The Uzbek Grandmaster definitely wants a dynamic battle today, and his first move is an indication of that.
What exactly is Abdusattorov aiming for? A Philidor Defense with colors reversed?
The surprise value is obvious, but the opening strategy is not convincing. In Open Games, when one goes for a setup with colors reversed, you are almost sure of not getting any pull out of the opening.
A typical position from the Philidor Defense, with colors reversed. Here, it is common for Black to aim for opposite-sides castling, followed by a pawn storm on the kingside. Is this what Abdusattorov is hoping for here? After all, it is always great to have a dynamic opening—with colors reversed or otherwise!
No risk-taking from Bluebaum today! Black simply aims for active play, castling on the kingside, and hopes for a regular game, avoiding obvious tactics.
The curious fact is that Abdusattorov is no stranger to this opening setup! He has already employed the opening many times and even has played the very position on the board earlier, in a Blitz game against Nepomniachtchi a year ago.
The top players and their opening adventures!!
Black aims to develop his light-colored bishop next move and hence prevents a knight move for white on the kingside, which could attack the bishop.
Incredibly, even this position has been played before in Grandmaster games. And White was none other than Abdusattorov, whose game against Nepo went exactly the same way so far. No doubt, Bluebaum has come well prepared for this line, aware of Abdusattorov's possible opening adventures!
The queen move doesn't look too convincing, as there is not much potential for activity on the kingside.
With this move, Black slows down with his development, which may be an issue here. After all, White's light bishop is a prominent one here and is capable of drumming up pressure on the queenside.
The black queen sidesteps a knight fork and avoids it by moving further towards the kingside. Though it looks attractive, it is not clear if Black has any serious idea or reason behind keeping the queen in such an inactive-looking square.
A puzzling decision by Abdusattorov. After all, in a position where one has a weakness in the pawn structure by way of doubled pawns, it was expected of him to play in a dynamic way. However, we see him indulging in exchange of pieces, which is puzzling indeed!
Bluebaum wants to develop his bishop in the long diagonal, nullifying the influence of the white bishop.
It is typical of a player like Bluebaum to play in his solid style, thus eliminating any threats from white, focusing on equality. However, he could have played for more here, not aiming to exchange the bishop in the long run, but to keep it in the original diagonal and play for activity in the center or the kingside. After all, at one point, White's pawn weaknesses are bound to get exposed.
White moves his knight up, threatening to capture the undefended black pawn in the center. Now, Bluebaum is forced to develop his bishop NOT on the long diagonal.
Bluebaum plays true to his playing style: sound strategic chess!
Black has now comfortably equalized and stands better due to his having the better paw structure in the long run.
A simple move by White, keeping the rook on the semi-open file, challenging Black to indulge in any active measures.
Though black has achieved more than equality, it is not easy for Bluebaum to find a concrete plan to play here, as White's weaknesses in the queenside are not easy to attack.
Bluebaum once again proves his solid approach to the game!
Black concentrates on keeping his position solid and thus reinforces the support to his center with a simple pawn move. In the long run, he will look to exchange the bishops, thus weakening White's influence in the center.
Bluebaum is playing passively, offering an exchange of queens. After all, being slightly better, we expected much more activity from him, to play for the initiative.
White refuses an exchange of queens, thus showing his readiness to fight. Now, the knight might jump to the center in the future, thus even achieving a mild advantage. Now, this is a tense moment requiring active play from Black!
Abdusattorov plays actively and forcefully, going for a central break. By being a naturally aggressive player, he decides to force his way into complications, which is the only way to hide his weaknesses - by making the game more tactical, where his structural weaknesses do not matter.
The black bishop clears out the semi-open file, planning to bring his rook to the line. That way, Black can finally start actively attacking Black's weak pawn structure. This is the decisive moment of the game for Abdusattorov to decide on his further strategy, which looks quite tough for him.
This simply doesn't look good! Though White might be able to command more space now, the pawn structure is fixed on the light squares now, which will give White a dark-square weakness in the long run.
Abdusattorov pushes his pawns on the queenside bravely! He aims to fight his way out of this position through sheer activity and tactics!
Counterattack by Bluebaum!
Whether on the chessboard or off it, it is only when one's back is to the wall that we decide to fight it out! Black's counterplay is right on the dot, as White's play was just getting dangerous on the queenside.
