24 January 2016

Shading the Taganrog Study in the Colors of Siberia

Dmitry Kryakvin shares his impressions about the start of the Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial.

As a matter of fact, the fourth Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial has started off in Taganrog. In Russia there is no shortage in the number of tournaments devoted to the memory of the well-known chess arbiter, his countrymen having already carried out a dozen events in the format of the Swiss Masters tournaments (organized every August), while the life of Russian capital in the month of June in is usually marked by the strongest world youth teams arriving in Moscow to measure their strengths. Therefore, for the purpose of convenience, the Director of the Rostov Region Chess Federation Andrey Grivtsov likes to term the starting leg of January as the "Winter Dvorkovich Memorial" or the "Big Dvorkovich Memorial."


Andrey Grivtsov speaking 


No huge prize funds could be raises by Sergey Nesterov and his colleagues during this time of crisis, as was the case in previous years - it was rather about keeping the Memorial on track. However, while celebrating the fifth Memorial anniversary, the natives of Rostov and Taganrog do really pin their hopes on this milestone date coinciding with a certain degree of national currency and oil prices stabilization. But still, the tournament dedicated to the memory of Dvorkovich features a high-quality reception in the luxury hotel "Taganrog", so, despite the amount of prize banknotes indicated in the Tournament Regulations, such bright athletes and personalities as Pavel Maletin, Dmitry Bocharov, Boris Savchenko, Farrukh Amonatov, Dmitry Kokarev, Sergey Volkov, Alexander Evdokimov, Artyom Timofeev, and Alexander Galkin came to participate in the event. I would like to note that among them were as many as three finalists of the 2015 Rapid Grand Prix coupled with Savchenko, who refused from his duly-won trip to Ugra to honor his obligations in front of the Kazakh organizers.

It couldn’t do without a detachment of junior players, of course: Saveliy Golubov, Andrei Esipenko Alexandra Maltsevskaya, and Volodar Murzin, added by Ilya Makoveev who arrived in Taganrog to participate in the classical part of the event. In general, given the fact that the Kryakvin - Khismatullin game is not to be anticipated in this Memorial, Evgeny Leonidovich Potemkin will definitely have time to take care of other matters, thinking which endgame to better choose for his famous camera to capture the moments from.

The white-blue-red game between Saveliy Golubov and Andrey Esipenko


The leading Rostov-on-Don grandmaster is sharing the tricks of the trade with Alexandra Maltsevskaya

 

Volodar Murzin. The coaches of the Siberian RCF grandmaster center do believe a great future to be in store for the native of Nizhny Tagil!


It would be rather hard to characterize the current rapid tournament as having been associated with some sort of remarkable events of dramatic nature. The winners of the European Cup and the Russian champion title, who also make part of the "Siberia" star team, were predisposed towards peaceful outcomes in their internecine games, while Farrukh Amonatov was also trying to let go of his inner resources in quite a prudent manner, making Boris Savchenko a main tournament bully and a musketeer in what seems to have become a tradition by now as he went on to ascend the first place pedestal yet another time. It was no laughing matter at all when in the final round, playing as Black against Sergei Volkov, the native of Krasnodar could have been quite happy with a draw, which would have guaranteed him the top prize especially since the peace agreement had already been reached on the table of his chasers. After some seven moves of the game, Volkov embarked on peace negotiations with his partner, but his offer... was turned down! In the end of the game that involved incredible complications the opponents still ended up earning their half points, but it was the audience that reaped profits out of that adventure. How much of a will to win and a faith in his undeniably phenomenal capacities does Boris possess indeed!

Having been let down in terms of unavailability of proper chess content caused by lack of live streaming of the event, I would like to compensate it by offering a chess study for you to solve instead. It was given for solution to young members of the first session of the Siberian RCF school by the legendary Kemerovo grandmaster Vladimir Nevostrujev. As you know, Vladimir is a surprisingly multi-faceted man as it is not only the King's Indian Defense that he handles without a hitch, but he is rather serious about composing chess poems, which have been frequently published on our website. As for his masterpiece devoted to the female athletes of Buryatia, it has even been set to music, recorded in studio and issued on CD disks in Ulan-Ude! So, this time it happened to be a chess study that Nevostrujev had composed and offered to the attention of young chess talents and coaches. It is said that no other person but Aleksander Riazantsev could solve it, with it being in a blindfold mode and within some 20 minutes. And what about you, dear reader, could you compete with the coach the national women's team, even if you need to make use of the board and chessmen?

The board of players is busy trying to find solution to Nevostrujev’s study 




So, the first tournament of the new Grand Prix series is over. The qualification points in the order of final tournament standings were gained by Savchenko, Amonatov, Kokarev, Bocharov, Volkov, Maletin, Evdokimov, Golubov and a certain photographer. The classical section of the event has already been launched in Taganrog, whereas the rapid game experts will get together for their next event at the Buddhist datsan of the hospitable Hambo Lama. See you next time!

Below is the solution to Nevostrujev’s study. 

1.Kd2! 

This is a subtle introductory move. In view of the inevitable loss of the a4-pawn no other continuations are going to help salvage the game, a bishop being much superior to a knight in the open board type of positions: 

1) 1.e3 dxe3 2.Ke2 (or 2.Nd5 b3) 2...Ka5 3.Kxe3 b3 4.Nd5 Kxa4 5.Nc3+ Ka3 – and White will find himself in zugzwang before long; 
2) 1.Nd5 Ka5 2.e3 d3 – there is no way White can keep both pawns in check;
3) 1.Kc1 Ka5 2.Kb2 Kxa4 3.Nd5 Be6! 4.Nf4 Bc4 – there is no fortress that White can build up here after all.

1...Ka5 2.Kc1 

As we already know, 2.e3 dxe3+ 3.Kxe3 b3 is not going to be of any help.

2...Kxa4 

Later, given the fact that Nevostrujev composed the study without the aid of a computer, the participants of the tournament were testing various alternative moves, but to no avail: 2...Bd7 3.Nd3 Bxa4 4.Ne5 Kb6 5.e3 or 2...Bg4 3.Kd2 Kxa4 4.Nd3 Bf5 5.Nc5+ Kb5 6.Nb3 Kc4 7.Na5+ Kd5 8.Nb3 – and this position is a fortress already.

3.e4!! dxe3 

3...Bxe4 4.Ne6 with a draw. 

4.Nd5 e2 5.Nc3+! 

This is the whole point of it! The stalemate motif comes in handy as it renders 5...bxc3 impossible, thus allowing White to rescue himself.

5…Ka3 6.Nb5+! 

There is no other way since 6.Nxe2? would fail to 6…b3.

6...Ka2 7.Nc3+ Ka1 8.Nxe2 b3 9.Nc3 b2+ 10.Kd2, and there is no winning this position since the black king is permanently stuck on a1.