Saturday, February 13, 2021

U+003D

Wesley So – Magnus Carlsen
Champions Chess Tour 2021; 3rd stage; Opera Euro Rapid; Final match game 4; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; chess24.com, February 13, 2021
Giuoco Piano C54

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Nc3 0-0 10. Be3 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. Qc2 Bg6 13. Qb3 Ne7 14. 0-0 c6 15. Bd3 Nf5 16. Qc2 Nxc3!?TN (16. ... Nxe3 17. fxe3 Ng3 18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. Rf2 f5 20. Ne2 Ne4 21. Rff1 g5 22. Nd2 Qd7 23. a4 Ba5 24. Nc3 Rae8 25. Ndxe4 fxe4 26. Qe2 Qe6 27. Qh5 Bd8 28. a5 Rxf1+ 29. Rxf1 Bxa5 30. Qxg5 Bxc3 31. bxc3 a5 32. Ra1 Ra8 ½ : ½ Aronian – M. Adams, 22nd European Team Chess Championship, Batumi 2019) 17. bxc3 Nxe3 18. fxe3 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 f6 20. c4


20. ... Bc7? Indeed, most of Black’s trouble can be blamed on this move. Best was 20. ... fxe5 21. Nxe5 Qd6 with a playable game. 21. cxd5 Qxd5 22. exf6 gxf6 23. e4 Qd7 24. Rad1 Rad8 25. Nh4 Kh8 26. Nf5 c5


27. d5 Be5 28. Rb1 b6 29. Qc4 Rfe8 30. Kh1 Bd4 31. Rf4 Rxe4 32. Rxe4 Qxf5. Carlsen had to give up the Exchange only to get rid of White’s Knight, but things will not get better: 33. Rbe1 Rxd5? 33. ... Qxd5? 34. Re8+! is the “dual”. 34. Rg4 h5 35. Re8+ Kh7 36. Re7+ Kh8 37. Qc1 1 : 0.

1 comment:

Tamarind said...

33...Rxd5? In his ChessBase report, Klaus Besenthal says that "33...Be5! Black might also have lost in the long run, but at least the e-file would have been blocked temporarily."
Read more at https://en.chessbase.com/post/opera-euro-rapid-2021-finals-1