Game of the week: Carlsen is not alone...

“I will make 40 good moves and if you are able to do the same, the game will end in a draw.” - Vasily Smyslov

There has been a fierce debate in the past about what the result of a chess game would be if both sides played all of the best moves. Now that millions of classical games have been analyzed and chess engines have improved, the consensus among chess professionals is that such a game should be drawn. The philosophical approach of the 7th world champion, Vasily Smyslov, has become relevant to modern players’ approach. For instance, this approach is seen in the games of the current world champion, Magus Carlsen. He does not rush to force the game and instead pressures his opponent to make as many good moves as possible. Of course, he is not the only one who uses this approach and succeeds, which brings us to the Game of the Week.

Game of the Week is: Maghsoodloo, Parham vs. Mosadeghpour, Masoud

Maghsoodloo demonstrated incredible performance during the most recent Iranian championship and won the tournament by 14 points out of 15 while not losing a single game. Congrats on this achievement!

(23) Maghsoodloo,Parham (2676) - Mosadeghpour,Masoud (2498) [E04]

Iran-ch Final 2021 Tehran (14.6), 13.04.2021

[Durarbayli, Vasif]

1.d4 d5 2.Af3 Af6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 [Catalan variation is the main opening theme of Game of the Week games.]

4...Fb4+ 5.Fd2 a5 6.Fg2 dxc4 7.Vc2 Fxd2+ 8.Abxd2 [8.Vxd2 The main line. 8...c6 9.a4 b5 This line has been well-studied since the world championship game between Kramnik and Topalov (2006). From time to time there are some marginal improvements. Overall, I think White does not get much out of this but at least puts some practical issues in front of Black; therefore, White has quite good results at the end of the main line. (9...Ae4 10.Vc2 (10.Vf4 Vb6 11.0–0 (11.Ae5 f6 12.Axc4 Vb4+ 13.Abd2 Axd2 14.Axd2 Ad7 15.Ve3 Ab6 16.Vc3 Ad5 17.Vxb4= ½–½ (17) Ghaem Maghami,E (2540)-Harika,D (2471) Moscow 2019) 11...Vxb2 12.Ae5 0–0 13.Aa3 Ac3 14.Ve3 Axe2+ 15.Şh1 Ac3 16.Tfc1 Ad5 17.Fxd5 exd5 18.Tab1 Vb4!! Because of this sacrifice, players switched to another direction. 19.Txb4 axb4 Black has good compensation.0–1 (42) Postny,E (2620)-Shyam,S (2532) Sitges 2016) 10...Ad6 11.Abd2 Aa6 12.Axc4 Ab4 13.Axd6+ Vxd6 14.Vc3 0–0 15.0–0 White is slightly better. The results of the games prove this point.) 10.axb5 cxb5 11.Vg5 0–0 12.Vxb5 Fa6 13.Vxa5 (13.Va4 Vb6 14.0–0 (14.Abd2 Fb5 15.Va3 Ac6 16.0–0 Tab8 17.Tfc1 Axd4 18.Axd4 Vxd4 19.Af3 Vb6 20.Vxa5 Vxa5 21.Txa5 Fc6 22.Txc4 Fxf3 23.Fxf3 Txb2= ½–½ (24) Leko,P (2756)-Kramnik,V (2759) Dortmund 2009) 14...Vxb2 15.Abd2 Fb5 16.Axc4 Fxa4 17.Axb2 Fb5 18.Ae5 Ta7 (18...Ta6?! The rook is not well-placed on a6. The following game demonstrated it well. 19.Abd3 Abd7 20.Tfb1 Axe5 21.Ac5 Ac6 22.e3!? (22.Fxc6 Txc6 23.Txb5 Te8 24.f4!) 22...Tb6 23.Fxc6 Tfb8 24.Ff3 a4 25.Axa4 Fxa4 26.Txb6 Txb6 27.Txa4 1–0 (45) Meier,G (2664)-Wojtaszek,R (2640) Novi Sad 2009) 19.Ff3

a) 19.Abd3 Abd7 20.Tfb1 Axe5 Now, there is not an Nc5 idea. 21.dxe5 Fxd3 22.exd3 Ad7 23.d4 Tb8=;

