Some Montreal Open games...

[Hugh Brodie]

Here are a few games from the first two rounds. (Hébert won by default in round 1).

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Black "Cardona, Misael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A85"]
[WhiteElo "2562"]
[BlackElo "2109"]
[PlyCount "53"]

1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nh3 g6 5. Nf4 Bg7 6. h4 Nc6 7. d5 Ne5 8. h5 c6
9. h6 Bf8 10. b3 Qb6 11. Be3 Qa5 12. Bd2 Qb6 13. e3 Nfg4 14. c5 Qxc5 15. Na4
Qa3 16. Bc3 b5 17. Qd2 a5 18. Nb6 Rb8 19. Nxc8 Rxc8 20. f3 Nxh6 21. Ne6 cxd5
22. Bxb5+ Kf7 23. Qxd5 Rxc3 24. Nc7+ Kf6 25. Ne8+ Kg5 26. f4+ Kg4 27. Be2+ 1-0

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Qin, Ziyi (Joey)"]
[Black "Poulin, Mathieu"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2333"]
[BlackElo "2080"]
[PlyCount "63"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Bd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. Re1 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bf8 13. Qe2 Bd7 14. Bd3 g6
15. Rab1 Qc7 16. Ng5 Re7 17. Ne4 Bg7 18. Bg5 Ree8 19. Qf3 Ne7 20. Bf4 Qa5 21.
Be5 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Bc6 23. Nf6+ Kg7 24. Nxe8+ Rxe8 25. Be4 Nd5 26. Rbc1 Qxa2 27.
c4 Nb4 28. h4 h5 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Bxg6 fxg6 31. Qxg6+ Kf8 32. Qf6+ 1-0

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Yu, Zong Yang"]
[Black "Kleinman, Michael"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "2070"]
[BlackElo "2292"]
[PlyCount "60"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. Bd3 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. c3 Nbd7 8. b4
b6 9. Bb2 Qc7 10. Qb1 Bb7 11. Rc1 c4 12. Bc2 b5 13. a4 a6 14. Re1 Rfe8 15. axb5
axb5 16. Rxa8 Rxa8 17. Bc1 Ra7 18. e4 dxe4 19. Nxe4 Nxe4 20. Bxe4 Nf6 21. Bxb7
Qxb7 22. Qc2 Nd5 23. Ng5 Qa8 24. Ne4 Ra2 25. Bb2 Nf4 26. f3 Nd3 27. Rb1 e5 28.
dxe5 Bxe5 29. Nc5 Qa7 30. Kh1 Nxb2 0-1

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nicula, Marius"]
[Black "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2184"]
[BlackElo "2562"]
[PlyCount "74"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 Nd7 4. c4 e6 5. b3 Ngf6 6. O-O Be7 7. Bb2 O-O 8. d4
c6 9. Nbd2 Qa5 10. a3 Qa6 11. h3 Bh5 12. Re1 Rfd8 13. e3 c5 14. Bf1 dxc4 15.
bxc4 Qb6 16. Bc3 Qc7 17. Qb3 Rac8 18. Bg2 cxd4 19. exd4 b6 20. Re3 Ne8 21. Rae1
Bf6 22. Bf1 Nd6 23. g4 Bg6 24. Bb4 h6 25. Bxd6 Qxd6 26. Ne4 Qf4 27. Nxf6+ Nxf6
28. Ne5 Be4 29. f3 Rxd4 30. Nxf7 Qg3+ 31. Bg2 Rd2 32. R1e2 Rxe2 33. Nxh6+ gxh6
34. Rxe2 Rd8 35. c5 Rd3 36. Qxe6+ Kg7 37. Rf2 Rd1+ 0-1

