Commentary: London Chess Classic 2017, Round 7 (Nepomniachtchi - Anand)

 This game continues the recent theme of an English Opening with e3/b3 development from last time (Carlsen - Giri), but here GM Ian Nepomniachtchi as White plays the provocative yet thematic 7. g4!? to completely change the character of the game. Pitching the g-pawn in this manner is one example of similar themes appearing across different openings - as occurred in a previous Caro-Kann commentary game - so the idea is well worth studying. I'm not sure if I would play it myself, but improving your chess strength requires having a more open mind to study ideas that are outside your normal comfort zone. In my previous (pre-blog) chess career, for example, I never would have looked at this game in depth, one of the reasons I stagnated at Class B strength for so long.

Of course 7. g4 does not magically win straight out of the opening, but White does well for himself in gaining the initiative and minimizing his positional weaknesses, with his king position being reasonably solid in the center. Anand does eventually equalize, but then Nepo strikes back and is able to pick up material for no compensation. Black, left with the prospect of a losing endgame with no counterplay, resigns. I doubt this would happen at the club level, but it's worth seeing in the final position what a 100% sure win looks like, even with a fair amount of material still on the board.

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Move	N	Result	Elo	Players

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1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 now Black could just as easily go into a Nimzo-English hybrid with ...Bb4, but it seems most often a QGD formation is set up from here. d5 4.e3 White has committed to central play and there is no longer a potential gambit situation on the queenside, now that the c4 pawn is protected. a6 the move actually scores pretty well, leaving Black around 50 percent in the database, but it seems a little slow, given White's flexibility here. 5.b3 by far the most played. White develops his dark-square bishop and protects c4 again, allowing him to choose to retake with a pawn in case of an exchange and exert more control over d5. Bd6 a good square for the bishop, also signaling that Black will look to use his control of e5 strategically. 5...c5 is the usual reaction by Black. Here's an instructive and tactically fierce game featuring GM Mamedyarov as an example: 6.Bb2 Nc6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Rc1 Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.Na4 Nd7 11.Be2 b5 12.Nc3 Nf6 13.0-0 Be7 14.a4 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Rb8 16.axb5 axb5 17.Ne2 Qd6 18.Nf4 Nb4 19.Ba3 Na6 20.d4 b4 21.Bb2 0-0 22.Bxd5 Nxd5 23.dxc5 Nxc5 24.Nxd5 Rfd8 25.Qg4 Bf8 26.Nf6+ Kh8 27.Qf5 g6 28.Ne4+ 1-0 (28) Mamedyarov,S (2801) -Georgiadis,N (2526) Biel 2018 6.Bb2 0-0 7.g4!? this was a novelty in tournament play, although it has been tried several times since with good results. The idea of sacrificing the g-pawn to open the file in this manner is a theme encountered in other openings. Nxg4 Black chooses to accept the challenge head-on. 7...dxc4 is an alternative. 8.g5 Nfd7 9.Bxc4= 7...c6!? is suggested by Komodo Dragon as another way to decline the pawn. The point is to reinforce d5 while supporting a potential ...b5 pawn thrust. 8.Rg1 f5 Black maintains the knight outpost, at least temporarily, while still allowing for ...Nf6 in the future. It also opens the 7th rank to lateral defense. However, it leaves the kingside a little loose and weakens e6, a fact which White later exploits. 9.cxd5 e5 Anand has given the pawn back immediately, but now maintains the advanced e5/f5 pawn duo. 10.h3 Nf6 11.Ng5 even with material equality, White needs to play actively to justify his uncastled king and isolated h-pawn. The knight gets into the game - not being very effective on f3 - by eyeing e6 and also clearing the diagonal for the queen. Qe7 covering e6 and g7. 11...h6? this might be the obvious move played at the club level, in order to kick the knight. Let's see what would happen. 12.Ne6 Bxe6 13.dxe6 while at first glance White's pawn looks weak, Black has no immediate way of dealing with it and his own f-pawn has similar problems. Nc6 14.Qf3 and White has threats of Bc4 and Qg2 coming up, along with queenside castling as a possibility. 12.Qf3 this allows the queen to move to the g-file, pressures f5, and also places it on the long diagonal. This last point is shortly used to good effect. 