8 September 2015
It’s Bad Time to Scatter Pawns
Round Three review of the Junior World Championship prepared by Vladimir Barsky.
After completion of the round three the open section of the tournament has received its sole leader – the Armenian grandmaster Karen Grigoryan.
Grigoryan – Tari
The initiative belongs to Black and he lashes out with an active, although a somewhat risky move.
29…g5
A lot more conservative (and much stronger at the same time!) was 29...Bc5, after which 30.axb5 Bxb5 is just very bad for White.
30.axb5 axb5?!
Such recaptures are usually made without any hesitation, although in this case much stronger was 30... Bxb5!, when Black leaves the a-file blocked while creating an unpleasant threat of 31... c3.
31.Ra7
Now White has some sort of counterplay at his disposal.
31…Bc8 32.Qe1 Kh8 33.Nd1 Rxe2 34.Qxe2 g4 35.Bf1 f4 36.Ra8 Qd4?
The situation has steered out of control: while Black has created a threat of double taking on g3, he has completely neglected his own king’s safety. Correct was 36 ... Qf5 (this is the most reliable continuation as in time trouble the pieces should lend mutual protection to each other!) or 36 ... Bc5; Black's chances are still higher, but the position has sharpened significantly.
37.Rxc8! Rxc8 38.Qe6
This is a fork; if Black were now to protect the bishop with the rook – 38...Rd8, then another fork would seal the fate of the game: 39.Qxh6+ Kg8 40.Qg5+. The sudden reverse in the game course threw the Norwegian junior off his stride and he lost his grip with the situation.
38…Qc5?
This move puts Black on the brink of defeat, whereas after 38... Ra8! 39.Qxh6+ Kg8 40.Qxd6 Qxd1 he would have remained out of any danger: while Ra1 is a threat, White cannot win the a8-rook by giving checks and, therefore, has to force a draw by the perpetual check.
39.Qxh6+ Kg8 40.Qg6+ Kf8 41.Qf5+ Ke7 42.Nc3 Kd8 43.Ne4 Qb6 44.Qf7!
Preventing the Black king from escaping to the queenside, whereas in the case of 44.Qxg4 Kc7 45.Bh3 Rd8 the struggle could have ended in any of three possible results as Black shelters his king and his far advanced pawns b5 and с4 pose a real threat.
44...Be7 45.Qxf4 Qd4
46.d6
It's hard to resist the temptation of grabbing a piece, but the game now transposes into the realms of an endgame, thus allowing the black king to breathe a sigh of relief. Therefore, 46.Qxg4 Qxd5 47.Nc3 Qg5 48.Qe6 deserved attention, and Black's position is extremely precarious.
46...Bxd6 47.Qxd6+ Qxd6 48.Nxd6 Rb8 49.Nf7+
In the case of 49.Be2 Kc7 Black starts to feature some counterplay. Although Grigoryan takes a practical decision to sacrifice his knight for the b and c pawns, it cannot be ruled out that by doing so he misses a win.
49...Kc7 50.Ne5 Rg8 51.Nxc4 bxc4 52.Bxc4 Rb8 53.b3 Kd6 54.Kg2 Ke5 55.h3 gxh3+ 56.Kxh3 Ke4 57.Kg4 Rb7 58.Kg5
This is a critical moment of the endgame: a study-like move 58...Rh7!! appears to would have allowed Black to bail out.
1) 59.g4 Rg7+ 60.Kh5 Kf4 61.f3 Rg5+ 62.Kh6 Rc5;
2) 59.f4 Rg7+ 60.Kf6 Rxg3 61.f5 Rf3 62.Be6 Rf2 63.b4 Rb2 or 63.Ke7 Ke5 64.b4 Rb2 65.f6 Rxb4 66.f7 Rf4;
3) In the case of 59.Kf6 Rh6+! 60.Kg7 Rd6 the white rook cuts the black king off his pawns, which are then unable to start rolling forward;
4) 59.Kg6 Rh2 60.g4 Rxf2 61.g5 Kf4 62.Kf6 Kg4+, and Black is just in time to reach a draw.
However, the game saw a rather prosaic finish: the White’s passed pawns, supported by the king, started promoting towards the queening squares.
58…Rg7+? 59.Kf6 Rh7 60.f4 Rh3
More stubborn was 60...Rh6+ 61.Kg5 Rb6, but even here after 62.f5 Ke5 63.g4 Rd6 64.Kh5 White should have succeeded in shattering down his opponent’s defensive formations.
61.f5 Rxg3 62.Ke6 Kf4 63.f6 Re3+ 64.Kd7 Black resigns.
The leader could have been joined by Mikhail Antipov, who managed to gain an overwhelming advantage as Black, but went on to conduct the endgame in a rather careless manner.
Narayanan – Antipov
The retreat of the king to d6 or e6 with the subsequent threat of Re5+ was winning on spot. Should the bishop leave d3, it is followed by d4-d3+, when on the one hand the pawn cannot be taken in view of the above mentioned check on е5, and on the other hand it cannot be left untaken either. Instead Black decided to transit into a rook ending with two extra pawns, which is also not a bad decision, but the struggle is still going on.
