Some Interesting Moments
Friday was a well deserved rest day for the participants of the European Championship and today will see round 7 in play. There will be no more rest days before the 11th round, the final round, and so the pressure is on! Everything is still wide open for top prize of 20,000 euros, as well as the 23 qualifying spots for the upcoming World Cup.
Do as I say, not as I do!
I got a big kick out of seeing the president of the European Chess Union, Azmaiparashvili, give a simul yesterday to some of the young talents of Georgia. Other photos from the event can be found on the organization’s FACEBOOK .
Dress Code, Azmai?
Is it dignified for the president to appear with jeans and a sloppy sweater? What kind of message is Azmai sending to the young players, EVERYONE of which is clearly already much better dressed than him?
I think this question is important inasmuch as proper dress code was the exact subject of a viral controversy this past fall when Azmai savagely reprimanded Canadian grandmaster Anton Kovalyov for his own informal attire at the World Cup, making several clearly racist remarks at the same time.
Readers will remember that the Canadian immediately packed his bags and returned home. Hundreds of MSM news outlets carried the story, and even the FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov regretted Azmai’s crude behaviour.
Now for some interesting games!
I present below some six games and/or positions from round 6. All of these examples are very combative games with interesting episodes that I am sure my readers will appreciate.
gm Inarkiev – gm Romanov Euro_Ch 22.3.2018
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Qd3
d5 8.exd5 exd5 9.Be2 O-O 10.O-O Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bg5 a5 13.Rfd1
h6 14.Bh4 Re8 15.Qc2 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Qe7 17.Bf1 dxc4 18.Qa4 Be6
19.Qxc6 Rec8 20.Qb6 a4 21.Rab1 g5$6 22.Bg3 Ne4 23.Be5 Bg4 24.Rd5
Be6 25.Rdd1 Bg4 26.Bd4!{[#]} Be6 ( 26...Bxd1 27.Qxh6 f6 28.Qg6+ Kh8
29.Rxd1 {<strong style="color: red;">When White has a winning positional advantage</strong>} ) 27.Be2 Qa3 ( 27...Nc5 28.Bf3 ) 28.Bg4!{[#]<strong style="color: red;">White’s play with his Bishops in this game is very impressive!</strong> } Re8
( 28...Bxg4 29.Qxh6 f6 30.Rb7 ) 29.Re1 ( 29.Qc6 Nxc3 30.Bxe6
fxe6 31.Qf3 ) Nd6 ( 29...Qd6! {<strong style="color: red;">Relatively best, but insufficient in the end</strong> } ) 30.Bxe6 Rxe6 ( 30...fxe6 31.Bc5 )
31.Rxe6 fxe6 32.Bc5 Qxa2 33.Bxd6 a3 34.Be5 Re8 35.h4
( 35.Qb7! Re7 36.Qa8+ Kf7 37.Qf3+ Kg8 38.Rb8+ ) gxh4 36.Qb7 1-0
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gm Jakovenko – gm Alekseenko Euro_Ch 22.3.2018
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Nb6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ne2
Bg4 8.Be3 Qd7 9.Nbc3 e6 10.Be4 O-O-O 11.O-O Kb8 12.Qb3 Be7 13.f3
Bf5 14.Rfd1 Bxe4 15.fxe4 Na5 16.Qc2 Nac4 17.Bf2 Bg5 18.a4 f6
19.exf6 gxf6 20.Rd3 f5 21.a5 Nc8 22.Na4 fxe4 23.Rb3 Qd5 24.Nc5
N8d6 25.Nc3{[#]} ( 25.Nxb7$5 {<strong style="color: red;">Reasonable, but White wanted more</strong> } Nxb7 26.a6 Nb6 27.axb7 Rhf8$6 28.Rxa7! )
Qf5 26.Qe2 ( 26.Nxb7$5 Nxb7 27.a6 e3 28.Rxb7+ Kc8 29.Qxf5 exf5
30.Bg3 f4 ) Ka8 27.N3xe4 Nxe4 28.Nxe4 Rhg8 29.a6 b6 30.Rg3 Bf4
{?} 31.Rxg8 Rxg8 {[#]}32.Nf6!{<strong style="color: red;">Winning!</strong>} Rc8 ( 32...Qxf6 33.Qe4+ ) 33.Qxc4
c6 34.Nd7 Bxh2+ 35.Kxh2 Qxf2 36.Qxe6 1-0
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gm Navara- gm Abasov Euro_Ch 22.3.2018
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.Nf3
b6 8.g3 Bb7 9.Bg2 Nd7 10.d4 Bd6 11.Bg5 Qf5 12.Nh4 Qxg5 13.Bxb7
Rd8 14.Qa4 O-O 15.O-O a5 16.f4 Qf6 17.Bc6 Nb8 18.Rab1 Qe7 19.Bg2
c5$6 {<strong style="color: red;">This just accelerates Black’s problems</strong>} ( 19...Nd7 20.Rbe1$14 ) 20.d5{[#]} exd5 21.Rxb6 Qe3+ 22.Kh1 Qxc3 23.Bxd5
Be7 24.Nf5 Bf6 25.Qd1! a4 26.Nd6 Qd4 27.Qe2 Rd7 28.Rd1!
