The Cutting Edge

王晨 (Wáng Chén) – 韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
6th Hǎinán Dānzhōu Super GM Chess Tournament; 儋州 (Dānzhōu), July 10, 2015
Sicilian Defence B31

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. 0-0 Bg7 5. c3 Nf6 6. Qe2 0-0 7. h3 Qb6 8. Ba4. Another modus operandi is 8. Na3 d5 9. d3 h6 10. e5 Ne8 11. Be3 d4 12. cxd4 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 cxd4 14. Bxe8 Rxe8 15. Rfc1 Rd8 16. Nc4 Qb5 17. a4 Qb4 18. Ne1 Be6 19. Nc2 Qc5 20. b4 Qc7 21. N2a3 Rac8 22. Re1 ½ : ½ Kuzmin – Timoshchenko, 46th USSR Chess Championship, Tbilisi 1978. 8. ... d5 9. e5 Nd7 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. d3 f6 12. exf6 exf6 13. c4 Ba6 14. Qe6+ Rf7 15. Nc3 Nf8 16. Qe2 dxc4 17. dxc4 Qb4 18. Nd2 f5 19. Qf3 Rc8 20. a3 Qb8 21. Re1 Re8 22. Rxe8 Qxe8 23. Qe3? White is too far behind in development to afford the luxury of grabbing material! 23. ... Re7. “This is a difficult line to play, but Black seems to play it perfectly. After he gets the advantage he lets the White Queen take whatever it wants. White was way too greedy but the finish is impressive”, Marmot PFL said. 24. Qxc5? Most consistent but most disastrous as well. 24. ... Re1+ 25. Kh2 Ne6 26. Qxa7

26. ... Bd4! 27. Qxa6. Or 27. c5 Bd3 and wins. 27. ... Qb8+ 28. g3 Bxf2 0 : 1. For if 29. Nf1 there follows 29. ... Rxf1 30. Bf4 Bxg3+! 31. Kg2 Qxb2+ and mate in three moves.

韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
Photo: sports.sina.com.cn