Sunday, April 8, 2018

Chess Game of the Week, by Alan Lasser

  It has been many years since an American played for the World Championship of Chess.  Back then, the match was front page news and generated enormous publicity for our game.  Hopefully the forthcoming attention will once again benefit our local chess organizations.  Of course, the last time our guy was a human-interest story, a force unstoppable except by himself.  This time we have the clear underdog, so the focus will probably be on the games.  A fascinating match-up last week previews what might be in store for us.
 
GM Fabiano Caruana-GM Magnus Carlsen
3/31/18
2018 Grenke Chess Classic
2.c4 g6 
59.Kd3 ½-½
 
 
[Event "2018 Grenke Chess Classic"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2018.03.31"]
[Round "1"]
[White "GM Fabiano Caruana"]
[Black "GM Magnus Carlsen"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
 
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 O-O 5.Be2 d6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.d5 Nb4 8.a3 Na6
9.Nd4 e5 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.O-O e5 12.Nb3 c6 13.e4 Nc7 14.f4 Ne6 15.f5 Nd4
16.Be3 $6 { -0.45/22 } ( 16.Bd3 { +0.03/19 } 16...gxf5
{ 16...Qb6 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Ne2 Ng4 19. Bg5 Qxb2 20. Qa4 Ne3 21. Rab1 Qd2
22. Rbd1 Qb2 23. Rb1    =   Stockfish } 17.exf5 Qb6 18.Nxd4 Qxd4+ 19.Kh1 e4
20.Be2 Qxd1 21.Bxd1 d5 22.cxd5 Nxd5 23.Nxd5 cxd5 24.Bb3 Rxf5 25.Rxf5 Bxf5
26.Bxd5+ Kh8 27.Be3 Rd8 28.Bxb7 Rd3 29.Bc5 Bxb2 30.Rf1 Bg6 31.Re1 Bd4
32.Bxd4+ ) 16...Nxe2+ 17.Qxe2 gxf5 18.exf5 d5 19.cxd5 cxd5 20.Rad1 $6
{ -0.57/21 } ( 20.Bc5 { -0.25/22 } 20...Re8 21.Rad1 b6 22.Be3 Bb7 23.Bg5 Qd7
{ 23...Qd6 24. Nd2 Qc5+ 25. Kh1 Rad8 26. Qf3 Qf8 27. Qh3 Rd7 28. Ne2 d4 
-0.27   Stockfish } 24.Bxf6 Bxf6 25.Ne4 Qe7 26.Qb5 Rad8 ) 20...d4 21.Bg5 Qb6
22.Qc4+ Rf7 23.Na4 Qc7 24.Qxc7 Rxc7 25.Nac5 b6 26.Bxf6 bxc5 27.Bxg7 Kxg7
28.Nd2 $2 { -1.64/22 } ( 28.f6+ { -0.35/21 } 28...Kf7 29.Rc1 c4 30.Nd2 Ba6
31.Rf2
{ 31. Rf5 Rd8 32. Rxe5 Kxf6 33. Ra5 Rc6 34. b4 Re6 35. b5 c3 36. Rxa6  cxd2
