The first ever encounter between Praggnanandhaa and Nijat Abasov | FIDE Candidates 2024

it's prananda taking on n abasov in the sixth round of the FED candidates 2024 believe it or not this is the first ever time that both are playing against each other well all the other players have played at least each other maybe in Blitz maybe in Rapid I guess even in online play but prag and naat have never played each other so this is going to be the first time they clash and it's very exciting to see prag has been playing very well in this tournament uh he did lose to gkes but immediately struck back by beating with it against Yan nepom Nishi he had a winning Advantage out of his opening prep so his opening prep has been just phenomenal something to look out for something to watch out for especially because he is being seconded and trained here by Peter swidler on the other hand n has been very solid very difficult to beat him he second is shakar mamedyarov let's see how the game Begins the players shake hands and prag opens with D4 this time so D4 played now the main aim that prag would want is to have a theory free encounter you know like his opponent shouldn't be prepared some 30 40 moves and then he gets no game at all so how can he do that first of all D4 D5 he goes Knight to F3 maybe he wants to play the L London but it's without a doubt that niat would have prepared well for the London so Knight F6 and prag is taking his time for each move considering carefully what his options are and plays C4 so we have the Queen's Gambit on the board and niat plays E6 declining it politely prag now brings his Knight to C3 and here there are many ways to play you can go for the pure Queen's Gam you can go for the ragen uh there's also the tarash defense which niat has chosen with the move C5 he hits the center and now things can get very very theoretical if you take here on D5 white can take back on D4 and so on so prag takes his time and plays the move E3 which is maybe not really fighting for a huge opening Advantage but just wants to keep a fresh position on the board NAD brings his nice to C6 we have complete symmetry here uh on the board and now a typical idea here is to play what prag has done A3 because you want to take take and play B4 later that's one of the concepts here and niat also responds back by following the suit he goes A6 so that if you take Bishop takes Pawn pushes forward the bishop can settle back on A7 that could be an idea idea prag now has to decide what is the way forward he can take on C5 but he goes B3 and maybe theoretically this is not the best move perhaps you you never know but this is now a fight because niat thinks for a couple of minutes it seems like he's still in his prep he didn't take a very long think CD and now Ed most likely by prananda he takes back with the pawn and N simply finishes his development with Bishop E7 you can also go I guess a move like G6 here to put the bishop on this side but Bishop E7 makes a lot of sense and PR can continue with his Bishop development to E2 but in fact he goes C5 and gains more space on the queen side that's interesting because if PR can get this bind Bishop out castles B4 then white has a lot of space B and niat now has to decide he goes B6 general idea is to play B4 to bolster the structure but prag takes and this is a big decision I I want you to understand why Pug's move is really very special here because look black has one Pawn Island and two while white has one two and three now so white structure should be worse but after B4 which PR makes prag is essentially saying that my Pawn on D4 is not going to be weak because I'll put my Bishop here I'll play Knight A4 to C5 and I'm going to clamp down the position niat instantly goes Knight E4 very interesting move if you have to take then D takes and then you lose the D4 Pawn so prag immediately goes Knight A4 I like this move a lot very nice move and he is going to put his Knight on C5 later so niat brings his Queen back to B8 and prag has to now complete his development he's slightly lagging behind but I think he spent his time well he spent his time on gaining space on the queen side getting the C5 Square very very novel play here naat castles that's a that's a good move and I think prag also can simply Castle it out and that's exactly what he has done you must also consider that the a pawn is a slight weakness because if you push your Pawn to A5 there is B5 always so that's the reason why uh Bishop F6 is played and a a tricky and interesting move he wants Knight E7 to F5 maybe later PR goes Bishop E3 once again solidifying his Center he knows that this Knight will do the job on C5 so that's the reason why first all other pieces should strengthen the center and Knight goes goes back to E7 prag puts his Knight to C5 nice move the Knight is well positioned there if you take here then I think Pawn takes and you get a nice B file to play with niat goes Knight to C3 foring the two pieces but PR says I'm happy to give away my Bishop here especially because your Bishop on C8 is so so passive so Knight takes E2 Queen takes on E2 has been played and now slowly you know what white can do is put one Rook here put the other Rook here play A4 play B5 and before you know it the plan is Flowing so niat has to be careful here because PR's plan is pretty simple and he can actually execute it and his issue is this bishop on C8 which is not at all active PR now plays this move Rook B1 which we were talking about because if you want to play A4 you need to defend your B4 Pawn so nice move there by prananda and niat now how long can he wait from doing something active well the answer seems to be not too long he plays E5 he opens up his Bishop here on C8 and hits in the center the only downside to this move is that after prug will pick up this Pawn the D5 Pawn is a weakness and that is something which is quite a big weakness Bishop takes on E5 has been played and now you can play your Rook to D1 to put pressure on D5 yes he plays his Rook to D1 this is tough now because playing here is a blunder I take take and put my Bishop on C5 and I are in trouble here so clearly n goes D4 I like this move but Bishop D4 Knight D4 Knight D4 giving up this pawn and playing here with dominating Knight seems to be the best way but PR chooses Bishop G5 which is also interesting and maybe now just you can drop your Bishop back because the Knight and the queen are attacking the bishop he goes Bishop D6 good move there and uh you shouldn't