Volume 141

JANUARY
2021

WHAT LIES AHEAD

02101
FOR CHESS?

044000
ISSN 0007-0440

770007
9
CHESS AS A BUSINESS
THE DAWN OF A GOLDEN AGE?

AIRTHINGS MASTERS 2020

‘SOLIDITY BEFORE ALL’
RUSSIAN SUPERFINALS 2020
NEPOMNIACHTCHI’S VICTORY AND
CHESS IN WEIRD CIRCUMSTANCES
IMPROVE YOUR PLAY - ENDGAMES, STUDIES, PROBLEMS AND MUCH MORE!
 IMPRESSUM
Contents
BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
Founded 1881

www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk

Chairman Shaun Taulbut

Director Stephen Lowe

Editors

6
Milan Dinic and Shaun Taulbut
CHESS AS A BUSINESS
Photo editor
David Llada
4 As the new year begins...
Prepress Specialist what lies ahead for chess?
Milica Mitic By Milan Dinic
Photography
13 Isle of Man joins FIDE
David Llada,
Russian Chess Federatio,
with disappointment
Wikipedia, Shutterstock
16 Radjabov wins Airthings Masters 2020
Advertising ‘Solidity before all’
Stephen Lowe By GM Aleksandar Colovic
Enquiries 25 The path of chess from
editor@britishchessmagazine.co.uk television to the Internet
By GM Ray Keene OBE
ISSN 0007-0440
© The British Chess Magazine Limited
28 Russian Superfinals 2020
Company Limited by Shares Nepomniachtchi’s victory and
Registered in England No 00334968 chess in weird circumstances
By GM Aleksandar Colovic
Postal correspondence:
Albany House, 14 Shute End 46 Quotes and Queries
Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 1BJ Revisiting the 1934-35
Hastings tournament
Subscription
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By Alan Smith
12 monthly issues
UK: £55 | RoW: £85 54 Openings for Amateurs
How Dragon Players Can Meet the
Printed in the UK: by Lavenham Press Ltd Old School Approach by White
By Pete Tamburro
Cover photography:
Stock / BCM 57 4NCL Online Teams - Rounds 6 & 7
By IM Shaun Taulbut

2 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

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01/141

As the new year begins...

What lies ahead for chess?

The year 2020 - however difficult it was for everyone in the world - turned out to be good
for the popularity of chess. Thanks to lockdowns more people decided to join online chess
communities, and the Netflix hit series ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ brought new interest in the
game, especially among women. But the question is - what happens now?

As we enter 2021, uncertainty is still looming around underpinned by fears of new strains
of coronavirus, and somewhat offset by hopes that mass vaccinations will save the way of
life as we once knew it. This will also impact chess - a return to normal will mean a return
of mass, over−the−board events, whilst uncertainty will mean just that.

In an attempt to respond to the current and possibly a long−term environment of general vagueness,
the 91st Congress of the international chess body (FIDE), held in December 2020, introduced a
new set of rules for online events, formalising a form of new - hybrid chess competitions.

FIDE said the new structure is similar to that of the over−the−board rules of chess. The so−called
‘hybrid competition’ is a new format where the games are played online, but the participants
are physically present in a public place like a club, federation headquarters or hotels.

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 January 2021

‘We see a lot of potential in this format, which would allow hosting chess competitions
with participants scattered across multiple venues, in a branded environment. This
increases the opportunities for media exposure and sponsorship”, David Llada, FIDE’s
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer said.

FIDE said it expects the hybrid format to be used in some official events in the near
future, and some Continents have expressed their intention to hold their Zonal and even
Continental Championships under this format.

This new concept, whilst welcomed as a proactive step, however, was not met without
concerns. Many in the chess community, especially the arbiters and those working on fair
play, are very worried about the effective prevention of cheating in online competitions.
This issue was particularly highlighted following the recent World Youth championship
where there have been serious concerns regarding the behaviour and performance of certain
players, but no action was taken. How this is resolved it remains to be seen. This issue needs
to be addressed at the highest level and with the utmost urgency and seriousness as fraud
and cheating in online events – if discovered and not severely sanctioned – will not only
impact the chess community but will diminish the standing of the game in public, leading to
sponsors and organisers – who are already very hard to find - to abandon the game.

BCM understands that the first big event which could be played in the ‘hybrid format’ would be
the second leg of the Candidates tournament, which started in Yekaterinburg (Russia) in April
2020 but was interrupted. The second leg is due to take place in April and FIDE previously said
it would make all the details about this public at least a month before the event is due to start,
which means March. Using the hybrid concept would help finally bring an end to a tournament
which is essential for the most important event of all – the match for the title of the world
champion. The match is planned for the end of the year (late November/early December) and
is likely to place in Dubai, although this remains to be confirmed.

Despite hopes that this year things will be better for over-the-board tournaments, we
already have one major event - the Women’s FIDE Grand Prix - which was due to take
place in January and now moved to February because of the new coronavirus wave. There
is already talk that more events are likely to be postponed, such as the European individual
chess championship which was due to take place in April in Reykjavik but will now most
probably be moved to May.

The Moscow Olympiad – which was supposed to take place last summer, and was moved
to this year, has now been postponed to 2022. Initially, the 2022 Olympiad was due to be
played in Minsk but Belarus pulled out, so now Moscow will host the event. This all means
that we will have a chess Olympiad after four years and not two. The good news, however,
is that the 2024 Olympiad will be held in Hungary – a country which has a long tradition of
appreciating chess. The tournament is scheduled to run from the 10th to the 23rd September
at the renovated Hungexpo Exhibition and Conference Centre, with a total budget of 16.6
million euros and the full backing of the state, the Hungarian Olympic movement and the
sports administration, according to FIDE.

Let’s hope that this year will be better for the world and chess. For both, the key will be in
adapting and seizing chances – something good chess players already know well.

Milan Dinic
Editor

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 5

CHESS AS A BUSINESS

The dawn of a golden age?

By Peter O’Brien*
The purpose of this article (to be followed by a second part in the February issue of BCM)
is to try to explain what has happened to chess recently, and why, and how this impacts the
sustainability of the game. It presents a personal view, based on my own experiences in
business and my association with chess and similar activities. As a consequence, this essay
and what follows in February are a series of conjectures and ideas. They are to be corrected,
enhanced and expanded by you, the reader – just as an opening variation needs to be tried
and tested before it becomes part of the armoury of a serious player. In this phase of immense
change in virtually every dimension of politics, society, economy, everything is up for grabs
and all fresh approaches are welcome. So in this spirit, let’s open the debate!

The year 2020 was a disastrous one for the world economy. Despite massive injections of
funds by governments and central banks across the globe, countless companies collapsed,
millions lost their jobs, international supply chains were disrupted and often dismantled,
and significant numbers of people saw their whole livelihoods shattered, possibly beyond
repair. Yet, as often happens in life, not every cloud was dark.

For those activities tightly linked with the electronic world, or which could swiftly become
part of it, the year that just ended was bounteous. The set of giants usually known as
GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple) prospered like never before; companies such
as ZOOM and TESLA enjoyed huge rises in their stock prices; companies of the genre of
AirBnB went public with spectacularly successful entries onto the stock exchange. Out
of the shadows, however, another, albeit ancient, activity flashed across the screens - for
the first time ever, chess came into the limelight. The 64 squares, and how to use them to
make money, suddenly became all the rage. For this game with a history stretching back
into antiquity, 2020 marked a high point in its existence.

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 January 2021

“Business” is a word that covers myriad activities. Virtually none of these activities exist
as an island. They are related to numerous others, on which they may depend for vital
ingredients, technologies and publicity. Within this vast complex, however, there are some
areas where similarities make it useful to build comparisons and draw out distinctions.
The realm of sports and games (SG) is one such area - and it is the one in which chess
fits best. Many SG are practised, professionally and as hobbies, across the world. Football/
soccer is probably the best known, though tennis likewise has a high profile. Athletics in
all its forms also has a huge appeal, whether through the real sport of the people, namely
running, or through the global pull of the Olympics. Others tend to be more geographically
concentrated, such as American football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, cricket and
rugby. Still others require perhaps heavier personal financial investments and tend to be
more popular among richer groups of people - golf would come into this category. Of
board games, only chess has a fairly universal appeal (it has been suggested there might
be around 600 million keen players in the world, although this number is questioned).
Its significance in economic terms far outweighs that of go or shogi, which are its only
real challengers. Card games, while probably still very popular among amateurs, do not
have the same profile. Poker and bridge are of course organised professionally and not
insignificant sums of money can change hands - but as businesses, they have nowhere
near the reach of chess.

Individually, and as an aggregate, SG do not Of board games, only chess

account for a large share of national income. That has a fairly universal appeal. Its
way of measuring, however, is a bit simplistic significance in economic terms
and does not convey their real importance today
or in the future. A little later (in part two of far outweighs that of go or shogi,
this article) I will propose reasons to support which are its only real challengers.
this affirmation. For the moment, though, it’s Card games, while probably still
better to look at some of the similarities and still
more the contrasts across chess and most other very popular among amateurs,
constituents of the SG set. do not have the same profile
BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 7
01/141

Chess vs other sports

The SG mentioned above, and several others so far omitted (such as surfing in its variants,
mountaineering, drachenfliegen and so on), are nearly all essentially done outdoors. They may
or may not operate with large fixed costs, such as stadia and salaries for professional teams
and their management, and rely on large numbers of in situ spectators for key parts of their
revenues (those “key parts” are nevertheless vital to profits, and thus have been almost entirely
wiped out by COVID). Chess has been vaccinated against this vulnerability. Many of these
SG function with fixed competitions (for instance, national leagues, multi−country challenges)
which again imply substantial fixed costs and have been seriously impeded by COVID. Again
chess is far more flexible in this respect. It is true that the Candidates Tournament of 2020
had to be interrupted at mid−point due to COVID, and other traditional face−to−face gatherings
(including large open tournaments, a rough equivalent to the big city marathons dear to all of
us runners) were also cancelled. Yet the blow to business consequent on these disappointments
was far lighter than those suffered by most SG.

There is a further and important economic difference. All SG are at the centre of clusters
of businesses which rely on the specific SG as drivers of income. For instance, football and
its players/clubs support a massive business in accessories, attire and memorabilia. Though
it’s for the moment difficult to estimate how much those sales have fallen, there has for
sure been a hit. Tennis has had a rough time. Skiing is going through serious problems as
I write - I can more or less see some of the famous alpine centres from where I write, yet
I am not allowed access to them. But for chess, the associated cluster has never had it so
good. Sales of chess sets have boomed. Chess clocks and computers are in a great period.
Books and primers on the game sell like the proverbial hot cakes.

Comments thus far have been sufficient (I hope!) to show that, when COVID began to
envelop the world, chess was in fact in a situation of exceptional flexibility and, dare I
say it, relevance, to prosper from the plague.
Yet there are deeper reasons why chess For chess, the associated cluster
seems to have been poised to make a has never had it so good. Sales
breakthrough. All activities, if they are to of chess sets have boomed.
flourish, need a conjunction of favourable
conditions. Chess, in its long history, Chess clocks and computers
had not till now had those conditions. are in a great period. Books and
To understand why, a glance at some key primers on the game sell like
historical developments, in the world and
in chess, is required. the proverbial hot cakes

Outdoor events such as football matches were hardest hit due to the pandemic.
Chess does not have this problem

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 January 2021

How history distinguished chess from other sports

The Chess Game is a c.1530 painting by Giulio Campi,

a Renaissance painter from Cremona

Unlike all other sports, and most games, chess has a rich past. In different variants,
it was practised in more than one of the great civilisations of antiquity. Experiences
in those times placed chess as a mental activity more akin to preparations for war or,
at best, for diplomacy (antiquity having a preference for the former as a method for
resolving differences).

With the European renaissance, chess also was, in a certain sense, reborn. Treatises
on the game were produced by kings (witness Alfonso El Sabio in Spain), by famous
members of the clergy (Luca Pacioli, the Italian monk who was the innovator of double
entry bookkeeping, wrote a famous book on the game), and others who began to try to
create theories about how certain positions should be handled or games initiated (the
Ruy Lopez and Giuoco Piano retain a remarkable attraction). This movement pointed
to somehow a more artistic vision of the game, switching comparisons more towards
culture and less towards belligerence. Slightly later, chess sets began to appear in
paintings commissioned by potentates and wealthy persons, signifying that the game
was somehow associated with important people.

Those images and perceptions of the game, in essence, lasted until a century ago. It was
the formation of the Soviet Union which dramatically changed the script.

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The era of state sponsorship

Instead of Nicholas II sponsoring the great St

Petersburg tournament of 1914, and creating the title
of “Grandmaster” (itself again an elitist concept),
after the 1917 Revolution Russia became a major
country where chess was massively supported by the
State, and conceived as a vehicle through which the
supremacy of a particular form of economic/political
organisation could be demonstrated. While some
other countries in Europe, along with the USA and
to some degree Mexico, Cuba and Argentina, might
continue with arranging significant tournaments,
none of them had the critical mass provided by the
Soviet approach.

In its own ways, nevertheless, the Soviet

method was as much anti−revolutionary
as revolutionary. As far as business and
competition were concerned, the Soviet
system smothered them. No scope existed for
individual initiative in organisation - indeed,
the international institutional architecture of
the game was effectively commandeered by the
Soviet Union and its satellites. When the unique phenomenon that was Bobby
Fischer appeared as a comet on the Soviet horizon, things were rapidly reduced to
an issue of great power rivalry. Sudden spikes in sales of chess accessories may
have occurred. But events were being driven by an old−fashioned and outmoded
logic. Even within the playing of chess, the enormous contributions made by
Soviet players and composers of endgame studies were still somehow prisoners
of a mechanistic picture of things. Deep down, linear thinking remained supreme.
Since artists of all shapes and sizes were suspect, those rich dimensions of the
game were pushed aside. Nothing could have been further removed from that
reality than the ideas of chess as business. In short, revolutions and attempts to
diffuse them do not constitute a sustainable business model.

Far broader historical changes were also transforming the business kaleidoscope.
Sports were in essence innovations beginning in the mid−19 th century. The industrial
upheavals in that epoch shaped some of the major sports, and created them as
activities pursued by huge numbers of people - totally dissimilar to chess at that
period of history. With the rise in incomes, a new aspect of time appeared. It was
called leisure. Notwithstanding the immense trials and tribulations of economies
over the past 150 years of more, leisure has relentlessly increased in importance
for very significant portions of the populations in many countries. That increase
has undoubtedly been a necessary condition for the appearance of a wide range
of new sports. In short, competition for people’s use of their leisure time has
become a major dimension of business competition in general. Simultaneously,
the frontiers between “work” and “leisure” have become quite blurred. All of us
know people who have turned leisure activities into businesses. Technology has
helped greatly to blur frontiers and make fusion the thing. And in this sense chess
has been a major beneficiary.

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 January 2021

The match which brought chess to the TV screens: Fisher – Spassky, 1972

Seizing the opportunity

Now in SG a person can be an active participant or a spectator. If you are in the participant
category, there is a fair chance that, even if you are an amateur, financial issues matter.
Participation has costs, and might well carry risks (physical or otherwise, depending on
what you are doing). But what are you searching for if you are a spectator? My conjecture
is that “ETR” is the response. The letters stand for excitement, tension and results. And an
ETR combination delivered in a limited time period is even better. In today’s world, time
is absolutely at the heart of everything. Never has Shakespeare’s magic phrase, coined to
mask a dastardly deed, “if it were done, ‘twere better it were done quickly”, rung as true as
it does today. Indeed, to quote another writer, the American political activist Bobby Seale,
you must “seize the time”. If you don’t, there is nothing.

For so long, chess was conducted at processional speed. The introduction of time controls
did not help too much, especially because games were adjourned overnight and all sorts of
nefarious things could happen in the interim (cf the scene near the end of the final episode
of “The Queen’s Gambit” where Beth discovers she is playing against more players than
Borgov). Fortunately, countless amateurs and professionals had long since played games at
much faster rates, often for small sums of money (this author was in danger of becoming
such a junky in the Viennese Kaffeehaeuser, as well as in the open air next to the New York
Central Library). Thus it took little to switch the game into overdrive (in terms of velocity)
with the arrival of chess as an online spectator sport. Viewers can today see on their screens
at home high−level competitions, where matches are decided by bullet games (the adversaries
having just one minute each, plus maybe a second or two bonus per move played). Only an
alpine downhill can rival that - except that COVID has seriously handicapped such descents.

It can be objected, quite rightly, that a spectator can only savour ETR if she understands
well what she is watching. For most SG she does not need to know much to reach that
point. But isn’t it pretty difficult when it comes to chess? There are two replies.

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The first is “yes”. Given, though, that many people at least are aware of the basic moves,
the “Understanding Hurdle” might not be as onerous as it seems. Indeed, often in life we
are strongly tempted to feel strongly and even to offer strong opinions on things about
which we actually know rather little. So, while, as the phrase goes, a little knowledge
may be a dangerous thing, it is rarely a deterrent to passion (in fact, it probably has the
opposite effect). For the second reply, I am indebted to a very dear Norwegian (no surprise
there!) friend. He is a great screen follower of Magnus, yet does not even play chess and
barely knows the moves. I asked him how come he can be so involved (apart from possible
chauvinism, but that is an affliction from which Norwegians, unlike many others in Europe
and elsewhere, scarcely suffer). He told me that his supports are Stockfish, or whatever
other computer is doing real time on screen assessments of the position. He just follows
the ups and downs of the computer calculations to control his own pulse rate. If the on
the board position of Magnus is computer rated at +1 or better, then he feels fine. But if it
drops below that line, then he becomes uneasy. The recent loss of Carlsen to Dubov was,
therefore, a personal tragedy for my friend as well as a national disaster for Norway. If
2020 was a great triumph for chess, this was a dreadful way to begin the New Year.

A new dawn

Let me sum up the story so far. Chess as a business seems to have entered a golden age.
Compared with other economic activities of the SG variety, it was splendidly positioned
to exploit the particular conditions created (and enduring) by COVID.

Despite an extremely long history mostly weighing against any serious prospect of success
as a business, chess has been able to use the new world to leap to the forefront. I cannot
resist an analogy related to business in my own country, Ireland. Thirty years ago, the
island was still languishing politically, socially and economically. Prospects may have not
seemed too great. But Michael O’Leary saw a unique conjunction from which to transform
a tiny airline, Ryanair, into perhaps the most profitable European business of the past three
decades. This coincidence exploited the just emerging conditions. The Berlin Wall had
collapsed - barriers to widespread travel within Europe were bound to fall. Jacques Delors
was driving through his vision to create a Union from a Common Market, rendering travel
easier, more tempting and potentially more profitable for both passengers and airlines.
Trade was the single word describing a future for a little place on the western extremity
of Europe. The European airline industry was crippled by State controls of all sorts, and
by monopolies and pseudo−monopolies of endless varieties. Seats on an aircraft only have
value for an exceptionally limited time - once the plane has taken off, the empty seats are
worth nothing. Hence the airscape for cheap travel.

Next month I will try to put the flesh of numbers and examples to the anatomy of
opportunity sketched here. I will look at the fast−developing fusions and alliances which
the business of chess is seeking to exploit. I will assess whether today’s boom is just a
fleeting moment, which we will not be able to sustain. Meanwhile, large−scale vaccination
or not, I venture that the effects of COVID on business will be around for a very long time.

* Peter O’Brien has held high positions in the United Nations and a variety of private,
public and NGO organisations. He was the Lead Economist for DuPont and worked
as a consultant/lead on international projects for the UN, World Bank, EU and other
international bodies, focusing on development and corruption. He is a chess enthusiast, a
regular contributor for BCM. He resides in Brussels

12 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

ISLE OF MAN
JOINS FIDE WITH
DISAPPOINTMENT

Early in December 2020, FIDE’s General The status of “Affiliated Organisation”

Assembly approved the admission of is, however, below that of full “Member
the Isle of Man Chess Association as Organization”, which according to
an affiliated organization, making it the Article 9.4 of the FIDE Charter, would
196th member. demand a territory to be recognized by
the United Nations and the International
As it was announced on the FIDE website, Olympic Committee. This issue – whether
“this is in recognition of the Isle’s a territory needs to be recognised both
continued contribution to chess, including by the IOC and the UN or it should be
what promises to be one of the world’s just one of the two, was hotly debated at
major chess events  next year, the FIDE the Congress with England pushing for a
Chess.com Grand Swiss”. more flexible approach in order to help
increase FIDE membership.
Altogether, there were 107 votes in favour
of Isle of Man joining, four votes against, The reaction from the Isle of Man
with four abstentions. The voting was done was somewhat muted. In a letter to
online – during the 91st FIDE Congress – FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich,
without disclosure on how each country’s Howard Dobson, the Chairman of the
delegate voted. Isle of Man Chess Association, said
that ‘Isle of Man’s international status
The island – best known for the spectacular is essentially no different to (and no
Grand Swiss Tournament as well as for weaker than) that of certain existing
being the home of the world-famous FIDE members such as England,
PokerStars website (both funded by Scotland and Wales. Despite this fact,
the Scheinberg family) – has achieved we reluctantly accept that Article
its long ambition to become a member 9.4 of the FIDE chapter currently
of FIDE and thus made a further step prevents Isle of Man from becoming a
to distinguishing itself and its identity. member federation because we are not

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 January 2021

recognised by the United Nations and to host the 2021 Grand Swiss and the
the International Olympic Committee.” Women’s Grand Swiss. In light of this,
plus Isle of Man’s history of hosting
The statement, however, continued high class international Swiss events
in a more positive tone: “In 2019, extending back to the early 1990s, we
our chess friends and colleagues at believe that it is important that FIDE
IOM International Chess Limited should acknowledge Isle of Man’s
successfully organized the FIDE Chess. status in the chess world”.
com Grand Swiss Tournament as part of
the FIDE World Championship Cycle.
Furthermore, they recently won the bid FIDE/BCM

Photo: David Llada

GRAND SWISS 2021 TO TAKE PLACE IN OCTOBER
IOM International Chess Limited has
signed a contract with the International swiss events ever held in the history
Chess Federation (FIDE) to organise of chess. The prize fund will be USD
and host the FIDE Chess.com Grand 425,000, including a first prize of USD
Swiss and the inaugural FIDE Chess.com 70,000. Just as important is the fact that
Women’s Grand Swiss at the end of 2021. the winner and runner−up will advance to
the eight−player Candidates Tournament,
Subject to COVID−19 restrictions being the next stage of the World Championship
lifted in time, the tournaments will be held Cycle that will produce a challenger to the
concurrently in the Royal Hall of the Villa World Champion in 2022.
Marina in the capital Douglas, from 25
October to 8 November 2021. There will be The FIDE Chess.com Women’s Grand
164 players from approximately 35 countries Swiss will feature 50 of the strongest
and a combined prize fund of USD 550,000 female players, with invitations to the
donated by the Scheinberg family. world’s top−40, competing for a prize fund
of USD 125,000. The winner will progress
This will be the second edition of the to the Women’s Candidates Tournament
event being held under the flag of FIDE. which will produce a challenger to the
The 2021 edition will have a field of 114 Women’s World Champion.
players, mainly from the world’s top−100,
and is expected to be one of the strongest http://iominternationalchess.com/

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 15

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RADJABOV WINS
AIRTHINGS MASTERS 2020
‘SOLIDITY BEFORE ALL’

By GM Aleksandar Colovic / www.alexcolovic.com

The Airthings Masters, sponsored by a
Norwegian company that makes air−control Hikaru Nakamura – Wesley So
equipment with the same name, took place
from 26th December 2020 to 3rd January Airthings Masters Prelim chess24.com INT (5.5)
2021. The format was a 12−player all−play−
all, with the top eight finishers qualifying 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 ¤f6 4.0–0
for the knock−out phase. It formed part of ¤xe4 5.d4 ¤d6 6.dxe5 ¤xb5 7.a4 ¤bd4
the Champions Chess Tour, organised by 8.¤xd4 ¤xd4 9.£xd4 d5 10.exd6 £xd6
the Play Magnus Group. 11.£e4+ £e6 12.£d4 £d6 13.£e4+ £e6
14.£d4 £d6
Since only four players were eliminated XIIIIIIIIY
from the qualifying phase, this led to 9r+l+kvl-tr0
a lot of draws. The players cannot be
blamed for this - it was the format the 9zppzp-+pzpp0
practically guaranteed it. Progress to the 9-+-wq-+-+0
knockout phase secured an invite to the
next event, while an elimination risked 9+-+-+-+-0
a drop from the whole Tour. “Invite pro 9P+-wQ-+-+0
chess behaviour and you’re going to get 9+-+-+-+-0
pro chess behaviour,” as TWIC’s Mark
Crowther tweeted. 9-zPP+-zPPzP0
9tRNvL-+RmK-0
Here’s a typical “pro” behaviour where a
draw suited both players and they didn’t xiiiiiiiiy
even bother to spend more time behind ½–½
their screens.

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 January 2021

The qualifying phase saw a three-way tie for first In the knockout phase Carlsen was put under
with mere +2 (6.5 out of 11) between Carlsen, the constant pressure of Dubov’s original
So and Nakamura, but quite surprisingly they ideas. Very few people can hold their own
were all eliminated immediately at the hands of against Dubov when he is on top form and
Dubov, Vachier and Aronian respectively. with Carlsen being far from it he suffered 3
losses in the 7 games they played.
The World Champion showed some tanned
photos on his social media and upon seeing Magnus Carlsen - Daniil Dubov
them I immediately thought that a vacation
and professional chess don’t mix well. In spite Airthings Masters | Knockout chess24.com (3.1)
of winning the qualification phase his play XIIIIIIIIY
was far from optimal. Here’s one example.
9r+-+r+k+0
Magnus Carlsen - Levon Aronian
9+-+-+pzpp0
9-+p+-+-+0
Airthings Masters | Prelims chess24.com (1.4)
XIIIIIIIIY 9zp-+p+-wq-0
9-+-+-+-+0 9-+lzP-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-tR-zPPzP-0
9-+-+-+-+0 9P+-+-tRLzP0
9+R+pmk-zp-0 9+-wQ-+-mK-0
9-+-+-tr-+0 xiiiiiiiiy
The position is balanced as the weaknesses
9zP-+R+P+r0 on e3 and c6 balance each other out.
9-zPK+-+-+0 Black’s king is safer than White’s but for
now Black cannot use that factor as White
9+-+-+-+-0 has a safe position.
xiiiiiiiiy
White is a pawn up, but Black’s activity 20...h5 Black intends to further soften
should save the game. White’s kingside by pushing ...h4.

42...¦d4?? An awful blunder that 21.¥f1 Carlsen exchanges the bishop that
went unnoticed. blocks the c-file as this will expose Black’s
pawn on c6.
42...¦h2+ was the only move. The idea
is to remove the rook from the third rank 21...¥xf1 22.¢xf1 ¦ab8 Activating
with tempo. After 43.¢b3 ¦d4 44.¦c3 ¦f2 the rook.
Black is active enough to hold the balance.
23.¦xc6 h4! A precise move.
43.¦xd4?? Equally awful.
The immediate 23...¦xe3 can be met by
One needn’t be a World Champion to see 24.f4! £e7 25.¦c8+ ¦xc8 26.£xc8+
that 43.f4+ wins the rook on h3. ¢h7 27.£f5+ ¢h6 28.£xd5 and Black
has lost a pawn.
43...¢xd4 44.¦b3 ¦h2+ And Black held
the draw without problems. 24.¢g2 In case of 24.g4? ¦xe3 25.f4 £e7
26.¦c8+ ¦xc8 27.£xc8+ ¢h7 28.£f5+
½–½ g6 29.£xd5 ¢g7!, defending the pawn on
f7 and liberating the rook from its defence.

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Black has a decisive attack with ideas like 29.¦c2 ¦a3 30.¦c5. Activity, above
...¦e1, ...£b4 or ...£b7–b1. everything else, is the most important
principle in rook endgames! 30...¦xa2+
24...¦xe3 25.¦c8+ 31.¢h3 With the pawn on d5 falling the
XIIIIIIIIY position is a simple draw.
9-trR+-+k+0 27...f6 28.£b5 White is still safe, but it
9+-+-+pzp-0 would have been better to have a clear idea
in mind, like getting to a rook endgame,
9-+-+-+-+0 for example.
9zp-+p+-wq-0
9-+-zP-+-zp0 28...£f5 The threat is ...h3.
9+-+-trPzP-0 29.g4 h3+ 30.¢g3 £e4 The more
9P+-+-tRKzP0 dangerous threat (apart from simply taking
on d4) is ...f5 and curiously enough Carlsen
9+-wQ-+-+-0 misses it.
xiiiiiiiiy
25.f4 was probably simpler. Since White 31.£xa5??
has the weaker king it is he who seeks XIIIIIIIIY
to draw here and in such situations it
is best to find the most direct way to 9-+-+-+-+0
close the game out. 25...h3+ 26.¢f1 9+-+-+-zpk0
£e7 27.¦c8+ ¦xc8 28.£xc8+ £e8
(28...¢h7? 29.£xh3+ drops the h3– 9-+-+-zp-+0
pawn with check.) 29.£xe8+ ¦xe8 9wQ-+p+-+-0
30.¦e2 White should be able to draw 9-+-zPq+P+0
the rook endgame (as Black cannot
exchange rooks since the pawn on h3 9+-+-trPmKp0
will fall then). 9P+-+-tR-zP0
25...¦xc8 26.£xc8+ ¢h7 27.£d7 9+-+-+-+-0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
A strange occurrence where Carlsen
9-+-+-+-+0 ignores his opponent’s threats.
9+-+Q+pzpk0
31.£f1 was one way to deal with the
9-+-+-+-+0 threat of f5. It also eliminates the
9zp-+p+-wq-0 pawn on h3 that annoys White’s king.
9-+-zP-+-zp0 31.£d7 was another way, with the idea
of 31...£xd4 32.£f5+ ¢g8 33.£c8+
9+-+-trPzP-0 ¢h7 34.£f5+ g6 The only way to avoid
9P+-+-tRKzP0 a perpetual. 35.£d7+ ¢h6 36.¢xh3,
with a messy position as both kings are
9+-+-+-+-0 not ideal.
xiiiiiiiiy
Carlsen hesitates again. 31...f5! Black’s attack is decisive now.

27.£g4 basically forces a rook endgame 32.gxf5 £xf5 33.£b5 ¦e6 34.¦e2
where king safety is not an issue. A sample ¦g6+ 35.¢f2 £f4 36.£b1 ¢h6 Simply
line is 27...¢h6!? 28.£xg5+ ¢xg5 removing the king from the pin.

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 January 2021

Originality above all – Daniil Dubov (Photo: David Llada)

37.£d3 £xh2+ 38.¢e3 Or 38.¢e1 £g1+

and the h-pawn promotes. Daniil Dubov – Magnus Carlsen

38...¦e6+ Airthings Masters | Knockout chess24.com (7.1)

XIIIIIIIIY 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.g3 ¥b4+
9-+-+-+-+0 5.¤bd2 The move 5.Bd2 is played more
often, but the move chosen by Dubov
9+-+-+-zp-0 leads to more dynamic positions.
9-+-+r+-mk0
9+-+p+-+-0 5...dxc4 Carlsen returns to the choice from
the first game of the first match.
9-+-zP-+-+0
9+-+QmKP+p0 5...0–0 is the main line and one that
Carlsen chose twice. Generally he was
9P+-+R+-wq0 fine out of the opening, but probably
9+-+-+-+-0 didn’t like the character of the play.
xiiiiiiiiy 6.¥g2 a5 6...¥d7 was another move that
After mass exchanges on e2 the h-pawn
will promote. Carlsen chose in the match.

0–1 7.a3

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XIIIIIIIIY 13.¤e5 ¤d5 14.¦h4 A great way to activate

the rook and attack the pawn on g7!
9rsnlwqk+-tr0
9+pzp-+pzpp0 14...¤7f6 Carlsen prevents the rook from
coming to g4.
9-+-+psn-+0
9zp-+-+-+-0 15.¢f1
9-vlpzP-+-+0 XIIIIIIIIY
9zP-+-+NzP-0 9r+-wqk+-tr0
9-zP-sNPzPLzP0 9+l+-+pzp-0
9tR-vLQmK-+R0 9-+p+psn-zp0
xiiiiiiiiy 9zpp+nsN-+P0
Immediately forcing Black to give up his
dark-squared bishop (as otherwise White
9P+pzP-+-tR0
will recapture the pawn on c4). 9+-+-+-zP-0
9-zPQvLPzPL+0
7...¥xd2+ 8.¥xd2 b5 Black will now remain
a pawn up while White will seek compensation 9tR-+-+K+-0
with his bishop pair and activity. xiiiiiiiiy
The position is very complex but it’s
9.a4 c6 10.£c2 ¥b7 11.h4! not easy to come up with something
XIIIIIIIIY constructive for either side. Dubov just
improves the position of his king by
9rsn-wqk+-tr0 walking it to g1.
9+l+-+pzpp0
15...£c7 Carlsen decides to keep the king
9-+p+psn-+0 in the centre.
9zpp+-+-+-0
9P+pzP-+-zP0 After 15...0–0 16.£c1 looks rather
dangerous. The defence is 16...¤h7!
9+-+-+NzP-0 17.¥xh6 gxh6 18.£xh6 £f6 19.£c1, and
9-zPQvLPzPL+0 apparently White has full compensation for
the piece (meaning 0.00). Feel free to draw
9tR-+-mK-+R0 your own conclusions!
xiiiiiiiiy
This is Dubov’s original concept. Normally 16.¢g1 ¤b4?
in such positions White would castle, play e4
and then, according to circumstances, either
XIIIIIIIIY
e5, d5 or a slow build-up on the kingside, 9r+-+k+-tr0
perhaps by ¤e5 and f4. Dubov does 9+lwq-+pzp-0
something else - he keeps the light-square
diagonals open and activates the rook via 9-+p+psn-zp0
the h4–square with the idea of putting it on 9zpp+-sN-+P0
g4 to attack g7! It takes quite some original
thinking to come up with such a plan!
9PsnpzP-+-tR0
9+-+-+-zP-0
11...¤bd7 12.h5 h6 Black avoids h6, 9-zPQvLPzPL+0
which would weaken his dark squares on
the kingside. 9tR-+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
20 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 January 2021

Carlsen decides to become active and

concrete. It is difficult to call this move a
mistake, but Black’s main problem is his
king as the human is reluctant to castle and
staying in the centre is never optimal.

16...0–0 is again suggested by the engine

as better. 17.£c1 ¢h7 18.¦a3! A great
idea, developing the other rook in the same
manner as the first one! The threat now is to
play g4 and ¦g3 and g5! 18...b4, forcing the
rook back but giving away the extra pawn
on c4. 19.¦a1 ¤e7, threatening ...¤f5.
20.e4 c5 - the liberating push. Black is
fine now even though the position remains
complicated.

17.£c1 Now White threatens to take on b5

and b4, exposing the rook on a8.

17...¦d8 18.axb5 With the rook no longer

on a8 White opens the a-file to his benefit. In chill mode: Magnus Carlsen
(source: Facebook)
18...cxb5 19.¥xb4?! Tempting, but not
the best. 25.¤d3 Intending to block the c-file by
¤c5.
19.¥xb7 was simple and better. 19...£xb7
20.¦xa5, regaining the pawn and continuing 25...¤f6 26.¥xb7 £xb7 27.¤c5??
the attack. After 20...¤c6 21.¤xc6 £xc6 XIIIIIIIIY
22.¥b4 Black has serious issues with his king.
9-+r+k+r+0
19...axb4 20.¦a7 ¤d5 21.¦g4 The rook 9+q+-+pzp-0
finally arrives on g4.
9-+-+psn-zp0
21...¦g8 Defending the pawn on g7 and 9+psN-+-+P0
acknowledging that the king will never 9-+-zP-+R+0
castle in this game.
9tR-zp-+-zP-0
22.£c2 Targeting the h7–square. 9-+Q+PzP-+0
22...c3 Carlsen insists on his queenside 9+-+-+-mK-0
activity in order to distract White from the xiiiiiiiiy
kingside. A shocking blunder. After conducting the
game with energy and precision Dubov
23.bxc3 bxc3 24.¦a3 With the black king blunders a piece.
stuck in the centre White wants to round
up the c3–pawn and continue the game with 27.¦f4 was the move to play. After 27...
equal material. b4 28.¦b3 ¤d5 29.¦f3, threatening e4.
If White manages to take the pawn on b4
24...¦c8 Of course, Black must try to keep Black’s position will fall apart because he
the c3–pawn alive at all cost. practically plays without the rook on g8.

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29...f5, stopping e4. 30.¤c5 £c6 31.e4 37.£xf7+ g6, with the same idea - the checks
fxe4 32.£xe4, with a very unclear position have run out and Black’s rook joins the game.
where both sides have their trumps: White Here the additional point is that the rook on g8
has activity and the safer king; Black has is taboo in view of 38.£xg8? £e1+ 39.¢g2
dangerous passers on the queenside. £xf2+ 40.¢h3 £h2#; 34...£a8 35.£d4+
¢g5 Again the king finds safe haven on h5.
27...¦xc5 An elementary tactic. 36.£f4+ ¢xh5 37.£xf7+ g6 38.£xe6 £f3.

28.dxc5 ¤xg4 Black is winning now. He 35.£d4+ ¢g5 36.f3! The only winning
still needs to take care of his king and get move, but it suffices.
the rook into play, but that shouldn’t have
been too difficult for Carlsen. 36...f5 36...¤f6 37.£e5#.

29.c6 White is just lost, so he tries to 37.fxg4 ¦c8 Allowing mate in 2.

muddy the waters in any way he can.
38.£f4+ ¢f6 39.£xf5#
29...£xc6 It was possible (and probably XIIIIIIIIY
more practical) to ignore that pawn and
play 29...£b6 (hitting f2) followed by 9-+r+-+-+0
...¢e7 and ...¦c8 or ...¦d8. Still, nothing 9+-+-wq-zp-0
wrong with the capture of the pawn.
9-+-tRpmk-zp0
30.¦xc3 £b6 31.e3 ¢e7 Finally liberating 9+p+-+Q+P0
the rook. 9-+-+-+P+0
32.¦c6 White continues to harass the queen 9+-+-zP-zP-0
and threaten various checks. 9-+-+-+-+0
32...£d8 33.£c5+ ¢f6 34.¦d6 £e7?? 9+-+-+-mK-0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
This game won the match for Dubov and
9-+-+-+r+0 saw him progress to the semi-finals.
9+-+-wqpzp-0
1–0
9-+-tRpmk-zp0
9+pwQ-+-+P0
9-+-+-+n+0 Dubov’s play was the main ingredient that
made the tournament exciting. However,
9+-+-zP-zP-0 his level dropped in the semi-final against
9-+-+-zP-+0 Radjabov, who in his own words planned to
play in as boring a way as possible in order
9+-+-+-mK-0 to tame the Russian’s imagination.
xiiiiiiiiy
A blunder that costs Carlsen the game. After a roller-caster quarter-final against
Black had several moves that win, but he Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov was solid as a
had to realise that the king on h5 is safe. rock, never losing a game and keeping control
Here are a few lines: of his matches against Dubov and Aronian.

34...£c8 35.£d4+ ¢g5 36.£f4+ ¢xh5 Here is his win from the second match
37.£xf7+ g6, with no more checks left; that practically decided the champion of
34...£a5 35.£d4+ ¢g5 36.£f4+ ¢xh5 the tournament.

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 January 2021

46.¥xh6 exf3 47.¢xf3 With two

Teimour Radjabov - Levon Aronian connected passed pawns White’s win is not
too far away.
Airthings Masters KO 2020
chess24.com INT (3.22) 47...b4
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-+-+-+0 9r+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+p0 9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-+k+-+0 9-+k+-+-vL0
9+p+-zp-+P0 9+-+-+-+P0
9-vLp+-+P+0 9-zpp+-+P+0
9zP-zPlmKP+-0 9zP-zPl+K+-0
9R+-+-+-+0 9R+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
White is a pawn up but the opposite- Black tries to obtain a passed pawn for
coloured bishops and the fact that one white some counterplay, though of course
piece must always guard the a3–pawn mean White can control this without too
that Black should be able to draw. However, many problems.
Aronian’s next gives White a target.
48.cxb4 c3 49.¢e3 ¥b1 50.¦a1 c2
40...h6? Putting a pawn on a dark square 51.¢f3 ¢b5 52.a4+ White starts pushing
where it can be attacked is not a good idea. his pawns.
After his mistake Black is lost as he cannot
defend that pawn and the threat of the opening 52...¢xb4 53.a5 ¦a6 53...¢b3 54.¥c1
of the queenside by a4 at the same time. Prevents ...¢b2 and the pawns continue
their march.
40...¢d5 was better, continuing to shuffle
around and wait for White to find a way to 54.¥c1 ¦f6+ 55.¢g2 ¦d6 56.a6 Black
move forward. cannot stop the a-pawn.

41.¦b2 ¥h7 42.¢f2! Liberating the e3– 56...¦d1 57.¥e3 ¦d3 58.¥c1 ¦d1
square for the bishop, from where it can 59.¥h6
attack the pawn on h6. XIIIIIIIIY
42...¥d3 43.¥c5 ¢d5 44.¥e3 ¢c6 Black 9-+-+-+-+0
cannot go for simplifications after 44...¦xa3 9+-+-+-+-0
because after 45.¦xb5+ ¢d6 46.¥xh6
¦xc3 47.¥f8+ ¢e6 48.¦xe5+! White wins
9P+-+-+-vL0
another pawn thanks to the skewer on the 9+-+-+-+P0
long diagonal after 48...¢xe5 49.¥g7+. 9-mk-+-+P+0
45.¦a2 e4 A desperate attempt. 9+-+-+-+-0
9-+p+-+K+0
Defending the pawn on h6 by 45...¦h8
Allows 46.a4! bxa4 47.¦xa4 With ¦a6
9tRl+r+-+-0
next when the pawn on h6 inevitably falls. xiiiiiiiiy
BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 23
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The idea is to remove Black’s rook from A nice conclusion. This is why it was
the first rank. The point is seen on the last necessary not to have a black rook on the
move of the game. first rank, which would have defended
Black’s queen.
59.a7 Also wins, though there was no
need to calculate that after 59...¦xc1 62.¦xb1+ £xb1 63.£b8+ Wins the queen
60.a8£ ¦g1+ 61.¢h2 c1£ 62.£a5+ on b1.
¢c4 63.¦a4+, and so on. White wins
the rook on g1 after a series of checks. 1–0

59...¦d6 60.a7 ¦xh6 61.a8£ c1£

62.¦xb1+! Radjabov’s approach of “solidity before
XIIIIIIIIY all” turned out to be a successful formula
for the event. While others decided to
9Q+-+-+-+0 “do” things he simply sat back, waited for
9+-+-+-+-0 mistakes and hit them hard on the counter-
attack when they came. This victory
9-+-+-+-tr0 qualifies Radjabov for the final event of
9+-+-+-+P0 the tour.
9-mk-+-+P+0 During the event it became known that the
9+-+-+-+-0 company Meltwater had agreed to sponsor
9-+-+-+K+0 the Tour and that the final is planned as an
in-person event in San Francisco. It remains
9+Rwq-+-+-0 to be seen how this plan will work out.
xiiiiiiiiy

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 January 2021

THE PATH OF CHESS

FROM TELEVISION TO
THE INTERNET
By GM Ray Keene OBE

After 1995, and the Kasparov vs Anand world TV and Channel 4, until 1995. The lead impetus
championship in New York, chess virtually derived from the US chess impresario Shelby
disappeared from our TV screens. Most Lyman, who pioneered chess on TV in Public
probably because of Kasparov’s defeat by IBM’s Service Broadcasts covering the Spassky vs
Deep Blue computer in 1997, TV executives Fischer extravaganza of 1972.
got the erroneous impression that chess was
somehow solved. In any case, the demise of The high point for UK TV was undoubtedly
chess coverage on TV coincided with the rise of the rival coverage on BBC and Channel 4 of
chess commentary and play via the internet. Nigel Short’s challenge to Garry Kasparov at
London’s Savoy Theatre in 1993. During that
In the summer of 1986 I was invited to the match, the first time that a British Grandmaster
studios of Leningrad TV to watch the seasoned had challenged for the supreme title since
Soviet Grandmaster and commentator, Alexei 1890, UK TV was awash with chess, in a way
Suetin, deliver a lecture on an adjourned that had not been seen before, or, indeed, since.
game from the Kasparov vs Karpov world
championship match. The heart and epicentre But let us return to that TV studio in
of the Soviet chess imperium had pivoted Leningrad, with chess professor Suetin
towards the city, now rechristened as St about to reveal his scholarly lucubrations
Petersburg, after the first half had concluded on the adjourned game. He was on the point
in London, following a spectacular opening
ceremony at The Park Lane Hotel, conducted, The high point for UK TV
no less, by Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. was undoubtedly the rival
The year 1986 came at the mid−point of the
coverage on BBC and Channel
golden era for chess on UK television, which 4 of Nigel Short's challenge to
had been inaugurated by the BBC Master Garry Kasparov at London's
Game in the 1970s and continued with world Savoy Theatre in 1993
championship coverage, on the BBC, Thames

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 25

01/141

of starting, and the cameras were about to

roll, when I noticed something amiss. I
raised a hand to intervene but was met with
energetic instructions to keep quiet. The
countdown reached the final sixty seconds,
and I tried to speak for a second time, only
to be met with furious objections from the
director. Ten seconds left and I could no
longer contain myself: I moved forwards
and shouted out: "you have the wrong
position on the demonstration board!"

We were on the point of going live on air to

the best-informed chess audience in the world.
In 1989, Ray Keene alongside famous
journalist and human rights campaigner
Cue a rerun of the opening jingle, frantic Donald Woods, did a series on the best chess
Russian hands adjusting the pieces, and a games in history and the programme was
relieved Suetin commenced his address to a aired on Thames TV
hundred thousand eager Soviet chess fans,
with only a couple of seconds’ delay. the German technicians along the lines
of: "Himmel, Achtung, Was ist los!?" It
This experience  was not the only adventure transpired that I had fallen asleep in front
connected with that efflorescence of chess of the main electrical control panel for the
on television. Five years previously I had studio, and that my head had fallen forwards
been attending the Anatoly Karpov vs and simultaneously pressed a number of
Viktor Korchnoi world championship in buttons which, under no circumstances,
Merano, Italy in the autumn of 1981. This should have been activated simultaneously. I
was the contest pitting the Soviet defector was permitted to stay in the studio, and even
Korchnoi against holder of the award of to go back to sleep, but on the condition that
Lenin, Karpov,  which provided both the I moved my chair one meter back from the
inspiration and backdrop for the Tim Rice vulnerable array of switches and buttons.
/ ABBA musical CHESS, which this year
actually opened in Moscow. On departing After 1995, and the Kasparov vs Anand world
from Merano, I was invited to participate championship in New York, chess virtually
in Grandmaster Helmut Pfleger’s German disappeared from our TV screens. The most
language TV show about the match, which likely reason for that is Kasparov’s defeat by
was being filmed in Munich. IBM’s Deep Blue computer in 1997, which
(wrongly) gave TV executives the erroneous
In order to reach Munich on time for impression that chess was somehow solved.
the next morning’s recording, I had to
travel overnight by train from Bolsano. I In any case, the demise of chess coverage
hardly got any sleep, and I arrived at my on TV coincided with the rise of chess
destination feeling exhausted and looking commentary and play via the internet.
dishevelled. The director was sympathetic, Chess turned out to be ideally suited for this
and, since actual filming was not due to new medium and the horrific 2020 advent
start for a couple of hours, suggested that of the coronavirus, massively reinforced
I should take a nap in the control room. the audience figures for online chess
tuition, live coverage of every important
I gratefully passed out, only to be brusquely tournament and play, with millions of games
awoken with the sound of explosions, under way at any given moment around the
flashing lights and exclamations from planet and élite tournaments migrating to

26 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

this platform, which had not even existed Raging Rooks school team of Brooklyn. These
when Fischer challenged Spassky in 1972. motivational exercises have proved to be
worthy, but not blockbusters, nor have a variety
Surprisingly, the explosion of internet chess of filmic treatments of world title bouts, such
has helped fuel its resurrection on television. as movies of the 1972 (Spassky vs Fischer) and
No longer, though, experts explaining the finer 1978 (Karpov vs Korchnoi) matches proved to
points of championship bouts to restricted be much more inspiring.
cohorts of committed fans. The Phoenix-
like rebirth of chess on TV centres on the Where chess has made an indelible impression
fictional narrative of Beth Harmon, a kind of in movies is as a metaphor for foresight, as in
female Bobby Fischer, who takes the chess Casablanca, where Humphrey Bogart’s personal
world by storm over seven Netflix episodes. love of chess translated into advance warning
Her combination of mental brilliance and that the seemingly emotional hero, Rick, is in
striking beauty has resulted in rave reviews in fact a long-range planner. Even more notable
all countries where Netflix has a foothold, a is the opening sequence of the second James
twenty-five percent increase in chess interest Bond movie, From Russia with Love, where
amongst girls, a 300 percent leap in sales of the fiendish Specter mastermind, Kronsteen,
chess sets and record-breaking audiences in delivers a sparkling checkmate in the (fictional)
the many millions. Chess has suddenly become international tournament in Venice. The game
hot and it is no coincidence that Norway, home was based on the real-life encounter between
country of reigning world champion Magnus Spassky and Bronstein from Leningrad 1960.
Carlsen, is preparing to revive live chess Frequent British Chess Magazine contributor,
coverage on the national TV station , while Peter Clarke, acted as consultant for the elegant
Magnus himself , converting his skills at chess and impressive chess scenario, one I have
to acumen at business, has floated his company sought to emulate in several of my own stagings
Play Magnus, on the Oslo Stock Exchange, for of world championship contests.
around eighty million dollars.
In conclusion, chess has never been more
The Netflix series, The Queen’s Gambit, based popular. Hundreds of millions are engaged
on the Walter Tevis novel, might be described via the internet, elite tournaments are being
as something between television and film. conducted through the same medium, and
Chess has appeared frequently in films, but the The Queen’s Gambit Netflix series,
has not been a runaway success when chess led by the brilliant characterisation of
itself has been the prime topic. Such ventures Beth Harmon, has attracted more people
include the New Zealand movie, Black Knight, to the game than was  remotely considered
The Queen of Katwe and a movie about the possible, even during the heights of global
popularity achieved during the 1972  Spassky
The Phoenix-like rebirth of chess vs Fischer Cold War clash.  Thus, pitting the
on TV centres on the fictional two world superpowers against each other
narrative of Beth Harmon, a in ideological, economic, philosophic and
political terms has been trumped by the
kind of female Bobby Fischer, stellar characters, plot line and performances
who takes the chess world of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit.
by storm over seven Netflix
As the poet William Wordsworth wrote,
episodes. Her combination of in words that echo down the centuries for
mental brilliance and striking all chess enthusiasts, old and new, and in
beauty has resulted in rave particular the young, new to the game:
reviews in all countries where “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to
Netflix has a foothold be young was very heaven!”

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Russian Superfinals 2020

Nepomniachtchi’s victory
AND CHESS IN WEIRD CIRCUMSTANCES
By GM Aleksandar Colovic / www.alexcolovic.com
Photo credit: Russian Chess Federation
The Russian Federation decided to hold its Superfinal as an over−the−board event, a
welcome change at first sight. The event took place from the 5th to 16th December.

I say at first sight because all the

The event also had one
extraneous distractions connected to the withdrawal – one of the
safety measures affected the players. In an participants, Mikhail Antipov,
interview after the tournament the eventual tested positive for Covid-19 and,
winner, Ian Nepomniachtchi, said that the
whole atmosphere was not conducive to the according to the regulations,
creative process. left the tournament
28 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 January 2021

The event also had one withdrawal – one 4...d5 The move 4...c5 is also quite popular,
of the participants, Mikhail Antipov, tested but traditionally this has been considered
positive for Covid-19 and, according to the the main line.
regulations, left the tournament. He managed
to play six rounds and all his games starting 5.a3 ¥e7
from Round Seven were forfeits. XIIIIIIIIY
In the aforementioned interview 9rsnlwqk+-tr0
Nepomniachtchi shared his plan for the 9zppzp-vlpzpp0
tournament:
1. To finish the tournament without 9-+-+psn-+0
complications; 9+-+p+-+-0
2. Train a bit; 9-+PzP-+-+0
3. Not lose rating.
As it turned out, he managed all three. 9zP-sN-+P+-0
9-zP-+P+PzP0
This victory is Nepomniachtchi’s second
Russian title, exactly 10 years after the 9tR-vLQmKLsNR0
first one. This result confirms his status as xiiiiiiiiy
number one player in Russia. Although played before, this move became
famous after the game Tal-Keres, played at
The winner was full of praise for his the Candidates in 1959.
team of seconds, Grandmasters Potkin
and Khairullin. In several games After suffering in this game Karjakin
Nepomniachtchi showed fantastic changed to the traditional 5...¥xc3+
preparation. Here are two examples. 6.bxc3 c5 in his game against Fedoseev.
After 7.cxd5 ¤xd5 8.dxc5 £a5 9.e4 ¤f6
Ian Nepomniachtchi - Sergey Karjakin 10.¥e3 0–0 11.£b3 ¤fd7 12.¥b5, a rare
choice compared to the more popular 12.a4.
73rd ch-RUS 2020 Moscow RUS (7) 12...¤a6 13.¥xa6 £xa6 14.a4 ¤e5 15.£b5,
White had some pressure in the endgame
This game was played at the moment where after the exchange of queens in the game
both players shared the lead and it was clear ½–½ (40) Fedoseev,V (2674)-Karjakin,S
by the way they were playing that the title (2752) Moscow RUS 2020.
would be decided among them.
6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 c5 The modern approach.
1.d4 Nepomniachtchi is a 1.e4 player, This move only started to be employed in
but in the period after the Candidates was 2017. Keres played 7...e5, aiming at dark-
stopped, at least judging from his online square control after 8.d5 ¥c5.
games, he expanded his repertoire.
8.d5 exd5 9.exd5 0–0 White has a
1...¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 White goes into protected passed pawn on d5, but Black
the game with a very concrete idea in hopes to blockade it and achieve smooth
mind. First he allows the Nimzo-Indian development with ...¥d6, ...¥g4 and
and plans to follow a deeply analysed ...¤bd7. The ensuing positions are very
and sharp line, introduced in the game sharp and concrete, making them a fertile
Caruana-Alekseenko at the aforementioned ground for computer preparation.
Candidates.
10.¥e2 ¦e8 11.¤f3 ¥g4 12.0–0 ¤bd7
3...¥b4 4.f3 One of the sharpest lines 13.d6 ¥f8 14.h3 ¥h5 Up to here the players
against the Nimzo-Indian. followed the game Caruana-Alekseenko.

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Ian Nepomniachtchi - Sergey Karjakin

15.¥f4 but then it became clear when the computer

XIIIIIIIIY showed the next move.
9r+-wqrvlk+0 16...¦ad8 17.¦a2!
9zpp+n+pzpp0 XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-zP-sn-+0 9-+-trrvlk+0
9+-zp-+-+l0 9zpp+n+pzpp0
9-+P+-vL-+0 9-wq-zP-sn-+0
9zP-sN-+N+P0 9+-zp-+-+l0
9-zP-+L+P+0 9-+P+-vL-+0
9tR-+Q+RmK-0 9zPPsN-+N+P0
xiiiiiiiiy 9R+-+L+P+0
This is Nepomniachtchi’s novelty.
9+-+Q+RmK-0
Caruana played 15.¤b5 but here Karjakin xiiiiiiiiy
varied with 15...£b6 (15...¦e6?! Was This is White’s idea - the rook enters the
Alekseenko’s choice, but he was in trouble game via the second rank and from d2 it
after 16.¥f4 a6 17.¤c7 1–0 (34) Caruana,F will support the passed pawn on d6.
(2842)-Alekseenko,K (2698) Yekaterinburg
RUS 2020) 16.¤c7 ¥xd6 17.¤xa8 ¦xa8 17...h6 Generally a useful move, taking
With excellent compensation for the exchange away the g5–square and one that postpones
in the game: 0–1 (33) Vidit,S (2726)-Karjakin,S the direct confrontation for one move.
(2752) chess.com INT 2020.
18.a4 White on the other hand keeps the
15...£b6 16.b3! The core of White’s ¦d2 idea in reserve and uses the rook on the
idea. Nepomniachtchi admitted to not a-file to harass the black queen by a5. Now
understanding the idea of the move at first, Black is forced to do something concrete.

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 January 2021

18...¥xf3? However, this is a mistake. Most 22...¤xf3+ 23.¦xf3 ¤e4

likely it is a miscalculation as Karjakin XIIIIIIIIY
thought he could take the pawn on d6. It
is nearly impossible to understand all the 9-+-trr+k+0
intricacies of this complex position without 9zpp+-+pzp-0
serious analysis and here the players were
in an unequal position - Nepomniachtchi 9q+-vl-+-zp0
was still in his preparation while Karjakin 9zPNzp-+-+-0
wasn’t and was spending masses of time. 9-+P+nvL-+0
18...£a5 Prevents White’s idea of a5. 19.¤b5 9+P+-+R+P0
a6 20.¤c7 ¦e4. With ideas like ...¥xf3 9-+-tR-+P+0
followed by ...¦d4 and ...£c3 Black has good
counterplay; 18...a6 was also fine for Black. 9+-+Q+-mK-0
Similar to Black’s previous move, this one xiiiiiiiiy
takes away the b5–square from White’s knight. 23...¥e7 24.¤c7 £xa5 25.¤xe8 ¦xe8
19.a5 £c6 20.¦d2 ¤e4 21.¤xe4 £xe4 26.¦e3 is technically winning for White
22.¥g3 ¤f6: Black has a good position here, after yet another pin on the e-file.
with the position still remaining complex.
24.¤xd6 ¤xd2 25.£xd2 White’s knight
19.¥xf3 ¤e5 20.¤b5 ¥xd6? on d6 is safely protected, which means that
XIIIIIIIIY he has a decisive material advantage. The
wrap-up was short.
9-+-trr+k+0
9zpp+-+pzp-0 25...¦e6 26.¦d3 b6 27.¤f5 ¦xd3
28.£xd3 £b7 29.£d5 £xd5 30.cxd5
9-wq-vl-sn-zp0 ¦e1+ 31.¢f2 ¦d1 32.¢e2
9+Nzp-sn-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY
9P+P+-vL-+0 9-+-+-+k+0
9+P+-+L+P0 9zp-+-+pzp-0
9R+-+-+P+0 9-zp-+-+-zp0
9+-+Q+RmK-0 9zP-zpP+N+-0
xiiiiiiiiy 9-+-+-vL-+0
Black follows his plan, but it was a wrong
one and after this Black is lost. 9+P+-+-+P0
9-+-+K+P+0
20...¤xf3+ This was the only move to stay in
the game. Still, after 21.£xf3 £c6 22.¤c7 9+-+r+-+-0
£xf3 23.gxf3 White wins the exchange, xiiiiiiiiy
which gives him good winning chances. A crushing win against a direct competitor,
Most resilient is 23...¤h5 24.¤xe8 ¤xf4 thanks to superior opening preparation.
25.¦e1 ¤xh3+ 26.¢f1 ¤g5 Threatening With this win, Nepomniachtchi went one
...¤e6. White manages to extract the knight point ahead, but Karjakin kept fighting
after 27.¦g2 ¤e6 28.¤f6+ ¢h8 29.¤e4, and thanks to a certain Daniil Dubov the
but after 29...g5 Black has a very solid tournament intrigue was kept until the last
position that is difficult to break. round.

21.a5! £a6 22.¦d2 The pin on the d-file 1–0

is deadly.

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Ian Nepomniatchichi:
A year’s break from OTB chess doesn’t do you any good

In an interview following his victory in the Russian Championship, Ian Nepomniatchichi

shared his thoughts on the change chess went through in 2020.

− The Candidates Tournament is clearly the main event, which has been suspended for
a year. After the quarantine was imposed, one could play only on the Internet, but it is
sometimes useful to sit at the board and touch pieces with your hands… However, I
don’t think that a one−year break does you any good.

Nepomniatchichi also noted that he decided to take part in the superfinals because he
wanted some practice.

Vladimir Barsky - who interviewed Nepomniatchichi for the website of the Russian chess
federation - asked whether Ian was fed up with so many online events in the past year.

− What do you mean fed up with? There is such a thing as a habit. It is more habitual
to play chess over−the−board than on the Internet. Since childhood, I’ve been playing
on the Internet, but it has never been a tournament or an official competition, so it
opened a door into some new experience. When this whole story began in April−May,
it was hard to adapt to new realities because I partially rate playing on the Internet (on
a subconscious level, probably) as an easy−going chess approach.

Nepomniatchichi said he felt affected after the news that one of the participants -
Mikhail Antipov - tested positive for coronavirus during the event.

− Of course, it did [affect the mood]. I think it affected everyone. For me, the tournament
split into "before" and "after". I offered to discuss the situation with all the participants
before starting round 7 (that is, not because I wanted to fix the first place). It is one
thing to make a hypothetical assumption at the start that someone might get sick, and
another to see it happen in real life; it seemed no laughing matter at all to me. I wanted
to gather some kind of meeting where we could discuss what we were doing next. I
would have probably been satisfied even with some strong−willed decision… As a
result, the participants were interviewed, and lack of agreement between comrades is
not unusual in such cases: the voiced opinions differed, and the tournament continued.

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 January 2021

Ian Nepomniachtchi - Andrey Esipenko 18.axb3 £xc3 19.¥d4 £c2 and Black
eventually kept the balance in the game:
73rd ch-RUS 2020 Moscow RUS (10) ½–½ (57) Karjakin,S (2752)-Esipenko,A
(2686) Moscow RUS 2020.
This game was played in the penultimate
round when Nepomniachtchi and Karjakin 14.¦e1 h6 15.¤h4!
were again on equal points. Having lost XIIIIIIIIY
to Daniil Dubov in the previous round,
this time being outprepared, in this game 9rsn-+-trk+0
Nepomniachtchi uncorks another piece of 9zppwq-+pzp-0
great preparation.
9-+pvl-+-zp0
1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤f6 Esipenko’s trusted 9+-+P+lvL-0
weapon. 9-+L+-+-sN0
3.¤xe5 d6 4.¤f3 ¤xe4 5.d4 Equally 9+-zP-+-+-0
popular is 5.¤c3. 9P+-+-zPPzP0
5...d5 6.¥d3 ¥d6 7.0–0 0–0 8.c4 c6 9.¤c3 9tR-+QtR-mK-0
¤xc3 10.bxc3 dxc4 11.¥xc4 ¥f5 12.¥g5 xiiiiiiiiy
£a5 A novelty and the start of a very dangerous
XIIIIIIIIY sacrificial attack. Previously the natural
move 15.¥h4 was played. However, having
9rsn-+-trk+0 in mind the game Nepomniachtchi-Li,
9zpp+-+pzpp0 mentioned in the comments to Black’s 12th
move, this move shouldn’t have come as a
9-+pvl-+-+0 surprise to Esipenko.
9wq-+-+lvL-0
9-+LzP-+-+0 15...¥h7 16.¥xh6! gxh6 17.£g4+ ¢h8
18.¤f5 ¥xf5 19.£xf5 f6 20.¦ad1 For now
9+-zP-+N+-0 White only has a pawn for the sacrificed
9P+-+-zPPzP0 piece, but his central concentration and
Black’s weak king and lag in development
9tR-+Q+RmK-0 offer a lot of compensation. Objectively the
xiiiiiiiiy position is balanced (read: 0.00) but it is
To understand what happened later in the much easier to play with White.
game, it is worth taking a look at a previous
game by Nepomniachtchi. 12...£c7? This 20...cxd5 Black further reduces the
move isn’t good because after 13.¦e1 h6 material, but now thanks to the open files
14.¤h4! ¥h7 15.¥xh6! White has a big White’s rooks develop great activity.
advantage. 1–0 (29) Nepomniachtchi,I
(2749)-Li,C (2720) Sharjah 2017. 21.¦xd5 £xc4 22.¦xd6 £f7 23.h4 Still
with only one pawn for the piece White
13.d5 £c7 Esipenko is first to deviate from plays positionally. He opens a luft for the
his 2nd round game with Karjakin. king and now threatens ideas like ¦e3–g3–
g6. Black’s main problem is that the knight
13...£c5 was his choice against is stuck on b8, guarding the d7–square in
Karjakin. 14.¥b3 (14.£b3!? could be an order to prevent ¦d7.
improvement, for example 14...b5 15.¥e2
£xd5 16.£xd5 cxd5 17.¤d4) 14...cxd5 23...£h7 This forces the exchange of
15.¥e3 £c7 16.£xd5 ¥e6 17.£h5 ¥xb3 queens but drops the pawn on b7. It

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still doesn’t solve the problem of the 28...¦a6 The rook endgame should be a
undeveloped knight, but in the endgame draw, but Black must be careful as he will
Black should be able to draw. still be a pawn down.

24.£xh7+ ¢xh7 25.¦e7+ 29.¦xb8 ¦xd6 30.¦xf8 ¦d2 Black goes

XIIIIIIIIY after the a-pawn.
9rsn-+-tr-+0 31.a4 ¦a2 32.¢g2 f5 33.¦c8 ¦xa4 34.¦c5
9zpp+-tR-+k0 ¦a2 35.¢f3 White’s plan is to combine
the threat of pushing the c-pawn with play
9-+-tR-zp-zp0 against Black’s weakened kingside pawns.
9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-zP0 35...¢f6?
9+-zP-+-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY
9P+-+-zPP+0 9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-mK-0 9+-+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy 9-+-+-mk-zp0
25...¢g6? The king is more exposed here 9zp-tR-+p+P0
than on the 8th rank. 9-+-+-+-+0
25...¢g8! 26.¦xb7 a5 27.¦e6, with the
9+-zP-+KzP-0
idea of ¦ee7. 27...¦a6 28.¦ee7 ¦d8, and 9r+-+-zP-+0
the maximum White has is a draw by 9+-+-+-+-0
perpetual check.
xiiiiiiiiy
26.h5+! ¢g5 26...¢xh5? 27.¦g7 will get Endangering the draw.
Black mated after ¦e3–h3.
35...a4 This is natural, but Black had to see
27.¦xb7? Natural, but wrong. that after 36.g4 he has 36...¢h4! 37.¦xf5
¦c2 38.¦c5 a3 and after the exchange
27.¦d3! was the way to go, but very difficult of the queenside pawns White will also
to calculate as the rook manoeuvres are lose the pawn on g4, for example: 39.c4
very delicate. 27...f5 (After 27...¤c6 White a2 40.¦a5 ¦xc4 41.¦xa2 ¦xg4 with an
mates with 28.¦g3+ ¢f5 29.¦f3+ ¢g5 easy draw.; 35...¢xh5 was the simplest
30.¦g7+ ¢xh5 31.¦h3#) 28.¦e6! ¢xh5 solution. After 36.¦xf5+ ¢g6 Black will
(28...¦c8 29.¦g3+ ¢xh5 30.¦e5! ¦f8 easily force the exchange of the queenside
31.¦e7! This is the so-called computer- pawns, leading to a theoretically drawn 2
like precision. 31...¦c8 32.¦f7 ¦c5 33.f4 vs 1 endgame.
and there is no defence against ¦fg7 and
¦h3 mate.) 29.¦h3+ ¢g5 30.¦g3+ ¢h5 As is usual in modern chess
31.¦g7 with the idea of ¦e3–h3, mating. today, the last round decisive
games end up being drawn.
27...a5 Activating the rook via a6. Black is
still under pressure, but he should be able The fighting spirit of Kasparov,
to hold. Lasker or Botvinnik, who were
very much looking forward
28.g3 28.a4!? would be similar to the game
after 28...¦a6 29.¦xb8 ¦xd6 30.¦xf8 ¦c6
to playing for a win in the last
31.¦a8 ¢xh5 32.¦xa5+ ¢g6. rounds is rarely, if ever, seen
34 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 January 2021

36.¢e3! White liberates the path for the XIIIIIIIIY

f-pawn. He intends f4 and f3, securing his
own kingside and capturing the f5–pawn. 9-+-+-mk-+0
9tR-+-+-+-0
36...¢g5?
9-+-+-mK-zp0
XIIIIIIIIY 9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-+0 9-+P+-zPP+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9zp-tr-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-zp0 9-+-+-+-+0
9zp-tR-+pmkP0 9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-+0 xiiiiiiiiy
9+-zP-mK-zP-0 This is the problem. Black’s king is forced
9r+-+-zP-+0 to leave the kingside.
9+-+-+-+-0 46...¢e8 If 46...¢g8 47.¢g6 White
xiiiiiiiiy collects the h6–pawn.
The final mistake. Things already weren’t
easy and Black doesn’t want to allow White 47.c5 ¦c4 48.f5 ¦xg4 49.c6 ¢d8 50.¦xa3
3 vs 1 on the kingside. But that was the ¢c7 51.¦h3 With an elementary Lucena
saving idea! position after taking on h6. Since Karjakin
also won in this round this victory kept
36...a4! leads to a curious position after Nepomniachtchi in the shared lead going
White captures on f5 and Black on c3. into the last round.
37.f3 a3 38.¢f4 ¦c2 39.¦xf5+ ¢g7
40.¦c5. This doesn’t change anything, 1–0
as after 40...¦c1 Black threatens ...a2–
a1, so White is forced to give up the
c-pawn: 41.¦a5 ¦xc3 42.¦a7+ ¢g8 The last round saw both leaders play with
43.g4 ¦b3. A very interesting position Black. Nepomniachtchi was facing Chigaev
where White cannot win. The problem is and Karjakin was facing Dubov.
that Black gives side checks and White
cannot hide and advance the pawns As is usual in modern chess today, the last-
at the same time without allowing an round decisive games end up being drawn.
exchange of one of his kingside pawns The fighting spirit of Kasparov, Lasker or
for the a-pawn, leading to a drawn 2 vs Botvinnik, who were very much looking
1 endgame. forward to playing for a win in the last
rounds, is rarely, if ever, seen.
37.f3 Threatening g4.
Today’s players have taken Tigran
37...¢xh5 38.¢f4 ¢g6 39.¦c6+ ¢g7 Petrosian’s wisdom to heart and just draw
40.¢xf5 Now White has everything their decisive games, taking no risks and
under control and is winning. Black’s hoping their competition will mess up. The
problem is that he cannot force a most striking example of this approach was
favourable 2 vs 1 on the kingside undoubtedly Carlsen’s decision to draw the
because of his bad king. last game of his match with Caruana, in spite
of having a clearly superior position (that the
40...¦f2 41.¦c7+ ¢f8 42.f4 ¦f3 43.g4 a4 engines and some former World Champions
44.c4 a3 45.¦a7 ¦c3 46.¢f6! as Kramnik and Kasparov saw as winning).

