CHESSDOM: KID - SHIROV vs RADJABOV

Alexei Shirov - Teimour Radjabov

Morelia Linares 2008
Round 7
Morelia

23.02.2008

Shirov and Radjabov have played plenty of exciting games over the last couple of years. Radjabov won the last two, but Shirov is in much better form nowadays than on January 2007. Probably 1. e4 and Sicilian defence, unless Radjabov again wants to try Jaenish Gambit in Ruy Lopez. Enjoy the game.

1.d4!? So our prediction was wrong :) Shirov also started with 1.d4 at the last year Corus, but Radjabov won with King's Indian defence.

1... Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 Radjabov wants to play his favorite KID, but what has Shirov prepared?

5.Be2 O-O 6.Nf3 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Few weeks earlier, Kramnik used 9. Nd2 against Radjabov, but couldn't achieve more than a draw. 9. Ne1 is considered to be a main line, but bayonet attack with 9. b4 is the most popular over last couple of years.

9... Nd7 ( Judit Polgar liked to play 9... Ne8)

10.Be3 (10.Nd3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bd2 is an older approach.)

10... f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 There is some difference in placing dark-squared bishop on d2 or f2. Bishop from f2 is adding power to white's projected advance on the queenside by eying pawn a7 and supporting c4-c5. But also, black's g4-g3 might come with tempo...

12... g5 13.Nd3 Radjabov is, of course, perfectly familiar with this position, but he likes to spend some time in the opening, to calm the spirits and perhaps even find a way to improvise (like yesterday against Carlsen). Main move here is 13... Nf6, but Radjabov also tried 13...Rf6!? once.

13... h5!? (13... Nf6 14.c5 Ng6 is the main move order.)

14.c5 Nf6 This isn't necessary a different line, because black usually executes same moves in his kingside expansion - Ng6, Rf7, Bf8 (to support d6 and 7th rank), Rg7, g4 etc...

15.Rc1 g4!? Now, this is independent line. Black is neglecting queenside safety and goes for immediate attack. But if he falters, pressure on c7 and d6 might be very dangerous. This variation hasn't been tested in more that two grandmaster games.

16.Nb5!? GM Neverov played this move on one occasion, while most of the amateurs opted for 16. cxd6

16... Ne8 It is unclear what is Radjabov up to? Without Rf7 and Ng6 (and with inpatient h5-g4), he has problem on how to hold g4 and prevent incursion on c7. Shirov can simply take this pawn on g4. (16... g3 17.hxg3 fxg3 18.Bxg3 Bh6 19.Rc3 doesn't give anything to black.)

17.fxg4 a6!? this attempt to enclose intermediate move can be met with 18. cxd6 cxd6 19. Nc3 or 19. Nc7!? Nxc7 20. Bb6

18.Nc3 ( Also sufficient was 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Nc7 Nxc7 20.Bb6 hxg4 21.Rxc7 but Shirov probably didn't want to worry about consequences of black's f3 or g3.)

18... hxg4 19.Bxg4 Nf6 20.Bxc8 Rxc8 Exchanging light-squared bishops is one of white's main goals in many lines of king's indian defence. This white piece is limited by its own pawn mass, while black counterpart can support attack on h3 pawn in some lines. Black is pawn down and with absolutely no counterplay as there are too few pieces on the board, and in addition, black is poorly coordinated.

21.g3!? Interesting idea to challenge black pawn chain and remove potential weakness on the g-file (g2 pawn). 21. Bh4!? with idea to trade another black active piece was good alternative.

21... Qe8 Of course, Radjabov will try to at least keep some tension. (21... fxg3 22.Bxg3 Ng6)

22.Kh1 This might be a waste of precious tempo. (22.gxf4! would efficiently clean the mess in the center 22... Qg6+ 23.Bg3 Nxe4 24.Nxe4 Qxe4 25.cxd6 cxd6 26.Rxc8 Rxc8 27.fxe5 dxe5 28.d6)

22... Qg6 23.Qe2 23...f3!? with idea 24. Qxf3 Nfxd5

23... f3 24.Qxf3 Nfxd5 A dash of counterplay for Radjabov. One careless move (Kh1) and black is back from a completely hopeless position! 25. Nxd5 Nxd5 or 25. Qe2 Nf6...

