The SICA Bulletin
Monthly Edition (free Pdf)
Sharjah International Chess Academy © 2019
Copyright © Efstratios Grivas 2019 ([email protected] - www.GrivasChess.com)
SICA Chairman Talal Alzaabi ([email protected]) Editor in Chief Efstratios Grivas ([email protected]) Interviews Abdulla Murad ([email protected]) Cover Adeeb Zehrawi ([email protected]) Proofer Abdulla Murad ([email protected])
Contents
SICA Data ……………………………………………………………………………………. 3 24th Sharjah Masters Ramadan Blitz 2019 ………………………………………………….. 4 24th Sharjah Masters Ramadan Rapid 2019 ………………………………………………… 6 Dubai Ramadan Team Rapid 2019 ………………………………………………………….. 7 Abu Dhabi Zayed Ramadan Rapid 2019 ……………………………………………………. 8 The Arbor School Ramadan Blitz 2019 ….………………………………………………….. 9 Sharjah Ladies Ramadan Cup Blitz 2019 …………………………………………………… 9 1st Al Batayih Ramadan Blitz 2019 ………………………………………………………….. 10 People of Determination Ramadan Blitz 2019 ……………………………………………… 10 Reaching the ‘Lucena Position’ …………………………………………………………….. 10 Sliding Closet Door ………………………………………………………………………….. 14 World’s Top-Players Coaching Program …………………………………………………… 16 FIDE Grand-Prix - Moscow 2019 …………………………………………………………... 18 Critical Positions …………………………………………………………………………….. 33 A Dangerous Game ………………………………………………………………………….. 34 Lindores Abbey Chess Stars 2019 …………………………………………………………… 38 Discovering Targets ………………………………………………………………………….. 39 SICA Training Photo Gallery ……………………………………………………………….. 41 Chess Players’ Brains are Different from Everybody Else’s …………………...…………... 42 Chess Prodigies: Paul Morphy and José Raúl Capablanca ……………….………………... 43 Contact Us ……………………………………………………………………………………. 44 Our Sponsors …………………………………………………………………………………. 44 The newly established Sharjah International Chess Academy is entitled and committed to raise the level of chess training in United Arab Emirates to high standards. Experienced and professional coaches, armed with extra-ordinary teaching material, are ready to offer you a different and very effective approach in your chess world.
The programs and the courses are based on a constructive curriculum, created by one of the world’s top coaches and authors (99 books published!), GM Efstratios Grivas. Each course takes 32 lessons to be fullfield and the Academy offers five different courses for any level! Above these courses, the Academy offers additional 8-hour Thematic courses and also training for the coaches or students with a higher level. Add the blitz training sessions and the chess events sessions and you have the full picture of our offers! Finally, the Academy offers individual lessons by agreement.
Studies Director Our Coaches Staff Basic Courses Advanced Courses The Positive Aspects of Chess
Chess may be helpful in many ways to a child or an adult. Some of these are:
● Decision Making ● Cultivating Logical Thinki-ng ● Development of Imagina-tion ● Personal Responsibility ● Hard Work ● Constant Learning ● Socialisation
GM-FST-IA-IO ● Memory Development and IM Mokhliss El Adnani Efstratios Grivas Exercise Beginner - Intermediate Expert Classes ● Concentration Medium Classes
■ The monthly cost for the participation is on 440 AED and for the second child of the family on 350 AED. Ramadan offer is continued and it is on 400 AED and 200 AED for the second child.
■ Transportation can be obtained on demand (Sharjah & Ajman) and on the cost of 280 AED monthly (second child for free).
■ An important course consisting of 3 hours per week (1.5 hours twice per week). Each course is made of 32 constructive lessons, fully documented, following a chess curriculum of knowledge and improvement. SICA offers five courses, from beginners to experts and each participant is pre- evaluated of his strength, joining the relative course.
■ Events, as handicaps & simultaneous exhibitions, tournaments and chess-movies nights, as per program.
■ Coach classes, Extra thematic classes, workshops with world-class coaches and extra private lessons on demand (extra costs).
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 3 24th Sharjah Masters Ramadan Blitz 2019 The 24th Sharjah Masters Ramadan Blitz tournament took place on May 16th. It was a XABCDEFGHY 9-round event (5+3), with total prizes of 8rsnlwqkvl-tr( 10.200 AED. 7zp-+pzppzpp' Final Standings (170 Participants) P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 6-+-+-sn-+& 1 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2707 8 5+pzpP+-vL-% 2 IM Dimakiling Oliver PHI 2405 8 4-+P+-+-+$ 3 IM Khademalsharieh S. IRI 2461 7½ 4 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2599 7½ 3+-+-+-+-# 5 IM Al Qudaimi Basheer YEM 2399 7½ 2PzP-+PzPPzP" 6 IM El Taher Fouad EGY 2401 7 1tRN+QmKLsNR! 7 GM Arencibia Walter CUB 2364 7 8 FM Abdisalimov Abdim. UZB 2333 7 xabcdefghy 9 Hilwani Talal SYR 2339 7 A rare variation which has served me very well since 1983, when I first employed it. 10 FM Othman A. Moussa UAE 2185 7 White does not accept the sacrifice and 11 GM Grivas Efstratios GRE 2401 6½ looks for the initiative. 12 IM Ali Sebbar MAR 2346 6½ 4...Ne4 13 FM Abdurakhmonov M. UZB 2068 6½ The main line. A nice game went by 4...g6 14 IM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2419 6½ 5.d6 bxc4 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Qd2 Bg7 8.e4 h6 15 IM Mastrokoukos George GRE 2311 6½ 9.Bf4 g5 10.Be3 exd6 11.Qxd6 Ng4 16 Saif Ahmed UAE 1673 6½ 12.Bxc4 Nxe3 13.fxe3 Qa5 14.Nge2 Ne5 15.Bd5 Nd3+ 16.Kd2 Nxb2 17.Rhf1 Rf8 17 Nowroozian Nader IRI 1635 6½ 18.Rab1 Na4 19.e5 Nb6 20.Rxb6 axb6 18 GM Haddouche Mohamed ALG 2434 6 21.Ng3 f5 22.exf6 Rxf6 23.Rxf6 Qb4 19 Dr. Murtaza Ali PAK 2051 6 24.Nf5 Qb2+ 25.Kd1 1-0 Grivas,E- 20 Zayed Ali Al-Hamed UAE 1924 6 Kjeldsen,J Cannes 1995. 5.Bf4 Qa5+ This check is supposed to be the best. A recent game went by 5...d6 6.f3 Nf6 7.e4 b4 8.a3 Na6 9.axb4 Nxb4 10.Nc3 g6 11.Nge2 Bg7 12.Ng3 h5 13.Be2 h4 14.Nf1 Nd7 15.Be3 Bh6 16.Bxh6 Rxh6 17.f4 Nf6 18.Ne3 e6 19.0-0 Nh5 20.e5 a5 21.Ne4 Ra6 22.Bxh5 Rxh5 23.Nf6+ 1-0 Grivas,E- Razan,A Sharjah 2019. 6.Nd2 d6 (D)
Modern theory suggests 6...g5 7.Be5! □ Grivas Efstratios (2401) (7.Be3? bxc4 8.Qc2 Nf6 =+ Grivas,E- ■ Othman Moussa (2185) Khalifman,A Leningrad 1989) 7...f6 8.Bc3! A57 Sharjah (4) 16.05.2019 Nxc3 9.bxc3 oo/= Ivanisevic,I-Vuckovic,B 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 Valjevo 2011. In middle 2012 I wrote an The 'Benko or Volga Gambit' is a good extensive survey on the 4.Bg5 variation for choice in quick time controls as Black's play 'New In Chess Yearbook' and to my is more or less easy and creates a lot of knowledge this was the only one published tactical possibilities. ever on this line. Very few people are 4.Bg5 (D) following chess editions in the Gulf… SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 4 XABCDEFGHY Bohn,U Budapest 2017. 8rsnl+kvl-tr( XABCDEFGHY 7zp-+-zppzpp' 8rsnl+kvl-tr( 6-+-zp-+-+& 7zp-+-zppzpp' 5wqpzpP+-+-% 6-+-zp-+-+& 4-+P+nvL-+$ 5+RzpP+-+-% 3+-+-+-+-# 4-+q+-+-+$ 2PzP-sNPzPPzP" 3+-+-+-+-# 1tR-+QmKLsNR! 2P+-vLPzPPzP" xabcdefghy 1+-+QmKLsNR! 7.b4!? xabcdefghy A wild continuation, which I know since 11.Qb1! 1981, but I was able to play it only once A good novelty to 11.e3? Qxa2? beforehand! Well, waiting for 36 years to re- (11...Qxd5!, is critical) 12.Bc3 Bf5 (12...e6 employ it, doesn't seems to be usual... 7.f3 13.Bd3 Bd7 14.dxe6 Qxe6 15.Ne2 +/- Nf6 (7...g5 8.Be3 Nxd2 9.Bxd2 Qb6 10.Bc3 Shashin,A-Dommes,V Leningrad 1971) Rg8 11.cxb5 +=) 8.e4 Mikhalevski,V- 13.Rb2 Qa3 14.Qc1 Nd7 15.Rb8+ Rxb8 Ekstroem,R Bad Wiessee 2000, also favours 16.Qxa3 Rb1+ 17.Kd2 Nb6 18.Qxa7 Rxf1 White. 19.Qb8+ Kd7 20.Qxb6 e5 21.Qb5+ 1-0 7...Qxb4 8.Rb1 Qc3 9.Rxb5 (D) Verdier,P-Ramazzotti,B France 1984. This strong novelty is analysed in my 2012 XABCDEFGHY Survey! And the funny stuff is that it is 8rsnl+kvl-tr( White to play on the queenside, which is usually Black's territory of action in the 7zp-+-zppzpp' 'Benko Gambit'! 6-+-zp-+-+& 11...Nd7 11...Na6, loses to 12.e4 Qa4 (12...Qd4 5+RzpP+-+-% 13.Rb7! +-) 13.Rxc5! (13.Ra5 Rb8) 4-+P+nvL-+$ 13...Nxc5 14.Bb5+ +-. 12.e4 3+-wq-+-+-# White has invested a pawn for the initiative and superior development and Black is 2P+-sNPzPPzP" suffering... 1+-+QmKLsNR! 12...Qd4 The alternative is 12...Qa4 13.Ne2 f5 14.f3 xabcdefghy +/-, which is mentioned in my NIC Survey. 9...Nxd2? 13.Nf3 Qf6 14.Rb3 Black gets greedy and goes for pawn 14.Ra5, is good as well: 14...g6 (14...g5 hunting, neglecting his development. 9...g5, 15.Bxg5 Qg6 16.Bb5 +-) 15.Bb5 Bg7 is probably best: 10.Be3 Bf5 11.Rb3 Qa5 16.Bc6 +-. 12.Qa1 += Grivas,E-Deze,A Patra 1983. 14...e5 15.Bb5 10.Bxd2 Qxc4 (D) 15.dxe6 fxe6 16.Bb5 +-. 10...Qf6, doesn't solve Black's problems 15...Qd8 16.Bc6 Ba6 (D) either: 11.e4 e6 12.Ne2 Be7 13.Rb3 exd5 White’s position is already won and he has 14.cxd5 Nd7 15.Ng3 +/- Przedmojski,R- just to choose the way… SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 5 17.Bxa8?! XABCDEFGHY No need to win material! Clearly better is 8r+-wqkvl-tr( 17.Qb2! c4 18.Ra3 Rb8 19.Qc3 Rb1+ (19...Qc8 20.0-0 +-) 20.Ke2! Rxh1 21.Rxa6 7zp-+n+pzpp' Be7 22.Rxa7 0-0 23.Rxd7 +-. 6l+Lzp-+-+& 17...Qxa8 18.Ra3 Here Black lost on time, but his position is 5+-zpPzp-+-% critical as well after 18.Ra3 Qc8 19.Qb3 Be7 4-+-+P+-+$ 20.Qa4 Bb7 21.0-0 +-. An easy win, based on good theoretical knowledge and some 3+R+-+N+-# great ‘help’ from my opponent, who is a quite good tactician by the way. But in 2P+-vL-zPPzP" modern chess you can’t simply play without 1+Q+-mK-+R! the needed ‘background’. 1-0 xabcdefghy
24th Sharjah Masters Ramadan Rapid 2019 The 24th Sharjah Masters Ramadan Rapid □ Rayes Abdul Kader (2138) tournament took place on May 13th to 17th. It ■ Grivas Efstratios (2471) was a 9-round event (15+5), with total prizes C80 Sharjah (6) 15.05.2019 of 22.400 AED. It was won by the strongest 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0- trio of the event, GMs Sargissian, Salem and 0 Nxe4 6.Re1 Nc5 7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.Nxe5 Be7 Guseinov. 9.d4 Ne6 10.c3 0-0 11.Nd2 c5 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Ndf3 Qxd1 14.Rxd1 f6 15.Nc4 Final Standings (147 Participants) Bg4 16.Bf4 Ne6 17.Bg3 Bxf3 18.gxf3 Rfd8 P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 19.Kf1 Kf7 20.Ke2 g5 21.b3 h5 22.h3 h4 1 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2694 7½ 23.Bh2 b5 24.Ne3 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Rd8 2 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2720 7½ 26.Rxd8 Bxd8 27.Kd3 (D) 3 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2663 7½ XABCDEFGHY 4 GM Haddouche Mohamed ALG 2456 7 5 IM El Taher Fouad EGY 2472 7 8-+-vl-+-+( 6 GM Arencibia Walter CUB 2538 7 7+-zp-+k+-' 7 IM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2403 7 6p+-+nzp-+& 8 IM Khader Sami JOR 2349 7 9 FM Abdisalimov Abd. UZB 2200 7 5+p+-+-zp-% 10 Hilwani Talal SYR 2353 7 4-+-+-+-zp$ 11 GM Grivas Efstratios GRE 2471 7 3+PzPKsNP+P# 12 IM Dimakiling Oliver PHI 2451 7 13 IM Khademalsharieh S. IRI 2460 6½ 2P+-+-zP-vL" 14 Ashraf Ramadan EGY 1926 6½ 1+-+-+-+-! 15 IM Al Qudaimi Basheer YEM 2438 6 16 Pabalan Rocky PHI 2107 6 xabcdefghy 27...c6 28.c4 b4 29.Bd6 Be7 30.Bb8 Bc5 17 Rayes Abdul Kader SYR 2138 6 31.Ke4 Nd4 32.Nf5 Ne2 33.Bh2 Kg6 18 FM Abdurakhmonov M. UZB 1887 6 34.Ne3 Nc3+ 35.Kd3 Nxa2 36.Kc2 Nc3 19 Stanley Samson P. IND 2001 6 37.Kd3 a5 38.Bc7 a4 39.bxa4 Nxa4 40.Kc2 20 Ababneh Ghayth JOR 2003 6 Nc3 41.Kd3 Kf7 42.f4 Ke6 43.fxg5 fxg5
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 6 44.Bd8 Bxe3 45.fxe3 Kf5 46.c5 Ne4 53.Bd6 Nf4 54.Kc5 g4 55.Kxc6 gxh3 47.Kd4 b3 48.Kd3 Nxc5+ 49.Kc3 Ne6 And the pawn promotes. 50.Be7 Ke4 51.Kxb3 Kxe3 52.Kc4 Ke4 0-1
Dubai Ramadan Team Rapid 2019 The Dubai Ramadan Team Rapid tournament took place on May 18th to 19th. It XABCDEFGHY was a 9-round event (15+5), with total prizes 8-+-+-+-+( of 8.000 AED. It was played by teams over two boards and one substitute and match- 7+-tR-+-mkp' points were counted (2-1-0). 6p+-+-+-+&
Final Standings (56 Teams) 5+p+-+p+-% P Team Name Pts 4-+-tr-+-+$ 1 Maksud @ Home of Chess 16 2 Arbor Masters 15 3+-+-+-+P# 3 Marimax 14 2PzP-+-+P+" 4 Cavalier Noir 12 1+-+-+-mK-! 5 FCPL-UAE 12 6 Go Vegan 12 xabcdefghy After more or less a correct game, the 7 Home of Chess Queens 12 8 Sharjah 1 position is heading for a draw. 12 29...Kg8 9 SICA 11 Activity is essential in rook endings. 10 Falcons 11 29...Kg6 30.Rc6+ Kg5 31.Rxa6 Rd1+ 11 Beasts 1 11 32.Kh2 Rd2 33.b3 f4 34.Kg1 Kh4, due to 12 Abu Dhabi 11 Black's active king, the draw would be near. 13 Egypt Syria 11 30.Rc6 Rd1+ 31.Kh2 Rd2 32.Rxa6 Rxb2 33.Kg3 (D) 14 Dubai 1 11 15 Home of Chess Teacher 11 XABCDEFGHY 16 SICA 2 10 8-+-+-+k+( 17 Winterfell 10 18 Smurfs 10 7+-+-+-+p' 19 HOC Juniors 10 6R+-+-+-+& 20 Immortal Game 10 5+p+-+p+-% □ Sargissian Gabriel (2599) - Arbor M. 4-+-+-+-+$ ■ Grivas Efstratios (2401) - SICA A85 Dubai (9) 19.05.2019 3+-+-+-mKP# 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 d6 7.h3 e6 8.Be2 Qe7 9.0-0 a6 2Ptr-+-+P+" 10.Rc1 Nbd7 11.c5 dxc5 12.Bxc7 cxd4 1+-+-+-+-! 13.exd4 b5 14.d5 Bb7 15.dxe6 Qxe6 16.Ng5 Qc6 17.Nce4 Qd5 18.Nxf6+ Nxf6 xabcdefghy 19.Bf3 Qxd1 20.Rfxd1 Bxf3 21.Nxf3 Rac8 33...b4 22.Be5 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Ne4 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 33...Kg7, is easier - the king should not be 25.Nd4 Rf6 26.f3 Rd6 27.fxe4 Rxd4 staying in the last rank in endings. But still 28.exf5 gxf5 29.Rc7+ (D) of course Black is OK with the text. SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 7 34.Ra7! b3 Not a losing move, but 39...h6, would be 34...h5 35.Ra5 h4+ 36.Kf3 b3 37.axb3 'accurate'. Rxb3+ 38.Kf4 Rg3 39.Ra2 Kh7 40.Kxf5 40.Rg7+ Kh8? Kh6, was an easy draw as well. The last decisive mistake. 40...Kf8 41.Rh7 35.axb3 Rxb3+ 36.Kf4 Rb2 37.g3 Rf2+ Rxg3 42.Rxh5 f4, would be a draw.... 38.Ke5 Rf3! 39.Kf6 (D) 41.Rg5! h4? 41...f4 42.Rxh5+ Kg8 43.g4, is of course XABCDEFGHY winning for White, but 'better' than the text! 8-+-+-+k+( 42.Kf7! And Black realised that he is getting mated, 7tR-+-+-+p' so he resigned! 6-+-+-mK-+& 1-0
5+-+-+p+-% 4-+-+-+-+$ 3+-+-+rzPP# 2-+-+-+-+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy A mate is one is always a nice touch! 39...h5
Abu Dhabi Zayed Ramadan Rapid 2019 The Abu Dhabi Zayed Ramadan Rapid 3 Harshavardhini M.S. IND 1161 5½ th tournament took place on May 16 . It was a 4 Celeste Patricia PHI 1285 5½ 9-round event (15+10), played over three 5 Al Shamsi Kaltham UAE 1339 5 sections (Open, Women, Juniors) - total 144. 6 WCM Vyas Arya Ajay IND 1246 5 Open - Final Standings (65 Participants) - 9 Rounds 7 Shah Jiya IND 1233 5 P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 8 Latifah Darmaki UAE 1224 5 1 GM Iordachescu Viorel MDA 2670 7½ 9 Rafea Dalaa SYR 1342 4½ 2 IM Njili Kamel TUN 2386 7 10 WCM Rouda Essa Alserkal UAE 1261 4½ 3 GM Kayumov Sergey UZB 2405 7 4 FM De Ramos Julius PHI 2375 7 Juniors - Final Standings (37 Participants) - 7 Rounds 5 FM Al Hosani Omran UAE 2004 7 P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 6 Delloro Noli PHI 2036 7 1 ACM Sriram Venkatesan IND 1220 6 7 Mortel Marlon PHI 2172 6½ 2 Rashed Alhemeiri UAE 1124 5½ 8 GM Komarov Dimitri UKR 2502 6½ 3 Ahmed Alawlaqi UAE 1073 5½ 9 WGM Suleimanova Ava UKR 2208 6 4 Sayanth Krishna IND 1129 5 10 Malibiran Aldrin PHI 1635 6 5 Alfred Joklin IND 1052 5 6 AFM Pradeepkumar M. IND 1151 5 Women - Final Standings (42 Participants) - 7 Rounds 7 Humaidan Alzaabi UAE 1123 5 P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 8 Vivekanandan Rishi IND 1125 5
1 San Andres Emerlinda PHI 1510 6½ 9 CM Eisa Alkhoori UAE 1195 4½ 2 Al-Shamsi Ousha UAE 1306 5½ 10 Rakshit Raghavendra IND 1034 4½
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 8 The Arbor School Ramadan Blitz 2019 Sharjah Ladies Ramadan Cup Blitz 2019 The Arbor School Ramadan Blitz The Sharjah Ladies Ramadan Cup Blitz tournament took place on May 20th. It was a tournament took place on May 21st. It was a 7-round event (3+2). 7-round event (3+2).
