Other Times

韦奕 (Wéi Yì) – Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk
Match game 6; Hoogeveen, October 26, 2017
Sicilian Defence B43

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 Qc7. In the 4th game Ivanchuk preferred 7. ... d5 8. 0-0 Qc7 9. Re1 Bb7 10. Qf3 Bd6 11. e5!? Bf8 12. Ne2 Ne7. 8. 0-0 Nf6 9. Qe2 d5 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. f4 h6. The alternative vintage “book” is 11. ... Be7 12. e5 Nd7 13. Bxe7 Kxe7 14. Na4 c5 15. c4 d4 16. Be4 Bxe4 17. Qxe4 g6 18. b3 a5 19. Nb2 h5 20. Nd3 Ra6 21. Rab1 Rb8 22. Rf2 Rab6 23. Rfb2 Kf8 24. h3 Kg7 25. Kf2 h4 26. Kg1 Rh8 27. Qe1 Ra6 28. Rf2 Nb6 ½ : ½ Spassky – T. V. Petrossiàn, 5th Gran Torneo Internacional, Palma de Mallorca 1969. 12. Bh4 Be7 13. Bg3! In a win–win situation, 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) is rightly looking for something more than 13. e5 Nd7 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 15. Na4 c5 16. c4 d4 17. Be4 Bc6 18. b3 g6 19. Nb2 Qb7 which, similarly to the abovementioned game Spassky – Petrossiàn, gives Black quite a sound position, S. Germán – Panno, 2nd “Cleaner Bissell” International Open, Buenos Aires 1995. 13. ... 0-0 14. e5 Ne8 15. f5! exf5 16. Bxf5 Qb6+. 16. ... Bc8 17. e6! also would be extremely unpleasant. 17. Kh1 g6 18. Bd7 Rd8. 18. ... d4 19. e6! was another intricate affair.

19. e6! f5 20. Qd2 Kh7 21. Bf2! White’s Bishop transfers itself to the diagonal c1-h6 with gain of time. 21. ... Qa5 22. Be3 h5? As Peter Boel wrote in his life blog report, “Here Ivanchuk played 22. ... h5? after which his Kingside was laid bare for the White Bishop and Queen. Instead, 22. ... Nf6! was possible: 23.Bxh6 Nxd7 24.exd7 Rf7 and if Rf1-f3-h3 then the King goes back to g8. ‘This was an excellent chance. It’s still very unclear’, Ivanchuk sighed. ‘I stopped calculating after 23. Bxh6. How could I miss this? White may be slightly better, but it’s still playable’. 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) agreed that this line would still have been very unclear. ‘Especially as I was in time-trouble’, he added”. 23. Qf2 c5? And here the Exchange sacrifice by 23. ... Nf6! 24. Bb6 Qb4 gave much more hope for a creative defence. Now White’s attack inexorably spreads its wings. 24. Qf4 g5 25. Qf3 g4 26. Qf4 Rf6 27. Bxe8 Rxe8 28. Qg5 Ref8 29. Qxh5+ Kg7 30. Qg5+ Kh8 31. Qh5+ Kg7 32. Bg5 d4 33. Bxf6+ Rxf6 34. Rxf5 1 : 0. Superbly played by the Chinese wonder boy to equalise the match, but in the following tie-break Ivanchuk won both the crucial blitz games to become the winner! A great match between two anti-superheroes of opposite generations, which hopefully will remain a pleasant memory for both of them.