TCEC superfinal game 1

[jdart]

Interesting opening (the Shabalov-Shirov gambit). While apparently the superfinal is using an 8-move opening book, I was surprised to see that the game actually followed known theory up to move 25 (!). Some notes follow.

[pgn]
[Event "TCEC Season 8 - Superfinal"]
[Site "http://tcec.chessdom.com"]
[Date "2015.11.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Komodo 9.3x"]
[Black "Stockfish 021115"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "3223"]
[BlackElo "3224"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2015.11.06"]
[Source "ChessPublishing"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. g4 Nxg4 8. Rg1
Nxh2 9. Nxh2 Bxh2 10. Rxg7 Nf8 11. Rg2 Bd6 12. Bd2 (12. e4 Ng6 13. Bg5 Be7 (
13... f6 $1 14. Be3 dxe4 15. Nxe4 Nh4 16. O-O-O Nxg2 17. Bxg2 Qe7 {1/2-1/2 (27)
Habermehl,T (2494)-Badolati,S (2522) ICCF 2010}) 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. O-O-O dxe4
16. Nxe4 f5 17. Nd2 c5 18. dxc5 Bd7 19. b4 O-O-O 20. Rg3 e5 21. Rd3 Be6 $2 (
21... a5 $5) 22. Ra3 $16 {1-0 (31) Morozevich,A (2788)-Kramnik,V (2788) Moscow
2008}) 12... Ng6 13. Be2 Qf6 14. O-O-O Nh4 ({Maybe better is} 14... Bd7 15. f4
(15. e4 $5) 15... Bc7 16. Na4 b6 17. Rh1 Nh4 18. Rgg1 Nf5 {1/2-1/2 (34) Gerola,
G (2499)-Habermehl,T (2476) ICCF 2014}) 15. Rgg1 Nf3 16. Bxf3 Qxf3 17. e4 dxc4
18. e5 Be7 19. Rg3 Qf5 20. Ne4 Bd7 21. Kb1 Kd8 22. Bg5 Rg8 23. Bxe7+ Kxe7 24.
Re3 b5 25. Ka1 $146 {This looks like a strong novelty.} ({Predecessor:} 25. Qe2
Rg4 26. Ka1 Rb8 27. Nf6 Rg2 28. Rf3 Qg6 29. Qd2 Rg1 30. Rg3 Rxd1+ 31. Qxd1 Qf5
32. Qd2 b4 33. f4 Kd8 34. Rg8+ Kc7 35. Rxb8 Qh3 36. a4 b3 37. Qa5+ Kxb8 38.
Qd8+ Kb7 39. Qxd7+ Kb6 40. a5+ Kxa5 41. Qxa7+ Kb5 42. Qc5+ Ka6 43. Qxc6+ Ka7
44. Qc7+ Ka8 45. Qd8+ {1/2-1/2 (45) Dhanish,P (2575)-Szczepanski,Z (2593) ICCF
email 2010}) 25... h5 $2 (25... Rg2 26. Qc3 a5 $11 {0.30/31 Stockfish 041115/
Lion}) 26. b3 $1 $16 Rg4 27. bxc4 b4 28. Qe2 a5 29. Nf6 Rf4 30. Red3 Rxf2 31.
Qe3 Qf4 32. d5 Qxe3 33. d6+ Kd8 34. Rxe3 Rxf6 35. exf6 c5 36. Rg3 Ra7 37. Rg8+
Be8 38. Rg5 h4 39. Rxc5 Ba4 40. Rd2 h3 41. Rh5 Kd7 42. Rxh3 Ra8 43. Rh7 Rf8 44.
Rh5 Ra8 45. c5 Bc6 46. Rdh2 a4 47. Rh7 Rf8 48. Rh8 Rxh8 49. Rxh8 e5 1-0
[/pgn]

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Extremely sharp opening line but interesting to watch never the less....
Dr.D