The earth is round

Luca Moroni – Michele Godena
77th Italian Chess Championship; Cosenza, December 8, 2017
1B6/1R4p1/2p1k3/2P2pP1/3Pp3/P7/5nPK/2r5 w - - 0 50

Position after 49. ... Nd3xf2

As for the position in the diagram White has a Pawn more, but it’s obvious that Black’s passed e-Pawn more than compensate for it. Black is actually threatening ... e4-e3. 50. Rxg7? A mistake that might have cost Moroni very dearly. Correct was 50. Kg3 Rf1 (if 50. ... e3 then 51. Kf3 Ng4 52. Bg3 Rf1+ 53. Ke2 likewise with a draw) 51. d5+! Kxd5 52. Rxg7 e3 53. Rd7+ Ke6 54. Rd6+ Ke7 55. Kf3 with at least a draw for White. 50. ... e3 51. Bd6 f4 52. g4!? Desperation! If, however, 52. Bxf4 then 52. ... e2 53. Bd2 Ne4 54. Bb4 Rc3! with an easy win. 52. ... Nxg4+? Godena – who, as usual, played most of the game only on increment – misses here the “easy” 52. ... Ne4! which would have won at once; for instance: 53. Re7+ Kd5 54. Bxf4 Rc2+ (but not 54. ... e2? because of 55. Bd2! Nxd2 56. Rxe2) 55. Kg1 e2 and game over. 53. Kg2 Kf5 54. Rf7+ Kg6 55. Re7 Kxg5 56. Rg7+ Kf5 57. Rf7+ Kg6 58. Rxf4 e2 59. Rxg4+ Kh5? Maybe it would have not been enough for a win, but certainly 59. ... Kf5 would have saved time and also cost something to his opponent. 60. Re4 e1=Q 61. Rxe1 Rxe1. That’s all: Black ends up reaching a drawn Rook and Pawn vs. Bishop and two Pawns ending. I’m not so sure it would have been drawn if only Godena had played 59. ... Kf5 instead of 59. ... Kh5. 62. Kf3 Kg5 63. Bg3 Rd1 64. Ke4 Kf6 65. a4 Ra1 66. Be5+ Ke6 67. Kd3 Kd5 68. Kc3 Rxa4 69. Kb3 Rc4 70. Bf6 Rc1. Or 70. ... Rxd4 71. Bxd4 Kxd4 72. Kb4 Kd5 73. Kb3 Kxc5 74. Kc3 with a dead draw, eventually till stalemate – just like in the actual game. 71. Kb4 Rb1+ 72. Ka5 Kc4 73. Be5 Rb5+ 74. Ka6 Kd5 75. Bf6 Rb4 76. Ka5 Rb1 77. Ka6 Rb3 78. Ka5 Rf3 79. Be5 Rb3 80. Bf6 Rb5+ 81. Ka6 Rb4 82. Ka5 Rxd4 83. Bxd4 Kxd4 84. Kb4 Kd5 85. Kb3 Kxc5 86. Kc3 Kd5 87. Kd3 c5 88. Kc3 c4 89. Kc2 Kd4 90. Kd2 c3+ 91. Kc2 Kc4 92. Kc1 Kd3 93. Kd1 c2+ 94. Kc1 Kc3 stalemate.

Hidden Stone

Michele Godena – Danyyil Dvirnyy
77th Italian Chess Championship; Cosenza, November 29, 2017
French Defence C03

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Bd3 c5 5. dxc5 Nf6 6. exd5 Qxd5 7. Qf3. Godena adopts a modest approach which will turn out to be psychologically quite crafty. 7. ... Qxc5 8. Ne4 Nxe4 9. Qxe4. Calling for Black’s castling Kingside. 9. ... Nd7 10. Nf3 Nf6 11. Qh4 Nd5 12. Qg3 0-0 13. a3(!) Bd6. Dvirnyy was probably very relaxed and plays by ear. Here he should have done better to play 13. ... Qc7! (eventually exchanging Queens) with at least equality. 14. Qh4 f5 15. 0-0 e5? Black probably made this move so natural without thinking too much about it first, but, unluckily for him, it is a mistake which loses at least a Pawn. After 15. ... Qc7 16. Re1 Black’s position is quite unpleasant, but there’s nothing irreparable.

16. Qc4! e4 17. Qxc5 Bxc5 18. Bc4 Rd8?? Blundering a piece! It’s true that after 18. ... exf3 19. Bxd5+ Kh8 20. Bxf3 White remains a Pawn ahead with a clear advantage in position, but it’s also true that it was by far the lesser evil. 19. Bg5 Rd6 20. Be7 1 : 0. Things that can happen to everyone! Michele Godena himself has once lost in 21 moves to Stefano Tatai (on occasion of the 48th Italian Chess Championship at Chianciano Terme in 1988).

Lost Weekend

[Event "XLVI Campionato Italiano a squadre"]
[Site "Condino ITA"]
[Date "2014.05.04"]
[Round "6"]
[White "De Filomeno, Simone"]
[Black "Godena, Michele"]
[ECO "A29"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteTeam "SS Torinese"]
[BlackTeam "Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova"]
[PlyCount "34"]

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bc5 5.d3 d6 6.Bg2 h6 7.O-O a6 8.b3 O-O 9.Bb2 Nd4
(9...Rb8 10.Qd2 Bd7 11.Nd5 Re8 12.e3 {1/2-1/2 U. Andersson-Timman, Ginevra 1977})
10.e3 Nxf3+ 11.Bxf3 Bh3 12.Re1 c6 13.d4 exd4 14.exd4 Bb4 15.d5 cxd5 16.cxd5 Rc8 17.Rc1 1/2-1/2

Großmeister-Remis

Michele Godena – Simone De Filomeno

lxxiii Campionato Italiano; Roma, 29 novembre 2013

Gambetto di Donna rifiutato D55

1. d4 d5 2. Cf3 Cf6 3. c4 e6 4. e3 Ae7 5. Cc3 b6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Ad3 0-0 8. 0-0 Ab7 9. b3 Cbd7 10. Ab2 Te8 11. Tc1 a6 12. Ce2 Ad6 13. Cg3 g6 14. Tc2 De7 15. De2 Tec8 16. Tfc1 De8 17. De1 De7 18. De2 De8 19. De1 De7 20. De2 De8 ½ : ½.