Indian Derby: Gukesh v Vidit! Table Topper Anish Faces Ding With Shared Lead | Tata Steel 2024 Rd 9

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello everyone it is spooky season welcome to the Tardis steel chest chess Festival which is now on tour in the ha and uh it's not Halloween out there will the players feel possessed in this dark and uh terrifying Arena Daniel it's round nine T of Steel chess some movement in the background but uh yeah what about this change of scenery Daniel naris thank you for joining today I had to check the date to make sure it wasn't October 31st uh but it is in fact January the 23rd which means to stay for time for another day of action I love the environment I hope the lights come on at some point and I hope uh the players will vike up in time in order to make their way to this historic storied Dutch city of the ha for what should be a very action-packed round that's uh pretty much guaranteed and we know that yesterday was a rest day but we we saw a bunch of action in round eight on Sunday uh just before the day's play of uh day of rest and uh here were the results we saw five draws in the master section five eventful draws full of twists and turns but ultimately only two Victors it was Yan naishi defeating nbec Abdus satoro in a really classy positional effort and Alara fuja blowing while Champion dingler off the board with a sparkling attack and uh that yeah I mean that entertained us Danel it shocked us uh ding nbec after Tor of they'll have been grateful for the rest day to be able to recharge and reset yes so so difficult to build momentum uh in this tournament you think you have it figured out and then boom you suffer a devastating loss those two wins could not have been more different um and just a big Shout Out nepo playing some amazing chess the last couple of rounds moving up in the tournament standings but he is still half a point David behind this group of three leaders giri GES and of course ala fua who's had an up and down event but uh his UPS so far have superseded the downs and he's done a great job of bouncing back from some painful defeats that's right we see gesh and ala fua joining giri in the lead but they' both lost two games both won four games and actually only one point difference between first place and Ninth Place right now so it's a really open field and a lot to look forward to today and uh talking of today let's go check out what we have in store for you okay here we go to start donchenko against ala fua what do you make of that one yeah it's going to be a challenge for donchenko but he's been very solid throughout this tournament um and there isn't a single easy pairing as we know from J and June David who's had such a great event she faces prand what a matchup that's going to be yes and Abdu satoro aiming to bounce back back from that defeat as we mentioned uh Yan pishi on a bit of a rooll right now in his match but uh for me the match of the round World Championship uh world champion ding Len against Anish giri and uh what do you make uh what do you predict for that one well he will be playing a World Championship uh soon enough I mean time is time is flying isn't it um I'm very curious how that game is going to go David I could see it being a quick draw I could see ding saying listen I'm not having a good tournament let's play it safe I could also see him I'm not having a good tournament let's not play it safe and I'm really hoping for the latter over the former but also Notre Beck versus Vin Forest big emphasis on Yan naishi I'm curious how he's going to handle the black pieces will he take a lot of risk against way or will he default to the Petrov um and the solid repertoire that he has showcased over the past few years a lot of questions a lot of exciting games today for the spectators who've made their way to uh the he to watch the games in the darkness I can confirm that this is not Anish gir's basement this is uh the apos circus theater hope I'm pronouncing that right AOS circus theater I'll say for those angf files out there but either way we can now see the spectators wow I've very rarely seen chess in this atmosphere um they often say chess players look better in the dark but I'm hoping at some point we get to see the players shine a light on vots yes I'm hoping for that as well but uh this is great I mean it's Innovative it's you know furthers the atmosphere particularly for newer Spectators um it might seem like an you know irrelevant show but I think it's really really nice I think it sets the tone for The Spectators and the players it motivates the players and I really like the fact that um tournaments move City to City that's kind of old school David A lot of people might not know that some the early World Championship matches such as the one between Stein it's in zukertort the first ever world championship match was played in three cities I think New Orleans St Louis and I want to say Baltimore but it was very common for tournaments and matches to move from City to City uh so that Spectators from all across the country could attend some of the games and rebel in the atmosphere this is awesome yeah this really is awesome chess on tour and uh even as recently as the days of Kasparov there were World Championships held in different cities so yeah really nice to see Dutch fans being entertained like this this is but it would be nice if eventually you know at some later point the lights came on hopefully um I mean this is basically blindfold chest right except with the added flavor of having to move the pieces without being able to see them um normally you can just shout out your moves but um I'm expecting a grand entrance from the players any moment now yes maybe they will descend from the sky like you know a cir dis solay show like some unseen force will propel them to the ground right at the spot that they're supposed to be in a for circus dis that's uh definitely on the cards any moment now and uh no gong this time now we're no longer in Vian no gong to start the round but I'm expecting something a bit flashy they're definitely building the tension here setting the scene for us yeah definitely the figures moving about nefariously lend this air of Gravitas to the round the show is being prepared and there we go a view of the spectators looks like a full house David yeah that's hundreds hundreds of Spectators already in thousands let's say hundreds of thousands do you um do you frequent uh cinemas theaters uh like this one Daniel um I'm not a big theater person I've been to like a good amount of plays I can't really remember the last time I've been to a cinema maybe to see Oppenheimer um I think that was the one time in the last couple of years but this seems like an old school theater probably in existence since I don't know 1500s 1600s the heg is a very old city it um its first mention was in the 13th century so here in the US you come across a building that was built in 1890 and we think it's ancient and you look at the Netherlands and you look at some of these cities and when they were founded 1233 1266 pretty incredible yeah that's a bit vague talking about the he 13th century oh my God I'm very jealous and the lights are on Wow uh the players not yet at their seats we're expecting some big announcements the tournament organizers clearly about to introduce the players in a bit of a flashy way and there we go par magley first to take his seat beautiful Arham getting ready he's had a rough event obviously several pain PES but we know that that doesn't his he is a fter um he really plays for the Love of the Game in kind of an old school way and that makes his games so fun to look at yeah yet to click into gear but today he has the white pieces and uh now his opponent Max vadam takes his seat this really reminds me of uh the tournaments actually got me into chess Dan uh the 1994 Intel these rapid tournaments uh where the players that were sat on the stage the lights would dim and uh yeah it was just really dramatic stuff and uh yeah fast forward fast forward 30 years and this is what we're left with chess uh in an auditorium this is beautiful to see and uh now it's the turn of yordan Van Forest um yeah all the Dutch players entering the stage first to Rapture us Applause clearly in the background oh yes deafening absolutely I mean they need to check their ears after word but uh Jordan van Forest has won this event before he is a very streaky player all smiles to start a handshake against Notre Beck AB dorov but of course the smiles will be wiped off the players faces as they always are once the clocks are started Notre Beck definitely has chances to win this event but he will have to shake off his painful loss against Yan pishi uh from the day before yesterday that's right and more players taking their seats now I really love the star star Sky star star night above uh on the ceiling of the theater um as we see more players being introduced who is it now it's Wei he poked his head out there just very brief yeah just brief make sure commentators don't get the name wrong tournament director thanks for standing in front of the camera oh no it's a photographer and there we go we ye with the Stars behind him will he be a star of today's round of today's show he has a big game of him ahead of him of course and uh very good yeah the way Incorporated Stars I'm curious if it'll actually be a combative game or will it all be theater and we we see a quick draw it's the Milky Way behind him Dan no way can't disappoint the that was a galactic level pun I Tred my best and yand pishi now his opponent as we mentioned on a bit of a roll now nice Victory before the rest day um he will want to keep that going but with black it's not going to be straightforward at all and uh that leaves us with just a few players uh yet to take their seats and any moment now we'll be off round line will begin they're keeping us uh keeping us guessing yeah they're definitely taking their time we're used to this tournament starting you know well 8 o00 for me I guess it's 1M in the Netherlands on the dot and uh this organization has been honed over the course of T Steel's 80-year history it's gone through many name changes but the tournament is still the same it's still the prestigious incredible event that we are all used to and love there was prag Nanda also poking his head out of the darkness he faces J and June say woman in red J and June at the board as well woman world champion we're lucky we have both world champions playing in this field and she's done fantastically well and looking dangerous as well she's got a great score but could have been more and uh she'll be aiming to counter if pragnan Anda pushes too hard with the white pieces meanwhile Alexander donchenko we mentioned this match up as well against alera fua and I mean he's just probably the most entertaining player in World Chess to watch right now Dan do you think this kind of roller coaster of win followed by painful loss do you think it might continue oh absolutely I think Alexander donchenko is an incredibly solid player but realistically ala knows that in this tournament you don't have a lot of chances of truly playing for a win with black he tried to do it against vidit that didn't go too well d uh then I think we might see another successful result from the talented French youngster there's another handshake I believe that is gukesh and the Headless buddy there we go now uh the head is attached as well good to know vid didn't lose his head yesterday yeah vidit uh big fan favorite these days vid it he did it and he's now meditating typical pose for him we used to seeing this these days often spending the first minute or two of his games not even moving Dan just uh in meditative mood and now his clock isn't even running so you know he can save time while he's doing it gukesh quietly has had a very successful event had to put away some of the early tournament Jitters but once he did he's been showing very high consistent level um he's obviously been on a bit of a role recently and there is the world champion dingly Ren sitting down at his chair the board very well lit the pieces almost look yellow in the light yeah and uh I do see some Applause from the crowd behind so not the most animated of supporters but they are celebrating their Heroes here uh in the he and uh what do you think about ding is it going to click he's still only one and a half points off the uh the leaders including Anish giri so a win here he'll close the gap feels like he's not quite hit Top Gear do you think today will be the day this is the great irony of this tournament you really can turn things around it's not just a cliche because it's a doggy dog tournament everybody beats everybody I agree I think all it takes is one win uh to give ding the confidence that he needs to finish this tournament strong I think his chances to win the tournament very unrealistic his chances to finish maybe in the top three um would greatly increase with a victory over Anish giri today but Anish has been in such solid Stellar form it seems that he always is in great form uh in this tournament that has played on his home turf it will not be an easy game for either world champion today M but yeah a win in today's round and any ding is possible for the rest of the event so he really needs the world champion to get things going and uh here we see five of the seven boards lit up and any moment now keep saying it but the hand for the organizers to shift it into a higher Geary and maybe start the clocks oh I approve of that one Anish giri of course the local boy right now he lives just outside the he I'm being told so uh lots of home fans cheering for him there we see him on camera the local lad have you ever played David a tournament in your home City and if so do you like the concept of staying at home during a tournament or do you prefer to stay at the the hotel and have the tournament experience yeah it's tough there's a lot of distractions at home I don't know how you find it Dan here but it's just hard to focus lots of CHS to be done it's always nice to get in the zone uh but also nice to get uh kind of that support from home fans right yes I mean I've had this experience many times in Charlotte there's a lot of tournaments but all the tournaments are at the opposite end of the city so it's a long drive and there's nothing I would rather not be doing before the start of a game than like focusing on getting to the tournament Hall you want to wake up go down the stairs get a coffee go to the go to your board you don't want to work focus on washing the dishes from you know yesterday's McDonald's that you had at 2 am and then sitting in traffic and you know making your way to the board so ironically I actually like staying at the tournament Hotel but I'm sure Transportation was arranged to the ha for the players they didn't have to hail an Uber from vion I think the organizers take care of that and there we go I think everybody's seated okay I think it's time to time to get things moving folks y 106 let's go chess on tour and we're impatient for the games to begin um the players of course after this rest day thrown out of their comfort zone by playing in a new venue but uh often that does kind of that change up in routine it does favor those players who've been struggling a bit it's always nice to change things up get this uh kind of different atmosphere going and okay all the photographers looking elsewhere but wow J and June deep in concentration already PR just prac was one of the photographers wearing a jersey that said photo like no it's not clear what this guy with the big camera is standing there doing I think I need to make it clear and there we go Anish looking over for approval can I start the clock you may yes yes Anish we give you permission there go the games are off it's the English opening I approve ding I greatly approve and Anish reacts instantly by pushing Aon of his own and finally Daniel after all of that uh that Eerie atmosphere we have LIF off indeed after all of the Fanfare pump and Circumstance light and darkness we have a queen's gam declined slightly anticlimactic opening but can't really blame Anish for wanting to be solid out of the gates and Bishop to E7 one of the more fashionable moves of course issuing the classical Knight F6 David but at this point Bishop B7 is essentially just as mainstream yeah and uh the idea is to not allow white willingly on White's terms to uh kind of erect this pin with a bishop on G5 hitting a knight on F6 just keeping Black's options open and saying to White yes you can develop your Dart Square Bishop but it's only going to land as far as F4 and of course variety of ways dink can play this he can bring his Bishop out after maybe an exchange of Pawns in the center he can just keep the tension by bringing his Knight out a lot of choice for white at this early stage they tend to take the pawn though that tends to be the trendy move before landing a bishop on F4 yeah I want to say that the only line I've ever seen here is like C takes D5 e takes D5 Bishop F4 and then you sometimes see black readjusting the dark squirt Bishop to D6 the point of the these types of openings is that uh because there's not much going on in the center black can often afford to spend multiple Tempe making multiple moves with the same piece but ding taking his time I'm sure there are other moves I mean Knight F3 is obviously also a feasible possibility I feel like in a situation like this in the world championship David we saw H3 maybe we'll see A3 you never know in 2024 H4 I'm sure is probably like a top three suggestion by Leela but not today today we see traditional chess C takes D5 on the board yeah traditional move Queen's Gambit declined uh this is pretty much the defining structure we'll soon see the K spad structure and uh I don't know about you Daniel but I loved it during the World Championship where it felt like ding was freestyling he was playing these weird wacky wonderful lines which may be a bit dubious but uh it felt like he was pushing himself out of his comfort zone just as much as his opponent and the results were spectacular I mean win or loss Dingus games were so much fun to watch and maybe he needs something like that just to kick him or just to force him out of this kind of funk he's found himself in this tournament yet to uh really kind of shine as we're used to seeing him do I agree completely I I mean I think that he needs to get some sort of a strategic battle I think he struggled in head-to-head tactics we saw that against alira he made a direct blunder I think he needs to get something solid but obviously with an edge and this is a pretty good system um to do that now um E3 I think is pretty automatic and then black has a choice of several different variations Anish gets up once again the light squirt Bishop can come out to F5 and as I said earlier David I also have seen the move Bishop E7 to D6 trying to swap the dark squirt Bishops and then proceeding with uh kingside development yeah and uh looks like girri is a confident man away from the board he's got his opponent thinking first of all and I have just got confirmation that home Comforts are a thing maybe Anish on the rest date popped over saw his kids uh Because He Lives literally around the corner literally a few streets away so nice for him to be uh yeah maybe that's where he went just now he's stopping by home to feed feed his kids you know say hello to the wife and come back to to the board yeah ah that that's uh yeah that's something we'll find out uh this will be proof uh that Home Advantage does exist in chess if Anish giri is able to win this game uh but ding in the meantime uh pausing and maybe we should then take a pause from this game okay he plays the non-committal move E3 very standard stuff and let's go to the bird ey view Dan here because there's some crazy stuff happening elsewhere yeah no I think we need to look at this E3 what a what an Innovative move and Bishop F5 as we discussed by an we might see G2 G4 by ding which is a very fashionable move but we look at the bird's eye view here David and A Feast for the eyes indeed look at beu versus warmerdam there in the bottom middle we have a very unconventional Italian in abdusattorov versus van Forest Jordan with an early D7 D5 push and of course a fried liver um on the rightand corner in pranto versus Jan June H2 H4 so I was right we we did see H4 it just wasn't in ding's game it was in prague's game that's right it's Silence of the Lambs over there with the fried liver attack and uh maybe that's the game we start with prand against xuanjun we started with one world champion let's go to the other in the field let's do it there we will go and this move H2 H4 I know nothing about this line I know very little about um I know that it's been kind of up and down in popularity hikaro uh won a game here with white against Fabiano but this move H4 David what do you know about it is this a surprise this is novelty it's it's a surprise I can guarantee that but it's not a novelty and it has been played a bit recently uh I do remember um firstly this was played against me many many years ago I think as far back as 20 2013 long time ago um either way um this has become popular I remember ala fuia playing this with white against Fabiano kowana as recently as I believe the sigfield cup um probably getting that wrong now but that became a crazy game with black playing the move H6 trying to kick away this Intruder the White Knight on G5 and White's Queen coming out to H5 and uh creating some threats and things get crazy often black sacrifices even more material having already gone down upon pa uh but white is so far behind in development especially with those queenside pieces and there's always going to be compensation um yeah there's always going to be tra so we'll delve into the lines if and when they come but prag trying to spice things up trying to put the pressure on janun really early doors wow what an incredible attempt by Prague going right into the fried liver and I I definitely agree we should wait for uh Black's response to really try to get the hang of this position and to wait to really Plunge in because I mean there's multiple moves here Bishop B7 uh obviously H6 is the most tempting we also might see the Knight jumping into F4 but if I may just ask preliminary question is prague's idea um after H6 and I'll put this on the board really quickly to play Queen H5 because my bullet tactical brain which is the only brain that I essentially have left spots one trick but I actually don't think that this trick works so in this position obviously H takes G5 gives up The Rook if black plays G6 I think white wants to sack on G6 but if black plays a move like Queen F6 takes F7 is a very tempting trick David but I don't think it works the point of course Queen takes F7 beautiful you know we love life we like picking up Black's Queen but unfortunately you attack the piece that's delivering the discovered check I think black has this very unpleasant shot Knight F4 and the only way to step away with the Knight to avoid losing the queen is Knight D6 check but after King D7 white will drop either the queen or the Knight so I wonder what prg idea is after Queen F6 maybe he just wants to drop the Knight back to E4 and continue normally yeah Darkness would fall for uh White in that variation Knight takes F7 is not possible but Knight H7 is also a move Dani in that position I don't recommend it at to play often yeah it is a theoretical move Knight H7 and black is well within the rights to sacrifice material there to get that Knight off the board and try to trap the bishop long term uh with a moves like G G6 but this is known I believe I I don't know the current evaluation I don't know what modern theory has declared whether this is playable at all for white but from a human point of view it's so risky for both sides and that's why prag uh being the better prepared player having studied it clearly with a computer this morning uh feels brave enough to go in for this type of thing yeah J and Jun has to be very very careful um this is not the kind of line that you w into um when you haven't reviewed your you know fried liver in the last couple of weeks so I think this is why Jan Jun is pausing maybe she knows that H6 is the most principled move but she's thinking but wait a second I haven't brushed up on the lines I'm you know I think maybe I'm G to go wrong there so maybe it's worth playing a slightly inferior but easier to play Move Like Bishop E7 these are very difficult decisions which remind me um why I don't play much classical chess anymore this is very committal early on it's only move nine and we can expect you in June to spend a good deal of time um making this this big decision early in the opening against Prague Yeah you mentioned earlier Daniel your bullet brain that's all you need especially in these types of positions but unfortunately for you it is classical chess and easy to get yeah easy to get stuck inside her own mind here just kind of worrying about uh opponent's preparation that's at least what I find the most difficult thing when you know your opponent's about to drop a bomb on you drop this opening novelty or kind of rare idea on you it's just kind of surviving this early stage and uh not getting too flustered but it's hard and uh tough situation for her she spent five six minutes now but about to make a move no I think she'll play H6 and this variation we were talking about Queen H5 Queen F6 likely to appear on the board after some thought of course readjusting her sitting position there but uh this is a game to watch it can I mean descend into complete chaos in the next couple of moves and I like this from Prague I think this is exactly the way that you should approach uh the opening he's playing something risky but he's taking the game to territory where he is just better prepared um and he's playing a very very concrete line where the biggest X Factor is preparation it's not your understanding all of that goes out the window the position is irrational principles don't apply do not pass go do not collect 00 all that matters is who has pressed the space bar uh more times in their chess bace and who has red reviewed their file more recently and that's fine this is the way that you have to play and we will probably leave J and June to her devices here seven and a half minutes in counting David but a good opportunity for us to look at some of the other exciting games yeah she wishes she had some uh devices right now as you mentioned it's all about clicking that space bar but yes let's zoom out and uh actually ipy some other exciting Italians Dan you you spy some other Italians don't you um I mean I think you were very critical to J and Jun and I think you should be nice to her nice to her okay I forget I said anything um should we go to the abdor game let's do just that uh because it's a very trendy um just like that line that paganda is employing now with fuja having endorsed it recently this line has become trendy and uh just I mean I believe even one two years ago everyone frowned down upon this line uh from the black side maybe we retrace our steps here Dan I'm still frowning on it looking at this position me too me too but modern engines have made everything playable um they say everything is roughly level so you can get away with things as long as you know the opening and the variation better than your opponent so if we go from uh move one um we see the Italian game so far so good yeah no fried liver in this one after Knight F6 just D3 and immediately met by opening the center and uh yeah it used to be thought that black was simply not quick enough to do this you needed to get developed first as black before being uh brave enough to open things up but modern players making things work and this has been yeah seen I believe in the Challenger section A few times already this tournament um actually shout out to the challengers who are still playing in Vian and uh have experimented with the likes of Kings gambits this this round but this one has been seen and the current position it's all about the black king down here yes I mean the reason that you know traditional knowledge frowns upon this early d75 David as far as I understand is because black often cannot handle the center opening up early black is behind a development D4 is coming very very quickly and if the Center opens up black just starts to crumble uh at the scene so for example I mean I'm not exactly sure how black should handle this position I think black might be worse already but let's say that black just castles you know what's wrong with this move well after D4 the situation gets extremely unpleasant e takes D4 I mean maybe C takes D4 and Knight C3 uh is a very decent way to treat this position but also just Knight takes D4 Knight takes D4 and and even something as primitive as just Queen takes D4 C6 you could even just play Bishop takes D5 and go for a slight Advantage um or you could add pressure on the Knight play C4 either way when the Center opens up Black start starts to suffer and this is the reason why Jordan has refrained from this line he has played the move Knight back to B6 but dang this is risky now he can't Castle King side he's trying to maybe play A4 and push this bishop away from this diagonal but of course Notre Beck wasn't born yesterday he can push A4 I mean he was born not so long ago but not yesterday maybe he can proceed with this plan this is a very very concrete position yeah these kids they know everything but um yeah yordan he's taking massive risks with black of course that's his style it's a bit of a trademark for him yordan being provocative but uh yeah this is another level of crazy and I guess if white does prevent the Bishop from being kicked off this diagonal say your A4 move um black might even try to Castle on the other flank within the next few turns so Bishop F5 or Bishop G4 um followed by a quick Queen to D7 and castling long and yeah this one I think it's going to be as chaotic as the settings out there in the Hig yeah I mean one side is going to suffer here I'm not sure who that's going to be I would be terrified being black but uh you wouldn't he's the local boy he's trying to make things happen um yeah don't try it at home but interesting for us as commentators don't try it at home but maybe try it in in the he and I I appreciate Jordan's fighting attitude he always brings Innovative opening preparation uh no matter who he's playing against but I'm I'm totally with you David I would be terrified of playing this against Notre Beck but yeah if black can get the bishop out and quickly Castle Queen side you know White's got some tender Pawns in the center and you you do sometimes see um white losing games pretty quickly in the Italian if you don't respond very accurately uh to these to these types of of Sidelines and there's a good Russian expression those those who don't risk don't drink champagne and um either way win or lose I think Jordan v Forest might need some champagne if he loses and he might want to pop a nice toast if he wins so it's a win-win situation great game unfolding here um in the first couple of moves wow I've never heard that phrase before but I'm definitely going to steal it and use it in future anytime I anytime I play a tournament but uh yeah I mean the Italian game it's had this reputation especially the last few years of being a bit dry a bit quiet lots of maneuvering and it only kind of comes life later but suddenly we've seen the fried liver attack one of the branches of the Italian we've seen this MH unorthodox variation and yeah these players these days they're getting restless they're trying to not just entertain us of course but they're trying to kind of uh go for their opponents early early on and it's really refreshing I've got to say no longer just sitting there with the berliners black trying to make a draw just both for their opponents no no no there's lots of Italians shall we continue to roam around I was I that one up like seven minutes ago just like waiting impatiently I apologize I oh wow I can't compete with that GM level of P Danel completes my knowledge of Italian cities there's exactly two of them I know oh Napoli there must be a pun on Napoli or Milan let's oh no I'll I'll cook one up for later either way let's go to another game where there has been I'm not sure whether it's the Italian or whether it's uh kind of its cousin The Bishop's opening but uh maybe just a brief uh brief touch in with uh way and npon Nishi absolutely wow this round could not be more different from again I want to say yesterday's round okay you get what I mean the previous round I guess it's a good way to say it where we had some very slow openings a lot of risk management before the rest day today we're seeing a lot of one E4 we're seeing a lot of aggressive lines by both colors and a lot of innovative ideas in the opening yes the last move David was Knight which came from D2 back to its initial Square okay I didn't like it there let's try to see greener pastures on C3 and you were absolutely correct this was a Bishop's opening and a traditional Bishop's opening it didn't transpose uh into the Italian as The Bishop's opening tends to do sometimes I'll rewind a little bit just to give people some context how did we get here Bishop's opening Bishop C4 on move two Knight F6 D3 C6 which is a very ambitious way uh to meet The Bishop's opening going for full central control with D7 D5 Knight F3 D5 Bishop B3 yes this is traditional theory there's a known trap here David for newer players if black plays D takes C4 do not under any circumstances take on E5 because of the fork but instead I think after Knight G5 black is actually in quite a bit of trouble there is no good way to defend the F7 Pawn so we of course Bishop B4 check Bishop D2 trade A5 A4 Knight bd7 completing their development rookie one Rook e eight now the trade in the center very interesting and Knight B1 on the board and wow they've made like six six more moves while I've been explaining this B6 by Jan Knight comes around to C3 and all the way up to B5 yeah talking of the uh Italian game this is The Bishop's opening but I think this is the in Florence in Florence the rest day that was very good oh I butchered it slightly but um yeah it's just the influence of the rest day these uh these players um it feels like they've done a lot of homework lot of quick moves here we're already at move 14 after less than half an hour and Knight B5 as you say this Outpost big threat Knight D6 a winning idea on the board so Yan needs to guard against this I'm expecting maybe something like Queen to B8 uh it feels like you're contorting slightly or Bishop to C6 and um yeah still should be roughly level but uh he's showing the way to go way here and uh he's the one asking the questions early on setting up the threats the traps okay yeah I mean first impression is pretty positive here for white ignoring the clock situation which tells us that this may very well still be um White's preparation yes you know black on paper has Superior control of the center but a lot to deal with here along the edges David you mentioned of course the media threat uh Knight Knight D6 how does black deal with it yeah I was going to mention Queen B8 which I think looks very very nice because not only do you control D6 but you add another Defender to the E5 Pawn um and I wonder how White's going to treat this position are we going to see a slower move like you know something like Queen D2 something nondescript or are we going to see more concrete play from Wei e will he fall into a frenzy fenzy and play like I don't know D4 fixing the center hard position to kind of get your head around I actually kind of like the look of D4 here D4 E4 drop the Knight back and maybe try to orchestrate another Knight maneuver all the way up to E3 yeah as you say it's difficult um there's a variety of plans available for both sides of course um Wei doesn't need to commit anything yet but I do like D4 as well and it's mainly uh kind of kind of uh designed against Black's Bishop Black's Bishop on B7 if it ever opens up on the diagonal it will become a fantastic piece but uh right now you can pretty much lock it down