Forkesch Tower

Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk – Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
11th ROMGAZ Kings Rapid Tournament; Mediaș, November 27, 2017
Queen’s Gambit Declined D37

The Ukrainian duo constituted by Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk and Anna Muzychuk won respectively the men’s and women’s 11th ROMGAZ Kings Tournament in memoriam of Elisabeta Polihroniade held in Mediaș, Romania. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 0-0 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. a3 Nc6 9. Qc2 Qa5 10. 0-0-0 Ne4 11. Nb5 a6 12. Nc7 e5 13. Nxd5. The alternative 13. Rxd5!? (Kasparov – Vaganian, 10th European Team Chess Championship, Debrecen 1992) after 13. ... exf4! 14. Qxe4 Qxc7 15. Rxc5 fxe3 would lead to nothing special; for instance: 16. Bd3 g6 17. Qxe3 b6 18. Rh5!? Bg4 19. Rh4 Bxf3 20. gxf3! Ne5∞ with very unclear (but dynamically balanced) play.

13. ... exf4? Ivanchuk has caught his opponent unprepared. It would have been interesting to find out what he had in mind about 13. ... Nxf2! 14. Ng5 Bf5! 15. Qxf2 exf4 16. Qxf4 Ne7! 17. Nxe7+ Bxe7 18. Rd5 Qe1+ 19. Rd1 Qa5 20. Rd5 Qe1+ 21. Rd1 ½ : ½ Gelfand – Jussupow, 10th Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de Linares, Linares 1992. 14. Qxe4 fxe3 15. fxe3 h6. 15. ... b5!? may look a bit more tricky, but 16. Nd4! is much better for White anyway. 16. Nd4 Qd8 17. Bd3 f5 18. Qf4 Bd6 19. Qf2. White is a Pawn up and has a far superior position. That’s more than enough for Ivanchuk. 19. ... Be5 20. Bc2 Rf7 21. Rhe1 Qf8 22. Nf3 Be6 23. Nxe5 Nxe5 24. Qf4 Ng6 25. Qg3 Bxd5 26. Rxd5 Ne7 27. Rd6 Rc8 28. Kb1 Kh8 29. Red1 Nc6 30. Qf4 Re8 31. R1d5 Ne7 32. Re5 Nc6 33. Rxe8 Qxe8 34. Bxf5 Qf8 35. g4 Rf6 36. Rxf6 Qxf6 37. Qc7 g6 38. Qc8+ Kg7 39. Qxb7+ Kf8 40. Qc8+ Kf7 41. Qd7+ Ne7 42. Bd3 Qe5 43. Qd4 Qxh2 44. c5 h5 45. gxh5 gxh5 46. Bc4+ Ke8 47. Be6 1 : 0.

Golden Mediasch

Anna Muzychuk – Elisabeth Pähtz
11th ROMGAZ Kings Rapid Tournament; Mediaș, November 27, 2017
Sicilian Defence B29

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nxd5 exd5 6. d4 Nc6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qxd5 Qb6 9. Bc4 Bxf2+ 10. Ke2 0-0 11. Rf1 Bc5 12. Ng5 Nd4+ 13. Kd1 Ne6 14. Ne4 d6 15. exd6 Rd8 16. Bf4!? Possibly better is 16. Qh5! Bxd6 17. Bd3! f5 18. Rxf5!? with the initiative, Planinc – Dobrev, International Tournament, Varna 1970. Just keep in mind Albin Planinc was a genius! 16. ... Be3? Quite unluckily for Pähtz, her first move of her own is already a crucial mistake! Theory gives 16. ... Nxf4= 17. Qxf7+ Kh8 18. Rxf4? (correct is 18. Qxf4 Bxd6 with rough equality) 18. ... Bxd6 19. Nxd6 Be6!−+ Nozdrachev – Klyuev, 12th Memorial Tsiolkovsky, Kaluga 2013. 17. Bxe3 Qxe3 18. c3 Bd7 19. Qe5 (Δ Ne4-f6+) 19. ... Qh6 20. Kc2 Rac8 21. Bd3? Maybe Muzychuk did not yet have a clear idea of how to proceed, otherwise she would have preferred 21. Bd5(!) followed by Ra1-e1, similarly to the game. 21. ... Ba4+? Black apparently misses her fleeting chance: 21. ... f5! 22. Rxf5 Nd4+ 23. Qxd4 Bxf5 (Stockfish) seems quite unclear. 22. b3 Bc6 23. Rae1 Bxe4. Otherwise Ne4-g3-f5 would follow. 24. Bxe4 Rc5 25. Bd5! Qg6+ 26. Kb2 Qd3 27. Rd1 Qa6. Thus Pähtz subjects herself to a flashy ending, but 27. ... Qg6 doesn’t seem to me much better as after 28. c4(!) Black cannot escape the storm anyway.

