13.9.08

Blitzkrieg

Atalik,Suat (2585) - Harikrishna,Pentala (2668) [D10]
36th Teams Ch-GR Kallithea Halkidiki (7.1), 10.07.2008
[Dejan Bojkov]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.Qc2 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.h3 Bh5 9.Nf4 Bg6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.Be2 e6 12.0–0 Rc8

13.c5N [13.Rd1 Bd6 14.Bf3 Nh7 15.e4 Ng5 16.Qe2 Bb4 17.Nb1 Nxf3+ 18.Qxf3 bxc4 19.bxc4 Nb6 20.exd5 cxd5 21.c5 Nc4 22.Bd2 Ba5 23.Bc3 Ѕ–Ѕ Savchenko,S (2585)-Belikov,V (2470)/Russia 1995/CBM 048] 13...e5 Probably: [13...Be7 should be preferred, although after: 14.b4 Qc7 15.a4 0–0+/=
White has a stable advantage due to the space that he owes, and the fact that he can double his rooks on the "a" file before opening it.] 14.b4 e4 15.a4 Be7 16.axb5 axb5 17.Ra6 Nf8?
Black decides to postpone the castling again, and seeks better prospects for his knight. His position is not picnic either after: [17...0–0 18.Bb2 Qc7 19.Rfa1± but at least he had chances to organize his defense. Now his position collapses.] 18.Rxc6!! Rxc6 19.Bxb5 Qc8 [19...Qa8 does not change anything- 20.Qa2 Qb7 21.Qa4] 20.Qa4 Kd7 21.Bxc6+ Qxc6 22.b5
22...Qc8 [22...Qc7 23.Qa8 Rg8 24.Nxd5 Nxd5 25.Qxd5+ Ke8 26.b6+-] 23.b6+ Also good enough is: [23.c6+ Kd8 (23...Ke6 24.f3 exf3 25.e4 Nxe4 26.Nxe4 dxe4 27.d5+ is mate in ten :)) 24.b6 Ne6 25.c7+ Nxc7 26.bxc7+ Qxc7 27.Nxd5 Nxd5 28.Qa8+ Qc8 29.Qxd5+ Ke8 30.Qxe4+-] 23...Ke6 [23...Qc6 24.Nb5! with the idea Qa6-Na7-c6 and the pawns will decide. 24...Ne6 25.Qa7+ Ke8 26.b7 wins.] 24.f3 exf3 25.e4 Atalik energetically wraps up the game. The rest is silense... 25...Bxc5 [25...Nxe4 26.Nxe4 dxe4 27.Qb3+ Kd7 28.b7 Qb8 29.Bf4 and White queens.] 26.exd5+ Ke7 [26...Kd6 27.Rxf3 Nxd5 28.b7 Qxb7 29.dxc5+ Kxc5 30.Ne4+ Kb6 31.Rb3+] 27.Re1+ [27.dxc5 Qxc5+ 28.Rf2 Qxb6 29.Ba3+ Kd8 30.Qa8+ Kd7 31.Na4 Qb1+ 32.Rf1 f2+ 33.Kxf2 Qc2+ 34.Kg1 is convenient enough.] 27...Ne6 28.dxc5 Qxc5+ 29.Re3 Qxb6
30.Qa3+ Qd6 31.dxe6 fxe6 32.Qa7+ Qd7 33.Ba3+ Kf7 34.Qxd7+ Nxd7 35.Rxf3+ Nf6 36.Ne4 Rb8 37.g4 Kg8 38.Nxf6+ gxf6 39.Rxf6 Rb3 40.Bf8 Rxh3 41.Kg2 Rc3 42.Bh6 Kh7 43.g5 e5 44.Rf7+ Kh8 45.Re7 1–0

11.9.08

For the Sake of the Books

Movsesian,Sergei (2723) - Papadopoulos,Ioannis K (2490) [B33]
36th Teams Ch-GR Kallithea Halkidiki (4.4), 08.07.2008
[Dejan Bojkov]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c4 b4 12.Nc2 a5 13.Qf3 Be6 I have heard recently lots of sceptical opinions about the use of the chess books, and have never agreed to the idea. I am delighted to present you this game. 14.Rd1