for life for good uh with the move d4 but that's also very committal you normally don't kind of recommend allowing the opponent to buypass you build a bigger Pawn chain get a bit more space um so it's just about whether he feels it's the right moment he could just wait maybe C3 or kind of build or Quin D2 as you say just kind of not commit and uh decide a bit later but D4 feels like it's going to come uh within the next few moves most likely um I'm not sure what Black's doing next either Knight C5 might be a small kind of positional threat so I would kind of uh I would advocate for either C3 or D4 just kind of either waiting or fixing depending on his mood yeah I think I actually think D4 on this on this move is is the principled approach and it's instructive for a lot of people because it's so easy to reject D4 you see E4 it looks scary it's a Tempo move but you calculate one step further I'll just put this on the board really quickly and then we can move on to um one of our other very exciting games but after D4 E4 Knight D2 suddenly you look at this position and you notice well the Knight on D7 completely restricted by the pawns you mentioned David the bishop on B7 has no future and if it migrates let's say to A6 then black relinquishes the grip on the D5 pawn and this Knight F1 Knight E3 maneuver becomes even more unpleasant later in the game white can also push C2 C4 breaking apart the center reactivating his own Bishop so upon closer examination you begin to see how difficult it is to play Black uh in a position like this my vote is the immediate D4 I think it might give white a small but nagging um and stable Edge in this position yeah there's no way he would play this one D4 um yeah I mean I've actually had that porn structure pretty much this exact porn structure myself a couple of times as black and um at first I thought it looked really attractive black has pawns on D5 E4 it's really nice but yeah you start to realize White's the one with the pawn breaks as you mentioned and as black it feels like you're just always trying to cover things you're always trying to improve pieces whereas you do have these uh weaknesses especially the D5 Pawn kind of long-term saddling you uh saddling you there so okay we're um not going to get too excited about this one there are more exciting games elsewhere maybe but we is about to move let's just see what he plays next and then we will move on it is indeed Pawn to D4 locking the center indeed good decision gives white complete blockade in the center but definitely want to watch I think Jan has to be Jan has to be vigilant in the next couple of moves to avoid falling into uh the situation that Notre backck had against Jan right it's like a slight Advantage ah you think you're still safe you make a couple of careless moov boom suddenly you're essentially lost and Yan blitzes out E4 we will see Knight D2 and uh definitely a game to keep track of yeah both players playing very principal chess um other games that feature principle chess right now um actually all over the place there's exciting Stu going on look at this I think it's just being on tour it's really giving the players a bit more freedom uh to on H6 on the top right by ding but that might not even be the most exciting game wow where to go next maybe a brief touch in uh kind of a brief up update on some of the games we haven't seen and then we might go back to ding against Anish giri against local boy giri who's got more time than he started with um okay you mentioned mag Zulu against vadam first of all uh once we jumped into the round and um maybe just a brief recap there it feels like this one is the Cal before the storm but black has given up a por a bit of a Gambit early on and it's one that we know Max vadam is a bit of an expert in having used this opening two rounds ago against GES yes this is known as the Shara Gambit I think I'm just reading off the chess.com label um I'm actually not that good with opening names um particularly with more obscure openings and you might wonder how this how this was reached yes black is down upon PA so it started off as a queen's gamma declined Knight C3 C5 this is the tarush of course and after C takes D5 for a long time e takes D5 was automatic now it's almost unplayed and if black plays this it means he is going into this incredibly Sharp Gambit line Queen takes D4 Knight C6 blundering the Knight just kidding he can't take it because the queen is pinned this is a very common idea in many openings Queen drops back there is the sacrifice white of course typical baram always goes for the most principle response he accepts the Gambit Queen C7 there are safer ways to play with white but this is the way to try to punish it and what does black get in a turn for the pawn well obviously very very quick development right and you could just see it without any knowledge of this line and I don't have any knowledge of this line so I'm seeing it too Rook is coming to d8 Bishop is coming to B4 even with an untrained eye you can see how quickly Black's pieces unravel and you can understand that white needs to be very precise here I think David the problem isn't so much that white is going to get mated I mean you could Castle fairly quickly but white could get subjected to a lot of pressure particularly on the queen side with you know a well-timed bishop before hitting the Knight maybe in some situations Knight before um a lot of monsters await in this position yeah and uh I must confess that a few years ago I was thinking of adding this opening this sha Gambit to my repertoire as black I spent some time studying it with computers I played through some games and it's pretty much as you say it looks playable um computers always give a tiny Advantage for white but it's hard to understand exactly why and the moves are very very forcing but uh ultimately is black uh yes you're playing for initiative yes you're playing very aggressively but at some point white just gives the pawn back it tends to be a queenside porn as you say it might be the A2 Pawn that you give back at some point or the B2 pawn and once white gets castled it's just a game and um yeah it feels like you're fighting you're having to memorize a lot as Max vadam did a couple of rounds ago he memorized 30 moves of theory But ultimately he ended up in a slightly worse end game and went down to defeat so it's it's kind of that it's a matter of taste it's not my taste to kind of suffer just to try and equalize after uh yeah after all of that hard work but uh yeah if you can and if you can get your opponent thinking early on it can be a nice psychological weapon Max on the camera looks very relaxed out there in the H and it's Pam doing the thinking early on wondering whether he has time to get castled or whether there are more pressing concerns so yeah I'm expecting Bishop E2 and Castle Kings side because that's the Practical thing to do when you're met by a small surprise or uh when your opponent's given up a pawn for nothing you might as well try and uh figure out what uh why and uh try to get castle the as possible but yeah ultimately I think this one will be decided a bit later on I agree yeah I mean the engine in these types of positions tends to give very very inhuman suggestions like Bishop to D2 I mean it seems like a case of wrong priorities like I would you know I would definitely get my king side out before my queen side and the computer always has no fear in these types of positions but I agree David I think we will see Bishop E8 Bishop B2 Rook d8 the queen will drop back Max will try to find the proper spot for his dark squ Bishop it actually could be D6 um maybe loading up the battery against the H2 Pawn so this game is going to we're going to get a little bit more clarity here um once the players decide how they want to arrange their pieces but definitely this is going to be another very interesting battle um which we've come to expect from all of parham's games and this one he really wants to try to win uh to write the ship in this tournament that's given him so many struggles thus far yeah it's like an IMAX cinema out there with the atmosphere and we'll leave Max vadam with uh yeah with this position still up one down but with compensation um I think two of okay I was going to say two of the quieter positions at least one of the quieter positions uh is gukesh against vidit the uh Indian Derby the all Indian battle there uh that's come from a Petro defense I think maybe we just leave that one for now yeah I mean this just seems like relatively equal typical pet structure opposite colored Bishops that's bottom left of your screen it's okay maybe white has a tiny pull there but I agree I think it's a simple enough position we can let it uh stew for a couple more moves yeah and uh there have been porn sacrifices in a few games uh magu against vadam as we just saw um there's been a porn Sacrifice from giri against ding but I think he'll win that pawn back uh and now just a pawn Sacrifice by donchenko against fua um I believe that's still a theoretical position um but interesting that the players have been spending so much time um so up to you Danel do we briefly touch in on to see how donchenko is doing and what he's doing or do we jump straight to that Marque match ding against giri let's jump in here just very briefly quick quick overview of danchenko just because you know it's oi razza and um he is potentially a tournament tournament leader so it's it's it's also very puzzling to me that uh the clock times particularly for Alexander because I actually have played this position quite a few times with black um few occasions where I didn't play The King's Indian and this actually did not come from a reg gozen move order um this came from a queen's gamma decline move order so typically and I'm going to show how this position is normally reached but this actually came from a Carl's Bad C takes D5 e takes D5 Bishop G5 and here rather than the kind of conventional C6 Bishop B7 we see a very sharp line from o Resa Bishop E4 I mean also very well known and after Knight F3 we transpose directly into a Carl's bed now how is this position normally reached Well normally the way that you get it is okay D4 Knight F6 C4 E6 Knight F3 D5 this is the sort of traditional ragaz in move order Bishop B4 now one of White's main lines is cded Bishop G5 I've had this position a million times with black H6 Bishop h 4 G5 um Bishop G3 now Knight E4 and is this the same position no we have the inclusion of I'm trying to figure out exactly we have E3 and Knight D7 added E3 and Knight D7 added very interesting so yeah this is actually a very well-known position but if we go back to the game after Bishop G5 Bishop B4 yeah Knight F3 Knight B D7 E3 H6 and we get something very similar but I still think that this is a pretty well-known that rise out of a regen if I remember correctly David Knight takes G3 H takes G3 and C6 is kind of a standard treatment sometimes this black Bishop gets back around to G7 but Ali Resa of course could also accept the pawn sacrifice in my outdated knowledge this is very very risky extremely risky because black a lags in development and B suffers from a lot of weaknesses in the center and on the king side you do not want to give white a bunch of Tempe to bring out his pieces and challenge some of these weaknesses I think we're going to see Knight takes sh three from oi RZA yeah ultimately that is the more popular move the safer move um I think maybe elas is being influenced here by external factors such as the fact that donchenko spent so much time on the clock 20 minutes pretty much to get here even though it's still well known maybe he's thinking okay my opponent isn't fully familiar with the uh kind of nuances uh maybe I can gamble be greedy take a pawn and try to suffer for it but uh yeah essentially you win a Pawn on the queen side in that variation Daniel but you open lines and if think about the black king it's not really going King side anymore because uh you've played the move G5 it doesn't uh necessarily want to go Queen side but if you take a Pawn on C3 Now open up more lines then it's definitely never going that flank um so a key moment but we are expecting uh Foria to spend a bit of time and then decide to be super ambitious but take a risk or to just uh choose the more positional approach and guarantee a longer game and uh feels like this is the perfect moment some make really exciting uh openings but it's time now to take our first break of the day and when we come back we'll be exploring dingler Ren the world champions game against Local Hero Anish giri so uh let's look forward to that and see you in a few [Music] minutes yeah work hard prce hard keep working and work hard and to work hard and yeah try harder play a lot of tournaments be patient watch my games try to find something inter you really enjoy and you need to do it every day and it's not easy if they really love chess they have to work as much as they can every day play against your friends your family play on the internet anywhere and enjoy play very strong opponents and to always have confidence in your abilities no matter uh how the results might look at some point take it easy not to put so much pressure and just enjoy I never give up never give up and so enjoy the game while you play that's also very important enjoy the game it's a beautiful game so that's the main [Music] [Music] thing I'm here with Magnus Carlson world number one and to many greatest chess player of all time we're going to ask him a few questions I'm going to name a sport you have to tell me the greatest of all time mhm sounds good yeah basketball LeBron James soccer Messi I agree with both baseball Barry Bonds what did he say Okay football like American football Tom Brady I guess okay yeah good one uh tennis jovic golf tiger Fair poker dogson that's a unique one chess gar Kasparov are you allowed to say yourself I don't know if I'm allowed but I think Gary is the best of all time still chess boxing am on Hamilton I agree we're going to play this or that would you rather go on a cruise or a road trip road trip comedy or thriller comedy coffee or tea tea but only slightly preferably neither how do you get energized the sun cats or dogs cats but I like dogs too it's like a this or that is a little bit tough with you you like everything shower or bath oh shower for sure okay I don't have the patience to take baths are you a morning person or a night owl night all for sure would you rather get on a phone call or text message text probably I feel like the answer for you is neither feel like it's just usually yes just go sunrise or sunset sunrise winter or summer summer how many beers would it take for you to drink for me to beat you in a classical chess game that's a very difficult question uh cuz I'd probably sober up during the game so I'd probably have to keep drinking probably start with 20 and take it from there 20 okay how what's the size of the cup um pints wow okay 20 name your price if you have to chess box um $10 million do you prefer to play chess on a computer over the board or on your phone I rarely play on my phone I I would say I prefer to play on the computer in your entire career have you ever had a day where you went I think this guy might be as good as me in chess no uh well I mean not not not you know since not the last 10 years for sure okay has it ever been this guy might be kind of close to me if I have a bad day yeah uh I would say Fabia his best was um very close in In classical for sure my other question was going to be who do you think is the second best chess player in the world so I suppose yeah I think Fabian corana is the is the second second best player thank you Magnus for sitting down with us and doing these rapid fire questions now get out of [Music] here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello everyone and welcome back to the apos circus theater where we are currently in the midst of round nine it's spooky season out there in the ha and the players are thrilling us with some spectacular openings and uh we're back with the chest now in this beautiful playing Hall Daniel what are your thoughts so far to me this is uh shaping up to be a brilliant round oh absolutely it's a Confluence of factors of course the new venue you want to impress The Spectators but also the fact that the players are relatively well rested yesterday was a rest day a chance to catch up on sleep and a chance to redouble their efforts in the opening and I think we see that directly reflected today David so many exciting openings no offense the previous round but uh today's openings are really on a different level yeah I think the players would admit that themselves it's always tough uh before rest day to find the energy to find the motivation to study openings clearly they all spent the last 24 hours deep in uh study mode and we are being blessed today we're seeing the fruits of that labor so let's jump back into the chest I did promise before the break that we would update everyone on what was a porn Sacrifice by Anish giri against ding Len but he's won his porn back and uh wild things happening there potentially uh but this is the bird's eye view and yeah there's uh action everywhere right now my gosh yeah Feast for the eyes yeah I mean look at param Knight G5 unexpected Prague has a Pawn on B3 for whatever reason and he didn't play that move on move one he bladed just arbitrarily in that crazy fried liver so lots to look at and you know if you're watching this just be patient we will cover everything but uh this is classical chess we have to go one game at a time and I think it's fair to start with ding versus giri as as we planned David because just so many developments uh in that game since we last saw it it's like the reality has shifted completely okay so shall we rewind we're on move 16 currently last we saw yeah move six Bishop F5 and here I briefly mentioned in passing that G4 is uh very fashionable this is nothing unusual this is quite common yeah G4 was played Bishop B6 H3 just sort of a little kingside expansion but things that get a little bit crazier here Bishop D3 H5 immediately contesting uh this weak Pawn on G4 this is a brief a temporary Pawn sacrifice uh very thematic give back of the pawn ding says I can give it back but you're going to have to ruin your kingside Pawn structure and you says Nope G6 I will take this Pawn at a later date hopefully before it becomes a queen queen C2 Knight H5 nice move hitting the bishop forcing it back and now Anish picks up the pawn of course Castle's Queen side that's the only available spot for the king Knight df6 preparing to trade the dark squirt Bishops with Bishop D6 uh ding improves his King position King B1 makes sense there's that Bishop D6 move and this is the current position uh ding is deciding whether to trade whether to try to trade on his own terms with a move like Bishop B5 or to ignore the trade entirely and you know continue with his with his development what do you make of this yeah I mean you've broken down the position fantastically there Dan I want to mention as well the extra ingredient of the clock um this is now move 15 but Anish has not spent any time at all um he's pretty much blitzed it up to this point uh which is psychologically scary for especially having a tough tournament the last thing you want with white is to know your opponent still in preparation and it's not one of those positions either where you can just freestyle and just make a bunch of random moves by hand on autopilot and be okay here with white suddenly the H3 Pawn is going to be severely weak long term he might just drop off in any endgame so black has the better Pawn structure Black's Knights they might look at they might make an odd impression on the edge of the board there especially on H5 but they're on outposts especially that H5 Knight hard to boot out and White's King being on the queen side means that you can't really attack on that flank if Black's King goes long and castes queen side as well and look at ding on the camera he just feels like he's suffering I mean he mentioned this during his world championship campaign you know the psychological demons there like uh feeling the pressure everyone's watching him that's the burden of the crown and it feels like he's not enjoying his position today at all um yeah I think I would pick black here if anyone Daniel yes and when you're having a rough event it's very easy to fall into what I would call Here We Go Again mode where okay you lost the previous game and I had this in one of my worst tournaments ever of the 2016 US Championship where I was just losing game after game and it was exactly like this right around Robin you lose to fuja what's your reward oh you get to play Anish Kiri and then the opening doesn't go your way and you start the negative self talk like oh of course I didn't get lucky again I'm worse again and that can really interfere with your ability to find moves at a high level and this plagues players at at all levels so this is a big decision I agree for for ding I don't think white is worse here but I think white needs to make um a very well reasoned decision about whether to trade the Bishops and I honestly don't know I think the simplest approach David is probably to trade on D6 and just play Knight F3 and try to establish an outpost on E5 one additional factor is that black actually does not have to Castle Queen side black El can do this thing where you go like King f8 King G7 and kind of do the half castle that actually looks like a more appealing side of the board to me because with the semiopen C file when you Castle Queen side in these types of positions you often run into tactics like Knight C3 to B5 or Knight A4 to C5 so black skin can actually even stay in the center that's not such a big problem but Bishop B5 here also tempts me a little bit even F2 F4 is probably not such a dumb idea trying to establish a strong hold on E5 but okay pretty dumb um because I suggested it but maybe not too dumb maybe it's on the radar for ding I like it F4 try to blow things open with F5 or just uh cement this E5 Square um ultimately I think you're right white hasn't done anything drastically wrong so you shouldn't be objectively worse but it's just the psychological factors it's the fact he was looking away so much there and he's more than half an hour down on the clock um I actually quite like your classical approach there just trade off the Bishops keep it simple plant the White Knight in the center and it can't go that badly wrong even if you lose H3 kind of in the middle game you'll get active play to compensate um so yeah I mean it feels like it's in the balance but of the two players feels like Anish um who's clearly popped down the road to see his kids while ding is thinking yeah it feels like Anish he's the happier of the two campers right now um I mean how couldn't you be happy if you've just landed 15 moves of opening prep against the world champion yeah there's really no reason to complain if you're an and I think we have full um we really can expect something like Bishop takes D6 and Knight F3 very important not to over um not to exaggerate the extent of your problems if you're ding the more I look at it the less I like a move like F4 because it creates more of these light Square weaknesses in the center um so I don't know exactly if we can make a prediction in such an open-ended position but I'm gonna put some moves on the board maybe something like takes takes okay Knight F3 what would an N do in this situation would he play King f8 King G7 what what catches your eye this position Knight G7 I don't know yeah personally I quite like Knight G7 just to keep options open it feels like the black king doesn't need to commit yet I mean I I agree castling Queen side looks a bit FR with danger right now but uh if the White Queen ever moves then I might consider castling that flank so Knight G7 maybe I really probably will establish a knight on E5 yeah I mean I mean actually I think it's slightly unpleasant for black because it's kind of not clear where to put your king and white has very easy ways of improving in the center so I I really hope that Anish studied you know these types of middle game structures because otherwise it can get a little bit scarier you're black MH and we should point out black isn't quite in time to go uh trigger happy porn grabbing right now Tak on H3 don't try this that's for sure there's Bishop takes G6 but even the simple Rook one should do it yeah Bishop F5 and it's amazing the knights it looks like you can block but you actually can't you just lose the Rook on a it's really as simple uh as as that of course okay maybe Queen E6 but no this is not uh the way to play against a world champion so yeah it's hard to make a conclusion like who has this favored if the time situation was even I would say um probably this favors white given the time situation as ding plays the immediate Knight F3 so very similar but he is trying to prevent Black's Queen from coming out I think Anish must be happy with his 30 second 30 minute time Advantage yeah so uh position wise still everything to play for but uh black up on the clock and uh Anish if he continues to keep up the speed we certainly make uh ding pause even longer ding yeah ding I think psychologically needed a while to come to terms with this kind of new um this new landscape but Knight F3 good move and coming in um okay this one yeah still no clear tactics uh apart from the one we showed with black blundering grabing a pawn but uh yeah this one's still simmering let's go to some games where there's real action um I mean that pragnant Ander game you referenced with a Pawn on B3 black is building a center we went from world champion to world champion last time let's go back to J and June this time and uh I really love what she's doing not afraid to fight with the black pieces to sacrifice and to go at the opponent uh PR's been provocative but I'm not sure it's paying off yet yeah this is a great game in the making um this is one of those games where you every single move can present another twist and turn I think we saw something similar in spirit in the game abdur versus maulu earlier in the tournament that featured a very Innovative opening approach by both players and resulted in a game where the evaluation flipped almost on every move um and this is what you have in these irrational positions where there's nothing to hold on to you're just kind of lost at sea and you have no idea which Pawn to push which piece to develop whether whether to Castle but okay how did we get here we saw the move H4 by Prague a couple moves earlier J and Jun responded with kind of a safer option Queen out to C7 just trying to secure I think all of her possessions on the king side and in the center very reasonable move this was followed by B3 by Prague okay he's trying to develop his Bishop I mean you can't really criticize him for that H6 Knight E4 very provocative allowing F5 um okay I would ignore the computer assessments here because the evaluation is not shifting too much Knight EC3 and Knight back to F6 is this even a chest position or is this out of some Fisher random game yeah it looks like someone's just uh gone to the H maybe G's son was led into the tournament Hall it's like shout out to Daniel and the others yeah but I mean not F6 all of the players uh I mean both players here just making really unorthodox decisions you mentioned it's super irrational this position I think that's the the perfect word for it I mean Black's Knight for example could have jump to more active squares it Retreats instead um White's cluster of uh clogged up queenside pieces here they don't make a great impression but then again the white king might be safe on that flank if you get two three tempy to somehow scoot over to the queen side uh in the meantime I guess the pressing issue is what to do with the white king um E4 might be coming with Force black has Bishop C5 Black's going to get castled it's uh definitely onus on white burden on white here to uh be energetic enough but accurate enough to survive the next few mov honestly it's one of those situations where you can easily take 15 20 minutes per move just trying to decide how to contain black initiative it reminds me of a story um in one of the Anand Carlson uh world championship games uh they had a crazy position where white actually had two or I think black had two queens um and vishy ended up losing that game so he wasn't in a very good mood in the press conference but I love vishy and it was exactly position like this totally irrational and one of the journalists in The Press Room asks vishy so vishy when you had this crazy position you spent like 30 minutes were you really calculating all the variations were you really trying to get to the bottom of the position and Vish is like no I was thinking what to eat tonight so so I think it's safe to say the players are fully immersed in what's going on as we see I think the most logical move by frog Bish should be to will we see an early E4 by J and June or will she prioritize her her own development and if so where is she going to put her Bishops lot of questions very few answers yeah uh lot of questions right now uh Bishop B2 yeah I mean the fact that the most natural move in the position is given a question mark shows how difficult it is I mean what could be healthier Bishop B2 white next plays like Knight A3 Queen E2 castles long maybe and White's actually set up this beautiful Haven for the white king surrounded by all of its pieces um actually something happened uh something similar happened in that game I earlier mentioned between fuja and caruana a few months back in 2023 um White's King got to the queen side looked safe until it wasn't but uh yeah P should B2 question mark wow I'm expecting Shuan Jun to find an active Square I don't know which one that is C5 D6 for a bishop just get castled and come up with a plan of action because it looks like uh you pretty much have to insert kind of castling into your plan somewhere might as well get it done soon but uh yeah Daniel this is just nice to see the players throwing off the shackles and uh going for it AB I'm going to predict that this I'm going to predict this won't be a draw I don't know who's going to win but it won't be a draw I think this is a pretty pretty safe prediction I just want to add one thing which is that the more I look at this position I have a suspicion that E4 while extremely tempting might be a little bit inaccurate why because after Bishop to E2 you might have bitten off more than you can chew uh in the center and white has this very unpleasant Prospect of D3 which will open up the center and give the Knight some more development prospects like if you go E4 and then Bishop D6 I'm not totally totally sure I mean obviously there's maybe a check on H5 but I feel like okay no I guess D3 is wrong but can you really blame me for wanting to okay even the computer doesn't know if this is wrong or right um but I have a suspicion that E4 yeah I mean the engine actually gives Bishop H5 check first Force the king to an awkward square and now play D3 to open up the center and so this is the reason why in the current position it might be a good idea to delay the move E4 save it for a rainy day and as you indicated David prioritize your development I'm expecting Bishop D6 by J and June here yeah we don't know if it's wrong or right we don't know if we'd rather pick black white but either way it's yeah just a crazy position just Bishop D6 castles I think if she doesn't find anything better like maybe she'll investigate E4 for a while but if she finds nothing better then she'll uh kind of pre-move after Bishop D6 just castles and then start to think and she'll get chances no matter what later on black has the center black has plenty of open lines and uh definitely one to check in on um I'd like to also bring us to one of the other crazy Italians uh the game between Abdu sator against van Forest so let's zoom out of this one at least temporarily we'll be back very soon for sure and um yeah the other game Bishop to E3 just been played given a question mark by the computer but white still has the advantage so it's definitely not a bad move uh maybe just the fact that there was better um just during the break there I I saw from our producer that white could have tried something a bit more flashy uh a bit different there could have been a potential Queen sacrifice line if White had played the move Bishop to H6 six in this position in this position and it's taking me a while to get the queen sack but let's say black plays a very natural move Bishop D7 tries to Castle quein side yes because Bishop B6 runs into D5 very unpleasant detail for black so you have to work around it okay and white captures on E5 to try and make use of the E file say Knight takes E5 looks like a blunder but after F4 some craziness could occur Bishop check Bishop C5 King H1 and just Knight G4 giving up the black queen what could be more natural what could be more natural trying to get to F2 yeah Rook takes E7 King takes and I mean who knows what's happening from here say queen E2 check um King d8 and Black's still threatening Knight F2 ideas not quite smothered mate but yeah for example H3 giving the white king some breathing space and the white Bishop on H6 would fall and uh we're left with hanging too Jes I think did a while yeah I know like f two square it's like you know it's like I see Donuts I I don't see anything else but yeah Knight takes H6 okay that explains why the evaluation is not like plus seven but yeah it feels like white is out of the woods here and maybe after something like Knight D2 um white stabilized okay black clearly does not have enough for the queen maybe materially black has almost enough but the black king is going to encounter massive difficulties especially because the Rook on a is is locked out and you cannot afford that because well you're kind of down to Queen it's small issue in this position yeah if you could teleport that Rook from A8 to E8 now in one move maybe you can fight reverse cast reverse Castle King E Fisher random you could cast him but um yeah ultimately it's like fish random where I just like I'm not sure exactly how castling works so I just take my king and just drop it on random scores in the hopes that it will just automat Castle me and sometimes I am positively surprised um but wow what a line Bishop H6 Bishop D7 and by the way D takes E5 just quick question what what was wrong with f takes C5 is it just like Knight F3 and black is paralyzed I think the idea is Knight F3 and yeah if black Castle's Queen side going to get hit by Bishop G5 ah wow according to the engine this was almost like winning for white to put the bishop on H6 what an idea not not easy not obvious we're going to say uh Bishop H6 is very logical in itself because uh I mean now you're kind of doubly preventing black from castling King side both Bishops both Bishops I'm stabbing it no I'm stabbing it uh yeah like the Spider-Man meme like uh but yeah like I guess Bish H six in itself is natural but the followup is uh far from easy for any human to calculate so interesting option but nck plays Bishop E3 and still a good position you've got a say because black still has this dilemma how to get castled on the queen side D5 actually might just be a really disruptive uh disruptive move and what's interesting I really like I think comparing two moves often yields a better insight into why one move is better than the other and I think the big question here is well what happens if black plays Bishop D7 which is very likely uh to feature on the board and here if white plays D takes E5 I still think Knight takes E5 can be very effectively met by F4 but after F takes E5 Knight F3 I think maybe the difference with the bishop placement is that with the bishop on H6 black is essentially paralyzed here black actually can play this very small move H6 covering the G5 square and preparing to Castle Queen side and if black castles Queen side is black doing amazing absolutely not I mean white has control of the E4 Square probably white can get away with a and not just get away but maybe white should play a move like Knight B to D2 and