卡拉卡拉

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Brief notes by Francesca Lidia Ortenzi

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韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – Al. Muthaiah
53rd World Junior Chess Championship; Pune, October 6, 2014
Sicilian Defence B31

This game is a good old-fashioned King Hunt, that... should have ended badly. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. h3 Bg7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Nc3 0-0 8. Be3 Nd7 9. Qd2 Re8?! A little too basic. 10. Bh6 Bh8 11. h4! Qa5. h4-h5 is a threat to almost all the possible answers of Black, e.g. 11. ... Nf6 12. h5 as in the game Sutovsky – Muhtarov, Ljubljana 1994. For 11. ... c4 12. d4 e5 13. d5 see Solak – Vorobjov, 40th Chess Olympiad, Istanbul 2012. 12. h5 Qb4 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. 0-0-0 Bxc3 15. bxc3 Qa3+ 16. Kb1 Nb6?? Oblivious to the danger! 16. ... f6 was mandatory. Now White to move and win! 17. Bf8! f6

18. Qh6. 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) misses the most direct 18. Rh8+! Kf7 19. Ng5+! fxg5 20. Qxg5 with an impending mate, e.g. 20. ... Na4 21. Rh7+ Kxf8 22. Qh6+ Kg8 23. Qg7 mate. 18. ... Kf7 Clearly not 18. ... Kxf8?? because of 19. Qxg6 mate. 19. Qg7+? Mutatis mutandis, 19. Ng5+! fxg5 20. Qxg5 was still decisive. 19. ... Ke6 20. Ng5+! fxg5 21. d4?! Simpler – and stronger – was 21. Bxe7 Rxe7 22. Qxg6+ Kd7 (on 22. ... Ke5?? 23. f4+! mates in three moves) 23. e5! with a powerful attack. 21. ... c4 22. d5+ cxd5 23. exd5+ Kd7 24. d6 Kc6 25. Qxg6? After 25. dxe7 Bf5 Black stands better, but the text could lose instantly! 25. ... Bd7? Sitting on my super flaming “Cherokee” Jeep Liberty I suddenly got an idea! Why not 25. ... Bf5! 26. Qxf5 Na4 with an instant win? 26. dxe7+ Kb5 27. Rh5 Bc6 28. Qxg5+ Ka6 29. Qc5 Qxc5 30. Rxc5 Bxg2 31. Rd6 Rxf8! 32. exf8=Q Rxf8 33. Rxc4 Rxf2 34. Rb4 Bc6 35. Kc1 Nd5 36. Ra4+ Kb6 37. Kb2 Ne3 38. Kb3 Rxc2? Zeitnot! Both 38. ... Rf1 and 38. ... Kc5 would have won. 39. Re4 Kc7 40. Rxe3 Rh2?? The last mistake, just before the time control! After 40. ... Ba4+! 41. Kxa4 Kxd6 Black survives. 1 : 0. And so Black, with seconds to spare, blundered and resigned simultaneously (or maybe overstepped the time limit). A crazy game! As they say, “A good player is always lucky”.

Francesca Lidia Ortenzi
Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”