25.Nxd5 Nxd5 26.Qe2 Nf6 27.Rce1 Suddenly, position is roughly equal with chances for both players. This comeback might depress Shirov and give some wind in the back for Radjabov. Doubling rooks on the f-file looks like a good plan.

27... Qf7 28.g4! Shirov immediately grabs opportunity presented by black's last move. 28...Qxa2 29. g5 Nh7 30. Qg4! is simply better for white, maybe best to move the queen back to g6.

28... Qg6 Radjabov lost two moves for nothing and now Shirov can continue with 29. Rg1 insisting on g5...

29.h3 Rf7 29. h3 was tame and Radjabov catches up with the better plan, doubling rooks...

30.Kg2 Nd7 (30... Bh6!?)

31.Bg1 Qe6?! (31... Rcf8)

32.b3?! (32.Rxf7 Qxf7 33.g5! with quick h4-h5)

32... Rxf1 33.Rxf1 d5?! White can play g5 or Rf5. All these inaccuracies are consequence of the time trouble.

34.g5! Finally! :)

34... a5 35.h4 Qc6 36.Re1! Rf8 37.exd5 Qxd5+ 38.Qe4 c6 39.Bh2! Qe6 40.Bg3 Rf5 Time control has passed and Radjabov is once again clearly worse. Rook exchange with 41. Rf1 or just 41. Nf4 should be sufficient.

41.a3!? Rf7 42.b4 This might give some squares to black queen (a2, b3), but Shirov wants to fortify c5 pawn before doing anything else.

42... Qa2+ 43.Re2 Qxa3? Ouch, queen might end captured! 44. g6 Rf8 45. Qc4+ and Ra2

44.g6 Indeed, Radjabov realised what is happening and resigned because queen is trapped on a3. Neverthless, even before this blunder he stood worse. Main question is whether he mixed lines from his opening preparation before dropping g4 pawn? He was plain lost at one moment, before Shirov allowed him to come back into the game. Shirov and Topalov have finished Morelia leg with +1 score. Thank you everyone for following Chessdom live commentary, we continue our coverage on Thursday 28th at 9:30 EST / 15:30 CET. See you there!

1-0

CASIANO vs SALTORIO

Abet CASIANO vs Jefferson SALTORIO
CHAMPION'S MULTI-SIMUL
MERALCO, Pasig City

1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bf4 Nf6
MANUAL OF CHESS, "Get the N's into action before both B's are developed."

4 e3 Bf5

5 Bd3 Bg6
THE TEN MOST COMMON CHESS MISTAKES, "Don't lose time by moving the same piece twice."

6 O-O
WINNING CHESS OPENINGS, "The purpose of the opening is to get a safe K and an equal middle game."

6 ... e6 7 c3 Be7 8 Re1 O-O 9 BxB f7xB 10 Nbd2 Bd6 11 Bg3 Ne4 12 a4 Be7

13 NxN PxN 14 Nd2 Bh4 15 NxP BxB 16 h2xB Qd7 17 Qg4 Rad8 18 Nc5 Qd5 19 Qxe6+ Kh8 20 e4 Qg5 21 Qc4 Rde8? 22 Ne6 RxN 23 QxR Qd2 24 Rf1 Qxb2 25 d5 Nd8 26 Qe7 Qxc3??? 27 QxR# [1-0].

