Photo: TheBoburshokh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
White has just put a rook on f7, where the black queen can take it. Why would anyone do that? Look at the black bishop on d7. Right now the queen on e7 protects it. If the queen leaves, nothing does.
8
7
2f
gPosition after 23.Rf7, with Black to move. The rook on f7 attacks the queen on e7. The bishop on d7 is protected only by that queen.
This was the move that decided the game, and it came right after Black's only big mistake.
Javokhir Sindarov 1-0 R Praggnanandhaa FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026, Paphos, Cyprus · Round 10 White: Javokhir Sindarov (2745) · Black: R Praggnanandhaa (2741)
A sharp opening
The game began as a Queen's Gambit Declined, but it did not stay quiet for long. Black pushed the g- and h-pawns forward early to chase White's bishop.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bf4 Bb4 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 Ne4 8.Qc2 g5 9.Bg3 h5 10.Bd3 h4 11.Bxe4 dxe4 12.Qxe4+ Kf8 13.Be5 f6
The knight offer
14.Nxg5
87
21aehPosition after 14.Nxg5, with Black to move. White's knight has taken the pawn on g5, and the pawn on f6 can take it back.
White's knight took the g5 pawn, where the f6 pawn could take it. It was a real offer of material, but our own Stockfish 16 run, at depth 18, did not think it was a winning blow. It called the position roughly level both before and after it.
14...Bxc3+ 15.bxc3 Nxe5 16.dxe5 fxg5 17.f4 h3 18.Rd1 Qe7 19.g3 gxf4 20.O-O Rh6 21.Rxf4+ Kg8 22.Rdf1
After all the trades, White had given a piece for pawns, but White's rooks were on the open f-file, aimed at the black king. The engine called it dead level after 22.Rdf1.
One inaccurate move
22...Bd7
872fgPosition after 22...Bd7, with White to move. The bishop on d7 is protected only by the queen on e7. Can you find White's strong move?
Black developed the bishop, but on d7 its only protector was the queen. Our engine rated White more than two pawns better after this. It preferred other moves, such as 22...Be6 or 22...a5.
The rook offer
23.Rf7
This is the position at the top of the article. The rook attacks the queen. If Black takes it, the bishop on d7 loses its only defender.
23...Qxf7 24.Rxf7 Kxf7
Black took the rook with the queen, and White took the queen with the other rook, and Black took that rook with the king. In total, White gave two rooks and got a queen. That is about even in material. But now the bishop on d7 had no defender at all, and the black king was out in the open.
25.Qf4+ Kg7 26.Qg5+ Kh7 27.Qe7+ Kg8 28.Qxd7
872gPosition after 28.Qxd7, with Black to move. The white queen has picked up the bishop on d7 after a series of checks.
The white queen gave check after check, and each check brought it closer to d7. Then it took the bishop. Now White had a queen and pawns against two rooks, and the black king had no shelter.
The finish
28...Rf8 29.Qg4+ Kh8 30.a4 a5 31.Qg5 Rh7 32.e6 Re8 33.Qxa5 b6 34.Qe5+ Kg8 35.Qg5+ Rg7 36.Qf5 Rge7 37.Qg4+ Kf8 38.Qxh3 Rxe6 39.Kf2 R8e7 40.Qh8+ Kf7 41.g4 Re4 42.Qh5+ Kg7 43.Qg5+ Kf7 44.Kf3 Rxa4 45.h4 Ra5 46.Qh6 Rae5 47.Qh7+ Kf8 48.Qh8+ Kf7 49.e4 b5 50.h5 c5 51.h6 Rg5 52.Qd8 Rg8 53.Qd5+
Final position, after 53.Qd5+. White's h-pawn is two steps from promoting, and the queen keeps checking. Praggnanandhaa resigned.
White's queen kept checking, and White's h-pawn marched up the board. After 53.Qd5+ our engine rated White about seven pawns better, and Praggnanandhaa resigned.
What this game teaches
1. Watch pieces with only one defender. The bishop on d7 was protected only by the queen. That made the whole position fragile.
2. Deflect the defender. 23.Rf7 attacked the queen, the bishop's only defender. When the queen took the rook, the bishop was left alone.
3. A queen with checks picks up loose pieces. Three checks in a row brought the white queen within reach of d7.
4. Two rooks and a queen are close in value. Two rooks are worth about ten points and a queen about nine. The difference came from the loose bishop and the open black king.