Under the Bridge

Anton Sergeyevich Korobov – Andrei Aleksandrovich Volokitin
85th Ukrainian Chess Championship; Rivne, December 7, 2016
English Opening A34

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. d4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 g6 7. e3 Bg7 8. Bb5+ Nd7 9. a4 0-0 10. 0-0 b6 11. a5 Bb7 12. a6!? Apparently a new idea. For 12. axb6 axb6 13. Rxa8 Bxa8 14. Ba3 Qc7 15. Qe2 Bc6 see Polugaevsky – Ivanchuk, 2nd Amber Rapid Chess Tournament, Monte Carlo 1993. 12. ... Be4 13. Ng5 Nf6 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Bb2 Rc8 16. Bd3 Nd6 17. Qe2 c4 18. Bc2 f5 19. Ba3 Qd7 20. f3 e5?? A serious mistake, which opens up the game to White’s great benefit and profit. Black ought to play 20. ... Rfd8! (Stockfish) with quite a tenable position. 21. dxe5 Bxe5 22. Rad1. That was the simple point. Black is in deep trouble. 22. ... Rf6 23. Rd5 Qe6 (23. ... Bxc3?? 24. Rfd1+-) 24. Rfd1 Rc6 25. Qd2 Nf7

26. Rd8+! 26. Ba4 was also very good, but a tactical player such as Korobov doesn’t miss the chance to aim for checkmate. 26. ... Nxd8? Also after 26. ... Kg7 27. Bf8+ Kh8 28. Be7+ Nxd8 29. Qxd8+ Qg8 30. Bxf6+ Bxf6 31. Qd7! Black is doomed. 27. Qxd8+ Kg7 28. Rd7+ Kh6 29. Bf8+ Kg5 30. h4+! 1 : 0. Because of 30. ... Kxh4 31. Rxh7+ Kg5 (31. ... Kg3 32. Rh3 mate) 32. Bh6+ Kh4 33. Bf4 mate.

Lviv Polytechnic

Nataliya Buksa
Photo: ukrchess.com

Iulija Osmak
Photo: ukrchess.com

Liza Soloviova
Photo: ukrchess.com

Olga Kalinina
Photo: ukrchess.com

As a corollary of the closing ceremony of the Ukrainian Chess Championships, which was staged at the Lviv Polytechnic on December 15, most participants performed a collective simultaneous exhibition against a crowd of youngsters. For many more pictures, see http://2015.ukrchess.com/media/simultaneous-exhibition.

Meeting Resistance

Andrei Volokitin – Yuriy Kuzubov
84th Ukrainian Chess Championship; Lviv, December 14, 2015
Sicilian B90

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 Nfd7 8. g5 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. h4 Nb6 11. h5 N8d7 12. Rh3 Nc5

13. g6! Volokitin’s novelty appears more enterprising than 13. Qg4 e5 14. Nf5 g6 as occurred in the game Geetha Narayanan Gopal – Areshchenko, 3rd Chess Classic, Al-’Ayn 2014. 13. ... hxg6 14. hxg6 Rxh3 15. gxf7+ Kxf7 16. Bxh3 e5 17. Qh5+ g6 18. Qh7+ Bg7 19. Ne6. White developed a certain initiative, so Black must defend carefully. 19. ... Qh8 20. Ng5+ Kf6 21. b3 Qxh7 22. Nxh7+ Kf7 23. Be3 Rh8 24. Ng5+ Ke7 25. 0-0-0 Bf6 26. Bg4 Ncd7 27. Kb2 Rh4 28. f3 Rh2 29. Ne6 Bc6 30. Nc7 Bb7 31. Rg1 Nc5 32. Rd1 Bh4 33. Bg1 Rg2 34. Be3 Rh2 35. N7d5+ Nxd5 36. Nxd5+ Bxd5 37. Rxd5 Ne6 38. Rd2 Rh1 39. Rg2 Nf4 40. Rg1 Rxg1 41. Bxg1 Ne2 42. Bb6 Be1 43. b4 Bc3+ 44. Ka2 Bd4 45. Bc7 d5 46. exd5 Nc3+ 47. Kb3 Nxd5 48. Bb8 Kd8 49. c4 bxc4+ 50. Kxc4 Ne3+ 51. Kd3 Nxg4 52. fxg4 Kc8 53. Bd6 Kd7 54. Bf8 Kc6 55. Kc4 Bg1 56. a4 e4 57. Bh6 Bf2 58. Bg7 Be1 59. Bc3 Bh4? So far Black has somehow managed to survive, but on the last move he committed a fatal slip. 59. ... Bxc3! 60. Kxc3 Kd5 was a dead draw. 60. Bd4 Bg5 61. Bc5 Bh4 62. b5+ axb5+ 63. axb5+ Kd7 64. Kd5 Bg3 65. Be3 Bc7 66. Kxe4 Ba5 67. Kd5 Bc3 68. b6 Ba5 69. Bd4 Bb4 70. Bc5 1 : 0.

Andrei Volokitin
Photo: ukrchess.com

Dreams Worth More Than Money

The new Ukrainian Chess Champion Andrei Volokitin as he receives the “kiss of the Kiss” from his wife Natalia. Photo: Ukrainian Chess (Facebook).

The new Ukrainian Women’s Chess Champion Anastasiya Rakhmangulova and Mikhail Gerasimenyuk. Photo: Ukrainian Chess (Facebook).

Parabolic antenna

The Martian Chronicles

Mariya Muzychuk looking at the stars
Photo: 2015.ukrchess.com

Round One
Mariya Muzychuk vs. Andrei Volokitin ½ : ½

According to the report of Ivan Yaremko: “Thursday, December 3, started the Round One of the 84th Ukrainian Chess Championship with the participation of twelve Grandmasters, eleven men and one girl, but such a girl! – Women’s World Champion Mariya Muzychuk. Naturally, her game with Andrei Volokitin captured major public attention. The two players – Mariya conducted the White pieces – created a truly interesting painting on the board. As often occurs in the Sicilian Defence, the opponents were attacking on different flanks. White took the initiative first and tried to launch her own attack against Black’s King. For a moment it seemed that she could break through his defence, but Volokitin quietly found the correct answers and his King felt more comfortable. Black finally decided to sacrifice both Knights for Rook and Pawn. We’ll never know how the game could have developed further, because the players agreed to a draw. They both preferred not to take the risk to keep playing such an unbalanced position...”. According to Evgeny Surov, the editor-in-chief of Chess-News.ru, the organization’s decision of not broadcasting any live games of the Championship is for denying any knowledge or information to Muzychuk’s next challenger for the Women’s World Crown 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) from China. Well, it very much seems to me that you are more to the Left than me, Miss Stalin... :).