get the Knight around to E4 and white is better but black is surviving you know you're living Bishop F5 the game goes on with the bishop on H6 in this exact position black essentially can't breathe and black can never um solve this problem of the bishop coming back to G5 so maybe this is the reason why Bishop H6 was a little bit more accurate how could Notre miss this very simple detail like six moves into the line honestly he should be kicked out of the heg back to vion he goes he should join the master section the Challenger section unforgivable but no really interesting as you mentioned I mean this this is what the top players do at home they sit there when analyzing openings especially they sit there with computers kind of trial and error with certain moves they try their first instinct the most natural move the computer says no not quite and then they figure out there is a key difference further down the line and it's often something a bit subtle bit hidden uh just like you pointed out there Daniel and uh just the placement of White's Bishop um actually potentially changes everything of course white still doing well here this is a human game after all but um not the 100% most accurate move which uh this time we'll let him off the hook just this once but Bishop B3 and is the idea after Bishop D7 um I was going to say to just continue waiting for example Knight to D2 um I mean that line you mentioned is really attractive anyway but I wanted to show a position where the Black Knight gets oh kicked oh I don't know actually Knight D2 Castle Queen side D5 the Black Knight just lack squares um I have a beautiful outpost on B8 what are you talking about I'm not sure what next but at least I kicked you back step one yeah Knight E4 C4 I mean also looks very appealing I would also point out that after Bishop E3 I mean the move E4 briefly appealed to me until I realized that maybe here okay D5 maybe premature yeah because G5 is not a threat here because of Queen H5 check and Knight G6 this is very important which is why I'm not sure exactly how white should proceed here is it just simple Knight D2 is it C4 yeah it's C4 C4 is very very powerful because it just threatens to steamroll Black in the center and it opens up a beautiful developing Square for White's Knight on C3 and the move F5 is all pawns and no hope you can I mean maybe D5 is a more concrete treatment but even the simple G3 stabilizing the Knight and C5 is coming with a bang on on the next move yeah this is very unpleasant for black nonetheless David uh Jordan's vaunted opening preparation aside he's down on the clock he's in trouble on the board and not's just the wrong guy to you know to to go experimenting against in the opening yeah you don't want to dance with Nock in a crazy position like this and we don't even need the board Danel we can tell on the body language Jordan is not happy with this position he's down nearly half an hour on the clock and um yeah sometimes you need to switch gears it hasn't quite happened for him this tournament but yeah unfortunately with black Against One one of the most ambitious players out there it feels like not the right time to take these types of risks and we mentioned it in the Italian game he's tried this rare idea this modern idea keeping the black king in the center but things are opening things are speeding up pace of the game is accelerating and unfortunately it feels like Black's just not in time to um to keep everything covered to get the king to safety big big trouble ahead for Van Forest right now yeah his opening preparation was blacking today and uh okay nice that's I think that's enough with this game yeah we can push forward we have other action on almost all the boards what a around I mean this is just you can sense the the energy uh today the previous round also very interesting of course high level but today we really have just explosiveness on virtually all the boards so shall we go back to our bird side view yeah let's do that and uh talking of explosiveness my eye is drawn towards a Bishop landing on C4 Max badam against ma Zulu very ambitious play and uh provocative play by both sides I've got to say but Max zlu sitting there in the dark that white king is feeling a bit in the dark as well um I actually think he's being too ambitious uh with the white pieces he's got to pull the break before it's too late yes this has plagued param throughout the tournament sometimes he's gone kind of all in and O he's just made a move that is heavily censored by the computer so let's JP in how did we get here we were expecting white king to be castled by now but no it's not completely un castled it is still in its initial position and the reason for this David is that in this position instead of Bishop B2 we saw this craz move Knight G5 which was met by an equivalent strike on the other side Knight B4 of course Knight takes D3 comes with a check so white cannot snap this bishop off that would have uh ended the game essentially if it was possible and Bishop C4 trying to carve out the D3 square if a knight lands on D3 there will be major problems for white and Knight G2 E4 by Parham is this a case of Parham Panic yeah Knight on D3 will end painfully and uh I mean you can set it up first move that came to my mind because black is ahead in development you need to keep accelerating the play keep playing temp kind of Tempo by Tempo Castle Queen side uh it kind of helps that we've seen a couple of uh weird castling queenside incidents already this tournament but there's a monster threat right Danel n D3 check is a winning threat right now oh traps the queen that is that is filthy I'm just gon to show very quickly like F3 check I mean look at this bishop takes D3 and the que Queen is trapped on B1 on move 15 oh my gosh Castle's Queen side is brilliant and can white stop a knight from Landing to D3 I think all that you can do is basically brace for impact because if you play Knight takes F6 does black Maybe not immediately maybe G takes F6 first okay white has a check on F5 that does exactly nothing what does white do here yeah I just want to mention actually Knight D3 check nearly wins if it wasn't for a Counter Strike I guess Bishop takes D3 and one of the White Knight jumps back in the way and Counterattack otherwise you would just be winning Pawn was on A7 maybe and Max has castled queenside without any delay he's castled Queen side Parham is in huge trouble here yeah I mean this could be a miniature it's only mve 13 but White's already on the brink look at the White's development he's broken all the opening rules and rightly so in chess you get punished if you uh break them too often uh did he miss this move did he for I mean sometimes this is not uncommon you can just forget about castling it's a legal move in chess sometimes took him took him a while to write it down I think the shock on his face was visible there Pam and uh Knight D3 winning threat I think he has to play that move you mentioned Daniel Knight takes F6 uh but black just recaptures and um big big moment in this game Max Madam in terms of opening preparation he's been arguably one of the most impressive in the whole tournament yes and he's very well known at this point as an opening specialist I forget he was Jordan R for second I think um which is no mean Feats Jordan himself is known for his prep and Max is one of the big reasons why um I still remember I mean even as an international Master Max was already considered very dangerous in the opening he made 2600 I think he's very deserving entrant into uh the master section and showing exactly why he had um chances against Prague uh he had Prague in a very difficult position uh in the previous round and now now arguably almost winning out of the opening against maxu I'm struggling to even find any way to try to survive I have one idea I wanted to run by you um if we could maybe bring back the analysis board just to soak all of this in after Knight takes F6 G takes F6 can I try the move Bishop to E2 just trying to castle at all costs essentially okay and uh I've got lots of tempting moves here Bishop takes E2 Bishop D3 is tempting Knight D3 is tempting let's take it let's go the most forcing way let's uh ah maybe I can throw in Queen F5 check here uhuh before I bury your queen not that this is good I mean queen C4 check I have to go King F3 but this is somehow the king actually feels safer here than on E1 weirdly yeah hiding in plain sight I mean come get me this is definitely not part of his plan bam if he plays this it's out of necessity rather than uh inspiration but um Bishop E2 let's try to find a killer here Bishop D3 looks very tempting as well oh my gosh this looks so nice because after takes takes I mean King E2 Queen C4 looks like disaster here I have to go King F1 Queen C4 King G1 okay but come on this is just even just Rook G8 and gang up against G to Knight E1 is a threat now among other things oh Knight E1 Knight F3 mate how about that look at this tactic oh no no sorry sorry sorry you can't go because the Rook actually defends H one oh wait maybe still how you win here King B8 to set up Knight E1 I mean there's going to be something it's going to be kaput soon um total collapse for white I like your king B8 just sadistic but Queen G4 as well going for checkmate oh my gosh this is I mean this is fun but it's not fun for peram that's for sure yeah I mean this looks like a simultaneous game almost uh at some point where one side Mory NN exactly Greco against Greco and 1600 um but yeah get GRE Knight takes F6 I mean there's even Bishop takes F1 we should mention white will not be able to Castle the rest of the game and even that is ugly he needs a miracle to survive I'm going to say it now with white and it's only move 13 yeah he needs to play perfectly I mean the eval is not plus five there is clearly some way that white can minimize the losses um I can reveal what it is just really briefly before we move on um I think it's good for people to know exactly what the correct path is and it's almost impossible the computer line and just to emphasize why this still lost is to play well there's actually several moves okay Bishop D2 but I think the most the Lesser evil is to to take and play Queen E4 which is I mean come on allowing a fork on C2 sacrificing a full rook and the idea is actually crazy Knight C2 is actually inaccurate because after King E2 Knight takes A1 Bishop D2 wins back the Knight Knight back to I have Rook C1 and if white is able to win the knight in this version white is actually okay because you have a pawn for the exchange and black has a really bad Pawn structure unfortunately for Parham black always has this Pawn push F5 and it's not clear where to put this night so even here white is like borderline lost but this just tells us uh just shows us the extent of the desperation if even the engine cannot find anything better than this yeah I mean queen to E4 in that variation allowing a night for uh I mean that's like I mean that's the epitome of an engine move uh essentially like the first thing you're taught as a human as a child don't walk into night fors and then to willingly encourage one as the only way to survive that's counterintuitive to say the least and yeah I mean it feels like P he'll need to try something with a king walk or being a bit Brave here with his King and hoping Max doesn't find any killer blows but um ultimately it just looks like tough tournament by Pam it's uh yeah spiraling he was impatient he sees this white against one of the lower rated opponents this is the time he finally gets that first win of the tournament but no one's weak in this event and yeah it looks like it's going to backfire and uh that happens for anyone we've all been there I've been there too many times when you're in bad form and you try and force the issue you try and force yourself uh a bit too hard and unfortunately when you're out of shape out of sorts doesn't pay off so um big big big developments here I'm going to say yeah not a blunder but a kind of a series of small mistakes from Pam and he's about to get punished yeah this is insane but as you said we can sympathize and anybody who can't sympathize just hasn't played enough over theboard chess especially in a tournament like this it's you feel for Parham it's super painful but you have to push all of that aside and focus on Surviving one move at a time which he undoubtedly and we will focus on continuing our coverage of all these super exciting games because the other games do not stop uh for the blunders on this board shall we go back to our bird ey view yeah and uh we've just jumped out of one ugly position for white uh it might be time to jump into an ugly porn structure but a healthier position for white uh let's check out maybe that we game against Nomi or at least update briefly what's happening there absolutely it's very kind of strange I would say position hard to get a handle on it's a little bit less crazy than you know prague's position and parham's position but still kind of odd um we saw this D4 Pawn Push by wee uh he followed it up with a quick C4 breaking apart Black's Pawn chain in the center and the last move was C4 captures on D5 okay so first question of course is can black recapture on D5 um feels like the answer is no it's like one of those leading questions that the teacher ask like oh can you do this maybe it's because of G4 yeah I was about to say just throwing Black's coordination off G4 is like the ugliest move ever talking corn structures but it might just win a piece and ultimately a pin a winning piece is uh more important than Aesthetics maybe we show this on the board Daniel because it's counterintuitive G4 I mean remove the defender it's you know this tactic has existed since time immemorial and okay uh we might be paying a memorial so the Knight on D5 because Queen G5 Knight takes C4 very clean black has to give up an exchange no bueno and queen E6 only move I think but this is a disaster I mean Rook takes E4 or I mean probably Knight takes E4 is more accurate but it doesn't matter I mean even this is plenty plenty good enough Queen F3 everything is coming in uh black is collapsing so well spotted and if black cannot recapture on D5 what does that us maybe Queen H3 is a possibility I don't know how does nepo handle this position Knight G4 is also possible but all of this seems very superficial very dubious yeah it's not an easy position I quite like your queen H3 at least in Blitz I mean we play it and then we think and then we probably Checkmate our opponents by luck more than skill cavem man chess but um I guess when in doubt these top players they play H5 as well a lot these days H5 would stop G4 threaten to take on D5 but um I don't know Queen H3 maybe we investigate going Route One going direct for the opponent's king yes Queen H3 okay so big question is Knight G4 a serious threat of course it can be met with Knight F1 so my immediate question was can I get away with a move like D6 just opening up the bishop I like it and I'll try Knight G4 because what else Knight F1 I must yeah now as much as I like getting checkmated it's hard to imagine black improving the pieces that much I mean the Black Rock on A8 I mean I could swing it to d8 for example but it feels so slow um I don't really see what I'm doing next with black it looks nice and pretty but Knight df6 maybe first yeah KN looks right yeah Rook C1 Rook C6 also looks painfully slow but I mean maybe there's less going on than it seems like this is some sort of a weird status quo mhm on the king side maybe I can start going after your pawns mhm yeah what a way no I was I was going to say what a waste but what a waste time yeah white here yeah he's not the one wasting things he's one a pawn he's up on position um I really like what way he's done actually it's I find this one of the most difficult things Danel just a few moves ago um the fact that he even went C4 and then took on D5 it just looks so anti positional um White's kind of two sets of double porns now um ultimately they might just be weak but it's also dynamically working move by move the tactics work in his favor and that's one thing I struggle with is to kind of break the habit of a lifetime of kind of playing ugly positional moves even if they work um dynamically and okay we have a move Rook a to d8 by nepom Nishi and still no threat of Knight takes D5 I believe but at least he's improving his pieces so what does white do in the meantime well I think the defaults the default move is Rook C1 trying to like eventually get the Rook into C6 I would just point out like huge problem in Lex position is this Knight on D7 it's everything is well coordinated other than this dumb Knight which is restricted so nicely by The Pawn on on D4 and if black can find a good spot for this Knight you know black had two moves in a row right Knight takes D5 and Knight F6 everything would be copasetic but because of this G tactic and you pointed this out it's very hard to play chess like this when everything is dependent on concrete calculation so very impressive so far by wee but this is the nature of 2700 chess like you do all of this you play brilliantly the first 20 moves and you're only like a little bit better and you need to play another 20 moves with brilliant chess before you make a dent so maybe Rook C1 maybe something else maybe something more concrete I know Knight C4 has to be calculated but that opens up the possibility of these unpleasant ideas like Knight G4 and queen H3 but maybe the White Knight can circle around to E3 not totally sure yeah lots of options and as you mentioned like you need a lot of energy a lot of precision to play these positions with white and uh he's shown that up to this point but one wrong move one slip up allowing black to take back the pawn and establish a bind and suddenly we'll see things roll the other direction um so yeah Nom's not done that much wrong either he's solid with black despite being kind of going to call half a pawn down because of White's Double D pawns but um yeah this is one maybe to check back in on a bit later we I think this is a critical moment so he will be spending a bunch of his time already at move 20 as well in this middle game um okay wow we're really spoiled for Choice Abdu satoro against van Forest I just want to mention hats off to you Dan you predicted the whole line and uh if White's Bishop was on H6 in that one it would pretty much be game over but uh maybe I mean maybe while Y is in the bathroom Notre can just slide that that Bishop a couple squares up I mean that doesn't really change anything does it what else do we have okay prag game kind of moving along J and June bottom right of your screen J and Jun has managed to Castle yeah they're kind of following the path that you laid out the Knight is on A3 the white Bishop has slid up to A6 um not a blunder there is a queen on E2 that is supporting it there's also the vidit the gesh vidit game and feels like game has just been the most lifeless of the ones we've had this round of course we could check into it quickly just to see if white has managed to manufacture any kind of Advantage at all yeah let's I think let's do that uh it feels like this is a good moment just before uh things really get uh heated again on other boards to go to gash and vidit just to uh maybe show the opening or uh kind of just talk about what both players should be aiming for right now it's gash's got a lot more time on the clock vidit I very rarely see him employ the pet maybe I've missed some of his games but I've seen him from time to time but clearly a mark of respect to his young opponent but he's happy to try and equalize and Danel it looks roughly level opposite color Bishops as you mentioned but white maybe has a few more targets with his Bishop yeah in a Blitz game I feel like white White's position would be very exciting but it something tells me B it has very accurately calculated all of the shenanigans uh and properly understood that none of them actually lead anywhere I mean the most tempting move for 99% of people is Knight to G5 you know it's go time let's attack F7 but all of this is easy to disarm in in a classical game I think so for example if white plays I mean maybe Knight G5 is the correct move but it seems to me that black could always interpose with a knight on D5 maybe you take on E1 first I really don't want to yield the file yeah Knight D5 maybe is inaccurate according to the computer but I'm not totally sure yeah how should black me Knight G5 yeah I I do Wonder just move by move sometimes whether you trade Rooks and play Bishop F4 for example I'm always scared of these tactics on F7 and yeah as you're pointing out there don't play H6 ever Queen takes G6 isn't but um but Bishop F4 or it feels wrong to give up the E file first this could this is either fine for it's very bad for black yeah rookie Knight D5 I was hoping for but a bit hairy a bit scary you want to get out of a out of a Petrov I guess um so okay but I feel like vid has found something against Knight G5 otherwise he wouldn't have spent this much time um on G6 but it's not so easy I mean takes takes you really want to go H6 you want to chase away the Knight yeah King G7 just get out of the pin m get out of the pin uh ultimately yeah it looks really beautiful for white but no threat uh you defend F7 at least now Knight takes F7 white ended in an awkward pin and yeah like you say H6 or Bishop f4 on the cards eventually you get time to trade Rooks with Rook E8 once the Knight has uh been forced back and it's kind of slow but step by step it feels like you should get closer to equality um GES there yeah just again looks like he's meditating now in the dark just wondering how to uh pose problems to his opponent um what are your predictions here Dani uh this one going to fizzle out eventually with good defense by yes I think I just try you trust vidit to to fly through the turbulence and make it make it to the ground safely it just feels like the nature of White's threats is very um ephemeral like white can POS a couple of one move threats but if black solves them um structurally black is completely fine so the problems are purely tactical we're helped Along by the eal bar if it showed like plus three I would be um saying singing a slightly different tune here but I think as long as white has a response to Knight G5 um everything is fine forbid it it's a little bit uncomfortable yeah you know there's some unpleasant threats but I think this one ends in a draw um and Fizzles out in in the next couple of moves that's my prediction yeah so one of the karma games so far today but still with a lot of life left and uh Kash perhaps on the slightly better side of an equal position and uh yeah with so much happening cross the board on all seven uh games right now I think this is the perfect time before things heat up yet again to go on a break but we will be back and we will update you of course on all of the developments here in the ha so uh we'll see you very uh very shortly get a te we'll see you in [Music] three maybe the first time was that I played against my mom and I lost I was losing and then she would turn the board around and I would be still losing and so what's going on uh playing in a chess club uh with other kids play against a robot watching the Anand cson world championship match and and going to primary school and we had chess lessons there and I also remember being like R cup or something and then losing that game I won the province Championship so that was cool actually when I was a small kid I used to play with just pieces which was like a very picturesque you just said but uh had no idea there are some rules I remember winning my first under eight tournament in 2006 close to where I lived mate is in four moves from the position in front of you don't move move until you figure it out in your head don't look at me for a hint I can't do it without moving the pieces yes you can clear the lines of men in your head one at a time and the King will be left standing alone like a guy on a street corner I'll make it easier for you [Applause] [Music] what was that about I thought it would help how does that help you know visualization and stuff I'm not picking up the pieces sometimes you don't need to do anything crazy to get better you just need to reassess your chess I'm Grandmaster Maurice Ashley and I'm presenting Jeremy Silman how to reassess your chess now on chessable so go to chess.com yourest and start reassessing your chess [Music] today can you beat Magnus Carlson okay yeah probably not but what if we give him a few distractions can you beat Magnus while he's cooking what if he's playing football how about Magnus skiing surely you can beat him sleeping now there's a Magnus for everyone this month on chess.com [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome back to round nine of the TARDIS steel chess Festival where it's spooky out there in the AOS circus theater both on and off the board and uh we've been treated so far to some really exciting openings we're now in the middle game phase the clocks are ticking and some players are panicking and uh welcome back after that break I Am David Hal and I'm joined by Daniel naroditsky Daniel what has struck you so far about today's round yeah I mean we expected a lot of action a new environment um as well as time to rest for the players and uh that usually creates some very exciting games that's exactly what we've gotten I mean we're not even two round two hours into the round and we already have some breaking news some amazing action Parham already ready with a l position um such exciting openings today and the best part is that plenty of action to follow in the next couple of hours DAV yeah it feels like they woke up and some of the players chose violence so uh let's jump back to the chess and that's where the action is and okay the birds ey view where to begin uh it feels like action yeah the games are progressing quite quickly um I was expecting due to the nature of the positions how chaotic some of them are that we would see some of the players tank some of the players get into time trouble early on but um actually around move 20 on several boards already should we start with uh dingen against giri just a couple of updates there just uh a brief touch in uh before we move on to the more complicated more uh Dynamic battles absolutely I think um nothing Earth shattering on this board but definitely a couple of interesting moves and the game is taking on a very particular character going into the later stages of the middle game okay so after Knight F3 just a couple of moves ago Anish swapped Bishops on H2 now he brought his Knight back to G7 just as we kind of had anticipated an ding centralizing his Knight on E5 for some reason the computer did not like this move um it begs the question maybe black can take on H3 now but I still think the answer is a very emphatic no but Anish played the very natural Bishop F5 going for the light squ Bishop trade and this current position ding is down to 53 minutes and there's plenty to think about I mean of course you have to calculate the strike with E4 very very tempting in faster time control game um you can take on F5 it's one of those positions where there's like a million candidate moves and you don't even kind of know where to start you're just sort of swimming in the complications yeah and that isn't great when the clock is ticking when you have four or five different different candidate moves and of course the opponent has four or five different replies in every turn um I'm wondering about this question mark maybe it's not due to the fact it's a bad move Daniel we see the evaluation bar still roughly in the center but missed opportunities you mentioned Rook st's H3 or something taking on H3 which felt super risky could black have played Knight G4 on the previous move I'm just trying to find concrete ways to uh justify the fact that the bar reacted wow I think REM best piece exactly right that's a brilliant spot using the under Rook on H2 to engineer the Knight trade and if I take Knight takes G4 Bishop takes G4 and black is really happy here I mean again not because black is winning the pawn um after Rook G1 you're definitely not taking it I think but not to put any words in your mouth of course you're welcome to enough to take it but maybe just Bishop I don't know exactly Bishop F5 yeah I think this is working out just fine and once the Knight on E5 is gone white is left with the long-term weakness on H3 and black is is quite a bit better this might have been a missed opportunity great spot yeah and uh I mean I got here just mainly because in all of these variations I wanted to play Knight D7 as black but it felt a bit passive a bit slow uh but Knight G4 just uh again I would never find this I think over the board uh if I didn't see the evaluation bar but um 94 is basically the same way of exchanging your opponent's best piece with gain of tempo so yeah that's tough to see Anish plays a very logical move longterm he wants his Bishops off that was Black's worst minor piece by a mile and white light Square Bishop quite important but yeah maybe there was better so now it's up to ding he would love to get F3 E4 in I don't know whether he tries that now um just before black HS fully organized before the black king somehow finds safety yeah I was trying to get the hang of the immediate E4 but I've kind of soured on it um because after E4 I think the issue is that it looks very very nice it looks like you're playing according to principle but even if black centralizes the Knight on D5 okay this is a very messy position I have no idea what the evaluation is of course it's very scary for black but the king can also just hide away potentially on G8 but even black can just like trade on e4 and play King f8 so this doesn't quite um isn't quite as impressive as it looks I I like your suggestion of pushing F3 and preparing E4 because now E4 comes with quite a bit more pizaz and even if black trades on D3 I don't know how you were planning to recapture probably queen queen takes yeah and E4 is coming and again it kind of hurts black that you can't Castle Queen side and if you play a move like King f8 yeah E4 and I would take white here I think white has a more pleasant position at this point yeah black longterm again doing very very well but just feel feels a bit loose for now um especially if White's able to hit with gain of time while the black king queen Rook on A8 aren't quite mobilized yeah Queen E3 being one highlight of how loose Black's position is just feels like things are coming with gain of time gain of tempo and normally a bad sign I do wonder whether black does try to Castle Queen side at least for example in this variation instead of King to f8 hesitate to suggest but Queen to E7 maybe instead of King f8 and E4 Castle long and hope that you're surviving on that flank but um again does feel like something's a bit wrong some tactics potentially uh in White's favor I don't see them yet but um yeah I mean this one it might just hang on one or two moves on a small window of opportunity for D yeah maybe something like Rook C2 and I don't know get this Knight around to A4 but this is position that will depend very heavily on calculation and it'll be very important to have a lot of time on on the clock so anisha's clock man management might come in handy um but it's very hard to predict what direction this game is going to take literally and figuratively and what direction black king is going to take um will he go west will he go east um hard to say hopefully not South yeah I mean or Black's position might start going South but I like F3 I think F3 is a good move because it's not too risky and it's a nice healthy idea in the center but I think ding needs to he needs to get cracking here you don't want to you know spend another 50 minutes and suddenly you start getting uncomfortable I think I used to as a commentator slightly exaggerate the role of time pressure you know player would drop below an hour and I'm like okay that's time for the time scramble they basically playing bullet but I think ding is already feeling a little bit uncomfortable he's feeling the pressure yeah it's all relative right I mean for fuja it's not time pressure until he's below five minutes on the clock but for some others I would include ding it feels like time pressure maybe when you're around the half hour mark still with a bunch of moves to play especially and type of position as well um especially if it's a bit more open a bit more wild then you need a lot of time on the clock and it might get that way so yeah I mean I suggested F3 because I was too lazy to calculate E4 but he's doing the right thing he's calculating E4 the most forcing move first if it doesn't appeal then he'll go and look for options and F3 is a safer way of doing the same thing so um again want to check in on there's actually crazy updates elsewhere um as dink Ponders his next move still a healthy position for him but uh wow ma Zulu found Queen to e for Dan what we thought was almost a superhuman saving well not saving idea but a way to salvage something from the wreckage of White's position so I think this is the next game to go to absolutely and by the way F3 by ding let's give ourselves a small pat on the back um give you a pat on the back you pointed out F3 giri just like blitzing out his moves he really wants to go home and and see his kid sooner sooner rather than later Bishop takes C3 okay we'll keep an eye on that one off we go to um I was going to make a pun I'm going to save it let's go to maxu waram where Queen E4 is on the board and like you said this is step one this is not like the final step the saving resources is the first step to make sure you don't lose in 15 moves Queen E4 yeah I mean I think uh I would have spend a lot more time than mag Zulu did there and maybe maybe if I realized everything else was lost then this kind of is the only Resort this is the last way but uh yeah walking into a fork willingly um max now has a really Pleasant decision I guess he's going to trade queens and jump in with that KN check but I just wanted to go back into the variation we mentioned earlier Daniel and revisit that F5 move to show how important it could be and to show what Max should be doing here to maximize his Advantage oh no I did it I didn't even mean to sorry no I mean you have to I think there's a different word to use um in that situation yes what you're saying is that after Knight takes E4 uh we should remind the viewers that if you just go immediately for The Rook white will play Bishop D2 and this is like the worst version for black but there is this button that you can press and you can press it at various moments you can press it right now you can play F5 what is the point of this move well point of this move is that suddenly White's Knight is in an uncomfortable spot you can't really come back to C3 because then the Black Knight will be able to evacuate my instinct here is to go Knight G5 but this feels like it should lose somehow like how how does black combine is it now time for Knight C2 does black or Rook G8 here what do you think is the most effective way to maximize Black's Advantage no it's tough um I mean Rook G8 would be the first instinct because Knight C2 I don't think it's running away yet and often it's nice to keep the options open but I don't see exactly what to do after Knight takes F7 yet I'm hoping a flash of inspiration the Knight is pretty much trapped there but how to close the door um yeah this is S Knight D3 and Rook D7 but then it feels like white can counter attack the Knight yeah R D1 okay we need to be creative here um how about a knight check on C2 and then oh W the bar's moving oh dear I was going to say just something like Rook d8 or Rook D5 to close the cage and try to trap yeah I was about I was going to propose something like maybe even in this position Rook d8 or Rook D5 [Music] um yeah this is fun for us but it would be infuriating for for warmerdam wow the is D7 Knight E5 okay this is like the typical Rook E7 uh why is this so good at the end you have Rook C7 to break again this is just this is typical like when you play the moves out you're like well obviously this is so