PAUL CASIANO

CLRAA 2008
W: ESGUERRA, Fim Journ Blevern (TARLAC CITY)
B: CASIANO Benjamin (Bulacan)
R2, 1 hr/player

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.d3 d6 5.h3 O-O 6.f4 Qe7 7.Nf3 c6 8.Na4 Bb4 9.c3 Ba5 10.b4 Bc7 11.Nb2 d5 12.fxe5 Bxe5 13.Bb3 Bg3 14.Kf1 dxe4 15.dxe4 Rd8 16.Qe2 Qxe4 17.Qxe4 Nxe4 18.Ng5 Nxg5 19.Bxg5 Re8 20.Nd3 Bf5 21.Nf2 h6 22.Bd2 Nd7 23.Bc4 Ne5 24.Be2 Rad8 25.Be1 Re6 26.Bg4 Rf6 27.Ke2 Bxf2 28.Bxf2 Nxg4 29.hxg4 Bxg4 30.Ke1 Re8 31.Kf1 Re2 32.a4 Rfxf2 33.Kg1 Rxg2 34.Kf1 Bf3 35.b5 Rgf2 36.Kg1 Bxh1 37.Kxh1 Ra2 [0-1]

CHESSDOM: SEMI-SLAV; CARLSEN vs ANAND

Magnus Carlsen - Vishwanathan Anand

Morelia Linares 2008
Round 3
Morelia

17.02.2008

Good day everyone, welcome to the Chessdom live coverage of Morelia/Linares 2008. Anand started win a nice win against Shirov, but then suffered defeat against Aronian after the nasty blunder in a slightly better position. Is he feeling shaken for that reason? We're not convinced, but let's wait and see. Anand won against Carlsen in both games at the last year's event, few weeks ago at Corus 2008, and Carlsen will be seeking for revenge. Naidorf Sicilian or Semi-Slav, it depends on Carlsen's first move.

1.d4 It will be Semi-Slav. Anand has enormous trust in this opening and it brought him couple of important wins on his route to the World Championship title. Still, in the recent Corus tournament, Teimour Radjabov managed to outplay him with white.

1... d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 ( Already famous Topalov's win against Kramnik at Corus had a different course 9.Be2 Bb7 10.O-O Nbd7 11.Ne5 Bg7 12.Nxf7 The diagram with sacrifice appeared on the front page of esteemed Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.)

9... h5 Anand already played this move against Aronian at the World Championship in Mexico City and against Kasimdzhanov. They both continued with 10. h4. ( Boris Gefland and Alexey Dreev are usually playing 9... Bb7)

10.f3!? This is older move, 10. h4 being main weapon at the moment. Bellon Lopez is the only Grandmaster that used it, while his wife Pia Cramling played 10. h3!? against Loek Van Wely on one occasion.

10... h4 11.Bf2 Bb7 12.Be2 12. Be3 has been played before, but Carlsen obviously wants to complete his development as soon as possible.

12... Nbd7 13.Nxd7 Nxd7 14.O-O e5 A standard strike against white's powerful center. Anand doesn't seem surprised with Carlsen's choice of variation, but at the same time his plan is simple: hold the queenside and try to shake white's center...

15.a4 a6 16.d5 White has to press against black's pawn mass on the queenside. Carlsen probably has something prepared against the straightforward 16...cxd5 17. Nxd5 Nc5, so perhaps better idea is to play 16...Nc5 immediately.

16... Rh6!? A common move in similar setups. Maybe Anand wants to prevent any possibility of the future Qd6 from White (play lines bellow). (16... Bc5 17.dxc6 (17.Bxc5 Nxc5 18.dxc6 Bxc6 19.axb5 Qb6! 20.bxc6?? (20.Kh1 axb5 21.Qd6) 20... Nxe4+ 21.Kh1 Ng3+ 22.hxg3 hxg3#) 17... Bxf2+ 18.Rxf2 Bxc6 19.axb5 axb5 20.Rxa8 Qxa8 21.Qd6!?) (16... Nc5!? 17.Qc2!?)

17.dxc6 Magnus finally decided to clean the mess on the queenside, even if Qd6 won't be on his disposal at the end. ( Other possibility was 17.axb5!? cxb5 18.b3!? b4 19.Na4 c3 20.Be3 with unclear consequences)

17... Bxc6 18.axb5 axb5 19.Rxa8 Qxa8 20.Qc1!? Clearly targeting g5 pawn and Be3 might be coming soon. Queen is also cleaning d1 square for the rook. (20.Nd5!? Bxd5! 21.exd5 Rd6 black looking great)

20... Rg6 21.Rd1!? (21.Be3 Bd6!? 22.Bxg5 h3 23.g3 Bc5+ 24.Be3 Qa7)

21... Bc5 The difference compared to the line above (when white takes on g5) is that white can take on c5 and play Qe3 - 22. Bxc5 Nxc5 23. Qe3. In such case, black will probably shuffle his knight to d4 via e6. Magnus is spending lots of time pondering over his next move. He's feeling this might be crucial moment to prove compensation for a pawn.

