The Sica Bulletin

THE SICA BULLETIN

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Volume 4 - July 2019 The SICA Bulletin

Monthly Edition (free Pdf)

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 A Jose Raul Capabanca Letter ………………………………………………………………. 4 A Paul Morphy Letter ………………………………………………………………………... 4 Sex Differences in Intellectual Performance ……………………………………………….. 5 Fernando Arrabal: Musings on Chess Today ………………………………………………. 6 Promotion & Sponsorship - Geoffrey D. Borg ……………………………………………… 7 Time Magazine Chess Covers ……………………………………………………………….. 11 Chess Professional Life - Player and Coach ……………………………………………...… 11 Viktor Korchnoi (23.03.1931-06.06.2016) …………………………………………………… 13 Hanging a Rook ……………………………………………………………………………… 16 Knight Stalemate …………………………………………………………………………….. 18 An Important Rook Ending …………………………………………………………………. 20 Facing the World’s Number 2 ………………………………………………………………. 22 Altibox Norway Chess ……………………………………………………………………….. 26 FIDE Women World Championship 2019 - Candidates Tournament …………………….. 35 20th Karpov Poikovsky 2019 ………………………………………………………………….. 37 Pawn Ending - Rook Pawn ………………………………………………………………….. 38 An Early Queen Sacrifice ……………………………………………………………………. 42 1st Ajman Blitz 2019 .…………………………………………………………………………. 43 Asian Schools Championships 2019 - Rapid ………………………………………………... 44 FIDE Verification Commission Meeting ……………………………………………………. 44 Think & Plan SICA Summer Camp 2019 …………………………………………………… 45 Contact Us ……………………………………………………………………………………. 46 Our Sponsors …………………………………………………………………………………. 46

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SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 3 A Jose Raul Capablanca Letter play except in tournaments of importance Norbert Lederer was one of the great chess provided I get a large enough retainer. organisers in the United States in the 1920s. I make of course exceptions to this rule Among tournaments that he organised were when I think the circumstances warrant it. I the legendary New York 1924 and 1927 do believe that chess needs to be boosted in tournaments. the U.S. and to that effect I shall be willing In the spring of 1923, he had written to the to play, provided that the first prize be no World Champion, Jose Raul Capablanca, less than $1,000 and the 2d $700. inquiring about the possibility of Capablanca My retainer would be $1,000 and I should participating in an upcoming tournament. receive in addition any expenses that may be Capa’s reply (from (Russell Collection allowed to the other players for travelling #1552), was: and living purposes. That would be the From: J.R. Capablanca minimum. To: Norbert Lederer If you think you can raise the money let Date: May 18, 1923 me know so as to fix the date as well as the Dear Mr. Lederer: playing conditions that I would consider Your letter of the 5th at hand. As a general necessary for my participation. proposition I do not have any interests in Wishing you success in any case I remain small tournaments. I have decided not to Sincerely yours, /s/ J.R. Capablanca

The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams...

A Paul Morphy Letter readily understand that I should feel little February 4, 1863 disposed to engage in the objectless strife of From: Paul Morphy the chess board. To: Daniel Fiske Besides, you will remember that as far Date: February 4, 1863 back as two years ago I stated to you in New My dear Fiske, York my firm determination to abandon Pray, do not be too prompt in condemning chess altogether. I am more strongly the tardiness of my reply, for in this case at confirmed than ever in the belief that the least, it can be justified. I have purposely time devoted to chess is literally frittered abstained from returning an immediate away. It is, to be sure, a most exhilarating answer to your favor, in the hope of being sport, but it is only a sport; and it is not to be enabled to take a trip to Vienna, not for the wondered at that such as have been sake of chess-playing, but activated by the passionately addicted to the charming very natural desire to see you after such a pastime should one day ask themselves lapse of time as has gone by since my last whether sober reason does not advise its visit to New York, and inquire about old utter dereliction. friends and associations made doubly dear I have, for my own part, resolved not to be by the sad events that are transpiring in our moved from my purpose of not engaging in distracted America. chess hereafter. The few games that I have Much as I would enjoy a visit to Germany played here have been altogether private and for those and other reasons, I am sorry to say SANS FACON. I never patronize the Cafe that it will not be in my power to leave Paris de la Regence; it is a low, and, to borrow a at present. I am here with my brother in law Gallicism, ILL FREQUENTED and part of my family, the remainder being establishment. in New Orleans. We are all following with Hoping that you will excuse my dilatoriness, intense anxiety the fortunes of the and wishing you health and happiness, tremendous conflict now raging beyond the I remain Yours truly, /s/ Paul Morphy Atlantic, for upon the issue depends our all P.S. Lybrandt begs to be kindly remembered in life. Under such circumstances you will to you. SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 4 Sex Differences in Intellectual Performance Is the disparity between women and men They call this the ability distribution in the sciences the result of an innate hypothesis. difference in cognitive ability or the result of Discrimination could result in a difference some social phenomena such as selective in participation through different standards. participation or discrimination? However, they note that this is not a problem Chess is a good way to objectively study for this particular study because Chess this question, since the rating system tracks rankings are objective measures. players throughout their careers. A paper by You can't discriminate against someone two scientists reports on the results of such a when their gender cannot be calculated into study. their performance. The study is by Christopher F. Chabris and There could be a differential drop-out rate Mark E. Glickman and is entitled ‘Sex between boys and girls. Equal numbers of Differences in Intellectual Performance: boys and girls with equal abilities could Analysis of a Large Cohort of Competitive begin chess training, but fewer girls could Chess Players’. It was published in an issue see it through to becoming chess of the journal Psychological Science, which Grandmasters. They call this the differential has put an abstract online. dropout hypothesis. Only 1% of the world's chess Grandmasters Fewer women could self-select to are women. This underrepresentation is participate in chess. If fewer talented women unlikely to be caused by discrimination, choose to participate in chess in the first because chess ratings objectively reflect place, by attrition alone there will be fewer competitive results. Using data on the in the resulting Grandmaster pool. They call ratings of more than 250,000 tournament this participation rate hypothesis. players over 13 years, we investigated Men and women differed in chess ability several potential explanations for the male in all age groups even after differences like domination of elite chess. frequency of play (read: level of training) or We found that: age were taken into account. The disparity (a) The ratings of men are higher on between men and women in ability exists at average than those of women, but no more the beginning and persists across all age variable. groups. (b) Matched boys and girls improve and No greater variance is to be found in men drop out at equal rates, but boys begin chess than women - if anything in most age groups competition in greater numbers and at higher women had a higher variance than men. performance levels than girls. Women and men do not drop out more or (c) In locales where at least 50% of the less frequently when ability and age are new young players are girls, their initial factored out. For example, if you are not ratings are not lower than those of boys. We very good at chess you are more likely to conclude that the greater number of men at stop playing tournaments, but girls and boys the highest levels in chess can be explained that are equally good are equally likely to by the greater number of boys who enter stop playing. This strikes a blow at the chess at the lowest levels. differential dropout hypothesis. There could be some innate difference in If you look at the participation rate of ability between men and women overall women and relate that to performance, you with respect to the skill required to play find that in cases where the participation rate chess well. of women and men is equal the disparity in This difference in average or in variability ability vanishes. need not be large; at the upper tail of the There is a mores extensive description in distribution where chess players operate for the Science blog ‘Pure Pedentary’, where the say spatial ability, a small difference would subject can also be discussed. result in a large difference in representation. Our bulletin is waiting your opinions. SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 5 Fernando Arrabal: Musings on Chess Today He is one of the most famous and prolific He was born in 1932 in Melilla, Spain, but of Spanish playwrites, poet, novelist and has been living in France since 1955. His director. According to the Dictionary of father, an army officer, was sentenced to Literature his theatre is ‘a wild, brutal, death at the beginning of the Spanish Civil cacophonous, and joyously provocative War for being opposed to the right-wing world’. Fernando Arrabal is also military coup led by Generalissimo passionately interested in chess, and has sent Francisco Franco. His sentence was us an essay on the game today. commuted to hard labour for life.

Fernando Arrabal has directed seven full- length feature films, published over one hundred plays, fourteen novels, seven poetry collections, many essays, and his celebrated ‘Letter to General Franco’ during the dictator’s lifetime. His complete plays have been published in a number of languages. The Dictionary of Literatures in the French Language (Dictionnaire des littératures de langue française) writes: Arrabal’s theatre is a wild, brutal, cacophonous, and joyously provocative world. It is a dramatic carnival in which the carcass of our ‘advanced’ civilizations is barbecued over the spits of a permanent revolution. He is the artistic heir of Kafka’s lucidity and Jarry’s humor; in his violence, Arrabal is related to Sade and Hymn to Chess Artaud. Yet he is doubtless the only writer to have pushed derision as far as he did. Deeply political and merrily playful, both revolutionary and bohemian, his work is the syndrome of our century of barbed wire and Gulags, a manner of finding a reprieve. Fernando Arrabal

Oil on canvas (116 x 88 cm) - Seated: The chess champions Mikhail Tal (1936-1992), José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942), Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900), and Bobby Fischer (b. 1943). Standing: Boris Spassky (b. 1937), the playwright Arrabal (b.1932), and Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946). On the right-hand side: Paul Morphy (1837-1884), François- André Philidor (1726-1795) and Ruy López de Segura (1530-1580). In photos on the left-hand side: Vasily Smyslov (1921-2010), Machgielis (Max) Euwe (1901-1981), Anatoly Karpov (b. 1951), Judit Polgár (b. 1976), Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984), and Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995). SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 6

Promotion & Sponsorship - Geoffrey D. Borg 1. Introduction 78% of the total reported worldwide last The debate on whether chess is a year Sport has always dominated ‘sponsorable’ sport seems sometimes as old sponsorship; it accounted for 80% in 2002 as the game itself. But apart from the and 77% in 2003. In 2004 the major classical clichés such as ‘Chess for the industries sponsoring sports were: public is as exciting as looking at paint Telecoms $815 (£427) drying up’, the question of chess being Sports clothing $761 (£398) viable in a healthy sponsor environment has Banking $628 (£329) rarely been thoroughly examined. In this Cars $585 (£306) draft discussion paper, I have tried to assess Soft drinks $547 (£286) the balance between dreams and reality in a Credit cards $325 (£170) future (better) world of chess sponsoring Media/press/TV $310 (£162) I have written this paper from the Airlines $297 (£156) perspective of an amateur chess player who Sports equipment $261 (£137) loves the game and has forty years of Beer $250 (£131) business experience. Of those 40 years, Source: The World Sponsorship Monitor about half I have devoted to chess through Top 10 sponsored sports Soccer continues involvement in actively sponsoring and to be the most heavily sponsored sport both organising chess events. in terms of the number and total value of 2. Background reported deals. Golf generated the second Sport continues to attract the lion's share most deals for the second year running. The of worldwide sponsorship accounting for Olympics also saw many deal SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 7 announcements with the Athens Summer the power to turn chess into an overnight Olympics, Turin 2006 and intense media sensation. And in exchange, the media has a interest around Beijing 2008. direct path to more than 40 million people in Soccer $1,563 (£818) America and that is a match made in heaven. American football $1,002 (£525) ESPN televise spelling bees, fishing, Olympics $665 (£348) billiards, etc. Chess can certainly bring Venues $594 (£311) higher ratings. When ESPN decided to Golf $394 (£206) televise chess, it received higher ratings than Formula One $327 (£171) other programs normally aired during the Basketball $259 (£136) same time slots. Why not chess then? After Sailing/yachting $234 (£122) all, chess is the most popular game in the Rugby Union $175 (£92) world with nearly 700 million players of this Tennis $168 (£88) world-game!’ Chess - a world phenomenon Source: The World Sponsorship Monitor by Susan Polgar Chess and ‘markets’ for 3. The Sponsor ‘Markets’ for Chess chess sponsoring ‘One of the biggest problems with Like in all types of sports sponsoring we marketing chess is its supposed relationship first have to establish the ‘sponsorable with intellectualism. People simply feel activities’ we wish to develop. For the sake intimidated by all the strange-looking pieces of simplicity, I distinguish three ‘chess and the seemingly complex rules. Honestly, markets’: chess has little to do with the type of 1. Local tournaments or matches. intelligence that people associate with being 2. High profile tournaments or matches. ‘smart’. Chess relies more on spatial 3. Official fide international competitions. abilities, pattern recognition and memory. If Let’s briefly define these sponsor markets: chess were merely an intellectual exercise 3.1 Local tournaments (or matches). then the strongest players would be those Specific attributes here are (with some with advanced degrees or some specialised notable exceptions): skill. This is simply not the case. Chess is an - Small in scale. activity that is played by about as diverse an - Majority domestic participation. audience as one can imagine. Travel to any - Low to medium national or regional given tournament in the U.S. and you will media coverage. span all possibilities of age, gender, In this ‘market’ sponsorship is mostly ethnicity, nationality, personality, physical national, has currently a medium to high stature, educational attainment and social difficulty rate to attract sponsor funding. If class. It is perhaps the only competitive sponsored funds are mostly found in small to activity where an important millionaire medium size companies. The interesting business executive can meet an opponent characteristic of this market is that the who has just reached his/her 6th birthday, or difficulty to attract the sponsorship seems to even someone who appeared as if he were be independent of the geographical location, straight from a homeless shelter… certainly e.g. whether the local tournament takes improbable events in the real world’. The place in Holland, Ecuador or South Africa. Marketing of Chess by Daaim Shabazz, When studying the environment in the Ph.D. world of tennis sponsoring, this market ‘Yes, chess does get coverage from major category is comparable to the ATP-satellite print media outlets such as the Wall Street qualifying tournaments. In certain countries, Journal, the NY Times, The NY Daily the national championship falls in this News, Lifestyles Magazine, etc. Chess is category. also on countless scenes in modern 3.2 High profile tournaments or matches. Hollywood movies and TV commercials. The tournaments in this category are well But for something as powerful as chess, we known. They are mostly ‘single sponsored’. need more positive coverage. The media has They are high profile events with strong SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 8 international participation. Good examples reputation, scandals and conflicts. The are Linares, Dortmund and of course relationships between FIDE and organisers Corus/Tata where the tournament identifies of (the rare) international tournaments are itself directly with the sponsor (who is poor. equally responsible for the organisation). This reputation issue has alerted many Also the Swift tournaments I had organised marketing heads of corporations when fall in this category. examining to associate their brands or The best analogy I know for this market is company to the game of chess…. Mr. a sad one: the panda bear. Beautiful but Makropoulos, ex-Deputy President of FIDE, unfortunately become distinct… If we do acknowledged this problem during a debate not give full protection (Calendar!) to these organised by the English Chess Federation. unique events, we may face the end of these 4.2. Confusion. extraordinary events I do not want to expand too much on the 3.3 Official international competitions. sad story of the (ex) confused world Here we talk about the ‘official’ FIDE championship title. But let me quote one championships (in numerous disciplines) recent statement from a boardroom of a and including the Olympiads and the World major enterprise when during the break I Championship cycle. discussed the game of chess: ‘there are only Definitely the most debated and criticised two sports where I am totally confused about category in the chess world. Although this the world title: these are heavy weight does not automatically means that from a boxing and chess’. Evidently this tragic chess promotion point it is the most WCC status is another reason for important. corporations to give negative advice to The main characteristic in this marker is sponsor requests. the considerable decline in corporate 4.3. Lack of promotion. sponsorship. The lack of a clear action program for First conclusion: marketing and promotion of chess as a All three ‘chess markets’ are suffering leading mass sport with a strong educational from lack of sponsoring. The local and tool is the third and probably deepest-rooted regional chess events from support by small weakness in the world of chess. A clear and medium businesses, the international campaign plan illustrating, supporting and (private) tournaments from distinction and implementing chess as an educational tool the international fide events from major has never been established by fide and left to corporate sponsorships. some enthusiastic individuals. 4. Questions Second conclusion: What are the causes of this degrading We have identified the three ‘sponsorable chess-sponsoring climate? Why is this markets’ and we have identified the three wonderful game suffering in all three major weaknesses. ‘markets’? a. Impact of the weaknesses on each I believe there are three major reasons for ‘sponsor market’. these market weaknesses: 1. Reputation clearly market sub3 and to a 1. Reputation. certain extent market. 2. Confusion. 2. Confusion clearly market sub 3 and in a 3. Lack of promotion. lesser way market. 4.1. Reputation. 3. Lack of promotion clearly all ‘markets’. The FIDE organisation suffers for a long Having defined our “sponsorable markets time from serious reputation problems. and events, our key weaknesses and the These problems are so serious that they have impact of each of these weaknesses on each even infiltrated the ‘non chess world’. market, let us now move to proposed The organisation has been associated with strategy and action plans: tournaments in countries of a dubious 5. Recommendations SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 9 There are constructive steps that can be stereotype that only a select few can excel at taken to improve the image of chess: chess. Chess needs to show broad appeal to * Media Companies: While chess helps be successful. develop cognition, discipline and analytical * Do not compare getting a Grandmaster abilities, DO NOT market chess as an title with getting a Ph.D.: I've heard the ‘intellectual’ activity. It sends the wrong ridiculous notion that getting a GM title is message. While mental faculties are used in like getting two Ph.D. degrees. While both acquiring chess prowess, it is not the same endeavors require a gargantuan mental as the intelligence we associate with being effort, they are only minutely comparable academically gifted or ‘smart’. A recent due to their vastly different processes of article stated, ‘Chess is not necessarily a attainment. game reserved for people with IQ scores on * When someone says they are a ‘chess par with Einstein. In fact, chess strategy may champion’ in an interview, report exactly rely more heavily on spatial processing than what that means… do the background on logic and computational skills’. It should research. be said however that those who have * Stop giving out trophies to every child in mastered chess possess superior abilities in scholastic tournaments!: Use ribbons for the analytical processing and pattern lesser prizes. Children may be quitting recognition. because they feel they've reached their * Managing Editors: Hire a cadre of potential. I recently had a student of mine journalists who know how to properly write tell me, ‘I used to win chess trophies in on chess issues. Spare the worn-out quips middle school’. I'm not sure what that means and analogies (e.g., ‘Man Bytes Machine’, today. ‘Bobby Fischer gets Checkmated’) and get * Spend more time in providing incentives the facts straight. Too many mistakes for attending chess tournaments: Chess perpetuate chess myths. organisers have become stagnant in their * Journalists: Please do not get too excited business models with little or no change over a 4-year old who plays chess. The rules while Internet chess has taken over. Maurice of chess, when taught properly by a Ashley's HB Global Chess tournament will knowledgeable person, can be learned by change this. Fred Grunberg had a good almost anyone in one hour. Learning chess model decades ago in Chicago with his ‘Put is one thing, but mastering chess is another. the Fun Back into Chess’ tournaments. Interestingly, chess prowess is not * Get the unification process completed!!: determined by age. A 10-year old who has No… Kasparov is not the current World studied seriously for one year and competed Champion. I suppose this is not the fault of in tournaments will beat a much older player journalists because not even chess players who has played casually for many decades. agree on this matter. With Kasparov's Thus, the common interview question, ‘How unfortunate retirement, this will taint the long have you been playing?’ will not credibility of the World Championship. necessarily reveal one's skill level. However, refrain from billing every * Chess Organisations: Use chess-playing professional match as a ‘World celebrities (e.g., Will Smith, Lennox Lewis) Championship’. This includes the ‘Man vs. to help promote chess. These figures can Machine’ matches. The Marketing of Chess promote the game in places where an by Daaim Shabazz, Ph.D. average Grandmaster may fail. 6. Action Plan Grandmasters may not always make the best 1. A fund at least equivalent to 50,000 spokespersons. Euros per annum to be devoted to promoting * Chess Media: Has to cover a variety of chess with communication media, via news from around the world and not merely television, radio, internet or printed form. the top 20 players in the world or the 2. Setting up a professional structure western nations. This reinforces the within FIDE with accountable marketing SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 10 management whose task will be to co- professional platform which commercial ordinate FIDE’s public relations, liaison sponsors can deal with and secondly, by with sponsors, and communicate with looking for medium to long term member Federations and organisers. relationships with commercial sponsors to 3. Rebuild the image of chess with leading ensure that a program of stability in global sponsors by firstly, setting up a sponsorship is achieved.

