Some entertaining games played this week!
Winning with style!
Following up on yesterday’s blog entry featuring tactics from both the Czech Championship and the Catalan Championship (both still underway), today I present a selection of interesting and entertaining games from both events. Enjoy!
Martin Perez,L –gm Alonso,A Catalan Ch 4.29
B01 (1 – 0)
Garcia Ramos –gm Narciso
Catalan Ch 4.29
B08 (0 – 1)
Esplugas,V – gm Munoz,M
Catalan Ch 4.29
A65 (0 – 1)
Big surprise in the first round! The much lower rated Laura Martin beats GM Alonso! The latter played riskily in the opening and then overlooked a clever tactic when Alonso played his 12…Qb4, which lost a piece! Laura then gave no chances and reeled in the point.
Narciso’s games always have a logic to them, much in the same way as Botvinnik’s games. Here the Catalan Grandmaster puts a steady pressure on the Queenside, provoking and prodding, and finally White blunders when short to time.
Munoz’ games are always an incomprehendible mess to me! Here Black plays sharply in a Benoni and allows White to advance his centre pawns. A piece sacrifice for these pawns soon allows Black to start advancing his own pawns!
The Catalan grandmaster Marc Narciso falls into the category of player whose understanding of the game is better than his practical results, which are still pretty good! Possessing a deep strategic style of play, Marc can play any type of position with finesse and elegance. Born in 1974, Narciso has won virtually every title in Spain and remains one of the most active players of his generation.
im Fluvia,J – Vidal Zamora
Catalan Ch 4.29
C45 (1 – 0)
im Fluvia,J –gm Narciso
Catalan Ch 1.5
B08 (0 – 1)
im Asis,H – gm Alonso
Catalan Ch 4.5
B12 (1 – 0)
An instructive game! White builds up a nice positional edge and then Black’s game begins to crack under the pressure. An unfortunate oversight cost an exchange which only helped to speed up his demise.
A bizarre and complicated game! For a while it seems as though it is total chaos, but when the smoke clears it becomes immediately evident that White had over played his hand.
Another big defeat for Alonso! Here Black played too friskily in the opening and once White opened up the f-file it was clear that Black was on the ropes. White could have won earlier, but his play was good enough.
2017 Czech Championship
im Vavra,P – Sikora,J
Czech Ch 1.5
D02 (1 – 0)
Solc,F – Ockay,T
Czech Ch
3.5 B11 (1 – 0)
fm Vlasak,L – im Malinovsky,P
Czech Ch 4.29
B45 (1 – 0)
A clever miniature that features Black’s Queen munching some pawns on the Q-side while neglecting the development of its forces. Not surprisingly, the Black monarch soon finds itself without escape.
Yet another miniature featuring yet another pawn grubbing Queen. And you guess it right: the Black monarch once more pays the price! When will peo’ple learn not to be so greedy?
This is a really nice crush! Black plays a tricky line of the Sicilian only to find that White knows it better than himself! The classic sacrifice on the Bishop on f7 is the icing on the cake. Enjoy!
The Czech Republic has one of the strongest chess playing communities per capita in the world despite its 10-million population, with currently more than 50 players rated higher than 2400. With FIDE, the Czech Republic is ranked #16 strongest chess country.
Not bad for a country that is the beer-drinking capital of the world!
gm Kislinksy,A – im Kraus,T
Czech Ch 3.5
B22 (1 – 0)
gm Navara,D – im Plat,V
Czech Ch 1.5
B36 (1 – 0)
gm Haba,P – Machycek,L
Czech Ch 4.29
B67 (1 – 0)
The Czechs have always had a great sense of flair! Here Black plays riskily, and White pounces mercilessly on the opportunity to give up his Queen for a blistering attack. In the end Black only survives to find out that his opponent has 2-Rooks plus minor piece for the Queen!
Navara is one of the truly great talents in the chess world. Here we see an impeccable opening preparation and once Black makes a slight inaccuracy, Navara does not let slip the opportunity to score the whole point. Very cliniical!
Also a very entertaining game. The mate must have come as a complete surprise to Black! This game is an instructive example of how White should play against this popular line of the Sicilian defence. With Black’s King so insecure, it is surprising that the line is so popular…
gm Navara,D – wgm Worek,J
Czech Ch 4.29
A37 (1 – 0)
gm Navara,D – im Nguyen,T
Czech Ch 3.5
E52 (1 – 0)
fm Rabatin,J – gm Jansa,V
Czech Ch 3.5
B80 (0 – 1)
A beautiful demonstration of the short comings in Black’s English opening structure. Larsen had shown in the 1980’s that once White installs his Knight on c4 the game is effectively over. It must have been a relief for Black to give up!
Yet one more for the books by Navara! In a Nimzo-Indian where David has experience playing both sides, Black’s opening choice must be considered a tad overly optimistic. Surprisingly quicky Black is over run and crushed.
Veteran V.Jansa shows that he still has it in him to give fight to today’s youngsters. The opening seems at first sight to be good for White, but Jansa just never castles and keeps on attacking!
