Games from Recent Events

[Wayne Komer]

Games from Recent Events

February 10, 2020

Caruana vs Firouzja

In Week 5 of the PRO Chess League on chess.com, St. Louis met the ChessBrahs. Fabiano Caruana is on first board for the former and Alireza Firouzja on first board for the ChessBrahs.

GM Alireza Firouzja played the game of the season against Caruana. He sacrificed a piece with ...Nxc2 and went on to win in impressive fashion against the number two player in the world. This 16-year-old superstar is shining brighter every day.

Round 5, Feb. 3, 2020
Live Chess, 15+2
Caruana, Fabiano – Firouzja, Alireza
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nbd2 Bd6 7.Nc4 Nd7 8.b3 O-O 9.Bb2 Re8 10.O-O b6 11.g3 a5 12.a4 Ba6 13.Ne3 Bc5 14.Qe2 f6 15.Nh4 Nf8 16.Kh1 Qd7 17.Rad1 Rad8 18.Nhg2 Ne6 19.f4 Nd4 20.Qh5 Qf7 21.Qxf7+ Kxf7 22.fxe5 Rxe5 23.Rd2 Ree8 24.g4 Nxc2 25.Nxc2 Rxd3 26.Rfd1 Rxb3 27.Bd4 Bd6 28.g5 c5 29.Ba1 Rxe4 30.gxf6 gxf6 31.Rf2 Re2 32.Rxf6+ Ke7 33.Re1 Rxe1+ 34.Ngxe1 Bb7+ 35.Kg1 Rh3 36.Rf2 Bc6 37.Re2+ Kd7 38.Ne3 Bxa4 39.Ng4 Bd1 40.Nf6+ Kc6 41.Rd2 Bb3 42.Nd3 c4 43.Ne5+ Kb7 44.Kg2 Rh6 45.Rf2 b5 46.Ne4 b4 47.Bd4 c3 48.Be3 Re6 49.Nxd6+ Rxd6 50.Kg3 Bd5 51.Nd3 b3 52.Nc5+ Kc6 53.Rf8 b2 54.Rb8 Rg6+ 55.Kf4 Rg8 56.Rb7 Rf8+ 57.Kg5 Rf1 58.Ra7 b1=Q 0-1

Position after 24….Nxc2





Firouzja shocked Caruana with 24...Nxc2!

The game sent shockwaves around the Twitterverse, as even FIDE jumped in to congratulate the young star on his win. Firouzja has been catching fire lately on the back of eye-catching performances at World Rapid & Blitz 2019 as well as Tata Steel Masters 2020.

[Wayne Komer]

Games from Recent Events

April 4, 2020

With there being no tournament games being presently played due to the covoid-19 pandemic, I have reached back into the past for two games of interest and enjoyment.

From ChessBase:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/old-ha...odebrady-17-15

From December 7th to 16th (2012) the spa city of Poděbrady (Czech Republic) hosted a match between a rising generation of female chess players and chess legends of the 20th century. The former was represented by IM Valentina Gunina (Russia, rated 2517), IM Tania Sachdev (India, 2400), WGM Alina Kashlinskaya (Russia, 2344) and WIM Kristýna Havlíková (Czech Republic, 2310). They were trained by team captain GM Sergei Movsesian. The "Old Hands" were GM Oleg Romanishin (Ukraine, 2530), GM Fridrik Olafsson (Iceland, 2419), GM Vlastimil Hort (Czech Republic, 2455) and GM Wolfgang Uhlmann (Germany, 2319). The games were played at Hotel Zámeček in Poděbrady, the rate of play was 90 minutes for 40 moves, 30 minutes for the rest, with an increment of 30 seconds per move.

Round eight

After the first three rounds the Snowdrops had been leading by five points, and it seemed that this year their match against the Old Hands would be an easy walkover. But the legendary grandmasters, averaging seventy years in age, demonstrated beautiful teamwork and fighting spirit in Poděbrady by ultimately winning it 17:15.

The two Snowdrops with a higher rating finished with quick draws in the final round, while the other two had to give in to their adversaries, Fridrik Olafsson and Wolfgang Uhlmann, who scored the winning points. Especially the game Kashlinskaya-Uhlmann was considered the most beautiful of the event – the multiple East German Champion, it was said, played it like the young Mikhail Tal.

