The 2022 Azerbaijani Championship took place in Nakhchivan on 4-18 February. Unlike previous events, this year’s championship was held in two stages, with a 9-round Swiss tournament followed by a 4-player knockout. Mahammad Muradli beat Musratdin Iskandarov to grab his second national title. | Photos: Azebaijani Chess Federation
After three rounds of games in Riga, out of 157 participants, naturalised Frenchman Alireza Firouzja became the only player – in the entire Grand Swiss – to have won all three games
The game started with
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6, and Shankland went for the direct
3.h4, which led to a line reminiscent of the Samisch Variation in the King’s Indian. Svidler temporarily sacrificed two pawns to create threats against the long-castled white king. Both players were showcasing their tactical prowess in the complex battle, until the Russian moved his queen to the wrong square on move 24.
24.Qb6 was the losing mistake, while 24.Qb5 would have kept the tense balance a difference this slight can decide a game in such sharp struggles! The sequence that followed in the game shows why b6 was the wrong square for the queen: