Sunday, March 19, 2006

NM Wesley So Simul 2006














G2: CABELLON vs SO

MERALCO 103rd ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
W: NM Gerry CABELLON
B: FM Wesley SO
Rapid Play, Game 2, 1/2-1/2
MERALCO, Pasig City



The opening is the Symmetrical Variation of the English and according to de Firmian's Modern Chess Openings (MCO14), "The Symmetrical Variatiion is perhaps the most exciting defense to the English. In the main variations, one or both players will disrupt the center almost immediately by pushing the d-pawn two squares, and an intense struggle for control of d4 and d5 will develop."

Incidentally, the Symmetrical Variation's first Finals appearance was in the Botvinnik vs Tal World Championship in 1960. Other World Championship Finals where the English Symmetrical was played were in Botvinnik vs Petrosian in 1963, Petrosian vs Spassky in 1966, Fischer vs Spassky in 1972, and Karpov vs Kasparov in 1987.

Saturday, March 4, 2006

CHESS PIECE: SICILIAN THEORY

[Bobby Ang]

AEROFLOT OPEN
Moscow, 8-17 February 2006

Final Top Standings

1-4 GM Baadur Jobava GEO 2614, GM Viorel Bologan MDA 2661, GM Krishnan Sasikiran IND 2670, GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2707, 6.5/9
5-11 GM Pavel Eljanov UKR 2655, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2542, GM Tigran L. Petrosian ARM 2558, GM Vladimir Akopian ARM 2704, GM Kiril Georgiev BUL 2645, GM Arkadij Naiditsch GER 2657, GM Dmitry Jakovenko RUS 2662, 6.0/9
12-23 GM Zahar Efimenko UKR 2666, GM Evgeniy Najer RUS 2652, GM Alexei Fedorov BLR 2608, GM Karen Asrian ARM 2646, GM Csaba Balogh HUN 2561, GM Yuri Yakovich RUS 2551, GM Nikola Sedlak SCG 2518, GM Vladimir Malakhov RUS 2694, GM Alexey Korotylev RUS 2609, GM Evgeny Alekseev RUS 2634, GM Zviad Izoria GEO 2652, GM Alexander Motylev RUS 2638, 5.5/9

Total of 93 players

Two years ago in the Calvia de Mallorca chess Olympiad Mark Paragua played a brilliant game vs Singapore’s Jason Goh. I annotated it at that time and so now present it with minimal notes.

Paragua,Mark (2534) - Goh Koong Jong,Jason (2419) [B85]
Calvia ol (Men) Mallorca (12), 27.10.2004

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0–0 Qc7 8.a4 Be7 9.Be3 0–0 10.f4 Nc6 11.Kh1 Re8 12.a5

A nice little pawn sacrifice thought up by Ukrainian's Gennady Kuzmin, in the late 70s one of USSR's top players but now concentrating on coaching.

12...Nxa5

Black has to accept the pawn sacrifice, otherwise he will still fall under an attack but this time without any material compensation.

13.e5 Nd5?

This is a mistake. In this game Paragua shows why Black is obligated to accept the second pawn sacrifice with 13...dxe5 14.fxe5 Qxe5.

14.Nxe6! Bxe6

[14...fxe6 15.Nxd5 exd5 16.Qxd5+ Kh8 17.Rxa5 Qxc2?! 18.Bb5!]

15.Nxd5 Bxd5 16.Qxd5 Nc6 17.Bc4 Rf8 18.e6 fxe6 19.Qxe6+ Kh8 20.Bd3 Nb4?

White's position is favorable but this move loses to a direct attack. Black's best is probably 20...Rf6.

21.Bxh7! Kxh7

[21...Rf6 22.Qb3 escapes with an extra pawn]

22.Rf3 g5 23.Bd4 Rxf4 24.Rh3+ Rh4 25.Qf7+ Kh6 26.Bg7+ Kh7 27.Bf8+ 1–0

Almost immediately after the Olympiad Mark went to Kochin, India and made his final attempt (he has already reached the maximum allowable age) at the World Junior Championship title. He was ultimately unsuccessful, but had the consolation of the following attractive win in the same Scheveningen line.