Final Standings (52 Participants) Final Standings (108 Participants) P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 1 GM Gagunashvili Merab GEO 2559 6½ 1 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2707 6½ 2 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2707 5½ 2 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2599 6½ 3 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2667 5½ 3 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2667 6 4 GM Arencibia Walter CUB 2364 5½ 4 IM Al Qudaimi Basheer YEM 2399 6 5 IM Khademalsharieh S. IRI 2461 5 5 IM Dimakiling Oliver PHI 2405 5½ 6 IM Dimakiling Oliver PHI 2405 5 6 GM Arencibia Walter CUB 2364 5½ 7 IM El Taher Fouad EGY 2401 5 7 IM El Taher Fouad EGY 2401 5½ 8 FM Al Hosani Omran UAE 2096 5 8 Mortel Marlon PHI 2184 5½ 9 IM Ali Sebbar MAR 2346 5 9 Pedarse Marlon PHI 1890 5½ 10 Mamantuc Ibrahim Jr. PHI 1669 5 10 IM Njili Kamel TUN 2255 5 11 Mortel Marlon PHI 2184 4½ 11 FM Al Hosani Omran UAE 2096 5 12 Ahmad Al Romaithi UAE 1801 4½ 12 IM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2419 5 13 Devnani Kush IND 1673 4½ 13 FM Ammar Sedrani UAE 1837 5 14 Dimarucut Erwin PHI 2045 4½ 14 Hilwani Talal SYR 2339 5 15 IM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2419 4 15 AGM Galindo Joseph PHI 2089 5 16 Pedarse Marlon PHI 1890 4 16 IM Sultan Ibrahim UAE 2137 5 17 Mosallam Mohamad UAE 1494 4 17 Rayes Abdul Kader SYR 2039 5 18 FM Ammar Sedrani UAE 1837 4 18 Saif Ahmed UAE 1673 5 19 CM Mohamed Laily UAE 1458 4 19 Sameir Ramez EGY 2025 5 20 Al Darmaky Sultan UAE 1685 4 20 Matutina Mark PHI 1887 5
Abu Dhabi Ladies Club Ramadan Blitz 2019 The Abu Dhabi Ladies Club Ramadan 8 WCM Al Maamari Wafia UAE 1652 5 st Blitz tournament took place on May 21 . It 9 WFM Nekrasova Elena LBN 1893 5 was a 7-round event (3+2), won by SICA’s 10 Yasmin Ali UAE 1414 5 student Sara Khadem. 11 WCM Almaamari Zainab UAE 1428 5 Final Standings (52 Participants) 12 Mariam Essa UAE 1529 5 P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 13 Mera Aidarous UAE 1032 5 1 IM Khademalsharieh S. IRI 2461 6½ 14 Kindupan Zyralle PHI 1298 5 2 WGM Stojanovic Andjelija SRB 2278 6 15 Shanya Mishra IND 1656 4½ 3 WGM Suleimanova Ava UKR 2225 6 16 Alyazia Alhasani UAE 1131 4½ 4 Alavi Homa IRI 1837 6 17 WFM Al Kalbani Wadima UAE 1446 4 5 Kejzar Petra SLO 1959 6 18 WCM Rouda Essa Alserkal UAE 1345 4
6 WIM Berke Ana CRO 2052 5 19 San Andres Emerlinda PHI 1534 4 7 Ganskaya Elena UKR 1974 5 20 Celeste Patricia PHI 1253 4
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 9 st 1 Al Batayih Ramadan Blitz 2019 People of Determination Ramadan Blitz 2019 The 1st Al Batayih Ramadan Blitz The UAE CF PoD Ramadan tournament tournament took place on May 23rd. It was a took place on May 24th. It was a 9-round 7-round event (3+2). event (3+2) with total prizes of 26.000 AED.
Final Standings (107 Participants) Final Standings (? Participants) P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 1 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2599 6½ 1 GM Ghaem Ehsan IRI 2612 8 2 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2707 6 2 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2667 8 3 IM El Taher Fouad EGY 2401 6 3 GM Miladinovic Igor SRB 2659 7½ 4 GM Arencibia Walter CUB 2364 6 4 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2599 7½ 5 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2667 5½ 5 IM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2419 7½ 6 IM Ali Sebbar MAR 2346 5½ 6 IM Farahat Ali USA 2378 7½ 7 GM Kayumov Sergey UZB 2407 5½ 7 IM Dimakiling Oliver PHI 2405 7 8 IM Dimakiling Oliver PHI 2411 5½ 8 GM Arencibia Walter CUB 2364 7 9 IM Njili Kamel TUN 2255 5½ 9 GM Kayumov Sergey UZB 2407 7 10 IM Sultan Ibrahim UAE 2137 5 10 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2707 7 11 Dimarucut Erwin PHI 2045 5 11 Hilwani Talal SYR 2339 7 12 Rayes Abdul Kader SYR 2039 5 12 IM El Taher Fouad EGY 2401 7 13 FM Ahmed Fareed UAE 1823 5 13 Mortel Marlon PHI 2184 7 14 IM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2419 5 14 Lagutin Nelman PHI 2047 7 15 FM Ammar Sedrani UAE 1837 5 15 IM Al Qudaimi Basheer YEM 2399 6½ 16 FM Al Hosani Omran UAE 2096 5 16 FM Othman A. Moussa UAE 2185 6½ 17 Devnani Kush IND 1673 5 17 Pedarse Marlon PHI 1890 6½ 18 Ahmad Al Romaithi UAE 1801 5 18 IM Khademalsharieh S. IRI 2461 6 19 Tabada Jobannie C. PHI 2020 5 19 GM Grivas Efstratios GRE 2401 6 20 Suresh K K IND 1470 5 20 Mehdi Samer IRI 2088 6
Reaching the ‘Lucena Position’ The 'Lucena Position' is one of the most Example 1 ● famous and an important position in endgame theory, where one side has a rook XABCDEFGHY and a pawn and the defender has a rook. 8-+-+-+K+( The essential characteristics of the 'Lucena Position' are: 7+-+-mk-zP-' 1. Any pawn except a rook pawn. 6-+-+-+-+& 2. The pawn has advanced to the 7th rank. 3. The stronger side's king is on the quee- 5+-+-+-+-% ning square of his pawn. 4-+-+-+-+$ 4. The stronger side's rook cuts-off the enemy king from the pawn by at least a file. 3+-+-+R+-# 5. The defending rook is on the file on the other side of the pawn. 2-+-+-+-+" The winning method: building a bridge. 1+-+-+-+r! Of course we should examine some instructive cases on both getting the ‘Lucena xabcdefghy Position’, but also how to avoid it! White's aim is to either promote his pawn or
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 10 else compel Black to give up his rook for it - achieve a draw with 1...Rf8!. White has no either result will leave White with an satisfactory continuation, as both 2.Rxf8 overwhelming material advantage and a Kxf8 and 2.Rf5 Rxf5! 3.Kxf5 Kf7, lead to a straightforward win. White has managed to drawn pawn ending. If White retains the advance his pawn to the 7th rank, but it is rooks with 2.Ra1 Kf7!, Black would succeed prevented from queening because his own in bringing about the ‘Philidor Position’ and king is in the way. White would like to draw. Now White is ready to advance his g- move his king and then promote his pawn, pawn. Since passive defence does not bring but is prevented from moving to the h-file any results, Black has nothing better than to by the black rook, and prevented from start checking. moving to the f-file by the black king. 1...Rh8+ 2.Kg6 Rg8+ 3.Kh6 Rh8+ 4.Kg7 1...Rh2 Rh2 5.g6 Rg2 The black rook must stay on the h-file. After Black is trying to avoid the ‘Lucena 1...Ra1 2.Rh3! and 3.Kh7, White wins. Position’ (king on g8, pawn on g7) but all he 2.Rf4! can achieve is to slightly delay its The first step of the basic winning method, appearance. called the 'bridge'. 6.Kh7! Rh2+ 7.Kg8! Rg2 8.g7 2...Rh1 3.Re4+! Kd7 White has reached the ‘Lucena Position’ and Also hopeless is 3...Kf6 4.Kf8!. wins. 4.Kf7 Rf1+ 5.Kg6 Rg1+ 6.Kf6 Rf1+ 1-0 There are no defensive resources in waiting As described on the previous examples, either. After 6...Rg2 7.Re5! and 8.Rg5, reaching the ‘Lucena Position’ can be a White completes the 'bridge'. Likewise, after delicate procedure! 6...Kd6 7.Rd4+! Kc6 (7...Kc7 8.Rd5! and 9.Rg5) 8.Rd8!, White wins. □ Grivas Efstratios (2325) 7.Kg5! Rg1+ 8.Rg4! ■ Miralles Gilles (2400) The 'bridge' is complete and the white pawn Bucharest (4) 19.09.1984 ○ will promote. 1-0 XABCDEFGHY 8r+-+-+-+( Example 2 ○ 7+-+-+-+-' XABCDEFGHY 6-+-mk-+-+& 8-+-+-+r+( 5+-+-+K+-% 7+-+-mk-+-' 4-+-+-+P+$ 6-+-+-+-+& 3+-+-+-+-# 5+-+-+-zP-% 2-+-+R+-+" 4-+-+-+K+$ 1+-+-+-+-! 3+-+-+-+-# xabcdefghy 2-+-+-+-+" White on to move can reach the ‘Lucena 1+-+-+R+-! Position’. If Black to move, he could conti- nue with 55...Rf8+ 56.Kg6 Rg8+ - draw. xabcdefghy 55.g5! Rf8+ 56.Kg6 Rg8+ 57.Kf6 Rf8+ White is on the move and can reach the 58.Kg7 Rf1 59.g6 Rg1 60.Kf7 Rf1+ ‘Lucena Position’: 61.Kg8 Rg1 62.g7 Rh1 63.Re4! Rh2 1.Kh5! 64.Kf7 Rf2+ 65.Kg6 Rg2+ 66.Kf6 Kd7 If Black is to move, he would be able to 67.Re5 1-0 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 11 □ Othman A. Moussa (2169) ■ Grivas Efstratios (2471) XABCDEFGHY Sharjah (4) 14.05.2019 ○ 8-+-+-+R+( XABCDEFGHY 7+-+-+-+-' 8-+-+-+-+( 6-+p+-+-+& 7+-+-+-+-' 5+-mk-+-+-% 6-+-+-mk-+& 4-+-+-+-+$ 5+K+-+-+-% 3+-+-mK-+-# 4RzP-+-+-+$ 2-+-+-+-+" 3+-+-+-+r# 1+-+r+-+-! 2-+-+-+-+" xabcdefghy 1+-+-+-+-! A theoretically drawn position, with some necessary care of course! xabcdefghy 66.Ke2! Although many moves win here, the most The only move. 66.Rc8?, loses to 66...Kb5 practical is to cut-off the black king from 67.Rb8+ Kc4 -+. getting nearer to the enemy pawn. 66...Rd5 62.Ra1! Ke6 63.Rd1! Rh8 (D) 66...Rh1, allows the white king to get the 'Philidor Position' by the natural 67.Kd2. XABCDEFGHY 67.Rg1! 8-+-+-+-tr( The point of White's previous move - the white rook is getting ready for the checks. 7+-+-+-+-' 67...Kb4 68.Rb1+ Ka3 (D) 6-+-+k+-+& XABCDEFGHY 5+K+-+-+-% 8-+-+-+-+( 4-zP-+-+-+$ 7+-+-+-+-' 3+-+-+-+-# 6-+p+-+-+& 2-+-+-+-+" 5+-+r+-+-% 1+-+R+-+-! 4-+-+-+-+$ xabcdefghy 3mk-+-+-+-# A last try to save the half-point... 64.Kc6! 2-+-+K+-+" Except from the text, 64.Ka6 and 64.Rd4, 1+R+-+-+-! win as well, but not something like 64.Rd2? Rb8+ 65.Kc5 Rc8+ 66.Kb6 Rb8+ =. xabcdefghy 64...Rc8+ 65.Kb7! The position is getting critical... The only winning move and as White will 69.Ke3! get the 'Lucena Position', Black resigned. Now that the black king was driven away, 1-0 the black rook must be harassed - it should
□ Kochyev Alexander (2555) forced either to leave the d-file or the fourth ■ Smyslov Vassily (2575) rank and the protection of its pawn. Lvov (8) 04.1978 ○ 69...c5 70.Ke4! SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 12 70.Rc1? Kb2, would be the end of the story. 70...Rd2 71.Rc1 Rd4+ 72.Ke3! XABCDEFGHY 72.Ke5?, would be too much: 72...Kb4 8-+-+-+-+( 73.Rb1+ Kc4 74.Rc1+ Kb5 75.Rb1+ Rb4 76.Rh1 c4 -+. 7+-+-+-+-' 72...Kb4 73.Rb1+ Kc4 74.Rc1+ Kb5 6-+-+-+-+& 75.Rh1 Rd8 76.Rb1+ Kc6 77.Rc1 Rd7 (D) XABCDEFGHY 5+-zp-+-+-% 8-+-+-+-+( 4k+-tr-+-+$ 7+-+r+-+-' 3+-+-+-+-# 6-+k+-+-+& 2-+-+K+-+" 5+-zp-+-+-% 1+R+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 4-+-+-+-+$ 81.Ke3! 3+-+-mK-+-# The only way - the defending king must harass the black rook. 2-+-+-+-+" 81...Rd5 82.Ke4! 1+-tR-+-+-! Again forced and good. 82...Rd2 83.Ke3 Rd6 84.Rc1! xabcdefghy Now that the black rook doesn't defend its By here White defended with accuracy and pawn, the white rook should start attacking the position remains drawish. it. 78.Ke2? 84...Kb5 85.Rb1+ Kc6 86.Rc1 Rd7 (D) Getting away from the control of the e4- square is losing. Safe would be any rook XABCDEFGHY move on the first rank (except d1 and e1 of 8-+-+-+-+( course!). 78...Kb5! 79.Rb1+ Ka4 80.Rc1 Kb4 7+-+r+-+-' 81.Rb1+ Ka3 82.Rc1 Rd5! 6-+k+-+-+& The point, as White can't play Ke4. Now Black wins an important tempo and the 5+-zp-+-+-% game! 4-+-+-+-+$ 83.Ke3 Kb2 84.Rc4 Kb3 0-1 3+-+-mK-+-# 2-+-+-+-+" 1+-tR-+-+-! xabcdefghy 87.Ke2? White falls again into the same misery, missing 87.Ke4, or any safe rook move on the first rank. 87...Kb5 88.Rb1+