52…Nxd3 53.Kxd3 Rxa5 54.g4 Rc5 55.Rf5+ Kd6 56.Rf6+ Ke7
Advancing the king forward was a better plan: 56...Kd5 57.Rf5+ Kc6 58.Rf6+ Kb5, etc.
57.Rf1
57…c2?
This waste of material cannot be justified. After 57...Rd5 Black would have regrouped his forces to finally win the game.
58.Rc1 Ke6 59.Kxd4 Kd6 60.Ke4 Ke6
Judging by all appearances this position appears to be drawish already as the black king cannot penetrate beyond the 5th rank.
61.Kd4 Rc8 62.Re1+ Kd7 63.Rc1 Kd6 64.Ke4 Rc5 65.Kd4 Rc8 66.Ke4 Re8+ 67.Kf3 Rf8+ 68.Ke3 Rc8 69.Ke4 Rc4+ 70.Kf5 Kd5 71.Kxg5 Ke4 72.Kh5 Kf4 73.g5 Rc3 74.Kh6 Ke3 Draw.
His first victory was scored by the bronze medalist of the Russian Junior Chess Championship Maxim Chigaev.
Johansson – Chigaev
White has a trump card in store for the upcoming endgame as he created a protected passed pawn on b6. However, whereas the position on the board is in the prime of its middlegame, Black starts to "probe" into the opponent's kingside formations.
18…f5!? 19.Nd2 g5 20.Bg3 f4 21.exf4 gxf4 22.Bh4 Qg4
Although the bishop is not trapped, White will have to weaken the defensive line in front of his king.
23.g3 fxg3 24.fxg3
White could have disliked the move 24.hxg3 in view of 24…Ne5, threatening Qh3 followed by mate on h1. Better was 24.Bxg3!, although such non-standard recaptures are likely to drop out of one’s eyesight (just as we have seen in the game Grigoryan – Tari, when Black failed to take on b5 with his bishop).
Well, what is so bad about the move made in the game?
24...Bd4+! That’s it: White resigned as after 25.cxd4 Qxd4+ 26.Kg2 Nb4+ he was going to lose his queen.
Ziaziulkina – Derakshani
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.a4 Qc7 8.a5 h6 9.Be3 Ne5
10.Ndb5!
This sudden idea is fascinating: the Belorussian chess player goes on to grab the dark squares on the queenside.
10…axb5
Refusing to accept the gift would have brought no relief either as 10...Qc6 or 10…Qb8 would have been answered by 11.Bb6 anyway.
11.Bb6 Qb8
11...Qd7 12.Nxb5 Rb8 13.Nc7+ Kd8 14.Na6+ would have been extremely grim for Black.
12.Nxb5 Bg4 13.f3 Be6 14.Nc7+ Kd7
15.Bb5+
This is a simple and yet a strong human approach. The engine comes up with an extremely tricky line 15.f4! Bg4 (should the knight retreat – 15...Nc6, it is followed by 16.f5, trapping the bishop) 16.Be2 Bxe2 17.Qxe2 Nc6 18.e5 Ne8 19.e6+, etc.
15...Kc8
Although more stubborn was 15...Nc6, after 16.0–0 Black is not the one to be envied.
16.Nxa8
This is yet another simple and strong solution. The electronic mind hints that still better is 16.a6 bxa6 17.Nxa8! axb5 (or 17...Qxa8 18.Rxa6 Qb7 19.Qa1) 18.Ra7.
16...Qxa8 17.Qd2 Bd7 18.Be2 Nc6 19.b4 Be6 20.b5 Nd8 21.Qc3+ Kd7 22.Qc7+ Ke8 23.a6
And White went on to convert his advantage: 23…bxa6 24.bxa6 Bd7 25.Qxd8+ Qxd8 26.Bxd8 Kxd8 27.a7 Bc6 28.a8Q+ Bxa8 29.Rxa8+ Kd7 30.Bc4 e6 31.Ra7+ Kc6 32.Rxf7 d5 33.Bd3 dxe4 34.Bxe4+ Nxe4 35.fxe4 Bb4+ 36.Ke2 g5 37.Rd1 Bd6 38.h3 Ra8 39.Rf6 Black resigns.
Leonardi – Bivol
Black has played out the Chigorin Defence in a skilful manner to win a pawn. However, White is not obliged to lose this position just yet. After 16.Bxd4 Rxd4 17.Rfc1 Rd7 (or 17...c6 18.b4 Qd5 19.b5 Rd8 20.bxc6 Rd1+ 21.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 22.Qf1 b5 23.Re3 Qxf1+ 24.Kxf1 Kc7 25.Re7+ Kxc6 26.Rxf7 Rd7) 18.Rc5 Qb6 19.Qg4 the opponents’ chances would have become equal.
There followed, however, 16.Qc4, which allowed Black to deliver a powerful blow 16…b5! 17.Qc5
White was likely to have retained more drawing chances after 17.Qxd4 Rxd4 18.Bxd4 Re8 19.Rfc1 Re7 20.Bxg7.
17...Ne2+ 18.Kh1 Nxc3 19.bxc3 Qa6 20.Qf5+ Rd7 21.h3 g6, and Black managed to convert her material advantage.
