Beijinho

Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier – Maximo Iack Macedo
83rd Brazilian Chess Championship; Rio de Janeiro, February 13, 2017
English Opening A13

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 c5 7. Qc2!? Shuffling cards. For 7. Ne5 Qc8 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. 0-0 Rc8 see Macedo – Mekhitarian, 82nd Brazilian Chess Championship, Rio de Janeiro 2016. 8. ... Nc6 8. 0-0 Rc8 9. d3 Be7 10. a3 0-0 11. e3 Nd5 12. Nbd2 b5 13. b3 f6 14. Bb2 Be8 15. Rad1 Nb6 16. Ne4 Nd7 17. Qe2 Qc7? 17. ... Na5 appears much better, maintaining a more balanced game. 18. d4! Now White opens up the centre under much more favourable conditions than before. 18. ... cxd4 19. exd4 b4 20. axb4 Bxb4 21. Rc1 Bf7 22. Nfd2. Stockfish lists on top the flashy 22. Nfg5! which could indeed be even stronger; for instance: 22. ... fxg5 23. Nxg5 Ndb8 24. d5! exd5 25. Bxd5 Bxd5 26. Qd3 g6 27. Qxd5+ Rf7 28. Nxh7! Kxh7? 29. Rc4 with an irresistible attack. 22. ... Qb6 23. Nc4 Qb8 24. Ra1 e5? The final crisis. Grandmaster Rafael Duailibe Leitão rightly recommends 24. ... Rfd8. 25. Bh3 Rcd8. White to move and win (it’s very easy!):

26. Bxd7! Rxd7 27. Nxf6+! 1 : 0. For if 27. ... gxf6 then 28. Qg4+.

Brazil

Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier – Paulo Jatobá de Oliveira Reis
83rd Brazilian Chess Championship; Rio de Janeiro, February 8, 2017
Nimzo-Indian Defence E46

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 0-0 5. Nge2 c6 6. a3 Ba5 7. Ng3 d5 8. Be2 Nbd7 9. 0-0 dxc4 10. Bxc4 e5 11. Bb3 exd4 12. exd4 Bc7 13. Bc2 Re8 14. Bg5 h6 15. Be3 Nb6 16. Qd3 Nbd5 17. Nxd5 cxd5 18. f3 Bd6 19. Rac1 Bd7 20. Qd2 Qb6 21. Nf5 Bf8 22. Bf4 Rac8 23. Ne3 Be6 24. Be5 Be7 25. Nf5 Bxf5 26. Bxf5 Rxc1 27. Rxc1 Bd6 28. Bxf6 gxf6 29. g3 Kg7 30. Kg2 Qb5 31. Rc2 Re7. Black’s King’s position on the Kingside is very weak and Fier breakthroughs without too much difficulty. 32. Qd1! Rc7 33. Rd2 Re7 34. f4 Bc7 35. Rc2 Qb3 36. Qg4+ Kf8. Or 36. ... Kh8 37. Kh3! with the deadly threat of Kh3-h4-h5xh6.

37. Bh7! 1 : 0.

Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier
Photo credit: Rafael Duailibe Leitão

Crazy Beautiful You

Alexandr Fier – Igor-Alexandre Nataf
French Team Championship Top 12; Port-Camargue, June 5, 2015
King’s Indian Defence E75

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0-0 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 h6 8. Bf4 e6 9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. Bxd6 Re8 11. e5. For 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. 0-0 Nd4 see Polugaevsky – Kasparov, Bugojno 1982. 11. ... Nfd7 12. f4 Nc6 13. Nf3 f6 14. 0-0. White decides to give back the Pawn and fight for the initiative. 14. ... fxe5 15. Bd3 Bf7 16. f5 gxf5 17. Bxf5 Nb6 18. Bxc5 Qxd1 19. Rfxd1 Nxc4 20. b3. 20. Rd7 b6 doesn’t look much more promising.

20. ... Nd4 21. Be4 Rac8 22. bxc4 Rxc5 23. Bxb7 Rxc4 24. Ne4 Rd8 ½ : ½.

Teimour Radjabov (@rajachess)

Samba

David Navara – Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier
International Chess Open; Reykjavík, March 16, 2015
Sicilian Defence B85

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be2 a6 7. 0-0 Nf6 8. Be3 Be7 9. f4 d6 10. Kh1 0-0 11. Qe1 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. a3 Bb7 14. Qg3 Bc6 15. Rae1 Qb7 16. Bd3 b4 17. Nd1 bxa3 18. bxa3 Rad8. For 18. ... g6 19. Nf2 Nh5 20. Qe3 f6 21. Bc4 Ng7 22. Rb1 Qc8 23. Bb3 see Bacrot – Lautier, FIDE World Cup, Khanty-Mansyisk 2005. 19. Nf2 Qc7 20. Bxa6 Ra8 21. Bd3 Ra4 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Ng4 Qe7 24. f5 e5 25. Re3 Rxa3 26. h4 Kh8 27. Qe1 Bxh4 28. f6 Bxf6 29. Rxf6. A bold Exchange sacrifice. Navara probably overlooked Black’s reply.

