BC Junior Championship Submissions

Home , Aleksandr Lenderman, Alexander Grischuk, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Michael Roiz, Nigel Short, Norway Chess

Chess Canada 2015.01 2 Chess Canada Chess Canada (CCN) is the elec- Chess Canada tronic newsletter of the Chess Federation of Canada. Opinions 2015.01 Next Issue... expressed in it are those of the You Gotta See This... (2) credited authors and/or editor, You Gotta See This... and do not necessarily reflect Pt 3: those of the CFC, its Governors, 2014 News Makers agents or employees, living or ...... 11 Canadian Chess dead. Endgame Defence Year in Review subscriptions ...... 32 CCN is distributed by email to Coded Messages? Profile: Qiyu Zhou CFC members who have submit- ...... 42 ted their email address to the Coming Soon... CFC: [email protected] Around Canada Student Issue · World U16 Teams BC Junior Championship submissions ...... 43 · BC Junior CCN is looking for contributions: tournament reports, photos, an- · 2014 Pan-Ams notated games. For examples, Appendix · Canadian University Ch see this issue or read the 2013.06 · Nicholas Vettese anada Appendix for other ideas. World Championship Blunders ...... 50 C suggestions Cover: Magnus Carlsen mosaic If you have an idea for a story you Columns Upcoming Events ...... 3 would like to write, email me: every photo of inter- [email protected] Editor’s notes ...... 5 national chess appear- Critical Positions ...... 7 ing in Chess Canada in 2014, combined using hess - John Upper (this PDF has bookmarks) Andrea Mosaic. 2015.01 editor CCN C Upcoming Events 3 May 22-24 June 6 Ch. Ouvert Laval June 19-28 Halifax Open Mississauga Standard Centre Communautaire 10th Edmonton International Fri: 6; Sat & Sun: 10, 4. Erindale United Church, 1444 St.Louis-de-Montfort, Laval Chess Festival TC: 120 + 30 Dundas Crescent Ven: 19h; Sam & Dim: 10 & Sat: 9:30, 12:30, 2:30, 4:30 15:30 Org: Ken Cashin Edmonton International: http://www.nschess. TC: G/10 + 10 Cad: 75m/40c + 20/mat + ca/?page_id=186 http://www.miltonchess.ca/images/ 30s GM Vasil Ivanchuk GM Pentala Harikrishna cfc/ms1.pdf 2500$ en pris garantis GM Sam Shankland GM Surya Ganguly May 23-24 http://www.fqechecs. qc.ca/cms/activite/ Edmonton Open: June 26-28 (max. 20 players) Ontario Youth June 6-7 ch-ouvert-laval-19-21-juin Championship Trumpeter Classsic City Hall, Kitchener Sandman Hotel, Grande Prairie, June 20-21 Side Events: GM Lecture, Harikrishna Simul, Blitz Org: Patrick McDonald Alberta. Guelph Summer Pro-Am Players MUST pre-register Sat: 10, 2:30; 7. Sun: 9, 1:30 Contact: Edmonton Chess Club, Micah Hughey http://oycc.ca/default.html http://www.gpchessclub.com/ Guelph Univesity Centre, trumpeter-classic.html rm.441 http://edmonton-international.com/ May 30-31 Sat: 10, 2, 6:30; Sun 10 & June 13 2:30 Calgary International TC: 90 + 30 Qualifier & Fundraiser K-W Team Tournament City Hall, Kitchener Org: Hal Bond Calgary Chess Club [email protected] July 10-16 Org: Vlad Rekhson Sat: 10, 11:30, 1, 2:30, 4. Canadian Closed http://calgary-international.com/ TC: 25 + 10s delay Harbourfront Chessfest sideevents.php Org: Ed Thompson Winner represents Canada at World Cup anada [email protected] Toronto Harbourfront Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.10–Oct.4, 2015. June 5-7 Boulevard Tent & South C TORO ($5000 guraranteed) June 19-21 Lawn Peter Clark Hall, University of Guelph, ON. Maison du Citoyen, Gatineau Eastern Ontario Open Sat & Sun: 11am–6pm Fri: 7:30; Sat & Sun: 10, 3. RA Centre, Ottawa The Chess Institute of Can- Eligibility: 2100 CFC, FQE or FIDE as of 2015/05. TC: 90 + 30 Fri: 7:30; Sat & Sun 10 & 3. ada and the Annex Chess Format: 9 round Swiss. Org: Marcel Laurin Org: Halldor Palsson Club provide a day of chess TC: 40/90 + G/30 + 30s. http://www.matoutaouais.org/ http://www.eoca.org/resources/2015- programming for all ages EF: $250 wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ Eastern-Ontario-Open.pdf and skill levels. hess Org: IA Hal Bond TOROpub2015.pdf http://www.harbourfrontcentre.

2015.01 com/whatson/today. C cfm?id=7150 Detailed PDF Upcoming Events 4 June 26-28 July 4-5 July 29 - Aug 3 BC Senior Championship Aurora Summer Open Calgary International Comfort Inn& Suites, Surrey Royal Canadian Legion, Aurora Calgary Chess Club Fri: 6; Sat: 10, 4; Sun: 9, 2. Details: TBA TC: 90 + 30 TC: 90 + 30 Featuring: Org: Paul Leblanc http://www.aurorachessclub.ca/ GM Aleksandr Lenderman http://wordpress.cvining.com/ bc-senior-2015/ GM Michael Roiz July 17–25 GM Victor Mikhalevski AIDEF-Quebec Open Collège Brébeuf, Montréal Format: 9 round Open Swiss TC: 40/90 + G/30 + 30s July 6-9 Association Internationale des Échecs Franco- phones combined with the 2015 Quebec Open. Side Events: CYCC Banff National Park (July 29) Blitz Tourny (Aug.2) Waterfront Hotel, Windsor, ON. Format: 9rd Swiss; Open, U1600 TC: 40/90 + G/30 + 30 ...more TBA Winners represents Canada at WYCC http://www.fqechecs.qc.ca/cms/ Organizer and TD: Vlad Rekhson Porto Carras, Greece activite/3e-rencontres-inter-des-echecs-francophones Oct.24–Nov.5, 2015. http://calgary-international.com/index.html Format: 7 round Swiss. July 25 – August4 TC: G/90 +30. anada Kitchener Chess Festival EF: $225 by June 10, $250 after. C Eligibility: http://www.chess.ca/handbook#section-7 RETURNING NEW 6th Canadain Seniors Ch. FIDE Kitchener Masters th http://www.windsorchess.com/CYCC2015/ 9 Canadain Amateur Ch. (July 31 - Aug.4) 2nd North American U20. 2 Scheveningen-style events for [email protected] July 26-30: 9 rd Swiss for 9-round GM and IM norms. GM and WGM norms. hess http://www.chessfest.ca/ 2015.01 C Another issue of Chess Canada rockets onto the internet... from the editor 5 In this Issue cent minimum number of pages to make a bett er informed com- the thousands of engineers at Intel Once a year Chess Canada collects and move the rest to the next issue. parison of World Champions past and programmers from Microsoft games from beyond its offi cial beat and present. Readers can judge for through ChessBase and Stockfi sh — any player in Canada, Canadian Spoilers... themselves how today’s top players who made that computer analysis players anywhere — and presents There was a much-noted double- compare with their predecessors in possible. them as a year-summing smorgas- blunder in game 6 of the Carlsen- the blunder department. bord. The previous issue (2014.12) Anand World Championship match Blunderology featured games selected and anno- – Carlsen played a move which No Respect Second-rate moves are easy to un- tated by regular Chess Canada con- hung two pawns, Anand didn’t see Some people might not like seeing derstand: chess is diffi cult, and, as tributors, the games, “you would it and went on to lose. the mistakes of the great players of Boris Gelfand said in a recent post- show your chess friends because Hyperbole ensued: One of the the classical era collected, dissect- mortem, “errare humanum est”. you think they really have to see great blunders in World Champion- ed and displayed. But blunders are paradoxical, it.” This issue concludes the sum- ship history!! It might encourge disrespect for especially when made by strong mary with reports on the top news I don’t know much about chess those players. players. To recognize a move as a makers, as well as a feature on two history, but even I could think of a It shouldn’t. blunder requires us to know what theoreti cal rook endgames which couple of WC blunders that were First, this collecti on doesn’t show is wrong with it and to know what came up repeatedly in high-profi le up there with that one. So I did a those players at their best: it ex- the bett er moves were. But once games in 2014. litt le digging, and the Appendix col- plicitly shows them at their worst. we (ordinary) players know this, lects the results: some of the most A fair judgment about thier playing it becomes hard to imagine why a Smaller and Faster famous World Championship blun- skill would look at all their moves, world-class player did not see it. All of this was ready for the 20014.12 ders, and adds to that list some of not just the bad ones. When moves are outrageously issue, but I decided to split it in two the worst ones I found in just the Second, there’s no reason for bad it’s reasonable to ask whether anada based on reader feedback: Steinitz matches. readers to feel smug: unless you something else might have been • some people complained that C correctly solve all the Criti cal Posi- going on. Was the player in ti me the cover dates don’t match Spoiler Alert ti ons there’s no reason to think you trouble? Was he ill? Was he trying the calendar dates the issues Appendix contains would have avoided their blunders. to throw the game? have been released. many outrageously Third, the fact that a modern • no one has ever said they like awful moves. computer-assisted analyst can fi nd Typos? the size of the extra large is- their mistakes —and so we all can Before speculati ng about outside Schadenfreude is disgusti ng, but sues. know things they didn’t know— is forces, a sensible fi rst step is to The simple soluti on is to release its fans will fi nd plenty. A more hess no reason to be parti cularly proud, check the game score to see if those each issue when it reaches a de- edifying reason to review them is as credit has to be shared with 2015.01 moves actually were played. C 6 While checking game 15 of the Coff eehouse Tacti cs his opponents bett er than I ever for World Championships is closer 1892 Steinitz – Chigorin match, I I like to imagine World Champion- could, maybe he was right to sus- to “Toiletgate”, seconds accused of came across a series of moves that ship matches as played over the pect foul play. At least Gunsberg selling secrets, hypno-parapsychol- was so appallingly awful that it was board, with litt le eff ort given to had the decency not to brag that ogists, coded messages in yougurt, is easier to believe my database coff eehouse tacti cs and distrac- he had duped the World Champion and dead fl ies in Reykjavik.... and was wrong than it to believe the top ti ons. When I read that Zukertort with such a transparent ploy. those are only the World Champi- two players in the world played so sacrifi ced a pawn and Steinitz im- Anand’s matches, with their per- onships where the players agreed to badly. Luckily, I also found a Google mediately spilled half a cup of cof- fect behaviour and mutual respect, meet: who knows how ugly things digiti zed copy of Steinitz’s Inter- fee on the board, I give Steinitz the seem to be the excepti ons. Sadly, might have got if Alekhine had ac- nati onal Chess Magazine, where I benefi t of the doubt it may be that the historical norm cepted Capablanca’s challenges for discovered that the ChessBase da- and assume he didn’t a rematch!? tabase is wrong and that there was do that deliberately. no string of 10 blunders in a row But maybe I’m just be- Thanks to (see p.65). ing Panglossian. To the John Doknjas, who right is an excerpt from wrote the report on the But correcti ng the game scores Steinitz’s ICM where he BC Junior and annotated won’t make all the outrageous describes the events two games for it. Future blunders go away, and that leaves preceeding the blun- issues of Chess Canada us reaching for the usual suspect der you’ll see on p.54, will feature his reports explanati ons: distracti ons, illness, and shows that Stein- on the 2015 GPO as well prearranged results... The mini- itz did not extend the as games from the Ha- arti cle “Coded Messages?” (p.42) same benefi t of the waii Open. suggests other ways to (try to) un- doubt to his oppo- anada - John Upper derstand them. nent. Steinitz knew editor Chess Canada C hess 2015.01 C selected by the editor 7 Critical PositionsXIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY The following diagrams are criti cal positi ons from this issue of Chess 8-+-+-+rtr0 8r+-wq-trk+0 8-+-+-+-+0 Canada. You can treat them as ex- 7+k+-+p+-0 7+-+-+-+-0 7zppzp-+-mk-0 ercises or as a teaser introducti on 6-zpl+p+nzp0 6-sn-zp-vl-+0 6r+-+-+ntR0 to what you’ll fi nd this month. 5zp-zp-zP-+R0 5+Pzp-zp-+-0 5+-zp-zPKzP-0 4-+P+-+R+0 4-+P+Pzp-zP0 4-+P+-+-vL0 These “criti cal positi ons” can be: 3+-zP-vL-+-0 • winning combinati ons 3zp-+-+L+-0 3+-+-+-+-0 • surprising tacti cs 2P+L+-zPP+0 2P+-wQ-vL-+0 2P+P+-+-+0 • endgames requiring precise play 1+-mK-+-+-0 1+-tR-+R+K0 1+-+-+-+-0 • simple calculati on exercises xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy • variati on-rich middlegames • m o m e n t s w h e n o n e p l a y e r w e n t ¢d1 or ¢d2 see: Newsmakers see: Newsmakers badly wrong. see: Newsmakers

The and squares next to XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY each diagram indicate the player 8-+-wq-+-+0 8r+lvlq+k+0 8r+-wq-mk-+0 to move. 7mk-zp-+ptr-0 7+p+-+rzpp0 7+p+l+n+Q0 6-zpQ+l+P+0 6p+nzp-zp-+0 6p+-zp-tr-+0 anada 5zp-+ptR-+-0 5+-+N+P+-0 5+-+N+-zp-0 Soluti ons appear in the game anal- 4P+-zP-+-+0 4-+-+P+Q+0 4-+-+P+-+0

C ysis in this month’s CCN, in the red diagrams in the reports named 3+P+L+-+-0 3+P+-vL-tR-0 3+P+-+-tR-0 under the diagram. Criti cal pos- 2K+P+-+-+0 2-zPP+-zP-zP0 2-zPP+-zP-+0 ti ons usually feature signiﬁ cantly 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-mKR+-+-0 1+-mK-+-+R0 more analyti cal commentary than xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy the rest of the game. see: Newsmakers Choose: ...♔f8, ...♔h8, ...g5 see: Newsmakers hess see: Newsmakers 2015.01 C 8 XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 8k+-+-+-tr0 8R+-+-+-+0 8-+-+-+-+0 7+-+-+pmk-0 7+-+p+-+-0 7+-+-+-mk-0 7+-+-+-+k0 6-+q+-trp+0 6P+-wq-zp-+0 6P+-+-+-+0 6-+-+R+-zP0 5tr-+-zp-+p0 5+-vl-sn-+-0 5tr-+-+-+-0 5+-+-+PmK-0 4ptR-+P+-+0 4-+-+-+p+0 4-+-+K+-+0 4-+-+-+-+0 3tR-+P+-zPP0 3+-tR-+-+-0 3+-+-+-+-0 3+-+-+-+-0 2-+-+P+K+0 2-zPP+Q+PvL0 2-+-+-+-+0 2-+-+-+-+0 1wQ-+-+-+-0 1tR-+-+-+K0 1+-+-+-+-0 1tr-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy see: Newsmakers Calculate 32.£e4+ see: Endgame Defence White to play... see: Newsmakers Black to play...

see: Endgame Defence XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 8R+-+-+-+0 8-+-+-+k+0 8-+-+-mk-+0 7+-+-+-+-0 7+-+-+-+-0 7+-+-tR-+-0 7zpp+-+-zpp0 6-+-+-+-+0 6-+-+-+-+0 6-+-+-+-mK0 6-+-vlpzp-+0 5+-+-+-+-0 5+-+-+p+-0 5+-+-+P+P0 5+P+-+-+-0 anada 4-+-+-zpkzp0 4-+-+-+-zp0 4-+-+-+r+0 4-+-+-+-+0

C 3+-+-tr-+-0 3+-+-+k+K0 3+-+-+-+-0 3zP-+KzP-+-0 2-+R+-+-mK0 2-+-+-+-+0 2-+-+-+-+0 2-+-+-zPPzP0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-+-tr-+-0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-vL-+-+-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy

White has only two drawing see: Endgame Defence moves. see: Endgame Defence see: Appendix hess see: Endgame Defence 2015.01 C 9 XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-mk-+0 8-+-+-vLr+0 8r+l+k+-tr0 8-+-+-+k+0 7+-+l+-zp-0 7+-+-+-zP-0 7zppzppsnpzp-0 7zpr+-+-zp-0 6-zp-+-+qzp0 6-+-+-+-+0 6-vl-+n+-zp0 6-trnvl-snQzp0 5zp-zpPzp-zp-0 5+-+-+-+-0 5+-+-zPq+-0 5+-+-zp-+-0 4P+P+Psn-+0 4-+p+-zp-+0 4Q+-zP-+-sN0 4qzP-+-+P+0 3+-zPQ+-+-0 3+p+k+-+-0 3+-+-+-zP-0 3+-+P+-+N0 2-+-+-+PzP0 2pmK-+-+-+0 2PvL-sNLzP-zP0 2PtRNvL-zP-zP0 1+-+LvL-mK-0 1+-tR-+-+-0 1tR-+-tR-+K0 1mK-tR-+-+-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy abcdefgh xabcdefghy

see: Appendix see: Appendix see: Appendix Should White continue with: g5, or d5, or ♗xh6

see: Appendix XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 8-+-sN-+-+0 8-+-tr-+-+0 8rsnlwqk+-tr0 7+-+-+-+-0 7+p+-+-+-0 7+-+-+-+-0 7+p+-+pzp-0 6-+-+-+-+0 6-+-+-+-+0 6-zPK+-zp-+0 6p+-vlpsn-zp0 5+k+r+p+-0 5zp-+-+-+-0 5+-+-+k+-0 5+-+-+-+-0 anada 4-zP-+-+-+0 4-+P+-mk-+0 4-+-+-+-+0 4-+NzP-+-+0 3+K+-+RzP-0 3+KzP-zp-+-0

C 3+-+-+-+-0 3+-sN-+L+-0 2-+-+-+-+0 2-+-+-+-+0 2-+-+-+-+0 2PzPP+-+PzP0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+R+-+-+-0 1tR-vLQ+RmK-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy see: Appendix see: Appendix see: Appendix see: Appendix hess 2015.01 C XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 10 8-+-trr+k+0 8-+-+-+-+0 8-+-+-+-+0 7zpp+-snpzpp0 7zp-+-+q+k0 7+-+p+-mkp0 6-+nzp-+q+0 6Q+-+R+-zp0 6-+lzP-+p+0 5+-vl-+-+-0 5+-+pzPp+p0 5+-zP-+-+-0 4-+L+P+l+0 4-+-+-+-+0 4-+-wq-zp-+0 3+-zP-+NvL-0 3+P+-+-+P0 3wQ-+-+-+P0 2P+-sN-zPPzP0 2P+-+-+P+0 2-+N+-+PmK0 1tR-wQR+-mK-0 1+-+-tr-mK-0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy What’s the best way to deal with the annoying pin on f3? see: Appendix see: Appendix see: Appendix XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-trr+k+0 8-+-+-tr-mk0 8-+-+-+-+0 7zp-+-+pzp-0 7+-zp-+-zpp0 7zpp+-tR-+p0 6-vl-+-wq-zp0 6p+-tr-+-+0 6-+-vLNmkl+0 5+-zpLzp-+-0 5+-+nsNPwqR0 5+-+P+p+-0 4-+P+Psnl+0 4-+Q+-+P+0 4-+-+-+-zp0 anada 3+-+-wQN+-0 3zPR+-+-mK-0 3+-+-+-+-0 2PvL-+-zPPzP0 2-+-+-zP-+0 2PzP-trr+-zP0 C 1tR-+R+-mK-0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-+-+R+K0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy

Attack with ...h5, or with ...♖d6. Black threatens ...♗f 7. What should White do? see: Appendix see: Appendix see: your worst nightmares hess 2015.01 C by the editor 11 2014 News Makers Carlsen,Magnus Anand,Viswanathan B41 Magnus-icent ’14 World Championship Sochi (6), #1 The Carlsen Slam Played seven individual events in Chess doesn’t have a Grand Slam like 15.11.2014 2014, winning fi ve and fi nishing Notes by John Upper golf, but if it did, Magnus Carlsen second twice: won it in 2014: World Champion, Rapid Champion, Blitz Champion, Won: Zeurich Chess Challenge in 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 and #1 FIDE rati ng. January with 4/5, ahead of Aroni- 4.¤xd4 a6 5.c4 ¤f6 6.¤c3 an, Caruana, Nakamura and Anand ¥b4 7.£d3 (both 2 points back), and Gelfand. XIIIIIIIIY 8rsnlwqk+-tr0 Won: Shamkir Chess/Gashimov Memoral in April with 6½/10, a full 7+p+p+pzpp0 point ahead of Caruana. 6p+-+psn-+0 5+-+-+-+-0 Won: World Rapid Championship 4-vlPsNP+-+0 in Dubai in June (11/15). 3+-sNQ+-+-0 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 Won: World Blitz Championship in Dubai in June (17/21). 1tR-vL-mKL+R0 xabcdefghy anada 2nd: Norway (no logo) Chess, behind 7.¥d3 ¤c6 8.¤xc6 dxc6= …9.e5 Karjakin, but ahead of Grischuk, £d4!?=. C Caruana, Topalov, Aronian, Svidler, Kramnik, Giri and Agdestein. 7...¤c6 This might be surprising choice 2nd: Sinquefi eld Cup in August, 3 from Anand: voluntarily going points behind Caruana, but the into a Queenless middlegame only other player with a plus score. which is Carlsen's strongest suit. But Anand went for the Berlin endgame in this match too, and hess Won: World Championship ti tle (maybe most important) Black 2015.01 match in November, defeati ng