Tania Sachdev finished with 6/8

Snowdrops and Old-hands,
Podebrady, Czech Republic
Round 8, Dec. 16, 2012
Kashlinskaya, Alina – Uhlmann, Wolfgang
E90 King’s Indian, Orak, variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.h3 c6 7.Bg5 Nbd7 8.Bd3 e5 9.d5 a6 10.O-O cxd5 11.cxd5 h6 12.Be3 Nh5 13.Qd2 g5 14.Rfc1 Nf4 15.Bf1 Qf6 16.Qd1 Qg6 17.Nd2 h5 18.a4 Nf6 19.Nc4 g4 20.Nxd6 gxh3 21.Nxc8 Raxc8 22.g3 Nxe4 23.Nxe4 Qxe4 24.gxf4 exf4 25.Bxh3 fxe3 26.Bxc8 exf2+ 27.Kf1 Re8 28.Ra3 Bxb2 29.Rg3+ Kf8 30.Rb1 Bd4 31.Be6 Qh1+ 32.Ke2 Qxd5 33.Re3 Rxe6 34.Rxe6 Qxe6+ 35.Kf1 Qe4 36.Rc1 h4 37.Qd2 Qg4 38.Qh6+ Bg7 39.Qd6+ Kg8 40.Rd1 h3 41.Qd8+ Kh7 42.Qd3+ f5 43.Kxf2 h2 44.Qd6 Qh4+ 45.Kg2 Qe4+ 0-1

Position after Black’s 27…Re8



_________

Greg Serper, in an article on chess.com, discusses Anand-Ivanchuk games

https://www.chess.com/article/view/a...d-masterpieces

He writes: most of the games played by Anand and Ivanchuk are textbook examples of chess. Those of you who want to improve your positional play should not miss the next strategical masterpiece. In the following position, White has a spatial advantage typical for the Maroczy bind, but it is very difficult to make a progress since Black has no clear weaknesses. What should White play?

Buenos Aires Sicilian 1994
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Round 3, October 1994
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Anand, Vishy
B36 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto, Maroczy bind

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Be2 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Bg7 9.Be3 O-O 10.Qd2 Be6 11.O-O Qa5 12.Rab1 Rfc8 13.b3 Nd7 14.Rfc1 Qd8 15.Nd5 Nc5 16.Bf3 a5 17.h4 Bxd5 18.exd5 Qd7 19.Qe2 Re8 20.h5 Qf5 21.Rd1 Be5 22.g4 Qc8 23.Kg2 Bg7 24.Rh1 Nd7 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.Rh4 a4 27.Rbh1 axb3 28.axb3 Ra1 29.R1h3 Qa8 30.Rh7 Qa2 31.Rxg7+ Kxg7 32.Bd4+ f6 33.Qe3 Nf8 34.Be4 Kf7 35.Rh8 1-0

Position after White’s 31.Rxg7+



You can see reams of analysis at:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018469

[Wayne Komer]

Games from Recent Events

July 26, 2020

An amazing moment from the semi-final tiebreaks of the Polish Championship! Kacper Piorun spends 7 seconds and misses mate-in-1 with 57...Bd2# After 57...Be5+ the game is drawn and the match goes to blitz!

77 LOTTO Polish Championship
Game 3, Playoff, July 26
Gajewski, Grzegorz – Piorun, Kacper
A34 English, symmetrical, Three Knights

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.Nf3 e6 4.e3 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.d4 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Be2 Nc6 9.O-O O-O 10.b3 Bg4 11.Bb2 Ba7 12.Nd4 Be6 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Na4 Ne4 15.Ba3 Re8 16.Rc1 Bd7 17.Nc5 Nxc5 18.Bxc5 Bb8 19.Bf3 Bf5 20.Re1 Qf6 21.Bd4 Qe6 22.Qd2 Bd6 23.g3 Ba3 24.Bb2 Bf8 25.b4 Be4 26.Be2 Rec8 27.f3 Bg6 28.Bd4 a5 29.bxa5 c5 30.Bc3 h5 31.Bd3 Bxd3 32.Qxd3 Be7 33.Red1 Rd8 34.Rb1 d4 35.exd4 cxd4 36.Bd2 Qxa2 37.Re1 Bc5 38.Rb5 Rac8 39.Rc1 Ba7 40.Rxc8 Rxc8 41.Rxh5 Qc2 42.Qxc2 Rxc2 43.Bf4 d3+ 44.Kf1 Ra2 45.Rd5 f6 46.h4 Kh7 47.h5 Ra1+ 48.Kg2 Ra2+ 49.Kh3 Bf2 50.Kg4 Be1 51.Rxd3 Rxa5 52.Rd7 Kg8 53.h6 gxh6 54.Bxh6 f5+ 55.Kf4 Bc3 56.Bg5 Kf8 57.Rb7 Be5+ 58.Kxf5 Bxg3+ 59.Kg6 Ra6+ 60.Bf6 Be5 61.Rf7+ Kg8 62.f4 Bd4 63.Rg7+ Kf8 64.Rf7+ 1/2-1/2

Position after White’s 57.Rb7

[Wayne Komer]

Games from Recent Events

September 4, 2020

Fifteen Years Ago

One of my favorite diversions is going through old numbers of chess magazines to see how we were then.
Recently, I had New In Chess 2005, Issue 7 open. Andrei Volokitin is on the cover for winning the Young Master Tournament at Lausanne.

