My Former Professor (@Elefante33) vs MVL (@LyonBeast) OTB
Hey all!
How are you doing? If well, that´s great. If not, I hope things improve soon.
Today, December 11. GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave (@LyonBeast) (which I will refer to as "MVL"), World´s number 5 in the rating list, and a WC Contender himself, achieved a great accomplishment: he eliminated the World Champion, GM Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) in the semifinals of 2020 Speed Chess Championship.
Well, MVL needs no introduction, he is one of the best players in the world, with a current FIDE rating of 2784 in classical chess, and a former prodigy. I highly recommend you to take a look at his site (https://www.mvlchess.com/en/), where you can find his biography and interesting posts of him.
My former chess professor, GM Felipe El Debs (@Elefante33), besides being a very strong chess player, is a discrete, humble, and very smart person. Currently, he is rated 2553 in FIDE classical, which put him as World´s 433rd ranked player.
From the left to the right: GM Felipe El Debs (@Elefante33); GM Krikor Mekhitarian (@GMKrikor); GM Luis Paulo Supi (@LPSupi); and GM Alexandr Fier (@A-Fier)
The very interesting game we are going to look at, took place in January, at the 2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Tournament. one of the most famous and strong open tournaments Worldwide.
It was the 5th round, and both players had 3 out of 4 points. El Debs, whose rating was 2497 at the time, had won three games and lost one, while MVL, with a 2699 rating at the time, was unbeaten, with two wins and two draws. The encounter happened in the 12th board, with my former professor conducting the White pieces.
Before we see the entire game, which you can confer with my analysis below, I invite you to take look at some of its critical points and try to see by yourself how would you conduct the game with White pieces. The answers are right below the questions.
Tip: while looking at the answers, try to visualize the resulting positions without moving the pieces, this way you will train your calculation skills as well.
Could you play as the Brazilian GM?
1) 1st Critical Point
Question: We are in the move 13. MVL has just played 12...Qd4, centralizing his queen and threatening to capture the c4 pawn. How would you play as White?
Answer: 13.Nb5! - White sizes his chances, as the c6 pawn is pinned by now, threatening both 14.Nxd4 and/or 14.Nc7, forking Black´s king and rook.
2) 2nd Critical Point
Question: We reached move 15, MVL defended both of White´s previous threats from the 1st critical position we had just seen, with 13...Qe5. After some developing moves by both players, it´s White´s turn again. How would you continue?
Remember, you have one of the best chess calculators in front of us. Should we just retreat the knight as taking on a7 looks too dangerous? Or do we have a better alternative?
Answer: 15.Nxa7! - Again a strong move. White is not afraid of ghosts or is intimidated by his formidable opponent, as he justifies his consequential play based on concrete calculations and position evaluation. He grabs the free pawn, although looking dangerous that our knight would be stuck in a7 and consequently lost.
El Debs´s idea resides in the fact he will temporarily give back the pawn after 15...Qc7 16.a4 Ra8 17.a5! bxa5 18.Qf5, with a positional advantage meanwhile: in the resulting position Black´s a5 pawn is vulnerable, and White´s a7 knight is protected by his dark-squared bishop. Another relevant factor is that Black´s still behind in development and is already under heavy pressure.
3) 3rd Critical Point
Question: MVL just played 18...e5, indirectly protecting his a5 pawn, as both 19.Rxa5 and 19.Qxa5 were threats,
Come up with a plan for White, and try to find the best way to execute it. Don´t be afraid of going wrong, as former World Champion challenger Frank Marshall once said: "A bad plan is better than none at all".
Answer: 19.b4!! - White´s idea is to sacrifice a pawn, opening the a-file, and activate his rook on a1. The game continued with 19...axb4 20.Bc5! (maintaining Black´s king on the center). Fur the pawn, White has i) an advantage on development, ii) the safer king, iii) the initiative, and iv) lots of threats.
4) 4th Critical Point
Question: Now we got to the last critical point! We are at move 23. If you compare the current position with the one pointed out in the 3rd position, Black´s b4 pawn has reached b2.
MVL is a dynamic player and a fighter. He saw he was getting squeezed and has forced counterplay by active measures.
Did White misplayed his position and allowed our resourceful opponent to untie himself? Or he has something in mind?
How would you continue? I recommend you to take your time in answering this one, as precision is needed now.
Answer: 23.Rxb2! - White has figured out the win already. The game is over. I renew the tip of trying to visualize the continuation without moving the pieces, as the game concluded smooth: 23...Nxc5 24.Rxb7 Nxb7 25.Bxc6+ Kf8 26.Rd7 Qxd7 27.Qxd7 Rxa7 28.Qe8#. Checkmate.
The Complete Game With Analysis by BKB99
Now, there follows the complete game. You can find my analysis in it, as a tribute to this great player, my master!
An amazing game, one of El Debs´s masterpieces.
GM El Debs works as a regular chess coach and has a youtube channel named Xadrez Online ("Online Chess" translated from Portuguese), where he conducts interviews with chess players and make some interesting analysis as well:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsVByj2njC_WyaDxLBuHbxA (the channel content is in Portuguese).
To finish it, I would like to congratulate MVL on beating Magnus today, it´s really exciting to think that´s a real possibility they could have a rematch soon, this time on the board, disputing the chess throne.
That´s it, hope you have enjoyed it!
Cheers,
BKB99 (Hear me roar).