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Hebert, Jean"]
[Black "Ibrahim, Anthony"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2421"]
[BlackElo "2157"]
[PlyCount "108"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Rc1 Bb7 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. b4 c5 11. b5 Re8 12. Be2 Nd7 13. O-O Nf8 14. Na4 c4 15.
Nc3 Ng6 16. g3 Bc8 17. Nd2 Bh3 18. Re1 a6 19. Rb1 Bf5 20. Rb2 a5 21. Bf3 Be6
22. a3 Rc8 23. Ndb1 Rc7 24. Bg2 Ne7 25. Rd2 Rd7 26. Ne2 Bf5 27. Nbc3 g5 28. h3
Bd3 29. Nc1 Bg6 30. g4 Bg7 31. N1e2 Bd3 32. Ng3 Ng6 33. Rxd3 cxd3 34. Rf1 Nh4
35. Bh1 Rd6 36. Qb3 Qf6 37. Nh5 Nf3+ 38. Kg2 Nh4+ 39. Kh2 Qg6 40. Nxd5 Bf8 41.
e4 Red8 42. e5 Rxd5 43. Bxd5 d2 44. Nf6+ Kg7 45. Be4 Qh6 46. Qe3 Bc5 47. Nd5
Bf8 48. Rd1 f5 49. gxf5 Nxf5 50. Bxf5 Rxd5 51. Rxd2 Rxb5 52. Rc2 Be7 53. Rc7
Kf8 54. Qf3 Qh4 1-0

[Michael Yip]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

http://canadachessnews.blogspot.hu/

Thanks Hugh.

Rd3 Standings and this lightly annotated game added.

Nicula,Marius (2184) - Sambuev,Bator (2562)
Reti-Slav w/Bg4[D11]
Montreal op (2), 07.09.2013

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

There was a round 2 game in the Open section in which an "A" player (former Expert) was unable to mate with B+N+K vs K. Have any of you seen other high-rated players fail to win this ending?

[John Upper]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

There was a round 2 game in the Open section in which an "A" player (former Expert) was unable to mate with B+N+K vs K. Have any of you seen other high-rated players fail to win this ending?

A 2100 player (who I won't name) couldn't do it at the 2007 (?) Canadian Amateur in Kitchener....

... but at this year's Can Am, one player managed to do it in the blitz tournament! (might have been Jamie Solis)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

Wikipedia has an excellent article on this endgame

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_...ight_checkmate

It quotes two games where grandmasters were unable to win the endgame - Kempinski-Epishin, Bundesliga 2001 and Ushenina-Girya, Geneva Women’s Grand Prix 2013-14

Chess Vibes says this about the latter game:

A remarkable finish saw the game in the fourth round Anna Ushinea vs Olga Girya. This was most probably the first time that a reigning World Champion failed to checkmate with bishop and knight. There was no real excuse because the time control in Geneva is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one.

The ending is at:

http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/wo...no-in-the-lead

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Black "Hebert, Jean"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2562"]
[BlackElo "2421"]
[PlyCount "69"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Bd3 e6 6. Nbd2 Nbd7 7. O-O dxc4 8.
Nxc4 b5 9. Nce5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 Bb7 11. a4 Be7 12. Be2 Nd7 13. Nd3 b4 14. Bf3 a5
15. b3 Rc8 16. Bb2 O-O 17. Rc1 Qb6 18. Be4 g6 19. Nc5 Rfd8 20. Nxb7 Qxb7 21.
Qf3 Nb8 22. Rc4 f5 23. Bb1 Rd6 24. Rfc1 Rcd8 25. e4 Qa7 26. Qg3 fxe4 27. Bxe4
Bf6 28. h4 Qd7 29. h5 g5 30. h6 Qf7 31. Rc5 Qh5 32. Rxa5 Qxh6 33. Ra7 Bxd4 34.
Bxh7+ Kh8 35. Bxd4+ 1-0