14...a4!?N This move is a novelty, but a one that was already suggested in the fresh book "The Easiest Sicilian" by A. Kolev and T. Nedev. "Kolev's idea is to anticipate the enemy's activity and radically disturb his plans."-"The Easiest Sicilian". Previously other moves were met: [14...Bxd5 15.Rxd5 Ne7 16.Rd1 Qb6 17.Be2 0–0 18.0–0 Bg5 19.g3 Rad8 20.Qd3 g6 now after: 21.Kg2 draw was agreed Ѕ–Ѕ Watzka,H (2325)-Horvath,T (2440)/Austria 1993/EXT 1998

'(21.Ne3 was a new move by Kobalia, but unsuccessful- 21...Bxe3 22.Qxe3 Qc7 23.f4 exf4 24.gxf4 f5 and Black eventually won, 0–1 Kobalia,M (2627)-Krasenkow,M (2624)/Dagomys RUS 2008 (45)) ; 14...Be7 15.c5 0–0 16.Bb5 Na7 17.Ba4 is the original fresh idea for White in the line, 1–0 Nepomniachtchi,I (2600)-Andriasian,Z (2532)/Moscow RUS 2008 (45)] 15.Be2 Let me quote the book again: [15.c5?! Qa5!; 15.Nxf6+ gxf6!?
Take care about this line-you will see it in the game, too. (15...Qxf6!?) 16.Be2 b3 17.axb3 Rb8 18.b4 Nxb4 19.Na3 Nc6 20.Nb5 Qa5+ 21.Rd2 Ke7 22.Qd3 Nd4 23.Nxd4 exd4 24.Qxd4 Qc5 with compensation 25.Qxc5 dxc5 26.0–0 Rb4 27.Rc1 Rhb8 28.Rcc2 f5 29.f3 fxe4 30.fxe4 Kf6 31.Kf2

31...Ke5 and Black is doing fine.] 15...b3 16.axb3 Rb8 17.Nxf6+ gxf6 18.b4 Nxb4 19.Na3 Nc6 20.Nb5 Qa5+ 21.Rd2 Ke7 22.Qe3
22...Nd4! 23.Nxd4 exd4 24.Qxd4 Qc5 25.Qxc5 Despite of the fact that chess engines gives huge advantage for White here the position is about equal. Papadopoulos did not spend much time on this game. Draw.

6.9.08

Grandmaster Duel in Charming Luzern

Probably Luzern is one of the most beautiful towns in Switzerland, and Europe. Situated picturesquely between four mountains, and possessing the Luzern Lake gives the town an incredible charm. Ships and boats are ruling the lake all the way round, but the water is clean and there are even brave people willing to take a bath. Swans and ducks are crossing the waters in search for food and attention. There are benches all over the lake boulevard and one can take a rest viewing the wonderful mountains Rigi, Mount Pilatus, and Swiss Alps from the distance. Another unique atmosphere can be felt in the old part of the town. There are old churches, and buildings, all of their facades being painted in original pictures. There is also a famous bridge-Kapellbruecke that crosses the Reuss River. It is also the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, and was constructed back in 1333. You can see paintings inside it that represent part of the Luzern history, and were painted in 17-th century. Unfortunately, about only 1/3 of these pictures survived the fire in 1993 caused by incautious smokers. Just a few meters away from the lake boulevard is situated the Luzern Grand Casino-a place where chess tournaments took part. There were three events at the same time-Master tournament, Main Tournament, and the match of the Grandmasters-the cherry in the pie. The events broke the records in the number of participants.
In honour of the legendary German grandmaster Robert Huebner the club of Luzern organized a match for him against the best Swiss player (if we exclude another legend-Viktor Korchnoi) - Yannick Pelletier. It was a four-game match with the first two games to be played in classical modus, and the next two in rapid chess (thirty minutes for each player). The games were life-transmitted at the Swiss Chess server. All games saw semi-closed openings, which I think was in favour of the more experienced player. After three seemingly uneventful but fightful draws in the first games, Pelletier playing as white in the fourth sacrificed an exchange, but failed to prove compensation and eventually lost. Thus Robert Huebner made a nice present for his coming 60-th anniversary winning the match with 2.5-1.5. Without any doubt this result speaks a lot for the German Grandmaster who is almost twice the age of his opponent. For the pleasure of the ordinary chess lovers both grandmasters continued to analyze their game long after it had finished, and the audience could observe their analyses on the monitors. Later they both visited the analyze room and shared some of their experience and knowledge with other players. Huebner is a member of Luzern Schachklub. This year the team ended only eight in the Swiss team championship, but has ambitions for the coming season.
Yannik Pelletier seemed to recover after his poor result in Biel, and looked in good mood. His next tournament will be the ECC in Kallithea, Greece at the end of October. There he will represent his French club-Clichy which won the French Team Championship for a second consecutive year. “It was very tough this time”, recalled Pelletier “since the last match had to decide everything. We had poor positions on two of our white boards straight from the opening, but eventually drew the match 1-1 and this was enough for the title”. Yannik now prefers to live more in Montpellier with his girlfriend rather than in Switzerland.
The main tournament was a triumph for the Latvian GM Vijesturs Meijers. His willingness to earn the maximum of every position served him well at the end. Excellently physically prepared the Latvian was the last one to finish his final three games! Even the closing ceremony had to be postponed for an hour thanks to his last game. First he won an endgame rook and bishop against a rook in the fifth round, and in the final one managed to defend a rook and a knight versus rook endgame. His opponent from the final round Stefan Loetscher was actually winning before that drawish construction occurred, but missed to claim the first price. Marcus Raeber from Switzerland quite unexpectedly, but fully deservedly won the second price. I was very disappointed with my finish-only half a point in the last two games which had thrown me from leading position to tenth place.
The Main tournament group was won by a player who did not have any rating. Simon Abächerli scored 6.5 points from seven games.


