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gm  Robson, Ray

 fm  Bora, Safal  (2328)

SPICE Cup Open Saint Louis USA 2014.10.21  Position before Black’s 34th move.  Ofcourse, White, being a piece down,  is desperate and is left to play for tricks: 34…Rxe5?? 35.Rd8+! mating.  Robson will have nothing to do with childish tricks…

BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!

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gm  Nyzhnyk, Illya

fm  Gurevich, Daniel  (2314)

 

SPICE Cup Open Saint Louis USA 2014.10.21  Position after 23 moves. A quick glance at the position of Black’s pieces on the Kingside indicates that the higher rated player (Nyzhnyk) has taken some liberties.  Clearly Black’s game lacks cohesion and harmony.  Even so, one feels almost sorry for Black for the BRUTAL finish that White has in store…

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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AMBUSH!

im  Dourerassou, Jonathan  (2473)

gm  Fedorchuk, Sergey A

18th Oscaro.com Open  Bastia 2014.10.18   Position after 33 moves. White has the attack and therefore the better game, especially since Black has no real counterplay. However, it is not so easy to break into Black’s game. What Black hopes for most is that White takes his f-pawn and then Black can win the White Rook with …Qb7+.  

After thinking a bit, this is just what the Ukrainian grandmaster plays!

34.Qxf4 Qb7+

Did White overlook this?

 

35.Be4! Qxa6 36.fxg6!

And all of a sudden White has a mating attack!

 

36…fxg6 37.Qe5+ Kg8 38.Bxg6! 1-0

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Parente, Renan Braz  (2071)

gm  Bachmann, Axel

 

IX American Continental Championship  Rio Grande 2014.10.18 Position after White’s 27th move (27.h4!?) A very interesting fight! White’s pin of the Knight is very awkward, but not decisive. It looks as though White intends to play h5 next move,  which from the psychological point of view, is very annoying. This prompts Black to prevent it, which leads to his downfall, as we shall soon see. What Black should play is the coldblooded 27…Rxb3!! and if 28.h5  gxh5! 29.Nh4 Qe6! and Black holds.  If instead White tries 28.Re4!? (threatening Rf4) then 28…Qb6! stops White cold.

THE GAME CONTINUED:

 

27…h5?!

A natural looking move, preventing White’s ”threat” 28.h5, but infact the losing move!

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

 

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SPICE Cup Open Saint Louis USA 2014.10.21  Bora, Safal–Robson, Ray: 34…Rxg4+! 35.hxg4 Rxg4+ 36.Kf1 Qb5+ 37.Ke1Re4+ 38.Kd2 Re2+(38…Bg5+!) 39.Kc3 Qc5+ 40.Qc4 Rc2+ 0-1

 

SPICE Cup Open Saint Louis USA 2014.10.21  Gurevich, Daniel–Nyzhnyk, Illya: 24.Rxf7!!  A brilliant move that exposes the lack of harmony in Black’s game 24…Kxf7 ( 24…Qxe5 25.Raf1 paralyzes Black and is not better than the move played in the game ) 25.Rf1+ Nf6 ( Relatively best. If instead 25…Kg8 26.Qxe6+ Kh8 27.Qxe7 Qe8 28.Qxe8+ Rxe8 29.Nd6 Rb8 30.e6 and the pawn must win: 30…g6 31.Bg5 etc or if instead  25…Ke8 26.Qxe6 with multiple threats) 26.exf6 Qxd3 ( 26…gxf6 27.Ng5+ ) And now the simplest is 27.Ng5+ Kg6 28.Qf3 gxf6 29.Nxe6 and Black is defenceless )  The game continuation was a bit imprecise, but good enough to win: 27.Qf3 gxf6 28.Nxf6 Bxf6 29.Qxf6+ Ke8 30.Qxe6+ Re7 31.Qg8+ Kd7 32.Qg4+ Kc6 33.Rc1+ Kd5 34.Qh5+ Ke6 35.Re1 Rae8 36.Bc5+ Kd7 37.Bxe7 Rxe7 38.Rd1 Kc7 39.Qc5+ 1-0   A pretty attacking game.

 

IX American Continental Championship  Rio Grande 2014.10.18  Bachmann, Axel–Parente, Renan Braz: 28.Re4!! A magnificent move, bringing in the Rook to f4. There is no defence!  The game continued 28…g5 Desperation, but it makes little difference. White wins against the stronger 28…Bc8  with either 29.Ng5 Bf5 30.Qe7  or 29.Rf4 Bf5 30.Ng5 Rxb3 31.Ne4 etc.  The game continued  29.hxg5 Kg6 30.Bxf6 ( 30.Nh4+ is faster ) Qxe4 31.Ne5+ 1-0