easy so here's the point everybody the Knight drops back to F3 and this is exactly the opposite of what I thought we were supposed to do I thought we were supposed to trap the Knight but no now you go for the fork white plays Bishop D2 and after Knight C2 Rook C1 this is just like the abor of game where there is some tiny detail at the end now you have a rook E7 to C7 defending the Knight and black emerges up an entire Rook so instead of trying to trap the Knight you use the Knight as bait in order to get this Rook to a superior Square incredible and Max has taken on e4 and that's the easy part will he be able to find all of these moves and by the way after F5 of course white can also play Knight G3 which is probably the Lesser evil uh for this very simple reason but then you're potentially walking into a nasty move like F4 um not sure if this is the time for black to go for the fork ah you can actually maybe try to um no never mind but not totally sure what's going to happen here yeah it's really not easy actually um credit to maulu for finding this narrow path to survival and actually giving Max an even narrower path to a big Advantage um if he finds this Max F5 first and this whole idea with Rook D7 then that's another level of genius and um yeah I think that would be one of the fins of the tournament so far but um yeah I mean that idea wow so deep So Sophisticated in a position where it looks like you can I mean you can pretty much go for it and uh win on the spot but um yeah it's far less easy than first appearances here F that variation wow that's an incredible variation and I'll just complete the circle here after Knight G3 I think the point is Knight C2 check King E2 Knight takes A1 Bishop D2 and in this position as a byproduct of the move F5 you have this beautiful long diagonal for the bishop so you can just give away the Knight you can play Bishop G7 Rook takes A1 centralize your Rook on D5 um this is a findable move of course restricting the Knight and here black clearly has uh technically winning position you have a beautiful Bishop you have the prospect of H5 H4 but understanding all of this is just so much harder then when you have the eval bar you have the engine at your disposal first step for Max is to find the move F5 to realize that you want to flick this move in which I think he might be able to do intuitively but then there's the concrete component of finding all the followup moves I mean defensive skill David has exponentially risen imagine someone like ginet are you know alakin in the 1800s white would have just gotten mated as a matter of Honor you were just not supposed to trade Queens but nowadays it's gotten so hard uh to beat these top guys even on the worst on their worst of days yeah they're so stubborn these top players they never go down without a fight even just I don't know 10 15 years ago Daniel I used to play Grand Masters they make one slip and they kind of fall apart now all of these Grand Masters like you say they're fighting they're throwing things back at you they're kind of giving you a narrow path it's partly the rise of engines showing that there's always resources in positions but I think just generally the uh the level of Chess has risen and uh more awareness of kind of the psychological side of things needing to be strong needing to be tenacious needing to be uh kind of uh yeah just uh yeah a great defender in all types of positions so the fact that he's paused here I'm going to say Max is very um W very positive the fact that he's realized that F5 is an option because I think 99% of us probably myself included would play Knight C2 take the rook in the cor then start to think but F5 that threat is not going anywhere so um yeah sometimes to keep better to keep these things up your sleeve up your pocket for later amazing this is honestly just lovely complications we have the luxury of enjoying them Max has to suffer through them but yeah just amazing I mean this is modern chess like Knight C2 ch is is the wrong move amazing letter direct let's go but no I mean of course like when you play Super GMS regularly you just know that uh stuff like this is too good to be true and um if you think that uh you see something as simple as this you need to pause reevaluate and go deeper um under the many layers of this position this is one to keep an eye on but we should probably give Max a chance to work through the complications yeah that will take a while and uh he's wisely investing his time but instructive stuff and um I mean I normally hate that that old chess idiom it's like when you see a good move look for a better one but this is literally that case it's like there's a great move KN C2 check pick up material but there's a much stronger move right now um so yeah listen to those uh those idioms when you're a chess player um okay where else to go actually even the less interesting or what we thought initially were the less interesting of the boards have livened up I'm seeing a rook on H5 from donchenko um prag I mean his game is just as crazy as we predicted um I recommend one of those two Dan I'll let you pick though let's go to the donchenko game maybe briefly just because it's been a while since we've had an update and then definitely to the to the Prague game we will go afterwards so this game uh moved along kind of the lines that we had outlined where verua did not accept that Pawn sacrifice on C3 he took on G3 and brought his Bishop back for B4 to D6 donchenko has just slammed a rook on H5 which is actually a very sensible positional move you're trying to separate Black's kingside pawns and I guess his followup is to Castle Queen side and maybe double Rooks on the H file just Target the H6 Pawn in some ways this is a little bit similar structurally to the giri to the ding giri game where white has these ideas of opening up the center we have just seen Knight D7 by G I wonder where this Knight is going maybe E5 C5 I don't know no it's going to F6 chasing away The Rook good move yeah not B8 that's for sure no really instructive um actually until I just saw this move land on the board uh one that I hadn't foreseen I to say this looks beautiful strategically for white um but now you're not quite in time to establish this bind both Rooks on the H far for example Knight F6 as you say just locks things down and a lot of similarities with that Ding game uh that you mentioned especially the black king it's like will it go long will it go to the queen side will it set on G7 long term um I find these really hard to evaluate I must say it feels like both sides have chances but it comes down to when white breaks with E4 eventually you get itchy fingers and you push and For Better or Worse the position gets a bit Wilder so um yeah all a he's uh I was going to say a man in form he's had an up and down tournament but uh up and down year as well I've got to say 2023 it's ended on a high it's uh feels like uh he's just peing at the right time and it's just a case of whether he does that in this game as well in this tournament and uh in the meantime talking of his uh 2023 he did become a candidate at the end of this uh this year but in the meantime what's more important it's chess.com performance and he's played a bunch Dan on chess.com in 2023 1,4 games that's a lot not as many as you I must clarify yes I don't even want to say the number um I checked before the show it's um it's quite a big number it's around like 177,000 um so you know how wisely I spend my time but in all seriousness this is a great new feature a year in review gives you a snapshot of um how much time you spend doing the best activity on Earth playing online and spending time on chess.com Ali Resa um he didn't play quite as much in 2023 um as he did maybe even during the candidates Tournament of 2022 uh but that she'll go unmentioned but of course for Al Resa online chess big big part of his development big reason why he is such a well-known name uh such a revered young player with Incredible promise despite all the naysayers he's in the candidates he's got as good of a chance as anybody yeah still in love with chess as we saw by the amount of games he played on ches.com still hungry still passionate still thirsting for that chance at the world championship title and uh I must mention his on the previous graphic his best win against Magnus Carson that's not too bad either and uh as we watch alaza wait for his opponent's move remember everyone at home you can go and check out your stats as well on go. chess.com why I see so um yeah that was his year in chess um his year 2024 could start very well if he's able to win this game but black against such a solid competitor not going to be an easy task yeah not at all and this is very undefined position um it's kind of a slow burn this game especially compared to what we have so perhaps we should switch over to a completely different landscape the Prague J and June game we can perhaps go straight there let's see if I can flip that game on WOW I mean this just this game just continues to get crazier and crazier more and more undefined the lines continue to blur but J and June's clock continues to take down and that might be one among several disturbing Trends also controversial Point she is still upon P down yeah counting is important always in chess we sometimes forget to do it but essentially that's the first thing we should always uh kind of mention in a position it tells us uh who has to act more urgently in the middle game in this case it's definitely X and Jun as she Retreats her Knight bit of a threat the Knight coming around to attack White's light Square Bishop so she's up on down the pressure is on her prag it's just about consolidating and trying to um kind of eek out an advantage in the end game with his extra material but uh yeah it's a crazy position here Daniel it looks like I mean you mentioned Fisher random chess earlier it looks like White's kind of unraveled but very unorthodox squares for those pieces as yeah bit of a threat on the board yes jinjun trying to get her Knight around to C5 um but Prague will definitely nip that in the bud and I'm starting to sour a little bit on Black's prospects here I was very excited by how je handled the opening but now that prag has managed to unravel his Queen side and get his King to okay relative safety of course this is not um this is not a villa in Mexico but it's it'll do you know it's got running water and and a shower and um it's hard to attack the queen side here and my immediate question David is can white play this very primitively can you place simple chest Bishop takes B7 Queen takes B7 and now disarm the C4 Pawn either with F3 but my instinct is to play D3 here maybe not the most accurate move but just as a representation of the fact that Black's position is a little bit uncomfortable uh even even here if white plays this very primitively yeah um actually when I was watching that uh aforementioned game uh f against Carana last year in this exact opening White Castle Queen side and I thought okay White's King is safe now White's just going to win extra Pawn extra material but suddenly things turned um unfortunately for xan Jun it feels like that's this isn't one of those cases and I really like your Bishop takes B7 normally I'm a bit uh reluctant a bit Lo to part with the bishop pair But Here let you say White's just so Speedy F3 D3 black is still four five moves away from Conjuring up some attack and the white Bishop on B2 is actually going to be beautiful both as a Defender and an attacker so yeah F3 I'm struggling to see it the compensation it feels like maybe a few too many kind of slower moves by xun maybe E4 a bit prematurely as well um Knight A5 back to B7 loses time she's had to move her Queen a couple of times yeah I I think I'd pick white as well um yeah the extra time as well just a bonus for prag right now um we have to look at it though Bishop takes B7 that's the way to go how does black even drop any compensation for the sacrificed material yeah I'm not sure like okay let me just move play this again Queen takes B sorry I'm I'm giving our producer a nightmare going back and forth but I'm just trying to figure out like after D3 the evalar is not you know enthralled with this option why is why is black okay here I mean relatively okay here what does black do Bishop takes C4 I thought maybe just DT C4 and then I can continue chipping away at the center with F3 what what would you do here with with with black uh apart from Panic or from yeah after the Panic has subsided maybe Knight D5 I don't know yeah I was going to say forcing moves Bishop takes C4 isn't appealing because you'll never break the white kingside uh I say King side but Queen side structure uh where the white king is going to be super safe Knight D5 looks like pretty much the only move that kind of calls out uh but Knight A4 maybe if just white white dodges how are you going to break through these two white Knights um both of outposts both protecting their King white white is undermining the center as well um xen Jun she's the queen as we see the chess queen as we see on that graphic right there but big questions to answer big problems potentially in her position yeah I mean this is the kind of position where you make one more inaccuracy and you're essentially lost okay maybe black can play something like Rook 8 E8 and just try to brace for impact in the center but this reeks of desperation um and white doesn't even have to rush D takes C4 you could sandwich a bishop on E5 you could already consider fighting on the flank um white would be spoiled for Choice uh in a situation like this maybe the move A3 can be flicked in posing a very difficult dilemma for this bishop can't go back to A5 because yeah this is the key A3 is actually super nasty if the bishop drops back now you take on e4 and Black's position starts to collapse um and with 38 minutes on the clock for over half uh the moves to make until time control I'm starting to really worry for Jan jun's Prospect she needs a big mistake from Prague I think uh for this game to to turn around yeah it definitely feels that way uh he was just the better prepared player like he this is such a wild line that you need to have uh kind of studied it just before the game to keep things fresh in the mind and yeah Bishop takes B7 I don't see anything else for white maybe Knight A4 first but it feels a bit uh convoluted to kind of plant all your pieces so awkwardly on the queen side yeah Bishop takes Knight maybe yeah maybe after D3 in that variation black takes on C4 and just pretends they're not a pawn down plays on but you got to assume that White's better there and it's not the type of advantage that will slip anytime in the near future so prag um we talked about it being crazy but he's the one kind of working things in his favor he's the one who's uh maybe just got a better kind of feel for this exact position J and Jun she's been really solid this event but she's yet to be tested until now in this kind of irrational position looks good for what yeah well said and definitely also Knight A4 in this position um looks quite appealing just taking the sting out of Knight C5 preserving the possibility of Bishop takes B7 when you look at Prague now you feel like he's been 2740 2750 for ages you know you get the sense of a very seasoned super GM it's it's so hard to imagine that just last year he was you know below 2700 it's it's crazy just the way he plays with such such Precision he's so well-rounded so well prepared uh he's super GM for a for a reason and I mean he's continuing to climb he hasn't lost a game literally in in ages since he was like three years old like yeah 41 gam streak I think 41 that's right I mean I've thought of him as a 2700 player since he beat me when he was 12 years old sold when I was 2700 so that's pretty the last like since then we've gone on very different trajectories and um yeah I've been lucky enough like last year he came to Norway uh where I'm now residing and he he was uh at a training camp with Magnus with some other really top players and just his level of calculation is another level um of course understanding is really good his General feel for where the pieces belong but his calculation really sets him apart so that's where his coach rames has really kind of uh kind of helped his students shine and that's the thing here he's kind of done a bit of the hard work already he's won a PA and if it comes down to that phase of the game where it's just pure calculation till the end I think um yeah he's uh he's just going to wrap this up and bodes well for his candidates chances imagine not losing in 41 games when you're playing 2700 opposition half the time he's really really I mean we're watching a superstar mature in front of absolutely and just to Spotlight remesh um I had the great honor of doing a little bit of training with mes and Prague and morali another talented Indian GM um a year and a half or so ago and yeah raes is just a lot more than you know just a chess coach uh he's you know a great human being but also just a mentor father figure for this new generation of Indian Talent he is Class Act he's so good at selecting material and uh providing just the right kind of advice so big shout out to uh to remesh for all of his incredibly dedicated hard work it must feel so good to see it paying off in real in real time fully agreed and um yeah on that note let's leave prag to mul over how to try to push an advantage or how to at least stabilize his position with the extra Pawn um the other game stemming from the Italian opening that we kind of keep pairing them up this game of course the fly liver attack the other unorthodox Italian Abdus satoro against van forus I i' like to take us there because I see an evaluation bar that's getting extremely OV excited right now or maybe just excited I don't know how a big White's Advantage is but either way black is castled long black is castled on the queen side is Van forest in as much trouble as the computer seems to declare yes thanks Danel next okay should we now go back to the F game okay what's the evaluation there by the way Max waron found F5 um God everybody's playing so well today what's in the air in the heg um I don't know that international criminal court fresh air has really been impacting the players positively but okay in all seriousness David why am I so pessimistic about Jordan's position while he was able to prevent Bishop G5 and Castle Queen side he's gone from the frying pan Into the Fire and look at this last move Queen D1 to E2 small move move but a small move with big consequences the queen is heading for B5 white is monopolizing all of the big squares in the center there's the very nasty Prospect of Bishop takes C6 and there's 24 minutes on Jordan's clock this position is pretty disastrous I'm not seeing any like tactical ways for black to trade off a bunch of pieces do you share my um pessimism for Black's position yes simple as that unfortunately for Jordan it's just been an opening disaster it happens quite rarely he's such a big opening expert that's why he was of a second for Magnus Carson of course in World Championship matches and having worked with many great players but feels like he's been a bit too creative and that's just been punished here um I mean maybe if we put a few moves on the board just to show what a deep dark Forest he's found himself in unable to get himself out of um yeah I mean I'm trying to find natural Mose for black let's say a non-committal move um if I can even find one king to B8 for example it's horrible it's maybe there's something more accurate active to do but as you said White's just going to at the very minimum trade off everything Bishop takes C6 Bishop takes C5 to follow um even if it becomes two Knights versus two two knights I mean the knights are the ones thriving Bishop takes C5 isn't even the most accurate I'm sure there's plenty of other things to do but um yeah quein C4 yeah maybe ah Knight C5 okay this is computer chest and Knight C5 and Knight C4 look at this idea yeah and walking into Bishop D3 but there is what Knight takes A5 wow GH my gosh I mean Black's position is just literal House of Cards um even Forest Gump would not get lucky in this situation it's definitely not a box of chocolates y might need a box of chocolates um after this game but this is a great representation David and I don't know if I see anything better than King B8 if you try to trade your way out of the problem Knight takes A4 Knight takes C4 Bishop takes C4 I was considering something like this but the problem is also G6 is hanging and again white is more than happy to trade pieces because there is a little check on A6 that will trigger immediate resignation yeah I mean it's ugly Pawn structure for black with uh all of the isolated pawns about to fall we King with black yeah I mean you might be facing the bishop p in this variation at the very minimum and um if you compare Kings Black's King on the queen side which it uh it has been successful for Max vadam in his game but yeah if you compare it to the white king which is safer than any it's the safest King I've ever seen um it's a simple comparison essentially and night not King to B8 Knight to B8 preventing us from Wrecking the black pawn structure um okay is there a knockout blow or does nybe continue to build up yeah Queen moves Queen C4 looks tempting que be5 B4 ideas look tempting in the near future um wow he'll have played that reluctantly he's down to 22 minutes with still 20 moves to go uh till the time control he's going to enjoy this position for the next 10 minutes just mulling over what to do next yes exactly this is exactly the kind of position you don't want to rush with white you don't just want to throw in Queen B5 because you might get unlucky with the tactics you want to really maximize your advantage here I really like your suggestion of B4 um there's probably multiple ways to maintain uh decisive advantage and honestly this is what makes this Young Generation David so good is how good they are at technique it's insane like yes of course uh they can make inaccuracies but but by and large they're incredibly patient and they're so surgically accurate when they get that big vice likee grip especially out of the opening um they just don't give any chances exactly I remember just 10 years ago when I was in my like I was in my mid 20s and I was like oh anytime you play a kid just trade off the pieces they don't know how to do end games and now this modern breed Abdus Tor is like one of the best end game players out there it's just unfair these these youngsters but uh in the meantime this is far from the end game I'm not sure yordan is going to get that far but uh yeah Queen C4 actually the more I look at it comes uh becomes more attractive just to force the issue just to clarify the tension but yeah B4 as well trying to open lines or I don't know maybe improve one of the white Rooks disadvantage you can totally sit on the there's no rush here I mean this is and I just want to point out one tactical detail if I may let's take a random improving move like F3 which by the way is not unlikely to to feature on the board um if black tries to kick the bishop away I think there is this beautiful tactic Knight takes D6 Queen takes D6 and look at this Knight C4 and Knight B6 check just dark Square to light Square to dark square and The Queen Is Lost so black would have to drop the queen back to E7 but I mean you could even throw in a check on A8 just for just for just to illustrate the extent of your dominance this is really really bad the game is not over but Jordan needs some sort of an oversight some tactical error by Notre Beck to get back into this game yeah there's pretty much two ways he gets back in this game like use a tactical oversight where Abdus Abdu satov tries to cash in too soon and it doesn't quite work uh or he needs Abdus satov just to play way too slowly way too positionally and it kind of let slip this potential attack against the black king but unfortunately both of those look like long shots right now um yeah big Advantage white and also I just want to point out visually centralization we talk about the center with white white has controlled all of the central squares and all of the Pieces Just yeah perfectly poised so t likely to work in White's favor um okay in the meantime maybe we leave Abdu satoro to try and figure out what he thinks is the clearest path the most efficient way uh to push the advantage without allowing any counters any counter play um games are developing really quickly elsewhere um I'm wondering which are the most dramatic right now um let's go to the B ey view ding against giri has pretty much gone on the path that we were expecting white has built a center there Wei gets Yan pishi that one's clarified slightly white still a pull up but yes I think we need an update on that game because yeah uh every time we think we have a handle on the structure it changes again keeps keeps eluding us and okay so after Rook ad8 which was this very measured response by Neo we broke up the center with F3 very logical move obviously not afraid of E3 um because of Knight C4 Neo obliged he traded and immediately blitzed out the move Queen G5 which is disapproved of by the computer I mean you can totally understand why nepo did not want to go into this end game not just because he's a pawn down but because that Knight would have really sunk its teeth into some of these weak squares in Black's territory Yan he wants to keep some winning chances alive um but he might not be alive much longer if we continues to demonstrate this level of precision so my immediate question is can white get away can white make Knight C4 work because if the answer is yes then potentially black is in serious trouble or is the correct idea to just drop back to F1 and kind of sit on your position what do you think yeah um both tempting uh I like Knight C4 just uh at first glance as well and if you can make Knight C4 work then it's going to be very very strong um it's the type of situation where the players where ye he knows he's a pawn up consolidating Knight F1 that's like last Resort Knight C4 um it's going to be the first thing he's calculating and he'll come to a conclusion he'll evaluate and then he'll either go for it or reject it and go back to Knight F1 uh so Knight C4 threats Galore like Knight D6 is coming in I guess the reason you ask whether it works Dani is because black could I say hesitantly try to capture on D5 at some point I'm not sure exactly how or when um with which piece yeah or do you take on E one first yeah I mean taking e one first I think is logical yes because if you take on D5 first I think that white again I might get the move order wrong here but I'm just trying to okay at the very minimum I think you can do this this you have Knight takes A5 yes but I think Knight D6 is stronger Rook E6 and now let's see if we can find the most minimum you take an F7 right at a minimum yeah and at a maximum probably also take and white is winning um because the problem is that the black loses the night black is just like a sound Pawn down the Rook is coming in this is complete disaster okay so that's uh that line is checked off the list um if black starts with Rook takes C1 now we understand why this is a better version for black but it's still a terrible version uh for black because here I actually am um Knight takes A5 looks very very appealing okay maybe Knight D6 but but even this David just looks like a miserable end game for black you're a pawn down and the Knight is coming to C6 so both versions of Queen takes have been ruled out what about Knight takes D5 in this position nope bad something on F7 something's collapsing goodbye there's like 60 threats that this move opens up yeah and and number four if you take and take well this makes maybe a little bit more sense than the immediate Knight takes D5 but something like this also looks terrible for black mhm so we considered all the combinations and iterations of taking on D5 I think Knight C4 works yeah I was going to say H4 in that final position as well I was wondering how black even clings on but maybe there's a way absolutely right beautiful there was G4 earlier now there's H4 so this theme of chasing the black queen away um so prevalent in this game this might be exactly the path that way you follows you Knight C4 is a pretty easy move to calculate it's actually very pleasant to calculate lines like this I like it when there's clear clearly defined threats there aren't too many candidate moves everything's forced and you know you kind of feel like Prague when you calculate these lines then you wake up and realize my rating is a little bit lower exactly but uh yeah he's doing the right thing he spent four minutes now where on this one move he still has an an abundance of time and um yeah he's literally saying okay night C4 I'm jumping in if you do this I do this I'm better if you play that I do this I'm better and winning a pawn and um he's just double checking his variations really instructive how the top players uh pause at the critical moments and Knight C4 what do you think black should be doing to cling on and to minimize the damage U because he's a PN down and where is the compensation where is uh the Solace there it's definitely not in the heg maybe Yan left it behind in in Wayan um but I know I I think after Knight C4 black is in huge trouble I think black is I think Yan maybe played Queen G5 impulsively frustrated by the way that this game is going and I really played him up in the previous round but now I'm starting to kind of sour on that prediction because this would be a serious blow to Jan's tournament chances If he if he goes down of course plenty of fight we know how resilient Jan is we remember the game against donchenko for example where he pulled just an incredible Miracle comeback back in a position he was Seven Ways to Sunday but with full due respect to donchenko we is different level and he might not let Yan uh go if he finds Knight C4 big moment here David yeah huge moment way is just a skilled as prag in the calculation phase and um yeah he's ruthless with the white pieces we I've just seen some incredible games where he just picks up the momentum he kind of grabs a porn or he gets some attack and he just never takes his foot off the pedal um so Knight C4 if and when it comes could be a real shock to Yen upon Nishi and um yeah just as in some of the other games we're predicting that white has an advantage still not decisive but um yeah he's done everything right so far with the white pieces um I think time to maybe move to one of Way's compatriots um I quite like the look of the dingler ren game against Anish giri suddenly if feels like it's just sparked into life perfect timing I think um just so we join just when the action starts to unfold loudly walking into the movie theater after like an hour has gone by okay so what is happening here I'm just still getting my bearings um we saw E4 this was kind of according to plan King f8 very logical move and now ding went over to the queen side I wasn't expecting this particular idea Queen B3 okay gir says I defend and ding grabs the pawn on D5 okay obviously Knight F4 there is this little trick with D6 but David this smells a little bit and it doesn't smell like you know lilac air freshener put it that way it smells a little bit worse than that what do you think Knight takes D4 is also a move yeah feels odd somehow I I agree it looks loose like White's Queen on B3 so disconnected from the hanging Rook on H2 King on B1 a bit a bit Airy there um okay yeah no lavender on this board it doesn't smell great but how do we act as gir you mentioned Knight takes D4 that's the first move my eyes were drawn to but white does have an Intero Knight takes G6 uh the White Knight on5 will die anyway so you can kind of throw it away for a pawn and you can kind of come back and guard any checks against the white king um what if you just take back on D5 again I no idea which way I see or Knight takes D5 yes I mean maybe this is what ganish is deciding um let's say C takes D5 first of all for particularly for newer players it's very important Knight takes D5 Knight takes D5 Queen takes D5 and this is what we're talking about White's pieces are just very very loose and they're constantly vulnerable to these random tactics Knight F4 would Fork the queen and the Rook but of course white is under no obligation to to take on D5 but what does white do here I understand the bar is giving equality maybe Knight G4 trying just to bail out I don't know yeah and uh I don't really want to take that Knight and connect your pawns but does black have anything else if black just moves Rook H5 oh but then or Rook somewhere then at least white can a couple of Pawns yeah here again if I take and take this just feels very very wrong uh because okay Queen F5 is not the move what is the move here why is it plus a million uh okay we can do this we can work this out we can do this we can absolutely do this Rook takes D5 Queen takes D5 quite work Knight F4 there's a check on C5 ah Queen G5 and there's a four on G1 Lu oh my gosh don't too soon too soon man don't tell that to to dingly Ren after blunderin but what a move Queen G5 and again Rook on H2 King on B1 one fork leads to another and this would lead to defeat but this is exactly the kind of thing that's very easy to blunder when uh you flirt with disaster on the clock yeah and so okay G took with the Knight okay we see a couple of moves and uh okay A3 from ding that's a classy one not walking into that night Fork you mentioned but just preparing a bit of lift a bit of air for the white king and uh okay quick judgment call um here Danel do you prefer white uh sorry do you prefer black still after thinking that White's position is still a bit loose yes I think ding is on on the back foot here I think he's trying to equalize I think giri essentially can bail out whenever he wants so probably even Knight takes D4 here would lead to some sort of Trades but I don't think Anish will play for a draw I think he's playing for a win I think we might see him go r d and tried to consolidate improve his King position and you know in the long run yes there are no immediate Earth shattering tactics but you know these pawns are really weak and they're not going anywhere and if Anish can make a couple of improving moves I think ding will have to demonstrate a lot of precision here to to maintain the balance I like where this is going for Anish yes and I like where his King is going this is a good position for black and uh Anish giri in his element ding suffering on both board and clock look at that 26 minutes left we're only at move 25 but we're going to leave them to it and we go to go on another short break but it is Tuesday happy Tuesday to all of you out there and of course we have title Tuesdays but title players are not the only ones who get to have fun today so don't forget to log on for Untitled Tuesday Ander the blitz Arena the Swiss Arena and put your Blitz skills to the test against the chess.com Community plus now now is your chance to Showcase your game on the big screen as the chesomg all the action everyone is eligible to play in weekly Untitled Tuesday tournaments so use exclamation point Untitled in chat to learn how to play and we'll see you right after this [Music] break [Music] your subscription makes shows like this possible which is why our twitch subscribers will never see ads on chess.com connect your chess.com account and Twitch account at go. chess.com connect accounts and bang boom voila you're done 100% adree Bliss forever more whether you're following our events on site or on stream type the command connect in the chat and thank you for helping bring these shows to life in interational Master Danny wrench Chief chess officer back again with more chess terms here for you today we're going to talk about the past Pawn the past Pawn must be pushed you hear it said often and that's because just about every endgame you see that isn't a blowout often comes down to maybe someone's up one Pawn or maybe even just the first person to create a past Pawn is the person who goes on to win that game we're going to talk about what the past