v books have been doing 17...¤f6 18 0–0 d5 which is about equal. o k a i well enough to enable 18 f6!? ¤xf6 19 ¥xh6! ¢h8 20 0–0–0 v i T

i him to cope with a ¤h7 21 ¥d2 f5 22 g4! fxg4? Black e g r cooperates with White s transparent plan e deficit budget and to ’ S

: to open lines. He should keep the h-file

o cover it partly from his t o

h own pocket. He is also closed and go his own way, either by P a pretty colourful 22...a5 or 22...d5. 23 £e4!? Perhaps character with a special even stronger was 23 £xg4 £xg4 sense of humour which 24 hxg4 ¦xf2 25 d4 e4 26 ¥e6 g6 shows itself mainly 27 ¥d7 ¦d8 28 ¥xc6 d5 29 ¥e3 ¦f3 before the start of each 30 ¦df1, with a clear advantage. round when he urges 23...gxh3 24 d4 d5! Obviously not the players “to shut up” 24...exd4?? 25 ¥e6!; equally bad is and then starts the 24...¦ae8 25 £h4 ¦f3 26 ¥c2 g6 game with a whistle. 27 ¥xg6 ¦g8 28 £h5 ¦f6 29 ¥e4 ¦g7 30 ¥h6, winning. 25 £xe5 ¥c7 Black The GM section saw a already finds it difficult to cope with the few upsets right from outcome of his hasty pawn-snatching the start but turned out policy. For instance, 25...¦xf2 26 ¥c2 to be a one-man show ¥c7 27 £e3! or 25...¢g8 26 ¥c2 ¤f6 for the Englishman in 27 ¥f5, with powerful kingside threats in the field, who led from both cases. 26 £h5 h2 27 f4! ¦xf4 Matthew Sadler is all smiles during his triumph in Oslo start to finish and 27...¦f6 28 £xh2 ¦h6 29 £g3 £d6 wrapped up a 30 ¥c2 ¦f8 31 £g4 leaves White ORWAY BECAME a country sensational victory in the penultimate powerfully placed, e.g. 31...¤f6 32 ¦xh6+ in the public mind alongside round. On his way to victory he beat GMs gxh6 33 £g6 ¤e4 34 ¥xe4 dxe4 NMagnus Carlsen’s meteoric rise to Ernst, Mikhalevski and Volkov and drew 35 £xe4 and Black ’s king remains fatally the world’s elite. A constant stream of just twice, with the Israeli IM Raznikov exposed. 28 £xh2 g5 29 £h6 ¦f7 new events leads up to the Tromso and with the Dutch GM Tiviakov. His 30 ¥xg5 £d6 31 £h5 £d7 32 ¥c2 ¦af8 Olympiad, some three years from now. At performance of 2849 is seemingly the same time, the local chess community another step on his way back to the had to bid a sad farewell in 2008 to the prestigious 2700+ club. highly popular Gausdal tournament following 38 years of continuous and Matthew thought his first game was successful activity. Many chess fans probably the most attractive one, where worldwide who enjoyed this lively event he sacrificed no fewer than three pawns that took place in a remote ski resort were in order to open up as many attacking delighted to receive some good news last lines as possible against the enemy king. year: the tireless organiser of their favourite tournament, Hans-Olav Lahlum, Oslo International 2011 in collaboration with the Akademisk M.Sadler - D.Kovachev Sjakklubb in Oslo, was planning a new event, this time in the beautiful (but hopelessly expensive) capital Oslo.

120 players from 17 countries took part in 33 ¥f6+! ¦xf6 34 £xh7+ 1–0 34...£xh7 the two sections of the first Oslo 35 ¦xh7+ ¢g8 36 ¦g1+ is conclusive. International, held at Ullevaal Conference Centre, next to the wonderful Ulevaal Matthew Sadler became a national football stadium. Among the at the age of 19 and two years later won participants were 11 GMs, 3 WGMs and the British championship for the first time. 15 IMs, and England was represented by Two years later he won it again, this time the returning second seed GM Matthew jointly with Michael Adams. At the 1996 Sadler and IM Jovanka Houska. Hans- Yerevan Olympiad, he won the gold Olav was happy with the strength of the medal for the best result on board four. field but less so with the turnout of paying At the 1998 Elista Olympiad he did pretty participants. He is a distinguished historian Black ’s last move 17...c6 ignores White ’s well too, scoring 7½/12. Matthew also and popular writer in : he claims his next. There was nothing wrong with played a major part in England’s best