Time Magazine Chess Covers Time is an American weekly news magazine and news website published in New York City. It was founded in 1923 and originally run by Henry Luce. A European edition (Time Europe, formerly known as Time Atlantic) is published in London and also covers the Middle East, Africa, and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition (Time Asia) is based in Hong Kong. The South Pacific edition, which covers Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, is based in Sydney. In December 2008, Time discontinued publishing a Canadian advertiser edition. Time has the world's largest circulation for a weekly news magazine. The print edition has a readership of 26 million, 20 million of whom are based in the United States. In mid-2012, its circulation was over three million, which had lowered to two million by late 2017.

December 7, 1925 July 31, 1972 April 18, 1983

Chess Professional Life - Player and Coach 05.08.2008: Dear Magnus, I have send you Before I became a fully dedicated some surveys that you might be interest 4-5 Captain/Coach/Trainer, I used to play a lot times but I never received a feedback or a worldwide. From my archives I found out proof that you have received them. Could that my scores vs the top-players of the you be so kind to confirm the reception of World Championships of 2005 (San Louis - them? With kind regards - Efstratios Grivas Argentina) and 2007 (Mexico City - 06.08.2008: Dear Efsratios, Sorry about Mexico), were as follows: Veselin Topalov that, I have received the files - much ½, Vishy Anand ½, Peter Svidler ½, Peter appreciated. There seems to be a problem Leko ½ ½ ½, Judit Polgar ½ ½, Vladimir with the last files you sent though - I Kramnik 0, Boris Gelfand ½. So that's 9 couldn't open it. Could you try sending them draws and 1 lose out of 10 games. again? Thanks in advance, Magnus Carlsen Magnus Carlsen is always willing to 06.08.2008: Sure Magnus, Here it is - receive help, which can boost his result. Efstratios Here are some e-mails exchanged back in 06.08.2008: Thanks, now it's working :) - 2008, concerning opening analysis: Magnus SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 11 Blitz games are not considered to be □ Grivas Efstratios (2425) ‘serious’ but still they do have their own ■ Tukmakov Vladimir (2520) beauty! Here are two blitz games with E17 Kavala 1991 famous opponent that I played during my 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 professional years. Be7 6.0-0 0-0 (D) Of course mistakes are to be found, but blitz games are rarely perfect! XABCDEFGHY 8rsn-wq-trk+( □ Grivas Efstratios (2520) ■ Ivanchuk Vassily (2715) 7zplzppvlpzpp' A85 Heraklion (9) 08.11.2004 6-zp-+psn-+& 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e3 f5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.f4 Be7 8.Bd3 Nxe5 9.fxe5 5+-+-+-+-% Ne4 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bd2 Nxd2 12.Qxd2 Bd7 4-+PzP-+-+$ 13.c5 b5 14.a4 b4 15.Na2 a5 16.Rf2 Qc7 17.b3 Rf7 18.Raf1 Raf8 19.Nc1 Qd8 3+-+-+NzP-# 20.Be2 g5 21.Nd3 Rg7 22.g4 Kh8 23.Kh1 h6 24.Ne1 Rgf7 25.gxf5 Rxf5 26.Rxf5 exf5 2PzP-+PzPLzP" 27.Bd3 Be6 28.Qc2 Qd7 29.Rf2 Kg7 1tRNvLQ+RmK-! 30.Nf3 f4 31.Qd2 Bg4 32.Ng1 fxe3 33.Qxe3 Qc8 34.Rxf8 Qxf8 35.Kg2 Be6 xabcdefghy (D) 7.d5 exd5 8.Nh4 c6 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nf5 Na6 11.Re1 Re8 12.e4 Ndc7 13.Nc3 Bf8 XABCDEFGHY 14.e5 Nc5 15.Qg4 Kh8 16.Bg5 Qc8 17.Nh6 8-+-+-wq-+( d5 18.Qh5 gxh6 19.Bf6+ Bg7 20.Bh3 N5e6 (D) 7+-+-vl-mk-' XABCDEFGHY 6-+p+l+-zp& 8r+q+r+-mk( 5zp-zPpzP-zp-% 7zplsn-+pvlp' 4Pzp-zP-+-+$ 6-zpp+nvL-zp& 3+P+LwQ-+-# 5+-+pzP-+Q% 2-+-+-+KzP" 4-+-+-+-+$ 1+-+-+-sN-! 3+-sN-+-zPL# xabcdefghy 36.Ne2 Qf7 37.Ng3 h5 38.Qf2 h4 39.Nf5+ 2PzP-+-zP-zP" Kf8 40.Qf3 Bd8 41.Nd6 Qxf3+ 42.Kxf3 1tR-+-tR-mK-! g4+ 43.Kf4 Be7 44.Bf5 g3 45.hxg3 h3 46.Kf3 Bxd6 47.Bxe6 h2 48.Kg2 Be7 xabcdefghy 49.Bd7 Bg5 50.Bxc6 Be3 51.Bxd5 Bxd4 21.Qxh6 Bxf6 22.Bf5 Nf8 23.exf6 Nce6 52.c6 Bxe5 53.Kxh2 24.Rxe6 1-0 1-0

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 12 Viktor Korchnoi (23.03.1931-06.06.2016) Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (Russian: Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ Ви́ ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, IPA: [vʲiktәr Black has also tried 8...Nc6 9.Bc4 b5!? lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj]; 23 March 1931 - 6 June 10.Be2 (10.Bd3?! Bb4+ 11.Bd2 Bxd2+ 2016) was a Soviet (until 1976) and Swiss 12.Qxd2 a6 13.a4 0-0 14.Qc3 Bb7 = (from 1994) chess Grandmaster and writer. Spassky,B-Fischer,R Reykjavik 1972) He is considered one of the strongest 10...Bb4+ 11.Bd2 Qa5 12.a4 bxa4 13.Rxa4 players never to have become World Chess += Grivas,E-Kourkounakis,I Corfu 1993. Champion. 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ White obtains a clear advantage after the inaccurate 9...Qa5?! 10.Rb1! Bxd2+ 11.Qxd2 Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2. 10.Qxd2 0-0 11.Bc4 b6 (D) XABCDEFGHY 8rsnlwq-trk+( 7zp-+-+pzpp' 6-zp-+p+-+& 5+-+-+-+-% 4-+LzPP+-+$

Born in Leningrad, Soviet Union, 3+-+-+N+-# Korchnoi defected to the Netherlands in 2P+-wQ-zPPzP" 1976, and later resided in Switzerland from 1978, becoming a Swiss citizen. Korchnoi 1tR-+-mK-+R! played three matches against GM Anatoly xabcdefghy Karpov. Another option for Black is to develop his In 1974, he lost the Candidates final to b8-knight to c6: 11...Nc6 12.0-0 b6 Karpov, who was declared World Champion (12...Qd6 is quite interesting, despite the fact in 1975 when GM Bobby Fischer refused to that Black quickly lost the stem game: defend his title. Korchnoi then won two 13.Rad1 Rd8 14.Rfe1 Bd7 15.d5 exd5 consecutive Candidates cycles to qualify for 16.exd5 Ne7 17.Ng5 Ba4 18.Nxf7 Kxf7 World Championship matches with Karpov 19.Re6 Qxe6 20.dxe6+ Ke8 21.Bd3 Bxd1 in 1978 and 1981, losing both. 22.Qxd1 Rac8 23.h3 Nd5 24.Qf3 1-0 Korchnoi was a candidate for the World Browne,W-Olafsson,H Reykjavik 1980) Championship on ten occasions (1962, 1968, 13.Rad1! (the best set-up for White is to 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988 place his rooks on the e- and d- files, and 1991). He was also four-times a USSR supporting future central advances. 13.Rfd1 chess champion, five-times a member of Bb7 14.Qf4 Rc8 15.d5 exd5 16.Bxd5 Qe7 Soviet teams that won the European 17.Ng5 Ne5 18.Bxb7 Ng6 19.Qf5 Qxb7 championship, and six-times a member of 20.Rd7 Qa6 led to an unclear position in Soviet teams that won the Chess Olympiad. Alekhine,A-Euwe,M The Hague 1937) In September 2006, he won the World 13...Bb7 14.Rfe1 Na5 (14...Rc8?! is Senior Chess Championship. inaccurate: 15.d5! exd5 16.Bxd5 Na5 □ Korchnoi Viktor 17.Qf4 Qc7 18.Qf5 Bxd5 19.exd5 with ■ Najdorf Miguel advantage for White, Spassky,B-Petrosian,T D41 Wijk aan Zee 1971 Moscow 1969) 15.Bd3 Rc8 16.d5! exd5 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.d4 c5 5.cxd5 (forced, as 16...Nc4? loses to 17.Bxc4 Rxc4 SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 13 18.dxe6 Qxd2 19.exf7+ Rxf7 20.Rxd2 Rxe4 b) 16.h4 h6 17.Bb5 Re7 18.Bxd7 Rxd7 21.Rxe4 Bxe4 22.Ng5!, while 16...Qe7 19.Ne5 Rdc7 20.Qf4 Qd6 = Mamedyarov,S- 17.Qf4 leads to a clear advantage for White) Marcelin,C Istanbul 2003. 17.e5! Nc4 18.Qf4 Nb2 (Black must accept c) 16.Qf4 Qf6 17.Qg3 Qg6 18.Qf4 Qf6 the challenge as 18...h6 19.Qf5 g6 20.Qh3 19.Qg3 Qg6 20.Qf4 Qf6 += ½-½ Kg7 21.e6 would not improve the situation. Pedersen,S-Gyimesi,Z Germany 2005. As was revealed after the game, this position 16...Rc3 17.e5 Qc7 (D) had been carefully studied in advance by Lev Polugaevsky, who now played the XABCDEFGHY typical and well-known sacrifice) 19.Bxh7+! 8-+-+r+k+( Kxh7 20.Ng5+ Kg6 (the only move. White wins after 20...Kg8 21.Qh4 Re8 22.Qh7+ 7zplwqn+pzpp' Kf8 23.e6!) 21.h4!! (threatening 22.h5+ 6-zp-+p+-+& Kxh5 23.g4+ Kg6 24.Qf5+ Kh6 25.Qh7+ Kxg5 26.Qh5+ Kf4 27.Qf5 #) 21...Rc4! 5+-+-zP-+-% (21...Nxd1? is inadequate due to 22.h5+ Kh6 23.Ne6+ 1-0 Olafsson,F-Lombard,A, Athens 4-+-zP-+-+$ 1969, while other moves also do not help 3+-trLwQN+-# Black: 21...Qd7 22.e6! ; 21...f5 22.Rd4! ; 21...f6 22.h5+ Kxh5 23.g4+ Kh6 24.Qh2+) 2P+-+-zPPzP" 22.h5+ Kh6 23.Nxf7+ Kh7 24.Qf5+ Kg8 1+-+RtR-mK-! 25.e6! (this vital point to justify White's play was part of Lev Polugaevsky's deep xabcdefghy preparation) 25...Qf6 (White was threatening 18.Ng5! Nf8 19.Ne4 Bxe4 26.e7 and 26.h6) 26.Qxf6 gxf6 27.Rd2! Forced as otherwise the knight will land on (27.Nd6?! Nxd1 28.e7 Rc1! is unclear) d6-square. 27...Rc6!? (also interesting is 27...Na4 20.Qxe4 Rd8 21.h4! Qe7 22.Qg4 Ra3?! 28.Nd6, though White of course retains his Black overestimates his chances. He should advantage) 28.Rxb2 Re8? (Black's position have played 22...Qa3 +=. was highly unpleasant, but he could have set 23.Bc4 b5 24.Bb3! a5 White more problems with 28...Bc8!. White It seems that Black has created sufficient retains a plus with either 29.e7 Re8 30.Nd8 counterplay in the queenside. But ‘Viktor or 29.Nh6+ Kh7 30.Nf5 Rxe6 31.Rc1) the terrible’ now comes out with a great 29.Nh6+! Kh7 30.Nf5 Rexe6 31.Rxe6 Rxe6 ‘positional’ combination. 32.Rc2 Rc6 33.Re2 Bc8 (or 33...Rc7 25.d5! a4? (D) 34.Re6) 34.Re7+ Kh8 35.Nh4 f5 36.Ng6+ Kg8 37.Rxa7 1-0 Polugaevsky,L-Tal,M XABCDEFGHY Moscow 1969. 8-+-tr-snk+( 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Rfe1 Nd7 13...Nc6 will transpose to 11...Nc6 notes. 7+-+-wqpzpp' 14.Rad1 Rc8 15.Bd3 6-+-+p+-+& 15.Bb3 Nf6 16.d5 exd5 17.exd5 Rc5 18.d6 is also good, Olafsson,F-Unzicker,W 5+p+PzP-+-% Lugano 1970. 4p+-+-+QzP$ 15...Re8 16.Qe3 White's other options are: 3trL+-+-+-# a) 16.Bb1 h6 (16...Nf8 17.Re3 Qd6 18.Qb2 Red8 ½-½ Prusikin,M-Levin,F Germany 2P+-+-zPP+" 2006) 17.h3 Qc7 18.Nh2 Qc3 19.Qf4 Nf8 1+-+RtR-mK-! 20.Re3 oo Grooten,H-Horvath,C Leeuwarden 1995. xabcdefghy SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 14 In view of what happened, Black should try only play his knight around the f8-square, as 25...exd5 26.Bxd5 +/-. But who can blame his king is locked in a golden cage! Miguel Najdorf for not seeing the future… 32.f5 Or maybe the Polish-Argentinean legend Now, White's protected and connected was as usually over-optimistic on his chan- passed pawns will carry the day. ces? Well, we will probably never know… 32...Nh7 33.Rc1 Ra8 34.Qf4 Nf6 35.Qc7! 26.dxe6! axb3 Breaking down Black's blockade. Black had no choice but to accept the 35...Qb4 (D) sacrifice, as 26...fxe6 27.Rxd8 axb3 (27...Qxd8 28.Bxe6+) 28.Rxf8+ Kxf8 XABCDEFGHY 29.Rc1 is out of the question. 8r+-+-+-mk( 27.exf7+ Kh8 Unfortunately for Black, he cannot continue 7+-wQ-+Pzp-' with 27...Kxf7 28.Rxd8 bxa2 (28...Qxd8 6-+-+Psn-zp& 29.e6+ Kg8 [29...Nxe6 30.Qxe6+ Kf8 31.Re5 g6 32.Rd5 Qe7 33.Qc8+ Kf7 34.Rd7 5+p+-+P+-% bxa2 35.Rxe7+ Kxe7 36.Qc5+] 30.e7 Qe8 31.Qb4! Ra8 32.exf8Q+ Qxf8 33.Qxb3+ 4-wq-+-+-zP$ Kh8 34.Qxb5 +- Rxa2? 35.Re8) 29.Ra8! 3+P+-+-+-# Rxa8 30.Qf3+ Kg6 31.Qc6+ Qe6 32.Qxa8 Nd7 33.Re2 Nxe5 34.Rxa2 +-. 2-+-+-+P+" 28.Rxd8 Qxd8 29.axb3 Qe7 30.e6 Ra6 (D) 1+-tR-+-mK-! 30...Rxb3 31.Rc1 h6 32.Rc8 Rb1+ 33.Kh2 Re1 34.Re8 Qd6+ 35.Qg3 is curtains. xabcdefghy 36.Qc8+? XABCDEFGHY White falls to Black's clever, last trap. 8-+-+-sn-mk( 36.Qc5 was decisive: 36...Qxc5+ (36...Qe4 37.f8Q+ Rxf8 38.Qxf8+ Kh7 39.Qc5) 7+-+-wqPzpp' 37.Rxc5 Rf8 38.Rxb5. 6r+-+P+-+& 36...Kh7! Not of course 36...Rxc8? 37.Rxc8+ Kh7 5+p+-+-+-% 38.f8N+!! Kg8 39.Ng6+ Kh7 40.Rh8 #. 37.Qxa8?! 4-+-+-+QzP$ 37.Qc3 Qxh4 38.Rf1 Ng4 39.Qh3 Qxh3 3+P+-+-+-# 40.gxh3 Ne5 41.Rc1 g6 42.Rc5 Nxf7 43.exf7 Rf8 44.Rxb5 Rxf7 45.fxg6+ Kxg6 2-+-+-zPP+" was also leading to a draw, but White should 1+-+-tR-mK-! have tried it. 37...Qd4+ 38.Kf1 Qf4+? xabcdefghy Black blunders on his turn. He could have Now it seems that Black will get the achieved an undeserved draw with the important e6-pawn and probably the game, simple 38...Qd3+!. but the great Viktor had a different opinion! 39.Ke2 Qe5+ 40.Kd1 31.f4!! h6 Now White can avoid the perpetual check as After the ‘obvious’ 31...Rxe6 and the forced his king escapes to the queenside, so Black continuation 32.Rxe6 Qxe6 (32...Nxe6 resigned. 33.Qxe6) 33.Qxe6 Nxe6 34.f5 Nf8 35.h5! 1-0 g6 (35...h6 36.g4! g6 37.f6) 36.h6!! gxf5 37.Kf2, White wins as he will capture with his king the black b-pawn, allowing his own b-pawn to queen. In the meantime Black can SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 15 Hanging a Rook Rooks are quite valuable pieces and in 34.Rc2 Qa1! -+) 32...Qxc6 33.Rxd2 Qc1+ general the loss of one of them without 34.Kh2 Qxd2 35.Qb8 Rxc7 36.Qxc7 Qxf2 sufficient ‘compensation’ is leading towards =. to a defeat. 30...Qa4 (D) But there are certain cases when a rook can be ‘hanged’ in a simple position, when XABCDEFGHY no compensation can be seen, at least in an 8-+r+-+k+( obvious way. In such a case, the usual target as a 7+-zPr+-zp-' compensating factor is the opposite king and 6-wQR+-+-zp& his weakness to defend. The hanged rook is luring an important 5zp-+-zp-+-% defending piece to an awkward square and 4q+-+-+-+$ then the job is smoothly done! The following is a rather old but still very 3+-+-zP-+P# impressive example: 2-+-zp-zPP+" □ Korchnoi Viktor (2665) 1+-+R+-mK-! ■ Spassky Boris (2630) Belgrade (7) 11.1977 ○ xabcdefghy 31.Rxd2! Rxd2 32.Qb7 Rdd8 33.cxd8Q+ XABCDEFGHY Rxd8 34.Rc7 8-+r+-+k+( And White won. 34...Qa1+ 35.Kh2 e4 36.Qxe4 Qf6 37.f4 7+-zPr+-zp-' Qf8 38.Ra7 Qc5 39.Qb7 Qc3 40.Qe7 Rf8 6-wQR+-+-zp& 41.e4 Qd4 42.f5 h5 43.Rxa5 Qd2 44.Qe5 Qg5 45.Ra6 Rf7 46.Rg6 Qd8 47.f6 h4 5zp-+-zp-+-% 48.fxg7 4-+-+-+-+$ 1-0 3+-+-zP-+-# 2q+-zp-zPPzP" 1+-+R+-mK-! Next comes one of the most beautiful xabcdefghy example; one that won the best game prize Both sides have a quite dangerous passed of 2015: pawn, ready to queen or win material. But how to proceed? Isn’t 30.Qb7, wins on the □ Khismatullin Denis (2653) spot? ■ Eljanov Pavel (2727) 30.h3!! Jerusalem (10) 06.03.2015 ○ Hard to believe that 30.Qb7? doesn't win It seems that White has to be satisfied with a especially after 30...Qa1? 31.Qxc8+ Kh7 draw, as any rook move could be followed 32.Qh8+! (32.Rxh6+ Kxh6 33.Qh8+ Kg6 by 44...d2, when White would be in trouble. 34.Qe8+ Kh6 35.Qe6+ Kh7 36.Qh3+ Kg6 Thinking a bit deeper, White found out that 37.Qg4+ Kh7 38.Rxa1 +-) 32...Kxh8 the black king is in trouble and has been 33.Rxh6+ gxh6 34.c8Q+ Kg7 35.Qxd7+ Kf6 caught around mating nets. Well, a top GM 36.Rxa1 +-. But Black had the resource can calculate accurate and find out things 30...Qa4!! 31.Qxc8+ Kh7 32.h3 (32.Rxh6+ that ‘ordinary’ players can’t; that's the gxh6 -+ ; 32.Qg8+ Kxg8 33.c8Q+ Kh7 reason why we call them top! SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 16 White wins; the threats of Qf4 or f4, are XABCDEFGHY decisive! 8-+-+-wQ-+( 48...Rf6 48...Kh6 49.Qf8+ Kh5 (49...Kg5 50.Qf4+ 7+-+-+p+p' Kh5 51.g4+ Kh4 52.Qh6 #) 50.g4+ Kh4 6-zpPtr-+p+& 51.Qh6 #. 49.f4+ Kh6 50.Qxf6 Qe2 51.Qf8+ Kh5 5+-+-+-mk-% 52.Qg7! h6 53.Qe5+ Kh4 54.Qf6+ Kh5 4-+-+-+-+$ 55.f5! gxf5 56.Qxf5+ Kh4 57.Qg6 1-0 3+-+pzP-+P# The last one is quite impressive as well: 2-+q+-zPP+" 1+-+R+K+-! □ Van Foreest Jorden (2612) ■ Fedoseev Vladimir (2724) xabcdefghy Wijk aan Zee (6) 18.01.2019 ○ 44.Kg1!! A great resource! White sacrifices a rook, XABCDEFGHY after which Black's king can't get out of the 8-+-+r+k+( mating net created by White's army. 44...Qxd1+? 7zpl+-zP-+-' Black should have rejected the ‘gift’. 6-zp-+-+p+& 44...Qxc6 45.Qxf7 Rf6 46.Qe7 Kh6 47.Rxd3, is winning for White, but he had a defence 5+-+-+-+-% by 44...Rd5!! 45.Kh2! (45.Qxf7 Qxd1+ 46.Kh2 Rf5 =) 45...Kf6!! (45...Qxd1? 46.c7 4-+-wQ-+-+$ +- ; 45...Qxc6? 46.Qg7!! +-), when White 3zP-+-+-vLP# has a strong attack but not a forced win. 45.Kh2 Rxc6 2-zPqzp-+PmK" 45...d2 46.Qxd6 Kh6 47.c7 Qc2 48.Qf8+ 1+-+-+-tR-! Kg5 49.f4+ Kf6 50.Qh8+ Ke7 51.Qd8+ Ke6 52.c8Q+ +- ; 45...Rd5 46.c7 Qc2 47.c8Q xabcdefghy Qxc8 48.Qxc8 d2 49.f4+ Kf6 50.Qc6+ +-. A quite fresh example. It looks like White 46.Qe7+ Kh6 47.Qf8+ Kg5 (D) should have an easy day, but the threat of ...d1Q, is always annoying him... So, he XABCDEFGHY found the right path! 8-+-+-wQ-+( 39.Rd1!! A brilliancy! 7+-+-+p+p' 39...Qc6 6-zpr+-+p+& White wins after the 'obvious' 39...Qxd1 40.Qc4+ Kg7 41.Be5+ Kh6 42.Qh4+ Qh5 5+-+-+-mk-% 43.Qf4+ Qg5 44.Qf8+ Kh5 45.g4+. 4-+-+-+-+$ 40.Rxd2 Rxe7 Now White is a good pawn up and the black 3+-+pzP-+P# king is rather weak. The end was: 41.Qg4 Qe4 42.Qg5 Rd7 43.Rf2 Rf7 2-+-+-zPPmK" 44.Qd8+ Kg7 45.Bf4 Qd5 46.Qb8! 1+-+q+-+-! And Black threw the towel in, as his king is rather vulnerable and there is no escape xabcdefghy anymore… 48.Qxf7! 1-0 SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 17 Knight Stalemate Most of the stalemate patterns already have been classified and can be learned XABCDEFGHY without too many efforts. 8-+-+-+-+( Some of them are extremely beautiful but there are also the ‘ordinary’ patterns, which 7+-+-+-+-' are not impressive but of course still quite 6-+-+-+-+& effective! A common one is the stalemate which is 5+-+-+-+-% constructed by the opponent united force of 4-+-+-+-+$ rook & knight, while the king can be involved as well. 3+-+k+n+-# The first two examples are surely not brilliances at all! The stronger sides just 2-+r+-+-+" relaxed too ‘much’, allowing their 1+-+-+K+-! opponents to escape with an undeserved stalemate! xabcdefghy Same situation here. Black moved without □ Smalec Joseph thinking, allowing the ‘nasty’ stalemate! ■ Van Stavoren J. 74...Ke3? Huron Valley (2) 1994 ○ ½-½

XABCDEFGHY Study 1 - Liburkin Mark 1928 ○ 8-+-+-+-+( XABCDEFGHY 7+-+-+-+-' 8-+-+-mk-+( 6-+-+-+-+& 7+-+-+-+-' 5+-+-+-+-% 6-+-+L+-+& 4-+-+-+-+$ 5+-+-+-+-% 3+-+-+K+-# 4n+-+-+-+$ 2-+-+-+Nmk" 3tr-+-+-+-# 1+-tR-+-+-! 2p+K+-+-tR" xabcdefghy 1+-+-+-+-! Of course here White will soon mate; the simplest is to move the rook in the first rank, xabcdefghy forcing 71...Kh3 72.Rh1 #. The other way is White seems to be lost but he found the way to move the knight to e3 or h4, or even to out! abandon it! But accidents happen... 1.Rh8+! Kg7 2.Rg8+ Kh7 3.Bxa2! Rxa2+ 71.Nf4? 4.Kb1 Rb2+ An 'ugly' move and the only one which The alternative is 4...Nc3+ 5.Kc1 Ra1+ produces stalemate! Black was just too (5...Kxg8 is stalemate) 6.Kb2 Rb1+ 7.Ka3 happy! Kxg8 and again stalemate! ½-½ 5.Ka1 Kxg8 Stalemate! □ Pelyushenko Anton (1845) ½-½ ■ Mercuri Delia (1499) Amantea (1) 29.08.2010 ● Study 2 - Topcejev L. 1927 ○ SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 18 (9...Ra8 10.Rb4 #) 10.Nb2+ Ka5 11.Rxb7. XABCDEFGHY 8.Nd6+ Kb8 8-+-+N+-+( 8...Kc7 9.Nb5+ +- ; 8...Ka6 9.Nc8+ +-. 9.Rg8+ Kc7 10.Nb5+ 7tr-+-+k+-' 1-0 6-+-+N+-+& Of course in chess there are not only 5+-+-+-+-% blunders or beautiful studies which rule the 4-+-mK-+R+$ game. Players are fighting over the board for 3+-+-+-+-# countless hours in difficult positions to achieve their aims and usually they get too 2-+-+-+-+" tired to keep a cool head. 1+-+-+-+-! The next game was played in the FIDE World Championship of 2017: xabcdefghy Here White's forces should prevail; he □ Buksa Nataliya (2302) should just avoid the exchange of the rooks. ■ Guramishvili Sopiko (2357) 1.Nd8+! Tehran (2) 16.02.2017 ○ Of course White should avoid the greedy but wrong 1.Rg7+? Kxe8 2.Rxa7, stalemate. XABCDEFGHY And note that any other knight move by 8-+-+-+-+( White would allow 1...Ra4+. 1...Kxe8! 7+-+-+-+-' 1...Kf8 2.Nd6 Ra4+ 3.Nc4 and White will 6-+-+-+-+& mate in 16 moves. 2.Rg8+ Kd7 3.Rg7+ Kd6! 5+-+-+-+-% The saving resource or not? 4.Nf7+! 4-+-+-+-mk$ 4.Rxa7? creates another mirror stalemate! 3+-+-sn-+-# 4...Kc7 5.Ne5+ Kb6 (D) XABCDEFGHY 2R+-+-mKr+" 8-+-+-+-+( 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 7tr-+-+-tR-' Here Black looked confident and happy... 6-mk-+-+-+& 126.Kxe3? And White 'believed' her opponent, 5+-+-sN-+-% blundering on the spot! Correct was 4-+-mK-+-+$ 126.Ke1! Rxa2, stalemate! 126...Rxa2 3+-+-+-+-# 0-1

2-+-+-+-+" Conclusion 1+-+-+-+-! The easy stalemate pattern that we have analysed with the above examples is one of xabcdefghy the easiest, but of course in the heat of the The bad placement of his pieces seals battle anything can go wrong! Black’s fate. In such a late stage of the game and with 6.Nc4+! Ka6 7.Rg6+ Kb7 no time left for serious thinking, sub- 7...Kb5 loses to 8.Rb6+ Ka4 9.Kc3 Rb7 conscious moving is the only solution…