22.Bxc5 Nxc5 23.Qe3 Nb3 Probably best for Magnus is 24. Qb6 to get behind the enemy lines before knight establishes itself on d4. Black is still better though. (23... Ne6 with same idea to play Nd4, might allow 24.b3 but black comes out on top after (24.Qb6 looks better) 24... Qa3! 25.bxc4 b4 26.Nd5 Qxe3+ 27.Nxe3 Nd4)

24.Qb6 Nd4 Maybe exchange sacrifice before things go too far?

25.Rxd4 exd4 26.Nxb5 Magnus is a fighter, this game will be played on (26.Qxd4 Qa1+ 27.Nd1 Qc1!? and black is slowly infiltrating...)

26... Bxb5! Anand keeps finding the best moves. Queen exchange with 26...Qb7 would make it much easier for white.

27.Qxb5+ Qc6 28.Qe5+ Re6 29.Qxd4 Qb6 Carlsen took off one of the central pawns, but the resulting endgame will be very hard for him, even if all pawns are on the same flank.

30.Qxb6 Rxb6 31.Bxc4 Rxb2 32.g3 Carlsen's main problem is that king is pushed on the back rank. (32.h3 loses, because black will simply bring his king to e3 and g2 pawn will fall.)

32... f6 Taking on g3 would only give some hopes to white. Anand will rather invite white to trade on h4 and break his pawn mass in two parts. Now black king is heading forward to e3.

33.Be6 Ke7 34.Bg4 Re2!? 35.gxh4 gxh4 36.h3 There was no need to rush with h3... If white can trade his e and f pawns for black's f6, he will be very close to achieving draw. Therefore, perhaps 36. Bf5!? with idea f4-e5?

36... Kd6 37.Kf1 Rb2 Okay, maybe 38. f4!? now...

38.f4 Kc5 39.e5 Rb4 40.exf6 Rxf4+ Time contro l has passed and Magnus can carefully consider defending plan. Anand's only chance for a win is to create some sort of zugzwang against white king or bishop. But can he make it? Carlsen also has to keep his king close enough to prevent any kind of sacrifices on h3.

41.Ke2 Kd4 42.Bf3 Rxf6 43.Bb7 Rb6 Tablebases have it as winning for black, but is it possible to find it over the board in a practical game?

44.Bc8 Ke4! Keeps bouncing white king to the back rank.

45.Bg4 Rb2+ 46.Ke1 Ke3 47.Kf1 Kf4 48.Ke1 Kg3 Taking on h3 would be winning, but only if white king is on the d-file. The question is how to make it happen.

49.Kf1 Rf2+ 50.Ke1 Rf4 The idea is to take on g4, play Kg2 and push h-pawn. Black promotes first and with check.

51.Bc8 Of course, Magnus won't let it happen by will.

51... Rf8 52.Bg4 Kg2 53.Ke2 Re8+ 54.Kd3 Kf2! Perhaps black can set position with Re3, when white will have to have king on d2 (to prevent Rd3+), then after bishop moves, black rook uses opportunity to step back, attack the bishop and check on d-file in the next move. That might push white king too far away and allow black to take with rook on h3.

55.Bf5 Re3+ 56.Kd4 Kf3 57.Bg4+ Kf4 58.Kd5 (58.Bd7 Re1! 59.Bg4 Rg1! 60.Be6 (60.Kd3? Rxg4 61.hxg4 h3) 60... Rd1+ is important achievment for Anand)

58... Re5+ (58... Rg3!?)

