Morphy-style

韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – Stefan Bromberger
2nd Qatar Masters Open; Doha, December 26, 2015
Russian Defence C42

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 0-0 8. Qd2 Nd7 9. 0-0-0 c6 10. c4 Nc5. This novelty is nothing special theoretically speaking, but it doesn’t look so bad. For 10. ... Re8 11. h4 Nf6 12. Bd3 see Hamdouchi – Neiman, French Team Chess Championship Top 12, Saint-Quentin 2014. 11. Bxc5 dxc5 12. Qf4 Qa5 13. Bd3 Bf6 14. a3 Be6 15. Ng5 Bxg5 16. Qxg5 Rad8 17. Rhe1 Rfe8 18. f4 h6 19. Qh5 f6? This implies a fatal weakening of the light squares. A better move would have been 19. ... Bc8 when White would have probably played 20. Re5! eventually doubling the Rooks, quite in Morphy’s style. 20. Bg6 Rxd1+ 21. Qxd1 Rd8

22. Rxe6!! A fantastic positional Queen sacrifice! 22. ... Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1. Black is absolutely tied down to defend against the impending threat of Re6-e8 mate. 23. ... Qd8+ 24. Ke2. The plan is amazingly simple: White will bring his King to h5, in order then to advance the Kingside Pawns, finally forcing either a won King and Pawn ending or a Zugzwang position. 24. ... Kf8 25. Kf3 Qd7 26. Re1 Qd8 27. Kg4 Qd7+ 28. Kh5 Qd8 29. a4 a5 30. g4 Qd7 31. h4 Qd8 32. Re8+ Qxe8 33. Bxe8 Kxe8 34. Kg6 Kf8 35. Kh7 Kf7 36. g5 1 : 0. 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) went on to win a game of Morphy-like simplicity and elegance.

韦奕 (Wéi Yì)
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