C Vishy Anand in Sochi: 6½-4½. Is that all there is...? 12 doesn't seem to have anything the extra time gives White a In the middlegame this gives 17.¦g3 ¦ag8 18.¥d3 ¤f8 objectively better. bigger plus; e.g. 12...¤xc3?! White more choices about where 19.¥e3 7...d6 8.¤c2 ¥a5 9.b4 ¥b6 13.Be3 13.a4! Threatening to to put pieces on the kingside ♘ XIIIIIIIIY 10.¥e2 ¤c6 11.¥e3 ¤e5 trap the . 13...¤e4 14.¥e3± (extra space), and (because of 8-+-+-snrtr0 12.£d2² was Hansen,E-Smirin,I Black has a woeful ♗c8 and en passant captures) the chance Tromso, 2014 (1–0, 33), which weak dark-squares. to keep his pieces on those 7+lmk-+pzp-0 Eric annotated in Chess Canada squares for one (often crucial) 6pzp-+p+-zp0 2014.08. 11.¥f4 ¥xc3+ 12.bxc3 ¢c7 tempo longer. 5+-zp-zP-+P0 7...£c7 8.a3 ¥xc3+ 9.£xc3 13.h4! b6 14.h5 h6 In the endgame, if White 4-+P+-+-+0 ¤xe4 10.¤b5! axb5 11.£xg7 ¦f8 XIIIIIIIIY advances his pawns to f4 and 3+-zPLvL-tR-0 12.¥h6± £c5 13.f3± - Hansen. g4, then it is possible to create a 8r+l+-+-tr0 passer by force with g4–g5 then 2P+-+-zPP+0 7+-mkn+pzp-0 (if Black doesn't take) f4–f5. 8.¤xc6 dxc6 9.£xd8+ ¢xd8 1+-mK-+-+R0 10.e5 6pzpp+p+-zp0 xabcdefghy XIIIIIIIIY 5+-+-zP-+P0 15.0–0–0 ¥b7 16.¦d3 c5 8r+lmk-+-tr0 4-+P+-vL-+0 7+p+-+pzpp0 3+-zP-+-+-0 6p+p+psn-+0 2P+-+-zPP+0 5+-+-zP-+-0 1tR-+-mKL+R0 4-vlP+-+-+0 xabcdefghy The kingside pawn structure — 3+-sN-+-+-0 e5/h5 vs e6/f7/g7/h6 — is com- anada 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 mon and worth knowing. Hans Kmoch called it the "quart-grip", C 1tR-vL-mKL+R0 xabcdefghy which is one of the few useful neologisms in his otherwise 10...¤d7 excellent book Pawn Power in 10...¤e4 11.a3! (11.¥d2 ¤xd2 Chess. 12.¢xd2 f6³ Black has the ♗s.) White's two pawns restrict 11...¥xc3+ 12.bxc3² Black can Black's four: the e and h-pawns take the ♙c3, but it doesn't make can't move at all and moving the much difference (it's backwards hess f or g-pawns gives White the and doubled and isolated), and

2015.01 option of capturing or not. C XIIIIIIIIY 13 A nice picture of spatial domina- 21.¦h5! 8-+-+-+rtr0 ¹26.¢d1 or ¦g3, putting it on a tion. White threatens ♖h4–f4/g4. 21.¦xh6 ¤xe5 22.¥f4 (22.¦xh8 safe square before centralizing ¤xd3+ 23.¢d2 ¦xh8 24.¢xd3 7+k+-+p+-0 the King. 19...g6?! ¦d8+ 25.¢e2 ¥e4³) 22...¦xg3 6-zpl+p+nzp0 Was Anand getting impatient? 23.¥xe5+ ¢d7 24.¥xh8 ¦xd3=. 5zp-zp-zP-+R0 26...a4?? 19...¤d7!? is the patient move, 4-+P+-+R+0 An example of how a good plan leaving White with a choice: 21...¥c6 22.¥c2 3+-zP-vL-+-0 is worse than no plan!? Black is tactically holding his h- Carlsen could continue ma- 2P+L+-zPP+0 Played after about 30 seconds. pawn: 22.¥xh6? ¤xe5! 23.¥f4÷ neuvering with: 20.¥f4 ¤f8 Black seems to have planned to on anything else Black will end 1+-mK-+-+-0 21.f3² (21.¦h4? g5 22.hxg6 play ...a3 then ...♖a8 and ...♗a4, up with the better structure and xabcdefghy ¤xg6 23.¥xg6 (23.¦hg4? h5 hoping to trade White's ♗-pair. more active pieces. Black's not going to be attack- 24.¦g5 h4 25.¦3g4 ¤xf4–+) Instead, had Vishy been shown ing the a or c-pawns, so White 23...¦xg6=. this position from scratch, there's plans to centralize his ♔. no doubt he would have found Or, Carlsen could sac the ♙e5 22...¢b7 23.¦g4 a5 24.¥d1 the unplanned but much stron- for more active pieces: 20.f3!? ¦d8 25.¥c2 ¦dg8 ger ...♘xe5: ¤xe5 21.¥f4 f6 22.¦e1! ¢d6 26.¢d2?? 23.¦g6! threatening ♗xe5 then ♗f5. 26...¤xe5!µ 27.¦xg8 ¤xc4+ 28.¢d3 ¤b2+ the check safe- 20.hxg6 ¤xg6 ties the ♘ and Black is up two pawns temporarily, since XIIIIIIIIY White wins back the one on

anada 8-+-+-+rtr0 h6. 29.¢e2 ¦xg8 30.g3µ. 7+lmk-+p+-0 C 6pzp-+p+nzp0 27.¢e2± 5+-zp-zP-+-0 27.a3 would stop Black's 4-+P+-+-+0 plan, but it's obvious from the video that Carlsen had seen 3+-zPLvL-tR-0 Black could play ...♘xe5, so 2P+-+-zPP+0 he quickly got his ♔ to a safer 1+-mK-+-+R0 square.

hess xabcdefghy

2015.01 27...a3 28.f3 ¦d8

C He who hesitates... Carlsen pauses as he noti ces his blunder. Anand... XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY14 8-+-tr-+-tr0 White's not threatening to take 38...¢b8 39.¦xh6 ¥f5 40.¢f4! 8r+lmk-vl-tr0 7+k+-+p+-0 the ♙a3, since ...♖a8 would give ¥c8 only safe square 41.¦xb6+ 7zppzp-+pzpp0 Black the advantage. So I as- wins everything. 6-zpl+p+nzp0 sume Black was too tired of 1–0 6-+p+-+-+0 5+-zp-zP-+R0 passively defending and too dis- The win put Carlsen ahead 3½ - 2½. 5+-+-zPn+-0 4-+P+-+R+0 spirited from missing his chance 4-+-+-+-+0 3zp-zP-vLP+-0 on move 26. 3+-+-+N+P0 2P+L+K+P+0 2PzPP+-zPP+0 1+-+-+-+-0 31.¢e2 ¥a4 32.¥e4+! ¥c6 An example of how 1tRNvL-+RmK-0 32...¢a7! is an amaz- xabcdefghy ing computer suggestion: a good plan is worse xabcdefghy 29.¢e1 33.¥xa8 ¢xa8 34.¦xh6 ¦d1 Both players tried the Berlin as 29.¥xg6 fxg6 30.¦xg6 ¥e8 35.¥xa3 (35.¥e3? ¦a1µ) than no plan ?!? Black in their 2013 World Cham- 31.¦g7+ ¦d7 32.¦xd7+ ¥xd7 35...¦a1 36.¢e3 saving the pionship match. In 2014 Anand 33.¦xh6 ¦xh6 34.¥xh6 an op- ♗ by getting out of the check played 1.d4 in every game, but played the Berlin when Carlsen posite-coloured ♗ ending may 36...¦xa2 37.¥c1 ¥b3± Black is The following was the last game be holdable. 34...¥a4 35.¥c1 obviously worse, but it's better played 1.e4. This was third time of the match, and, just like their Anand played the Berlin against ¥c2 36.¥xa3 ¥b1 Black gets the than the game. 2013 match, Anand played his best ♙a2 and White will have to give Carlsen in the match. up the ♙c4 if he wants to acti- game... only to throw away his 33.¥xg6! fxg6 34.¦xg6 ¥a4 vate his ♔. chances just before move 30. 35.¦xe6 ¦d1 36.¥xa3 ¦a1 9...¥d7 37.¢e3 ¥c2 They had this position twice 29...¦d7 30.¥c1 ¦a8?! Carlsen,Magnus before in the match. anada 37...¦xa2 38.¦e7+ ¢a6 39.¥xc5! Anand,Viswanathan XIIIIIIIIY bxc5 40.¦xh6+ ¢a5 41.¦c7+– Game 7 continued: 9...¢e8 C67 10.¤c3 h5 11.¥f4 ¥e7 12.¦ad1 C 8r+-+-+-+0 White has five pawns for the ♗ World Championship Sochi (11), 7+k+r+p+-0 and all Black's pieces are bad ¥e6 13.¤g5 ¦h6 14.g3 ¥xg5 23.11.2014 15.¥xg5 ¦g6 16.h4 f6! 17.exf6 6-zpl+p+nzp0 Notes by John Upper gxf6 18.¥f4 ¤xh4 19.f3 and 5+-zp-zP-+R0 38.¦e7+ the players followed theory to a 4-+P+-+R+0 Black is lost: 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 ¤f6 roughly-equal position at move 3zp-zP-+P+-0 38...¢c6 39.¦xh6+ ¥g6 4.0–0 ¤xe4 5.d4 ¤d6 6.¥xc6 25, though Carlsen "pressed" for 40.¦xg6#. dxc6 7.dxe5 ¤f5 8.£xd8+ a few moves in a pawnless ♖+♘ 2P+L+-+P+0 v ♖ ending before drawing on hess 38...¢a6 39.¦xh6 ¦xa2 ¢xd8 9.h3 1+-vL-mK-+-0 move 122. Carlsen,M-Anand,V 2015.01 40.¥xc5+–.

C xabcdefghy XIIIIIIIIY 15 Sochi, 2014. (2730) Loo, 2014. is the dullest, which makes it a good choice against an exciting 8r+-+-vl-+0 7+kzp-+p+-0 Game 9 continued: 9...¢e8 14...¥e6 15.¤d5 g5 16.c4 try for play like ...b5. 10.¤c3 h5 11.¤e2 b6 12.¦d1 ¢b7 17.¢h2 a5 18.a4 ¤e7 24.axb5 a4 25.bxa4 ¦xa4„. 6-+-+l+nzp0 ¥a6 13.¤f4 ¥b7N 14.e6 ¥d6 19.g4 ¤g6 20.¢g3 ¥e7 24.cxb5? c6ƒ. 5zp-+NzP-+-0 15.exf7+ ¢xf7 16.¤g5+ ¢f6 21.¤d2 ¦hd8 22.¤e4 ¥f8 4PzpP+KsNP+0 17.¤e4+ ¢f7 18.¤g5+ ¢f6 23.¤ef6?! 19.¤e4+ ¢f7 20.¤g5+ ½–½ 24...bxa4 25.bxa4 ¢c6 26.¢f3 3+-+-+-+P0 ¹23.f3 Carlsen,M-Anand,V Sochi, ¦db8 27.¢e4 2-+-+-+-+0 2014. XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 1+-+RtR-+-0 8r+-tr-vl-+0 8rtr-+-vl-+0 xabcdefghy 10.¤c3 h6 11.b3 ¢c8 12.¥b2 7+kzp-+p+-0 7+-zp-+p+-0 31...¤xf4? c5 13.¦ad1 b6 6-zp-+lsNnzp0 6-+k+lsNnzp0 31...c6!? XIIIIIIIIY 5zp-zpNzP-zp-0 5zp-zpNzP-zp-0 31...¦e8!? 32.¤f6 ¤xf4 33.¤xe8 8r+k+-vl-tr0 4P+P+-+P+0 4P+P+K+P+0 ¤xh3±. 7zp-zpl+pzp-0 3+P+-+-mKP0 3+-vL-+-+P0 6-zp-+-+-zp0 2-vL-+-zP-+0 2-+-+-zP-+0 32.¤xf4+– ¥xc4 33.¦d7! ¦a6 5+-zp-zPn+-0 34.¤d5 ¦c6 35.¦xf7 ¥c5 1+-+RtR-+-0 1+-+RtR-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY 4-+-+-+-+0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 3+PsN-+N+P0 23...b5!! 27...¦b4?! 8-+-+-+-+0 2PvLP+-zPP+0 For the first, and maybe the only And now he isn't. ¹27...¦b3 7+kzp-+R+-0 anada 1+-+R+RmK-0 time in their two matches, Anand 28.¦c1 ¦a3 29.¦a1 ¦xc3! 6-+r+-+-zp0 is outplaying Carlsen after the 30.¤xc3 ¥xc4°. 5zp-vlNzP-+-0 C xabcdefghy opening. 14.¦fe1 4Pzpl+K+P+0 14.¤d5 a5 15.¤d2 (15.a4 c4 28.¥xb4 cxb4 29.¤h5! ¢b7 3+-+-+-+P0 16.g4 ¤e7 17.¤f4 ¤c6 18.e6 24.¥c3! 30.f4 gxf4 31.¤hxf4 2-+-+-+-+0 fxe6 19.¤g6 ¦g8÷ (½–½, 31) White has other options, and this 1+-+-tR-+-0 Svidler,P-Ponomariov,R Mos- cow, 2009.) 15...¤e7 16.¤e3 xabcdefghy ¤f5 17.¤d5 ¤e7 18.¤e3 ¤f5 36.¦xc7+! ¦xc7 37.¤xc7 ¢c6 hess ½–½ Kokarev,D (2621)-Leko,P 37...¢xc7 38.¦c1+–. 2015.01 C 16 38.¤b5! ¥xb5 No. That’s not all there is... 39.axb5+ ¢xb5 40.e6 b3 41.¢d3 • December, 2013 Carlsen became 41.h4! the second World Champion, aft er Kasparov, to appear on the Colbert Report. He defeated the host 2-0 at 41...¥e7 42.h4 a4 Rock-Paper-Scissors. 43.g5 hxg5 44.hxg5 a3 45.¢c3 • Carlsen appeared as a character in This win clinched his favourite comic book. the match. 1–0 • Caught up on his sleep during the World Championship match against Anand.

Carlsen’s 2014 by the Numbers • Checkmated Bill Gates in 12seconds/9 moves.

Games: • Provided tense politi cal (non) commentary when 141 games: +74 =50 -12 (73.4%) he ignored protocol at the closing ceremony in So- 54 Classical games: +20 =28 -6 chi and thanked everyone responsible for the event, White: +14 =11-3 Elo 2902 except Vladimir Puti n (far right bott om), who did a Black:: +6 =17 -3 Elo 2835 slow burn behind him. Bête Noires: anada +3 =2 -2 vs Caruana +0 =1 -1 vs Radjabov

C +0 =0 -1 vs Saric & Naiditsch

Favourite Customer: +4 =1 -0 vs Nakamura

And his rati ng sti ll went... down: Jan 1 2014: 2872 hess Jan 1 2015: 2862 2015.01 C Caruana Makes a Splash 17 Fabiano Caruana takes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge before the fi rst round of the 2nd Sinquefi eld Cup in St. Louis... Then ices the competi ti on. anada C hess 2015.01 C 18 Carlsen, Aronian, Nakamura, To- Caruana,Fabiano (2801) Fabiano Caruana palov and MVL, before “dropping” Carlsen,Magnus (2877) The 22-year old American-born half-points against Carlsen, Naka- B36 Italian had an extremely busy year mura and Aronian. Sinquefi eld Cup 2nd Saint Louis with three tournament victories (8), 04.09.2014 and one truly outstanding result: His run at the Sinquefi eld Cup Notes by John Upper a 7-0 start at the 2800+ rated Sin- and the EU Teams saw him push quefi led Cup. his rati ng to a high of 2844 on the Caruana could have gone to 8–0 With six players and an Elo of October 2014 FIDE list. had he found the best move in this 2801, Category 23, the 2nd Sinque- p o s i ti o .n fi e l d C u p (Aug. 27 – Sept. 6, 2014, Caruana was also the only player XIIIIIIIIY St.Louis) was billed as the Stron- to beat World Champion Carlsen 8r+-wq-trk+0 gest Tournament in Chess History. twice in 2014. Caruana won his fi rst seven games Caruana’s 2014 7+-+-+-+-0 against: Topalov, Vachier Lagrave, 10 tournaments 6-sn-zp-vl-+0 91 Classical games: 56/91 5+Pzp-zp-+-0 4-+P+Pzp-zP0 Tata Steel +4 =4 -3 Zeurich +1 =3 -1 3zp-+-+L+-0 Gashimov +3 =5 -2 2P+-wQ-vL-+0 Italian Teams +2 =1 -0 1+-tR-+R+K0 Norway Chess +2 =5 -2 xabcdefghy Dortmund +4 =3 -0 anada Tromso Ol. +5 =3 -1 29.¦cd1? Sinqefi eld Cup +7 =3 -0 Keeps the ♗f2 defended, and C EU Teams +4 =2 -0 may transfer a Rook to the g-file Baku GP +4 =5 -2 while keeping pressure on the Tashkent GP +2 =8 -1 ♙d6. Perfectly logical, but second-best. That doesn’t count the 55 rapid Caruana would probably have and blitz games he played at gone to 8-0 had he used the the World Championships or in other rook: 29.¦fd1!: hess the prelims at Zeurich and Nor-

2015.01 way. a) 29...¤c8 30.£d5++– wins C 19 the ♖a8. ¦d8! 37.¦xd8+ ¥xd8= 38.¢g2 9...¢e8 21...¥xc3 22.bxc3 ¦g6 b) 29...¥xh4 30.¦g1+™+– ¢g7 39.¢f3 ¢f6 40.¢e4 c4! 9...¥d7 10.¤c3 h6 11.b3 ¢c8 23.¦d4= f5 24.¥h4 c5 25.¦f4 ¢h8 (30...¢f7 31.¥h5+ ¢e6 41.¥xc4 ¥b6 42.¥d3 12.¥b2 c5 was Carlsen-Anand, ¤d5 26.¦xf5 ¦xg4+ 27.¥g3 32.¦g6++–) 31.¦g2!+– White's WCh g11, (above). ¢d8 28.¢h3 attack on the g and h-files ½–½ 28.¢f3 comes first; e.g. 31...¦a7 10.¤c3 h5 11.¥f4 ¥e7 32.¥xh4 ¦h7 33.¦h2 ¦xh4 In round 9 Caruana reached a win- 12.¦ad1 ¥e6 13.¤g5 ¦h6 28...¦g6 29.c4 34.£f2™+–. ning positi on against Nakamura, 14.¦fe1 ¥b4 15.g4 hxg4 XIIIIIIIIY c) 29...¥e7 30.¥xc5! ¢h8 but for the second game in a row 16.hxg4 ¤e7 17.¤xe6 ¦xe6 (30...dxc5 31.£g2++– gets the he didn’t ﬁ nd the clincher. 18.¢g2 8-+-mk-+-+0 ♕ for too little.) 31.¥f2 White XIIIIIIIIY 7zppzp-+-zp-0 has an extra pawn and pass- 6-+-+-+r+0 ers on both sides, so Black Caruana,Fabiano (2801) 8r+-+k+-+0 5+-zpnzPR+-0 has to get one back, but on Nakamura,Hikaru (2787) 7zppzp-snpzp-0 31...¥xh4 32.¥xb6 £xb6 C67 6-+p+r+-+0 4-+P+-+-+0 33.£xd6+– when trading Sinqueﬁ eld Cup 2nd Saint Louis 5+-+-zP-+-0 3+-+-+-vLK0 Queens leads to a lost end- (9), 05.09.2014 2P+P+-zP-+0 game (resembling the after- 4-vl-+-vLP+0 Notes by John Upper 1+-+-+-+-0 math of a bad KID for Black), 3+-sN-+-+-0 but the alternative is getting xabcdefghy 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 ¤f6 2PzPP+-zPK+0 mated: 33...£f2 34.£h6+ ¢g8 29...¤e7? 4.0–0 ¤xe4 5.d4 ¤d6 6.¥xc6 35.£g6+ ¢h8 36.£h5+ ¢g8 1+-+RtR-+-0 Black needs this square for his dxc6 7.dxe5 ¤f5 8.£xd8+ 37.¦d7+–. xabcdefghy ♔. ¹29...¤c3=.

anada ¢xd8 9.h3 XIIIIIIIIY 18...¦d8 29...¢h8 18...¥xc3 19.bxc3 ¤d5 20.¥d2 30.¦f8+! ¢d7 31.f4 ¢e6 C 8r+lmk-vl-tr0 29...¤xc4?? 30.£d5++–. b5 (½–½, 40) Caruana,F - 32.¥h4 ¦h6 33.¦e8 g5 34.fxg5 7zppzp-+pzpp0 Karjakin,S Sao Paulo/Bilbao, ¦g6 35.¢g4 ¢f7 36.¦h8 ¦a6 2012. 30.£xd6 £xd6 31.¦xd6 ¤xc4² 6-+p+-+-+0 36...¦e6. 32.¦d5 ¤e3! 33.¥xe3 fxe3 5+-+-zPn+-0 19.¦xd8+ ¢xd8 20.¦d1+ ¢c8 34.¥e2 4-+-+-+-+0 37.¦h7+ ¢f8 38.¦h6 ¤g6 21.¥g3 34.¦xc5 ¦ad8!„. 3+-+-+N+P0 39.¢f5 21.¤e4! 2PzPP+-zPP+0 39.¥g3. hess 34...¥xh4 35.¦f5 ¦xf5 36.exf5

2015.01 1tRNvL-+RmK-0

C xabcdefghy 20 39...¢g7? XIIIIIIIIY 39...¤e7+™. 8-+-wq-+-+0 7mk-zp-+ptr-0 XIIIIIIIIY 6-zpQ+l+P+0 8-+-+-+-+0 5zp-+ptR-+-0 7zppzp-+-mk-0 4P+-zP-+-+0 6r+-+-+ntR0 3+P+L+-+-0 5+-zp-zPKzP-0 2K+P+-+-+0 4-+P+-+-vL0 1+-+-+-+-0 3+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy 2P+P+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 38.gxf7™+– 42...¤c6 43.¢f5 ¦xc4 44.¦g6+ 38.¦xe6? fxe6 39.£xe6 £d7= xabcdefghy ¢f8™= 45.¦f6+ ¢g8! 46.g6 Finally, a Caruana win that end- White has no way to break the 40.¥f2?? ¦xc2 47.¥e3 ing with what he called, ”One of dark-square blockade. 40.¦xg6+! ¦xg6 41.e6 ¢h7 XIIIIIIIIY the most sati sfying combinati ons I 42.e7 ¦g8 43.¢f6 ¦g6+ 44.¢f7 8-+-+-+k+0 have ever played!” 38...¥xf7 39.¦e7! £xe7 ¦g7+ 45.¢e6+–. 7zppzp-+-+-0 40.¥a6! ¢xa6 41.£a8# 1–0 Caruana,Fabiano (2789) Caruana won the tournament "I had more than enough ti me to 6-+n+-tRP+0 Ponomariov,Ruslan (2723) with 5½/7 — 1½ points ahead of fi nish off the game cleanly. This 5+-zp-zPK+-0 C42 Peter Leko — to push his rating anada tacti c is just so simple. Even Chris 4-+-+-+-+0 Dortmund SuperGM 42nd Dort- over 2800. Bird, the arbiter saw it. He told me, 3+-+-vL-+-0 mund (2), 13.07.2014 C which makes me feel great [laughs] 2P+r+-+-+0 Notes by John Upper ...if the arbiter sees a win and you 1+-+-+-+-0 don't, that's probably not a good xabcdefghy "I had already seen the win- sign." ning combination while he 47...¤d4+™= 48.¥xd4 cxd4 - Caruana, in NiC 2014.07 (p.36). was thinking about his 36th 49.¦f7 d3 50.¦d7 ¦f2+ 51.¢g5 move..." - Caruana ¦g2+ 52.¢f6 ¦f2+ 53.¢g5 40...¤e7+ 41.¢e4 ¦a4 42.¦e6 ¦g2+ 54.¢f6 ¦f2+ 55.¢g5 hess ¹42.¢d3 ¦g2+ Nakamura (above) waits for the axe. 2015.01 ½–½ Ponomariov (right) gets the axe C 21 Sam Sevian: Morphy or Tal? Sevian,Samuel (2484) On November 23, Samuel Sevi- He is currently tutored by former Boros,Denes (2470) an became the world’s youngest Soviet champion GM Alexander B09 grandmaster, the fi rst grandmas- Chernin. Twice a year for the past St.Louis CC GM Norm (1), ter born in the year 2000 or later, three years, Sevian and other top 21.11.2014 and the youngest grandmaster in US juniors get a weekend of coach- Notes by John Upper U.S. history. ing from Garry Kasparov. Sevian: 13 y, 10 m, 27 days Fischer: 15 y, 6 m, 1 day. Att acking Prodigy 1.e4 g6 2.d4 ¥g7 3.¤c3 d6 Sevian is the sixth-youngest GM of Sevian is a fantasti c att acking play- 4.f4 ¤f6 5.¤f3 0–0 6.e5 ¤fd7 all ti me, behind Bu Xiangzhi, Wei Yi, er. Here are two of the beat-downs Samuel Sevian 7.h4 c5 8.h5 cxd4 9.£xd4 Magnus Carlsen, Parimarjan Negi he infl icted in the tournament dxe5 10.£f2 and Sergey Karjakin, whose record which pushed his rati ng over 2500 • born: December 26, 2000. XIIIIIIIIY of 12 years, 7 months and 0 days to clinch his GM ti tle. • home-schooled by his Arme- 8rsnlwq-trk+0 looks more impressive every year. nian parents. 7zpp+nzppvlp0 • age 4, begins chess. 6-+-+-+p+0 • age 8: begins lessons with IM 5+-+-zp-+P0 Andranik Mati kozyan. • Youngest-ever US nati onal 4-+-+-zP-+0 expert, master. 3+-sN-+N+-0 • WYCC U12 champion, 2012 2PzPP+-wQP+0 Maribor, Slovenia. 1tR-vL-mKL+R0 anada • 2013: Youngest-ever US IM xabcdefghy (12 years 10 months). 10...£b6 C 10...e4 11.¤xe4 ¤f6 12.¤xf6+ • June 2014: played Canadian exf6 13.hxg6 ¦e8+÷ 14.¥e2 Open in Montreal. hxg6 15.¥d2 ¤c6 16.0–0–0 £b6 17.£xb6 axb6 18.¥c4 b5!÷ (0–1, November 23, 2014: 45) Vaisser,A (2531)-Jones,G • pushes rati ng over 2500. (2664) Douglas PokerStars, • world’s youngest GM. 2014. • fi rst GM born in 2000 or later. hess • youngest GM in U.S. history.

