Tidbits
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Here we would have expected to see 30.Kg2 or 30.Rf1, followed by the White King moving into the center. INSTEAD, Morozevich found a way to end the game quickly with the surprisingly effective 30.a4! Rxf3 31.a5! pxp 32.Rxa5 h5 33.Rxa7 Rb3 34. c5 when Black threw in the towel; the pawns are unstoppable.
Sadler wins Oslo International Open with 8/9!
Governor’s Cup (Saratov)
There is a very interesting tournament taking place between October 7 and October 20th, with plenty of ‘fighting’ GMs.Ponomariov, Morozevich, Leko, Vitiugov, Moiseenko, Shirov, Tomashevsky, Andreikin, Eljanov, Ni Hua, Roiz and Alekseev play. Of the chess that I have seen so far (only 2 rounds have taken place) this tournament makes the Grand Slam pale in comparison. I suggest the readers take a peek. Official website
gm MOROZEVICH in great form
Morozevich always attracts attention when he is playing. Probably because when he is in form then he is the best player in the world, and the reverse: when he is playing badly, he plays VERY badly! He really crushed Vitiugov’s French Defence, almost making it seem that Black was never really in the game!
gm VITIUGOV
gm MOROZEVICH
Black had experimented with 8…b6 , a move that Carlsen had beaten Ivanchuk with in the Grand Slam last week. Obviously Morozevich had seen the game, and he emerged from the opening with a promising position. In the position above, Morozevich busted open the centre with the surprisingly strong 16.c4! and soon Black found himself having to give up a pawn inorder to get some play…
After 29 moves the game had reached an ending, with Morozevich still a pawn up.
Here we would have expected to see 30.Kg2 or 30.Rf1, followed by the White King moving into the center. INSTEAD, Morozevich found a way to end the game quickly with the surprisingly effective 30.a4! Rxf3 31.a5! pxp 32.Rxa5 h5 33.Rxa7 Rb3 34. c5 when Black threw in the towel; the pawns are unstoppable.
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Sadler wins Oslo International Open with 8/9!
Former English chess prodigy Mathew Sadler walked away with the first prize at the strong Oslo event. His 8 points from 9 games will no doubt go far to improve his elo and establish him as a sort of come-back kid after his retirement from competitive chess to dedicate himself to another profession about a decade ago. Sadler’s games were hard fought affairs where his will-power often was the deciding factor. I especially liked his win over GM Mikhalevsky, which featured the rarely played Stonewall variation of the Dutch Defence. The englishman surprisingly quickly got the upper hand with just simple moves…
POSITION AFTER 31 MOVES:
gm SADLER
gm MIKHALEVSKY
White had just brought his King over to the Queenside for safety reasons when he blundered in one move. He should now consider with 32.Rf1 or even 32.Pxg5. INSTEAD 32.R(g)f2? allows the very strong 32…Pxf4! when White loses material. Now 33.exf4 would be met with 33…Nxc5 and 34…e3. So White could find nothing better than 33.Rxf4 , but went down in flames.
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