Strange finish from the Olympiad

Home » IM Malcolm Pein » Strange finish from the Olympiad

39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (11)

Strange finish from the Olympiad

IM Malcolm Pein - Friday 8th October 2010

Malcolm Pein looks at an Alexander Beliavsky game from the Olympiad along with looking at the Bronze finish for Israel.

A very strange game from the Chess Olympiad. White wins a pawn in the opening but loses in just nineteen moves. Today's puzzle is to find the killer blow.

ARS Salem (2501) - A Beliavsky (2632)

UAE v Slovenia

Leningrad Dutch

1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.b4 Nc6! 6.Nc3

(6.b5? Nxd4 7.Qxd4 Nh5)

6...Nxb4 7.Rb1 Nc6 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 d6

(White has an open file and a tempo for the pawn, surely not quite enough?)

10.e3!? e5?!

(White is ideally placed to counter this.

10...Rb8 11.Bb2 Bd7)

11.dxe5 Ng4!? 12.Ba3

(The bishop can get here in one move as there is no b2 pawn)

12...Re8 13.Qb3 Ngxe5 14.Nxe5 dxe5?

(14...Nxe5)

15.Rfd1 Qf6 16.Bd5+! Re6

Alexander Beliavsky

ARS Salem

Position after 16...Re6

White to play and win

Answer to puzzle 17.Nb5! Ne7

(17...Qf7 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Rd8+ Re8 20.Rxe8+ Qxe8 21.Nxc7 wins)

18.Bxe6+ Bxe6 19.Nxc7 1-0

Emil Sutovsky starred as Israel out-performed again at the Chess Olympiad. Seeded eleventh, the Israelis took the bronze medals on tie break, they were silver medalists at Dresden two years ago.

Sutovsky avoids the fashionable 12...Nd7 13.Ne4 Qxa2 14.Rd1 which has been exensively analysed. I can't see anything wrong with his move. Black's position looks perilous but he survives.

A Motylev (2694) - E Sutovsky (2665)

Russia II v Israel

Sicilan Najdorf Poisoned Pawn

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 h6 11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.e6 Bxe6 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Bd3 Be7 17.Bg6+ Kd8 18.Bxe7+ Qxe7 19.0-0 Nd7

(19...b5 20.a4)

20.Rxb7 Qc5+ 21.Kh1 Ra7 22.Rb3 Rf8 23.Rxf8+ Nxf8 24.Rb8+ Ke7 25.Bh5 g6 26.Qxh6

(26.Be2 Nd7 27.Rh8 Rc8)

26...Qf2!

(Threatening mate and gxh5. White is forced into a bad rook and pawn endgame)

27.Qg7+ Kd6 28.Qxf8+ Qxf8 29.Rxf8 gxh5

(Black's superior king and passed pawn give him excellent winning chances)

Emil Sutovsky