Rxd6 ( 28...Qc3 29.Ne4 ) 29.Rxd6!{[#]} Qc3 ( 29...Qb2 30.Qxb2 Bxb2
31.Re1 ) 30.Rb1 h6 31.Rb7{<strong style="color: red;">Black is going to lose his Knight, amongst other things</strong>} 1-0
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gm Bartel – gm Cheparinov Euro_Ch 22.3.2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.O-O Qe7 {<strong style="color: red;">Do you remember Aronian vs Kramnik from the Candidates?</strong>}7.Nbd2!{[#]}
Bg4 8.h3 Bh5 9.Re1 Nd7 10.Nf1 Nf8 11.Ng3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3$14 g6 13.c3
h5 14.b4 Bd6 15.a4 a5 16.b5 cxb5 17.axb5 Nd7 18.d4 Nb6 19.Qd3
a4 20.f4 f6$5{[#]<strong style="color: red;">Anticipating the following exchange sacrifice</strong>} 21.h4 O-O-O 22.fxe5 fxe5 23.Bg5 Qe6 24.Bxd8 Rxd8
25.Ne2 Kb8 26.g3 g5$5 27.hxg5 h4 28.Kg2 Rg8 29.d5{<strong style="color: red;">White, probably short of time, defends badly and soon finds himself with a lost game</strong>} Qg4 30.Rh1 Qxg5
31.Raf1 Nd7 32.Rf5 Qh6 33.Kf3 Nc5 34.Qc2 h3 35.Ng1 Qg6 36.Rxh3
Qg4+ 37.Kg2 Nxe4 38.Rf3 Nc5 39.Kh2 e4 40.Re3 Bf4 41.Qe2 Bxe3
42.Qxe3 b6 43.d6 cxd6 44.Qd4 Qe6 45.Ne2 Qe5 46.Qd1 Rh8 47.Nd4
Rxh3+ 48.Kxh3 Kc7 49.Qf1 Qe7 50.g4 a3 51.Nc6 Qg7 52.Qc1 a2 53.Nd4
Nd3 0-1
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gm Anton- gm Gajewski Euro_Ch 22.3.2018
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3
O-O 8.Rc1 Nc6 9.h3 Rd8 10.cxd5 exd5 11.a3 Bf8 12.Bd3 Bf5 13.Bxf5
Qxf5 {[#]} 14.g4!{<strong style="color: red;">White can simply castle here and be comfortably better, but he prefers to attack!</strong>} Qe6 15.Qd3 g6 16.Rg1 a6 17.h4 Rd7 18.Na4 Re8 19.Ke2
Bd6 20.b4 Rde7 21.Nc5 Bxc5 22.Rxc5 Qd6 23.h5 Re4 24.g5 {[#]} Ne7 25.gxh6
c6 26.h7+ Kg7 27.Rcc1 Nf5 28.hxg6 f6 29.Kd2 Qe6 30.Rh1 Nd6 31.Kc3
Qf5 {<strong style="color: red;">White dominates! Black defends well, but it is now a case of too little, too late. A lost ending is the best he can achieve.</strong>} 32.Nd2 Rg4 33.Qxf5 Nxf5 34.Rcg1 Rxg1 35.Rxg1 Nh4 36.Nb3 b6
37.a4 Nxg6 38.a5 bxa5 39.bxa5 Kxh7 40.Nc5 f5 41.Ra1 f4 42.Kd2
Rb8 43.Ra2 fxe3+ 44.fxe3 Ne7 45.Nxa6 Ra8 46.Nc5 Nf5 47.a6 Nd6
48.Kc3 Rb8 49.Nd7 1-0
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gm Volokitin – im Vavulin Euro_Ch 22.3.2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.d3 d6 7.c3 O-O
8.Re1 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf8 10.Nf1 h6 11.Ng3 b5 12.Bc2 d5 13.exd5 Qxd5
14.d4 Bg4 15.Bb3 Qd6 16.h3 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 exd4 18.Bf4{[#]<strong style="color: red;">White has a small initiative, but nothing more</strong>} Qd7 19.Bxh6$5{<strong style="color: red;">Flashy, but Black has everything undercontrol</strong>}
Na5! 20.Bc2 d3! 21.Bxd3 gxh6 22.b4 Nc6$6 {<strong style="color: red;">This imprecision allows White to score big!</strong>} ( 22...Qc6!{<strong style="color: red;">This move keeps the balance</strong>} 23.bxa5 Qxf3
24.gxf3 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Rd8 ) 23.Qxf6! Bg7 ( {<strong style="color: red;">Relatively best is</strong>}23...Qxd3 24.Qxc6
Qc4 25.Qxe8 {<strong style="color: red;">but Black is suffering anyway. At least he can still fight</strong>} ) {[#]} 24.Nh5!{<strong style="color: red;">Black must have overlooked this strong tactic. Now the game quickly reduces itself to an ending a piece up for White.</strong>} Bh8 25.Bc2 ( 25.Be4 ! ) Re6 26.Rxe6 Qxe6
27.Qxe6 fxe6 28.Be4 Bxc3 29.Rc1 1-0
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