28. Rxf7! Rxd6. If 28. ... Kxf7 then 29. Qxe6+ and mate next move. 29. Rxg7+! 1 : 0. Mate in two follows.

Transylvania

Anna Muzychuk – Corina-Isabela Peptan
11th ROMGAZ Kings Rapid Tournament; Mediaș, November 26, 2017
Sicilian Defence B41

The 11th ROMGAZ Kings Tournament in memoriam of Elisabeta Polihroniade has started, with Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, Vassily Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk, 韦奕 (Wéi Yì), Bogdan-Daniel Deac starring as Kings, and Anna Muzychuk, Pia Cramling, Elisabeth Pähtz, Corina-Isabela Peptan starring as Queens. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Qd3 Qc7. 7. ... d5!? is an interesting other way. 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 Nxe4. Very risky. 9. ... 0-0 10. Bd3 d6 11. 0-0 e5 seems quite playable, Codenotti – Caruana, 71st Italian Chess Championship, Perugia 2011. 10. Nb5! That’s the reason why. 10. ... axb5 11. Qxg7 Rf8 12. Bh6 Qc5 13. f3! bxc4. 13. ... b4 doesn’t seem any better: 14. fxe4 Nc6 15. Qxf8+ Qxf8 16. Bxf8 Kxf8 17. Bd3 bxa3 18. Rxa3 Rxa3 19. bxa3 d6 20. Kd2 Ne5 21. Be2 Bd7 22. Ke3 Bc6 23. Rc1 Nd7 24. h4 h6 25. Bf3 e5 26. Bg4 Nc5 27. Bf5 Kg7 28. Rb1 Kf6 29. g4 Kg7 30. Rg1 f6 31. Rd1 1 : 0 Nepomniachtchi – Svidler, World Blitz Chess Championship, Dubai 2014. 14. Bxc4 Nf6. 14. ... d5? 15. Bb5+ Bd7? 16. Rc1 is just a disaster, A. Kovačević – Kontić, 2nd Memorial Danilo Dajo Batrićević, Cetinje 2009. 15. Qxf6 Rg8 16. Bd3 Qe7 17. Bg7 Qxf6 18. Bxf6 Rxg2 19. 0-0-0! This is a new, and much better move than 19. Rd1 Nc6 20. Kf1 Rg6 21. Bxg6 fxg6 22. Kf2 which gives White much less chances for success, Shi Diwen – Deac, World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad, Győr 2014. 19. ... Nc6 20. Rdg1 Rxg1+? Now, after 20. ... Rg6(!) 21. Rxg6 fxg6 White, thanks to her long castling, could have played for a more tangible advantage with 22. Rg4 followed by Rg4-h4 and Rh1-g1. 21. Rxg1 Ne7 22. Bxh7 Ra4 23. Bc2 Ra5

24. h4! b6 25. f4? Muzychuk apparently misses the much stronger 25. Bg5! followed by the advance of the h-Pawn. 25. ... Rh5! 26. Bd1 Rc5+ 27. Kd2 Bb7? 27. ... Rf5! seems much tougher to deal with. 28. Rg5 Rxg5? Black shouldn’t have done this for nothing in the world! 29. fxg5 Be4 30. h5 Nd5 31. h6 Bf5. 31. ... Kf8 would be met by the same move (32. Bc2!). 32. Bc2 Bxc2 33. Kxc2 1 : 0.