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Contents

Editorial................................................................................................................ 4 Malcolm Pein on the latest developments 60 Seconds with... .......................................................................................... 7 We catch up with Mickey Adams after his trip to Germany The Return of the Champ............................................................................. 8 Caruana collapses to allow Anand through in Baden-Baden Boring, Boring Wood Green ......................................................................14 Simon Ansell is unimpressed by the 4NCL Champions in Daventry Fabiano's Finest Hour...................................................................................20 Matthew Lunn followed the Super-GMs in Zurich Opening Trends ..............................................................................................23 Will Ivan Cheparinov inspire you to take up the King's Indian? Train with Artur Yusupov ....................................................................................24 An instructive extract from the legendary GM's Chess Evolution 1 Basic Instinct: Part III...................................................................................26 Peter Lalic moves on to the endgame Studies................................................................................................................28 Brian Stephenson on Colin McNab's second British title Chess in Art ......................................................................................................30 Artist Nette Robinson on how chess inspires her Knockin' on the A Group Door .................................................................32 Janis Nisii interviews Arkadij Naiditsch Sabino Brunello...............................................................................................33 Matt Read catches up with the rising Italian star Find the Winning Moves .............................................................................34 The Comeback.................................................................................................37 John-Paul Wallace annotates a game from his comeback event BH Wood's Last Stand .................................................................................41 John Saunders's latest from the 1980s How Good is Your Chess? ..........................................................................44 Daniel King examines an uncompromising struggle from Wijk Forthcoming Events .....................................................................................50 Where will you be playing in April? Home News.......................................................................................................48 The latest congress and player news from these shores The Brits Abroad ............................................................................................50 Reykjavik and Bunratty played host Overseas News ...............................................................................................52 Karjakin triumphs at a new type of Aeroflot event Solutions............................................................................................................54 New Books and Software...........................................................................55 The latest reviews and arrivals at Chess & Bridge Saunders on Chess ........................................................................................58 Front cover: Emanuel Lasker by Nette Robinson. Photo credits: Calle Erlandsson (pp.21, 22, 26), Gerry Graham (p.51), Zeljka Malobabic (p.24), Ray Morris-Hill (pp.7, 15, 17), Janis Nisii (pp.32-33), John Saunders (p.49), Georgios Souleidis (pp.8, 10, 12), John Upham (pp.28-29).

www.chess.co.uk 3

Find the Winning Moves

Test your tactical ability with these positions grouped in rough order of difficulty. As usual the side to move can win at a minimum a pawn, with one notable exception. All the games come from recent events, not least the February 4NCL weekend and the e2e4 Brighton event. Solutions on page 54.