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 19 An Important Rook Ending Of course all rooks ending are important and precise knowledge is more than needful, XABCDEFGHY especially when time controls are limited 8-+-+-+R+( and shorter. A valuable one is shown in the next 7mk-+-+-zP-' example; one that I have already come 6-+-+-+-+& across in my youth - this was unfortunately in the last century! 5+-mK-+-+-% The two greatest players of Yugoslavia 4-+p+-+r+$ were settings the cards: 3+-zP-+-+-# □ Ljubojevic Ljubomir (2590) ■ Gligoric Svetozar (2560) 2-+-+-+-+" Belgrade (9) 03.1979 ○ 1+-+-+-+-! XABCDEFGHY xabcdefghy 8-+-+-+R+( Here, zugzwang can no longer occur, as White cannot prevail over both the enemy 7+-+-+-+-' rook and king simultaneously. After 6-+k+-+P+& something like 70.Kc6, the black rook is freed from the defence of its c4-pawn, with a 5+-zp-+-+-% draw. 68.c4! 4-+-+-+r+$ And now White got it right! 3+KzP-+-+-# 68...Rg2 69.Kc3 Black resigned. The white king will attack 2-+-+-+-+" (via the centre) the c5-pawn and he will 1+-+-+-+-! capture it by means of zugzwang: 69...Rg3+ 70.Kd2 Ka7 71.Ke2 Kb7 72.Kf2 Rg5 xabcdefghy 73.Kf3 Ka7 74.Kf4 Rg6 75.Kf5 Rg1 76.Ke5 A position of highly importance, where two Kb7 77.Kd5 Rg5+ 78.Kd6 (D) chess giants were crossed swords! The black rook seems to be ideally placed, compared XABCDEFGHY to his counterpart, so in general Black 8-+-+-+R+( should be satisfied… 67.g7 7+k+-+-zP-' Chess Informant 27 annotators B.Milic and 6-+-mK-+-+& A.Bozic claimed that White could have won after 67.c4, but they were obviously wrong, 5+-zp-+-tr-% as after 67...Rg3+! 68.Kc2 (68.Ka4 Kb6 4-+P+-+-+$ 69.g7 Kb7 70.Kb5 Rg5 =) Black can opt for 68...Kd6! (68...Kb7? 69.Kd2 +-) 69.g7 Ke7 3+-+-+-+-# =. If the g7-pawn was an h one, then White could claim a winning position after 67.c4!. 2-+-+-+-+" 67...Kb7? 1+-+-+-+-! A position to remember, as here the final outcome can be determined, depending in xabcdefghy just a move… Here Black missed his 78...Ka7 79.Kc6. So Black decided to throw chances with 67...c4+! 68.Kb4 Kb7 69.Kc5 the towel in! Ka7 = (D) 1-0 SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 20 So, we analysed what is happening with □ Shen Yang (2322) the bishop-pawns on 4th vs 5th rank and 3rd ■ Hejazipour Mitra (2250) vs 4th rank. Tehran (3) 27.07.2018 ○ We also noted that the extra pawn is more valuable when it is based further away and XABCDEFGHY the passive rook is of no importance. 8R+-+-+-+( But it is time to check the 5th vs 6th rank case. 7+-+-+-mk-' 6P+-+-+-+& Analysis ○ XABCDEFGHY 5+-+-+p+-% 8R+-+-+-+( 4r+-+-zP-+$ 7zP-+-mK-mk-' 3+-+-mK-+-# 6r+-+-zp-+& 2-+-+-+-+" 5+-+-+P+-% 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 4-+-+-+-+$ A well-known already position. 3+-+-+-+-# 75.Kd3? A huge mistake. White had a simple win 2-+-+-+-+" with 75.a7! Kh7 76.Kd3 Kg7 77.Kc3 Kh7 1+-+-+-+-! 78.Kb3 Ra1 79.Kc4 Ra5 80.Kb4 Ra1 81.Kc5 Ra2 82.Kd5 Kg7 83.Ke5 Ra5+ xabcdefghy 84.Ke6 Kh7 85.Kf6 +-. A basic position to remember. As the white 75...Rxf4 pawn is already on its fourth rank, White Now it's a draw... wins by mainly transpose to a pawn ending. 76.Kc3 Rf3+ 77.Kb4 Rf1 78.Rc8 Ra1 1.Kd8! Ra1 79.Kb5 Kf6 80.Kb6 (D) There are no resources left for Black. If 1...Kh6 2.Kc7 Kg5 3.Rg8+ Kxf5 4.a8Q XABCDEFGHY Rxa8 5.Rxa8 Ke5 6.Kc6 f5 7.Kc5 Ke4 8-+R+-+-+( 8.Kc4 f4 9.Re8+ +- and if 1...Kf7 2.Rc8! Rxa7 3.Rc7+ Rxc7 4.Kxc7 Ke7 5.Kc6 +-. 7+-+-+-+-' 2.Rc8! 6PmK-+-mk-+& That's the trick! 2...Rd1+ 5+-+-+p+-% Or 2...Rxa7 3.Rc7+ Rxc7 4.Kxc7 +-. 4-+-+-+-+$ 3.Kc7 Rc1+ 4.Kd7 Rd1+ 5.Ke6 Re1+ 6.Kd5 Rd1+ 7.Ke4 3+-+-+-+-# 1-0 2-+-+-+-+" We will conclude with a game played just 1tr-+-+-+-! today (27.07.2018) in the Asian Nations Cup (Women - Rapid). xabcdefghy It seemed that the Chinese player had a 80...Kg5? black-out, while her opponent proved A natural move, which blunders the draw. helpful as well! Although the 'need' to advance the king is Without concrete knowledge you can’t obvious, Black had to opt for 80...Rb1+ play such endings - clock is ticking… 81.Kc6 Ra1 82.Kb7 Ke5 =. SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 21 81.Rc5? As the game was a rapid one, mistakes are Returning the favour in no time! 81.a7! coming more easily! Here Black could draw wins: 81...Kg4 (81...f4 82.Rc5+ Kg4 with 81...Kg4! 82.Ra5 Rb1+ 83.Kc7 Rh1 83.Ra5+-) 82.a8Q Rxa8 83.Rxa8 f4 84.Kc5 84.a7 Rh8 85.a8Q Rxa8 86.Rxa8 f4 87.Kd6 f3 85.Rf8 +-. f3 88.Ke5 f2 89.Rf8 Kg3 =. 81...Rb1+? (D) 82.Rb5! But now White wins. XABCDEFGHY 82...Ra1 83.Ra5 Rb1+ 84.Kc7 Rc1+ 8-+-+-+-+( Or 84...Rh1 85.a7 Rh8 86.a8Q Rxa8 87.Rxa8 f4 88.Kd6 f3 89.Ke5 Kg4 90.Ke4 7+-+-+-+-' +-. 6PmK-+-+-+& 85.Kd7 Rd1+ 86.Ke7 Re1+ 87.Kf7 Rh1 88.a7 Rh8 89.a8Q Rxa8 90.Rxa8 f4 5+-tR-+pmk-% 91.Ke6 f3 92.Ke5 Kg4 93.Ke4 f2 94.Rf8 4-+-+-+-+$ Kg3 95.Ke3 1-0 3+-+-+-+-# Conclusion 2-+-+-+-+" As we have already noted, the only way to 1+r+-+-+-! draw for the defending side is to keep the rd xabcdefghy enemy bishop-pawn back to its 3 rank.

Facing the World’s Number 2 Back in 2008 I was invited to play in the □ Grivas Efstratios (2509) prestigious Wijk aan Zee Corus (nowadays ■ Caruana Fabiano (2598) Tata Steel) event. D23 Wijk aan Zee (5) 17.01.2008 Among the various side events, the main 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 (D) dish was played over three GM-tournaments and I played in the C. I had the pleasure to XABCDEFGHY meet all top-players and even chatting and 8rsnlwqkvl-tr( cooperate with Magnus Carlsen (see previous e-mail correspondence), who won 7zpp+-zppzpp' the A-group. 6-+p+-sn-+& Fabiano Caruana (World’s number 2 today) was a coming youngster and he also 5+-+p+-+-% won the C-group. I had already quitted 4-+PzP-+-+$ professional chess, but I could still show some seeds of mastering! 3+-+-+N+-# This game was played on the day that Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943 - 2PzP-+PzPPzP" January 17, 2008) died and the sad new was 1tRNvLQmKL+R! announced before the round. Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the xabcdefghy eleventh FIDE World Chess Champion. 4.Qc2 Many consider him to be the greatest chess An interesting continuation, which strongly player of all time. reminds 'Catalan' pawn structures. Well, it wasn’t easy to concentrate after 4...dxc4 this, but life is going on… The principled replay. Our game was a strategical battle: 5.Qxc4 Bg4 SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 22 5...Bf5, is the most played variation, but 10.0-0 0-0 11.Rd1 += ½-½ Knezevic,M- F.Caruana used to employ the text. Garcia Palermo,C Bayamo 1985) 9.Bd2 Qd5 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 10.Qd3 Ne4 11.Be3 e6 12.Bg2 Qa5+ 13.Kf1 Another way to play is by 6...e6 7.g3 Qa5 Nef6 14.Bf4 Rd8 15.Qc2 Be7 16.Nd2 0-0 (7...Be7 8.Bg2 Qd5 9.0-0 0-0 10.b3 Nbd7 17.Bf3 c5 18.Nb3 Qa4 19.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Bb2 Qh5 12.Rfe1 Bh3 13.Bh1 Nd5 14.e4 20.Kg2 += Portisch,L-Kozomara,V Sarajevo += Moutousis,K-Ornithopoulos,N Ano 1963. Liosia 1992) 8.Bg2 Nbd7 9.0-0 Qh5 (9...Be7 c) 7...Qa5?! 8.Bg2 e5 9.0-0 Bd6 10.Qb3! +/- 10.Qb3 Qb6 11.a4 Qxb3 12.Nxb3 a5 13.Re1 Taimanov,M-Novopashin,A Yerevan 1962. Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Bb4 15.Rd1 0-0 16.Bd2 Bxd2 8.Bg2 Be7 (D) 17.Rxd2 += ½-½ Dreev,A-Morozevich,A Black can also opt for 8...Bd6 9.0-0 (9.Qb3 Tallinn 2003) 10.Re1 Rd8 11.Qb3 Nb6 Nb6 [9...Qb6?! 10.Nc4 Qxb3 11.Nxd6+ Ke7 12.e4 Be7 13.Qc3 Nfd7 14.b3 0-0 15.Bb2 12.axb3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Kxd6 14.Bd2 Rhd8 += Fedder,S-Bellon Lopez,J Groningen 15.Ba5 Nb6 16.e3 Nfd7 17.Ke2 e5 18.Rhd1 1970. +/- Razuvaev,Y-Pelletier,Y Biel 1995] 10.0- 7.g3 (D) 0 0-0 11.Nc4 Nxc4 12.Qxc4 Qa5 13.Bd2 Qh5 14.Bb4 Ne4 15.Bxd6 Nxd6 16.Qb4 XABCDEFGHY Rfd8 17.Rac1 Qb5 18.Qxb5 Nxb5 = ½-½ 8r+-wqkvl-tr( Andrianov,N-Kharitonov,A Jurmala 1983) 9...0-0 10.Qc2 Bc7 11.b3 e5 12.Bb2 += 7zpp+nzppzpp' Portisch,L-Polugaevsky,L Budapest 1963. 6-+p+-sn-+& XABCDEFGHY 5+-+-+-+-% 8r+-wqk+-tr( 4-+QzP-+l+$ 7zpp+nvlpzpp' 3+-+-+NzP-# 6-+p+psn-+& 2PzP-sNPzP-zP" 5+-+-+-+-% 1tR-vL-mKL+R! 4-+QzP-+l+$ xabcdefghy 3+-+-+NzP-# 7...e6 Many other alternatives have been tried 2PzP-sNPzPLzP" here: 1tR-vL-mK-+R! a) 7...Qc7 8.Bg2 (8.h3 Bf5 (8...Bxf3 9.Nxf3 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Qxe5 12.Bg2 += xabcdefghy Agrest,E-Hector,J Malmo/Copenhagen 9.Ne5!? 2004) 9.Bg2 Rd8 10.0-0 e5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 This active move looks like a better try than 12.Nxe5 Qxe5 13.Qb3 Rd7 14.Nf3 Qe6 9.0-0 Bh5 10.b4 (10.Qb3 Nb6 11.a4 a5 15.g4 Be4 16.Qe3 Bxf3 17.Bxf3 Bd6 12.Nb1 0-0 13.Rd1 Nbd5 14.Nc3 Ra6 15.e3 18.Qxe6+ fxe6 += Kamsky,G-Stripunsky,A Qb6 16.Qxb6 Rxb6 = ½-½ Yevseev,D- Philadelphia 2005) 8...e5? (8...e6 9.0-0 Be7 Najer,E Samara 2000) 10...Nb6 11.Qb3 Qd5 10.e4 +=) 9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Qxe5 = Peng Zhaoqin-Caruana,F Wijk aan Zee 11.Bxc6+! (11.h3? Bd7 12.Qb3 Bc5 oo 2008. Korchnoi,V-Bareev,E Enghien les Bains 9...Bh5 2003) 11...bxc6 12.Qxc6+ Ke7 13.Qb7+ 9...Nxe5? 10.dxe5, is simply losing a piece! Ke6 (13...Nd7? 14.Qb4+ Nc5 15.Qxg4 +-) 10.Nxd7 14.f3 Rb8 15.Qc6+ Qd6 16.Qc4+ Qd5 Not much is achieved by 10.Ndf3 Qa5+ 17.fxg4 +/-. 11.Bd2 Qd5 12.Qxd5 exd5 13.Bh3 Nb6 b) 7...Bxf3 8.Nxf3 Qa5+ (8...e6 9.Bg2 Bd6 14.b3 Ne4 = Agrest,E-Shirov,A Gibraltar SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 23 2006. 10...Nxd7 XABCDEFGHY 10...Qxd7 11.Nb3 0-0 12.0-0 +=, is 8r+-tr-+k+( playable. 11.0-0 0-0 12.Nb3 a5! 7+pwqnvlpzpp' A good and accurate idea, avoiding 12...Qb6 6-+p+-+-+& 13.e4 a5 14.Be3 a4 15.Nd2 += Vaganian,R- Kulaots,K Moscow 2005. 5zp-+-+-+l% 13.a4 e5! (D) 4P+QsN-+-+$ Black is fighting for the centre. Passive is 13...h6 14.Bd2 Qb6 15.Rfe1 Rfe8 16.Rac1 3+-+-+-zP-# Bf8 17.Bc3 Qc7 18.Nd2 Qb6 19.Qb3 Qxb3 20.Nxb3 Bb4 21.Bxb4 axb4 22.a5 += 2-zP-+PzPLzP" Dreev,A-Dobrov,V Internet 2006. 1tR-+RvL-mK-! XABCDEFGHY xabcdefghy 8r+-wq-trk+( 17...Bf6 18.Bc3 Ne5! 18...Nb6?!, would hand the advantage to 7+p+nvlpzpp' White after 19.Qc5! (19.Qb3 Nd5) 19...Nd5 (19...Bg4 20.h3! [20.Nb5 Rxd1+ 21.Rxd1 6-+p+-+-+& Rd8 22.Rd3 Rxd3 23.exd3 Nxa4 24.Qc4 5zp-+-zp-+l% Qd7 25.Qxa4 cxb5 26.Qxa5 Qxd3 =] 20...Nd7 21.Qa3 Bh5 22.Rac1 +=) 20.Nb5! 4P+QzP-+-+$ (20.Nxc6 Nxc3 21.Rxd8+ Rxd8 22.Qxh5 3+N+-+-zP-# Nxe2+ 23.Qxe2 bxc6 24.Rc1 c5 25.Qb5 Bd4 =) 20...cxb5 21.Rxd5 Qxc5 22.Rxc5 +=. The 2-zP-+PzPLzP" same can be said for 18...Bg6?! 19.Rd2 1tR-vL-+RmK-! (19.e4! +=) 19...Ne5 20.Qb3 +=. 19.Qb3 xabcdefghy 19.Qc5, cannot be dangerous after 19...Rd7 14.Rd1!? (19...b6!? 20.Qa3 c5! 21.Nb5 Rxd1+ A home prepared novelty! Not much is 22.Rxd1 Rd8! 23.Nxc7 [23.Rxd8+? Qxd8 14.Qc2 Bg6 15.e4 Bb4 16.Rd1 Qe7 =, or 24.Qb3 Bxe2 -/+ ; 23.Re1 Qd7 =] 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Qc2 Bg6 16.e4 Qd3 23...Rxd1+ 24.Bf1 Bxe2 oo/=) 20.Nxc6 17.Qxd3 Nxd3 18.Bd2 Bb4 19.Bc3 f6 = (20.Nf3 Bxf3 21.exf3 Nd3 oo) 20...Rxd1+ Goldin,A-Bareev,E Beersheba 2005. 21.Rxd1 bxc6 22.f4 Bxe2 23.Bxe5 Bxe5 14...Qc7! 24.Rd2 Bxf4 25.Rxe2 Bd6 26.Qxc6 Qxc6 Accurate and good. Wrong would be the 27.Bxc6 =. active 14...Qb6?!, when after 15.Be3! Bxe2 19...Nd7! (D) (15...Qb4?! 16.Qxb4 Bxb4 17.d5! Bxe2 With this simple retreat, Black solves all his 18.dxc6! Bxd1 19.Rxd1 +/-) 16.Qxe2 Qxb3 problems. 17.d5 oo/=, White would have excellent compensation for the pawn and the initiative. 15.Bd2 Rfd8 16.Be1 Black equalises easily after 16.Bc3 Nb6 17.Qd3 Nd5 =. 16...exd4 17.Nxd4 (D) White can claim nothing by the opening and things are far from easy... An opening success by F.Caruana. SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 24 25.Bxb4 Na6 26.Bc3 Bxg2 27.Kxg2 +=, nor XABCDEFGHY is 23...Ne4?! 24.Bxe4 Bxe4 25.Ne6! Rxd2 8r+-tr-+k+( 26.Rxd2 Bf5 (26...Bd5?! 27.Qc5 Qxc5 28.Nxc5 +/-) 27.Nc5 Bxc3 28.Qxc3 +=. But 7+pwqn+pzpp' Black could also go for 23...Rd7 24.b4 Nxa4 6-+p+-vl-+& 25.bxa5 Qc5 26.Qxc5 Nxc5 27.Bb4 Na6 28.Ba3 Re8 =. 5zp-+-+-+l% 24.Nc2! 4P+-sN-+-+$ Time to relief the pressure in the centre by some exchanges. 24.e3 Ne4 25.Bxe4 Bxe4, 3+QvL-+-zP-# would only favour Black due to the weaknesses on the light squares. 2-zP-+PzPLzP" 24...Bxc3 1tR-+R+-mK-! This makes things easier. Interesting was 24...Ne4 25.Bxe4 Rxe4 26.Qa2 oo, when the xabcdefghy control of the open d-file compensates the 20.Rd2 black bishop pair. As White as gained nothing out of the 25.bxc3 (D) opening, he should probably go for the draw by repetition by 20.Qc4 =. But I wanted to XABCDEFGHY try... 8r+-+r+k+( 20...Qb6! 21.Qa2?! Too optimistic. Of course bad was 21.Rad1? 7+p+-+pzpp' Bxd4 22.Qxb6 Bxb6 (22...Nxb6? 23.Bxd4 6-wqp+-+l+& Nxa4 24.b3 Bxe2 25.Re1 +/-) 23.Rxd7 Bxe2 24.R1d2 Rxd7 (24...Ba6? 25.Bf1 =) 25.Rxd7 5zp-sn-+-+-% Rd8 -/+, but White should have opted for 21.Qc4 Ne5 22.Qb3 Nd7, preserving the 4P+Q+-+-+$ equality. 3+-zP-+-zP-# 21...Nc5 22.Rad1 (D) XABCDEFGHY 2-+NtRPzPLzP" 8r+-tr-+k+( 1+-+R+-mK-! xabcdefghy 7+p+-+pzpp' 25...Bxc2 6-wqp+-vl-+& Played safe. Nothing is offered by 25...Qb3 26.Qxc5 Bxc2 27.Ra1 h6 28.e3 =, or 5zp-sn-+-+l% 25...Nb3 26.Rd7 Nc5 27.R7d2 =, but Black 4P+-sN-+-+$ could try 25...Ne4 26.Bxe4 Rxe4 27.Rd4 Rae8 28.Rxe4 Bxe4 29.Ne3 oo. 3+-vL-+-zP-# 26.Rxc2 Rad8! 26...Qb3?! 27.Qxb3 Nxb3 28.Rb2 Nc5 2QzP-tRPzPLzP" 29.Rd4! Re7 30.Rc4, can only favour White. 1+-+R+-mK-! 27.Rcd2 Rxd2 28.Rxd2 Qb1+ 29.Bf1 Qf5 30.Bg2 Qe5?! (D) xabcdefghy Logical would be to repeat the position with 22...Bg6! 30...Qb1+, with a draw. But here Black The black bishop has nothing to wait for on became optimistic, making me quite happy, h5, so it takes good control of the e4-square. as I have seen a lethal move - at least this 23.Qc4 Re8!? was what I (wrongly) thought during the 23...Be4?!, is not good after 24.b4! axb4 game… SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 25 +/-. XABCDEFGHY 33.Rd8+ Re8 34.Rd7 Re7 (D) 8-+-+r+k+( XABCDEFGHY 7+p+-+pzpp' 8-+-+-+k+( 6-+p+-+-+& 7+p+Rtrpzpp' 5zp-sn-wq-+-% 6-+p+-+-+& 4P+Q+-+-+$ 5zp-+-wq-+-% 3+-zP-+-zP-# 4P+Q+-+-+$ 2-+-tRPzPLzP" 3+-zP-+-zP-# 1+-+-+-mK-! 2-+-+PzP-zP" xabcdefghy 1+-+-+-mK-! 31.Bd5! Obviously missed by Black, who looked like xabcdefghy shocked here! At this moment I thought that 35.Rd8+ I will win, assisted by the long thinking of There are no tactics to take advantage of the my opponent who was left with just 5 'weak' black back rank. 35.Qc5?, fails to minutes to play 10 moves till the first time 35...Qxc5 36.Rd8+ Re8 37.Rxe8+ Qf8 control. 38.Rxf8+ Kxf8, when Black wins the pawn 31...Ne6! endgame! Best, after a well spend amount of precious 35...Re8 36.Rd7 Re7 time. Bad was 31...cxd5 32.Qxc5 +/-. And a draw agreed by repetition, as both 32.Bxe6 Rxe6! sides have nothing better to show. Again best. White would be on the top after Thinking Times: 1.57-1.56. 32...fxe6? 33.Rd7 +/-, or 32...Qxe6? 33.Qc5 ½-½

