Analysis
The game in detail
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703) vs Faris Rashid Alriyami (THA, 1909) · 1-0
Round 1, India vs Thailand · Queen’s Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation, Quiet Line (E15)
By The Rook AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
One pawn on e6. Sitting in the middle of Black’s camp from move 28 to the end, and it never leaves. Everything in this game turns on it: it takes a square from the knight, it opens the long diagonal, and in the end it is the reason Black resigns. Round 1 of the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Gukesh D with White against Faris Rashid Alriyami, a rating gap of 794 points.
And still it takes 27 moves before anything cracks. That is the real story: how a world-class player nurses a small edge until his opponent falls over on his own. Up to move 19 Gukesh does not play a single inaccuracy. Then he lets the best chance of the game go by, gets it handed back nine moves later, and this time he takes it.
20.e4 is sitting there. And he does not play it.
Look at this position. Rooks on d1 and e1, bishop on b2, knight on f4, everything pointing forward. The pawn on e2 has exactly one job in life and it is called e4. , and White has a rolling centre and the better game.
Gukesh plays . A sensible move, a move you cannot argue with if you look at it on its own. Except that comes straight back, e4 is covered, and the break is gone for good. The edge falls from about a pawn and a half to barely one. No catastrophe, not the sort of error you shout about. But that was the moment, and the moment has passed.
Write this one down: when your opponent has exactly one move that stops your break forever, the break happens now. Not after the regrouping, not after one more improving move. Now.
Faris Rashid Alriyami (THA, 1909)
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703)
27...Kh7, and the pawn marches to e6
For seven moves almost nothing happens. Then Black plays , and that is the move that loses the game. Not because the king is badly placed on h7, but because was needed to stop the push. White’s edge doubles in a single half-move, from a good pawn to a good two.
. Straight away, no hesitation. The pawn hits the knight on f7, the knight has to go to d6, and now look at the a1-h8 diagonal: since move 23 the bishop on b2 has been staring at its own pawn on e5 and seeing nothing. The pawn steps one square forward and suddenly that bishop looks all the way to h8, which is exactly where the black king is about to appear. Honestly, was quite a bit stronger, half a pawn of a difference. But is the move a human plays, and it is good.
The lesson here is not about pawns, it is about diagonals: before you push a pawn, check which of your own pieces is standing behind it and is about to come alive. That is often half the reason for the move.
Faris Rashid Alriyami (THA, 1909)
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703)
29.e4! The only move, and he finds it
This is the position I wrote the whole report for. White is clearly better, the pawn on e6 is alive, it all looks like comfortable converting. And it is an only-move position. Not nearly, not roughly: one.
, and the position is level again. , and the bishop on f3 has to move while the pawn on g4 simply stays: Black is a pawn up, and the advantage has turned into a deficit. Two completely normal, healthy, human moves, and 28 moves of work are gone. Only holds it. The pawn walks straight into the black chain, , and now the bishop sits on e4 aiming at g6, right next to the king on h7. I would have played here. Instantly, without thinking, just to make some air, and I would have thrown the whole advantage away.
Here is the rule to take with you: whenever you feel like slipping in a quiet move, first count how many of your pieces can see the enemy king. If the answer is none, the quiet move is almost always wrong.
Faris Rashid Alriyami (THA, 1909)
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703)
36.f6, the move almost nobody plays
A few moves later the black king has walked to h6 and White is winning by a mile. Not everything here was clean either: was the biggest inaccuracy of the whole game, was more accurate. In a position that is already won, that changes very little.
And then comes . Not a capture, not a safety move, not tucking the king away: push the pawn, straight in among the black pieces. Almost everyone takes with here, or covers with . The point is , and the second passed pawn costs material. Black takes with instead, and then comes . The rook parks itself right next to the black king, protected by the pawn on h4, it cannot be taken, and mate is six moves away. Black resigns.
Two connected passed pawns are not two pawns, they are a threat that doubles itself. Push the one that opens a line to the king, not the one that is furthest advanced.
Faris Rashid Alriyami (THA, 1909)
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703)
Verdict
The score is 1-0, which is what a 794-point rating gap predicts. What is interesting is the road there: for 27 moves nothing spectacular happens, Gukesh even lets the best chance of the game slip, and still his opponent eventually faces a position where every normal move throws away everything. That is the craft against weaker opposition, and it is why this game is worth more than any twenty-move disaster: you get to see what a small edge is worth when somebody refuses to let go of it for 27 moves. For Gukesh it is the opening round of the Olympiad, on the road to the world championship match in Geneva.
Moves
1-0
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