Raja Rithvik R vs Krishnan Sasikiran: game review

10…Bxf3! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Takes the knight on f3.
• The next best move, 10…Bh5, would drop Black's winning chances from 46% to 18% (+4.04).
• 10…Bxf3 trades off the attacked bishop instead of losing it to hxg4.
• White was threatening hxg4, winning a bishop for a pawn. The bishop takes something with it instead.
• Trades bishop for knight.
• The bishop on f3 can be taken by the bishop on e2 or the g2 pawn.

23.fxe5! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Takes the pawn on e5.
• Moving away uncovers the bishop on e3, which now hits the h6 pawn.
• The next best move, 23.h5, would drop White's winning chances from 51% to 37% (−1.46).
• 23.fxe5 wins a pawn.
• Takes the e5 pawn and wins a pawn once the captures settle.
• Creates a passed pawn on e5: no enemy pawn can stop it any more.

26…Qf6! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Attacks the c3 pawn, which is undefended.
• Shores up the f5 pawn, which was under as much attack as it had defence (1 against 1).
• The next best move, 26…a6, would drop Black's winning chances from 46% to 35% (+1.64).
• 26…Qf6 threatens …Qxc3+, winning a pawn.
• It threatens …Qxc3+, winning a pawn, so White has to spend the next move on it.
• White answers 27.Kb2.

29…Qb6+! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• The queen joins the attack: it now hits 2 squares around the White king.
• Moves the attacked queen to safety.
• The next best move, 29…Qe6, would drop Black's winning chances from 50% to 24% (+3.17).
• 29…Qb6+ joins the attack on the king and saves the attacked queen.
• Gives check, so the reply is forced.
• White answers 30.Ka1.

40…Nc6! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Moves the attacked knight to safety.
• Protects the a7 pawn, which was hanging.
• The next best move, 40…Nc4, would drop Black's winning chances from 69% to 54% (−0.44).
• 40…Nc6 gets the knight out of the way of Qxe5.
• White was threatening Qxe5, winning a knight. The knight steps away.
• White answers 41.Be3.

45…Nc6! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Moves the attacked knight to safety.
• Brings the knight, Black's least active piece, into play (from 2 to 5 usable squares).
• The next best move, 45…Qe8, would drop Black's winning chances from 70% to 54% (−0.39).
• 45…Nc6 gets the knight out of the way of Qxd8.
• White was threatening Qxd8, winning a knight. The knight steps away.
• White answers 46.Kc1.

58…Ne5! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Centralises the knight on e5, where it reaches the most squares.
• The next best move, 58…Nd8, would drop Black's winning chances from 85% to 54% (−0.45).
• 58…Ne5 centralises the knight.
• White answers 59.Bxa7, winning a pawn.
• After 59.Bxa7 h4 60.Kc3 h3 61.Bg1 Ka3, Black is a pawn down (−4.69).

• Both sides followed opening theory up to 5.Be2: 9 moves in all, 5 by White and 4 by Black.
• Black left the book with 5…Nd7. In 111 games from this position, strong players played 5…Nc6 (67%), 5…Bxf3 (22%), 5…c5 (5%) or 5…Nf6 (4%).
• The main line goes on 5…Nc6 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 Nd4 9.Nc3 c5 10.dxc6.
• From here White scored 48% in those games, with 17% drawn.