Interesting Chess From Today

 “Checkmate” in other words

How are you today? A number of key tournaments that I have been recently following are either coming to an end today or will do so tomorrow or the day after.

Usually the ending of a tournament is like the climax of a Beethoven symphony: filled with surprises and emotional intensity.

I would like to share with my readers some of the games that I applaud…Enjoy!

As you know, GM Wang Hao won this very strong tournament in Vietnam with 7.5 from 9 games. He just needed to draw with his compatriot to secure the tournament.

But other games were ‘do or die’ affairs. Especially, I like how the Romanian grandmaster Irina Bulmaga won her game with the black pieces against a strong adversary:

im Fenil,S – wgm Bulmaga,I
Vietnam 13.3.2019 (0-1)

Are the risks worth it?

Below is a game that the Venezuelan grandmaster Eduardo Iturrizaga lost in the final round of the HD_Bank tournament. Going into today’s game Edouard was amongst the favourites to finish in the top 4 or 5 places, but he was given the Black pieces against  a player some 200 points lower rated than himself.

How does one play for a win against a lower rated player?  Does one play like Irina did (9…g5!??!) or does one take another other type of risk? Or perhaps no risk at all?

As the reader will see, Edouardo decided today to, like Irina, play an inferior opening variation, hoping that his opponent would not react vigorously enough…only he was punished for doing so. His opponent deserves much credit for playing a superb game from start to finish!

im Liu,G – gm Iturrizaga, E
Vietnam 13.3.2019 (1-0)