[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.22”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Korobov, Anton”]
[Black “Grischuk, Alexander”]
[Result “*”]
[WhiteElo “2683”]
[BlackElo “2778”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]
[ECO “A08”]
[Opening “King’s Indian Attack: Sicilian Variation”]
[Annotator “https://lichess.org/@/foreignspidey”]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 { King’s Indian Attack } 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 { Here black took a considerable amount of time deciding whether to play into } (6… Nc6 7. e4 dxe4 8. dxe4 e5 9. c3 a5) 7. e4 Nc6 8. Re1 b5 { At this point Grischuk still has a game played against Karjakin in 2013. Karjakin in this position played the move e5. } 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. a4 { This is the point where white was finally out of preparation as it was the first move that really ate at the clock. } 10… b4 11. Nc4 Bb7 12. a5 Rc8 13. h4 Qc7 { This is the first novel move this game. } 14. Bg5 Rfd8 { At this point black took almost 20 minutes to choose Rfd8. It is not a trivial task to figure out which rook needs to be moved to what file. It seems counter productive to move into a pin. The point is that onces black opens up the C file there will be dominant control over both the C and D files. } (14… Rcd8 15. Bxe7 Ndxe7 16. a6 { If the other rook had been moved the same next few moves would have resulted but with different placement of black’s rooks. }) 15. Bxe7 Ndxe7 16. a6 { This move alone took white about 20 minutes to play. This drained the clock considerably. } 16… Ba8 17. Nfd2 Nf5 18. Nb3 Ncd4 19. Nxd4 { This is really the only move in the position for white. } (19. Bxa8 Nxb3 20. Bb7 Nxa1 21. Qxa1 Rb8 { If white tries to play lazily and take the bishop rather than deal with the knight we see that black ends the trades up an exchange. Meanwhile white has no dynamic compensation. }) 19… Nxd4 20. Bxa8 Rxa8 21. c3?! { Inaccuracy. Re5 was best. } (21. Re5 h6 22. c3 bxc3 23. bxc3 Nb5 24. Qc2 Nd6 25. Ree1 Nxc4 26. dxc4 Rab8 27. Qe4 Rd6) 21… Nc6 22. Re3 h6 23. Qa4 Rab8 (23… Rac8 { Was a slightly stronger move due to the plan of keeping a defender once the queen is moved. } 24. Na5 Ne7 { And at this point chess still needs to be played but it looks like white’s position is starting to fall apart. }) 24. Na5 Nxa5 25. Qxa5 { Offers the queen trade and shows why Rac8 was a slightly more accurate line. } 25… Rb6 { While black does not want to trade the idea in blocking rather than moving the queen is a bit too passive of a move. It allows white a second to back up and regroup. Rb6 may also hide a plan to double up rooks on the D file. } 26. Qa2 Rdd6 27. Qc4 bxc3 (27… Rdc6 28. Re4 Qd6 { By not taking the pawn on c3 it gives black the chance to continue exerting pressure } 29. cxb4 cxb4 { [%cal Ge4d4,Gc6c4,Gd4d6,Gb6d6,Gd3c4] } 30. Qd4) 28. bxc3 Rdc6 { Now when this move is played it exerts a lot less pressure because white’s queen is hidden behind a black pawn and now the 2nd rank is open for the rook to double up and protect the A pawn. } 29. Re2 Qd6 30. Rea2 h5 { At this point, making any progress for either play would prove exceptionally difficult. Since all the pressure revolves around the A pawns there is no real way to maneuver away from that part of the board. } *
[/pgn]

Alexander Grischuk and Anton Korobov have played each other multiple other times in the past, most of which consisted of rapid games. In the rapid section, Korobov has a much higher rating just about equal to Grischuk who is almost 100 points higher in classical. Korobov has a winning record by points against Grischuk at 5.0/9.0 with 2 draws and 4 wins.

