Resourcefulness

Anish Giri – Viorel Iordăchescu
French Team Championship Top 12; Port-Camargue, May 30, 2015
King’s Indian Defence E90

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c4 d6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 0-0 6. h3 c6 7. Be3 Na6 8. Be2 e5 9. d5 Bd7 10. Nd2 Rc8 11. g4 cxd5 12. cxd5 Nc5 13. a3 a5 14. a4 Ne8 15. g5 f5 16. h4 Rf7 17. Nb3 Na6 18. Bb5 Nb4 19. f3 Bf8 20. Kd2 Ng7 21. Qg1 Nh5 22. Bb6 Qe8 23. Bxa5. “Anish Giri played Viorel Iordăchescu, who had commentated on the Dutchman’s games over the two weeks of the recent Khanty-Mansisyk Grand Prix. Things soon became creative, as Viorel decided to try and exploit the White King’s position in the middle of the board:”, Colin McGourty said.

23. ... Nc6!? Iordăchescu’s resourceful play is reminiscent of a celebrated game from the 1956 USSR Championship, when after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Be2 0-0 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 Qa5 8. Bd2 a6 9. a4 e5 10. g4 Ne8 11. h4 f5 12. h5 f4 13. g5 Qd8 14. Bg4 Nc7 15. Bxc8 Qxc8 16. Nf3 Boris Vasilievich Spassky got out of trouble with the fantastic 16. ... Nc6!!? – see Averbakh – Spassky, 23rd USSR Chess Championship, Leningrad 1956. “Eventually [Spassky] drew, though Iordăchescu couldn’t pull off the same feat”, McGourty said. 24. dxc6 bxc6 25. Bc4 d5 26. exd5 cxd5 27. Bxd5 Be6 28. Bxe6 Qxe6 29. Qb6 Qc4 30. Qb5 Qf4+ 31. Kc2 Ng3 32. Rhd1 Qxf3 33. Qxe5 Ne4 34. Qe6 Qg2+ 35. Kb1 Rc6 36. Qe5 Rc4 37. Qd5 Rc8 38. Nxe4 fxe4 39. Ka2 Bg7 40. Rd2 Qf3 41. Re1 1 : 0.

Anish Giri
Photo: Fédération Française des Échecs

Anish Giri (‏@anishgiri)