Tata Steel 2020, Rd 7: Firouzja Beats Xiong To Take Sole Lead

[Event “82nd Tata Steel, Masters”]
[Site “Wijk aan Zee NED”]
[Date “2020.01.18”]
[Round “7.4”]
[White “Firouzja, Alireza”]
[Black “Xiong, Jeffery”]
[Result “1-0”]
[BlackElo “2712”]
[BlackFideId “2047640”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “C65”]
[EventDate “2020.01.11”]
[Opening “Ruy Lopez”]
[Variation “Berlin defence”]
[WhiteElo “2723”]
[WhiteFideId “12573981”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]

{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 { In the Berlin Defence, (which this is with 3…Nf6), 0-0 and c3 are more usual, here. White tends to keep the bishop on, working it back to c2, which c3 facilitates. However, as we know, those lines tend to be quite drawy. } 5…dxc6 6.O-O Nd7 7.c3 O-O 8.d4 { Following a line that Firouzja had played against Dmitry Andreikin, at the 2019 World Blitz. } 8…Bd6 9.Bg5 f6 10.Bh4 Qe8 11.Re1 { Firouzja is the one to deviate from his earlier game. Against Andreikin, he had played Nbd2, here. Re1 seems to be an invention of Naiditsch, who played it against Raznikov, at the Israeli Team Championships, in February 2019. } 11…Nb6 12.Bg3 { Following Swierca-Chandra (1-0), from the 2019 Midwest Collegiate Campionship, in Columbia USA. } 12…Bg4 13.Nbd2 Kh8 14.Qc2 Rd8 { And now the novelty from Xiong. 14…a5 had been played in the afore-mentioned Swierca-Chandra game, and …Nd7 had been given a whirl in Balogh-Parligras, for a draw in the Greek Team Championship 2017. } 15.h3 Bh5 16.Nh4 exd4 17.Bxd6 d3 { Giving the pawn up on his own terms, rather than allowing White to obtain a pawn centre with cxd4. } 18.Qxd3 cxd6 19.f4 Bf7 20.Ndf3 Bg8 21.Nd4 c5 22.Ndf5 Qd7 23.b3 d5 24.e5 { Bare knuckle stuff from Firouzja, who obviously wasn’t interested in the calmer options of Qe3 or Rad1. } 24…Be6 25.Ng3 f5 { The players have given as good as they have got thus far, but now Jeffery goes a little awry. Was he uncomfortable with the tension towards his Kingside? This move is no disaster, but to me, his position has become less positive than it was. Perhaps he just wanted to be solid, but the problem with that, is that sometimes one gives the opponent free reign on reorganising themselves. Interestingly, rather than relieving the tension, it may have been a better decision for Xiong to roll his sleeves up and get into a real donnybrook with 25…g5. } ( 25…g5 { Extremely confrontational. } 26.Nf3 ( { or } 26.fxg5 fxg5 27.Nf3 g4 { ! and I doubt Black would be unhappy here. } ) 26…gxf4 27.Nh5 fxe5 28.Nxe5 Qe8 { And after Qf3, Black is equal at worst. } ) 26.Nf3 { It is important, here, to take a look at the position. It highlights what I mean in my last comment, about giving ones opponent a free reign. The thing is, that Black can not play d5-d4, here, because after cxd4 cxd4, Ne2, the isolated d-pawn is weak and White is way better. If there were other positive courses of action for Black, this would perhaps not be too serious, but there aren’t. This says to me, that something is not quite right. } 26…h6 { This move is not really encouraging either. } 27.b4 { The ever bullish Firouzja, perhaps sensing some discomfort from his opponent, does not waste time is sparking some unrest again. } 27…d4 { ? Now is not the time to go tit-for-tat, Black had to defend with …Na4 or …Rc8. } 28.bxc5 dxc3 29.Qxc3 { Whatever idea Jeffery Xiong had for his position in this game, this will not have been it. Something has gone wrong. } 29…Nd5 30.Qd2 { Not a bad move, but perhaps a little bit of a slip. Qd4 would have prevented Black’s