Splat split

Luca Moroni – Andrea Stella
77th Italian Chess Championship; Cosenza, December 1, 2017
English Opening A33

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. a3 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bg5 Bc5 9. e3 Bxd4 10. exd4 0-0 11. Be2 h6 12. Bh4 Qd6 13. Nb5!? A new move. If 13. Bg3 there might follow 13. ... Qe7 14. 0-0 Ne4 15. Rc1 Nxc3 16. Rxc3 Qf6 17. Rd3 ½ : ½ van Wely – Ivanchuk, 2nd Aerosvit Chess Tournament, Foros 2007. 13. ... Qe7 14. 0-0 g5 15. Bg3 Ne4. As they say, the player with the isolani (for now, both of them) must strive for maximum activity, avoiding (if possible) unnecessary exchanges. 16. Re1 f5!? 16. ... Be6 seems to be much quieter. 17. Be5. White actually threatens Nb5-c7. If 17. Nc7 at once, Black would have likely answered 17. ... f4! 18. Bxf4 gxf4 19. Nxa8 Qg7∞ with very unclear play. 17. ... Nxe5 18. dxe5 a6 19. Nd4. White’s position is structurally superior, and now much will depend on Moroni’s skill (and luck) in handling it. 19. ... Qxe5!? Very Steinitz-like. This temporary gain of Pawn could cost Black something. 20. f3 Nc5 21. Bc4!? Here 21. Bxa6 allowed White to regain his Pawn with a solid positional edge, but Moroni prefers to play for powerful dynamic compensation. 21. Rc1 (Stockfish) was another interesting modus operandi, halfway between matter and soul. 21. ... Qd6 22. Ba2 Bd7 23. Rc1 Rad8 24. Qc2 Rc8(!) 25. Qd2 Na4 26. Rxc8 Rxc8

27. h4! Moroni – a strong attacking player – boldly sacrifices a second Pawn aiming to keep the initiative at all costs. 27. ... gxh4 28. Ne6! Re8! After 28. ... Bxe6 29. Rxe6! Rc1+! 30. Qxc1 Qxe6 31. Qf4! White immediately regains a Pawn and retains a more-than-worthy compensation for the other one. It’s understandable, however, that after yesterday’s lucky marathon game against Daniele Genocchio, Stella weren’t in the mood to strive for a draw by stillicide, and wisely lets his opponent force a (pretty) draw by perpetual check. 29. Bxd5 Bxe6 30. Qxh6 Qxd5 31. Qg6+ Kf8 32. Qf6+ Kg8 33. Qg6+ Kf8 34. Qf6+ Kg8 ½ : ½.

How Chess Imitates Life

Artem Gilevych – Andrea Stella
77th Italian Chess Championship; Cosenza, November 29, 2017
Neo-Grünfeld Defence D70

The 77th Italian Chess Championship has started today in Cosenza, Italy, a very few days after a sentence on its own reliability. Everything began when ten top Italian players wrote an open letter denouncing unethical acts and behaviours by a group of unnamed fellow players. After months of investigations, the Sports Court (a quasi-judicial body), on behalf of the Federazione Scacchistica Italiana, in a secret trial, made its verdict. I don’t know the facts as well as they do, so for any details you may read the ruling of the Court. Regarding the moral issue raised by the signatories of the open letter, instead, I believe that the most important answer may lay between the lines of the ruling of the Sports Court: “A spontaneous and widespread rebellion has lately emerged in the chess world against what, at first, were only occasional immoral behaviours, but that, more recently, have unfortunately become in Italy widespread and constant unlawful practices”. Yes, we all live in a yellow submarine.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 e6!? 4. Nc3 d5 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Be7. 6. ... Bg7 7. e4 dxe4 8. fxe4 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 0-0 11. Be2 gives White a plus (Larry Kaufmann’s analysis). 7. cxd5. From a theoretical viewpoint, the exemplary reference should be 7. Qd2 Nbd7 8. Bg3 c6 9. e4 dxe4 10. fxe4 Bb4 11. Bd3 e5 12. a3 Ba5 13. d5 cxd5 14. cxd5 Nc5 15. b4 Nxd3+ 16. Qxd3 Bb6 17. Nf3 0-0 18. Nxe5 a5 19. b5 a4 20. Nc4± Nakamura – Safarli, 5th Chess World Cup, Tromsø 2013, match game 1. 7. ... Nxd5 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. e4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 c5 11. Qd2 Nc6. Black has a temporary advantage in development, which yields him at least equality. 12. Bb5 0-0 13. Ne2. 13. Qxh6 cxd4 14. h4 dxc3 15. h5 g5 doesn’t seem to lead to any particular benefit. 13. ... Rd8 14. h4. Who knows, with hindsight, castling Kingside could have been wiser. 14. ... cxd4 15. Bxc6. I have my doubts that this was necessary. 15. ... bxc6 16. cxd4 Ba6! Black has clearly taken command of the game, but White’s next moves precipitate the catastrophe. 17. Nc3? 17. Rc1 seemed the best to avoid the worst. 17. ... c5! 18. d5? Now White’s position quickly disintegrates. 18. ... exd5 19. Nxd5

