The Chosen One? || Rajabov vs Firouzja || FIDE Candidates (2022)

hello everyone and welcome to another really awesome game from round one of the candidates tournament 2022 it's demora java versus alireza and it is uh uh also great that i'm showing this game because today is alireza's birthday it is his 19th birthday and uh uh well must feel great to have um his birthday during the the candidates tournament uh he is the youngest player ever to achieve that uh magical uh rating of 2800 in classical chess and it's uh well if he if he manages to win the candidates it's just going to be spectacular uh but rajabov he's uh been playing chess for so long he's an incredibly strong player he's defeated pretty much everyone there there is in the chess well not pretty much he's defeated everyone he's been uh crushing people uh you know since the age of kasparov and all the way up to the the age of magnus so now he he can just beat anyone and uh he's an incredibly strong player so definitely a nice match up you guys will like this one both of them came very well prepared uh so let's dive straight into it but first um here's a nice photo of the venue if you guys want to see what it looks like here in round one you can see many photographers here i think the photographers are allowed for the first maybe uh 10 10 minutes uh you know while the players are still in opening phases so they don't bother the players and they i believe they move and then only one photographer is allowed maybe they've changed this maybe they haven't i have not seen anything regarding this on the website and here is one from a broader angle uh you can see feed a president arkady dworkovich making the first move in the game karwana akamura i'm pretty sure he made the first move on all boards but again not absolutely sure maybe someone else will be making moves for the second day for the third day they usually uh give this uh privilege to the sponsors so it's uh you know you sponsor the event and you know you do get your logo shown all over the place but also you get to make the first move if you enjoy uh such things so i just get into the mood for the game now let's get to the game it is with the white pieces and he opens with d4 alireza replies with knight to f6 we have c4 e6 knight to f3 and now d5 we have knight to c3 uh the queen's gambit declined is on the board and d captures in c4 alireza goes for the vienna variation it is an extremely sharp line and uh he he definitely came here to fight we have pawn to e4 alireza abandoned the center so of course our java will claim the center and now pawn to b5 defending the c4 pawn with e5 challenging the knight here knight to d5 and knight captures on b5 so this is all very standard stuff of course both of them know this very well and now knight back to b6 guarding the c for pawn i don't know if i mentioned this but this is the first ever classical game between arajabu and firuja if you guys are are wondering about that uh and bishop to e3 now continuing development uh we have um even though bishop to e3 is is an incredibly rare move here bishop to e2 is just what everyone plays rajab decides to go for bishop to e3 sort of a sideline prepared specifically for the candidates knight to c6 and do not bishop to e2 all it is not surprised by the bishop to e3 idea bishop to e7 in the both players castle so castles castles and now uh knight back to c3 we have rook to b8 and here again there are games that reach this position b3 is the move that is usually played here uh to challenge that strong pawn uh because you you might have some issues here for example if you play a3 then you make a hole in b3 then it can come to a5 and b3 also the knight might land on d3 at some point if you put the bishop on a6 so it's a it's a nasty looking pawn even though it's a double c pawn alireza can use this to his advantage very well and b3 is what's usually played but we have a3 by the job of and alireza says all right i'm going after that b3 square here we have knight to a5 uh the position again has been reached before for example uh last time in 2018 between uh top elite players mamidarov had this position against caruana in the same field cup 2018 the game ended in a draw uh where karwana played bishop to b7 but here alireza plays knight to a5 we have queen to c2 developing the queen connecting rooks and now knight to d5 we have rook 8 to d1 uh or this is also also a known position but only within one game valentina gunina defeated olympia uh here uh with uh with uh with this exact same position but here after bishop to a6 it is a completely new move so now as of move 14 we have a completely new game uh so here bishop back to d2 not allowing this capture because uh well you you you have to be careful uh if if knight captures an e3 you're going to have a messed up one structure and you don't want to give up the bishop player too early for nothing so the java moves the bishop mag bishop d2 this is also with the threat of just knight captures and d5 could be very nasty because then you have to watch out the knight here is uh undefended okay still maybe the queen can capture and defend the knight uh but you don't want to allow it if if you don't have to swallow it as it plays knight to b3 and excellent square for the knight and now knight to e4 we have knight captures and d2 alert is that wins the bishop