3rd Karen Asrian Memorial
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
A very original position! Now Black has a winning attack! In order to defend against the threatened mate in 1 White must return material and try to flee with his King over to the Kingside.
More to soon follow
The 3rd annual Karen Asrian Memorial chess tournament took place between October 4th and 14th in Jermuk, Armenia. Sixty-three chess players from Armenia, Russia, Georgia and Iran participated in the 9-round tournament, among them 14 grandmasters and 9 international masters.
GM Tigran Kotanjian (Armenia) scored 7 points out of 9 and took the first prize Kotanjian was half a point ahead of GM Konstantine Shanava (Georgia), GM Sergey Volkov (Russia), IM Davit Maghalashvili (Georgia), GM Evgeny Vorobiov (Russia).
——————————————————————–
GM Karen Asrian (1980 to 2008)
Karen Asrian was born on April 24, 1980. He won the national Armenian Championship in 1999, 2007 and 2008, and the tournaments of Dubai 2001 and Stepanakert 2004. In 2006 he won a gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Turin as a member of Armenian team, playing on board three.
_______________________________________________________
The following is a short selection of interesting positions from this event
OUT- SURVIVING THE OPPOSITION!
POSITION AFTER BLACK’S 19th MOVE (19…Qa4!?)
TAMAZYAN
LOMINEISHVILI
OUT- SURVIVING THE OPPOSITION!
POSITION AFTER BLACK’S 19th MOVE (19…Qa4!?)
TAMAZYAN
A difficult position to assess; the Black King is pinned down and his Rooks can not communicate with their companions. On the other hand, the White King is no safer , having castled on the Queenside where the White pawns are weakest. Conclusion: both sides stand badly! In such cases the more resourceful player usually wins. One slip and it could become immediately fatal, so it is important to keep one’s head above water longer than his opponent (!)…
Black’s last move is a deep trap that White unluckily walks into. White should play the safe 20.Kb1 here, ignoring the Greek gift on h8. Instead, temptation ruled…
20.BxR ?
No doubt White was prepared to defend against the Black attack commencing with the obvious 20…Qxa2 with the solid 21.Bc2! However, it must have come as a very unpleasant surprise when Black uncorked the deep idea of her last move:
20…Bc8!!
A brilliant idea that removes the White Bishop from its defensive role. Probably best now is to retreat the Queen to e2 and after Black takes the Bishop on f5 to play f3 (threatening e4–shutting out the Bishop) and pray! Instead, White took the Bishop
21.Bxc8 Qxa2!
A very original position! Now Black has a winning attack! In order to defend against the threatened mate in 1 White must return material and try to flee with his King over to the Kingside.
22.Rd4!? pxR 23.Kd1 d3! 24. Ke1 Ne4!!
The cruncher! Now the end is inevitable…play over the game in the pgn viewer below
document.getElementById(“cwvpd_1287236727”).value=document.getElementById(“cwvpg_1287236727”).innerHTML;document.getElementById(“cwvfm_1287236727”).submit();
___________________________________________________________
THE DEADLY OPEN G-FILE!
Black must have been so focused on White’s Qh5 idea (17.Qh5 Rf7! defending) that she overlooked White’s stunning reply! WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
17.Bxh7ch! KxB (there is no better) 18.Qh5ch!
The cruncher! Threatening mate, Black has no choice but to capture the Rook. But then the opening of the g-file brings in the other White Rook with devastating threats. The game did not last much longer. Play over the game on the pgn viewer below.
THE DEADLY OPEN G-FILE!
POSITION AFTER WHITE’S 16th MOVE (16.exf6 e.p.)
SIMONIAN
SHANAVA
Here Black’s sense of danger failed her. Black must play 16…Bxf6 after which White’s attempt at breaking thru to the Black King fails (17.Qh5): 17…g6! 18.Bxg6?! pxB 19.Qxg6ch Bg7 20.Bd4 d6! etc. Instead, Black recaptured on f6 with the pawn:
16…gxf6?
Black must have been so focused on White’s Qh5 idea (17.Qh5 Rf7! defending) that she overlooked White’s stunning reply! WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
17.Bxh7ch! KxB (there is no better) 18.Qh5ch!
White’s attack can not be stopped. If now 18…Kg7 then White wins as in the game: 19.Rf3!! Bxf3 20.gxf3 Rg8. 21.Rg1ch etc
18…Kg8 19. Qg6ch Kh8 20.Rf3!!
The cruncher! Threatening mate, Black has no choice but to capture the Rook. But then the opening of the g-file brings in the other White Rook with devastating threats. The game did not last much longer. Play over the game on the pgn viewer below.
document.getElementById(“cwvpd_1287239336”).value=document.getElementById(“cwvpg_1287239336”).innerHTML;document.getElementById(“cwvfm_1287239336”).submit();
__________________________________________________________
THE PREMATURE RESIGNATION!
Baghdasaryan V. – Khojayan V.
Jermuk
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. a4 Qa5 8. Qd2 b6 9. Ba3!? Ba6!? 10. Bb4
Black must have been surprised by this last move–the Black Queen has no escape–and immediately resigned. But there was no need for it! Infact, Black is somewhat better here:
10… cxb4! 11. cxb4 Bxf1 12. bxa5 Bxg2
The White Rook has no escape and Black already has 2 minor pieces for the Queen!
13. f3!? Bxh1 14. Kf2 Nbc6 15. axb6 axb6 16. Ne2 Bxf3 17. Kxf3 O-O
With Rook, Knight and pawn for the Queen, Black can look to the future with optimism!
MORAL OF THE STORY: MAKE DAMN SURE YOU RESIGN FOR THE RIGHT REASON!
More to soon follow