19.8.08

Interview Vladimir Georgiev (for chessbase)

Vladimir Georgiev was born in 1975 in Dobrich, Bulgaria. Many times Bulgarian champion in various ages, he won the men title at 1995. Since 2001 he represents FYROM. Among his best achievements are the tournament wins in Reggio Emilia 2001, Corus C-2005, silver medal at the Olympiad in Torino 2006 and others. At the season 2000-2001 he scores the phenomenal 12/13 in the German Bundesliga. In 2003 he lives for one year in Chicago (USA) and works as a children trainer, but becomes bored and return to active chess life. The result is the world crown of Antoaneta Stefanova in Elista 2004. His best rating so far is 2596. Vladimir is known as a positive and lucky person in the chess society.

Hello, Vladko, where are you now?
Hello, we are currently in Sunny Beach, a nice resort on the Black Sea near Bourgas (Bulgaria). We are getting prepared for the World Women Championship in Nalchik with Antoaneta Stefanova.
What is the subject of your preparation?
Mainly we look at some important theoretical lines. This is a sort of a general preparation.
Are not you having some special preparation for the matches?
Yes, we also take a look at Ety’s most probable opponents.
And what about the physical preparation?
We take care of that, too. I am going to wake up Ety earlier this morning, and we go straight to the swimming pool. There is an excellent indoor pool, which is not as crowded as those outside the hotel. And you know swimming is one of the best sports for the chess players.
What else do you do there?
Nothing special, we try to relax as well after the tournament in Krasnoturinsk.
This was a tough competition really and the highest-rated tournament in the history of the women chess. How was there?
Ety played the tournament for the sixth time. She is the only player who took part in all the editions.
Until this one without big success…
True. She did not show everything she is capable of until this year. But now she managed to claim the win in the hardest one. She always needs new challenges.
Were you always with her at these tournaments?
Only once- in 2004 after she became a World Champion. She was very close to the overall win then, and pushed hard in the final game, but eventually lost it thus finishing on “plus one”.
This year Eti started well with two wins.
That looked quite convincing to most of the audience.
Actually the first game against Koneru was a bluff at one moment. The line that we chose was not the best one. Against Nata (Natalia Pogonina) we predicted the line that she will play and everything went well until Ety won a pawn. Unfortunately she gave to her teammate (they both play for the team of Krasnoturinsk) too many chances later, but to our luck Natalia lost on time.
The decisive game without any doubt was against Marie Sebag. Ety managed to confuse her opponent and to turn the tables in seemingly lost position.
But then came untypical lost against Pia Cramling in a three against four rook endgame?
This can happen to anyone, especially if he or she has to defend a poor position for a long time. In that particular game Ety was defending well for a long time but finally when a drawing position was reached she erred badly.
How do you feel with so many girls around?
I must confess- it is an enormous pleasure. They are always smiling, and friendly outside the board. It is nothing like Topalov-Kramnik way of not-standing each other or in sports like tennis for example.
True, when they get over-the-board for the game it is a different story. But I do not need to face them there :)
I saw that you had a party in the free day.
Yes, there was a karaoke and dances.
Did you sing?
Nooo, neither me, nor Ety. But we danced a lot. By the way the organizers in Krasnoturinsk do always try their best to entertain the players. Last year it was sports shooting, this year dances, and every year is something different. Despite the fact that they lost one of the sponsors they received additional support from the government and managed to raise the status of the tournament even higher. The town is very nice, there is a picturesque river. People recognize Antoaneta and she has a lot of supporters.
You were commenting the games for the audience?
Yes, and this was also nice, since the people here have excellent chess education.
Why do skip the press-conferences after the games?
We realized that they are not only time-consuming, but that they also are very bad for the concentration. Ety took my advice at the WWC in Elista when she became a champion and we both skipped the press-conferences. It cost us some money, but it was worth. The best is to give one final press-conference :)
Imagine that we finish our game after two-three hours. Then we need to wait for some more hours until the others finish their games, instead of having some sleep for example.
In Krasnoturinsk the organizers understood our motives, and permitted me to speak instead of Antoaneta at the conferences without penalties.
Tell us something from the kitchen of your team. What is your preferable way of relaxation after the games?
As most of the girls Ety likes shopping, and I do not mind joining her. I realized that she always fills the batteries after a nice long shopping. (By the way Ety says that it is also a pleasure shopping with Vladimir-he is never complaining, and usually supports her choice, without being stingy in his compliments.)
You are also an active player. How do you feel after working with Stefanova?
We are bringing benefits to each other. Since I need to be up-to-date with her openings I need to learn them well, and of course I can use them too. This was best shown last year in Drezden at the EICC where Ety took the silver, and I managed to qualify for the World Cup.
Will you have some acclimatization before Nalchik?
Our preparation ends a week before this important event. Then we shall have some rest in Sofia, and shall travel a couple of days earlier before the start of the championship.
Thanks a lot, and good luck there! Bulgaria wishes you another crown!

