Meeting Resistance

Andrei Volokitin – Yuriy Kuzubov
84th Ukrainian Chess Championship; Lviv, December 14, 2015
Sicilian B90

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 Nfd7 8. g5 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. h4 Nb6 11. h5 N8d7 12. Rh3 Nc5

13. g6! Volokitin’s novelty appears more enterprising than 13. Qg4 e5 14. Nf5 g6 as occurred in the game Geetha Narayanan Gopal – Areshchenko, 3rd Chess Classic, Al-’Ayn 2014. 13. ... hxg6 14. hxg6 Rxh3 15. gxf7+ Kxf7 16. Bxh3 e5 17. Qh5+ g6 18. Qh7+ Bg7 19. Ne6. White developed a certain initiative, so Black must defend carefully. 19. ... Qh8 20. Ng5+ Kf6 21. b3 Qxh7 22. Nxh7+ Kf7 23. Be3 Rh8 24. Ng5+ Ke7 25. 0-0-0 Bf6 26. Bg4 Ncd7 27. Kb2 Rh4 28. f3 Rh2 29. Ne6 Bc6 30. Nc7 Bb7 31. Rg1 Nc5 32. Rd1 Bh4 33. Bg1 Rg2 34. Be3 Rh2 35. N7d5+ Nxd5 36. Nxd5+ Bxd5 37. Rxd5 Ne6 38. Rd2 Rh1 39. Rg2 Nf4 40. Rg1 Rxg1 41. Bxg1 Ne2 42. Bb6 Be1 43. b4 Bc3+ 44. Ka2 Bd4 45. Bc7 d5 46. exd5 Nc3+ 47. Kb3 Nxd5 48. Bb8 Kd8 49. c4 bxc4+ 50. Kxc4 Ne3+ 51. Kd3 Nxg4 52. fxg4 Kc8 53. Bd6 Kd7 54. Bf8 Kc6 55. Kc4 Bg1 56. a4 e4 57. Bh6 Bf2 58. Bg7 Be1 59. Bc3 Bh4? So far Black has somehow managed to survive, but on the last move he committed a fatal slip. 59. ... Bxc3! 60. Kxc3 Kd5 was a dead draw. 60. Bd4 Bg5 61. Bc5 Bh4 62. b5+ axb5+ 63. axb5+ Kd7 64. Kd5 Bg3 65. Be3 Bc7 66. Kxe4 Ba5 67. Kd5 Bc3 68. b6 Ba5 69. Bd4 Bb4 70. Bc5 1 : 0.

Andrei Volokitin
Photo: ukrchess.com