2015.01 11.£h4 exf4 12.hxg6 h6 • 6th youngest GM of all ti me. C XIIIIIIIIY 22 8rsnl+-trk+0 16...£b2? Computers rate 16...£xh1 as but now 18.¥xh6 comes with 7zpp+nzppvl-0 XIIIIIIIIY Black's best chance. tempo on the Queen. 8r+l+-trk+0 6-wq-+-+Pzp0 18.¥xh6™+– ¤c5 19.¥xg7 5+-+-+-+-0 7zpp+nzppvl-0 17.¥c1™ 6-+n+-+Pzp0 Forcing the Black Queen off the ¤xd3+ 20.¢g3! fxg6 21.¤g5 4-+-+-zp-wQ0 long diagonal so it can't get back 3+-sN-+N+-0 5+-+N+-+-0 to defend. 1–0 2PzPP+-+P+0 4-+-+-vL-wQ0 17.¥ xh6? ¥xh6 18.£xh6 £g7–+ 1tR-vL-mKL+R0 3+-+L+N+-0 17.¤xe7+? ¤xe7 18.£xe7 Sevian,Samuel (2448) xabcdefghy 2PwqP+-mKP+0 £f6–+. Finegold,Benjamin (2493) I would guess that most 21st 1+-+-+-+R0 B89 century GMs (except maybe xabcdefghy 17...£xa2 St.Louis CC GM Norm (6), Nakamura) would play gxf7+, 23.11.2014 This is the only safe square 17...£xc1 avoids the mate, but which gives White a safe advan- on the a1–h8 diagonal for the should still lose. Notes by John Upper tage: 13.gxf7+! ¦xf7 14.¥c4 e6 Queen, but it's not safe for long. 17...£a1 stays on the diagonal, 15.¥b3 gives White a comfort- 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 cxd4 able advantage. 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 d6 6.¥c4 Instead... e6 7.¥e3 ¥e7 8.£e2 a6 9.¥b3 0–0 10.0–0–0 £e8 13.¥xf4!? XIIIIIIIIY ...Sevian returns to 1850 and 8r+l+qtrk+0 anada plays like Morphy! 7+p+-vlpzpp0 6p+nzppsn-+0 C 13...£xb2 14.¤d5™ £xa1+ 15.¢f2 ¤c6™ 5+-+-+-+-0 Defending e7. 4-+-sNP+-+0 3+LsN-vL-+-0 16.¥d3 2PzPP+QzPPzP0 16.¥b5!? playing to remove the 1+-mKR+-+R0 defender of e7. xabcdefghy hess This looks weird, but it's Black's

2015.01 best scoring move in the posi- C XIIIIIIIIY 23 tion, and Finegold had scored 8r+l+qtrk+0 13.¢b1 ¤xb3 (13...¥d7 14.f4 b5 13...exf5 14.gxf5 ¤xb3+ 3–0 from here, including two 15.f5 ¤xb3 16.axb3 b4 17.¤a4 14...¥f6 15.¤d5 £e5 (15...¤xe4? wins over 2500+ opponents, 7+p+-vlpzpp0 ¤xd4 18.¦xd4 ¥xa4 19.bxa4 16.¥h6+–) 16.¤xf6+ £xf6 though not without a lot of luck. 6p+nzpp+-+0 £xa4 20.g5÷ (0–1, 53) De 17.¥g5 £e5 18.¥h6 ¤xb3+ 5+-sn-+-+-0 Firmian,N (2549)-Finegold,B (18...¥xf5!) 19.axb3 g6÷ (½–½, 11.¦hg1 ¤d7 12.g4 4-+-sNP+P+0 (2522) Las Vegas (blitz playoff), 37) Kodentsov,G (2266)- 2005.) 14.axb3 b5 15.f4 ¥d7 As we saw in his win over Boros, Boidman,Y (2405) Germany, 3+LsN-vL-+-0 16.g5 b4 17.¤a4 ¤xd4 18.¥xd4 Sevian goes for the throat, not 2004. 2PzPP+QzP-zP0 e5 19.fxe5 dxe5 20.¥xe5 ¥xa4 the space advantage: 12.¤xc6 21.bxa4 ¥c5 22.¥d4 ¥xd4 bxc6 13.g4!? d5 14.¥a4 ¥b7 1+-mKR+-tR-0 23.¦xd4 £xa4 24.e5 a5 25.e6 15.axb3 f6 15.g5 ¥b4 16.exd5: xabcdefghy £c6 26.e7!± ¦fe8 27.¦e1 b3 15...¢h8! If his previous game was Mor- Analysis Diagram 28.cxb3 £g6+± 29.£e4?? ¦xe7! phy, this game is Tal. XIIIIIIIIY 0–1 Rodriguez Vila,A (2500) - 16.¤d5 ¥d8 17.¦g3 ¦f7 18.£g4 Finegold,B (2500) Reno, 1999. 8r+-+qtrk+0 13.¤f5!? XIIIIIIIIY 7+l+n+pzpp0 8r+lvlq+k+0 6p+p+p+-+0 7+p+-+rzpp0 5+-+P+-zP-0 6p+nzp-zp-+0 4Lvl-+-+-+0 5+-+N+P+-0 3+-sN-vL-+-0 4-+-+P+Q+0 2PzPP+QzP-zP0 3+P+-vL-tR-0 anada 1+-mKR+-tR-0 2-zPP+-zP-zP0 xabcdefghy 1+-mKR+-+-0 C 16...exd5? (16...¥xc3 17.dxc6+–; 16...cxd5 17.¥d4²) 17.¤xd5! xabcdefghy cxd5 18.£g4 ¤e5 19.£xb4± What's best: ...♔f8, ...♔h8, or (1–0, 60) Harutjunyan,G (2444)- ...g5? Kryakvin,D (2562) Nizhny Tagil, 2014. 18...g5? White has pressure on the g- 12...¤c5 hess file and one step to defending

2015.01 against it is to move the ♙g7, and C 24 another step is to move the ♔ 22.£e2 ¤f7? ¦xh1+ 29.¢d2 £f8 30.£xd7+–. 31.¢b1™ ¥f5! (31...£xd5 off the g-file. Moving ...♔f8 loses ¹22...£f7 △...♗xf5 23.£d2°. 32.exd5 ¥f5+ 33.£xf5 ¦xf5 34.g6²) immediately to ♗h6: 18...¢f8?? 22...g4? 23.¥h6+–. 27.£xh7 ¦xf6 32.exf5 £xd5 33.g6™ 19.¥h6! £d7 20.¦dg1+– XIIIIIIIIY £xf5+ 34.¢a2 £a5+ 35.¢b1 But ...♔h8 looks like an invita- XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wq-mk-+0 £f5+=. tion to get mated on the h-file. 8r+lvlq+k+0 7+p+l+n+Q0 Black might have been worried 7+p+-+ntrp0 6p+-zp-tr-+0 29...¤xg5 30.fxg5 ¦f2 about White doubling majors on 6p+-zp-+-+0 the h-file and then (if ...h6) play- 5+-+N+-zp-0 XIIIIIIIIY ing ♗xh6. 5+-+N+Pzp-0 4-+-+P+-+0 8-+rwq-mk-+0 The moves ...g5 or ...g6 are 4-+-+P+-+0 3+P+-+-tR-0 7+p+l+-+Q0 essential defensive resources 3+P+-vL-tR-0 2-zPP+-zP-+0 6p+-zp-+-+0 in this position, but Black has to 2-zPP+QzP-+0 1+-mK-+-+R0 5+-+N+-zP-0 save them for when they most 1+-mK-+-+R0 discombobulate White. Black xabcdefghy 4-+-+P+-+0 should wait until White puts his xabcdefghy 3+P+-+-+-0 majors on the h-file before play- 23.¥b6™+– 28.f4™‚ ¦c8 2-zPP+-tr-+0 ing ...g5 or ...g6. For example: 23.f3 h6². 28...g4 is the computer's nomi- 1+-mK-+-+R0 nal improvement, but White wins 18...¢h8 19.¦h3 ¤e5 20.£h4 after 29.¢b1! when Black has no xabcdefghy (20.£h5? g6µ 21.fxg6 ¤xg6 23...¥d7 way to save the exchange on f6, Compared to the variation above 22.¦g3 £xe4–+) 20...g5! when 23...¥xb6 24.¤f6+ ¢f8 25.¤xe8 so White prepares f4–f5 to win after 29.fxg5, White doesn't have 21.fxg6? ¤xg6–+ leaves White ¢xe8 Black has three pieces the ♙g4 without allowing ...♕g5+; his not-very-useful ♖g3 while hanging on h4, h3 and e4. for the ♕ but will get torn apart Black is missing his essential anada e.g. 29...¥e6 (29...¦c8 30.f5! before he can use them, e.g.: and White breaks through on defender: the ♘f 7. 19.h4 26.¦gh3 h6 27.¦xh6!+–. C the g-file without having to trade Opening the h-file means White his monster ♘d5 for the lump 31.£h8+ ¢f7 32.¦h7+ ¢e6 gets to attack with both rooks. 24.¥xd8! £xd8 25.f6™ ¦g6 on f6.) 30.¤xf6 £xf6 31.f5 ¥d7 33.¦h6+ ¢f7 34.£h7+ ¢f8 26.£h5™ 32.¦xg4+–. 35.£h8+ ¢f7 36.g6+! ¢e6 19...¦g7 26.¤e7+? ¢f8™ 27.¤xg6+ 37.g7+™ ¢f7 38.g8£+ 19...¤e5 20.£h5! ¥d7 (20...g4? hxg6÷. 29.¦xg5™ 38.g8£+ £xg8 39.¦f6+ ¦xf6 21.f4!+–) 21.hxg5 ¦g7 22.£h6‚. Gives an exchange to get rid of 40.£xf6+ ¢e8 41.£e7#. 26...¢f8 the big defender on f7. hess 26...¦h6 27.¦xg5+ ¢h8 28.£xf7 29.fxg5?? ¦f2™= 30.c3 £a5™ 1–0 2015.01 20.hxg5 fxg5 21.¦h1 ¤e5 C You can’t beat Judit Polgar* 25 Not many chess players could best games collecti on since Tal’s Dvirnyy,Danyyil (2575) 47...£c2™–+ 48.¦xa5 make headlines by reti ring — and much-loved The Life and Games of Polgar,Judit (2693) 48.¦a2 ¦xa4–+. none outside the world’s top 10 — Mikhail Tal — not as self-depricat- EU-ch 15th Yerevan (8), but Judit Polgar has never been like ingly funny, but equally personal, 11.03.2014 48...£xe2+ 49.¢g1 £e3+! any other player. Famously trained full of great attacking games, and Notes by John Upper 49...¦f2? 50.¦a2™= ¦g2+ by her father to become great much more instructive: highly rec- 51.¢h1 ¦h2+ 52.¢g1 ¦g2+=. chess players, Judit and her sisters ommended for all players. XIIIIIIIIY Zsusa and Soﬁ a became phenom- Judit Polgar lives in Budapest 8-+-+-+-+0 ena: leading Hungary to Olympiad with her husband and two chil- 50.¢h1 ¦f2! 7+-+-+pmk-0 ’ medals and forcing FIDE to allow dren, where she conti nues to pro- 6-+q+-trp+0 There s no good defence to women to compete in what had mote chess through her books, both mating threats ...♕f3+ and previously been men’s only events. chess school and annual Aquaprof- 5tr-+-zp-+p0 ...♕xg3, since 51.d4 (defending In 2014 Judit won the Olympi- it-Polgar Chess Festi val. 4ptR-+P+-+0 the third rank) allows ...♕xe4+. ad silver medal with her Hungar- 3tR-+P+-zPP0 White can defend the ♙e4 and ian Open team (formerly “men’s” Chess Canada celebrates her ca- 2-+-+P+K+0 the third rank with: 51.£xe5+ team) at Tromsø. reer with two ultra-sharp po- ¢h7 52.d4 but only at the cost 1wQ-+-+-+-0 of leaving the back rank unde- During the event siti ons from xabcdefghy she announced her her 2014 fended: 52...£e1#. reti rement from games, both 47.¦bxa4?? competi ti ve chess. of which 47.£d1? £c5! 0–1 She also complet- made it into 48.£e1 (48.¦axa4 anada ed her trilogy Ju- the third and £f2+–+ is mating. dit Polgar Teaches last volume 48.¦bxa4 £xa3 C Chess for Quality of Judit Pol- 49.¦xa3 ¦xa3) Chess — basically gar Teach- 48...¦f2+ 49.£xf2 a “best games” col- es Chess: £xb4µ Black lecti on but with A Game breaks the block- much more instruc- of Queens ade. ti ve notes than (Quality ¹47.£e1, and usually found in Chess, 2014). White is still holding on.

hess such collecti ons. In

2015.01 my opinion, it the

C *anymore XIIIIIIIIY26 This game, from Judit Polgar’s last 13...0–0–0 23...¥xd5 8k+-+-+-tr0 competi ti ve event, supplies the 13...0–0 is she’s tricky... ¹23...¤xd5 last diagram in the last volume of safer, but that's …24.exd5 ¥a8³. 7+-+p+-+-0 Judit Polgar Teaches Chess. not the kind of and proud of it! 6P+-wq-zp-+0 chess JP plays. 24.¥xd5 5+-vl-sn-+-0 Guerrero Vargas,A. (2318) ¤xd5 4-+-+-+p+0 Polgar,Judit (2676) 14.£h5 ¤ce7 15.£e2 e5 25.exd5 ¢b8 26.¦f3? 3+-tR-+-+-0 B46 Objectively, ¹15...¦he8= fol- 26.b4!ƒ. 2-zPP+Q+PvL0 41st Olympiad Tromso 2014 lowed by ...d7–d5, but that's not how she rolls. 1tR-+-+-+K0 (2.4), 03.08.2014 26...¢a8! 27.h3 xabcdefghy Notes by John Upper 16.fxe5 ¤xe5 17.¤f4 h5 XIIIIIIIIY 8k+-+-+-tr0 32.£e4+ ¤c6! 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 18.a4 g5 32...£c6 loses trivially: 33.£xc6+ 4.¤xd4 ¤c6 5.¤c3 a6 6.f4 XIIIIIIIIY 7+-wqp+-+-0 dxc6 34.¦xc5 g3 35.¦c3 gxh2 ¤ge7 7.¤f3 b5 8.a3 ¥b7 8-+ktr-+-tr0 6P+-+-zp-+0 36.¦h3+–. 9.¥d3 ¤g6 10.0–0 £c7 7+lwqpsn-+-0 5+-vlPsn-+p0 11.¤g5 f6 6p+-+-zp-+0 4-+-+-vLr+0 33.g3?? 11...h6 12.¤xf7 ¢xf7 13.£h5÷. 5+pvl-sn-zpp0 3+-+-+R+P0 33.¦h3™+– ¦xh3 (33...gxh3 2-zPP+Q+P+0 34.¥xd6+–) 34.gxh3 g3 12.¤h3 ¥c5+ 13.¢h1 4P+-+PsN-+0 35.¥g1+–. 3+-sNL+-+-0 1tR-+-+-+K0 XIIIIIIIIY xabcdefghy This is the last diagram in anada 8r+-+k+-tr0 2-zPP+Q+PzP0 the last volume of Judit Polgar 1tR-vL-+R+K0 27...¦hg8?! Teaches Chess, and gives her 27...d6!³.

C 7+lwqp+-zpp0 a last chance to show why she's xabcdefghy proud to be "tricky". 6p+n+pzpn+0 Judit's signature move (along 5+pvl-+-+-0 with g2–g4). 28.d6! £c6? 4-+-+PzP-+0 28...£xd6™. 33...¦xh2+! 34.¢xh2 £d2+ There's no stopping mate: 3zP-sNL+-+N0 19.axb5! gxf4 20.bxa6 ¥c6 34...£d2+ 35.¢h1 (35.£g2 2-zPP+-+PzP0 21.¥xf4 ¦dg8 22.¥c4 ¦g4 29.hxg4! hxg4 30.¦c3! £h6+ #1) 35...£h6+ 36.¢g2 1tR-vLQ+R+K0 23.¤d5 30.¦e3? ¦h8+ 31.¢g1 £e4!÷. £h3#. hess xabcdefghy ¹23.¥d5. 0-1 2015.01 30...¦h8+ 31.¥h2 £xd6 C 27 Polgár Sisters 1 Judit Polgar Links Zsuzsanna, Judit, Zsóﬁ a

Realisti cally, this was last ti me most of Caruana us had a chance at beati ng Judit. ice bucket challenge https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OXNsz6g2yfY

Polgar Sisters 2 Sevian Soﬁ a, Judit, Susan viral video: 9-year-old blitz Beati ng the Russian wom- win over IM Greg Shahade en’s team at the 1988 https://www.youtube.com/ Olympiad. watch?v=LMM2RV5-HVc Judit scored 12½–½ and Hungary won gold. Boston Globe a r ti c l e http://www.bostonglobe. com/sports/2014/12/24/ southbridge-sam-sevian- youngest-chess-grandmaster/ lO0gvAgdYtMunzvVeNZ2bJ/ story.html anada

C A last laugh Judit Polgar With teammate Peter Leko at the career highlights 2014 Tromsø http://en.chessbase.com/post/judit-polgar-the-greatest-prodigy- Olympiad. ever hess 2015.01 C Vladimir Putin: Master of Shirtless Chess 28 ...while Obama...... something less macho.*

This became such a cliche of 2014 politi cal commentary that US President Barack Obama even responded to it. In a pre-Christmas interview with CNN he said: There was a spate of stories about how he is the “chess master” and outmaneuvering the West and outmaneuvering Mr. Obama... and right now, he’s presiding over the col- lapse of his currency, a major ﬁ nancial cri- sis and a huge economic contracti on... That doesn’t sound like somebody who has rolled me or the United States of America. anada C hess 2015.01 C *negoti ati ng? 2014 News Makers + 29

Vugar Gashimov 4.d5 d6 5.¤c3 exd5 6.cxd5 (1986 - 2014) g6 7.g3 ¥g7 8.¥g2 0–0 9.0–0 ¦e8 10.¥f4 ¤a6 11.¦e1 ¥g4 Died, age 27, January 11, 2014. 12.£b3 Gashimov was one of the only top Diagnosed with a brain tumor in GMs to regularly play the Benoni. 2000, which eventually killed him, XIIIIIIIIY he sti ll managed to rise to #6 on the FIDE rati ng list in 2009. 8r+-wqr+k+0 Gashimov played for Azerbaijan 7zpp+-+pvlp0 at four Olympiads between 2002- 6n+-zp-snp+0 08, and on their Gold Medal win- 5+-zpP+-+-0 ning team at the European Team 4-+-+-vLl+0 Championship in 2009. 3+QsN-+NzP-0 A memorial tournament was held in April 2014 and featured: 2PzP-+PzPLzP0 Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, 1tR-+-tR-mK-0 h6 15.¥e3 ¥f5? (¹15...¤c7 17...¤e4! 18.¥c7 ¦xb2 19.d6 Hikaru Nakamura, Sergey Karjakin, xabcdefghy Marin) 16.¤c4 ¤b4 17.¦ac1 ¥d7 20.¦ab1 c4 21.¦xb2 and fellow Azeris Shakhriyar Mam- "The computer assesses many ¦ab8 18.a4 b6 19.¤b5 ¥f8 ¥xb2 22.e3 c3÷ standard positions at 0.30 or edyarov and Teimour Radjabov. 20.¥d2 a6 21.¤bxd6!± (1–0, Black won on move 45. Here are two highlights from even 0.40 and so many White 40) Grischuk,A - Gashimov,V anada Gashimov’s OTB life. players will overestimate their Linares, 2010. chances. Computers don't see C the compensation, but I do!" Gashimov,Vugar (2664) 13.¤xb5 ¦b8 14.£a4 £d7 Grischuk,Alex (2756) - Vugar Gashimov, Tiviakov,Sergei (2643) 15.£xa6 ¦xb5 16.£xd6 £xd6 Gashimov,Vugar (2740) on the Benoni. B01 A 6 2 17.¥xd6 Reggio Emilia 50th (7), Amber-rapid 19th Nice (5), Black is down two pawns with 04.01.2008 12...b5! worse structure, but after his 18.03.2010 Improves on a game they played Notes by John Upper Notes by John Upper next move has full compensa- a month earlier: tion. hess 12...¤h5 13.¥g5 £d7 14.¤d2 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 £xd5 3.¤c3