Warm-up Puzzles

(1) M.Birkin-J.Bourne 4NCL, Daventry 2013

White to Play

(4) P.Dargan-D.Adams 4NCL, Daventry 2013

Black to Play

(2) V.Dinstuhl-S.Haslinger Bundesliga 2013

Black to Play

(5) S.Bekker Jensen-S.Williams

Reykjavik 2013 Black to Play

(3) T.Jina-A.Anilkumar 4NCL, Daventry 2013

White to Play

(6) B.Kvisvik-G.Jones Reykjavik 2013

Black to Play

34 April 2013

Intermediate Puzzles for the Club Player

(7) J.Richmond-S.Deighton 4NCL, Daventry 2013

White to Play

(10) S.Cicak-E.Blomqvist Stockholm 2013

Black to Play

(13) W.Jones-A.Balaji 4NCL, Daventry 2013

White to Play

(8) S.Ruthen-N.Hosken 4NCL, Daventry 2013

White to Play

(11) D.Whitehead-E.Kirk Brighton 2013

White to Play and Draw

(14) R.Palliser-R.Illet Doncaster 2013

White to Play

(9) T.Seymour-N.Croad Brighton 2013 Black to Play

(12) D.Gormally-E.Kirk Brighton 2013 White to Play

(15) J.Altman-A.Bosboom Brighton 2013 White to Play

www.chess.co.uk 35

Harder Puzzles for the Club Player – Solutions on page 54

(16) M.Dziuba-J.Kleinert Reykjavik 2013 White to Play

(19) D.Frolyanov-D.Kokarev Moscow (rapid) 2013

White to Play

(22) R.Edouard-D.Dubov Wijk aan Zee 2013

White to Play

(17) A.Naiditsch-J.Timman Wijk aan Zee 2013

White to Play

(20) S.Karjakin-D.Frolyanov Moscow (rapid) 2013

White to Play

(23) M.Surtees-R.Palliser Doncaster 2013

Black to Play

(18) H.Ziska-J.Lenier Brighton 2013 Black to Play

(21) J.Sprenger-D.Norwood Catalan League 2013

White to Play

(24) S.Williams-D.Navara Reykjavik 2013

Black to Play

36 April 2013

The Comeback

by IM John-Paul Wallace

While presenting my game with the 2569-rated GM Deviatkin, I intend to focus on the ideas rather than the variations calculated, and I have also supplied the thoughts I had during it. This may be more interesting for the reader, as chess is often messy, as is life, and is not usually as ‘smooth’ as it often seems when a game is presented in a maga-zine. GM Darryl Johansen once remarked to me that if you look at most published games, you would think the Alekhine was a terrible opening, as many published games show Black getting knocked out in 25 moves, but if instead you look at a sample of games from practice you will see a very different picture: games that are filled with tension and mistakes from both players. That is ‘real life’ chess, and so do not be surprised if some of my comments that follow may seem contradictory!

A.Deviatkin-J.P.Wallace

Groningen Open 2012 Caro-Kann Defence

1 e4 c6

I decided to play solidly, not only during this game, but generally in my first tourna-ment in six years. 2 Ìc3 d5 3 Ëe2

After some thought my opponent came up with this idea. I was not too surprised, either by the move itself (although 3 Ëf3 is a more popular sideline), or Andrei’s choice to steer clear of theory, as he is known to experiment widely in the opening. I did not consider taking on e4 much, mostly because I was very attracted to the idea of closing the centre and sending the game towards a reversed King’s Indian structure. After all, that would seem to give me (and my oppo-nent) excellent winning chances in the com-plicated positions that follow. 3...d4

After the game Andrei asked why I did not take on e4. He told me he couldn’t re-member exactly what White’s idea is then, but that the basic concept is to prevent Black getting a ‘normal’ Caro-Kann: for example, 3...dxe4 4 Ìxe4 Íf5 5 g4!?. I learnt too that “3 Ëe2 is an idea of Vadim Zviagintsev, who also doesn’t like to play openings.”

4 Ìd1 4 Ìb1 deserves attention too.

4...e5 It is important to play this before White

plays f4. 5 d3 Íd6

See the previous comment. 6 g3 Ëc7 7 Íg2 Ìe7 8 Ìf3 Íg4

This was an interesting and difficult choice, as it was not strictly necessary to pin his knight. I could have gone for a host of other plans such as ...f6 and later ...g5, or ...h6 and later ...g5. On the other hand, the pin is very annoying for White. Usually in a King’s Indian Black would play ...Ëe8 to sidestep the pin, but seeing as though White here has already moved his queen copying that idea probably isn’t very appealing, at least psychologically. 9 h3 Íh5 10 0-0 c5 11 b3

This surprised me. It is highly committal (as it is no longer so attractive for White to play c3, for example if I castle queenside), as well as logical, and Andrei told me after-wards he was very worried about his knight on d1. 11...Ìd7 12 Ìb2 Ìc6

The idea of this move is to preserve the dark-squared bishop, hence if 13 Ìc4 Íe7. It is also possible to do without this move, and so I spent a long time on this difficult decision. I thought that I had the advantage here already. 13 g4

This surprised me a bit. It is a standard move, but is again very committal and it looked very risky when I have not yet cas-

tled kingside and have (what I thought was) good control of f4. 13...Íg6 14 Ìh4 Ìf8!

This was a strong move, which I believe my opponent may have missed. Now with my knight coming to e6 he really has to play f4 as a pawn sacrifice at some point very soon, or else I really am much better posi-tionally. I didn’t believe in the pawn sacrifice much, largely based on variations that I had calculated, so I thought he was playing al-most out of desperation here. 15 f4

15 Ìc4 was the alternative, when I have to choose between playing 15...Ìe6 or 15...Íe7. Either way he will need to fol-low up with f4 soon. 15…exf4 16 Ìc4 Ìe6

17 e5

As expected, although I had calculated this and thought I was much better. It

www.chess.co.uk 37

turned out that I had misassessed the posi-tion after 20 Íxb7 where he simply regains his pawn and plays slowly.