Altibox Norway Chess The 7th Norway Chess tournament in The time control of the ten-player round- Stavanger (3-14 June) was experimenting robin tournament was also reduced to with a novel anti-draw format, where a two hours per player per game, with no result is guaranteed in every pairing of every bonus per move. round, thanks to a tiebreak in the case of a drawn classical game.

The 2019 Altibox Norway Chess Tournament officially kicked off June 3rd, in Stavanger. The traditional Blitz Tournament, SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 26 which takes place in lieu of the drawing of format - in case of a draw, an Armageddon lots, was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. game decides the faith of the match-up The Frenchman overpowered Magnus (more on that below) getting Black might be Carlsen in their final round deciding match- considered an advantage. up and became the highest-rated player in Perhaps more noteworthy, however, was the blitz ratings list. Levon Aronian and the fact that Vachier-Lagrave has now taken Carlsen shared second place. over Carlsen in the Blitz live ratings list. The main purpose of the blitz tournament Before these nine rounds, Carlsen was only was to give the players the chance to pick two points above Vachier-Lagrave, while their seeding numbers in the main event. In now MVL (2947.8) is twenty-eight points the past, those on top naturally decided to ahead of the World Champion (2919.6). get five games with White, but with the new Table and the important game follow:

Stavanger Blitz 2019 - Average Rating 2784 - Category 22 N Surname-Name Fed Rat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 P 1 Vachier-Lagrave M. FRA 2779 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 ½ 1 7½ 2 Aronian L. ARM 2752 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 6 3 Carlsen M. NOR 2875 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 6 4 Mamedyarov S. AZE 2774 0 ½ 0 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 5 5 Ding L. CHN 2805 0 ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 4½ 6 So W. USA 2754 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 3½ 7 Yu Y. CHN 2738 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 0 3½ 8 Caruana F. USA 2819 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 3 9 Anand V. IND 2767 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 3 10 Grischuk A. RUS 2775 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 3

□ Carlsen Magnus (2875) 26.Rb8? ■ Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (2779) Here White could have crowned his B50 Stavanger (9) 03.06.2019 advantage by 26.Rg3! Kh8 27.f5 +-. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.b4 cxb4 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd3 26...Rxb8 27.Rxb8 Re8 28.f5? e5 6.a3 exd4 7.Nxd4 bxa3 8.0-0 Be7 And again 28.Nd7! +/-, would be decisive. 9.Bxa3 0-0 10.Nc3 Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.f4 Instead the World Champion blundered his d5 13.e5 Bxa3 14.Rxa3 Qb6+ 15.Kh1 Ng4 c5-knight! 16.Qe1 Qc5 17.Rb3 f5 18.h3 Nh6 19.Na4 28...Qxc5 Qe7 20.Qc3 Qc7 21.Nc5 Nf7 22.e6 Nd6 And as White’s piece is gone, the rest was a 23.Qe5 Qe7 24.Rfb1 Ne4 25.Bxe4 fxe4 (D) formality… A pity for Magnus Carlsen, but In the last round White has built a nearly no excuses! decisive advantage, but he lost his way… 29.Qc7 Qf8 30.Qxc6 Bd7 31.Qxd7 Rxb8 32.e7 Qe8 33.Qxd5+ Kh8 34.Qe5 Rb6 XABCDEFGHY 35.Qxe4 Rf6 8r+l+-trk+( 0-1

7zp-+-wq-zpp' In the main event, if two players drew 6-+p+P+-+& their classical game they had to go into Armageddon-overtime: White had ten 5+-sNpwQ-+-% minutes, Black had seven, and no increment 4-+-+pzP-+$ before move 60, and White was ‘obliged’ to win. 3+R+-+-+P# In chess, three results are possible: White wins, Black wins or the game is a draw. In 2-+P+-+P+" today's top tournaments the last result is the 1+R+-+-+K! most common but it is also the most xabcdefghy unpopular because games without winners SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 27 and losers are often considered to be However, a draw yielded half a point - and uninteresting and boring. chances for more. Thanks to Armageddon. Thus, there have always been attempts to Because the winner of the Armageddon reduce the number of draws and the wish to game that followed after a draw in the have a decision in each and every encounter classical games chalked up another point. led the organisers of the Altibox Norway That is, drawing the classical game and Chess Tournament in Stavanger resort to winning the Armageddon game gave 1½ of Armageddon, blitz games in which Black possible 2 points. has less time on the clock but only needs to Time will tell whether this mode of play draw the game to win the encounter. will become popular, whether it is fair or Traditionally, in chess a win is rewarded whether the Armageddon mode (10 minutes with a full point, after a draw the point is for White, 7 for Black) they chose in split, and losing a game brings you zero Norway favours White or Black, and how points. At the Altibox tournament the winner the Armageddon tiebreak will affect strategy of the classical game was rewarded with two and game plans in the classical games. But points while the loser still got nothing. the first blood was rather negative…

Stavanger Classical Standings 2019 - Average Rating 2784 - Category 22 N Surname-Name Fed Rat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 P 1 Ding L. CHN 2805 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5½ 2 Carlsen M. NOR 2875 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 5½ 3 So W. USA 2754 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 5 4 Caruana F. USA 2819 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 5 5 Aronian L. ARM 2752 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 4½ 6 Yu Y. CHN 2738 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 4½ 7 Anand V. IND 2767 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 4 8 Vachier-Lagrave M. FRA 2779 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 4 9 Grischuk A. RUS 2775 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 3½ 10 Mamedyarov S. AZE 2774 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ 3½

Stavanger Final Standings 2019 - Average Rating 2784 - Category 22 N Surname-Name Fed Rat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 P 1 Carlsen M. NOR 2875 1½ 2 ½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 2 13½ 2 Aronian L. ARM 2752 ½ 1½ 0 1½ 1½ ½ 1½ 2 1½ 10½ 3 Yu Y. CHN 2738 0 ½ 1½ 0 1½ 1½ 1½ 2 2 10½ 4 Caruana F. USA 2819 1½ 2 ½ ½ 0 2 1½ ½ 1½ 10 5 So W. USA 2754 ½ ½ 2 1½ ½ 1½ ½ 1½ 1½ 10 6 Ding L. CHN 2805 ½ ½ ½ 2 1½ ½ ½ 2 ½ 8½ 7 Vachier-Lagrave M. FRA 2779 ½ 1½ ½ 0 ½ 1½ ½ 1½ 1½ 8 8 Anand V. IND 2767 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 0 1½ 8 9 Mamedyarov S. AZE 2774 ½ 0 0 1½ ½ 0 ½ 2 ½ 5½ 10 Grischuk A. RUS 2775 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1½ ½ ½ 1½ 5½

● Each player had 2 hours on the clock per point. game, without any increments. ● The Armageddon games were not added ● 2 points were given for victory, ½ point to the rating of the players, only contributed for draw and 0 points for loss. to the results’ list in the tournament, which ● The players that had games that end with a was FIDE rated. draw would continue in an Armageddon ● Players got the following points per round play-off only a few minutes after their game. (total): The player with the white pieces would ○ Victory main game: 2 points. continue with white in the Armageddon ○ Loss main game: 0 points. game. With this, there was a winner in each ○ Draw main game & loss Armageddon: ½ game due to the fact that black pieces were point. winning if the game ended in a draw. The ○ Draw main game & victory Armageddon: winner in the Armageddon play-off got 1 1½ points. SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 28 □ Anand Vishwanathan (2767) ■ Mamedyarov Sakhriyar (2754) XABCDEFGHY B31 Stavanger (2) 05.06.2019 8-+-+-+-+( 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.0-0 Bg7 6.Re1 Nh6 7.c3 0-0 8.h3 f5 9.e5 7+-+-+-+-' Nf7 10.d3 Rb8 11.b3 d6 12.Bf4 h6 13.h4 6r+-mK-+k+& e6 14.exd6 g5 15.Be5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Qxd6 17.Qe2 Bxe5 18.Qxe5 Qxe5 19.Rxe5 Rd8 5+-+-+-+-% 20.Rxc5 Rxd3 21.Na3 Bd7 22.Ra5 Rb7 4-+-+-+-+$ 23.hxg5 hxg5 24.c4 Kg7 25.c5 Kf6 26.Nc4 e5 27.Nd6 Rc7 28.f3 Ke6 29.Re1 Rd5 3+-zP-+-+-# 30.b4 Rd4 31.a3 g4 32.Ra6 Kd5 33.Nf7 (D) 2-+-+-+-tR" XABCDEFGHY 1+-+-+-+-! 8-+-+-+-+( xabcdefghy 52.Kd5 Kf7 53.Re2 Ra8 54.c4 Rd8+ 7zp-trl+N+-' 55.Kc6 Rc8+ 56.Kb5 Rb8+ 57.Ka6 Rc8 6R+p+-+-+& 58.Re4 Kf6 59.Kb7 Kf5 60.Rd4 1-0 5+-zPkzpp+-% □ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar (2774) 4-zP-tr-+p+$ ■ Aronian Levon (2752) 3zP-+-+P+-# A28 Stavanger (3) 06.06.2019 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4 2-+-+-+P+" 5.Qc2 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 Qe7 7.d4 Ne4 8.Qd3 1+-+-tR-mK-! exd4 9.Nxd4 0-0 10.Be2 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 b6 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Rd1 d6 14.f3 Ng5 15.b4 xabcdefghy Rae8 16.a4 f5 17.c5 dxc5 18.bxc5 Ne6 33...e4 34.fxg4 Bc8 19.Bc4 (D) 0-1 XABCDEFGHY □ Caruana Fabiano (2819) 8-+-+rtrk+( ■ Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (2792) B97 Stavanger (2) 05.06.2019 7zplzp-wq-zpp' 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 6-zp-+n+-+& 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5 Be7 11.fxe6 Bxe6 5+-zP-+p+-% 12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Bc4 Nbd7 14.Bxe6 Nc5 4P+LwQ-+-+$ 15.Bc4 Ncxe4 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Bf7+ Kxf7 18.Qd5+ Ke8 19.Qxe4 Qa5+ 20.Kd1 Qxg5 3+-+-zPP+-# 21.Rxb7 Rf8 22.Re1 Rf7 23.Rxe7+ Rxe7 24.Qxa8+ Kf7 25.Rf1+ Kg6 26.Qxa6 Qe5 2-+-+-+PzP" 27.Qd3+ Kh6 28.c3 Qxh2 29.Qd2+ Kg6 1tR-vLR+-mK-! 30.Rf4 Re6 31.Qc2+ Kh6 32.Qf2 Qh5+ 33.Kd2 Qd5+ 34.Kc1 g6 35.a4 Qe5 36.Kc2 xabcdefghy g5 37.Rd4 Kg6 38.Qf3 h5 39.Rd5 Qe2+ 19...Rd8 20.Bxe6+ Qxe6 21.Qxd8 Rxd8 40.Qxe2 Rxe2+ 41.Rd2 Re6 42.a5 h4 22.Rxd8+ Kf7 23.Rd1 bxc5 24.Re1 c4 43.Kb3 g4 44.Kb4 Re1 45.Ra2 Rb1+ 25.Bd2 g5 26.Bc3 g4 27.fxg4 Qe4 28.Ra2 46.Kc4 h3 47.gxh3 gxh3 48.a6 Rb8 49.Kd5 Qd3 29.Ba1 c3 30.Rf2 Be4 31.Rc1 c2 Ra8 50.Kxd6 h2 51.Rxh2 Rxa6+ (D) 0-1 SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 29 Stavanger Armageddon 2019 - Average Rating 2784 - Category 22 N Surname-Name Fed Rat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 P 1 Aronian L. ARM 2752 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 4/7 2 Carlsen M. NOR 2875 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 5/7 3 Mamedyarov S. AZE 2774 0 ½ ½ 1 0 2/5 4 Vachier-Lagrave M. FRA 2779 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 4/8 5 Ding L. CHN 2805 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 2/7 6 So W. USA 2754 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 3½/8 7 Yu Y. CHN 2738 ½ 1 1 1 1 4½/5 8 Caruana F. USA 2819 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 3½/6 9 Anand V. IND 2767 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1 3½/8 10 Grischuk A. RUS 2775 0 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 2/7

