King Without a Castle

Vladimir Vasilyevich Fedoseev – Benjamin Bok

2nd World Fischerandom Chess Championship Qualifier 1; Quarterfinal match game 1; time control: 15 minutes plus 2 seconds per move; chess.com, August 23, 2022

bnqbrnkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BNQBRNKR w HEhe - 0 1

Position #113

1. e4 c5 2. b3 b6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Bxd4 Ne6 5. Bb2 0-0 6. Ng3 Bc7 7. Bg4 Bf4 8. Qd1 Nc6 9. Nc3 Be5 10. Nge2 Qb8. White has not yet castled, and Black does not intend to allow him to do it. 11. Bc1? White doesn’t succeed in solving his development issue(s) and soon falls into an uncomfortable pattern. Probably best was 11. h4! b5 12. Rh3 (developing and pseudo-castling) 12. ... b4 13. Na4 with an interesting game in true hypermodern style. 11. ... Ncd4 12. Nd5 Nxe2+ 13. Bxe2 Nc5 14. f3 e6 15. Ne3 d5 16. exd5 exd5 17. Ng4 Bc3 18. Bd2 Bd4+ 19. Nf2

Black has already an appreciable advantage in his much better development, but that does not seem enough for Bok, who, quite adventurously, does not hesitate to sacrifice a Knight for the sake of preventing White from castling h-side: 19. ... Ne4?! 20. fxe4 dxe4 21. c3 Bxf2+ 22. Kxf2 f5 23. Be3 f4 24. Bd4 f3? Now it is consistent, but too hasty. In fact by allowing White to get the two Bishops against Black’s castle cannot but bring disgrace on the defender. Correct was 24. ... b5! 25. Rhf1 (or 24. Bg4 e3+ 25. K~ b4!) 24. ... f3! with interesting compensation. 25. Bc4+ Kh8 26. g3 b5 27. Bf1 b4 28. Qd2 Rd8 29. Qe3 Qc7 30. Bc4 Qa5 31. Ra1 bxc3 32. Bxc3 Qf5 33. Rhd1 Rd7 34. Rxd7 Qxd7

35. Rd1! Qe7. The Rook is taboo, for if 35. ... Qxd1 then 36. Bxg7+! Kxg7 37. Qg5+ Kh8 38. Qe5+ followed by mate. In any event, what follows is only a cat and mouse affair, which Fedoseev handles with merciless coolness. 36. h4 Bc6 37. Qg5 Qc7 38. Be5 Qb6+ 39. Bd4 Qc7 40. Be3 Qc8 41. Bf1 a6 42. Qc5 Rg8 43. Rc1 Qd7 44. Qxc6 Qe7 45. Qc5 Qe6 46. Qc4 Qe5 47. Qd4 Qe6 48. Rc7 a5 49. Qd7 Qe5 50. Bd4 e3+ 51. Bxe3 Qb2+ 52. Qd2 Qe5 53. Rc5 Qe6 54. Qd4 a4 55. Qxa4 Qf6 56. Qd4 Qe6 57. Rc7 Qf5

58. g4! A beautiful deflection. Nevertheless, 58. Rxg7! would force mate in a few moves. 58. ... Qb1 59. Qxg7+! Rxg7 60. Rc8+ Rg8 61. Bd4# 1 : 0.

Finding the Sun

Benjamin Bok – Jorden van Foreest
72nd Dutch Chess Championship; Amsterdam, August 24, 2016
Philidor Defence C41

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5. François-André Danican Philidor’s dogma. 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. a4 0-0 7. 0-0 exd4 8. Nxd4 Ne5 9. Ba2 Nc6 10. h3 Nb4!? This seems much more natural than 10. ... Bd7 11. Re1 a6 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. a5, after which Black finds it difficult to organize his own future: 13. ... Nd7 14. Be3 Bf6 15. Bd4 Be5 16. Bxe5 Nxe5 17. Qd2 Kh8 18. Bd5 Qh4 19. f4 Ng6 20. Rf1 f5 21. Rae1 Rad8 22. b4 fxe4 23. f5 Ne5 24. Rxe4 Qh5 25. Ref4 Bxd5 26. Nxd5 Qf7 27. f6 c6 28. fxg7+ Qxg7 29. Nf6 Ng6 30. Rf5 Qe7 31. Qh6 Qg7 32. Qd2 Qe7 33. Qd4 Ne5 34. c4 Qg7 35. c5 Nf7 36. Qh4 dxc5 37. Nh5 1 : 0 Tari – H. Danielsen, 6th International Open, Västerås 2015. 11. Bb3 c5 12. Nde2 Be6 13. Nf4 Bxb3 14. cxb3 Re8. Black has equalized without any difficulty. 15. f3. Generally speaking, it doesn’t make a good impression White’s weakening of the dark squares surrounding the King. 15. ... Bf8 16. Nfd5?! The White Knight’s “Goose Game” around the d5-square seems artificious, and as a beginner I’d have preferred 16. Ncd5 with a more or less even game. 16. ... Re5 17. Nxb4 cxb4 18. Nb5

