Wesley So enters World Cup last 8

against Wesley So. The first tie-break game (25 minutes with 10 second increment) was what did him in. So now we are in the process of transposing to the Queen’s Indian. In chesspublishing.com, a Web site which I highly recommend if you want to keep up- to- date with opening theory, GM John Emms remarks that “I’m unsure whether White really has any theoretical edge after 7...d5, but the arising positions do seem easier for White to handle.”

8.cxd5 exd5 9.d4 Re8

There is this perpetual question in the Queen’s Indian whether Black should go for ...c5 or ...c6. In this position for example if Black plays 9...c5 right away his center would come under pressure: 10.dxc5 bxc5 (10...Bxc5 is better but that means the second players is left with an isolated pawn on d5.) 11.Qb3 Qb6 ( 11... Qc8 12. Ne5 Nbd7 13. Bxd5!) 12.Ne5 Rd8 13.Rd1 White has a 100% score in this line.

10.Bf4 h6

Jobava got this very same position in the World Rapid Championship in Doha last year and quite expertly rolled his opponent: 10...Na6 11.Rc1 h6 12.Ne5 Bf8 13.Qa4 c5 14.Nb5 Nb4 15.a3 Nc6 16.Qc2 g5! Black has grasped the advantage and forcefully pushes it through 17.Bd2 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Rxe5 19.f4 Re8 20.fxg5 Ne4 21.Nf5 Nxd2 22.Qxd2 Qxg5 23.Qc2 Re5 24.Rf1 Rae8 25.Rce1 Qg6 26.Rf2 Bc8 27.Ref1 d4 28.Bh3? Qh5! White is losing material. 0–1 Lalith,B (2587)-Jobava,B (2702) Doha 2016. The text move is an attempt at an improvement, doing away with his wasted moves with the queen’s knight in the Doha game.

11.Ne5 Nbd7 12.Qa4 Nf8 13.Nc6 Qd7 14.Nxe7+ Rxe7?!

Baaadur should have kept the queens on the board with 14...Qxe7 so that he has chances at developing a kingside initiative. After they are exchanged Wesley gets a position where he can push for a win at no risk.

15.Qxd7 Rxd7 16.Bh3 Re7 17.Nb5 Ng6 18.Be3

[18.Bxc7 Ba6 19.Bd6 Bxb5 20.Bxe7 Nxe7 Wesley has lost his bishop pair]

18... Ne4 19. a4 a6 20. Nc3 Nxc3 21.bxc3 Rae8 22.Bg2 c6 <D> POSITION AFTER 22...C6

Wesley notes his opponent’s queenside pawn weakness and shifts his pieces to take advantage of this. Watch!

23.Ra2 f6 24.Bc1! Nh8

It is a tempting idea to play 24...c5? before White has gotten in Ba3, but here it loses material: 25.Ba3 Rc7 (if he uses the other rook then 25... Rc8 26. Rb2 Re6 27.Bh3) 26.Rb1 Re6 27.dxc5 bxc5 28.Rxb7 Rxb7 29.Bxd5 and wins.

25.Ba3 Rc7 26.Rb2 b5 27.e4! Nf7

[27...dxe4 28.Bxe4 ( Wesley takes over the e-file. Take note that he is threatening to win Black’s e8–rook via discovered check) 28...Rd8 29.Bc5 Rcc8 30.Rbe2 it is only a matter of time now]

28.Re3 bxa4 29.exd5 Rxe3 30.fxe3 cxd5 31.c4!

Taking advantage of the pin along the long diagonal.

31...Rd7 32.Bh3 Rc7 33.Bg2 Rd7 34.Rb6 Nd8 35.cxd5 f5

Black has to give up the pawn as 35... Bxd5 36.Bh3 Rb7 37.Rd6 wins a piece for White.

36.g4 Bxd5 37.gxf5 Bc4 38.Bf1 Bxf1 39.Kxf1 a5 40.Rb5 Nc6 41.Kf2 Ra7 42.Ke2 Kf7 43.Kd2 Nb4 44.e4 Rc7 45.Rxa5 Rc2+ 46.Kd1 Rc4 47.Ra7+ Kg8 48.Rxa4 Rxd4+ 49.Ke2 Rxe4+ 50.Kf3 Re5 51.Rxb4 Rxf5+ 52.Rf4 Ra5 53.Bb4 Rb5 54.Bc3 Rb7 55.Rc4 Rf7+ 56.Ke4 Kh7 57.Be5 Rf1 58.Rc7 Rg1 59.Kf5 Rg5+ 60.Ke6 Kg8 61.Rc3 Rg6+ 62.Kf5 Rg5+ 63.Kf4 Rg1 64.Kf5 Rf1+ 65.Kg6 Rg1+ 66.Bg3 1–0

Jobava resigns in view of the forthcoming Rc8+.

