Marc Esserman vs Dommaraju Gukesh (2017)

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Marc Esserman vs Dommaraju Gukesh
Cannes Chess Festival (2017), rd 1, Feb-20
Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit. Accepted Paulsen Formation (B21) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Nov-13-19		JointheArmy: Amazing game.

Nov-14-21		kingscrusher: Great game :)

Jul-19-22		PawnSac: < 10. Bb3! > compare with the following: Marc Esserman vs Alexander Shabalov Foxwoods Open (2008), Connecticut, rd 4, Mar-21 Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit (B21) · 0-1 note 10.Nd4 and 12.f4 Alex played 12. ..Qc7 and hit the hanging Bc4, which won him the f4 pawn, putting Marc down TWO pawns. That opening inaccuracy lost him that game.

Jan-03-23		tastywalrus02: in the face!

Jan-04-23		fredthebear: Sing it! 19...Qa7 establishes a royal pin, offering an exchange of queens. After a brawling sequence that removes the guard, it's the White queen that snatches her counterpart with 24.QxQa7!! Everybody We will we will rock you We will we will rock you

Apr-04-24		geeker: Nice combination! The King of the Smith-Morra strikes again.

Apr-04-24		al wazir: My move was 20. Rf1 Nxe7 (20...Qxd4 21. Bf7#) 21. Bf7+ Kd8 22. Qe5 Nc6 23. Qg5+ Kc8 24. Kh1. I don't see where exactly it goes from here, but this must be good for white

Apr-04-24		Allderdice83: I almost had it. Almost! I had 20. Bf7+ Kxf7 and then 21. Qxa7. I was hoping that 21 ... Rxa7 22. e8=Q+ Rxe8 23. Rf1+ would lead to mate, (23 ... Kg8?? 24. Rxe8+ Nf8 25. Rexf8#, and 23 ... Bf3? doesn't help). However, Black has 23 ... Nf4! 24. Rxf4+ Kg6, and now the best White can do is 25. Rxe8, going up by a R for a B and P. White's rooks are also more active than Black's rook and bishop; however, after 25 ... Bc6 , 26. Re7 Ra8 27. Rff7 Rg8, it's hard to see how White can make progress. 28. Rxd7 Bxd7 29. Rxd7 probably leads to a draw. Caveat: No engine went into that analysis.

Apr-04-24		mel gibson: I saw the first ply within 15 seconds. Stockfish 16 says: 20. Bf7+ (20. Bf7+ (1.Bf7+ Kxf7 2.e8B+ Rhxe8 3.Rf1+ Kg8 4.Rxe8+ Rxe8 5.Qxa7 Bc6 6.Qxa6 h6 7.Qa5 Re5 8.Rf2 Kh7 9.Qd2 Rd5 10.Qb4 Rd1+ 11.Rf1 Rd3 12.h3 Ne5 13.Re1 Ng6 14.Re2 Rd1+ ) +5.33/52 504) score for White +5.33 depth 52.

Apr-04-24		chrisowen: I gay its butch its me Bxf7+ its a faith its phi its coffin abe leeway its dub its chi fifth its abc claw its Bxf7+ eel

Apr-04-24		Mayankk: I saw that 20 Bf7+ Kxf7 21 e8=Q+ Raxe8 22 Rf1+ was an easy win. 22 ... Nf4 23 Qxf4+ etc. After 20 Bf7+ Kxf7 21 e8=Q+ Rhxe8 22 Rf1+ Kg8, it was a bit tricky. But then you notice 23 Qxa7 Rxe3 24 Qxe3 and Black has lost his Queen.

Apr-04-24		whiteshark: Is this really a candidate? Game Collection: 98_B21_Morra Mayhem Gambit vs Sicily Mob \|\| 2.f4

Apr-04-24		whiteshark: Everybody ♫♪♫♪ Sing it! ♫♪♫♪ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ueen We will we will rock you ♫♪ We will we will rock you ♫♪ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ ♕ueen ♫♪ ♫♪

Apr-04-24		Refused: Trickier than it looks. My first inclination was to go 20.Rf1?? which is just not working and plain bad as 20...d5!! takes Bf7+ and the fun out of the position. Thus 20.Bf7+! Kxf7 21.e8Q+ Rxe8 22.Rf1+ Kg8 23.Rxe8+ Rxe8 24.Qxa7 is the way to go.