37.Rd1 Rxa6 38.bxa   -0.43   Stockfish } 31...Bb7
{ 31... h6 32. Rf5 c3 33. bxc3 dxc3 34. Rxe5 Rd8 35. Nf3 c2 36. Kf2 Kxf6  
-1.43   Stockfish } 32.Nxc4 ) ( 28.Rc1 c4 29.f6+ Kf8 30.Nd2 Ba6 31.Rf5 Rb8
32.Ne4 Rxb2 33.Ng5 Bc8 34.Rxe5 h6 35.Ne4 Re2 36.Re7 Rxe7 37.fxe7+ Kxe7 38.Ng3
{ -1.08   Stockfish } ) 28...Bb7 29.f6+ Kf8 30.Rde1 Re8 31.Ne4 Bxe4 32.Rxe4 c4
33.g4 Rb8 ( 33...Kf7 34.g5 Rb8 35.Rf2 d3 36.Kf1 Rxb2 37.Rxb2 c3 38.Rb1 d2
39.Ree1 Kg6 40.h4 c2 41.Rbc1 Kh5 42.Ke2 dxc1=Q 43.Rxc1 Kxh4 44.f7 Rxf7
45.Rxc2 Kxg5 { -3.26   Stockfish } ) 34.Rxe5 Rxb2 35.Rd5 c3 36.Rd8+ Kf7
37.Rh8 Rbb7 38.Rxh7+ Kg6 ( 38...Ke6 39.Rxc7 Rxc7 40.Kf2 c2 41.Rc1 d3 42.Ke3
Rd7 43.Kd2 Kxf6 { transposing back to the game. } ) 39.Rxc7 Rxc7 40.Kf2 c2
41.Rc1 d3 42.Ke3 Rd7 43.Kd2 Kxf6 44.h4 ( 44.Rf1+ Ke5 45.h4 Kd4 46.h5 Rh7
47.Rf4+ Kd5 48.Rf1 Kc4 49.Rf4+ Kb3 50.Rb4+ Kxa3 51.Rc4 Kb3 52.Rc8 a5 53.Rb8+
Ka2 54.Ra8 Rc7 55.Rxa5+ Kb3 56.Ra1 Kb2 57.Rg1 Rg7 58.Kxd3 Rxg4 59.Rxg4 c1=Q
{ The endgame database says it's mate on move 95. } ) 44...Ke5 45.Rf1 Kd4
46.h5 Re7 ( 46...Rh7 47.Rf4+ Kd5 48.Rf1 Kc4 49.Rf5 Rb7 50.Rf4+ Kd5 51.Rf6 Ke4
52.Rf8 Rb6 53.Re8+ Kf4 54.Rc8 Rb1 55.Rc4+ Ke5 56.g5 Rd1+ 57.Ke3 Kd5 58.Rc8
c1=Q+ 59.Rxc1 Rxc1 60.g6 Ke6 61.Kxd3 Rh1 62.g7 Rh3+ 63.Kd4 Kf7 64.Kc5 Rxh5+
{ The endgame database says it's mate on move 79. } ) 47.Rf4+ Kd5 48.Rf1 Kc4
49.Rf4+ Kd5 50.Rf1 Kc4 51.Rf4+ Kb3 52.Rb4+ Kxa3 53.Rc4 Kb3 54.Rc8 a5 $2
{ 0.00/26 } ( 54...Rh7 55.Kxd3 Rd7+ 56.Ke4 Rd8 57.Rxd8
{ 57.Rc7 a5 58. h6 a4 59. h7 a3 60. Rb7+ Kc3 61. Rc7+ Kd2 62. Rd7+ Rxd7 63.
h8=Q c1=Q 64. Qh2+ Kc3 and it's mate on move 80. } 57...c1=Q 58.Rd3+ Kb4
59.Rd4+ Kc5 60.Rd7 Qg5 61.Rxa7 Qxg4+ 62.Ke5 Qxh5+
{ The endgame datbase says it's mate on move 87. } ) 55.h6 Re2+
{ The problem is that pushing the a-pawn loses for Black!   55...a4 56.g5
a3 57.g6 a2 58.g7 a1=Q 59. g8=Q+ Ka3 60. Ra8+ Kb4 61. Rxa1 Kc5 62. Qg5+ Kb6
63. Qxe7 Kc6 64. Kxd3 Kb6 65. Qa7+ Kb5 66. Qa6+ Kc5 67. Ra5+ Kb4 68. Qb6# }
56.Kxd3 Rh2 57.g5 Rh3+ 58.Kd2 Rh2+ 59.Kd3 1/2-1/2
 
 
 



2018 Constitution State Open

May 19 Saturday

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