I don’t remember when I was last so interested in games from the Bundesliga, but this weekend provided a lot of material for further study and appreciation. I present to my readers a very small part of this…Enjoy!
Nice Attacking Finish!
Grandmaster Saric has a nice classical style of play and it is not surprising that he wins many attractive games, clear cut and very logical. I like the following example of how he first concentrates his pieces on the Kingside and then finds a way to penetrate and then blow apart his opponent’s defences.
gm Saric – gm Beikert Berlin 1.3.2019 (1-0)
Shankland Misses a Golden Opportunity
One of my readers can not fathom why so many top grandmasters blunder as often as they do. In particular, he is perplexed why Shankland did not just win simply against Leko yesterday on move 31 with Qb8! (Instead he played 31.Qc4 and agreed to a draw the very next move!) Time was no excuse: Shankland had 42 minutes left while Leko had 25 minutes…mutual blindness??
In the following game we witness the defender (Kovalenko) carefully hold his position together against one of the most feared attackers in the world (Naiditsch).
White tries every trick in the book to disorient his opponent, but without success. Finally Naiditsch grows impatient and prematurely tries to force things on the Queen side. Definitely worth close study!
gm Naiditsch – gm Kovalenko Berlin 3.3.2019 (0-1)
This Time a Successful Attack!
Quite the opposite happens in this game: here White plays fast and loose against his less experienced opponent and is rewarded when the latter loses his cool on move 21, taking a poison pawn.
