[Event "World Cup 2021"] [Site "Sochi"] [Date "2021.07.16"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Hesham Abdelrahman (EGY)"] [Black "Lupulescu Constantin (ROU)"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2397"] [BlackElo "2659"] [Annotator "Beukes, Dante"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D40"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense"] [StudyName "Africans at the World Cup 2021 Round 2"] [ChapterName "Hesham Abdelrahman (EGY) - Lupulescu Constantin (ROU)"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/QXBDaFha/FBOJ2gaz"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,62,32,25,25,7,13,0,0,-2,37,11,34,31,37,37,4,-13,-10,-14,-20,-21,13,5, 42,44,44,44,44,33,42,1,31,-35,-40,-35,-47,-35,-25,-40,-61,-65,-81,-124,-122, -181,-137,-153,-155,-300,-304,-357,-339,-328,-294,-295,-302,-308,-320,-320, -320,-516,-660,-713,-716] } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 a6 7. O-O b5 8. Bb3 Bb7 9. Qe2 Nbd7 10. Rd1 Qb6 11. d5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. Bxd5 exd5 14. Rxd5 Qb7 { [#] We have reached a very well-known position in the Tarrasch Defence, but this is probably the first interesting moment. How would you play in a must-win situation? Would you just play your normal stuff as though it were any other game or would you go all out? The normal move here is 15.e4, which has been seen many times, but Hesham went for the eccentric 15. Rg5. His intentions are quite clear: he keeps the rook on the kingside to put pressure there. My first reaction was that he is forcing things and that the rook will be marooned on the kingside, but maybe this is a good practical decision considering the match situation. } 15. Rg5 (15. e4 { is the main move }) 15... g6 16. b4? { [#] 16.b4 was played by the Egyptian Grandmaster, who is now really burning all bridges to win the game. He probably made this decision because he wanted to quickly develop, but the thing about these type of moves is that if they do not work out, it normally means the loss of the game. 16.b3 with a similar idea was a more solid way of playing here. } (16. e4 { followed by e4-e5 was played by GM Predrag Nikolic against GM Yasser Seirawan. } 16... Bg7 17. e5 Nf8 18. a4 Rb8 19. axb5 axb5 20. e6 Nxe6 21. Rxc5 O-O 22. Rc2 b4 23. Be3 b3 24. Rd2 Rfd8 25. h3 Qe4 26. Rad1 Rxd2 27. Qxd2 Bf6 28. Qd3 Qa4 29. Qe2 Rc8 30. Ne1 Kg7 31. g3 h5 32. h4 Re8 33. Nf3 Qe4 34. Bh6+ { 1-0 (34) Nikolic,P (2635) -Seirawan,Y (2600) Manila 1992 }) (16. b3!? { is more solid }) 16... Be7 17. Bb2 O-O 18. Rg3 cxb4 $17 19. Ng5 Bf6 20. Rd1 Rfd8 21. f4 (21. Rxd7 { is not possible due to } 21... Qxd7 22. Bxf6 Qd1+ 23. Qf1 Rac8 $19) 21... Bc3 22. e4 Nf6 { [#] This is just a few moves later and Black is the one putting pressure on White's position. Black is a pawn up and has many threats in the position. It is already really difficult for White and Hesham was unable to wriggle out of his predicament knocking him out of the event. } 23. Bxc3 bxc3 24. Rf1 h6 25. f5 hxg5 26. fxg6 Qxe4 27. gxf7+ Kf8 { the umbrella } 28. Re3 Qd4 29. Kh1 c2 30. Qf2 Qf4 31. Re8+ Kxf7 { 0-1 White resigns. } 0-1