The Half Hour

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Evgeny Yurievich Tomashevsky
Grand Prix 2017; 4th stage; Palma de Mallorca, November 23, 2017
Spanish Game C84

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 0-0 9. Nc3 Bg4 10. Be3 Nd4 11. Bxd4 exd4 12. Nd5 Nd7. If 12. ... Nxd5 there might follow 13. Bxd5 Rc8 14. Bc6 (14. h3 Bd7 15. Nxd4 c6 16. Bb3 Bf6 17. c3 Bxd4 18. cxd4 Qf6 19. Qd2 ½ : ½ Vachier-Lagrave – Aronian, 7th Chess World Cup, Tbilisi 2017, match game 2) 14. ... Bf6 15. a4 Bd7 16. Bxd7 Qxd7 17. Qd2 Qc6 18. b3 Rfe8 19. Rfe1 Qc5 20. g4! with the initiative, Vachier-Lagrave – Aronian, 7th Chess World Cup, Tbilisi 2017, tie-break game 1 (25+10). 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 a5 15. Nxe7+. The alternative was 15. c3 dxc3 16. bxc3 c6 17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18. d4 c5 19. Rfe1 Rab8 20. Re3 b4 21. axb4 axb4 22. dxc5 Ne5 23. Qg3 dxc5 24. Bd5 Rb6 25. f4 which after 25. ... Nd7? (25. ... Nc6) 26. e5! ended badly for Black, Naiditsch – Ponomariov, 8th 海南 (Hǎinán) 儋州 (Dānzhōu) Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament “人民网 (People’s Daily Online) Cup”, 儋州 (Dānzhōu) 2017. 15. ... Qxe7 16. Qg3 a4 17. Ba2 Qe5 18. f4 Qc5 19. Rfe1!? Vachier-Lagrave presents his novelty Pawn sacrifice. In any event, it cannot be worse than 19. Qf2 which after 19. ... Rab8 20. c3 dxc3 21. d4 Qc6 22. e5 cxb2 23. Qxb2 Nb6 24. Rab1 Nc4 gave Black a more than satisfactory position, A. Mista – D. Wagner, 37th Schachbundesliga, Griesheim 2017. Aesthetically speaking, however, it seems to me that the most natural move would be 20. Rf2, but Vachier-Lagrave apparently needs something more to accomplish his mission impossible.

19. ... Rae8. Tomashevsky does not dare to grab the Pawn for fear of drowning into a computer-based flood. After 19. ... Qxc2 20. e5! White has plenty of compensation, but a conclusive assessment requires further analysis. The rest is foreseeable. 20. Re2 Re7 21. b4 axb3 22. Bxb3 Qb6 23. Rb1 Qa6 24. Qg5 Rfe8 25. Qd5 Qxa3 26. Qxb5 Qc5 27. Bd5 Qxb5 28. Rxb5 Rc8 29. Bb7 Rb8 30. Re1 Nc5 31. Bc6 Rxb5 32. Bxb5 f5 33. e5 dxe5 34. fxe5 g6 35. Kf2 Kg7 36. Kf3 g5 37. h4 Kg6 38. Bc4 Nd7 39. e6 Nf8 40. g4 fxg4+ 41. Kxg4 gxh4 42. Re4 ½ : ½.