17 Ìxd6+ Ëxd6 18 Ìf5 followed by rounding up the f-pawn may be a decent alternative. 17...Ìxe5 18 Ìxd6+ Ëxd6 19 Ìf5 Ëc7 20 Íxb7

20 Ìxg7+ Ìxg7 21 Íxf4 f6 22 g5 was a sharp line where he just tries to blow me out of the water. However, I saw that 22...Ìf5 was possible, and if 23 gxf6 Ìe3 when it just looks winning for Black.

20...Îd8 21 Íe4

I now sank into thought, realising things were not so simple. At first I still liked my position, but I could not find a forcing way to obtain an advantage. I liked the idea of 21...Êf8, a very surprising move with the idea of 22...h5. However, in the end I de-cided against it for some reason, although I realised that if I just castle here I am no longer better. The funny thing is that after the game it transpired that up until this point both of us thought we had a clear advantage. 21...0-0

In the end, ‘playing it safe’ with a normal move. 22 Ëh2 f6 23 Íxf4 Ìxf4 24 Îxf4

Now White does have an annoying level of slight pressure. I can never really be bet-ter because that one little b-pawn I lost was the key to any counterplay I could have had on the queenside. Thus I have to accept that I am on the defensive now, although it shouldn’t be too bad for me. 24...Íf7 25 Îaf1 Ìg6

It makes sense to exchange queens – he has a potential mating attack on the king-side if I sit and do nothing, and the problem for him is there really is not much to do now. 26 Î4f2 Ëxh2+ 27 Êxh2 Íe6 28 Êg3 Îfe8 29 h4 Íd5 30 Íxd5+ Îxd5 31 h5 Ìf8 32 Êh2 h6

Okay, I have defended well and elimi-nated one of his strong minor pieces. He still has another one, but my knight also has some nice outposts when I get the chance to activate it. I wasn’t happy about 32...h6, as I fully realised it fixed the kingside and

killed any dynamism I may have on that wing. On the other hand, if I don’t play it he may play h6 at some point and just win tac-tically. I asked my opponent afterwards and he thought it was more or less forced, which was interesting. If I had had more time on the clock at this point I would cer-tainly have checked the variations carefully to see if I really had to play it.

33 Ìg3 Ìd7 34 Ìe4 Îee5

My rooks take up a funny stance. The reason is that I was concerned that he may play his rooks (one at a time of course) to f5, and in the knight ending I may need to be careful if his king is coming in quickly. Now at least I can bring my king speedily to the centre. 35 a4 Êf8

It turns out that we both probably made errors here, my one probably the more seri-ous. I should be aiming to seal up the queen-side with ...a5 while he should have probably kept the chance alive for the b4 break (with a3 and b4) that worked so well for him in the game. After the game Andrei thought if I had played ...a5 it would have just been a draw, but I had a specific concern: that he could play his rooks to f5 and after all the exchanges, in the knight ending he has ideas of Ìd6-b7 and Ìd2-c4. 36 Êh3 Êe7 37 Îf3 Êe6

This was a risky move, as transpired af-ter my opponent’s reply. 38 Ìg3

Suddenly it is a bit awkward to defend g7 without retreating my king. 38...Ìf8

A practical decision. It allows an ex-change sacrifice, but it would be psycho-logically difficult for my opponent to under-take such a decision so close to the time control. 39 Ìf5 Ìh7 40 Êg2

The alternative was 40 Ìxg7+ Êf7 41 Ìf5 Ìg5+, with obvious compensation for White. 40...Îd7 41 a5 Ìg5 42 Î3f2 Êd5

At this point I thought that I had wining chances. After all I have a very active king and my opponent’s last move seemed risky, as I have the possibility of ...Êc6-b5. How-ever, I had not counted on Andrei’s next

move, which begins a very strong plan for him.

