Meet The Candidates: Kirill Alekseenko

Opening: Ruy Lopez
Title: Meet The Candidates: Kirill Alekseenko | Alekseenko vs Zhigalko (ECC 2019)

The 2020 FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament is an 8-player tournament held March 17-April 4 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The format is a double round-robin of 14 rounds. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes to finish the game with a 30-second increment starting from the first move. No draw offers are allowed before move 41. The prize fund is 500,000 euros. The tournament is organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation. The winner earns the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the 2020 World Chess Championship.

Participants:

1. Fabiano Caruana (2842)
2. Ding Liren (2805)
3. Alexander Grischuk (2777)
4. Ian Nepomniachtchi (2774)
5. Teimour Radjabov (2765)
6. Anish Giri (2763)
7. Wang Hao (2758)
8. Kirill Alekseenko (2704)

Hello Chess Friends and Welcome to the Channel. Waiting for the Candidates that will begin on March the 17th, I'm going to show you some interesting games played by the eight candidates. We will begin this short series, Meet The Candidates, with Kirill Alekseenko.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {the Ruy Lopez} Nf6 {attacking the central pawn is
the Berlin Defense. We know that the main line for white is short castle but
Alekseenko plays the second most played move} 4. d3 {to protect the pawn} Bc5
5. O-O Nd4 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. c3 {comes with tempo} Bb6 {now with} 8. Ba4 {
Alekseenko wants to prevent that c6 comes with tempo} c6 {I have 30 games in
database. Karjakin and Wesley So are the experts of this position} 9. Na3 d6
10. Bc2 O-O 11. Nc4 Bc7 12. Bg5 {pinning the knight} h6 13. Bh4 d5 14. Ne3 {
we can consider this move a novelty and the game original because with this
position there are no other games played by grandmasters} dxe4 15. dxe4 Qxd1
16. Raxd1 g5 17. Bg3 {this pawn is not protected by any other pawn. It's not a
big problem but is a target} Be6 {completes the development and guards c4} 18.
f3 Nh5 {this is the good bishop and white wants to save it.} 19. Bf2 Nf4 {
because we know that the bishop can't capture on a2 or will be trapped} 20. Bb3
Rfd8 {good move. Why not Bxb3?} (20... Bxb3 21. axb3 Rfd8 22. Nf5 {th Knight
is now a strong piece} Kh7 23. Be3 {the black Knight is a target, after g3 and
h4 white will damage a bit the structure}) 21. h4 (21. Bxe6 {is playable but
Black will recapture with the knight that won't be a target anymore for the
white pawns} Nxe6 22. Nf5 Kh7 23. Be3 Bb6 24. Kf2 Kg6 {and Black is fine})
21... Nd3 {now} 22. Bxe6 {is good} fxe6 23. Ng4 {clears e3 with tempo.} Kg7 24.
hxg5 {better Be3 immediately} h5 25. Nf6 Kg6 26. g4 {the idea is capture with
the Knight on h5. this is a complex fights of pawns structures and the
critical moment of the game. (Zhigalko makes a mistake)} hxg4 (26... Nxb2 {
doesn't work} 27. Rb1 {with advantage for white because Black can't play} Rd2
28. gxh5+ Kxg5 29. Be3+) (26... Nxf2 {is better} 27. Kxf2 h4 {with more or
less equality even if visually white looks better but if Black finds out that
h4 first is the strongest move the position becomes different}) (26... h4 27.
Bxh4 {is the best line for white} (27. b3 {is another mistake} Kxg5 28. Nh5 Bb6
29. Bxb6 axb6 30. Rd2 Nf4 31. Rxd8 Rxd8 32. Nxf4 {is forced} exf4 {then Rd2 or
Rd3 and Black is winning. But Going back to our game}) 27... Nxb2 28. Rb1 {
is now a mistake} (28. Rxd8 Rxd8 {and Black is a bit better because his pieces
are more active}) 28... Bb6+ 29. Bf2 Nc4 30. Rb4 Bxf2+ 31. Kxf2 b5 32. Nh5 Kxg5
{and Black is winning because the white Knight is on the rim and the Black
rook on d8 and Knight on c4 are dominating the center of the board}) 27. Nxg4
Kxg5 {Alekseenk grabs the initiative with} 28. Be3+ Kg6 29. Rd2 {and white is
winning because the Black king is exposed} c5 30. Rg2 {indirectly attacking
the King} Kf7 {away from the g-file} 31. Nh6+ Ke8 32. Rg7 Bb6 33. Bg5 Nxb2 {
is useless even if Black was already lost} (33... Rdb8 34. Re7+ Kf8 35. Kh2 c4
36. Rh7 {white is building the net} a5 37. f4 {is already a forced checkmate}
exf4 38. Bxf4 Nxf4 39. Rxf4+ Ke8 40. Rg4 Bc5 41. Rg8+ Bf8 42. Rf7 Ra6 43.
Rgxf8#) 34. Ng4 Nd3 35. Nf6+ Kf8 36. Rh7 c4+ 37. Kh2 {and Black resigns
because nothing can stop Bh6 checkmate.} 1-0

Alekseenko is well prepared in the openings he plays even if his repertoire is a bit narrow. and doesn't shy away from strategic fights to find an edge in equal endgame positions. In the next days we will keep watching the other Candidates and some games from the Women's Grand Prix in Switzerland. I hope that you will like this series about the candidates and if you do, please don't forget to like the video and to subscribe to the channel.

Alekseenko
Photo by Andreas Kontokanis

Zhigalko
Wikimedia Commons

[ChesswithGabriel]

Hello Chess Friends! :) Alekseenko is a 23 years old russian grandmaster with an elo of 2704.
After placing in third position at the Fide Grand Swiss 2019 he was selected for the candidates as wildcard.
I hope that you will like this series and if you do, please don't forget to like the video and to Subscribe To The Channel! :)

[smokeywoki]

What a new line...more active attack and open batlle, preety much i like this line idea...great job gabriel next video i waiting for it

[mustafasaid]

He is the wild card choice by Russian Chess Federation. Has he won any big tounament lately? In my opinion he, a Giri and Wang Hoa will not advance far.