[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.22”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Xiong, Jeffery”]
[Black “Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteElo “2709”]
[BlackElo “2726”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]
[Variant “Standard”]
[ECO “D02”]
[Opening “Queen’s Pawn Game: London System”]
[Annotator “https://lichess.org/@/foreignspidey”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 { Queen’s Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation } 3. Bf4 { Then a transposition into a London system game. } 3… c5 4. e3 e6 5. Nbd2 Qb6 6. Rb1 { Last position in the database. } 6… Bd6 7. dxc5 Qxc5 8. Bd3 { It seems that up until this point the players were still using preparation knowledge. } 8… O-O { Black took 15 minutes to play this move arguably deciding which sequence was better between castling now or } (8… b6) (8… Nc6 9. Nb3 Qb6 { Its never too early to throw away the game. This is why memorizing developing moves needs to go hand and hand with board awareness. }) (8… Nbd7) 9. O-O Nbd7 10. b4 Qc7 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. c4 { This move is designed to undermine the control that black has in the center or if black does not take then white can push further to c5 almost creating a passed pawn that is barely stoppable. } 12… b6 { This move stops black from pushing forward and amost forces a decision to be made about what the intentions of the pawn are. } 13. cxd5 Qxd5 14. Qe2 Bb7 15. e4 Qh5 { Black probably did not like something about the queen getting hunted down after taking the a2 pawn. Another idea could be that after Ng4 black likes the prospects of rotating more pieces to the attack. } (15… Qxa2 16. Ra1 Qb2 17. Rfb1 Qc3 18. Nc4) 16. Nc4 Rfd8 17. Rbd1 Nf8 18. h3 Ng6 19. Qe3 Ba6 20. Nd6 { Forced simplification of pieces to remove attackers from the black side. } 20… Rxd6 21. Bxa6 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Ne5 23. Be2 Nxf3+ 24. Bxf3 Qe5 { Here the computer advocates a trade of queens because if black moves the queen white wins due to a double attack on the knight and rook. } 25. Qc1 h6 26. Qc6 Rb8 27. a4 Kf8 28. a5 bxa5 29. bxa5 Ne8 30. a6 Qc7 31. Qa4 Qc5 32. Qa1 Nc7 33. Rd7 Kg8 { Here white has a pretty decent advantage with pressure from the rook on the 7th rank as well as the threat of opening up the long diagonal for the queen. By playing e5 white also shuts down the possibilites of black kicking out the rook on d7. } 34. e5 Rb4 35. Qd1 Nb5 { This is a mistake on black’s part. Black needed to play the move g6. } (35… g6 36. Qd3 Qxe5) 36. Rb7 { White gives back most of the advantage by playing Rb7 instead of Be2. Both moves threaten trading the knight } (36. Be2 Nd4 37. Bf1 Nf5 38. Qf3 Qxe5 39. g4 Rf4 40. Qa8+ Kh7 41. gxf5 Rxf5 { Here black is busted and white would slowly convert to a winning end game. }) 36… Nd4 37. Be4 { The difference in this position is that white’s bishop would be unprotected if the same sequence were to be followed leading to a drawn position. } 37… g6 38. Qd2 Rc4 39. Bxg6 { This idea is to infiltrate with the queen and try to trap the king since all of black’s pieces are far away from the king. The issue with this sequence is that white is just one move too slow. Since the queen infiltration does not come with check black has time for counterplay. } 39… fxg6 40. Qxh6 { In order to not lose the game on the spot white had to first play Rb8+. The difference is 10 moves down the line. The issue is the placement of the black king. If white gives a sequences of checks leading to movement of black’s king then after black’s attack white can run away to h8. If these checks do not occur black’s king removes these squares and aids in the mate threat. } (40. Rb8+ Kf7 41. Rb7+ Ke8 42. Qxh6 Rc1+ 43. Kh2 Qxe5+ 44. f4 Nf3+ 45. Kg3 Qe1+ 46. Kg4 Ne5+ 47. fxe5 Rc4+ 48. Kg5 Qxe5+ 49. Kxg6) 40… Rc1+ 41. Kh2 Qxe5+ 42. f4 Nf3+ 43. Kg3 Qe1+ 44. Kg4 Ne5+ 45. Kg5 (45. fxe5 Rc4+ 46. Kg5 Qxe5+ 47. Kxg6) 45… Nf7+ 46. Rxf7 Kxf7 { While not the most accurate move, this simplification is also an easy win for black as once the queens are traded black will be up a rook. } 47. Qh7+ Ke8 48. g4 Rc5+ 49. f5 exf5 *

[/pgn]

Vidit, one of the strongest players in India with a rating of 2726, vs Xiong, a very strong GM from the United States with a rating of 2706. The game started with a queen’s pawn game and a later transposition into a London system. The game was extremely even for a large majority of the game, there were some questionable time management tactics demonstrated as well. On move 13 they were taken out of prepared theory. As this was the first point in the game when the clock truly got hit. Further along, there was a simplification that was partially initiated by Vidit but on move 20 Xiong took 16 minutes to decide whether to force trades. Due to the nature of the position, there was no real positional advantage to keeping more pieces on the board as they were not aiding in any attack.

Both players played an extremely even game but the real reason this was a decisive game was due to time rather than straight-up blunders. On move 30 Xiong falls under 10 minutes with Vidit having 15 minutes. Just a few moves later on move 34 Vidit is down to 1 minute on the clock. Xiong is not far behind. It was at this point right before getting the extra time on move 40 that Xiong blunders away the game due to insufficient time to analyze 10 moves in advance about where the king would run to after a belligerent series of checks by Vidit.

This time scramble is where most of the game was decided as the evaluation bar flip-flopped from white winning to white missing the only move that could lead to a drawn position in the end game. Ultimately the scramble led to the blunder that cost the game.

After the first game, it is on Xiong to cause the counterplay and play for a win. This is now more difficult to play with the black pieces while the defending side (Vidit) has the white pieces. At around move 34 is when the game took a turn for the worst for Xiong. The problem was he did not really have a choice and had to play aggressively because Vidit had already won the first game. Despite the position, he could not create enough counterplay and Vidit was able to take advantage of the mistakes and create a hugely winning position.

[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.23”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi”]
[Black “Xiong, Jeffery”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “2726”]
[BlackElo “2709”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]

1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 Bf5 6. Qb3 Qc8 7. Nc3 c6 8. O-O
O-O 9. Re1 Bg4 10. e4 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 e5 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. c5 Na6 14. Be3 Nc7 15.
Rad1 Ne6 16. Qc4 h5 17. Ne2 Rd8 18. Bg2 Ng4 19. Bc1 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Qf8 21. f3 Nf6
22. b4 a5 23. a3 axb4 24. axb4 Ne8 25. f4 Qe7 26. Bh3 N8c7 27. f5 gxf5 28. Bxf5
Nb5 29. Bb2 Bf6 30. Qb3 Ned4 31. Nxd4 exd4 32. Qf3 Nc3 33. Rd2 Ra4 34. Qxh5 Rxb4
35. Kg2 Na4 36. Bc1 Kf8 37. Ra2 Qe5 38. Bf4 Qxc5 39. Qh6+ Ke7 40. e5 Qd5+ 41.
Kh3 Bxe5 42. Re2 f6 43. Rxe5+ 1-0

[/pgn]

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