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Qin, Ziyi (Joey)"]
[Black "Khashpar, Arkady"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "2333"]
[BlackElo "2134"]
[PlyCount "119"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4
f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Bf4 Bxf4 13. Nxf4 Ne4 14. Qc1 Ng5
15. Nxg5 Qxg5 16. Bxh7+ Kxh7 17. Nxe6 Qf6 18. Nxf8+ Qxf8 19. Qg5 Qf5 20. Qh4+
Kg8 21. Rae1 Bd7 22. Re3 Qg4 23. Qxg4 Bxg4 24. f3 Bh5 25. Kf2 Re8 26. Rc1 Kf8
27. Rxe8+ Kxe8 28. Ke3 Kd7 29. a3 Na5 30. Kd3 Nc4 31. Kc3 Ne3 32. g4 Bf7 33.
Rg1 Nc4 34. h4 Nd6 35. h5 Bg8 36. Re1 Nf7 37. Kd3 Bh7+ 38. Ke3 Nd8 39. Kf4 Nc6
40. Rd1 Ke6 41. Kg5 Bc2 42. Rd2 Bb1 43. f4 Be4 44. f5+ Kf7 45. Rd1 Bc2 46. Rd2
Be4 47. Kf4 Kf6 48. Rd1 Kf7 49. Rc1 Kf6 50. b4 Bd3 51. Rc5 Bc4 52. g5+ Kf7 53.
b5 Nxd4 54. Rc7+ Kf8 55. Rc8+ Kf7 56. g6+ Ke7 57. h6 gxh6 58. g7 Ne2+ 59. Ke5
d4 60. f6+ 1-0

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Beaulieu, Eric"]
[Black "Sanbuev, Bator"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A84"]
[WhiteElo "2252"]
[BlackElo "2562"]
[PlyCount "74"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 f5 5. f4 Nf6 6. Nf3 Bd6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O b6
9. Ne5 Bb7 10. Bf3 Nbd7 11. Bd2 Ne4 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Be2 c5 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15.
dxc5 Bxc5 16. b4 Rfd8 17. bxc5 Qxd2 18. Qxd2 Rxd2 19. Kf2 Ba6 20. Rfc1 bxc5 21.
Rd1 Rad8 22. Ke1 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 24. Kxd1 Kf7 25. Kc2 Bb7 26. g4 fxg4 27.
Bxg4 Kf6 28. Bh3 e5 29. Kd2 h6 30. a3 Ba6 31. Bf1 Bc8 32. Bg2 Bf5 33. Bf1 Bg4
34. fxe5+ Kxe5 35. Ke1 g5 36. Kf2 h5 37. Bg2 Bd1 0-1

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Masse, Hugues"]
[Black "Qin, Ziyi (Joey)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E69"]
[WhiteElo "2169"]
[BlackElo "2333"]
[PlyCount "106"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 c6 7. O-O Qa5 8. e4 e5
9. h3 Nbd7 10. Re1 exd4 11. Nxd4 Ne5 12. Bf1 Re8 13. Be3 c5 14. Nb3 Qb4 15. a3
Nf3+ 16. Qxf3 Qxb3 17. Rad1 Qxb2 18. Nb5 Bd7 19. Nxd6 Qxa3 20. Nxe8 Rxe8 21.
Rd6 Qc3 22. Red1 Bc6 23. Rd8 h6 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Be2 Qe5 26. Bf4 Qe6 27. Bf1
Bxe4 28. Qe2 Qc6 29. Re1 Nf6 30. Be5 Bf3 31. Qe3 Nd7 32. Bxg7 Kxg7 33. Qc3+ Qf6
34. Qxf6+ Kxf6 35. Bg2 Bxg2 36. Kxg2 Ne5 37. Re4 a6 38. f4 Nc6 39. Kf3 b5 40.
cxb5 axb5 41. Re8 Nd4+ 42. Ke4 Nf5 43. Kf3 Nd4+ 44. Ke3 Nf5+ 45. Kf2 Nd6 46.
Re5 b4 47. Ke2 c4 48. Rd5 Ke6 49. Re5+ Kf6 50. Rd5 Ne4 51. Rd4 b3 52. Ke3 b2
53. Rd1 Nc3 0-1

[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.09.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hebert, Jean"]
[Black "Chiku-Ratte, Olivier-Kenta"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "2421"]
[BlackElo "2263"]
[PlyCount "73"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. Be3
Nxd4 9. Bxd4 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. b4 a5 12. a3 Rc8 13. Rc1 Be6 14. Qb3 Nd7 15.
Be3 Nb6 16. Nd5 a4 17. Qa2 Nxd5 18. exd5 Bf5 19. Rfd1 b6 20. Qd2 Be5 21. Re1 e6
22. Bg5 Bf6 23. Bxf6 Qxf6 24. g4 Be4 25. f3 exd5 26. fxe4 dxe4 27. Qe3 Qe5 28.
Rcd1 f5 29. Rd5 Qe6 30. gxf5 gxf5 31. Kh1 Kh8 32. Qxb6 f4 33. Qd4+ Qf6 34. Rxd6
Qxd4 35. Rxd4 Rce8 36. Bh5 Re5 37. Bf3 1-0

