[pgn]
[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.18”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Gareyev, Timur”]
[Black “Fedoseev, Vladimir”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteElo “2596”]
[BlackElo “2696”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]
[Annotator “https://lichess.org/@/foreignspidey”]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Qe2 Bg6 10. e4 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nxe4 { Black is up a pawn here but by taking white has the initiative and can stop castling on the king side with Ba3. } 12. Ba3 Qc7 13. Rfe1 { While there are still techincally still games in teh database the is the position where the game deviates from the Kasparov-Bareev game in 1991. } 13… O-O-O 14. a5 Kb8 { At this point in the game, there are officially no more games in the database. So this is new territory for both players. White has the advantage of the open B file eyeing down black’s king. } (14… Nd6 15. a6 b6 { And in this position while extremely messy the king is still safer than in the 14 … Kb8 15. Qb2 }) 15. Be7 Rde8 16. Bh4 Ka8 { This move correctly moves the king from the B-file, best move according to the computer. } 17. Qb2 { This was a slight inaccuracy and gave away a bit of the advantage. Better move was Rac1 to protect the pawn with the rook. While it looks like a sacrifice of the A pawn it is not because initiative is gained. } (17. Rac1 Qxa5 (17… f6 18. a6 b5 19. Bd3 { If black does not take the pawn then white can continue to undermine the position. }) 18. Ra1 Qc7 19. Ra3 { So in this position despite being down an extra pawn the A-file opened up for a doubling of the rooks which is devastating and white is almost completely winning in this position. }) 17… Nd6 18. Bf1 { This move is much too passive and allows black a chance to consolidate a little bit. } (18. Bg3 { This move puts pressure on the black position while it looks like danger levels can be applied it is not quite the case because white can play Qb4 winning back the knight since the bishop was temporarily sacrificed. } 18… Nxc4 19. Qb4 c5 20. Qxc4 Qc6) 18… Nf5 19. Bg5 f6 20. Bc1 e5 21. dxe5 fxe5 { Here white has a slight advantage due to the control of the open files, space, and applied pressure. In order to keep this advantage white needed to play a move like Ng5 or a6. By playing Nd2 in an attempt to rotate to the queenside time is lost. } 22. Nd2 (22. Ng5 h6 23. Ne4 { This is a much more dynamic way of rotating the knight and the only move to keep white at only a slight advantage rather than nearly losing is the move a7. }) 22… Bf7 23. Qb1 Nd6 24. Ba3 c5 25. Qd3 Qc6 26. Rad1 { White at some point needs to play the move a6 in order to regain the momentum and break apart the black position. By not pushing the A pawn black gets the initiative. On top of this, white seems to be moving the pressure from the queenside to the middle of the board. } (26. a6) 26… Bg6 27. Ne4 Re6 28. f3 Nf6 29. g3 Nfxe4 30. fxe4 Bxe4 31. Qe3 Bf3 32. Rd2 Rc8 33. Rf2 Rf6 34. Bh3 Re8 35. Qxc5 Qxc5 36. Bxc5 Ne4 37. Rxf3 { Only move that does not lose on the spot, while it looks like white is about to go down an exchange, if black takes the rook rather than the bishop then white gets two pieces for the rook. } 37… Nxc5 (37… Rxf3 38. Rxe4 Rxc3 39. Bf2) 38. Rxf6 gxf6 39. Bf5 h6 40. Rd1 Rf8 41. Rb1 Kb8 42. Rb4 Kc7 43. Rh4 Rh8 44. Rg4 Kc6 45. Rg6 Kb5 46. Rxf6 Kxa5 47. Kf2 { While in dire straights this move hands the game to black and pushes the evaluation to -3.5. What needed to be played was Bg6. } (47. Bg6 Ka4 48. h4 b6 (48… Kb3 49. Rf5 { This is the idea behind playing Bg5 because what happens now is that white can capture the e pawn. })) 47… Ka4 48. Rf7 (48. g4 { [%csl Ga4] } 48… Kb3 { In this position white cannot grab the E pawn because black’s knight protects the e6 square which was why the bishop needed to be moved. }) 48… a5 49. Ke2 Kb3 50. Rc7 b6 51. Rc6 Rb8 52. Rxh6 a4 53. Bg6 a3 { At this point the game is over because practically there is no way to stop the A pawn from promoting. The only way would be to give up the bishop on the a2 square which whill be protected by the king. } 54. Bf7+ Kb2 55. Ke3 Nb3 { Move to block the vision of the bishop and allow a push of the A pawn. } 56. Rf6 Kxc3 { This move is unnecessary because the A pawn can be pushed. Maybe black was worried about some kind of trick } (56… a2 57. Rf2+ Ka3 58. Rxa2+ Kxa2 { This is the only way to avoid the pawn promoting to a queen. }) 57. Ke4 Nc5+ { This Knight check is an important move because now since the king moved away from the defense of the pawn if the A pawn is pushed the rook can be traded for the knight and two pawns and the game would be dead drawn. } (57… a2 58. Rf3+ Kb4 59. Rxb3+ Ka4 60. Rxb6 Rxb6 61. Bxa2) 58. Ke3 Rf8 59. Rf2 b5 60. g4 Rxf7 { Nice rook sacrifice to remove the defender of the a7 square which will allow black to promote on the a8 square. } 61. Rxf7 a2 62. Rf1 b4 63. g5 { Here the best move for white was Rc1 unfortunately this is just a delaying move by the computer as practically it does not stop the win. } (63. Rc1+ Kb2 64. Rxc5 a1=Q) 63… b3 64. g6 Ne6 { Here white resigned because by moving the knight to e6 the next square for white’s pawn is blocked and black has no issue with sacrificing the knight for the pawn since the A and B pawns are unstoppable by the rook. } *
[/pgn]