29. ... Bd7! Certainly not a difficult move to find! Now White has probably insoluble problems... defending his “attack”! If, instead, 29. ... gxf6? there follows 30. Qh4 Rg8 31. Nxf6 Rg7 32. Kh2! Bb7 33. Rh3 and White wins. 30. Rf5 Bxf5 31. exf5 Qg5 32. Qe2? A fatal slip. After the comparatively better 32. Be4 Ra4 33. Nf2 Ra1! 34. Qxa1 Qxe3 Black stands better, but White can still hope to survive. 32. ... e4! That’s the reason why! The following sequence of moves is nearly forced. 33. Bc4. Nolens volens: 33. Rxe4 is refuted by 33. ... Ra1+ and 33. Bxe4 by 33. ... Rxe3 34. Nxe3 Qh4+. 33. ... Qh4+ 34. Rh3 Rxh3+ 35. gxh3 Qxh3+ 36. Kg1 Qg3+ 37. Qg2 Qf4 38. Nf2 e3 39. Ne4 Ra8 40. Ng3 Ra1+ 41. Bf1 h6. Or 41. ... Qxg3! 42. Qxg3 e2 winning. 42. c4 Kh7 43. f6 g6 44. Kh2. Nothing but a way to end a chess game. 44. ... Rxf1 0 : 1.

Amaurosis scacchistica

Lars Oskar Hauge – Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier
International Chess Open; Reykjavík, March 12, 2015
Larsen’s Opening A01

1. b3. “Lars Oskar opening with 1. b3 and is confident as usual. Pawn up!”, Tarjei J. Svensen tweeted. 1. ... c5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 e5 4. d4 cxd4 5. exd4 e4. Possibly sounder is 5. ... exd4 6. Nf3 Nf6 as in the game Jobava – Bologan, 2th SportAccord World Mind Games; Blindfold Event; 北京 (Beijīng) 2012. 6. d5 Nf6 7. Nc3 Qb6 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 10. Qe2 Be7 11. 0-0-0. “Something has gone wrong for Fier in the opening”, Svensen said. 11. ... 0-0 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Qxe4 Bf6 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15. Qd4 Qa6 16. Kb2 Rac8 17. Qd3 Qb6

18. Ne2?? This is a bad error from Hauge. After 18. Nh3 h6 19. f3 White remains a Pawn ahead, although Black has some vague compensation for it. 18. ... Ng4. “Oops. Lars Oskar missed 18. ... Ng4!. Norwegian in trouble now”, Svensen cried. 19. f3 Nf2 20. Qd4 Nxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Qc7 22. Rd2 b5 23. Ng3 Rfe8 24. Nf5 f6 25. a3 g6 26. Ng3. A little better, perhaps, would be 26. Nh6+ Kg7 27. Ng4, but after 27. ... Qe7 White’s position is still very uncomfortable (if 28. Re2 then 28. ... Qf7). 26. ... f5 27. Ne2 Qc5 28. Qxc5 dxc5 29. c4 bxc4 30. bxc4 Kf7 31. Nc3 Ke7 32. Ka2 Kd7 33. Nb5 a6 34. Na7 Rb8 35. Nc6 Rb6 36. f4 Re4 37. g3 Kd6 38. Ne5 Rb7 39. Rc2 Re3 40. Rd2 Rbb3 41. Nf7+ Ke7 42. d6+ Kxf7 0 : 1. For if 43. d7 then 43. ... Rxa3+ 44. Kb2 Reb3+ 45. Kc2 Ra2+ 46. Kxb3 Rxd2 wins.

Lars Oskar Hauge vs. Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier

Höfuðborgarsvæðið

Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier – Jean-Christophe Thiry
International Chess Open; Reykjavík, March 10, 2015
Queen’s Gambit Declined D51

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 Nd7 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 Ngf6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. e3 e6 7. Bd3 Be7 8. f4!? For 8. Nf3 a6 9. 0-0 b5 10. a4 b4 11. Nb1 see Taimanov – Bondarevsky, 19th USSR Chess Championship, Moscow 1951. 8. ... h6 9. Bh4 Ne4 10. Bxe7 Nxc3 11. Qg4 Kxe7 12. bxc3 Nf6 13. Qf3 Qa5 14. Ne2 b6 15. 0-0 Ba6. Also after 15. ... Rd8 16. Rc1 Kf8 (artificial castling!) 17. g4 White has a powerful initiative. 16. Bxa6 Qxa6 17. f5 Rhf8. If 17. ... exf5 then 18. Ng3 g6 19. Nxf5+ gxf5 20. Qxf5 Nd7 21. Qxf7+ Kd6 22. Rf5 and White’s attack compensates for the sacrificed Knight. 18. Nf4 exf5 19. Nxd5+ Nxd5 20. Qxd5 Qd3. Desperately striving for counterplay, Black falls into an abyss. 21. Rxf5 f6 22. Qb7+ Ke6 23. Raf1 Rad8 24. e4 Rd7 25. Qc6+ Rd6 26. d5+ Ke7 27. Qc7+ Rd7

28. Re5+! 1 : 0. For if 28. ... fxe5 then 29. Qxe5+ Kd8 30. Rxf8 mate.