Click on the moves below to start playing the game:

[pgn_compat]
[Event “Saint Louis Rapid 2018”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2018.08.12”]
[Round “6.2”]
[White “Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime”]
[Black “Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C55”]
[WhiteElo “2779”]
[BlackElo “2801”]
[Annotator “Waldemar Moes,Better Your Chess!”]
[PlyCount “70”]
[EventDate “2018.08.11”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 {The so-called Prussian defense.} 4. d3 (4. Ng5)
(4. d4) 4… h6 $5 {Wow, some research shows that Mamedyarov has played this
move 5 times already. he is on familiar territory.} (4… Bc5 {can lead to the
Giuco Pianissimo.}) 5. O-O d6 $5 {Should White in turn now play h3 to also
prevent the bishop pin? These things are normally hard to figure out and a
number of factors have to be considered such as: 1. Have sides already
castled? 2. Can the King’s bishop be used to easily neutralize the pin? 3.
Can the Queen’s knight be used to overprotect the king’s knight and so release
the queen of her defense duty? 4. Does the pin come with extra pressure
against the pawn center? 5. Can the pinning bishop be chased away? For for
now these questions fall outside the scope of this video, but Ifor the
students of our BetterYourChess University I will be making a video discussing
these concepts.} (5… Bc5 6. c3 $14 {scores 65% in the database.}) 6. Re1 {
MVL overprotects his e4 and possibly plans to open up the game with d4.} g5 $5
{A very interesting move and if not objectively putting pressure then at least
it does so psychologically. The idea of g5-g4 asks some questions.} {But Maxim
did not want to think about the answers and very quickly played:} 7. d4 $6 {An
inaccuracy giving Black the easier game. The classical rules of chess say: An
attack on the wing should be answered with a counter in the center. Although
this rule is valuable, it is an abstract rule and we cannot use abstract
solutions for concrete problems. How many times is d4 attacked and how many
times is it defended?} g4 {Let’s attack one of the defenders! This seems to
force White to defend by means of a counterattack of similar strength.} 8. dxe5
$6 {Another inaccuracy I feel. Since this leaves White’s king position
compromised for the rest of the game it would have been better for White to
bite the bullet and sacrifice a pawn with:} (8. Nh4 Nxd4 $15 {But who does
that?} (8… Nxe4 9. Rxe4 Qxh4 $14)) 8… gxf3 9. exf6 Ne5 $1 {This move is
key and secures Black’s advantage. It first and foremost attacks the
undefended bishop on c4 but also makes sure that White’s king side cannot be
repaired with Qxf3. You may argue that Black’s king side is also ruined and
structurally this is true, but he has not castled his king into that area and
can use the g-file for his rook!} 10. Nd2 $2 {But this is a mistake after
which White’s position becomes critical. White gives the knight double duty,
but here the knight is akwardly placed and immobilises the white pieces.} (10.
Na3 {was better, keeping the disadvantage contained f.i:} Qxf6 (10… fxg2 $6
11. Bf4) 11. g3 $15 {and White retains more possibilities than in the game.}
Bh3 12. Bf1) 10… Qxf6 {Restoring the material balance and supervising f3
once more!} 11. gxf3 {What else? Faced with a plethora of evils White decides
to give up the integrity of his king side himself.} (11. Nxf3 $4 Nxc4) 11…
Rg8+ $17 {With the diagonal f1-h3 and the g-file completely opened up, Black
starts the direct assault and has a significant advantage.} 12. Kh1 (12. Kf1 $2
{is out of the question.} Bh3+ 13. Ke2 Bg2 14. Ke3 (14. f4 Qxf4) 14… d5 $19 {
and White cannot survive the onslaught.}) 12… Nxc4 {Before trying to deal a
final blow, Black first eliminated the defender of the light squares.} (12…
Bh3 $2 13. Bf1 $1 $15 {and things remain tenable for White.}) 13. Nxc4 {
Fortunately for White this recapture gives the knight better defensive
prospects and also frees up White’s pieces a bit more.} Bh3 {With the direct
threat of winning the queen by means of Bg2+ and Bxf3+ etc. But also doubling
up on the g-file with Qg6 or Qg7 and threatening mate on g2 is now deadly.
