Capablanca Memorial 2010 (1)
Carlsen returns in Romania
IM Malcolm Pein - Monday 14th June 2010
Magnus Carlsen returns to action today in Romania. Nigel Short started badly at the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba when he lost to Vassily Ivanchuk in the first round.
World number one Magnus Carlsen returns to the board today at the Bazna Tournament of Kings in Romania. The line up: Magnus Carlsen - Norway (1), Wang Yue - China (8), Boris Gelfand - Israel (11), Teimour Radjabov - Azerbaijan (13), Ruslan Ponomariov - Ukraine (18), Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu - Romania (59)
Nigel Short once said it was impossible to prepare for Vasily Ivanchuk as he plays everything and so Short decided to take the initiative on the second move in their first round game at the Capablanca Memorial at Havana. Short opened 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5, the Trompovsky but lost as Ivanchuk trapped his bishop. Short garnered four pawns but at the end they will all be lost.
N Short - V Ivanchuk
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 c5 4.f3 Qa5+ 5.c3 Nf6 6.Nd2 cxd4 7.Nb3 Qf5 8.Bxb8 Rxb8 9.Qxd4 b6 10.e4 Qf4 11.Nh3 Qc7 12.e5 Ng8 13.0-0-0 e6 14.f4 Ne7
(14...f5 Salov - Nunn 1995)
15.Ng5 Bb7 16.Bd3
(Quite cavalier,16.Ne4 Nf5 17.Qd3 Be7 =)
16...Bxg2 17.Rhg1 Bd5 18.Nxh7 Rxh7 19.Bxh7 g6 20.Kb1 Nf5 21.Qd3 Qc4 22.Qxc4 Bxc4 23.Nd4 Be7 24.Rxg6
(24.Nxf5 exf5 25.Bxg6 fxg6 26.Rxg6 was also possible)
24...fxg6 25.Bxg6+ Kf8 26.Nxf5 exf5 27.Bxf5 Rd8 28.Rxd7 Rxd7 29.Bxd7 Bc5 30.Kc2 Be3 31.f5 Bf4 32.e6 Ke7! 33.h4 Be2
(Short tries to exchange all the pawns but Ivanchuk manages to keep one)
34.Bc6 Bg3 35.h5 Bxh5 36.Kd3 Kd6 37.Bg2 Ke5 38.Bh3 Bh4 39.b4 Be7 40.a3 Bf3 41.Kc4 Be2+ 42.Kb3 Bd3 43.a4 a5 0-1
Vassily Ivanchuk
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Nigel Short
Black plays his king to g3, takes on f5 and e6 then returns to the queenside. Note his a pawn queens on a black square so even if light bishops are traded Black wins.
Ivan Sokolov retired from chess for a few years but has come back and can still upset some of the best. He has 4/10 at the category 18 Karpov Poikovsky tournament in Siberia which includes a win over a former Russian champion. How did he force victory from the position below?
Dmitry Jakovenko
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Ivan Sokolov
Position after 36...Rxe4
Answer to puzzle
37.Qxe4!! Bxe4 38.Rxe4 Kh7 39.Re7
(Seeing the pawn home Black tries in vain for a perpetual)
39...Qd1 40.d7 Qd2+ 41.Ka3 b5! 42.Ba5! 1-0
The king escapes and the pawn promotes 42.Re2! was also enough but not 42.d8Q Qc1+ 43.Kb3 Qb1+ 44.Ka3 Qa1+ drawing.