pair rook captures and now we have knight to f4 and this is uh the moment where everyone uh knew that something was was definitely happening uh because what is this all about or java just plays bishop captures on c4 and he says thank you for the pawn what is the idea behind this move uh but alireza shows it it is the move from the thumbnail rook captures on b2 giving up the exchange uh with no extra pawns he just has the bishop pair and he wants to play active chess so queen captures on b2 it is the only good move for white here bishop captures on c4 and now we have rook the c1 and the rook the c1 is already an incredibly interesting move by rajabov because uh uh basically rook after d1 is what seems like the move you have to play but with rook to c1 he is uh offering the exchange right back he wants celeste to go for knights to d3 uh attack the queen and the rook he would capture for example rook captures here bishop captures on the three now knight g3 and the game continues with alireza maybe having some problems defending the two isolated pawns but it shouldn't be a problem if anything the bishop paris is is stronger here uh but uh alireza doesn't go for this he just brings the bishop back bishop to d5 he doesn't want the exchange back he wants to keep the bishop fair and put pressure he wants to put the queen on a8 and have incredible pressure along this diagonal so rook back to e1 defending the knight and the queen to a8 we have queen to c2 defending the knight here and now uh alireza has to decide whether it's okay to capture the pawn on a3 yeah or not after some consideration already that captures it and now he's still down the exchange but he has a past a pawn that he can start pushing uh here we have knight after g5 by the job of uh again with a very deadly threat knight to f6 uh if if lands that's it for alireza for example you play some like bishop before you attack the rooks all of a sudden knight f6 check and black resigns you have to capture or king hit doesn't really matter queen h7 will be checkmate so alireza brings the knight back knight to g6 to close this diagonal and now pawn to h4 rajabou now wants to push the pawn all the way to h5 and uh what can alireza do here uh well best is to play bishop to b4 that's exactly what he does doesn't care about material he just wants to play the absolute best moves and that that is why he is so strong so here h5 uh uh challenging the knight here and uh the question is what can alireza play here and this is a a huge moment for the game uh as uh you can take uh many different uh uh routes here for example bishop captures an e4 seems to be the most solid one uh point is that now we're attacking the queen and after knight captures we're gonna play knight to h4 and now again what do you play here the knight the knight from e4 can't really move because we're going to check mate to the white king here so we're going to play h6 uh and now you cannot play g6 that that would be a pretty pretty big mistake if you play the g6 then we play knight to f6 check and it's game over uh you don't really have a good move here king to h8 we're gonna play d5 we're gonna close this diagonal uh and it's just uh it it's just not uh not possible to play this anymore with black we are completely dominating the position if you capture the pawn here of course you can't capture with the queen if you capture the pawn you can even play e6 open up this diagonal so black would completely fall apart here but okay after h6 of course you don't have to play g6 you can play rook to d8 the game continues and uh it's um you know it's a game uh but with chances for both sides so for some reason already doesn't like this not for some reason he decides that it is uh not not good for him and he is uh well a former 2800 player uh so we should definitely trust him uh he goes for bishop captures on d2 he reclaims the material we have queen captures on d2 and now pawn to h6 chasing away the knight from g5 but now h captures on g6 h captures on g5 g captures on f7 with check king captures and now knight captures with check king to e8 and now pawn to f3 and if you count to the material now uh the material is completely equal uh it is basically a bishop against the knight with alireza's king being wide in the open so it is definitely uh white who who got the upper hand in that little skirmish there so king the d7 improving the the safety of the king and now knight to e4 now the knight is hoping to land on c5 it's a dark square alerza has a light square bishop this could be great so of course you have to capture it bishop captures we have rook captures and now queen to d5 so again equal material but it is much easier to play it with white with the black king being so wide in the open so here queen before going after the rook here alireza just plays rook the g a sorry not rook to be it rook to g8 he wants to start pushing the g pawn uh we have queen to a4 with check now going after the a7 pawn queen to c6 and queen captures on a7 rajabou grabs a pawn here uh but there was no good way of of keeping it maybe there was but alireza says it doesn't really matter we're gonna be able to hold this either way so here we have rook to a8 attacking the queen queen to c5 and now we have a queen trade because if rook day one check um king will hide on h2 and there's no good way to continue