19. ... Rxd5! 20. Qxd5 Rd8 0 : 1. For if 21. Qc6 then 21. ... Qe5! finis.

La Buena Estrella (The Lucky Star)

Karen H. Grigoryan – Andrea Stella
4th Torneo Internacional de Navidad “Ciudad de Lorca”; Lorca, December 29, 2015
English Opening A27

1. c4 g6 2. e4 e5 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Nc2 d6 7. Nc3 Nge7 8. Be2 0-0 9. h4!? Very bold strategy on White’s part. For 9. 0-0 f5 see Mikenas – Estrin, Leningrad 1971. 8. ... f5 10. h5 f4

11. hxg6. White plays consistently in order to build up his attack. Consideration deserved, however, 11. Nd5 g5 12. h6! Be5 13. Rb1 a5! with very unclear play. 11. ... Nxg6 12. Qd5+ Rf7 13. Qh5 Bxc3+! It’s the right move at the right time. Black’s King will never be in danger, while White will have to deal with his own weaknesses and strive for saving the day. 14. bxc3 Qf6 15. Bb2 Nce5 16. f3 c5 17. Rd1 Bd7 18. Na3 a6 19. Bc1 Ba4 20. Rd2 Kf8 21. Qh6+ Ke8 22. Rh5 Bd7 23. Qg5 Qxg5 24. Rxg5 Ke7 25. Rb2 Rb8 26. Nb1 Be6 27. Nd2 Kd7 28. Kf2 Kc7 29. Rb1 Rh8 30. Rh5 Rg8 31. Ba3 b6 32. Rbh1 Rgg7 33. Bc1 Kc6 34. Rg5 Rf8 35. Rgh5 Rff7 36. Rg5 Rf8 37. Rgh5 Rff7 38. Rg5 ½ : ½.

From left: Italian International Master Andrea Stella is glad of his much deserved first Grandmaster norm, and Jonas Bjerre (11-year-old) can be happy with his first International Master norm. Photo © Torneo Internacional de Navidad “Ciudad de Lorca”.

Neverland

[Event "LXXIII Campionato Italiano Assoluto"]
[Site "Roma"]
[Date "2013.11.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "De Filomeno, Simone"]
[Black "Stella, Andrea"]
[ECO "E80"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[PlyCount "65"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 Nc6 4. d5 Ne5 5. e4 d6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Bd3 c6 8. Be3 Qa5 9. Nge2 Nfd7 10. f4 Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 Nc5 12. Qc2 Qb4 13. Rd1 Qxc4 14. Bd4 O-O 15. O-O Bg4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Rd4 Qa6 18. Ng3 Qb6 19. Qf2 e5 20. dxe6 Nxe6 21. Rxd6 h5 22. f5 Qxf2+ 23. Rxf2 h4 24. Nf1 Nc5 25. Rf4 Bh5 26. Rxh4 Kh6 27. e5 Rad8 28. Rc4 Nd3 29. Re4 Rxd6 30. exd6 gxf5 31. Re7 Rd8 32. Rxb7 Rxd6 33. Rxa7 1/2-1/2

Simone De Filomeno
Foto: Scacchierando.it