Chess Canada Gnome 2 Chess Canada Chess Canada (CCN) is the elec- Chess Canada tronic newsletter of the Chess Federation of Canada. Opinions Annotations by... expressed in it are those of the Gnome credited authors and/or editor, GM Eric Hansen and do not necessarily reflect Hansen: TATA, EH! those of the CFC, its Governors, ........................................................ 6 GM Bator Sambuev agents or employees, living, IM Aman Hambleton dead, or undead. Hambleton: On the way to GM 2 ..................................................... 21 FM John Doknjas subscriptions Reykjavik 17 CCN is distributed by email to .................................................... 38 CFC members who have submit- ted their email address to the On the Road CFC: .................................................... 58 Next... [email protected] Across ................................................... Canada 80 • IM David Cummings submissions “The Englishman” CCN is looking for contributions: tournament reports, photos, an- • IM Micheal Kleinman notated games. For examples, Critical Positions ...................................... 4 beyond Rekyjavik see this issue or read the 2013.06 anada Appendix for other ideas. C suggestions If you have an idea for a story you would like to write, email me: Cover: Gnome [email protected] Icelandic Dimmuborgir lava field troll + hess Hambleton beard - John Upper Gnome C editor CCN 3 editor’s note Chess Canada Gnome contains 29 annotated games, including anno- tations from: • GM Eric Hansen (3) • GM Bator Sambuev (2) Cohen • IM Aman Hambleton (5) • FM John Doknjas (2) Wedding • Joey Qin (1) • Joshua Doknjas (1) “Gnome” refers to Iceland, where Lisette Lu, and David many of this issue’s games were Cohen, , , were played. married Monday, May 14, The next issues include interviews 2018 by a bishop at Toronto with recent Canadian chess book City Hall. authors: IM David Cummings (The English) and IM Michael Song (The Chess Attacker’s Handbook), as well as reviews of both books; and anks to friends and anada notable Canadians in online chess, including interviews with the witnesses Chris Hui and C ChessBrahs (Eric and Aman) and Dani Roloson; friend and HelmsKnight (one of the world’s photographer Peter Holt; best bughouse players). and Dr. Gryfe for David's The notice at the right is a happy day pass from Mount Sinai inclusion for this issue, as David Hospital. Cohen has been a long-time con- tributor to Canadian Chess, includ- hess ing Canadian Chess Hall of Fame, Gnome and Player of the Year. Congrats! C Critical Positions selected by the editor 4 XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY The following diagrams are criti cal 8-+-+-+r+0 positi ons from this issue of Chess 8r+l+r+k+0 8r+-wq-trk+0 Canada. You can treat them as ex- 7zppwq-+p+p0 7+-+-tR-zP-0 7+-+-vlpzp-0 ercises or as a teaser introducti on 6-sn-vl-zpp+0 6-+-+-+-+0 6-+-zp-sn-zp0 to what you’ll fi nd this month. 5+-+-+-+-0 5+-+-+-+-0 5+-sNP+-+-0 4-+pzP-+-+0 4-+-mk-zP-+0 4-+-+-vLP+0 These “criti cal positi ons” can be: 3+-zP-vL-+-0 3+-+n+-mK-0 3+-+L+-+P0 • winning combinati ons 2-+-+-+-+0 • simple calculati on exercises 2PzP-wQNzPPzP0 2-zPP+-+Q+0 • surprising tacti cs 1+LmKR+-+R0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-mKR+-+R0 • endgames requiring precise xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy play • variati on-rich middlegames See: Hansen See: Reykjavik Recapture or check fi rst? • moments when one player See: On the Road went badly wrong. XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+-+-+0 8-+-wqr+k+0 8-wq-trr+k+0 7+-+-+-+R0 7zp-tr-+pzpp0 7tRl+-+-+p0 The and squares next to 6-+-+-+-+0 6-zp-+-snn+0 6-+p+-wQpvL0 each diagram indicate the player 5+r+-+P+p0 5+-+-+-+-0 5+p+n+n+-0 to move. 4pzP-+K+-+0 4-+-zPP+-+0 4-+-zPp+-+0 anada 3+k+-+-+-0 3zP-+-+-sN-0 3+LzP-+-+P0 2-+-+-+-+0 2-zP-+-zPP+0 C Soluti ons appear in the game anal- 2-vL-+-+PzP0 ysis in this month’s CCN, in the red 1+-+-+-+-0 1+-+QtRRmK-0 1tR-+-+-mK-0 diagrams in the reports named xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy under the diagram. Criti cal pos- ti ons usually feature signifi cantly See: Hambleton See: On the Road See: On the Road more analyti cal commentary than the rest of the game. hess Gnome C XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 5 8r+-wq-trk+0 8-+-tr-+k+0 8r+lwq-trk+0 8r+-tr-+k+0 7+p+-vlp+p0 7+-+-+-+p0 7zp-+-+-zpp0 7+lwqnvlpzp-0 6l+n+-+pvL0 6p+-+-+-+0 6nzp-+n+-+0 6-zpp+psn-zp0 5zp-+-+-+-0 5+-+-zp-zP-0 5vl-zppzPp+-0 5zp-+-+-+-0 4-+-zPP+-+0 4-+-+-+-zP0 4-+-zP-zP-+0 4-+PzPN+-+0 3+-+-+N+-0 3+R+p+qzP-0 3zP-sN-vL-+-0 3zPP+L+N+-0 2PzPQ+-zPPzP0 2P+-wQ-+-mK0 2-zP-+N+PzP0 2-vLQ+-zPPzP0 1tR-+R+-mK-0 1+-+-+-+-0 1+R+QmKL+R0 1+K+RtR-+-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy See: On the Road See: On the Road See: Across Canada ...c5 or ...