the king hunt so queen captures on c5 we have d characters and king to c6 we rook to g4 and the king captures on c5 now equalizing but only briefly rook captures on g7 going for the pawn here king d5 going after the e5 pawn captures and captures so now you have this position uh rook and rook and pawn end game java is up upon and he has a past g pawn so can he win this with perfect play not so much but uh you know uh rook and games are incredibly tricky and of course he will he will try to push this for a win uh rook f7 was played we have king to d6 king f2 now he starts bringing the king into the game we have e5 pawn to g4 he starts pushing the pass pawn king e6 we have rook to f5 and rook to a3 now we have rook to f8 uh king to e7 attacking the rook rook the b8 now and king to f7 we rook the c8 king to e7 and now rook to c2 just um you know uh go going all over the place to see if maybe alireza makes a silly move with king to f6 rook to e2 now and rook to b3 rook to e3 offering the rook trade but of course you are never doing this rook to b2 with chuck king to g3 and rook to c2 now waiting for for white to try and make progress rook to a3 we have rook to b2 now comes rook to a6 with check king f7 rook to h6 and now rook to b3 we have king to f2 now comes rook to a3 so just saying you've got nothing here uh we have rook to b6 now comes king to e7 king to e2 and now rook to c3 we have king f2 rook to a3 and now rook back to b2 we have king qf6 rook to e2 again trying everything the the moves are happening quickly now in the video uh but uh you know for alireza defending this it took hours because he has to play the you know precise moves you do not want to lose an equal end game even though you are down a pawn with rook to b3 uh rook to e3 again offering rook trade and rook b to check we have king g3 rook to c2 rook to b3 and now rook to a2 we have uh rook to b6 with check king to f7 and now g5 uh you either accept the draw or you have to make a pawn move if you don't make a pawn move uh then the 50 move rule will apply and it will be a draw by 50 move rule so you have to make either a pawn or important move or a capture so g5 we have rook to a for now uh cutting off the king from the fourth rank and rook to f6 with check king to e7 we have rook to h6 and now king to f7 not allowing the rook to go anywhere near the pawn here rook to h4 now comes rook to a5 we have king to g4 and now rook to a4 with check king h5 and now rook to a3 attacking the f3 pawn pawn to f4 and now he captures an f4 and he was in this position on move 71 that rajab and firuja agreed to a draw and their first ever game in the 2022 candidates tournament ends in a draw at the point is after rook captures an f4 check and king g7 there's no way to make progress with white of course both of them know this so we can even show it for example rook before we want to check the black king we're just going to play row k1 we go behind the the white king and that's all we need basically rook b7 check king j8 king h6 you can even put the pawn threat and some checkmating ideas let's say rook a6 check pawn to g6 now rook k8 not allowing checkmate and the once uh okay you put it upon nothing really happens if rook g7 would just move king h8 rook f7 uh or somewhere king to g8 and there is no way to make uh progress with white here you always wanted the king in front of your past pawn if you don't have it you will not be able to uh to do anything in most cases of course there are exceptions uh so after he captures an f4 they agreed to a draw and a ver a very very uh interesting game where uh alvareza prepared a very very interesting line with the black pieces this uh uh entire thing with with the rook and the open b file is just uh incredibly uh interesting uh with bishop to a6 being the the new movie it has been played before but then this rook captures on b2 exchange sacrifice happened uh and alireza really tried to make use of his bishop there but uh rajab did not make it easy for him he did allow him to sort of go for this line that we mentioned where uh alireza accepted the exchange back instead of going for this bishop captures on e4 idea but this would be a bit too double edged as we've said you cannot play g6 you would have to play rook to d8 and then you know the game just continues so uh it would be incredibly sharp but alireza doesn't want to gamble away his chances um uh already in round one of the candidate so i think it was it was definitely a good decision and they ended the game on unpeaceful terms so after he captures on f4 degree to a draw and that is what happened in round one uh so uh that's the game once again really hope you guys uh enjoyed it uh i would like to thank chaos dylan andrew lastova derek king and aravind kumar vendeli for a contribution to my channel thank you a lot i really appreciate it as usual you can check to my previous videos here thank you for watching and i will see you soon continuing the coverage of the candidates tournament until it finishes so thank you all i will see you soon and have an excellent rest of your day

Channel: agadmator's Chess Channel

Views: 117,652

Keywords: agadmator, chess, best chess channel, best youtube chess channel, youtube chess, trending, trend, mindfulness

Id: EVFehojtGNY

Length: 16min 25sec (985 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 18 2022