2015.01 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 c5 £d6 4.d4 ¤f6 5.¤f3 C XIIIIIIIIY 30 8rsnl+kvl-tr0 9.¤e3 ¤d3+™ 10.£xd3 £xf4 11.d5! cxd5?! 16...f6 17.¦d5™ £c7 18.¦hd1+–. 7zppzp-zppzpp0 XIIIIIIIIY ¹11...¥d7 12.g3². 6-+-wq-sn-+0 8r+l+kvl-tr0 16.£f3+!? ¢e7 5+-+-+-+-0 12.£xd5!‰ e6 13.¥b5+ ¢e7 16...¢g6? 17.¥e8! £e7 7zpp+-zppzpp0 14.£d2 £d6 15.£e2! 18.¤g4+– …£xe8 19.¤e5+ #5. 4-+-zP-+-+0 6-+p+-+-+0 3+-sN-+N+-0 5+-+-+-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY 8r+l+-vl-tr0 17.£e2! 2PzPP+-zPPzP0 4-+-zP-wq-+0 Funny guy. 1tR-vLQmKL+R0 3+-+QsN-+-0 7zpp+-mkpzpp0 6-+-wqp+-+0 White threatens ♘f5+ again, and xabcdefghy 2PzPP+-zPPzP0 Black has nothing better. 5...c6 1tR-+-mKL+R0 5+L+-+-+-0 4-+-+-+-+0 5...a6 is much more common, xabcdefghy 17...¢f6 when White usually contin- Black has the ♗-pair and if he 3+-+-sN-+-0 17...g6 18.¦d1 £b4+ (18...£c5 ues 6.g3 ¥g4 7.¥g2 ¤c6 8.0–0 could play ...e5 or ...g6 or ...♗e6 2PzPP+QzPPzP0 19.¤d5++–) 19.c3 £c5 0–0–0 9.¥e3 (9.d5! ¤e5 10.¥f4 would be A-OK; but White is up 1tR-+-mK-+R0 20.¤d5++–. ¤xf3+ 11.¥xf3 ¥xf3 12.£xf3 a tempo in development and has xabcdefghy e5 13.dxe6 £xe6 14.¥g5²) the move and correctly plays for 15...¢f6 18.£f3+ ¢e7 19.0–0 £c5 9...e5 10.dxe5 ¤xe5 11.£xd6 the initiative. ¤xf3+ 12.¥xf3 ¥xd6 13.¥g2 15...£c5 16.0–0–0 (threat ♘d5+) 20.¥a4 g6 21.¦fe1 ¥g7 ¥e5 14.¦fe1 ¦he8³ (0–1, 51) Winner at 2010 Reggio 22.¦ad1 ¥xb2 Jakovenko,D - Gashimov,V XIIIIIIIIY Moscow, 2009. 8r+l+-+-tr0 anada 7zpp+-mkp+p0 6.¤e5 ¤bd7 7.¥f4 ¤d5 C 8.¤xd5 ¤xe5 6-+-+p+p+0 Tiviakov had some trouble with 5+-wq-+-+-0 this opening at Reggio, and this 4L+-+-+-+0 was his attempted improvement 3+-+-sNQ+-0 on: 8...£xd5 9.¤f3² (9.¥c4!? 2PvlP+-zPPzP0 £e4+ 10.£e2 £xf4 11.¤xf7 ¦g8 12.g3 £f6÷ Watson) 9...¤f6 1+-+RtR-mK-0 10.¥e2 ¥g4 11.0–0² (1–0, 41) xabcdefghy hess Ni,H-Tiviakov,S Reggio, 2008. 23.c3!+– 2015.01 C 31 Cuts off the defender of the dark Tromsø Olympiad squares. • Aug 1-15, 2014 • 1570 players 23...f5! • 172 countries 23...¥xc3? 24.¤d5++–. Open 1. China 24.¦b1 ¥a3 25.¦b5! £c6 2. Hungary, and 26.£g3! ¥d7 3. India XIIIIIIIIY (TB over Russia & Azerbaijan) 8r+-+-+-tr0 7zpp+lmk-+p0 Women 1. Russia (+K.Lagno) 6-+q+p+p+0 2. China (TB over) 5+R+-+p+-0 3. Ukraine 4L+-+-+-+0 3vl-zP-sN-wQ-0 2P+-+-zPPzP0 1+-+-tR-mK-0 Inscrutable? China won the Olympiad for the ﬁ rst ti me. xabcdefghy 27.¤xf5+! ¢d8 27...gxf5 28.£g7++–, e.g.: anada 28...¢d6 29.¦d1+ ¢c7 30.¦xd7+ £xd7 31.¦xb7++–. C

28.¦b4 £c7 29.£h4+ ¢c8 30.¥xd7+ ¢xd7 30...£xd7 31.¦c4+ ¢b8 32.£f4++–. Reelected FIDE president: Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

31.£e7+ Alexander Grischuk went over 2800 for the ﬁ rst ti me at the hess 1–0 Petrosian Memorial, (re)establishing himself as a potenti al 2015.01 World Championship contender, and not just a master of rapid C and blitz. Endgame Defence by the editor 32

Vančura Draw king and frees his rook, then he will win. However, Black can att ack Know your endgames. This positi on was shown to be the pawn from the side, which ti es drawn by J.Vančura in 1924, and the white rook to the a-ﬁ le. White With faster ti me controls and no adjourn- the drawing method now bears his cannot hide his king on a7 because name. It occurred in two very high- Black can check from the side." ments it is simply not possible to work out proﬁ le games this year, and (judg- — Nunn everything at the board in a theoreti cal ing by the online comments) isn’t endgame. There are many 1/2 points to be as well-known as it ought to be. If White advances the pawn to a7 then there are no squares on the won or lost in the endgame by the player XIIIIIIIIY board where the att acking King is who knows what he is doing. 8R+-+-+-+0 shielded from checks, and the de- 7+-+-+-mk-0 fending Rook can move behind - GM Nigel Short, 2012 lecture 6P+-+-tr-+0 the passed pawn (tying the at- at the RA Chess Club. 5+-+-+-+-0 tacker's rook to its defence) and when the attacking King ap- 4-+K+-+-+0 proaches the pawn, the defending advantage of the fact that if the 3+-+-+-+-0 4.¢e6 Rook can check it away. XIIIIIIIIY attacking Rook leaves the a-file 2-+-+-+-+0 then ♖h6+ will skewer the unde- 8R+-+-+-+0 fended pawn. 1+-+-+-+-0 1.¢b5 ¦f5+™ 7+-+-+-mk-0 xabcdefghy On any other move White will 4...¦a5? 5.¢d7 ¦f5 6.¦c8! or anada play his ♖ to c8, freeing it to 6P+-+K+-+0 ♖e8! +–. The following notes and analy- block checks, and leaving a7 5+-+-+r+-0 C sis are adapted from John Nunn's and a8 available for the white ♔. 4-+-+-+-+0 5.¢e5 ¦b6 Understanding Chess Endgames 1...¦f1? 2.¦c8 ¦b1+ 3.¢c6 ¦c1+ 3+-+-+-+-0 Only safe moves along the sixth (Gambit, 2009). 4.¢b7 ¦b1+ 5.¢a8 ¦b2 6.a7 ¦b1 2-+-+-+-+0 rank draw. 7.¦b8+–. "This positi on shows an important 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy 6.¢d5 ¦f6 7.a7 ¦a6! drawing idea against a rook's pawn 2.¢c6 ¦f6+™ 3.¢d5 ¦f5+ The simplest; or 7...¦f5+ 8.¢c6 4...¦f6+! with the att acker's rook in front of Any safe square along the 6th ¦f6+™ 9.¢b5 ¦f5+™ 10.¢b4 hess the pawn, called the Vancura draw. rank draws. 4...¦h5! is the only other move ¦f4+™ 11.¢b3 ¦f3+™= etc.

2015.01 If White defends the pawn with his which draws, taking tactical Black keeps checking the King, C 33 or (if the White King starts to Radjabov,Teimour (2713) motion square. 59...¢d8 60.a7 65.¦h7++– this is why the de- zig-zag across the board to at- Nakamura,Hikaru (2772) ¢c8 61.¦b8++–. fending ♔ should stay on g7/h7. tack the ♖) moves behind the Vugar Gashimov Mem 2014 pawn to the a-file. Shamkir AZE (4.1), 23.04.2014 55...¦xe3+ 56.¢xg4 ¦a3 59...¢f7? 60.¢d4 ¢f6 (60...¢e7 Not 7...¦f7? 8.¦g8++–. Notes by John Upper 57.¦a8 61.a7™ ¢d7 62.¦h8+–) 61.¢c4 ¢f7 62.¢b4 ¦a1 63.¢b5 ¦b1+ 57.¦b6 ¢e7=. XIIIIIIIIY 64.¢c6 ¦c1+ 65.¢b7 ¦b1+ 8.¢c5 ¦a1 8-+-+-+-+0 66.¢a7 ¢e7 67.¦b8™ ¦c1 The defending ♖ must stay on 7+-+-+k+-0 57...¦a5 58.¢f4 ¢g7™ 68.¢b7 ¦b1+ 69.¢a8 ¦c1 70.a7 the a-file. 6PtR-+-+-+0 58...¢e7? 59.a7™ ¢d7 60.¦h8 ¢d6!: Analysis Diagram 5+-+-+-+-0 ¦xa7 61.¦h7++–. XIIIIIIIIY 9.¢b6 ¦b1+™= 58...¦a1? 59.¢e5 ¢g7 60.¢d5 8KtR-+-+-+0 The defender checks the attack- 4-+-+r+p+0 ¦a5+ 61.¢c6 ¦f5 62.¦d8+–. ing King away from the pawn, 3+-+-zP-mK-0 7zP-+-+-+-0 and then goes back to the a- 2-+-+-+-+0 59.¢e4 6-+-mk-+-+0 file to attack the ♙a7 to prevent 1+-+-+-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY 5+-+-+-+-0 White's ♖ from activating itself. xabcdefghy 8R+-+-+-+0 4-+-+-+-+0 55.¦b8 7+-+-+-mk-0 3+-+-+-+-0 55.¢f2 g3+? (55...¦a4!=) 6P+-+-+-+0 2-+-+-+-+0 56.¢xg3 ¦xe3+ 57.¢f4 ¦a3 5tr-+-+-+-0 1+-tr-+-+-0 58.¢e5™+– White's ♖ is not forced to defend the pawn from 4-+-+K+-+0 xabcdefghy 3+-+-+-+-0 The most testing, forcing White anada in front, so there is no draw for Black here. (58.¢e4? ¢e7=) 2-+-+-+-+0 to win with ♕ v ♖: 71.¢b7 ¦b1+ 72.¢c8 ¦c1+ C 58...¢e7 59.¦b7+™ the check 1+-+-+-+-0 gains a tempo to advance the 73.¢d8 ¦g1! (not h1 = skewer) pawn to the 7th, and since xabcdefghy 74.¦b6+ ¢c5 75.¦c6+!: Black's ♔ is forced to the 8th 59...¦b5! 75...¢xc6 76.a8£++–. White will gain another tempo 59...¦c5 is the only other move 75...¢d5 76.¦a6+–. with a check to control the pro- which draws. 75...¢b5 76.¦c8+–. 59...¦g5? 60.¦a7+™ ¢f6 Vancura? Check. 61.¢d4 ¢e6 62.¦a8™ ¢d7 60.¦a7+ hess 63.a7 ¦a5 64.¦h8 ¦xa7

2015.01 Rooks? Check. 60.¦c8 ¦a5! 61.¦c6 ¢f7 62.¢d4

C Czech? Check. But this is actually Vladislav Vančura’s anti -war novel. 34 ¢e7 63.¢c4 ¢d7 64.¦h6 ¢c7 trick with ♖a8–h8–h7+. Carlsen,Magnus (2877) 41...h5! 42.gxh5 ¦a3+ 65.¢b4 ¦a1=. Aronian,Levon (2805) 43.¢e4 c4 44.¢d4 c3 45.¢d3 64.¦a7+ 2nd Sinqueﬁ eld Cup, Saint Louis ¢h7 46.h6? 60...¢g6™ The attacking King gets no shel- USA (9.2), 05.09.2014 46.¢c2! ¢g7 47.h6+ ¢h7 48.h4 60...¢h6? 61.¦b7 ¦a5 62.a7 ter from his own pieces because Notes by John Upper ¢h8 49.¦a7 ¢g8 50.a6 ¢h8 ¢g6 63.¢d4+– compare with the they are all on the edge of the XIIIIIIIIY 51.h5‡ ¢g8 52.¦g7+ ¢h8 53.a7 next note: Black's ♔ is too far board. 8-+-+-+-+0 ¦a2+ 54.¢b3+– - Krasenkow. from the pawn. 7+-+-+-mk-0 64.¢d5 ¦f6 65.¢c5 ¦f5+ 46...¦b3 47.¢c2 ¦b5! 61.¢d4 66.¢b6 ¦f6+ 67.¢b7 ¦f7+! 6R+-+-+-zp0 48.¢xc3 61.¦b7 ¦a5 62.a7 ¢f6™ 63.¢d4 68.¢c6 ¦f6+! 69.¢d5 ¦b6=. 5zP-zp-+-+-0 ¢e6 64.¢c4 ¢d6 65.¢b4 ¢c6 4r+-+-+P+0 66.¦h7 ¦a1=. 64.a7 ¦a6 65.¢d5 ¦a1 66.¢c6 3+-+-mK-+P0 ¦c1+ 67.¢b6 ¦b1+™ 68.¢a5 2-+-+-+-+0 ...why doesn’t 61...¦b6™ 62.¢e5 ¦c6 ¦a1+™ 69.¢b4 ¦b1+ 70.¢a3 1+-+-+-+-0 63.¦a8 ¢g7! ¦a1+™ 71.¢b2 ¦a6=. xabcdefghy Aronian resign!?!?. XIIIIIIIIY 8R+-+-+-+0 64...¢g6 65.¦e7 Radjabov knows there's no fool- 7+-+-+-mk-0 ing Nakamura here. 6P+r+-+-+0 5+-+-mK-+-0 anada 65...¦xa6 66.¦e6+ ¦xe6+ 4-+-+-+-+0 67.¢xe6

C 3+-+-+-+-0 2-+-+-+-+0 ½–½ 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy The "textbook version" of the Here is the game that did the most Vancura draw. The defending ♔ to motivated this article. In it we stays on g7 and h7 so that there see that the Vancura defense also hess are no safe checks from the 8th works against additional h-pawns. rank, and so there is no skewer 2015.01 C XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 35 8-+-+-+-+0 54.¢e4 ¦c5 55.¦a6 ¦b5 72.¢f7 ¦b6™ 73.¢e7 ¢g6 56.h4 ¦c5 57.¢d4 ¦b5 8R+-+-+-+0 74.¢d7 ¦f6 75.¦a8 ¢g7 7+-+-+-+k0 58.¢c4 7+-+K+-+k0 76.¢c7 ¦f7+ 77.¢d6 ¦f6+ 6R+-+-+-zP0 XIIIIIIIIY 6-+-+-+-zP0 78.¢e5 ¦b6 79.¦a7+ ¢g6! (or 5zPr+-+-+-0 5zP-+r+-+-0 79...¢g8!=) 80.h5+ 4-+-+-+-+0 8-+-+-+-+0 7+-+-+-+k0 4-+-+-+-zP0 XIIIIIIIIY 3+-mK-+-+P0 3+-+-+-+-0 8-+-+-+-+0 2-+-+-+-+0 6R+-+-+-zP0 5zPr+-+-+-0 2-+-+-+-+0 7tR-+-+-+-0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-+-+-+-0 6Ptr-+-+k+0 xabcdefghy 4-+K+-+-zP0 3+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy 5+-+-mK-+P0 There are seven pieces on the 2-+-+-+-+0 66.¢e6 4-+-+-+-+0 board. Since most tablebases 66.¢c6 ¦f5 67.a6 ¦f6+ 68.¢b5 3+-+-+-+-0 only go up to six pieces, chess 1+-+-+-+-0 ¦f5+ 69.¢c4 ¦f4+ 70.¢d3 ¦f6=. engines had to calculate this po- xabcdefghy 2-+-+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 sition in the usual way, and since 58...¦f5™ 66...¦b5 67.¢f6 ¦c5 68.¦a7+ it is too complex for them to Black isn't just being cute by ¢xh6 69.¢f7 ¦b5 70.a6 xabcdefghy solve, they all evaluate the posi- avoiding winning the ♙h4: if his 80...¢h6! tion as a clear win for White (be- ♖ goes to the same file as his XIIIIIIIIY 80...¢xh5? takes the ♔ too far tween +3 and +5). So, from here ♔ then he will lose the ability to 8-+-+-+-+0 from the g7/h7 drawing zone: almost to the end of the game, check from the side... and lose 7tR-+-+K+-0 81.¦a8 ¢g6 82.a7 ¢g7 (82...¦a6 the online chatterbots ("hu- the game: 58...¦h5? 59.¢b4 6P+-+-+-mk0 83.¦g8++–) 83.¦g8++–. mans who unthinkingly repost ¦xh4+ 60.¢c5 ¦h5+ 61.¢b6 anada their engines' evaluations") were ¦xh6+ 62.¢b7 ¦h5 63.¦a7 ¢g8 5+r+-+-+-0 81.¢f5 ¦c6 82.¦e7 complaining about Aronian's lack (63...¢g6 64.¢b6+–) 64.a6 ¦a5 4-+-+-+-zP0 C of respect for Carlsen: why else 65.¢b6+–. 3+-+-+-+-0 White's not getting anywhere, so would he play this out when it is he puts on the brakes. so "obviously lost". 2-+-+-+-+0 59.¢b4 ¦f4+™ 60.¢c5 ¦f5+ 82.¦a8 ¢g7 83.h6+ ¢h7 1+-+-+-+-0 (83...¦xh6=) 84.¢g5 ¦g6+! ™ 61.¢b6 ¦f6+™ 62.¢b7 xabcdefghy 85.¢f5 ¦b6= (85...¦xh6=). 48...¦f5 49.¦a8 ¦b5! (or ¦f3+) ¦f7+ 63.¢c8 ¦f8+ 64.¢d7 70...¦b6™ 71.¢g8 ¦b8+™ ¦f5 65.¦a8 ¦d5+ 50.¢c4 ¦f5™ 51.¢b4 ¦f4+™ 82...¦xa6 83.¦e6+ ¦xe6 hess 52.¢c5 ¦f5+™ 53.¢d4 ¦b5 84.¢xe6 ¢xh5 2015.01 Does the world need another ½–½