□ Carlsen Magnus (2875) bxc2 30.Nc3 Nf5 31.Bd2 +/- Leko,P- ■ Grischuk Alexander (2775) Topalov,V Porto Carras 2011) 15.0-0 Ba6 D85 Stavanger (3) 06.06.2019 16.Bxa6 Qxa6, was fine for Black in 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 Kasimdzhanov,R-Grischuk,A Dubai 2014. 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Rc1 (D) 11.d5 (D) 11.Ng5 Na6!? 12.h3 (12.d5 c4!?) 12...Bd7 XABCDEFGHY 13.Bd3 Rac8 14.d5 c4, was at least fine for 8rsnlwqk+-tr( Black in Karjakin,S-Grischuk,A Stavanger 7zpp+-zppvlp' 2014. 6-+-+-+p+& XABCDEFGHY 5+-zp-+-+-% 8rsn-+-trk+( 4-+-zPP+-+$ 7zpp+-zppvlp' 3+-zP-vL-+-# 6-+-+-+p+& 2P+-+-zPPzP" 5wq-zpP+-+-% 1+-tRQmKLsNR! 4-+-+P+l+$ xabcdefghy 3+-zP-vLN+-# 8...Qa5 2P+-wQ-zPPzP" 8...0-0 9.Nf3 Bg4 10.Be2 Qa5 11.0-0 Qxa2 1+-tR-mKL+R! 12.Rb1 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.Rxb7 Rab8 15.Rxb8 Rxb8 16.h3 Bd7 17.d5 Ne5 18.Bf4 xabcdefghy Nxf3+ 19.Bxf3 +=, was Carlsen,M-Vachier- 11...b5 Lagrave,M Wijk aan Zee 2015. 11...Bxf3?!, wouldn't be that good. After 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Nf3 Bg4 12.gxf3 b5 13.f4 +/-, White is planning to A risky approach. 10...Rd8, is more common block the important g7-bishop by e5. Note and has been played by A.Grischuk in the that 13.h4 is not that good because Black is past: 11.d5 e6 12.Bg5 f6 13.Be3 Nc6 14.Bd3 in time with 13...b4. Also possible is b6! (14...exd5 15.exd5 c4 16.Bxc4 Be6 11...Nd7 12.c4 Qa3 13.Be2 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 17.Rd1 Ne7 18.dxe6! Rxd2 19.Rxd2 Qxc3 Bd4 15.Bxd4 cxd4 16.0-0 Ne5 17.Qxd4 20.Bb3 Qc1+ [20...Qa1+? 21.Bd1 Nf5 22.0- Nxf3+ 18.gxf3 Qxf3 19.Rc3 Qe2 20.f4 oo 0 Qc3 23.Bb3 +- Lupulescu, C-Bukavshin,I Kramnik,V-Grischuk,A Stavanger 2014. Aix les Bains 2011] 21.Rd1 Qc3+ 22.Rd2 12.Be2 Qc1+ 23.Rd1 Qc3+ 24.Ke2 a5 25.Rd7 a4 12.Bxc5 would not impress 'Gruenfeld 26.Rc1 Qb2+ [26...Qb4 is probably a better Defence' players too much: 12...Bxf3 try for Black, though White is still the one 13.gxf3 Rc8 14.Bb4 (14.Bd4 Bxd4 15.Qxd4 pressing] 27.Rc2 Qb1 28.Nd2 axb3 29.Nxb1 Qxa2 16.Bh3 Rc4 oo) 14...Qc7 and thanks to

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 30 his active pieces and better play on the dark preventing e5 but not doing much else. Now squares, Black gets the typical White can play for h4-h5 or even f5 and compensation. things start to look really dangerous for the 12...Nd7 13.0-0 Bxf3!? black king. 16...Qa3!?, was probably This is connected with the following needed: 17.Bf3 Rab8 (17...Nc5 18.e5 Nd3 queenside play. Instead 13...c4 14.Nd4 Bxe2 [18...f6?? 19.d6 +-] 19.Rb1 Rab8 20.Bd4 15.Qxe2 Ne5 16.f4 Nd3 17.Rc2, or +=) 18.Rc2! (18.h4!?, looks like an 17.Rb1!?, looks dubious for Black. interesting try with good attacking chances; 14.Bxf3 c4 and in case of 18.e5 Nb6 oo) 18...Nb6 With ...Nc5/e5 ideas and the pressure on c3 - 19.Rb1 +=. 16...Rac8, is another try: 17.Bf3 Black looks fine here. Nc5 18.e5 Nd3 19.Rb1 +=. 15.Be2 (D) 17.Bf3 Logical; White makes room for the f4 17.f5, was also tempting, but the FIDE advance. World Champion is in no need to rush. XABCDEFGHY 17...Qa3 (D) 8r+-+-trk+( XABCDEFGHY 7zp-+nzppvlp' 8r+-tr-+k+( 6-+-+-+p+& 7zp-+-zppvlp' 5wqp+P+-+-% 6-sn-+-+p+& 4-+p+P+-+$ 5+p+P+-+-% 3+-zP-vL-+-# 4-+p+PzP-+$ 2P+-wQLzPPzP" 3wq-zP-vLL+-# 1+-tR-+RmK-! 2P+-wQ-+PzP" xabcdefghy 1+-tR-+RmK-! 15...Rfd8 xabcdefghy This is a novelty but it looks like the wrong White has the bishop pair and strong centre, rook. Not only will this rook be missed on but Black's queenside play cannot be the kingside, but also the rook on a8 could underestimated. sometimes (after f4/e5) become a target. 18.h4! 15...Rad8, looked more normal: 16.f4 Qa3 Planning to streap the black king! Now 17.Bf3 Nc5 18.e5 f6 oo. Here we observe a Black's position looks critical. clear difference between the two rook 18...e6 moves. 15...Qa3, has been tried instead of The text doesn't achieve its aim as White's the text: 16.f4 Nc5 17.e5 Rad8 18.Bf3 f6 attack is faster. Black had to try 18...b4, 19.e6 f5 20.Bd4 Bxd4+ 21.Qxd4 Nxe6 when the most direct would be 19.h5 Bxc3 22.Qe5 Ng7 23.Rfe1 Rfe8 24.h4 h5 25.Rcd1 20.Qf2 Bg7 21.hxg6 hxg6 22.Bg4, with a Qc5+ 26.Kf1 Qd6 27.Qd4 a5 28.a4 b4 strong attack. 29.cxb4 Qxb4 30.Rb1 Qxa4 31.Rb7 Rd7 19.h5 Na4 32.Bd1 1-0 Kantorik,M-Hlas,J Zvolen 2000. Now it was the turn of the FIDE World 16.f4 Champion to sink into a deep think. Here A.Grischuk went into the thinking tank 20.hxg6 mode, using for his next three moves a After 20 minutes M.Carlsen chose the most whopping one hour! straightforward approach. 16...Nb6?! 20...hxg6 21.f5! A move that feels quite slow as the knight is Preparing to completely streap Black's SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 31 kingside defences. Naturally, building up the attack - Black is 21...exf5 22.exf5 Qd6 (D) lost. If Black wanted to get greedy by 22...Nxc3 26...Nc5 27.Bg3 23.fxg6 fxg6, the easiest would probably be 27.Bh2 Ne6 28.Rxf5, was strong as well. 24.d6! Rxd6 25.Rxc3 Qxc3 (25...Bxc3 27...Ne6 26.Bd5+ Kh7 27.Rf7+ Bg7 28.Rxg7+ Kxg7 27...Ne4, would allow the FIDE World 29.Qd4+ Rf6 30.Bxa8 +-) 26.Qxc3 Bxc3 Champion to end the game with a nice rook 27.Bxa8 +/-. sacrifice: 28.Bxe4 fxe4 29.Rxf7! Kxf7 30.Qd5+ Kg6 31.Qxe4+ Kf7 32.Rf1+ Kg8 XABCDEFGHY 33.Qe6+ Kh7 34.Rf5! +-. 8r+-tr-+k+( 28.Rxf5 Rxd6 There is nothing else that Black can do: 7zp-+-+pvl-' 28...Rd7 29.Rxf7! (29.Rcf1 +-) 29...Rxf7 6-+-wq-+p+& (29...Kxf7 30.Rf1+ Ke8 31.Bxe6 +-) 30.Bxe6 Rbb7 31.Rf1 Kf8 32.Rxf7+ Rxf7 5+p+P+P+-% 33.Bxf7 Kxf7 34.Qd5+ Kg6 35.Qe4+ Kf7 4n+p+-+-+$ 36.Qf5+ Kg8 37.Qe6+ Kh7 38.Qe4+ Kh8 39.d7 +-. 3+-zP-vLL+-# 29.Bxd6 Qxd6 30.Qe3 Now not only does White have extra 2P+-wQ-+P+" material, but also he continues the attack! 1+-tR-+RmK-! 30...Qb6 31.Qf3 Rf8 32.Rf1 Nd8 (D) xabcdefghy XABCDEFGHY 23.Bf4! 8-+-sn-trk+( The most sensible approach - once the pawn gets to d6 it's all over. 23.fxg6 Qxg6 24.Bd1 7zp-+-+pvl-' +/-, was also a strong engine suggestion. 6-wq-+-+-+& 23...Qb6+ 24.Kh1 gxf5?! 24...Qf6, looked like a better try: 25.d6 Rab8 5+p+L+R+-% 26.fxg6 Qxg6 27.d7 +/-. 25.d6 4-+p+-+-+$ Now Black is completely lost. 3+-zP-+Q+-# 25...Rab8 (D) XABCDEFGHY 2P+-+-+P+" 8-tr-tr-+k+( 1+-+-+R+K! xabcdefghy 7zp-+-+pvl-' 33.Rh5! Qc7 34.Qe4 6-wq-zP-+-+& 1-0

5+p+-+p+-% □ So Wesley (2754) ■ Yu Yangyi (2738) 4n+p+-vL-+$ C42 Stavanger (3) 06.06.2019 3+-zP-+L+-# 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 2P+-wQ-+P+" Be6 9.0-0-0 Qd7 10.Kb1 Bf6 11.h4 0-0-0 12.Nd4 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Be5 14.Qe3 Qa4 1+-tR-+R+K! 15.b3 Qa5 16.Bxe5 dxe5 17.Be2 g6 18.c4 xabcdefghy Rxd1+ 19.Rxd1 Rd8 20.Bd3 Qb6 21.Qxb6 26.Bd5! axb6 22.Re1 f6 23.f4 Re8 24.fxe5 Bg8

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 32 25.h5 gxh5 26.Bf5+ Kb8 27.e6 c5 28.Re3 Kc7 29.Rg3 Bxe6 30.Rg7+ Kb8 31.Be4 XABCDEFGHY Bc8 32.Bd5 Re2 33.Bf3 Rd2 34.Bxh5 Bf5 8-+-+-+-+( 35.Bf3 Rd7 36.Rg8+ Ka7 37.Kc1 Re7 38.Rf8 Be4 39.Rxf6 Bxf3 40.gxf3 Re2 7+-+-+-zP-' 41.Rh6 Rf2 42.Rh3 h5 43.Kb2 Ka6 44.a4 6p+-+-+-+& h4 45.Kc3 Ka5 46.Kb2 Ka6 47.Kc1 Ka7 48.Kb1 Ka6 49.Kb2 Ka7 50.Kc3 Kb8 5+-+lmk-+-% 51.Kd3 Kc7 52.Ke4 Re2+ 53.Kd3 Rf2 4-+-+-tR-+$ 54.Ke4 Re2+ 55.Kf5 Rxc2 56.f4 Rf2 57.Rxh4 Rf3 58.Kg5 Rxb3 59.f5 Rg3+ 3+-+-+PvLK# 60.Rg4 Ra3 61.f6 Rxa4 62.f7 Ra8 63.Kf6 b5 64.Rg8 Ra1 65.f8Q Rf1+ 66.Ke5 2r+-zp-+-+" 1-0 1+-+-+-+-!

□ Grischuk Alexander (2775) xabcdefghy ■ Yu Yangyi (2738) 50.Rf7+ Kd4 51.g8Q d1Q 52.Qg7+ Kd3 C42 Stavanger (4) 08.06.2019 53.Qg6+ Kd4 54.Qf6+ Kd3 55.Qf5+ Kc4 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 56.Rc7+ Kb5 57.Qd7+ Kb4 58.Qd6+ 1-0 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bf5 7.0-0 Be7 8.Ne5 Nd7 9.Nc3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bxd3 11.cxd3 0-0 □ Anand Viswanathan (2767) 12.Qb3 Nxe5 13.dxe5 Qd7 14.f4 f5 15.a4 ■ Ding Liren (2805) b6 16.Be3 Rfd8 17.Rfd1 c6 18.c4 Qe6 C54 Armageddon Stavanger (4) 08.06.2019 19.Rac1 Kf7 20.Bf2 dxc4 21.dxc4 Rxd1+ 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 22.Qxd1 Rd8 23.Qh5+ Kg8 24.h3 g6 0-0 6.c3 d6 7.Re1 a5 8.h3 h6 9.Nbd2 Be6 25.Qf3 c5 26.Qc3 Qc6 27.a5 Qe4 28.Qe3 10.Bb5 Qb8 11.Nf1 Qa7 12.Qd2 Rad8N Rd4 29.Qxe4 Rxe4 30.g3 g5 31.fxg5 Bxg5 13.Ng3 Ne7 14.d4 Bb6 15.Qc2 Ng6 16.Be3 32.Rb1 bxa5 33.Rb5 a4 34.Rxc5 Bd2 c6 17.Bd3 Rfe8 18.Qd2 d5 (D) 35.Rc8+ Kf7 36.Rc7+ Ke6 37.Rc6+ Kxe5 XABCDEFGHY 38.Bxa7 a3 39.Rc5+ Ke6 40.Rc6+ Kd7 41.Ra6 Bb4 42.c5 Re2 43.c6+ Kc7 44.Bd4 8-+-trr+k+( a2 45.Kf1 Rc2 46.g4 f4 47.g5 f3 48.h4 Bd6 7wqp+-+pzp-' 49.h5 Bg3 50.Bb6+ Kd6 51.Be3 Rb2 0-1 6-vlp+lsnnzp&