This is an especially fun game because these two players have something uniquely in common. Both Gareyev and Fedoseev have played. or play, respectively, for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. This game was fun for me to watch because this is where I graduated and continue to go to school. I had the pleasure of meeting Fedoseev a few times at different local tournaments that the university was hosting along with Paraguayan GM Guillermo Vazquez who was knocked out earlier in the tournament by Duda. At the time that Gareyev played for the university, there were two separate schools called the University of Texas Brownsville and the University of Texas Pan-American. Although now combined many believe it to be the same alma mater.

Gareyev actually helped the university obtain. the first national championship which was won again this past year with the help of Fedoseev.

This first game was fun to watch as there were many moves in which white had the advantage but did not capitalize due to passive play moving the attack from. the queenside to the middle or kingside. Most of the middle game revolved around the need to push the A pawn to undermine the black position but this move kept getting pushed back which allowed black to re-coordinate the pieces and begin a simplification which would lead to an attack.

Fedoseev goes into this second game after a win with the black pieces. This means that with the white pieces he only needs to draw the game. Meanwhile, Gareyev must win with the black pieces which is not an easy task. In the game, a Benko gambit is played where Gareyev gives away the B pawn for dynamic counterplay. The issue is that for some reason he trades his strong bishop for a very passive bishop. Sure, Fedoseev loses the ability to castle but Gareyev is too slow with the counterplay to act on this which gives Fedoseev time to manually castle. At this point, white was borderline winning the game which is already helpful when you just need to draw. Fedoseev opts for the approach of simplifying into an easy-to-draw endgame by trading one set of rooks and knights. Then with the queens off the board, there is no real counterplay for either side other than attacking the pawn weaknesses, but this further simplifies the position which is desirable for Fedoseev who is only looking for a draw. Gareyev did take a considerable amount of time to play the move to offer a queen trade but after the moves happened relatively quickly and the draw was accepted by both players each with more than half of the time remaining because there was nothing more that could be done by either player.