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So, Nepomniachtchi didn’t think for long Anand,V (2786) Zurich SUI 2017 in view
when Chigaev started repeating moves of 26...¦h1#.
in the Najdorf: 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cd
4.¤d4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥e3 ¤g4 7.¥c1 8.¥d5! Preventing ...d5.
¤f6 8.¥e3. The draw was agreed promptly.
The other leader played a much more 8...¤xc3 9.¤xc3 dxc3 10.¥g5 ¤e7 11.0–0
interesting game. h6 12.¥h4 This is a critical moment as
Black has an important choice to make.
Daniil Dubov - Sergey Karjakin
12...0–0
73rd ch-RUS 2020 Moscow RUS (11)
XIIIIIIIIY
1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 ¥c5 4.c3 ¤f6 9r+lwq-trk+0
5.d4 exd4 6.b4!? Dubov is known for his 9zppzppsnpzp-0
original opening preparation and here he
resurrects a move that was played by multi- 9-vl-+-+-zp0
millionaire Oleg Skvortsov in an exhibition 9+-+LzP-+-0
game against Anand. 9-zP-+-+-vL0
6...¥b6 7.e5 ¤e4 9+-zp-+N+-0
XIIIIIIIIY 9P+-+-zPPzP0
9r+lwqk+-tr0 9tR-+Q+RmK-0
9zppzpp+pzpp0 xiiiiiiiiy
The engine dislikes this, but a human
9-vln+-+-+0 understandably wants to avoid weakening
9+-+-zP-+-0 the kingside. However, the drawback of
9-zPLzpn+-+0 the move is that now Black won’t find rest
from the pins - either on the h4–d8 diagonal
9+-zP-+N+-0 or on the e-file after White’s next move.
9P+-+-zPPzP0
12...g5 is preferred by the engine. 13.¥g3
9tRNvLQmK-+R0 (13.¤xg5. Perhaps this looked troublesome
xiiiiiiiiy to Karjakin, but Black is fine after
This is the alternative move. 13...¤xd5 14.¤f3 ¤e7, though White does
have some compensation for the piece and
Anand played 7...d5 8.exf6 dxc4 and the pawn.) 13...¤xd5 14.£xd5 0–0 The
the game was really a spectacular one: position is unclear even though the engine
9.£e2+ ¥e6 10.b5 ¤b4 11.fxg7 ¦g8 prefers Black.
12.cxb4 £f6. Black is a piece down
but he has powerful central pawns as 13.¦e1 £e8 The queen moves from the
compensation. 13.0–0 £xg7 14.g3 0–0–0 diagonal only to land on the sensitive e-file.
15.a4 d3 16.£b2 £xg3+!! A great move,
even though the engine prefers 16...£g4. 14.¥b3 a5? Black wants to undermine
17.hxg3 ¦xg3+ 18.¢h2 ¦xf3 19.¥g5? White’s queenside and possibly harass the
(19.£g7! was the saving move.) 19...¥d4 bishop on b3 by pushing ...a4, but this is
Now Black wins as his domination too slow.
is decisive. 20.£d2 ¦g8 21.¦a3 h6
22.¦g1 ¦h3+ 23.¢g2 ¦xg5+ 24.¢f1 14...¤f5 was the correct move, aiming
¦xg1+ 25.¢xg1 ¥d5 26.¦a1 And to push ...d5. 15.£d3 d5! (15...¤xh4 is
White resigned in 0–1 (26) Skvortsov,O- also possible. 16.¤xh4 d5 17.exd6 £d7

36 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

Is more complicated after 18.¤g6 £xd6 XIIIIIIIIY

19.¦ad1 £f6 20.¤xf8 ¥xf2+ 21.¢h1,
with a mess where Black shouldn’t 9r+-+qtrk+0
be worse.) 16.exd6 £d7 and Black 9+pzp-+pzp-0
somehow holds, in spite of White’s
development advantage and initiative.
9-vl-zPlvLnzp0
For example, 17.¦ad1 cxd6 18.¥c2 £c6 9+-+-+-+-0
with murky play. 9pzPL+-+-+0
15.¥f6! 9+-zpQ+N+-0
XIIIIIIIIY 9P+-+-zPPzP0
9r+l+qtrk+0 9tR-+-tR-mK-0
9+pzppsnpzp-0 xiiiiiiiiy
19.£xg6!! Spectacular, even if it doesn’t
9-vl-+-vL-zp0 win against best play.
9zp-+-zP-+-0
19.¥xc3 ¥xc4 attacks the white queen and
9-zP-+-+-+0 Black is fine after 20.£xc4 £d7.
9+Lzp-+N+-0
9P+-+-zPPzP0 19...fxg6 20.¦xe6 £f7? 20...£c6!
was more resilient. After the forcing
9tR-+QtR-mK-0 line 21.¦e7+ £xc4 22.¦xg7+ ¢h8
xiiiiiiiiy 23.¦xc7+ ¦xf6 24.¦xc4 ¦xd6 25.¦xc3
A great move! White simply prepares to ¥d4 26.¤xd4 ¦xd4 27.a3 ¦ad8 Black
sacrifice on g7 at an appropriate moment. has decent drawing chances in the rook
endgame a pawn down.
15...a4 16.¥c4 The bishop needs to stay on
the a2–g8 diagonal. 21.¥xc3 White has only two pieces for the
queen, but his powerful bishops and Black’s
16...¤g6 17.£d3?! Attacking the knight unfortunate geometry on the a2–g8 diagonal
on g6. In order to understand better the make this position very difficult for Black.
difficulties the players had over the board,
you should know that this move is an 21...¢h8?
imprecision while the move 17.£c2 was XIIIIIIIIY
the winning one.
9r+-+-tr-mk0
17.£c2! This wins, but go figure it out 9+pzp-+qzp-0
during a game! 17...d5 18.exd6 ¥e6
19.¥xc3! and now there is no ...¥xc4
9-vl-zPR+pzp0
attacking the white queen. White’s attack 9+-+-+-+-0
is very strong now. 19...cxd6 20.£xg6! 9pzPL+-+-+0
The same sacrifice is even stronger in
this version. 20...fxg6 21.¦xe6 £c6 9+-vL-+N+-0
22.¦xg6+ £xc4 23.¦xg7+ ¢h8 9P+-+-zPPzP0
24.¦c7+ £xc3 25.¦xc3 After all the
complications White has emerged a pawn
9tR-+-+-mK-0
up with a technically winning position as xiiiiiiiiy
Black has too many weaknesses. The decisive mistake. Karjakin crumbles
under the immense pressure of Dubov’s
17...d5 18.exd6 ¥e6 aggressive play.

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 37

01/141

Only 21...¥xf2+! allowed Black to stay Threatening ¦e5, which wins the black queen.
in the game. The point of the sacrifice is A fantastic creative achievement by Dubov.
to lure the king to f2, an important point
as we shall see. 22.¢xf2 ¢h8 23.¦c1! 1–0
defending the bishop(s). (Black’s idea
is seen after 23.¦e4 £f5 24.¦e7?
£c2+! This is the difference from the As it turned out, Nepomniachtchi’s risk-
game, but it’s understandable why free strategy was awarded. Karjakin played
Karjakin couldn’t find it. This is just too a great tournament but lost two games
complicated!) 23...cxd6 24.¦xd6 £f5 in exactly the same fashion – he fell into
25.¥d3 £f4 26.¦xg6 ¦f7, with a rather his opponents’ opening preparation and
messy position. couldn’t find a way out.

22.¦e4 £f5 After 22...¥xf2+ 23.¢h1! The third place was shared between
White’s powerful bishops destroy Black’s Fedoseev and Dubov, with Fedoseev having
kingside after 23...£f5 24.¦e7. the better tie-break and winning bronze.
After almost winning the Dortmund
23.¦e7 ¦g8 The only way to defend g7 is tournament back in 2017, which he started
to give away material. Black’s problem is with a convincing win against Kramnik with
that after 23...¦f6, 24.d7 wins for White. Black, Fedoseev kept on underperforming
and gave the impression of constantly
24.¥xg8 ¦xg8 25.dxc7. It is the passed failing to fulfil his potential. Perhaps this
pawn on c7 that will decide the game. success, coupled with the fact that he was
the only player not to lose a game, is a start
25...£c2 26.¥e5 ¥xf2+ 27.¢h1. of his renewed ascent.
Surprisingly enough Black is paralysed.
White now needs some time to regroup Daniil Dubov is already well-known
before finishing the game off. for his deep preparation and sparkling
style. He beat both winners thanks to his
27...¥b6 28.h3 ¢h7 29.¦e1 a3 30.¢h2 superior opening preparation, but also lost
g5 31.¤d4 £c4 31...¥xd4 doesn’t change two games, which prevented him from
much. 32.¥xd4 ¢g6 33.¦1e6+ ¢h7 achieving more.
34.¦d7 with the idea of ¦ee7.
There were many interesting games in the
32.¤f5 £xb4 33.¦c1 ¢g6 34.¦xg7+ tournament, but one stands out. The game
¢xf5 35.¦xg8 ¥xc7 36.¥xc7 £b2 between Vitiugov and Esipenko was a
37.¦c5+ ¢e4 38.¦d8 notable effort by both players.
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-tR-+-+0
9+pvL-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-zp0
9+-tR-+-zp-0
9-+-+k+-+0
9zp-+-+-+P0
9Pwq-+-+PmK0
9+-+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy
38 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 January 2021

Nikita Vitiugov - Andrey Esipenko kingside. Black could have gone for 16...¦e8
or 16...¤ce8 with the idea of ...¤f6.
73rd ch-RUS 2020 Moscow RUS (8)
17.h5 ¤f5 18.¤e5
1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.¤xe5 d6 4.¤f3 ¤xe4
5.¥d3. Not a really threatening line against XIIIIIIIIY
the Petroff. 9r+-wq-trk+0
5...d5 6.£e2 6.0–0 ¥e7 7.¦e1 ½–½ (46) So,W
9zppsn-vlp+p0
(2786)-Caruana,F (2804) Saint Louis 2018. 9-+p+-+p+0
6...£e7 7.0–0 ¤d6 8.£d1 £d8 9.¦e1+
9+-+psNn+P0
¥e7 10.c3. White liberates the c2–square 9-+-zP-vL-+0
for the bishop in order to push d4. 9+-zP-+-+-0
10...0–0 11.¥c2 c6 12.d4 ¥f5. Black’s
9PzPQsN-zPP+0
light-squared bishop is the worse one of the 9tR-+-tR-mK-0
two, so Esipenko logically exchanges it. xiiiiiiiiy
White has more control over the dark squares
13.¥f4 ¥xc2 14.£xc2 ¤a6 15.¤bd2 so he uses them to put his pieces on more active
¤c7. The position looks rather sterile and positions. The game is slowly heating up.
one would expect mass exchanges on the
e-file followed by a draw, but with his next 18...¥d6 19.¤df3 f6 20.hxg6! Here we go.
move Vitiugov shows that he wants to fight. There was nothing wrong with 20.¤d3, but
Vitiugov decides to go for the kill.
16.h4!?
XIIIIIIIIY 20...fxe5 21.gxh7+ ¢g7?
9r+-wq-trk+0 XIIIIIIIIY
9zppsn-vlpzpp0 9r+-wq-tr-+0
9-+psn-+-+0 9zppsn-+-mkP0
9+-+p+-+-0 9-+pvl-+-+0
9-+-zP-vL-zP0 9+-+pzpn+-0
9+-zP-+N+-0 9-+-zP-vL-+0
9PzPQsN-zPP+0 9+-zP-+N+-0
9tR-+-tR-mK-0 9PzPQ+-zPP+0
xiiiiiiiiy 9tR-+-tR-mK-0
Proposed by the engines.
xiiiiiiiiy
The sterile scenario was followed after The king is exposed on g7. Perhaps
16.¦e2 ¦e8 17.¦ae1 ¥f8 18.¤e5 £f6 we can notice a trend if we compare
19.¥g3 £f5 20.£xf5 ¤xf5 21.¤d3 ¤xg3 this decision to the one Esipenko made
22.hxg3 f6 with an expected draw in the against Nepomniachtchi on move 25 - in
game: ½–½ (46) So,W (2786)-Caruana,F both cases he misplaces his king. Perhaps
(2804) Saint Louis 2018. he needs to work on improving his "feel"
for the king.
16...g6 A questionable decision. It does
allow Black to put a knight on f5, but on 21...¢h8 This was safer. After 22.¤xe5
the other hand it gives White a hook on the £f6, covering the check from g6. 23.¤d7

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£g7, is the simple retreat, even though the 24.g3! As we saw in the comment to
more complicated 23...¤d4 is also possible. Black’s 22nd move, this move introduces
24.¤xf8 ¦xf8 25.¥xd6 ¤xd6: the position the idea of ¢g2 and ¦h1.
remains unclear but Black shouldn’t be worse.
24...£d7 White’s idea is seen after
22.¦xe5! Piling up the pressure. 24...¥c7 25.h8£+! ¢xh8 Black cannot
take with the rook as it needs to stay on f8
22.dxe5? ss met by 22...¤e6!; 22.¤xe5 to defend the knight on f5. 26.¢g2 and the
£f6 Again is fine for Black after the rook enters the game with decisive effect.
complications that follow: 23.¤d7 ¤xd4!
24.¤xf6 (Or 24.¥xd6 £xd6 25.£d2 ¤f5 25.¦ae1 ¥d6 26.g4 ¤e7 27.£d2. The
26.¤xf8 ¦xf8 With a good position for queen enters the attack by threatening £g5.
Black.) 24...¤xc2 25.¤h5+ (After 25.¥xd6
¢xf6 26.¥e7+ ¢g6 27.¥xf8 ¦xf8 28.¦e7 27...¢h8 28.¤h4. White simply comes
¤xa1 29.¦xc7 ¦h8 30.¦xb7 ¦xh7 Black closer with his pieces and Black is helpless.
should be able to draw.) 25...¢xh7 26.¥xd6
¦f7 27.¥xc7 ¦xc7 28.¦e8!: a nice move 28...¦f7 29.£g5 ¦g7 30.£f6 ¢xh7
to make. 28...¦xe8 29.¤f6+ ¢g6 30.¤xe8 31.g5?
¦e7 31.¦c1 ¤e1 32.¤d6 ¤d3: Black’s XIIIIIIIIY
activity compensates the lack of a pawn.
9r+-+-+-+0
22...¤e6? Tempting, but bad. 9zpp+qsn-trk0
22...£d7! This was more or less the only 9-+pvlRwQ-+0
move to keep Black in the game, which only 9+-+p+-zP-0
shows how complicated Esipenko’s task was. 9-+-zP-+-sN0
A sample line is: 23.¦xf5 ¥xf4 24.h8£+
¢xh8 25.¦h5+ ¢g8 26.g3, with the idea of 9+-zP-+-+-0
playing g2 and ¦ah1. Curiously, White has 9PzP-+-zP-+0
time for this manoeuvre in such a concrete
position. 26...£g7 27.¢g2 ¦f7 28.¦ah1 ¦af8 9+-+-tR-mK-0
29.¦h8+ £xh8 30.¦xh8+ ¢xh8 31.¤h4, xiiiiiiiiy
with a dynamically balanced position. A natural move, removing the pawn from
g4 where it can be taken with check, but it
23.¦xe6 23.¦xf5 was a good alternative. gives away the advantage.
23...¤xf4 24.g3 ¤g6 25.¦e1, with ¦e6 to
come - when White’s attack should prevail. 31.¦xd6. Just taking the bishop was
winning: 31...£xg4+. Perhaps both players
23...¥xf4
XIIIIIIIIY overestimated the importance of this check.
32.¢f1: Black doesn’t have more than a
9r+-wq-tr-+0 check or two while White is a pawn up and
9zpp+-+-mkP0 can force the exchange of queens after, for
example 32...¤g8, defending against £h6.
9-+p+R+-+0 33.£f5+ £xf5 34.¤xf5 which should be
9+-+p+n+-0 technically winning; 31.¢f1 Is indicated by
9-+-zP-vl-+0 the engine. White removes the king from
the g-file and after 31...¦d8, defending the
9+-zP-+N+-0 bishop, 32.¤f3!. The g5–square can be used
9PzPQ+-zPP+0 by the knight: 32...¢g8 33.¤g5 with total
domination that allows for ideas like £h6
9tR-+-+-mK-0 and ¦1e3–h3.
xiiiiiiiiy
40 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 January 2021

31...¦d8 Black defends the bishop. XIIIIIIIIY

32.¦1e3 White continues to put 9-+-+-+-mk0
pressure, but objectively the position is 9zpp+-sn-tr-0
balanced now.
9-+ptR-+P+0
32...¢g8 9+-+p+-+-0
XIIIIIIIIY 9-+-zP-+qsN0
9-+-tr-+k+0 9+-zP-+-+-0
9zpp+qsn-tr-0 9PzP-+-zPKtR0
9-+pvlRwQ-+0 9+-+-+-+-0
9+-+p+-zP-0 xiiiiiiiiy
With perpetual check. A wonderful creative
9-+-zP-+-sN0 effort by Vitiugov, but also a tough defence
9+-zP-tR-+-0 by Esipenko.
9PzP-+-zP-+0
½–½
9+-+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
33.g6!? A fantastic concept, sacrificing a The tournament had a lot of decisive games
queen for domination. Unfortunately, it as if the players could hardly wait to return
only suffices for equality. to “real” chess.

33.¦f3 doesn’t allow ...¦f8, though

Black should hold according to the engine
after 33...c5: believe it or not, the only RUSSIAN SUPERFINALS 2020
move! 34.g6 cxd4 35.cxd4 ¥b4! with the Final Standings
intention of ...¥d2 to include the bishop in
the defence. A beautiful defensive idea!
Name Score Rating
1 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 7½ 2784
33...¦f8 34.¦xd6! No way back, as 2 Karjakin, Sergey 7 2752
34.£g5? ¥f4 wins for Black.
3 Fedoseev, Vladimir 6½ 2674
34...£g4+ 35.¦g3 £d1+ 36.¢g2 ¦xf6 4 Dubov, Daniil 6½ 2702
37.¦xf6 White has a rook and two
pawns for a queen, but Black’s rook 5 Chigaev, Maksim 6 2619
and knight are completely dominated. A 6 Artemiev, Vladislav 6 2711
picturesque position! 7 Svidler, Peter 5½ 2723
37...£h5 38.¦d6 Threatening mate with 8 Vitiugov, Nikita 5½ 2720
¦d8. 9 Esipenko, Andrey 5 2686
38...¢h8 39.¦h3 Now threatening mate or 10 Matlakov, Maxim 5 2698
to win the queen by removing the knight. 11 Goganov, Aleksey 3½ 2594
Now Black is forced to go for a repetition
and a draw.
12 Antipov, Mikhail Al. 2 2611

39...£g4+ 40.¢h2 £f4+ 41.¢h1 £g4

42.¦h2 £d1+ 43.¢g2 £g4+

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01/141

The women’s tournament

decided in Armageddon tie-break

There were many interesting games in the XIIIIIIIIY

women’s tournament, which saw Polina 9r+lwq-trk+0
Shuvalova start with six out of six. The only
player to successfully keep pace was the 9zpp+-vlpzpp0
second-highest rated woman player in the 9n+-+psn-+0
world, Aleksandra Goryachkina. The two had
a similar run to Karjakin and Nepomniachtchi, 9+-zpp+-+-0
with the difference that Goryachkina could 9-+-zP-vL-+0
only catch up with Shuvalova in the last 9+-sN-zPN+-0
round. Then the title was decided in the
Armageddon game of the tie-break. 9PzPP+LzPPzP0
9tR-+QmK-+R0
Aleksandra Goryachkina -
Polina Shuvalova xiiiiiiiiy
Black has successfully solved her opening
70th ch-RUS w TB 2020 Moscow RUS (3) problems, but all the pieces are on the
board and White has got what she wanted -
1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤c3 d5 3.¥f4 Goryachkina a fully-fledged game without theory.
successfully used this opening in her World
Championship match against Ju Wenjun in 9.0–0 ¥d7 10.¤e5 ¦c8 11.a3 ¤c7?! It
a similar must-win situation. was better to send the knight back home to
b8 and then to its natural spot on c6.
3...e6 4.¤b5 ¤a6 5.e3 ¥e7 5...¥b4+
was played by the World Champion, but 12.dxc5 ¥xc5 13.¥d3 Now White has
after 6.c3 ¥e7 7.a4 it was White who some sort of a reversed Ragozin where the
benefited from the forced move c3. 1–0 (60) idea is to push e4.
Goryachkina,A (2578)-Ju Wenjun (2584)
Shanghai/Vladivostok CHN 2020. 13...a6 14.£f3 White combines the threat
of e4 with kingside play - the queen can
6.¤f3 0–0 7.¥e2 c6 8.¤c3 c5 easily come to h3.

42 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

14...¤b5?
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+rwq-trk+0
9+p+l+pzpp0
9p+-+psn-+0
9+nvlpsN-+-0
9-+-+-vL-+0
9zP-sNLzPQ+-0
9-zPP+-zPPzP0
9tR-+-+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
A tactical oversight.
Polina Shuvalova - Aleksandra Goryachkina
14...¥c6 was more solid, but White is better
after 15.£h3 ¥e7 16.¤xc6 bxc6 17.e4.
17.¤xd7 Now White wins material and
15.¥g5? Tempting, but missing a good chance. the game.

The forcing sequence 15.¤xd7 £xd7 17...£xf3 18.gxf3 ¦fd8 19.¤xc5 ¦xc5
16.¤xb5 axb5 17.c3! allows White to 20.bxc3 White is a piece up and the rest
win a pawn. Perhaps this last move was was unnecessary.
missed by White? It fixes the pawn on
b5 and after £e2 White will collect it. 20...¦xc3 21.a4 ¦d7 22.¦fb1 g6 23.¦b6 ¢g7
24.f4 ¢f6 25.¦ab1 ¦cc7 26.¢g2 h5 27.¢f3
15...¤xc3 16.¥xf6 £xf6?? XIIIIIIIIY
XIIIIIIIIY 9-+-+-+-+0
9-+r+-trk+0 9+ptrr+p+-0
9+p+l+pzpp0 9ptR-+pmkp+0
9p+-+pwq-+0 9+-+p+-+p0
9+-vlpsN-+-0 9P+-+-zP-+0
9-+-+-+-+0 9+-+LzPK+-0
9zP-snLzPQ+-0 9-+P+-zP-zP0
9-zPP+-zPPzP0 9+R+-+-+-0
9tR-+-+RmK-0 xiiiiiiiiy
xiiiiiiiiy This win made Goryachkina a Russian
An awful blunder that decides the fate of champion for the third time.
the championship.
1–0
16...gxf6 was the only move. Now after
17.¤xd7 £xd7 18.bxc3 (18.£g3+ ¢h8
19.£h4 f5 20.£f6+ ¢g8 21.£g5+ is The most beautiful combination in both
only a perpetual check for White.) 18... events happened in the next game.
f5 Black can even claim to be somewhat
better as her structure is superior.

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One mask and no social distancing: The winners and the organisers of the Superfinals

Alisa Galliamova - Alina Kashlinskaya 39...£h1+!! 40.¤xh1 ¤h3+ 41.¢h2

¥xe3!! Opening the h-file and blocking the
70th ch-RUS w 2020 Moscow RUS (7.4) e3–square, thus preventing the white king’s
XIIIIIIIIY escape. White resigned here, not allowing
the pretty mates after:
9-+-+-+-tr0
9zPLtr-+pmk-0 41...¥xe3!! 42.£xe3 (Or 42.¤xe3 ¤g5+
43.¢g1 ¦xh1+ 44.¢f2 ¤h3#) 42...¤g5+
9-tRp+-+pvl0 43.¢g1 ¦xh1+ 44.¢f2 ¦xf1#
9+-zPp+-snq0
9-+-zPp+-+0 0–1
9vL-+-zPpzP-0
9R+-+-sNl+0 The chess content of the Russian
championships was a breath of fresh air in
9+-+-wQNmK-0 the saturated world of online chess. With
xiiiiiiiiy Wijk aan Zee scheduled for January, but –
Black’s attack was very dangerous and at the moment of writing, late December
White is already beyond salvation (the 2020 – still uncertain because of the
last moment to save the game was several pandemic measures in the Netherlands, it
moves earlier). Now Black executes a remains to be seen how often we will be
beautiful combination. treated to similar spectacles.

44 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

Problem
World
by Christopher Jones
cjajones1@yahoo.co.uk
Grandmaster of Chess Composition
Solutions are given on page 62

1
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+n+-+-+0
9+-+-zp-wQ-0
9-+-zp-+ptr0
9+-+P+-zp-0
9-zpP+k+-+0
9vlp+NsN-zPL0
9-zpn+P+P+0
2 XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-tR-+-+0
9+-+-wqNtR-0
9-+-+-+PzP0
9+-zPPzp-+-0
9-+-+k+-zP0
9+L+-+-+P0
9-zPp+PzpN+0
9+K+-+RvL-0 9+-vL-+K+Q0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
David Shire (Canterbury) Leonid Makaronez and Viktor Volchek

3 4
(Israel / Belarus)
Mate in 2 Mate in 3
Original ORIGINAL
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+-+0 9r+n+-+-mK0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-zp-sn-sNQ0
9-+-+-+-+0 9-+-+-+-tr0
9+-+-zp-+-0 9+-mk-+-zp-0
9-+pzP-+pmK0 9-zp-+-+-+0
9+-mk-+-zPR0 9+-+-+p+-0
9-trrzp-vL-sn0 9-+l+p+-+0
9+-+-+Nvl-0 9vl-+-+-+q0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
Christer Jonsson (Sweden) Ljubomir Ugren (Slovenia)
Helpmate in 3 - 2 solutions Helpmate in 3 - 6 solutions
Original Original

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 45

01/141

QUOTES AND QUERIES

REVISITING THE
1934-35 HASTINGS TOURNAMENT
By Alan Smith
As this year there won't be a proper tournament in Hastings given the circumstances, we'd
like to focus on the 1934-1935 edition which brought about a lot of surprises.
6190 The Hastings 1934−35 international chess 11...¤e8 12.¥xg7 ¢xg7 13.f4 e6 Winter
tournament was held at the White Rock Pavilion thought 13...f5 14.exf5 gxf5 was better.
and would, at the time, have seemed an unlikely
candidate for an upset result. The visiting 14.f5 A thematic break.
masters included an ex−world champion, two
future world champions and two more players 14...b4 15.¤d1 ¤d4 16.¤e3 gxf5 17.exf5
who would play in a Candidates tournament. ¤xf5 18.¤xf5+ exf5 19.¦f4 Heading for h4.

The big talking point was the return to the fray 19...¦h8 20.¦af1 ¢f8
of José Raúl Capablanca after a three−year XIIIIIIIIY
absence. The organisers also invited the winners
of the previous four Premier tournaments - Max 9-tr-wqnmk-tr0
Euwe and Salo Flohr. Add Andre Lilienthal − 9zp-+l+p+p0
who had tied second with Alekhine the year
before and Botvinnik the 1933 Soviet champion 9-+-zp-+-+0
− and it was a mouth−watering prospect. 9+-zp-+p+-0
The draw for the opening round paired four
9-zp-+-tR-+0
of the visitors and two draws duly occurred. 9+-+P+-zPP0
Philip Stuart Milner−Barry held Lilienthal, 9PzPPwQN+L+0
while the meeting of Reginald Pryce Michell
and Vera Menchik was also inconclusive. Sir 9+-+-+RmK-0
George Thomas took the early lead with the xiiiiiiiiy
following bright game. Black has neutralised the attack on the h file,
but other problems soon present themselves.
George Alan Thomas -
George Marshall Norman [A07] 21.g4 h5 22.¤g3 hxg4 23.¤xf5 ¥e6
Hastings 1934/35 Hastings ENG (1),
XIIIIIIIIY
27.12.1934 9-tr-wqnmk-tr0
9zp-+-+p+-0
1.e4 c5 2.¤c3 ¤c6 3.g3 g6 4.¥g2
¥g7 5.d3 ¤f6 6.¤ge2 d6 7.0–0 ¥d7 9-+-zpl+-+0
8.h3 0–0 William Winter recommended 9+-zp-+N+-0
8...¦b8 instead. 9-zp-+-tRp+0
9.¥e3 ¦b8 10.£d2 b5 11.¥h6 This works 9+-+P+-+P0
like a dream. 11.¤d1 £a5 12.c3 ¦fc8 9PzPPwQ-+L+0
13.¥h6 ¥h8 14.g4 was a game Karpov−
Tsamriuk Leningrad 1967. 9+-+-+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
46 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 January 2021

The hall of the White Rock Pavilion in Hastings

Protecting f7. Winter pointed out 23...gxh3 took advantage of a slip to win two pieces
24.¤h6 f6 25.¦xf6+! ¤xf6 26.£g5! with for a rook. Good technique did the rest.
a winning attack. The battle of the Hastings champions was
drawn, as was Lilienthal - Flohr. Michell’s
24.¤h6 f6 Accepting the sacrifice fails: victory over Milner-Barry was White’s
24...¦xh6 25.¦xf7+ ¥xf7 26.£xh6+ ¢e7 only win of the day.
27.¥d5! ¥xd5 28.£h7+ ¢e6 29.£f7+
¢e5 30.£f5+ ¢d4 31.¦f4+. Round Three followed a more predictable
pattern, with expected wins for Capablanca,
25.¤xg4 ¥xg4 26.¦xg4 ¢e7 27.¥c6 Lilienthal and Milner-Barry. The round’s
£b6 28.¦e1+ ¢d8 29.£g2 ¦c8 30.¥xe8 surprise was again provided by Sir George
¦xe8 31.¦xe8+ ¢xe8 32.¦g8+ Thomas who defeated Botvinnik. A queen
and knight v queen and bishop endgame
1–0 arose from a Sicilian Defence. Botvinnik
lost a pawn, then overlooked the best
Manchester Guardian, 29th December 1934 defence and allowed the exchange of
queens. Sir George was a point clear of
Euwe and Lilienthal.
Rounds Two to Four
Round Four took place on New Year’s Eve
Round Two saw the black pieces outscore and the visiting masters dominated. Euwe
the white pieces. Euwe purloined a pawn in beat Sir Geoege Thomas. George Norman
a Panov Attack Caro-Kann and he converted was the only home player to score, splitting
his material edge to defeat Botvinnik. Sir the point with Lilienthal. Flohr won in
George Thomas faced Capablanca and convincing fashion.

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Reginald Pryce Michell – Salo Flohr

Hastings 1934/35 Hastings ENG (1),
27.12.1934

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 ¥g7 4.e4 d6

5.¤f3 0-0 6.¥e2 ¤bd7 7.0-0 7.e5 dxe5
8.dxe5 ¤g4 9.e6 was a later discovery.

7...e5 8.d5 a5 9.£c2 William Winter

disapproved of this and suggested 9.¤d2
¤c5 10.f3 to be followed by 11.¤b3.

9...¤h5 10.g3 ¤c5 11.¤e1 ¥h3 12.¤g2

¤f6 13.¦e1 ¤fd7 14.¥e3 f5 15.f3 Winter
opined that 15.exf5 gxf5 16.f4 was White’s
’only chance’.

15... f4 16.¥xc5? ¤xc5 17.g4 h5! 18.gxh5 Jose Raul Capablanca

£g5 19.¥f1 £xh5 20.£f2 ¥f6 21.¥e2
¢g7 22.Kh1 ¦h8 23.¦g1 ¦h6 24.¥f1 ¦ah8
15.0–0 a5 Blake did not approve of this and
0-1 reckoned that 15...g5 16.¥f2 ¤e5 17.£c2
¤g6 was a better try.
Manchester Guardian, 2nd January 1935
16.£c2 £c4 17.f4 ¦c8 18.f5 e5 19.dxe5 £xe4
20.exf6
Round Five: XIIIIIIIIY
Capablanca’s stunning loss 9-+r+k+-tr0
Round Five featured another big surprise. 9+-zpn+pzp-0
Capablanca had lost just one game in three 9-zp-+-zP-zp0
previous visits to Hastings; today he lost for
the second time in five games. 9zp-+-+P+-0
9-+-+q+-vL0
Andre Lilienthal - 9zP-zP-+-+-0
Jose Raul Capablanca [E24]
9-+Q+N+PzP0
Hastings 1934/35 Hastings ENG (5),
01.01.1935 9tR-+-+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.a3 ¥xc3+ A spectacular queen offer.
5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 d5 7.¥g5 h6 8.¥h4 ¥a6
Winter preferred 8..¥b7 to discourage e4. 20...£xc2 21.fxg7 ¦g8 22.¤d4 £e4 23.¦ae1
¤c5 24.¦xe4+ ¤xe4 25.¦e1 ¦xg7 26.¦xe4+
9.e4 ¥xc4 10.¥xc4 dxc4 11.£a4+ ¢d7 A shell- shocked Capa had seen enough.
£d7 12.£xc4 £c6 12...¤c6 was better,
intending to castle long. 1–0

13.£d3 ¤bd7 14.¤e2 ¦d8 Winter did not British Chess Magazine, February 1935
rate this and suggested 14...0–0.

48 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

Botvinnik and Michell also won, Sir George

Thomas held Flohr and Menchik−Euwe was
also drawn. Leaders after five rounds:

Euwe 3½
Lilienthal 3½
Sir George Thomas 3½
Flohr 3
Botvinnik 2½
Capablanca 2½
Michell 2½

Round Six

Round Six saw a 35−move draw between

Botvinnik and Lilienthal, which did little for George Alan Thomas
either player’s chances as Euwe, Flohr, Sir
George Thomas and Capablanca all won. This deprives Black of the b5 square for
her pieces.
George Alan Thomas -
Vera Menchik [A56] 14...£b8 15.¥xc4 £b4 16.b3 ¦ab8
Hastings 1934/35 Hastings ENG (6), 17.¤d3 £a5 18.¦c1 ¦b7 19.h5 ¦fb8
02.01.1935 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.¥h6 ¤ce8 22.£h2
XIIIIIIIIY
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.¤c3 d6 5.e4 9-tr-+n+k+0
g6 5...¥e7 dates back to Burn−Blackburne
Vienna 1898. 9+r+l+pvl-0
9p+-zp-snpvL0
6.¥e2 ¥g7 7.¥g5 0–0 A positional error:
7...h6 is correct. 9wq-zpPzp-+-0
9P+L+P+P+0
8.£d2 ¤a6 9.h4 ¤c7 10.¤h3 ¥d7 11.f3 9+PsNN+P+-0
a6 12.¤f2 b5 13.g4 bxc4 14.a4
XIIIIIIIIY 9-+-+-+-wQ0
9r+-wq-trk+0 9+-tR-mK-+R0
9+-snl+pvlp0 xiiiiiiiiy
22.¥xg7 ¤xg7 23.£h6 ¢f8 24.£h8+
9p+-zp-snp+0 ¤g8! and Black holds on.
9+-zpPzp-vL-0 22...¢f8 23.£d2 ¤g8 24.¥xg7+ ¢xg7
9P+p+P+PzP0 25.¦h2 ¤ef6 26.¤e2 £xd2+ 27.¢xd2
9+-sN-+P+-0 ¤e7 28.¦ch1 ¤c8 28...g5 to be followed
by ...¤g6 was more combative, while
9-zP-wQLsN-+0 there was also a case for the exchange sac
9tR-+-mK-+R0 28...¦xb3.
xiiiiiiiiy
BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 49
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29.¤dc1 ¦a7 30.¤g3 ¤b6 31.¥e2

¤g8 32.g5 ¥e8 33.¦h8 ¥d7 34.¤f1
¥e8 35.¤e3 ¥d7 36.a5 ¤c8 37.¥c4
¦aa8 38.¤d3 ¢f8 39.¤f2 ¤a7 40.¤fg4
¥xg4 41.¤xg4 ¤b5 42.¥xb5 axb5. If
42...¦xb5, then 43.¦xg8+ ¢xg8 44.¤f6+
¢f8 45.¦h8+ nets a piece.

43.a6 ¦d8 44.a7 ¦dc8 45.¤f6 ¢e7

46.¦a1

1–0 Vera Menchik

th
Times, 4  January 1935 16.¥e7! ¦e8 17.d6 Almost all of Black’s
pieces are on the wrong side of the board.
Michell’s king soon succumbs to Euwe’s
Euwe’s win was not straightforward by attack.
any means. He played a speculative piece
sacrifice, which only worked when Milner- 17...c4 18.¥c2 ¤d7 19.e5 h6 20.¦fe1 ¥b7
Barry chose an inferior defence. Capablanca 21.¤d4 ¥c5 22.¦e3 ¤f8 23.¦g3 ¥xd4
pointed out a key improvement, which 24.¦xg7+ ¢xg7 25.¥f6+ ¢g8 26.£xh6
would have cast doubt on Euwe’s sacrifice.
1–0
Round Seven
Manchester Guardian, 7th January 1935
Round Seven saw Sir George Thomas, Flohr
and Capablanca all enhance their standings,
defeating Milner-Barry, Menchik and Norman Leaders after eight rounds:
respectively. The games Michell-Botvinnik
and Lilienthal-Euwe were both drawn. Sir George Thomas 6½
Capablanca-Flohr was the only draw in the Euwe 6
penultimate round. Euwe beat Michell and Flohr 5½
Botvinnik won v Norman. Stuart Milner-
Barry lost his fifth game in a row, but Sir Capablanca 5
George Thomas kept his lead, when Lilienthal Botvinnik 4½
over-pressed and got a knight trapped.
  Lilienthal 4½
Max Euwe -
Reginald Pryce Michell [D52] The top three were already assured of one
of the four prizes, but the battle for first
Hastings 1934/35 Hastings ENG (8), place was still wide open.
04.01.1935
Last rounds are no great respecters of
1.¤f3 d5 2.d4 ¤f6 3.c4 e6 4.¤c3 c6 leaders or favourites. Euwe made little
5.¥g5 ¤bd7 6.e3 £a5 7.cxd5 ¤xd5 progress against Norman, who had only
8.£d2 ¥b4 9.¦c1 c5 10.e4 ¤xc3 11.bxc3 mustered two draws thus far, and only
¥a3 12.¦b1 0–0 13.¥d3 a6 14.0–0 b5 drew. Sir George Thomas lost to Michell.
15.d5 ¤b6? The knight is misplaced here. This allowed Flohr to catch them both by
Black needed to try either 15...¦e8 or 15... defeating Milner-Barry in the Exchange
c4 16.dxe6 fxe6 17.¥c2 £c7. variation of the Caro-Kann Defence.

50 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

with a round to go, half a point ahead of

Koltanowski and Prins. Tylor drew with
Prins while Koltanowski defeated Solin of
Finland. Both winners were invited to the
next Premier event.

Here is an exciting King’s Gambit from

the event.

Lodewijk Prins –
Edward Mackenzie Jackson
Hastings Premier Reserves, 1934-35

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.e5 ¤h5 The

Schallopp Defence, championed by that
master also by David Bronstein.

5.¥e2 d6 6.0-0 dxe5 7.¤xe5 ¥c5+ 8.¢h1

Max Euwe ¤f6 9.c3 ¤bd7 10.¤d3 21st century theory
says this is inferior to 10.¤xd7.
FINAL STANDINGS 10...g5! John Shaw writing in 2013 reckons
HASTINGS 1934/35 TOURNAMENT this is good for Black.
Max Euwe 6½
11.¤xc5 ¤xc5 12.d4 ¤ce4 13.¤d2
Sir George Alan Thomas 6½ ¥e6 14.¤xe4 ¤xe4 15.¥f3! ¤d6 16.d5
Salomon Flohr 6½ ¥f5 17.¦e1+ ¢f8 18.c4 £f6 19.c5 ¤e8
Jose Raul Capablanca 6½ 20.¥d2 £g6 Black has a pawn in the
bag so 20...£xb2 21.¦c1 £xa2 probably
Andre Lilienthal 5 looked too risky.
Mikhail Botvinnik 5
21.£e2 ¤f6 22.£e7+ ¢g7 23.¥c3 g4
Reginald Pryce Michell 4 24.¥e4 ¦he8? A blunder which loses a
Vera Menchik 3 piece. 24...¥xe4 25.¦xe4 and the threat of
26.¦e6 forces 25...¦he8 when 26.£xf6+
George Marshall Norman 1½ £xf6 27.¦xf4 nets an important pawn
Philip Stuart Milner-Barry 1½ 27...£xc3 28.¦xg4+.

25.£xf6+ £xf6 26.¥xf5 h5 27.¥d7

6191 Four of the leading group were soon ¦xe1+ 28.¦xe1 ¦d8 29.¦e7 £xc3
in action again in a twenty-player event 30.bxc3 ¢f6 31.d6 cxd6 32.cxd6 b5
in Moscow. This gave a clearer view of 33.¢g1 a5 34.¢f2 b4 35.c4 a4 36.c5
their relative strengths. Botvinnik and
Flohr tied first with 13 points, half a point 1-0
ahead of Lasker, with Capablanca 4th on 12.
Lilienthal was 8th equal with 10. De Tijd, 2nd January 1935
6192  The Premier Reserves of 1934-35
was a testing event. Six British players
took on four visitors. Theodore Tylor led

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Endgame Studies
by Ian Watson
ian@irwatson.demon.co.uk

1 XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0
9kzp-+-+-+0
9zpqzp-+-+-0
9-+n+-+-+0
9zp-mK-+-+-0
2
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-mk-+-+0
9+-+r+-+-0
9-+-sN-+N+0
9+-vL-+-+-0
9P+L+-+-+0 9K+-+-+-+0
9+Q+-+-+-0 9+-+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
B. Horwitz H. Rinck
Schachzeitung 1871 BCM 1921

3 4
win win
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+-mk0 9-+-mk-+-+0
9zp-+-+-+-0 9+-zp-+p+-0
9-+-+-zpP+0 9-zpP+-zPp+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+-mK-+-0
9-+-+P+-mK0 9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-+0 9-+-+R+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+r+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
T. Gorgiev P. Byway
Ukraine Ty 1971 Original (after T Dawson) 2021
draw win

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 January 2021

Hope and Homage

Each New Year starts with hope, and even more so this year. Perhaps we will be released
from lockdowns by the vaccines. Chess has been a great distraction and was in earlier
times too. It served so during the previous great pandemic, the Spanish flu which ravaged
the world until it faded away exactly a century before our present scourge. The Rinck
study of 1921 appeared just after it, and Paul Byway’s 2021 study is the first of the year
that will perhaps start another post−pandemic era.

The art of the endgame study, however, began a half−century before that Rinck composition,
so we begin with a Horwitz study from 1871. There were composed endgames before the
latter half of the 19th century, but they were more didactic than artistic.

Bernhard Horwitz was one of the pioneers of chess composition, and also a very strong
OTB player. He lived the second half of his life in Britain, and was the chess professional
of the Manchester Chess Club in the era when Manchester was arguably the industrial and
intellectual centre of the world.

Henri Rinck was, of course, one of the most famous of early study composers (and also
one of the most irritatingly prolific). This Rinck study of exactly a century ago was first
published in BCM. I would have given a BCM study for 1871 too, if I could, but sadly our
magazine started up ‘only’ in 1881!

Tigran Gorgiev’s study displays a theme from a study published exactly a century ago,
but I’m not giving the 1921 study because you would all recognise it at once. The Gorgiev
study won first prize in a tourney in 1971, so I am guessing that the tourney was in honour
of the fiftieth anniversary of the famous 1921 study.

Paul Byway’s study is also a homage to a classic study, one that was published in 1923
but was later found to have defects. He has corrected, and I think enhanced, the 1923
study. With modern technology, we can now improve on the classics, while recalling
them fondly. So we look forward with hope, but at the same time look back to honour the
classical era of our art.

The solutions are given on page 61.

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01/141

Openings
for Amateurs
How Dragon
Players
Can Meet the
Old School
Approach
by White

By Pete
Tamburro
ptamburro@aol.com
In 1947, the year I was born, Swedish IM Erik Lundin played a very instructive game
demonstrating how to meet the "old school" attack by White. No ¥c4, no f3, no castling
queenside by White. This approach involved cautious development with a prepared
kingside pawn storm with f4 and f5 and even g4 at times.

I was happy to find that Lundin had played it, because in 1975 I was "chaperoning" young
teens, future IMs and GMs (Henley, Rohde, Fedorowicz, Tisdall, Diesen, Regan and others)
around Scandinavia. We played in the Scandinavian open championships as guests. Rohde
won the master section. I tied for first in the amateur section by winning a six or seven hour
game in the last round. One key memory was that I noticed that Erik Lundin had taken an
interest in my game. He kept coming over and looking over my shoulder to see how my
rook and pawn ending was doing. All I could remember thinking was, "Oh, God, Pete, don’t
screw this up." This happened to me 19 years later as well, when Robert Byrne decided to
watch my last-round game at the US Open, which I also had to win to get a prize - and did.

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 January 2021

When I think of the GMs Lundin beat, he was an influence along the c-file without being
a much under-appreciated player, although annoyed by ¤b5.
FIDE did award him, past his playing peak,
an honorary and deserved GM title. Lundin 11.h3 ¦d8 12.¥f3 The terrifying-looking
played for Sweden in nine official Chess 12.g4?! is, of course, met by the key Sicilian
Olympiads and once in The third unofficial counter: 12...d5! 13.e5 (Another benefit of
Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936. He ¦d8 comes into play if White gets aggressive
successfully played against the giants of chess with 13.f5 dxe4 14.fxe6 ¦xd1 15.exf7+ ¢xf7
- Bronstein, Euwe, Fine, Flohr, Najdorf... A 16.¦axd1 ¢g8 and the bishop and rook will not
first-class gentleman as well. coordinate as well as a queen - unless of course
you put the bishop on top of the rook! (chess
Kristian Skold – Erik Lundin [B74] teacher joke)) 13...¤e4 14.¥f3 f6 (or even 14...
f5; 14...h5) 15.exf6 ¥xf6! Keep that diagonal
Stockholm-Budapest Match, 1947 open! Black’s counterattack is in full swing.
1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 12...¥c4 13.¦f2 e5!
Since this is about the Dragon, here’s how
the Accelerated Dragon would reach the XIIIIIIIIY
position in our game at move ten for White: 9r+qtr-+k+0
4...g6 5.¤c3 ¥g7 6.¥e3 ¤f6 7.¥e2 0–0
8.¤b3 d6 9.0–0 ¥e6 10.f4 In my latest 9zpp+-+pvlp0
book – Openings for Amateurs – Next 9-+nzp-snp+0
Steps – I pointed out that this "old school" 9+-+-zp-+-0
approach was more intimidating-looking
than it really is because an f5 move would 9-+l+PzP-+0
involve ceding the e5 square to the knight. 9+NsN-vLL+P0
You can now go directly to move ten!
9PzPP+-tRP+0
5.¤c3 d6 6.¥e2 g6 7.0–0 ¥g7 8.¤b3 0–0 9tR-+Q+-mK-0
9.¥e3 ¥e6 10.f4 £c8! xiiiiiiiiy
XIIIIIIIIY Yes! Not only is d5 quite playable here, but a
9r+q+-trk+0 move you normally see in the Scheveningen
works quite well here, as the coming exf4 and
9zpp+-zppvlp0 ¤e5 idea from that defence has the benefit
9-+nzplsnp+0 of keeping the Dragon bishop diagonal open.
9+-+-+-+-0
14.¦d2 exf4 15.¥xf4 ¤e5 16.¢h1
9-+-+PzP-+0
9+NsN-vL-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY
9PzPP+L+PzP0 9r+qtr-+k+0
9tR-+Q+RmK-0 9zpp+-+pvlp0
xiiiiiiiiy 9-+-zp-snp+0
What an interesting move! It does three (!) 9+-+-sn-+-0
things: it threatens ¤g4, virtually forcing 9-+l+PvL-+0
h3 on White’s part, weakening the dark
squares around the king; it creates a lovely
9+NsN-+L+P0
square for the king rook on d8 to support 9PzPPtR-+P+0
d5 as it’s better for the rook to be opposite 9tR-+Q+-+K0
the white queen than to have the black
queen do that; it allows the queen to have xiiiiiiiiy
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Remember my mentioning the weakening on White is now the exchange up for two
the kingside with the threat of ¤g4? Because pawns, but there is a big, big problem
of h3, White cannot win the d6 pawn: 16.¦xd6 with it.
¦xd6 17.£xd6 ¤xf3+ 18.gxf3 £xh3.
30...¤g4! 31.£d3 Some chess players
16...¤e8 17.¤d4 £c5 And the queen would take the knight. Let the guy have his
operates on the queenside. All three goals mate. Others seem to like it to have a messy
of £c8 have been met. ending. 31.hxg4 ¥xd4+ 32.¢h1 ¤g3+
33.¢h2 ¤xf1+ 34.¢h1 £h2#.
18.¥e3 £a5 19.¤b3 £c7 20.¦f2 b6
Black could have gotten his knight back in 31...£h2+ 32.¢f1 £h1+ 33.¢e2 £xg2+.
the game with 20...¤f6. XIIIIIIIIY
21.¥d4 ¦ac8 22.¥e2 d5! 9-+-+-+k+0
XIIIIIIIIY 9zp-+-+pvlp0
9-+rtrn+k+0 9Lzp-+-+p+0
9zp-wq-+pvlp0 9+-+-+-+-0
9-zp-+-+p+0 9-+-sNn+n+0
9+-+psn-+-0 9+-+Q+-+P0
9-+lvLP+-+0 9PzPP+K+q+0
9+NsN-+-+P0 9tR-+-+-+-0
9PzPP+LtRP+0 xiiiiiiiiy
9tR-+Q+-+K0 0–1
xiiiiiiiiy
It’s not every Dragon game where you get
to play d5 twice in the same game! A wonderful display by Lundin on how to
handle the "old school Dragon."
23.exd5 ¥xd5 24.¤xd5 ¦xd5 25.£f1
Nice try? Black’s knights just leap out of the For me, apart from the personal
stable. Their activity becomes devastating. connection, I learned the value of
considering £c8 in positions. If you
25...¤d6 26.¥a6 ¤e4 27.¢g1 ¤xf2 recall, this column has had £c8 moves
28.¥xc8 ¤e4 29.¥a6 ¦xd4 30.¤xd4 by Flohr and Capablanca in meeting the
XIIIIIIIIY Colle System. The Flohr game even had
the e5 and d5 ideas in it. Two completely
9-+-+-+k+0 different opening systems - one with
9zp-wq-+pvlp0 1.d4 and one with 1.e4 no less. Too
often, amateurs look at opening moves
9Lzp-+-+p+0 as sequences to memorise rather than as
9+-+-sn-+-0 ideas to implement.
9-+-sNn+-+0 If you don’t have the old BCM issues, you
9+-+-+-+P0 can always get my book. They’re in there!
9PzPP+-+P+0
9tR-+-+QmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
56 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 January 2021

8.¥b2 ¤c6 9.d4 cxd4 9...¥f6 is worth

4NCL ONLINE TEAMS consideration though it may transpose back
to the game.
Rounds 6 & 7 Report
10.¤xd4 ¤xd4 10...¥d7 may be best; now
By IM Shaun Taulbut White has a nagging advantage.
Rounds 6 & 7 of the 4 NCL Online 11.£xd4
teams took place in November, leading
up to the play-offs. In Group A after XIIIIIIIIY
Round 7 of the 4 NCL Online team 9r+lwq-trk+0
competition Guildford Young Guns are
in a commanding position, having beaten 9zpp+-vlpzpp0
Wood Green Monarchs 4-0. 9-+-+p+-+0
In Group B Cheesable White Rose 1 lead
9+-+n+-+-0
the table, having drawn against their closest 9-+-wQ-+-+0
rivals the Celtic Tigers and Sharks. 9+P+-+-zP-0
Here are some of the games from Rounds 9PvL-+PzPLzP0
6 and 7. 9tRN+-+RmK-0
Gawain Jones – Ritvas Reimanis xiiiiiiiiy
11...¥f6 12.£d2 ¥xb2 13.£xb2 ¦b8 If
4NCL Online S2 Div1 2020 lichess.org INT (7.51) 13...£f6 14.£xf6 ¤xf6 15.¤a3 with a big
edge for White.
1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.¥g2 ¥e7
5.0–0 0–0 6.b3 14.¦d1 £f6 15.£xf6 ¤xf6 16.¤a3The
best: from here the knight can go to c4
XIIIIIIIIY or b5, whereas from c3 it can only go to
9rsnlwq-trk+0 b5 and the c-file is left open for a white
9zppzp-vlpzpp0 rook.
9-+-+psn-+0 16...b5 17.¦ac1
9+-+p+-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY
9-+P+-+-+0 9-trl+-trk+0
9+P+-+NzP-0 9zp-+-+pzpp0
9P+-zPPzPLzP0 9-+-+psn-+0
9tRNvLQ+RmK-0 9+p+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy 9-+-+-+-+0
A quiet variation fianchettoing the queen’s
bishop; 6.d4 is the main line, leading to 9sNP+-+-zP-0
the Catalan. 9P+-+PzPLzP0
6...c5 More energetic is 6...d4 7.¥b2
9+-tRR+-mK-0
c5 8.e3 ¤c6 9.exd4 cxd4 10.¦e1 with a xiiiiiiiiy
complex struggle. 17...b4 If 17...¥d7 18.¦c7 ¦fd8 19.¦xa7
¥e8 20.¦xd8 ¦xd8 21.¦a8 ¦d1+ 22.¥f1
7.cxd5 ¤xd5 If 7...exd5 8.d4 White retains b4 23.¤c2 ¢f8 24.f3 White is much better
the advantage. with his extra pawn.

