Tidbits from the French Championship
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Especially exciting was the final round cliff-hanger between former child prodigies Etienne Bacrot and Vachier-Lagrave. The title was decided in this game…
This year’s French Championship boasted 8 of France’s top-10 FIDE rated players and proved to be a very successful event. There was criticism about the number of colourless draws and the lower than expected level of play (too many blunders!), but we must remember that– as spectators — we pay nothing for the right to be included in the peanut gallery and our opinions are (in general) not welcome!
Especially exciting was the final round cliff-hanger between former child prodigies Etienne Bacrot and Vachier-Lagrave. The title was decided in this game…
POSITION AFTER 25 MOVES:
GM Vachier-Lagrave
GM Bacrot
Bacrot out-played his younger rival right from the opening stage and in the position above it seems as though White is well on his way to winning the game and with it the title of Champion of France. White has a pleasant choice of effective ways to proceed; amongst them 26.a4! a6 27.Bf4 Nc6 28.Qb2! followed by advancing the Queenside majority. Black is powerless to stop it.
INSTEAD, Bacrot hallucinated and thought that he could do without preparation, giving the young Vachier-Lagrave a miraculous opportunity to save the game –and win the Championship!!
26. b5 ? Bxb5 27. Qxe4 (Bacrot’s idea) 27…Nd3!
Believe it or not, the game is now a forced draw!
28.Qd5-ch Rf7 29.Rb1 (what else?) 29…Nxf2!!
A fantastic concept! Taking the Knight gets mated quickly after …Re2-ch. White has no choice but to take the Bishop as otherwise the Black f-pawn will advance and become a monster…infact, one gets the impression that Bacrot is even a bit lucky that he can still hold the game!
30. RxB Ng4! Threatening mate 31. Rb1 Re2!
The Rook, Knight and Pawn guarantee the draw! Black is threatening a variety of perpetual checks –and if White misplays–even a mate or two! Bacrot wisely decides to take the perpetual check starting with 32. Qd8-ch Rf8 33.Qd5-ch etc. With this exciting turn around, the French title switched hands!
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The opening of the Black King position is well worth the cost of the Bishop. Moreover, subsequent analysis has shown that White is not in anyway risking anything.
This move envisages a possible direct attack against he Black King (Rg3), while maintaining the d5-pawn break in the air. Play proceeded:
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Etienne Bacrot played the best chess of the championship, in my opinion. Here is his game against GM Edouard, where he demonstrates his ability to play sharp and uncompromising chess when the position demands it.
POSITION AFTER 17 MOVES:
GM Edouard
GM Bacrot
A classical Queens Gambit Accepted (QGA) opening has lead to a sharp position where White has quickly mobilized his pieces while Black has been doing the same behind White’s isolated Q-Pawn. Black’s last move (17…h6 ?!) , however, is a bit unconventional–not to say provocative — and leads to an immediate crisis in the centre. Bacrot lashes out:
18.Bxh6! gxh6
The opening of the Black King position is well worth the cost of the Bishop. Moreover, subsequent analysis has shown that White is not in anyway risking anything.
One straight forward way for White to proceed is 19. d5! Nbxd5 ( Inferior are both 19… ed 20. Nxd7 Qxd7 21. Qxe7 and 19… Rxc3 20. Nxd7 Nbxd7 21. bc) 20. Bxd5 Nxd5 21. Nxd5 ed 22. Rxd5 recovering the material with advantage.
Bacrot has another idea:
19.Rd3!?
This move envisages a possible direct attack against he Black King (Rg3), while maintaining the d5-pawn break in the air. Play proceeded:
19… Kh8?! 20. Qd2 Ng8 21. d5!
The pile-up on the d-line guarantees White to win back some material in the near future
21… Nc4 22. Bxc4 bc 23. Rd4
21… Nc4 22. Bxc4 bc 23. Rd4
And now for the decisive error. Admittedly, Black’s position is not easy to defend
23… Bc5?? 24. de! Bxd4 25. Qxd4
The threat of the discovered check along the long diagonal is something that does Black in
25… Qf6 26. ed Rcd8 27. Re3 Ne7 28. Rf3 Nc6
Desperate, but there is nothing better.
29. Nxf7-ch! Black resigns. He loses the house.
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ENDGAME TECHNIQUE?!
It has to be admitted that the time control (40 moves in 1hour,30 minutes; followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game–plus 30 seconds per move from move 1 onwards) does not allow for demonstrating brilliant endgame technique, but still it is hard to believe that an experienced Grandmaster like Dorfman could lose the position below!
GM DORFMAN