[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.19”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Fedoseev, Vladimir”]
[Black “Gareyev, Timur”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2696”]
[BlackElo “2596”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]
[ECO “A58”]
[Opening “Benko Gambit Accepted: Fully Accepted Variation”]
[Annotator “https://lichess.org/@/foreignspidey”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 { Benoni defense with c6. The idea here is usually after d5 that e6 or the Benko gambit b5 is played. } 3. d5 b5 (3… e6) 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. e4 Bxf1 { At this point, white is winning here with a computer evaluation of +1.3. } (8… Qa5 9. Bd2 O-O { This is the preferred position that is much more equal. }) 9. Kxf1 { The white squared bishop on the black side was traded for the weak and undeveloped bishop on the white side. This is a suboptimal trade because it trades the only strong piece in black’s position! } 9… d6 { At this point sure white cannot castle but because black is so slow with the counter play moves like g3 allow a slow manual castle or potentially even h4 and playing the rook out on Ra3. } 10. g3 Nbd7 { A better move probably would have been to activate the knight on the other side such as it allows access to b4 or c7 squares which exerts more pressure. } (10… Na6 11. Kg2 O-O) (10… Qc8 11. Kg2 O-O) 11. Kg2 O-O 12. a4 { The idea behind this move is less about pushing the a4 pawn and more about activating the rook as white can now play Ra3 esaping the back rank. } 12… Ra6 { The main idea behind this move is probably about exerting pressure on the A pawn by doubling up but there are also future prospects of moving the A file rook to the kingside when an attack opens up.
At this point there is still a game in the database played by Dubov – Moiseenko. } { [%cal Ga6g6] } 13. Re1 Qa8 { This is the last game in the database played by anyone over 2500. Vallejo Pons – Tregubov in 2016. } 14. Ra3 { Now we see the activation of the rook on the A file which justifies the move a4. } 14… Rc8 15. b3 e6 { The point of this move is about undermining the solid pawn structure that white has in the center. By playing e6 white is forced into a decision of taking or keeping the pressure. } 16. dxe6 (16. h4 exd5 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Qxd5 c4 19. bxc4 Nb6) 16… fxe6 17. Nb5 { By playing this move white completely gives away the advantage. What needed to be played was Bf4, while it looks like black can simply play e5 it is not so clear because now a weakeness on d6 would be created. } (17. Bf4 e5 18. Bg5 h6 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Qd3 Kh7 21. h4) 17… Nxe4 { White also give away the e4 pawn and must now go down the exchange with Rxe4. } 18. Rxe4 (18. h4 d5 { If a move like h4 is played here then black just gets dominant control in the center with nearly passed pawns. }) 18… Qxe4 19. Nxd6 Rxd6 { Black is forced to go down the exchange again because of a fork and the position is again equalized. } 20. Qxd6 Rf8 21. b4 (21. Qxd7 { This is not a free piece because if taken then black now has mate in 7. } 21… Qxf3+ 22. Kh3 Qf5+ 23. Kg2 Qxf2+ 24. Kh3 Qf5+ 25. g4 Qf3+ 26. Kh4 Qf2+ 27. Kh3 Rf3# { It is never too late to hang mate. }) 21… cxb4 22. Re3 Qd5 { Queen trade to simplify the position. It is important to note that white is happy trading down pieces because the simpler the position the easier to draw. } 23. Qxd5 exd5 { At this point the game is a complete draw. White will overtime pick up the d5 pawn and the pawns on the A and B files will be taken one move after each other to simplify to a 3 on 2 on the kingside with only knights or bishops. } 24. Bd2 Rb8 25. Rb3 Bf8 26. a5 Ra8 27. Nd4 Rxa5 28. Bxb4 Ra4 { As seen here again, black only needs a draw to move on which is why trading pieces to an easy draw is preferable to a long complicated endgame. } 29. Bxf8 Rxd4 30. Bd6 Kf7 31. Re3 Re4 32. Rxe4 dxe4 { Rooks traded and it is a bishop and knight endgame where both sides have 3 pawns on the kingside. } 33. f3 Ke6 *

[/pgn]