When the winning move is…luft!
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
There is a reasonably strong Open tournament taking place right now in Oslo, Norway. More than 10 GMs are participating, including well-known names such as Sadler, Mikhavevski, Tiviakov, Hammer, De Firmian, Rozenthalis, and my friend Kuloats. It is worth checking out the website as it has lots of photos and other interesting things.
The game that attracted my attention so far was the really nice attacking game between IM Urkedal and national master Tari. Black gambled in the opening to win a pawn: the price was a lag in development. Things got worse when Tari did not make the right choice of where to hide his King:
POSITION AFTER WHITE’S 19th MOVE (19.Qg4-ch)
Tari,A
IM Urkedal,F
WHERE DO YOU GO: f8 or h8?
WHERE DO YOU GO: f8 or h8?
Tari chose the natural-looking move (19…Kh8 ?, in the corner), which is the wrong place in the position above. No doubt Black had overlooked that after 20.Qh4! the originally planned 20… e5? would lose to the clever 21.Rc6!!. Seeing this only at the last moment, Black had to improvise and try to hold on move to move.
Unfortunately for Black, Urkedal played with great energy and precision; it seemed that for almost every move after that White created a new threat ! Black had absolutely no breathing room… I especially like the final move of the game:
POSITION AFTER 28.MOVES:
29. h3!!
Creating luft and threatening Re-g4 followed by inevitable mate! Black threw in the towel….