A 10-round Open Swiss that for the last few years has been vying for the bragging rights as the World's Strongest Open. Three 2700s are playing: Anish Giri, Dmitry Andreikin and Baadur Jobava, and some of the others have been in the world's top 5 before, including Shirov, Kamsky and Beliavsky.
Our GOTW is Aman's excellent win over Shirov in round 4. Aman plays as close to a flawless game as could be expected outside of postal chess: Aman plays the opening excellently (note the delayed castling so he can stabilize the center) and then plays very accurately to bring home the point.
photo: screencap of Shirov - Hambleton. That's FM Victor Plotkin in the background, surfing Aman's pompadour wave.
..
[Event "Reykjavik Open"]
[Date "2017.04.21"]
[Round "4.10"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Hambleton, Aman"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2434"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "76"]
1. e4 c5 $5 {Aman usually plays the French, but said he didn't want to face
some of Shirov's Winawer preparation.} 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3
Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 {The most popular move these days. White prepares to
castle long and has the strategic threat of Qg3, attacking g7 and fighting for
the central dark squares.} ({Historically,} 7. Qd2 {has been the most popular.}
Nf6 8. O-O-O Bb4 9. f3 O-O 10. Kb1 b5 11. g4 Bb7 12. g5 Nh5 13. a3 Be7 14. Nb3
$14 {1-0 (33) Hansen,E (2603)-Van Foreest,J (2612) Wijk aan Zee, 2017.}) 7...
Bd6 8. O-O-O Be5 9. g3 (9. Nxc6 {leads to a characteristic Sicilian ...e6
endgame where White hopes to exploit Black's lazy LSB and weaker dark squares.}
bxc6 10. Bd4 Nf6 (10... Bxd4 11. Rxd4 Nf6 12. Qg3 Qxg3 13. hxg3 d5 14. exd5
cxd5 $11 {1-0 (48) Shirov,A (2689)-Perunovic,M (2624) Reykjavik, 2015.}) 11.
Bxe5 Qxe5 12. Qg3 Qxg3 13. hxg3 d5 14. Be2 Ke7 (14... dxe4 15. g4 $14) 15. exd5
cxd5 16. g4 g5 17. Rh6 $14 {1-0 (36) Shirov,A (2673)-Ladva,O (2510) Puhajarve,
2016.}) 9... Nge7 10. Qe2 b5 11. f4 Bxd4 12. Bxd4 Nxd4 13. Rxd4 Rb8 (13... O-O
14. e5 Bb7 15. Bg2 Bxg2 16. Qxg2 {is similar to the game line, where Black had
played ...Rb8 instead of ...00, and so had the option of ...b4.} Nf5 17. Rd3 d5
18. g4 Ne7 19. Ne2 Rac8 20. Nd4 Qa5 21. Kb1 Nc6 {with a position resembling a
Steinitz French, but where Black is more comfortable for having exchanged
several pieces, especially the "French Bishop" which would be blocked on b7;
see: Leko,P (2693)-Ladva,O (2510) Tallinn (blitz), 2016.}) 14. e5 $6 {
Dominating the central dark squares and giving the Nc3 a square on e4 after ...
b4 is totally natural, but it's strategically suspect since it concedes two
central light squares for Black's N.} (14. Qd2 b4 15. Na4 a5 16. Rc4 Qa7 17.
Qd4 Qxd4 18. Rxd4 Nc6 19. Rd2 Ke7 20. e5 Rd8 21. Bg2 Na7 $1 22. Rhd1 Nb5 (22...
Bb7 $2 23. Nc5 Bxg2 24. Rxd7+ $16) 23. Bc6 (23. Nc5 $1 $14) 23... d5 {½-½
(23) Motylev,A (2663)-Bosiocic,M (2602) Moscow, 2017.}) 14... Bb7 15. Bg2 Bxg2
16. Qxg2 b4 17. Ne4 O-O $11 18. Rhd1 Nd5 {[#]White has a terrific-looking
outpost on d6, but Black has simpler and more direct play by pushing on the
queenside.} 19. Qf3 {After 30+ minutes of thought. The Nd5 is holding together
Black's position, so White would like to play Rxd5. It's playable for White,
but Black is fine after:} ({In the online post-mortem, Aman said he knew the
Black was OK if he pushes the a-pawn should White sac on d5; e.g.} 19. Rxd5 $6
exd5 20. Nd6 a5 21. Qxd5 a4 {and Black keeps the initiative.}) 19... a5 {
Black offered White a draw here... which is not allowed at Reykjavik, which
uses the Sofia no-draws-before-move-30 rules.} 20. Nd6 a4 {Threatening ...b3.}
21. a3 ({If} 21. Kb1 a3 $1 {and Black can get a strong square on c3.}) 21...
Qc5 22. axb4 Rxb4 23. Qa3 Rfb8 24. c3 $2 (24. Rxb4 Nxb4 25. Qxa4 Qe3+ 26. Kb1
Nd5 $17 {is similar to the game.}) 24... Qc6 {Only move.} $17 25. Rxb4 Nxb4 $1 (25...
Rxb4 $2 26. Rxd5 Rb3 {Only move.} 27. Rb5 {Only move.} Qh1+ 28. Kc2 Qxh2+ 29. Kc1 $13) 26. Kb1 Qf3
$17 (26... Na6 $1 $18) 27. Qxa4 Nd5 {Only move.} $17 28. Nb5 $1 h5 $1 {Eliminating
back-rank dangers and so threatening ...Rxb5, and a horrible position to play
as White, especially when down to 2:40.} 29. c4 Nb6 $1 {Played with 23 seconds
left.} 30. Qc2 Nxc4 {Only move.} 31. Rxd7 Ne3 {Played with 12 seconds left.} (31... Nxb2
{Also wins:} 32. Qxb2 Qf1+ 33. Ka2 Rxb5 $19 {Material is equal, but White's K
is a sitting duck.}) 32. Qd3 {Pinning the N and threatening to swap on d8;
played with 30 seconds left.} Qh1+ {Only move.} $19 33. Ka2 Nd5 {Only move.} {Blocking the attack
on d8 and threatening ...Nb4.} 34. Kb3 {8 seconds left.} Qe1 {Threatening ...
Qb4 or ...Qa5 and winning the N.} 35. Rxd5 exd5 36. Qxd5 Qa5 37. Kc4 Qa4+ 38.
b4 Qa2+ {Exchanging Qs and winning the Nb5. Shirov resigns.} 0-1
..
