European Individual Championships 2010 (10)
Howell passes must win test
IM Malcolm Pein - Friday 19th March 2010
It was win or bust for Michael Adams and David Howell in the tenth round of the European Individual Championship and after a marathon session Adams was left without any prospect of qualifying for the World Cup but Howell, through sheer grit and determination, had kept his chances alive and he must win again in the last round to have a chance of making a play off.
It was win or bust for Michael Adams and David Howell in the tenth round of the European Individual Championship and after a marathon session Adams was left without any prospect of qualifying for the World Cup but Howell, through sheer grit and determination, had kept his chances alive and he must win again in the last round to have a chance of making a play off.
Howell defeated the Ukrainian Valery Neverov who has been victorious at Hastings twice, in Howell's back yard. Playing Black, Howell took some big risks and stood worse for a while but turned the game round and in a drawn position found the only way to keep the game alive. Neverov gave up a piece to reach rook, bishop and two pawns v rook and bishop. Howell rounded up the pawns and then ground his opponent down. Rook and bishop v rook is hard to defend with limited time on the clock although a top flight GM ought to be able to do it.
Adams subsided to a miserable defeat at the hands of the Russian Ildar Khairullin after emerging with a passive position from the opening. A pawn sacrifice did not work out and Adams was soon in a fairly hopeless position. An imaginative attempt to create a perpetual check just fell short and his score of 6/10 is disappointing, he had progressed undefeated to this point but playing for a win with black is always difficult.
A nice win with Black for Howell. After 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 is the Marshall Attack, a pawn sacrifice, one point of which is that the White knight cannot come to c3 so he has to develop slowly. 8.h3 keeps the option of Nc3 so 8...d5 is ineffective. When White plays 9.c3 the moves h3 and Bb7 make d5! even better than normal
N Djukic - D Howell
11th EICC Rijeka (2)
Ruy Lopez Anti Marshall
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.c3?! d5!
10.exd5 Nxd5 11.d3
(11.Nxe5 Nxe5 12.Rxe5 Nf4! 13.f3? Bd6 14.Re1 Qg5 wins)
11...Qd6 12.Nbd2 Rad8 13.Ne4 Qg6 14.Ng3 Nb6 15.Bc2 f5! 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.Rxe5 Bd6 18.Re2 c5 19.Qe1
(19.d4 cxd4 20.cxd4 Bxg3)
19...h5
(Attacking g2)
20.f4
(20.Re6 Rfe8! 21.Rxg6 Rxe1+ 22.Nf1 Kf7 23.Rg5 g6)
20...Rfe8 21.Ne4?
(21.Rxe8+ Rxe8 22.Qf2 h4 23.Nf1 c4 24.d4 Nd5 and Black dominates but this sacrifice is unsound)
21...Nd5?
(21...fxe4! 22.dxe4 Qf7 Black is better)
22.Nxd6 Rxe2 23.Qxe2 Rxd6 24.Bd2 Re6 25.Qf2 Ne3! 26.Bb3
(26.Bxe3 Rxe3 27.Kh2 h4 28.Rf1)
26...c4! 27.dxc4 Nxg2! 28.Kh2
(28.cxb5 Ne1+ 29.Kh2 Nf3+)
28...Nh4 29.Bd1 bxc4 30.Qg3 Qe8! 31.Qf2
(31.Qxh4 Re2+ 32.Bxe2 Qxe2+ 33.Kg3 Qg2#)
31...Qc6 32.Bxh5 Rh6 33.Be2 Ng2 34.Qd4
(34.Rg1 Rxh3+! 35.Kxh3 Qh6+ 36.Kg3 Qh4#)
34...Rxh3+ 35.Kg1 Ne3 0-1
David Howell
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N Djukic
Final position after 35...Ne3
5.a4 Bb4 6.e3 b5 is the Noteboom Variation. White declines and offers a couple of pawns for the attack.
V Erdos - M Katzir
Slav Noteboom Declined
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Bg5 f6 6.Bd2 a5 7.g3 b5 8.Bg2 Bb7 9.e4 Bb4 10.Bh3 Bc8 11.Nh4 Ne7 12.Qh5+ g6 13.Qh6 Qxd4
(13...e5!? 14.dxe5 Bxh3 15.exf6 Ng8 16.Qg7 Qxf6 17.Qb7 is unclear)
14.0-0-0 Qe5
(14...Qxf2 15.Rhf1 Qxh2 16.Qg7 Rf8 17.Bh6 Ng8 18.Qc7! Bd7 19.Bxe6 wins)
15.Bg4 Qc7
(15...Kf7!? 16.a3 Bc5 17.Bf4 Ng8 and both queens are trapped!)
16.Qg7 Rg8 17.Qxh7 f5? 18.Nxg6 fxg4
(18...Rxg6 19.Bh5)
19.Nxe7 1-0
