TRADEWISE
GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL
Wednesday 25 January 2012
The
life-blood of publicity for chess tournaments is the
games of the players. The better the games, the more
they will be circulated. Since there were so many
clashes at the top, there were a very large number
of entertaining games considering it is only the
second round. Some of the games will be anthologised
and played over for many years to come in many
different countries.
However the game between Artur Jussupov GER 2569 and
Peter Svidler RUS 2749 was not one of them. The game
was a very fair draw after 30 moves, but there
should be a Chessbase symbol for such games.
Virtually all the other games were in complete
contrast and provide a very enjoyable experience
when played through.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2747 v Tamir Nabaty ISR
2563 had just one flaw. Tamir resigned before the
spectators understood why. There should be a law
against it. But Black played a splendid concept with
14…Ng4. Whether it was sound is quite another
matter.
Emanuel Berg SWE 2550 v Michael Adams ENG 2724
was possibly the Game of the Day. But no doubt there
are a lot of contenders that I have yet to see.
Michael is much better prepared these days than
years ago.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1
b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d3 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7
12.Nf1 Re8 13.Ng3 Bf8 14.Ng5
(There is no doubt Michael gave up a pawn
deliberately with 14…d5 as 15…Bxd5 16 Bxd5 Nxd5 17
Qh5 wins.)
14…d5 15.exd5 Nc5 16.d6 Nxb3 17.Qxb3
(Black has some compensation for the pawn lost in
the shape of the bishop pair and the backward
d- pawn. 17…Bd5 loses to 18 c4.)
17…Qd7 18.dxc7 Rac8 19.a4 Rxc7 20.axb5 axb5 21.Ra5
Bc6 22.c4?!
(But was 21 Ra5 wise in conjunction with 22 c4 when
the two white rooks could be attacked by the black
bishop? After Black won the rook for bishop and
White’s kingside was shattered, it was all over.)
22… bxc4 23.dxc4 Rb7 24.Qc2 h6 25.Nf3
(25 Raxe4 would still be approximately equal).
25…Bxf3 26.gxf3 Bb4 27.Rexe5 Bxa5 28.Rxa5 Qxh3
29.Bd2 Rd7 30.Bc3 Red8 31.Ra1 Nh5 32.Nxh5 Qxh5
33.Ba5 Re8 34.Qa4 Qh3 35.Qc6 Re6 36.Qa8+ Kh7 0–1
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2747) (AZE) - Nabaty,
Tamir (2563) (ISR)
1.d4
Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2
d5 7.Nc3 0–0 8.e3 Nbd7 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 c5 11.0–0
c4 12.Bc2 Rb8 13.Rfe1 Qd6 14.Ng5 Ng4 15.Bxh7+ Kh8
16.f4 f5 17.h3 Nh6 18.Qf2 Rf6 19.g4 g6 20.Qh4 Kg7
21.Bxg6 Kxg6 22.gxf5+ Kg7 23.e4 dxe4 24.Ncxe4 Qxd4+
25.Kh1 Nf8 26.Nxf6 Qxf6 27.Re7+ 1–0
[position after 26...Qxf6]
We had problems understanding why the Israeli
resigned. The late, great Danish grandmaster, Bent
Larsen, once said, “You should never resign until
all the audience understands why.”
Even the commentator Simon Williams was puzzled.
Basically 27 Re7! Qxe7 28 Ne6ch Qxe6 29 fxe6 Bxe6 30
Rg1ch forces Ng4 and Black’s position is in ruins.
The game of Judit Polgar 2710 (HUN) v Vyacheslav
Ikonnikov 2531 (RUS) exploded into tactics in a
manner we have grown accustomed to for the great
Hungarian woman. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2699 (FRA) v
Anna Zatonskih 2506 (USA) fizzled out into a draw.
There isn’t time in the commentary room to look at
all the jewels on display. Should we ask the players
to slow down so that we can keep up?
Alexei Shirov delighted us in the Commentary Room by
joining us after he beat the English IM/poker player
Simon Ansell with the Black pieces. Thus we had two
Master Classes in one day. The young English
grandmaster David Howell went over his first two
games Wednesday evening, much to the delight of a
packed audience.
You can see this by clicking on this link
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/videos.htm.
(Runtime 56mins)
Photos:
Zeljka Malobabic
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