14.8.14

Stalemate Steals the Point

Round eight of the Olympiad appeared to be tough for the PNG team. we were facing Gambia.



It started with a more or less expected loss on board four where Craig Skehan played unnecessary timidly to his opponent.
Things got worse soon as the top scorer of the team Stuart Fancy also suffered a defeat to Ebrima Bah. This was one of his very few losses but in a highly important situation.
It seems as the chances for something are over as Helmut Marko was in trouble on board two.However, with persistance and will the Austrian born CM managed to outwit his opponent and score for PNG.
All had to be decided in the game Bittaye-Jones. Rupert enjoyed an excellent preparation and soon emerged a pawn ahead, clearly better.


After some imprecise decisions by both sides the following position was reached:

A game that I liked (ChessBase 12)

[Event "WCO2014"]
[Site "Tromso"]
[Date "2014.08.10"]
[Round "8.38"]
[White "Bittaye Momodou Lamin"]
[Black "Jones Rupert"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A01"]
[BlackElo "1899"]
[Annotator "Bojkov, Dejan"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5B2/8/4k3/1pp5/3b3P/8/2K5 b - - 0 51"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:11:13"]
[BlackClock "0:10:15"]

51... Kd4 $6 {Rather unpractical decision. Simple and good is:} (51... c3 {
[%csl Rb2,Rc2,Rd2,Yh3][%cal Ge5f4,Gf4g3,Gg3h3,Rc3d2,Rc3b2,Rd3c2] then Black
wins the pawn and the game.}) 52. Kb2 b3 53. h4 Bc2 54. h5 {Diagram [#]} c3+ $4
{If the previous mistake complicated matters, this one throws away the
advantage! White has a beautiful idea to save the point and the match.} (54...
Kd3 $1 {was called for when the pawns are unstoppable.} 55. h6 c3+ 56. Kc1 b2#)
55. Kc1 Ke5 ({At first I thought that Black can still transpose to the winning
line-} 55... Kc5 56. h6 ({but White can play} 56. Bg6 $1 $11) 56... Kb4 57. Bg8
Bd3 58. h7 b2+ 59. Kd1 b1=Q#) 56. h6 Kf6 {"It is a draw", whispered the
arbiter of the match.} 57. Bg8 {Zugzwang. Rupert was still unaware of what is
going on.} Kg6 {Diagram [#] An incident occurred here. "Check" announced one
of Bittaye's teammates, loud enough for him to hear. I instinctively jumped
and protested loudly (some inappropriate language also took place.) This
changed nothing.} 58. Bh7+ $1 ({And draw due to the stalemate-} 58. Bh7+ Kxh7)
1/2-1/2






4.8.14

PNG Breaks the Tradition

After laughing heartily on my friend's stories of nearly missed flights I could not miss a chance to miss my own. There is always a first time to do something wrong. Well, the moment was not a very good one. Just try to find a flight to Tromso at the very last moment at the beginning of the Olympiad. Or simply ask Hikaru Nakamura on his experience.
Anyway, after three hours of a thorough research I found an option! And arrived just in time for the first round.
True, my Papua New Guinea team lost traditionally at the beginning with a 0-4 result to Singapore. But yesterday we broke "the tradition" and took good 1.5 points in our second match.
Our top board Stuart Fancy produced a bold positional sacrifice at the position on the diagram:
A game that I liked (ChessBase 12)

[Event "WCO2014"]
[Site "Tromso"]
[Date "2014.08.03"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Fancy Stuart"]
[Black "Almedina Ortiz Edgardo J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2036"]
[BlackElo "2277"]
[Annotator "Bojkov, Dejan"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1rb1k2r/4bppp/p1n1pn2/qpp5/P2pPP2/1P3NN1/2PPB1PP/R1BQ1RK1 w k - 0 12"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:37"]
[BlackClock "0:02:05"]

12. axb5 $1 {For the exchange White gets a pawn and plenty of useful central
squares. The position is closed and the extra exchange of Black is not as
strong as one might think.} Qxa1 13. bxc6 O-O ({Stuart felt that Black can do
better if he brings the queen home at once:} 13... Qa5 14. Ne5 Qc7 {Indeed
this is so, but White has decent compensation for the exchange after something
like-} 15. Ba3 O-O 16. Bc4 $44) 14. Ne5 Ne8 15. f5 Nc7 {[%csl Ya1] Now the
queen will be excluded from the game for a very long time.} 16. Bc4 Bd6 17. Nd3
e5 18. Qh5 Ne8 {Diagram [#]} 19. f6 $3 {[%csl Ya1,Yb8,Gc4,Yc8,Gd3,Gf1,Gg3,Rg8,
Gh5] Very energetic play! White uses his piece majority to attack on the
king's flank.} Be6 {Black gets checkmated or loses loads of material in case
of:} (19... Nxf6 20. Rxf6 gxf6 21. Qh4 (21. Qh6 Bg4 22. h3) 21... Be7 22. Nh5
Kh8 23. Nxf6 Bxf6 24. Qxf6+ Kg8 25. Qg5+ Kh8 26. Qxe5+ {[%csl Rb8,Rh8][%cal
Re5b8,Re5h8]}) (19... gxf6 20. Rxf6 $1 Nxf6 21. Qg5+ Kh8 22. Qxf6+ Kg8 23. Nh5
{[%csl Rg7][%cal Rf6g7]}) 20. Bxe6 g6 21. Qf3 $18 {The game is essentially
over.} (21. Qg4 {is a bit faster-} fxe6 22. f7+ Kg7 23. Qxe6 Qa5 24. Nxe5 $18)
21... fxe6 22. f7+ Kh8 23. fxe8=Q Rbxe8 24. Qg4 Rxf1+ 25. Kxf1 c4 26. bxc4 Qa4
27. c5 Bc7 28. Qg5 Qxc2 29. Ke2 Qc4 {Diagram [#]} 30. h4 $1 {The king will
soon have no guards left.} Qb5 31. h5 Qxc6 32. hxg6 Qd7 33. Nh5 Bd8 34. Qxe5+
Kg8 35. c6 Qe7 {Diagram [#]} 36. Ba3 $1 {[%csl Ye7,Rg8][%cal Re5g7,Ra3e7]
Despite the time trouble Staurt finishes in style.} Bc7 37. gxh7+ Qxh7 38. Qg5+
Kh8 39. Nf6 Bd8 40. Nxh7 Bxg5 41. Nxg5 Kg7 42. Nc5 e5 43. c7 Kf6 44. Nge6 Rc8
45. g4 a5 46. Kd3 Ke7 47. Kc4 Kd6 48. g5 Kc6 49. g6 a4 50. Nd8+ Kxc7 51. g7 1-0