C chatt erbot? 36 R + (f + h pawns) vs R ♖... is usually drawn. The de- against correct defence White while the defending King ap- fence is quite diffi cult, espe- cannot make progress without proaches the pawn from the side — had a separate treatment, The ending of ♖ + bishop and cially at faster ti me-limits, and this pawn advance. with eight detailed examples, rook pawn is well known to be it is oft en misplayed in prac- - John Nunn earlier in Nunn's book. - editor a (surprising) draw. However, it ti ce. If the pawns get too far is a difficult draw to understand forward, then the positi on is lost, but unfortunately the de- With Black to play: or play, in part because it can With White to Play: transpose to other theoretical fender cannot prevent the ad- positions which must already be vance of the pawns unti l they 1... ¦g1+ 2.¢f6 ¦f1! understood: the Lucena position, reach a certain point. The rea- 1.¦e7+ ¢g8 2.f6 the Philidor draw, the "short- son for this is that the defence a) 2...¦a1? 3.¢f7 ¦a8 4.¦e8 ¦a6 If both pawns reach the sixth side/Karstedt defence", and the involves checking from be- 5.¦e1 (5.f6? ¢xh6=) 5...¦a7+ rank with the defender's king cut back-rank defence. hind, but this only works when (5...¦a8 6.f6+–) 6.¢f8 ¢xh6 off on the back rank, the situa- XIIIIIIIIY the pawns are far enough for- 7.¦e6+™ ¢g5 8.f6™+– ¢f5 tion is hopeless. - Nunn 8-+-+-+-+0 ward to give the defender an 9.¦c6 ¢g6 (9...¦a8+ 10.¢g7+–) 7+-+-+-+k0 adequate checking distance. 10.f7+™ ¢h7 11.¦f6+–. 2...¦g1+ 3.¢f5 ¦f1+ 4.¢e6 6-+-+R+-zP0 This means that at some stage b) 2...¢xh6? 3.¢e7+™+– ¢h7 ¦e1+ 5.¢d7 ¦f1 6.¦e8+ ¢h7 the defender will have to cope 4.f6™ ¦f1 5.¦e2 ¢g6 6.¦g2+ 5+-+-+PmK-0 7.¦e6! with a marginal situati on in ¢h7 7.f7 ¦e1+ 8.¢f8+– White Or 7.¢e7+–. 4-+-+-+-+0 which any mistake will be fa- reaches the Lucena position. 3+-+-+-+-0 tal. 7...¢xh6 The diagram shows a key 2-+-+-+-+0 After 2....¦f1 White has a XIIIIIIIIY anada positi on. White to play wins, couple of tries, but they don't 1tr-+-+-+-0 8-+-+-+-+0 xabcdefghy Black to play draws. work if the defender knows the C ...However, if we move White's back-rank defence: 7+-+K+-+-0 White to play wins. pawn back to h5 then he wins 3.¦e8 ¦a1 4.¢f7 ¢xh6™ 6-+-+RzP-mk0 Black to play draws. even with Black to move. This 5.f6 ¦a7+ 6.¦e7 ¦a8=. 5+-+-+-+-0 is counter-intuiti ve, and is one The following notes and of the reasons why this end- 4-+-+-+-+0 analysis are from John Nunn's ing is oft en misplayed. Push- 3.¦e5 ¢xh6! 4.¢f7 ¦a1 3+-+-+-+-0 Understanding Chess Endgames ing the pawn to h6 is a criti cal 5.¦e6+ ¢h7™ 6.f6 ¦a8™= 2-+-+-+-+0 (Gambit, 2009): decision, since it gives the de- The back-rank defence — the 1+-+-+r+-0 hess ...the ending of ♖+ f♙ + h♙ vs fender extra possibiliti es, but defending Rook checks from the 2015.01 side and controls the back-rank xabcdefghy C 37 8.¢e8™ 51...¢h6 52.¦xb6+ ¢h5 ¢g5 63.¢g7+– using the de- 66.¦b8 ¦a4 67.¢g3 ¦g4+ 8.¢e7? ¢g6!=. 53.¦b5+ ¢h6 54.¢g4 ¦g1+ fending ♔ as an umbrella to 68.¢f3 ¢g5 69.¦a8 ¦f4+ 55.¢f5 ¦a1 56.f4 ¦a2= protect him from the checks. 70.¢g3 ¦d4 71.¢f3 h4 72.¦b8 8...¦f2 9.f7+ ¢g7 10.¦e7+– 56...¢g7 57.¦b7+ ¢h6™=. ¦d3+ 73.¢g2 f5 74.¦a8 ¢g4 75.¦g8+™= ¢f4 76.¦a8 The defender will have two 56...¦h1 draws too.. 61...¦a4 62.¦h8+™ ¢g4 pieces controlling the promotion 63.¢g6 ¦a5 64.f6 ¦g5+ 65.¢f7 Any safe move along the 8th rank draws. square, but the pawn will pro- 57.¦e5 ¦a1 58.¢f6 ¦a4 59.f5 ¦a5 66.¦h1 ¢g5 67.¢g7 ¦a7+ mote with a discovered check, ¦xh4™ 60.¦e1 68.f7 giving the defender no time to XIIIIIIIIY 76...¦g3+ 77.¢f2 take it. - editor 1–0 or 77.¢h2; but not 77.¢f1? ¢f3 8-+-+-+-+0 78.¦a3+ ¢g4 79.¦a4+ f4 80.¢f2 R+f&h pawns in 2014 7+-+-+-+-0 The next is the only one of the fi ve h3–+. Here are fi ve examples of this end- 6-+-+-mK-mk0 examples not played in a rapid or ing, all featuring 2700+ players and 5+-+-+P+-0 blitz event. Don’t let anyone tor- 77...¦f3+ 78.¢g2™ ¦e3 all played in 2014. 4-+-+-+-tr0 ture you like Peter Leko does here. 79.¦b8 ¦g3+ 80.¢f2 ¦g6 3+-+-+-+-0 81.¦b4+ Carlsen,Magnus (2881) Frolyanov,Dmitry (2578) Or any safe move along the 8th 2-+-+-+-+0 Leko,Peter (2730) rank. Nielsen,Peter Heine (2653) 1+-+-tR-+-0 Caxias do Sul Uva rapid (9), RUS-chT 21st Loo (1.1), 09.03.2014 xabcdefghy 07.04.2014 81...¢g5 82.¢f3 ¦h6 83.¢g2! Notes by John Upper 60...¢h5? Notes by John Upper or ♔f2. Only ...♖h3 and ...♖h2 draw. anada XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 83...¦d6 84.¦b8 ¦d2+ 85.¢f3 60...¦h2! 61.¢e7 (61.¦g1!? 8R+-+-+-+0 ¦d3+ 86.¢g2™ ¢g4 87.¦g8+™ 8-+-+-+-+0 ¦h3! 62.¢e6 ¦a3=) 61...¦a2 C ¢f4 88.¦a8 ¦g3+ 89.¢f2 7+-+-+-+-0 62.f6 ¦a7+ 63.¢e6 ¦a8= 7+-+-+-+-0 ¦g7 90.¦a4+ ¢g5 91.¢f3 6-zp-+-+-+0 (63...¢g6=) . 6-+-+-zpk+0 5+-+-+-+p0 ¦h7 92.¢g2! ¦b7 93.¦a8 ¦c7 5+R+-+-+k0 60...¢h7? 61.¢f7™ ¦h2 62.f6 94.¢f3 ¦c3+ 95.¢g2™ ¢g4 ¦h3 63.¦g1+– (63.¦f1 ¦h4) 4-+-+-+-zP0 4-+-+-+-tr0 96.¦g8+™ ¢f4 97.¦a8 ¦g3+ 63...¦a3 64.¦h1+. 3+-+-+PmK-0 3+-+-+K+-0 98.¢f2 ¦d3 99.¢g2 2-+-+-+-+0 Or ♖a4+=. 2-+-+-+-+0 61.¦e8

hess 1+-+-+-+-0 1tr-+-+-+-0 61.¢f7 wins too 61...¦f4 62.f6 2015.01 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 99...¦d6 100.¦a4+ ¢g5 C XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 38 101.¦a8 ¢g4 102.¦g8+™ ¢f4 111.¦a4! ¢e3 112.¢xh4 f3 103.¦a8 ¦g6+ 8-+-+-+-tR0 8R+-+-+-+0 113.¢g3 ¦g2+ 114.¢h3™ 7+-+-+-+-0 7+-+-+-+-0 (114.¢h4? ¦g1™–+ and XIIIIIIIIY ♔ 8R+-+-+-+0 6-+-+-+-+0 6-+-+-+-+0 the Black can hide on 5+-+-+-+-0 5+-+-+-+-0 g2.) 114...¦g8 (114...¦g1 7+-+-+-+-0 115.¦a3+™=) 115.¦a3+= there's 4-+-+-zp-zp0 4-+-+-zp-zp0 6-+-+-+r+0 no escape from the side checks. 5+-+-+p+-0 3+-+-+ktr-0 3+-+-+k+K0 4-+-+-mk-zp0 2-+-+-+-mK0 2-+-tr-+-+0 111...¢f2™–+ 112.¦b1 3+-+-+-+-0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-+-+-+-0 112.¢xh4 ¢g2™–+. xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 2-+-+-+K+0 109.¦a8!? 111.¦a1? 1+-+-+-+-0 112...f3 113.¦a1 ¢e2 114.¦a8 109.¦xh4= also draws, e.g. It's too soon to go for the last ¦d1 115.¦e8+ ¢f2 116.¢h2 xabcdefghy 109...¦g2+ 110.¢h1 ¦g8 rank defence. Only ♖a3 and ♖a4 ¢f1 117.¦e7 f2 Black hasn't made any progress (110...¢g3 111.¦xf4=) 111.¦h3+ draw: 0–1 on the board since this end- ¢e2 112.¦h2+ ¢e3 113.¦a2= 111.¦a3+! ¢e2 112.¢g4™=. ing started on move 65, but the and Black cannot win: the only constant vigilance must have ways to escape the side checks been wearing White down. (blocking with the ♖ or bringing the ♔ to the g-file) allow the 104.¢h3 defending ♔ to get to the g-file Any ♔ move which doesn't go to and draw. 113...¦d8 114.¢g2 (114.¢g1? ¦d1+–+) 114...f3+ anada the back-rank draws. 115.¢g3™=.

C 104...¦g1 105.¢h2 ¦g3 106.¦h8 ¢g4 107.¦g8+™ ¢f3 109...¦g2+ 110.¢h3™ ¦d2 108.¦h8 ♖a8 draws too. 12 seconds to 7 seconds 108...f4 Plenty of ti me for mistakes. C r i ti c a l P o s i ti on hess Morozevich - Leko 2015.01 C XIIIIIIIIY 39 Once again, the evil Peter Leko 55...¦b3 hide from the side checks. 8-+-+-+-+0 gets this positi on and, instead of Both 55...h3+ and 55...f3+ are 7+-+-+p+k0 off ering a draw like a gentleman, faster. 58...¢f2 59.¦c4 f3 60.¦xh4 he plays on and on.... but this ti me 6-+R+-vL-zp0 ¢f1 61.¦f4 f2 5+-+-+-+-0 it’s against Alexander Morozevich 56.¦c2 ¦e3 57.¢h2 in a blitz game, so who can blame Black has reached something XIIIIIIIIY like the Lucena position, but 4-+-+r+-+0 him? 8-+-+-+-+0 already has the "bridge" on the 3+-+-+-+-0 7+-+-+-+-0 e-file. 2-+-+-mK-+0 Morozevich,Alex (2724) 6-+-+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 Leko,Peter (2731) Tal Memorial Blitz Sochi (1), 5+-+-+-+-0 62.¦f8 ¦e7!? xabcdefghy 13.11.2014 4-+-+-zpkzp0 62...¢e1 63.¢g2 ¦e2–+. 63.¦c7? ¦f4+ Notes by John Upper 3+-+-tr-+-0 62...¢e2? 63.¢g2=. Aronian started shaking his head here: it was not his intention to XIIIIIIIIY 2-+R+-+-mK0 show that he could defend this 8R+-+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 63.¦f5 ¦h7+ 64.¢g3 ¢g1 theoretically drawn ending... 65.¦xf2 ¦g7+ 7+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy ...34 moves later they reached 6-+-+-zp-+0 this position: 57...¢f3? 0–1 XIIIIIIIIY 5+-+-+k+-0 Incredibly, this is the only move 8R+-+-+-+0 4-+-+-tr-zp0 which draws! (see photo) 7+-+-+-+-0 3+-+-+-+-0 57...f3 is the fastest win: 58.¦c4+ ¢g5 59.¢h3 ¦e1! 60.¦c5+ Incredibly, Lev Aronian had to 6-+-+-+-+0 anada 2-+-+-+K+0 defend this ending in back-to-back 5+-+-+p+-0 1+-+-+-+-0 (60.¦g4+ ¢f5 61.¢xh4 f2–+) 60...¢f4™ 61.¦c4+ ¦e4 62.¦c2 games in the blitz porti on of his 4-+-+-+-zp0 C xabcdefghy ¢e3 63.¦c3+ ¢e2 64.¦c2+ ¢f1 match with Hikaru Nakamura in 3+-+-+k+K0 51.¦a5+ ¢g4= 52.¦a3? 65.¦c1+ ¦e1–+. St.Louis. 52.¦a8!= or 52.¦a7!=. 2-+-+-+-+0 Aronian,Levon (2797) 1+-+-tr-+-0 58.¦c6? xabcdefghy 52...¦b4–+ 53.¦a2 f5 54.¢h2 58.¢h3™= ¦e8 59.¦a2! Nakamura,Hikaru (2767) f4 55.¢g2 (59.¢xh4? ¦h8+™–+ 60.¢g5 Nakamura vs Aronian Blitz White has only two drawing If 55.¦a8 Black wins with ...f3 or ¢g3) 59...¦h8 60.¦b2 ¢e3 St. Louis USA (8), 25.11.2014 moves. hess ...¦b2+–+. 61.¦a2 f3 62.¦a3+™ ¢e2 Notes by John Upper 2015.01 63.¦a2+™= there's nowhere to C XIIIIIIIIY 40 98.¦a3+!= 8-+-+-+-+0 Nakamura,Hikaru (2767) White will end up defending ¦ 98.¢xh4!= is also a draw, but Aronian,Levon (2797) vs ¦ + f and h-pawns. Aro- clearly Aronian was confident in 7+-+-+-+-0 Nakamura vs Aronian Blitz nian might have been feeling a his ability to draw the ♖ v ♖+♙♙ 6-+-+-+-+0 St. Louis USA (9), 25.11.2014 bit punch-drunk after so many ending.... 5+-+-+-+-0 Notes by John Upper rapid and blitz games against 4-+-+-+-+0 Nakamura. Nakered, maybe? It is hard to believe that from the 98...¦e3 3+-+-+p+K0 2-+-+rmk-+0 following position: 35...¢g7 36.¦c5 ¢g6 37.h4 XIIIIIIIIY 1tR-+-+-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY h6 38.f3 ¦b4 39.¢h3 ¦a4 8-+-+-+-+0 8-+-+-+k+0 40.h5+ ¢g7 41.g3 ¦b4 42.f4 xabcdefghy ¦b3 43.¦c6 ¦a3 44.¢g4 7+-+-+-+-0 The last-rank defence. Naka 7+-+-+p+p0 6-+-+-+-+0 ¦b3 45.f5 ¦b4+ 46.¢h3 f6 tortures him some more, but Lev 6-+-+-+-+0 47.¦c7+ ¢g8 48.¦e7 ¦b5 knows this one. 5+-+-+p+-0 5+-+-+-+-0 49.¢g4 ¦b3 50.¢f4 ¦a3 4-+-+-+-zp0 4-+R+-+-+0 51.¦e4 ¢f7 52.¦b4 ¦c3 3tR-+-trk+K0 104...¦e1 105.¦a2+ ¦e2 3+r+-+-+P0 53.g4 ¦c5 54.¢e4 ¦e5+ 2-+-+-+-+0 106.¦a1 ¦b2 107.¢h2 ¢e2 2-+-+-zPPmK0 55.¢d4 ¦e1 56.¢d5 ¦e5+ 1+-+-+-+-0 108.¢g3 (or 108.¢g1=). 1+-+-+-+-0 57.¢d6 ¦e1 58.¦b7+ ¢g8 xabcdefghy (½–½, 127) xabcdefghy 59.¦e7 ¦g1 60.¢e6 ¦xg4 99.¦a4? 61.¢xf6 ...too confident. 99.¦a2=. XIIIIIIIIY

anada 8-+-+-+k+0 99...¢f2+™–+ 100.¢h2 h3? 7+-+-tR-+-0 C Nakamura returns the fa- Seeing 6-+-+-mK-zp0 vour: 100...¦e4™–+ 101.¦a2+ Double? 5+-+-+P+P0 ¦e2™ 102.¦a5 f4 103.¢h3 f3 Hours of 4-+-+-+r+0 104.¢xh4 ¢g2–+. blitz against 3+-+-+-+-0 Nakamura 2-+-+-+-+0 101.¦a2+™= ¦e2 102.¦a8 f4 will do 1+-+-+-+-0 103.¢xh3™ f3 104.¦a1 funny things

hess to a guy. xabcdefghy This position is drawn, the sim- 2015.01 C 41 plest defence being to keep the 66.h6 ¦g1 67.f6 ¦g2 (67...¦f1 73.h7™+–. 66.f7 ¦g1=. ♖ on the g-file. 68.¢g6 ¦g1+ 69.¢f5 ¦f1+ 70.¢e5 ¦e1+ 71.¢d4!+– the 64...¦g1 65.¦a7 ¦g2!= 66...¦xg7 67.fxg7+ ¢g8 61...¦a4? 62.¢g6? defender can stop the pawns, but a back-rank skewer will cost 65...¦f1!=. 68.¢g6 62.¦e8+™+– ¢h7 63.¢f7 the the rook and the game.) 68.¦g7 White pawn on h5 prevents ¦f2 69.¢g6™ ¦g2+ 70.¢f5 Black from using g6, so there is 66.¦g7 ½–½ ¦f2+ 71.¢e5 ¦e2+ 72.¢d4 ¦h2 no last-rank defence. 63...¦a7+ 64.¦e7 ¦a8 65.f6 or 65.¢f6++–.

62...¦g4+™ 63.¢xh6 XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+k+0 7+-+-tR-+-0 6-+-+-+-mK0 5+-+-+P+P0 4-+-+-+r+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2-+-+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy anada 63...¢f8? C 63...¦g1! 64.f6 ¢f8 65.¢h7 ¦f1™ (65...¦g2 66.h6 ¦g1 67.¦g7+–) 66.¦e6 (66.¢g6 ¦g1+™=) 66...¢f7 67.¦a6 ¦xf6 68.¦xf6+ ¢xf6 69.h6 (69.¢g8 ¢g5=) 69...¢f7=.

hess 64.f6?

2015.01 64.¦a7!+– ¦g1 65.¢h7™ ¦g2 C Coded Messages? by the editor 42 Some chess games are played so 4.dxe5 ¤xe4 5.¥c4 Alawadhi,Amenah 7.£f3? hxg5 8.¥xd5 ¤d4?? badly that it defi es belief that they XIIIIIIIIY Kouevi,Kokoe Solange 9.£xf7# 1–0 were legiti mate contests. 8r+lwqkvl-tr0 Tromsoe ol (Women) (11.4), As a joke, a beginner might try to 14.08.2014 Oops? That was the second ti me lose, but the effi ciency and preci- 7zppzpp+pzpp0 at this Olympiad where Kouevi sion needed to lose like this: 6-+n+-+-+0 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 ¤f6 managed to get mated on f7 in 9 1.e4 g5 2.d4 f6 3.£h5# 1–0 5+-+-zP-+-0 4.¤g5 d5 5.exd5 ¤xd5 moves. is, in my experience, beyond that of 4-+L+n+-+0 XIIIIIIIIY a rank beginner. You have to know 3+-+-+N+-0 8r+lwqkvl-tr0 How bad does a game have what you’re doing to lose like that. 2PzPP+-zPPzP0 to be before it doesn’t count But that’s what happened at the 7zppzp-+pzpp0 Tromsø Olympiad in the round 4 1tRNvLQmK-+R0 6-+n+-+-+0 as chess? game between Rhoda Masiyazi xabcdefghy 5+-+nzp-sN-0 (1920) and Akua Kosife Esse — you 5...¥b4+? 4-+L+-+-+0 can fi nd the game in this month’s ¹5...¤c5. 3+-+-+-+-0 If they weren’t playing chess, what PGN if you want to play it out. were they doing? They were un- It’s not possible to lose faster 6.c3+– ¥a5 7.£d5 ¤d6 2PzPPzP-zPPzP0 rated, so they weren’t helping op- than that as Black. So... her team- 8.exd6 cxd6 9.£xf7# 1tRNvLQmK-+R0 ponents get norms. Were they in a mates would have to do something xabcdefghy hurry to get back outside to enjoy special to match it. It seems one of 1–0 6.0–0?? h6?? more of that 24hr Arcti c sun? them tried: I don’t know this opening. My Were they trying to use their anada Fool me twice... computer says 6...£xg5 is better. games to send some sort of cod- Correia,Sandra Ventura ed messages!? Maybe a protest C Of course, every beginner falls for against their federati on’s ill-consid- Kouevi,Kokoe Solange this, once. But the following game, C56 ered support for Kirsan? Or its ill- played in the last round by the considered support for Kasparov? Tromsoe ol (Women) (3.4), same player as Black makes me 04.08.2014 I hope they weren’t trying to signal wonder if the Togo women's team that they were being held hostage were not actually playing chess. and we all misunderstood. 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 ¤f6? Almost anything seems more 3...exd4 4.¤xd4 is the main line Tromsø rd.9 likely than that they sat at the hess Scotch. Kokoe Solange Kouevi (Togo) vs boards in Tromsø to play chess. 2015.01 Maboloka Leboela (Lesotho). C BC Junior Championship by NM John Doknjas 43

2014 BC Junior there are washrooms inside. It’s The 2014 BC Junior Champion- an excellent locati on as it off ers ship was held in Richmond from free parking, many food choices November 7th to November 9th, in the mall, and can keep wait- 2014. The ﬁ ve round event at- ing parents occupied while their tracted an impressive 102 play- kids play. ers and it consisted of three secti o n s : Championship (over 1500) BC Jr Championship Winners Reserve (over 1000) (L2R) Karl Cui, Alec Chung, John Doknjas, Booster (U1200). Davaa-Ochir Nyamdorj, and TD Joe Roback

Shopping Mall Championship Section Playing Hall With a 2251 rati ng I was the fa- The event was held at the vourite to win in the Champi- Lansdowne Centre mall. onship secti on, although there Over the past three years, it were quite a few players close has been the stage for many behind me. For example: Joshua important BC junior events, Doknjas (rated 2210 and a 2014 anada including the BC Chess Chal- BC Closed parti cipant), Davaa- lenge, the BC Youth Chess Ochir Nyamdorj (rated 2133 and C Championships, the Van- a 2013 BC Junior co-champion), couver Regional, and several Luke Pulfer (2021), and Ura- weekend swisses. nchimeg Nyamdorj (1918) were The tournament hall is all strong competi tors. There- two empty stores which can fore, I made sure to prepare very comfortably house 150 play- seriously during the week lead- ers. There is a folding door ing up to the event. hess that blocks out most of the At the conclusion of the tour-

