The Immortal Space Invaders Game - Durarbayli vs. Suleymanli, 2020
14-year-old chess prodigy Aydin Suleymanli scored a brilliant win in the 2020 Aeroflot Open and qualified for Dortmund! His success has been justly making waves thanks not just to the high achievement but also to the incredible games he won. While his wins against Maghsoodloo and Smirin rightly deserve attention, it's his win against Durarbayli that has been dazzling me.
Durarbayli goes for it against the young Suleymanli and sacrifices a rook and knight for FOUR connected and advanced pawns. Both players had chances in the ensuing complications, but it was Suleymanli who emerged the winner.
Lessons:
- 3 connected passed pawns on the 7th rank beat everything.
- Be ready to give back material quickly to stop runaway pawns.
My notes are below. I actually made several mistakes in analysis in the video (notably 35...Kg7!! looks brilliant) as Stockfish keeps uncovering resources with more time to think. One could spend ALOT of time analyzing these variations and not get to the full truth of the position.
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I'm the Head of Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2015, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.
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