Rasam

Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian – Baskaran Adhiban
11th World Team Chess Championship; Khanty-Mansiysk, June 20, 2017
Semi-Slav Defence D45

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Be7 7. g4!? dxc4 8. g5 Nd5 9. Bxc4 b5!? Also possible was 9. ... b6 10. e4 Nxc3 11. Qxc3 a5 12. Bd2 0-0 13. 0-0-0 b5 14. Be2 b4 15. Qe3 ½ : ½ Gasanov – Mirzoev, 2nd Golden Apricot, Malatya 2014. Another try is 9. ... Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bxg5 11. Rg1 Bf6 12. e4 g6 13. e5 Be7 14. Ng5 c5 when White could not resist the impulse to play 15. Nxf7? Kxf7 16. Bxe6+, but after 16. ... Kg7 (not 16. ... Kxe6?? 17. Qb3+ with mate coming quickly) 17. Qd2 h6 18. Bb3 Nf8 19. d5 Bf5 Black easily rejected his opponent’s dreamed attack, Vescovi – R. A. Fernández, 1st Open de Xadrez de Batatais, Batatais 1994. 10. Be2 Nxc3! 11. Qxc3? Trying to get something out from the opening, Akobian makes what would seem to be a big positional error. 11. bxc3 would have kept the game quite balanced. 11. ... Bb7 12. d5. That was Akobian’s idea, but I don’t think he really believed it were a good one. 12. ... 0-0 13. dxe6 fxe6 14. h4? Also after 14. Nd4 Nc5 White’s game is quite unpleasant, but the text looks like a trivial tactical blunder.

14. ... Rxf3! 15. Bxf3 Qf8. Threatening both ... Be7-b4 and ... Qf8xf3. 16. Ke2 b4. Now White must parry both ... b4xc3 and Bb7-a6+. 17. Qc4 Qxf3+! 18. Kxf3 Ne5+ 19. Kg3 Nxc4. With Knight and Bishop for the Rook, a clear superiority in development, and a powerful Bishop pair pointed against the exposed White King, Black can enjoy his game till the very end. 20. Rd1 c5 21. b3 Nd6 22. Bb2 Rf8 23. f4 Bd5 24. Kh3 Ne4 25. Rf1 g6 26. Be5 a5 27. Bc7 Ra8 28. Kh2 a4 29. Be5 Kf7 30. Rfd1 Nf2 31. Re1 Nd3 32. Rf1 axb3 33. axb3 Rxa1 34. Bxa1 Bxb3 35. e4 c4 36. f5 exf5 37. exf5 c3 38. h5 gxh5 39. Rg1 c2 40. g6+ hxg6 41. fxg6+ Kg8 0 : 1.

Baskaran Adhiban and Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian analysing their game. Photo: Anastasiya Balakhontseva/Ugra Chess Academy.