dolmatov – Sivokho, 8th Chigorin Memorial, Saint Petersburg 2000. 11. h3 0-0 12. Be3 exd4. The alternative is 12. ... Ra8 13. Nbd2 (for 13. Re1 h6 14. Nbd2 Re8 15. g4!? Qe7 16. Nf1 Nd8(!) 17. Ng3 c5 see Caruana – Carlsen, 4th Isle of Man International Chess Tournament, Douglas 2017) 13. ... Bb7 14. Re1 h6 15. Nf1 Re8 (15. ... exd4 seems much more to the point) 16. d5 (and here 16. Ng3 appears to be decidedly better) 16. ... Ne7 17. Bc2 c6 with quite a balanced game, Tari – Ochsner, 3rd Visma Chess Tournament, Växjö 2015. 13. cxd4 Nxe4 14. Qc2 Qe8 15. Nc3 Nf6 16. Rfe1 Qd7 17. Qd1!? A new move which, however, does not seem as good as 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 Ne7 (but the Pawn sacrifice by 18. ... d5!? was well worth considering) 19. Ng5 Ng6 20. Bd5 c5 21. Bf4 with great play for White, Timofeev – Halkias, 8th Individual European Chess Championship, Dresden 2007. 17. ... Nb4 18. Bg5 Qf5 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. Ne4 Qf4 21. Rc1

21. ... d5!? Weakening both the c5 and e5 squares. It would seem a very uncomfortable position for Black to sustain, instead he will demonstrate the contrary, in spite of his dramatic shortage of time. 22. Nc5 Qd6 23. Qd2 Nc6 24. Ne5 Ne7 25. Ned3 Nc6 26. Nf4 Nxa5! What a courage! Taking such a Pawn with only one minute left! 27. Bxd5 c6 28. Qxa5 Qxf4 29. Bxc6 Bb6 30. Qc3 Qd6 31. Bf3 Rd8 32. b4 h6 33. d5. The only regret Tari might have is that he was blitzing his moves very speedily in order to exploit Praggnanandhaa’s lack of time. That was possibly the last opportunity he had for planting his Rook at e5, which, at least from an emotional perspective, might have impressed his very young opponent (only 12 years old!) just a little more. 33. ... Bb7 34. Qd3 a5 35. Nxb7 Rxb7 36. bxa5 Bxa5 37. Red1 Bc7! 38. g3 Bb6! Praggnanandhaa can even afford himself the luxury of counterattacking! 39. Kg2 ½ : ½. A hard-fought draw.