2015.01 noise from the mall, and nament I fi nished in fi rst place, C 44 winning the 2014 BC Junior Championship half a point ahead Booster Winners of second place fi nisher Davaa- back, L2R: TD Joe Roback, Brianna Xu, Ochir. William Ng, Neo Wu, and TD Ron Hui. front, L2R: Anna Van, Kaitlyn Tio, Joshua Imoo, Jason Qian, Kevin Lei, Ethan Su, U1900 Daniel Wang, and Eric Wen. Kai Richardson, Karl Cui, and Alec Chung all ti ed for fi rst for the U1900 class prize, with Kai Top Unrated coming in fi rst on computer ti e- Kaitlyn Tio (1st), Ethan Su (2nd), breaks. and Simon Zhang (3rd). Knowing that it was the fi rst Reserves tournament for several of the In the Reserve secti on, James Li, players, the organizers encour- An Yu, Callum Lehingrat, and Jef- Boosters aged kids in the Booster Secti on frey Wang all ti ed for 1st place, they received 4th, 5th, and 6th In the Booster Secti on, the top place medals, respecti vely. to fi nish all fi ve rounds by giving with James Li winning on ti e- 3 places received trophies: Neo those who did a blue, pink, green break. Wu (1st), William Ng (2nd), and U800 or purple chess piece key chain. Reserve Winners Brianna Xu (3rd). Kevin Lei, Josh- Jason Qian (1st), Anna Van (2nd), L2R: Co-Organizers Lara and Mi- ua Imoo, and Daniel Wang all ti ed and Eric Wen (3rd). Playing Hall chael Lo, Jeff rey Wang, Callum Le- for 3rd place, but on ti e-breaks anada hingrat, An Yu, and James Li. C hess 2015.01 C 45 Kai's win in this important game 5...0–0 6.¤f3 c5 7.d5 8.¥d3 ¦e8 9.0–0 exd5 10.exd5 also because White's Bishops enabled him to ti e for fi rst for XIIIIIIIIY 10.cxd5 This transposes to the control key squares of the board, the U1900 prize. 8rsnlwq-trk+0 four pawns attack of the Benoni such as e4 and e3. Defense. Notes by John Doknjas 7zpp+-zppvlp0 13...a6 14.¦ae1 £c7 15.¢h2 Richardson,Kai (1759) 6-+-zp-snp+0 10...¥g4 ¦xe1 16.¦xe1 ¦e8 17.¦f1 ¦f8 Qu,Leo (1842) 5+-zpP+-+-0 A logical move as it exchang- 18.g4! E76 4-+P+PzP-+0 es off Black's passive light XIIIIIIIIY BC Jr Richmond (4.4), 09.11.2014 3+-sN-+N+-0 squared Bishop. An alternative is 8-+-+-trk+0 2PzP-+-+PzP0 10...¤a6, trying to get counterplay with either ...¤b4 attacking 7+pwqn+pvlp0 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 ¥g7 1tR-vLQmKL+R0 Bd3, or ...¤c7 followed by a ...b5 6p+-zp-snp+0 4.e4 d6 5.f4 xabcdefghy thrust. 5+-zpP+-+-0 Opting for the aggressive Four 7...e6 Pawns Attack. This opening is 4-+P+-zPP+0 7...b5!? Another interesting op- 11.h3 ¥xf3 12.£xf3 ¤bd7 not that easy to combat and it is 3+-sNL+Q+P0 tion, trying take advantage of 13.¥d2 a good choice when you need to White's lack of development. 2PzP-vL-+-mK0 win. This move leads to a Benko XIIIIIIIIY 1+-+-+R+-0 Gambit type of position. 8r+-wqr+k+0 xabcdefghy Leo Qu & Kai Richardson vie for the U1900 Class Prize. 7zpp+n+pvlp0 A good move which attempts 6-+-zp-snp+0 to aggressively seize space on 5+-zpP+-+-0 the Kingside and drive the Nf6 anada 4-+P+-zP-+0 backwards. 3+-sNL+Q+P0 C 18...£b8 19.h4 ¤e8 20.g5 ¤c7 2PzP-vL-+P+0 This aims to play ...b5 and get 1tR-+-+RmK-0 counterplay. xabcdefghy The problem for Black here is 21.£h3 ¦d8 22.h5 b5 23.hxg6 that it is hard for him to obtain hxg6 sufficient counterplay. This is mainly due to the fact that Black hess has less space than White and 2015.01 C XIIIIIIIIY 46 8-wq-tr-+k+0 26.¥f5?! 29...fxe4 30.£h5 £d7 Notes by John Doknjas 7+-snn+pvl-0 A creative move, but with correct 30...¤e5 31.¥c3 ¦f8 32.¥xe5+ Nyamdorj,Davaa-ochir play Black can defend. dxe5 33.£h6+ ¢g8 34.g6 (2133) 6p+-zp-+p+0 £g4+ 35.¢h2 £xg6 (35...fxg6 5+pzpP+-zP-0 26.£xc8 ¦xc8 27.¥e2 ¥f8 36.¦xf8#) 36.¦g1+–. Doknjas,John (2251) 4-+P+-zP-+0 28.cxb5 axb5 29.¥xb5 ¤xb5 B51 BC Jr Richmond (3.1), 08.11.2014 3+-sNL+-+Q0 30.¤xb5± White is up a pawn 31.¥c3+ ¤e5 32.¦h1 ¦h8 and Black's f8 Bishop will never 33.£xh8+ ¢g6 34.£f6# 2PzP-vL-+-mK0 come into play. At this point in the tournament 1+-+-+R+-0 (Round 3) my opponent and I were 1–0 in a three way tie for first place. xabcdefghy 26...gxf5 27.fxg7 ¤g4+ 24.f5! So, this game was crucial in de- 27...¢xg7 28.£h6+ ¢g8 29.¢g2 ciding the winner of the event. Continuing the attack quickly (...Ng4+ was threatened) 29... before Black can defend. f4 (threatening Qg4+) 30.¦xf4 ¤g6= Black is doing fine here. John Doknjas vs Davaa-Ochir Nyamdorj 24...¤e5 25.f6 XIIIIIIIIY 28.¢g2 ¢xg7 8-wq-tr-+k+0 XIIIIIIIIY 7+-sn-+pvl-0 8-+qtr-+-+0 6p+-zp-zPp+0 7+-sn-+pmk-0 5+pzpPsn-zP-0 6p+-zp-+-+0 anada 4-+P+-+-+0 5+pzpP+pzP-0 3+-sNL+-+Q0 4-+P+-+n+0 C 2PzP-vL-+-mK0 3+-sN-+-+Q0 1+-+-+R+-0 2PzP-vL-+K+0 xabcdefghy 1+-+-+R+-0 xabcdefghy 25...£c8 25...¥f8 26.¢g2 Followed by 29.¤e4! Rh1 and Qh8#.

hess Bringing the Knight into the attack with decisive effect. 2015.01 C 47 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.¥b5+ ¤d7 7...¦c8 8.¤c3 h6 9.0–0 Strengthening the c4 pawn and 12.¥a3 £a5 This is the engine's XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY White's control over d5. recommendation, and it takes advantage of the fact that White 8r+lwqkvlntr0 8-+rwqkvlntr0 cannot capture on d6 due to the 7zpp+nzppzpp0 7+p+lzppzp-0 11...¥e7 Knight on c3. (12...¦c6 I planned 6-+-zp-+-+0 6p+-zp-+-zp0 XIIIIIIIIY to play this move in the game. 5+Lzp-+-+-0 5+-+-+-+-0 8-+rwqk+-tr0 Black is fairly comfortable as he 7+p+lvlpzp-0 is planning to play ...Qa5 on the 4-+-+P+-+0 4-+PwQP+-+0 next move.) 13.¥xd6?? ¥xd6 3+-+-+N+-0 3+-sN-+N+-0 6p+-zp-sn-zp0 14.£xd6 £xc3–+. 2PzPPzP-zPPzP0 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 5+-+-zp-+-0 1tRNvLQmK-+R0 1tR-vL-+RmK-0 4-+P+P+-+0 12...0–0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 3+PsNQ+N+-0 While White's position is posi- An interesting possibility that 9...e5 2P+-+-zPPzP0 tionally sounder than mine, I can generally offers more winning 9...e6 This is possible as well, 1tR-vL-+RmK-0 aim to break with ...b5. Pushing chances to both sides. I think but Black's position is rather my f-pawn to f5 is another pos- that this was a good decision on xabcdefghy sibility. cramped. Also, White has the 12.¤e1 my part as a win would greatly possibility of playing e5, launch- increase my chances of coming ing an attack. Preparing to play f4 with an at- 13.¥d2 in 1st place. On the other hand, tack or simply trying to bring the if I lost I would be almost com- Knight to the d5 square via c2 XIIIIIIIIY pletely knocked out of contention 10.£d3 ¤f6 11.b3 and b4. 8-+rwq-trk+0 for winning the tourna- 7+p+lvlpzp-0 anada ment. This increased 6p+-zp-sn-zp0 the pressure on both of Doknjas vs Doknjas?

C us in this game. In Round 4 my brother Joshua and I were the only players with perfect 5+-+-zp-+-0 scores (3/3), and of course, we had to be paired. Many people have asked 4-+P+P+-+0 4.d4 cxd4 5.£xd4 a6 me what it’s like to play against my brother. We play all the ti me in train- 3+PsNQ+-+-0 6.¥xd7+ ¥xd7 7.c4 ing matches and for fun; we help each other with our respecti ve openings, 2P+-vL-zPPzP0 Setting up a Maroczy and prep together for major tournaments. Since we know each other’s 1tR-+-sNRmK-0 bind. openings and playing styles very well, it is oft en diﬃ cult for either of us to xabcdefghy beat the other. Even though it may be tough to play against Joshua during 13...¥c6?! hess a tournament, in the bigger picture, it has been mutually beneﬁ cial to have 13...b5 I should have struck im-

2015.01 an equally strong player to train and prep with. C XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 48 mediately with this strong thrust. 8-+rwq-trk+0 21...b5! 8-+r+qtr-mk0 14.cxb5 ¦xc3! 15.¥xc3 ¥xb5 Black needs counterplay imme- 16.£c2 ¥xf1 17.¢xf1 £b6 Black 7+p+-+pzp-0 diately if he hopes to win. Pas- 7+-+n+-zp-0 has a strong initiative. My pieces 6p+lzpn+-zp0 sively defending on the Kingside 6-+-zp-zp-zp0 are active, the e4 pawn is weak, 5+-+Nzp-+-0 will not lead anywhere. 5+p+Nzp-+-0 and White's King is slightly ex- posed. 4-+P+P+-+0 4-+-+P+Q+0 3+PsN-vl-+-0 22.¦af1 f6 23.£h4 ¥xd5 3+P+-zPR+-0 2P+-+QzPPzP0 24.¤xd5 2P+-+-+PzP0 14.¤c2 ¤d7 XIIIIIIIIY Planning to move the Knight to 1tR-+-+RmK-0 1+-+-+RmK-0 e6 so that it can control the d4 xabcdefghy 8-+rwq-tr-mk0 xabcdefghy square. If I can put my Knight on 7+-+-+-zp-0 I was at one minute here and d4, it will be harder for White to 19.fxe3!? 6p+-zp-zp-zp0 he had about five minutes left. attack my d6 pawn on the d-file While this controls the d4 5+psnNzp-+-0 I offered a draw because I felt with his Rooks and Queen. square, it gives Black some win- 4-+P+P+-wQ0 pressured by my opponent's ning chances due to the long Kingside attack. I also knew that 14...b5 does not work as well term weaknesses for the e- 3+P+-zPR+-0 he would probably not accept anymore due to: 15.cxb5 axb5 pawns. 2P+-+-+PzP0 the draw, but he would spend 16.¤b4 Now the b5 pawn could 1+-+-+RmK-0 some valuable time considering simply become a weakness for the offer. This is safer: 19.£xe3 ¥xd5 White to attack. xabcdefghy 20.¤xd5 ¤d4 White is slightly better and it is hard to see how 24...¤d7 27.¦g3 £f7 28.a4? 15.¤b4 ¤c5 16.£e2 ¤e6 anada he could lose this position. 24...bxc4 This will give White a This creates a weak White pawn 17.¥e3 ¥g5 weak pawn on c4 once he re- on a4 and allows Black to get counterplay. C Trying to exchange off Be3 since 19...¤c5 captures. However, in the time it controls the key d4 square. Putting pressure on the e4 scramble I was worried about I think White should have Black's dark-squared Bishop pawn. Nxf6 ideas. I decided to play it started to play on the Q-side was also bad and passive. safe by moving Nd7, strengthen- (28.£e2), since his Kingside at- ing the f6 point. tack was not getting through. 20.£g4 ¢h8 21.¦f3! 18.¤bd5 ¥xe3 Building up pressure on Black's 28...bxa4 29.bxa4 ¦c4 30.¦a1 Kingside. 25.cxb5 axb5 26.£g4 £e8 ¤c5 31.£e2 ¦xa4 32.¦xa4 hess ¤xa4 33.£c4 ¤c5 34.¦f3 £b7 2015.01 C 49 Threatening ...Qb1+ and Thanks also like to thank my long stand- ...Qxe4. I won the BC Ju- ing chess coach, IM Yan Teplitsky, nior Championship who has taught me for a good 35.¦f1 ¦a8 36.¦d1 ¦a4 in 2011, so I was seven years. The weak e-pawns very pleased to are finally attacked and win the ti tle once - John Doknjas captured. At this point in again this year. I the game we were both would like to thank living off the 30 second the organizers and Links increment. tournament di- rectors — Ches- Results 37.£c2 ¦xe4 38.¤c3 s2Inspire, Victoria htt p://chess2inspire.org/ ¦xe3 39.¦xd6 £e7 Jung-Doknjas, Ste- bc-junior-championship- 40.¦b6 £a7 41.¤d5 phen Wright, and tournament-2014 £a1+! 42.¦b1 ¦e1+ Joe Roback — for Previous BC Junior Champions 43.¢f2 ¦xb1 putti ng on a well run event. I would htt p://www.chess.bc.ca/ bcchamps.shtml#Junior 0–1 anada C hess

2015.01 Organizers and TDs Lara Lo, Victoria Jung-Doknjas, Joe Roback, Caroline Hui, C Stephen Wright, Ryan Lo, and Michael Lo. by the editor 50 Appendix: WC Blunders the fi rst ti me I’d played thorough The following double blunder in Championship match." ern players, showing us how they Steinitz’s match games. I discov- the Carlsen-Anand World Champi- (NiC, 2014.08) compare to their great predeces- ered a couple of points that were onship match provoked a lot com- sors. so surprising — the coff ee and the ments, with some people saying I wondered about that. So I put repeti ti on — that I’ve included the it was among worst mistakes in the nearly 1000 World Champion- What’s a Blunder? whole game. World Championship history. ship games through the blunder- By a “blunder” I mean a move check feature in my Chessbase that is obviously bad: it makes the Zukertort,Johannes Hermann Carlsen - Anand Fritz12 GUI, using Stockfi sh at 20 player's positi on much worse than Steinitz,William World Championship Sochi (6), ply to fi nd mistakes. Before it had it was, and it has to be obvious C49 worked its way through the fi rst what the refutati on and the supe- 15.11.2014 World Championship 01st USA 200 (i.e. before game 1 of Capa- rior move(s) were. What we each XIIIIIIIIY (11), 01.03.1886 blanca-Alekhine) it had turned up count as “obvious” will depend on 8-+-+-+rtr0 so many huge blunders that there how much we know, and so there 7+k+-+p+-0 was no need to keep looking. will be plenty of room for dis- 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¤c3 ¤f6 6-zpl+p+nzp0 agreement about whether a move 4.¥b5 ¥b4 5.0–0 0–0 6.¤d5 This Appendix collects some of the should be called a blunder. I know ¤xd5 7.exd5 e4 8.dxc6 exf3 5zp-zp-zP-+R0 9.£xf3 dxc6 10.¥d3 ¥d6 4-+P+-+R+0 most famous World Champion- that once I've seen a mistake re- ship blunders, and adds to that list futed and explained it is hard not 11.b3 £g5 12.¥b2 3+-zP-vL-+-0 some of the worst ones I found in to think of it as “obvious”, or (at XIIIIIIIIY 2P+L+-zPP+0 just the Steinitz matches. least) more obvious than it was to 8r+l+-trk+0 1+-mK-+-+-0 the players. Thankfully so: without 7zppzp-+pzpp0 anada xabcdefghy Why Bother? it how could I learn? 6-+pvl-+-+0 An ugly collecti on like this can be If you want to test how obvious 5+-+-+-wq-0 C 26.¢d2?? a4?? (26...¤xe5!µ) enjoyed as a source of Schaden- (or not) these blunders are, some (1–0, 38) freude, or as catharsis, when re- of them appear as diagrams in the 4-+-+-+-+0 covering from our own blunders. It Criti cal Positi ons column. 3+P+L+Q+-0 For instance, in New in Chess, GM is also a look into chess history, the 2PvLPzP-zPPzP0 Anish Giri wrote: opportunity to replay the games Borderline Blunders 1tR-+-+RmK-0 "I am not an expert of chess that comprise that history is one of Here’s an example of a very bad xabcdefghy history, but I think one must the disti ncti ve characters of chess. move (20) which I wouldn’t count dig deep to fi nd such a case of That historical review might even as a blunder. Like Giri, I’m no expert hess improve our perspecti ve on mod- on chess history. In fact, this was According to Landsberger's 2015.01 mutual (!) blindness in a World biography — William Steinitz, C 51 Chess Champion (McFarland, ment and refutation are not The following sequence shows 23.£h5+ ¢f8 24.£h8+ ¢f7 p.165) — Steinitz now spilled half trivial. that the "three-move repetition 25.£h5+ ¢f8 26.£h8+ ¢f7 a cup of coffee on the board. ¹20.¥xd6 cxd6 21.c4: rule" is a good thing. 27.£h5+ ¢f8 28.£h8+ ¢f7 After it was mopped up the a) 21...£xa2 22.cxd5 £d2= 29.£h5+ ¢f8 30.£h8+ ¢f7 game continued... (22...£b2?? 23.£h7+‚). 21...¢f8 22.£h8+ ¢f7 31.£h5+ b) 21...£d2 22.cxd5 ¦e1= ¹22...¥g8–+. 12...£xd2 13.¥c1 £a5 14.¥f4 23.£h8+ ¢f7 24.£h5+= ¥e6 15.¦ae1 ¦fe8 16.¦e3 (24.£xa8?? ¦xf1+ 25.¢xf1 ¥d5 17.¥xh7+ £d1# Steinitz) 24...¢e7 17.£h3 g6 18.¦xe8+ ¦xe8 25.dxc6÷. 19.¥xd6 cxd6 20.£d7!= Lasker. c) 21...¦ac8 22.cxd5 £xd5 White has some comp. 17...¢xh7 18.£h5+ ¢g8 19.¦h3 f6 20...¢f7 XIIIIIIIIY 20...¢f8! 21.¦g3 ¦e7 22.¦xg7 8r+-+r+k+0 (22.£h8+ ¥g8–+) 22...¦xg7 23.¥h6 ¢e7 24.¥xg7–+ when 7zppzp-+-zp-0 ...♗g8 or ...♗f7 is almost identi- 6-+pvl-zp-+0 cal to the position at move 36. 5wq-+l+-+Q0 4-+-+-vL-+0 21.£h5+ 3+P+-+-+R0 anada XIIIIIIIIY 2P+P+-zPPzP0 8r+-+r+-+0 C 1+-+-+RmK-0 7zppzp-+kzp-0 xabcdefghy 6-+pvl-zp-+0 5wq-+l+-+Q0 20.£h7+? 4-+-+-vL-+0 Objectively this is a very bad move: White goes from a play- 3+P+-+-+R0 able position to a totally lost 2P+P+-zPPzP0

hess one. But I wouldn't rank this as 1+-+-+RmK-0

2015.01 a blunder because the improve- xabcdefghy C Zukertort and Steinitz Distracted by the noisy woodcutt er? XIIIIIIIIY 52 8r+-+r+-+0 38.£g5+ ¢f8 39.¦h8+ ¥xh8 could save the position, ...♗xh2 ¢e7 40.£xa5÷) 38.¦g3+™ £xg3 it is still a bad move — objec- 32...h3 33.¢g4 ¥g1 34.¢xh3 7zppzp-+kzp-0 39.fxg3÷. tively it has no upside: Black had ¥xf2 35.¥d2!+–. 6-+pvl-zp-+0 an easy draw without playing ....♗xh2, and with perfect play 5wq-+l+-+Q0 35.¦xe7 ¢xe7 36.¥xg7 £f5 33.¢g2 hxg3 34.fxg3 ¥xg3 37.¦e1+ ¢f7 38.¥h6 £h7 the best Black can hope for is a 4-+-+-vL-+0 draw, and with less than perfect 35.¢xg3 ¢d6 36.a4? 39.£xh7+ ¥xh7 40.c4 a5 3+P+-+-+R0 play White wins. 36.¢g4!+– Olafsson/Kasparov 41.¥e3 c5 42.¦d1 a4 2P+P+-zPPzP0 The best that can be said for it is that it might have had a sub- 36...¢d5 37.¥a3 ¢e4 1+-+-+RmK-0 0–1 xabcdefghy jective upside: had Fischer man- 37...a6= 38.b6 ¢c6 39.¥f8 (39. They had been playing for three aged to draw it would have been a5 ¢b5) 39...¢xb6 40.¥xg7 hours, and here Steinitz spent a blow to Spassky's confidence. ¢a5 41.¥xf6 ¢xa4 42.¢f4 b5 30 minutes on his next move. Spassky,Boris 43.¢e5 b4 44.¢xe6 b3 45.¢d5 Fischer,Robert James 30.g3 h5 31.¢e2 h4 32.¢f3 ¢b4! 46.e4 a5= Purdy. World Championship 28th 31...¢e7?! 32.¦e3+ ¢f8 Reykjavik (1), 11.07.1972 33.£h8+ ¥g8 34.¥h6 XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-mk-+0 8r+-+rmklwQ0 7zpp+-+-zpp0 7zppzp-+-zp-0 6-+-vlpzp-+0 6-+pvl-zp-vL0 5+P+-+-+-0 anada 5wq-+-+-+-0 4-+-+-+-+0 4-+-+-+-+0 C 3zP-+KzP-+-0 3+P+-tR-+-0 2-+-+-zPPzP0 2P+P+-zPPzP0 1+-vL-+-+-0 1+-+-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 29...¥xh2?? 34...¦e7™ This move has been subjected 34...gxh6?? 35.£xf6+ ¥f7 to reams of analysis, and it hess 36.£xh6+!? (36.£h8+=) seems that with best play White