88.Rd1, loses to 88...Rxd1 89.Kxd1 Kb4!. □ Danielian Oganes (2445) 88...Ka4 89.Rc1 Kb4 90.Rb1+ Ka3 91.Rc1 ■ Miles Anthony John (2590) Rd5! Cappelle-la-Grande (4) 02.1994 ○ 0-1 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 13 Sliding Closet Door Tactics are luring everywhere and the ambitious player needs to know the way to recognise them, before it is too late… In this survey we will get to know an uncommon tactic which can be called ‘Sliding Closet Door’, or anyhow you like, as long as you understand it! It is connected with an action of an open/close door procedure. The door opens and the victim is lured in. Then its’ days are numbered, as the door closes and the victim has been caught! So simple, but extremely effective! We will start with an old but quite valuable example for understanding the subject: □ Pandavos Panayotis ■ Grivas Efstratios □ Spiridonov Nikola Korinthos 1997 ● ■ Krustev Plamen XABCDEFGHY Sofia 1970 ○ XABCDEFGHY 8-tr-+r+k+( 8-+-+-+k+( 7+lwq-vlpzpp' 7zp-+-+-zp-' 6p+-zp-sn-+& 6-+-+-+-zp& 5+-+-zpPvL-% 5+-+R+-+-% 4-+-+P+-+$ 4-+-+qzp-+$ 3zP-+LsNQ+-# 3+-+-+rzP-# 2-+P+-+PzP" 2PzP-+-zP-+" 1+-+-tRR+K! xabcdefghy 1+-+Q+-mK-! This is a game from a blindfold exhibition. xabcdefghy White seems to be doing fine, planning Bxf6 The black rook has nowhere to go if and Bc4, controlling the important d5- attacked 'properly' but on the other hand it is square. While strategically he is standing well-protected by its queen and furthermore, sound, his position is 'destroyed' by an un- creates lethal threats around the white king. expected tactic. Well, White found a great way to trap the 22...Nxe4! unfortunate black rook! Door opens! 39.Rd4! 23.Bxe7?! Door opens! White was chocked and he didn't find 39...Qc6 23.Bxe4 Bxg5 24.Nd5 Bxd5 25.Bxd5 Bf6, 39...Qe5 loses to 40.Rd8+ Kf7 41.Qxf3. where although he would be a pawn down, 40.Rd5! he would have some compensation, based on Door closes! The black rook is lost, so Black the opposite-coloured bishops and his strong resigned. d5-bishop. 1-0 23...Nf6! (D) SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 14 30.Nd3! XABCDEFGHY Door opens! Her majesty is invited inside 8-tr-+r+k+( the white palace… 30...Qg3 31.Nf4! 7+lwq-vLpzpp' Door closes! Now her majesty is caught in 6p+-zp-sn-+& the box. 31...Bb6 32.Rde1! 5+-+-zpP+-% And Black resigned, as Rg2 is next. 1-0 4-+-+-+-+$ 3zP-+LsNQ+-# □ Gallagher Joseph ■ Zhao Xue 2-+P+-+PzP" Caleta 2013 ● 1+-+-tRR+K! XABCDEFGHY xabcdefghy 8-+-+R+-+( Door Closes! 7+-+-+rzpp' 24.Qh3?! I would think that White lost his eye-sight... 6Lzp-+-+-mk& 24.Bxd6 Qxd6 25.Qg3 Qc5 -/+. 24...Qxe7 5zp-+-vL-+-% Game over... 4-+-+P+-+$ 25.Ng4 Nxg4 26.f6 Nxf6 27.Rxf6 Qxf6 28.Qxh7+ Kf8 29.Rf1 Qg5 30.Qh3 Ke7 3zP-+-snnzPK# 31.Bc4 Qxg2+ 32.Qxg2 Bxg2+ 33.Kxg2 f6 2-+-+-+-+" 34.Bxa6 Rb2 35.Bd3 Ra2 36.Rb1 d5 37.Bf5 Kd6 38.a4 Rxa4 39.Rb7 Re7 1+-+-+-+-! 40.Rb6+ Kc5 41.Rb8 Rf4 xabcdefghy 0-1 White was hoping to save the game, but his
main problem wasn't the pawn-down but his □ Gashimov Vugar weak king. ■ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 52...Ng5+! Elista 2008 ○ Door opens! XABCDEFGHY 53.Kh2 White cannot survive as well after 53.Kh4 8-mkl+r+r+( Ng2+ 54.Kg4 Kg6! 55.Rh8 (55.Re6+ Rf6 7+-vl-+p+-' 56.Rxf6+ gxf6 57.Bxf6 h5 #) 55...Ne3+ 56.Kh4 Rf2 57.g4 Rf3. 6p+-zppzp-+& 53...Rf2+ 54.Kh1 Nf3! 5+p+-wqP+-% Door closes! 55.g4 4-+-+PsNPzp$ 55.Re6+ Kg5 56.Bf4+ Kg4 -+. 3+-zP-+-+P# 55...Rg2! Arabian mate is on the cards from both h2- 2PzPL+R+-+" and g1-squares! 56.Bf4+ Kg6 1+K+R+Q+-! 0-1
xabcdefghy Conclusion Black's queen looks 'un-comfortably' placed An easy and interesting but not an every- and White doesn't miss his chance. day tactic. Still a good part of preparation! SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 15 World’s Top-Players Coaching Program SICA has released its international program of top-players coaching. The first chosen one is Sarasadat Khademalsharieh who is currently number 19 in the World Women Rating Scale. She has joined the Sharjah International Chess Academy, to be coached by World’s top-trainer Efstratios Grivas.
Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (born March 10, 1997 in Tehran) also known as Sara Khadem, is an Iranian chess player who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Sara Khadem won the Asian Under-12 Girls Championship in 2008, the World Under-12 Girls Championship in 2009, the Asian Under-16 Girls Blitz Championship in 2012, and the World U16 Girls Blitz Championship in 2013. In 2014, she finished runner- up in the World Junior Girls Championship. Sara Khadem played for the Iranian team at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2012, 2014 and 2016. She won the Iranian women's championship of 2015, held in January 2016. Sara Khadem qualified for the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015-16 as host city nominee after winning a qualifying match against Atousa Pourkashiyan in Tehran. In the Grand Prix stage held in her home city, although being the lowest rated player in the field, she finished in second place and achieved her first Grandmaster norm. She competed in the Women's World Chess Championship 2017, but was eliminated in the first round to Sopiko Guramishvili.
Efstratios Grivas (30.03.1966) is a highly experienced chess trainer and chess author. He has been awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) the titles of International Chess Grandmaster, FIDE Senior Trainer, International Chess Arbiter and International Chess Organiser. His main successes over the board are the Silver Medal Olympiad 1998 (3rd Board), the Gold Medal European Team Championship 1989 (3rd Board) and the 4th Position World Junior Championship U.20 1985. He has also won 5 Balkan Medals (2 Gold - 1 Silver - 2 Bronze) and he was 3 times Winner of the International ‘Acropolis’ Tournament. He has also in his credit the 28 times first position in Greek Individual & Team Cha- mpionships and he has won various international tournaments as well. He was also been awarded six FIDE Medals in the Annual FIDE Awards (Winner of the FIDE Boleslavsky Medal 2009 & 2015 (best author) - Winner of the FIDE Euwe Medal 2011 & 2012 & 2017 (best junior trainer) - Winner of the FIDE Razuvaev Medal 2014 (Trainers’ education) and has been a professional Lecturer at FIDE Seminars for Training & Certifying Trainers. In the period 2009-2018 he served as the Secretary of the FIDE Trainers’ Commission. Since 2012 he is the Director of the FIDE Grivas Chess International Academy (Athens) and since 2019 he is the Technical Director of the Sharjah International Chess Academy (Sharjah). He has published a large number of Books & DVDs in Arabic, English, French, Greek, Iranian, Italian, Mongolian, Spanish & Turkish languages. His 99 books/editions can be indexed in the following categories: Beginners (10), Dvds & E-Books (6), Endgame (4), History (19), Middlegame & Endgame (14), Opening (3), Plan (6), Strategy (7), Strategy Series (20) and Trainers’ Education (10). SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 16 The first meeting was held on Wednesday, May 22nd, in SICA’s headquarters (17:00-20:00). The subjects were: The Capablanca Manoeuvre, The Superfluous Knight and Technical Rook Endings.
Photo Gallery
In the Photo Gallery are:
1. Sara Khadem (Trainee) 2. Efstratios Grivas (SICA Head Coach) 3. Talal Alzaabi (SICA Chairman) 4. Rajai Alsusi (Sharjah CCC Director)
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 17 FIDE Grand-Prix - Moscow 2019 The race to qualify to the 2020 Candidates of getting one of the qualifying spots to the Tournament began with the first leg of the Candidates. Also, the prize fund was Grand-Prix Series in Moscow. The seriously lowered in the 2014-15 edition, so tournament was a 16-player knock-out that trying to get a good result in individual will use similar rules to the ones seen at events did not motivate the players either - previous World Cups. Only one player in the as mentioned, pretty much the only upside field has a rating below 2700, although we of taking part was to get to the Candidates. all know that current World Rapid Therefore, the last year elected FIDE Champion Daniil Dubov (2690) is administration decided to enact serious completely capable of upsetting any member modifications. Each of the four tournaments of the elite. of the series this year will be a 16-player Four editions of the Grand Prix series have knock-out event with a prize fund of been played since 2008. The last ones lost 130.000 Euros, while an additional 280,000 traction, though, as the players realised that Euros will be allocated for the overall using a safe strategy was a good bet in terms Grand-Prix standings.
‘The idea of the symbols is to break away from clichés’, explains World Chess
Each round, the players will fight over two The players will receive Grand Prix points classical games, with a time control of 90 as follows: minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes until Round G-P Points the end of the game and a 30-second increment from move one. In case of a tie, Winner 8 best-of-two matches will take place while Runner-Up 5 the tie is unbroken - first with a time control of 25'+10'', then 10'+10'', and finally 5'+3'. If Semi-final loser 3 a winner has not emerged, the players will go to an Armageddon game, with 5 minutes Round 2 loser 1 for White and 4 minutes for Black (a 2- Round 1 loser 0 second increment will be used from move 61), with Black having draw odds. No T-B match 1
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 18 Notice how implementing a risky strategy need of tie-breaks, he will get as many during the classical games is being points as the runner-up if the latter has got to rewarded. If a player, for example, goes the final through tie-breaks in all three first through rounds one and two without the rounds.
The Central House of Chess Players in Moscow - Photo: Vladimir Boiko
The first leg of the Series was played in Kramnik (retired after the 2019 Tata Steel Moscow, Russia, at the Central Chess Masters), Ding Liren and Viswanathan Player's House, a historic building of Anand. All five top reserves gladly accepted Russia's capital. No less than seven players to take part: Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Wei Yi, from Russia are playing in the Grand-Prix Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Pentala Harikrishna (the maximum amount of players any other and Nikita Vitiugov. The organisers's country counts with is two), with all seven nominee was Daniil Dubov. of them set to play in Moscow. The biggest absentees rating-wise in the The schedule was as follows: May 17-18 – first leg was be Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Round 1 (May 19 – Tie-break), May 20-21 – and Yu Yangyi, who will naturally play in Round 2 (May 22 - Tie-break), May 23-24 – all three other events during the year (Riga, Semi-final (May 25 – Tie-break), May 27-28 Hamburg and Tel Aviv). – Final (May 29 – Tie-break), May 26 was a Thus, the line-up for Moscow was as rest day. The games started at 15:00 local follows: Anish Giri (2787, Netherlands), time and were broadcast live at Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2781, Azerbaijan), worldchess.com. Ian Nepomniachtchi (2773, Russia), The players: All qualifiers to the Series Alexander Grischuk (2772, Russia), Levon were selected by rating, taking into account Aronian (2762, Armenia), Hikaru Nakamura the official lists from February 2018 until (2761, USA), Teimour Radjabov (2759, January 2019. Five players declined their Azerbaijan), Wesley So (2754, USA), invitations - Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Sergey Karjakin (2752, Russia), Peter Caruana (already 'qualified'), Vladimir Svidler (2739, Russia), Wei Yi (2736, SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 19 China), Nikita Vitiugov (2734, Russia), Jan- In each event, the first four seeds will be Krzysztof Duda (2728, Poland), Radoslaw placed into different quarters of the draw, Wojtaszek (2724, Poland), Dmitry and the remaining starting positions will be Jakovenko (2708, Russia) and Daniil Dubov decided by drawing of lots at the opening (2690, Russia). The average rating of all 16 ceremony. The drawing of colours will also players was an impressive 2747.5! be conducted during the same ceremony.
Round 1 (17-18-19.05.2019) Game 1: Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Ian Nepomniachtchi Duda and Radek Wojtaszek won with the and Radoslaw Wojtaszek secured their spots white pieces at the start of the FIDE Grand- in the quarter-finals, while Wesley So Prix in Moscow, so Levon Aronian, Wesley defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda to tie the score, So and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had to push and Teimour Radjabov signed another quick for a win on the 2nd game if they wanted to draw with Hikaru Nakamura. survive the 1st game. Three match-ups ended Games 3-4: Two rapid games were enough with quick draws, while Peter Svidler and for Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura to take Anish Giri accepted the draws offered by down Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Teimour Nikita Vitiugov and Daniil Dubov in games Radjabov in the first-round tie-breaks of the that could have easily kept going. Moscow Grand-Prix. Both Americans had Game 2: This was a day full of exciting White in the first encounter and scored right chess at the Moscow Grand-Prix and ended off the bat. While Nakamura was never in up with six players qualifying to the 2nd big danger in the return game, Duda posed round without needing rapid and blitz tie- many problems to So with the white pieces. breaks. Daniil Dubov, Wei Yi, Alexander Both encounters finished drawn, however.