Paragua,Mark (2534) - Das,Arghyadip (2353) [B85]
Wch U20 Kochin (3), 21.11.2004

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0–0 Be7 8.a4 Nc6 9.Be3 0–0 10.Kh1 Qc7 11.f4 Re8 12.a5 Nxa5 13.e5 dxe5

OK, so Das knows his theory and takes the second pawn.

14.fxe5 Qxe5 15.Bf4 Qc5 16.Na4 Qa7 17.Bc7

In my 2004 column I pointed out that Jason's 13...Nd5 was a mistake and suggested 13...dxe5 14.fxe5 Qxe5 15.Bf4 Qc5 16.Na4 Qa7 17.Bc7 with "a wild tactical game". Well, now we have exactly this position on the board! Let us follow the "wild tactics".

17...b5 18.Nb6!? Rb8

There are two main alternatives here, the text and 18...Qxc7 where after 19.Nxa8 Black has recently found the excellent shot 19...Qc5! the latest in this line is 20.Rxa5 Rd8 21.Nb3 (21.c3 e5 and it is the white pieces who are uncoordinated) 21...Qe5 22.Qe1 Bd6 23.g3 Bb7+ 24.Kg1 Qe4 25.Bf3 Qxe1 26.Rxe1 Bxf3 27.Rxa6 Bxa8 28.c3 Bd5 29.Nd4 e5 30.Rxd6 Rxd6 31.Rxe5 Ra6 0–1 Mekhitarian,K (2218)-Leitao,R (2590)/ Americana 2005.

19.Bxb8 Qxb6 20.Be5 Bb7 21.Qd2 Nc4 22.Bxc4 bxc4 23.Qf4 Bd5

[23...Qxb2?? 24.Rfb1 wins]

24.Rae1 Kh8 25.Nf3 Qb7 26.Re2 Bd8 27.Nd2 Qc6 28.b3 c3 29.Nb1 Qb7 30.Nxc3 Bc6 31.Rd1 Be7 32.h3 Rc8 33.Rdd2 Nd7 34.Bd6 Nf6 35.Bxe7 Qxe7 36.Re3 h6 37.Qd4 Qb7 38.Rf2 Qe7 39.Rd2 Qb7 40.Na4 Nd5 41.Rg3 f6 42.Nc5 Qe7 43.c4 e5 44.Qg4 Nb6 45.b4 Ra8? 46.Rd6!

The final assault begins.

46...f5

[46...Rc8 is the only move to avoid immediate loss, but 47.Rgd3 followed by Re6 and the other rook to d6 wins material just the same]

47.Rxh6+! gxh6 48.Qg6 Qf8 49.Qxc6 Nxc4 50.Nd7 Rc8 51.Qg6 Nd2 52.Nxf8 Rc1+ 53.Kh2 1–0

The generation of Mark Paragua (21 yrs old) is slowly coming to the fore in international competition. The clearest indication of this is that the 4 finalists in the 2005 World Cup were all from this age group (Aronian, Ponomariov, Bacrot and Grischuk). The latter is the leader of the Russian “new generation” which counts among its number Dmitrij Jakovenko , Evgeny Alekseev and Artyom Timofeev.

Jakovenko has lately shown good results. He qualified for the Russian Super-Finals where he finished with the silver medal on three wins (although this included the famous default win where his opponent, Alexander Morozevich, overslept) 7 draws and 1 loss.

From the just-concluded Moscow Aeroflot Open, here is Jakovenko’s interpretation of the Sicilian Scheveningen line we were discussing.

Jakovenko,Dmitrij (2662) - Shchekachev,Andrei (2570) [B85]
Aeroflot Open Moscow (5), 12.02.2006

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Be2 e6 8.a4 Be7 9.0–0 0–0 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.a5 Nxa5 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Qxe5 15.Bf4 Qc5 16.Na4 Qa7 17.Be3

Instead of Mark's 17.Bc7 Jakovenko prefers an invention of Israeli GM Ilia Smirin. It appears that Black is obligated to sacrifice the exchange in order to hold the balance. I can hear you saying "huh? what exchange?" Heh heh, patience.

