Canadian Championship 2023 some observations

[John Coleman]

I can't get the live games for round 7. Is it just me?

EDIT: I think game 7 doesn't start till 11.00 am tomorrow, so I'm getting ahead of myself.

[Halldor P. Palsson]

A game with high stakes. The position after Black plays 21...g4 is hard to evaluate. White is worse if he tries 22.hg4 but after 22.Nh2 no way back is found.

[Date "2023.04.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Noritsyn, Nikolay"]
[Black "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C79"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.O-O Bd7 6.c3 Nf6 7.Re1
g6 8.d4 Bg7 9.h3 O-O 10.Bc2 Nh5 11.Be3 Kh8 12.Nbd2 Qe8 13.dxe5
dxe5 14.b4 f5 15.a4 b6 16.Nb3 f4 17.Bc1 g5 18.b5 Ne7 19.Ba3 axb5
20.axb5 Rd8 21.Nbd2 g4 22.Nh2 {??} ( 22.hxg4 Bxg4) g3-+
3.Ng4 f3 24.gxf3 Nf4 25.fxg3 Nxh3+ 26.Kg2 Bxg4 27.Re3 Be6 28.Rd3
Rxd3 29.Bxd3 Rg8 30.Bc4 Bf6 31.Bxe6 Nf4+ 32.Kf2 Nxe6 33.Qb3 Qf7
34.Rh1 Rd8 35.Nf1 Rd3 36.Qc2 Rd7 37.Ne3 Bg5 38.Bc1 Nc5 39.Kg2
Rd3 40.Re1 Qb3 41.Qe2 Bxe3 42.Bxe3 Rxc3 43.Kh3 Rc2 44.Qd1 Qd3
45.Qa1 Qd7+ 46.g4 Ng6 47.Rd1 Qe7 48.g5 Ne6 0-1

[Hans Jung]

Halldor, I think you mean 22.Nh2. as played in the game. The position is fascinating. After 22..g3 as played White could have played 23.Bxe7 No?

[Halldor P. Palsson]

Thanks Hans. After 23.Bxe7 Black goes gf2 24.Kxf2 Qxe7 and if White then takes the knight on h5 it leads to disaster. So 25.Qxh5 and after Qc5 26.Kf1 Bxb5 27.Re2 (or Qe2 or c4) Rxd2 and White calls it a day.

I needed computer help to see the attack break through on c5, b5 and d2. Live I thought Black was over extended because I could not get pieces to the kingside fast enough.

[Hans Jung]

For sure those black g and f pawn levers are potential dynamite. Fascinating stuff.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 7 Rusonik - Yang Spice of the Alekhines. Great attack at the end.

Lots of basic tactics missed this round.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 7 Womens Jiang - Zhao crisp checkmate Black needed to accept the first offering and not give away her knight in order to have a chance to defend. Knights are often good defenders.

Demchenko and D'souza keep on winning.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 7 Shawn Rodrigue - Lemieux nice accurate tactics from move 23 onwards. Big win and upset over GM Bator Sambuev. Back in the hunt for first!

Nikolay Noritsyn keeps pace with a big win over Razvan Preotu.

[Hans Jung]

After 7 Noritsyn, Rodrigue-Lemieux, and Sambuev tied for first with 5.5.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 8 Yang is coming off a nice game with Rusonik. Lets see how he does against Sambuev.

Sambuev's knight does pyrotechnics. First its a super outpost knight, then it sets up a devastating pawn fork, then it delivers checkmate.

The other two contenders have tough endgames to deal with.

[Hans Jung]

In the womens (rd 8) Demchenko catches a break as D'souza has a bad game and loses. Will Demchenko take full advantage of her chance? It sure looks good as she has two bishops and a pawn plus.
Demchenko takes the full point as her opponent blunders.

[Hans Jung]

After 8 and going into the last round Demchenko leads by a full point.

[Halldor P. Palsson]

The Sambuev games from today.

[Event "CAN-ch"]
[Site "Toronto CAN"]
[Date "2023.04.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Black "Rodrigue-Lemieux, Shawn"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E54"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.O-O cxd4
8.exd4 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b6 10.Qe2 Bb7 11.Rd1 h6 12.h3 Re8 13.Bf4 Nd5
14.Bd2 Nc6 15.Bd3 Nf6 16.a3 Bf8 17.Rac1 Rc8 18.Bb5 Bd6 19.Be3
Rf8 20.Ne5 Ne7 21.Rd3 Nf5 22.Bd2 {??} Bb8 $19 23.Re1 a6 24.Ba4
b5 25.Bb3 Nxd4 26.Qd1 Bxe5 27.Rxe5 Qc7 28.Bf4 Nxb3 29.Qxb3 Nd7
30.Re4 e5 31.Qd1 Bxe4 32.Rxd7 Rfd8 33.Rxd8+ Rxd8 34.Qe2 exf4
35.Qxe4 Qd6 0-1

[Event "CAN-ch"]
[Site "Toronto CAN"]
[Date "2023.04.10"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Yang, Jingyun (Ryan)"]
[Black "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.c3 Nc6 5.h3 e5 6.Bb5 Bd7 7.dxe5 Nxe5
8.Nxe5 Bxe5 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.O-O Ne7 11.Qe2 O-O-O 12.Nd2 Kb8 13.Nf3
Bg7 14.Be3 Rde8 15.Qc4 f5 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Bd4 ( 17.Qf7 Be5 18.Bg5
$14 ) Ng6 18.Rae1 Be5 19.Bxe5 dxe5 20.Kh1 e4 21.Nd4 Ne5 22.Qb3
Nd3 23.Rd1 c5 24.Ne2 c4 25.Qc2 Rhg8 26.Ng1 Qg7 27.f4 e3 28.Qe2
Qg3 29.Nf3 Nxf4 30.Qc2 e2 31.Rg1 exd1Q ( 31...Nxh3 32.gxh3 Qxf3+
33.Kh2 exd1Q 34.Qxd1 Re2+ 35.Qxe2 Qxe2+ 36.Kh1 Qf3+ 37.Kh2 Qf2+
38.Kh1 Qxg1# ) 32.Qxd1 Nd3 33.Qa4 Nf2# 0-1

[Hans Jung]

In rd 8 both Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux and Nikolay Noritsyn both dragged out tension in their games to the max with what looked like impossible endgames to win. I stopped watching at about move 35 when both games seemed to be making no headway and were headed for inevitable draws. Both pulled out wins!

[Hans Jung]

Going into the last round its a three way tie for first: Noritsyn, Rodrigue-Lemieux, and Sambuev, all with 6.5
For the fan its should be an exciting finish!