R1 R2 R3 R5 R6 N Phase of 16 Fed Rat Res 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
1 Giri A. NED 2787 ½ 0 ½ 2 Dubov D. RUS 2690 ½ 1 1½
3 Mamedyarov S. AZE 2781 0 ½ ½ 4 Wojtaszek R. POL 2724 1 ½ 1½
5 Karjakin S. RUS 2752 ½ 0 ½ 6 Grischuk A. RUS 2772 ½ 1 1½
7 Nepomniachtchi I. RUS 2773 1 ½ 1½ 8 Aronian L. ARM 2762 0 ½ ½
9 Radjabov T. AZE 2759 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1½ 10 Nakamura H. USA 2761 ½ ½ 1 ½ 2½
11 Duda J. POL 2728 1 0 0 ½ 1½ 12 So W. USA 2754 0 1 1 ½ 2½
13 Vitiugov N. RUS 2734 ½ 0 ½ 14 Svidler P. RUS 2739 ½ 1 1½
15 Wei Y. CHN 2736 ½ 1 1½ 16 Jakovenko D. RUS 2708 ½ 0 ½
□ Giri Anish (2787) 26.fxe3 Rxe6 27.Rd1 Rde8 28.Bf1 Qh6 ■ Dubov Daniil (2690) 29.Qf4 g5 30.Qg4 Bxe5 31.Bb5 Rf8 A16 Moscow (1.1) 17.05.2019 32.Rd7 Bf4 33.Bd3 Rxe3+ 34.Kf2 Rfe8 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 e5 35.h4 R3e7 36.Rxe7 Rxe7 5.Nxe5 0-0 6.Nf3 Re8 7.d3 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 ½-½ 9.Bd2 Bg4 10.Qb3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Na6 12.Be2 Nc5 13.Qc2 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Qh4 □ Dubov Daniil (2690) 15.d4 Ne6 16.Qc1 c6 17.a4 Qh3 18.Rb1 b6 ■ Giri Anish (2787) 19.Be3 Rac8 20.Qd2 f5 21.Qd3 Kh8 22.e5 D44 Moscow (1.2) 18.05.2019 c5 23.d5 f4 24.dxe6 Rcd8 25.Qe4 fxe3 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg5 dxc4 5.e4 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 20 b5 6.a4 c6 7.Nc3 b4 8.Nb1 Ba6 9.e5 h6 41.Re3 Nd5 42.Re2 Rd7 43.Kg3 Nf6 44.h4 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.exf6 c5 12.Nbd2 c3 Rd8 45.hxg5 hxg5 46.Bxf6 exf6 47.Rh2 13.bxc3 bxc3 14.Ne4 cxd4 15.Bb5+ Bxb5 Kg7 48.Rd2 Rd7 49.Rc1 Bd5 50.Kf2 Kf7 16.axb5 Qd5 17.Qxd4 Qxb5 18.Nxc3 Bb4 51.Rc5 Ke7 52.Re2+ Kd6 53.Re8 Nxd4 (D) 54.Ra5 Bb7 55.Ra3 Kd5 56.Rc3 Bc6 (D) XABCDEFGHY XABCDEFGHY 8rsn-+k+-tr( 8-+-+R+-+( 7zp-+-+p+-' 7+-+r+-+-' 6-+-+pzP-zp& 6p+l+-zp-+& 5+q+-+-+-% 5+-+k+Pzp-% 4-vl-wQ-+-+$ 4-zP-sn-+P+$ 3+-sN-+N+-# 3+-tR-+-+-# 2-+-+-zPPzP" 2-+-+-mK-+" 1tR-+-mK-+R! 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 19.0-0-0 Qa5 20.Nb5 Na6 21.Qd7+ Kf8 57.Ke3 Nb3 58.Re6 Bb5 59.Rxb3 Kc4 22.Kb1 Ba3 23.Rd3 Qb4+ 24.Kc2 Qa4+ 60.Rb1 Kc3 61.Rxf6 Rd3+ 62.Ke4 Rd4+ 25.Kd2 Bb4+ 26.Ke2 Kg8 27.Ne5 Qc2+ 63.Ke5 Rxg4 64.Rb6 Bd3 65.Rc6+ Kd2 28.Kf3 Rf8 29.Rhd1 h5 30.Qd4 Rh7 66.Rb2+ Ke3 67.f6 31.Qf4 Bc5 32.Nd4 Qa2 33.R1d2 Qd5+ 1-0 34.Ke2 Bb4 35.Ndc6 Qc5 36.Ne7+ Kh8 1-0 □ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar (2781) ■ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) A28 Moscow (1.2) 18.05.2019 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 Qe7 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 c5 10.Qh4 d5 11.f3 0-0 12.cxd5 Nxd5 13.Qxe7 Nxe7 14.Bc4 Nc6 15.b3 Re8 16.Kf2 Be6 17.Bb5 Red8 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.e4 c4 20.bxc4 Rab8 □ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) 21.Be3 Rb2+ 22.Kg3 h5 23.h4 Bxc4 ■ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar (2781) 24.Rhc1 Rxa2 25.Rxa2 Bxa2 26.Rxc6 Ra8 D82 Moscow (1.8) 17.05.2019 27.Rc5 g6 28.Ra5 Be6 29.Bxa7 f6 30.Kf4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 Kf7 31.Ra6 Bd7 32.Ke3 Be6 33.Kd4 Rd8+ c5 6.dxc5 Qa5 7.Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 0-0 34.Ke3 Ra8 35.f4 Bd7 36.Ra5 Be6 37.Kd4 9.Nge2 Qxc5 10.Qb3 Qa5 11.0-0 Nbd7 Rd8+ 38.Kc3 Ra8 39.g3 Bd7 40.Kd4 Be6 12.Nb5 Ne4 13.Bc7 b6 14.Bxf7+ Rxf7 41.Ke3 Bd7 42.Ra6 Bb5 43.Ra5 Bc6 44.e5 15.Qd5 Nec5 16.Qxa8 Qxb5 17.Nd4 Qa6 Bb7 45.Kd4 Ke6 46.exf6 18.b4 Nd3 19.Rcd1 Nb2 20.Rb1 Bxd4 ½-½ 21.exd4 Nc4 22.Rbc1 b5 23.a4 Qb7 24.Qxb7 Bxb7 25.axb5 Na3 26.f4 Nxb5 □ Karjakin Sergey (2752) 27.Be5 Rf8 28.g3 Kf7 29.f5 g5 30.g4 a6 ■ Grischuk Alexander (2772) 31.Kf2 Nf6 32.Rg1 Rh8 33.Ke2 h6 34.h3 D45 Moscow (1.4) 17.05.2019 Rd8 35.Rc4 Rg8 36.Re1 Nd5 37.Kf2 Rd8 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 38.Kg3 Ndc3 39.Kh2 Ne4 40.Re2 Nec3 Nbd7 6.a4 Bd6 7.a5 0-0 8.Be2 e5 9.cxd5 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 21 cxd5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.0-0 Bc7 12.Qb3 Nc6 22.Qe2 Bxd5 23.Rd1 Rab8 24.Ne1 Qc6 13.a6 bxa6 14.Qa4 25.Qe5 Bf7 26.Rdxd7 Rfe8 27.Qf4 Qf6 ½-½ 28.Rxe8+ Rxe8 29.Qd2 Qe6 30.Rd8 h6 31.Rxe8+ Qxe8 32.a3 Qa4 33.Qc1 Bg6 34.Nf3 Qb3 35.Ne5 Bc2 36.Ng4 a4 37.h3 □ Grischuk Alexander (2772) Bf5 38.Ne5 Kh7 39.Kh2 Qa2 40.Kg1 Kg8 ■ Karjakin Sergey (2752) 41.Qf4 (D) D38 Moscow (1.2) 18.05.2019 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 XABCDEFGHY 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 0-0 8.e3 Bf5 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.Qb3 Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 c6 8-+-+-+k+( 12.Nd2 Ne4 13.Bxd8 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Rfxd8 7+-+-+-zp-' 15.a4 c5 16.Nf1 Rac8 17.Ng3 Bh7 18.Kd2 Rc7 19.a5 Kf8 20.h4 Nf6 21.Bf3 Ke7 22.h5 6-+-+-+-zp& Kd6 23.Ra3 cxd4 24.exd4 Re8 25.Nf1 Be4 5+-zp-sNl+-% 26.Ne3 Bxf3 27.Nf5+ Kc6 28.gxf3 Rg8 (D) XABCDEFGHY 4p+-+-wQ-+$ 8-+-+-+r+( 3zP-zP-+-+P# 7zpptr-+pzp-' 2q+-+-zPP+" 6-+k+-sn-zp& 1+-+-+-mK-! xabcdefghy 5zP-+p+N+P% 41...Qxa3 42.Qxf5 Qxc3 43.Nc6 Kh8 4-+-zP-+-+$ 44.Qf7 Qb3 45.Qe8+ Kh7 46.Qe4+ Kh8 47.Na5 Qd1+ 48.Kh2 Qd6+ 49.f4 a3 3tR-zP-+P+-# 50.Qa4 c4 51.Qxc4 Qd2 52.Nb3 Qe3 2-+-mK-zP-+" 53.Nc1 h5 54.h4 Qe7 55.Qc8+ Kh7 56.Qf5+ g6 57.Qh3 Qf7 58.f5 Qc7+ 59.Qg3 1+-+-+-+R! Qxc1 60.Qxg6+ Kh8 61.Qxh5+ Kg7 xabcdefghy 62.Qg6+ Kf8 63.Qf6+ Ke8 64.Qe6+ Kf8 65.Qd6+ Kf7 66.Qe6+ Kf8 67.Qf6+ Kg8 29.Raa1 Kd7 30.Rag1 Rgc8 31.Rc1 Rg8 68.Qe5 Kf7 69.f6 Qc4 70.Qe7+ Kg6 32.Rce1 b6 33.a6 b5 34.Re5 Rb8 35.Rg1 71.Qg7+ Kf5 72.Qg5+ Nxh5 36.Rxd5+ Ke6 37.Re5+ Kd7 1-0 38.Nxg7 Nxg7 39.Rxg7 Kd6 40.Rh7 b4
41.Rxh6+ Kd7 42.Rd5+ Ke7 43.Re5+ Kd7 □ Aronian Levon (2762) 44.cxb4 Rxb4 45.Ke3 Rc3+ 46.Ke4 Rcc4 ■ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) 47.Rd5+ Ke7 48.f4 Rc2 49.f3 Ra4 50.f5 A22 Moscow (1.2) 18.05.2019 Re2+ 51.Kf4 Rea2 52.Rhd6 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 1-0 5.Nc3 Nb6 6.e3 Nc6 7.Nge2 Qd3 8.f4 Bb4 9.fxe5 Nxe5 10.Nf4 Qa6 11.Qc2 0-0 12.d4 □ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) Ng4 13.Nd3 Bxc3+ 14.Qxc3 Na4 15.Qb3 ■ Aronian Levon (2762) c5 16.dxc5 Bf5 17.Nb4 Qa5 18.0-0 Nxc5 C88 Moscow (1.5) 17.05.2019 19.Qc4 Ne5 20.Qd4 Bd3 21.Rd1 Be2 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0- 22.Qxe5 Rae8 23.Qf5 Qxb4 24.Bd2 Qb6 0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.d4 Nxd4 25.Rdc1 Nd3 26.Rc2 Rxe3 27.Qa5 Qxa5 9.Bxf7+ Rxf7 10.Nxe5 Rf8 11.Qxd4 Bb7 28.Bxa5 b6 29.Bd2 Re7 30.a4 h6 31.a5 12.Nc3 c5 13.Qd1 b4 14.Nd5 Nxd5 bxa5 32.Bxa5 Rb8 33.Bc3 Bh5 34.Bf1 Bg6 15.exd5 Bd6 16.c4 bxc3 17.bxc3 a5 18.Nf3 35.Rd2 Nc5 36.Rdd1 Qf6 19.Bg5 Qg6 20.Be7 Bxe7 21.Rxe7 Qd6 ½-½ SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 22 □ Radjabov Teimour (2759) □ Radjabov Teimour (2759) ■ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) ■ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) E05 Moscow (1.2) 17.05.2019 D37 Moscow (1.4) 19.05.2019 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 e6 4.c4 Be7 5.0-0 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.d4 dxc4 7.Qc2 b5 8.a4 b4 9.Nbd2 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 Bb7 10.Nxc4 c5 11.dxc5 Be4 12.Qd1 Na6 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 Bb4+ 11.Nd2 d4 13.Nd6 Bd5 14.Be3 Nd7 15.Rc1 Naxc5 12.Qc2 Nc6 13.0-0 dxe3 14.Bxe3 h6 15.Nf3 16.Rxc5 Bxd6 17.Rxd5 exd5 18.Qxd5 Bg4 16.Bh7+ Kh8 17.Be4 Rc8 18.Bf5 Bxf5 ½-½ 19.Qxf5 Qa5 20.Qd7 Rc7 21.Qh3 Re8 22.Rad1 Bf8 23.Bf4 Rce7 24.a3 Qb5 25.b4 □ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) a5 26.Bd6 Re6 27.Bxf8 Rxf8 28.bxa5 Qxa5 ■ Radjabov Teimour (2759) 29.Rd7 Rf6 30.Rxb7 Qxa3 E06 Moscow (1.2) 18.05.2019 ½-½ 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.g3 0-0 6.Bg2 dxc4 7.Ne5 c5 8.dxc5 Qxd1+ □ Duda Jan-Krzysztof (2728) 9.Nxd1 Bxc5 10.0-0 Nd5 11.Ne3 Nc6 ■ So Wesley (2754) 12.N3xc4 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bd4 14.Nd3 C54 Moscow (1.3) 17.05.2019 ½-½ 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.a4 a6 9.Re1 □ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) Bg4 10.Nbd2 (D) ■ Radjabov Teimour (2759) D53 Moscow (1.3) 19.05.2019 XABCDEFGHY 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 8r+-wq-trk+( h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e3 c5 8.Bxc4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 0-0 10.0-0 Bd7 11.Qe2 Nc6 12.Rfd1 Qb6 7+pzp-+pzpp' 13.Nf3 Rfd8 14.e4 Be8 15.e5 Nd7 16.Bxe7 6p+n+-+-+& Nxe7 17.Rd6 Qa5 18.Rad1 Nf5 19.R6d2 Nf8 20.Bd3 Bc6 21.Be4 Rxd2 22.Rxd2 Rc8 5+-vlnzp-+-% 23.h4 a6 24.h5 b5 25.a3 Bxe4 26.Qxe4 4P+L+-+l+$ Qb6 27.Kh2 Qa7 28.Qd3 Rc7 29.Ne4 Rd7 30.Nd6 Qb6 31.g4 Nxd6 32.exd6 f6 (D) 3+-zPP+N+-# XABCDEFGHY 2-zP-sN-zPPzP" 8-+-+-snk+( 1tR-vLQtR-mK-! 7+-+r+-zp-' xabcdefghy 6pwq-zPpzp-zp& 10...Kh8 11.h3 Bh5 12.Ne4 Ba7 13.Ng3 Bg6 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Rxe5 Nb6 16.Qf3 c6 5+p+-+-+P% 17.Bf4 Bb8 18.Ree1 Nxc4 19.dxc4 Qh4 20.Ne2 Ba7 21.Bd6 Rfe8 22.Nf4 Bc2 23.c5 4-+-+-+P+$ a5 24.Re2 Bb3 25.Ra3 3zP-+Q+N+-# 1-0