11.8.08

For the Sake of Knowledge

We learn chess all our lives. The game is inexhaustible (at least so far) and we usually try to memorize typical plans and ideas that will help us to orientate better for the fixed time we have for a certain game. Memorizing separated moves usually is not that effective since the chance that they appear over the board is very low. But not always…
While preparing for my game against Steven Geinaert at the Atlantis Master tournament in Groningen I discovered this game:
Korneev,Oleg (2611) - Fierro Baquero,Martha Lorena (2353) [B01]
Huila Centenary op Neiva (2), 11.05.2005
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bd2 Bf5 7.Ne4 Qc7 8.Nxf6+ gxf6 9.g3 e6 10.Bg2 Nd7 11.0–0 Be4 12.Re1 f5 13.Ng5 Bxg2

14.Rxe6+ Be7 15.Qh5 0–0–0 16.Rxe7 1–0
Nice idea, I thought for myself, but not very likely to happen. It really did not in that particular game (although Steven went in another home-prepared line), but a few days later:

Bojkov,Dejan (2498) - Festas,Georgios (2172) [B01]
36th Teams Ch-GR Kallithea Halkidiki (4.8), 08.07.2008

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bd2 Bf5 7.Ne4 Qc7 8.Nxf6+ gxf6 9.g3 e6 10.Bg2 Nd7 11.0–0 Bd6 12.c4 Be4 13.Re1 f5 14.Ng5 Bxg2

15.Rxe6+ (The only insignificant difference is the inclusion of the moves c2-c4 for White and Bf8-d6 for Black) Kf8 16.Qh5 1–0

Funny, is not it? Thanks to the very few moves that I have memorized (and some luck, sure but we always need it) I managed to win easily and have some time for a beach. Chess can be fun!

28.7.08

My First ChessVibes Story

It is again concerning the tournament in Ferrol, and starts like this:
At the Atlantic coast of north-west Spain, from 15-20 July the 23rd edition of open tournament “Ciudad de Ferrol” took place. Besides the regular ones, “accidental prizes” were given during the closing ceremony. The rest you can find here: http://www.chessvibes.com/tournaments/accidental-prizes-at-ciudad-de-ferrol/#more-2234