you shouldn't be taking this Pawn because if you take here you're simply going to lose a piece this is pinned here so prag goes here G4 W prananda is fearless he says to the Knight where is the space you have where are you going isn't your knight trapped NAD says sorry my friend my knight is going not going anywhere I'm attacking your Bishop because once your Bishop moves away my knight can go back to E7 prag goes Queen E4 now these are not random moves the reason why he went here is if you take black could interpose and hit the rook and then pick up this bishop so that's the reason why he first went Queen E4 he takes on G5 now now and prug will also take back on F5 so this position is very very interesting white seems to have an edge because G5 is weak D4 is weak he goes Rook A7 what a pretty move what a nice move by n abasov how did he manage to find this move because now after Knight takes G5 there is Rook E7 and if you try to mate me then Bishop F5 wins for black so goes and chops off the D4 Pawn he takes it with his rook and N now has to find Rook E7 to keep this going keep the position going no he plays G4 well I I guess he wants that if Queen takes G4 here then Bishop C5 simply wins because now The Rook is unprotected the queen has been distracted but prananda simply goes Knight to G5 after this that could be the idea that he wants to put his Knight on G5 you can see prananda coming in just getting relaxed on the chair and finds it he plays Knight to G5 excellent move the Knight is well positioned and threat could be F6 in order to Checkmate on H7 well NAD says give me your Pawn that's an important Pawn to be snatched and grabbed he's taken on H2 and prug needs to move his King he goes King G2 now remember that this diagonal is terribly weak if a bishop can come there on this diagonal at any point it would give black a huge Advantage but this Knight on C5 simply dominates the bishop on C8 Queen E5 was played Here and Now prag plays Rook to D5 naat takes Queen takes queen and I think Knight takes Queen so we reach this position with the sort of equal is material on the board four four pawns per side white has two Knights black has two Bishops amazing imbalance what I think is the biggest problem here for black is that his uh Bishops are way passive than uh the knights and now F6 would be very very powerful uh especially because is he playing it yes he does what a move because if you play G6 now then Rook H1 is a very very strong idea The Rook is very well placed and then you try to mate him down the H file so and now n plays Bishop to F4 prag brings his Rook to D1 he could have also put his Rook on H1 brings his Rook here NAD plays his Rook to C7 a useful move by the rook and now PR brings his Rook up the board he is playing this very carefully he's keeping all his pieces intact making n sort of also take care of his time by the way niat has right now 13 minutes while prag has just 6 minutes left so prag has to speed up a bit but brilliant defense here by niat abasov as well and now what is PR doing he goes KN to D6 this is a good move because if you take take take take this resulting position is dominating for white so you don't want to do that but also the bishop is attacked so G5 is the right move that has been found also making some space for the king now to move PR chops off the bishop on C8 and Rook takes C8 yes he takes with his Rook so this Pawn is now attacked on F6 check here okay very interesting I believe he will take Rook takes d8 yeah Rook takes d8 Rook takes d8 check King at7 is the move that I think he will play and now you want to bring your Rook here and chop off this Pawn which prag does it we are on move 38 and now very important to go Rook D6 so that after Rook takes A6 you enter on D2 with the ideas of G3 getting play but niat gets a bit greedy and what could be more natural than winning that pawn the problem now is that even though black has one extra Pawn here it's not so easy to create a passer meanwhile white has two passers here so it was very important for Rook to come down to D2 instead of going for that pawn last move before the time control prag has 3 minutes in hand he plays Knight D7 this Knight is an absolute Beast looking at 1 2 3 4 very beautiful squares there and niat now uh has to maybe go Knight Bishop D2 last move Before Time control and he blunders with King G7 a massive blunder and that to on the 40th move giving prananda this chance because King G7 is very logical you you don't want Knight F6 check anymore and you want to activate your Rook as we were talking about but prag has to find the only move now to win the game and he does so with Rook A5 just by taking 1 minute on the clock 1 and a half minute on the clock he finds Rook A5 King G6 very important because if you took here then ba A5 is winning that Pawn Wood Queen but King G6 and now prag has one winning move once again finds it A4 with just a minute on the clock taken take here take here and now the a pawn will push through that is the idea it seems NAD does go G3 and I think it's a logical move uh to play but it's just that it's too late this counter play also the Rooks are getting traded so this may not work so well and PR takes the Rook calmly calmly does it King takes F5 and now A5 just push the a pawn and Black's problem is very simple this where he needs to control with the bishop or with the bishop here but both are controlled by the by the white pieces so niat has to uh take on F2 yes he's made a square for his Bishop on E3 but the problem is after A6 Bishop E3 there is Knight to C5 blocking and A7 A8 is coming so prug does push A6 here fantastic move and and with this he's just winning he's played an amazing game here prananda also niat fought very hard in this game but it turns out that prag has been the superior player here taking some key decisions well niat rolling the pen in his hand he knows that the writing is on the wall he can actually resign here and be proud that he played a great game prananda will move to plus one in this tournament which is actually a very good score he will move to three and half out of six and resignation there prag has scored a very important win and very very cool chess by both the players really enjoyed that two Knights versus two Bishop's position in the middle game [Music] where your [Music] mind

Channel: ChessBase India

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Length: 18min 4sec (1084 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2024