2-zP-tR-zP-mK" □ So Wesley (2754) 1+-+-+-+-! ■ Duda Jan-Krzysztof (2728) B78 Moscow (1.2) 18.05.2019 xabcdefghy 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 33.Nh4 Kf7 34.f4 Ke8 35.f5 e5 36.Qd5 Qe3 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 37.Ng6 Nxg6 38.hxg6 Qf4+ 39.Kh3 Qf1+ 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Ne5 11.Bb3 Rc8 40.Kh4 Qe1+ 41.Kh5 12.Kb1 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 14.g4 b5 15.b3 1-0 b4 16.bxc4 bxc3 17.Qxc3 Qc7 18.g5 Nh5 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 23 19.Ka1 Rc8 20.Rb1 Be6 21.Rb2 Bxc4 22.Rhb1 d5 23.exd5 Nf4 24.Rb7 Qe5 XABCDEFGHY 25.R1b4 Nxd5 26.Rxc4 Rf8 (D) 8-+-+rmk-+( XABCDEFGHY 7+-+-+pzp-' 8-+-+-trk+( 6-+r+-sn-zp& 7zpR+-zppvlp' 5+p+-+P+-% 6-+-+-+p+& 4p+-vlL+P+$ 5+-+nwq-zP-% 3zP-+-+N+P# 4-+RsN-+-+$ 2-zP-+RzPK+" 3+-wQ-vLP+-# 1+R+-+-+-! 2P+P+-+-zP" xabcdefghy 1mK-+-+-+-! 35...Bxf2 36.Bxc6 Rxe2 37.Bxb5 Re3 38.Kxf2 Rb3 39.Bxa4 Ne4+ 40.Kg2 Rb8 xabcdefghy 41.Bc2 Nd6 42.b4 Rc8 43.Bb3 Rc3 44.a4 27.Rc5 Nxc3 28.Rxe5 Bxe5 29.Nc6 Bg7 1-0 30.Bxa7 e5 31.Kb2 e4 32.fxe4 Nxe4+ 33.Kb3 Re8 34.a4 Re6 35.Nd4 Ra6 □ Duda Jan-Krzysztof (2728) 36.Rb8+ Bf8 37.Bb6 Kg7 38.a5 Bd6 ■ So Wesley (2754) 39.Re8 f5 40.gxf6+ Nxf6 41.Rd8 Bxh2 C54 Moscow (1.4) 19.05.2019 42.Ne6+ Kf7 43.Nc5 Rxb6+ 44.axb6 h5 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 45.b7 h4 46.Rd2 Bc7 47.Rf2 0-0 6.a4 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.a5 a6 9.Nbd2 f6 1-0 10.Ne4 Ba7 11.Qb3 Nce7 12.0-0 Kh8 13.h3 b5 14.axb6 cxb6 15.d4 exd4 16.Nxd4 b5 17.Bd3 b4 18.Rd1 bxc3 19.bxc3 Rb8 20.Qa3 Bxd4 21.cxd4 Nc6 22.Bc4 Ncb4 23.Qg3 Rb6 24.Nc5 Qd6 25.Qf3 Rd8 26.Bb3 Be6 27.Re1 Bg8 28.Re4 a5 29.Bd2 Nc6 30.Bxa5 Ra8 31.Bc3 Rab8 32.Bc2 Ndb4 33.Ba4 Bd5 34.Qf4 Qxf4 35.Rxf4 Ra8 36.Re1 h6 37.Rg4 Na2 38.Bd2 Rb2 39.Bxh6 gxh6 40.Bxc6 Bxc6 41.Re6 h5 42.Rg3 Nc1 43.Rxc6 Ne2+ 44.Kh2 Nxg3 45.Kxg3 h4+ 46.Kxh4 Rxf2 47.g4 Kg7 □ So Wesley (2754) 48.Kg3 Rd2 49.Rxf6 Ra3+ 50.Rf3 Rxf3+ ■ Duda Jan-Krzysztof (2728) 51.Kxf3 Kf7 52.Kf4 Rxd4+ 53.Ne4 Ke6 C54 Moscow (1.3) 19.05.2019 54.Ke3 Rd1 55.h4 Ke5 56.Ng5 Re1+ 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 57.Kf3 Ra1 58.Nf7+ Kf6 59.Nd6 Ke5 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 a5 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.Bb5 60.Nc4+ Kd4 61.Nd6 Ke5 62.Nf7+ Kf6 Ne7 10.d4 Ba7 11.Nf1 Ng6 12.Ng3 c6 63.Nd6 Ke5 64.Nc4+ Kd4 65.Nd2 Ke5 13.Bd3 a4 14.h3 b5 15.Be3 Bb6 16.Qd2 66.g5 Kf5 67.Nc4 Kg6 68.Ne3 Ra3 Re8 17.a3 Rb8 18.Rad1 Bc7 19.Bc2 h6 ½-½ 20.Nf5 Bxf5 21.exf5 Nf8 22.dxe5 dxe5 23.Qxd8 Rbxd8 24.c4 N8d7 25.g4 Rb8 □ Vitiugov Nikita (2734) 26.cxb5 cxb5 27.Kg2 Nb6 28.Bxb6 Rxb6 ■ Svidler Peter (2739) 29.Be4 Bd6 30.Re2 Kf8 31.Bc2 e4 32.Nd2 A36 Moscow (1.7) 17.05.2019 Be5 33.Rb1 Rc6 34.Bxe4 Bd4 35.Nf3 (D) 1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.b3 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 24 e5 6.Bb2 Nge7 7.e3 d6 8.Nge2 0-0 9.d3 Nxe1 22.Nxe1 Kxf8 23.Bd5 Rb8 10.h4 h6 11.Qd2 Bg4 12.0-0-0 a6 ½-½ 13.f3 Be6 14.h5 d5 15.cxd5 Nxd5 16.hxg6 fxg6 17.Kb1 Qe7 18.f4 □ Jakovenko Dmitry (2708) ½-½ ■ Wei Yi (2736) C77 Moscow (1.2) 18.05.2019 □ Svidler Peter (2739) 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 ■ Vitiugov Nikita (2734) Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Bd7 C83 Moscow (1.2) 18.05.2019 10.0-0 Bb6 11.a4 Rb8 12.axb5 axb5 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0- 13.Na3 g5 14.Bg3 Ne7 15.d4 exd4 16.e5 0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 dxe5 17.Nxe5 0-0 18.cxd4 Nf5 19.Nc2 Kg7 9.Nbd2 Be7 10.c3 0-0 11.Bc2 f5 12.Nb3 20.Qf3 Nxd4 21.Nxd4 Bxd4 22.Rad1 c5 Qd7 13.Nfd4 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 c5 15.Ne2 23.Nxd7 Qxd7 24.Bxb8 Rxb8 25.Bc2 Qd5 Rad8 16.f3 Ng5 17.Be3 d4 18.cxd4 cxd4 26.Qg3 Re8 27.b3 (D) 19.Nxd4 Bc5 20.Bxg5 Bxd4+ 21.Kh1 Rde8 22.Bb3 Bxb3 23.Qxb3+ Qe6 24.f4 Qxb3 XABCDEFGHY 25.axb3 Re6 26.Rfd1 Bxb2 27.Ra2 Bc3 8-+-+r+-+( 28.Rd6 Rfe8 29.Raxa6 Rxd6 30.Rxd6 h6 31.Bd8 Kf7 32.Rd7+ Ke6 33.Rd6+ Kf7 7+-+-+pmk-' 34.g3 Re6 35.Rd5 Ra6 36.Rxb5 Ra1+ 6-+-+-sn-zp& 37.Kg2 Ra2+ 38.Kh3 Bd2 39.Rb7+ Ke8 40.Bb6 g5 41.fxg5 hxg5 42.Bc5 g4+ 5+pzpq+-zp-% 43.Kh4 Bc1 44.Kh5 Rxh2+ 45.Kg6 Rc2 4-+-vl-+-+$ 46.Bd6 1-0 3+P+-+-wQ-#
□ Wei Yi (2736) 2-+L+-zPPzP" ■ Jakovenko Dmitry (2708) 1+-+R+RmK-! A13 Moscow (1.6) 17.05.2019 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 d4 5.e3 c5 xabcdefghy 6.0-0 Nc6 7.exd4 cxd4 8.d3 Bd6 9.Bg5 h6 27...Nh5 28.Qg4 Nf4 29.h4 Re2 30.hxg5 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Nbd2 Qe7 12.a3 a5 hxg5 31.Bd3 Rb2 32.Bxb5 Rxb3 33.Ba6 13.Ne4 Bc7 14.b4 axb4 15.axb4 Rxa1 Kg6 16.Qxa1 f5 17.Nc5 0-0 18.Re1 Nxb4 0-1 19.Nxe6 Nc2 20.Nxf8 Qxe1+ 21.Qxe1
Round 2 (20-21-22.05.2019) Game 1: The quarter-finals of the Moscow 21st. Alexander Grischuk and Wei Yi had Grand-Prix were kicked off on May 20th difficult positions against Wesley So and Ian with draws on all four boards. Alexander Nepomniachtchi, respectively, but they Grischuk and Wesley So were the last ones ended up getting a second draw in their to leave the playing hall, after signing a 28- match-ups after all. move draw - Wei Yi and Ian Games 3-4: Three semi-finalists were Nepomniachtchi drew in 31 moves, but decided on May 22nd in the Moscow Grand- signed the score sheets earlier. The highlight Prix as Hikaru Nakamura of the United of the day was Daniil Dubov's unorthodox States, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander plan with Black against Hikaru Nakamura. Grischuk, both of Russia, advanced from the Game 2: Peter Svidler was the first player to quarterfinals after prevailing in rapid tie- be eliminated from the Moscow Grand-Prix breaker games. They joined Radoslaw quarter-finals, after Radoslaw Wojtaszek Wojtaszek of Poland who won his defeated him with the white pieces on May quarterfinal match on the previous day. SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 25 R1 R2 R3 R5 R6 N Quarter Finals Fed Rat Res 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
1 Nepomniachtchi I. RUS 2773 ½ ½ ½ 1 2½ 2 Wei Y. CHN 2736 ½ ½ ½ 0 1½
3 Grischuk A. RUS 2772 ½ ½ ½ 1 2½ 4 So W. USA 2754 ½ ½ ½ 0 1½
5 Nakamura H. USA 2761 ½ ½ 1 ½ 2½ 6 Dubov D. RUS 2690 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1½
7 Svidler P. RUS 2739 ½ 0 ½ 8 Wojtaszek R. POL 2724 ½ 1 1½
□ Wei Yi (2736) hxg5 45.Qf5 Qe7 46.Kf3 Kg7 47.Qe4 Qf6+ ■ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) 48.Qf5 Qe7 49.Qd5 Qf6+ 50.Ke2 Qb2+ B51 Moscow (2.1) 20.05.2019 51.Qd2 Qb5+ 52.Qd3 Qb2+ 53.Kf1 Qc1+ 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 54.Kg2 Qc6+ 55.f3 Qe6 56.Qd4+ Qf6 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.Qd3 57.Qb4 Qe5 58.Kf2 Kf7 59.Qe4 Qb2+ h6 9.Nd2 Rc8 10.Nc4 Be6 11.Ne3 Nf6 60.Ke3 Qc3+ 61.Ke2 Qb2+ 62.Kd3 Qb3+ 12.0-0 Be7 13.a4 0-0 14.a5 Qd7 15.Bd2 63.Kd4 Qb4+ 64.Ke5 Qb2+ 65.Qd4 Qe2+ Bd8 16.Ncd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 Bg4 18.f4 exf4 66.Qe4 Qb2+ 67.Qd4 Qe2+ 68.Qe4 19.Nxg4 Qxg4 20.Bxf4 Re8 21.Rf3 Bf6 ½-½ 22.c3 Be5 23.h3 Qh4 24.Ra4 Bxf4 25.Raxf4 Qe1+ 26.Rf1 Qe2 27.Qxe2 Rxe2 □ Wei Yi (2736) 28.Rb4 Rc7 29.Rf2 Re1+ 30.Rf1 Re2 ■ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) 31.Rf2 Re1+ B97 Moscow (2.3) 22.05.2019 ½-½ 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5 Be7 11.fxe6 Bxe6 12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Bc4 Nbd7 14.Bxe6 Nc5 15.Bf5 g6 16.Bh3 Nfxe4 17.Nxe4 Nxe4 18.Qd4 Qc3+ 19.Qxc3 Nxc3 20.Bxe7 Kxe7 21.Rb3 Ne4 22.Rxb7+ Kf6 23.0-0+ Kg5 24.g3 Rab8 25.Ra7 Rb2 26.Bg2 d5 27.h4+ Kg4 28.Kh2 Nxg3 29.Bh3+ Kxh4 30.Rf4+ Kg5 31.Kxg3 Rxa2 32.Rg4+ Kh6 33.Rc7 Ra3+ 34.c3 Re8 35.Rh4+ Kg5 36.Rg4+ Kh6 37.Kf3 Re1 38.Rh4+ Kg5 39.Rg4+ Kh6 40.Rh4+ Kg5 41.Rd4 Re5 42.Rc5 h5 □ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) 43.Bd7 h4 44.Bc6 Rf5+ 45.Ke3 h3 ■ Wei Yi (2736) 46.Rdxd5 h2 47.Rxf5+ gxf5 48.Be4 Kh4 C83 Moscow (2.2) 21.05.2019 49.Bf3 Kg3 50.Rc8 f4+ 51.Ke4 Ra4+ 52.c4 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0- Ra3 53.Rg8+ Kh4 54.Rh8+ Kg3 55.Rg8+ 0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 Kh4 56.Bh1 Ra1 57.Rh8+ Kg3 58.Rg8+ 9.Nbd2 Be7 10.c3 0-0 11.Bc2 f5 12.exf6 Kh4 59.Bg2 Ra2 60.Kf3 Rc2 61.Rg4+ Kh5 Nxf6 13.Re1 Qd7 14.a4 Bf5 15.Bxf5 Qxf5 62.Rxf4 Rc1 63.Ke3 Kg5 64.Re4 Rg1 16.axb5 axb5 17.Rxa8 Rxa8 18.Nf1 Qd7 65.Kf3 Rf1+ 66.Ke2 Rg1 67.Kf2 h1Q 19.Bg5 Rd8 20.Ng3 h6 21.Bxf6 Bxf6 68.Bxh1 Rxh1 69.Re5+ Kf6 70.Ra5 22.Nh5 Qf5 23.Nxf6+ Qxf6 24.Qb3 b4 ½-½ 25.cxb4 Nd4 26.Nxd4 Qxd4 27.Rd1 Qe5 28.g3 Kh8 29.Qc3 d4 30.Qd3 c6 31.b3 Qd6 □ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) 32.Rc1 Rb8 33.h4 Rxb4 34.Qa6 Rb8 ■ Wei Yi (2736) 35.Rxc6 Qd5 36.Rc8+ Rxc8 37.Qxc8+ Kh7 B15 Moscow (2.4) 22.05.2019 38.Qc4 Qf3 39.Qxd4 Qxb3 40.Qe4+ Kh8 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 Bg7 5.h3 41.Kg2 Qf7 42.g4 Qf6 43.Kg3 g5 44.hxg5 dxe4 6.Nxe4 Nf6 7.Nxf6+ exf6 8.Bc4 0-0 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 26 9.0-0 a5 10.a4 Nd7 11.Bf4 Nb6 12.Bb3 16.Qd3 Kh8 17.Rfd1 Be6 18.Ne3 b4 Nd5 13.Bh2 Be6 14.Re1 h5 15.Nd2 f5 19.Nac4 Nb5 20.cxb4 axb4 21.Nxd6 Nxd6 16.c3 Bh6 17.Nc4 f4 18.Ne5 Qg5 19.Qf3 22.Qxd6 Bxe3 23.Qxd8 Rfxd8 24.fxe3 Rae8 20.Re2 f6 (D) Rdc8 25.Rd2 g6 26.Kf2 Kg7 27.Bd1 Ra8 28.a4 bxa3 29.Rxa3 Rab8 30.Ra5 Rc4 XABCDEFGHY 31.Rxe5 Rcb4 32.Ra5 Rxb2 33.Rxb2 8-+-+rtrk+( Rxb2+ 34.Kg3 h6 35.h4 Bd7 36.Bf3 Rb5 37.Rxb5 Bxb5 38.Kf4 Kf6 39.e5+ Ke6 7+p+-+-+-' 40.Bg4+ Ke7 41.Bc8 Bc4 42.g4 Kd8 6-+p+lzppvl& 43.Bb7 Ke7 44.g5 hxg5+ 45.Kxg5 Ke6 46.Kf4 Ke7 47.Ke4 Be6 48.Bd5 Bc8 5zp-+nsN-wqp% 49.Kf4 Kf8 50.Bf3 Be6 51.Bg4 Bb3 52.Kg5 4P+-zP-zp-+$ Kg7 53.Bd7 Bc4 54.Bc6 Be6 55.Kf4 Kf8 56.Ke4 Ke7 57.Bd5 Bc8 58.Kf4 Kf8 3+LzP-+Q+P# 59.Bc4 Bh3 60.Bb3 Bc8 61.Bd5 Kg7 62.Kg5 Bd7 63.Bc4 Bc8 64.Kf4 Kf8 2-zP-+RzPPvL" 65.Bb3 Bh3 66.e6 f6 67.Kg3 Bf5 68.Kf4 1tR-+-+-mK-! Bh3 ½-½ xabcdefghy 21.h4 Qf5 22.Bc2 Qxc2 23.Rxc2 fxe5 □ So Wesley (2754) 24.dxe5 Bg4 25.Qd3 Bf5 26.Qd1 Bxc2 ■ Grischuk Alexander (2772) 27.Qxc2 Re6 28.Re1 Bg7 29.c4 Nb4 B33 Moscow (2.3) 22.05.2019 30.Qd2 Rxe5 31.Rxe5 Bxe5 32.g3 fxg3 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 33.Bxg3 Bxg3 34.fxg3 c5 35.Qd7 Rf7 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 36.Qd8+ Kg7 37.Qxa5 Na6 38.Qb6 Kh7 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bd3 Be6 12.0-0 39.Kg2 Kh6 40.a5 Kh7 41.Qd6 Kg7 42.g4 Bxd5 13.exd5 Ne7 14.Re1 Bg7 15.c3 0-0 hxg4 43.Kg3 Kh7 44.Kxg4 Kg7 16.Nc2 f4 17.a4 bxa4 18.Nb4 f5 19.Bxa6 1-0 Ng6 20.Qh5 Qb6 21.Rxa4 e4 22.Rea1 Kh8 23.Bf1 Rxa4 24.Rxa4 f3 25.Ra6 Qc5 □ Grischuk Alexander (2772) 26.Rc6 Qa7 27.Ra6 Qc5 28.Rc6 Qa7 ■ So Wesley (2754) 29.Ra6 D37 Moscow (2.1) 20.05.2019 ½-½ 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 b6 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nxd5 Qxd5 9.Be2 Qa5+ 10.Nd2 Ba6 11.0-0 c5 12.Nc4 Bxc4 13.Bxc4 cxd4 14.exd4 Nc6 15.d5 exd5 16.Qxd5 Qxd5 17.Bxd5 Rac8 18.Rad1 Rfd8 19.g3 Bf6 20.Kg2 h5 21.b3 g5 22.Be3 Nb4 23.Bb7 Rc7 24.Rxd8+ Bxd8 25.Rd1 Bf6 26.Bf3 g4 27.Be2 Nxa2 28.Bf4 Rc2 ½-½
□ So Wesley (2754) ■ Grischuk Alexander (2772) B33 Moscow (2.2) 21.05.2019
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 □ Grischuk Alexander (2772) 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Bg5 12.Nc2 ■ So Wesley (2754) Rb8 13.Be2 0-0 14.0-0 a5 15.Na3 Na7 D41 Moscow (2.4) 22.05.2019 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 27 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 □ Dubov Daniil (2690) cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.e4 Nc6 8.Bb5 dxe4 ■ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.Ng5 Be6 11.Nxe6+ fxe6 E05 Moscow (2.2) 21.05.2019 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Ke2 Bb4 14.Na4 Ke7 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 15.Rd1 Rhd8 16.Rxd8 Rxd8 17.Be3 Ra8 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 b5 8.a4 b4 9.Nbd2 18.Rc1 Kd7 19.Rc4 Bd6 20.b3 Nd5 Bb7 10.Nxc4 c5 11.dxc5 Be4 12.Qd2 Nbd7 21.Rxe4 Nxe3 22.Kxe3 Rf8 23.h3 Rf5 13.Nfe5 Bxg2 14.Kxg2 Bxc5 15.Nxd7 24.Ke2 h5 25.Nb2 Bc5 26.Nd3 Kd6 27.h4 Nxd7 16.b3 Nb6 17.Qxd8 Rfxd8 18.Nxb6 Bb6 28.g3 Ra5 29.a4 g5 30.b4 Rd5 Bxb6 19.a5 Bd4 20.Ra4 a6 21.Rxb4 Bc3 31.hxg5 Rxg5 32.a5 Bc7 33.Nc5 e5 34.Re3 22.Rc4 Bxa5 23.b4 Bb6 24.Bf4 h6 25.Rc6 Rg4 35.Ne4+ Ke7 36.f3 Rg6 37.Rc3 Kd7 Bd4 26.Bc7 Rd5 27.Rd1 Rc8 28.Rdc1 Bf6 38.Rc1 Bd6 39.Rd1 Kc7 (D) 29.Bd6 Rd8 30.Bc7 Rc8 31.Bd6 Rd8 32.Bc7 XABCDEFGHY ½-½ 8-+-+-+-+( □ Dubov Daniil (2690) 7zp-mk-+-+-' ■ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) 6-+pvl-+r+& A29 Moscow (2.3) 22.05.2019 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5zP-+-zp-+p% 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.b3 0-0 4-zP-+N+-+$ 9.Bb2 Re8 10.Rc1 Bf8 11.d3 Nd4 12.e3 Nxf3+ 13.Qxf3 c6 14.Rfd1 Qg5 15.h4 Qg4 3+-+-+PzP-# 16.Ne4 Qxf3 17.Bxf3 a5 18.Nc5 a4 19.d4 axb3 20.axb3 Ra2 21.Bc3 Nd5 22.Bxd5 2-+-+K+-+" cxd5 23.Nd3 Bg4 24.Rd2 Rxd2 25.Bxd2 1+-+R+-+-! exd4 26.exd4 Bf5 27.Nc5 Re2 28.Be3 Rb2 29.Nxb7 Rxb3 30.Nc5 Rb4 31.Ra1 f6 xabcdefghy 32.Ra8 Kf7 33.Rd8 Be7 34.Rxd5 Bc8 40.Nxd6 Rxd6 41.Rh1 Rg6 42.Rxh5 Rxg3 35.Kf1 (D) 43.Rxe5 Kd6 44.Re4 Rg5 45.Rc4 Rg1 46.Ke3 Kd5 47.Rc5+ Kd6 48.Ke4 Re1+ XABCDEFGHY 49.Kf5 Rb1 50.Rc4 Kd5 51.Re4 c5 8-+l+-+-+( 52.Re5+ Kd4 53.bxc5 Rb5 54.f4 Rxa5 55.Ke6 Ra6+ 56.Kd7 Rf6 57.c6 Rxf4 7+-+-vlkzpp' 58.Ra5 Rf7+ 59.Kc8 Kc4 60.c7 Kb4 6-+-+-zp-+& 61.Rxa7 1-0 5+-sNR+-+-%
□ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) 4-tr-zP-+-zP$ ■ Dubov Daniil (2690) 3+-+-vL-zP-# D33 Moscow (2.1) 20.05.2019 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 e6 4.Nf3 d5 5.cxd5 2-+-+-zP-+" exd5 6.d4 Nc6 7.Bg2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 1+-+-+K+-! 9.Nb3 Bb6 10.0-0 d4 11.Na4 0-0 12.Bg5 Re8 13.Nxb6 axb6 14.e3 d3 15.Bxf6 gxf6 xabcdefghy 16.a3 Be6 17.Rc1 Rc8 18.Rc3 Ne5 19.Nd4 35...Rb5 36.Ke2 Be6 37.Nxe6 Rxd5 38.Nc5 Rxc3 20.bxc3 Qc7 21.Qd2 Bd7 22.Re1 Rc8 f5 39.Nd3 Bd6 40.Kf3 Bc7 41.Nf4 Ra5 23.Rc1 Qc5 24.f4 Nc4 25.Qxd3 Qxa3 42.Ne2 Ra3 43.Nf4 Rb3 44.Nd5 Bb8 26.Rb1 Nd6 27.Ne2 Bf5 28.e4 45.Nf4 Ba7 46.Ke2 Ra3 47.Nd3 Ke6 ½-½ 48.Nf4+ Kd6 49.Nh5 g6 50.Nf4 Bb6 51.Kd2 Kc6 52.Ke2 Kd6 53.Kd2 Bd8 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 28 54.Ke2 Bf6 55.Kd2 Kc6 56.Ke2 Kb5 57.h5 16.cxd4 Rfe8 17.Nc2 a5 18.b4 Qa7 19.Nd2 g5 58.Nd5 Bd8 59.Bd2 Ra7 60.Kd3 Rd7 Rac8 20.Bg3 61.Ne3 Rf7 62.Nc4 Rf8 63.Ne5 Be7 64.f3 ½-½ Ra8 65.Nf7 Ra3+ 66.Ke2 Kc4 67.Bxg5 Bb4 68.Ne5+ Kd5 69.Nd3 Ra2+ 70.Kf1 □ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) Bd2 71.Bf6 Kc4 72.Ne5+ Kxd4 73.g4 Bf4 ■ Svidler Peter (2739) 74.Ng6+ Ke3 75.Nh4 fxg4 76.fxg4 h6 A65 Moscow (2.2) 21.05.2019 77.Kg1 Bh2+ 78.Kf1 Rf2+ 79.Ke1 Rxf6 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 e6 4.e4 c5 5.d5 d6 0-1 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Nge2 0-0 8.Ng3 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 h5 11.Bg5 Qe8 12.Bd3 Nh7 □ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) 13.Bf4 Qe7 14.Nge2 Nd7 15.0-0 Ne5 ■ Dubov Daniil (2690) 16.Bc2 Rb8 17.a5 b5 18.axb6 Rxb6 19.Bc1 A29 Moscow (2.4) 22.05.2019 h4 20.f4 Ng4 21.h3 Ngf6 22.Ra2 Bd7 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bg2 Nc6 23.Qe1 Nh5 24.Be3 Rfb8 25.b3 Rxb3 5.Nf3 Bxc3 6.bxc3 0-0 7.0-0 e4 8.Nd4 Ne5 26.Bxb3 Rxb3 27.Bd2 Bd4+ 28.Kh2 N7f6 9.d3 c5 10.Nc2 exd3 11.exd3 d5 12.Bf4 29.Rf3 Rb4 30.Rxa6 Rc4 31.Ra7 Qd8 (D) Ng6 13.Be3 Bg4 14.f3 Bf5 15.Bxc5 dxc4 16.Bxf8 Nxf8 17.Rf2 Bxd3 18.Bf1 Ne6 XABCDEFGHY 19.Bxd3 cxd3 20.Ne1 Nc5 21.Rd2 Nd5 8-+-wq-+k+( 22.Nxd3 Nxc3 23.Qe1 Nxd3 24.Qe3 Qf6 25.Qxd3 b5 26.Re1 h5 27.a3 a5 28.Qd4 7tR-+l+p+-' Qxd4+ 29.Rxd4 Rb8 30.Re7 b4 31.axb4 6-+-zp-snp+& axb4 32.Rdd7 Rf8 33.Rb7 Nd5 34.Red7 Nf6 35.Rd2 Rc8 36.Rxb4 Rc3 37.Kg2 g6 5+-zpP+-+n% 38.h3 Kg7 39.Rb7 Ra3 40.h4 Ra4 41.Kf2 4-+rvlPzP-zp$ Rc4 42.Ra2 Ng8 43.Rba7 Nh6 44.R7a4 Rc3 45.R4a3 Rc4 46.Ra4 Rc3 47.R4a3 3+-sN-+R+P# Rc4 48.Ra4 ½-½ 2-+-vLN+PmK" 1+-+-wQ-+-! □ Svidler Peter (2739) ■ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) xabcdefghy B51 Moscow (2.1) 20.05.2019 32.Qa1 Nxe4 33.Ra8 Bc8 34.Qa6 Nxd2 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 35.Rxc8 Nxf3+ 36.gxf3 Qxc8 37.Qxc8+ 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.Re1 e6 7.a4 b6 8.c3 Bb7 Kg7 38.Nxd4 Rxd4 39.Qd8 Rd2+ 40.Kg1 9.Na3 Qc7 10.Qe2 Be7 11.Bb1 0-0 12.d4 Nxf4 41.Qxd6 Nxh3+ 42.Kf1 Bc6 13.Bd3 Qb7 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bh4 cxd4 1-0
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 29 Round 3 (23-24-25.05.2019) Game 1: Alexander Grischuk and Radoslaw Game 2: Wojtaszek vs Nepomniachtchi was Wojtaszek drew their first semi-final a rather quick draw, but in the other match encounters with the black pieces, and will Grischuk played an excellent game against move first against Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nakamura and he proceeded to the final! Nepomniachtchi in return games. Both Games 3-6: Just one tie-break at this stage, draws were signed with plenty of play on the where Ian Nepomniachtchi needed four boards, but given the format the players games to ground Radoslaw Wojtaszek and decided it was too risky to keep going. proceed to the final as well.
R1 R2 R3 R5 R6 N Semi Finals Fed Rat Res 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
1 Nakamura H. USA 2761 ½ 0 ½ 2 Grischuk A. RUS 2772 ½ 1 1½
3 Nepomniachtchi I. RUS 2773 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 3½ 4 Wojtaszek R. POL 2724 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 2½
□ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) 16.Nd4 Ba6 17.Rac1 Rc8 18.Bf3 Qg6 ■ Grischuk Alexander (2772) 19.Be4 Qh5 20.Bf3 Qg6 21.Be4 Qh5 C54 Moscow (3.1) 23.05.2019 22.Kg2 Ra7 23.h4 g6 24.f4 Qh6 25.Nb3 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 Kh8 26.Bd3 Bb7 27.Nc4 c5+ 28.Be4 Ba6 d6 6.c3 a6 7.a4 Ba7 8.Re1 0-0 9.h3 h6 29.Nbxa5 Qf8 30.Bf3 Rd8 31.h5 Bf6 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.Qb3 Qe7 12.a5 b5 32.Rxd8 Qxd8 33.Rd1 Rd7 34.Rxd7 Nxd7 13.axb6 cxb6 14.Bd5 Qc7 15.Qc4 Bb7 35.h6 (D) 16.Bxc6 Bxc6 17.Rxa6 Qb7 18.Ra3 b5 19.Qb3 Rac8 20.Qa2 Bb6 21.b4 d5 22.Qc2 XABCDEFGHY Re6 23.Nh4 Nh5 24.Nb3 dxe4 25.dxe4 Nf6 8-+-wq-+-mk( 26.Nd2 Rd8 27.Nhf3 Rc8 28.Bb2 Qe7 29.c4 bxc4 30.Qxc4 Nh5 31.Nf1 Nf4 7+-+n+p+p' 32.Ng3 Qe8 33.Rc1 Rd8 34.Qc2 Bb5 6l+-+pvlpzP& 35.Rd1 Rc8 ½-½ 5sN-zp-+-+-% 4PzpN+-zP-+$ 3+-+-+LzP-# 2-zPQ+P+K+" 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 35...Nb6 36.Ne5 Bxe5 37.Nc6 Nc4 38.Nxd8 Ne3+ 39.Kf2 Nxc2 40.Nxf7+ Kg8 41.Nxe5 c4 42.Bg4 Nd4 43.Ke1 Kf8 44.Kd1 Ke7 45.e3 Nb3 46.Nc6+ Kf6 47.Nxb4 Bb7 48.Be2 Na5 49.Kd2 Nb3+ 50.Kc3 Nc5 51.a5 Ne4+ 52.Kxc4 Nxg3 53.Bd3 g5 □ Grischuk Alexander (2772) 54.fxg5+ ■ Nakamura Hikaru (2761) 1-0 E05 Moscow (3.2) 24.05.2019 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 □ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 b5 8.a4 b4 9.Nfd2 c6 ■ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) 10.Nxc4 Qxd4 11.Rd1 Qc5 12.Be3 Qh5 B90 Moscow (3.1) 23.05.2019 13.Nbd2 Ng4 14.Nf3 Nxe3 15.Nxe3 a5 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 30 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 e5 7.Nde2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 31.Qh5 Qf7 32.Qh8+ Qg8 33.Qh6+ Kf7 9.Ng3 Be6 10.Nd5 Bxd5 11.exd5 g6 12.c4 34.Qh5+ Kf8 35.Qh6+ Kf7 36.Qh5+ Kf8 Nbd7 13.Bh6 Re8 14.Rc1 Nc5 15.Bb1 a5 37.Qh6+ 16.b3 Rb8 17.f4 exf4 18.Bxf4 b5 19.Qf3 ½-½ bxc4 20.Rxc4 Rb4 21.Bd2 Rxc4 22.bxc4 Ncd7 23.Bc3 Qb6+ 24.Kh1 Rf8 25.Qf4 □ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) Bd8 26.h3 ■ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) ½-½ D78 Moscow (3.5) 25.05.2019 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 □ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) c6 6.0-0 d5 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.Nc3 Rd8 9.Na4 ■ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) Qxb3 10.axb3 Na6 11.Nc3 Nc7 12.Bf4 E61 Moscow (3.2) 24.05.2019 Nfe8 13.Rfc1 Ne6 14.cxd5 Nxf4 15.gxf4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.Be2 cxd5 16.Ne5 e6 17.Nb5 Bd7 18.Nxa7 Nd6 d6 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.b4 Re8 9.Bb2 19.e3 Be8 20.Bf1 h6 21.b4 g5 22.fxg5 hxg5 exd4 10.Nxd4 a5 11.a3 Ne5 12.Qb3 Bg4 23.b5 f6 24.Nd3 e5 25.Nc5 Bf7 26.b6 exd4 13.Rad1 axb4 14.axb4 Bxe2 15.Ndxe2 c6 27.exd4 f5 28.Ra4 Nc4 29.Bxc4 dxc4 16.h3 Qe7 17.Nd4 Ned7 18.Ra1 Nb6 30.Nxb7 Rdb8 31.Nd6 Rxb6 32.Nxf7 Kxf7 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Rc1 Rd8 21.Na4 Nxa4 33.Rcxc4 Rxb2 34.Rc7+ Kg8 35.Rc8+ 22.Qxa4 Rxc8 36.Nxc8 Kf7 37.Ra7+ Kf8 38.Nd6 f4 ½-½ 39.Kg2 Rxf2+ 40.Kxf2 Bxd4+ ½-½ □ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) ■ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) □ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) E60 Moscow (3.3) 25.05.2019 ■ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Be2 0-0 5.0-0 B51 Moscow (3.6) 25.05.2019 d6 6.b3 e5 7.dxe5 Ng4 8.Bb2 Nc6 9.c4 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 Ngxe5 10.Nc3 Re8 11.Qd2 Bg4 12.Nxe5 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.Qd3 Nxe5 13.f3 Be6 14.e4 Nc6 15.Nd5 Bxb2 Rc8 9.0-0 h6 10.Nd2 Qc7 11.h3 Nf6 12.a4 16.Qxb2 Bxd5 17.cxd5 Ne5 18.Rac1 c5 Be7 13.Rd1 0-0 14.Nf1 d5 15.exd5 Ne8 19.dxc6 bxc6 20.Rfd1 Qe7 21.f4 Nd7 16.d6 Bxd6 17.Nd5 Qc6 18.Nfe3 Bc5 19.b4 22.Bf3 Nc5 23.e5 dxe5 24.Qxe5 Qxe5 Bd6 20.c4 b6 21.a5 e4 22.Qd4 Be6 23.axb6 25.fxe5 Rxe5 26.Bxc6 Rb8 27.Rd5 Rxd5 Bxd5 24.Qxd5 Qxd5 25.Rxd5 Bxb4 28.Bxd5 Na6 29.a3 Rd8 30.Bb7 Nb8 31.b4 26.Rxa6 Nd6 (D) Kg7 32.Kf2 Rd3 33.Rc7 Rxa3 34.Bd5 Rd3 35.Rxf7+ Kh6 36.Bc4 Rd2+ 37.Ke3 Rxg2 XABCDEFGHY 38.b5 a6 39.bxa6 Nxa6 40.Bxa6 Rxh2 8-+r+-trk+( 41.Ke4 ½-½ 7+-+-+pzp-' 6RzP-sn-+-zp& □ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) ■ Wojtaszek Radoslaw (2724) 5+-+R+-+-% B51 Moscow (3.4) 25.05.2019 4-vlP+p+-+$ 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.Qd3 3+-+-sN-+P# Rc8 9.0-0 h6 10.Nd2 Qc7 11.h3 Nf6 12.a4 Be7 13.Rd1 0-0 14.Nf1 Be6 15.Ne3 Qc5 2-+-+-zPP+" 16.Qe2 Bd8 17.Qf3 b5 18.axb5 axb5 1+-vL-+-mK-! 19.Ne2 Bb6 20.Ng3 Ra8 21.Rxa8 Rxa8 22.c3 Ra1 23.Nef5 Ne8 24.Be3 Rxd1+ xabcdefghy 25.Qxd1 Qc7 26.Bxh6 gxh6 27.Qg4+ Kf8 27.b7 Nxb7 28.Rb6 28.Qh4 f6 29.Qxh6+ Kg8 30.Qg6+ Kf8 1-0 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 31 Round 4 - Final (27-28-29.05.2019) Game 1: The first game was easy for Ian breaks! Both players have a great fame on Nepomniachtchi, as he took a clear time the quick games and obviously both of them advantage and a quite playable position but counted their chances high. he couldn’t hope for more, as Alexander Games 3-4: Ian Nepomniachtchi emerged as Grischuk defend accurately. the winner of the GP, drawing the first game Game 2: A more or less quick draw, which and then winning the second (an edged sealed the tie-breaks. No side was willing to knight theme) in the tie-breaks. A welcomed take any risk, preparing for the rapid tie- victory for the Russian no1!