43 Îb1

Now White will play b4 and open up a second front on the queenside. 43...Îb7

Writing now it seems as though 43...a6 may have been a solid defence with the idea of 44 b4 Îb7. 44 a6 Îc7 45 b4 cxb4

Perhaps not the best decision, but 45...c4 46 b5 had its own dangers for me. On the other hand, after the game con-tinuation my d-pawn suddenly becomes a liability. 46 Îxb4 Ìe6 47 Îb7 Êc6 48 Îb4 Êc5 49 Îb8 Êc6

I was still feeling confident here. My op-ponent can repeat with 50 Îb4 Êc5, and while I did not fully expect that, I was not sure what else he could do. Meanwhile I can try to win his a-pawn if he is not careful. 50 Êg3 Îa5

It turns out that this move may have been the final mistake. I would not be sur-prised if I can still hold this position if I just sit tight and do nothing for a bit. He has his own weaknesses it must be remembered, namely the pawns on c2 and a6. By ‘forcing the play’ I allowed his rook on f2, which isn’t doing much, to enter the game with decisive effect. Not to mention the fact that I com-pletely missed the tactics on moves 52 and 54. 51 Îe8 Êd5 52 Ìe3+

This allows me to sacrifice the exchange and may therefore be a mistake as he could have gone straight for 52 Ìxh6 as in the game, with a winning position. However, I had not appreciated the danger; to be spe-cific I had not seen the idea of plonking his f2-rook on e4, after which I am completely tied up. 52...Êd6

I was lucky I had this option (or perhaps unlucky otherwise I would have sacrificed the exchange after 52...dxe3 53 Îf5), as at least after 53 Ìc4+ Êd7 54 Îxe6 I have 54...Îxc4. 53 Ìf5+ Êd5 54 Ìxh6 Îxa6 55 Ìf5 Îa1

Maybe there was a better move, as this

38 April 2013

certainly did nothing to help me, but one problem I have is that 55...Îa2 56 c4! picks up the rook. 56 Îe2 Îa6 57 Îe4

After this strong move I can say, with confidence, that Black is lost. I am just too tied up and he has all sorts of tactical tricks that are working for him, like the 59 Ìxd4 move in the game. 57...Îd7 58 Îc8 Îb6 59 Ìxd4 Ìxd4 60 c4+ Êd6 61 Îxd4+ Êe7 62 Îxd7+ Êxd7 63 Îg8

63 Îc5 might be an interesting alterna-tive to keep two connected passed pawns, whilst not allowing my rook behind my a-pawn. However, after a few scares it did seem like a pretty easy win for White in the game too. 63...Îb3 64 Îxg7+ Êe6 65 Îxa7 Îxd3+ 66 Êh4 Îd1

Here we were running very low on time now. Andrei was especially low, although we did gain 30 seconds after every move. I

started to wonder if, amazingly, I still had real drawing chances here. 67 Îa6+ Êe5 68 Îa5+ Êe6 69 Îf5 Îc1 70 Îc5 Îh1+ 71 Êg3 Îg1+ 72 Êf3 Îh1 73 Îd5 Îf1+ 74 Êg3 Îg1+ 75 Êf4 Îc1 76 Îd4 Îf1+ 77 Êe3 Îe1+ 78 Êd2 Îg1 79 Êc3 Êe5

I am putting up a good defence, or so it seemed, but his next move looked decisive. 80 Îd5+

Now the problem is that 80...Êe6 81 h6 Îxg4 (81...Êf7 82 h7 Êg7 83 Îh5 Êh8 84 Îh4 is even easier for White) 82 Îh5 Îg8 83 h7 Îh8 leaves my rook com-pletely passive, although I should have at least tried this. 80...Êf4 81 Îf5+ Êxg4 82 Îxf6

My king is cut off and it is really easy for him. 82...Êxh5 83 Êd4 Îg8 84 c5 Êg5 85 Îf1 1-0

Here I resigned as it is a well-known win for White. I cannot start frontal checks with

his pawn already on c5 (if his pawn was on c4 that would be a different story).

All in all the sort of game that when I

spent a few hours examining all the critical moments, I learnt a great deal. It also illus-trates why we need to play against stronger players, in order to improve. It seems, from my comments, that I was overoptimistic at several points, a thought shared by GM Sabino Brunello who had been watching the ending and with whom I briefly discussed the game with the next day. Yet it is that very same optimism that is so often an as-set to a chess player, even in cases when it is not justified. Indeed, in chess we have to learn to balance all the different aspects, including the psychological factors.

Getting back into chess after such a long break, several things stood out and not just the new incremental time control which feels faster than the classical 7-hour playing session. I was reminded once again of John Nunn’s rule: “In mathematics you need to be correct, in chess you just need to be more correct than your opponent.” Thus, it is very important to be practical and the ‘absolute truth’ of the position is not always so rele-vant. The point is that these days there is not the time to be as thorough as one would like to be, and so you have to be practical.

