Jakovenko and the Stalemate

Dmitry Jakovenko shared the win at the last stage of the Grand Prix series in Khanty-Mansiysk. His result was great and he came very tiny bit short of qualifying for the Candidates matches.
The following mishap might have been the reason:

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix - Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.05.24"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitry"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "Bojkov, Dejan"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:01:46"]
[BlackClock "0:15:13"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 {Gelfand switches to his
beloved Najdorf.} 6. h3 e5 7. Nde2 h5 8. g3 b5 {Diagram [#]} ({Another
interesting line is} 8... Nbd7 9. Bg5 Be7 10. a4 Nc5 11. Bg2 Be6 12. a5 b5 13.
axb6 Qxb6 {Caruana,F (2811)-Nakamura,H (2776) Zuerich 2015}) 9. Nd5 Nbd7 10.
Bg5 Bb7 11. Nec3 Rc8 12. Bg2 Be7 13. Nxe7 Qxe7 14. O-O Qe6 15. Re1 b4 16. Nd5
$146 {[%csl Gd5][%cal Re4d5] Diagram [#] A novelty. In these positions people
usually try to keep the d5 square clear for the pieces and do not hurry to
trade the knight there as the nice outpost vanishes. This was the reason why
Leko played:} (16. Na4 {but this did not yield him much after} Rc4 (16... O-O
$5) (16... d5 $5) 17. f3 h4 18. g4 d5 19. b3 Rd4 {Leko,P (2737)-Mamedyarov,S
(2761) Beijing 2013}) 16... Bxd5 {Now forced play starts.} 17. exd5 Qf5 18. Bd2
({Of course not} 18. Bxf6 Nxf6 {which would be horrible for White from
positional point of view.}) 18... Rxc2 19. Rc1 (19. Bxb4 $4 Qxf2+ 20. Kh1 Qxg2#
) 19... Rxc1 20. Qxc1 {It seems as White can exploit his better development to
reach the black weaknesses on the queenside and/or the king in the middle, but
Gelfand is well prepared.} Nc5 21. Bxb4 Nd3 22. Qc6+ Qd7 23. Qa8+ Qd8 24. Qc6+
{Diagram [#] As the Israeli GM confessed at the press-conference all of this
was home preparation. But here he decided to play for more than a draw and went
} Nd7 $4 (24... Qd7 $11 {with a draw was mandatory.}) 25. Re4 {Gelfand missed
this simple move. "I had to resign"- said the Israeli GM.} f5 26. Rc4 e4 27.
Qxa6 {Jakovenko saw his chance and went for a decisive attack. Somewhere
around here both players were low on time.} (27. Bxd6 {was also good.}) 27...
Nxb4 28. Qxd6 $1 Nd3 29. Qe6+ Kf8 30. Qxf5+ Kg8 31. Qe6+ (31. Rxe4 N3c5 32. Re3
{is another way to play for a win.}) 31... Kf8 32. Qd6+ Kg8 33. Qe6+ Kf8 34.
Qxe4 {Diagram [#] For the knight white has four pawns and strong threats. On a
high level the game is practically over.} N3e5 35. Qf5+ Kg8 36. d6 Rh6 (36...
Nxc4 37. Bd5# {is a nice mate.}) 37. Re4 h4 ({Perhaps Black should have
defended the position after} 37... Rxd6 38. Rxe5 Nxe5 39. Qxe5) 38. Rxh4 Rxh4
39. gxh4 Qxh4 40. Bd5+ Kh8 41. Kh1 {The time trouble is over and Jakovenko has
time to find the winning plan. He prepares the f2-f4 advance which will spoil
the comfort of the black horses.} Qh6 42. f4 g6 43. Qe6 Qf8 44. Bb3 $1 {[%cal
Yf8c8,Yc8c1] Diagram [#] "Brilliant idea! Qf8-c8 was a threat and Bb3 is a
great prophylaxys." Gelfand.} ({For example} 44. b4 Qc8 45. fxe5 Qc1+ {with
perpetual check.}) ({Another profilactical move should also win-} 44. h4 {with
the idea} Qc8 45. fxe5 Qc1+ 46. Kh2 Qd2+ 47. Bg2 Qf4+ 48. Kg1 Qd4+ 49. Kh1 {
and White escapes from the checks.}) 44... g5 45. f5 (45. fxe5 $4 Qf1+ 46. Kh2
Qf2+ {is another perpetual.}) 45... Nd3 {In desperation, Gelfand sacrifices a
knight hoping for another escape. The stalemate idea this time.} 46. Qxd7 Qa8+
47. Kg1 ({The only move, as if} 47. Kh2 $4 Nf4 $1 {[%csl Rh2] Diagram [#] it
will be White to has to make the draw after} 48. Bd5 Qxd5 49. Qd8+ Kh7 50. Qe7+
Kh6 51. Qf6+ {and perpetual for a change.}) 47... Nf4 48. Kf2 g4 {The last
chance that...} 49. hxg4 $2 {Works! As GM Sergey Rublevsky mentioned at the
press-conference both} (49. Kg3 Qg2+ 50. Kh4 Qf2+ 51. Kg5 Nxh3+ 52. Kg6 Nf4+
53. Kf7 $18) ({and} 49. Ke3 Qf3+ 50. Kd4 Qf2+ 51. Kc4 {would ahve won for
White.}) 49... Qg2+ 50. Ke3 Nd5+ $1 {Diagram [#] Jakovenko saw the stalemate
idea, but being short in time again he could not figure out the correct move
order. He espected only queen checks and forgot that Black can get rid of the
knight first. With it's disappearance, the black queen fells desperately in
love with the white king and starts chasing it for one last hug.} 51. Kd4 ({Or
stalemate after} 51. Bxd5 Qd2+ 52. Kf3 Qf2+ 53. Kxf2) ({And} 51. Kd3 Qg3+ 52.
Kd4 Qf4+ 53. Kc5 Qb4+ 54. Kc6 Qb6+ 55. Kxd5 Qc5+ 56. Ke6 Qe5+ 57. Kf7 Qf6+ 58.
Ke8 Qf8+ 59. Kxf8) 51... Qf2+ 52. Kxd5 Qd4+ 53. Kxd4 {Diagram [#] Stalemate!
Very unusual for this level!} 1/2-1/2

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:

[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

Learn to Play Chess App

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