In the finals the winner of the Top Half (see pairings given above) faces off against the winner of the Bottom Half. Coincidentally, this World Cup has become a battle of the “young once” (Peter Svidler, 41 years old, Vassily Ivanchuk at 48, Aronian is 34 and Maxime Vachier Lagrave is 26) vs the “young ones” (Ding Liren 24, Wesley So 23, Fedoseev 22 and Richard Rapport 21). On paper it might look like the Top Half is a lot stronger than the Bottom, but that is misleading. The group of Svidler et al. has been hovering in the 2700s for a while now, but younger players tend to be underrated since they are still on the upswing. A perfect example of this is GM Vladimir Fedoseev, who is currently rated 2731 but if you look at his ratings over the last 6 months you will see that he has gained 80+ points from recent tournaments. In other words Fedoseev is much stronger than what his rating might indicate.

And, oh yes, Fedoseev is Wesley So’s next opponent, so let us take a look at his blood-thirsty style with which he defeated the Israeli Rodshtein.

*** Rodshtein, Maxim (2695) — Fedoseev, Vladimir (2731) [E16] FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (4.1), 12.09.2017

GM Maxim Rodshtein is a native of St. Petersburg who moved to Israel in 2007 at the age of 18. He immediately made an impact in his new country when he played board 2 for the Israeli team to the 2008 Dresden olympiad where he was a significant contributor to their silver medal, the first in Israel’s history. GM Maxim is also one of the seconds of Levon Aronian.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5.Nd2 0–0 6.Ngf3 b6 7.0–0 Bb7 8.a3 Be7 9.b4

Another Queen’s Indian! In Fedoseev’s case though he settles the matter of the ...c5 or ...c6 debate right away.

9...c5!

This move originated from Rubinstein vs Alekhine, Semmering 1926. Alekhine was awarded the brilliancy prize for winning this game (c’mon guys, you’ve seen Alekhine’s book on his best games, right?)

10.bxc5 bxc5 11.Rb1

The Alekhine game continued 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Bb2 Nbd7 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Ng4! 15.Bc3 (15.Bb2 Qb6) 15...Rb8 16.Rb1 d4! 17.Rxb7? (17.Bb4 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Qc7 “reaching a position that would be in Black’s favor too, but hardly in a decisive way”) 17...Rxb7 18.Bxb7 Nxf2! 19.Kxf2 dxc3+ 20.e3 cxd2 21.Ke2 Qb8 22.Bf3 Rd8 23.Qb1 Qd6 24.a4 f5 25.Rd1 Bb4 26.Qc2 Qc5 27.Kf2 a5 28.Be2 g5 29.Bd3 f4! 0–1. Rubinstein,A-Alekhine,A Semmering 1926.

11...Qc8 12.Bb2 Nbd7 13.dxc5 Nxc5 14.Qc2 Nfe4 15.Rfc1 f6 16.cxd5 Bxd5 17.Nd4 f5 18.Nxe4 fxe4 19.Qc3 Rf7 20.Qe3 Qd7 21.Ba1 Raf8 22.f4 e5!?

Sacrificing a pawn to get his queen into position.

23.fxe5 Qg4

The threat is Bg5.

24.Rf1 h5 25.h3 Qg6 26.Kh2 h4 27.g4 Bg5 28.Qc3 Rxf1 29.Rxf1 Rxf1 30.Bxf1 Qf7 31.Nf5 Ne6 32.Kg1 g6 33.Nd6 Qf4 34.Bg2 Bd8!

Relocating his bishop to the g1–a7 diagonal.

35.Nc4?

Allowing the following brilliant combination.

35...e3! 36.Bxd5

[36.Nxe3 Bb6 37.Bxd5 Bxe3+ 38.Kg2 Qf2+ 39.Kh1 Qg1#]

36...Qf2+ 37.Kh1 Qf1+ 38.Kh2 Bg5!

White can only prevent Bf4 mate by giving up major material.

39. Bxe6+ Kg7 40. Qxe3 Bxe3 41.Nxe3 Qxa1 42.Nc4 Qe1 0–1