12.Ne6 the engines agree that this is best played immediately. Bxe6 13.dxe6 and the pawn is temporarily immune from capture due to the Bc4 skewer tactic. White can then follow up with Qf3. 12...Kh8 12...e4!? 13.Qg2 Nbd7 14.Ne6 Rf7 15.0-0-0 13.Ne6 Bxe6 now b7 is undefended. 13...Rg8 is the engines' preference. Again, leaving the strong Ne6 in place looks counterintuitive, but White still does well from the exchange. 14.dxe6 Qxe6 15.Qxb7 White now has the bishop pair and his pawn structure overall is no worse than Black's. Nbd7 16.Bc4 a logical move, but hitting the queen is of limited utility for White here. 16.Bxa6 pawn snatching may be possible, but Black should get some compensation in terms of the half-open a-file and a strong center, while White's king starts looking a bit vulnerable. e4 16.0-0-0 16.Qc6 16...Qe7 17.Qg2 Nb6= White has no more immediate threats to make and Black has equalized. White will need to do some maneuvering to start playing dynamically again. 18.Be2 a5 looking to break up White's pawns and make inroads on the queenside. 19.Bb5 a good example of prophylaxis. It feels a bit strange to move this bishop yet again, but it is the best way to prevent ...a4. Rad8 20.Qg5 prompting Black to respond with g6 and now 21.Qh6 prompts Ng8 22.Qg5 White would be fine with an exchange here, so Black returns the knight. Nf6 22...Qxg5 23.Rxg5 and now White's king position is much improved, lacking a queen to threaten it, and with two bishops and the half-open c-file to play with. 23.Rd1 at this point queenside castling would not seem to be an improvement for White's king, so the center is reinforced. e4 this logical-looking move causes Black a few headaches, after White's next. The long diagonal is opened and Black loses control of d4 and f4, although gaining space. 23...Qe6 maintains Black's grip in the center. 24.Qh6 pinning the h-pawn and threatening Rxg6. Rg8 25.Ne2 Black now immediately moves to contest the open long diagonal. Be5 26.Bxe5 Qxe5 27.Nf4! the key move to give White the initiative. The Bb5 is hanging, but White has counterplay on the kingside if that happens. g5 an excellent defensive pawn sacrifice by Anand, echoing Nepo's original one. 27...Qxb5 28.Nxg6+ Rxg6 29.Rxg6 Rg8 30.Rxg8+ Nxg8 31.Qe6 28.Rxg5 Rxg5 29.Qxg5 Rg8 30.Qh6 the position is still tricky here and perhaps Anand was under time pressure, as his next move effectively loses. Rg7? this looks like a solid defensive move, but in fact it leaves White's queen too active. 30...Rg1+ 31.Bf1 Nbd7 32.Ne2 Rg6 and Black should be fine, his space advantage and piece activity compensating for the pawn deficit. 31.Bc4 a subtle move that even looks positionally wrong at first, trading off White's good bishop. Nxc4 31...Nfd5 is the engines' recommendation, but White retains an endgame advantage after 32.Ke2 Nxf4+ 33.Qxf4 Qxf4 34.exf4 Nxc4 35.bxc4+- as Black can do nothing about White's plan of Rb1-b5, for example a4 36.Rb1 Rg6 37.Rb5 Rc6 38.Rxf5 Rxc4 39.Rg5 with what should be a winning rook endgame, as White can transfer his rook back via g3. 32.bxc4 the b-pawn finally fulfills its destiny. From a strategic perspective, the opening of the b-file is also potentially very good for White, if he can get the rook on it. Qb2 Black looks to get his pawn back, but has to keep defending the Nf6. 32...Qd6 does not help much either, as after Ne2 and Rb1 White is taking over the game. 33.Ne2 33.Ke2 White now has no real weaknesses and his pieces are in a much better position to go after Black's king. 33.Ne2 also works, protecting g1. 33...a4 34.Ne6 White goes back to the weak e6 square, this time unchallenged. Rf7 35.Nf4 this is sufficient to win without the complications of attempting a direct attack. 35.Nd8 Rg7 36.Rg1?! allows Black to keep fighting 36.a3 as in the game 36...Ng4 37.hxg4 Qa3 35...Rg7 36.a3 physically blocks Black's ...a3 and is untouchable, due to the hanging Nf6. Essentially Black has no good moves at this point. Ne8 Black tries to cover everything, but is not successful. 36...Qb6 is the engines' best try 37.d3 Qb2+ 38.Rd2 Qc3 39.Ne6+- 37.Qc6 forking the Ne8 and the a4 pawn, so after the next move White will be up two pawns, one of which is the passed a-pawn, with no compensation for Black. 1–0

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White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res	ECO	Rnd

Nepomniachtchi,I

2729

Anand,V

2782

1–0

A17

7

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