R1 R2 R3 R5 R6 N Semi Finals Fed Rat Res 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
1 Nepomniachtchi I. RUS 2773 ½ ½ ½ 1 2½ 2 Grischuk A. RUS 2772 ½ ½ ½ 0 1½
□ Grischuk Alexander (2772) 0-0 9.d4 Bf6 10.Re2 Nc4 11.b3 Nb6 12.a4 ■ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) a5 13.Nc3 d6 14.Ne4 Be7 15.Qe1 Nd5 D85 Moscow (4.1) 27.05.2019 16.Nc3 Nxc3 17.Rxe7 Nd5 18.Re2 Bg4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 19.f3 Bf5 20.Qd2 Re8 21.Bb2 Rxe2 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Be2 Nc6 22.Qxe2 Qe8 23.Re1 9.d5 Bxc3+ 10.Bd2 Bxa1 11.Qxa1 Nd4 ½-½ 12.Nxd4 cxd4 13.Qxd4 0-0 14.0-0 Qb6 15.Qc3 Bd7 16.Bh6 f6 17.Bxf8 Rc8 18.Qf3 □ Grischuk Alexander (2772) Kxf8 19.e5 Kg7 20.exf6+ exf6 21.h3 Qd6 ■ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) 22.Qd3 h5 23.Qd2 b5 24.Qa5 a6 25.Bf3 C44 Moscow (4.3) 29.05.2019 Be8 (D) 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Bg2 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Qxf3 XABCDEFGHY 9.Bxf3 Nd4 10.Bd1 0-0-0 11.Nd2 Nc6 8-+r+l+-+( 12.a3 g6 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.dxe4 h5 15.c3 Bh6 16.Bxh6 Rxh6 17.Bb3 f6 18.h4 Kd7 7+-+-+-mk-' 19.Ke2 Ke7 20.Rhd1 Rhh8 21.Bd5 Rd6 6p+-wq-zpp+& 22.b4 Nd8 23.f4 c6 24.Bb3 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Ne6 26.Ke3 a5 27.Bxe6 Kxe6 28.bxa5 Ra8 5wQp+P+-+p% 29.Rb1 Rxa5 30.Rxb7 Rxa3 31.Kd3 exf4 4-+-+-+-+$ 32.gxf4 Ra1 33.Rc7 Kd6 34.Rf7 Ke6 35.Rc7 Kd6 36.Rf7 Ke6 37.Rc7 3+-+-+L+P# ½-½
2P+-+-zPP+" □ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) 1+-+-+RmK-! ■ Grischuk Alexander (2772) C54 Moscow (4.4) 29.05.2019 xabcdefghy 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 26.h4 Bf7 27.g3 Rc4 28.Rd1 Rc2 29.Be4 d6 6.a4 a6 7.h3 Ba7 8.0-0 h6 9.Re1 0-0 Rc8 30.Bg2 Rc7 31.Bf3 Rc4 32.Bg2 Kg8 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.b4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Rxe6 33.Bf3 Kh7 34.Kg2 f5 35.Qd2 b4 36.Qe3 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.Nc4 d5 15.exd5 Qxd5 Rc7 37.Rd3 a5 38.a3 bxa3 16.Ne3 Qd7 17.Nc4 Qd5 18.Ne3 Qd7 ½-½ 19.b5 Na5 20.c4 Bd4 21.Rb1 axb5 22.axb5 Ree8 23.c5 Nd5 24.Nxd5 Qxd5 25.Nxd4 □ Nepomniachtchi Ian (2773) exd4 26.Rxe8+ Rxe8 27.Bf4 Re7 28.Qa4 ■ Grischuk Alexander (2772) b6 29.c6 Kh7 30.Rb4 Qe6 31.Rxd4 f5 C67 Moscow (4.2) 28.05.2019 32.Be3 g5 33.Qb4 Rg7 34.Rd8 Nb3 35.Bd4 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 Re7 36.Qxe7+ 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 1-0 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 32
Critical Positions In the May 24th Dubai Blitz tournament, black e3 pawn will be lost as well and the the following position has arisen: rest should be a piece of cake! 1...fxe4 2.Kxe3 Kf7 3.Kxe4 Ke6 □ Grivas Efstratios (2401) White is still a pawn-up but all pawns are ■ Sargissian Gabriel (2599) blockaded and there is no win at sight! Dubai Blitz (5) 24.05.2019 ○ ½-½
XABCDEFGHY □ Miladinovic Igor (2659) ■ Grivas Efstratios (2401) 8-+-+-mk-+( Dubai Blitz (6) 24.05.2019 ○ 7+Q+-+-+-' XABCDEFGHY 6-+-+-+p+& 8-+-+-+-+( 5+-+-+p+p% 7tR-+-+pmk-' 4-+-+rzP-zP$ 6-+-+p+p+& 3+-+-zp-zP-# 5+-+-+-zPp% 2-+-+K+-+" 4-+-+NsN-tr$ 1+-+-+-+-! 3+-+-+K+-# xabcdefghy 2-+r+-+-+" Both opponents have started with 4/4 and of course this game could be crucial for the 1+-+-+-+-! final outcome. After a bad game for both xabcdefghy sides (!), White has emerged with a queen 1...Rb2? for a rook and pawn and he should be Black completely missed the easy tactic. winning. But how to do the job? In the game After 1...Rc6 2.Ra8 Rg4, he would have White played badly and allowed an very good winning chances. immediate draw. 2.Nxe6+ Kg8 3.Nf6+ 1.Qxe4? 1-0 This is not the way to do it! The breakthrough idea of g4 is the winning A painful defeat, although I must admit mechanism and White has two ways to go that my opponent was completely winning for; the direct 1.g4 hxg4 2.h5 gxh5 3.Qc8+ beforehand. But after these two consecutive Kg7 4.Qxf5 and 1.Qh7 Re6 2.g4 (2.Kd1 e2+ disappointments, the tournament was 3.Ke1, wins as well) 2...hxg4 3.h5 gxh5 already over for me. If you do not get your 4.Qxf5+ Ke7 5.Qxh5. Sooner or later the chances, your opponent will! SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 33 A Dangerous Game In the year 1713 the Swedish King Karl XII was waging war against the Turks. XABCDEFGHY A man of great equanimity he liked to 8-+-+-+-+( enjoy a quiet game of chess, even while his soldiers fought outside his tent. 7+-+-+-tR-' During the Battle of Bender he was 6-+-+-+-zp& playing a game against his General and with white he reached the following position (1): 5+-+-+K+k% XABCDEFGHY 4-+-+-+-+$ 8-+-+-+-+( 3+-+-+-zp-# 7+-+-+-tR-' 2-+-+-vlPzP" 6-+-+-+-zp& 1+-+-+-+-! 5+-+-+K+k% xabcdefghy The General froze, but King Karl 4-+-+-+R+$ continued to calmly study the position. 3+-+-+-zp-# ‘Well’, he said, ‘then mate in four moves!’. But once again he wasn't able to make a 2-+-+-vlPzP" move, because another bullet entered the 1+-+-sN-+-! tent and shattered the pawn on h2 (4). xabcdefghy XABCDEFGHY ‘Mate in two moves!’ said the King. But 8-+-+-+-+( before he was actually able to execute his pretty mate a bullet flew into the tent and 7+-+-+-tR-' smashed the rook on g4! 6-+-+-+-zp& The General froze, but King Karl continued to calmly study the position (2). 5+-+-+K+k% XABCDEFGHY 4-+-+-+-+$ 8-+-+-+-+( 3+-+-+-zp-# 7+-+-+-tR-' 2-+-+-vlP+" 6-+-+-+-zp& 1+-+-+-+-! 5+-+-+K+k% xabcdefghy The King remained unperturbed and after 4-+-+-+-+$ a few seconds announced mate in five 3+-+-+-zp-# moves. 2-+-+-vlPzP" 1+-+-sN-+-!
xabcdefghy The General, with his nerves completely ‘Mate in three moves!’ said the King. But frayed, watched his monarch execute the before he was actually able again to execute mate. With a wry smile he said, ‘What a pity, his move a bullet flew into the tent and your majesty, that the second bullet didn't smashed the knight on e1 (3). remove your rook instead of the knight’ (5).
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 34 firing of Turkish artillery on the Swedish XABCDEFGHY camp. On 1 February the Ottoman forces, 8-+-+-+-+( commanded by the Serasker of Bender, attacked the camp. 7+-+-+-+-' Together with some 40 soldiers, Karl XII 6-+-+-+-zp& stood against many hundreds of Turks. The life guard Axel Erik Roos in particular 5+-+-+K+k% distinguished himself during the skirmish 4-+-+-+-+$ and accounts tell that he saved the king's life three times during the day. 3+-+-+-zp-# The King himself killed at least one Ottoman soldier with his sword in hand-to- 2-+-+-vlPzP" hand combat when he and Roos came under 1+-+-sN-+-! attack by three Ottomans. During parts of the fighting Karl XII was xabcdefghy also actively sniping with a carbine against ‘Then’, answered the King, ‘I would the assaulting enemy from a window in his simply have delivered mate in six!’. sleeping quarters, positioned in the building But when the King was about to execute where the Swedes had taken up their his move, another one of these bullets defence. smashed both the knight and the g2-pawn The fighting lasted for over seven hours off the board (6). and the Ottomans eventually used both XABCDEFGHY artillery and fire arrows when the initial assaults were beaten back and the later 8-+-+-+-+( method proved to be effective. 7+-+-+-tR-' The fire arrows caught the building's roof on fire and forced the defenders to abandon 6-+-+-+-zp& it, the fighting then came to an abrupt end when the king tripped on his own spurs 5+-+-+K+k% while exiting the burning house. 4-+-+-+-+$ He was assaulted by scores of Ottoman soldiers who managed to capture him and 3+-+-+-zp-# the remaining fighters. 2-+-+-vl-zP" After some time as a prisoner, Karl XII and his soldiers were released when news 1+-+-+-+-! about the Swedish victory in the Battle of xabcdefghy Gadebusch reached the Ottomans. Karl XII then started to plan his trip back to Sweden. The King was happy to announce mate in ten moves, while the General turned pale…
The Battle of Bender After the Swedish defeat at the battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 and the surrender of most of the Swedish army at Perevolochna three days later, Karl XII of Sweden fled together with a few hundred Swedish soldiers and a large number of Cossacks to the Ottoman Empire, where they spent a total of five years. The events of the Skirmish at Bender The Battle of Bender officially began on 31 January 1713 with the By Edouard Armand-Dumaresq SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 35 History of the Puzzle Solutions Samuel Loyd (1841 - 1911), was an American chess player, chess composer, Position 1 puzzle author, and recreational mathematician. XABCDEFGHY At his peak he was one of the best players 8-+-+-+-+( in the country - and number 15 in the world. His chess problems were numerous and 7+-+-+-tR-' famous for their original and interesting 6-+-+-+-zp& themes. In our puzzle collection we have a set that demonstrate this. 5+-+-+K+k% Positions two to four of this wonderful 4-+-+-+R+$ little problem were composed by the congenial Samuel Loyd. It is interesting that 3+-+-+-zp-# the editor of the magazine ‘Chess Monthly’, where the puzzle appeared in 1859, thought 2-+-+-vlPzP" up the story and asked S.Loyd to compose a 1+-+-sN-+-! chess position to suit it. S.Loyd did so in less than a day. Position xabcdefghy five was added by the Baltic German 1.R4g5+ hxg5 composer Friedrich Amelung in 1900. 1...Kh4 2.Nf3 #. In 2003 Brian Stewart drew the attention 2.Rh7 # to the fact that if the third bullet had struck 1-0 the g-pawn instead of the h-pawn then the king would also have been able to win - position six. One of the great composers of our time, Hungarian GM Pal Benko, told that the two additions to the original Loyd puzzle were not very valuable, since they didn't fit and were full of duals (six, ten). Position 2 Then he added position one, which should be the initial position, before the first bullet XABCDEFGHY struck and shattered the rook on g4. The 8-+-+-+-+( king had just announced mate in two before it did. After that we have the first position of 7+-+-+-tR-' S.Loyd's series. 6-+-+-+-zp& ‘It fits, with mates in two, three, four and five’, wrote P.Benko. Indeed it does - the 5+-+-+K+k% great 19th century composer missed this 4-+-+-+-+$ chance! 3+-+-+-zp-# 2-+-+-vlPzP" 1+-+-sN-+-! xabcdefghy 1.Rxg3 Bxg3 1...Bxe1 2.Rh3+ Bh4 3.g4 #. 2.Nf3 Bf2 3.g4 # 1-0
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 36 Position 3 Position 5 XABCDEFGHY XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+-tR-' 7+-+-+-+-' 6-+-+-+-zp& 6-+-+-+-zp& 5+-+-+K+k% 5+-+-+K+k% 4-+-+-+-+$ 4-+-+-+-+$ 3+-+-+-zp-# 3+-+-+-zp-# 2-+-+-vlPzP" 2-+-+-vlPzP" 1+-+-+-+-! 1+-+-sN-+-! xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 1.hxg3 Be1 2.Rg4 Bxg3 1.Nf3 Be1 2...Bf2 3.Rh4 #. 1...Be3 2.hxg3 Bc5 3.g4 # ; 1...gxh2 2.g4 #. 3.Rxg3 Kh4 4.Rh3 # 2.Nxe1 Kh4 3.h3 Kh5 4.Nd3 Kh4 5.Nf4 h5 1-0 6.Ng6 # 1-0
Position 6 XABCDEFGHY
Position 4 8-+-+-+-+( XABCDEFGHY 7+-+-+-tR-' 8-+-+-+-+( 6-+-+-+-zp& 7+-+-+-tR-' 5+-+-+K+k% 6-+-+-+-zp& 4-+-+-+-+$ 5+-+-+K+k% 3+-+-+-zp-# 4-+-+-+-+$ 2-+-+-vl-zP" 3+-+-+-zp-# 1+-+-+-+-! 2-+-+-vlP+" xabcdefghy 1+-+-+-+-! 1.hxg3 Be1 2.Rg4 Bxg3 2...Bf2 3.Rh4 #. xabcdefghy 3.Rxg3 Kh4 4.Kf4 h5 1.Rb7 Bg1 2.Rb1 Bh2 4...Kh5 5.Rg1 Kh4 6.Rh1 #. 2...Kh4 3.Rxg1 Kh5 4.Rh1 #. 5.Rg2 Kh3 6.Kf3 h4 7.Rg4 Kh2 8.Rxh4+ 3.Re1 Kh4 4.Kg6 Kg4 5.Re4 # Kg1 9.Rh8 Kf1 10.Rh1 # 1-0 1-0 SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 37 Lindores Abbey Chess Stars 2019 A small town named Lindores Abbey in The event was a Rapid one - 6 rounds Scotland decided to host one of the strongest double round robin 25 minutes plus 10 th th rapid tournaments on 25 and 26 of May. seconds a move with pairs of 3m+2spm blitz It all began with an idea from a Russian games if there is a tie. investor of the Lindores Abbey Distillery to After the first day (three rounds) Drew Mckenzie Smith, the founder and M.Carlsen and Ding Liren were leading with custodian of the distillery. 2/3, S.Karjakin was on 1½/3 while V.Anand There were traces that monks who used to was on the last spot with ½/3. brew the whisky over 500 years ago in the The second day produced just one decisive Lindores Abbey also would play chess result (Ding-Anand 0-1 - a nearly won game against each other. In 2017, the tradition of for Ding!), as Ding failed to convert a whisky making was restored when the winning rook ending vs Carlsen in the last distillery was set up. round! So, Magnus Carlsen won another one Now by bringing the best chess players in prestigious event but of course he was far the world, the Lindores Abbey would like to from dominating. He made just +1, but rekindle its chess tradition as well. remained undefeated!
