Out Through the Curtain

Sergey Anatoliyovych Fedorchuk – Yuriy Oleksandrovych Kuzubov
84th Ukrainian Chess Championship; Lviv, December 4, 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. Kb1 d5 11. h4!? A sharp novelty by Fedorchuk. The accepted continuation was 11. c4 Nb6 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Rhe1 (or 14. Bg5 f6 15. Qe2 Bf7 16. Bxd5 cxd5 17. Be3 Re8 ½ : ½ Volokitin – Nisipeanu, Romanian Team Chess Championship, Calimanesti-Caciulata 2014) 14. ... Bb4 15. c3 Be7 16. Bb3 Qa5 17. Nd4 Bd7 18. Bc2 Rfe8 19. Nb3 Qc7 20. Bc5 Bxc5 21. Nxc5 Rxe1 22. Rxe1 Re8 23. Rxe8+ Bxe8 24. Qe2 Kf8 25. g3 Nf6 26. Qe3 b6 ½ : ½ Vachier-Lagrave – Giri, Chess World Cup, Baku 2015, match game 1. 11. ... Nf6 12. Ng5 Ne4 13. Qe1 Bf5 14. Bd3 Nd6 15. Be2 h6 16. g4 hxg5 17. hxg5. A less risky course for White would have been 17. gxf5 gxh4 18. Bd3 with the prospect of a volatile initiative. 17. ... Bg6 18. f4 f5! 19. gxf6 Bxf6 20. f5 Re8 21. Qg1 Rxe3! Black rightly gives back some material to consolidate. 22. Qxe3 Bf7 23. Rh2? This move allows Black to build up a powerful initiative. Best seems 23. Bd3 d4!? 24. cxd4 Bd5 25. Rh5 (or 25. Rh2 Qa5) 25. ... Bf7 with an unclear – but dynamically balanced – position. 23. ... Ne4 24. Rdh1 Kf8 25. c4 Qe7 26. Ka1 Bg8 27. cxd5 cxd5 28. Rh8? White’s Rook asks for trouble! After both 28. Qb3 Rc8 and 28. Bf3 Ng5 Black stands clearly better, but anything reasonable was better than the text. 28. ... Rc8 29. Qb3 g5! 30. R8h6 Rc6. Threatening ... Rc6-b6. 31. Qe3

31. ... Bxb2+! A deadly blow! 32. Kxb2 Qe5+ 33. c3. Or 33. Kb1 Nc3+ winning the Queen. 33. ... Rxc3 34. Qxa7 Rc4+ 0 : 1. There follows mate in two.