59.Kd4 Rg5 It becomes similar to the line that was starting with 58. Bd7. Update: Magnus has just resigned. It is obvoius that white king will be pushed on the c-file and then black is free to sacrifice exchange on h3 and win the game. Excellent play from Anand as this Semi-Slav becomes dangerous weapon in his hands. Kramnik will have to invest serious work prior to the World Championship match. Pity for Magnus as his opening variation didn't provide him enough compensation for a pawn. He fought hard till the very end, but Anand is already famous over his fantastic technique. Thank you everyone for following Chessdom live commentary, tomorrow is a rest day, see you again on Tuesday at 16:30 EST / 22:30 CET for the live coverage of Carlsen-Leko.

0-1

CHESSDOM: RL-MA; ANAND vs ARONIAN

Anand, Vishwanathan - Aronian, Levon

Morelia Linares 2008
Round 2
Morelia

16.02.2008

Yesterday Aronian faced a dangerous opponent and suffered a heavy loss. After such bitter start he is to have second Black pieces in a row - this time against the World champion Anand who is in excellent form lately. Would Levon who has already proved himself as a great tournament fighter be able to begin a comeback? The Indian is a provisional leader and sure will try to make good use of his White pieces. This result of this game may be very important to the tournament aspirations of both GMs so a tense battle is to be expected.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Re1 Bd6 13.g3 Re8 The opening is Ruy Lopez, Marshall.

14.d4 Rxe1+ 15.Qxe1 Ra7 16.Be3 Re7 Aronian constantly chooses the Marshall variation.This predictability seems to facilitate the preparation of his opponents but he is well versed in these lines. Anand have never won against him in Ruy Lopez.

17.Nd2 Qe8 18.Nf1 Though 13...Re8 is not as fashionable as 13...Bf5 or 13...Qd7, Anand does not seem surprised and plays rapidly on,

18... h5 After this logical move (Black pieces are well placed so the kingside fortifications are to be shattered) Anand began thinking over the position for a long period of time.

19.a4 Be6 All this seems to still follow Aronian's home preparation. Nxe3 is threatening and 20.Bd2 may be answered by 20...c5.

20.Bd1 (20.Bd2 c5 21.axb5 Qxb5) Evacuating the Bishop, Anand consolidates the kingside light squares at the same time.

20... h4 21.axb5 axb5 22.Bf3 Bh3 Keeping the 'h' pawns is the correct decision. (22... hxg3 23.hxg3 Bh3 24.Bxd5 cxd5 25.Qe2) is threatening Qh5.

23.Bxd5 cxd5 24.Qd1 (24.Qe2 Re4) It seems that White managed to consolidate his position. Black cannot recapture his pawn back: (24.Qd1 hxg3 25.hxg3 Bxf1 26.Kxf1 Bxg3 27.Qf3) Anand's plan is simple - Bd2, Qf3 and Bf4 to exchange the dark squared Bishops. Additionally his Rook is very strong on the 'a' file. Nice tactical trick awaits Black in the line (24.Qd1 f6 25.Bd2 Re2 26.Ra8)

24... f5 Aronian understands the necessity to find some counterplay though in the line (24... f5 25.Qb3 Qf7 26.Bg5 Re4 27.Bxh4 f4 28.Qd1) it costs him second pawn.

25.Bg5 Re4 (25... hxg3 26.hxg3 Re2 27.Ra8 Qxa8 28.Qxe2 Qa1 29.Qe8+ Bf8 30.Qxb5)

26.Bxh4 Qg6 Serious attention deserved 26...Kh7. Now the White Bishop comes back in play.

27.Bd8 f4 (27... Re8 28.Bb6 f4 29.Bc5 Bc7)

28.Qd3 Qh5 After 29.Bb6 Qe2 30.Qxe2 Rxe2 Black has compensation for the missing pawns.

29.Nd2 Re2 (29... Re2 30.Bh4 (30.Nf3 Re3) 30... Rxd2 31.Ra8+ Bf8 32.Qxd2 Qf3 33.Rxf8+ Kh7) and there is no perpetual. P.S. During live comment I thought White may still draw.

30.Nf3 Re3 Incredible blunder by Anand.