Pawn is and to find it for you in today's video let's do it what is a past Pawn a past Pawn is a pawn that has no enemy pawns stopping it from moving forward that means pawns either on the file in which it resides or on the adjacent files that would therefore capture the pawn should it advance so if a pawn has none of those things stopping its way then it's time to push him baby as our boy Yasser would say and as you hear mentioned on many broadcasts uh that you would watch on chess TV and on that note as we look at our game examples we like to do this is taken from Thomas shy versus Raba here white plays the move V5 exclam which highlights again it's not how many pawns you have but who's going to be threatening to get a queen first after black takes it white pushes forward with gusto and because the Rook can't blockade the pawn due to the light Square Bishop this game is already over black is going to have to sacrifice the bishop for the pawn on B6 and white would simply be up a minor piece note that after the first move B5 should a takes B5 have been played white would have pushed this pawn and then trapped The Rook on A7 showing the power of the pass Pawn as with it protecting the bishop this Rook is completely out of the game and white would easily go on to win picking up pawns and just flexing the rook's muscles over the bishop for the rest of the game so here we see a pass Pawn being used as a weapon to just cramp down and trap all of your enemy pieces so this has been another chest terms video hope you enjoyed it hope you're enjoying all of them and with that I will sign off hoping that you learned something about what a pass Pawn is and we'll see you around on chess.com [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello everyone and welcome back to round nine of the TARTA steel Masters where the players are on tour out in the ha and we're currently 2 and 1/2 hours into the games things are of course heating up and before the tournament we did ask the players about that pre- tournament pregame ritual so if you're curious check check out this video maybe the first time was that I played against my mom and I lost I was losing and then she would turn the board around and I would be still losing and it would go on playing in a chess club uh with other [Music] kids coffee I guess play sports and take a shower or take a shower I think maybe takes some more rest I'm preparing couple of hours not more just try to focus on the chest uh but I do try to keep the schedule the same each day I I will not reveal what I do but it's some kind of a meditation yeah brush my teeth uh before the game by working on opening actually important not to do anything special wake up breakfast prepare play chess dinner sleep and generally relax uh maybe one or two hours before the game um normally I just prepare with computer sleep well eat well and then um if I'm like it to play well as well wow brushing their teeth having showers preparing on a computer a bunch of different routines there Dan and uh which player do you think has had the most successful rituals before today's game I mean they all have such exciting routines I I really don't know what I'd go for you know brushing your teeth or taking a show shower setting openings just riveting stuff eating what do these players not do before the game and uh who do you think it's been most successful for because clearly some players struggling a bit more than others today um maybe the pregame rituals just didn't go right for uh some of those well I mean I forget what oi re's ritual was but I'm quite partial to whatever it is I forget if it includes you know I think it includes waking up but don't quote me on that um not totally sure what else and uh Max warmerdam as well he's um quitting himself really really well in in a a difficult field doing well against Parham as we look at the bird's eye view um max continues to try to convert that extra exchange he's found all of the critical moves he's doing pretty well man action on all of the boards where you found Knight C4 David and he's got a Pawn on D6 I think I mean yes unless that's a zebra I think that's a pine and much to Yan sh yeah very few boring dull games today it feels like being out on the tour uh has allowed the players to offer a bit more and uh yeah I see a Sky High evaluation by Abdus satoro against van Forest um yeah of course we'll check in everywhere if possible uh maybe we jump in there first because we could soon see our first result of the day looks like Abdu sator Advantage it just continues to grow move by move and Van Forest down to under 15 minutes now on the clock he looks in pain on the camera not enjoying today's round in the he at all yeah I feel like this game is kind of going along the lines that we predicted it's just getting worse and worse um for Jordan how did Notre Beck proceed with the advantage yeah he played Rook ad1 a couple of moves ago kind of a very classy patient improving move um not trying to do anything immediately but just accumulating all of his pieces as you said David Central play really a great illustration of its tremendous power Knight B A6 that's never a good sign when you have to play Knight B8 to A6 in any position um especially not in this one uh Notre Beck gets the bishop pair look at all these big weaknesses on the queen side Knight C4 Queen C7 and now another very classy move Queen D2 I think he's preparing B4 just covering all of the squares sitting on the position and if Knight B3 oh he's got Knight B6 check using tactics beautifully uh to underg his play yeah maybe we just show that variation because it's very nice and quite important uh White emerges with a bit of extra material at the end there's not much else black can do that's the problem uh for Jordan Knight B3 check there's now a hit on that Knight on B3 so Queen trade has to happen and uh after Knight takes Queen takes Rook I mean you don't even need to take I know I know a few sadists who would take on D2 but uh I'm not among them I would definitely not resist Bishop takes d8 Rook takes d8 Rook takes D2 I mean this is this is essentially resign and if this is the best the black can do um that's I me go figure yeah white would emerge with the extra exchange Rook for Knight and yeah I mean if the option is as you say allowing B4 then how do you even keep the game alive I'll try well I was going to say Bishop E6 but that loses at least a point on D6 most likely maybe even uh loses the game after B4 anyway or actually yeah I mean the more I look at it the more winds I start to see with white too yeah this is a very bad I mean the worst is that white can play this Ultra simply just like get the Knight around to D5 and that's winning um B4 is coming it's just a function of how good Notre back technique is that how easy he's making this look but I can tell you it's I've never played Jordan but something tells me it's not that easy to convert a winning position against him in the old days I think you know black might resign here but um I think Jordan will keep trying he'll make some moves but there's virtually no hope Notre is an hour on the clock too that's perhaps the most debilitating uh detail is that you don't even have a chance to complicate the game yeah Yan I mean I've played him a bunch of times I've uh yeah I know him pretty well and I've never seen him use this much time by move 24 normally he's the one he lands an opening idea on the board he sacrifices a porn gets on the front foot he's got an hour and a half left after 20 moves after 24 moves here he's got 10 minutes left 11 minutes left and a wreck of a position unfortunately um the Black Knights just not coordinating not stable black king s just super weak especially compared to his counterpart and the Beautiful Bishop pair for white this is just it's too many things um yeah this is painful unfortunately for black so maybe we just move on um I think yeah a matter of technique but sooner or later white will win material or get a Killer attack yes this is essentially decided um amazing bounceback win by Notre Beck and the opening experiment goes very much astray uh for Jordan another position that has gone a little bit South for uh the white player is donchenko versus fuja feels like Ali re's play has just been a lot more consecutive his pieces are more harmonious and he's starting to build up a really nasty Advantage uh going out of the opening and into the middle game we can check into that game um not sure there's too much going on in the gash vidit game that one's still in the general realm of equality um so shall we take a closer look and see how um how badly Alexander donen's position has deteriorated let's do that quite badly quite quite a bit that's right although there is a small question mark attached to fara's last move so maybe there was something even better even stronger um he's one of our leaders our co-leaders after all fua so we need to see what's happening in his game maybe we just back track uh three or four moves here Danel just to see how the Center opened up U maybe this was self-inflicted maybe white shouldn't have kind of been too uh tempted here to open things maybe just Castle Queen side put the white on B1 and the game goes on but um ultimately he forced the issue with white donchenko yeah and I feel like sometimes this is a function of perhaps he missed Knight D7 and felt like he had to justify his previous move this happen sometimes and so you kind of recklessly go forward even though deep inside you know it's not the right time uh to open the center Knight F6 with Tempo e takes D5 flashy but fua just recaptures back to H1 and King f8 again we've talked about it in several Games The King has a beautiful home on G7 okay Queen E3 FIA says thank you very much I was going there anyway uh but you just encouraged it a quick uh note Rook takes H6 for the Tactical junkies who've been up early doing puzzle Rush nope this is not the time replace Rook G6 and black wins so that doesn't work uh Alexander with Knight B5 wow evaluation almost plus two here with the best move but Rook C8 very sensible response by fua he doesn't mind the trade one of the problems here David that's harder to perceive is that if White Castles kingside um it feels like not all of the problems are solved maybe white solves the problem of his King position so for example let's say white takes on D6 in castles oh wait wh's moved his King already oh oh no no The Rook it's The Rook oh it's I was gonna say I feel like the position is pretty equal after I was doing the classic commentator thing where I'm gonna make the moves first and then assess the evaluate the eval bar and then you know say something based on it and realize White's already mov the Rog so that's the actual problem this is why they pay us us GMS the big bucks you and me both Daniel I mean yeah I was ready to Castle King side as well and ask you know okay it might be bad the White Queen lacking squares there might be an attack against the white king but what you know why is it plus two for black um and then you realize black yeah the white king is stuck for eternity so actually Rook C8 yes it was given a question mark by the uh allseeing overlords the computers but now white king cannot Castle either flank and wow easy to forget those types of details yeah wow no White's position is this is such a misleading assessment point three I actually think given that white cannot Castle uh this is extremely bad from a human perspective also you know under 30 minutes how would I play this with white I mean I would probably go Knight takes D6 and maybe King F1 is the Lesser evil at least you know it's not a it's not a palace on F1 but at least it's it's a decent hiding spot but also the queen side David is very weak the queen could trampoline over to B6 start harassing the B Pawn there's weaknesses all over the board yeah donchenko needs to be ultra Ultra accurate here if he wants to avoid a quick knockout totally agree and uh maybe we should also point out as donchenko looks away why taking on A7 uh would backfire I'm assuming it not totally sure for some reason I was just kind of like trying to dodge the topic you know Rook D7 I go back Rook C Rook E7 now yeah uh oh oh this is hilarious King F1 oh I escaped the pin hello Queen is strapped yeah so instructive variation um not the most difficult once you see it but a nice trick from fuia so um despite Rook C8 not being being maybe the top engine move I really love the kind of layers behind it this hidden idea of trapping the White Queen and uh trying to kind of sneak your way in the black Rook on h8 is temporarily uh acting as a bodyguard The Rook on h8 is temporarily stuck uh defending H6 so he's trying to get a rook to the E file always trying to uh find a Tempe trick his opponent into allowing that so Rook C8 and yeah I think we both want to eliminate this dark Square Bishop for black because if the black Bishop gets one more move to retreat back to B8 than Bishop p as well as all of the other advantages ultimately it's just the white king uh no Safe Haven no refuge for it and yeah I'm inclined to agree momentum wise blacks favor extra nearly 10 minutes on the clock and uh objectively maybe a small Advantage as well uh in the meantime we do I believe have a result Abdu satoro did WOW van Forest just resigned you called it D just in that position I had a feeling he was going to resign and that's why I hedged my bets and I said in the old days people would resign but that's because the position is resign it's you have to understand like some plus three positions you wouldn't even think of resigning this position it's so hopeless on the board and on the clock there is just nothing to play for and it's it's not a case of premature resignation it's actually totally reasonable but what a win what a miniature by by Notre Beck incredible yeah we talked about spooky season out there in the ha unfortunately it was a bit of a horror show uh for yordan straight from the opening uh yeah AB a Tor of though great opening preparation great technique and yeah this is a rarity so everyone go home study this position or screenshot it because uh one side Elite Grand Master resigning with equal material on the board equal material yeah nearly never happens but it is that bad unfortunately for black and uh okay aboro bouncing back from a defeat just before the rest day and he's again going to be one to reckon with in the closing rounds as he aims to win the tournament after coming so close last year and that leaves us with six remaining games where to go next yeah I think we should end the show there's no nothing really else to look at you know Notre one okay we can go home now Ian we're already home back to sleep I guess uh just kidding of course um Neo's position continues to get worse we can check in I think our second result might be vidit gukesh versus vidit I you can't pay me to look at that position more carefully I don't think you can pay the players to look at that position which is why they're trading all the pieces and I think a draw is is is imminent um and this position is like terminally equal um once vid it solved the problem of of the diagonal so shall we go over to your call I'm suffering from more indecision than I do when trying to choose a restaurant or a show I'm going to uh pick ma Zulu against Max vadam because uh there was a lot of drama there early on and U yeah we'll leave the two candidates gesh and vidit uh in their battle um yeah we should mention the candidates is coming they've got bigger fish to fry and uh no surprise with the mutual respect there that that game is a bit more peaceful um they'll fight over the board in Toronto in a few months instead but this one um okay let's do a quick count black is up the exchange Rook for Knight for a pawn white has four versus two on the king side but black has a majority on the other flank so that could be decisive if Daniel one set of Rooks disappears if Whit's gets traded off for one of the black Rooks it's just game over it's resigns so um max vadam is black do you think he's done a good job consolidating first of all and secondly do you still think he has big winning chances yes I would estimate this at about 6040 60% winning chances 40% uh drawing chances just because he's got some time issues and um I think param has first of all done a phenomenal job of even getting this far and giving himself serious saving chance the issue for white is that your Pawn majority is very is crippled I mean you have a fouron two technically but you would take the two on one any day of the week um particularly on Tuesday and black not only wants to trade Rooks but black has a very simple plan of improvement um you want to go like B5 and of course ultimately you want to Target the a pawn and you can do that by maneuvering maneuvering a rook to A4 but it's easier said than done white can defend from the second rank so maybe param should just try to find the proper def set king3 keep the Rook on the second Rank and then slowly gradually start pushing your king pawns and really challenge black to find The Knockout blow here so I I think it's far from Easy waram has maybe not played perfectly here looking at the eval bar um but hard to say David do you think 6040 is an exaggeration do you think parham's gonna pull this one out um yeah I would say 6040 is about P for this position um G well I was going to say going ham on me aren't you yeah going to hammer par Hammer the point home here uh yeah G4 I was going to say at least creating some counterplay it's not going to be super straightforward and yeah I had missed that the clock situation has kind of turned from when we last left this game Max has been investing a bunch of time Pam might be hustling on the clock already once he realized he was um I'm not going to say losing but when he was significantly worse he really sped up and G4 is the type of move psychologically you start to worry a pawn might reach G5 another Pawn might reach H5 and yes they're not going anywhere but you certainly have to kind of be a bit distracted here on the other flank I still think Max is yeah Max is a big favorite want a yeah play B5 Rook D5 to A5 looks very tempting as well just even to slow down White's uh kingside play actually both Rooks as you're highlighting can slide across Rook lift yeah get those boys over but it's one of those end games where it's not entir black is not entirely out of danger here black is not black does not have a blank check here because I've seen these types of cases where you know you get overinvestment this is in the bag I'm this is awesome I actually think he might be a little bit worried here and um parham's exactly the kind of guy that I would trust to find the most resilient the punchiest defensive resources here with white definitely he's done a good job so far um yeah and I think this is one we'll definitely kind of follow as it hits uh or as it reaches Mo 40 in a bit assuming Max will face a bit of time trouble but my eyes have been drawn towards the we game where yes he's dropped a rook in the heart of his opponent's position I think we have to take a step out of this game and jump over um yeah we bang Rook E7 that is a bug house move but it's also very strong in chess what a move and he is just blowing through white Black's resistance here and I just want to point out um games where single bad piece just kind of epitomizes the extent of your misery this Knight still on D7 still with no prospects still completely ruining Black's coordination this is um sort of uh cause one of the causes of Black's misery in this position rookie s is crushing David because if and obviously I will show this after Rook takes E7 D takes E7 King takes E7 I don't think it's anything cataclysmic I was even briefly my eye was caught by Bishop A2 and queen A3 but I think there's a simpler way to do it uh is it just rookie E1 and Knight D6 yeah it looks that way looks like there's going to be collapse on the F7 Square I do wonder about Queen D2 counter play in this position so I don't know if you can finesse the uh idea slightly maybe Queen E2 check and then Knight D6 um with the idea of firstly Knight takes F7 but also just Rook e one and come in Checkmate it looks like black is just Frozen black is zuk Swang stalemated I don't know what the right analogy is here but Queen G4 maybe I can try to trade Queens but Queen E3 oh yeah I have no moves again I can't go back to G5 repetition Queen G5 Queen E2 um L times just Rook e one Bishop F7 Knight F7 this game is over Red Rover this is a picture of domination I mean you mentioned the Knight on D7 the Knight on F6 just can't move either no yeah Power of the bishop on B3 just too strong wow rookie s Yan is getting destroyed this game yeah I mean he literally just played King f8 to stop this idea and imagine how gut-wrenching it is to see your opponent play it anyway that's always tough in chess you think you've stopped you think you've covered a square so many times that uh prevents your opponent David I I just have to show this is what I do black plays Queen takes B5 this is time for the mate Hunters to come out oh nice among among many other wins Rook F7 and Knight E5 and oh you can't get away with Queen takes F6 first play G takes but Knight G6 mate is good enough one of many beautiful mates in this position I actually think Queen takes H5 yeah no Queen takes B3 this is hilarious if black actually defends this is why you shouldn't troll I mean serious note for players if you see a mate go for the mate um my coach would always tell me you're not riding a tactics but you're trying to win the game um it's very very important to avoid falling too in love with your position and always go for the most objective win um when you play a little bit too much for beauty you run the risk of missing some fluke some random move and you know then you regret the day you were born so does black have any way to prolong the game maybe you can avoid taking on E7 I mean hate even raising this Prospect yeah R takes F F7 is just uh threat in all these types of positions I mean H4 might be a threat kick the queen away and then Rook takes F7 those mating patterns he showed and he has gone for it he has bitten the bullet and taken um on that square que need too lovely finesse preventing perhaps the last source of counterplay that Yan is relying on of course Rook e one was also quite good as we saw but there's a big difference I think Queen E2 is actually super important uh to prevent um perhaps black can still resist but Queen E2 maintains a firmly decisive Advantage yeah so picturesque that position full dominance of the whole board quey two check is all really forcing as well so this linear calculation we talked about earlier coming into play way ye I mean firstly to force yourself to look at rookie S as a move uh from there slight I wouldn't say slip but um not what we expected any any for Yen now maybe we investigate Knight D6 check D2 I mean I also walked into this because it's your hand is reaching for the Rook you want to activate the Rook but you also always want to you know put on your your Soviet school boy head and make sure that you're preventing counter play yeah Queen D2 will be blitzed out by Yan and maybe way he saw this and has some intended response what could it be Rook D1 has to defend his Rook on the D4 Pawn I guess yes oh but the but ah maybe it's t no Queen B4 maybe Queen B4 Knight F7 and then think rookie eight rookie one is that any counter play KN h8 yeah I'm scared of your all your checkmates no but it's actually this move makes a lot of noise but it's not that good I me black had even play G5 mhm with some LT on G7 yeah and even Rook e one check is no longer mate anymore on the backr I have e it's getting messy right this is exactly what you want to avoid if you're way you want to avoid this messy position where it's easy to blunder um okay so this is not convincing Rook D1 is out what else is there I really didn't want to go like Queen F2 W I just got a helping hand from our producer so I'm not going to spoil it for you Daniel but that is a strong move to maintain the advantage and it's not Rook D1 it's not Queen F2 okay let's give me just a second to think okay I mean I saw Queen C3 also but I don't think I would find this uh at maybe now in this position or what just King F1 just wow oh yeah it makes sense of course yeah King F1 of course obviously I mean I'm not even sure why this is strong but apparently it's the best move I guess because it it curbs the counterplay as much as possible but wait let me ask what if Queen takes D4 okay of course I understand the evaluation bar is just laughing in my face ah look at this Knight F7 Rook E8 and I actually think black and white can just take on E8 okay go mate wow oh my God this is gorgeous mate with three pieces and if black takes with a knight then there's obviously a million discovered checks and even the Primitive yeah Knight E5 Knight G5 everything is winning yeah looks like mate and um wow okay so maybe this has been spotted by we he has indeed played Knight D6 but it feels so I'm not going to say bizarre so odd to have seen King F1 in this whole variation when you could have prevented all of this calculation with Queen E2 and like you I mean maybe it's just the lazy side of me is thinking okay Queen E2 no threats no counterplay big Advantage maintained uh compared to this which literally relies move on move on seeing uh King F1 which is uh not obvious at all and in the meantime we have a result a draw peace treaty between Ding and giri well it is the heg this is the place for peace treaties that was criminal agreeing a draw in this position very good wow okay and we will recap the final position there because it looks like um okay was it ding who offered the draw was that a repetition um I will try to rep that up okay draw by repetition B6 okay looks like Anish might have been slightly better ah Queen E7 tricky move Knight C6 I guess there's Queen E8 Queen is hanging so this looks like a classic like computer repetition MH yes understandable I think from Anish because he has the black pieces mean you're playing the world champion maybe he could have pressed in the final position but with a knight on E5 I totally get it from a practical standpoint I mean yeah big relief for ding I mean look at the clock he was down to 19 minutes uh before these kind of repetitions started happening he still had a bunch of moves to make before the time control loose pawns for white weak pawns everywhere all the islands D4 F4 H3 but uh ultimately yeah no big blunders no big mistakes and Dan gives us opportunities to focus on the other battles still in play so we can't complain too much um good result for both players absolutely not we have plenty of action um to last us the rest of the round okay Queen D2 has been found by Yan now the big moment will we e pull out this King F1 move and even then it's not over but clearly he's allowed quite a bit of counterplay I see things continuing to heat up in the Prague game we can definitely revisit that board Alexander donchenko maybe stabilizing his position a little bit against fua walking on hot coals there where do we go from here it's been a while since we've checked out the pr game yeah I think it's time uh that from the start from move four as soon as the fried liver attack landed on the board um yeah feels like uh this one has been one to watch and okay a question mark attached to xuen jun's last move I think it was a difficult position anyway very easy to go wrong um irrational was the word of the game so far but why is this a mistake which way does prag Recapture still a pawn up for white says he take with a queen try to simplify down to a pure end game or queenless middle game or whatever you choose to call it or does he take back the pawn and uh maybe open up the G file go for the black king um I don't know it's actually not an easy decision at all um Queen takes F3 is very comfortable it's a very tempting move um my vote would probably be Queen takes F3 just intuitively but something tells me that probably means Pawn takes F3 is the best move there's a simple formula for determining like what the best move is you just what is your intuition okay it's the other move okay let me attempt it okay maybe takes F3 yeah doesn't react so getting the Queens off and yeah if the Queens disappear Queen takes F3 now we' probably take with the pawn and white has everything covered extra material Knight G6 in the air Black's position a bit loose no outposts for the Bishops really yeah this one looks okay the lazy commentator phrase matter of technique and exactly the rest requires little to no commentary yeah then like 60 moves yeah if this was a book we annotate the first 20 moves of the game and then we leave the rest for the reader um exactly that the rest will be left as an exercise to improving your understanding we suggest that you commentate the rest in your own notebook okay but pragas played GF and it turns out that both moves are completely acceptable yeah given Black's horrendous calamitous time situation I think GF is uh very practical Queen could come to G2 pressure down the G file and our daily hourly reminder that white is still up a pawn yeah and it's actually hard to find any natural moves here for black you want to profit from the pin on the E file potentially but the White Queen just moves like Bishop F7 she just shifts Queen G2 and actually there's just nothing to grip on to uh for black at all Knight H5 is an outpost I guess you could try and kind of plug the king Side by defending G7 like this but put a Pawn on F4 put a knight on G3 but mhm doesn't feel like it's uh playing on the right side of the board you're just hitting thinner if anything I mean you're playing on the right side of the board but yeah literally but not not figuratively yeah you wish you could play on the left side here but yes but I'm not sure that's the right side I mean maybe C4 I was inspired to try this move but I actually think at a minimum I can play Knight takes C4 um and the this is just depressing there's like you said nothing to latch on to um it's not one of those sharp you know double-edged positions where you're objectively worse but you can fight it just feels like once white Consolidated the situation went downhill for black you know looking at the previous few moves we won't delve into the particulars maybe J and June had chances to turn the game around but practically it's it's so so difficult you're down a pawn um your opponent has fully Consolidated you've got no time I think this one is I don't want to say decided but but I mean barring barring a big big blunder by Prague looks like black is going down in this one yeah it's h to disagree with that and you can see on the camera body language you andun she knows unfortunately I mean she's not done much wrong I just have to pinpoint the opening PR's Superior preparation and um yeah it feels like she's beused as well about this I'm wondering who's watching this game the dark headless shadow of Anish giri potentially but anyway that was he's gone and uh in this starry starry night unfortunately xan Jun is not going to save this game yes well said big Advantage for pragnan Ander okay yeah he's just so impressive and if I I mean not just 41 game on beaten streak maybe about to become 42 if I remember correctly he's one of only two undefeated players in the field alongside uh his good friend vidit so both just bringing their aame before the candidates um shaping up nicely for that uh that highlight of the Year Danel I mean listen I the way prag is playing right now the Supreme confidence the preparation he's got like I said as good of a chance as any in the candidates I think a lot of people who ask for candidates predictions they don't really understand the nature of the candidates it's a lottery it's a complete tossup it's one tournament anybody can win it um so so it's it's really impossible to give any meaningful uh predictions but I mean in so far as you set yourself up for Success uh people everybody's afraid of Prague he's just improving before our very eyes and uh if he brings the same level to Toronto um I think he's got a serious shot very very exciting uh to watch Prague Prague develop um just day by day literally yeah and uh I mean the candidates I agree like when I'm make predictions it's it's impossible uh there's eight phenomenally strong players but then you do think back and you kind of realize oh aomin she won two in a row and and one uh after being deposed as world champion like there's a few others it's like experience counts and uh it does feel like experience is key but this might be finally the year where the Breakthrough from the younger generation happens suddenly they've all started qualifying pragash at Al and yes he's had he's hard to rule against either the exper tall yeah but uh yeah he's I mean going into 2024 he looks like he's just red hot form and shuin still in thought still tough tough position unfortunately no obvious moves yeah I think we to it big Advantage for white okay well we have almost a draw in gukesh versus vided I think that one is moments away from finishing um we have some developments in danchenko versus fua and we see that we e actually did not find the most precise move King F1 instead he played Queen C3 which I thought was actually very very natural um but maybe gives Yan more more saving chances so maybe we uh we spoke a little bit too soon on that game looks like we might have let the tiger out of the cage a little bit yeah he's gone from totally winning to a advantage and looks like an endgame Advantage uh the Queen off Yan shakes his head down on the camera um so he knows he's still in for a bunch of suffering but looks like White's about to win a pawn um so Wei will check back in on a bit later um okay xuanjun has eventually moved she did play Knight H5 as we expected um okay magu still fighting hard wow okay we're closing in on the time control um the players now all around the half hour mark or less so where to go what do you think is going to hit the most drama as we build up to M4 yeah actually maud's game it it may appear like a slow burn but it's heating up pretty quickly so let's take a quick look at this one um yeah it's hard to predict also donchenko and serious time pressure uh so it seems we're always in this situation it's hard to say which direction the games are going to Pivot okay I'm trying to get a grasp on this crazy position which is about to get a whole lot crazier because Parham has just said go take my Pawn amazingly he sacrificed A2 and this is exactly what I meant Prague or Parham I Prague would probably find this too but Parham always finds you know the most unpleasant resource the most annoying move what happens if black takes on A2 I think he wants Knight F6 takes H7 and that crippled Pawn majority I talked about I mean it starts it's a clunker but you know these ons start moving forward it's scary black could lose this yeah for the first time in this game Max has a bit of doubt in his mind wow I mean what a race that would be Black's two kind of unrival Pawns running down the queen side and White's four versus one majority just marching up the other flank I mean like you say that just becomes pure random randomness that becomes a bit of a guessing game the accuracy levels will like plummet if that happens um I wonder if there's any other way to keep control often you want to control knights with Bishop so Bishop E7 seven comes to mind just to stop Knight F6 ideas a bit slow uh definitely not the most ambitious move probably not the best one but would it keep some semblance of control in the build up to move 40 yes I think he must be very tempting for Max and Bishop B7 is the Sid by the fireplace you know the glass of Vine kind of move the problem just visually if I I'll put this on the board I mean Max is still thinking and he shows no signs of moving PR disturbingly um I think here Parham will in fact defend the pawn Rook B2 and in Nal the issue is that black struggles to gain traction with his pieces it's hard to find a spot for the other Rook I mean okay you could play something like Rook d8 but white again has a very clear plan it's a slow plan it's not a visually appealing plan but it