Duel in the Sun

Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov – 熊奕韬 (Jeffery Xióng)
8th Chess World Cup; match game 2; Khanty-Mansiysk, September 24, 2019
Grünfeld Defence D85

And thus the young American star 熊奕韬 (Jeffery Xióng) bowed out of the Chess World Cup 2019 after losing a wild tactical showdown to Azerbaijani Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov. He can regret that despite having survived a very insidious theoretical novelty from his opponent, he didn’t manage to save enough lucidity to defend successfully till the end. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bb5+ c6 8. Ba4 0-0 9. Ne2 e5 10. 0-0 Nd7 11. Be3 Qe7 12. Bc2 Nb6 13. f4! A powerful novelty in place of 13. Qc1 Re8 14. Bg5 Qf8 15. Rb1 h6 16. Be3 Nc4 17. f4 exd4 18. Bxd4 Na3 19. f5 Nxc2 20. Qxc2 Bxd4+ 21. Nxd4 g5 22. Qd3 Qd6 23. Qf3 Qf6 24. Kh1 b6 25. Qg4 Bb7 26. Rbe1 c5 ½ : ½ Sorokin – Jansa, 16th World Senior Chess Championship, Arvier 2006. 13. ... exd4 14. Bxd4 Rd8? Black is oblivious to the coming storm.

15. f5! Bxd4+. 15. ... c5 16. f6! must be the climax of Radjabov’s carefully home-cooked day’s dish. 16. cxd4 c5 17. Qd2!? As the follow-up will show, the immediate 17. Qd3 was much more to the point; for instance: 17. ... gxf5 18. Rf4! cxd4 19. Raf1 with a powerful initiative. 17. ... Nc4 18. Qd3. Maybe 18. Qh6 Bxf5! is something Radjabov could have noticed only now. 18. ... Ne5? (18. ... b5!?∞) 19. Qa3. 19. Qg3! cxd4 20. Nf4! seems to give White a very strong attack. 19. ... Nc4 20. Qc3. White was still in time for 20. Qg3! (20. ... cxd4 21. Nf4!→). 20. ... b5! 21. f6!? Qd6 22. d5 Re8? 22. ... Bd7!? might be simpler and better, but by now Black’s accepted the gauntlet. 23. Bd3 Ne3!? 24. Bxb5 Rxe4 25. Ng3 Ng4! The only move, but quite strong. 26. Rac1! 26. h3 Re3 would be a mess. 26. ... c4 27. h3 Bb7 28. hxg4 Rxg4? Comparatively best was 28. ... Qc5+ 29. Rf2 Rf4 30. Rf1 Rxf2 31. Rxf2 Qxb5 32. Qe3 Kh8, although after 33. Ne4 White should retain his advantage. 29. Bc6!+− Rxg3. Or 29. ... Bxc6 30. dxc6 Rxg3 31. Qxc4 Rd3 32. Qf4 and White must win. 30. Qxc4 Ba6 31. Qf4. After 31. Qxa6 Rh3! Black may still bluff himself into the illusion of a perpetual check. 31. ... Rd8 32. Rce1 Qc5+ 33. Rf2 Rc3 34. Re7 Rc1+. Black falls straight into mate. 34. ... Rc2 is the most stubborn defence, but then both 35. Qe3 and 35. Re3 should win quite easily. 35. Kh2 Rc3 36. Qh6 1 : 0.

Regardless of today’s result, 熊奕韬 (Jeffery Xióng) has every reason to be encouraged, for other chances will surely come along in the near future. Photo: FIDE World Cup 2019.