16 November 2011 team success ever - the gold medal at It’s amazing that the 1997 European Team Championship you have managed in Pula, scoring 7/9 on board four. to preserve such a standard of play for Nevertheless, at the peak of a brilliant such a long period career, he decided to retire from with almost no professional chess and started a new serious practice. “civilian” career at Sogeti, one of the How would you Netherlands’ biggest IT houses. As he had explain that? left school for chess at the age of 16, he had to start from scratch at the supporting I relate it mainly to desk using his perfect command of both the hard work I put in v o

my chess during my k

English and French (his mother is French. a i v i

many years as a T

By now he is also pretty much fluent in i e

professional player. g Dutch) to become an infrastructure r e S

This investment is architect. In fact, he played his last serious : o t

paying off even now. o

tournament in 1999. For a couple of years h he still kept contact with elite chess, even Obviously I am not P in the new millennium as the highly yet back to my top Matthew Sadler plays Dutch GM Sipke Ernst in round five esteemed book reviewer of New in Chess . calculating form, but on the other hand the fact that I have got intend to play in, especially since I have Last year, at the age of 36, following his a normal job removes much of the never played this tournament before. divorce, he started to play more serious pressure that is the daily lot of a Besides weekend events, I will possibly chess again. His first appearance was in professional player. play another long tournament. I would be the traditional Liberation day rapidplay happy if it was the Olympiad next year. If tournament organised for the last 60 years Have you ever worked with a trainer? I am selected for the English team, I in the city of Wageningen. Sadler was would probably not refuse. I actually owe a great deal to my clear first on 7/7 ahead of former winners childhood tutors. As an eight-year-old of the event such as GMs and Jovanka Houska was not at her best child of about 1500-1600 level in my . He also went on to win the scoring 4½ points against an average hometown of Chatham, I acquired a lot of Roc Nova College weekender in Haarlem field of 2314 which was also precisely her chess culture and knowledge from Steve on 5/6 ahead of six grandmasters. TPR. She scored five draws, claiming to Giddins, based mainly on the invaluable Matthew managed to defend the title last have dropped several wins just like the legacy of the world champions, as well as June, this time jointly with local GM Erik one in the penultimate round against a an awful lot of endings which I tried to van den Doel on 5/6. And this summer, as talented Indian kid: use in my own games right from the start. reported in the last two issues of CHESS , My numerous playing and training he scored a stellar success in the Sants sessions with John Smith also greatly Oslo International 2011 International in Barcelona, making a 2758 helped me regarding all aspects of B.Arjun - J.Houska performance rating. practical play. Later I worked with GMs Daniel King and Nigel Davies but starting Following the penultimate round in Oslo, from the age of 14 I was more or less on and just moments after he secured his my own apart from occasional sessions tournament victory with a round to spare, with Mark Dvoretsky. I was able to conduct a short interview with Matthew. Are we witnessing your return to professional chess? Congratulations, Matthew, on an amazing success! I don’t intend to play chess professionally as I enjoy my current IT career which Thank you! also enables me the peace of mind to play a tournament for pleasure from time You played your last serious to time. Basically, I don’t think at this tournament some 12 years ago. Have stage that I will ever be able to do better you entirely refrained from playing than in my past peak years. ever since? 88...¤d4+?? After 88...¤c5 or 88...¤a5, Living in Holland, would you also like Black still wins. 89 ¤xd4! ½–½ 89...g1£ Until 2003 I still played in the Bundesliga, to play in England? The British 90 ¤f3+ forces the draw. If she does not for Solingen. However, following that my Championship or the 4NCL perhaps? promote, Black has no way of shaking off only connection with the competitive scene the attentions of the knight. was representing (and occasionally I certainly would; however, my current job training) the team of my Dutch hometown, allows me only a limited number of Amersfoort, in the third division of the holidays so visiting my native country The best women’s results were by the Dutch League! I must say that I have been also means spending time with my Georgian WGMs Nazi Paikidze, ranked doing it with the same passion as in the old parents and meeting old friends. ninth on 6 points and Nino Batsiashvili, good days. On top of that I represented my 14th on 5½. The third WGM, the IT company in the Dutch Enterprises What then are your immediate plans? Ukrainian Olga Dolzhikova who resides in Championships for seven consecutive Oslo, scored 3½ points and was years. Unfortunately I missed this year due I have been invited to the GM C Group at unfortunately responsible for the shortest to my participation here in Oslo. Wijk aan Zee next January, which I decisive game in the entire event. www.chess.co.uk 17 33 ¦f7+ ¢h8 34 £xg6 Now Black forces perpetual check. 34...£c3+ 35 ¢h4 £e1+ 36 ¢h3 £e3+ 37 ¢g2 £d2+ 38 ¦f2 £xd4 39 £h6+ ¢g8 40 £xe6+ ¢h8 41 £h6+ ¢g8 42 £g6+ ½–½

