Euwe Memorial 2010 (4)
Giri levels against Short
IM Malcolm Pein - Monday 24th May 2010
Anish Giri beat Nigel Short in the final game of their match as part of the Max Euwe Memorial.
Nigel Short lost the final game of his match at Amsterdam against 15 year old Anish Giri and so the contest ended 2-2. Five of Holland's best young players gained match experience against leading Grandmasters in contests organised at the Max Euwe Centrum. If you have ever wondered why Holland has so may fine prospects while the UK has so few, the dearth of such events, and others like it in the UK is part of the explanation.
It's time for the John Robinson Fund, a significant sum bequeathed by one of the ECF's best loved arbiters to increase the amount of money it releases annually in support of junior chess. If the rules must be changed to facilitate this then so be it. A glance at the 2008 accounts of the charity show a sum of around £500,000. In the financial year to 31st August 2008 the JRT made grants of just £27,933. Surely a plan to release more of the capital over ten or fifteen years would be appropriate.
A Giri - N Short
Max Euwe Match Amsterdam (4)
1.d4 Nc6!? 2.Nf3 d5
(The Chigorin Defence where Black fights with knights against bishops usually)
3.c4 Bg4 4.cxd5 Bxf3 5.gxf3 Qxd5 6.e3 e5 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Bd2 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Nf6 10.c4 Qd6 11.d5 Ne7 12.Rb1 b6 13.Bb4 c5 14.dxc6 Qxd1+ 15.Rxd1 Nxc6 16.Ba3 Rd8 17.Bd6! Nd4! 18.c5!
(White has an extra pawn but many weaknesses after 18.exd4 Rxd6 19.dxe5 Rxd1+ 20.Kxd1)
18...bxc5 19.Rxd4! cxd4 20.Bb5+ Nd7
21.Rg1!
( White has considerable pressure for the exchange and pawn. Black is tied up. Not 21.exd4 Rc8! 22.Kd2 a6! 23.Bxa6? Rc6)
21...a6
22.Ba4 g6 23.Ke2
(23.Bxe5? 0-0 Black escapes the bind)
23...f6 24.Rc1 dxe3 25.fxe3 h5
(25...Kf7 26.Rc7 Ke6 27.Bb4)
26.Rc7 Rh7 27.Kd3!
(Short likes to walk his king as well so he will have seen this coming but Giri is going to march to e6)
27...Re7?
(Counterplay might have saved the game for example 27...g5 28.Ke4 g4 29.fxg4 hxg4 30.Kf5 Rxh2 31.Ke6 Rh6! 32.Rxd7 f5+!)
28.Ke4 Kf7 29.Bxe7 Kxe7 30.Kd5
(Zugzwang White can wait for the fatal weakening)
30...f5 31.Rxd7+ Rxd7+ 32.Bxd7 Kxd7 33.Kxe5 Ke7 34.h4 g5
(Or 34...Kf7 35.Kf4 Kf6 36.e4 fxe4 37.fxe4 Kf7 38.Kg5 Kg7 39.e5 Kf7 40.e6+ Kxe6 41.Kxg6)
35.Kxf5 gxh4 36.Kf4 Kf6 37.e4! a5 38.a4 Kg6 39.Ke3 Kg5
(If 39...Kf6 40.f4 wins easily.)
40.Kf2 Kf4 41.Kg2 1-0
Nigel Short
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Anish Giri
Final position after 41.Kg2
A short struggle from the Bosna Open and a tactics test. Stop after 19.Be1 and ask yourself if 19...Bxd5 wins or is it not so clear cut?
M Tratar - J Gustafsson
QGA
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.a4 b6 7.Bxc4 Bb7 8.0-0 Bb4 9.Qe2 0-0 10.Rd1 Nbd7 11.Na2 Bd6 12.Nc3 c5 13.d5 exd5 14.Nxd5 Ne4 15.Bd2 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.Rxa8 Bxa8 18.Ba2 c4 19.Be1
Jan Gustafsson
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M Tratar
Position after 19.Be1
19...Bxd5 20.Rxd5 Qa8!
(double attack)
21.Rd4
(White recovers the piece with this move)
21...Qxa2 22.Rxe4 c3!
(The hidden point. Black creates a very strong passed pawn that wins the game. If 23.bxc3 Qxe2 or 23.Bxc3 Qb1+ wins the rook on e4)
23.Rd4 cxb2 24.Rd2 Ba3 0-1
Qa1 follows
