Sunday, April 11, 2021

The Catcher in the Rye

Jonas Buhl Bjerre – Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa
1st Julius Bär Challengers Chess Tour; 1st stage; Polgár Challenge; time control: 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; chess24.com, April 10, 2021
King’s Indian Defence E92

Indian prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, 15, eventually won the Polgár Challenge, thus earning a wild card into his first Champions Chess Tour 2021 with the big boys. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. 0-0 e5 8. Be3 c6 9. d5 c5 10. Ne1 Kh8 11. g4 Ng8. Very much Chigorin-like. 12. Qd2 f5 13. gxf5 gxf5 14. exf5 Ne7 (14. ... Ndf6 15. Bd3 Ne7 16. Qc2 Qe8 17. Ng2 Qh5 18. f3 Nxf5 19. Bxf5 Bxf5 20. Qd2 Rf7 21. Ne2 Qh3 22. Ng3 Bg6 23. Rae1 Raf8 24. Bg5 Nh5 25. Ne4 Rxf3 26. Rxf3 Rxf3 27. Nxd6 e4 28. Nb5 a6 29. d6 Rd3 30. Qa5 h6 31. Qd8+ Kh7 32. Nc3 hxg5 0 : 1 Guadalpi – Jaracz, 6th European Individual Chess Championship, Warsaw 2005) 15. Kh1 Nf6 16. Bd3 Bxf5 17. Rg1 e4 18. Be2 Ng6 19. Rg5 Qd7 20. Nc2 Rf7 21. Rag1 Raf8


22. Qe1? This move is so bad that one may well attribute it to a mouse slip, as it’s quite obvious that it was the Knight which had to move to e1 (⌓ 22. Ne1!). Now Praggnanandhaa unleashes his attack: 22. ... Ne5! 23. Qf1 Nf3 24. Bxf3 exf3 25. Ne1. Just too late. 25. ... Ng4! 26. Bf4 Bd4 27. Bg3


27. ... Rf6! Threat: ... Rf6-h6xh2+. 28. Nxf3. Desperation, but if 28. Nb5 then 28. ... Ne3! 29. fxe3 f2 with devastating effect. 28. ... Bxc3 29. Nh4 (29. bxc3 Be4−+) 29. ... Be4+ 30. f3 Rxf3 31. Nxf3 Rxf3 32. Qg2 Rxg3! 0 : 1. Mate follows after 33. Qxe4 Nf2# or 33. hxg3 Ne3! 34. Qxe4 Qh3#.

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