Overall, it was great to get back into competitive chess and I loved the challenge. Thanks to Jan Colly and his team for provid-ing a great event in Groningen.

JP Wallace co-directs a chess coaching company in London holding, amongst other things, chess camps for kids. See more at www.wallacechess.com.

www.chess.co.uk 39

Solutions

Train with Artur Yusupov (page 24)

Ex. 11-1 A.Alekhine-M.Euwe, Holland (Game 21) 1935 1...a6!

An important move. Otherwise White could break up the black pawn structure on the queen-side (with a5-a6) and activate his light-squared bishop. Now the a5-pawn becomes weak. A consolation point for any of the developing moves 1...Íb4, 1...Íd6 or 1...Íe7. 2 Ìe4 Íb4 3 Ìc5 Íc8 4 Íxe5 fxe5 5 f4?

Also after 5 Ìd3!? Íxa5 6 Ëc5 Íb6 7 Ëxe5+ Ëxe5 8 Ìxe5 Íd4 9 Ìd3 (Kasparov) Black is better, thanks to his bishop-pair.

White’s best option is 5 Ëe3, when the posi-tion is roughly level. Taking the a-pawn then leads to perpetual check: 5...Íxa5 6 Îxa5 Ëxa5 7 Ëxe5+ Êf7 8 Ëf4+ Êe8 9 Ëe5+. 5...Íd2! 6 Ëc4 Îd4 7 Ëb3 exf4 8 gxf4 Ëe7! 9 Ìd3 Íe6 10Ëa3 Íc4! 11 Êh1 Ëxa3 12 Îxa3 0-0 13 Îa4 Îfd8μ

Ex. 11-2 I.Kan-J.Capablanca, Moscow 1936 1...Îh8!

Black activates his rook via the h-file. Another good choice is 1...c4!; Black may later play ...c3 or ...b4. Less strong is 1...gxf3, as the exchange of pawns does not improve Black’s position. 2 Îb3

After 2 fxg4 Black turns his attention to the e4-pawn: 2...Îg8 3 Êf3 Îf8+ 4 Êe3 Îf4–+. 2...Îh2! 3 Îd2

After 3 Êf2 gxf3 4 Êxf3 the weakness of the white kingside pawns gives Black a plus. 3...Îd4 4 Îe2 c6 5 Îc3?

You should not play so passively in rook end-ings. 5 fxg4 is a better defence; after 5...Êf6 6 Êf2! White may switch the b3-rook to either f3 or h3, with drawing chances. 5...g3 6 Îd3?

White should try 6 f4 Îh4 (6...c4 7 Êf3 Îh4 8 fxe5 Êxe5 9 Îce3³) 7 fxe5μ. 6...Îh1! 7 f4 Îf1! 8 f5+ Êf6 9 c3 Îxd3+ 10 Êxd3 d5!–+

Ex. 11-3 M.Euwe-A.Alekhine, Netherlands (Game 1) 1937 1 Ìc5

Forcing a favourable exchange. 1 Îxa6 would not be so clear after either 1...Íd5 or 1...Ëb7 2 Ëa1 Ëb5. 1...Íxc5 2 Ëxc5 g5?

A better defence is: 2...Ëb6 3 Ëxb6 (3 Ëc3!?) 3...axb6 4 Íxe5 (4 Îxa6? Íc4 5 Îxb6 Íxe2 6 Îe1 Ìf3+ =) 4...fxe5 5 Îxa6 Îd2 6 Îxb6 Íd5± (Kasparov). 3 Íe3 Íd5 4 Îxa6 Íxg2 5 Êxg2 Îf7 6 Îfa1 Ëd6 7 Ëxd6 Îxd6 8 Îxa7 Îxa7 9 Îxa7 Ìc4 10Íc5 Îe6 11 Íd4 Îxe2 12 Íxf6 g4

12...Ìxb2? 13 Îa2. 13 Êf1 Îc2 14 Îg7+ Êf8 15 Îxg4 Ìxb2 16 Íxb2!+– Îxb2 17 Îc4 Îb6 18 Êe2 Êf7 19 Îh4 Êg6 20Îf4 Îb3 21 Îc4 Îb6 22 Êe3 Êf5 23 g4+ Êe6 24 f4 Êd5 25 Îd4+ Êe6 26 f5+ Êe7 27 Îe4+ Êf7 28 h4 Îb1 29 Êf4 Îc1 30Îa4 h6 31 Îa7+ Êg8 32 g5 1-0

Find the Winning Moves (page 34)

1) Birkin-Bourne 1 Ìf6+! Íxf6 2 Îxd7 won the exchange.

