Moo Moo Thank you Bu – for that Crazee Saemisch!

Thank you, young Grandmaster Bu, for re-introducing a Stone Age Saemisch Attacking Scheme in the Russian Team Championship, 2008! The common thinking was “White can’t mate like that, it’s ridiculous and will backfire.” Bu re-interprets it to say “Attila the Hun Genghis Khan sweeps through the Russian Steppes, killing everything he sees.”

[Event “TCh-RUS”]
[Site “Dagomys RUS”]
[Date “2008.04.02”]
[Round 1]
Bu Xiangzhi [2708] – Vadim Zvjaginsev [2674]
King’s Indian: Saemisch
[ECO “E83”]
[NIC “KI.52”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 a6 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Qd2 Bd7 9. h4 h5 10. Bh6!? TN? Refreshingly barbaric and a move I have been unable to locate in prior games. GM Miles played 10. O-O-O b5 11. Bh6 and Jadoul reacted incorrectly with 11…Kh7?, missing 11…Bxh6 12. Qxh6 e5! 13. d5 Na5! with good counterplay. Miles won that game easily in 29 moves, Miles-Jadoul, Brussels 1986. In our current game, Attila the Hun enters the hunt directly for the black king. The player facing Bu is no slouch, by the way. But note how quickly he is swamped.

Position after 10. Bh6!? – is this plausible move a Theoretical Novelty?

10...e5 The usual reaction is to draw the queen away with 10…Bxh6 11. Qxh6 and then hit in the center. In this exact position, 10…Bxh6 11. Qxh6 b5!? might be the way to go. Black will need nerves of steel, facing such scary lines as 12. O-O-O e5! 13. g4 bxc4 14. Ng3 exd4 15. Bxc4 Ne5!, but after all this is a kings of opposite castling game and every tempo matters. Bringing the white queen close to the black king looks insanely risky but sometimes it’s the right thing to do in order to make white’s central control weaker.

11. O-O-O b5 Once again, black disdains the stronger 11…Bxh6! 12. Qxh6 b5! and his counterplay is fast. As in the prior note, 13. g4 is met by 13…e5. Here’s another example of a defensive motif: 13. Nd5? bxc4 14. g4? Nxd5 15. exd5 Nb4! 16. gxh5 Nxa2+ 17. Kd2 Qf6! with an edge.

12. Nd5?! Incredibly primitive. Did Bu feast on red meat that day or look forward to a feast after the game? Black immediately goes wrong.

12…Re8? Weeeeeak. Correct was, yes, you’ve guessed it, the dangerous looking 12…Bxh6! 13. Qxh6 bxc4. Black has everything under control. See the prior note with how to handle the blunder 14. g4? and also note that 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Nef4 accomplishes nothing after 15…Rb8 where black’s play is more effective than white’s.

13. g4? The circumspect 13. Bg5! leads to a sharp game with mutual chances. The text is part of white’s crazed overall approach. The fact that this Paleozoic approach works is quite surprising given the level of strength of his opponent.

13…hxg4 14. h5 Nothing else to do but this shouldn’t work.

14…gxf3 15. hxg6 fxg6 16. Nec3 Was this bizarre formation white’s chief attacking idea? Black obviously is now totally confuzzled and commits a horrific blunder in a position where he has a simple win.

Position after 16. Nec3. Make or break time.

16…Nxd4??? A win to a loss in one unfortunate move. Black could have won the game here. The simple 16…Ng4! killed white’s attack. For example, 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Bh3 (trying to get to the queen check on h6) Rh8! and black will win. Or, 17. Bg5 Qb8! 18. cxb5 Nxd4! with a big edge after, e.g., 19. bxa6 Be6 20. Rh4 Qa7. Lastly, 17. cxb5 axb5 changes nothing (18. Bg5 Qc8! 19. Nxb5 Be6! 20. Bc4 Na5! and black wins by one tempo). In addition, there is the humorous 18. Bg5 Qc8! 19. dxe5 Ncxe5 20. Ne7+ Rxe7 21. Bxe7 b4! and black wins by direct attack, e.g. 22. Nd5 Rxa2 23. Kb1 Qa8 and white can resign. In all variations, black’s king is safer than white’s now. I can’t resist here and will put a diagram after another humorous line, 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Bg5 Qc8! 19. Nxb5 Be6! 20. Nbxc7 Nxd4! 21. Kb1.

Position after 21. Kb1 (analysis).

As you can probably spot right away, the nice pseudo-queen sacrifice 21…Qxc7!! here wins. 22. Nxc7 Bxa2+ 23. Kc1 Nb3+ 24. Kc2 Nxd2 25. Kxd2 Nf2! and white has to resign.

17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Nxf6 Qxf6 19. Nd5 Everything with gain of time. Black was starting to feel sick, probably.

19…Qf8 20. Qh6+ Kf7 21. Qg5 Qg7 22. Rxd4! Obvious but nice. White systematically gets rid of all of black’s king defenders.

22…exd4 23. Qf4+ Bf5 24. exf5 g5 25. Qg4 Re1+ 26. Kd2 Rae8 27. Qh5+

What a massacre after black’s horrific 16th. Bu laid down the People’s Elbow.

1-0

An Unrelated Matter: Vicary-eseque Burberry’s Photos

Here are some Burberry’s photo ads outside the Burberry’s store in Michigan Avenue on Chicago. I think if I keep looking, I can construct a photo amalgamation of Elizabeth Vicary.