Forkesch Tower

Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk – Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
11th ROMGAZ Kings Rapid Tournament; Mediaș, November 27, 2017
Queen’s Gambit Declined D37

The Ukrainian duo constituted by Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk and Anna Muzychuk won respectively the men’s and women’s 11th ROMGAZ Kings Tournament in memoriam of Elisabeta Polihroniade held in Mediaș, Romania. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 0-0 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. a3 Nc6 9. Qc2 Qa5 10. 0-0-0 Ne4 11. Nb5 a6 12. Nc7 e5 13. Nxd5. The alternative 13. Rxd5!? (Kasparov – Vaganian, 10th European Team Chess Championship, Debrecen 1992) after 13. ... exf4! 14. Qxe4 Qxc7 15. Rxc5 fxe3 would lead to nothing special; for instance: 16. Bd3 g6 17. Qxe3 b6 18. Rh5!? Bg4 19. Rh4 Bxf3 20. gxf3! Ne5∞ with very unclear (but dynamically balanced) play.

13. ... exf4? Ivanchuk has caught his opponent unprepared. It would have been interesting to find out what he had in mind about 13. ... Nxf2! 14. Ng5 Bf5! 15. Qxf2 exf4 16. Qxf4 Ne7! 17. Nxe7+ Bxe7 18. Rd5 Qe1+ 19. Rd1 Qa5 20. Rd5 Qe1+ 21. Rd1 ½ : ½ Gelfand – Jussupow, 10th Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de Linares, Linares 1992. 14. Qxe4 fxe3 15. fxe3 h6. 15. ... b5!? may look a bit more tricky, but 16. Nd4! is much better for White anyway. 16. Nd4 Qd8 17. Bd3 f5 18. Qf4 Bd6 19. Qf2. White is a Pawn up and has a far superior position. That’s more than enough for Ivanchuk. 19. ... Be5 20. Bc2 Rf7 21. Rhe1 Qf8 22. Nf3 Be6 23. Nxe5 Nxe5 24. Qf4 Ng6 25. Qg3 Bxd5 26. Rxd5 Ne7 27. Rd6 Rc8 28. Kb1 Kh8 29. Red1 Nc6 30. Qf4 Re8 31. R1d5 Ne7 32. Re5 Nc6 33. Rxe8 Qxe8 34. Bxf5 Qf8 35. g4 Rf6 36. Rxf6 Qxf6 37. Qc7 g6 38. Qc8+ Kg7 39. Qxb7+ Kf8 40. Qc8+ Kf7 41. Qd7+ Ne7 42. Bd3 Qe5 43. Qd4 Qxh2 44. c5 h5 45. gxh5 gxh5 46. Bc4+ Ke8 47. Be6 1 : 0.