2) Dinstuhl-Haslinger Black bagged a pawn with 1...Îxf2! 2 Ëxf2 Ëxa1+ 3 Êh2 Ëxa3 4 Ëxb6 Ëe7.

3) Jina-Anilkumar 1 Îh8+! (or 1 Ëe8+ Íf8 2 Îh8+! and mate on the move) 1...Êxh8 2 Ëh7# 1-0

4) Dargan-Adams 1...Îxd4! 2 e5 (2 Ëxd4 Íc5 snares the queen) 2...Ëxe5 left Black a piece ahead.

5) Bekker Jensen-Williams 1...Ìde2+! 0-1 It’s mate after 2 Íxe2 (or 2 Ëxe2) 2...Ëg3+ 3 Êh1 Ëg2#.

6) Kvisvik-Jones 1...Îxf1+! (overloading) 2 Ëxf1 Ëxd2 0-1

7) Richmond-Deighton 1 Ëxe6+ 1-0 1 Îf8+ Îxf8 2 Ëxe6+ Êh8 3 Íxf8 would have done the trick too, but it’s mate after 1 Ëxe6+ Îxe6 (or 1...Êh8 2 Ëxe8+!) 2 Îf8+ Îxf8 3 Îxf8#.

8) Ruthen-Hosken 1 Îxh7+! Êxh7 2 Ëh5+ Êg7 3 Ëh6# 1-0

9) Seymour-Croad 1...Îf2+! 0-1 It’s soon mate after 2 Êh3 (or 2 Ëxf2 Ëxh5+ 3 Êg1 Ëh1#) 2...Íg2+ 3 Êh2 Íf3+.

10) Cicak-Blomqvist 1...Íe1! 2 Ëb1 (now a piece goes, but 2 Îxe1 Îh3+ 3 Êd2 Îxd3+ 4 Êxd3 Íc4+ 5 Êe3 Ëc6 would have left Black up on material) 2...Îh3+ 3 Ìg3 Îxg3+ 4 Êe2 Íc3 0-1

11) Whitehead-Kirk 1 Îxf7+! Ëxf7 (it’s stalemate after 1...Êxf7 2 Ëf8+! Êe6 3 Ëe7+ Êxe7) 2 Ëh8+! Êxh8 ½-½

12) Gormally-Kirk After 1 Íxf7+! Êh7 (it’s mate after 1...Êxf7? 2 Ëc4+ Êf8 3 Ìg6#) 2 Íg6+ Êh8 3 Íxe8 Îxe8 4 e5 White quickly converted his extra exchange.

13) Jones-Balaji 1 Ìxe5! dxe5 (otherwise disaster occurs on f7) 2 Íxc5 left White a pawn to the good.

14) Palliser-Illet 1 Ëh4! Ëf8? (not best, but Black was too weak on all of c5, d6 and f6: for example, 1...Ëxh4 2 gxh4 Îed8 3 Ìxc5 Ía8 4 Îac1 with a clear extra pawn for White) 2 Ìf6+ Êg7 3 Ìxe8+ Îxe8 left Black the exchange in arrears.

15) Altman-Bosboom 1 Ìdb5! (or 1 Ìcb5 when even 1...Ëb8 doesn’t save Black, in view of the tremendous pressure he comes under after 2 Ìf5! axb5 3 Ìxd6+ Êe7 4 Îfd1!?) 1...axb5 2 Ìxb5 Ëc6? (losing the queen, but 2...Ëb8 3 Ìxd6+ Êe7 would have been very strong, as above; White can take on f7 and h8, or first increase play 4 Îfd1) 3 Íd5! 1-0

16) Dziuba-Kleinert 1 Íxh7+! Êxh7 (1...Êh8 2 Ìg5 is no help) 2 Ìg5+ Êg6 (2...Êg8 3 Ëh5 Îfe8 fails to,

amongst others, 4 Ëxf7+ Êh8 5 Ìxd5 exd5 6 e6 and clearly 2...Êh6 3 Ëe4 is no improvement) 3 Ëc2+ (Dziuba is happy to cash in, but he might have continued attacking with the equally strong 3 h4!?) 3...f5 4 exf6+ Êxf6 5 Ìce4+ Êe7 6 Ëxc5+ Ëxc5 7 Ìxc5 Íc8 8 Ìb3 1-0

17) Naiditsch-Timman 1 Ìxd6!! 1-0 After 1...Ìxd6 2 Îxc3! Black is killed down the long diagonal, since 2...Ìf5 fails to 3 Îd3+ Ìd4 4 Îxd4!.