2015.01 36...¢g8 37.¦h3™ £e5 (37...¥e5 wins by force. But even if Black C Spassky and Fischer Distracted by the noisy ﬁ lm cameras? 53 38.¥c5! a6 39.b6! f5? 27.£c2?? 19...¤d7?? 20.¤d5+– A cruel annotator might add 39...e5™. £b1 and £f3 are about equal. Such an obvious move in these an extra "?" since this all hap- structures doesn't deserve an "!" pened after the adjournment, when White had a whole team to 40.¢h4 f4 41.exf4 ¢xf4 27...¥xa4! look at the ending. 42.¢h5 ¢f5 43.¥e3 ¢e4 White wins at least two pawns: 20...£xd2 21.¤xe7+ ¢f8 A generous annotator might 44.¥f2 ¢f5 45.¥h4 e5 27...¥xa4 28.£b1 (28.£xa4 22.¦xd2 ¢xe7 23.¦xc4 point out that the previous part 46.¥g5 e4 47.¥e3 ¢f6 £xe4 there's no good way to White is up an exchange for of the game was one of the most stop mate.) 28...¥xd1 29.£xd1 nothing and has the better 48.¢g4 ¢e5 49.¢g5 ¢d5 creative and well-played by both £xe4–+. 50.¢f5 a5 51.¥f2 g5 52.¢xg5 pawns and won easily (1–0, 37) players in World Championship ¢c4 53.¢f5 ¢b4 54.¢xe4 history — Kasparov gave 29 (!) ¢xa4 55.¢d5 ¢b5 56.¢d6 0–1 Spassky,Boris moves in this game exclamation Fischer,Robert James marks! 1–0 Fischer,Robert James World Championship 28th 69.¦c3+™= ¢d4 70.¦f3! Spassky,Boris Reykjavik (13), 10.08.1972 c3+ (70...¢e4 71.¦c3™ f3 By way of contrast, the following World Championship 28th various 72.¦xc4+™ ¢e3 73.¦c1 △ three less famous moves from the Reykjavik (8), 27.07.1972 XIIIIIIIIY 74.♔b3 = Purdy) 71.¢a1 c2 1972 match were clearly blunders. 8-+-+-vLr+0 72.¦xf4+ ¢c3 (72...¢d3 73.¦f1 XIIIIIIIIY △ 74.♔b2 +– Purdy) 73.¦f3+! 8-tr-+-+k+0 7+-+-+-zP-0 Spassky,Boris 6-+-+-+-+0 (73.¥b4+!? ¢d3 74.¦f1 ¦xg7 7+-+-zppvlp0 75.¢b2 is a drawing fortress Fischer,Robert James 5+-+-+-+-0 World Championship 28th 6p+-zp-snp+0 found by Smyslov.) 73...¢d2 Reykjavik (5), 20.07.1972 5wq-+-+-+-0 4-+p+-zp-+0 74.¥a3™ ¦xg7 75.¦xb3™ ¦c7 anada XIIIIIIIIY 76.¥b2= (76.¢xa2?? ¦a7!–+) - 4-+l+-+-+0 3+p+k+-+-0 8-+-+-mk-+0 2pmK-+-+-+0 Timman analysis in Chessbase. C 3+-sN-+-zP-0 7+-+l+-zp-0 1+-tR-+-+-0 6-zp-+-+qzp0 2P+-wQPzPLzP0 69...¢e2–+ 70.¦c1 f3 71.¥c5 1+-tRR+-mK-0 xabcdefghy ¦xg7 72.¦xc4 ¦d7 5zp-zpPzp-zp-0 72...f2 also wins. 4P+P+Psn-+0 xabcdefghy 69.¦d1+?? Black has sacrificed an ex- A bad move, that objectively 3+-zPQ+-+-0 change for a pawn and the ♗ takes the game from equal to 73.¦e4+ ¢f1 74.¥d4 f2 2-+-+-+PzP0 pair, but his next move throws lost, and although the better line 74...f2 75.¦f4 ¦xd4!–+. hess away the pawn and the game. isn't trivial, the way this move 1+-+LvL-mK-0 0–1 2015.01 xabcdefghy loses is trivial. C XIIIIIIIIY 54 The 2014 blunder might not even Hanging Queens 8rsn-wqr+k+0 Gunsberg,Isidor be the worst between Carlsen and Steinitz,William Anand. 7zpp+-+p+p0 Anand,Viswanathan 6-+-zp-+p+0 World Championship 03rd New York (16), 15.01.1891 Gelfand,Boris Anand,Viswanathan 5+-zpP+-+n0 World Championship Moscow 4-+P+-+P+0 Who would suspect a trap when Carlsen,Magnus (8), 21.05.2012 World Championship Chennai 3+-sN-+P+-0 White's last move was 20.¤h4!? (9), 21.11.2013 2PzP-wQ-+-zP0 XIIIIIIIIY 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 8r+l+k+-tr0 XIIIIIIIIY 4.d5 d6 5.e4 ¥g7 6.¤e2 0–0 1+R+K+L+R0 8-+lwqntrk+0 xabcdefghy 7zppzppsnpzp-0 7.¤ec3!? ¤h5N 6-vl-+n+-zp0 7+-+-+p+p0 7...e6 is the usual move: 8.¥e3 This became the shortest game 6-+-+-zPpwQ0 exd5 9.cxd5 ¤bd7 10.¥e2 h5 in World Championship history 5+-+-zPq+-0 (½–½, 38) Matlakov,M (2665)- after Black's next move. 4Q+-zP-+-sN0 5+-+pzP-zP-0 Li,C (2686) Kazan, 2013. 4-+pzP-tR-+0 3+-+-+-zP-0 14...£f6?? 2PvL-sNLzP-zP0 3+-zP-+-sN-0 8.¥g5 ¥f6 ¹14...¤f6 15.¢c2ƒ; ¹14...¤g7. 2-+-+-+LzP0 1tR-+-tR-+K0 8...h6 9.¥e3 f5!?„ Anand. xabcdefgh 1+q+-+-mK-0 15.gxh5! £xf3+ 16.¢c2 £xh1 xabcdefghy 9.¥xf6 exf6!? 10.£d2 f5 17.£f2! 20...£xf2?? 28.¤f1?? 11.exf5 ¥xf5 17.£f2 White threatens to win Not Steinitz, not that day. 28.¥f1™ £d1 29.¦h4 £h5 11...£h4+ 12.¢d1 ¥xf5 13.g4 the trapped ♕h1 with ♗d3, anada so 17...¤c6™ 18.dxc6™ £xc6 30.¤xh5 gxh5 31.¦xh5 ¥f5 ¥xb1 14.¦xb1 ¤g7=. 21.¤e4™ 32.g6! ¥xg6÷. 19.¥d3 (19.¥g2!?) 19...¦e5

C 20.¦f1™+–. 21.¤e4 £e3 12.g4! and White has 28...£e1 12.¤a3 £h4+!? (12...¦e8+ a choice of 1–0 28...£e1™–+ Black is up a ♕ for 13.¢f2 ¤f6= /⩱) 13.¢d1 ¤g7ƒ. squares to move a ♙, and will happily trade it for the ♗e2, trapping anything to kill White's attack, There was a lot of scorn, Black's Queen. 12...¦e8+?! …29.¦h4 £xh4. and some pity, poured on ¹12...£h4+. Gelfand aft er that debacle. 1–0

hess But was it as bad as these 0–1 2015.01 13.¢d1! ¥xb1 14.¦xb1 next two?

C Distracted by the Gunsburg - Steinitz distracti on? 55 Steinitz,William ¤b4+ 36.¢d2! £xd3+ 37.¢e1 Both players were in time trouble Kasparov,Garry Chigorin,Mikhail £d7÷) 34...¢h7 35.£f5+ ¢h8 here, but Kasparov still thought Karpov,Anatoly World Championship 04th 36.£f8+ White has a perpetual. for 20 seconds before playing World Championship 32th-KK2 Havana (10), 21.01.1892 the following lemon. Moscow (11), 01.10.1985 XIIIIIIIIY 30...¤e7 XIIIIIIIIY 37...¦a1??“ 8-+r+-+k+0 8-+-+-+k+0 0–1 Hoping for 38.♖xa1 ♕xg4#. 7zpr+-+-zp-0 ¹37...¢g7 38.e6±. (see photo) 7zpl+r+pzp-0 6-trnvl-snQzp0 KK?? 6-zpn+-wq-zp0 5+-+-zp-+-0 Karpov and Kasparov may have 38.£xg6+ 5+-+L+-+-0 4qzP-+-+P+0 been the two best players in chess 38.£c4++– defending g4 with 4-+-+-+Q+0 3+-+P+-+N0 history, but they played 144 World tempo then taking the ♖a1 wins 3zP-+-+NzP-0 2PtRNvL-zP-zP0 Championship games against each too. 2-zP-+-zPP+0 other and it shouldn’t be too sur- 1+-+RtR-mK-0 1mK-tR-+-+-0 prising to ﬁ nd they each blundered. 1–0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy Karpov,Anatoly A Two Knights defence has 22...¦cd8?? turned into an opposite-side Kasparov,Garry castling attacking race. Should D87 ¹22...¦d6=. White continue with: g5, or d5, or World Championship 34th- ♗xh6 KK4 Seville (5), 23.10.1987 23.£xd7!+– ¦xd7 24.¦e8+ ¢h7 25.¥e4+ anada XIIIIIIIIY 30.g5?? 8-+-+-+k+0

C If you choose g5?? you might 1–0 console yourself with the thought 7+-+qzp-+-0 that you played this position as 6Q+-+-+p+0 well as the World Champion. 5+-+-zP-+p0 ¹30.d4! exd4 31.g5ƒ. 4R+-+-+PzP0 ¹30.¥xh6!? ¥xb4 31.¤xb4 3+-+-vlN+K0 Had Karpov not blundered here, ¦xb4 32.¥xg7™ ¦xg7™ 2-+-+-+P+0 33.£xf6™ ¦xb2™ 34.£e6+ hess 1+-tr-vLn+-0 the “Kasparov Era” would have lasted (34.¢xb2 £d4+ 35.¢c2™ 2015.01 xabcdefghy two years, not ﬁ ft een. C 56 Double Blunders the rules, Kasparov immediately Alekhine,Alexander 27...¥d6 28.e3² £f5 played his next move... Euwe,Max ...and the game was drawn on Given that it determined the world World Championship 17th move 65. ti tle, the following double blunder 33.£d1?? Netherlands (16), 11.11.1937 has a strong case to be the most 33.£b5!+– ¤d6 (33...¢f8 34.¤c6 XIIIIIIIIY important in chess history. £a8 35.£d3! g6 36.£d8+ Steinitz,William ¢g7 37.£d4+ ¢h7 38.£d7+–; 8-+-+-+k+0 7+-+lvlpzp-0 Chigorin,Mikhail 33...¢h7 34.£e8 ¤d6 35.£d8+–) World Championship 04th Kasparov,Garry 34.£c6 ¤f5 35.£e8+ ¢h7 6p+-+psn-+0 Karpov,Anatoly Havana (2), 03.01.1892 36.¤d7 ¤c5 37.¤f8+ ¢g8 5+p+q+-sN-0 XIIIIIIIIY World Championship 34th-KK4 38.¤g6+ ¢h7 39.¥h5! – a spec- 4-zP-+-+-wQ0 Seville (24), 18.12.1987 tacular mating finish! - Kasparov 8-+-+rtrk+0 XIIIIIIIIY 3+-sN-+-zP-0 7+lzp-+-+p0 8-+n+-+k+0 33...¤e7?? 2P+-+PzP-zP0 6p+-+-+-+0 7wq-+-+pzp-0 33...¤c5™ 34.£d8+ ¢h7= 1+-vL-+-mK-0 5+-zpNvl-wq-0 6-zp-+p+-zp0 35.¢g2 (35.£xc8 £a1+ 36.¢g2 xabcdefghy 4-+N+-zp-+0 £xe5µ) 35...f6 36.£xc8 fxe5=. 25...£e5?? 3+PzP-+R+-0 5+-+-sN-+-0 Had Karpov found this, the Almost any ♕ move is better 4n+-+-+-+0 "Kasparov Era" would have last- than this. 2P+Q+-+PzP0 3+-+-zPLzP-0 ed two years, not 15. Or (more 1+-+R+-mK-0 likely) until he recovered, im- xabcdefghy 2-+-+-zP-zP0 proved, and won the Title again. 26.¥b2? 1+Q+-+-mK-0 26.£h8+ ¢xh8 27.¤xf7+ ¢g8 28.¦f2?? anada 28.¤xe5± ¥xb4 29.¤xd7 ¤xd7 28.¤xe5 ¦xe5 29.c4 ¥xd5 xabcdefghy 34.£d8+ ¢h7 35.¤xf7 ¤g6 Kasparov was trailing Karpov (29...¥xc3 30.¤c5+–) 30.¤e4± 30.cxd5 ¦xd5² White is down C 36.£e8 £e7 37.£xa4 £xf7 White has excellent winning a pawn but has better structure 11–12 and had to win this game 38.¥e4 ¢g8 39.£b5 ¤f8 to retain the title he won in chances, but there's still a lot to and King safety. 40.£xb6 £f6 41.£b5 £e7 1985. The following moves were do. played in mutual time trouble. (adjourned) White had a clear 28...f3?? advantage, Karpov did not de- Kasparov had been breaking 26...¥c6?? 27.a3?? 28...¥g7–+ creates a double at- fend in the best way, and Kasp- the rules by not recording his tack which threatens to win the arov won the game to tie the 27.£h8+ is even stronger moves, and at this moment the now 27...¢xh8 28.¤xf7+ ¢g8 ¤d5: Arbiter reminded him that he match and retain his title. hess 29.¤xe5+–. 29.¤xc7 ¦e7™–+ traps the ♘. had to. Rather than following

2015.01 (1–0, 64) C XIIIIIIIIY 57 29.¦fd2 f3! 30.g3 f2+ ¹46.¦a2+–. 8-+-+-+-+0 71.¦xf5+ ¢c4 72.g4 ¢d4 (30...¥d4+!!–+) 31.¢f1 £h5–+. 7+-+-+-+-0 73.g5 ¦g1 74.¢e6 ¢e4 46...¢e6?? 75.¢f6 ¦a1 76.g6 ¦a7 6-+-+-+-+0 77.¦e5+ ¢f4 78.¦e7 29.¤xe5!= ¦xe5 30.c4 ¥xd5 Short fails to exploit his chance. 31.cxd5 ¦fe8 32.¦xf3 5+k+r+p+-0 46...¦c5™= 47.a5 ¦c3+™ 4-zP-+-+-+0 1–0 32.¦xf3 ¦e2! 33.£xe2 ¦xe2 48.¢g4 ¢xe4™ 49.a6 ¦c8™ 34.¦g3=. 50.a7 ¦a8™ 51.¦a5 ¢d4 3+K+-+RzP-0 52.¢f5 ¢c4 53.¢e6 (53.¢e5 2-+-+-+-+0 Instructi ve Endgame ??’s ½–½ ¢b4 54.¦a1 ¢c5™=) 53...¢b4 1+-+-+-+-0 54.¦a1 ¢c5™ 55.¢d7 ¢b6™ xabcdefghy Some World Championship blun- 56.¦b1+ ¢c5™ 57.¦b7 ¦h8!= ders are now part of endgame Kasparov,Garry 58.¢c7 ¦h7+ (58...¦a8=) 59.¢d8 63...¢b6? textbooks. The previous two examples ﬁ t, as do these next two. Short,Nigel D ¦h8+=. 63...f4!= 64.gxf4 Compare with Kasparov-Short WCh g.9 note PCA-World Championship to move 46. (64.g4 ¦d4™=; London (9), 25.09.1993 47.¢e3 ¢d6 48.¢d4 ¢d7 Bronstein,David 49.¢c4 ¢c6 50.¢b4 ¦e5 64.¦xf4 ¦d3+=) 64...¦d4™ 65.f5 Botvinnik,Mikhail ¦xb4+ 66.¢c3 ¢c5! 67.f6 ¦b8=. XIIIIIIIIY 51.¦c1+ ¢b6 52.¦c4 World Championship 19th 8-+-+-+-+0 1–0 Moscow (6), 26.03.1951 7+-+-+-+-0 64.¢c4 ¢c6™ 65.¦b3 ¦e5 XIIIIIIIIY 6-+-+-+-+0 66.b5+ ¢b6 67.¢d4 ¦e4+? 8-+-sN-+-+0 5tr-+-mk-+-0 Both Short and Kasparov were 67...¦c5™². 7+p+-+-+-0 embarrassed when it was pointed anada 4P+-+-+-+0 6-+-+-+-+0 3+-+-zPK+-0 out to them that they missed this 68.¢d5™+– ¦e8 69.¢d6 5zp-+-+-+-0 drawing line. I wonder if seeing the 69.¦f3 ¦f8 70.¢e6. C 2-+-+-+-+0 following game from their great 4-+P+-mk-+0 1tR-+-+-+-0 predecessors would have made 3+KzP-zp-+-0 69...¦e1 70.¦f3™+– ¢xb5 2-+-+-+-+0 xabcdefghy them feel bett er or worse...!? 70...¦e8 71.¦xf5 this is a table- base mate in 48. 1+-+-+-+-0 Lasker,Emanuel 46.e4?? 70...¦g1 71.¢e5 ¢xb5 xabcdefghy ¹46.¢e2 ¢e4 47.¦a3+– (47.¢d2 Steinitz,William 72.¢xf5+– Black's ♔ is too far In later interviews, David Bron- ¦d5+ 48.¢c3+–) 47...¢d5 World Championship 06th away and easily cut off. stein said that he had seen the hess 48.¢d3+-. Moscow (14), 28.12.1896 correct continuation, but instead 2015.01 C 58 of playing it had spent many Alekhine,Alexander 70...¢g4? 19...¦d6?? 20.¦xd5 ¦xd5 minutes thinking about how he Bogoljubow,Efi m 70...¢e4™= keeping the ♔s on 21.£xd5 £xb4 22.¦xc6 could have played better earlier D51 the same side of the pawn al- in the game. When he noticed lows Black to bodycheck the World Championship 14th GER/ 1–0 with a start that the clock was White ♔ away, ensuring a draw. NLD (19), 27.10.1929 still running, he grabbed the XIIIIIIIIY 71.b7 f5 72.b8£ ¦xb8 73.¦xb8 wrong piece... f4 74.¦e8+ ¢d4=. Tarrasch,Siegbert 8-+-tr-+-+0 Lasker,Emanuel 7+-+-+-+-0 57.¢c2?? 71.b7 f5 72.b8£ ¦xb8 World Championship 08th 57.¤e6+ ¢f3 58.¤d4+ ¢f2 6-zPK+-zp-+0 73.¦xb8 f4 74.¢d5 f3 75.¢e4 Germany (16), 30.09.1908 59.¢a4 e2 60.¤c2 e1£ 61.¤xe1 5+-+-+k+-0 f2 76.¦f8 ¢g3 77.¢e3 XIIIIIIIIY ¢xe1 62.¢xa5 ¢d2 63.¢b4 4-+-+-+-+0 8-+-+r+-mk0 b6=. 3+-+-+-+-0 1–0 7zp-+-+-zp-0 2-+-+-+-+0 6-+Nzp-+-zp0 57...¢g3! 1+R+-+-+-0 5+pvl-+-+-0 57...¢f3? 58.¤f7! (58.¤e6? e2 Beginner Mistakes 59.¤d4+ ¢f2 60.¤xe2 ¢xe2 xabcdefghy 4-+-+-+-+0 61.¢b3 ¢d3 62.¢a4 b6 63.¢b5 This has become a textbook Lasker,Emanuel 3+L+-+-sN-0 a4! 64.¢xa4 ¢xc4 65.¢a3 example of how (not) to play Rook Janowski,Dawid 2PzPP+-tr-zP0 ¢xc3–+) 58...e2 59.¤e5+ ¢f2 endings. 60.¤d3+ ¢f1 61.¢b3 e1£ World Championship 11th Berlin 1+-+R+-+K0 62.¤xe1 ¢xe1 (1), 08.11.1910 xabcdefghy 63.¢a4 ¢d2 anada XIIIIIIIIY 64.¢xa5 ¢xc3 8-+rtr-+k+0 26.¤d4?? 65.¢b6 ¢xc4 C ¹26.¥d5. 66.¢xb7 draw. 7zp-+-wqpzpp0 6-+p+-+-+0 ¹26.¦f1 ¦xf1+ 27.¤xf1. 0–1 5wQ-+l+-+-0 4-zP-+p+-+0 26...¥xd4 White can't recaputure because 3+-+-zP-+-0 of the back rank mate. 2P+-+LzPPzP0 Bronstein v hess Botvinnik 1+-tRR+-mK-0 0–1 2015.01 game 23. xabcdefghy C 59 Lasker,Emanuel 13.¥f4 ¤g4+ 14.¢g1 g5 18...¤xe5 19.dxe5 ¢f8 39.£e2 ¤e6 Marshall,Frank James 15.¥e5 ¦g8 16.¥xg4 hxg4 20.¦ad1 £c7 21.¤f6 C11 17.¤e4 ¤d7 0–1 World Championship 07th USA XIIIIIIIIY 1–0 (14), 23.03.1907 8r+lwqk+r+0 7+p+n+p+-0 Steinitz,William Chigorin,Mikhail XIIIIIIIIY Zukertort,Johannes Hermann Steinitz,William 8rsnlwqk+-tr0 6p+-+p+-+0 5+-+-vL-zp-0 World Championship 01st USA C52 7+p+-+pzp-0 (4), 18.01.1886 World Championship 02nd 6p+-vlpsn-zp0 4-+NzPN+p+0 XIIIIIIIIY Havana (1), 20.01.1889 5+-+-+-+-0 3+-+-+-+-0 8-+-trl+k+0 XIIIIIIIIY 4-+NzP-+-+0 2PzPP+-+P+0 7zpq+-+pvlp0 8r+-+-+k+0 3+-sN-+L+-0 1tR-+Q+RmK-0 6-+-+n+p+0 7+p+q+pzp-0 2PzPP+-+PzP0 xabcdefghy 5+-+psN-+-0 6-zp-+-+-zp0 1tR-vLQ+RmK-0 4-+p+-+-+0 5+-+nwQ-+-0 xabcdefghy 18.£xg4? 4-+-+-zP-+0 Did Lasker miss a mate in 2: 3+-zP-+QvL-0 11...¥xh2+?? 18.¤ed6+ and ♖xf7#. 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 3+-+-+-+-0 ¹11...0–0. 1+L+R+-mK-0 2P+-+-vLPzP0 xabcdefghy 1+-+R+-mK-0 12.¢xh2 37.¤xc4?? xabcdefghy anada h5 37.¦d2=. 27...¦xa2?? Did Mar- Why not defend the¤: 27...¦a5 C shall 37...dxc4 38.¦xd8 28.¥xb6 ¦b5 29.¥f2 £c6=. overlook 38.£xb7 ¦xd1#. that after 28.¦xd5 12...£c7+ 28.£xd5?? £xd5 29.¦xd5 forking the 38...¤xd8 ¦a1+µ. ♔ and ♘, The ♕b7 is protected, so White 13.¤e5+– is just down a piece for a pawn. saves the hess ♘. 2015.01 Chigorin, Lasker, Pillsbury, Steinitz St.Petersburg 1895-96 C Only one of these players never blundered in a World Championship match. 60 28...¦a1+ 29.£xa1 20.¢h1 £g6 39.¢g2?? Steinitz - Chigorin Black may have expected ♗e1 20...£xf2! 21.¦f1 £g3–+. My first thought was this this was Before playing through the Steinitz ♖xe1. a typo, but I do not have a data- - Chigorin matches for this Appen- 21.¦d3 £f6 22.£d2 ¤g6 base independent way to verify dix, the only Steinitz games I was it. 29...£xd5 30.¥xb6 £e4 23.¤g5 ¤ce5 24.¦f3 ¤xf3 familiar with were his famous win White was up a piece and won 25.¥xf7+ £xf7 26.gxf3 £c4! 39.¥b8 (or c7 or d6) 39...¥xg3+ over von Bardeleben (who walked on move 58. 40.¥xg3 hxg3+ 41.¢xg3=, for out of the hall rather than allow example 41...¢e5 42.a5 ¢d4 0–1 Steinitz to ﬁ nish his brilliant combi- 43.a6 ¥xa6™ 44.¤xa6 c5 45.¤xc5 ¢xc5 46.f4=. nati on), his win over Englisch (which Chigorin,Mikhail is reproduced in several old books Steinitz,William as a model of how to win with the Was that a Typo? 39...¥xg3?? World Championship 02nd Bishop pair), and the games he Someti mes a series of mistakes (40.¢xh2 Havana (5), 27.01.1889 39...gxf4–+ 40.g4+ (mostly) lost against Lasker which is so egregious it is more reason- fxg3+ 41.¢g2 ¢f4–+ 42.a5 h3+ XIIIIIIIIY able to questi on whether the are analyzed in John Nunn’s Chess 8-+-trr+k+0 43.¢xh3 ¥f1+ 44.¢h4 g2–+) Course (Gambit, 2014). scoresheet was right than whether 40...¢e5 41.¢xh2 ¢d4 42.¤e4 7zpp+-snpzpp0 the players were competent. My general impression is that the ¥e2–+ 43.¢g2 c5 44.¢f2 ¥d1 Steinitz-Chigorin matches were ap- 6-+nzp-+q+0 45.¤xf6 c4 46.g5 c3 47.¢e1 pallingly badly played. I am not crit- 5+-vl-+-+-0 Marshall,Frank James ¥xf3 48.g6 ¢e3 49.g7 c2 50.g8£ c1£#. icizing their openings or their stra- 4-+L+P+l+0 Lasker,Emanuel tegic decisions — a modern club 3+-zP-+NvL-0 World Championship 07th USA player would get bett er positi ons 2P+-sN-zPPzP0 (9), 02.03.1907 40.¥xg3 hxg3 41.¢xg3 ¢e5 against the Evans than Steinitz, in anada 1tR-wQR+-mK-0 XIIIIIIIIY 42.a5 f5 43.a6 ¥xa6 44.¤xa6 part because we’ve learned from 8-+-+-+-+0 ¢d4 45.¤c7 ¢e5 46.f4+ Steinitz’s mistakes, and no modern C xabcdefghy 7+-+-+-+-0 master would go for the kind of 18.h3?? 6-+p+-zp-+0 ½–½ middle games they were both pre- This loses a piece to an el- 5+-sN-+kzp-0 pared to repeatedly defend. ementary tactic: the ♗g3 is un- What shocked me was their tac- defended. 4P+l+-vL-zp0 ti cal oversights. I would guess that ¹18.¥e2 d5ƒ; ¹18.¦e1=. 3+-+-+PzP-0 if either of them played at this level 2-+-+-mK-vl0 today, then any modern top-level hess GM would beat them in a simul. 18...¥xf3!–+ 19.¤xf3 £xg3 1+-+-+-+-0 2015.01 xabcdefghy C 61 Steinitz,William 57.¦xe6 ¦xe1+ worse; but 58.¢f2+– gains a Chigorin,Mikhail Chigorin,Mikhail The following position is another tempo to reload the threat of Steinitz,William World Championship 02nd contender for biggest mutual ♖xh6+. World Championship 02nd Havana (12), 12.02.1889 blunder: Havana (13), 16.02.1889 XIIIIIIIIY 58...¦c1?? XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 58...£g7™ 59.£d6! ¦e2™ 8-+n+k+-+0 7zp-+-+q+k0 60.£xd5™² (60.¦e7? ¦xg2+ 7zp-+-+q+k0 6Q+-+R+-zp0 61.¢h1 ¦g1+=) 60...h4 61.£f3 7tr-+ltr-+p0 6-+-+n+rzp0 5+-+pzPp+p0 ¦xe5 62.¦d6² (62.¦a6 ¦a5!!). 6-+q+-zpp+0 5+-+pzPp+p0 4-+-+-+-+0 5+-zPRzp-+-0 4-+-zP-+-+0 3+P+-+-+P0 59.¦f6+– £g7 60.£e6 ¦f1 4-+N+P+-wQ0 3+P+-+-vL-0 2P+-+-+P+0 60...¦c2 61.£xf5++–. 3zp-+-zP-+-0 2P+-+-+PzP0 1+-+-tr-mK-0 2P+-+-+PzP0 1+-tR-+QmK-0 xabcdefghy 61.¦f7 1+-+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy 52.£d3? 58.¢h2?? 1–0 40...¦a4?? 52.£f3! is better, but it's not Of course, 58.£f1??? is even Takes the position from -2 to +5. trivial; the point is that White can 40...¦f7™–+. give up the ♙d4 to activate his ♕ and ♖: …52...¤xd4 53.£d3! ¤e6 41.¦d6!!+– ¤xd6 54.¦f1 f4 (54...¦g5? 55.¥h4+–) 41...£xc5 42.£xf6 ¦xc4 anada 55.£xd5±. 43.£h8+ ¢f7 44.¦f6#.

