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The Candidates Tournament is 2 months away and we will learn who will face off for the World Championship early in 2023. One of the competitors in the Candidates field is Alireza Firouzja. He is an 18 year old grandmaster and currently the #2 rated player in the world.
In this video we take a look at one of his recent matches from the 2021 Grand Swiss Tournament, which he won. This victory gave him his entry into the Candidates Tournament.
PGN of the game:
[Event “FIDE Grand Swiss 2021”]
[Site “Riga LAT”]
[Date “2021.10.27”]
[Round “1.3”]
[White “Alireza Firouzja”]
[Black “Nijat Abasov”]
[Result “1-0”]
[Annotator “Fritz 13 (20m)”]
[BlackElo “2638”]
[ECO “C43”]
[EventDate “2021.10.27”]
[PlyCount “55”]
[WhiteElo “2770”]
{[%t bLon] C43: Petroff Defence: 3 d4} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 (3. Nxe5 d6 4.
Nf3) 3… Nxe4 4. dxe5 (4. Be3)(4. Bd3) 4… d5 5. Nbd2 Be7 6. Nxe4 dxe4 7.
Qxd8+ Bxd8 8. Nd4 {last book move} 8… Nd7 9. Bf4 Nc5 10. O-O-O c6
{Consolidates b5} 11. Bc4 Be7 12. Rhe1 a5 13. h3 {Covers g4} 13… h5 14. a3
Bd7 15. Kb1 b5 {Black threatens to win material: b5xc4} 16. Ba2 O-O (16… b4
17. a4 $14) 17. g4 (17. Be3 Rfd8 $16) 17… hxg4 (17… b4 18. gxh5 bxa3 19.
bxa3 $14) 18. hxg4 $16 18… Bxg4 19. Nxc6 Rfe8 (19… Bxd1 20. Nxe7+ Kh7 21.
Rh1+ Bh5 22. Rxh5#) 20. Rd5 Rac8 (20… Ne6 $5 21. Be3 Nc7 $16) 21. Na7 $18
21… Ra8 (21… Rcd8 22. Nxb5 Be6 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Nd6 $18) 22. Nxb5 Reb8 $2
(22… Be6 23. Rdd1 Bxa2+ 24. Kxa2 Rec8 $18) 23. Nc7 Ra7 24. e6 $1{Deflection:
e4} 24… Rab7 (24… Nxe6 25. Re5 {Discovered attack} (25. Rxe4 {Deflection}
)(25. Nxe6)) (24… fxe6 25. Re5 {Discovered attack} (25. Nxe6 Bxe6 26. Bxb8
Ra6 (26… Bxd5 27. Bxd5+)27. Rf5 Bxa2+ 28. Kxa2)) (24… Bxe6 25. Re5
{Discovered attack} (25. Nxe6))(24… Rxc7) 25. exf7+ Kf8 26. Be5 Nd7 (26…
Ne6 {there is nothing else anyway} 27. Rxa5 Nxc7 $18) 27. Rxd7 $1{the end of
the story} 27… Bxd7 28. Rh1 (28. Rh1 Bxa3 29. Rh8+ Ke7 30. Nd5+ Ke6 31. Rxb8
Rxb8 32. Bxb8 $18) 1-0