and FIROUZJA !! Titled Tuesday Recap
Alireza Firouzja, aka @Firouzja2003 is on fire !
He just played the late title tuesday and won it ! with 10.5 out of 11 !!
the only half point he conceded was against @HikaruNakamura (they played the Berlin Draw , sadly enough, not a real fight). please note that Hans Niemann finished #6 with 9 points and Sam Sevian #4 with 9 points as well.
This is an incredible blitz performance but it shows Alireza has been preparing and studying chess.
In terms of rating performance on 11 games, here it is
Performance is 3448 which is surreal. I am sure he practiced tactics, training games and of course spending time with his seconds to review opening files ( see my previous post on that).
He is definitely ready for Toronto 2024 Candidates.
Let's review round 11, his win against Arjun Erigaisi a tough opponent in blitz.
Full game here if you want to play the moves by yourself,
Comments here
Alireza plays the advance variation against the Caro Kann.
after move 7 b4!?
Alireza offers the pawn. What would happen if Black takes, which did not happen in the game.
7..Qb4+ 8 Nd2 and the following position could be reached , White to play.
Can you guess what is the recommended move in this variation, White to play ?
Here's the answer
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in the game, Arjun avoided this variation and played Qa6.
position after 14 Rb1
This position is balanced and fairly closed. Black has a nice outpost for the knight on f5, with h7-h5 played.
White will castle kingside, but Black's king seems to be more vulnerable, either in the center or on the kingside.
Game goes on , lets see next phase
Black just played b6-b5 securing the knight on c4. Arjun likes to find good squares for his knights !
But Alireza will also end up with his knight on g5 after the dark square bishops will be exchanged.
It's a blocked position and the eval is equal. It is a testament to Alireza's creativity as the position will eventually open up with lots of tactics !
White to play
can you guess what Alireza Firouzja uncorked in a blitz game here ?
This shows his incredible talent in the middle game and his great sense of finding activity and tactics resources..
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SOLUTION
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Here it is Re1!?
Alireza sacrifices the rook ! Can Black take it ? I guess not. Can you find the refutation ?
Here it is
..
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Arjun avoided this trap but later on , fell for a similar idea.
in this position, Black decided to take the rook on e1. Can you find out why this was ill advised ?
here the answer is similar to the previous lines we discussed earlier.
and this is how Firouzja concluded the game , and finished #1 with 10.5 out of 11 today in the late titled tuesday.
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his opponents were mostly GMs and once again, not too many players can achieve such results.
My blitz rating is around 20 points higher than his first opponent, so if I were to take the day off, I could be paired with Firouzja on round 1.
Trick questions for my readers. The opening code is on the far right. Which one of you could guess what is the name and variation played with ECO Code C22 ? Alireza played it twice with white. good luck !