is a plan um to start just pushing these pawns F5 G5 okay you have to determine the right order maybe you start with G5 I don't know um but eventually once you get the PS to F5 and H5 you will be ready to create a passer maybe black can use some tactics try to get the BR around to A4 but I mean even if white sacks the a pawn in some situations you could already get away with that um and imagine calculating that with almost no time David this is this is scary for black this is getting this is getting dicey yeah and in these positions it's actually better not to have been completely winning earlier as Max knows he has been because it's it's momentum it's it's like you're winning you're winning you're coasting and then suddenly oh gosh there's counter play um so yeah it's just the panic and as you say 7 minutes now is still I mean that's not much at all yes we deep in the end game but still plenty of time before the time control and it's uh I mean it's not a just basic end game where you can play on feel and Instinct it's pure calculation um yeah I think I would I play Bishop B7 just the coward in me but Rook takes A2 it feels like the princip move and at some point you just have to stop calculating and just trust that you're going to be ahead in the race um after all black still up material should be able to bail out later on um give up some material for White's Pawn MK yeah R takes C4 also Canon a move by the way and Rook takes A2 yeah definitely um it's just about risk reward there like you get rid of the Knight but you keep your pawns yeah maybe Rook take C4 um in a Blitz game I think that's the way you keep control and just kind of make your moves easy natural but of course a bit of a drag to have to give back your material uh just like that yeah it's doesn't actually stop White's plan I mean you don't really need the knights um you're absolutely right I think Jonathan Rosen Scottish GM talks about this concept of the trend of the game the evaluation can be very misleading um when taken in a vacuum but as you said when you factor in uh the fact that black was seemingly completely winning out of the opening and that putting away that excitement that maybe I'm going to win a miniature maybe you know I'm going to win that 15 move game with black and suddenly you're for the first time facing the prospect of maybe losing the game um is is terrifying and that often accelerates the the path to panic and potentially a blunder and as we're talking he's down to six minutes so hard to make a decision here it's impossible it's this position is just opaque you have to trust your intuition yeah Rook takes A2 obviously the principled move Knight F6 instantly blitzed out now in this position The Exchange sack is quite a bit more appealing Rook takes E3 check but still not confident that is the way to go for for black F takes E3 and the blacker can be chased out of the H file wow yeah not easy at all maybe Rook take C3 would uh yeah minimize the risk but also lower your winning chances um yeah it's just frustrating the white Rook will hold up the black queen side pawns and there's not much holding up Whit's pawns on the other side of the board so um yeah I don't envy Max at all big big decision six minutes and Counting and yeah for Pam it's not not just the momentum it's just his moves are automatic he's got nothing else to do he has to go all in with his pawns um so yeah I'm expecting The Rook to move I think Max is still going to try and uh be maximalist about this position and uh keep his extra material but yeah all all bets are off in this one it's gone from a winning in game to yeah a bit of a guessing game right now for black this is what these top players do and another game that's um Wilding is donchenko fua another potential time scramble I don't know if uh we have to take a small break or can we do we jump in yeah I think uh you're right that's the game we'll go to next actually we want to touch on all of them as the clocks are ticking down but it is time for our last break as we reach last break before m 40 I should say as we reach some commentators use the bathroom excellent that's right so go uh do your thing everyone at home go get some snacks some popcorn we'll be be back very shortly before rest of the [Music] [Music] action so D4 D5 C4 this is the Queen's Gambit and this is the starting position for this course my name is Cam pla I am a feeder master from Poland this course is going to be suitable for people of all levels especially since I'm going to teach you attacking play aggression in chess gambits compensation all kinds of dynamism imbalances and in general we have one target this guy here on E8 you might be like yeah this has to be some marketing stuff it's impossible come on you just can't attack with D4 think about it Alin Kasparov binik mamaro they played D4 it was their main opening so I suggest Queen to this this is a better way of playing we are hitting the Knight the Knight goes to F6 and now we are not slowing down we sacrifice the second guy with D5 D is a big threet so takes and Rook D1 and just see this for the cost of two pawns we already have huge pressure on Black's position and after Bishop E7 Knight C3 black really has to walk at TI trop to survive this there are nine games featuring this position a white score is 7 out of [Music] nine [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome back everyone to round nine of the tataa steel Masters where we do have another update it was a peaceful result a draw and a handshake between between good cash and vidit but we're still left with plenty of excitement and potentially some important results and uh Dan not at all surprised by that draw uh the two Indian candidates yes it was in the category of professional draw just uh not too many twists in terms good preparation by bidit he is undefeated along with Prague and there's nothing wrong with playing a solid event um he's on plus one he's showing good form and for gesh not maybe the result that he was hoping for maybe he was hoping to put a little bit more pressure on his compatriot but yeah just a classic super grandmas draw no no surprises there but as you said as we look at our brid eye view um still more than half of the games going and a lot of them with still the most exciting phase likely Yet to Come yeah and uh this is chess on tour and we are left with four uh four remaining games good news for Indian fans pragnan Ander on the brink Victory against shuen Jun we ye pushing an advantage in the end game against napesi will he be able to convert that and potentially a turnaround donchenko against fuja yes fuja losing control fua very much seems to be losing control it's position is almost unrecognizable uh compared to what it was a couple of moves ago somehow whes King has slid over to G1 even though Castle was illegal um King made its way to its destination donchenko suddenly has a very appealing position I mean Bishop is on E2 and it's doesn't seem to be there by choice and this is insane I mean it looks like move by move alza over pressed a little bit and now it's white who's very much in the driver's seat what's going on here yeah it feels like he's messed around a bit too much with his uh Bishop the bishop you're mentioning there Danel and also the black queen a bit of the action the action looks like it's about to start happening on the king side maybe he needed to put his Bishop on E2 to protect the G4 Pawn but um yeah just a bit too slow a bit too tensi and uh donchenko now if you can somehow activate the white Rook on B1 the White Knight on D2 if those ever join the action the other white pieces are poised um so just bring pieces into the attack and I can feel your Tactical eye has been has been woken up here I I'm really partial to this idea maybe it doesn't work but I'm just going to show this Rook E1 and of course the critical move is Queen takes B2 and I think man I cannot catch a break with the eval bar today but my idea was Rook takes E2 um Rook takes E2 and Rook takes G4 check um and King f8 runs into Queen D6 but actually I think the reason it's drawn is because insanely enough King F6 Queen takes E2 King takes F5 and white has no discovered check G4 the king Dodges to G6 Queen E5 check the king also moves to G6 um and somehow it's a bit of a dead end but donchenko has gone a different route literally he's gone the C file route and said Rook to C1 I totally get it he is trying to avoid the traffic the congestion on the E file he wants that Rook on C7 and he's starting to surround I mean that Rook takes h6a that we were laughing at earlier starts to become a slightly more serious threat uh with Rook G6 unavailable potentially this is really disturbing for Ali Resa wow I I mean brilliant move there from donchenko will he get his first win of the event um I mean I think we need to show that Daniel is such a big threat if black gets again greedy uh if black gets happy about munching pawns takes on B2 then is this just Unstoppable Rook takes H6 not many ways to defend against it so you're saying it just works in this position wow Rook takes it and amazingly Queen A1 check you think ah King H2 I capture with check but no I can just shut you down with Knight B1 amazing and just to show everybody earlier on there was always this resource Rook G6 but not here Queen takes G6 is just mate uh in in a few moves so my goodness it's not the kind of plus one position where okay you can survive you can get into an end game and sip your coffee donchenko who who sips his coffee is the danger in this position Rook e s David is okay appealing is the wrong word maybe necessary in order to prevent Rook C7 but it it it feels like black is falling apart here it feels loose and Rook E7 I'm already looking at Rook C8 deflection there's all sorts of stuff in the air vro vroom vroom this is scary for fua who's not just had an up and down game here maybe having the advantage and then letting it slip but he's had an up and down tournament and uh I just wanted to highlight fua who goes into today's round as one of the joint leaders but um winning losing it feels like he's come into this event to fight and unfortunately for him in this position maybe uh just backfiring slightly because this are uh this is his percentage probability before each round of winning the event he started with uh 12.9% s things went up things went down after defeats in round five and seven and suddenly uh back as one of the favorites to win the event 22% prediction rate but it all depends on him holding this game surviving this game against one of the lower seeds and it does not look that way currently um yeah he's in fighting mood Dan but fortunately in this one uh big big trouble now ahead amazing how how quickly games can turn um and how quickly these Dynamic advantages can turn when your advantage depends on something that's changeable like King position the moment the opponent manages to solve that problem uh the situation flips because positionally black has so many weaknesses on the king side and now that finally starts to make its presence felt W Don jenko's pieces suddenly look so beautiful whereas five moves ago uh it looked like his coordination was destroyed pretty amazing the roller coaster ride of this game which epitomizes uh oi's tournament very nicely yeah the black king is soon Under Fire fireos oh I black King's in big trouble and um yeah unfortunately I think body language again we saw a brief Shake of the head from Alara here he's starting to realized maybe he hadn't envisaged this threat it's like two three move threat Rook C7 followed by Rook takes H6 and uh it's Dawning on him now you can see on the camera 10 minutes to fight off this attack with a bunch of moves still to go we're at move 29 we see top left corner of your screens how much time he spent on this move big investment 4 minutes when you've only got nine left and uh still a long long way to go to reach the safety of move 40 I have a feeling I mean this is so hard for a human that we might see a mistake and understandably so in the next few moves because how do you even defend this how do you dream about defending this as black well lesser men have achieved greater Feats but I mean this is the funny thing sometimes when I'm in a lost position I tell myself okay Magnus saved position X against a stronger player I can do this but when you're like this lost you start wondering no I I think this mag even Magnus probably wouldn't be able to save this position um maybe bishop back to D3 uh you need some way to uh to throw a spanner in the works to to prevent this this horrible torture mechanism Rook C7 and Rook takes H6 and if you can't prevent The Rook from coming to C7 maybe you can try to get this bishop off the board but Bishop D3 runs into Rook C5 you have to slide back to A6 this is all very tenuous and potentially all very terrible yeah very minimum there white could just whip off a Pawn on G4 Bishop takes G4 and say material up and with an attack that's uh again very minimum so FIA he's trying to pull the break now he's trying to go into reverse gear and try to cling on these next few moves but it might be too late he might have already committed the decisive errors brilliant play from donchenko this is why as you mentioned uh Dan earlier no underdogs here you can't underestimate anyone there ready to pounce anyone could be anyone in this field yes and donchenko has shown it with his near win against nepo where nepo escaped just with some absolutely otherworldly defense but donchenko is just one of those 2650s that nobody wants to face he's very classy player he's maybe lacking a little bit in opening preparation maybe in some concrete moments he performs worse than his super GM counterparts David but when when he wakes up on the right side of the bed um he is very much capable of fighting toe-to-toe with these guys this is huge moment here can Ali Resa pull off a miracle save here with every ticking second it is seeming less likely this Rook E7 Rook C8 detail also very very important um such a devastating feeling for o Resa yeah look at that nervous glance towards the clock yeah it's not getting time is not adding time has a way of ticking down yeah he's literally spent half of his remaining time on this one move and understandably so but that's also potentially terminal so we'll wait maybe a few more seconds to see if Alara makes a move against the Don donchenko just attacking furiously now against the black king but uh it's unlikely there's any safe he's goingon to Draper his Rook all over Black's Position fuia will be a mad man if he loses this game oh that's yeah that's too lay that's classy classy upon that I wouldn't I wouldn't Betty on it though oh wow wow now you're giving me a craving to watch mad man like it's been a while good show yeah great show and yeah he's going to be mad about his position for sure um okay Don jenko you can see as well on the camera wow fu is not hiding his emotions at all I was going to say donchenko is gaining a confidence he's kind of realizing yeah this is a decisive Advantage I actually think the evaluation bar is deceptive here I mean maybe black is worse if you find a narrow path to that worst position you might just lose a couple of Pawns in the process uh it might already be over psychologically he's suffering I think the next game to end probably will be J and June who is hopelessly lost but we don't we don't have to go there I mean it's nothing has changed in that board it's just dead lost for the Women's World Champion um should we stay here and wait for Fu's move I mean he's been eight minutes in this position which is crazy has five minutes left he doesn't see a move and it's one of those things you want you're like move you have to move and he's telling himself that too he's like I have to make a move but you don't know what to do I Bishop D3 might be the only only way to keep the game going yeah I agree you just has to bite the bullet Play Bishop D3 hope to trade pieces hope that donen technique isn't uh too ruthless um but he's Frozen uh he just he can't bring himself to make that commitment give up a pawn and uh I say give up a pawn maybe there's something even better for white there so okay we'll wait oh I was going to say wait a few more seconds but now over 9 Minute think and in the meantime as you say paganda is about to force resignation from xuen Jun so maybe we do jump over there just to explain uh what's going to happen but we will follow the time tremble with fua in Desperate desperate Dire Straits right now yeah speaking of Dire Straits okay 3 minutes on Black's clock for like a 100 moves but that's it could might as well be seven hours uh Prague is actually now only up one Pawn but the problem is that black has no good way to defend against Rook takes G7 um Rook E7 runs into Bishop B4 pin Rook F7 there's a fork Queen F6 maybe no but then Queen H oh oh look at this win David Queen F6 Queen H2 Queen F7 oh my God this is insane Queen takes H5 yeah not the only win but definitely the flashiest yeah is there a mate here there must be a mate oh just somehow yeah some combination of Rook moves but even Rook G5 Rook takes H5 is the Lazy Man's approach plenty is sufficient just Rook G1 just build up bring the other Rook into the action very nice oh this is beautiful but uh yeah this would be game over and I mean this is just one of many right uh so many attacking ideas here it's all about the G7 square and actually we called it earlier with the D Square Bishop White's Dart Square Bishop has been the MVP the most valuable piece this whole game and um unfortunately for J and Jun nothing is going to save her here yes and uh she's down below two minutes just coming to terms with uh the hopelessness of the position she might try one or two moves but it's it's not going to help her another smooth win by Prague and yeah B3 you know that Fen Kettle looked really awkward but it's looking real good now um yeah you know you're not always cool in the moment but then afterward everybody jumps on the bandwagon that Bishop beautifully coordinated he made it work he had to play some awkward moves he had to contort himself uh like a real a gr contortionist but yeah somehow it work but his pieces is unraveled and Black's King is doomed under well about to tip under one minute now X and Jun so I think we stay here just to see either the handshake or her next move and how quickly prag capitalizes but ultimately this is a white win prag Looking Up and Away to a screen he knows that he has this one in the bag inspired opening choice this is really romantic chess as well seeing this type of fried liver attack it's rare at the top level these days but nice to see the players revisit these historic uh lines and get success from them and um yeah you can see realization on J andreu's face now down to just 30 something seconds on her clock handshake do you think now is this the moment that's just no way to fight on yes no Queen E7 I think she's going to play Queen E7 first oh look great prediction by the commentator um what does she want against Bishop B4 maybe that will be the moment to resign yeah the hand will be extended I mean there's a thousand McQueen H2 rookie Prague is the kind of guy who will go like Rook D1 here and really set on the position I think this is the way the Young Generation plays they don't cash in their chips they play for maximum I mean queen H2 I'm very partial to because it's such a aesthetically pleasing move um but white has quite the menu of options here yeah and uh prag has 16 minutes so yeah all of these moves just tip over the black defense they uh yeah no way to stabilize for black at all the king too weak so maybe it is time to move over to the other games this one's essentially decided as uh prag just chooses how to finish it off and in the meantime okay Wei doing extremely well um fuja did find Bishop to D3 so fighting uh still with four minutes on his clock but maybe it's time for we against npon Mishi how big is wh's advantage over there both players with around 11 minutes in the end game but uh just a brief checkin at that board yes let's have a closer look um and of course we're keeping an eye on the fuja game we'll get back there as soon as donchenko makes a move okay King F four on the board of course we didn't play Ultra accurately but I think he's doing enough to maintain the decisive Advantage black is just tied hand and foot and again our hourly reminder is Knight on D7 still a terrible piece the knights are just totally impotent here and so is the Pawn on A3 yes there is a Pawn on A3 but I'm not sure how it got there but I don't think it's going any further yeah I mean Superfluous Knights useless Knights terrible Knights they're both actually going to start getting hit soon white has ideas such as marching the G Pawn down the board I wouldn't be surprised if we marches his King the whole way in for Glory King G5 King H6 and closes a mating net around the black king but yeah essentially it's just immobilized black has no active moves like you say actually it's hard to find one it's actually the more I look at it the more Dawns on me the black actually might be in actual Zang in like the conventional definition where every move harms your position actively okay maybe you can move the Rook Rook A8 um how would you proceed would you take on F7 with the Knight would you press forward with King G5 y like it's like asking me to choose my favorite ice cream flavor I just want all of them so yeah unfortunately for black yeah once The Rook moves away Knight takes F7 even Bishop takes F7 everything's uh available probably just take with a knight he does move his Rook back and his favorite ice cream flavor exactly impressive selfcontrol I just wanted to say Daniel from where he that F7 Pawn's been hanging for like 10 moves but he didn't even want it um he knows it's not running away anytime soon um yeah maybe just bring the king in or play G4 or something just improve and black stuck yeah Bishop F7 very concrete move but also looks good A2 I said the pawn wouldn't go further but even if it does it can be mopped up by the rook and the bishop yeah not sure there's a way to go wrong here but I like your move King G5 just improve to the maximum and just to show yeah Knight H7 King H6 game is over King G7 I think you have Rook e s beautiful yeah King G5 probably the most accurate just avoiding unnecessary complications yeah Knight takes F7 nothing wrong with that one either but uh okay in the meantime this is a long-term winning Advantage uh for white for Wei okay shall we go back to fuja because we thought he was in big big trouble and his clock is ticking down below the 4minute mark now Magan fadam we will update you one but maybe uh at least surprisingly considering considering how that started that one is roughly in the balance okay question mark from donchenko but he's won a pawn yes how dare you take this Free Pawn on G4 with your Bishop I mean who would ever do such a thing yeah and black king still super weak at least now I guess black can park a bishop on G6 fua though looking away in Anger at what he's done to his position Pawn down and nearly 9 minutes down on the clock tough times Bishop G6 I think white can play I was really angling for an opportunity to get the Knight to E5 but unfortunately you have to be very careful Rook E4 could be nasty um quick note that rookie one check is not dangerous the king always has H2 and there's just no fall there's no way to park a second piece on the first rank then Rook h8 to A1 would be a nice diagonal move okay he gives the check congratulations now a big decision by donchenko just kidding king H2 is an only move yeah and what next yes I'm curious what Al's follow-up will be it could just be Bishop G6 what he could be saying is okay I'm going to disable your knight um and set up the possibility of Queen F1 okay not bad Ali res is very much in the game I mean he just like uh nepo and all the players of the younger generation giving up is just not in his dictionary he will fight to the end he does it in every time control I've faced it so many times in Blitz it's so debilitating he is he is just a snake it's crazy what he finds in Lost positions yeah these top players they always Slither away from the danger yeah I've been there too countless time don't worry but uh okay looks like dumenko has played King to H2 are you surprised therefore knowing how resourceful he years and knowing the fact that actually Black's still alive uh that fua was kind of acting out there just shaking his head staring away like clearly cursing himself under his breath um because we wouldn't expect such uh behavior from someone who's still kicking fighting hard yeah I mean I think you know it's it's one thing to be emotionally devastated by the proceedings but Gary Kasparov was was also like this he wore I mean times 100 he wore his emotions on his sleeve sometimes it impacted his play but other times it motivates you you get angry and you say no I'm not going to I'm not going to give up I'm going to fight until the end I'm not going to go for this narrative let's see which oi Resa shows up in these 10 time control moves yep and uh which donchenko shows up he's done a lot of the hard work one upon PA but some questions ahead um yeah it's he's definitely not one to underestimate he's in control but the clock is ticking for him too still only move 31 um okay just while we let's catch the results in in prague's game let's do that let's do that oh oh amazing just as I say that oh beautiful we got the amazing camera angle with a black oh that's an Arbiter yeah the Arbiters have an uncanny knck of standing in front of the cameras this is almost as if they haven't been told before but in the meantime yeah Shan Jun tough game she didn't do much wrong but uh unfortunately up against a player in top top form in prag just the opening it felt like Danel decided a lot of this game yeah yeah I mean it's fried liver every time it's trotted out at the high level it seems to win Taro beat kowana with it then I think Fabby won a game with white it's just the opening that tends to slip through the cracks um of most players preparation and this has been one of the exciting Trends um of recent times everything is well trotten everything is explored so one of the tricks of the trade is to revert back to the you know to the old school lines these these guys in the 1890s 1900s they kind of knew what they were doing and they weren't as you know as as obtuse as we tend to think they are for example Wilhelm steinet wrote a 250 page book on opening analysis so the idea that that there wasn't any opening analysis you know a 100 years ago is very very wrong and in fact they got a lot of it right even without computers good job by Prague he continues his Rampage yeah fantastic play by prag candidate for a reason and as you say fashion in chess works in mysterious ways but often it is simply about revising revisiting all of these old forgotten lines and just knowing them better than your opponent so uh for anyone out there watching listening pick up those old books pick up those old grandm masterly Champion games and uh yeah a lot to learn from those both in the opening and a bit later on in the meantime Wei against yanomi we he's on a King march will he be successful with this will the king be coronated at the end and will nishi's defenses K you see on the camera it's black to move napom Nishi deep in thought but not much is going to save him here he's stuck Frozen unable to find a good plan because there is none yes yes there was a brief glimmer of of hope I think when we allowed that Queen on D2 but he disarmed it so expertly just very Adroid getting the king to G5 patient um and this is just a beautiful example of positional domination every piece is on its proper spot the Knight is dominating and black again has no moves Rook d8 Tried by nepo he has to try to force ironically enough he has to he's now begging white to take on F7 please give me like a square for my pieces and I think Knight takes F7 maybe he wants Rook C8 somehow he needs to muddy the waters in whes time pressure yeah but Wei he's shown just phenomenal self-control so far I wouldn't be surprised if he just Waits another move there's still no threat at all what about just Rook E3 defend that c Pawn just in case a rook lands on C8 just sit and uh keep waiting torturing the opponent I'm sure there's better I'm sure there others but way doesn't need to rush again instru for everyone at home just when you've done the hard work control just don't give the oppon any coun playay just one note don't get too excited though funny line King H6 is bad because of Knight G8 and if you go the full nine yards you're going to be left without a knight King h8 Rook takes C6 congratulations You' won the extended King of the Hill game but you've lost the chess game so it's it's important again on the topic of not falling in love with your ideas being practical um probably you're right so Rook E3 actually Rook E3 is such an excellent move just protect C3 set up Knight takes F7 and as always King G7 maybe here you take on F7 or again Rook E7 uh hitting where it hurts I think we just a couple accurate moves away here from breaking down blacks dogged uh resistance but there's only so much that black can do yeah if he reaches move 40 still with Advantage intact still with the really beautiful options of taking on F7 then I think he's going to win this game we're at move 36 so he pretty much has to make four accurate moves way with six minutes and then he'll have an ocean of time to think and he'll wrap it up no problem at all so Yan needs to muddy the water somehow in the next four moves just looks impossible that's why I advocate just especially when the clock's taking down keep things simple overprotect um just make sure there's zero counter plate at all but he's odds on to win this one way as long as he gets to move 40 and um okay is it time just a brief update Max Zulu against Max vadam for those interested in that battle black still up por up and it's a race potentially the black pawns are Marching this is exactly the kind of game that you want to watch and not play um which in is actually most games but especially this one I mean it's just a completely as you said random position I think is a good way to define it but unfortunately for param it looks like he has made quite a bit less progress Max has sacrificed The Exchange back now in order to restrict the mobility of White's pawns and he's done a great job of it that Bishop on B8 is it may seem just staring at the pawn but it's actually doing a great job of preventing F5 and it begs the question how does param get cracking in the center because Black's plan is very clear and I mean even a monkey could do it just B4 B3 A4 Etc M yeah it's it's hard I must admit Pam he's been trying to hustle on the clock it feels like he's uh really uh been blitzing Max especially Max down to two minutes but we're about to close in on move 40 and I think as you say he's made his decision so much easier Max vadan this is really good practical uh practical play clear cut plan pretty much autopilot next couple of moves and pressure on white to whip up create something out of nothing the white king is too passive if if it were an E4 the white pawns could start pushing there's not enough support for them White's Rook it's on the wrong side White's Knight looks nice and pretty but going nowhere um I actually think he's despite the fact the evaluation bar is less enthused I think he's played this really really well and uh still a bit of a favorite to win would you still say 6040 Daniel or have the numbers changed maybe 6040 but you know now 60% draw 40% 40% win for black yeah it's it really depends I'm going to a way to move 40 I mean the next three moves are going to be very very telling um Parham maybe considering a move like Knight back to E3 maybe Knight to F6 but that might be too slow black could even ignore potentially the threat of Rook D7 check but two minutes for Max Parham needs to find some way to force him to calculate make him make a decision and of course we are aware that uh it's been a while since we've checked into the ol Resa game unfortunately looks like the um the dgt board from the playing Hall um has had a glitch it's it's not on our end I mean they're making moves but board isn't giving us anything yeah maybe we uh check in on the board donchenko that was a really sadistic smile that briefly cross his face and then he realized it was his move and he had to focus um yeah this one just looking at the pieces trying to figure things out it looks like he's still in control still has the extra Pawn but um yeah of course we'll update you on all of the ins and outs all of the variations and stuff very shortly in this one um they are at move 37 donchenko still has three moves to make before the time control and his clock is ticking oh there we go I think we have moves oh like magic amazing just any when we called for it we have it I was going to say the transmission with plagued or should I say hagged with some difficulties but it is all back alza made his last move with nine seconds on his clock he is playing a hyper bullet game David unal but white is not playing without risk either there's M threats with like night G4 and Rook H1 if you go hunting for breakfast the bishop takes D5 bad don't do that yeah you need to keep your pieces in position the only pieces that aren't playing for white here are the Rook on C5 and the Knight on D2 the Knight on D2 is defending defending Rook C7 looks tempting I'm not sure what the threat is but um Rook F7 line up oh it's not a threat Knight G4 at the end Rook C7 threatening to blunder but it'll Force the opponent to think he'll at least scare the opponent those types of scary moves are normally really effective in time trouble I mean you're the you're the blitz bullet expert Danielle what would you be playing here to try and uh try and hustle alera on the clock yeah Rook C7 I think obviously you should see that you're not threatening anything he's played it but it's a setup move I I think this type of move can be poorly understood by some players who might say well if you're not threatening Rook takes F7 then why are you playing the move but you're the situation is very volatile um Black's Queen may move away from the sixth Rank and you want to set yourself up as positively as possible for all the tactics that may come in Rook C7 threatens F7 it attacks the queen side pawns as well there's nothing wrong with just taking a bunch of Pawns here um if if the queen moves away so um yeah Rook C7 is a great setup move alza down under a minute there okay what has he played he's Rook H7 yeah Rook H7 and the reluctance on his face he played that with 21 seconds left he's again lining up trying to hold everything together trying to defend maybe he didn't realize that Rook takes F7 wasn't a threat but again but now this this looks like it loses on the spot one second is there some tactic here oh can you take on H5 Bishop takes H five is that a free pawn it might be and that actually sets up the threat of Rook takes F7 mm Black's tied down it's it's like a pins movement against the F7 Square Bishop H5 wins the game you can sense the excitement don't you go NOS he's right there he's knocking on the door Bishop takes H5 that's the killer yeah when these top players they lean in it's as if they've smelt something they sense something he knows he knows he's winning he just needs to find the killer blow put the cherry on that cake and okay he spotted something he looked over at the clock it's as if he's trying to will himself not to get over excited and he's looking in the direction of Black's h no counter five oh he yeah he's really got great selfcontrol here not rushing still calculating double checking Bishop takes H5 wins there might be other moose uh but the black Bishop if it gets back will hold things together so this might be the only immediate knockout otherwise the game goes on yes and you obviously want to double check triple check but you don't want to overdo it um he's got five minutes on his clock you want to leave yourself with a little bit of time uh just to react to whatever alza throws at you he will fight till the very