Note that without Bh3 White could still react to that with Rg1, now however
there would follow Bg2+ etc.} (13… Qg6 14. Rg1) 14. Ne3 $8 {Ouf, still in
time to stave off the very worst. g2 is protected and Q to the g-file can
again be met with Rg1. So, White’s position hangs by a threat, namely the
knight on e3. So, all that Black needs to do really is to eliminate the knight
and he should be left with a strategically winning position with opposite
color bishops on the board but also major pieces and a white king side that is
severely weakened on the light squares!} h5 {One of two ways in which Black
tries to eliminate Ne3. That goal can really only be achieved by Black’s dark
squared bishop. The St. Louis commentary team thought that this however was an
inaccuracy and suggested that long castles should have been played in stead. I
don’t necessarily agree. Let’s compare.} (14… Bg2+ $4 15. Nxg2 $18) (14…
Qg6 15. Rg1 $14) (14… O-O-O 15. Ng4 {Come to think of it, it was maybe this
knight move that prompted M. to play h5, not even the idea of bringing the
bishop to h6… It does explain what happens on the next move.} Qg6 16. Rg1 h5
17. Ne3 Qxg1+ 18. Qxg1 Rxg1+ 19. Kxg1 Bh6 $17) 15. Bd2 {Connecting the rooks
and trying to finish development.} O-O-O $2 {But now it is Mamedyaro’s turn to
slip up and lose a significant portion of his advantage.} ({There was nothing
wrong with the consistent:} 15… Bh6 $1 {f.i.} 16. Bc3 $2 (16. Rg1 $4 Rxg1+
17. Kxg1 Bxe3 18. fxe3 Qg6+ 19. Kf2 Qg2+ 20. Ke1 Qf1#) (16. f4 {to break the
connection between Bh6 and Ne3} Qxf4 (16… Bxf4 $2 17. Qf3 $1 $15) 17. Qe2
O-O-O $17) 16… Qg6 17. Rg1 Bxe3 18. Rxg6 Rxg6 19. fxe3 Bg2+ 20. Kg1 Bxf3+ 21.
Kf2 Bxd1 22. Rxd1 Ke7 $19 {It is however quite possible that Mamedyarov did
not see this particular variation through to the end. If he had, he would
certainly have played like this. With the exchange up, the position is a win})
16. Qe2 {Preparing a subtle lateral defense!} d5 {Black tries to harass the
knight in another way now. The main threat is d5-d4. Also alternative
deployments of Bf8 are prepared.} (16… Bh6 {This no longer works like a
charm:} 17. Bc3 Qg6 18. Rg1 Bxe3 19. Rxg6 Rxg6 20. fxe3 $1) 17. Rg1 {MVL
quickly defends the g-file.} ({One way of going horribly wrong was:} 17. exd5
$4 Bd6 $19) 17… Rxg1+ 18. Rxg1 dxe4 19. fxe4 Qxb2 $17 {Now that White has
his king side somewhat consolidated, M. decides that there are also other ways
in which chess games can be won. He conitnues in positional style restoring
material balance and relying on his pair of bishops. The weak white king may
become a theme later in the game.} 20. Qxh5 (20. Nd5 {Revenge of the knight
was a serious alternative.}) 20… Be6 21. Rg8 $2 {But here MVL makes a
mistake. He leaves his bank rank and that will have consequences.} f6 $6 {and
M. does not quite capitalize.} (21… f5 $1 22. Rg1 (22. Qh8 Qa3 (22… Bxg8 $4
23. Qxb2 $18) 23. Rg6 Bf7 24. Rf6 Qe7 25. Rxf5 Rxd2 $19) (22. Rh8 f4 $19) 22…
Qd4 23. Bc1 Bd6 $18 (23… Qxe4+ $18)) 22. Rh8 Qd4 23. Qa5 Qxe4+ {Well, some
light squared success after all!} 24. Kg1 a6 25. Bc3 $2 {And now it is
definitely losing. White also opens the d-file for the black rook.} Bd5 $1 {
Shak finds a brilliant solution to win the game.} 26. Nxd5 Rxd5 27. Rxf8+ Kd7 {
And it turns out that the triple threat of Rd1+ Qg4+ and RxQ leaves White
defenseless.} 28. Rf7+ Ke8 29. Re7+ Kxe7 30. Qxc7+ Rd7 31. Qc5+ Kf7 32. Qh5+
Qg6+ 33. Qxg6+ Kxg6 34. Bb4 Rc7 35. c3 b6 {A brilliant game by M. and that for
a rapid game!} 0-1

[/pgn_compat]