18) Ziska-Lenier 1...Ìh4+! 2 Êh1 (it’s going to be mate after 2 gxh4 Ëg4+ and 2 Êf1 Ëg4 also leads to a deci-sive invasion) 2...Îxc3! (clearing away the de-fender of e4) 3 Ëf1+ Êg8 4 Îd4 e2 0-1

19) Frolyanov-Kokarev 1 Ìh6+! Íxh6 (1...Êf8 2 Ìxf5 gxf5 3 Îg1 is clearly hopeless for Black) 2 Ëxg6+ Êf8 (again, an exchange and more goes west after 2...Íg7 3 Ëxe6+, and if 3...Îf7 4 Íxd5) 3 Ëxh6+ Êe7 4 Ëh4+ Êf8? (now the attack becomes a mating one, but 4...Êe8 5 Íh5+ Îxh5 6 Ëxh5+ Êd8 7 Îc1 would but have prolonged Black’s agony) 5 Ëd8+ 1-0

20) Karjakin-Frolyanov 1 Îxh6+! Íxh6 2 Ëe5+ 1-0 It’s going to be mate down the h-file.

21) Sprenger-Norwood 1 Ëxf6+! Ëxf6 2 Îxf6 axb5 (giving up a piece as 2...Êxf6 3 b6 would have cost Black his rook) 3 Îf3 Îxa4 4 Îa3 Îxa3 5 bxa3 Êf6 6 Êf2 Êg5 7 g3 f5 8 Êe3 1-0

22) Edouard-Dubov 1 g5! (a decisive breakthrough) 1...fxg5 2 Îf7+ Êd8 3 Îxg7! (again not the only way to win, but by far the most forcing) 3...Îxg7 4 Íf7 Îxf7 5 h6! 1-0 As so often the two passed pawns on the sixth outclass the rook.

23) Surtees-Palliser 1...Ìf3!! 2 Ëxf3 (the best try; certainly not 2 Ëxc7? Îxh3+! 3 Íxh3 Îxg1#) 2...Îxf3 3 Ìxf3 Ëf4 4 Îae1 Ëxf5 5 Îe4 Îg3 6 Ìh2 Îxd3 (it’s always a good idea to prevent your opponent's ideas; indeed, here the prophylactic 6...h5! was indicated) 7 Ìg4? (7 Îg4 was a decent try in the scramble, although after 7...Îe3! 8 Íe4 Ëxe4+ 9 Îxe4 Îxe4 Black's centre pawns should carry the day) 7...Îxh3+! 8 Íxh3 Ëxe4+ and Black won.

24) Williams-Navara 1...Ìc3!! (1...Ìa5 is also good, although Black still has some work in front of him after 2 Ìd2 Ìc3 3 Íd7 Êf7 4 Ìf4 Êe7 5 Íxe6! g5 6 Ìd3 Êxe6 7 Ìxb4) 2 Íxc6 (2 d5 was a try, but after 2...Ìa5 White is undone on the queenside after all: 3 Ìxc3 bxc3 4 Ìf4 c2 5 Ìe2 Ìxb3! or 3 Íd3 Íxd5 4 Ìf4 Íxb3) 2...Ìxa2! (Williams had no doubt been relying on 2...Íxc6? 3 Ìe7+ Êf7 4 Ìxc6 Ìxb1 5 Ìxb4, but after the text he is powerless to halt the a-pawn, extra piece or not) 3 Íd7 (or 3 Íxa8 Ìc3 4 Ìxc3 bxc3) 3...Êf7! (precise to the last; 3...Ìc3? would have enabled White to salvage a draw with 4 Íxe6+ Êh7 5 Ìf8+ Êh8 6 Ìg6+) 4 Ìf4 Ìc1 5 Íxe6+ Êe7 0-1

54 April 2013