Back to the Future

Pentala Harikrishna – Alexander Anatolyevich Donchenko

53rd Biel International Chess Festival; ACCENTUS Chess960 Tournament (15+5); Biel/Bienne, July 18, 2020

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Position 627

1. b3 b6 2. e4 e5 3. Nd3 d6 4. 0-0-0 f5? A dangerous adventure. Safer seems 4. ... Nce7 in order to reply 5. f4 with 5. ... f6 6. g4 g5 7. f5 h5 followed sooner or later by a-side castling (0-0-0). 5. exf5 Nce7? Likewise after 5. ... Rxf5 6. g4! Bxh1 7. gxf5 Bg2 8. f4! Bxf1 9. Qxf1 e4 10. Nf2 d5 11. d3 e3 12. Ne4! the complications should favour White, but Black’s cause is not yet lost. Instead, after the text Black has neither the harmony in development nor the coordination to carry out a decent defence. 6. f4! e4 7. Nf2 Nxf5 8. g4 Nfh6 9. Ngh3 d5 10. f5. It’s quite incredible, but Black could resign already! If nothing else, he finally manages to castle, but that is of little consolation: 10. ... 0-0-0 11. Ng5 Rf6. Black gives away also the Exchange, but Harikrishna can afford to snub it, at least for a while. 12. Nxh7 Rc6 13. Ng5 Qe7 14. Ne6 Qa3+ 15. Bb2 Qxa2 16. Nxd8 Kxd8

17. Nxe4! By now it’s only a matter of one blow after another. 17. ... dxe4 18. Qxe4 Nf6 19. Qb4 Nd7 20. Bxc6 Bxc6 21. Qc4 Bg2 22. g5 Bxf1 23. Rxf1 b5 24. Qe6 Ng4 25. Qg8+ Ke7 26. Qxh8 1 : 0.

“I didn’t invent Fischerandom chess to destroy chess”, 11th World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer said in a radio interview on June 27, 1999. “I invented Fischerandom chess to keep chess going”. Photo: Simon Bohnenblust.