31.fxe3 Qxf3 32.Qc2 fxg3 33.hxg3 Qxg3+ 34.Kh1 Bf5 White resigns. Anand was still under the impression that should look for advantage in this position and as a sequence of his earlier imprecisions - 25.Ng5, 29.Nd2? - came the decisive one - 30.Nf3 Aronian creatively maintained initiative, did not hesitate to sacrifice second pawn and finally tricked his opponent, thus fully restoring his chances in the tournament.

0-1

IM CARDOSO Workshop

CHESS PIECE: JASON GONZALES

[Bobby Ang]

GM Tournament “B” ASEAN Masters Chess Circuit
1st Leg
East Kalimantan, Indonesia
January 2008

1 GM Mark Paragua PHI 2521, 9.0/11
2-3 IM Ashot Nadanian ARM 2431, IM Jayson Gonzales PHI 2455, 7.5/11
4 FM Rolando Nolte PHI 2412, 7.0/11
5-6 FM Syarif Mahmud INA 2344, Sugeng Praytino INA 2312, 6.5/11
7-8 Oliver Barbosa PHI 2410, IM Salor Sitanggang INA 2410, 5.0/11
9 GM Cerdas Barus INA 2479, 4.5/11
10 GM Haji Ardiansyah INA 2409, 4.0/11
11 FM Mok Tze Meng MAL 2346, 3.0/11
12 WFM Irine Kharisma Sukandar INA 2266, 0.5/11

IM Jayson Gonzales had a faltering end, losing to the Armenian IM ashot Nadanian in the penultimate round, but it was no big matter as he nevertheless got his third and final GM norm to complete the norm requirements. Now all he has to do is bring his rating up from its current 2455 to 2500 and he will automatically be registered as a full International Grandmaster.

FIDE rules provide that anyone who achieves a title norm in the first 9 rounds of a tournament (9 rounds is the minimum for title purposes) can disregard the remaining games in the tournament. Jayson had 6 wins 2 draws and a loss for 7/9 against a field which included 3 international grandmasters, for a performance rating of 2616. A performance of 2600 is enough for the GM norm, so Jayson qualified.

Jayson is one player I was really rooting for. He comes from the bumper crop of strong juniors we had in the early 80s which included Bong Villamayor, Enrico Sevillano, and Rogelio Barcenilla.

This batch was also the biggest waste in our chess history. We had a great organization, big pool of promising players from all over the country, and an established machinery for bringing the best out to the top. And then what happened? Well, Hon. Florencio Campomanes got elected as President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), he left for Switzerland to take up the reins, and the Philippines’ chess program collapsed.

Jayson was among our best young players but never became Junior Champion. Around the time he was still a “sabbadista” and did not play chess on Saturdays. During the Junior Championship Finals he won all the games he played but that was not enough – you see two rounds were scheduled on Saturday, and he had to default. Sadly, 7/9 was only good for second place.

But we hear sob stories all the time – what is it about Jayson Gonzales that I like so much? Well, he makes things happen. Unlike many of our titled players who just sit around and wait for hand-outs, Jayson set up his own sign-making business in Quezon City. He would then work for 10 months in a year and then use his earnings to finance a trip to the States where he can play in a series of tournaments. In 1998 he scored his first major success by winning the Southern California championship.

In 2001 he qualified for the Philippine Grand finals where he finished 4th, immediately behind our three GMs (1st Eugene Torre, 2nd Joey Antonio, 3rd Bong Villamayor). This event was some sort of turning point in Jayson’s career, for after this everyone started regarding him as among the country’s top 10 players.

By the way, not everyone remembers that several years back the Philippine Chess Society sponsored an annual Blitz Championship among our top players. Interestingly enough, the player most often regarded as our top blitzer, GM Joey Antonio, has never won it.

In the first edition (1999) Nelson Mariano won all of the marbles, exhibiting great handspeed and a cool demeanor even in the most hair-raising time scrambles.