John Saunders reports : shortly after the tournament, we invited Matthew Sadler to annotate a game for us and we are delighted to present his final round game, after he had already wrapped up first place. It’s a gem...

NOTES BY MATTHEW SADLER

Oslo International 2011 M.Sadler - S.Volkov e t i

s QGD Slav Defence b e

W I can ’t imagine a more pleasant situation

t n

e in a chessplayer ’s life: just one more m

a round to play, already assured of clear n r u

o first place, and the white pieces to boot! I T

: o

t had promised myself to just enjoy the o h

P evening before the game and turn up fresh and relaxed for the last morning The game which GM Matthew Sadler annotates for CHESS: versus Sergey Volkov, last round round. After a lovely meal at a restaurant in Oslo, I had a quick look at what Volkov Oslo International 2011 third battery! 49...¢h6 50 ¥g5+ ¢g6 played. He turned out to be a man of R.Moor - O.Dolzhikova 51 ¥e7+! The fourth battery! 51...¢f7 rigid principles who always plays the Réti Opening 52 ¥d6+! The fifth and last one! 52...¢f6 French against 1 e4 and always plays the 1 ¤f3 d5 2 c4 c6 3 g3 ¥g4 4 ¥g2 e6 5 53 ¥e5+ ¢f5 54 ¦g5 mate The dual ...a6 Slav against 1 d4. I was looking to cxd5 cxd5?? 6 £a4+ 1–0 White, a 35- 54 ¦f7 mate by no means diminishes the give the game a good go without taking year-old Swiss IM rated 2402, is called great impression. any stupid risks, so the ...a6 Slav Roger Moor. Evidently he is licensed to seemed like an ideal choice. There are kill with knife, gun or queen fork. He has The Invisible Move quite a few pleasant lines against this a twin brother Olivier who is also an IM, system nowadays, so it was more or less rated 2399, Yochanan tells us - ed . Oslo International 2011 a case of tossing a coin and picking one. S.Van Eijk - K.Kulaots 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 ¤f3 ¤f6 4 ¤c3 a6 To conclude our report here are two 5 e3 b5 6 b3 ¥g4 startling positions from the GM group:

These Batteries Don’t Run Out

Oslo International 2011 D.Klein - N.Getz

29 ¦xh7! ¥xd4+? Correct was 29...¢xh7! 30 ¦f7+ ¢h8 31 £xg6 ¥xd4+ 7 ¥d2 A strange-looking move but quite 32 cxd4 £a1+ 33 ¢g2 £b2+ 34 ¢h3 effective. White is looking to win the £c3+ 35 ¢h4 £e1+ 36 ¢h5 ¦xe5+! bishop pair without allowing the crazy 37 dxe5 £xe5+ 38 ¢h6 £xh2+ and draw complications after 7 h3 ¥xf3 8 £xf3 by perpetual check. 30 cxd4 £a1+ 31 e5!?, etc. 9 dxe5 ¥b4 10 ¥d2 ¥xc3 ¢g2 £b2+ 32 ¢h3?? White certainly 11 ¥xc3 ¤e4 12 ¥b4 bxc4 13 £g4 c5 41 £h4! ¥xg2+! 42 ¢h2! Obviously not calculated the line 32 ¦f2! £xf2+ 33 ¢xf2 14 f3 ¤c6 15 fxe4 ¤xb4 16 £xg7 ¦f8 42 ¦xg2?? £f1+, etc. 42...¥f3+ The first ¢xh7 and thought it favoured Black. Had 17 exd5 £h4+ 18 ¢e2 ¤xd5! seems to battery. 43 ¢g3! g5 If 43...¢e8, 44 £f6! he bothered to look further to the pawn be the latest word at moment, when sets up the win. 44 £xg5! 44 fxg5?? ending following 34 ¢e3! ¦xd4 Black was doing very well in Le Quang £xh4+ 45 ¢xh4 ¦c4+ 46 ¢g3 ¦f2 wins (otherwise White will simply continue Liem-Kasimdzhanov, Guangzhou 2010, for Black. 44...¦g8 45 £xg8+! ¢xg8 35 h4) 35 £xd4 ¦xd4 36 ¢xd4 ¢h6 which Black won. 7...e6 8 h3 ¥h5 A 46 ¢xf3+ A second battery 46...¢h7 37 h4!, he wouldn ’t really mind the slight surprise. Volkov had played the 47 ¦b7+ ¢h6 48 ¥g7+ ¢h7 49 ¥f6+ A outside passed pawn... 32...¢xh7 solid 8...¥xf3 in a previous game when

