Move of the day

I write this blog in the early stages of the last round of the Grand Prix in Palma de Mallorca.

We are only a few minutes in: Nakamura-Aronian is already at move 25 of a Marshall:

I presume this will be a draw; the other games are still in their openings, including Giri- Vallejo Pons, where Anish played a fifth move I would never have thought of.

White to play: what would you play?

Giri v Vallejo Pons, 25/11/17 Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix

Solution

Giri played 5 Bh3, quickly met with 5…Na6; and the game position as I post this blog is:

I would never have considered 5 Bh3; and don’t fully appreciate its point(s).  A search on my Megabase 2017 shows that Zvjaginsev first played the move, and it has had success:

The position before 5 Bh3 has been played in 73 games in Megabase. I don’t have the Chessbase skills to know the most common next moves.

Update: as I finalise this posting, Anish has, of course, played on the a file (the only consistent moves were 6 Na4, 6 Qa4+ and the move played, 6 a3). Zvjaginsev will be proud.

Hopefully the game will continue to be interesting.