Wednesday, June 23, 2021

The Golden Fish

Stockfish – Stoofvlees
Top Chess Engine Championship Season 21 — Division P; tcec-chess.com, June 22, 2021
Sicilian Defence B81

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4 Be7 7. g5 Nfd7 8. h4 Nc6 9. Be3 0-0 10. f4 Qb6 11. a3!? Indirectly defending the b-Pawn. Instead, the human theory gave only 11. Rb1 d5 12. e5⩲ Kruppa – Golod, 57th Ukrainian Chess Championship, Kharkov 1988. 11. ... d5. Of course not 11. ... Qxb2?? because of 12. Na4 trapping the Queen. On the other hand, it would be disconcerting, to say the least, if the text move were the cause of Black’s calamities. And yet... 12. exd5 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Bc5 14. Bxc5 Nxc5 15. Qd4 exd5. Again here, if 15. ... Qxb2? then 16. Qxc5! Qxa1+ 17. Kd2 with overwhelming compensation for the Exchange. Maybe 15. ... e5 could be considered, even if also in this case White would have little to worry about: 16. Qb4! exf4 17. 0-0-0 with powerful advantage. 16. 0-0-0 Bg4. If Stoofvlees were a human being rather than a machine, it could be inferred that “he” had relied a lot upon this move. 17. Nxd5 Qa5


18. h5! This gain of tempo proves devastating. 18. ... Ne6. The Rook is taboo, since 18. ... Bxd1? 19. h6! Ne6 20. Ne7+ Kh8 21. hxg7+ Nxg7 22. Qxd1 gives White a mating attack. 19. Qe5 Qc5 (19. ... Bxd1?? 20. Ne7++−) 20. b4 Qf2 21. Bd3 Rfd8. The Rook is untouchable for the same reason as mentioned above: 21. ... Bxd1? 22. Ne7+ Kh8 23. h6! with mating attack. 22. h6. Threat: Bd3xh7+. 22. ... g6. If 22. ... Rxd5!? (just hoping for 23. Qxd5?? Qxf4+ 24. Kb2 Bf3∞) then 23. Bxh7+! winning by force. 23. Ne7+ Kf8


24. Nxg6+! hxg6. If 24. ... fxg6 then 25. Qf6+ Kg8 (or 5. ... Ke8 26. Bb5+ followed by mate) 26. Bc4! with mate in a few moves. 25. h7 Ke7 26. Qf6+ Kd7 27. Qxf7+ Kc6 28. Be4+ Kb5 29. Qxb7+ Qb6


30. h8=Q! Bxd1. Or 30. ... Rxh8 31. Qd7+! followed by mate in two. 31. Qe5+ Nc5 32. Bc6+ Kc4 33. Qf7+ Ne6 34. Qfxe6+ Rd5 35. Q6xd5# 1 : 0.

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