Title: Wrong Knight Move! - Tabatabaei vs Xiong | Fide World Cup 2019 Opening: Queen's Gambit Accepted
Hello Chess Friends and Welcome to the Channel. Today it's tie-break day at the World Cup. We are lucky because there are many great game. I'v downloaded 4 of them in my chessbase but of course it will be impossible to show them all. Anyway, let's start with the first one. With the white pieces Tabatabaei, 18 years old grandmaster from Iran with a rating of 2642 and with the Black pieces Jeffery Xiong, 18 years old from United States with a rating of 2707. This is a battle between two young chanpions that will be future top grandmasters. Let's get started.
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 {queen's gambit accepted} 3. e4 e5 {capturing the e5 pawn
is a bad idea for white} 4. Nf3 (4. dxe5 Qxd1+ 5. Kxd1 Be6 {then Nc6 or Nd7
and long castle that can come with check. Black score better than white}) 4...
exd4 5. Bxc4 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Nc6 7. O-O Nf6 8. e5 Nd5 9. Nb3 Nb6 10. Bb5 Bd7 11.
Bg5 Be7 (11... Ne7 12. Bxd7+ Nxd7 13. Qxd4 {the bishop is lost}) 12. Bxc6 Bxc6
13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nfxd4 {still 90 games in database} Bd5 {for Stockfish the
game is almost equal.} 15. Qg4 {what to do now?} h5 {asking white to capture
on g7. Tabatabaei accepts the risk and even if the move is playable, this is a
novelty} (15... O-O {is the most played move. Because} 16. Nf5 {unfortunately
for white doesn't work} Qxe5 17. Rfe1 Qf6) 16. Qxg7 O-O-O 17. Nf5 Qd7 18. Qf6 {
good move and good idea to remove the queen from the file that leads to the
king. Let's watch what is in the cards for Black!} Bxg2 {Rd1 against the queen
doesn't work because the bishop moves back to d5 leaving black with a strong
advantage} 19. Nc5 {the worng Knight move} (19. Ne7+ Kb8 20. Kxg2 Rhe8 21. Nc5
Qxe7 22. Qxe7 Rxe7 {a completely equal game because without the the queen on
the board Black can't exploit white's weakness in the castle to give checkmate}
) 19... Qb5 {and Black is better} 20. Rfc1 {another mistake. White must
capture the bishop and try to defend the position} Rhg8 {Black is winning} 21.
Ng3 Bd5 22. a4 Qb4 23. Qf5+ Nd7 {better this than Kb8. Without the Knight on
b6, a5 doesn't come with tempo. White goes all in with} 24. a5 h4 {the Knight
is lost} 25. Ra4 Qd2 {here white can resign} 26. Qf4 Qxf4 27. Rxf4 {and now
any move works} Nxe5 {white resigns. Black is a piece up. The Knight on g3 is
lost because the Rook can't capture the h4 pawn.} 28. Rxh4 Nf3+ 0-1
So it was a nice short game by Xiong that played a strong sacrifice that doesn't win the game but that forced white to play with extreme precision and in a rapid game, with less time to think, this idea can be winning. Today's video is over but see you tomorrow morning with a new game. Goodbye
Photo Credit:
Lennart Ootes
FIDE Master and Professional Photographer
You can follow him here:
@LennartOotes
0 Comments