last move um so Bishop H5 very easy to calculate I mean I'm not going to make any moves on the board uh just because we're about to get a bunch of moves on the real board but Bishop H5 obviously Rook H5 Rook H5 at the end white takes on F7 with a very obvious mating attack and he's done it he has done it he's found the winning move and fuia leans back despondent in his chair nothing to do the black king is under heavy fire and he knows will he resign will he fight on is there a way to fight on this one is over donchenko yeah the star what a move and this is why we line up on the seventh rank when we have white so many targets there this is why we try and use all of our pieces together combine them in an attack all of White's pieces are attacking the black king apart from the Knight and fuja looks like he might well just offer his hand there's no way to fight on you're getting checkmated you're down two porns and he resigns Dono takes the win incredible what a first win for Alexander donchenko and oi resz has got a just be shocked what just happened I mean he was totally in control he was even already maybe thinking about a quick knockout he had dungeon Coast King in the center with no castling rights and then boom five moves past the landscape shifts a couple sloppy moves some time pressure and a victory for the German player and what a blow to Al Resa whose roller coaster ride continues with a very painful loss yep since the beginning for ala it's been up down and unfortunately today was a bit of a downer but congratulations to the German Prince donchenko for his first victory of the event and um yeah he's been close before we've mentioned it he does take in sparkling fashion actually a win after a bit of a difficult middle game turning things around and uh yeah this uh chess on tour out there in the he has really brought out the best in players decisive games are racking up now we saw a win from prag earlier now a win from donchenko and uh Abdus satoro took a win it's been a white day all of the players with the white pieces simply cashing in uh turning a bit of a trend throughout this tournament and we we has also officially won his game wow we are down to only one game believe it or not yeah I mean we saw a draw earlier ding luren against giri I thought o is this a trend where we start seeing some peaceful games but suddenly four white wins and uh I don't think we'll see that case in The Clash maulu against Max badam but let's jump over there let's whiz over there because uh have they reached move 40 is the first big question yes they have they have okay so time added on quite a bit of it quite a bit of time yeah lots and lots of time we see the clock ticking down to zero I think we'll see it reach zero but Max ladan will of course get time added on now we're past the 40 and Danel I think we need to catch our breaths it's been non-stop Action Four decisive games in the last segment and yeah everyone at home time for you to catch your breath as well uh Will maxo Survive you'll find out we'll be back in five see you after the [Music] break Kasparov Gary Kasparov big fan of Gary Kasparov Gary kaspar Gary kaspar he he really inspired me to take up chess he um attacking games and style was just very impressive he was the hero when I was very young both Kasparov and Carlson I read Caspar's books and I watched Carlson's games and also uh Magus Carson Magnus Carlson yeah clearly Magnus goson yeah for me Magnus uh has been my inspiration he was the world champion all the time when I started following chess and we can all learn a lot from his games and nobody shows this kind of class in the history of Chess all I think that almost every top chess player uh carries something that can be a source of inspiration so um I can look up to almost almost any one of [Music] them in this video I'm going to show you top five scholar made attempts in Champions games before we dive into the games I would like to show you the pattern if you have not seen it yet well this happens when white goes with one E4 black responds with E5 and white plays Queen to H5 this queen gets into the game way too fast attacks the pawn on E5 now black plays Knight to six guarding the pawn and white goes with Bishop to C4 White's two pieces are attacking on F7 and would like to capture this pawn and if black is careless and plays Knight to F6 then we have Queen to F7 and this is a Checkmate Scholars made attempt two by Hikaru here we have this game between Hikaru and Philip of anon and we have L E4 E5 Queen goes on H5 and G6 once again he Carl Queen to F3 once again gives a try to Checkmate Black's King black says no I see that and Knight to E2 we have seen already this kind of position earlier in the first game so black plays Bishop to G7 to make sure that King is castled and here Hikaru goes with D3 black responds with D5 attacks right away in the center white captures this pawn and black goes with Knight to before the pawn on C2 is hanging so white has to play Bishop to B3 to guard this pawn and now we have Knights to D5 and here we have this end game where white has very active pieces both Rooks are controlling the open files and the bishop is controlling this diagonal as you can see here those pieces are concentrated mainly on the queen side and they are not actually so active and the king is all the way here on the King side just alone so white is using this and plays Rook to E7 gives a check if King goes on the back rank it will be a Checkmate uh so black goes to King H6 now and here we have Rook to D6 the pawn is hanging and it's not just a pawn it's going to be a Checkmate so King goes back on G5 plays G6 to guard the pawn and we have Bishop to C4 attacking The Rook but what is actually the idea of this move is that white wants to play Bishop to D3 and checkm this King next move there we go this is the Checkmate that happened in this game and second attempt of Scholars made in fact worked out this game has ended in 39 moves it was not a Checkmate in four moves but I think white got really nice play on the king side [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's Kasparov against toov I think it was dream calculation that kaspar and I love it my favorite is I would say Gary kaspar against um W topalov played in this whitean 1999 the game Kasparov to against topalov comes to my mind because so famous so many remarks on italos King came you know from C8 all the way to to to B1 so that was like interesting part of the game we're back round nine of the T Steel Masters and there we heard the players talking about their favorite games lots of name drops there for Kasparov but uh Daniel I think donchenko after this last round has a new favorite game yes I think it might be the Timeless classic donchenko fua T of Steel 2024 it was a lovely game and a very very big win one that I think you can rightfully brag about for for years to come yeah one of his best ever individual results his best ever wins there donchenko taking down fua and uh that means we're left with just one game and uh let's recap some of the results we've seen so far today four white wins wins by donchenko over fuia as we mentioned couple of draws but uh lower down Abdus satoro taking down yordan van forest in brutal style very quick game there we defeating eventually Yan naoni in a really classy smooth positional effort and paganda after a great opening the fried liver attack beating XU wenjun and uh dramatic day on tour out there in the H yeah some incredible games today after our rest day as we expected we were not disappointed and for Notre Beck Sweet Revenge of course uh seem to believe seem to remember that Jordan defeated him in the last round of was it last year's tus steel uh to yeah to prevent Notre from winning the tournament so uh he got his chance at revenge and he cashed it in this tournament just keeps turning around I mean there's impossible to make any predictions there's no momentum to speak of anybody can beat everybody and anybody has beaten everybody um as this round has has Illustrated yeah the key remaining question is can Max vadam beat Pam Magle after a brilliant start to this game with the black pieces having what was almost a winning Advantage by move 13 this game has dragged on but he's still in control Max badam and let's jump into the position itself uh to assess what we're left with after the time control we' passed move 40 and this is what he's left with as black a pornup and two protective pass PS on the queen side but still a lot of hard work to be done yeah this is actually a very difficult end game to handle obviously for both sides but black the onus is on black to demonstrate the winning technique the basic issue is that these pawns are are not easy to to move forward I mean you can push A3 but that's about as far as they'll go for now and the second problem is that the Knight is actually a surprisingly uh able defender on on B4 you can't go either way with the King because you run into uh two symmetrical Forks on on A6 and and on C6 so the winning technique might require a little bit more finesse it might require black to go after some of these weak pawns particularly the G4 Pawn might be the most accessible one Rook G3 um comes to mind but potentially runs into the move Rook to H1 white can also Garner some counterplay so it feels like it should be winning David uh in summary but probably the winning path is very tenuous and very um you know there's a lot of monsters along the way yeah that's for sure especially when a knight exists all the forks you mentioned two of them there's going to be more that's guaranteed um Rook G3 came to my mind as well very early on but um just to point out Rook B3 looks like it trades off Rooks and actually if you could keep the Integrity of your Pawn structure and take Rooks off the board it's an easy win for black but uh Rook B3 unfortunately um yeah in this exact position the fact that you're going to lose the head B Pawn here um I think there's just not enough material the black king I think Daniel the key is that the black king cannot March towards the white pawns because there are all of these Forks if you could plant it on e4 you win uh if you win any of these black white kingside pawns you win but uh you cannot step forward you simply you set out on a journey from San Francisco to New York but you can't get out of your garage like King C whoops that A6 time to to buy a new car okay Knight A6 ironically might not even be the best move because black and Sack the bishop but anyways um very important Point can we try uh Rook to G3 and I was trying to assess test this in the bathroom which is probably not the best place to try to culate this end game um but what is going on here after Rook H1 at first I thought okay Rook takes G4 probably bad for black yeah Rook takes H6 again this huge problem King C5 Knight A6 King A5 Knight C6 is just a worst move in the history of Chess um and if you go back to B7 there is a very nice parking spot uh calling parham's name on F6 there's counter play yeah Rook F6 Bish E5 might be a trick so I don't know if you have to avoid that one maybe Rook F7 King B6 and we will leave the rest as an exercise to the reader yep black still better Rook H7 is also moved wait like Rook F6 Bishop E5 let's look so the point if F takes E5 Rook takes B4 and time to bring out dy's iname manual why is this still a draw looks like Black's just a porn up um can't argue with that mystery um maybe if you want to okay you can I was gonna say if you want to bank it and not risk anything this still looks very good for black unless you're holding by a miracle maybe in that position instead of Rook F6 maybe we just defend F4 like Knight D3 or Knight something and then we go for that pawn I don't know if Knight D I'm a bit scared of the a por marching but I think I'm in time to go go over and collect I'm also trying to hint at Knight C5 check type of ideas night C5 TR might be a bit annoying for black but I agree I think it feels like black has gone wrong here like it feels like black is relinquished serious winning chances in a situation where white has an hour so it's important I think okay after Rook H1 there is the immediate A3 Rook takes H6 and maybe there you can try to go forward but but that will require some serious oh that's clever though let's that let's try it takes giving up the bishop and look at this Knight A6 I'm not sure where to go but let's Okay crap I put it of course on the wrong square but just to illustrate my guess King D4 was better if Knight takes B8 the one of the basic ideas here is A2 it looks like the pawn has stopped but among other things I think there is I mean come on yeah let's play B4 just to try and connect the pawns and then you can show the idea yeah B4 F5 I guess black doesn't even need Rook G1 you could just probably go B3 and just Ram the pawns through B2 B1 is coming and the Knight is totally out of the game it's off sides but why was King C4 wrong maybe I've given you an an unnecessary check on C6 King D4 in that case maybe King D4 forces the white king back as well in some variations not sure how this helps but yeah this should be winning though A2 yeah although there's some Knight C6 checks Rook A6 must be winning but not again this move is never good I guess for some reason but it's winning yeah this is this is winning for black I think it's pretty clear um maybe B4 in this position your your idea just Rook G2 check first oh Rook G2 yeah this is why we put the King on D4 I forgot yeah and then King C3 maybe threaten Checkmate why not and then I'll try something else yes back to D4 King B4 no I think B4 actually B4 oh writing mate yeah easy simple stuff he'll find this of course easy clap yeah I mean this what we're five 10 moves into the line yeah yeah not easy at all he's actually lucky maxad that he hit move 40 just at this moment so he does actually have the time 34 minutes on the clock to calculate this type of variation but as you say it's so kind of fraught with danger like where you put the king might different differentiate a win versus a draw um of course kind of allowing counterplay full stop is always a bit of a kind of a bit of a enthusiasm killer so Richie allowing Rook H1 he might have just ruled it out without going deeper um is there a way to I mean there's just no way to activate the black bishop or black king I quite like your A3 in light in kind of light of that variation we were showing because you're always a Tempo up maybe next move you go Rook G3 also a nice hiding spot if the black king can sneak around to A4 which is yeah no given but um can we try A3 okay so immediate A3 yeah very honestly very sensible move just keeping all of the advantages to the position but the evaluation bar didn't approve so for some nebulous reason U my Blitz instinct is to play King C2 I mean move the king closer to the pawn MH and now is there a difference if I go Rook G3 don't let's try same idea Rook tap oh wait why is the bar evolving why is it getting so excited let's take a G4 like a seismograph oh oh and I fled ah maybe King C5 now maybe you just voluntarily proactively sacrific the bishop ra no how about the the other way let's go the other way King A5 I mean this might look like we're blundering left right and center but this I hope is quite instructive to the audience because uh this is what Max is doing in his head is trial and error PR yeah come on I I don't tolerate any you know any of that from as a newer commentator I was very apologetic but now I mean we're we're spending 30 seconds on this position he's got he spent 19 minutes already calculating this so I don't think we're doing a bad job of highlighting we have no engine on you know we're we're estimating things and obviously there's the conceptual uh part of the position okay sacking the bishop and then there's the specifics okay how do you do it when do you do it but this I think is winning for black yeah and this is the basic Point like now the Knight is totally out of the game Knight C6 Rook C3 brutal that's a fork maybe I can try to go like this but B3 must be winning somehow A2 is this just gonna be Checkmate just in time Rook B1 Rook Rook G1 oh nice very flamboyant very flashy and um yeah I mean A3 on the first move looks very committal but then it does open up all these kind of avenues if the black king can start running sprinting down the board and it's well known that Knights struggle against these Rook pawns and I mean every time I've I've been lucky I've played Magnus a lot at Blitz and anytime he has a pass Pawn he just shoves it down the board I'm like come on mate you're going to lose your Pawn it's too vulnerable he's like no no no there's always tactic to justify having a pawn that far down the board so kind of A3 would have been tempting but he goes for a different idea also tempting Rook H4 so he's trying to do the same thing like Rook G3 but also to prevent Rook G1 uh Rook H1 but of obviously this move also has drawbacks because on H4 The Rook is uh very awkwardly placed and this might open the door for more counterplay for Parham um also to not one more of these thinks and backs is right back into time time pressure so there's this illusory safety net that this additional time gives you I've I've had this many times where especially with like only a 30 minute time Edition where you take 25 minutes on move 41 and boom it's like right back to a Blitz game yeah story of my life as well Daniel don't worry you're not alone literally uh I mean I I enjoy that luxury too much on Mo 41 I sit there take ay you know go out go for a walk stretch of the legs come back and straight back in the the Zone with the clock and that's where the blunders occur but yeah Max 30 minutes I think ultimately a good practical decision Rook H4 maybe there were cleaner wins maybe there was a more direct path but no easy moves for param right now does he defend his pawns G1 looks horrible what else simply for white no easy defense no easy moves yeah you might have to I mean for some reason I really want to give this Knight D5 check it's very very tempting but it actually might play right into Black's hands King A5 and Rook B1 to A8 maybe that position would be nice but no I think you have to keep this Knight on B4 so by process of elimination maybe Rook G1 is the only move yeah sad move and knowing ma Zulu he'll be looking for tactics he'll be looking for tricks anything before Rook G1 he doesn't want to go passive but okay how does Max proceed after uh that defensive move okay let's put it on the board um okay still nobody canel the idea of A3 this is possible once again um and maybe even more tempting with White's Rook forced onto an awkward spot there's a check on H2 that can be delivered really tough call um y H5 GH Bop D C5 but no that seems too speculative yeah almost I mean I would want to slow play at Bishop C7 and somehow sneak the king out but yeah I probably get punished for my uh yeah exactly that type of thing yeah speaking of punishment I have a funny another funny Yer story okay on that topic I think this might be the good good time for it definitely enlight all the Time in the World um yeah this was actually I had never heard this yet I've heard most Yer stories of course from you know all of my time interacting with him so prox of course again disclaimer I not one 100th of the Storyteller that yaser is but um The Story Goes that Victor kchy of course who else Victor coroy was playing a tournament and um he he made a draw against a low-rated player he offered a draw in a better position he misevaluated it and then the following round he he lost the miniature um and so he was approached by a journalist after he lost the game and say Victor you what are your thoughts on how the tournament has gone South for you and Victor was like well I'm you know interpreting this pretty philosophically you know it's just like dust's book Crime and Punishment right I mean I offered a draw in a better position so in the next round I got punished I got what I deserved and the reporter asks what was doki's rating wow I mean that yeah I'm sure that yeah chess journalists have said questions I mean they're chess journalist that's they they investigate chess games exactly yeah Crime and Punishment who will the punishment land on eventually he did commit a lot of crimes in the opening here at mag Zulu and he's had to suffer for it but then again you could argue he's been you know he deserves to be rewarded for fighting on this well and this hard not making it easy at all for black but um yeah I think this might be the a good moment Dan with white about to have a long long think probably Rook G1 we think defending the pawn but this might be a good moment to update everyone on the challenges section today where we haven't had a chance to jump over they're still out in Vian they're not here in the heg but I'm being told that there was a phenomenal game a really entertaining game between Alina robz and um Liam FR for I don't know I trust you I trust uh hey I you sir my Dutch I haven't brushed up on my Dutch in a while and uh Liam frol frook I'm being told at least so um yeah here we see one remaining game with leader and World Junior Champion Mark Andre maiti against Divia deshmuk looks like white is just a porn up and slowly but surely should win this one maybe by advancing the king at the right moment but um yeah I think it's that game with Elina robz and Liam Fook which apparently means happy uh that we should be happy to go to and it ended in a black win but credit we need to get serious we need to stop frolicking around here and um and you need to stop being a diva about it I mean oh wow I can't I resign hey you've already made your mark sorry wow I mean that was like that was like one of those games where it's like I've blundered and then you just hit me with all the winning moves and have no response Queen takes h8 Queen takes A8 Queen takes B8 literally like the windmill we're talking of a Dutch tournament um okay let's go to that King's Gambit though Elina robz we've been promising it and I think it lives up to expectations um and okay it was ultimately a win for black this is a crazy position to say the least this is the final position this is the final position let's just go from the start and uh enjoy sure let's play through a few moves okay Leen with very interesting tournament she defeated two of the top seeds in a row um and just such admirable Bishop C4 also a surprise by the way wow you don't you haven't I haven't seen this since uh like the 1870 I don't know dorf chess Congress like I want to say like Hampe against St steinet or something but okay black ises Queen H4 check mhm I was going to say you clearly haven't played on the English chess circuit where this is like week in week out like every uh Englishman and his dog play this uh this opening I'm sure this is i' right up Jonathan spielman's alley exactly okay so Knight C6 for natural developing moves okay and black is up a PA that's not the end unfortunately no but I think some somewhere here Alene misplayed it a little bit um but then she got out of it she's incredibly resilient H4 very much in the spirit of the king's Gambit A4 B4 is happening here yeah white a PA down and White's King looks a bit Airy this is how Fisher like to used to set up he used to play D6 H6 G5 but okay Bishop back uh this is not looking great for white yeah wow Five Point Attack Just unfortunately on the wrong side of the board but wait there's more Liam misplays it F3 G3 he thinks the game is over but look at elen Rook A2 incredible defensive move which was I think clearly overlooked by um he takes the Knight another bad move back to F6 he goes now the Knight is Untouchable because of Queen G6 but El finds another shot in the center this is very much King's Gambit style and suddenly the queen is very much boxed in and Liam has to give back the Knight and the game continues wow it looks like it's gone wrong for black severely wrong but how did he uh turn this in his favor I guess the white king living life on the edge here literally K H2 very good and I mean this looks fantastic really inspired play by Alena but but now it comes all crashing down the Kings Gambit one sacrifice was enough and in huge time pressure this was the big problem um quietly Liam has 11 minutes alen has one Queen G4 just forgetting about The Rook on E one o and understandable Panic David because Queen E2 runs into Rook D2 so I don't even know what the correct move was probably Queen C1 yeah something along those lines I just want to play Knight D6 check because I can but I'm not sure if that's a great move just to close the file and uh take the bishop on E6 but yeah chaotic game Danel and again we love to see it this romantic 18th 19th century chess but unfortunately this type of Chess high risk but High uh reward and the risk factor did Prevail she yeah just one slip and it that's all it takes y forun okay tough for she almost got out of it but she still should hold her head up high two huge wins this tournament and plenty of opportunities to score more upsets in the meantime we have moves no a move one parentheses one move by param should we go back are there any other games that yeah let's go back I think it's time to go back um yeah we saw the results there in the challenges they're in Vian we'll check back in on them a bit later or potentially tomorrow um and a move but an important one Knight D5 check check to the king where to run you slide to the right to the left to the edge to the center um I would be incl to play King to A5 here but I'd probably walk into some checkmate with the white rending up on A8 yeah I I um I think the one easy tactic to point up King C5 looks wrong to me um because let's put this on the board because of Knight C3 I think this is what param is hoping for now obviously this is not the end of the story black could even sack one of the pawns and still be better there's like Rook H2 check but that begs the question why deal with this the big difference is if you put the King on A5 which is a less um visually appealing square but now it takes away the prospect of Knight C3 obviously this now runs into uh B4 so I'm curious what what does param want does he actually want to play Rook C1 and try to get the Rook to C8 is this his idea no param a bit I would say potentially yes he always finds the most tricky the most ambitious moves even if they're not always objectively correct M um Rook C1 we need to refute this though yeah evaluation Bar says okay blunder but obviously for a human and that's far less clearcut um B I mean it looks like a big threat Rook C8 I can see why Max would be turned off by this one totally I want to avoid it I mean Rook takes G4 Rook C8 I don't see and Bishop takes C5 walks into m in one uh maybe you just take the materialistic approach I Rook C Bishop A7 is possible with the idea Rook A8 King A6 but here white has the additional resource Rook C7 and exactly this is what white wants you want to get it you want what you had previously which is a mess and if white is able to eliminate F7 play for Matrix it starts getting messy again yeah and the players unfortunately for them they don't see the evaluation bar so max won't realize that this mess this Randomness is still good for black it looked like White's made massive progress there I like King A5 though nonetheless like I mean this this pattern we always point out right Knights are dominated by pawns or Bishops when there's two squares between them and then on the third square there's a piece it feels like the King on A5 at least won't walk into any Forks immediately I'm not going to say it dominates the Knight the knight's beautifully centralized but feels like the safer Square King C6 also Knight C3 process of elimination actually Daniel this what else other than King A5 no I think the only explanation because already Max has taken four minutes and this is what I talked about I mean he's below 30 minutes now and in about 15 minutes you know he's going to start feeling the heat on the clock I think it's very likely that he is um trying to get his bearings after Rook C1 again it's so easy for us to like not take this line seriously because the's plus three but if you're in Max issues I you see a Checkmate you get scared and that fear is kind of Amplified when you play someone as as terrifying as Parham um so I'm not at all confident that you know King A5 will even feature I maybe Max decides to play it safe but I I wouldn't be able to resist I would just play this move and then wait for Rook C1 and then think MH I was also wondering actually after King A5 was the white just comes back Knight B4 and repeat offer a draw most likely going to get H yeah I was going to say smacks down that draw offer but oh I see getting warmer yeah damn um sorry we'll stop now Max we promise okay yeah time to time to move on to param but yeah I mean there's still so many tricks so many resources I mean I think Max is going to be here for the next couple of hours trying to win this we'll be here so we better uh buckle up for a long long grind ourselves in and get the coffee brewing and uh you know get the fire burning get the lne pouring get get the barbecue grilling but Max still has to decide where to put his King yeah I do Wonder yeah King C5 the bar didn't react that much but just looks so wrong to allow any counterplay um Knight C3 related to drop any pawns I keep I keep wanting to say maximize maximize the uh Advantage here but feels like you want it all so why not King A5 I guess it's just that mess that we're left with at the end of the line um that he's trying struggling to evaluate right now but um this is where Daniel we should be blessed as commentators we should feel grateful that it's no longer a seven plus hour time control uh not good for Max because now he'll be in time trouble imminently again but um yeah he does need to speed up with his decisions yeah this is every second just reminds me why I'm in this chair and not you know the uh the player chair in the hay well was because I wasn't invited but um the real reason is because I'm pretty bad at decisions like this but yeah I totally get it you're trying to dodge the maximize even though it's it's a good chess word it's like that joke I bought the world's worst The Source the other day not only is it terrible it's terrible wow uh yeah poor Max I mean yeah those who know me know I like a good endgame grind but this is not that type of uh grind where you can just kind of play on feel and set little traps here and there it's like you're the one actually having to Walker bit of a tight rope just to keep wining chances and C calculate calculate calculate where's PR when you need him sub him in and he probably win this with black where's Magnus when you need him I he's true I feel like he's suntanning somewhere enjoying enjoying this moment I can confirm he is shout out excellent good man yeah but yeah it's tough Knight to D5 and yeah while uh while Max thinks maybe it's time to talk a bit about our years in chess it's now 2024 but um 2023 for Pam mag Zulu was a great year he added a bunch of rating points to his feed rating and on chess.com he was also extremely active over a th000 games pretty decent winning uh winning ratio there and best win against Hikaru Nakamura that's no mean feat not too shabby at all and uh if anyone wants to check out their own year in chess go to the link below go. chess.com yic exclamation mark for uh your review um impressive stuff Danel it's no 177,000 but uh 1,000 games that's that's some commitment no that's a somewhat healthier number um Parham has had such an interesting journey to um to to the chess Olympus there was a time when I think he was like an Untitled 2500 he burst onto the scene um winning a very strong tournament in Iran and ever since then he's just shot up such an interesting player very up and down one of the streakiest players um at the top we don't get players like this too much anymore and it's he's a treat to watch but of course when he when he's in bad form he can have some rough events but he will bounce back there there's no question about it um he's got the right attitude he's got the skill set and Max now has a king on A5 so the big moment will we see Rook C1 by Parham and if so how quickly yeah I think uh Pam I mean you mentioned it there so many strong qualities bit of a late Comer to the scene normally we're used to seeing all these Grand Masters by 12 years old but once he broke in he's it's just been up and up and up his career phenomenal player to watch and I know he's taking it seriously he wants to be world champion um I know he's been asking top players how he can improve how he can finally break that last barrier into the real elite and yeah he got married last year as well so it's been a bit of a high for him the past 12 months talking of years in chess and uh unfortunately this tournament has been yeah a struggle so but still fighting in this game okay King to A5 on the board so Rook C1 the tempting move but I don't think param is married to that idea KN B4 your second proposal it's a little less glamorous but I actually think it's a very serious candidate move because Black's only way if we can put this on the board I mean we might as well uh Plunge in get get our hands dirty but after Knight B4 um Bishop C7 okay the king B6 is a repetition so Bishop C7 and how does white ah Knight C6 check and this is actually interesting King B6 there's Knight D4 yeah I just wants to come around take the pawn wow so black has to go here but now you keep checking I missed King A6 I must admit but now King B7 evading the checks Bishop A5 is coming it is why is the eval bar being so evil not declaring its intentions it's just in its nature I think um yeah Knight D5 Bishop A5 and it looks like black is kind of turning a corner here literally and once the um King [Applause] C6 just just looks really good for black why is the E bar saying it's fine for white almost so frustrating this is chess in a nutshell modern chess it's modern check after knight7 check and yeah King C5 I mean again you're starting to walk the tight RPP here there another cheack on C1 and another Fork on C6 and you cannot escape the forks by the way we have a move and it is Rook C1 and we kind of called it Parham I mean Rook C1 it's it's very very tempting so we leave this behind the M and this is a huge moment things I think we waited patiently and we get rewarded now it's it's go time for Max because there is a threat I mean Rook C8 is like a winning threat and can black go A3 is there a tactical win here do you just go Bishop A7 22 minutes on the clock five hours into the round and arguably the most committal decision of the game yet to be made by Max definitely and uh there we see the game review the uh kind of explanations oh check I was going to say the explanations for these moves but yeah Pam just testing the opponent um nothing wrong at all with Rook C1 in a human point of view you're probably worse anyway might as well test the opponent um okay driving the white king up the board feels counterintuitive what could the idea be here taking away the option of grabbing on G4 as well must be something very specific for Max is it A3 push push push is he feeling pushy about his winning chances Bishop Bishop I mean A3 Rooks Bishop A7 we've considered in a different iteration maybe what he wants is to create this like second rank force field um to make sure that A2 is now a defended Square so after Bishop uh okay A3 Rook C8 Bishop A7 I would be terrified of that position like Rook C7 still looks very messy but maybe he's calculated that the pawn kind of squeezes through two that might be it I mean do do we just go A3 here I mean process of elimination that's pretty much the only way to justify his previous move um it's worth mentioning B4 is a very bad idea due to Rook C5 check um so A3 what else he clearly doesn't want to go after White's pawns anymore moving the bishop now just loses a clear Tempo Bishop A7 Rook C7 white gets the same idea just with an extra move so again process of elimination trying to get inside Max's head right now has to be A3 logical and it might be winning this check on H2 might actually have been the key to the kingdom uh for Max I mean I could put it on the board