Daniil Dubov vs Sergey Karjakin

jQuery(document).ready(function($) { var selector = '#' + "rpbchessboard-6475b304a73e3-1" + ' .rpbchessboard-chessgameAnchor'; RPBChessboard.renderPGN($(selector), {"pgn":"[Event \"Russian Championship Superfinal\"] [Site \"Moscow RUS\"] [Date \"2020.12.16\"] [Round \"11\"] [White \"Daniil Dubov\"] [Black \"Sergey Karjakin\"] [Result \"1-0\"] [ECO \"C54\"] [WhiteElo \"2702\"] [BlackElo \"2752\"] [Annotator \"Mac\"] [PlyCount \"75\"] [EventDate \"2020.12.05\"] [SourceDate \"2014.01.17\"] {Many people are calling this the game of the year! With a title like that, there is a lot to live up to. You can be the judge yourself.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. b4 $5 {[#]A totally fresh idea. Dubov is known for playing creative openings and here in the most well known opening he is already trying something different.} (6. cxd4 {This has been played a billion times, and the mainline is well established.} Bb4+ 7. Bd2 {Now both Nxe4 and Bxd2 give black a reasonable position.}) (6. e5 $5 {This move has gained a lot more attention recently. It’s a good move and very difficult for less experienced players to handle. Black needs to play d5 here or they will end up worse.}) 6... Bb6 7. e5 Ne4 (7... d5 $5 8. exf6 dxc4 9. Qe2+ Be6 10. b5 $13 {The position is very unclear and bordering on better for white.}) 8. Bd5 { [#][%cal Rd5e4,Yd7d5]} (8. b5 $6 Nxe5 $1 9. Nxe5 d5 $1 $15 {[%cal Yd8e7,Ye7e1]}) 8... Nxc3 9. Nxc3 dxc3 10. Bg5 {[#][%cal Yd5f7,Yg5d8]} Ne7 11. O-O h6 $1 12. Bh4 { Up to here it seems as though both sides have played just about perfectly. Karjakin desides to castle kingside which is reasonable but a bit uncomfortable.} O-O (12... g5 $1 13. Bg3 Nxd5 14. Qxd5 d6 15. exd6 O-O $15 { This was probably a better way to go for black. Their king is a little airy this way but they will complete development with a slightly better position.}) 13. Re1 Qe8 14. Bb3 $1 {[#][%cal Yb3c2,Yd1d3,Yh4f6]} a5 15. Bf6 $1 {[%cal Ye5f6, Ye1e8] In for a penny in for a pound! Who cares about the pawn on b4 when the real target is the black King.} a4 (15... gxf6 $4 {This is unthinkable of course due to..} 16. exf6 {[%cal Yg3g8,Ye1e8]}) 16. Bc4 Ng6 17. Qd3 {[#][%csl Rg6] [%cal Rd3g6,Yc4f7]} d5 18. exd6 {[%cal Ye1e8]} Be6 {[%csl Re6,Rg6]} 19. Qxg6 $3 {[#][%cal Rg6g7] Boom! White doesn’t mate with this move but gets overwhelming activity of his pieces.} fxg6 20. Rxe6 {[%cal Yc4g8,Ye6e8]} Qf7 21. Bxc3 { [%cal Rc4g8,Yc3g7]} Kh8 22. Re4 $1 {[#][%cal Ye4c4]} Qf5 (22... Qd7 $2 23. Re7 { [%cal Re7d7,Rc3g7,Re7g7]}) 23. Re7 Rg8 24. Bxg8 Rxg8 25. dxc7 Qc2 26. Be5 { [#][%csl Rc7,Ye5][%cal Ye5c7,Ye5g7] This bishop reminds me of the strong bishop seen in the game by Pontus Carlsson in our archive. This bishop dominates the whole board. Black is passive and helpless to stop white’s forces.} Bxf2+ 27. Kh1 Bb6 28. h3 {A good move which removes any risk of bank rank checkmate. Now white can continue uninterrupted with his plans.} (28. a3 $1 {This was also very good. It secures the pawn before takin white’s next step.}) 28... Kh7 ( 28... a3 $5 {Black is still lost here but perhaps it would have been slightly more annoying for Dubov to deal with the pawn on a3 here.}) 29. Re1 a3 30. Kh2 g5 31. Nd4 Qc4 (31... Bxd4 $5 32. Bxd4 h5 {Black is still lost.}) 32. Nf5 Qxb4 {[%cal Rb4e1]} 33. Rc1 {[#][%cal Yc1c8,Ye5g7,Yf5g7,Ye7g7]} Kg6 34. Rxg7+ Kxf5 ( 34... Rxg7 35. c8=Q) 35. Rxg8 Bxc7 36. Bxc7 {Despite the reduced material, black’s king does not get any safer here. It’s still caught in the open board and will be hunted down by the rooks and bishop.} Qb2 37. Rc5+ Ke4 38. Rd8 { [%cal Rc5e5,Rd8f8] Black will have to give up the queen in order to prevent mate. Dubov gets a 10 out of 10 in style points and creativity. To beat a world championship challenger in such a style is almost unheard of.} 1-0","nboSquareSize":50,"idoSquareSize":50,"nboCoordinateVisible":true,"idoCoordinateVisible":true,"nboColorset":"greenvintage","idoColorset":"greenvintage","nboPieceset":"new-set-mac","idoPieceset":"new-set-mac","nboAnimated":true,"nboMoveArrowVisible":false,"nboMoveArrowColor":"b","pieceSymbols":"native","navigationBoard":"frame","withFlipButton":true,"withDownloadButton":true}); });