Tiny Things

Magnus Carlsen – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Champions Chess Tour 2021; 3rd stage; Opera Euro Rapid; Semifinal match game 1; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; chess24.com, February 11, 2021

Grünfeld Defence D85

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 Bg7 6. e4 Nb6 7. Be3 0-0 8. h3 e5 9. Nf3 exd4 10. Bxd4 Nc6 11. Bxg7 Qxd1+ 12. Rxd1 Kxg7 13. Bb5 Nb4 14. a3 a6 15. Be2. White can claim a day off with 15. axb4 axb5 16. Nxb5 Ra4= 17. Rd4 Ra1+ 18. Rd1 Ra4 19. Rd4 Ra1+ 20. Rd1 ½ : ½ Kasimdzhanov – Giri, Grand Prix 2014–2015, 3rd stage, Tbilisi 2015. 15. ... Nc6 16. Nd4 Nxd4 17. Rxd4 Be6 18. 0-0 Rfd8 19. Rfd1 Rxd4 20. Rxd4 Kf6?! This is new but no better than 20. ... g5 21. f3 Nd7 22. Bc4 (however, 22. g3!? may promise something more) 22. ... Ne5 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. Kf2 Kf6= Lê Quang Liêm – Artemiev, 2nd IMSA Élite Mind Games Blitz, 淮安 (Huái’ān) 2017. 21. f4 Ke7 22. Kf2 Rd8 23. Ke3 Rxd4 24. Kxd4

24. ... f6?! 24. ... a5! seems to be more to the point: if 25. e5 Black can reply 25. ... h5 holding on to his position. 25. h4. 25. b4 Nd7 26. h4 was probably the correct move order. 25. ... Nd7. 25. ... a5! was still called for. 26. b4 h6 27. a4 g5 28. g3 gxf4 29. gxf4 Nb8? Thus the Knight gets hopelessly stuck into a deadlock, with dramatic consequences for Black, but it’s doubtful that 29. ... Nf8 (as recommended by many commentators, including Leontxo García) may better serve Black’s cause. For instance: 29. ... Nf8 (heading to e6) 30. a5 Bb3 31. Bg4 Ne6+ (31. ... Ng6 32. Bc8+−) 32. Bxe6 Kxe6 33. Ne2! Bd1 34. Ng3 Bg4 35. Nf1! followed by Nf1-e3 with a completely winning endgame.

30. Nd5+! Bxd5 31. exd5! Black’s Knight is dominated. 31. ... b6 32. h5 a5 33. bxa5 bxa5 34. Kc5 f5 35. Bb5 Kd8. It’s hardly worth saying that the King and Pawn ending would be lost for Black. 36. Kd4 1 : 0.