but I think we're about to get a move it just I'm just feeling it for Max he's just holding himself back that last you know check no not a physical check but just checking the move um because you're now walking on razor wire I mean you're dealing with Checkmate threats you need to be very vigilant A3 on the board by Max walking on Ali Razer wire right now A3 his good friend Pam uh yeah okay they used to be big rivals in Iran but great friends Rook C8 on the board Bishop A7 forced and let me just show very quickly A2 with arrows Rook takes B8 you promote to a queen and Rook A8 is Checkmate to the black king you need to save your Bishop as a last line of defense between the rook and the King and it's played of course Max finding the Narrow Path All the Right Moves actually here from Max just going straight for promotion and mag Zulu he doesn't have too many options pinning this bishop doesn't get anywhere you're caught on the wrong side the Rooks actually misplaced I guess after the black king retreats to protect A7 so Rook C7 we're expecting actually yeah we we're doing okay here Dan we're doing okay with our prediction but now where does the bishop go because this should B6 was my sort of gut instinct but white can go back to C8 which is quite unpleasant so maybe you want to get the bishop out of there I don't know but White's move could be Rook seate regardless where does the bishop go I would play Bishop B6 Rook C8 Bishop A7 repeat once just gain an extra minute on the clock and then panic but um yeah where where El go if it runs actually not too many safe squares I was going to say to G1 Far Far Away F2 feels a bit odd but it is protected F2 at least ah but look at this idea if you go Bishop G1 and I go Rook C8 maybe I can put this on the board because we're GNA get a small thing from Max yeah Bishop G1 King A6 is possible it's not a bad idea maybe not the best I was gonna say King A6 Rook I8 King B7 and very importantly there is this skewer at the end of the line um that protects the A3 Pawn but I think the critical position is this one can black find a precise move here do you go the other way do you go in King A4 King B3 oh B says no computer says no how could this be equal ridiculous wow what have I blundered here night C3 check B3 it's completely winning to me look from a human point of view looks just over maybe King C3 oh wow Rook H3 check King back that is nope devilish okay I'm checking I'm I'm I'm done rugby B8 rugby eight ah you're setting up the threat of Knight C3 check wow and we should show that because there still some checkmates actually in that type of position white is better now Knight C3 Jack yeah I mean what do you even play here King B4 runs into I guess just Knight takes Pawn King A3 yeah King A3 I just wanted to point out king B3 loses right Rook takes B5 King A3 and King C4 o Che wow A1 Knight oh okay I missed that one but luck I can skew [Laughter] everything amazing an A1 Queen I'll just show A1 Queen is lovely mate and and Rog B2 there's another mate on A5 wow it's amazing it's not over very blund by King A4 is such a natural rug B8 is ridiculous it's like a quiet move you know Nero fiddles while Rome Burns but incredible I mean you have to walk on on Hots the correct move by the way I'll double check what the correct move is here the most accurate winning move is probably okay yeah it's Rook H3 check back to H3 and if white steps back to C2 you go B4 check here check here you sack a pawn and then you go back to H2 and you have Rook B2 no but this is inum now with 20 minutes I don't think Max is going to find all of this yeah that's so sophisticated I mean the reason you check first of all Drive the white king back uh is so that the black king can get to C4 that's not easy step one and then you have to check the white king further back um Rook H3 I guess he might find that just if he wants to gain a bit of time on the clock but wow that's another level of difficulty um I was wondering whether you could play Bishop F2 um I think I might have spotted one difference at least in that line um because Rook C8 now can I play King A4 yes and what is the difference if Rook B8 I wanted to play Bishop E1 to cover Knight C3 oh that's lovely wow and the bishop okay you don't need Bishop A5 because Rook A8 you can go King B3 yeah oh my gosh that's amazing but I mean this is only findable if you've realized like we did that we blundered into Checkmate and all these n check like I mean I think your way is more human but still like you said so tough for Max to find like that Rook H3 and then come with the King round to C4 I mean that looks by far the most human way but 17 minutes he's got 17 minutes I mean I wasn't joking when I said it's very likely that you know by move 45 he's right back into time pressure I would argue okay still about six seven minutes before he truly feels the heat on the clock but the the path keeps narrowing and narrowing and you know if he doesn't find the win then who knows what's going to happen yeah exactly credit to param so tenacious incredible forcing him to really dig deep here Max I mean we almost expected resignation about four hours ago but Max still he's literally earning his uh money here he's forced to really grind away for every every move every rating point and uh yeah Bishop F2 Bishop G1 I think so we've come to the conclusion two winning moves at least for black but um yeah it's not this next move it's it's deeper it's further and missing Rook B8 in that variation is I mean so easy to do yeah it's just not a move that is on anyone's radar okay Rook H3 check which doesn't give us much information he might be but is he repeating no I don't think he's repeating mhm I think he's trying to open up a new Vista for the bishop maybe on D4 a that's so smart that's way smarter than what we were trying to do the way he's used his Rooks like he's got so little Mobility with his rook and he somehow managing to use it with the checks at exactly the right moment back and forth to get new squares opened up but okay does this solve his problems King C2 Bishop D4 our old friend Rook C8 and I mean questions left to answer there yeah I like it though this Mantra that everyone at home should be uh repeating constantly just checks first just look for checks just in case gives more options reduces your opponent's options gets kind of a glimpse into their intentions but like you say Daniel has still plenty of hard work how about in that position King oh hit me no go ahead no I was going to say in that position uh King C2 I'm expecting ing what could be more natural Bishop into D4 Rook C8 threatening Checkmate yeah just B4 and run the king we've seen this idea before actually we've seen almost the exact same position just the black Bishop placement is even Superior um it would be winning even with the bishop on G1 So Max has spotted this idea to give up the B Pawn genius and the a pawn will carry the day so probably param has to go forward to E4 um to prevent D4 let me show this on the board this is really important um King back to C2 Bishop D4 um so for people just joining okay King C E4 is on the board never mind never mind we go back to the game Parham finding all of the most resilient moves and now what is it back to Bishop G1 but now the black King David has a path to B3 really important difference here the white King has been kicked away from the main Battleground um the white king cannot participate in the defense now um yeah feels like black has to move the bishop F2 maybe feels again feels better than Bishop G1 and it's that type of position where feel alone is not enough they have to calculate those players out there in the Hig but uh Bishop F2 and you got to be slightly concerned about white at some point taking on F7 pushing the ewn it's not it's become a race it's not obvious at all yes why do not that far away one two okay four Tempe sounds like a ton but when you factor in the time that it takes to okay get your king to B3 eventually White's going to stick a rook on the eighth rank it's not a given uh that this will not factor in this F5 counterplay now more time off um Maxis clock trying to figure out where to put his Bishop yeah down to his last 15 minutes here um at some point it will become a lottery if you have no time to calculate on the clock you'll just have to guess and uh normally to guess in chess does not bring success but um yeah he has to just choose a square for his Bishop Bishop to F2 he's got to move Checkmate is threatened and param yeah it's definitely noticeable he's really sped up uh pretty much ever since he went into this difficult difficult end game with white straight from the opening he's uh been trying to hustle on the clock barely left the table barely left his chair um because he's trying to put Max under that uh other dimension that uh under the time pressure simply um but yeah I think Bishop F2 maybe we jump in and try and figure out how easy it is to find the win or the path to Victory yes I think that's a good use of our time um and because it's exactly what Max is spending his time on so okay Bishop F2 let's take this as a sample a sample move now our standard defense here was always to go Rook C8 um now Rook eight made his threatened and the whole point I think of Max's play is that you have this path that has opened up for your king to B3 and how does white generate counterplay is it with this F5 E6 breakthrough do you play like Rook A8 King B3 and F5 maybe even F5 immediately to keep all of your options open is a that yeah uh F5 looks really logical unless at some point black can block everything with Bishop E1 Bishop A5 and push the a pawn but that feels slow that feels slow okay let's go straight for Glory let's push the awn and hope say check yeah white is not fast enough yeah very minimum you play Bishop to C5 here actually threatening Bishop A3 as well yeah and congratulations you know E7 a great job you know you've gotten rid of the bishop but the simple Rook H1 seals the deal again it's been kind of a theme of this end game that at the right moment black sacrifices the bishop whether it's you know that Bishop on B8 seems like an eternity ago or in this case sacrificing it for whites pass Pawn but the superiority of the bishop against the knight in these Pawn race type end games is really on on on full full display here um max down to 12 and a half minutes though still deciding Eeny Mo time it's go time yeah it's go time he's got to just move and after all Bishop F2 Bishop G1 it's so hard to figure out the difference um if there is any at all if there is any perhaps both moves win yeah he just has to trust his instincts at this point and he jumps in as expected Bishop to F2 um good decision decision and it's just about Pam how does he seek counterplay do you think now Daniel we're going to jump into a longer think as he starts to realize it's even more desperate than ever before I don't know I think Rook C8 might be essentially the only logical move maybe he'll spend some time on like Rook C2 but um as we've established as you've indicated Bishop on E1 is she's really really nicely placed I would also point one other thing out which is that if there arises a situation where white manages to give up his r for both of Black's pawns while that resulting endgame may seem completely lost there are nuances to be understood there because if white can quickly play F5 E6 maybe white can force black to give up the bishop and remember Knight versus Rook is a draw so even if black can win White's Rook it's still not over a long road ahead I think for Max here even if he gets the best case scenario um which he likely has so far incredible technique but the these guys never die I mean you just got to keep pounding and pounding and one inaccuracy boom they escape like an eel yeah so slippery these top players these really Elite Grand Masters they never go down without a fight you have to punch them multiple times dozens of times just to get that one win um I do have a couple of ideas I mean inspired by you actually Daniel saying if white could give up The Rook for those pawns um I wonder whether white could start with Rook take F7 is this a quicker maybe if we can jump in with some moves um is this a quicker way uh to try and create counter play okay I'll bite and Rook f8 MH wow King A6 Knight B4 lovely that was one my main trick can I go Bishop A7 ah Rook A8 and again this night before before Menace um can I go h I see this is actually very very smart yeah Rook takes F7 on the board great call David I mean everything else just seemed dead lost and actually very straightforward so even if this doesn't work which clearly it doesn't at least it asks a big question now Rook a king A4 yeah Rook A8 King B3 and E6 suddenly still winning for black but but okay seven and this is a much more double-edged version even if I play this primitively even this is much harder to win in time pressure the F Pawn is rumbling forward one mistake and now the Knight can drop back to F5 at some point so incredible practical chances found let's go back to the game Bishop C5 by Max stopping Rook f8 wow cold blooded can The Rook come back to C7 though and oh that's clever and okay if black pushes then Rook C8 still oh at least then black has gained Bishop C5 so that whole variation you were showing Daniel it's the same but board yeah oh my gosh so Rook C7 A2 Rook C8 you just go King A4 King B3 we get this Pawn race but with accurate play Black should be able to disarm whites connected passers oh my God party continues I think Rook C7 has to be Tried by param that was so classy from Max I've got to say firstly to foree Rook takes F7 no kind of well it's is far from obvious it's a bit of a hidden subtle idea there but to have the confidence uh kind of have the have already calculated Bishop C5 stopping the opponent's idea but also kind of advancing Black's plans in all of these lines and just yeah wonderful wonderful play um I think he's going to deserve this win he's done it the hard way but uh Bishop C5 really nice move just multi-purpose deep in the end game still enough time 12 minutes not to get nervous and uh that might have been the Clincher Rook C7 as you say Daniel what else he's got to be tried but uh yeah should be straightforward from there I say should because they've been twist and turns before in this game but uh it feels like he's getting the job done now because also at the end of that line W will be forced to give up The Rook for the a pawn and black will still have a B Pawn so it's not just going to be you know bishop and Rook against the world black will also be able to push okay Rook C7 A2 on the board yes I think we've done pretty decent job of you know calling the shots here Rook C8 now Max is not going to promote spoiler alert and King A4 this is a huge move do not play Bishop A7 here that would blunder into Rook A8 and suddenly the Knight drops back to4 retreating Knight moves can be so hard to spot still plenty of landmines David for black to avoid in this position exactly is it the only winning move it might well be right now um I mean King A6 same idea Rook A8 check and uh black loses the A2 Pawn even if uh black wins the white Rook for the black Bishop that will be far from simple with a race White's Knight White's pawns running so he has to go forward he has to go in with the black king and and he does there we go yeah he's yeah top form Max radam just the whole tournament he's been super impressive double exclamation mark given to that move as well because it does sacrifice the black Bishop which of course will not be taken anyway black will make a new Queen but uh yeah the only winning move and he's on the brink now still not an immediate threat to promote but uh wh's pieces just can't fight against the might of the aorn Black's threat if anything is just to park something on A3 bishop or Rook um block or King B3 yeah block the A5 and uh winning white has to give up The Rook I think as you mentioned there Danel and in the worst possible version I think you have to play Rook A8 Rook takes A2 which is very painful move to make but Bishop A3 is such a huge threat um that uh you might have to play Rook takes A2 and you know at that point it's pure desperation but no that's not going to cut it White's pawns are not really going anywhere black can sack the bishop at the right moment as we've established and push his own Pawn through to promotion I think he's done the hard work the rest is a matter of double-checking keeping his composure just uh executing the simple moves but I think he has it in the bag okay check on a no E6 param still fighting maybe not in the bag yeah clever from Pam actually this uh this last move he's trying to initiate a race where both sides might even promote and then it's all about Black trying to Checkmate white and actually I I fell for a little illusion um I was thinking okay King B3 Rook A8 Bishop A3 white can push E7 A1 E8 and The Rook on a defends the queen so I thought there was a skewer on E1 David but no the king can actually run to F5 oh just when we think it's over it's nope a new resource is found this is fascinating amazing amazing chest where is the win here for black just when we thought we were out they pull us back in every single time and uh I think we have to jump in and make some moose because yes it's not off uh we can't write this one off yet Pam fighting like a real lion right now and uh okay it must be surely something to do with King to B3 okay but Rook A8 or no is there another Mo does white but Bish Tak yeah can't be7 Rook takes C5 A1 Queen and now E7 what it's not so easy wow it's not so easy Queen E1 I I can hide on F5 Max has played a different move he's played Rook to A3 and mistake oh wow maybe The Rook C5 he's gotten the param has gotten an even better version of the same position A1 Queen E7 and oh my go black might lose this wow we have to jump in and show this on the board because Max vadam has lost his Advantage Miracles go look at this E7 black can stop the pawn David that's not the problem it's not like you can't stop the pawn wins Rook C8 check and if Black Goes Queen H7 F5 no more checks white promotes wow the king hiding in plain sight on e4 just surprisingly strong Knights are a king's best friend and this white knight always not only threatens these Forks but guards its own King and Pam wow he's going to play E7 and there's no way for Black's Queen and Rook to coordinate Queens in the corner are actually the worst they control so many squares in the center but in the corner there's no checking distance this really reminds me of a game that ERI won in the ground Swiss where black ended up promoting on A1 assuming everything was fine assuming because he got the first check that he was winning but um no the white king is going to hide behind its own Knight behind its own pawns and the black Rook is unable to help okay Queen E1 King F5 there's crazy lines Galore if you try and move like Rook D3 Knight B6 check I think and suddenly again black loses rookie five in sanity I mean it's a domination of a rook against a queen and a rook I mean this is remarkable how does black draw I can't believe we're asking this question wow 11 minutes on the clock and there's a turnaround like this again without the evaluation bar we would assume that black had a way to win until we Del delve deeper and it hasn't hit him yet Max um as you say how to draw yes that's not a question he's asking right now I think he's still in this must be winning mode all of us every single person watching this would be under the impression that black black must be winning this cannot be real king is checkmated you're down a queen I mean you're not even threatening to promote that's notely a threat and yet and yet Black's pieces are in the wrong place at the wrong time yeah I was going to say even if you play a move like Rook H3 or Rook G3 White's not even trying to make a new Queen yet but somehow somehow white is at least holding on wow I thought we were about to wrap these up but now we're going to be here another few hours Daniel we love chess we get more chess okay E7 let's hold the draw okay how about if I try and be a bit sneaky Queen to B1 check oh don't know if this is confidence in your voice King E5 Queen G6 I wanted to stop you without allowing Rook C8 to come with tempo okay so let me try the Primitive approach Rook C8 and now I was hoping to go Rook A1 and then I realized Rook just whoops okay but maybe you can give per petal Queen G7 and yeah there's nowhere to hide for the white king yeah because King D7 I can take with check that's a bad idea Perpetual I mean black saves it by the skin of his teeth oh my God gosh Max Max Max Max he's going to be heartbroken and now he's under well he's got nine minutes to recover from this he's a whole Queen up how can he not be winning chess is so unfair yeah Rook A3 was the Mist I don't even know what the winning move was because even in the better version that could be could have been yielded by A2 uh it still wasn't easy I mean it was showing an advantage for black but not a big one in in this position that's position yeah maybe we just go back and briefly investigate before we kind of catch up as Max makes a move makes a decision where was the win because it has disappeared on in the game it was Bishop A3 you had to actually save the bishop but still this is not easy I mean somehow param found a way here here E7 E7 takes takes King B2 and white is winning but even if Max had reached this position I would argue it's okay it's winning but it's far from simple like Knight D5 now only move Rook G3 yeah and now it's winning white has no way to defend this Pawn you have to step in front of it with a king and yeah black starts to push the B Pawn this was the the winning path that Max had to find it started with Bishop A3 and yeah good luck finding this with only a few minutes on the clock um even with a couple of hours on the clock luck finding this even with an engine it's still hard I mean jeez yeah Pam I mean this is a skill and this is one thing you mentioned his big breakthrough tournament in Iran um I was actually invited to that tournament luckily I declined because he went on to crush all these experienced Grand Masters but um he would always get these positions struggling out the opening who h8 he's blundered C8 he's gonna lose no way he's panicked and Pam realizes he just oh yet this is over white wins Pam he's so resourceful I was about to say he always survives these bad positions and turns things around Rook C8 is just simple tactic and he spotted it look at pan peering forward staring at Max we need to let's go to the camera because Max has let it slip and he realizes as well head in hands the turnaround chess is so cruel unbelievable and param will take every fiber of his being to just double check he he knows Rook is winning the excitement is palpable across the oceans unbelievable chess is disgusting and he has no options he has to play Rook C8 so um it's a night fork and night Forks end the game he's talking to himself almost here Pam wow um yeah poor Max he's done so well he deserves so much more but that's insane he was winning the entire game literally from move 10 to move 50 he was winning the whole time he found just brilliant move after brilliant move but this is just a testament to how good these top guys are it's it's just impossible it's sefian you know the you roll the rock all the way up the hill you have that last hurdle but you have they've brought you Whittle down your clock just to the point where you start feeling nervous and then you don't even get a draw you lose you don't even get half a point it's cruel very very cruel yeah you have to climb that Hill again pushing that heavy Rock and I mean how do you bounce back from this Rook C8 we're expecting him to find it here param I mean yeah it's not necessarily an elementary tactic but it's very findable judging on all these night Forks that he's found already and there we go the winning move will Max realized now he he is Lost full 360 in the space of a few moves double exclamation mark this is it and I mean he's a whole Queen up just for a knight but he can resign wow chess is simply the worst sometimes yeah or the that yeah or the best but uh best for Pam all alone in that dark playing Hall those uh fake stars in the guy but uh Max is going to be feeling really alone right now yeah I mean it's just you can sense the pain it's purely I mean it's honestly the pain cannot really be put into words of losing such a game against such a player um when you were right there but I mean you can just chess is stunning on every front and I mean this is just an amazing accomplishment by Parham honestly The Comeback of the tournament perhaps just a full 180 and Max's you know the realization is Dawning on him he realizes there are no moves Queen H7 F5 bad luck the queen is boxed in everybody contributes G4 F5 the king the Knight White's pieces are all on the perfect spots Black's pieces all on the worst possible squares Rook if the Rook was anywhere but A3 it would be able to give the lateral check to the king if the King was anywhere but A4 maybe The Rook would have slid backward but that's just how it works yeah geometrically just such bad luck for Max the black king on A4 it's getting hit by a knight Fork simply Knight to B6 is a deadly check once the queen takes the rook and just no way to fight on he's down now to Six Minutes finally a first Shake of the head and realization setting in we've all been there right Daniel so many so many times this is the type of thing we have to learn from in order to improve in order to kind of hone the Killer Instinct But ultimately it's just the clock it's the atmosphere the playing Hall the stakes at play the world stage it's uh it breaks the best of us and it's it's incredibly painful there's just really nothing that anybody can say there's no consolation you just have to let time pass like the only solution is to play the next game and this will sting for a long time these games they sting for months um it's not an exaggeration if you're a professional player you remember games like this your whole life um but if you're a true professional you try to harness it into positive energy uh into motivation but in the moment this is all empty words and all you can do is really just feel for Max hope that he bounces back and simultaneously congratulate Parham on I mean something that I've maybe never ever seen in my entire commentating career I mean a comeback like this to win an endgame like this and not with just a one move blunder um which of course came at the end but through just dozens and dozens of brilliant defensive moves is amazing yeah it's wonderful again something to learn from uh from for everyone just keep fighting never resign uh even when us as commentators are about to write things off we get surprised and uh yeah there's always tricks there always resources in a position if you calculate well if you stop your opponent's plans and uh essentially all he was trying to do Pam for 30 40 moves was to stop the inevitable stop the opponent winning it was that simple one chance often you are gred the chance in chess and things turn around so not much to be done he's down now to four minutes max Madam we will see a result any moment it's just so cruel no way to fight no way to get the black Rook behind yes that's the thing it's not the kind of blunder where okay now the game continues and you're worse you're literally just blown off the board immediately it was briefly occurred to me black can play Queen Tak C8 and then later try to get the Rook around uh to E1 but the issue is that white is another passer and white can just push F5 at the right moment and the pawns will overwhelm The Rook three and a half minutes now for Max at this point he knows it I mean he sees it unreal yeah wow look at that playing hole the darkness that descends so quickly uh maybe we just very briefly put that on the board Daniel that variation you mentioned because it looks like you get close in a race but not close enough the last key variation of this game yes this might very well be Tried by Max hoping obviously for E8 Queen Rook e one but among other things I think the immediate F5 is probably good enough and that's it I mean it's not even close black is like a bunch of tempy behind white makes two queens and wins the game could could black have put the King on A5 rather than blocking the uh the pawn the B Pawn oh and earlier on B6 check after the FK yeah but even here now black is to tempy behind yeah King back yeah yeah it's over okay Queen H7 check is Tried by Max but F5 will follow and maybe he can try to deliver some checks to the white king maybe some like Rook A1 action but he can't even go Rook A1 I mean white won't even Rush with promotion white will pick up the Rook first yeah that's a skewer Rook A8 check wow yeah lost for words Pam great defense but uh ultimately I mean feels like Max should get a quarter of a point or something for his efforts yeah exactly is the Arbiters converge and decide that you know he deserves or no rating loss from this game but um there's nothing like chess just so many hours of effort wasted in a single moment and that might be the most painful thing for a professional it's not the rating it's not okay tournament result prize money lost yes all of that is contributes but it's the feeling that you've just worked all this time and you know the reward disappeared in front of your eyes Okay Rook G3 Parham still needs to be disciplined here I'm almost tempted to go King F4 that actually might be the best move I don't know I mean King F4 looks like the sadistic way to do it I think that wins pretty much on the spot killing all the counterplay even promoting here I don't see how to catch the white king in the center it looks like you get two checks and that's it um but yeah why allow any counter play whatsoever the White Queen is going to land is going to land no stopping it King F4 first either way I think either or promote Rook G4 King E5 one check on G7 you can hide on D6 and there's going to be blacks is going to get checkmated there mhm there's too many too many threats there yeah it's really similar actually to that ery game against jumabay from the grand twist if anyone wants to check it out it was also a white king hiding behind its night on a similar square with a similar piece configuration um so yeah lightning striking twice unfortunately and this time on Max badam but Pam again doing the right thing 40 minutes on the clock no need to rush you can enjoy this turnaround and yeah I'm I was going to say I was impressed by the poker face uh but Max he's realizing a new Queen appears one check where will the white king hide yeah King E5 just forward that's been consistent with the way that param has handled this endgame he's always kept active counterplay alive um even when it seemed like he was finally out of resources his decision to play King E4 rather than King C2 that was a big one um King C2 would have lost pretty quickly instead he went for the gutsy call just seemingly abandoning Black's pawns um but he saw further than any of us King E5 that's it Queen G7 Max resigns it's over Parham wins insane wow and it look like you wanted to apologize to Max there um every player no matter how much you love winning feels a bit guilty if you steal it away from your opponent like that at the death and Max understandably wants to get out of the playing Hall uh out of the AOS circus theater yeah it's yet another win for the white pieces I was going to say earlier I mean that white had won four games already but definitely not in this one and there we see a smile from pamu I think just relief or pouring out on one moment absolutely and he deserves to smile I mean you know it's it's a tale of two opposite emotions um and it's possible to feel you know joy for one player and Sympathy for the other um they're enemies at the board but afterward it's like you don't want to you don't want to rub it in your opponent's face Parham is obviously very very classy and I mean he deserved this one it's it's I mean with his defensive resilience maybe he deserved a draw but the word deserve in chess is pretty meaningless anyway um because what happens on the board is the deserved outcome an incredible comeback win one of the comeback wins of his career this game is going to make the rounds on YouTube Reddit Instagram this one will be talked about for a long time to come and so will this round David that's right and uh you talked about outcomes making your own luck in the end it was five players who made their own luck all with the white pieces wins for Alexander donchenko maglu as we saw there nbec abaturov Wei and prag nander a really bloody day a lot of action out there in the ha and uh five decisive results five white wins that leaves us with the following standings things even tighter at the top four players now in joint first place Abdu satoro thanks to his win jumps up and joins the leading pack alongside Anish giri paganda and gesh but they are chased Now by a whole range whole bunch of players and uh again only one point separates first place from eighth place anything still possible with uh several rounds still to go four games to go after today's action yeah what a day obviously this result is on the top of our minds but important not to lose sight of uh the other games which seem like they were played on a different day in a different venue in a galaxy far far away but the tournament continues and this is the uh the brutality of this tournament Max waddams reward is a game against Notre Beck uh tomorrow a big game that has implications for the tournament standings but Prague on a roll once again he faces his compatriot vidit another big game there's no rest for the wary David I think all the players would love another rest day but they'll have to wait a couple rounds for that yeah they have to earn their money earn their spots earn their rankings and rating points and uh these are the parings we're left with tomorrow uh for Wednesday round 10 Alara fua against Anish giri also another big one as fua aims to bounce back giri aims to get his first win in a long time at this point Nom against ding Len Yan van Forest against Wei you mentioned it Danel big opportunity for abdor if Max vadam can't recover from today's setback Jan Jun against maulu did it against brag and donchenko against gash um yeah breathless action and uh more to look forward to uh what's your big takeaway from from today has it changed your perception at all in uh who might win this tournament honestly I don't even it's I don't even know what to say every every round it feels like the standings shake up completely this is going to be an incredible final stretch I don't even know if I can call it a final stretch there's four more rounds to play everything to play for in that time so many exciting story lines to follow David and what around we were treated to today this was this was incredible yeah this was Chess at the top level at its best and that just leaves us to look at the schedule for the rest of the tournament tomorrow is round 10 we start at the same time same place uh 8:15 a.m. eastern time 2:15 Central European Time followed by a rest day and then three last games so it's the final Sprint final stretch now and uh Daniel I know this has been a long day I'm sure you're impatient to get to title Tuesday a bit later but in the meantime it just Le us to say thanks uh I've been David how thank you nitzki for joining Daniel nitzki for joining and thanks to all our viewers for sticking with us the whole 5 and a half hours and we'll see you tomorrow bye-bye [Music] everyone [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 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Channel: chess24

Views: 228,031

Keywords: chess, chess24, chess world champion, world championship, chess.com, Firouzja, Alireza Firouzja, Nepomniachtchi, Nepo, Tata Steel, Tata Steel Chess, Anish Giri, Ding, Ding Liren, World Champion, Wijk aan Zee, Pragg, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit, Gukesh, Nodirbek, Classical chess, chess tournament

Id: PYEcX2flMaM

Length: 353min 14sec (21194 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 23 2024