Under the Volcano

Avital Boruchovsky – Jon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer
17th European Individual Chess Championship; Gjakova, May 19, 2016
Grünfeld Defence D85

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bb5+ c6 8. Ba4 0-0 9. Ne2 c5 10. d5!? e6 11. Be3 b6 12. Bb3 Qh4! An ambitious novelty. For 12. ... Na6 13. 0-0 Nc7 14. Qd2 exd5 15. exd5 Nb5 16. Bf4 Nd6 17. Ng3 Bb7 see Avrukh – Greenfeld, Wydra Memorial Rapid Chess Tournament, Haifa 2000. 13. Qc2 Ba6 14. dxe6 c4 15. Ba4 b5 16. Qd2 fxe6 17. Bc2 Rd8 18. Nd4

18. ... e5!! Hammer offers an Exchange sacrifice for eventually relying on the Bishop pair as well as on his Queenside Pawn majority. 19. Bg5 Qg4 20. Bd1?? Being hard-pressed, Boruchovsky loses his head and commits a very palpable mistake. It doesn’t look so appealing either 20. f3 Qc8 21. Bxd8 exd4 followed by ... d4-d3 when Black’s powerful passed d-Pawn would paralyze White’s position. The critical line is probably 20. Bxd8 exd4 (but not 20. ... Qxg2?? because of 21. Nf3!! Qxh1+ 22. Ke2 Qxa1 23. Qd5+ Kh8 24. Nxe5 with mate in short order) 21. cxd4 Nc6 to be soon followed by the taking of the d4-Pawn and, in spite of the lack of any material compensation, Black retains pretty promising dynamical prospects. 20. ... Qxg2 21. Bf3 Qh3 22. Bxd8 exd4 23. Qg5 Qxf3 24. Qd5+ Kh8! 25. 0-0 Qg4+. In order to gain time on the clock. 26. Kh1 Qf3+ 27. Kg1 Nc6 28. Qxc6 Qg4+ 29. Kh1 Qf3+ 30. Kg1 Rxd8 31. Qxa6 Be5! 32. Qe6 Qf4 33. Qh3 dxc3! Threatening ... Rd8-d3. 34. Rfd1. We can hardly call it a mistake, as White has no good move. 34. ... Rxd1+ 35. Rxd1 c2 0 : 1.

Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen)