The Fabulous 90s: The Swiss Teams

N’oublie pas La Suisse

You’ve heard of the French teams and the famous Bundesliga, the German teams.  And the 4NCL.  But what about Switzerland?

Switzerland actually also has a very active chess league, A, B, and C divisions with many strong players in the A group:  Yusupov, Andrei Sokolov, Robert Huebner, Danny King, and so on, and so forth.  Here is a collection of games from the 1999 season (I was in Basel from ‘99 to 2000 and played for Riehen, a suburb of Basel).  Maybe some of the ones presented here aren’t  (yet) in Chessbase!

On To the Games!

[Event "Swiss Team 99"]
[Site "Wollishofen vs Zuerich"]
[White "Umbach, A."]
[Black "Atlas, Valery"] Black is an IM from Austria.
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2270"]
[BlackElo "2428"]
Sicilian, Keres Attack

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4 One of my favorite lines to analyze, the Keres Attack.

6…h6 (!) The most circumspect.

7. h4 Be7 8. Bg2 Nc6 9. g5 hxg5 10. hxg5 Rxh1+ 11. Bxh1 Nh7 12. f4

Decision time. ....Nf8 or ...e5?

12…Nf8!? A very interesting position that is about balanced.  Black also had the nice 12… e5! 13. Nf5 Bxf5 14. exf5 Qb6! with equal chances, for example, 15. Qg4 Nb4! 16. Be4 d5! 17. a3 dxe4 18. axb4 Bxb4 19. fxe5 Qd4 20. Bd2 Rd8 21. O-O-O Bxc3 22. Bxc3 Qxd1+ 23. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 24. Kxd1 g6 25. fxg6 fxg6 26. Ke2 Nxg5 27. Ke3 Kd7 28. Kf4 Nf7 29. Kxe4 Ke6 and a drawn ending!  This violent central counter-blow crops up quite often in Keres Attack variations and typically leads to very sharp situations.  In this case, without the 14…Qb6! resource, 12…e5! would not have had its desired effect.  But the crux of the position is that white’s king has been opened by the early kingside pawn advances.

13. Be3 Bd7? Here black had the simplifying 13… Nxd4! 14. Qxd4 e5 15. fxe5 Bxg5 16. Bxg5 Qxg5 17. exd6 Qh4+ 18. Ke2 Qh2+ 19. Qf2 Bg4+ 20.
Bf3 Bxf3+ 21. Kxf3 Qxd6 and he is fine.

14. Nf3 Qa5 15. Nd2 Rc8 16. Nb3 Qc7 17. Qd2 Qb8 18. Nb5 a6 19. N5d4 b5 20. O-O-O b4 21. Kb1 Qc7 22. Bf3 Nxd4 23. Nxd4 a5 White is just better here.

24. f5 a4 25. Rc1? 25. Be2! a3 26. fxe6 fxe6 27. Nb5 and white has a big edge.

25… a3 26. Qxb4? Correct was the safe 26. b3! e5 27. Ne2.

26… axb2 27. Qxb2 e5 28. Nb3 d5 Also black had 28… Qc3! 29. Qxc3 Rxc3 30. Re1 Bxg5 31. Bxg5 Rxf3 32. Bd2 g6 33. fxg6 Nxg6 34. Bb4 Rf6 35. Na5 Ne7

29. exd5 Bxf5 30. Bd2 Nd7 31. Re1 Bxc2+ 32. Ka1 Qa7 33. Rc1? The last straw.  White should have tried 33. Rh1! Ba3 (33… Bf5 34. Rc1 Rxc1+ 35. Qxc1 Qf2 36. Qc8+ Bd8 37. Ba5 Qf1+ 38. Kb2 Qb1+ 39. Ka3 (39. Kc3? Qc2+) 39… Nb6 40. Qc3 Qd3 41. Qxd3 Bxd3 42. Bxb6 Bxb6 43. Nd2 Be3 44. Ne4 Bxe4 45. Bxe4 Bxg5) 34. Rh8+ Nf8? (34… Bf8!) 35. Qxe5+)

33… Ba3 Now it’s just over.

34. Qxc2 Rxc2 35. Rxc2 Qg1+ 36. Bc1 Bxc1 37. Rxc1 Qe3 38. Bg4 Nb6 39. d6 Kd8 40. Rc2 Qg1+ 41. Kb2 Qxg4 0-1

GM Michele Godena (ITA) playing for Mendrisio (in Swiss/Italian Alps) – GM Vadim Milov (playing for Biel)  Sicilian Alapin

[ECO "B22"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 Nc6 8. O-O Be7 9. Qe2 O-O 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 dxe5 12. dxe5 Qa5 13. Rb1 Rd8 14. Qe4 Qxc3!
Black should grab a pawn for his troubles.

Pawn munch - now what?

15. Rb3?! The correct move is the somewhat paradoxical 15. Be3! – it’s funny that white can seek compensation in the ending in the following wild line: 15…Nd4 16. Ng5 Qc2 17. Rfd1 Qxe4 18. Nxe4 Nc6 19. Rxd8+ Nxd8 20. Rd1 Nc6 21. f4 b6 22. Nd6 Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Bb7 24. Rd7 Na5 25. Be2 Bd5 26. a4 and by some strange immutable chess law white is all right even though he’s still down the gambitted pawn!   In passing, note it takes good intuition to switch from attacking the king with queens on to pressing in an ending with queens off.   But in this position that was the best course.

15… Qa5 16. Bg5 h6 17. Be3 Qa4 18. Rc3 Rd1 19. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 20. Bf1 Qd5 21. Qf4 Qxa2 22. Qg4 Kf8 23. Qe4 Kg8 24. Qg4 Qb1 25. Rd3 Qb4 26. Qg3 Kf8
27. Nd4 Nxd4? A huge inaccuracy. 27… a5! leaves white hurting big-time.  Now white is right back in it.

28. Rxd4 Qb1 29. Rg4 g5 30. h4! Bd7 31. hxg5 If 31. Rc4 Bc6 32. hxg5 h5 and we get a motif similar to the game.

31… h5 32. Rf4 Qg6 On the apparently dangerous 32… Bb5! 33. g6 Bxf1 34. Rxf7+ Ke8 35. Rg7 Rd8! 36. Kh2 Qf5 37. Rxe7+ Kxe7 38. Bg5+ Kf8 39. Bxd8
Qg4! is a nice neutralizing move.  Black has a small edge in the ending.  After the text, the key moment is reached.

33. Bd4?? This awkward move loses.  White had to play 33. Rd4!  achieving total coordination and putting black in a bind. Then, 33…Rd8 34. Bd3 Qg7
35. Rh4 Ba4 36. Be4 Rd1+ 37. Kh2 Bc6 38. Bxc6 bxc6 39. Rxh5 and white is doing great.  Now the game turns 180 degrees.

33… Bc6 34. Bd3 Qxg5 35. Qh2 Rd8 36. Be3 Rxd3 37. Rxf7+ Kxf7 0-1

[Event "Swiss Team 1999"]
[Site "Lucerne vs Winterthur"]

[White "Yusupov, Artur"]
[Black "Forster, Richard"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
Here’s an upset of a former WC candidate.

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. f4 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O (7. e5! immediately is correct)

7…c5 8. e5! This is still strong. 8… cxd4 9. Be4 Rb8

Which way to take back on d4?

10. Nxd4 The computer finds the dangerous line 10. Qxd4!? Nc5 (10… Nh6? 11. Qa7! Qb6+ 12. Be3! Qxa7 13. Bxa7 b4 14. Nd1 is the whole point, and white wins!) 11. Bc6+ Bd7 12. Bxd7+ Qxd7 13. Qb4 Nh6 14. Be3 Ne6 and black hangs on.  The text is also strong.

10… dxe5 11. Nc6 Qb6+ 12. Kh1 Ngf6 13. Nxb8 Qxb8 14. fxe5 Yusupov misses his first chance to deal with his young opponent’s impetuous play.14. Bc6! Qc7 15. Bxd7+ Bxd7 16. Qe2 exf4 17. Bxf4 Qc5 18. Rae1 Be6 19. Qe5 Qxe5 20. Bxe5 O-O 21. a3 and there is very little doubt white will convert.

14… Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Nxe5 16. Bf4 Qb6 17. Qe2 O-O 18. Rae1 Qc6? Black should play the solid 18… Nc6! 19. c3 Be6 20. b3 Bf5 and he is fine.

19. Nd2?! Yusupov is making an uncharacteristic number of inaccuracies in this game.  Correct was 19. Ng5! Bb7 20. Rf2 Nc4 21. Qxe7 and white will win.

19… Bb7 20. Rf2 Qc5 21. Nb3 Qb6 22. Be3 Qc7 23. Bd4 Rd8 24. h3 Rd5 25. c3 Strong was 25. Qe3  a5 26. Qf4 e6 27. c3 a4 28. Nd2.

25… a5 26. Qe3 e6 27. Qf4! a4 28. Nc1 After the simple 28. Nd2! h6 29. Nf3 g5 30. Qg3 f6 31. Bxe5 fxe5 32. Qg4 White will win with no problems.

28… g5! 29. Qxg5? Not well timed.  Safe and correct was 29. Qg3! h6 30. Nd3 f6 31. a3  and again, white wins with no problems.

29… Ng6 30. Qg4 h5! 31. Qe2 Nf4 32. Qe3 e5 33. Bb6? A bad blunder.  On 33. Qg3! exd4 34. Rxf4 dxc3 35. bxc3 Rd2 36. Re8+ Kh7 37. Ne2 Qd7 38. Rd8!!  Qxd8 (38… Bxg2+ 39. Qxg2 Qxd8 40. Rxf7 Qg8 transposes) 39. Rxf7 Bxg2+ 40. Qxg2 Qg8 41. Qe4+ Kh8 42. Rf5 Bh6 43. Rxh5 Qf8 and black is in a passive situation.

33… Qc6 34. Rg1 Rd6 35. Ba7 Rg6 36. Qf3? White had to try 36. Kh2 Nxg2 37. Qc5 Qe4 38. Qb4 Qd5 39. Qc5 Qd7 40. Rgxg2 Bxg2 41. Rxg2 Rxg2+ 42. Kxg2 Qd2+ 43.
Kf3 Qxc1 44. Qxb5 and the fight continues.

36… Qc8 37. Qe3 Nxh3 Black also could win with the sadistic 37… h4!

38. Rd2 Nxg1 39. Kxg1 Bh6 0-1

[Event "Swiss Team 1999"]
[Site "Lucerne vs Winterthur"] From the same match as Yusupov-Forster,  we see another game involving a former WC Candidate, Robert Huebner!

[White "King, Danny"]
[Black "Huebner, Robert"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C17"] French Winawer, …Ba5 line

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. Nf3 c5 6. a3 Ba5 7. dxc5 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Nd7 9. Bd3 Nxc5 Black has a comfortable game but he’s not better yet.

10. O-O Bd7 11. Rb1 Qc7 12. Rb4 Ng6 13. Re1 Nxd3 14. cxd3 a5 15. Rb1 O-O 16. Be3 Rfe8 17. Bd4 b5 18. Nd2 Qd8 19. Nf1 Qe7 20. Ra1 b4 21.
axb4 axb4 22. Qd2 bxc3 The dangerous try 22… b3!? 23. g3 Reb8 24. f4 Bc6 25. Qb2 Bb5 26. Qxb3
Bxd3 27. Rxa8 Rxa8 28. Rd1 Bc4 29. Qb6 still seems to be equal.

23. Bxc3 h6 24. d4 Bb5 25. Ng3?! 25. g3! Qg5 26. Qxg5 hxg5 27. Bb4 and it’s drawish.

25… Qh4 26. Rxa8 Rxa8 27. Rb1 Careful is 27. Qb2 Bc4 28. Ra1 Rxa1+ 29. Qxa1 and white is holding on.

27… Bc4 28. h3 Nf4 29. Qe1 Ra3 The next note shows this move might not be good.

30. Rb7 (not sure if this was played or Rb8) Kh7 (this makes more sense if Rb8 was played on  move 30 but the bulletin says 30. Rb7) 31. Qb1+ If the game score is correct, white missed a chance here with 31. Rxf7! Nd3 32. Qb1 Rxc3 33. Qb7 Qg5 34. Nh5! and his attack is faster! Somehow I doubt that could have happened.

31… Nd3 32. Bb2 Ra2 33. Rb3 Rxb2! Black forces a very pleasant ending.

34. Rxb2 Qxd4 35. Rd2 g6 36. Nf1 Qc3 37. Qc2 Qa3 38. Ne3 Nxe5 39. Ng4? It’s not good to simplify this way.  White should hang tight with 39. Qb2 Qd6 40. Qd4! and await events.
39… Nxg4 40. hxg4 Qa1+ 41. Rd1 Qf6 42. Re1 Qd4! Black methodically trades queens and continues to seek chances, but it’s not over yet.

43. Qd1 Qxd1 44. Rxd1 g5 45. f3 Kg6 46. Kf2 h5 47. gxh5+ Kxh5 48. g3 Kg6 49. f4? Here white can put up tough resistance with the unusual defensive wall 49. Ra1 e5 50. g4! creating problems.  For example, 50…f5 51. Rb1 fxg4 52. fxg4 d4 53. Rb4 Be6 54. Kf3 Bd5+ 55. Ke2 Kf6 56. Rb6+ Be6 57. Kf3 Ke7 58. Rb5 and we’re just dancing around now.

49… Kf5 50. Kf3 f6 51. Rh1 d4 52. g4+ Kg6 53. Rh8 Bd5+ 54. Kg3 gxf4+ 55. Kxf4 e5+ With the beautiful pawns free to advance, it’s now quite over.

56. Kg3 Be4 57. Rd8 Kf7 58. Kf2 Ke7 59. Rb8 Bc6 60. Kg3 Ke6 61. Rf8 e4 62. Rc8 Kd5 63. Kf4 e3 64. Rb8 Kc4 65. Rc8 e2 66. Rxc6+ Kd3 67. Re6 Kd2 0-1

I lost something similar to Huebner in the Swiss Teams 1999, an agonizing ending where I was ground down slooooowly. Robert was very nice post-mortem, taking as much time as I needed to understand some of the reasons I went down in flames.

Next up we have Yusupov gaining revenge vs. Hungarian GM Kallai.

[Event "Swiss Team 1999"]
[Site "Bern vs Lucerne"]

[White "Kallai, Gabor"]
[Black "Yusupov, Artur"]
QGD

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 Artur Yusupov’s beloved QGD.

6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Re8 9. O-O c6 10. Qc2 Nf8 11. Rab1 Bd6 12. Bf5?! This doesn’t do much.

12…Ng6 13. b4 a6 14. a4 b5!? 15. Bxc8 Rxc8 16. axb5 axb5 17. Ne2 h6 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Nc1 Nh4 20. Nxh4 Qxh4 21. g3 Qh3 22. Nd3 h5! 23. Qe2 White is also suffering in a line like 23. Ra1 h4 24. Ra7 Re6 25. Re1 hxg3 26. fxg3 Rce8 27. Ne5 Bxe5 28. dxe5 Qh5 29. Rf1 Qxe5 30. Rfxf7 Qxe3+ 31. Qf2 Qc1+ 32. Kg2 Rg6! – it’s often surprising to the amateur how black can get attacks in such staid openings.  The secret is that black systematically shifted units to the kingside, trading off key white defenders.

23… Re6 24. Qf3 h4 25. Rfe1 Rce8 26. Rbc1 hxg3 27. hxg3 Rh6 28. Ra1 Ree6 29. Qg2 Qf5 30. Nc5? It’s a mistake to let black get rid of this knight.  But what should white do?   The following surprising line offers resistance: 30. Ra8+ Kh7 31. Ra3 Reg6 32. Rc3 Rh5 33. Rec1 Rh3 34. Rxc6 Rgxg3 35. fxg3 Rxg3 (at first glance, this appears crushing) 36. Rxd6 Qf3 37. Rc2 Qd1+ 38. Kh2 Rxg2+ 39. Rxg2 Qxd3 40. Rg3! and white can fight on due to immediate threats to black’s king.  Black is better but not winning yet.

30… Bxc5 31. bxc5 g5! 32. g4 32. f3 g4! 33. f4 Rh3 34. Kf2 b4! is crushing.

32… Qh7!  Black’s initiative is decisive.  Too many heavy pieces participating and not enough white defenders, very instructive.

33. Qg3 White is helpless.  In another nice line, 33. Ra8+ Kg7 34. Rd8 b4 35. Rd7 b3 36. Rb7 Rh4 37. Rxb3 Reh6! mate in 10! at the most! -  38. Kf1
Rh1+ 39. Ke2 Qc2+ 40. Kf3 Rf6+ 41. Kg3 Rh3+!! – beautiful! -  42. Kxh3 Qh7+ 43. Kg3 Qh4 mate!

33… Rh3 34. Qb8+ Kg7 35. Kg2 Qe4+ Mate in 7!   White resigned.

0-1

For example, 36. Kf1 (36. Kxh3 Qf3+ 37. Kh2 Rh6+ 38. Kg1 Rh1 mate) 36… Qxg4 and mate.

Next we have another former WC Candidate, GM Andrei Sokolov, making short work of a Swiss International Master.

[Event "Swiss Team 1999 A Division"]
[Site "Reichenstein vs Bois Gentil"]

[White "Sokolov, Andrei"]
[Black "Landenbergue, Claude"]

[ECO "B93"]
Sicilian Najdorf, 6. f4.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f4 e5 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. a4 Be7 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O exf4 11. Kh1 Nc5 12. Bxf4 Bg4 13. Qe1 Bh5 14. Bc4 Rc8 15. e5 dxe5 16. Nxe5 Qd4! 17. Ne2!? White sharpens play to the outmost and sets black difficult challenges.  Black immediately plays a second-best continuation, justifying white’s minor gamble.

17…Bxe2?  Conceding the bishop pair and getting a bad game without a struggle.  Black must take: 17… Qxb2! 18. Ng3 Bd6 and he has enough defensive resources in all lines as Rybka shows.

18. Qxe2 Ne6 19. Bg3 Ng5 20. c3 Qc5? A blunder. 20… Qe4! 21. Rae1 Qxe2 22.  Rxe2 Bd6 23. Ba2 and white has a significant edge, but it’s not over.

21. b4 Sokolov does not have to be asked twice.  White is now just winning.

21…Qc7 If 21… Qb6 22. Bh4! Ne6 23. Bxf6 Bxf6 24. Nd7 Qc6 25. Bxe6 fxe6 26. Nxf8 and wins.

22. Ng6 Qxc4 23. Nxe7+ Kh8 24. Qe5 Rfe8 25. Rxf6 Qxc3 26. Qxc3 Rxc3 27. Rf5 f6 28. Re1 Rd8 29. Rd5 A rout. 1-0

The Fabulous 00s: The Resurgence of the 1890s

Behold, Once Again, the Two Knights

GM Nakamura scored a key win over GM Friedel in the last round of the US Championship 2009 with a two knights sideline opening fresh from the 1890s.  Curiously, GM Friedel in his notes in Chess Life Online did not mention the most active way to play.  He played a “safe” “solid” way but that way was passive, white kept an extra pawn, and won easily. Maybe he hasn’t looked it up yet!  Postscript Sunday June 28: I am not sure what’s in the water, but now the game has appeared in print annotated by both parties, and in neither case black’s best 8th move was mentioned.  Presumably the annotators have had time to reflect and present the readers with the right move, so I don’t know what’s going on.

Here is how the key game started.

Nakamura-Friedel US Championship 2009

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 There is a school of thought that, for safety’s sake, or even more precisely, for logic’s sake,  follow what Karpov does.  GM Short told me that if GM Karpov plays 3…Bc5 here, it is likely to be best.  Logical!  Logic in the opening by proxy!  But when Karpov starts dancing with his king on f8 in Caro’s, well, watch out.

4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 Known to be bad is 5…Nxd5? 6. d4!.  Not so clear is the schoolboy favorite, 6. Nxf7, the Fried Liver Attack.  I think d4! first then taking on f7 is the way theory recommends.

6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 Black has a sidelined knight on a5 and a pawn minus, but a lead in development and prospects for gaining more time by hitting the knight on g5. This position has been seen a lot, and white’s next is no novelty at all.

8. Bd3 Not new at all. In fact, quite old.  And also played in a major league game in 2008.  Both old and new!   A double-headed monster that needs to be … well….. looked at.  GM Short told me that he faced this in blitz vs GM Morozevich, “reaching a good game but then losing.”  In a curious “double”, Nakamura once scored easily with 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 6. bxc3 Qxf6 7. Bd3!? vs an Argentinian GM and ex-world junior champion Pablo Zarnicki, HB Global Challenge Minnesota 2005. At this point Friedel writes in CLO, “I vaguely recalled it, but of course had no clue what to do.  I  decided to go  “solid” again with Be7 and 0-0.  Better might have been an earlier h6 followed by Nd5 and f5-e4 with counterplay.”  Needless to say, 8…Be7? was a huge lemon and Nakamura had no trouble whatsoever scoring the full point in short order.  Although on ICC there were some funny moments when GM Kraai (perhaps inebriated, that would be my guess) started scream/kibitzing after Friedel’s unsound sac on d3 that “the panda’s junk was all over the board”  – it took quite a bit of deduction to figure out he was referring to Friedel as the Panda.  Nevertheless, the junk (I think) stayed back in its package as Nakamura just pocketed the material and then trapped the queen. The most ‘objectionable’ thing is that Chess Life Online readers come away with nothing at this key juncture.  But it’s more or less free… the peanuts and monkeys syndrome?

Instead of solid, we need fast!  More precisely, there’s a faster way for black to ‘get there’ in Friedel’s counterplay notion.  Better is what Emanuel Lasker found in 1892 versus Henry Bird!  (And repeated in recent memory by Erwin L’Ami).  The right move is 8…Ng4! When facing something strange, do something “strange” – but the move is really quite logical!

Postscript Sunday June 28: I received New in Chess magazine 2009/4 in the mail (late, I know; I go with the chessplayer’s stingy surface mail option) – and I was very surprised to see Nakamura annotate this game and pass by 8…Be7 without comment. His secrets after 8…Ng4 go unmentioned. On purpose?  The readers come away with absolutely no information.

This is the way to get the Panda's Junk on the Board

Bird-Lasker Newcastle-on-Tyne 1892 (have you heard of that event??!) saw 8…Ng4 9. Nf3 f5! The correct followup. After 10. h3 e4! we had true chaos on board, and Lasker outplayed Bird subsequently. But let’s not trust a game from 1892.  We need to look at this try more carefully. The most interesting recent game, between two young Dutch lions, saw in

Stellwagen-L’Ami, Maastricht 2008, 8…Ng4! 9. Ne4!? f5! Always this!  Black needs this.  10. Be2 h5! with absolute chaos once again! 11. h3 fxe4 12. hxg4 Bc5! with madness and a definite black initiative.  The kind one is supposed to get with the …Na5 gambit! I am pretty sure Friedel might have looked this up by now.  Or maybe not?  Anyway it looks like 8…Ng4 is the way to go, and I look forward to Nakamura being challenged with this!  (but maybe he’ll switch away now that the surprise is gone).  In the meantime, can readers switch on their collective Rybkas and give me best play and evaluation after this?  Merci et adieu.

A Weird “Double”

From the Copper State International, Altounian-Barcenilla (copied from Chess Life Online, annotations by GM Alex Yermolinsky unless italicized by MG)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5

This old line, known as the Fried Liver Attack, is making an unexpected comeback these days. I faced it against David Pruess in 2007, and there was a recent Nakamura-Friedel U.S. Championship game. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, modern computer analysis can re-evaluate some positions from the defensive point of view. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe that generations of chess players were wrong in their assessment of resulting positions as good for Black

4…d5 5.exd5 Nd4

Altounian was quite surprised by this little known sideline. 5…Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 and the old move 8.Be2 is being superseded by(8.Qf3 Pruess; or 8.Bd3 Nakamura.)

6.c3 b5 7.Bd3!? Shadows of Hikaru… 7.Bf1 Nxd5 transposes to well-known theoretical lines, such as 8.Ne4 Ne6 9.Bxb5+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7; Another chapter is 7.cxd4 bxc4 and now either 8.Qa4+ (or 8.dxe5 Qxd5 9.exf6 Qxg5 10.Qf3 Rb8) 8…Qd7 9.Qxc4 Qxd5 In both cases, the computer gives White a big plus for whatever that’s worth.

7…Nxd5 The alternative 7…Bf5 was seen in Morozevich-Timman, 1996 where after 8.Bxf5 Nxf5 9.Qf3 Nh4 (9…g6!?) 10.Qh3 Ng6? the young Alexander missed the crushing shot (better was 10…Nxd5 11.Qxh4 Be7 12.d4 Nf4 13.Bxf4 exf4 with some play for a pawn; but not 10…Qxd5 11.Qxh4 Qxg2 12.Rf1 h6 13.d3 and White keeps the extra piece.) 11.Nxf7 and instead went on to lose the game.

8.Nxf7 8.cxd4 Qxg5 9.Bxb5+ Kd8 10.Qf3 is another transposition to the 7.Bf1 theoretical line.

8…Kxf7 9.cxd4 Nf4 Should further analysis prove White’s advantage in the way the game went, it might be worth looking at the crazy line 9…Nf6 10.Bxb5 exd4!? (I don’t think Black has anything going after 10…Qxd4 11.Nc3 Bc5 12.Qe2 Be6 13.d3) 11.Bc4+ Kg6 12.0-0 Bd6 13.Qc2+ Bf5 14.Bd3 Qd7 and the hyperactive black king may turn out to be a real asset in the endgame. 10.Be4

10…Qxd4!

Barcenilla must get credit for energetic play. Weaker was 10…Rb8 11.dxe5 Nd3+ 12.Kf1 and Black cannot maintain the knight on d3 because of the exposed position of his own king (checks from b3, f3 or h5 are coming).

11.d3 White was not advised to take the gift, 11.Bxa8? Nd3+ 12.Ke2 Bg4+ 13.Bf3 (13.f3 Nf4+ 14.Ke1 Nxg2+ 15.Ke2 Nf4+ 16.Ke1 Be7 bringing more pieces into the fray.) 13…Nf4+ 14.Kf1 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Qc4+ 16.Ke1 Qxc1+ 17.Qd1 Nxg2+ 18.Ke2 Nf4+ 19.Ke1 Nd3+ 20.Ke2 Qc4 and Black’s attack just doesn’t seem to let up.; A more reasonable possibility, along with the text move, was 11.Nc3 Nd3+ 12.Bxd3 Qxd3 13.Qb3+ Be6 14.Qxb5 although the black bishop pair would provide ample compensation even after the queens are swapped.

11…Bb4+ 12.Nc3 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 Qxc3+ 14.Bd2 Nxd3+ 15.Kf1

15.Ke2 Nf4+ 16.Bxf4 exf4 17.Bxa8 Be6 clearly favors Black.

15…Qc4 16.Qe2? A serious mistake. White had to play 16.Qb3 to get the queens off. There are various ways for Black to proceed, but I can’t see a fully satisfactory continuation.

In fact White should win after 16. Qb3!.  This was the key moment.  If Altounian had won the game, he would have been in great shape to make a GM norm.  As it happened, the victor in this game did make a norm!  Such is chess.

16…Rd8!! Absolutely brilliant!

17.Bxa8 Bf5 18.Bb7 18.Bf3 e4 19.Bg4 Bxg4 20.Qxg4 Ne5+ 21.Qe2 Rxd2 wins for Black.

18…Qd4 19.Rd1 Nb2!? 19…Nf4 20.Qe3 Qc4+ 21.Kg1 Ne2+ 22.Kf1 Nf4+ was enough for a draw, but Rogelio was after the jackpot.

20.Qh5+ Ke6 21.Ke1?? Levon could keep on fighting after 21.Rc1 Qxd2 22.Rc6+ Rd6 23.h3

21…Nd3+ White gets mated on the next move.

0-1 A very sad finish for Levon.  This was a tough tournament with a fast time control and many strong opponents.

The Fabulous 00s: Dave Vigorito pulls off a wedding

IM Dave Vigorito and his fiancee Heather Kroll pulled off a wedding June 14, 2009, in Topsfield MA.  It went swimmingly (it was raining at the start but cleared up, the word ’swimmingly’ is just a coincidence).

Here is the nice venue:

The Willowbrook Estate in Topsfield MA

Many chess people were in attendance.  For example, Vesna Dimitrijevic.  Her hubbie, Bill Kelleher, had a good reason to be absent:  A FIDE meeting in Krakow, Poland!

Vesna

Also visible on the left in the back is Chris Bird and on the right Joe Fang.  Joe Fang!  This name brought back chess memories.  In one encounter, Joe was white and bamboozled me with 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. e4 Nc6 4. Be3 e5 5. dxe5

Bamboozled

Here I played the lazy man’s poor move

5…Nxe5? 6. Bd4! and now I could find nothing better than 6…f6 7. f4 Nf7 with a horrible game – I lost without much resistance.  On a sharper day, I would have found the clever 5…d6! exploiting the g7-b2 pin.   In another game, I was white and played the bizarre 1. f4 and Joe quickly played 1…e5!. Not wishing to be attacked, I pondered and then retorted with 2. d3! – a reversed Balogh!  I got the attack instead and Joe lost without much resistance.  These games were from the 80s and 90s but it’s funny how things come back.

Also spotted were Paul MacIntyre, Mike Casella, Dean Ippolito and his wife, Denis Shmelov, Eugene Yanayt, Braden Bournival, Kevin Coutreau, and more!  Unfortunately Jim Rizzitano was ill and unable to attend.

All in all a smashing good time – excellent venue, flawless ceremony, good eats and drink…. all the chessplayers were quite satiated and happy!  And now Dave and his new wife are off to Italy on their honeymoon!

Dave and Heather

Viva Italia.

Closeup

As the groom points out, closeups are available. Here is one.

Fluffy 'n Bride

The Fabulous 20th Century: Some Photos

The News from All Over Department

In an attempt to get our minds off the nauseating lawsuits of USCF politics, let’s see some mirthful photos from days of yore.

Lenk, Switzerland 2000

On board one in the background we have Romanian GM Florin Gheorghiu (partially obscured) on the left playing GM Vladimir Tukmakov.

On board two it is GM Andrei Sokolov on the left playing, I believe, GM Lothar Vogt.

On board three it’s WGM Kachiani. a lady GM, I forget her name… readers?

I played in this event (Lenk 2000) also, so did Hungarian GM Attila Grozpeter and others. What a fun time!  How to get there from Basel?   Transfer in Zurich for a slow-moving train through the Alps to arrive at the fairy-tale town!

The Alpine Village of Lenk > Philly World Open

Moving back to 1985, here is a typical (for that time) World Open tableau.

World Open Tableau

From left to right, future US Champion and future GM Michael Wilder, New Jersey personality Steve Anderson (aka Henderson), Canadian stalwart Ian Findlay, an anonymous semi-naked individual, and IM Vince McCambridge.

Zooming back to the early 2000s, here is GM Tal Shaked with California chess enthusiast Simone Sobel.

Nudging the clock back two years to 1999, here I am demonstrating the religion menu on display in Angel Island, California (a massive Japanese displacement/internment camp during World War II).

Where's Marxist, Buddhist, Shinto, etc.?

And now going waaay back (OK not so far back) to the early 1990s, here is a snapshot from the Nigel Short-Garry Kasparov World Championship match in London with what appears to be a very severe arbiter in the middle. I don’t know who took this photo.

The Royal Rumble in London

Now moving up again to the year 2000, this author at the famous site of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany where American athlete Jesse Owens shocked the Aryans with numerous track and field gold medals.  In a very sporting move, the stadium’s street is now called “Jesse Owens Allee!”

Jesse Owens got a Street!

And in the grand tradition of ending an article with Yet Another Unrelated Photo, here is an artistic photograph of Claire Lev at Paige Stockley’s wedding in the pleasant nature state of Washington.  This was also from the early 2000s timeframe.  Either the official wedding photographer or I took that photo. It looks too artistic to be me, but stranger things have happened.

Everybody Likes a Wedding

Afterthought on USCF Politics and Dante’s Inferno

Any USCF board member committing the absurd act of suing the USCF should be automatically relegated to the “Legal Committee”, a thinly veiled reference to Dante’s Purgatory.  If he or she does not retract the lawsuit within 24 hours (give them time to come off their “bad high”), they are then relegated to a new Federation, name of their choosing, where they run the show and are the only members (can offer a fill in the blank option here, only caveat is that the new name must be completely original – I don’t want to see NewCF because New contains the “U” sound).  Since the new Federation does not allow membership in other Federations, we are rid of the blight. This is a thinly veiled reference to Dante’s Hell.

Can Wealthy People Rescue the USCF?

This just in from media maven John Henderson in one of his daily e-mail blasts (over a billion served if you multiply the # of sends by the # of recipients):

“Going, Going, Gone To Rex Sinquefield!

It was all over in seconds. Bobby Fischer’s library filled three glass cases in on the Mezzanine level of Bonhams nd Butterfieldsauction house on Madison Avenue in New York. The hundreds of chess books in various languages, issues of chess-related periodicals, proofs for Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games, and assorted notes and other miscellanea were sold in one lot for a “hammer price” of USD $50,000, plus a $21,000 Bonhams commission…

The collection was bought by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis founder and 2009 US Championship sponsor, Rex Sinquefield, and announced today in a press release (entitled “Sinquefields Purchase Bobby Fischer’s Chess Collection”) from the group.  ICC Chess.FM has exclusive video coverage of the auction now at www.Chess.fm/blog“

Some comments:  A)  Quite the racket Bonhams is in, a $21,000 commission on a $50,000 bid?  That’s ridiculous!   Work out the percentage at home, readers.  I don’t think John Bonham, sadly deceased Led Zeppelin drummer, would have approved.    Wait… this just in…. correction from John H:  “FYI…
It was $11,000 in Bonhams’ commission, NOT $21,000 as original stated.”. Well it’s still high, but OK I an accept that number better!  The one guy who is spinning in his grave is Fischer.  He hated third parties profiting on his name. I would suggest that “Bonhams” contribute some of their commission to a charity of one of Fischer’s living relative’s choosing.  Is that likely to happen?  Actually, the entire sale is fairly dubious – why not bestow it to a mobile Fischer exhibit, for example.  Who had the right to sell his stuff?   B) The name “Rex Sinquefield” sounds completely made up, but I have to give kudos for this cool “secret agent” name.   Actually it’s an interesting phenomenon that wealthy people often pop up in out of the way places then become gigantic benefactors to a forlorn cause.  For example, the Hartz Flea Collar baron donated a lot of money to NYU and got an entire business school named after him.  C) Can  wonder-bidder “Rex” rescue the USCF?  Maybe he can issue a cease and desist order to all the lawsuit-happy individuals backed up by his good name and fortune.   Somehow I think quite a few of these lawsuit-prone individuals would sit very straight up in their chair and respect an edict if it stems from money.  They are not listening to good sense since lawsuits cause absurd legal expenses, weakening the poor non-profit’s capital position every day the lawsuits exist.  The only winners are the lawyers in Fake Sam Sloan cases, as lurid as they might be.

The Fabulous 00s: The Imploding USCF?

To Avoid the Unpleasantness

If you don’t want to get the feeling of having uncovered a rock to discover wriggling maggots, click here instead to read about FM Danny Rensch’s new Copper State International.

Is the USCF imploding?

From Elizabeth Vicary’s interview of USCF policy board candidate Mike Atkins,

“EV: So let’s start with the high drama question: give us your take on the lawsuits and the Polgar/ Truong vs. Rest of the Board conflict.

---

MA: The evidence that I have read about in the lawsuits seem to say that Truong was the fake Sam Sloan. It also seems pretty clear from the evidence suggested that Polgar, through her webmaster Alexander, accessed and posted confidential e-mails from the attorney representing people she had sued. Many laws and ethics have allegedly been violated and at the minimum, Polgar and Truong should be removed from the EB. Anyone who sues its own organization with the intent to destroy it should be forever removed from leadership. She has benefited greatly from the support of the USCF and her lawsuit has the effects of chopping off a hand that feeds her and this just doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like a cancer on US Chess that should be irradiated and removed. “

MG comments: I am not on anybody’s side in this, but it doesn’t add up.
I went to the Susan Polgar website and I saw plenty of blogs attacking mismanagement at the USCF, specifically Bill Goichberg’s management.  These attacks are normal and to be expected in the regular course of political maneuvering.  I just want to note in passing that Bill Goichberg has been providing norm opportunities for youngsters for more than 30 years now! But nowhere did I see a statement “we’re on the Executive Board and we’re suing ourselves, this does not make sense on the surface, but here’s how it makes sense.”  Because to me and Mike Atkins, it does not make sense.

I would like a Polgar/Truong blog entry specifically devoted to why they are suing themselves which, to all appearances, is an attempt to bankrupt and destroy the USCF.  Does anyone have an explanation?  I looked through the Polgar site and as I mentioned, did not see this. I did see a lot of anonymous blog comments supporting their attacks on USCF management but I didn’t see any explicit discussion of these nuclear bomb lawsuits (which, if successful, destroy the USCF, is that right?)  I did see an entry labeled “Fighting to Protect and Save the USCF” on the upper right with links to various lititgation documents…. instituting lawsuits does that?   Update:  a comment on this entry reveals that they aren’t trying to destroy, just trying to cease and desist or otherwise derail/divert the inquiry on the impersonation posting accusations.

In another section of that blog site, there is a caption “Loss of memberships. Loss of revenues. Record frivolous spending. It’s politics as usual while the USCF is in serious financial trouble. Click on image for more details.”    This would be a good place to mention the multi-million dollar lawsuits lodged by USCF EB members Polgar and Truong against the USCF which certainly are not politics as usual, they go beyond that pale!   It’s 11 out of 10 on the aghast-o-meter.

Why has chess become so intermingled with lawsuits?  Lawsuits are one thing… but lawsuits against the USCF lodged by USCF Executive Board members?

I’m aghast at this whole thing; can any perspicacious reader offer insights on the strategic intent of the lawsuits (plural!) and what they want if they win and the USCF collapses? See comments!   Also in a rather humorous note, sexual adventurer Sam Sloan was actually rather effective when he was elected, outing a member of the USCF Ethics Committee (Robert Tanner) for rating manipulation! Nobody else would have put in the dogged detective work to expose Tanner’s absurd “campfire games” that were submitted to give Tanner the Life Master title.

For Something More Pleasant

The Victory Hammer 8-Ball Model

The Victory is an unbelievably good motorycycle brand.  Belt-drive engine by Polartec (yes, the snowmobile company) – smooth, reliable, high torque, fat tires, very pleasant.  Just wanted to get away from Sam Sloans and fake Sam Sloans.

A Rich Smorgasbord of Search Terms

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The Fabulous 00s: Copper State International

The First Copper State International!

FM Danny Rensch has organized a new event, the Copper State International, and it started May 29 and ran through June 3rd – 10 rounds.  Good sponsorship and fairly strong with GMs Kacheishvili, Izoria, Yermolinsky, Gareev, Becerra, Ramirez.  IMs seeking GM norms in no particular order:  Altounian,  Barcenilla, Ippolito, Sarkar, Lenderman, Milman, Fernandez.  And FMs seeking glory:  the organizer Danny Rensch and Marc Esserman!   Altounian and I were roommates and didn’t know about the nearby casino that Daniel Fernandez and the Georgian GMs had discovered.

In the very first round there were a number of upsets. Kacheishvili lost to Fernandez; Becerra was held to a draw by a lower rated opponent, Yermo also drew; and I drew GM Zviad Izoria:

Round 1

IM M Ginsburg – GM Z Izoria  Pirc Defense

1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 Bg7 4. d4 d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O e6!? I had never faced this before.  I think GM Benjamin had some success with it.  It seems to be preparing ….d5, so….

8. e5!? dxe5 9. Nxe5 Nbd7

This is an important moment.  I have Bf4 and Bg5.  Which is better?  Hard to say.  After long thought (not good in G/90 + 30 second increment), I chose the longer move.

10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 c6!? Black plans to trade on e5, trade on d1, and play Nd5 with a very solid game.

12. Qc1! Sidestepping black’s idea.

12…Qb6?! This does not work out well at all.  In subsequent play, white gains tempo after tempo to reorganize.  On the other hand, what to suggest?  It looks like white’s treatment is solid and good.

13. Nxd7 Bxd7 13…Nxd7 14. Rd1 is no improvement (14…Bxd4? 15. Na4).

14. Rd1  Kh7 15. Na4 Qc7 16. Bg3 Qd8 17. Nc5 Bc8

So far white as done all the right things and black has a terrible game.

What’s the right move?

18. Be5? No!  This safety first move releases most of white’s advantage.  Izoria pointed out 18. Bf3! and black can’t free himself!  If 18. Bf3! b6? 19. Bxc6! wins.  This important detail means the N/c5 stays for the time being and white has a huge plus.  Also by now I had little time so I called it a day in this first (morning!) round.  After the text, black can eject the knight with b6 and it’s only a tiny edge for me.

1/2 - 1/2

Little did I know in Round 2 I’d be facing GM Julio Becerra with black. Some heavy weather awaited me at 4 pm!

Round 2

GM Becerra – IM Ginsburg

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 Sometimes I play Taimonov vs Julio, sometimes Kan.  And once even a Scheveningen.  I usually get fairly good positions.  He likes to wait for the middlegame to tack around and respond to events.

5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bd3 a6 8.O-O d6 9.a4 Be7 10.f4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 e5 12.Be3 exf4 This simplifying procedure frees black’s game quite a bit.

13.Rxf4 Be6 14.Qf3 Nd7 15.Qg3 Bf6 I was contemplating long castle to sack a pawn for attack but it seems to fail to a Nd5 response.

16.Rff1 Be5 17.Qh4 Nf6 This lineup looks solid but white just continues tucking his pieces away and gaining some queenside space.

18.Kh1 h6 19.a5 Qe7 20.Qe1 O-O 21.Na4 Rac8 22.Nb6 Rc6?! I start to get in trouble.

23.c3 Re8?! 24.Bg1 Qc7?! All my prior moves were mistaken due to white’s excellent next.

25.Bc2! Oops!  This bishop can go to a4!  I don’t see a way out.

25…d5 26.exd5 Nxd5 27.Ba4 Nf4 28.Qe4 g5 29.Rae1 Bg7 30.Bxc6 bxc6 31.Be3 Nd5 32.Bd4 1-0

An excellent example of Julio’s pragmatic style.

In other Round 2 action, IM Lenderman miraculously saved a draw vs GM Timur Gareev, Yermo absolutely crushed IM Fernandez, and Rensch and Milman battled to an exciting draw in an English Attack.  Altounian won a rather technical game vs Pruess. IM Rogelio Barcenilla took down IM Sarkar.

This game illustrates Rogelio’s style:  take the opponent out of book and look for chances in the middlegame.  Using these tactics, he secured his final GM norm and is now a Grandmaster!

GM-elect Rogelio Barcenilla Jr. – IM Sarkar  Sicilian 2. c4

1.e4 c5 2.c4 White simply aims to take the heavily booked Sarkar out of book.   Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 d6 6.d3 e6 7.Nge2 Nge7 8.h4 A nothing-type probe move, typical of GM Reshevsky’s style.

8…h5 It was quite safe, and my preference, to avoid …h7-h5.  Black could simply play, e.g., Ne5.

9.Bg5 Rb8 10.Rb1 b6 11.a3 Bb7 12.b4 Qd7 13.Qd2 Nd4 14.O-O Nec6 15.b5 Nxe2 16.Nxe2 Nd4 17.a4 O-O 18.Nxd4 Bxd4 19.Bh6 Rfe8 20.a5 d5 21.a6 Ba8 22.exd5 exd5 23.Rfe1 dxc4 24.dxc4 Bxg2 25.Kxg2 Rxe1 26.Rxe1 Re8 27.Bf4 Re6 28.Rxe6 Qxe6 29.Qd3 White has simplified with the optical advantage of Bb8 winning in some endings.  But he can’t get that after, e.g., 29…Kg7.  If 30. Bb8 Qc8! 31. Bxa7?? Qa8+ is CHECK winning the bishop.  If 30. Kg1 Qe1+ 31. Qf1 Qe4! is equal (31…Bxf2?+ is a lemon).  If 30. Kf1 Qh3+ 32. Ke2 Qg2+ keeps white occupied and it’s equal again.   Black’s 29th is risky.

29…Be5?! Why give white the d-file?  30.Qd8 Kg7 31.Be3 Qxc4 32.Qa8 Bd4 33.Qxa7 Bxe3 34.Qb7 Black barely has a defense to meet this dangerous sac. 34… Qa2 35.a7 Qxf2 36.Kh3 Qf5 37.Kh2 Bg1+! 1-0

Black must have lost on time.  Unless I am missing something, 38. Kxg1 Qb1+ is only a draw.

Round 3

Round 3 sees a tactical matchup IM Pruess – IM Fernandez.

Update: Fernandez wound up winning that one.

I scored my first win.

IM M. Ginsburg – WFM Y. Cardona (2212) Catalan

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 6.g3 e6 7.Bg2 Nbd7 8.O-O Be7 9.Nc3 O-O 10.Bf4!? I saw FM Bartell play this vs. FM Monokroussos, Chicago FIDE Int’l 2008, and it looked like a sensible idea.  When Maxim Dlugy was just starting out in the early 1980s, he fell for 10. Rd1? Bc2! vs. Scrabble pro NM Alan Williams and due to the threat of Nb6 trapping the white queen, the exchange is lost.

10…Rc8 11.Rac1 h6 12.Rfd1 Ne4 13.Ne5 Nxc3 14.Qxc3 Nf6 15.Qb3 The point of B on f4 is that  …Qb6 Nc4! eyes d6 and a5.

15…g5?! An obvious weakening. But what should black do?  After 15…Qb6 16. Qxb6 axb6 17. Nc4 Ra8 18. a3! white has an edge.

16.Qxb7?! Too flashy. Smarter is 16. Bd2! with the idea of 16…Qxd4? 17. Nc4!! with a big edge.

16…gxf4? 16…Rc7 is correct. What both players missed was 17. Nxc6 Rxb7 18. Nxd8 Rd7! keeping both minors under attack with equal chances. After 19. Bc6 Rdxd8 20. Bc7 Rc8 21. Bb7 Rce8 it even might wind up being a repetition.

17.Nxc6 Rxc6 18.Rxc6 fxg3 19.hxg3 Be4 20.Bxe4 Nxe4 21.Rc7 Nd6 22.Qc6 Total domination.  Not 22. Qxa7 Nb5 winning for black.

22…Re8 23.d5! e5 24.Rd3 Methodical.  Black has no chance.

24…Nf5 25.e3 Kg7 26.Rb3 Bd6 27.Rxa7 Rf8 28.Qd7 Qg5 29.e4 Nd4 30.Qxd6 Qc1 31.Kg2 Qg5 32.f4 exf4 33.Qxf4 Qh5 34.g4 Qg6 35.Qe5 Kh7 36.Qxd4 Qxg4 37.Rg3 Qe2 38.Qf2 Qxe4 39.Qf3 Qc2 40.Kh3 1-0

Round 4

I had a disappointing loss to GM Ramirez.

GM A. Ramirez – IM. M Ginsburg  Budapest Declined (!)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 Moskalenko’s fabulous Budapest.

3.e3?! Too passive.

3…Bb4 4.Nc3 exd4 5.exd4 O-O?! Any French player would spot 5…Qe7+!.  I’m not a French player.  After some piece to e2, or Be3, d7-d5 is at least equal for black.  The text is OK but not as strong.

6.Bd3 d5 7.Nge2 c5 8.a3 cxd4 Black can play 8…Bxc3 of course.  The text is OK too.

9.axb4 dxc3 I’m embarrassed to admit the cute 9….dxc4! completely escaped my attention.  After 9…dxc4! 10. Bxc4 dxc3 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. bxc3 Nc6 black is equal.  Or, 11. Qb3 c2!.  In all lines black has equal chances.

10.c5! The only way to fight.  White sacks a pawn for initiative.  I go wrong soon after.

10…cxb2 11.Bxb2 Re8 12.O-O Nc6 13.b5 Ne5?! Weirdly, 13…Nb4! is stronger.  14. Bb1 is well met by 14…Bd7! hitting b5.   If then 15. Nd4, then 15…a5 is a small edge to black . So white should play 13…Nb4 14. Ng3 (for example) and after 14…a5 black is fine.

14.Nf4 Bg4 15.f3 Nxd3 15…Bd7 is a  try but after 16. Bd4! white has an edge.

16.Qxd3 Be6 Now black is just passive.

17.Qd4 Qd7 18.Ra5 Rac8 19.Rc1 Rxc5?! This breakout attempt, which white did not forsee, actually works IN SOME LINES.  But I did not have enough faith in it. .  Black can wait with e.g. 19….h6 but it’s unpleasant. 

20.Qxc5? Not correct!  20. Rxc5! b6 21. Ra6 bxc5 22. Qxc5 with a big plus to white.   The confusion has succeeded….but look what happens…

20…b6 21.Qf2 I got too scared now by the prospect of my kingside being broken up and my king attacked.

21…bxa5 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Nh5 Qxb5? This is the lemon.  The point was 23…Rc8! exploiting white’s back rank.  I was concerned about 24. Qg3+ attacking with the queen and knight, but it turns out 24…Kf8 25. Qg7+ Ke7 26. Qxf6+ Kd6! and the king has safely run away (the game is equal).

24.Nxf6 Kg7 25.Nxe8 Qxe8 26.Qxa7 Now it’s technical win for white. Very disappointing.

26…a4 27.Ra1 Bd7 28.Qd4 Kg6 29.Qxd5 Qe3 30.Kh1 Be6 31.Qa5 Bb3 32.h3 h6 33.Re1 Qd4 34.Qa6 Qf6 35.Qd3 Kg7 36.Re4 Kf8 37.Kh2 Qb6 38.Qc3 Qd6 39.f4 Kg8 40.Re8 Kh7 41.Rh8 Kg6 42.Qg3 Kf5 43.Qg4 Ke4 44.Re8 Kd4 45.Qf3 Kc5 46.Qc3 Kb6 47.Re5 f6 48.Rf5 1-0

Also in this round, a very nice effort by Gareev vs. strong IM Altounian.

Gareev – Altounian, King’s Indian, …Bg4 Nfd7 line

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-O 5.d4 d6 6.Be2 Bg4 7.Be3 Nfd7 Swiss IM Hug is a specialist in this rather dubious line.

8.O-O c5 8…Nc6 9. d5 is not a lot of fun either.  White just gets the bishop pair and a traditional edge.

9.d5 Na6 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Nc7 12.Be2 a6 13.a4 Fairly depressing.  White has the bishop pair and a safe edge.

13…e6 14.Qd2 exd5 15.exd5 Re8 16.g3 Strange, and I’m not sure if it’s good.  16. a5! += is simple enough.

16…f5 How about 16…a5 here and await events?

17.Kg2 17. a5!  — a player like Boris Gulko wouldn’t take long on that move.

17…Rb8 18.Ra3 a5 19.Re1 Qf6 19…Ne5! 20. f4 Nf7! is very hard to break!

20.Bf1 Ne5 21.Nd1 Na6 22.Bg5 Qf8 23.Bf4 Nb4 24.Rae3 h6 25.h4 Bf6 26.Nc3 g5?? Black cracks.  The fast time control often caused that.  26…Rbd8! offers black the prospect of a long game and quite possibly a successful defense.

27.hxg5 Bxg5 The evident 27…hxg5 28. Bxe5 Bxe5 29. Rxe5 wins.  The text leads essentially to the same thing.  It’s a massacre now.

28.Bxg5 hxg5 29.Rxe5 Rxe5 30.Rxe5 dxe5 31.Qxg5 Kh8 32.Be2 Nc2 33.Bh5 Nd4 34.Bg6 Rd8 35.Qh5 Kg7 36.Qh7 Kf6 37.Bxf5 e4 38.Nxe4 1-0

Round 5

In Round 5, I needed to win to get back to 50%.   I had just lost a disappointing game in Round 4 to GM Ramirez when he shocked me with 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. e3?!  declining the Budapest!  Of course this is nothing but I didn’t know the most precise way 3…exd4 (or 3…Bb4+ first) 4. cxd4 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 Qe7! forcing an inconvenient interposition.  In the game I went for 3…Bb4+ 4. Nc3 exd4 5. exd4 O-O?! and while this is still fine, he played well to get an attack for a pawn.  Under pressure, I went under in the complications.

IM M. Ginsburg – CM Keith MacKinnon (Canada)  Round 5    Catalan

1.c4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 e6 5.g3 Nbd7 6.Bg2 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.Nbd2 Qe7 9.b3 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Bb2 Rd8? 11…dxc4 offers decent chances.

12.Rad1 Bg4 13.Nd4! dxc4 14.bxc4 Ba3? A big lemon. 15.Ba1 Re8 The tactical problem is his planned followup 15…Rxd4?? fails to 16. Bxd4 Bxe2 17. Rde1 Bxf1 18. Kxf1! and by eliminating checks white wins.  So he changes course but the B/a3 is just hanging out there.

16.h3 Bd7 17.e4 c5 18.Nb5!  Bxb5 19.cxb5 With the white knight gaining c4 and the center e- and f-pawns mobile,  it’s hopeless.

19…Bb4 20.f4 Ng6 21.e5 Rad8 22.Nc4 Nh5 23.Qf2 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Rd8 25.Bd5 Rd7 26.Qf3 Qd8 27.e6 1-0

I want to call your attention to a beautiful game played in Round 5.

GM Yermolinsky – IM Sarkar  Dutch Defense

OK, Sarkar handicapped himself by playing a Dutch but the game is still really aesthetic.

1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 d5 4.Bxf6 exf6 5.e3 Be6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Qd7 8.O-O Ne7 9.b3 Nc8 10.Na4 b6 11.c4 Nd6 12.cxd5 Bxd5 13.Nc3 Bb7 14.d5 c5 15.dxc6 Qxc6 16.Rc1 Rc8 17.Nb5 I haven’t mentioned black’s ugly opening treatment and skipped to this position. On the surface, black can take on c1 and face no difficulties.  It’s not the case!  As Bologan said in his autobiography, sometimes chess is a hockey power play.  5 on 4 is a hard goal, 4 on 3 is easier, and 3 on 2 is even easier.  The rest of the game is a “power play” with black being just a little short of getting his pieces out.  In the end, not only did he not free his game, his king got mated!  A really good effort by GM Yermo.

17…Qxc1 18.Qxc1 Rxc1 19.Rxc1 Nxb5 20.Bxb5 Kd8 21.Nd4! Fantastic coordination.

21…Bd5 22.Nxf5 Be6 23.Nd4 Bd5 24.Bc6 Bf7 25.Nb5 Bc5 26.Rd1 Kc8 27.Rd7 1-0

And also in Round 5, this unexpected massacre between two tournament leaders.

GM Kacheishvili – GM Gareev Chebanenko Slav

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Bf5 6.Nh4 Be6 7.Bf4 Nbd7 8.h3 g6 9.e3 Bg7 10.Bd3 O-O 11.Bh2 The problem is that white tried to do too much here.  He plays to nestle his bishop on h2 and he also plays to advance on the queenside, but his king is not yet safe.  In effect, he tried to do two plans and didn’t have the time to do that. Watch what happens.

11…b6 12.b4 bxc5 13.bxc5 Ne4! 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Bxe4 Nxc5!! Ouch!  A brutal tactic. 16.dxc5 Qa5 17.Ke2 Rad8 18.Qc2 Qb5 19.Kf3 f5 20.Kg3 fxe4 21.Qxe4 Bd5 22.Qc2 Qb4 23.f4 g5 0-1 A sadistic finale. Yermo observed white would have liked to trade the places of the K/g3 and B/h2 with a playable game.

Round 6

Jumping ahead to Round 6, a gap in my endgame knowledge surfaced:

IM Ginsburg – IM Pruess

After a long game in which I failed to capitalize on an attack, black made some errors and wound up with R vs Q. Here is a key moment.  Of course humans keep their rook near their king while computers know to make it harder by flinging the rook off somewhere.  Still, other humans must know how to break the “proximity defense”!  Here is where I failed.

Getting Too Close

In this position (mutual time trouble near the hundred move milestone) I’ve placed my queen too close to black’s king. Thus, 1. Kc3?? is rudely met by 1…Rb3+! with the usual stalemate tricks.  The kamikaze rook keeps giving check and forces the draw.  The winning position, which curiously none of the assembled spectators knew, is this (black to play):

The magical e4 square

Naturally white can force this from the start position.  The really nice winning line is (black to play):

1…Ka2 (forced) 2. Kc2 Rb2+ (forced) 3. Kc1 and the b1 square is covered.  Black then loses the rook since the geometric point of all this is the aesthetic 3….Rb3 4. Qa4+ (oh, that nimble queen!) 4….Ra3 5. Qc2+ and mate next on b2.  Note how the king and queen coordinate from long distance.  Note also white can always waste a move to make sure it’s black to play.  Easy, once you know it!

Round 6 also saw a beautiful effort from eventual tournament winner GM Timur Gareev to take down a tournament leader.

Gareev – Barcenilla, King’s Indian Averbakh

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Bg5 It’s very handy to have several anti-KID weapons in the arsenal.  Gareev showed his artistry in another setup vs. Altounian in this tournament.

6…h6 I like Nbd7 and e5 without h6.

7.Be3 e5 8.d5 c5?! Ugly.  Black usually develops counterplay with c6, taking on d5, and Qa5.

9.g4 Ne8 10.Qd2 Kh7 11.h4 a6 12.a4 b6 13.Nh3 Ra7 14.f3 Rh8 15.Nf2 a5 16.O-O-O Re7 17.Nd3 Ba6 18.b3 Nd7 19.Rdf1 Kg8 20.Nb5 Qb8 21.Kb1 Rh7 22.Rf2 Qb7 23.Bf1 Qb8 24.Bh3 Nf8 25.Rhf1 Qd8 26.Rh2 Rh8 27.g5 h5

Black’s problem is that the kingside is not fully blocked.  White carefully assembles forces for a crushing breakthrough.

28.Rhf2 Rh7 29.Nc3 Bh8 30.Qd1 Bc8 31.Bxc8 Qxc8 32.Bc1 f5 33.gxf6 Bxf6 34.Rh1 Ref7 35.Rg2 Qd8 36.Qe1 Qe7 37.Qg3 Nc7 38.Qh3 Rh8 39.Nd1 Kh7 40.Rg3 Rg8 41.Ne3 Rgg7 42.Nd1 Rg8 43.N3f2 Qd7 44.Qg2 b5 45.Nc3 b4 46.Ncd1 Qe7 47.Nh3 Kh8 48.Ng5 Bxg5 49.Bxg5 Qe8 50.Rg1 Na8 51.Ne3 Kh7 52.Nf5 Qd7 53.Nh6 Rfg7 54.Qd2 Nb6 55.Bf6 Nxc4 56.bxc4 Qxa4 57.Nf5 Qb3 58.Kc1 1-0 Very convincing play by Gareev.

Round 7

Barcenilla again plays his “nothing” opening and confuses strong IM Lev Milman.

Barcenilla-IM Lev Milman   Sicilian 2. c4

1.e4 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 d6 6.d3 Nf6 7.Nge2 a6 8.a4 Rb8 9.O-O O-O 10.h3 Ne8 11.Be3 Nc7 12.d4 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Ne6 14.Nde2 Nc5 White has zero.

15.Rb1 f5 15…a5 is completely fine for black.   The text is good too.

16.exf5 Bxf5 17.b4 Wow!  A creative semi-bluff.

17…Nd7? Milman should take:  17…Bxb1.  In all lines he’s a little better. For example, 18. Qxb1 Nd7 19. Qb3 Kh8 20. Nf4 Qc8.  He must have been afraid of the white square weaknesses but material is material.  It’s good psychology by Barcenilla because Milman is aggressive and wouldn’t like this defensive posture.  Still, the text leads to a cramped unpleasant game.

18.Rb3 Nf6 18….a5 19. bxa5! Nxa5 20. Rb5  is a white edge.

19.g4 Bd7 20.a5 Kh8 21.f4 Qe8 22.Bb6?! 22. Nd5! is stronger.

22…Be6?! Here, 22…Rc8! is stronger.

23.Nd5 Back on the right path.  It’s complete torture for black.

23…Bg8 24.b5 Nd8 25.bxa6 bxa6 26.Re3 Nxd5 27.cxd5 Nb7 28.Nd4 Rc8 29.Rfe1 Rc4 30.Rxe7 Qa4 31.Qxa4 Rxa4 32.Nc6 Nc5 33.Bxc5 dxc5 34.d6 Ra2 35.R7e2 Rxe2 36.Rxe2 Bc4 37.Rc2 Bb5 38.Rxc5 Bxc6 39.Rxc6 Rxf4 40.Rc8 1-0

Barcenilla’s important win propels him closer to the GM title and causes a disappointed Milman to withdraw.

Also in this round Gareev landed an astounding hit on IM-elect Esserman.

Esserman-Gareev, Strange Tarrasch Gambit

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4?! 5.Qxd4?! Unless current theory is totally wrong, 5. Qa4+ first is the strongest.  The line is discredited.

Nc6 6.Qd1 exd5 7.Qxd5 Bd7 8.Bd2 Nf6 9.Qg5 Bizarre.

9…Be7 Also bizarre.   9…h6 10. Qg3 Be6, for example, is OK for black.

10.Qxg7 Rg8 11.Qh6 Qb6 12.O-O-O What would black do on 12. Qe3?  If 12…Qxb2 13. Rb1 Qc2 14. Rc1 Nb4 15. Qf4 is a humorous line in which white is fine.  Or, it could wind up a repetition draw.

14.  O-O-O 13.f3 Looks and is too slow.  The passive 14. Qe3 was necessary.

13…Be6 14.e4?? A big lemon that black does not exploit.

14…Ne5?? A reciprocal blunder.   The simple 14…Rg6! wins instantly. If 15. Qf4?? Nh5! 16. Qe3 Rxd2! ouch!  winning a piece.  If 15. Qe3, 15…Bc5! wins the hapless piece on g1! 

15.Nh3?? After 15. Kb1!, what does black do?  15…Nd3  16. Bxd3 Rxd3 17. Rc1 is an edge to white.

15…Rxg2! Obvious.  16. Bxg2 Nd3+ mates.

16.Kb1 Nxe4! Strong, but not THAT strong.  White collapses needlessly.

17.Bxg2?? The simple 17. fxe4 Rgxd2 18. Qxd2! Rxd2 19. Rxd2 made a game of it.  For example, 19…Qe3? 20. Re2 Qh6 21. Nd5! with counter-chances.  After black’s best, 19…Kb8! intending …f5!, black is better but a full fight lies ahead.

17…Nxc3  0-1

In Round 7, I managed to defeat FM Carl Boor with the black pieces; it was a good long-range planning example.

FM Carl Boor – IM M. Ginsburg  King’s Indian

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. c4 d6 (3…Nc6 is possible) 4. Nc3 Pd7 5. Nf3 e5 6. Be2 Ngf6 7. Be3 O-O 8. d5 Ng4 9. Bg5 f6 10. Bd2 a5 11. h3 Ph6 12. g4 Nc5 13. Rg1 Nf7 14. Qc2 Bh6 15. Be3?! Bxe3 16. fxe3 Ng5 17. Nxg5?! This move coupled with white’s 15th place him in a totally passive situation.

17…fxg5 18. O-O-O Bd7 Since the position on the kingside is not totally blocked, black can develop an initiative.

19. Rgf1 Qe7 20. b3 Qg7 21. Bf3 Qh6 22. Qg2 Qh4 23. Kd2 Kg7 24. Be2 h5 25. Kc2 Na6 26. a3 Nc5 27. Rb1 Rxf1 28. Rxf1 Rf8 29. Rxf8 Kxf8 30. b4 Probably better not to do this and simply await events.

30…axb4 31. axb4 Na4 32. Nd1? White has good chances to hold after 32. Nxa4.

32…Kg7 33. Nd1 Nb6 The knight is on a long tour to its ideal f6 square! 34. Kd2 Nc8 35. Qf3 Ne7 36. Ke1 hxg4! It’s the right time for this.  The black queen can later go to h8 and a8 to bother white’s overextended queenside.

37. hxg4 Ng8 38. Kd2 Nf6 Finally!  White’s position is at the breaking point.

39. Qg2 Qh8! White may have been hoping for 39…Qxf2? 40. Qxf2 Nxe4+ 41. Ke1 Nxf2 42. Kxf2 which appears to be a blockade draw.  For example, 42…e4 43. b5! sealing things off enough.  White can’t just wait there; the black king would go to e5 and black would play the winning …b5.  So white should anticipate all that with 43. b5! and I see no win.

40. Nh3 Qa8! The loss of the g-pawn is not serious; once black infiltrates in white’s rear-guard it turns out white’s fractured pawns are too weak.

41. Nxg5 Qa2+ 42. Ke1 Qb1+ 43. Kf2 Qxb4 44. Ne6+ Bxe6 45. dxe6 Qb1! Winning.

46. Qf3 Qxe4 47. e7 Qxf3+ 48. Bxf3 c6 49. g5 Ne8 50. Be4 Kf7 51. Kg3 Nc7 52. Bc2 d5 53. c5 e4 Blocking off the bishop. 54. Kf4 Ke7 55. Ke5 Ne6 0-1

Round 8

In this round I was unfortunately paired with my roommate, IM Levon Altounian, and it’s very hard to fight a morning game in those circumstances.  So, draw.  

Here was the confusing game Pruess-Sarkar:

IM Pruess – IM Sarkar, Modern Defense

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 a6? This line is terrible for black.  4…c6! is better as in several USCL games last season.

5.Nf3 b5 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.a4? Every schoolboy should know, after IM (now GM!) Larry Kaufman’s Chess Life article on winning the World Senior ‘08 (and his article on the prior win, the US Senior ‘08) that 7. e5! is great for white here.  See the crushing win Kaufman-IM Igor Foygel US Senior 2008.   GM Kachiyan has proven this independently many times as well.

7…b4 8.Ne2 e6 9.c4 c5 10.d5 exd5 11.exd5 Ne7 12.g4 h5 13.gxh5 Rxh5 14.Ng3 Rh8 15.Qe2 Nf6? 15…Kf8 is correct.

16.f5 gxf5 17.Bf4? 17. Bxf5 and Bc2 is just a clear large edge to white.

Kf8 18.O-O-O? 18. O-O is much stronger, white still has an edge just less than before.

18…b3? 18..Ng6 is stronger with good chances.

19.h4 Ne4?? A terrible hallucination.  Anything except this to fight on.  Sarkar was in atrocious form for much of the event; so was his opponent.

20.Bxe4! fxe4 21.Nxe4 Bf5 22.Nxd6 Black is completely, totally, busted.

22…Bc2 23.Rde1?? If Pruess wasn’t in such bad form, he would have easily spotted 23. Nxf7! and black must resign.  For example, 23…Kxf7 24. Ng5+ Ke8 25. Ne6 Bxd1 26. Rxd1 and you can turn off your TV set now.

Ng6 24.Qe3 Qd7 25.Rhf1 A really sick perpetual results from 25. Rhg1 Qxa4 26. Qxc5 Qa1+ 27. Kd2 Qxb2 28. Nf5+ Kg8 29. Ne7+ Kh7 (not 29…Nxe7?? 30. Be5! winning) 30. Ng5+ Kh6 31. Nxf7+ Kh7 and draw!

25…Qxa4 26.Be5 Nxe5 27.Nxe5 Qa1 28.Kd2 Qxb2 29.Rxf7 Kg8 30.Qc3 Qxc3 31.Kxc3 Rxh4 32.Rg1 Rh7 33.Rc7 Rf8 34.Kd2 a5 35.Rxc5? The last straw.  Some beautiful variations remained behind the scenes here.

Feast your eyes on 35. Re7!!.   35. Re7!! a4 36. Nd7 Rh2+ 37. Ke1 Bg6!!  (37…Rh7 is crushed by 38. Nxf8 b2 39. Nxh7 b1=Q+ 40. Kf2 and wins)  and make sure to set this position up at home.  It’s amazing.   38. Rxg6! (38. Nxf8?? Kxf8 wins for black).   Now, 38…b2 is a fantastic draw.  38…b2 39. Rexg7+ Kh8 and now watch the horses give themselves away!  40.  Nf7+ Rxf7 41. Rg8+ Kh7 42. Nf6+ (or the dual 42. Nf8+!!) 42…Rxf6 43.  R8g7+ and draw.

But it gets even better.  White can start with 38. Rxg6 b2 39. Nf6+!!.   For example, 39…Rxf6 40. Rexg7+ and let’s pause here.    Can the black king run to f8?  No!!  40…Kf8 41. Rg8+ Ke7 42. Nc8+!! mates!   A really nice mate after 42…Kd7 43. R6g7+.    And after the prosaic 40…Kh8 we have our familiar perpetual with 41 Rg8+.  These double knight sac variations are all very beautiful.

After the text black sadly wins.  There is luck in chess.

35…Rh2+ 36.Kc3 Rf3 37.Kb2 Bg6 0-1 Very, very sad.

Round 9

This game was fairly clean – which was good, I was almost out of energy.

FM Danny Rensch – IM M. Ginsburg

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.c4 Personally I think 3. c3 is the strongest here.

3…e6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Bd3 Here, I think 6. Nc3 is stronger.   Theory shows advantage for white after 6…Bb4 but black can hang tough in the style of Gregory Serper with …Qc7, …b6, and a Hedgehog.

6…Nc6 7.Nxc6 dxc6 8.O-O e5 9.Na3?! I don’t like this.  The knight is going to c2 to support Bc1-e3, but in fact black wants to trade those bishops!  Therefore 9. Nc3! with later Nc3-a4 ideas looks much better.  As GM Kacheishvili mentioned, even N to d2 to b3 is possible.

9…Be6 10.Qe2 Bc5 11.Be3 Nd7 12.Nc2 a5 13.Kh1 Bxe3 14.Nxe3 Nc5 15.Bc2 O-O 16.b3 Qe7 17.g3 Rad8 18.Rae1? White must challenge on the d-file although he is not fully equal there.

18…Rd4 19.f4?! Bh3 20.Qh5?! White is just executing one giant miscalculation.  In this tournament, every player (except for the winner Gareev) showed weak spots with low energy.  I showed mine in Round 10 vs IM-elect Esserman.

20…Bxf1 21.Nf5 Bg2+! This zwicshenzug wins.

22.Kg1 Qd8 23.Nxd4 Qxd4 24.Kxg2 White offered a draw but it’s plain sailing now for black.

24…exf4 Since 25. gxf4 Ne6! wins, white is lost.

25.e5 g6 26.Qg4 Qc3 27.Re2 Ne6 28.Be4 fxg3 29.hxg3 Rd8 30.Qf3 Qxf3 31.Bxf3 h5 32.Rb2 Kf8 33.a3 Nc5 34.Be2 Nd3 35.Bxd3 Rxd3 36.c5 Rc3 37.b4 Rxa3 38.bxa5 Rxa5 39.Rxb7 Rxc5 40.Rc7 Rxe5 41.Rxc6 Kg7 42.Rc7 g5 43.Ra7 Kg6 44.Ra8 Re4 45.Rg8 Kf5 46.Ra8 h4 47.gxh4 Rxh4 0-1

This is the first time I defeated Danny, he defeated me several times prior in sharp Sicilians.  This one wasn’t so sharp which helped explain my success.

Round 10

GM Georgi Kacheishvili came up strong with flawless technique vs young GM Ramirez.

Ramirez-Kacheishvili

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.Bg2 Nd7 4.d4 e6 5.O-O Ngf6 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.c3 h6 8.Qb3 Rb8 9.Re1 Bf5 10.Nf1 O-O 11.c4 dxc4 12.Qxc4 b5 13.Qb3 c5 14.Bf4 c4 15.Qd1 Rc8 16.N3d2 Nd5 17.e4 Nxf4 18.gxf4 Bh7 19.Ng3 Bb4 20.a3 Ba5 21.Re3 Nf6 22.Ne2 Bb6 23.Nb1 Rc7 24.Nbc3 Rd7 25.Nxb5 a6 26.Nbc3 Bxd4 27.Nxd4 Rxd4 28.Qe2 Qc7 29.e5 Nd7 30.Ne4 Nc5 31.Nxc5 Qxc5 32.Be4 Rfd8 33.Rc1 Rd2 34.Bxh7 Kxh7 35.Qf3 Rxb2 From this point forward, it’s absolute torture for white with his structural weaknesses.  Black plays perfectly, tacking to and fro until something gives.

36.Qe4 g6 37.Rxc4 Qe7 38.Rc2 Rxc2 39.Qxc2 Rd4 40.Rf3 Qh4 41.Qe2 Qg4 42.Kf1 a5 43.h3 Qf5 44.Qe3 Rd1 45.Kg2 Qb1 46.Rg3 Rg1 47.Kf3 Re1 48.Qd4 Qb7 49.Kg4 Re4 50.Qd8 Rxe5 Very nice.  Black won the game in minimum time.

51.Rf3 Rd5 52.Qf8 Rf5 53.Kg3 Qb1 0-1 White’s seen enough. Something like 53. Kg2 Qe4 54. Kg3 g5 wins.

I fared no better in the last round.  It appears my energy reserves were depleted as I saw nothing at the board in a sharp opening. It’s better to be quietly when tired!

IM-elect Esserman – M. Ginsburg
1.e4 d6 1…c5! hoping for a Smith-Morra.  It’s not easy to explain why I selected an opening I did not know.

2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 b5 To demonstrate my ignorance, I did not know 4…Qa5 5. Bd3 e5 was correct here.

5.e5 b4 6.exf6 bxc3 7.fxg7 Bxg7 8.bxc3 Black has inadequate compensation.

Nd7 9.Bd3 Qa5 10.Bd2 Nb6 11.Nf3 Be6 12.O-O? Much stronger is 12. Qe2!

12…Nc4 13.Re1 Nxd2 14.Qxd2 Now black in fact has compensation.  Somewhere around here Esserman’s cell phone started ringing.  That’s how FM Bartell was forfeited not just once, but twice at a North American FIDE Invitational?  Unfortunately for me, in this event we weren’t playing by the FIDE “cell phone forfeit rule” although it was FIDE rated.  White just lost 10 minutes on his clock.  That’s not enough compensation for my next move which is a game-ending blunder.

14…Rb8?? Should we say “last round game” or “morning game” or a combination of the two.  The text loses and the simple 14…O-O retained compensation.  The white knight can’t jump just yet due to the Bxd4+ trick.

15.f5 This just wins.  If the bishop moves, Qg5 wins.  The black king is not looking happy in the middle. Not a good day.

15…Bxf5 16.Qg5 Kf8 17.Bxf5 e6 18.Qf4 Ke7 19.Bxe6 fxe6 20.Ng5 1-0

Photo Section

Everybody got a T-Shirt!

The Official Tournament T-Shirt

And here are the second place winners.

They tied for second

Pictured from left to right are hard-working TD Jon Haskel, organizer FM Danny Rensch, Alex Lenderman (who made a GM norm), GM Georgi Kacheishvili, and friend of chess and main patron, Abstrax Inc. president John Lalonde.  Alex wound up with a monster score courtesy of a last-round win that was most chaotic – Alex was black in Levon Altounian’s favorite Panov Attack, played in a rather crazy and risky manner, and survived white’s monster initiative when white got low on time.  In the end he even won a knight and pawn ending.  He had already made a 9-round norm though (you’re allowed to drop one game and have nine sequential games count in a ten-round tournament).

And finally the winner!

Uzbek GM Timur Gareev - Tournament Winner!

From left to right:  Haskel, Rensch, Gareev and Lalonde.

In the foreground you see GM Zviad Izoria with his trademark red cap and to his left, Alex Lenderman.  Just stopping in for the prizegiving was WGM Angelina Belapovskaya!

The funniest thing was Lenderman doing a sort of disco dance at this ceremony (if you YouTube, you can see he’s done it before) and also appreciated was a super-babe Round girl to start Round 1 (I think it was Danny’s sister).

The Fabulous 00s: Championing Dubious Systems

Say What?

A lot of authors champion some pretty bad things.  A duo of Dutch  amateurs champion a passive Philidor-type system starting with 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 and call it the “Black Lion” for reasons that are not clear on the surface.  It looks more like zebra meat a lion might enjoy as a snack.   A review by Arne Moll points out some of the authors’ analysis biases. In a worse vein,  German amateur Stefan Buecker used to champion the hideous Vulture (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 Ne4?) and subjectively bias the lines so that black was on top more often that not.  And I won’t even talk about what American blogger “Dana M.” is espousing in terms of opening systems.

Moving up the ranks of respectability in terms of both author and subject matter, GM Victor Moskalenko champions the Budapest (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5) in a recent book. What’s there to say?  Black relies on piece play without pawns in front, in violation of Kasparov’s famous attacking edicts.  I guess black is hoping white messes up, because it certainly looks like a safe += in the mainlines. Just to prove its tricky nature, though,I tried it as black versus an IM and was rewarded with a lucky win in ICC Blitz.   In passing, the Albin (1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5) is fairly tough to break too, as GM Morozevich has proven in many games.   The Budapest and Albin are both apparently better than their long-standing reputations.

Event “ICC 5 0″]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.05.20"]
[Round "-"]
[White "IM Dali"]
[Black "aries2"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2291"]
[BlackElo "2421"]
[Opening "Budapest: Adler variation"]
[ECO "A52"]
[NIC "QG.01"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 Moskalenko’s Fabulous Move.

3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. e3 White opts for the common, slow treatment, but since he hasn’t done anything wrong and black’s just floating out there in the center, I would be happy as white.   Slow pawn expansion should punish the dancing knights.

5…Ngxe5 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Bd2 O-O 8. a3?! This cannot promise much. Quite interesting is 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. f4!? Nc6 10. Nd5! and white can claim a small edge.  Is this line a novelty?

8…Bxc3 9. Bxc3 d6 10. Be2 Be6 10…Nxf3+ is quite a reasonable alternative and black might be able to reaches full equality.  For example, 11. Bxf3 Ne5 12. Be2 Be6 13. b3 Qf6! 14. Rc1 Qg6 15. O-O Bh3 16. Bf3 Rfe8 and it’s balanced.

11. b3 a5 11…Qf6!? is interesting here.  12. Rc1 Qg6! and with this typical transfer, it’s equal.

12. a4 I wouldn’t be in a rush to do this as white but it doesn’t seem bad.

12…b6?! Once again black misses the Qf6! motif.

13. Nd4 Just 13. O-O first and wait and see.

13…Bd7?! Black misses the more active 13…Qg5! =.

14. O-O After numerous imprecisions, white now has a stable edge.

14…Qe7 15. Nb5 Rac8 16. Qd2 Rfe8 17. Rae1 What can black do?  17. Rad1 is also unpleasant.

17…Ng6 17…Ng4 18. Qb2! is not fun.

18. Bd3 Nce5 19. Bc2 White is gearing up for the central pawn blitz so I have to do something.

19…Nf3+?! OK.  Here we go.  I’m attacking without any pawns.  Chess principles say this cannot work.

20.  gxf3 Nh4 21. Kh1 Forced but good.

21…Nxf3

22. Qd5 This is fine.  To give us the satisfied feeling that chess principles are not broken in this game, those with sharp tactical vision see 22. Qd1! and now both 22…Bc6 23. e4! interference theme! and 22…Bg4 23. Rg1! are terrible for black. White should win after 22. Qd1!.  The presence of two good moves for white at this juncture mean black’s 19th was hopelessly unsound.

22…Bg4 23. Rg1 Qh4 Of no use is 23…c6 24. Qd3! Qh4 25. Qxh7+!  winning.

24. Rg2 Nxe1? Slightly better is 24…Re5 25. Bxe5 Nxg1 26. Bxg7! and white should win.

25. Qd4! Crushing!

25…Re5 26. Rxg4? A bad gaffe in blitz and where the game starts to turn 180 degrees.  After 26. Bxe1 black can resign.

26…Qxf2 27. Be4? A typical blitz collapse. White had to play 27. Bxe1 but black can play on there and doesn’t need to take a draw.

27…Nf3 28. Bxf3 Qf1+ 29. Rg1 Qxf3+ 30. Rg2 Rg5!

A nice finale.  The double threat on g2 and Qf1+ decides.

31. Qd2 Qf1+ {White resigns}
0-1

And the Next Stop on this Train is….

Now That’s a Dome!

Happy Marriage of Princeton and Yale: Sotomayor!

Referring to the recent Obama Supreme Court nominee, traditional conservative CNN windbag columnist Ruben Navarette writes, “How about on sheer qualifications? Sotomayor sure has them. Raised by her mother after her father died, Sotomayor graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude and from Yale Law School.”  He goes on to note, “radio talk show host [pill-popper] Rush Limbaugh called her “an affirmative action case extraordinaire,” although affirmative action doesn’t help you graduate summa cum laude from an Ivy League university.”   This is a good point, I hope “Rush” (what a name!) takes notice. I was not an affirmative action case and had a miserable GPA because the student union building also doubled as pizza and beer; New Jersey was a “18″ state for drinking at the time.  I also noticed that critics routinely omitted the honors; I presume on purpose. An example of the omission: dogmatic conservative columnist Jeffrey Rosen rushes to omit by saying “She was raised by her mother, a nurse, and went to Princeton and then Yale Law School.”   Nice foxy omission, Jeff but it’s not going to work; she will get confirmed in a landslide.  At the very least, critics should get the bio right before falling over themselves to attack the candidate on the grounds of ethnic favoritism.  Postscript:  Newt Gingrich ‘tweeted’ (sorry, Newt is a cretin racist name) “White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw.”   Newt?  Does this withered prune fellow have any credibility?   Did some young fascist Republican show him how to Tweet?  I can’t fathom the guy even logging on.  “Newt” and “Rush” are amusing cretin hillbilly names – quite predictable they would spew vitriol more often than not.   We could switch them around, two new hate-filled personas “Nush” and “Rewt”.   VIVA this happy union of Princeton and Yale.   It reaffirms an earlier post regarding Yale’s excellent graduate programs and Princeton’s tigerhold in the undergraduate arena.

Postscript 5/28/09:  Ed Rollins, Chairman of the RNC, agrees!:

“There can be no debate over her qualifications. Her lifetime achievements in the academic world, in the legal world and the judicial world are unchallengeable. If that was the only measure, she would be confirmed unanimously.

That isn’t going to happen! We are into full-bore political battle within the Republican Party, with conservatives and pragmatists arguing over what are the best tactics to stop the direction that this young president and his congressional allies are taking us.

But I just offer a word of caution. The confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor is not the battle to be waged and it won’t be won.”

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The Fabulous 00s: The Opening Will Be the Modern Steinitz

Robert Hess’s self-declared weapon of choice is the Modern Steinitz as he stated in a recent Chess Life Online interview, “I’m not afraid to play that line (the Steinitz Deferred) against anyone..” It’s a curious preferred variation for a junior, but we have to remember that Kenny Regan used to like Bird’s Defense (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4).

Josh Friedel’s weapon of choice is 1. e4 although in recent times he’s tried a few other moves, following in Anand’s footsteps.  Let’s see what happened when they met at the US Championship.  The game in fact propelled Hess into a 4-way tie for the lead with 5/7.

GM Josh Friedel – IM (GM-elect) Robert Hess  US Championship Round 7, Modern Steinitz Varation, Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. d4!?

Decision Point

Already notable. 6. c3 is seen far more often by a factor of almost 3 to 1.  From Hess’s practice, we have  Krivenstov-Hess, Las Vegas 2006 with white simplifying and exchanging on e5 shortly:  6.c3 Nge7 7.d4 Ng6 8.Re1 Be7  9.Nbd2 h6 10.Nf1 Bg5 11.Ne3 Bxe3 12.Bxe3 0-0 13.dxe5  1/2.  Not very illuminating when white gives up trying after a few moves.  6. c3 does look to be the most principled and really shouldn’t lead to a quick draw.   However we have to assume that Friedel’s choice was based on significant human and computer prep time since Hess telegraphs this one, narrow, variation.

In a more recent Hess example with c2-c3, Yap chose the main alternate plan and closed the center quickly but came to a bad end, Yap-Hess World Open 2007:   6. c3 Nge7 7.d4 Ng6 8.d5 Nb8  9.Bxd7+ Nxd7 10.c4 Be7 11.Nc3 h6 12.Be3 Bg5 13.Qd2 Bxe3 14.Qxe3 Nf4 15.Ne2 Nxe2+ 16.Qxe2 0-0  17.b4 f5 18.exf5 Rxf5 19.Rac1 a5 20.a3 axb4 21.axb4 Ra3 22.Nd2 Qh4 23.g3 Qd4 24.Ne4 Nf6 25.Nxf6+ Rxf6 26.Rfd1 Qb6 27.Qb2 Qa6 28.Rd2 Rff3 29.Qb1 Rab3 30.Qg6 Qa3 31.Rdc2 Qxb4 32.c5 Rf7 33.cxd6 Qxd6 34.Qe6 Rb6 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.Rxc7 Qxd5 37.Rxf7 Qxf7 38.Qg4 Qg6 39.Qe2 Rb1 40.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 41.Kg2 b5 42.Qxe5 b4 43.f4 Qc2+ 44.Kh3 Qc8+ 45.f5 b3 46.Qb5 Qc2 47.Qd5 b2 48.Qe6 Qc5 49.Qg6+ Kg8 50.Qe8+ Qf8 51.Qb5 Qf6 52.Kg2 Kh7 53.Kh3 Qd4 54.Qe8 Qb6 0-1.

Let’s return to the 6. c3 plan after we get through the Friedel game.

6…Nxd4!? Changing from Robson-Hess, SPICE Cup 2009, where black played 6…Nge7 7. d5 Nb8 8. Bxd7 Nxd7 9. c4 thus white not losing a tempo with c2-c3.  That game continued  9…Ng6 10. Nc3 Be7 11. Be3 h6 12. b4 Bg5 and now Robson came up lame with 13. Qd2?! Bxe3 14. fxe3?! Nh4 and white had nothing – the game was quickly drawn.   Instead, white should play the fairly evident 13. Nxg5! hxg5 and now decide between 14. c5!? and 14. g3!?.  In both cases, white has good chances for an opening edge. It is not suprising Hess seeks a different way in the current game. It is a natural assumption Friedel spent some time improving on Robson-Hess elaborating on 13. Nxg5!, so it’s very good that black deviated here.

7. Bxd7+ Qxd7 8. Nxd4 exd4 9. Qxd4 Ne7 Yes, white can claim a small edge here.

10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Qd3 Be7 12. Nd5 O-O 13. Bd2 Rae8 14. Bc3 Bd8

This is the first critical moment of the game.

Key Moment - What Rook goes where?

15. Rfe1?! The question of which rook goes where is always difficult.  It’s likely white missed a chance here with the indicated 15. f4! f5 (what else?) 16. e5! (not 16.  Rae1? fxe4 = with the f4 pawn just sticking out) and this position offers white some initiative.  For example, 16…Re6 17. Rae1! Qf7 18. Qc4! Rfe8 19. Qb3! – an excellent sequence to keep a little something.  This line gives Friedel’s choice of 6. d4 support.

15…Ne5 16. Qg3 Ng6 17. Rad1 f6 18. h4?! Correct is just waiting and reshuffling with something like 18. Qd3 or 18. Bb4.

18…f5 19. exf5 Black is very happy after 19. h5 f4!

19…Qxf5 But now it’s just initiative for free for black, hitting white’s weak pawns.

20. Rxe8 Rxe8 21. Ne3 Qf7 21…Qh5 is also strong.

22. Rd4 h5 23. a4 Re6 24. a5 Bf6 24…c6! is good too.

25. Ra4?! 25. Rb4 c5! isn’t fun for white.  But he should have tried it as 26. Rc4! Rxe3 27. fxe3 Qxc4 28. Qxg6 holds.  The text leads to a very serious pawn structure weakening.

25…Bxc3 26. bxc3 Rf6 27. f3 A chance was 27. Rb4 c6 and try to confuse with 28. Qg5 (28…Rxf2 29. Rxb7) although 28…Nf4 keeps an edge.

27…Nf4 28. Kf2 Ne6?! 28…c6, idea ….d5, keeping N on f4, seems more accurate.

29. Rb4 Nc5 30. Qh3? The losing moment.  30. Qg5! held the position.

30…Qa2?! Strong, but computer likes 30…c6! even more since white is helpless to undertake anything at all after 31. Qc8+ Kh7.  For example, 32. Ke2 Qe7 with the idea of Qe5.

31. Kg3? It was no fun but white had to try the ending after 31. Qc8+ Kh7 32. Qxc7 Nd3+ 33. Ke2 Nxb4 34. cxb4 Qf7 35. Qxf7 Rxf7.  There are some faint hopes of survival.

31…Qa1 Too many threats.

32. Qc8+ Rf8 33. Qxc7 Qxc3 34. Rxb7 Qe1+ 35. Kh2 Nxb7 36. Qxb7 0-1

The Fabulous 00s: Different Ways to Engage Tactically

This just in from Round 6 US Championship action.   A crazy struggle where it would appear pre-game computer cycles played a major role.
GM L. Christiansen – IM R. Robson  Slav Crazy (Computer-Oriented) Gambit Line

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 Different Way to Play #1: It’s quite possible now to play a tactical, attacking game (!) after 3. cxd5 as Kasparov showed many times.  The computer would play less of a role.

3. d4 c6 Different Way to Play #2: And here, Khalifman used to have good results with the soft, slow-motion gambit of 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. g3!? dxc4 6. Bg2.  Shabalov tried this line vs. Sevillano and lost in an earlier round of the ‘09 Championship, but the opening was not to blame.  That line offers a rich mother-lode for human creativity.

4. e4 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qxd4 7. Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8. Ne2 Na6 Both players are following a fairly narrow mainline in this insanely tactical, inhuman (thus computer-oriented) melee.

9. Bf8 Ne7 10. Bxg7 Nb4 11. Qd6 Nc2+ 12. Kd2 Nxa1 13. Bxh8 Qc2+ 14. Ke1 Qxc4 15. Nc3 Qb4 Cute, but computer ho-hum, black exploits the fork on c2 to move the queen to this active square.

16. Qd2 e5 Does anyone doubt that at least one of the players had this in the computer before the game? 

17. Qc1 Bg4! The best.  I doubt black has had to think on his own yet. Rybka 3.1 says this is equal.

Addendum May 16, 2009:  IM Fluffy reminded me to say this is good prep by Robson, the article is not a knock on Robson.

Computer Chess

18. f3? In a not very illumating computer “finding”, Rybka 3.1 likes 18. h3 but at the same time believes black is OK after 18. h3. The mainline is a humorous, absurd, repetition draw: 18…Bh5 19. g4 Bg6 20. Qxa1 Qf4! 21. Ne2 Qb4+ 22. Nc3 Qf4! 23. Ne2 and drawn!   Note that 21…Qe4?! is met by 22. f3! Qxf3 23. Rg1 and white has an edge.

18…Bxf3! Not very difficult but pleasing.  White’s king loses protection.  

19. Bf6 19. gxf3 Qh4+ 20. Ke2 Ng6! 21. Qxa1 O-O-O gives black a big attack.  Queen and knight is a very dangerous attacking duo.

19…Nd5 20. Bxe5? A fatal second miscue.  20. gxf3 Nxf6 21. Qxa1 O-O-O with a black edge but not yet decisive was necessary.

20…Qe7! Now white’s king cannot get out of the danger zone and no more resistance is possible.  A depressing result of the battle of computers. Perhaps black’s computer had been going a lot longer on this variation.   Psychologically, the two deviations given at the start of the game would yield better chances versus a tactical junior than engaging in a full-on irrational position computer war.

21. gxf3 Qxe5+ 22. Kf2 Qd4+ 23. Kg3 Ne3 24. Bh3 Nac2 25. Nd1 f5 26. Nxe3 f4+ 27. Kf2 fxe3+ 28. Kg3 Qd6+ 29. f4 Qd3 30. Rd1 Qg6+ 31. Kf3 Qh5+
32. Bg4 Qxh2 33. Rd6 Qf2+ 34. Ke4 e2 35. Bxe2 Qxe2+ 36. Kf5 Ke7
0-1

Kind of a depressing game in general where the “gee, look at that moves” were prepared already.   To put it another way, not much work at the board for black to achieve a winning game versus a strong player. I’d rather have both players on their own devices in an original, not analyzed setting, to create something nice in this important tournament.

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The Fabulous 00s: 1970s Theory in Keres Attack Still the Best

This just in from today’s US Championship:

IM (GM-elect) Robert Hess – GM Melikset Khachiyan   Keres Attack

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 h6 7. Bg2 Nc6 8. g5 A very old lunge, a little bit schizophrenic. White starts slowly (7. Bg2) then switches gears and charges, splintering his own pawn structure. Khachiyan, an experienced GM, starts by playing the right moves.

8…hxg5 9. Bxg5 Bd7 10. Nb3 a6 11. Qe2 Be7 So far, so good.

12. h4

To Hide the Black King or Not?

12…b5 This is fundamentally risky.  As solid Swedish GM Ulf Anderssen exquisitely showed in the 1970s, black should be hiding his king on the queenside then working on potential weaknesses caused by white’s early advances.  Very solid is 12…Qc7! 13. O-O-O O-O-O and now, for eample, 14. f4 is met by the effective 14…Nh5! aiming at g3.  15. Bxe7 Nxe7 16. Qf2 Kb8 is fully equal.  It’s a matter of personal preference, but I would enjoy playing that setup hoping to expose the negative side of white’s kingside pawn splintering. The text move hands black a permanent, difficult, task, with the king in the middle.  Maybe Khachiyan was too young (!) to properly recall Ulf’s grand efforts?   On the other hand, as the note to black’s 17th shows, he had a narrow path to stay balanced even with the risky king.  This move almost warrants a dubious ?! symbol but since it stays afloat with brave play, I will refrain.  It is indeed dubious if the player has less than peak energy levels that day.

13. a3 Nh5! The same motif as in the old Anderssen games.  Black is OK.

14. O-O-O White might as well try this pawn sacrifice which is totally riskless.

14…Bxg5+ 15. hxg5 Qxg5+ 16. Kb1 Ke7 Black’s king is secure for the time being, but one miscue will mean death (as occurred!). 16…g6 is a move here, but black still has that king placement problem.

17. Bf3

Horse should go back, not forward

The key moment.  Black should stay compact.

17…Nf4?? Tempting but losing.  He had to play 17…Nf6. In that case, black is all right.  For example, 18. Rhg1 is met by the calm 18…Qf4 19. Rxg7 Ne5 and it’s balanced.  Black will play Rag8 next to get rid of the intruder.

18. Qd2 Qe5 19. Nd5+! Crushing. The rest is agony.  It’s impossible to say what black missed tactically but it must have been something simple.

19…exd5 20. exd5 Rxh1 21. Rxh1 Nd8 22. Re1 f6 23. Rxe5+ fxe5 24. Nd4 Rc8 25. c3 g5 26. Qe3 Kf6 27. Ne2 Bf5+ 28. Ka1 Nxe2 29. Bxe2 Rc5 30. Qf3 e4 31. Qh1 Nf7 32.  Qd1 Ne5 33. Qd4 g4 34. b4 Rc8 35. a4 bxa4 36. Bxa6 Rh8 37. b5 e3 38. b6 Rh1+ 39. Ka2 exf2 40. Qxf2 Rh8 41. b7 Rg8 42. Qb6 Nd7 43. Qxd6+ Kg5 44. Bd3 1-0