Can you play like Alireza Firouzja ?

While Alireza Firouzja didn't manage to win his first candidates tournament, chances are he will have more chances to do so. After all he is only 19 years old, and possibly put himself too much pressure before Madrid 2022.

But here's a recent example of his talent and tactical ability ! Can you find Alireza's move and calculate the key variations, White to play ??

WHITE TO PLAY

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Photo Credits: Grand Chess Tour Lennart Ootes;https://www.flickr.com/photos/grandchesstour/

Solutions below

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Hint

We need to consider all candidate moves !!

it turns out that 25 Ba3!! is WINNING on the spot . After the queen moves, 26 e6! is devastating.

Here is how the game went with annotations and variations : Black could not save the game (Firouzja-So Round 8 Sinquefield Cup 2022)

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Now 25 e6 seems strong, with the idea to attack the kingside. But Black can defend here so Alireza's move was considerably stronger

The key move for Black is 25..Rxb3 with the following position 

With ..Rxb3, Black is attacking the bishop on b2. The logical try would be 26exf7+Kf7 27 Rxe8 to continue the attack

and here Black has a tactical resource.

Instead of capturing the rook, there's a better move

and the answer is shown in the next diagram !!

Rg3+ would win the queen with a messy position

But Wesley So didn't get a chance to get any counterplay and lost the game..

Photo Credit : Grand Chess Tour/St Louis Chess Club -Crystal Fuller 

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I hope you enjoyed this post highlighting Alireza's tactical awareness. His position earlier in the game was worse but he was able to turn it around and score an important win against Wesley So , a top GM.