♘xe4 See: Across Canada XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 8-wq-trr+k+0 8-+-tr-trk+0 8-+l+r+k+0 8rvl-wq-+k+0 7tRl+-+-+p0 7zpl+-wqp+-0 7+-+-+p+p0 7+-+-+-tr-0 6-+p+-wQpvL0 6-zp-+-+Lzp0 6p+-zp-+p+0 6-+p+l+-zp0 anada 5+p+n+-+-0 5+-+-sn-+-0 5+-zpP+-+-0 5+-vLp+-+-0 C 4-+-zPp+-+0 4-+Q+-tR-+0 4-+NsnPzP-wq0 4P+-zPL+-+0 3+LzP-sn-+P0 3zP-sN-+-zP-0 3+r+L+-+P0 3+Q+-+-zPP0 2-zP-+-zPP+0 2-zP-+-zPP+0 2RzP-wQ-+PmK0 2-+-+-+-mK0 1tR-+-+-mK-0 1+-+-tR-mK-0 1+-+-+R+-0 1tRR+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy xabcdefghy See: On the Road See: On the Road See: Across Canada See: Across Canada hess Gnome C TATA, EH! by GM Eric Hansen 6 Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands My feelings coming into the event are GM Eric Hansen was invited to play in the B- 13.01.2017 quite mixed and all over the place but Group at the 2017 TATA Steel tournament in Wijk GM Eric Hansen fi lled with opti mism at every avenue; I aan Zee, January 14-29, 2017. have arrived in good physical shape and The pairings have just come out and am mentally calm. As 10th seed and a Eric agreed to write a “Tournament Diary” for all I know is I drew black in round one, late-invitee in the strongest event of my Chess Canada consisti ng of three entries — one which means I’ll end up with one more career the excitement overtakes any writt en before, one during, and one a� er the black in the thirteen-round event. As sort of residual internal pressure that I event — as well as three annotated games. a pseudo-professional chess player have been hosti ng ever since I tried to th the main problem is holding against get into this tournament 5 years ago. Ranked 10 of 14 players, Eric was guaranteed to well-prepared grandmasters, which is I’m in a much diff erent place than I was face challenging opponents, but winning would much more of a problem with black 2 or 3 years ago when I was sti ll on the qualify him for the top secti on, which regularly than with white. pro circuit. features the very best players in world chess: in- cluding Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Vishy With 32 hours to go unti l the fi rst round Anand, Lev Aronian, and more. I’ll try to fi nd that bubble which worked - editor so well for me at the Baku Olympiad: minimizing my distracti ons, ge� ng regular exercise, and sleeping at disci- plined hours. I’ll have to compensate anada for my lack of great opening prepara- ti on by doing everything else right. The C last month or so heading into the event my routi ne has mainly been gym, chess books (for pleasure), and a lot of medi- tati on/visualizati on for the impeding tournament. It’s been a real struggle to catch up on opening theory — it is tedious, but hess Gnome C Windy Wijk ann Zee. Small town, Big chess history. 7 most importantly it is not very Ragger,Markus (2697) League, Eric’s played the World 2600+ player: 9.♗e3 ♘b6 10.♗b3 practi cal to me unless you are Hansen,Eric (2603) Champion and continued: ♔h8 11.♘bd2 f5 12.♗xb6 cxb6: actually playing o� en since C84 8...b5 9.♗c2 ♖e8 10.♘bd2 ♗f8 XIIIIIIIIY theory moves so quickly these Tata Steel-B 79th Wijk aan Zee 11.♘f1 ♘b8 12.d4 ♘bd7 13.♘g3 8r+lwq-tr-mk0 days. I’m defi nitely going into (3), 16.01.2017 ♗b7 14.b3 g6 15.a4 ♗g7 16.♗d3 7+p+-vl-zpp0 this event with a basic game- Notes by John Upper d5 17.♗g5 dxe4 18.♗xe4 ♗xe4 6pzpnzp-+-+0 plan: play very fast, stay solid, 19.♘xe4 exd4 20.♘xd4 c5 21.♘c6 and take full advantage of my ♕c7 22.♕d6 ♕xd6 23.♘xd6 ♖xe1+ 5+-+-zpp+-0 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 24.♖xe1= Black should is OK 4-+-+P+-+0 opportuniti es. What I mean by ♘f6 4.d3 that last part is to keep an eye here, but White is Carlsen, and 3+LzPP+N+-0 out on the technical aspect — Ragger spent 0 seconds on this this was a rapid game. 24...bxa4 anti-Berlin move. (24...c4!) 25.bxa4 ♗f8 26.♘e7+ 2PzP-sN-zPPzP0 converti ng or keeping the win- ♔g7 27.a5 ♖b8 28.h3 ♖b3 29.c4 1tR-+QtR-mK-0 ning chances alive in bett er 4...d6 5.c3 ♗e7 6.0–0 0–0 ♖d3 30.♗f4 ♖d4 31.♗g3 h5 32.♔f1 xabcdefghy positi ons — which is one area ♖d3 (32...♘e4!=) 33.♗f4 ♖d4 34.g3 7.♖e1 a6 8.♗a4 Later, Caruana imrpoved with: where I can sti ll improve con- ♖ ♘ ♗ ♖ XIIIIIIIIY d3 35.