18 November 2011 White had a very pleasant position after decisively on the queenside with my 29 £e4 ¦h7 30 ¦c5! ¤d7 30...¦e7 9 £xf3 ¥e7 10 ¥d3 0–0 11 0–0 . 9 g4 ¥g6 queen, beginning with cxd5 and 31 ¦e5 kills any Black counterplay. 10 ¤e5 ¤fd7 11 ¤xg6 hxg6 12 ¥g2 £a6.However, you always do (and I did) 31 ¦xc6 ¦e7 32 £xf3 I’d spent a few f5!? Yet another Stonewall structure (my wonder a little about the practical minutes on move 28 checking whether fourth of the tournament). I wasn ’t realisation of the plan. Can Black maybe Black had any tactics after 32...¦xe3. amazingly convinced by Black ’s setup but double quickly on the h-file and annoy There is in fact, absolutely nothing. it proved a tougher nut to crack than I my h-pawn before I can organise h4-h5 Volkov carries on the only way possible. thought. I ’m still not quite 100% sure safely? Can Black just try to attack my d4 32...¤b6 32...¦xe3 33 ¢xe3 £e8+ about the plan I came up with. The aim pawn with ...£b6? If my bishop moves to 34 ¢f2 ¤e5 35 dxe5 wins. 33 ¦xd6 was to try to pick up another positional e3, Black might try ...¤c3 to drive the £xd6 34 d5 ¤xd5 35 ¦d1 ¦d7 36 £e4! plus point and to give him a few difficult queen away from d1 and remove some Stopping Black from playing ...£e6. Now choices to make. As a practical choice it support of the h4-h5 advance. Could the pin cannot be broken by normal worked perfectly. 13 ¦c1 ¥d6 14 a4 b4 Black just play a rook to h5 to block h4- means. 36...¦d8 37 ¢f3 Avoiding any 15 ¤e2 Threatening c5. 15...a5 16 ¤f4!? h5 and try to hold a fortress in some ...¤c3 tricks as the queen can no longer White attacks Black ’s most sensitive way? Tricky. I did feel that White has be taken with check. 37...£c6 38 h5 points on g6 and e6. Black can ’t just plenty of resources. For example, it can Time to finish things off. 38...gxh5 39 f5 defend them with 16...¢f7 due to 17 cxd5 sometimes be interesting for White to h4 40 f6 ¢f8 40...¢f7 41 g6+ ¢xf6 cxd5 18 ¤xd5. So Black basically has to take on e4 with the bishop and then open 42 ¥d4+ ¢g5 43 ¦g1+ ¢h5 44 £g4+ give up his dark-squared bishop which up the position with f3. If Black has ¢h6 45 £xh4 mate ; or 40...£d7 41 £g6+ White quite likes. After that, Black has to committed his pieces to awkward ¢h8 42 ¦h1! wins. 41 ¢f2! A neat little take a crucial decision about his pawn squares to hold back h4-h5, then this idea, simply threatening ¦xd5 followed by structure. 16...¥xf4 16...¢f7 17 cxd5 might be quite difficult to handle. And of £e7+ and £g7 mate. 41...¦d7 41...£d6 cxd5 18 ¤xd5 wins, as in the note above. course, it ’s very important not to play c4- 42 ¦xd5 £h2+ 43 ¢e1 £g3+ 44 ¢e2 17 exf4 Am I condemning Black to a long c5 too soon: I may well need that c-file! £h2+ 45 ¥f2 ¦e8 46 ¦d8! wins. 42 ¦c1 struggle in a passive situation or am I In any case, it ’s a pretty tricky call for ruining my structure and killing my own Black. 18 g5 ¤e4 19 h4 dxc4!? 20 ¦xc4 winning chances? My reasoning was the ¦a7!? Volkov always plays very quickly following. If Black doesn ’t do anything, (he didn ’t take more than 50 minutes for I’m just going to play g5, stopping the the whole game) and he didn ’t take very knight from getting to f6. After that, I ’ve long to decide on this course of action. I got a nice choice of plans: I can try and was quite surprised. I can ’t believe that get in h4-h5, I can pile up on the e-file, you can evaluate this type of position and of course I can (half)-open the c-file properly that quickly. I wasn ’t too at any moment. That looks really nice for unhappy when I saw this move anyway: I White. Conclusion, Black should really win a pawn immediately for very little play his knight to f6 before White plays effort which can ’t be bad! 21 ¥xe4 fxe4 g5. 17...¤f6 22 ¥e3 ¦d7 23 £c2

