Stellar nucleosynthesis

Wesley So – Gataulla Rustemovich Kamsky
60th U.S. Chess Championship; Saint Louis, April 14, 2016
Spanish C95

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0-0 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15. Bg5 h6 16. Bd2 Bg7 17. a4 c6. More reserved than 17. ... c5 18. d5 c4 19. b4! as occurred in the most celebrated premiere R. J. Fischer – Spassky, Sveti Stefan 1992, match game 1. 18. axb5. Maybe a new idea. For 18. Be3 Qc7 19. Qd2 Kh7 20. Bb3 Nf8 21. c4 see Najer – Zoler, 15th European Individual Chess Championship, Yerevan 2014. 18. ... axb5 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 20. Nh4 Qd8. 20. ... exd4(!) 21. cxd4 c5 seems more to the point. 21. Qc1 Kh7? A careless move. Kamsky doesn’t suspect anything, otherwise he would have played 21. ... Nh7! reducing to a minimum his opponent’s initiative.

22. Nhf5! Quite a thematic sacrifice. Deep specialists of the Black Spanish such as Svetozar Gligorić, Boris Vasilievich Spassky, and Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov would have took care about it. 22. ... gxf5 23. Nxf5 Re6 24. Bxh6 Ne8 25. Bg5 Bf6? This loses brilliantly. Anyway, after 25. ... Qc7 26. dxe5 Nxe5 (or 26. ... dxe5 27. Bb3) 27. f4 Nc4 28. e5! dxe5 29. b3! White’s attack hits very hard. 26. Bxf6 Qxf6 27. d5 Re7 28. g4! 1 : 0. For after g4-g5 the Black Rook is doomed.

Wesley So. Photo: Spectrum Studios.