Analysis
The game in detail
GM Sabino Brunello (ITA, 2536) vs GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703) · 0-1
Round 3, Italy vs India · Queen’s Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation (E15)
By The Rook AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Move 19, two white knights on e3 and h3, and the game turns over three times in four half-moves. hands Black a clean pawn, gives it straight back, returns it with interest. Round 3 of the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Italy against India, GM Sabino Brunello with White against Gukesh D, a rating gap of 167 points.
Underneath it all sits one question, and it comes up four times: recapture, or not? Four times the obvious trade is right there on the board, four times it is the worse move. Once Gukesh gets it wrong. The other three times he does not, and the last one costs White a piece. The first eight half-moves, by the way, are exactly the game Gukesh himself played with White two rounds earlier.
15...g5, and the knight on h3 is stranded
. The knight goes to g5, gets kicked, lands on h3, and then the second pawn comes after it. Count the squares: f4 is now covered by g5, and g5 itself is defended by h6. The knight on h3 can move. It cannot survive.
This is not clean. was not the most accurate move, was a shade better, and the black king now sits behind two pawns that have left home. The position is dead level either way, wins nothing at all. It is still my favourite move of the game, because nobody at this level plays it. Most players go , keep developing, and leave the knight the f4 square. White should have hit back at once with . Instead comes , and the knight stands on h3 for another thirteen moves until it gets taken.
Write this one down: when you chase a piece, look at where it runs to and take that square away as well. Chasing a piece is nothing. Putting a piece out of work is everything.
GM Sabino Brunello (ITA, 2536)
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703)
19.Ne3, and 19...Nxg3 is just sitting there
Up to here everything is within reason. was a good half pawn too loose, was stronger, but after the game is level again. Then comes , and there is a pawn to be had: . Look at the rook on e3. It cannot be captured. White’s rook on e1 is staring at its own pawn on e2, and White has had no f-pawn since move 18. Black gives the knight for the g3 pawn and collects the knight on e3 in return. At the end of the line the material is level again, but the white king has nothing left in front of it, and that is worth a good two pawns.
Gukesh plays . And honestly, I would have played , like almost everybody at this level. Hardly anyone finds . After there is nothing left of that pawn worth talking about. Then White gives it all back with , and this time twice over: the knight hits the knight on d4 and offers the trade, and about half the field takes with , which would hand about half the advantage straight back. Gukesh puts the bishop on the long diagonal instead: .
The lesson underneath is an awkward one, because it costs you time: when your opponent offers a trade, first ask which of your own pieces is doing nothing. For Gukesh it was the bishop on f8. The knight on d4 was already fine and had nowhere it needed to be.
GM Sabino Brunello (ITA, 2536)
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703)
23...Nc3!, and not 23...Bxd4+
Black is a pawn down. Keep that in your head while you look at the rest. picks up the pawn on d4 and plants the bishop in the centre, and your hand wants . Bishop for bishop, with check, everything in order. Except that is exactly what White is asking for: after the recapture the queen sits on d4 and no longer on d1, and the position is level again.
Half the field recaptures here. Gukesh plays , hits the queen on d1 and leaves the bishop on d4 alone. , and now look at why the queen has to go to c1: the bishop on c3 rakes through d2 at the rook on e1. Material: still a pawn down for Black. Position: winning.
The rule is uncomfortable and it holds anyway: before you recapture, look for the move that attacks something bigger. A recapture with check feels like a free tempo. Often it is just a trade that puts the enemy queen exactly where it wanted to go.
GM Sabino Brunello (ITA, 2536)
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703)
29...Bd4+, because otherwise his own bishop drops
For three moves the bishop works its way through everything lying around: , , . White takes back with , and that bishop on h3 hangs, undefended, with the queen on c8 looking straight at it. Take it, says your head, and most players take it.
, and the bishop on c3 was gone before anything happened. Material level, and a small edge is all that is left of a won game. Gukesh slots in two checks first: . The bishop now sits safely on d4, the white king is in the corner, and the queen takes the bishop at the exact moment it costs nothing. Black is a whole piece up.
Take this one with you: before you recapture, go through your own pieces and ask which of them is hanging. If one is, look for the in-between move that comes with check. A check is the one move your opponent has to answer.
GM Sabino Brunello (ITA, 2536)
GM Gukesh D (IND, 2703)
Verdict
At the end Black is a piece for a pawn up, the queen on h3 and the rook on e2 sit on top of the white king, and after White resigns. A win with Black against an opponent rated 167 points lower reads like a formality. The road there was not one: White gave something away three times, Gukesh missed badly once, and what decided it in the end was no attack at all but the same decision taken three times, which was not to recapture. Round three in Samarkand, and Geneva is still a long way off.
Moves
0-1
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