42...£a6 I was hoping for 42...£b7 43 g6! ¤xe3 (43...¤xf6 44 ¥h6+ ¢g8 45 £xb7 ¦xb7 46 ¦c8+ ¤e8 47 ¦xe8 mate ) 44 £xb7 ¤g4+ 45 ¢g1 ¦xb7 46 ¦c8 mate - a very unusual back-rank mate! 42...£a8 also loses after 43 ¥c5+ ¢g8 44 £g6+ ¢h8 45 f7, etc. 43 ¥c5+ ¢f7 44 £h7+ ¢e6 45 ¦e1+ 1–0

Oslo International, 2-9 October 2011 Rk Name Ti FED Rtg Pts TPR 1 Matthew Sadler GM ENG 2625 8 2849

2 Sipke Ernst GM NED 2581 6½ 2649

Again, my plan here was to play g5 and 23...¦d5?? 23...¢f7 24 £xe4 ¦d5 was 3 GM NOR 2601 6 2662 h4 immediately. I think I need to play h4 the only way to play this. White has quite 4 Frode Elsness IM NOR 2491 6 2612 at once to stop Black from playing ...¦h4 a few attempts to loosen up Black ’s 5 Victor Mikhalevski GM ISR 2542 6 2592 himself. A possible follow-up is then to position further. For example, f5 and ¥f4 (a) organise h5 (with ¥f3); (b) swap off is a handy way of getting at the knight on 6 GM NED 2647 6 2608 both pairs of rooks; (c) play ¥e3 (to stop b8, and the threat of h4-h5 is always in 7 Eduardas Rozentalis GM LTU 2575 6 2568 Black from exchanging off the bishop) the air. I don ’t know whether it ’s enough, 8 Vladimir Burmakin GM RUS 2588 6 2568 and c5 and then organise f2-f3; (d) when but at any rate White should be enjoying 9 Nazi Paikidze WGM GEO 2412 6 2480 the knight goes to c3, I attack it with the himself a bit more than Black. The game 10 Sergey Volkov GM RUS 2614 5½ 2557 bishop on d2 and win a pawn. Black can ’t continuation is catastrophic. 24 f3! Quite then stop me from creating a passed unexpected and completely winning. 11 Danny Raznikov IM ISR 2433 5½ 2511 queenside pawn. At the very least, I ’m 24...exf3 25 £xg6+ ¢f8 26 £xe6 ¦d6 12 G Tallaksen Østmoe FM NOR 2443 5½ 2505 presssing hard. There are lots of 27 £f5+ ¢g8 Although my opponent was 13 Frode Olsen Urkedal IM NOR 2447 5½ 2492 variations on this plan. For example, playing very fast, I still had masses of 14 Nino Batsiashvili WGM GEO 2413 5½ 2473 maybe after exchanging rooks on the h- time left, so I could afford to spend some 15 Rune Djurhuus GM NOR 2458 5½ 2424 file, I will simply be able to invade time calculating a precise win. 28 ¢f2 g6 www.chess.co.uk 19