16.6.15

Blitz Jewel

The Norway Super tournament started with the traditional blitz tournament which defines the players who will have an extra white color during the main event. This year's edition was convincingly won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave straight from the plane from Leon (Spain). As usual, there was a lot of drama suspens, and beautiful chess. Check this attack for example:
A game that I liked (ChessBase 13)

[Event "Norway Chess Blitz"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[Annotator "Bojkov, Dejan"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3rr2k/bppq1pp1/p1n2n1p/3bpN2/8/2PP2NP/PPB2PP1/R1BQR1K1 w - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:40"]
[BlackClock "0:00:29"]

{A typical Ruy Lopez position appeared (via the Italian game indeed, but the
Nf5 can proudly call himself a Spanish citizen). Now Giri opens the road for
his pieces:} 19. d4 $1 {[%csl Rf5][%cal Gc1h6,Gc2h7,Ge1e8] Diagram [#]} exd4
20. Nxg7 $1 {And launches powerful attack.} Rxe1+ {The only move as} (20...
Kxg7 {is mate after} 21. Bxh6+ Kxh6 22. Qd2+ Kg7 23. Nh5+ (23. Qg5+ {is also
good}) 23... Nxh5 24. Qg5+ Kf8 25. Qh6+ Kg8 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Qh8# {Diagram [#]}
) 21. Qxe1 Kxg7 22. Bxh6+ $1 {One more powerful blow!} Kh8 $1 {The best
defense.} ({The bishop is taboo due to} 22... Kxh6 23. Qd2+ Kg7 24. Nf5+ {
Diagram [#] and Black will have to part with his queen} Qxf5 ({Or get
checkmated after} 24... Kf8 25. Qh6+ Ke8 26. Qh8+ Ng8 27. Qxg8#) 25. Bxf5 {
with the black king wide open White is clearly on top.}) 23. Qd2 {Another
interesting way to attack is} (23. Bg5 $5) 23... Rg8 24. Qf4 {[%cal Gf4h4]
Diagram [#] Straightforward and good. There was also the flashy} (24. Bf8 $5 {
with the idea} Rxf8 {Instead both} (24... Rg6) (24... d3 {are possible defenses
}) 25. Qh6+ Kg8 (25... Nh7 26. Qxh7#) 26. Nh5 Nxh5 27. Qh7#) 24... Qd6 $2 (
24... Nh5 {was mandatory although it is questionable if Black can survive here
as well.}) 25. Qh4 {It's over. The discovered check(mate) threat is
unstoppable.} Qxg3 26. fxg3 {What an attack for Anish Giri, played with only
five minutes on the clock!} 1-0




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