Cat Knight

Justin Sarkar – Mark Hebden
91st Hastings International Chess Congress; Hastings, January 5, 2016
King’s Indian Defence E97

Notes by Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett, Spraggett on Chess, January 7, 2016

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. Be2 e5 7. 0-0 Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 a5 10. Ba3 axb4 11. Bxb4 b6 12. a4 Re8 13. Qd3 Nf5 14. a5 bxa5 15. Rxa5 Rb8 16. Nb5 Bd7 17. Ra7 Bxb5 18. cxb5 Nd4 19. Nxd4 exd4 20. Ba5 Rc8 21. Rc1 Nxe4 22. Rcxc7 Rxc7 23. Bxc7 Qg5 24. g3 Qc1+ 25. Bf1 h5 26. b6. A sharp position! White threatens to simply keep advancing his Pawn, which is unstoppable. In the game Hebden – probably in his usual time trouble – actually tried to stop it and lost quickly:

26. ... Nc5(?) 27. Qc4! Qb1 28. Bxd6! Mark probably overlooked this move or the next, or both. 28. ... d3 29. Qf4 f5 30. Bxc5 Re1 31. Qb8+ 1 : 0. It is forced mate.
Had Hebden more time on the clock then – from the above diagram – he would have probably found this saving resource: 26. ... Nxf2!! Attacking the Queen and virtually forcing White to capture the Knight as 27. Qc4? gets mated after 27. ... Nh3+ 28. Kh1 Qe3! as the reader can easily verify for himself. 27. Kxf2 Re3! The whole point of Black’s sacrifice. The Queen can not move! Losing almost immediately are both 28. Qa6? d3! 29. b7 Rf3+! with mate in 4 moves and 28. Qb5 d3! etc. as in the above variation. Somewhat better is 28. Qc4!?, but after 28. ... Rc3! 29. b7!? (Losing immediately is 29. Qe2 d3!) 29. ... Qe3+! 30. Kg2 Qf3+ Black still has a winning attack. 28. b7! The only reasonable move! The next moves are forced... 28. ... Rxd3 29. b8=Q+ Kh7 30. Bxd3 Qe3+ And the game will end in perpetual check! If White tries to avoid this, then he will lose in a curious fashion: 31. Kg2 Qd2+ 32. Kh3? 32. Kg1 was correct, allowing perpetual check. Now White is lost, despite a huge material advantage, because his King is too exposed: 32. ... Qxd3! Threatening mate starting with a check on f1. 33. Qb2!? What else? 33. ... Qf5+ 34. Kg2 Qxd5+ 35. Kg1 d3! Now with the Black Pawn advancing and the Bishop coming into play, White finds himself unable to save the game! The readers can easily verify this for themselves. Remarkable concept!

Justin Sarkar (R.) vs. Mark Hebden (L.)
Photo: Lara Barnes

Gentlemen’s agreement

Simon Kim Williams – Daniel W. Gormally
91st Hastings International Chess Congress; Hastings, January 4, 2016
King’s Indian Defence E90

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 c5 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. d5 0-0 6. e4 d6 7. Bf4 Re8 8. Be2 Qb6!? Playable, although probably not useful. Another try is 8. ... e6 9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. Bxd6 Nc6 11. 0-0 Nd4 12. e5 Nd7 13. Nxd4 cxd4 14. Qxd4 Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Qxd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. Rac1 Rad8 18. b3 Bxc3 19. Rxc3 Rd2 20. Bf3 Rxa2 21. Bxb7 Rb8 22. Bc6 Ra3 23. Ba4 Rb4 24. Rfc1 Bxc4 25. Rxc4 Rxc4 26. bxc4 ½ : ½ Ornstein – Bilek, 21st Chess Olympiad, Nice 1974. 9. Qd2 e6 10. 0-0 exd5 11. exd5 Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Nbd7 14. Rfe1 a6 15. Qc2 Ne5 16. Bxe5 Rxe5 17. Rxe5 dxe5 18. Qb3 Qc7 19. d6!? Qxd6 20. Rd1. If 20. Qxb7 then 20. ... Rb8 21. Rd1 Rxb7 22. Rxd6 Rxb2 23. Rxa6 h5 with roughly equal chances. 20. ... Qf8 21. Qxb7 Rb8 22. Qc7. After 22. Qxa6 Rxb2 Black is very close to equality. 22. ... Re8 23. Bc6 Rc8 24. Qd6 Nh5 25. Bb7 Qxd6 26. Rxd6 Rb8 27. Rb6 Nf4 28. Rb3 Nd3 29. Ne4 Rd8 30. Bd5 Nf4 31. Nxc5 Nxd5 32. Rd3 Bf8 33. Nb3 Rc8 34. cxd5 e4 35. Rd4 f5 36. d6 Kf7 37. Na5 Ke6 38. Nb7 Kd7 39. b4. Intending Nb7-c5+. 1 : 0.

“I’m such a gentleman that today I resigned in a drawn position!”, Gormally eventually said. Indeed, he was so scared about the threat – as Aron Nimzowitsch once said, “The threat is stronger than the execution” – to resign immediately, without analyzing deeper. It would seem, however, that 39. ... Rc1+! 40. Kh2 Bg7! 41. Rd2 Bc3! 42. Nc5+ Kd8 43. Rd5 Bxb4 44. Ne6+ Kd7 45. Nf8+ Kd8 46. Ne6+ forces White to take the perpetual check.