Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Ivan Aleksandrovich Bukavshin – Ildar Amirovich Khairullin
68th Russian Chess Championship; Chita, August 13, 2015
Queen’s Indian Defence E18

“In the men’s tournament, Ivan Bukavshin scored his first victory at the Superfinal, defeating Ildar Khairullin. In a position with hanging Pawns, Bukavshin repositioned his pieces successfully and gained the initiative. While looking for counterplay, Black weakened his Pawn structure and allowed his opponent to grab an open file on the Queenside. The grandmasters, being in mutual time trouble, couldn’t avoid inaccuracies, but White played more soundly on the whole, built up pressure consistently and finished the game with a fine tactical blow”, the editor-in-chief of ruchess.ru said.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. 0-0 0-0 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2 d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bf4 Nd7 11. Rc1 c5 12. dxc5 Nxc3 13. Rxc3 bxc5 14. Ne1 Nb6. Apparently more convincing than 14. ... Nf6 15. Nd3 Qb6 16. Be3 Rac8 17. b4 as in the game Bukavshin – Yanchenko, Moscow 2015. 15. b3 Rc8 16. Rc2 Re8 17. Nd3 Ba6 18. Bh3 Ra8 19. Bg4 c4 20. Ne5 Bf8 21. Nf3 Bc8 22. Bxc8 Rxc8 23. Be3 Bc5 24. Bxc5 Rxc5 25. Qd4 Qc8 26. Rfc1 Rc6 27. Qd1 Rf6 28. Rd2 h6 29. Rd4 Qa6 30. Rc2 Qa3 31. Rcd2 Rc6 32. Kg2 Rce6 33. e3 Re4 34. Qc2 Qa5 35. Rd1 Qb4 36. Rc1 Qa3 37. Rcd1 Qb4 38. h3 Qa5 39. Nh4 Qc5 40. Nf5 Rxd4 41. Rxd4! Stronger than 41. Qc3 Qf8! 42. Nxd4 Qe7 with roughly equal chances. 41. ... Qf8 42. a4 g6 43. a5 Nd7 44. Nh4 cxb3 45. Qxb3 Nf6 46. Rb4 Qd6 47. Rb7 Qa6 48. Rb5 Rc8 49. Nf3 Rc1 50. Nd4 Kg7 51. Qb2 Rd1 52. g4 Kh7 53. Qb3 Rd2 54. Nf3 Ra2? Surely a mistake. Instead the very interesting Exchange sacrifice 54. ... Rxf2+! 55. Kxf2 Ne4+ 56. Ke1 (if 56. Ke2 then 56. ... Qxb5+!) 56. ... Qf6 was worth considering. 55. Rb7 Qe2

56. Nd2!! A pretty tactical diversion. 56. ... Kg8. Also after 56. ... Qxd2 57. Rxf7+ Kg8 58. Rxf6 Rb2 59. Qa3 Black is helpless. 57. Qxa2 Ne4 58. Rxf7! Unsurprisingly Bukavshin finds the only move that wins (which he must have foreseen when he played 56. Nd2). 58. ... Nxd2 59. Qxd5 1 : 0. After 59. ... Qf1+ 60. Kg3 Qg1+ 61. Kh4 g5+ 62. Kh5 also White’s King joines the party.

Воронеж (Voronezh)

Semen Lomasov – Ivan Bukavshin
19th International Chess Festival; Voronezh, June 12, 2015
Sicilian Defence B44

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. 0-0 d5 8. Nd2 Be7 9. Re1 0-0 10. c3 a5 11. e5 Nd7 12. Nf3 c5. For 12. ... Re8 13. Bc2 see Sanz Alonso – Vallejo Pons, Ponferrada 1997. 13. Bf4 Ba6 14. Bc2 Rb8 15. Qd2 Re8 16. h4!? Striving for the initiative. 16. ... d4. On 16. ... Bxh4 17. Nxh4 Qxh4 18. Bg5 Qc4 20. b3 Qb5?! (safer is 20. ... Qg4 21. Bd1 Qf5 22. Bc2 Qg4=) 21. Re3 White’s attacking prospects may compensate for the Pawn. 17. cxd4 cxd4 18. Bg5 f6? Black’s Awful Judgment Day. Correct was 18. ... Bxg5 19. Nxg5 Nf8 in order to defend and plug his own weak points. 19. exf6 gxf6 20. Bh6! Take a walk on the wild side! 20. ... e5

21. Re4 Kh8?! More stubborn is 21. ... Bf8, although after 22. Bxf8 Rxf8 (22. ... Nxf8 23. Rg4+ Kh8 24. Qh6 Qe7 25. Bb3 is any better) 23. Qh6 (23. Nxd4 exd4 24. Rxd4 Bc8 25. Bf5 is also good) 23. ... Rf7 24. Bb3 Black must give up the Exchange for no compensation. 22. Nxd4!? More straightforward was 22. Bg7+! Kxg7 23. Rg4+ Kf7 24. Qh6 Ke6 25. Ng5+ Kd5 26. Be4+ and White wins the Queen. 22. ... exd4? A crucial mistake! After 22. ... Bb4 23. Bg7+! Kxg7 24. Rg4+ Kh8 25. Qh6 Re7 26. Nc6 Qf8 27. Qxf8+ Rxf8 28. Rxb4! axb4 29. Nxe7 Black has no compensation for the Pawn, but he succeeded in avoiding checkmate. 23. Rxd4 Rb7 24. Bg7+! A combination of deflection. 24. ... Kxg7 25. Rg4+ Kf8. Or 25. ... Kh8 26. Qh6 and mate next move. 26. Qd5 1 : 0. For if 26. ... Bc5 there follows mate in three by 27. Rg8+ Ke7 28. Rg7+ Kf8 29. Qf7 mate.

Semen Lomasov
Photo: chessmoscow.ru