In this classical match, the players opted for a King’s Indian attack where Grischuk would later play into the Sicilian variation of this opening. It seemed as if Grischuk took time deciding which line to play into but as the database would show he had played this exact position in 2013 against Karjakin. Although around move 14 times would fall by about 20 minutes as the decision to centralize the rooks would take place. Grischuk also had a few chances arise in which better moves could have slowly forced an advantage but by not centralizing correctly as well as not being able to capitalize on the passive queen the tension focused on the A file. If perhaps Grischuk had focused slowly migrating toward the center there may have been more opportunity. The only real winning chances revolved around Korobov creating the position with a passive queen and rook but because the tension was removed with cxb the chances of exerting pressure diminished as Korobov was able to consolidate and stabilize.

Once the game was stabilized a bit the players’ time had fallen to around 10 minutes and rather than play essentially a rapid game they agreed to a draw as there were no clear exploitable weaknesses and the endgame would have resulted in a draw.

This game was not a super complicated game as both players were aiming for a win. It was probably a good meta-strategy for Korobov to aim for a draw as it would be much easier to win a game as white than as black.

[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.23”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Grischuk, Alexander”]
[Black “Korobov, Anton”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2778”]
[BlackElo “2683”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. O-O d6 7. Re1 Ba7 8. a4 h6
9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Nf1 Ne7 11. Ng3 c6 12. Bb3 Ng6 13. h3 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. d4
exd4 16. Nxd4 Be6 17. Bc2 Bd7 18. Bb3 Qa5 19. Bxd5 Qxd5 20. Ndf5 Qxd1 21. Rxd1
Bxf5 22. Nxf5 Rfd8 23. Be3 Bxe3 24. Nxe3 b5 25. Nf5 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 bxa4 27. Ra1
Rb8 28. Rxa4 Rb5 29. Nd4 Rxb2 30. Nxc6 Rc2 31. Nd4 Rxc3 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Game 1:

[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.24”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Grischuk, Alexander”]
[Black “Korobov, Anton”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “2784”]
[BlackElo “2781”]
[TimeControl “1500+10”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d3
d6 9. Bd2 Bg4 10. c3 Na5 11. Bc2 c5 12. h3 Bd7 13. Be3 Nc6 14. d4 exd4 15. cxd4
Nb4 16. Nc3 Nxc2 17. Qxc2 cxd4 18. Bxd4 Rc8 19. a3 Qc7 20. Rad1 h6 21. Qd3 Qb7
22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. e5 Be7 24. exd6 Bd8 25. Re7 Bxe7 26. dxe7 Rfe8 27. Qxd7 Rxe7
28. Qf5 Rce8 29. Nd5 Re6 30. Ne3 Qc7 31. Qd5 Rc6 32. Qd2 Rc8 33. Nd5 Qd6 34. Nh4
Rc2 35. Qd3 Qc5 36. Qg3 Rc1 37. Rxc1 Qxc1+ 38. Kh2 Rd8 39. Qe5 g6 40. Nf6+ Kf8
41. Nh7+ Kg8 42. Nf6+ Kf8 43. Nd5 Kg8 44. Nxg6 1-0

[/pgn]

Game 2:

[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.24”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Korobov, Anton”]
[Black “Grischuk, Alexander”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2781”]
[BlackElo “2784”]
[TimeControl “1500+10”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd2 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. a3 Bxc3 8. Bxc3
cxd4 9. Bxd4 Nc6 10. c5 a5 11. Rc1 a4 12. Be2 Ne4 13. O-O Qe7 14. Ne5 f6 15. Nd3
e5 16. Bc3 Nxc3 17. Rxc3 d4 18. exd4 Nxd4 19. Nb4 Be6 20. Bc4 Rfd8 21. h3 Bxc4
22. Rxc4 Nb3 23. Qc2 Nd2 24. c6 Nxc4 25. Qxc4+ Qf7 26. Qxf7+ Kxf7 27. cxb7 Rab8
28. Nc6 Re8 29. Nxb8 Rxb8 30. Rc1 Rxb7 31. Rc2 Ke6 32. Kf1 f5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

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