Mona Lisa Smile

David Navara – Bassem Amin

56th Biel International Chess Festival; ACCENTUS Chess960 Tournament; time control: 15 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; Biel/Bienne, July 15, 2023

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Position #942

1. f4 f6 2. e4 e5 3. f5 d5 4. exd5 Bxd5 5. Nc3

5. ... Bc6. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to suggest 5. ... Bg8 as a wiser move.
6. Qh4 h6. Necessary to save the Pawn, but at the cost of permanently weakening the white squares on the h-side.
7. Ng3 Nhf7 8. Re1 Qd7 9. d4!

9. ... Bb4? With venomous intentions, but the whole sequence has a serious tactical flaw. Black should have played 9. ... exd4, but even then White would still have the upper hand with 10. 0-0-0! recovering the Pawn with interest.
10. d5! Bxc3 11. dxc6 Qd2. The move on which Black relied, but a devilish surprise is awaiting him.

12. Ne4!! 1 : 0. For after 12. ... Qxe1+ 13. Qxe1 Bxe1 White would force mate by 14. Nc5! (Δ Nc5-d7#) 14. ... bxc6 15. Ba6 ~ 16. Nd7#.

Certified copy

丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) – Bassem Amin
10th World Team Chess Championship; Tsaghkadzor, April 23, 2015
Bogo-Indian Defence E11

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 0-0 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d5 7. e5 Nfd7 8. Bd3 c5 9. Qc2 g6. For 9. ... h6 10. 0-0 Nc6 11. Nb3 see Grischuk – Filippov, 41st Chess Olympiad, Tromsø 2014. 10. cxd5 exd5 11. e6! fxe6 12. Bxg6! hxg6 13. Qxg6+ Kh8

14. Ne4!! dxe4? Unfortunately, it is not a panacea. If, instead, 14. ... Qe8 then 15. Qh6+ Kg8 16. Nfg5! Bxg5 17. Qxg5+ Kh7 18. Qh6+ Kg8 19. a4! Qe7 20. Ra3 Rf7 21. Nd6! with a crushing attack, Riazantsev – Vocaturo, 16th European Individual Championship, Jerusalem 2015. 15. Qh5+! Clearly not 15. Bh6?? on account of 15. ... Rg8! 16. Qh5 Nf6 an Black wins. 15. ... Kg8 16. Bh6. Black is busted. 16. ... Rf6. No better is 16. ... Bf6 17. Qg6+ Kh8 18. Ng5 and White wins. 17. Qg4+ Kf7 18. Ng5+ Kg6 19. Nxe6+ Kf7 20. Nxd8+ Bxd8 21. Qg7+ Ke8 22. 0-0-0 Be7 23. Bg5 Bf8 24. Qh7 cxd4 25. Rxd4 1 : 0.

丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)
Photo: Arman Karakhanyan

Mikhail Golubev (@mikhail_golubev)