next. } 30…Qa4 { Having just a little bit of say in the position. } 31.Ne2 Nb4 { As discoveries go, not a particularly pleasurable one to play. } 32.Ned4 Nc6 33.Rad1 Bxa2 34.Qc3 { With the Queen to a safe square, out of the Rd8’s line of fire, White will be feeling very much at ease, here. } 34…Rd5 { With the idea of …Qc4. However, now the e-pawn can advance. It is hard to know what to suggest instead of this move, Black’s position is already very challenging. Jeffery had obviously decided that 34…Nxd4 and 34…Rfe8 were not worth it. With this said, the position is possibly strategically won for White, it is just a matter of conversion. } 35.e6 { ! Excellent play by Firouzja, complying with one of the golden principles of chess — that if a passed pawn can be pushed, it should be. } 35…Re8 36.Rd2 { Nice positional awareness by Alireza. He takes the rook off of d1. The threat was …Rxd6, when Nxd6 would leave …Rxd1 and …Qxd1, and Rxd6 would leave …Qxd1 obviously. } 36…Qc4 37.Qxc4 Bxc4 38.Nxc6 bxc6 39.Rd4 Bb3 40.Re3 { This is a bit of a finesse. The reason that Firouzja does not push the e-pawn, here, is that it would be a blunder. a7-a5 would give Xiong counter chances and there would actually not be much in it. So what Alireza does, is put the bishop on the a-file, after which the a-pawn is going nowhere fast and he can swing a rook over to the a-file as needed. } 40…Ba2 41.e7 Kg8 42.Ra3 Rxd4 { This rook is hugely misplaced, so Xiong gets rid. Unfortunately, the damage is done. } 43.Nxd4 Bd5 44.Nxf5 { This is clearly a lovely position now for White, Firouzja is in full control. Xiong is able to deal with the advanced passed pawn, but this does not really help things in the bigger picture. } 44…g6 45.Nxh6+ Kg7 46.Ng4 Rxe7 47.Ne3 Be4 { This piece must absolutely stay on the board. } 48.Kf2 Rd7 { ? A little inaccurate. Obviously, Black wants to try to utilise open files, but he really has to try to compete with White’s King activity. …Kf6 was a good alternative. } 49.Nc4 Rb7 { Seeking activity, which is his only chance at resistance. However, this is also a clever attempt at a hoodwink by Xiong. } 50.g4 { ! Staying focused and playing the correct move. It is probably easy to go for Nd6, here, forking rook and bishop. While …Re7 would lose to Re3 and …Rb4 would give Rxa7+ (also winning), Black has …Rb2+ and White would notice that his lead has evaporated. } ( 50.Nd6 { ?? Squandering the advantage. } 50…Rb2+ { !! White is rubbing his hands to anything else. } 51.Ke3 Bxg2 52.Rxa7+ Kf6 { The only good move. } 53.Rf7+ Ke6 { And even though White is still a pawn to the good, how he is making anything of it now is hard to see. } ) 50…Bd5 51.Ne3 Rb2+ 52.Kg3 Rb3 53.Rxa7+ { Claiming a second pawn. Black is quite right to let this bit go, it is hardly here nor there in the grand scheme of things. Obviously, White was not going to exchange on b3, when Black’s task would be much easier. } 53…Kf6 54.Kf2 Rb2+ 55.Kf1 Be4 56.Rd7 Rh2 57.Rd4 Bf3 58.Rd6+ Kg7 59.f5 { Very nice play indeed from Firouzja, keeping the momentum in his favour. This is extremely instructive. } 59…gxf5 60.Nxf5+ Kf7 61.g5 Bh5 { Probably not the best move, but there were really no good moves, here. Black’s situation is hopeless. } 62.Rf6+ Kg8 63.g6 { or h3-h4, but Alireza knows that the h3-pawn is irrelevant. } 63…Rxh3 64.Ne7+ { No hanging about an more for White, time for the culmination of his hard work. } 64…Kh8 65.Rf8+ Kg7 66.Rf7+ Kh6 67.Rh7+ { Wonderful. } 67…Kg5 68.g7 { And here, Jeffery Xiong resigned. } 1-0

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