C 52...¦g4?± 42.¤xd6+ ¢d8 43.£xf6 Black misses an equaliz- With the ♖d1 pinning the ♗d7 ing combo: 52...h4!= 53.¥xh4 there is no good defence to ¦xg2+! 54.¢h1™ (54.¢xg2?? ♕ ¤f4+–+; 54.¢f1?? ¦xh2–+) f8+ winning a piece. 54...¦xa2 (54...¦g4 55.¥f6 £h5=) 55.¦f1 £g6=. 43...¦a5 43...£xc5 44.¤b7++–. hess

2015.01 53.h3± ¦xd4 54.£a6 ¦d2

C 55.¥e1 ¦d4 56.¦c6 ¦e4 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana, 1889. 62 44.£f8+ ¦e8 45.¤xe8 £xc5 Chigorin,Mikhail in the Evans gambit, and then 17.¤c4 ¢g7 18.a4 ¤f7? XIIIIIIIIY Steinitz,William withdraw all his pieces to the 18...c5±. 8-+-mkNwQ-+0 C52 8th rank. 7+-+l+-+p0 World Championship 02nd XIIIIIIIIY 19.¤xb6!+– axb6 20.¥xf7! 6-+-+-+p+0 Havana (17), 24.02.1889 8rwqlsn-mk-tr0 ¢xf7 5tr-wq-zp-+-0 7zpp+p+pzpp0 XIIIIIIIIY 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 6-vlpzP-+-+0 4-+-+P+-+0 ¥c5 4.b4 ¥xb4 5.c3 ¥a5 8rwql+-+-tr0 3zp-+-zP-+-0 6.0–0 £f6 7.d4 ¤ge7 8.d5 5+-+-zp-+-0 7+p+p+k+p0 2P+-+-+PzP0 ¤d8 9.£a4 ¥b6 10.¥g5 £d6 4Q+L+P+-+0 6-zppzP-zpp+0 1+-+R+-mK-0 11.¤a3 c6 12.¦ad1 £b8 3sN-zP-+N+-0 5+-+-zp-+-0 xabcdefghy 13.¥xe7 ¢xe7 14.d6+ ¢f8 2P+-+-zPPzP0 4PwQ-+P+-+0 1+-+R+RmK-0 3+-zP-+N+-0 In a 2005 interview about the 46.£xc5 xabcdefghy 2-+-+-zPPzP0 World Champions, Vladimir I'd rather resign in this positi on, This is simplest, forcing a clearly Kramnik said this: 1+-+R+RmK-0 winning pawn ending. but he would go for it three I've studied Steinitz's matches ti mes — in games 1, 15 and 17 xabcdefghy ¹46.£h8 £xe3+ 47.¢h1 ¢e7 against Chigorin and Lasker — and scored 1.5/3! He even 21.¤xe5+!! ¢g7! 48.£g7+ #4. thoroughly... I think that Stein- won once, but this positi on is 21...fxe5 22.f4+–. itz was bad at dynamics, it was completely hopeless for Black. 46...¦xc5 47.¤f6 ¦c7 48.¢f1 obviously his weak point. For - Vladimir Kramnik, e3e5.com. 22.¤c4 b5! 23.axb5 ¢c8 49.¦xd7 ¦xd7 50.¤xd7 instance, in his matches against anada (24.£d4!) . ¢xd7 51.¢e2 ¢c6 52.¢d3 Chigorin, he would consistently 23.¤b6! ¦a6 24.e5‚ 15.£b4 f6 16.¥b3 g6?! ¢b5 53.¢c3 h5 54.¢b3 g5 go for very diﬃ cult positi ons as C ¹16...¤f7. 55.¢xa3 ¢c4 56.¢b2 ¢d3 Black. He would take the pawn 23...£a7 24.b6 £a4 25.£c5 57.a4 ¢e2 58.a5 ¢f2 59.a6 ¦e8 26.f3 £a2 27.¤e3 £b3 ¢xg2 60.a7 ¢xh2 61.a8£ 28.¦b1 £f7 h4 62.£g8 h3 63.£xg5 ¢h1 I’d rather resign in this positi on, 64.£xe5 but he [Steinitz] would go for it three ti mes... and scored 1½/3! *the same Vladimir Kramnik who chose to 1–0 defend the “inferior” Berlin endgame against hess - Vladimir Kramnik* Kasparov. 2015.01 C XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 63 8r+l+r+-+0 33.¦a4 ¦b3 34.¦fa1 ¢g7 49.¢h2 f5 35.¦a8+– ¦b5 36.¦b8 c5 8RtRl+rwq-+0 XIIIIIIIIY 7+p+p+qmkp0 7+p+p+-mkp0 8-+-+-+-+0 6-zPpzP-zpp+0 37.£d5! ¦xb6 38.¦aa8 £f8 XIIIIIIIIY 6-+rzP-zpp+0 7+-+p+-mkp0 5+-wQ-+-+-0 5+-zpQ+-+-0 6-+lzP-+p+0 4-+-+P+-+0 8RtRl+rwq-+0 7+p+p+-mkp0 4-+N+P+-+0 5+-+-+p+-0 3+-zP-sNP+-0 3+-zP-+P+-0 4-+Pwq-+-+0 2-+-+-+PzP0 6-tr-zP-zpp+0 5+-zpQ+-+-0 2-+-+-+PzP0 3wQ-+-sN-+P0 1+R+-+RmK-0 1+-+-+-mK-0 2-+-+-+PmK0 xabcdefghy 4-+-+P+-+0 3+-zP-sNP+-0 xabcdefghy 1+-+-+-+-0 I will remember this position the 40.f4?? xabcdefghy next time I am tempted to call a 2-+-+-+PzP0 ¹40.¦a5+– or 40.h4+–. piece a "bad Bishop". 1+-+-+-mK-0 50.c5? xabcdefghy 40...b5!„ 41.¦xb5 50.¤d5 ¥xd5 51.cxd5 £xd5µ. 29.¤c4?! 39.¤c4? 41.¦a7!? ¦a6 42.¦xa6 ¥xa6 ¹29.£d4+– or 29.¦a1+–. ¹39.£xc5 ¦c6 (39...¦xd6 43.¦b6. 50...f4!–+ 51.¤c2 40.¦xc8+–) 40.£b4 ¦xd6 51.¤g4 h5 wins the ♘. 41.¦xc8–+. 41...¥a6™ 42.¦xe8 £xe8 29...¦a4! 30.¦b4 ¦a2! 43.¦xc5?! ¦xc5 44.£xc5 31.£d4 ¢g8 32.¤e3 ¦a3 £xe4³ 45.¤e3™ £xf4 46.h3 32...¢g7. 39...¦c6 ¥b7 47.c4 ¥c6 48.£a3 £d4! anada C hess 2015.01 C 64 XIIIIIIIIY Another contender, this ti me for 23...¤xg2?? 8-+-+-+-+0 triple mutual blunder. ¹23...¤h3+³ 24.gxh3 ¥xf3 Mr.Steinti z Reports 7+-+p+-mkp0 25.¢f1 ¥h5³. 6-+lzP-+p+0 Chigorin,Mikhail 5+-zP-+-+-0 Steinitz,William 24.¢xg2+– ¥xf3+ 25.£xf3 To his credit, Steinitz’s re- 4-+-wq-zp-+0 World Championship 04th £g5+ port, for his Internati onal 3wQ-+-+-+P0 Havana (7), 14.01.1892 XIIIIIIIIY Chess Magazine, was accu- 2-+N+-+PmK0 XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+r+k+0 rately causti c about his own 1+-+-+-+-0 7zp-+-+pzp-0 play: xabcdefghy 8-+-trr+k+0 7zp-+-+pzp-0 6-vl-tr-+-zp0 ...my blundering spell has 51...£e5?? 6-vl-+-wq-zp0 5+-zpLzp-wq-0 lasted longer than in any Steinitz could have scored 5+-zpLzp-+-0 4-+P+P+-+0 of my previous matches. 2/3 against Chigorin from his 3+-+-+Q+-0 "hopeless" position if he had 4-+P+Psnl+0 Some of the games which 3+-+-wQN+-0 2PvL-tR-zPKzP0 played 51...£d2!, when the 1tR-+-+-+-0 I have lost or drawn could threat of mate on g2 wins the ♘. 2PvL-+-zPPzP0 not have been played 52.£a1+ ¢h6 53.£f1 (53.¤e1 1tR-+R+-mK-0 xabcdefghy f3!–+) 53...£xc2 54.£xf4+ g5™ xabcdefghy worse at decisive points 55.£f6+ £g6–+. 26.¢h1™+– by a Knight [odds - ed.] Black is playing for a kingside 26.¢h3?? ¦f6 27.£e3 (27.£e2 player. Besides ﬁ ghti ng attack. Should he continue with ¦f4–+) 27...¦f4 28.£g3 £h5+ anada 52.£a1!³ (½–½, 70) ...h5, or prepare a rook lift with 29.¢g2 ¦g4µ. against one of the stron- ...♖d6. 26.¢f1 C ?? £xd2 27.£xf7+ ¢h7 gest players on record, I A pedanti c smartass might argue 28.£xe8 £d3+™ 29.¢g2™ have to cope with the ef- that the previous game shows ¦g6+™ 30.£xg6+™÷. Kramnik was wrong to say the po- 22...¦d6?? fects of age, overwork, siti on at move 14 "is completely 22...h5³. excitement and of an ex- hopeless for Black". But Kramnik 26...£xd2 27.£xf7+ ¢h7 hausti ng climate. said this in 2005 not 1889, and was 23.¦d2?? 28.¦g1 probably thinking about the type 23.¥xf7+!+– ¢xf7 24.¦xd6 £xd6 ICM, Oct. 1891, p.296. hess of opponents faces in the 21st cen- 25.¤xe5+ ¦xe5 26.£xf4++–. 1–0

2015.01 try, not the contenders of the 19th. C 65 OK: That’s a Typo! moves question marks, I will just 19.£d2 26.¦ab1 f5 27.¦b7 ¥xd4 When blunderchecking game 15 I say that the computer confirms XIIIIIIIIY 28.£xd4 f4 29.¤e5! fxg3 came across a series of moves that what seems obvious: White wins 8r+-+-trk+0 30.hxg3 was so apalling that it was is easier by playing the ¤g6 fork and XIIIIIIIIY Black should step out of it. 7+-zpl+pzpp0 to believe the databases are wrong 6pvl-+-+q+0 8-+-tr-tr-mk0 than it is to believe the top two 7+Rzp-+-zpp0 players in the world were playing But, as it happens, the database is 5+-+n+-vL-0 them. Chessbase has the game wrong. 4 -+NzP-+-+0 6p+-+-+-+0 I stumbled across a Google digi- 5+-+nsN-+q0 reaching the following positi on: ti zed copy of Steinitz’s I n t e r n a ti o n- 3+-+-+N+-0 2P+-wQ-zPPzP0 4-+-wQ-+-+0 XIIIIIIIIY al Chess Magazine, and found the 3zP-+-+PzP-0 8-+qtr-tr-mk0 much more sensible 19...f6 was 1tR-+-+RmK-0 played, which means there was xabcdefghy 2-+-+-zP-+0 7+Rzp-+-zp-0 1+-+-tR-mK-0 6p+-+-+-zp0 never a chance to play ¤g6 safely 19...f6 and there was no string of 10 blun- This is the correct game score. xabcdefghy 5+-wQnsN-+-0 ders in a row. Even so, the correct 19...h6 is the move found in 4-+-+-zP-+0 score doesn’t make all the blun- Chessbase Mega 2015. 3zP-+-+-zP-0 ders go away, including the famous Steinitz’s ICM (Nov.1891 2-+-+-zP-+0 one at the end. p.333) has the move ...f6 1+-+-tR-mK-0 (notation 19.P-KB3) which xabcdefghy Chigorin,Mikhail certainly makes more sense Assuming the positi on and game- Steinitz,William than the fiasco of errors which anada score is right, White’s refusal to C52 follows if the move played win a ♖ for ♘ over the next moves was ...h6 as in Chessbase World Championship 04th Mega2015. C shows, if nothing else, why Chigo- Havana (15), 04.02.1892 rin had a reputati on for liking his 20.¥h4 ¥g4 21.¥g3 ¦ad8 Knights: 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 ¥c5 22.¦fe1 £h5 23.£d3 ¥xf3 4.b4 ¥xb4 5.c3 ¥a5 6.0–0 d6 24.gxf3 ¢h8 25.a3 ¥a7 34.¦b3 ¤b6 35.¦c1 ¤a8 7.d4 ¥g4 8.£a4 exd4 9.cxd4 As usual, when the thirtieth a6 10.¥d5 ¥b6 11.¥xc6+ bxc6 36.£c4 £f5 37.g4 £f6 move was near there was 38.¢g2 ¤b6 39.£e4 ¤d5 12.£xc6+ ¥d7 13.£c3 ¤e7 hasty play on both sides. hess 14.¤a3 0–0 15.¤c4 d5 16.exd5 Rather than awarding all those - Steinitz, ICM Nov. 1891. 2015.01 ¤xd5 17.£c2 £f6 18.¥g5 £g6 C XIIIIIIIIY 66 30...¤f4 Steinitz, ICM. 8-+-+-trk+0 46...£e7?? The result of a miscalculation. E.g. 36.£xc7? (¹36.£e7+– A terrible oversight. - Steinitz. Q-R6 was the correct play. Houdini) 36...¦d1+ 37.¢g2 ¦xc1 7+-zp-+-zpp0 - Steinitz, ICM. 38.£xb6³ Houdini. 6p+Ntr-+-+0 46...£d8 47.¤g6+ (47.¦d3 c6 5+-+n+Pwq-0 48.f4 £b8 was likely to lead to 36.£c4 4-+-+Q+P+0 a draw. - Steinitz.) 47...¦xg6 But 30...£h3 actually loses 48.fxg6 £d6+ would not be good Not mentioned by Steinitz, 3zPR+-+-mK-0 to a surprise tactic: 31.¦xc7!! for White - Steinitz, ICM. ¤xc7 (31...¤f4 32.¤g6+ ¤xg6 but White wins after 36.¤c6! 2-+-+-zP-+0 33.£xg7#) 32.¤f7++–. ¦de8 37.¦b8 £xb8 (37...£e6 1+-+-+-+R0 Steinitz can’t be right here. 38.£xf8+) 38.¤xb8 ¦xb8+– White will still be vastly bet- White can go after Black’s a- xabcdefghy ter after: 49.f4™ ¤f6 50.¦h1+– 31.£c3! ¤d5 32.£c5 £f5 pawn or play for mate by at- 43...¤f6?? White’s up an exchange with 33.f4!± £c8 34.¦b3 tacking the h-pawn and levering ¹43...£d2 44.¦d3 (¹44.£c4² huge kingside pressure (g5 is 34.¦a7!? open the kingside with a pawn Houdini) 44...£c2 with an excel- coming). push. lent attack. – Steinitz. 34...¤b6 35.¦c1 ¹43...g6÷ Houdini. 47.£xd5 XIIIIIIIIY 36...£f5 37.g4 £f6 38.¢g2?? A pretty sacrifice of the Queen, 8-+qtr-tr-mk0 ¹38.g5 Steinitz. 44.£c4+™+– ¢h8 45.¤e5™ though somewhat simple. - 7+-zp-+-zpp0 ¹38.¦h3+– indirectly defends f4 ¤d5 46.¦h5 Steinitz. 6psn-+-+-+0 (by creating the threat of ♘g6+) 46.¦b8!+– overloads the de- and prepares to target h7 with fender of f7. 1–0 5+-wQ-sN-+-0 ♕e4. XIIIIIIIIY anada 4-+-+-zP-+0 8-+-+-tr-mk0 Finally... 3zPR+-+-zP-0 38...¤b6™ 39.£e4 ¤d5! 7+-zp-+-zpp0 C “Appalling Misfortune” 2-+-+-zP-+0 39...£xf4 40.£xf4 ¦xf4 41.¦xc7 6p+-tr-+-+0 1+-tR-+-mK-0 ¤d5 42.¦d7+– Steinitz. 5+-+nsNPwqR0 I doubt this game and move will xabcdefghy 4-+Q+-+P+0 ever be topped for Greatest 35...¤a8?? 40.f5 £g5 3zPR+-+-mK-0 Blunder in World Champion- Much inferior to 35...¦d5 as 40...g5!? 2-+-+-zP-+0 ship History as it has everything: White could not then capture the 1+-+-+-+-0 the last game of a close match, a Pawn, for Black could answer 41.¦h1! ¢g8™ 42.¤c6?! ¦d6 hess terrible move turns a win to a self- ...R-Q8ch., followed by RxR. - 43.¢g3÷ xabcdefghy 2015.01 mate. C 67 White was one point behind, tion and an equal score in the “One of those appalling misfortunes that someti mes unexpectedly turn the and needed to win this game to match, to an elementary mate- fate of a game. 32.RxKtP was the right play. As a matt er of course, Black avoid losing the match. If he won, in-two that ended the match and could only hope to draw and he had some chances of accomplishing that the match would be ti ed 9-9 and, Chigorin's World Championship result, but it is doubtf ul whether in actual play he would have succeeded... as per their contract, the match hopes. Several lines of play were examined by the two players and other experts, would be extended to a best-two- To make matters worse, if and it was generally found that with the best play White should win, but out-of-three (rather like badmin- that is possible, the players had that any litt le error on his part would enable his opponent to draw.” ton). reached the adjournment time, - Steinitz, ICM Dec. 1891 p.373. and Chigorin could have thought Chigorin,Mikhail longer and sealed his move. Steinitz,William 32.¦xb7™+– …¦xd5 (32...¥h5 33.¦b3+– preventing ...♗f3) World Championship 04th Ha- 33.¤f4+–. Is it possible Chigorin vana (23), 28.02.1892 XIIIIIIIIY did not see the ♘ fork? 8-+-+-+-+0 7zpp+-tR-+p0 32...¦xh2+ 6-+-vLNmkl+0 5+-+P+p+-0 0–1 Murder or Suicide? The police arti st’s sketch raised 4-+-+-+-zp0 more questi ons than it answered. 3+-+-+-+-0 2PzP-trr+-zP0 The only thing everyone could anada agree on: nothing good for chess 1+-+-+R+K0 would ever come from Cuba.

C xabcdefghy White is up a piece for a pawn, Links but his minor pieces are a lit- Kramnik interview: http://www.chess.com/blog/ tle uncoordinated, and Black Spektrowski/vladimir-kramnik- threatens ...♗f7. So White unpins from-steinitz-to-kasparov his d5 pawn by moving his ♗... Google Scanned version of ICM: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp hess 32.¥b4???? .33433066639695;view=1up;seq=191

2015.01 Going from a winning posi- C