17...Nd5

The other move 17...b6 is currently holding. However, it all looks very dangerous. A short sampling:

a) 18.Nxe6 Bxe6 19.Bxb6 Qb7 20.Bxa5 Bd5 21.Bf3 Bxf3 22.Qxf3 Rab8 23.Qxb7 Rxb7 24.b3 Ne4 25.Rfe1 f5 26.Re2 Rc8 27.g4 g6 28.gxf5 gxf5 29.Rd1 Bf6 30.Rd5 Rb5 is equal. Mikhalchishin-Zheliandinov, Lvov 2001 1/2 30.

b) 18.b4 Bxb4 19.Rxf6!? gxf6 20.Bd3 f5 21.Qf3 f6 22.Nxb6 Qxb6 23.Nxf5 Qc7 24.Bb6 (24.Nh6+ Kg7 25.Bd4 should also be considered) 24...Qd7 25.Nh6+ Kh8! (25...Kg7? 26.Rf1! Rf8 27.Qg3+ Kh8 28.Rxf6! wins) 26.Qxf6+ Qg7 27.Nf7+ Kg8 28.Nh6+ Kh8 29.Nf7+ ½–½ Carlsson,P (2400)-Rytshagov,M (2503)/ Stockholm 2002

18.Bg1 b5?!

Black is not scared of the discovered attack against his queen. However it should be said that he cannot prevent it anyway. If 18...b6 19.c4 Nf6 20.b4! Bxb4 21.Nc2 because of the weak b6-pawn and the awkward knight position on a5 White will get a piece.

19.Nxb5

At the same time that this game was being played the identical position was on the board of Petrosian vs Smirnov from the same tournament. The player of the white pieces, which we call Petrosian the Tal because of his attacking tendencies, continued 19.Bd3 Bf6? (19...Qd7! 20.Bxh7+ Kxh7 21.Qh5+ Kg8 22.Qxf7+ Kh7 23.Rf3 Bg5 and there is no win for White in sight) 20.Nxb5 Qd7 21.Nbc3 Bd8? 22.Nc5 Qc7 23.Nxd5 exd5 24.Rxa5! Qxa5 25.Bxh7+ Kf8 26.Qxd5 Ra7 27.b4 Qb5 28.c4 Qxb4 29.Qd6+ Be7 30.Rxf7+! Kxf7 31.Qd5+ Black resigns because of 31...Kf8 32.Qg8 mate, or 31...Kf6 32.Bd4 mate. 1–0 T.Petrosian-Smirnov, Aeroflot Open (5) Moscow 2006.

19...Qb8?

Same as in the previous comment. Black's only move was 19...Qd7.

20.Nbc3 Bd8

Jakovenko was threatening to exchange knights on d5. Black cannot move it because the steed is the only one preventing Nb6 with simultaneous attacks against the a8-rook and a5-knight. That is why Shchekachev retreats the bishop - it is one additional soldier keeping tabs on the b6-square.

21.Bf3

A pity white missed 21.Nxd5! exd5 22.Rxf7! Kxf7 (22...Be6 23.Rf1 material equality is restored and White has much the better game) 23.Qxd5+ Be6 24.Qh5+ Kf8 25.Bc5+ Be7 26.Rf1+ Kg8 27.Bd3 leads to mate.

21...Bb7 22.Nc5 Nxc3 23.bxc3 Bxf3 24.Qxf3

Black might want to safeguard his f7 pawn with either ...Rf8 or ...Rd7. In either case it is refuted by Nxe6!

24...f6 25.Nxe6! 1–0

See diagram
caption: final position

Black resigns after analyzing 25...Rxe6 26.Qd5 Qc8 (26...Kf7 27.Rae1 Qc8 28.Rxe6 Qxe6 29.Qxa8) 27.Rfe1 Qc6 (27...Kf7 28.Rxe6 Qxe6 29.Qxa8) 28.Qxe6+ Qxe6 29.Rxe6 Kf7 30.Rd6 Nc4 31.Raxa6 Rxa6 32.Rxa6 the position is hopeless.

Reader comments/suggestions are urgently solicited. Email address is bobby@cpamd.net

"This article first appeared in Bobby Ang's column in Businessworld (Philippines) on 03 March 2006"