b) 19.Abc4 Abd7 20.Axa5 Fxe2 21.Tfe1 Fh5 22.Aac6 Tc7N (22...Txa1 23.Txa1 Axe5 24.dxe5 Ad7 25.f4 1–0 (43) Vidit,S (2718)-Pichot,A (2600) Khanty Mansiysk 2019) 23.Tec1 Ab6 24.Tc5 Abd5 This is very close to equality.; 19...Abd7 20.Aec4 Tb8 21.Tfb1 g5= 1–0 (75) Kramnik,V (2743)-Topalov,V (2813) Elista 2006) 13...Fb7 14.Vxd8 Txa1 15.Vxf8+ Şxf8 16.0–0 Ta2 17.Ae5 (17.Abd2 Fxf3 18.Fxf3 c3 19.Ac4 cxb2 20.Şg2 Ta4 21.Axb2 ½–½ (21) Xiong,J (2709)-Dominguez Perez,L (2758) Lichess.org INT 2020 21...Txd4=) 17...Fa6 18.Tc1 Txb2 19.e3 Abd7 20.Axd7+ Axd7= ½–½ (73) Ju,W (2583)-Cramling,P (2470) Lausanne 2020]

8...b5 9.a4 c6 10.0–0 0–0 11.b3 cxb3 12.Axb3 Fa6 13.Tfd1 bxa4 14.Ac5 Fb5 15.Ae5 Vd6 16.Axa4N [16.Ac4 Vc7 17.Aa3 Ad5 18.Tdc1 Ve7 19.Axa4 Aa6 20.Ac3 Aab4 21.Vd2 Fa6 22.Aa4 Tfd8 23.Ac5 Fb5 24.e4 Ab6 25.Ve3 h6 26.h4 Ad7 27.Ab7 Tdb8 28.Axb5 Txb7 29.Ac3 e5 30.d5 Vd6 31.dxc6 Axc6 32.Ad5 Ad4 33.Tc3 Tb2 34.Ff1 Af6 35.Tac1 Ag4 36.Tc8+ Txc8 37.Txc8+ Şh7 38.Vc3 Txf2 0–1 (38) Romanishin,O (2542)-Landa,K (2570) Reggio Emilia 2007]

16...Aa6 [16...Abd7 This would have been the most forceful way. 17.Axd7 Axd7 18.Ac3 Ta7 Gets away from Nb5 tactic. 19.Tab1 Tb8 20.d5! exd5 21.Axb5 Txb5 22.Txb5 cxb5 23.Txd5 Vc7 24.Vxc7 Txc7 25.Txb5 Ta7 26.Fc6 Af8 White has some pressure but nothing special.]

17.Ab6! [Nice maneuver.White spent 20 minutes on this move.]

17...Ab4 18.Vd2 Ta6 19.Abc4 Vc7 20.Axa5! Fxe2 21.Vxb4!? [Nice combination which does not give much to White but creates some practical problems.]

[21.Te1 Txa5 22.Vxb4 Txa1 23.Txa1 Vb8=]

21...Fxd1 22.Aexc6 Fh5 23.Ae7+! Şh8 24.Ag6+ Fxg6 25.Vxf8+ Ag8 26.Vc5 [Objectively, it is just equal but Black is the side that defends.]

26...Ta7 27.Ta3 [Prophylaxis.In some variation where the knight is moved, Black would not be able to take it with a check.]

27...Ve7 28.h4 h5 29.Ff3 Af6 30.Ac4 Tc7 31.Ta8+ Şh7 32.Vb5 [One last problem to solve, but Mosadeghpour, who played so well until this point, could not solve it and fell right into the trap.]

32...Fd3?? [32...Ta7 33.Vc5 Tc7 34.Vb5 Ta7 35.Tc8 Tc7=]

33.Vb8 Şh6 [33...Fxc4 34.Vh8+ Şg6 35.Tg8 Şf5 36.Txg7 e5 37.Tg5+ Perhaps this move was missed by Black. 37...Şe6 38.Txe5+ Şd6 39.Txe7+–]

34.Ae5 Fh7 35.Vh8 Vb4 36.Tf8!+– [Or this move missed when Black played 32...Bd3??]

36...Vxd4 37.Axf7+ [Black resigned here.]

37...Şg6 38.Ag5 Ve5 39.Txf6+ gxf6 40.Fe4+ Şh6 41.Vf8+ Tg7 42.Af7#

1–0