Answers.Body: <p>First of all, I do not think Black's king would be safe at all on h5. After Kh5 simply Rd4 would threaten Bf3#. Many other concrete threats also come to mind with the king on h5, but the idea is the same: the king is one check away from checkmate, since no squares are available for him. Of course all of this is ignoring the fact that Black can force a draw.</p>
  <p>I believe g4 is simply an overlook (yes, they happen in the elite too). Nepo was probably too enthusiastic about the threat of g5+ with all the subsequent mate threats after Kh5 that he overlooked the forced draw. So to answer your question: I think the idea behind g4 is simply to create a mating net against the enemy king. A strange overlook by such a strong player anyway.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-22T18:08:58.413Z
Answers.Text: I think you have forgotten the existed queen-bishop combo that black had.
  Rd4, Bf3# isn't possible at all. For example, 28. g4, Qb1+ 29. Ke2 Bb4 30. g5+ Kh5  31. **Rd4** Qe1+ and there is no other interval to play Bf3#.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Amlan Saha Kundu
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-22T18:17:10.333Z
Answers.Text: That's actually what was played by Ding, I didn't miss it, I'm trying to explain what Nepo could have had in mind. That's why this was a blunder, because Nepo clearly overlooked Black's resources. But his idea has to have been to create a mating net with the motives I described, since there's no other purpose for g4.
Answers.UserDisplayName: lafinur
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-22T18:26:54.480Z
Answers.Text: But is it not quite peculiar with having almost 5 min time advantage in the clock and that massive positional advantage, one super gm just blundered away a clearly winning position without thinking next couple of moves?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Amlan Saha Kundu
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-22T19:33:18.930Z
Answers.Text: It is, yes, but there's no other explanation. I think yesterday or the day before Magnus Carlsen himself missed a simple forced checkmate against Giri and he had 2 minutes on the clock (time to spare to find a simple checkmate for not only a Super GM but the World Champion himself). They're humans, they make mistakes. Less frequently, but sometimes they do.
Answers.UserDisplayName: lafinur
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-07-22T17:52:17.083Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-07-22T17:52:17.083Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: lafinur
Body: <p>I was watching Nepomniachtchi - Liren match on Chess24 Legends Day 2. After having a pretty significant advantage [+7.1 (Stockfish 11)], White [Nepo] has played <strong>g4</strong>, and according to the engine, the game could be drawn by something sort of perpetual checks or three-fold repetition,</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/QFMXF.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/QFMXF.png" alt="g2-g4 move" /></a></p>
  <p>Since after g5+, Kh5; Black can make his king pretty safe in the pawn structure and also its active queen bishop combo can neutralize white's attack by giving perpetual checks; so my question is:</p>
  <p><strong>What is the idea behind the move g4 in this situation?</strong></p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-07-22T17:19:28.410Z
Comments.Text: What was the clock situation? It could be something along the lines of him just making the move based on pure intuition.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Scounged
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-07-22T17:29:00.140Z
Comments.Text: nepo had 7 min in the clock and liren had less than a min. So, there's nothing about time pressure. @Scounged
Comments.UserDisplayName: Amlan Saha Kundu
Tags: <analysis><theory><tournament><online-chess><grandmaster>
Title: What is the idea behind this move?
ThreadText: # What is the idea behind this move?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-22)
  
  I was watching Nepomniachtchi - Liren match on Chess24 Legends Day 2. After having a pretty significant advantage [+7.1 (Stockfish 11)], White [Nepo] has played **g4**, and according to the engine, the game could be drawn by something sort of perpetual checks or three-fold repetition,
  
  [![g2-g4 move](https://i.sstatic.net/QFMXF.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/QFMXF.png)
  
  Since after g5+, Kh5; Black can make his king pretty safe in the pawn structure and also its active queen bishop combo can neutralize white's attack by giving perpetual checks; so my question is:
  
  **What is the idea behind the move g4 in this situation?**
  
  **Tags:** analysis, theory, tournament, online-chess, grandmaster
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: What was the clock situation? It could be something along the lines of him just making the move based on pure intuition.  
  > **username_0**: nepo had 7 min in the clock and liren had less than a min. So, there's nothing about time pressure. @username_1  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2020-07-22. Score: 4
  
  First of all, I do not think Black's king would be safe at all on h5. After Kh5 simply Rd4 would threaten Bf3#. Many other concrete threats also come to mind with the king on h5, but the idea is the same: the king is one check away from checkmate, since no squares are available for him. Of course all of this is ignoring the fact that Black can force a draw.
  
  I believe g4 is simply an overlook (yes, they happen in the elite too). Nepo was probably too enthusiastic about the threat of g5+ with all the subsequent mate threats after Kh5 that he overlooked the forced draw. So to answer your question: I think the idea behind g4 is simply to create a mating net against the enemy king. A strange overlook by such a strong player anyway.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I think you have forgotten the existed queen-bishop combo that black had. Rd4, Bf3# isn't possible at all. For example, 28. g4, Qb1+ 29. Ke2 Bb4 30. g5+ Kh5  31. **Rd4** Qe1+ and there is no other interval to play Bf3#.  
  > **username_2**: That's actually what was played by Ding, I didn't miss it, I'm trying to explain what Nepo could have had in mind. That's why this was a blunder, because Nepo clearly overlooked Black's resources. But his idea has to have been to create a mating net with the motives I described, since there's no other purpose for g4.  
  > **username_0**: But is it not quite peculiar with having almost 5 min time advantage in the clock and that massive positional advantage, one super gm just blundered away a clearly winning position without thinking next couple of moves?  
  > **username_2**: It is, yes, but there's no other explanation. I think yesterday or the day before Magnus Carlsen himself missed a simple forced checkmate against Giri and he had 2 minutes on the clock (time to spare to find a simple checkmate for not only a Super GM but the World Champion himself). They're humans, they make mistakes. Less frequently, but sometimes they do.  
  
  ---
  
  