The 2000 edition was played as a KO match tournament similar to the FIDE World Cup series. There was a lot of exciting chess played and the finalists were Mark Paragua and GM Joey. Take note that this was 8 years ago and Mark was not yet even a national master. The pivotal game was a K+R+B vs K+R endgame where Mark had the extra bishop. Everyone knows that this endgame is theoretically drawn but in practice it is not so easy to hold. Showing great prowess and blitzing out his moves Mark managed to checkmate GM Joey and win the championship.

The 2001 and last edition saw another surprise winner, and it was Jayson Gonzales. I regret having lost the crosstables already, but it is probably still to be found in the old files of the Philippine Chess Society.

To illustrate Jayson Gonzales’ style, I present what in my opinion is his best game, a nice victory in the 1998 Southern California Championship over GM Tal Shaked, at that time the world junior champion and the rising star of US chess.

Shaked,Tal (2490) - Gonzales,Jayson (2345) [A31]
Southern California op Los Angeles, 1998
1.c4
So much for preparation. Shaked usually plays 1.e4 with White and it was this move that Gonzales prepared against.
1...c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 b6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bb7 6.f3 e6 7.e4
Against English symmetrical systems Jayson usually likes to fianchetto both of his bishops. This is no longer feasible now as, instead of g3 and Bg2 White has pushed his e4 pawn forward. The end result of this shadow-boxing is that now we are in the Maroczy Bind of the Sicilian Defense.
7...d6 8.Be2 a6 9.0–0 Nbd7 10.Be3 Be7 11.a4
Jayson had never seen this move before. He was expecting 11.Qd2 -- 12.Rac1 -- 13.Rfd1 -- 14.Bf1 -- 15.Qf2 pointing at the b6-pawn, and at the same time there is some pressure on the d-file.
11...0–0 12.a5 Qc7 13.Nb3 Rfe8 14.Qd2 Rab8 15.Rfc1 bxa5 16.Nxa5 Ba8
White will be advancing his b-pawn to solidify his grip on the position. Black realizes that he has been outplayed in the opening and so he takes stock -- before going for the d6-d5 break he has to move his queen, since it is in the wrong file. There is a rook on c1 staring at her highness, and it is also vulnerable to a possible knight hop to d5 after the d6-d5 break.
17.Na2 Rbc8 18.b4 Qb8 19.Rab1

caption: position after 19.Rab1
19...d5!
Now is the time!
20.c5
[20.exd5 Bd6! signals a king-side assault. Sudden tactics like this are exactly what Jayson specializes in. 21.h3 exd5 22.c5 Bh2+ 23.Kh1 Nh5! with the idea of ...Ng3+ followed by ...Nf1+]
20...dxe4 21.Bxa6 exf3! 22.Bxc8 Rxc8 23.c6 Ne5 24.c7?!
[24.b5 is more accurate, although after 24...Nfg4 25.g3 (25.Bf4? Qb6+ 26.Kf1 Rd8 Black wins.) 25...h6 carries the deadly threat of ...Nxe3 followed by ...Bg5]
24...Rxc7 25.Rxc7 Qxc7 26.Rc1 Qb8 27.Qc3
Looks like Black is in a bad way, right?
27...Qb5!
Wrong! As if to snub White's mating attempts on the back rank Jayson mobilizes his queen to generate his own mating threats. This queen is trying to get to e2.
28.Qc8+ Bf8 29.Bc5
[29.Qxa8 doesn't work either: 29...Qe2 30.Bf2 Nfg4 31.Qa7 Nd3 likewise wins for Black]
29...Nfd7 30.Bxf8 Nxf8 31.Nc3 Qd3 32.Qc5 Qd2
There is no more defense to Black's threat of mate on g2 and material gain on c1. 0–1

So Jayson is on target to be our 9th International Grandmaster after (1) Eugene Torre, (2) Rosendo Balinas Jr, (3) Rogelio Antonio Jr, (4) Bong Villamayor, (5) Nelson Mariano II, (6) Mark Paragua, (7) Darwin Laylo Jr, and (8) Wesley So. Let us all wish him the best of luck.


Reader comments/suggestions are urgently solicited. Email address is bangcpa@gmail.com

This article first appeared in Bobby Ang s column in Businessworld (Philippines) on 01 February 2008