[Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/fhBzjnqz/LLHrc4SA"] [Date "2022.06.21"] [Round "4.2"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2766"] [WhiteTeam "FID"] [BlackElo "2793"] [BlackTeam "France"] [Annotator "Aagaard"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B90"] [Opening "Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/fhBzjnqz/LLHrc4SA"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,77,23,23,46,51,87,53,51,38,30,23,55,16,17,14,21,35,18,29,18,16,6,14, 26,11,24,-15,16,-9,-16,-14,-18,10,18,26,28,65,47,-90,1,-4,25,35,116,39,46,47, 111,106,242,271,265,255,218,218,236,252,281,205,174,179,212,212,201,232,202, 222,236,253,277,305,316,164,584,777,1352,1481,29991,29992] This is by far the worst game of the tournament so far. Nepomniachtchi seems to have been surprised by Firouzja's preparation and decides not to go into the critical line to see what was in wait for him - which is an acceptable approach if you want to run with average risks. Firouzja thus equalized, but then... } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Be7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. g4 b5 12. g5 b4 13. Ne2 Ne8 14. f4 a5 15. f5 { An important theoretical line. } 15... Bc4!? { The newest trend. Black used to play } (15... Bxb3 { or }) (15... a4 { , but recently these options have fallen out of favor. An example is: } 16. fxe6 axb3 17. cxb3 fxe6 18. Bh3 Nc7 19. Kb1 d5 20. exd5 exd5 21. Bg2 Ra5 22. a4 $18 { and White was winning straight out of the opening in Shankland - Duda, Prague 2021. }) 16. Kb1 (16. Ng3! Bxf1 17. Rhxf1 a4 18. Na1 { is the big main line. }) 16... a4 17. Nbc1 d5 18. f6!? { With exception of a correspondence game that was quickly abandoned, this is a new direction. } (18. exd5 Nd6 (18... f6!? { has also been played }) 19. f6 gxf6 20. gxf6 Nxf6 21. Bh6 Kh8! { with unclear game. Black is no worse and would have the advantage, if White gives up his strong bishop for the inactive rook. }) 18... gxf6 19. gxf6 (19. Ng3!? { is perhaps a bit sharper, but after } 19... Nd6 { Black appears to be OK. The critical line could be } 20. Nf5 Nxf5 21. exf5 Bxf1 22. Qxd5! { and White is at least asking a few questions. }) 19... Ndxf6 20. Ng3 Bxf1? { It is hard to explain this move as being played by a top player. If it was a 2000 rated player playing this, I would explain about tension and that releasing it usually comes at a cost. Here Black exchanges an active piece and helps White develop the inactive rook on h1. It is a basic positional mistake, most likely played with an idea that somehow did not work and was abandoned. Until Firouzja tells someone what it was, we will be forever in the dark. } (20... Kh8! { is the principled move, securing the king and keeping the tension. Possible now is } 21. Bxc4 dxc4 22. Qxd8 Rxd8 23. Nf5 { , where Black has many satisfying options. }) (20... Qc7!? { with an unclear game was also possible, if Black wanted to avoid the exchange of queens. }) 21. Rhxf1 a3 22. b3 $16 Kh8 (22... d4 23. Bh6 Kh8 { , the main problem for Black is not so much the loss of the exchange, but that } 24. Nd3! { exposes the weakness of the e-pawn. } 24... Qc7 25. Bxf8 Bxf8 26. Qg5 { and White will win the pawn and nullify any compensation. }) (22... dxe4? 23. Qxd8 Rxd8 { loses on the spot to } 24. Nf5! { . But it does... }) 23. exd5 { Black's position is already unpleasant and it is hard to distinguish between various bad lines. What makes a line really really bad, compared to lost. It is not always apparent and here Firouzja swam like an axe. (I'm guessing this means he sank quickly! ~ed.) } 23... Nd6?! { The wish to activate the pieces is understandable, but this is just poor. } (23... Rg8 { was a bit better. After } 24. Bg5 Nd6 25. Bxf6+ Bxf6 26. Qxb4 $16 { , Black at least has removed the strong white bishop. }) (23... Qc7!? { was probably best. After } 24. Rxf6! Bxf6 25. d6 Qc6 26. Qxb4 Bg7 27. Qc5 $16 { Black is much worse, but at least he is an exchange up and can hope for a mistake from his opponent down the road. }) 24. Qxb4! { With this pawn gone, so is Black's position. Long term White has three fantastic passed pawns and decent control. In the game Black went down quickly, but to say that continuations that would have extended the game, but not provided White with any tricks, were better, is hard to do. } 24... Rc8 25. Bb6! { A nice intermediate move. } 25... Qd7 26. Qe1 Rb8 27. Ba5 Nc4 28. d6!? { White has so many wins. For instance: the double attack combination } (28. Rxf6 Bxf6 29. Qf1 { . }) 28... Bd8 29. Bc3 Qe6 30. Nd3 Nd5 31. Nf4 { Removing one of two active Black pieces. } 31... Nxf4 32. Rxf4 f6 33. Qe2 Nb2 34. Rdf1 Re8 35. Rh4 f5 { Showtime! } 36. Rxh7+! Kxh7 37. Qh5+ Kg8 38. Nxf5 Bf6 39. Rg1+ { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0