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

Nobody studies that ending anymore. Even Jeremy Silman says it's a waste of time to do so. I can see an expert missing it, but an IM or GM? Wow!

And the point is that the ending is extremely simple when you know the 1 or 2 tricks (good color corner, W manoeuvre). I knew it back when I was unrated (around 96 or 97). I was extremely lucky because the week after I've studied it, it occured in one of my game against an experienced 1600-1700 player.

Now, if you're reading this, stop wasting your time and go spend 10 minutes on this ending! :)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

I have met the ending one time in my life. It was years ago in an offhand game against a friend, who started counting the moves aloud, intimidating me with the 50-move rule. Lots of laughter, even when I mated him on my 34th from the last pawn capture.

I suspect that an opponent is often willing to get rid of his last pawn to see if his adversary can mate him with B+N. If that is true, probably every player has had this ending once in his life.

In Round Four, Game Four of Tromso, Svidler mated Quang Le with K,B,N vs K quite smoothly. Susan said his technique was flawless; it was almost as if he had been studying that endgame the night before.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

OK, I think I have a special 'relation' to this endgame. I see this thread this morning, was about to post my answer, but had to go to take care of some business. So I forget to click 'send' and my message (from 8h24PM) was written this morning, but posted much later.

In the meantime, I manage to get a little bit of free time this afternoon, so I drop by at the Montreal Open. I stumble upon Julio Cortes and we play a few blitz games (3m+3s). Now, mind you, I'm slow as hell so I lose a few good games on time, but then again, Julio is a fast player and very sharp tactically.

So, in one of the games, I'm down a piece in the endgame, but I manage to give my remaining piece so that his only option is to go for the B+N win. Now, with the 3 sec. increment, you can do something, but you have to be sure. Julio tried the W manoeuvre on all sides of the board, but always failing to see the critical bishop move to trap the king. We played probably 60 or 70 moves before agreeing to a draw, both of us laughing.

Then, I just turned the board around and showed him the win in about 30 sec.

That's also why I like increments: even in blitz, a lost endgame can remain very 'civilized' and instructive.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

In my 5.3 million game database, I several hundred games in which White has B+N+K vs K. 70-80 were draws. In 31 of then, White was rated over 2200.
From the Black side, again - several hundred in which Black has B+N+K (but more than White). About 100 were draws. In 33 of them, Black was rated over 2200.

Notable draws: Granda Zuniga (2640) - Kiril Georgiev (2672), Pamplona, 2009. Black failed to win.
Kempinski (2522) - Epishin (2567), Bundesliga 2000-1. Black failed to win.
Inarkiev (2674) - Peralta (2546), World Cup, RUS, 2007. Black failed to win.
Vaiser (2555) - Hernandez Guerrero (2525), Las Palmas, 2009. Black failed to win.

Curiously - there are no draws from the White side in which White was over 2500.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

Very interesting, thanks for the data. It could be rating inflation at work, but I see that all the notable games are from 2000 onwards.

Any interesting pattern with regard to decades? Is the winning % stable over time, for example?

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

From the Black side, all the draws are from 1989 onwards. Likewise - all the White side draws are from 1988 onwards.

I would say over 90% of the games in my database are 1988 or later, but I'm still surprised there aren't any prior to the above dates. Perhaps they were too embarrassed to publish the games?

[Bindi Cheng]

Re: Some Montreal Open games...

Studied this endgame two weeks prior to the 2006 World Juniors, used it twice since then, including once in the Juniors. The look on my opponent's face when he called the arbiter over for the 50 move rule and his face 5 minutes after that was worth a million times more than the hours of grinding down the endgame with the ICC bot.