Hello everyone,
Welcome to a new lecture from me, and this time on why tempo matters in chess. The game I will be using in this lecture is a recent game from GM Esipenko against GM Yakubboev.
It amazes me that grandmaster games start simple and easy going then all of a sudden it is lost for the next player. Although that was not the entire case for this game. It was a bout of poor play in the final stage of the game due to his shortage of time on the clock.
The lesson that can be learned from this game is not to give up your tempo. Tempo is your turn to play on the board. A simple weak move on your turn to play can be detrimental in the long run to your game. Then during the endgame, it becomes more important than ever.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
A simple four-knight variation where there is equal opportunity for both sides. The idea is to play for the center control and rapid piece development.
Openings like this keep the position going and open for possible tactical opportunities for both sides.
8. Ne4 Bb7 9. Bd3 Qc7 10. f4 Nb4 11. Be2 c5 12. Bf3 Bd5 13. O-O Be7 14. c3 Nc6 15. Be3 O-O 16. Ng3
Pieces are developed at this point and what white does next is to move the attack towards the king's side. Making it easy to move toward the king's side is the fast development of the pieces.
Black's mistake of losing a tempo came in the 32nd move
h5?!
The move didn't do anything to the position rather it made it worse since there was no added advantage. A better move was to trade off the bishop for the knight and hopefully play for a draw.
I wished the game and I can say that black's waste of tempo in the ending stage of the game was a result of being down on time. He had a couple of seconds before his opponent's 8+ minutes.
The game was all fine until just a single loss of tempo and in a crucial stage, the end, made black lose this game. The World Cup still continues tomorrow, hopefully there will be more exciting games to review.
You can check the game:
Game Link
And here is the PGN game
[Event "FIDE World Cup 2025"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-world-cup-2025--finals/game-1/ccpVN6xj/YazTCF2Q"]
[Date "2025.11.24"]
[Round "60.2"]
[White "Esipenko, Andrey"]
[Black "Yakubboev, Nodirbek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2681"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[WhiteTeam "FIDE"]
[WhiteFideId "24175439"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[BlackTeam "Uzbekistan"]
[BlackFideId "14203987"]
[TimeControl "90/40+30"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "B45"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation, Exchange Variation"]
[UTCDate "2025.11.24"]
[UTCTime "08:45:50"]
[BroadcastName "FIDE World Cup 2025 | Finals"]
[BroadcastURL "https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-world-cup-2025--finals/game-1/ccpVN6xj"]
[GameURL "https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-world-cup-2025--finals/game-1/ccpVN6xj/YazTCF2Q"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Ne4 Bb7 9. Bd3 Qc7 10. f4 Nb4 11. Be2 c5 12. Bf3 Bd5 13. O-O Be7 14. c3 Nc6 15. Be3 O-O 16. Ng3 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 d5 18. exd6 Bxd6 19. f5 Bxg3 20. Qxg3 Qxg3 21. hxg3 c4 22. fxe6 fxe6 23. Rxf8+ Rxf8 24. Rd1 Rb8 25. Rd6 Ne5 26. Rxe6 Ng4 27. Bc1 Rd8 28. Kf1 Kf7 29. Re2 Rd5 30. Ke1 Ne5 31. b3 Nd3+ 32. Kd1 h5 33. Bd2 Ra5 34. Be3 a6 35. bxc4 Re5 36. Bd4 Rg5 37. Kc2 Rxg3 38. Be3 1-0
I am @samostically, a chess player and writer. I love to share the experience I have gained from different battles over the 64 squares and the knowledgeable insights from books I have read. But most importantly, I am a Midnight Owl and I founded the community Midnight Letters.
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Posted Using INLEO
Good lesson. One move can decided game based on tempo.
What do you think which one is worse - to loose tempo in opening or in the endgame?
From what I saw, Black made several incorrect moves; it must have been nerves.