Grandelius vs Harikrishna
Tata steel master. One of the first elite over the board chess tournament in months. Nils Grandelius was playing against Pentala Harikrishna from India with the white pieces. At this point in time Nils Grandelius had a fantastic start to the tournament with 2/2 and was leading it in front of Magus Carlsen among other noteworthy super-duper grandmasters.
Now I will write the moves of the game along with their explanations so feel free to play this game through with a board or on the analysis board below. Grandelius is playing with the white pieces and Harikrishna with the black.
Nils Grandelius plays 1.e4; the move he tends to play the most though he also plays a bit of 1.Nf3 and 1.d4. 1..e6 is played by Pentala Harikrishna. The French opening. This is a bit funny because he released a chessable course on how to fry the French with the white pieces 
Furthermore, I checked it is not his primary weapon, he has played the caro-kann, sicilian and 1...e5 more often than the French. Perhaps a surprise weapon he has in store for his opponent.
*How to fry the French by Harikrishna
2.d4 taking the centre. 2...d5 3.e5 The advance variation of the French arises.
Today the most common moves are 3.Nd2 and 3.Nc3. After 3.Nc3 black can choose the winawer variation or Nf6. After Nd2 black can choose between common moves like Nf6, asking white to reveal their cards and close the centre with e5 or c5 striking in the centre. After c5, white´s most common choice is to take on d5 and here white can choose how to capture, while it is possible to take with the pawn entering an Isolated queen pawns position or the more common Qxd5.
It is possible to also be very adventurous with 3...h6!? As this is most likely going to be closed a closed positions black can play slow moves like these. One idea is to meet 4.Nf3 with Nf6 and 5.e5 with Ne4 jumping into the centre with the knight and if Nxd2 black will take on e4 attacking whites knight. The inclusion of h6 and Nf3 has made the idea of Ne4 with a tempi attacking the white knight in addition to not making Ng5 possible.
3...Qb6 4.Nf3 Bd7. Black intends to trade of the light-squared bishop. As one may observe the bishop on c8 is severely restricted by the pawn chain on the light-squares. Hence, it is commonly referred to as the bad bishop in the French.
In addition we see that white has more space in the centre, with the d4 and e5 pawn versus e6,d5. Often it is favorable to trade pieces when you have less space which is the case for black. Your pieces have less space to maneuver and start to step on each other´s toes with fewer pieces they will be able to handle the limited space better as it is reserved for fewer pieces.
5...cxd 6.cxd Bb5. 7.0-0 Bxe2 8. Qxe2 black has successfully accomplished their mission trading of light-squared bishops. This came at a cost of spending three tempos so white develops a development lead. The question is will white be able to exploit it?
*French defense
8...Nc6 9.Nc3 Ne7 Notice how the pawn on d4 is immune. After 9...Nxd4 10.Nxd4white will have Qb5+ dislocating black´s king and later on b7 wrecking havoc in black position.
10.Qd3. Giving the pawn on d4 some extra protection. 10.Be3 developing the bishop and protecting the pawn with the bishop. It appears as if the idea of 10.Qd3 is to develop the bishop to a different square than e3.
10...Rc8 putting the rook on the open c-file. 11.Rd1 h6 this is a prophylaxis against Ng5 after black will castle. However this move also has a downside. It allows white to go g4,g5 and use the h6 pawn as a hook opening up the kingside. We see that white wants to play on the kingside due to the way the pawn chain is pointing towards d4,e5. The inverse is often true for black.
12.Bd2 Ng6 13.h4, with the idea of h5 grabbing space on the kingside with a tempi. 13...Bb4 14. Na4 Qc7 15.h5 Nge7
- Bf4 attempting to keep more pieces on the board due to the space advantage. Perhaps the bishop on f4 will also support a further g4-g5.
16...Qa5 hitting the knight on a4. 17.b3 b5 18.Nb2 Ba3 attacking the knight 19.Qe2 0-0
19...Nb4 threatening Rc2 was also a possibility.
If you are able to find the plan that Nils Grandelius executed now I believe you to be a chess player of at least decent competency levels. 20.Rb1!? You might think, wait the knight on b2 is already protected; why protect it again? Well white´s plan is to use the fact that black´s bishop is on the rim of the board and try to trap it with Nd3, b4,and Rb3!
*Nils Grandelius on wikipedia
20...Rc7 black plays a simply move intending to double rooks on the c-file and gain even greater dominance on this file. 21.Nd3 Qb6 22.b4 a5 23.Trying to fight against white´s previously mentioned idea.
23.bxa, Nxa5. Black´s knight is headed to c4 from where it will be a monstrous piece. Here the engine recommends a funny looking move. 24.Ne1!? The idea is to be prophylactic against a further Rc2. Black will double rooks on the c-file and attempt to enter this square with the rooks. The idea of taking control over an open-file is built on the fundamentals to infiltrate the opponents camp, and gaining control over a file is not as effective if your opponent covers all squares of infiltration.
Later as previously mentioned white wants to play on the kingside. He will do this by playing Nh4, followed b5 g4-g5. The idea of putting a knight on h4 is to be able meet Nf5 by taking hence weakening blacks pawn structure, giving doubled f-pawns to black in addition to making the d5 pawn weaker as it is no longer conveniently defended by the e6 pawn. 24. Bc1 was played into the game.
This move is very understandable from a human perspective. The bishop on a3 is doing a great job taking control over the c1 square. Preventing white from putting a rook there and fighting back on the c-file. However, trading of the bishops significantly reduces white´s attacking potential as the bishop on f4 could have potentially assisted in the attack.
24...Bxc1 25. Rdxc1 Rxc1 26.Nxc1 Nc4 27. Nb3 Ra8 28.Rc1 Nc6. Here it was absolutely necessary for white to go for the super passive move 29.Ra1 the idea is to be able to meet 29...Ra3 with the genius maneuver Qd1, 30...Qa7 31.Qb1 the entire idea of this shuffle is to be able to meet 31...Nb4 with 32.Nc5 when if black takes on a2 the pawn on b5 also falls. This leaves us with an equal position where both sides have 5 pawns and a few pieces.
29.g3 was played in the game 29...Ra3 30.Kg2 g3, Kg2 is an improvement to every position according to ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik. However, in this position black´s idea is so crushing that a slight improvement to the position is not going to do the trick.
30... Qa7 31.Rc2 31.Ra1 is unfortunately not possible due to Rxb3. 31...Nb4 the a-pawn falls and now the additional b-pawn is going to queen and be the decisive factor in the game. 32.Rc3 Nxa2 33.Rd3 and now 5 seconds to spot the easiest way to victory? 34.Rxb3 Rxb3 35.Nc1 trading of pieces. Now the b-pawn with the support of the queen and the strong knight on c4 is going to promote. Hence, white resigned a few moves later.
*Harikrishna in the game against Grandelius
Feel free to take a look at this video where I go through this game as well:
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