Firouzja in World Rapid 2018

[Look]

[d]r1bq1rk1/1p1n1pb1/p2p1np1/2pP3p/P3P3/2N1BP2/1P1Q2PP/R1N1KB1R b KQ - 0 13

Blacks plays ... Rb8 with the idea of ... b5. Unfortunately after ... Ne5 h3, ... Bd7 is not possible because of white playing f4 trapping the Knight on e5. So it seems that ... Rb8 is a waste of a tempo.

[pgn][Event "St Petersburg RUS"] [Site "St Petersburg RUS"] [Date "2018.12.28"] [Round "14.8"] [White "Korobov, Anton"] [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A65"] [WhiteElo "2698"] [BlackElo "2607"] [Annotator "PC,This"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2018.12.26"] [EventType "rapid"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Be3 exd5 10. cxd5 a6 11. Qd2 h5 12. a4 Nbd7 13. Nc1 {[#]} Rb8 (13... Ne5 14. Be2 h4 15. O-O) 14. Be2 Ne5 15. h3 b5 (15... Bd7 16. f4) 16. axb5 axb5 17. Nxb5 h4 18. O-O Bd7 19. Nc3 Rb4 20. b3 Re8 21. Ra3 Rd4 22. Qc2 Nh5 23. f4 Ng3 24. fxe5 Nxf1 25. Bxf1 Bxe5 26. Nd3 Bg7 27. Nf2 Rb4 28. Bc4 Qf6 29. Nb1 Rbb8 30. Ra7 Red8 31. Qa2 Qe5 32. Nd2 Qc3 33. Bg5 Qc1+ 34. Bf1 Bd4 35. Nf3 Be3 36. Bxd8 Rxd8 37. Qe2 c4 38. Rc7 c3 39. e5 Bb6 40. Rb7 Bc5 41. e6 c2 42. Rxd7 Rxd7 43. exd7 Bb6 44. Nd4 Bxd4 45. d8=Q+ Kg7 46. Qxh4 1-0 [/pgn]

[Look]

[d]r4rk1/2p1npb1/2Nq3p/pp4p1/3P4/PN1Q2P1/1P3PP1/2R2RK1 w - - 0 23

Here better seems to be 23. Nbxa5 rather than 23. Qxb5 taking an extra pawn.

[pgn][Event "World Rapid 2018"] [Site "St Petersburg RUS"] [Date "2018.12.28"] [Round "13.5"] [White "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Black "Wang, Hao"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C76"] [WhiteElo "2607"] [BlackElo "2730"] [Annotator "PC,This"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2018.12.26"] [EventType "rapid"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Bg5 Nf6 9. Nbd2 h6 10. Bh4 b5 11. Bc2 O-O 12. Nb3 exd4 13. cxd4 g5 14. Bg3 Nh5 15. a3 Ne7 16. e5 Nxg3 17. hxg3 dxe5 18. Nxe5 Bf5 19. Rc1 a5 20. Bxf5 Nxf5 21. Nc6 (21. Re1) 21... Qd6 22. Qd3 Ne7 {[#]} 23. Qxb5 (23. Nbxa5 Nxc6 24. Nxc6 b4 25. axb4 Rfe8 26. Rfd1) 23... a4 (23... Nxc6 24. Rxc6 Qd7 25. d5 Rfd8 26. Rd1 Qg4 27. Qd3) 24. Nba5 Nxc6 25. Nxc6 Rfe8 26. Rc4 (26. Rfd1) 26... Re2 27. Rxa4 Rxa4 28. Qxa4 Rxb2 29. Re1 (29. Qa8+ Bf8 30. Ne5) 29... Qf6 30. Ne7+ Kh7 31. Qa8 Qxf2+ 32. Kh2 Bf8 33. Qe4+ Kh8 34. Nf5 Kg8 35. Rc1 Re2 36. Qd5 Rc2 37. Rxc2 Qxc2 38. Qe5 Qd1 39. a4 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[Look]

Firouzja is placed sixth at the end of world rapid 2018.

[Chessqueen]

Firouzja is placed sixth at the end of world rapid 2018.

Amazing, but this is one of the best Blitz game of Firouzja vs the Blitz master GM Nakamura, simply look how this 15 years old completely dominated Nakamura on this particular game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b4WbIMp9L8