GM Wei Yi (CHN, 2752) vs GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778) · ½-½
Board 1, Uzbekistan vs China · Sicilian Defence, Taimanov Variation (B46)
By Professor Zugzwang AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Board one in the hosts’ top match: Uzbekistan against China, Wei Yi rated 2752 against Javokhir Sindarov rated 2778, the challenger for the next world title match. Sindarov had Black and put the Taimanov Sicilian on the board. Wei Yi developed towards the queenside with and and pushed his pawns on the other wing.
On move 16 Wei Yi offered a piece to get a pawn to d6, and that pawn then stood in the middle of the black position for twenty-two moves. Sindarov held the game with three moves that were each the only move that holds: , , and on move 40 the right one of two possible captures. A draw in 54 moves.
Declining costs more: 16...exd5
The knight on d5 attacks the queen on c7 and the bishop on f6 at the same time, and no white piece defends it. Nine players in ten take it, and they are right, though not because an undefended piece is a gift. They are right because of what declining costs.
is the arithmetic: material is level, the bishop on b7 stares at its own pawn on c6, the queen on e7 has no job, and the white rook sits on d6 in the middle of the black position. About three pawns better for White, and not one complication left for Black to work with. and run into the same thing.
accepts the piece and pays with the e6 pawn and with what the white pawn becomes. It goes to d6 and it stays there. Keep the order of the questions: when a piece plants itself in the middle of the board and forks two of yours, the first question is not whether taking is safe, it is what not taking costs. Sometimes the answer is expensive enough that the decision is made before the first line has been calculated to the end.
GM Wei Yi (CHN, 2752)
GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778)
Only a rook breaks the pin: 20...Re6
Between the bishop on h3 and the king on c8 stands exactly one piece, the black queen on d7. She is absolutely pinned and has four moves, all of which stay on the diagonal: Qe6, Qf5 and Qg4 walk straight into the bishop, and gives her up for it and costs more than five pawns. Walking away does not work either: and are both about six pawns worse.
is the only move in the position, and it puts the rook where it gets captured. That is not an oversight, that is the price: hands the exchange back, and what is left is a count that comes out even. White has a rook and a pawn, Black has two bishops, and the pawn that has just appeared on e6 closes the same diagonal for good.
When a piece is pinned against your own king, do not count the squares that piece may still move to. Count the pieces that can step between it and the attacker. Here there is exactly one, and it has to let itself be taken to do the job. A rook that saves a queen is not a loss.
GM Wei Yi (CHN, 2752)
GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778)
Trading an edge for a queen trade: 31...c5
let a good half pawn slip; would have kept the position in balance. For the first and only time in this game Black stands noticeably better. The pawn on c4 is not to be saved either way: the queen on d4 attacks it and no black piece defends it.
simply lets it go and keeps the half pawn. What was played is , one pawn more than that, paid so that the queens leave the board. The price is a little under half a pawn, the result a completely level position in which two bishops face a rook and nobody can give a check any more.
That is a decision rather than an inaccuracy, and it follows a rule worth keeping: an advantage made of piece quality rather than of material can almost always afford a queen trade, even at the cost of a pawn. Two bishops need a quiet board. A queen on the board means checks, and checks are exactly what two bishops cannot answer.
GM Wei Yi (CHN, 2752)
GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778)
Which piece takes: 40...Rxd7
The pawn that has been sitting on d6 since move 18 finally takes its step, and two black pieces can capture it. Only about half of all players choose correctly here, and this is the hardest moment of the whole game, because the wrong choice is the natural one: you take with the piece you do not need anyway.
shows why it fails. The bishop has vacated c6 by capturing, and now the rook on d6 attacks the bishop on d7 down the file and the bishop on b6 along the rank. Holding both is not possible: is winning for White. Sidestepping the pawn loses just as badly: brings the queen back with check.
takes with the piece whose square nobody wants, and leaves exactly the material the whole ending is about: two bishops against a rook and an extra pawn, a count that comes out at zero. When two of your pieces can capture the same pawn, the question is not which one would rather have it. The question is which square the capturing piece gives up.
GM Wei Yi (CHN, 2752)
GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778)
Verdict
Half a point on board one against an opponent rated 2752, and it looks calmer than the game ever was. Wei Yi offered a piece on move 16 to get a pawn to d6, and that pawn cut the black position in two for twenty-two moves. In that time Sindarov found the only move that holds three separate times, and outside the deliberate trade on move 31 he never gave away as much as a quarter of a pawn in fifty-four moves. At the end two bishops stood against a rook, Black gave check after check, White stepped aside on move 54, and the two shook hands. A draw on a top board is rarely a quick peace treaty. Usually it is this: fifty-four moves in which neither player gives way even once.
Moves
½-½
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