Grand Chess Tour 2022 in Romania

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Hi,

Round 1:

Caruana-Firouzja

[fen]r1b1r1k1/pp1nqpp1/2p4p/P2p3n/3P4/2NBP3/1P2NPPP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 13[/fen]

Black played 13 ... a6 , alternative is 13 ... Ndf6 .


[fen]1r2r1k1/1p1n1pn1/p1p3p1/P2p1bqp/N2P1N1P/R3PP2/BP3QP1/5RK1 b - h3 0 22[/fen]

Black played 22 ... Qf6 , alternative is 22 ... Qe7 .

[pgn][Event "GCT Superbet Romania 2022"]
[White "Caruana,Fabiano"]
[Black "Firouzja,Alireza"]
[Site "Bucharest"]
[Round "1.1"]
[Annotator "TA"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Date "2022.05.05"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[TimeControl "60"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. Nge2 Re8 10. O-O Nbd7 11. a4 Nh5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. a5 a6 14. Ra3 Nf8 15. Na4 Rb8 16. Qd2 Qg5 17. f3 g6 18. Bb1 Ng7 19. Nf4 Bf5 20. Ba2 h5 21. Qf2 Nd7 22. h4 Qf6 23. b4 Qd6 24. Nc5 Nf6 25. Qg3 Qd8 26. Qg5 Qd6 27. Qg3 Qd8 28. Qg5 Qd6 29. Qg3 1/2-1/2
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While the round 2 still on-going:

Firouzja - Nepomniachtchi:

[fen]r2q1rk1/1p1n1pp1/4bn1p/pN1p4/P2Ppb1B/1BP5/1P3PPP/R2QKN1R w KQ - 2 16[/fen]


The move 16. Ne3 is according to Nimzowitsch's "My System" book. Knight stopping the e4 pawn , threatening d5 pawn. Also preparing to castle. After securing the king , white may start the attack. Unfortunately Firouzja played weakening 16. h3 which delays the said plans too.

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Firouzja lost round 2 game. Round 3 game:

Aronian - Firouzja :

[fen]8/2k5/2p5/8/pb2NP2/1p2P3/1K3P1P/8 b - - 0 41[/fen]


Black played 41 ... c5 . Apparently the only move is 41 ... Kb6; White may eventually push pawns on king-side. The trick is to try to stop them using bishop. This would make room for black's king towards b4. After that a3 or c3 can be played and black is quicker to promote.

[pgn][Event "GCT Superbet Romania 2022"]
[White "Aronian,Levon"]
[Black "Firouzja,Alireza"]
[Site "Bucharest"]
[Round "3.4"]
[Annotator ""]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Date "2022.05.07"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[PlyCount "124"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8. g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 g5 12. Ne3 gxf4 13. Nxf5 O-O-O 14. Qc2 Kb8 15. gxf4 Nc4 16. e3 Nc5 17. Rd1 Rxd1+ 18. Nxd1 Qa5+ 19. Ke2 Qa6 20. Kf3 Qxa4 21. Qxa4 Nxa4 22. Ke2 Ncxb2 23. Nxb2 Nxb2 24. Rb1 Na4 25. Kd2 Nb6 26. Bf3 Bc5 27. Nh6 f6 28. Rg1 a5 29. Rg8+ Rxg8 30. Nxg8 f5 31. Kc2 a4 32. Nh6 Nc4 33. Be2 Nd6 34. Bd3 Ne4 35. Bxe4 fxe4 36. Ng8 b5 37. Nf6 Kc7 38. Nxh7 b4 39. Ng5 b3+ 40. Kb2 Bb4 41. Nxe4 c5 42. Nc3 Bxc3+ 43. Kxc3 c4 44. Kb2 Kd6 45. f5 Ke5 46. f3 Kxf5 47. h4 Ke5 48. h5 Kf5 49. f4 Ke4 50. h6 Kd3 51. h7 c3+ 52. Ka3 c2 53. h8=Q c1=Q+ 54. Kxa4 b2 55. Qh7+ Kxe3 56. Qh3+ Kxf4 57. Qh4+ Kf5 58. Qh3+ Ke5 59. Qh5+ Kd6 60. Qg6+ Kc7 61. Qg7+ Kb6 62. Qxb2+ Qxb2 1/2-1/2

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Round 6:

Mamedyarov - Firouzja

[fen]2r3k1/pp3ppp/5n2/8/1q1N1B2/2nQ1BPb/P3PP1P/R5K1 b - - 8 23[/fen]


Firouzja played ...h6. Alternative is ... Nfd5. After it white may play 24.Bxd5 giving up bishops pair. Also after 24.Bd2 black may eventually get an extra pawn with ...Qb2. Still white has some compensation because of bishops pair.