For the Third Time

(Park Reina Sofia)
Galicia is the west-north part of Spain. For the XXI time the “CIRCUITO GALEGO DE XADREZ” takes part here. Total of six tournaments constitute it- in Burgas, “V Maestro Rodrigo in memoriam” in Ferrol, “II Memorial Arximiro Penide Cedeira “MIRO” in Arteixo, Cambados (Pontevedra), Ortiguera (La Coruna) and “Virxe Peregrina” in Ponteverda. Galicia’s main cities host the tournaments, and in addition the biggest part of the events take place during the famous fiestas, players may never be bored.
For the overall placement in the circuit a player should take part in at least three tournaments and the points that he collected in them are counted. If he takes part in more events he may use his best results. In case that there is equality in points one looks for better placement in the separated competitions. There are additional prices for the circuit, and there are players who participate here from a very long time-one example is GM Vladimir Dimitrov from Bulgaria (fifteen times), as well as GM M. Manolache from Romania, IM Jordan Ivanov, etc. Even top player like Ivan Cheparinov formed themselves as fighters in Galicia.
The tournament that I would like to tell you now is second from the circuit-the one in Ferrol.
(Easy to guess where is he coming from-IM Kidambi Sundararajan (IND))
This nice little town was the birthplace of general Francisco Franco and Pablo Iglesias (fonder of the Spanish socialist party), and has been a major naval shipbuilding centre for most of its history, as well as the capital of the Spanish Navy's Maritime Department of the North since the time of the early Bourbons. Before that, in the 17th century, Ferrol was the most important arsenal in Europe. It is still an important harbour and is famous for it’s’ sea food, surf-beaches and glass-houses. On Saturday as one of the local fiestas “de Pulpo” (for Octopuses) was taking place 3000 portions of this delicious food were presented to the people in a village nearby.
It was my third tournament here, and usually the field is very strong. For the price fund of about 15 000 euros were competing 160 people from 20 countries. Among them were 12 GMs and 23 IMs, or 53 titled players in total. As usual the tournament started with some of the players forfeit. It is a long way, and with many tournaments held in Spain in the summer some of them simply can not come, and others prefer to choose another tournament.
(My Wife in front of Enormous Aloe Vera)
Two things are interesting about the competition-one is the possibility to take “bye” and earn half a point without play. One player has the right to take 2 byes during the tournament but they can not be in rounds 1, 8, or 9. Of course, they have to be announced before the start of the event. It is a good idea for those who can not play early morning rounds (although I do not consider 10 o’clock too early, but some do), or players who does not like double rounds. The tradition here is that there are at least two double rounds (on Saturday and Sunday-to let people work), and this year they were even three. Chess life is speeding up, but if I have to be honest this is for no good. At least for me.
Another interesting thing is the presence of ten “lucky” prices each of them at the cost of 100 euro. The organizer of the tournament Juan Rodriguez explains me the idea: “1000 euro is not a big amount of money, and at the same time these prices make the tournament interesting for ordinary chess lovers. At the closing ceremony we make a lottery for the non-awarded players and anyone can be winner if he is lucky, no matter which place he took in the event.” Funnily enough at least three players missed their luck for no presenting at the closing ceremony and lost their prices. Among the rewarded were two IMs-Tadej Sakalsek from Slovenia and Larino Nieto who was the unlucky 21-st in the tournament, but his destiny was to take a price!
(Lucky Prices)
Three years ago the monument of General Franco was destroyed, and as we already joke a new one going to be build soon. For the player who won convincingly Ciudad de Ferrol for third time in a row-GM Julian Radulski from Bulgaria. This is a lucky place for him, he never lost a game for all three years, and always achieves at least “plus five” score. Last year he was ready to accept a draw in the final round (and claim the second price) but then someone congratulated his main rival with the overall win, Julian got angry, played, and won convincingly. He came here after two excellent tournaments (first place in Montcada, and second in Torredembara, in Cataluna) and despite the tiredness managed to achieve his ordinary plus five. Five more players shared the win with him, but since his start was better and his cumulative score overwhelming he collected yet another silver plaque.
Co-winner became one young and strong Cuban player-Isam Ortiz Suarez. A week ago he won the first tournament in the circuit- Ciudad de Burgas and earned a GM norm there. His result in Ferrol was also worth the norm, but he lacked the GMs.
There were four more players to tie for the first place-Nanko Dobrev from Bulgaria, Kidambi Sundararajan and Ponnuswamy Konguvel from India and Robin Swinkels from Netherlands.
One funny case happened in a game of Alexei Barsov. Uzbek’s Spanish opponent lost on time, but claimed that the clock is not working properly, and that he still had 9 seconds left on his clock (although it showed -0.00). “OK, then I am going to give you 39 seconds-nine that you had plus thirty for the move that you made”, decided the arbiter. Barsov protested and offered that they count the moves and compare them to the time spend, but the decision of the arbiter was final, and he had to continue the game. Still he managed to outplay his opponent and later joked with his typical sense of humour: “Good that he did not claim that he had ten minutes, since the position was anything but clear.”
On Monday the tournament in Arteixo starts and the circuit goes on…
(Winner-GM Julian Radulski from Bulgaria)