Easy Livin’

Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov – Francisco Vallejo Pons
7th Grand Slam Masters; Bilbao, September 16, 2014
Sicilian Defence B90

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3. “Black’s loss of time with ... a7-a6 may possibly justify this loss of time”, wrote Bobby Fischer in his “My 60 Memorable Games”, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1969, page 212. 6. ... e6 7. g4 Be7 8. Bg2 Nfd7 9. Nce2. Another try is 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Qe2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 0-0 12. 0-0 b5 13. e5 d5 14. a3 (14. f4!?) 14. ... Qc7 15. f4 Bc5 16. Qe3 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 Bb7 18. Rae1 Rac8 with roughly equal chances, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 王皓 (Wáng Hào), Chinese Chess Championship, 兴化市 (Xīnghuà) 2009. 9. ... Nc6. For 9. ... Qc7 10. Be3 b5 see Vibbert – Sarkar, Arlington 2013. 10. c3 h5? Risky play, in the style of the Spanish Grandmaster. 10. ... Qb6 was worth considering. 11. gxh5 Rxh5? As then tweeted by Vallejo Pons: “Hoy derrota inapelable, Ponomariov no me dio opción tras 11. ... Rxh5? – Esas cosas pasan. A ver si no me quedo peor/perdido en 12 un día XD”. 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Nd4 Rc5. Sadly forced. 14. b4! An energetic refutation! 14. ... Rxc3. The Exchange sacrifice 14. ... Rc4 15. Bf1 Rxd4 16. cxd4 can hardly be regarded as a way out. 15. Bb2 Rc4

16. Nxe6! “I missed 16. Nxe6. That means I’m already lost after 11. ... Rxh5. Sometimes this happens”, said Vallejo Pons. “He played well”. 16. ... Qb6. Clearly not 16. ... fxe6 17. Qh5+ Kf8 18. Qh8+ Kf7 19. Qxg7+ Ke8 20. Qg6+ Kf8 21. Bg7+ Kg8 22. Bh6+ and mate next move. 17. Nxg7+ Kf8 18. 0-0 Ne5 19. Nh5 Qxb4 20. Rb1 Qc5. If 20. ... Qa5 then 21. f4 Ng6 22. Bg7+ Kg8 (else 22. ... Ke8 23. Nf6+ Kd8 24. f5 Ne5 25. Ng8 winning) 23. f5 Ne5 24. Kh1! (Δ Rf1-g1) with an irresistible attack. 21. Kh1! Simply intending the deadly f2-f4. 21. ... Ng6 22. Nf6 Rb8. Anything but good, but also after 22. ... Ne5 23. f4 Ng6 24. f5 Ne5 25. Nh7+ Kg8? 26. Rg1! White wins. 23. Qd2. Another way was 23. Bc1! with overwhelming threats. 23. ... Bxf6 24. Bxf6 Rb5 25. Rbd1 d5 26. Qh6+ Ke8 27. exd5 cxd5 28. Rfe1+ Kd7 29. Qg7 Qf8 30. Bxd5 Rxd5 31. Rxd5+ Kc7 32. Be5+ Kc6 33. Qxf8 1-0. For if 33. ... Nxf8 then 34. Rd8 wins a piece. “Today I was lucky that I got this position with so much initiative so easily and so quickly. At some point I only needed to calculate well as to not spoil it”, said Ponomariov. “It’s very difficult to defend for Black”.

Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov. Photo: Manu de Alba

哈利波特－神秘的魔法石

Fabiano Caruana – Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov
42nd Sparkassen Chess Meeting; Dortmund, July 13, 2014
Petrov’s Defence C42

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Qd2 Be6 9. 0-0-0 Qd7 10. Kb1 Bf6 11. h3. In the past Caruana tried successfully the less reserved 11. h4, e.g. 11. ... h6 12. Nd4 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Bxd4 14. Qxd4 0-0 15. Rg1 Rae8 16. g4 Qc6 17. Bg2 Qa6 18. b3 Bd7 19. g5 h5 20. g6 Re7 21. Bd5 Be6 22. Rde1 c5 23. Qd1 Rfe8 24. Qxh5 fxg6 25. Rxe6 1 : 0 Caruana – Landa, Reggio Emilia 2010. 11. ... h6 12. b3 a6 13. g4 0-0-0 14. Bg2 g5 15. Nd4 Nxd4 16. cxd4 d5 17. f4! White having obtained a slight advantage, does not hesitate to avail himself of it energetically. 17. ... gxf4 18. Bxf4 h5 19. g5 Bg7 20. Rde1 h4 21. Be5 Rdg8 22. Qf4 Qd8 23. Bf1 Kb8 24. Bd3 Bc8 25. Kb2 Bxe5 26. Rxe5 Rg7 27. a4 a5 28. Ka2 Ka7 29. Qd2 Kb8 30. Qf4 Ka7 31. Rhe1. A powerful centralization, in the style of Morphy. 31. ... Bxh3 32. Rh1 Bc8 33. Rxh4 Rxh4 34. Qxh4 b6 35. Qh6! Rg8 36. Qc6 Be6. The endgame arising from 36. ... Bb7 37. Qf6 Qxf6 38. gxf6 is a poor resource, but actually the only one that promises any drawing chances. 37. g6! A crusher! So decisive are its effetcts, that it may be styled the winning move. 37. ... Rg7 38. gxf7 Bxf7

39. Re7!! Qxe7 40. Ba6! Kxa6 41. Qa8 mate. What a wonderful game!

Fabiano Caruana
Photo: sparkassen-chess-meeting.de