□ Carlsen Magnus (2875) 5zp-+pzp-+-% ■ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar (2774) D85 Armageddon Stavanger (4) 08.06.2019 4-+-zPP+-+$ 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 3+-zPLvLNsNP# Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Rc1 0-0 9.Nf3 Qa5 10.Qd2 cxd4 11.cxd4 Qxd2+ 12.Nxd2 2PzP-wQ-zPP+" Rd8 13.Nf3 Nc6 14.d5 Nb4 15.Bd2 Na6 16. 1tR-+-tR-mK-! Bg5 Kf8 17.Bxa6 bxa6 18.0-0 Rb8 19.Rc7 Rd7 20.Rc6 Rdb7 21.Bf4 Ra8 22.Rfc1 Bd7 xabcdefghy 23.Rc7 Rxc7 24.Rxc7 Ke8 25.h3 h6 26.Ne5 19.Bxh6 dxe4 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Rxe4 Bd5 Bxe5 27.Bxe5 f5 28.exf5 Bxf5 29.a3 Rd8 22.Rg4 e4 23.Nh4 exd3 24.Nf5 Be6 30.d6 exd6 31.Bf4 g5 32.Be3 Rd7 33.Rc6 25.Bxg7 Bxf5 26.Qh6 Re6 27.Bh8 Kf7 34.Rxa6 Bd3 35.Ra4 a6 36.h4 d5 1-0 37.hxg5 hxg5 38.Rd4 Bc4 39.Bxg5 Rb7 40.Rf4+ Ke6 41.g4 Rb3 42.Bh4 Rxa3 □ Grischuk Alexander (2775) 43.g5 Ra1+ 44.Kh2 d4 45.g6 Bd5 46.f3 d3 ■ Caruana Fabiano (2819) 47.g7 Ke5 48.Bg3 Ra2+ 49.Kh3 d2 (D) C77 Armageddon Stavanger (6) 10.06.2019 SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 33 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 34.Rxf6 1-0 d6 6.c3 g6 7.h3 Bg7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Nbd2 b5 10.Bc2 Bb7 11.0-0 Nd7 12.a3 Ne7 13.d4 c5 □ Carlsen Magnus (2875) 14.Re1 Qc7 15.b4 c4 16.Qc1 d5 (D) ■ Yu Yangyi (2738) D15 Stavanger (8) 13.06.2019 XABCDEFGHY 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 8r+-+-trk+( b5 6.Be2 b4 7.e5 bxc3 8.exf6 exf6 9.bxc3 Bd6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Nd2 Re8 12.Re1 Nd7 7+lwqnsnpvlp' 13.Nxc4 Bc7 14.Bf3 Ba6 15.Ne3 Nb6 6p+-+-+p+& 16.Ba3 Nc4 17.Qd3 Rxe3 18.Rxe3 Nxe3 19.Qxa6 Nc2 20.Rd1 Nxa3 21.Qxa3 Qd6 5+p+pzp-+-% 22.Qxd6 Bxd6 23.c4 Rc8 24.c5 Be7 25.Kf1 4-zPpzPP+-+$ f5 26.Ke2 g5 27.h3 Kg7 28.Kd3 Kg6 29.Rb1 h5 30.Rb7 Bf6 31.Rd7 g4 32.Bd1 3zP-zP-vLN+P# Kg5 33.Ba4 f4 34.f3 Re8 35.fxg4 hxg4 36.hxg4 Re6 37.Bd1 Re3+ 38.Kc4 a5 2-+LsN-zPP+" 39.Bf3 Ra3 40.Bxc6 Rxa2 41.Be4 a4 42.c6 1tR-wQ-tR-mK-! Ra1 43.c7 a3 44.Kb3 1-0

xabcdefghy □ Aronian Levon (2752) 17.Bh6? Bxh6 0-1 ■ Caruana Fabiano (2819) A22 Stavanger (8) 13.06.2019 □ Ding Liren (2805) 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e4 Bxc3 ■ Mamedyarov Shakhriyar (2774) 5.dxc3 d6 6.Qc2 0-0 7.Nf3 Be6 8.Ng5 Bd7 D70 Stavanger (7) 12.06.2019 9.f3 a5 10.Nh3 a4 11.Nf2 Nc6 12.Be2 Na5 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 13.b4 axb3 14.axb3 Nc6 15.Rb1 Be6 Nb6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2 e5 9.d5 c6 16.Nd1 Ne7 17.0-0 c6 18.Bg5 Nd7 19.Qd2 10.h4 cxd5 11.exd5 N8d7 12.h5 Nf6 h6 20.Be3 Nf6 21.Nf2 d5 22.Rfd1 Qc7 13.hxg6 fxg6 14.0-0-0 Bd7 15.Kb1 Rc8 23.Bc5 b6 24.Bxe7 Qxe7 25.cxd5 cxd5 16.d6 e4 17.fxe4 Ng4 18.Bg5 Qe8 19.Nf3 26.exd5 Bxd5 27.c4 Bc6 28.Qe3 Ra2 Rf7 20.Qe1 Rc5 21.Bd2 Be6 22.e5 Bxe5 29.Ra1 Rxa1 30.Rxa1 Nd7 31.Bd3 f5 23.Bd3 Na4 24.Nxe5 Rxe5 25.Qh4 Rh5 32.Bc2 (D) 26.Qg3 Nxc3+ 27.Bxc3 Qa4 (D) XABCDEFGHY XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-trk+( 8-+-+-+k+( 7+-+nwq-zp-' 7zpp+-+r+p' 6-zpl+-+-zp& 6-+-zPl+p+& 5+-+-zpp+-% 5+-+-+-+r% 4-+P+-+-+$ 4q+-+-+n+$ 3+P+-wQPzP-# 3+-vLL+-wQ-# 2-+L+-sN-zP" 2PzP-+-+P+" 1tR-+-+-mK-! 1+K+R+-+R! xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 32...e4 33.fxe4 Ne5 34.Bd1 fxe4 35.Be2 Nf3+ 28.d7 Rd5 29.Bc2 Qxd7 30.Bb3 Rxd1+ 36.Bxf3 Rxf3 37.Qxb6 Qf6 38.Rd1 e3 39. 31.Rxd1 Qc8 32.Qh4 Nf6 33.Rd6 Bxb3 Ng4 Qe6 40.Qb8+ Kh7 41.Ne5 Qh3 0-1 SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 34 FIDE Women World Championship 2019 - Candidates Tournament The race for the Women's World in Moscow and was attended by Arkady Championship title began in Kazan (Russia) Dvorkovich, President of FIDE, and Judit with the newly established Candidates Polgar, the strongest player in the history of Tournament. It was the strongest all-female chess and honorary FIDE Vice-President. tournament in history and also carried a A special chess tent was set up in the record prize fund of EUR €200,000. Bauman Street near the venue. Grandmaster From May 31st to June 18th, eight top Sergey Shipov was commenting live on the Grandmasters played for the right to match for the Russian-speaking audience. challenge FIDE Women World Champion On the rest days, the tent organises events Ju Wenjun (China). After a break of more such as blitz tournaments, master classes, than twenty years, the tradition of the meetings with chess stars and simultaneous Candidates Tournament among women, performances with famous Grandmasters. returned. Eight of the world's best female GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko and IM players competed against each other in a Elisabeth Paehtz were commenting on the double round-robin format over 14 rounds. games of the Candidates Tournament for the The players (in rating order): English-speaking audience. 1. Kateryna Lagno RUS, 2559 (KO World The winner of the Candidates Tournament Ch. 2018 finalist) . qualified for the World Championship match 2. Mariya Muzychuk UKR, 2560 (KO against Ju Wenjun (China). The prize money World Ch. 2018 semi-finalist). there is EUR €500,000 or 150% more than 3. Anna Muzychuk UKR, 2555 (qualified at the last World Championship match for by rating). women. 4. Alexandra Kosteniuk RUS, 2545 (KO The organisers of the Candidates World Ch. 2018 semi-finalist). Tournament were FIDE, the Russian Chess 5. Valentina Gunina RUS, 2515 (qualified Federation, the Government of the Republic by rating). of Tatarstan, the Ministry of Sports of the 6. Nana Dzagnidze GEO, 2513 (qualified Republic of Tatarstan and the City of Kazan. by rating). The tournament was sponsored by PJSC 7. Tan Zhongyi CHN, 2513 (qualified by PhosAgro and the Russian Railways. rating). The winner was the lowest rated(!) 8. Alexandra Goryachkina RUS, 2505 (1st Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina and she substitute). will face the Chinese Ju Wenjun for the title The draw of lots took place on April 30th of the FIDE Woman World Champion.

Kazan 2019 - Average Rating 2533 - Category 12 N Surname-Name Fed Rat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 P 1 Goryachkina A. RUS 2505 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 9½ 2 Muzychuk A. UKR 2555 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 8 3 Tan Zhongyi CHN 2513 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 1 7 4 Lagno K. RUS 2559 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 7 5 Muzychuk M. UKR 2560 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 6½ 6 Dzagnidze N. GEO 2513 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 0 6½ 7 Kosteniuk A. RUS 2545 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 1 0 0 1 6 8 Gunina V. RUS 2515 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 0 5½

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 35

The Logos of the Event

□ Dzagnidze Nana (2513) 67.c7 g2 68.d5 g1Q 69.Qe6+ Qxe6 ■ Goryachkina Aleksandra (2505) 70.dxe6+ Kg7 A12 Kazan (6) 06.06.2019 0-1

1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.b3 Bf5 5.Be2 h6 6.Ba3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e6 8.Bxf8 Nxf8 9.Nc3

N8d7 10.d4 0-0 11.b4 Qe7 12.Qb3 Bg4 13.Rfd1 Ne4 14.Rac1 Ndf6 15.h3 Bxf3 □ Goryachkina Aleksandra (2505) 16.Bxf3 Nd6 17.c5 Nf5 18.b5 e5 19.bxc6 ■ Kosteniuk Alexandra (2545) bxc6 20.Rb1 e4 21.Be2 Rac8 22.Rd2 Rc7 D39 Kazan (8) 09.06.2019 23.Rdb2 Nh4 24.g3 Nf3+ 25.Kg2 Qd7 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 26.Qd1 Ng5 27.h4 Ne6 28.Rb8 g5 29.hxg5 dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qa5 hxg5 30.Qh1 Rxb8 31.Rxb8+ Rc8 32.Qb1 9.Bd2 Qc5 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Nb3 Qc7 12.0- Qd8 33.Rb7 Ra8 34.Qh1 Qc8 35.Rb1 Rb8 0 0-0 13.Bd3 Rd8 14.Qe2 Nc6 15.Rac1 Be8 36.Qh6 Rxb1 37.Nxb1 Nh7 38.Nd2 Qb7 16.Rfd1 a6 17.Be3 Bd6 18.g3 Qe7 19.Bb6 39.Bg4 Ng7 40.Qd6 f5 41.Bd1 Qb5 42.a4 Rdc8 20.Bb1 Nd7 21.Be3 Bb4 22.a3 Na5 Qa6 43.Bb3 Qc8 44.a5 Ne8 45.Qg6+ Kh8 23.Nxa5 Bxa5 24.Bd4 f6 25.Ba2 Bf7 (D) 46.g4 Ng7 47.Ba4 f4 48.Kh3 Ne6 49.Nxe4 fxe3 50.fxe3 dxe4 51.Qxe4 Nf6 52.Qe5 XABCDEFGHY Kg7 53.Bd1 Qa6 54.Bf3 Qf1+ 55.Bg2 Qf2 8r+r+-+k+( 56.Bxc6 Qh4+ 57.Kg2 Qxg4+ 58.Kf2 Kf7 59.Bf3 Qh4+ 60.Ke2 g4 61.Bb7 g3 62.Bg2 7+p+nwqlzpp' Qg4+ 63.Kd2 Ng5 64.c6 (D) 6p+-+pzp-+& XABCDEFGHY 5vl-+-+-+-% 8-+-+-+-+( 4-+-vLP+-+$ 7zp-+-+k+-' 3zP-sN-+-zP-# 6-+P+-sn-+& 2LzP-+QzP-zP" 5zP-+-wQ-sn-% 1+-tRR+-mK-! 4-+-zP-+q+$ xabcdefghy 3+-+-zP-zp-# 26.e5 fxe5 27.Bxe5 Nxe5 28.Qxe5 b5 29.Ne4 Bc7 30.Qc3 Qf8 31.Qd4 Rd8 2-+-mK-+L+" 32.Qe3 h6 33.Rxd8 Qxd8 34.Nc5 Bb6 1+-+-+-+-! 35.Bxe6 Bxe6 36.Qxe6+ Kh8 37.Ne4 Bd4 38.Rd1 Ra7 39.Nd6 Bxf2+ 40.Kxf2 Rd7 xabcdefghy 41.Kg2 Qa8+ 42.Qd5 64...Nge4+ 65.Bxe4 Nxe4+ 66.Kd3 Nf6 1-0

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 36 20th Karpov Poikovsky 2019 From 6th to 15th June the 20th Karpov robin tournament in this prestigious and tournament took place in the Russian city of traditional event and the winners were V. Poikovsky, 10 strong GMs played a round- Artemiev and D. Jakovenko from Russia.

20th Karpov Poikovsky 2019 - Average Rating 2684 - Category 18 N Surname-Name Fed Rat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 P 1 Artemiev V. RUS 2761 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 5½ 2 Jakovenko D. RUS 2704 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 5½ 3 Sasiskiran K. IND 2673 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 4½ 4 Wang H. CHN 2737 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½ 5 Saric I. CRO 2680 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 4½ 6 Korobov A. UKR 2687 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½ 7 Fedoseev V. RUS 2680 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 4½ 8 Esipenko A. RUS 2611 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 4½ 9 Memedov R. AZE 2650 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 4 10 Kovalev V. BLA 2661 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 3

□ Jakovenko Dmitry (2704) 28.Rxa6! Rc8 ■ Esipenko Andrey (2611) 28...Rxa6 29.Re8+ +-. C84 Poikovsky (1) 06.06.2019 29.Qd2 Qc5?! 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0- 29...Qd7 30.Ra3 Qf5 31.Rc3 +-. 0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bd7 9.c3 Na5 30.Rc1 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qb8 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 30...Qb5 31.Ra5! Qxa5 32.Qxa5 Nxa5 Be6 14.Nbd2 0-0 15.h3 Rc8 16.Bg3 cxd4 33.Rxc8+ Kh7 34.Rc5 +-. 17.cxd4 Nh5 18.Bh2 Nf4 19.Bxf4 exf4 1-0

20.Re1 Bf6?! 20...bxa4 21.d5 Bd7 +=. 21.e5 Be7?! (D) [21...dxe5 22.dxe5 Be7 23.Be4 Ra7 24.Nd4 +/-.

XABCDEFGHY 8rwqr+-+k+( 7+-+-vlpzp-' 6p+-zpl+-zp& 5snp+-zP-+-% 4P+-zP-zp-+$ 3+-+-+N+P# 2-zPLsN-zPP+" 1tR-+QtR-mK-! xabcdefghy 22.d5! Bxd5 23.Ne4! Rxc2 23...Bxe4 24.Bxe4 Ra7 25.Bd5 +-.

24.exd6 Bxd6 24...Bxe4 25.Rxe4 +-. The first book of Osama Bousaad (father of 25.Nxd6 Qxd6 26.Qxc2 bxa4 27.Rxa4 Nc6 SICA’s students Ameer & Kaisar), on 27...Bxf3 28.gxf3 (28.Rxa5 Bb7±) 28...Nb7 financial services by the Islamic Bank, was 29.Rd1 +-. released on early June. Congrats! SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 37 Pawn Ending - Rook Pawn Pawn endings with flank pawns can be 6...Ke7 7.Ka2 Kd6 8.Ka3 Kc5. tricky, as rook pawns do not win. And this is 6...a4! something that the weaker side should A last try, as 6...Ke7 7.Kb3 Kd6 8.Ka4 +- is always keep in mind in his quest for too easy. salvation. 7.Kb1! An interesting case is the following one: And only now the white king has to go via a

Study - Troitzky Alexey 1927 ○ different route. Naive would be 7.Kc3? a3! 8.b3 Ke7 =. XABCDEFGHY 7...a3 8-+-+-+-+( Asking White to make a crucial decision, as again 7...Ke7 8.Ka2 Kd6 9.Ka3 Kc5 7+-+-+-+-' 10.Kxa4 +- would be easy. 8.b3! 6-+-+-zP-+& The right response and not 8.b4? Ke8 9.Ka2 5zp-snk+-zP-% Kd7 10.Kxa3 Kc6 11.Ka4 Kb6 =. 8...Ke7 9.Ka2 Kd6 10.Kxa3 Kc6 (D) 4-+-+-+-+$ XABCDEFGHY 3+-+-+-+-# 8-+-+-+-+( 2-zP-+-+-+" 7+-+-+-+-' 1+-mK-+-+-! 6-+k+-+-+& xabcdefghy White wins by a simple transfer to a pawn 5+-+-+-+-% ending. 4-+-+-+-+$ 1.f7! Nd7! 1...Ne6 loses to 2.g6 Ke5 3.g7!. 3mKP+-+-+-# 2.g6 Ke6 3.f8Q! Nxf8 4.g7 Kf7 5.gxf8Q+ 2-+-+-+-+" Kxf8 (D) XABCDEFGHY 1+-+-+-+-! 8-+-+-mk-+( xabcdefghy And now White wins in a well-known way - 7+-+-+-+-' opposition first! 11.Ka4! Kb6 12.Kb4! 6-+-+-+-+& 1-0 5zp-+-+-+-% 4-+-+-+-+$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2-zP-+-+-+" 1+-mK-+-+-! Such studies are mostly welcomed in xabcdefghy modern chess, as they can help us And now we have a pawn ending, where the understand the various subtleties and train one side has a rook pawn. The solution (win) and learn. is not that obvious… Furthermore, they have practical value, as 6.Kc2! they can easily meet in over-the-board Direct and decisive! 6.Kb1? only draws: games. SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 38 □ Gomez Garrido Camilo Ernesto (2496) Kd3 65.Ka3 Kc2 =. ■ Aloma Vidal Roberto (2403) 64.b3! Castell de Sant Ferran (3) 13.08.2014 ● And now White wins as per previous study. 64...Ke4 65.Ka2 Kd5 66.Kxa3 Kc5 67.Ka4 XABCDEFGHY Kc6 68.Ka5! 8-+-+-+-+( 1-0