18. ... Nh5! 19. f4. Not 19. g4? Qh4! 20. gxh5?? Qg3+ 21. Kh1 Qxh3+ 22. Kg1 Qg3+ 23. Kh1 Rxh5 mate. 19. ... Qb6+ 20. Kh2 Rxe4! Of course, it’s just a pseudo-sacrifice, since after ... a7-a6 White must return the Knight with interest. 21. Qxh5 a6 22. Bd2 Rae8 23. Rfe1 axb5 24. Qxb5 Qf2 25. Rxe4 Rxe4 26. Rd1 d5 27. Qf1 Qxf1 28. Rxf1 Rd4 29. Be3. This inevitably implies the loss of a Pawn. White could even survive such a loss, and, on the other hand, Stockfish’s advice 29. Bc1 isn’t so appealing, too, since after 29. ... f5! the c1-Bishop becomes very “bad” without making the White position any better. 29. ... Rd3 30. Bb6 Bd6 31. Kg1. If 31. g3 then 31. ... f6 to be followed by ... Rd3xb3 and ... g7-g5. 31. ... Rxb3 32. Rd1 Bxf4 33. Rxd5 h5? It looks like a lapsus manus, at least in respect of the h-Pawn. 34. Rd8+? Bok is very decidedly on the wrong track. 34. Rxh5 Rxb2 35. Rb5 Bd6 36. Kf1 Ra2 37. a5 actually makes it very hard to make progress for Black. 34. ... Kh7 35. Rd7 Rxb2. Now it’s simply finished for White. 36. Rxf7. 36. Rxb7 Be5! may eventually transpose into the game. 36. ... Be5 37. Rxb7 b3 38. Bc7 Rb1+ 39. Kf2 Bd4+ 40. Ke2 b2 41. Bf4 Bf6 42. g4 Rg1 43. g5 Be7 0 : 1.

Jorden van Foreest
Photo: Harry Gielen

Benjamin Bok vs. Jorden van Foreest
Photo: Harry Gielen

Monolith

Benjamin Bok – Francesco Rambaldi
54th World Junior Chess Championship; Khanty-Mansiysk, September 10, 2015
Caro-Kann B12

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. 0-0 h6 7. c3 a6 8. Nbd2 Ne7 9. b4 Nc8. For 9. ... a5 10. a4 Ng6 see Vishnu Prasanna – Lupulescu, 3rd Chess Classic, Al-’Ain 2014. 10. Nb3 Be7 11. Bd3 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 b6 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Rfc1 0-0 15. a4 Qb7 16. Rab1 a5 16. Rab1 a5 17. bxa5 bxa5 18. Nxa5 Qc7 19. Nb3 Ncb6 20. a5. Here Bok was already in very serious time trouble. 20. ... Nc4 21. Nfd2 Nxa5 22. c4 Nxb3 23. Rxb3 Qa7 24. c5 Rfb8 25. Rcb1 Rxb3 26. Rxb3 f5 27. exf6 Bxf6 28. Nf3 e5 29. dxe5 Nxe5 30. Nxe5 Qa1+ 31. Rb1 Qxe5 32. g3 d4 33. Qc4+ Kh7 34. Bd2 Qf5 35. Rb3 Ra1+ 36. Kg2 Rd1 37. Rf3 Qe4 38. Qd3 Qxd3 39. Rxd3 Bg5 40. f4 Be7. Time control is reached just when Francesco is going to win a Pawn, even if under the actual circumstances it will be very hard for White to exploit his Pawn advantage. 41. Kf3 Bxc5 42. Ke4 Bb6 43. f5 c5 44. Bf4 Rh1 45. Rb3 Bd8 46. Be5? Bok is in time trouble again! Correct was 46. Kd5 Rxh2 47. Be5 Rh5 48. Rb7 Rg5 49. Rd7 Ba5 50. f6 Kg8 51. f7+ Kf8 52. Ke6 Rg6+ 53. Kd5 Rg5 with a draw by repetition.

46. ... Bf6? Rambaldi misses his chance! Instead, 46. ... Re1+! 47. Kd5 c4 48. Rb7 (else 48. Rf3 d3 49. Bc3 d2! 50. Bxd2 Rd1 is a more prosaic win) 48. ... Rxe5+ 49. Kxe5 c3 50. f6 c2 51. f7 Bf6+! would, in fact, win in all variations, as originally demonstrated by Edo. 47. Bxf6 gxf6 48. Kd5 Re1 ½ : ½.

Benjamin Bok vs. Francesco Rambaldi
Photo: Vladimir Barsky