Apr-04-24		chrisowen: Fanfare x :)

Apr-04-24		King.Arthur.Brazil: It seems logical: 20. Bf7+ Kxf7 21. e8=Q+ a) Raxe8 22. Rf1+ Kg8 23. Rxe8+ Nf8 24. Rexf8# or b) Rhxe8 22. Rf1+ Kg8 23. Qxa7 Rxa7 24. Rxe8+ Nf8 25. Rexf8#.

Apr-04-24		King.Arthur.Brazil: My line tried to win the game quickly. Nevertheless, if 23... Rxe3 24. Qxe3 and next 25. Qg6 or Qd4. B will not resist much too. Even in the game line, if B tried: 24...Bc8?! 25. Qf2 Kh8 26. Qf7 (Rf8?? Qxf8+ and Rxf8#) Rg8 27. Re1 with invasion of 8th rank and win material.

Apr-04-24		TheaN: No! Why am I such an idiot sometimes? Here I go <20.Bf7+ Kxf7 21.e8Q+ Rhxe8 22.Rf1+ Kg8 23.Rxe8+> everything great so far right? Yeah, except that I visioned Ra8 taking on e8 only and thought this was mate after 23....Nf8?? 24.Rfxf8#. Because I stopped there I missed <23....Rxe8 24.Qxa7 +-> entirely, thus no credit.

Feb-05-25		chatushkon64: Amazing game by one of the world's leading experts in the Morra Gambit. Watch him analyze the game here : https://youtu.be/911moRbSnI8?si=dCc...

Jun-04-25		FSR: I had never seen this game before. A nice scalp for Esserman to get! Oddly, it is not in ChessBase Online. Gukesh was not yet 11 at the time of this game, and was rated 2184, having fallen a bit from 2252 in November 2016. https://ratings.fide.com/profile/46... Through 15.f4, the game followed the famous brilliancy M Esserman vs Van Wely, 2011. Can it be that Gukesh somehow didn't know of that game? I could also entertain the idea that he did know of it, and was trying to improve on it, except that his 18...Qb8? is clearly losing. Better is 18...Qc8! 19.Rxe7+! (improving on 19.Rae1, which almost everyone has played) Nxe7 20.Qe5! Qd8! 21.Kh1! and Stockfish 17.1 says White has a big advantage (+1.05, depth 37/74). If Gukesh knew of Esserman-Van Wely and was trying to improve on it, he would surely have played 18...Qc8!, which is the only move. So I think Gukesh was surprised, which surprises me. After the Van Wely game, players aided by their computers came up with the idea of quickly chasing back White's king bishop with 4...e6 5.Nf3 a6 6.Bc4 b5 7.Bb3 Nc6 8.O-O Na5. Black is a little better, though White can hold with best play. See my games as Black https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... (I scored +2 =2 as Black). White can also play 6.Bf4 rather than putting his king bishop on c4 to be chased around. See https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... (my games as Black). Or White can put his bishop on e2 rather than c4, castle, then decide where to develop the QB. See Repertoire Explorer: Frederick Rhine (white) (my three ICCF games as White, all of which were drawn).

Jun-04-25		Sally Simpson: <Hi FSR> The tournament table has Gukesh finishing on 5pts. from 9 games. Esserman on 5½ pts https://ratings.fide.com/report.pht... Possibly as round one Gukesh had little time to prepare. But it does look like a try at going for a better move or to escape from the M Esserman vs Van Wely, 2011 Here click for larger view Gukesh played 15...exf4, in the Loek van Wely game Black played 15...Qf6. Marc mentions 15...exf4 in his book (published 2012) and the game follows his own suggestion up until 18.Qd4 when it stops adding the Queen dominates and the Black King is not carrying enough insurance. So 18...Qb8 could be a hastily prep'd improvement. It is going for the a7 Queen swap. I wonder what Marc was thinking after he saw 15...exf4. 'what have I missed.' and then put together some wonderful move.

Jun-04-25		FSR: <Sally Simpson: . . . 18...Qb8 could be a hastily prep'd improvement. It is going for the a7 Queen swap.> Maybe. Although I'd think even the version of Stockfish in early 2017 would have told Gukesh that it's no good. OTOH, I'd think it's improbable that Gukesh would unwittingly stumble into the same line as Van Wely.

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