The biggest problem for Bluebaum is his clock now: he has only half an hour on the clock here against Abdusattorov's one hour and a little more. Bluebaum needs to play fast as well as aggressively in the upcoming middlegame.
Abdusattorov hands over the initiative to the black pieces!
The queen move doesn't look convincing, as there is no real attack on the black center even after this. This may give Black crucial time to push through with his attack on the kingside.
Bluebaum continues to play energetically, getting his knight into activity. Slowly, black pieces are getting active, as White has no real target to play for.
As of now, White cannot really capture Black's central pawn, as Black has a discovered attack trick with his knight, restoring his advantage.
White chooses the wrong square for the white knight to challenge the black knight. Now, Black can continue his onslaught on the kingside, after the exchange of the knights.
White wishes to exchange the bishops, after which he wants to erect a blockade on the center with his rooks, containing Black's central pawn. However, Black has the initiative here, due to the weakened position of the white king and Black's space advantage due to an advanced pawn on the kingside.
Bluebaum has a simple threat, to capture the white rook and generate pressure on the king bishop file. The threat can be defended efficiently by White, but Black retains a mild initiative here.
Abdusattorov finds the best defensive move in the position. This is the exact moment when Bluebaum has to find a way to further his initiative and continue with an assault on the kingside. A critical moment!
Bluebaum has given away a pawn, though the resultant positions are not easy to navigate for White, as the king is exposed. He could have found a better onslaught on the black king, pushing the pawns on the kingside.
Abdusattorov doesn't take advantage of Black's slip and concentrates on tripling his major pieces on the semi-open file. Now too, Black needs to play actively on the kingside, rather than shuffling his rooks around in the center.
Bluebaum's play is often too simplistic, sticking to his favorite strategic way of playing the game. This makes him extremely solid but often makes him unable to take advantage of tactical opportunities.
By exchanging the pawns, Black misses a tactical device of pushing the pawn forward to set up a mating attack on the white king in the future.
White calmly defends his attacked pawn, reminding Black that he still has to worry about the central pawn, which is not defended adequately now.
White has equalized, but there are still technical complications in the position for both sides to play on.
Bluebaum finds counterplay, with the black queen attacking White's lone pawn on the queenside. The major pieces' endgame is equal now, but White still has doubled pawns in the queenside to worry about.
We have reached an equal endgame now, where Black's structural advantage is compensated by White's possession of the open file. The game is steadily moving towards a draw now.
Even in an equal-looking position, Abdusattorov just wouldn't stop with his aggressive play. By this pawn push, he creates chaos on the queenside, asking Bluebaum to react correctly.
Abdusattorov often gives out that impression of fitting the cliche of someone who proverbially, 'throws everything at the opponent except for the kitchen sink!'
Abdusattorov has successfully managed to create a playable endgame, but there is very little material left on the board, which will make it difficult for either player to play for a win here.
With the queen exchange, our protagonists agreed to a draw here, as the resultant rook endgame doesn't offer either player much of a chance to play for any advantage.
By now, we have seen many games in the tournament where Bluebaum is a player with a solid style of play. He seldom makes big mistakes in the middlegame, but sometimes, he lacks the punch to pursue advantages when he can. This is evident especially when he has to switch from a strategic to a dynamic mode of playing the game.
This too was such a game.
Abdusattorov played unorthodoxly in the opening, and Bluebaum did not have any difficulty in equalizing. However, when he wrested some initiative and could have played more with active play, Bluebaum played simply, preserving equality and finally drawing the game.
With this draw, he still maintains joint lead, and will most probably be joined at the top by Firouzja, Giri and Keymer with two rounds to go.
Welcome to the ninth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025! As we enter the final final stretch of an important event, things get much more serious than before. After all, everyone will be aiming for a top-two finish to get a berth in the Candidates tournament 2026.
How do the final round tensions affect the play over the board? For example, everyone at the top point groups (i.e the six and five and a half pointers) knows that they cannot afford to lose a game anymore, which will virtually push them out of the race. At the same time, everyone knows that they cannot keep drawing their games! So, playing for a win with caution will be the key, which means that the white player will be more inclined to play for a win, but in a game for two results. So, you can almost rule out any dynamic openings today!
Abdusattorov has more incentive to play for a win today, as he will be eager to 'pull down' one of the co-leaders, Bluebaum. After all, Abdusattorov is higher rated, has the white pieces, and is also a rising star of the chess world.
We expect a good fight here today!