He was born in Ukraine in 1986. His present rating is 2650.

The 'Young Masters' was a prestigious knockout tournament with eight of the best under-20 players of the world. The 6th was staged from September 14–19, 2005, at the Casino de Montbenon in Lausanne. The winner was Ukrainian champion and Chess Olympiad Gold medalist Andrei Volokitin, 19, who beat the reigning US champion, 17-year-old Hikaru Nakamura, in the final. The score was 2:0. Third was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ahead of Pentala Harikrishna.

The participants: Mamedyarov, Vachier-Lagrave, Dzagnidze, Nakamura, Volokitin, Pähtz, Carlsen and Harikrishna.

NIC said this: In a fascinating final, top-seed Andrey Volokitin defeated second seed Hikaru Nakamura. The Ukrainian took the lead with a brilliant bishop sacrifice and confidently stood his ground when the American tried to fight back with an H-bomb attack against the Sicilian

6^th Lausanne Young Masters
Lausanne, Switzerland
Second Match Game
September 19, 2005
Nakamura, Hikaru – Volokitin, Andrei
B20 Sicilian Defence

1.e4 c5 2.Qh5 Nf6 3.Qh4 Nc6 4.Be2 e5 5.d3 Be7 6.Qg3 d5 7.Nd2 O-O 8.c3 b5 9.Nh3 d4 10.c4 Ne8 11.cxb5 Bh4 12.Qf3 Nb4 13.Bd1 f5 14.a3 Nd6 15.axb4 fxe4 16.Qh5 Bxh3 17.g3 Qf6 18.Bb3+ Kh8 19.f3 exf3 20.Kf2 Bg5 21.Nxf3 g6 22.Bxg5 Qf5 23.Qxh3 Qxf3+ 0-1

Position after Black’s 17…Qf6



Volokitin reckons that 18.Bb3+ is the decisive mistake and that 18.f3 was the best move here.

See comments on the game at chessgames.com

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1361150

[Wayne Komer]

Games from Recent Events

September 4, 2020

Wolfgang Uhlmann recently died at the age of 85. There have been recollections of the man and his games. This one is from ECForum:

Andrew Smith - I met Mr Uhlmann at the World Seniors Team championship that Stewart Reuben organised in the Isle of Man around 2004. I was the games imputer, and Uhlmann had absolutely appalling handwriting that made parts of his score-sheets almost indecipherable, and one move in particular, wasn't obvious, even with a board in front of me. So I had to confer with him, and even he couldn't read his own handwriting or recall what the actual move was ! I guess it would have been at the end of a game, when time was short. I have a recollection how charismatic he was, and how gentlemanly. I remember also, how spectators, who played the French Defence themselves, were almost reverential towards him!

But one of my favourite games of his was actually a defeat with the French defence when he lost to Bob Wade at Skopje 1968. I was given a chess book at Christmas by my brother when I was a junior. It was the 2nd book I ever had and it was called 'Selected Chess Masterpieces' by Svetozar Gligoric and he annotated this game. It was a great book and I would still recommend it now. By the end of Boxing Day, I had gone through every single game, and every single annotation. I went through it from cover to cover. Bob Wade played a wonderful game and a masterly demonstration on how to exploit dark square weaknesses that occur in the French Defence. That's impressive, when your opponent is Wolfgang Uhlmann ! ( For the record, my first ever book, also present from my brother, was, I think called Tal - Since 1961 by Cozens when I recall being mesmerised by the lightly annotated games!)

https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic...251496#p251496

Solidarity Tournament 2^nd
Skopje/Ohrid North Macedonia
Round 18, August 1968
Wade, Robert – Uhlmann, Wolfgang
C05 French, Tarrasch, Closed variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 cxd4 8.cxd4 h5 9.a3 Nb6 10.Bd3 Bd7 11.Ne2 a5 12.O-O a4 13.Qe1 Na5 14.f5 exf5 15.e6 fxe6 16.Qg3 Kf7 17.Nf4 Kg8 18.Ng6 Nb3 19.Nxh8 Nxc1 20.Raxc1 Kxh8 21.Ne5 Be8 22.Rc7 h4 23.Qf4 g5 24.Ng6+ Kg8 25.Qe5 Bxg6 26.Qxe6+ Kh8 27.Rxb7 Qe8 28.Rxb6 Bg7 29.Qxg6 Qe3+ 30.Kh1 Qxd3 31.Qh5+ Kg8 32.Rd1 Qc2 33.Rb7 Rf8 34.Rxg7+ Kxg7 35.Qxg5+ Kh7 36.Rc1 Re8 37.h3 1-0

Position after White’s 23.Qf4