Analysis
The game in detail
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2630) vs GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778) · ½-½
Board 1, Ukraine vs Uzbekistan · Ruy Lopez, Neo-Arkhangelsk Variation (C78) · 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes, plus 30 seconds per move
By Bogner AI Coach AI Coach . This analysis was written by a Bogner Chess AI coach.
Round eleven of the Olympiad, board one in Samarkand, Uzbekistan against Ukraine: Javokhir Sindarov, 2778, with Black against Vasyl Ivanchuk, 2630. It is the seventh consecutive round Sindarov has spent on board one for his team, and the pairing on this afternoon had put the almost one hundred and fifty rating points lower player on White. On paper this was the sum Uzbekistan needed on a closing afternoon with the standings still open.
He did not deliver it. In the centre of the Neo-Arkhangelsk, Sindarov spent forty-four minutes and twenty-six seconds on , and the move is the wrong choice; the refutation Ivanchuk had on the board was . He did not find it. In the previous round Sindarov had stood with White on the other side of this calculation, against Hovhannisyan, and the point came in. Here only the half point did: a second inaccuracy that let the central break work without a reply, a third that Ivanchuk in his turn left without a refutation, and a rook and knight endgame that no side could turn into a whole point.
Forty-four minutes for the wrong move: 14...Na5
Through move fourteen the Ruy Lopez ran along book lines: into the Neo-Arkhangelsk, and filling the standard shape, then with the strong light-squared bishop and . The position after asked for a quiet answer: keeps the white bishop on a2 out of pawn reach, takes the pawn and hands White the ordinary endgame. Both remain objectively level. Sindarov spent forty-four minutes and twenty-six seconds and played .
It is the wrong choice, and no move order rescues it on the board. The knight steps to the rim with the human idea of hitting the white bishop on a2, but the bishop on b7 is hanging on one tempo. The reply Ivanchuk had on the board was , and at the end of that calculation White stands clearly better: the a2 bishop is traded on his own terms, the black knight sits stuck on b7, the black pawn structure is damaged.
Ivanchuk did not see the calculation. He spent fourteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds and played , which is inaccurate in its own right. After Sindarov was level again on a narrow position, but the clock had its own verdict: forty-nine minutes and twenty-three seconds against forty-four minutes and forty-five, both players had spent almost the same time on the same question, and neither had finished with the answer. When a knight moves to the rim to hunt a bishop, the bishop that will hang on one tempo for two moves has to leave first. That calculation was owed before ; it was not made.
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2630)
GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778)
The central break that works: 17...c5 and 18.Bd5
Sindarov had survived the arithmetic of , but the knight on a5 still stood there. The candidates were , with the idea of returning the bishop via d7, or , all quiet moves under which the knight travels back through b3 or c4. Sindarov played to open central space instead.
It is a tactical error. Not a move played in the wrong order, but a move that hands White the central break he does not have without c5. Ivanchuk found it: is the right answer and the strongest white move of the whole game. The bishop plants itself on the very square has just opened, and leaves Black only the one reasonable calculation, . Sindarov spent eleven minutes and thirty-five seconds, traded, and stood clearly worse after . The black knight on a5 was cut off from the centre for the second time on the same afternoon, the white d5 pawn nailed it in place, and Sindarov had to spend the next six moves on defence.
After White had collected the pawn and stood roughly a pawn better. That is not yet lost, but it is the sort of disadvantage one does not hand out on board one against an attacker like Ivanchuk. The objective best move was ; the practical move that looked like a natural space grab was the wrong one, because it gave the opponent the calculation he otherwise did not have. A knight already on the rim cannot wait until the central break cuts it off from the centre as well.
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2630)
GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778)
The second refutation left on the board: 24...Qd7 and 25.Rxe8+
Ivanchuk’s had put the rook on the e-file. Sindarov spent fourteen minutes and thirty-two seconds on , dropping to nine minutes and forty-three seconds; after the white knight sat on a strong outpost, and the question was: , threatening the queen trade, or , defending the e8 rook with the queen. Sindarov played .
The move is played in the wrong order. Objectively the clearly best was , because Black transfers the heavier rook trade without leaving it tied to the c-pawn and the b-structure. After Ivanchuk had the refutation on the board: keeps both rooks, hits the black pawn structure and forces Black to activate his knight via b3 and still stand clearly worse. After White was roughly four fifths of a pawn better.
Ivanchuk did not find it. He spent seventeen minutes and twenty-nine seconds and played , which reduced the edge at once to a barely perceptible remainder. On his clock stayed six minutes and fifty-five seconds, on Sindarov’s ten minutes and fifty-nine; from here it was Ivanchuk who had the practical harder task, because his own advantage was slipping through his fingers while his clock had run down with it. Whoever has a refutation on the board has to treat it as one in time trouble, not as one of several good moves.
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2630)
GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778)
The equalisation in one move: 28...c4
The position after was objectively level again, but it did not look level. White had the passed pawn on d5, the knight on g6 and the active queen; Black had the knight that had never really been in the game and a king that stood open. Sindarov spent just over a minute and played .
It is the best move of the position and the only one that closes the calculation. The c-pawn crosses under the white c- and b-pawns, and the knight on b3 suddenly has a supported outpost. After Sindarov no longer had to stop the passed pawn but had made it the target, and White had to trade back: .
The rook and knight endgame that followed was level in material, with a white passed pawn on d7 the black king could reach in one move. put the knight and the king in position, and the pawn came off. Ivanchuk fell under two minutes after his thirty-sixth move, Sindarov reached move forty with two minutes and twenty-six seconds. After the time control the material was level and the only question was who loses where; the answer was neither.
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2630)
GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 2778)
Verdict
Sixty-four moves, a half point on a colour pairing that asked for a whole one, and a calculation that stopped twice on the same afternoon. Sindarov gave the first chance with and the second with ; Ivanchuk left the first refutation and the third unused. The central break was the strongest white move of the game, the strongest black one; between them lay fifty moves of defence on a shrinking clock. In the previous round Sindarov had stood with White on the other side of this calculation: Hovhannisyan did not find the refutation, and the point came in. Today it was Ivanchuk who did not find the refutation, and the half point came in. A tactical error stays one, even when it goes unpunished. What counts for Geneva in the end is who sits on which side of that calculation the more often.
Moves
½-½
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