Lindores Abbey - Category 22 (2798) N Surname-Name Fed Rat 1 2 3 4 P 1 Carlsen Magnus NOR 2861 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 3½ 2 Ding Liren CHN 2805 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 3 3 Karjakin Sergei RUS 2752 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 3 4 Anand Vishy IND 2774 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 2½
□ Karjakin Sergei (2752) a5 29.Nf3 axb4 30.axb4 Be7 31.b5 g6 ■ Anand Viswanathan (2774) 32.g4 h6 33.Kg2 Bf6 34.Kg3 Re6 35.h3 D37 Lindores Abbey (1) 25.05.2019 Re7 36.Ne1 Ra2 37.Nd3 Kg7 38.Kf3 Bh4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 39.Rb2 Ra1 40.Rc2 Rb1 41.Rc1 Rb3 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.Rd1 42.Rc8 Re6 43.Ke2 Ra3 44.Nc5 Ra2+ Qa5 10.a3 Re8 11.Nd2 e5 12.Bg5 Nd4 45.Kd3 Re7 46.Rd7 Rxd7+ 47.Nxd7 Bxf2 13.Qb1 Bf5 14.Bd3 Bxd3 15.Qxd3 Ne4 48.Rc7 Ra3+ 49.Kc4 Rxe3 50.Rxb7 Rxh3 16.Ndxe4 dxe4 17.Qd2 Ne6 18.Nxe4 Qa6 51.Ne5 Kf6 52.Kd5 Kg5 53.Rxf7 Be3 19.0-0 Qxc4 20.Qd5 Qxd5 21.Rxd5 Bf8 54.Rg7 Kf4 55.Rxg6 Kg3 56.b6 Rh1 57.b7 (D) Rb1 58.Rg7 Bf4 59.Nc4 Rd1+ 60.Kc5 Rc1 61.Rf7 Rb1 62.Kc6 Bb8 63.Rf8 Rb4 XABCDEFGHY 64.Rxb8 Rxc4+ 65.Kb5 Rc1 66.Rg8 8r+-+rvlk+( 1-0 7zpp+-+pzpp' 6-+-+n+-+& 5+-+Rzp-vL-%
4-+-+N+-+$ □ Carlsen Magnus (2869) 3zP-+-zP-+-# ■ Anand Viswanathan (2733) E48 Lindores Abbey (3) 25.05.2019 2-zP-+-zPPzP" 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 1+-+-+RmK-! d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Nge2 Re8 8.Bd2 b6 9.0-0 Bd6 10.Rc1 c5 11.Nb5 Bf8 12.f3 Nc6 xabcdefghy 13.Kh1 Bb7 14.a3 g6 15.Bb1 Rc8 16.Ba2 22.Bf6 Rac8 23.Bxe5 Nc7 24.Bxc7 Rxc7 a6 17.Nbc3 Bg7 18.dxc5 bxc5 19.Be1 d4 25.Nd2 Rc2 26.Rb1 Re6 27.Kf1 Rb6 28.b4 (D) SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 38 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.e4 Nxe4 15.Nh4 Qf6 XABCDEFGHY 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Rxc5 Na6 18.Rxa5 Qxb2 8-+rwqr+k+( 19.Bxe4 Bxe4 20.Rxe4 Rad8 21.Rd5 Rxd5 22.Qxd5 Nb4 23.Qb3 Qxb3 24.axb3 Rb8 7+l+-+pvlp' 25.Nf3 Kf8 26.Kf1 Nd5 27.Nd2 g6 28.Rd4 6p+n+-snp+& Nb4 29.Ke2 Ke7 30.Re4+ Kd7 31.Ke3 Rb5 32.Kd4 Rd5+ 33.Kc3 Rd3+ 34.Kxb4 5+-zp-+-+-% Rxd2 35.Rf4 f5 36.Kc5 Kc7 37.b4 Kb7 4-+-zp-+-+$ 38.h4 h5 (D) 3zP-sN-zPP+-# XABCDEFGHY 2LzP-+N+PzP" 8-+-+-+-+( 1+-tRQvLR+K! 7+k+-+-+-' xabcdefghy 6-+-+-+p+& 20.Na4 Nd7 21.Bxf7+ Kxf7 22.Qb3+ Kf8 5+-mK-+p+p% 23.Qxb7 Rxe3 24.Ng3 Nce5 25.Bd2 Rd3 26.Ne4 Rb8 27.Qd5 Rxd2 28.Nxd2 Nd3 4-zP-+-tR-zP$ 29.Rc2 Qe7 30.Ne4 Nf4 31.Qc4 3+-+-+-zP-# 1-0 2-+-tr-zP-+" □ Ding Liren (2805) 1+-+-+-+-! ■ Carlsen Magnus (2861) D30 Lindores Abbey (6) 26.05.2019 xabcdefghy 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxe7 39.Rf3 Rc2+ 40.Kd5 Re2 41.Kc5 Rc2+ Qxe7 6.Nbd2 Nf6 7.g3 0-0 8.Bg2 b6 9.cxd5 42.Kd4 Re2 exd5 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Rc1 a5 12.Re1 c5 1-0
Discovering Targets If you want to win a chess game, you will 22.a4 a6 23.a5 Ba7 24.b5 Ra2 25.b6 Bb8 have either to mate the opponent king or will 26.Ra1 Rxa1 27.Rxa1 Rc8 (D) material which will allowed you to force mate later on. XABCDEFGHY So, it is rather important to discover your 8-vlr+-+k+( target, attack and win them - so simple! The following games were blitz ones (3+0) 7+p+-+pzp-' and were played in the online chess platform 6pzP-+l+-zp& ‘Internet Chess Club’. Players are with their nicknames and ICC rating: 5zP-+p+-+-% 4-+-+-+-+$ □ E-Grivas (2231) ■ AkabaInTheHouse (2200) 3+-+-zPNzP-# D11 Internet Chess Club 26.05.2019 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nbd2 Bf5 2-+-+-zPLzP" 5.Nh4 Bd7 6.g3 e6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 1tR-+-+-mK-! 9.Nhf3 c5 10.cxd5 exd5 11.dxc5 Na6 12.Nb3 Nxc5 13.Nxc5 Bxc5 14.Bg5 Be6 xabcdefghy 15.Rc1 Rc8 16.Qa4 h6 17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.b4 Pawn b7 can be a good target, as then Bb6 19.e3 Qb2 20.Rb1 Qc2 21.Qxc2 Rxc2 White's passed b-pawn will be a real asset. SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 39 28.Nd4! Be5? Looks nice, but Black had to try to eliminate XABCDEFGHY the white queenside pawns: 28...Rc5! 8-tR-+-+-+( 29.Nxe6 fxe6 30.e4 Kf7 31.Rd1 Rxa5 32.exd5 Rb5 33.dxe6+ Kxe6 34.Bxb7 Rxb6 7+-+-+-+-' 35.Bc8+ Ke7 36.Ra1 Ba7 37.Rxa6 (37.Bxa6 6pzP-+-mk-+& Rf6 =) 37...Rxa6 38.Bxa6, with a draw despite White's extra pawn. 5+r+-+-+-% 29.f4! Bxd4 30.exd4 g6! 4-+-+-zP-+$ The white pawn must be stopped. Bad was 30...Rc4? 31.f5 Bc8 (31...Bxf5 32.Bxd5 3+-+-+-mK-# Rxd4 33.Bxb7 +-) 32.Bf1! Rc3 (32...Rxd4 33.Rc1 Bxf5 34.Rc7 +-) 33.Re1 Kf8 34.Re5 2-+-+-+-+" +/-. 1+-+-+-+-! 31.g4! Renewing the threat. xabcdefghy 31...f5! 48.b7! Kg7 49.f5! 31...Bxg4? 32.Bxd5 Rb8 33.Rc1 +-. The f-pawn will be sacrificed and White will 32.gxf5 gxf5 33.Re1! Kf7 34.Re5 (D) win the black rook. 49...a5 50.f6+ Kg6 51.Rg8+ Kxf6 52.b8Q XABCDEFGHY Rxb8 53.Rxb8 Ke5 54.Ra8 Kd4 55.Rxa5 1-0 8-+r+-+-+( 7+p+-+k+-' □ Searchforbobby1 (2042) ■ E-Grivas (2239) 6pzP-+l+-zp& B22 Internet Chess Club 26.05.2019 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5zP-+ptRp+-% 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Na3 cxd4 4-+-zP-zP-+$ 9.Nb5 Rc8 10.Nbxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 Be7 13.Rd1 0-0 14.Bf4 Qe4 3+-+-+-+-# 15.Qxe4 Nxe4 16.f3 Nf6 17.Bg5 a6 18.Kf2 2-+-+-+LzP" Ng4+ 19.Kg3 Bxg5 20.Kxg4 Bf6 21.Ne2 Rfd8 22.f4 Kf8 23.Kf3 Ke7 24.g3 h5 1+-+-+-mK-! 25.Ke4 g6 26.Rd3 Rxd3 27.Kxd3 Rd8+ xabcdefghy 28.Kc2 e5 29.fxe5 Bxe5 30.Rd1 Rxd1 31.Kxd1 (D) 34...Rc1+? Passive defence was in need by 34...Rd8. XABCDEFGHY Then White would hold the advantage after 35.Kf2 Kf6 36.Bf3, but he would still have 8-+-+-+-+( to prove it! 7+p+-mkp+-' 35.Kf2 Rc2+ 36.Kg3 Rc3+ 37.Kh4 Rc2 38.Bxd5 Bxd5 39.Rxd5 Rxh2+ 6p+-+-+p+& 39...Ke6 40.Re5+ Kf6 41.h3 Rd2 42.d5 +-. 5+-+-vl-+p% 40.Kg3 Rd2 41.Rxf5+ Ke6 42.Rh5 Rxd4 43.Rxh6+ Kf5 4-+-+-+-+$ 43...Kd5, was more stubborn, although 3+-zP-+-zP-# White will win after 44.Rh7 Kc6 45.f5. 44.Rh5+ Kf6 45.Rh7! Ra4 46.Rxb7 Rxa5 2PzP-+N+-zP" 47.Rb8 Rb5 (D) Now a typical, well-known set-up can be 1+-+K+-+-! reached: xabcdefghy SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 40 The black bishop is dominating over the white knight. Now its the turn of the black XABCDEFGHY king to advance and attack White's targets, 8-+-+-+-+( mainly the h2-pawn. 31...Ke6 32.Kd2 Kf5 33.Ke3 Kg4 34.Kf2 7+p+-+-+-' h4! 35.Kg2 6p+-+-+-+& 35.gxh4 Bxh2 36.c4 Bd6 37.a3 Kxh4 -+. 35...h3+! 5+-vlN+pzp-% The white h2-pawn is fixed as a target, while 4-+P+-+-+$ the black h3-pawn gets nearer to his queening square. 3+P+-+kzPp# 36.Kf2 f5 37.b3 g5 38.c4 Making Black's life easier, but also after 2P+-+-+-zP" 38.a3 Bc7 39.Nd4 f4 40.gxf4 Bxf4 41.Kg1 1+-+-+K+-! Bc1 42.a4 Bd2 43.Ne2 Kf3, the end should be near. xabcdefghy 38...Bd6 39.Nc3 Bc5+ 40.Kf1 Kf3 41.Nd5 41...f4! 42.gxf4 g4! 43.b4 g3! 44.bxc5 gxh2 (D) 0-1
SICA Training Photo Gallery
Training in Class A (Up)
Training in Class B (Up)
Training in Class E (Up) SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 41 Chess Players’ Brains are Different from Everybody Else’s Studies show that the brains of people who 4. Chess teaches you to think in patterns: play chess are significantly different than an In 1996, researchers Fernand Gobet and average brain. Herbert Simon analysed then-world chess For example, Grandmaster chess players champion Garry Kasparov while he played a have more activity in their frontal and simul, a series of chess games played at parietal cortices, areas of the brain that once. focus on problem-solving and In the study, they concluded that Kasparov recognition. Children who took chess classes relied on ‘memory and access to memory for 18 weeks had higher IQ scores through recognition of clues’ in order to play afterward. and win multiple games at once. Much more than a simple pastime or Grandmaster chess players who practice and diversion, chess provides numerous benefits play consistently are able to recognise to our cerebra. patters on the chess board and use those Here are some of the most impressive: patterns and memories from previous games 1. Playing chess at a young age can help to play. develop advanced math and critical thinking 5. Playing chess teaches you how to think skills: Studies show that playing chess as a like a computer: Matthew Berland published kid has a high positive correlation with an article in the Entertainment Technology academic achievement. Centre at Carnegie Mellon University In one study, researchers found that concluding that people who play strategic students who were taught how to play chess board games, like chess, train themselves to were more academically advanced overall, think more like computers. especially in math, spatial analysis and Berland finds that playing strategy games nonverbal reasoning ability. requires people to engage in ‘computational 2. Chess can shrink your brain - which is thinking’, where ‘players follow a set of actually a good thing: In a study where relatively uncomplicated rules with a few researchers scanned the brains of elite chess decision points for which players have players, they found that these players voluminous data’. actually had smaller brains than the non-elite 6. Expert chess players are expert problem players - and that's not a bad thing. solvers: In a study conducted by researchers As Christian Jarrett writes in Wired, their at the University of Konstanz in Germany, research suggests that areas of brain researchers found that Grandmaster chess shrinkage ‘can be a sign of neural efficiency players use the frontal cortex of the brain and a reflection of behavioural expertise’ as when making moves in a chess game. opposed to a negative result. Bigger is not The frontal lobe is an area of the brain always better. associated with problem-solving, suggesting 3. Advanced chess players use both sides that these players were drawing on previous of the brain: Scientists analysed patterns of memories to recognise patterns and make the brains of elite chess players and found decisions. In comparison, the amateur chess that more advanced chess players used both players used the medial temporal lobe of the sides of the brain while making decisions brain, an area focused on learning new long- during games. term memories. By exercising both sides of the brain, 7. Playing chess at an older age can help players are using the more visually focused prevent Alzheimer's disease: In a study right side to recognise patterns from games published in the New England Journal of past and the analytical left side to decide Medicine, researchers found that people what is the best logical move. over age 75 who play chess or other This exercise strengthens both sides of the strategic board games have less of a chance brain, making the player a more advanced of developing dementia or other memory and adept thinker. loss conditions. SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 42 Chess Prodigies: Paul Morphy and José Raúl Capablanca ‘Nowadays, when you're not a recognised his talent when the child Grandmaster at 14, you can forget about it’. commented on his uncle’s defeat and This is a famous quote by Viswanathan showed him how he could have won the Anand, Indian Grandmaster and ex-FIDE match. World Champion. From then on, Morphy was encouraged to Anand started playing chess at an early play chess and he subsequently won several age and was able to secure the title of competitions. He was considered the best Grandmaster in 1988, when he was 18 years player in New Orleans when Morphy was of age. nine years of age. The phenomenon that Anand is referring At the age of 12, he took on Johann to is that of chess prodigies. This term is Lowenthal, a Hungarian chess master and used to refer to children who are able to defeated him twice. By the age of 21, compete and win, playing against masters Morphy’s skills were famous all over the and even Grandmasters at a professional world. level. Jose Raul Capablanca praised Morphy’s Chess is one of the few sports in the world play in the following words: ‘Morphy that allows children to compete with adults gained most of his wins by playing directly at the same level. This is possible because and simply, and it is simple and logical the nature of the game is purely mental; method that constitutes the true brilliance of therefore, age is not the criteria to play his play, if it is considered from the chess. This characteristic of chess makes it viewpoint of the great masters’. possible to identify prodigies. Jose Raul Capablanca: Capablanca, a As is being increasingly said these days, Cuban chess player born in 1888 shares a emotional quotient is more important than similar story to that of Morphy. Capablanca intelligence quotient. also learnt chess by observing other players. This factor plays a significant role in the His interest in chess began at the age of career development of chess prodigies. As four, when he corrected a wrong move made these players are very young, it makes them by his father. vulnerable to psychological pressure. Capablanca played in the Havana Chess The world focuses more on these young Club at the age of eight. In 1901, he came players and associates huge expectations close to beating Juan Corzo, who was the with them. Often, child prodigies are not Cuban Chess Champion of that time. able to respond accordingly. Next year, Capablanca was able to secure Some are able to grow and evolve in their a fourth position out of six in the National adult career life as well whereas others are Championship. In 1909, Capablanca was not able to continue in this career path. one of the top class players in the USA. Chess prodigies have been found in history From the year 1921 until 1927, Capablanca throughout but authentic documentation stayed the World Chess Champion. began in the 1800s. Two of the early chess Max Euwe, the Dutch chess Grandmaster prodigies include Paul Morphy and José appreciated this great chess prodigy in the Raúl Capablanca. Let us get to know them following words: ‘The essence of briefly. Capablanca's greatness is his rare talent for Paul Morphy: Paul Morphy was an avoiding all that can complicate or confuse American chess player who was born in the conflict’. 1837. Morphy is known to be the best chess In this era, we can also find chess player of his time. In his childhood, Morphy prodigies that delight the world with their used to observe chess games of other play. However, the skills of Morphy and players. Capablanca are yet to be outdone. His uncle, Ernest Morphy, was a famous But great hopes are based on the current chess player himself. Morphy’s family FIDE World champion Magnus Carlsen! SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 43 The Al Dhaid Road (E88) - P.O.Box 6277 Sharjah - United Arab Emirates (+971) 06 5455888 214 - (+971) 055 1880025
(+30) 6936 888163
[email protected] [email protected]
www.shjchessacademy.com
shjchessacademy
www.facebook.com/shjchessacademy
shjchessacademy
SICA Bulletin - June 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 44