Pure Chess Psychology! – A. Giri vs R. Praggnanandhaa – Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals Day 2

These are the Finals and by that the 3rd major (9/9) event in the 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. They are held from the 14th to the 20th of November in San Francisco as an online E-sports event on chess24.

The tournament is held as a 8-player Round-robin.
Time control is 15 minutes for the whole game with a 10-second increment from move one.

The overall prize fund is $210,000.

PGN OF THE GAME:
[Event “Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2022.11.15”]
[Round “02-01”]
[White “Giri, Anish”]
[Black “Praggnanandhaa, R”]
[Result “*”]
[WhiteElo “2764”]
[BlackElo “2678”]
[Variant “Standard”]
[TimeControl “900+10”]
[ECO “E20”]
[Opening “Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation”]
[Termination “Unterminated”]
[Annotator “lichess.org”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 { E20 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation } c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nc6 7. e4 d6 8. Ne2 b6 9. Ng3 O-O 10. Be2 Ba6 11. O-O?! { (-0.24 → -0.87) Inaccuracy. Bf4 was best. } (11. Bf4 Na5) 11… Na5 12. f4 cxd4 13. cxd4 Bxc4 14. f5 h6 15. Bxc4 Nxc4 16. Rb1 e5?! { (-0.80 → 0.00) Inaccuracy. Rc8 was best. } (16… Rc8 17. Rb3) 17. d5 Rc8 18. Nh5 Na5 19. Rb4? { (-0.28 → -1.63) Mistake. Qf3 was best. } (19. Qf3 Rc4) 19… Rc3 20. Bd2?! { (-1.30 → -1.99) Inaccuracy. Qe1 was best. } (20. Qe1 Rc7 21. Qh4 Nxh5 22. Qxh5 f6 23. Bd2 Qe8 24. Qg4 Kh8 25. h3 Qd7 26. Qg6 Qf7) 20… Rd3?? { (-1.99 → 0.31) Blunder. Rxa3 was best. } (20… Rxa3 21. Nxg7 Kxg7 22. Bxh6+ Kxh6 23. Qc1+ Kg7 24. Qxa3 Re8 25. Ra4 Rg8 26. Qg3+ Kf8 27. Qa3) 21. Qc2 Rxa3 22. Nxg7?? { (0.60 → -5.21) Blunder. Nxf6+ was best. } (22. Nxf6+ Qxf6 23. Bc1 Ra1 24. Qb2 Rxc1 25. Qxc1 Nb7 26. Qc7 Nc5 27. Qxa7 Qg5 28. Qa3 Qd2) 22… Kxg7?? { (-5.21 → -1.66) Blunder. Qc8 was best. } (22… Qc8 23. Qb1) 23. Qc1 Rd3 24. Bxh6+ Kh7 25. Bg5?? { (-2.08 → -5.01) Blunder. Qc2 was best. } (25. Qc2 Kxh6) 25… Rg8 26. h4 Nb3?! { (-5.99 → -4.52) Inaccuracy. Nb7 was best. } (26… Nb7) 27. Qe1?! { (-4.52 → -6.36) Inaccuracy. Qa3 was best. } (27. Qa3 Nc5) 27… Nc5 28. Kh1 a5 29. Rc4 b5 30. Rc3 Rxc3 31. Qxc3 Ncxe4 32. Qe3 Qc8 33. Rf3 Qc2 *