7+-+-+-mk-' □ Milman Lev (2484) ■ Doric Nenad (2309) 6-tR-+-+P+& Pula (5) 26.06.2007 ○ 5+-+-+-+-% XABCDEFGHY 4p+-+-+r+$ 8-+-+-+-+( 3+-+-+-+-# 7+-+-+-+-' 2-zP-mK-+-+" 6-+-+-+k+& 1+-+-+-+-! 5zp-+KwQ-+-% xabcdefghy 4q+-+-+-+$ A similar case might have arisen here. 60...Rxg6? 3+-+-+-+-# The pawn ending is lost. Black would have 2-zP-+-+-+" an easy draw after 60...a3 61.bxa3 Ra4 62.Rb3 Kxg6 63.Rf3 Ra8 64.Kc2 Kg5 1+-+-+-+-! 65.Kb3 Rb8+ 66.Kc4 Ra8 =. xabcdefghy 61.Rxg6+ Kxg6 62.Kc2? Back seems to hold but White found the cor- Probably White knew the previous rect solution: the transfer to the pawn end! A.Troitzky study which featured the same 57.Qe4+! Qxe4+ 58.Kxe4 Kf6 59.Kd5 a4 idea - and that affected his decision! White No different is 59...Ke7 60.Kc5 Kd7 61.Kb5 should have gone for the simple 62.Kc3 a3 Kc7 62.Kxa5 Kb7 63.Kb5 +-. 63.b4 Kf6 64.Kb3 Ke6 65.Kxa3 Kd6 66.Ka4 60.Kc5 Ke6 Kc6 67.Ka5 +-. 60...a3 doesn't work here: 61.bxa3 Ke7 62...Kf5 63.Kb1 (D) 62.Kc6 Kd8 63.Kb7 +-. Black resigned due XABCDEFGHY to 61.Kb4 Kd6 62.Kxa4 Kc5 63.Ka5 +-. 8-+-+-+-+( 1-0 7+-+-+-+-' 6-+-+-+-+& 5+-+-+k+-% 4p+-+-+-+$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2-zP-+-+-+" 1+K+-+-+-!

xabcdefghy □ Lyell Mark 63...a3? ■ Crawley Gavin (2380) Black missed the obvious 63...Ke4 64.Ka2 Blackpool 08.1988 ●

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 39 XABCDEFGHY XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+-+-' 7+-+-+-+-' 6-+-+-+-+& 6-+-+-mk-+& 5+-+-wQ-zPk% 5zp-+-+p+P% 4pwq-+-+-+$ 4-+-+-mK-+$ 3+-+-+K+-# 3+P+-+-+-# 2-zP-+-+-+" 2-+-+-+-+" 1+-+-+-+-! 1+-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy xabcdefghy Black should hold without too many The outside passed pawn decides. White problems. exchanges the kingside pawns, winning the 70...Qg4+?! queenside black one. The fact that the Simplest was 70...a3! 71.bxa3 Qxa3+ =. remaining white pawn is on b3 and not in b2 71.Ke3 Qxg5+? is not a problem here. Obviously Black missed something. After 47.h6! Kg6 48.h7 Kxh7 49.Kxf5 Kg7 the correct 71...Qb4, he should be able to 50.Ke6 Kf8 51.Kd7 Kf7 52.Kc6 Ke7 hold. 53.Kb6 Kd7 72.Qxg5+ Kxg5 73.Kd4 Kf6 74.Kc3? Or 53...a4 54.bxa4 Kd8 55.Kb7 +-. White mishandles the ending. Good was 54.Kxa5 Kc7 55.Ka6 Kb8 56.b4 Ka8 57.b5 74.Kc5, which wins: 74...Ke7 75.Kb4! Kb8 58.Kb6 (75.Kb5? a3 76.bxa3 Kd8 77.Kb6 Kc8 =) 1-0 75...Kd6 76.Kxa4 Kc5 77.Ka5 +-. If the white pawn has been moved on his 74...Ke6? 3rd rank, the weaker side can defend: And Black returns the favour, as 74...a3! now draws: 75.bxa3 Ke7 76.Kb4 Kd7 □ Rahman Wali 77.Kb5 Kc7. ■ El Gheiadi Ibrahim 75.Kb4 Kd6 76.Kxa4 Kc5 77.Ka5! Kc6 Luzern (13) 13.11.1982 ○ 78.b4 Kc7 79.Ka6! 1-0 XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7+-+-+-+-' 6-+-+-+-+& 5zp-+-+k+-% 4-+-+-+-+$ 3+PmK-+-+-# 2-+-+-+-+"

1+-+-+-+-! □ Rodriguez German Enrique (1982) ■ Cabrera Carlos Eduardo (1529) xabcdefghy Cali (2) 26.12.2008 ○ Here White is missing a crucial tempo and SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 40 his pawn is on the 3rd rank, he cannot win. □ Beeker Detlef (2120) 57.Kb2 ■ Hachmeister Dirk (1920) White should have tried 57.Kc4, where Germany (4) 1988 ● Black had to find 57...a4! (57...Ke6? 58.Kb5 Kd7 59.Kxa5 Kc6 60.b4 +-) 58.bxa4 Ke6 XABCDEFGHY 59.Kb5 Kd7 60.Kb6 Kc8 =. 8-mk-+-+-+( 57...Ke4 58.Ka3 58...Kd4 59.Ka4 Kc3 =. 7+P+-+-+-' ½-½ 6-+-+-+-+&

□ Tarjan James Edward (2530) 5+-+-+-+p% ■ Kudrin Sergey (2425) Lone Pine 04.1981 ○ 4-+-+-+-+$ XABCDEFGHY 3+-+-+KzP-# 8-+-+-+-+( 2-+-+R+-tr" 7+-+-+-+-' 1+-+-+-+-! 6-mk-+-+-+& xabcdefghy Black has many ways to draw at his disposal 5+-+-+-+p% but the simplest is the pawn ending. 4-+-+-+-+$ 54...Rxe2! 55.Kxe2 Kxb7 56.Kf3 Kc6 57.Kf4 h4! 3+-+-+-zP-# As in the previous example! 2-+-+K+-+" ½-½

1+-+-+-+-! Conclusion A tricky ending, where values as xabcdefghy opposition and pure calculation are in need. Black can draw here, as the white pawn is But in general it is simple and easy to on g3 (3rd rank) and not on g2. learn by sub-conscious way! 96.Kf3 Kc6 97.Kf4 h4! Only but efficient move. Wrong would be 97...Kd6? 98.Kg5 Ke7 99.Kxh5 Kf8 100.Kg6 Kg8 101.g4 +-. 98.g4 Or 98.gxh4 Kd6 99.Kg5 Ke7 100.Kg6 Kf8 =. 98...Kd6 99.g5 Ke6 100.Kg4 h3 101.Kxh3 Kf5 ½-½

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 41 An Early Queen Sacrifice healthy. White cannot be happy either after In the recent Asian Continental 11.Bd3 exf2+ 12.Kxf2 Nc6 13.Nd4 Bd7 Championship the Indian GM Murali 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.Qe1 Nd7, or 11.fxe3 Nxe4 Karthikeyan made an early queen sacrifice 12.Rc1 Nc6. in return for just two light pieces. 11...Nh5! Well, not only, as his opponent’s pawn White's dark squares are suffering... structure got shattered as well and his play 12.Qc1 Bh6 13.g4 Nf4 seemed to be more dangerous. 13...Ng3 14.Rg1 Bf4 15.Nd4 Nd7 16.Ne2 Nxe2 17.Bxe2 Ne5, is great for Black as □ Firouzja Alireza (2682) well. ■ Karthikeyan Murali (2593) 14.Kd1 Ne6 15.Kc2 Nc6 16.h4 Bf4! (D) E90 XingTai (5) 11.06.2019 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0- 0 6.Be3 c5 7.Nf3 Main alternatives here are 7.d5 and 7.dxc5 dxc5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bxc5 Nfd7. 7...Qa5 8.Nd2 The usual move is 8.Qd2, unpinning the c3- knight. 8...cxd4 9.Nb3 (D) 9.Bxd4 Nc6 10.Be3 Nd7, looks fine for Black. XABCDEFGHY 8rsnl+-trk+( 7zpp+-zppvlp' 6-+-zp-snp+&

5wq-+-+-+-% 4-+PzpP+-+$ XABCDEFGHY 3+NsN-vL-+P# 8r+l+-trk+( 2PzP-+-zPP+" 7zpp+-zpp+p' 1tR-+QmKL+R! 6-+nzpn+p+& xabcdefghy 5+-+-+-+-% 9...Qxc3+!? 4-+P+PvlPzP$ An astonishing novelty! 9...Qc7 10.Nxd4, is 3+NzP-zpP+-# perhaps what White intended when he played 8.Nd2. 9...Qh5 10.Be2 Bg4 11.Nxd4 2P+K+-+-+" Bxe2 12.Ndxe2 Nc6 13.0-0 oo Kursova,M- Chistiakova,T Menorca 1996, was the 1tR-wQ-+L+R! previous continuation. xabcdefghy 10.bxc3 dxe3 Black is dominating - his light pieces seem So, Black sacrificed his queen for positional to deserve more than the white queen, who benefits. His pawn structure is far better and has no targets. the white king will have to suffer in the 17.Qd1 Ne5 18.Nc1 Bd7 19.a4?! centre. The text just creates new weaknesses. Better 11.f3 was 19.Kb2 b6 20.h5. A logical try to keep his pawn structure SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 42 19...Rac8 20.Ne2?! days are numbered. 20.Nd3, seems like a better try, although 30...Nxc5 31.Rxf8+ Kxf8 32.Kxc3 Ne5 Black should be on the top after 20...Nxd3 So, White is an exchange up for three pawns 21.Bxd3 Nc5. and he still can't find some decent play. 20...Bh6 21.g5 Bg7 22.Bh3 33.a5 Nxe4+ 34.Bxe4 Bxe4 35.Nd4 Bd5 22.Nd4 Nxc4 -+. 36.Nb5?! 22...Nxf3 23.Qd3 Ne5 24.Qxe3 Nxc4 36.a6 bxa6 (36...b6? 37.Nb5) 37.Rxa6, 25.Qf2 (D) could have been a last attempt to save the game. XABCDEFGHY 36...a6 37.Nc7 Bc6 (D) 8-+r+-trk+( XABCDEFGHY 7zpp+lzppvlp' 8-+-+-mk-+( 6-+-zpn+p+& 7+psN-zp-+p' 5+-+-+-zP-% 6p+lzp-+p+& 4P+n+P+-zP$ 5zP-+-sn-+-% 3+-zP-+-+L# 4-+-+-+-zP$ 2-+K+NwQ-+" 3+-mK-+-+-# 1tR-+-+-+R! 2-+-+-+-+" xabcdefghy 1tR-+-+-+-! Now Black has two lights pieces and two pawns in exchange for the white queen. But xabcdefghy more important is the fact that White is White is plain lost and the game concluded lacking a valid plan and counterplay... as: 25...Rc5 26.Rhb1 Bc6 27.Bg2 f5! 38.Rf1+ Kg7 39.Ne6+ Kh6 40.Rf8 Kh5 The breakthrough at the right moment. Also 41.Rh8 h6 42.Rh7 Kxh4 43.Rxh6+ Kg4 good were 27...f6! and 27...b6. 44.Nd4 Kg5 45.Rh2 Bd5 46.Re2 Kf4 28.gxf6 47.Rf2+ Nf3! 48.Re2 e5 49.Nc2 Be4 28.exf5? Bxg2 29.Qxg2 Ne3+ -+. 50.Ne3 d5 51.Kb4 Nd4 52.Re1 Kf3 28...Bxf6 29.Rf1 Bxc3! 30.Qxc5 0-1 White decided to return material, but his

1st Ajman Blitz 2019 The 1st Ajman Blitz 2019 was a cooperation of Ajman Chess Club and the International Chess Academy and took place th on June 14 . It was a 9-round event (5+3), with total prizes of 2.800 AED.

Final Standings (65 Participants) 5 Lagutin Nelman PHI 2049 6½ P Title Surname-Name FED Rtg Pts 6 Dr. Murtaza Ali PAK 2068 6½ 1 IM El Taher Fouad EGY 2410 8 7 Abid Ali Mujawar IND 1734 6 2 IM El Adnani Mokliss MAR 2383 7½ 8 Alkhour Ezzedin SYR 1614 6 3 Hilwani Talal SYR 2342 7½ 9 Sasikumar Anusweud IND 1802 6 4 Rafee Mohd Hayel SYR 1823 6½ 10 Rayes Abdul Kader SYR 2024 6 SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 43

Asian Schools Championships 2019 - Rapid On June 20th, 2019, the Asian Schools Masoud Sharafat (2/7) U.09 - 17th position, Rapid Championships were held in Hamad Bader (3/7) U.15 - 15th position and Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The UAE delegation, Hamad Essam (5/7) U.17 - 2nd position! represented by Sharjah CCC players, This was an excellent result and a Silver captained by SCCC Coach Sohib Okla, Medal for the young SCCC and SICA participated in the event. promised student (trained by Efstratios The players were Rashid Husain Al Grivas) Hamad Essam. A bright future is Hammadi (4½/7) U.07 - 6th position, Rashid expected by the young player!

S T Surname-Name Fed Rtg Pts. 1 FM Nurmamedov Azat TKM 1799 5½ 2 Hamad Essam UAE 1684 5 3 FM Abdisalimov Abdimalik UZB 2249 5 4 FM Abdurakhmonov Mukhammadali UZB 1922 5 5 FM Abdilkhair Abilmansur KAZ 1979 5 6 Yuldoshev Mekhriddin UZB 1737 4 7 FM Kasimov Ali UZB 1802 4 8 Vidyarathna Anjitha SRI 1288 4 9 Sulaymonov Rakhmonkul UZB 1748 3½ 10 Isomov Umar UZB 1822 3 11 Kandakov Mehrbakhsh TJK 1368 3 12 Aryan Garg IND 1465 3 13 Zholdoshmamatov Adilet KGZ 1492 3 14 Cyrus Chhikara IND 1397 2 15 Thilakaratne D N Adithya Wijetu SRI 1191 1

Silver Medalist The UAE/SCCC Delegation with Hamad Essam ACF Secretary Hisham Al Taher

FIDE Verification Commission Meeting The FIDE Verification Commission Meeting took place in Athens, Greece, on July 19th to 21st. The Sharjah CCC Director Mr. Rajai Al Susi took part as a Member of the Commission. SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 44

Think & Plan SICA Summer Camp 2019

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.

The SICA Think & Plan Summer Camp will take place during the months of July & August and is addressed to Beginners’ Level. This is an important one-month course consisting of a variety of two-hour lessons, based on a constructive curriculum, fully documented of knowledge and improvement. Something unique that you cannot afford missing!

SICA will cooperate with highly experienced coaches and will offer three types of courses for beginners and events, as handicaps & simultaneous exhibitions, tournaments and chess-movies will be available during the camp. All lessons will be given in English.

● Silver Course Think & Plan * Basic Rules - Twice per week (Sunday and Wednesday) from 11:00 to 13:00. The monthly cost Studies Director for the participation is on AED 440 and for the second child of the GM-FST-IA-IO family on AED 350. Transportation can be obtained on demand Efstratios Grivas (Sharjah & Ajman) and on the cost of AED 210 monthly (second child for free). ● Golden Course Think & Plan * Basic Rules & Checkmates - Four times per week (Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) from 11:00 to 13:00. The monthly cost for the participation is on AED 640 and for the second child of the family on AED 500. Transportation can be obtained on demand (Sharjah & Ajman) and on the cost of AED 250 monthly (second child for free). ● Platinum Course Think & Plan - Basic Rules & Checkmates & Tactics - Six times per week (Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) from 11:00 to 13:00. The monthly cost for the participation is on AED 840 and for the second child of the family on AED 700. Transportation can be obtained on demand (Sharjah & Ajman) and on the cost of AED 280 monthly (second child for free).

Registration http://shjchessacademy.com Go to Register, choose Summer Camp & Registration. Add your data and submit your Registration. Payments will be welcomed on 1st & 2nd day of July & August. We start on Monday, July 1st and we are looking to see you in our Summer Camp. For info please contact 050 9810383.

SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 45 The Al Dhaid Road (E88) - P.O.Box 6277 Sharjah - United Arab Emirates (+971) 06 5455888 214 - (+971) 055 1880025

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SICA Bulletin - July 2019 ® Efstratios Grivas 2019 46