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18.¤c4 ¥b7 19.¤e5 ¥xg2 20.¢xg2

XIIIIIIIIY Nick R Keene – Alvaro Valdes Escobar
9-tr-+-trk+0 4NCL Online S2 Div1 2020 lichess.org INT (6.12)
9zp-+-+pzpp0 1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.b4 g6 Interesting is 2...e5
9-+-+psn-+0 3.¤xe5 (3.¥b2 e4) 3...¥xb4.
9+-+-sN-+-0 3.¥b2 ¥g7 4.c4 0–0 5.e3 d6 6.d4
9-zp-+-+-+0 XIIIIIIIIY
9+P+-+-zP-0 9rsnlwq-trk+0
9P+-+PzPKzP0 9zppzp-zppvlp0
9+-tRR+-+-0 9-+-zp-snp+0
xiiiiiiiiy 9+-+-+-+-0
In this simplified position White has a
distinct edge, Smyslov won many games 9-zPPzP-+-+0
from similar positions. 9+-+-zPN+-0
20...a5 21.¦c5 ¦a8 If 21...a4 22.bxa4 ¦a8 9PvL-+-zPPzP0
23.a5 retains the extra pawn. 9tRN+QmKL+R0
22.¦d4 ¦fc8 23.¤c6 ¢f8 24.¦xa5 ¦xa5 xiiiiiiiiy
25.¤xa5 ¦c2 26.¦xb4 ¦xa2 27.¤c4 White has a space advantage on the
queenside but now Black undermines the
XIIIIIIIIY white queenside.
9-+-+-mk-+0
6...a5 7.a3 If 7.b5 ¤bd7 8.¤c3 e5 with
9+-+-+pzpp0 good play for Black.
9-+-+psn-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 7...¤bd7 8.¤c3 e5 9.¥e2 exd4 10.¤xd4
On 10.exd4, ¤b6 gives Black good play.
9-tRN+-+-+0
9+P+-+-zP-0 10...¤e5 11.0–0 ¦e8 12.£b3 12.h3 looks
best as now Black is able to play on g4.
9r+-+PzPKzP0
9+-+-+-+-0 12...¥g4 13.f3 ¥d7 14.e4
xiiiiiiiiy XIIIIIIIIY
27...¤d7 If 27...¦xe2 28.¢f3 ¦c2 9r+-wqr+k+0
29.¦b8+ ¢e7 30.¦b7+ ¢f8 31.¤d6
¦d2 32.¤xf7 ¦d5 33.h4 h6 34.¤h8 and 9+pzpl+pvlp0
the white knight escapes, with a sound 9-+-zp-snp+0
extra pawn. Instead, Black decides to
move his knight but this move leads to an 9zp-+-sn-+-0
immediate invasion. 9-zPPsNP+-+0
28.¦b7 ¤c5 29.¦c7 ¤xb3 30.¤d6 f6
9zPQsN-+P+-0
31.¦f7+ ¢g8 32.¦b7 White wins the 9-vL-+L+PzP0
knight, a smooth performance. 9tR-+-+RmK-0
1–0 xiiiiiiiiy

58 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

Now Black plays to invade the kingside.

Stefan Loeffler – Roman Edouard
14...¤h5 15.¤d5 If 15.f4 ¤d3 16.¥xd3
¥xd4+ 17.¢h1 £h4 18.¤e2 ¥xb2 4NCL Online S2 Div1 2020 lichess.org INT (6.41)
19.£xb2 ¥c6 and Black is much better.
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 c5 4.e3 d5 5.cxd5
15...c6 16.¤e3 ¤f4 exd5 6.¥b5+
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-wqr+k+0 9rsnlwqkvl-tr0
9+p+l+pvlp0 9zpp+-+pzpp0
9-+pzp-+p+0 9-+-+-sn-+0
9zp-+-sn-+-0 9+Lzpp+-+-0
9-zPPsNPsn-+0 9-+-zP-+-+0
9zPQ+-sNP+-0 9+-+-zPN+-0
9-vL-+L+PzP0 9PzP-+-zPPzP0
9tR-+-+RmK-0 9tRNvLQmK-+R0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
A successful invasion by the black knight White develops rapidly, aiming to attack d5.
so White evicts the knight at the cost of his
light-squared bishop. 6...¤c6 7.0–0 cxd4 7...¥d6 is worth
consideration.
17.g3 ¤xe2+ 18.¤xe2 ¥h3 19.¤g2 ¥e6
20.¦ac1 b5 21.¤e3 bxc4 22.£c2 £b6 8.¤xd4 £c7 9.¤c3 ¥d6 10.¤xc6 bxc6
23.£d2 If 23.¥d4 ¤xf3+ is winning. 11.¤xd5 ¤xd5 12.£xd5 ¥b7 12...¥xh2+
13.¢h1 ¥b7 is slightly better for Black.
23...axb4 24.axb4 ¦a2 25.¦c2 ¤d3 The
black knight invades on the sixth rank. 13.£e4+ ¢f8 14.¥c4 ¥xh2+ 15.¢h1
25...¦xb2 26.¦xb2 c3 27.¤xc3 ¤c4 is ¦e8 16.£f5 ¥e5
also winning. XIIIIIIIIY
XIIIIIIIIY 9-+-+rmk-tr0
9-+-+r+k+0 9zplwq-+pzpp0
9+-+-+pvlp0 9-+p+-+-+0
9-wqpzpl+p+0 9+-+-vlQ+-0
9+-+-+-+-0 9-+L+-+-+0
9-zPp+P+-+0 9+-+-zP-+-0
9+-+nsNPzP-0 9PzP-+-zPP+0
9rvLRwQN+-zP0 9tR-vL-+R+K0
9+-+-+RmK-0 xiiiiiiiiy
xiiiiiiiiy A sharp position in which a slip can cost
White resigned as 26.¥xg7 ¦xc2 is crushing. the game.

0–1 17.f4 ¥f6 18.¦d1 ¥c8 19.£c5+ ¥e7

20.£h5 g6 21.£h6+ ¢g8 22.¥d2 ¥f8

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 59

01/141

23.£g5 ¥g7 .The losing mistake, 23...¥e7 11...¤xc4 12.¤xe6 fxe6 13.¤f4 g5
was essential. 14.¤d3 h6 15.b3 ¤a5 16.¥b2 ¤c6 17.f4
0–0–0 18.¦c1 ¢b8 19.b4 ¦c8 20.b5 ¤d8
24.¥a5 £b7 25.¦d8 ¦f8 26.¦xf8+ ¥xf8 21.£a4 ¦xc1 22.¦xc1 a6
27.¥c3
XIIIIIIIIY The crucial mistake as now the white queen
aims at c7.
9-+l+-vlktr0
9zpq+-+p+p0 23.£a5
9-+p+-+p+0 XIIIIIIIIY
9+-+-+-wQ-0 9-mk-sn-+-tr0
9-+L+-zP-+0 9+p+qzp-vl-0
9+-vL-zP-+-0 9p+-zppsn-zp0
9PzP-+-+P+0 9wQP+-+-zp-0
9tR-+-+-+K0 9-+-+-zP-+0
xiiiiiiiiy 9+-+N+-zP-0
27...£e7 28.£xe7 ¥xe7 29.e4 The 9PvL-+P+LzP0
black rook will be captured next
move; White has stopped the black 9+-tR-+-mK-0
bishop emerging. xiiiiiiiiy
23...axb5 24.¤e5
1–0

Richard Bates - Lawrence Cooper

4NCL Online S2 Div1 2020 lichess.org INT (6.72) XIIIIIIIIY
9-mk-sn-+-tr0
1.d4 g6 2.¤f3 ¥g7 3.g3 c5 4.¥g2 cxd4
5.¤xd4 ¤c6 6.¤b3 d6 7.0–0 ¥e6 8.¤c3 9+p+qzp-vl-0
£d7 8...¤f6 is sounder. 9-+-zppsn-zp0
9.¤d5 ¤f6 10.c4 ¤e5 11.¤d4
9wQp+-sN-zp-0
XIIIIIIIIY 9-+-+-zP-+0
9r+-+k+-tr0 9+-+-+-zP-0
9zpp+qzppvlp0 9PvL-+P+LzP0
9-+-zplsnp+0 9+-tR-+-mK-0
9+-+Nsn-+-0 xiiiiiiiiy
Black cannot capture the knight because
9-+PsN-+-+0 of the bishop recapture and Black loses his
9+-+-+-zP-0 queen; otherwise White invades on c7.
9PzP-+PzPLzP0 1–0
9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
White sacrifices a pawn for active play.

60 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

Solutions to Endgames (See page 52)

Horwitz
1.£xb5+ ¢xb5 2.¥a4+ ¢xa4 3.¢xc4 b5+ 4.¢xc5 b4 5.¢c4 b3 6.axb3 mate. The
mating idea has been used by many composers since, but as far as I know this was its
first appearance.

Rinck

1.¤f6 ¦e5 2.¥d2 ¢c5 3.¢b3 ¢xd4 4.¥c3+ wins. The general result with NNB v R
is a draw, because Black can use his rook from a distance to harass the White pieces and
threaten to exchange it for the bishop, so White needs to act quickly.

Gorgiev

1.e5 fxe5 2.¢g5 a5 3.¢f6 ¢g8 4.¢xe5 a4 5.¢d4 a3 6.¢c3 a2 7.¢b2 draws. This shows
the famous ‘Reti manoeuvre’, where White uses the threat of promoting his own pawn to
gain time to catch the apparently−unstoppable Black pawn.

1.¢g4? a5 2.¢f5 a4 3.¢xf6 ¢g8 4.e5 a3 5.e6 a2 6.e7 a1£+ wins. In the main line,
1…¢g7 2.¢g4 ¢xg6 3.exf6 a5 4.¢f4 a4 5.¢e5 ¢f7 6.¢d4 a3 7.¢c3 or in this variation
5…a3 6.¢e6. Not, however, 1…¢g7 2.exf6+? ¢xf6 3.¢h5 ¢g7. Also in the 1…¢g7
2.¢g4 variation, 2…fxe5 3.¢f5 or 2…a5 3.¢f5.

Byway

1.¦a2 ¢e8 2.¦h2 ¦e1+ 3.¢d4 ¢d8 4.¦a2 ¦d1+ 5.¢e3 ¢e8 6.¦h2 and 6…¦e1+
7.¢d2 wins.

Note the mirrored try: 1.¦h2? ¦e1+ 2.¢d5 ¦e6 3.¦h8+ ¦e8 4.¦h7 ¦e6 5.¦xf7 ¦d6+
6.¢e5 ¦xc6 7.¦h7 ¢e8 draws. In the main line, 2.¦a8+? ¦d8 3.¦a7 ¦d6 4.¦xc7 ¦e6+
5.¢d5 ¦xf6 6.¦a7 ¢d8 draws.

This is based on a famous study, by the problem composer T.R.Dawson, which

unfortunately has a dual. Dawson’s position was (W) Ke1, Re4, Pc6, Pf6, (B) ¢d8,
Rd5, Pc7, Pf7, and the solution was 1.¦a4 ¢e8 2.¦h4 ¦e5+ 3.¢d2 ¢d8 4.¦a4
¦d5+ 5.¢e3 ¢e8 6.¦h4 ¦e5+ 7.¢d4/f4 winning, but in addition to that minor final
dual, 6.¢f4 also wins. That was found by the master cook−hunter Walter Veitch in the
pre−computer era.

Amongst an extraordinary range of chess activities, Dawson was the editor of the problem
section of BCM from 1931 to 1951. He invented many new types of chess piece, and many
chess variants, and a problem composing tournament to mark the 70th anniversary of his
death in 1951, is being held by the British Chess Problem Society. Paul’s study is a fine
tribute to one of the greatest of chess composers.

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 61

01/141

Solutions to Problems
This month’s originals

Regular readers will know that in the two helpmates we are looking for collaborative
sequences initiated by Black leading to Black being mated - i.e., BWBWBW# sequences.
In the first two problems, there will be no difficulty in understanding the stipulations, but I
should warn you that the 3−mover is a heavyweight problem by two leading exponents of
this type of problem (we welcome Victor as a newcomer to this column!) and will not be
easy even for experienced solvers. I can, however, assure you that if like me you simply play
through the solution (given below) that will in itself be a mind−stretching mental work−out!

A white correction sequence A good mental work-out

ending in a block … what’s that?

Well, it’s how David Shire describes his In the 3−mover’s diagram, we can see
2−mover. Note firstly that if in the diagram that if we immediately play 1.¤e1+
position Black were to play 1…¤xe3 then Black eschews 1…¢f5 2.£f3# and
2.¤f2 would be mate. This is important to instead escapes by playing 1…¢d4.
our valuation of the problem because the e3 So the key move is 1.¢xf2!!. Now we
knight is the crux of this problem. If it moves really do threaten 2.¤e1+ as 2…¢d4
to d1 then that 2.¤3f2 mate will be threatened, would lead to 3.¥e3#. The composers
and defences 1…¦xh3 / g4 fail to 2.£xg6 / are however quite right to accord 1.¢xf2
¦f4, but 1…e5! is a nice refutation (after the two exclamation marks as this move
‘mating’ move both diagonals to d4 would be exposes the white king to 4 checks from
cut). Instead, 1.¤f5, threatening the same mate the black queen. (Just possibly you may
and this time guarding d4, has 1…g4 / gxf5 have hit upon this key move on the ‘look
2.¦f4 / ¥xf5, but now fails against 1…¦xh3. for the least likely move’ principle - if
Surprisingly the key is 1.¤g4!. Because this so, well done!) Firstly, if 1…£xc5+
interferes on the line h3−f5 2.¤3f2 would we have 2.¤e3+ ¢d4 3.¤f5 (as c5 is
allow 2…¢f5, and indeed there is no threat now blocked) (or, here, 2…¢f4 3.£f3).
at all. However the position is Zugzwang (in Secondly, 1…£xh4+ gives 2.¤xh4+
the problemist terms above, we’ve now been ¢d4 3.¥e3. Thirdly we have 1…£f6+
successful in correcting the play of the white 2.¤f4+ ¢f5 3.e4 (as f6 is now blocked
knight, and have set up a ‘block’ position, - self−blocking is an impressive recurring
i.e., one in which Black, to play, must create motif) (or, here, 2…¢d4 3.¥e3).
a mate for White) - a random move by the Fourthly we have 1…£xf7+ 2.¤f4+
c2 knight allows 2.£d4 and if by way of a ¢f5 3.¦xf7 (or, again, 2…¢d4 3.¥e3).
correction of its own this black knight goes Some other lines - 1…¢d4 2.¥e3+ ¢e4
to e3 then we have a changed mate, 2.¤4f2. 3.¥c2; 1…¢f5 2.¤e3+ ¢f6 3.£f3 (or
There is also 1…e5 2.¤f6, 1…g4 2.¦f4, 1… 2…¢f4 3.£f3); and 1…£g5 2.¤xg5+
h6 rook anywhere 2.£xg6 and 1…c8 knight ¢f5 3.¦f8 (or, here, yet again, 2…¢d4
anywhere 2.£xe7. Setting up a sequence of 3.¥e3). If you got all or most of this
possibilities in which those that make a threat solution, do please make yourself known
fail and one that doesn’t make a threat is the to other problem−solvers! (The website
solution is a considerable achievement, and of the British Chess Problem Society
is amply sufficient compensation for the would be a good place for this − www.
plethora of pieces (including a white bishop theproblemist.org.)
that must have arisen through a promotion)
in the diagram.

62 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 January 2021

(See page 45)

Yet another battery against the A profusion of mates
black king

Batteries are the order of the day this Regular readers will know Ljubomir
month! In Christer’s H#3, it isn’t possible Ugren’s great facility for finding a
effectively to fire the 3rd rank battery when large number of diverse helpmate
it’s a Pawn at g3. So Black has to collaborate solutions that can be found in a single
in turning the g3 unit into the white bishop diagram - all correct (unique move
or in installing the white knight as the front orders, etc.) and attractive. In his six (!)
piece of a battery (which will now be from solutions this time there are one or two
¦g3). This entails having to capture the other moves that crop up in more than one
of those white officers as collateral damage of them, but yet again he convincingly
(so that we get the ‘Zilahi theme’ - each of shows a set of distinct and enjoyable
these white officers administers mate in one solutions - 1.¥e5 £xh6 2.¥h2 £a6
solution and is captured in the other). Note 3.¤d5 ¤e6; 1.¦ha6 £xh1 2.¢b6
the clever dual−purpose move 1…d5 in the £h2 3.¢a7 £xc7; 1.¦c6 £xh1 2.¢d6
1st solution: White’s third move has to be a £h3 3.¦c5 £e6; 1.¦d6 £xh1 2.¢c6
double−check; but also the bishop will have £h5 3.¢d7 £e8; 1.¤d5 ¢g8 2.¥e5
to guard the vacated b2 square. 1.¤xf1 d5 £xc2+ 3.¢d4 ¤f5; and 1.¤g8 ¢xg8
2.¤xg3 ¥xg3 3.¦b4 ¥xe5; 1.¥xf2 ¤e3 2.¦b6 £d3 3.c6 ¤e6.
2.¥xg3 ¦xg3 3.exd4 ¤d5.

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