Flashcard

卜祥志 (Bǔ Xiángzhì) – Trần Tuấn Minh
7th HDBank International Open Chess Tournament; Ho Chi Minh City, March 14, 2017
English Opening A20

1. c4 e5 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 e4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Qb6 6. e3 Na6!? It does not seem an improvement on 6. ... d5 7. Qc2 Bd7 (after 7. ... Nbd7 Mark Evgenievich Taimanov regards 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. Ncb5 as a strong continuation) 8. a3 Be7 9. b4 0-0 10. Bb2 with a slight edge for White, Najdorf – Rossetto, Buenos Aires 1968. 7. d3 Bb4 8. Bg2 Nc5 9. dxe4 Ncxe4 10. 0-0 Bxc3. 10. ... Nxc3 looks hardly better than the text, as after 11. bxc3 Bxc3?! 12. Ba3! White gets a (very) powerful initiative. 11. bxc3 d6 12. Qc2 Nc5 13. e4 Be6? Stockfish does not like this move – and rightly so. I think Black should have castled.

14. Bf4! 0-0-0. If 14. ... Bxc4 there might follow 15. Bxd6! Bxf1 16. Rxf1 and, in spite of the lack of any material compensation, White carries too many overwhelming threats. 15. Rfd1 Qa6 16. Nxe6. Securing the whole Bishop pair. 16. ... Nxe6 17. Bxd6 Qxc4 18. Rab1 Nc7. It loses outright, but 18. ... Qa6 19. Rb4 could not have saved Black anyway. 19. Bh3+ 1 : 0. For after 19. ... Ne6 (or 19. ... Kb8 20. Rd4 Qa6 21. Ra4+−) 20. Rd4 Qa6 21. Ra4+− the curtain falls.

Formidable

Trần Tuấn Minh – Francesco Rambaldi
54th World Junior Chess Championship; Khanty-Mansiysk, September 12, 2015
Neo-Old Indian Defence A41

1. d4 d6 2. Bf4 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Nf3 Nd7 5. h3 e5 6. Bh2 Nh6 7. Be2 0-0 8. 0-0 Qe7 9. c4 f5 10. Nc3 c6 11. b4 g5 12. c5. No better at all is 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. c5 Nf7 14. Qb3 Kh8 15. Rad1 h5 as occurred in the game Lenz – Szenetra, Baden-Baden 1990. 12. c5 d5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bxe5 15. dxe5 f4

16. Nxd5? A mirage! Theoretically, three Pawns compensate for a Knight, but here Black has more dynamic positional pluses, while White only static ones. The right way was 16. exf4 gxf4 17. Bf3 Qxe5 18. Ne2 Nf5 with rough equality. 16. ... cxd5 17. Qxd5+ Be6 18. Qd6 Qf7 19. Bh5 Qxh5 20. Qxe6+ Kh8 21. exf4 gxf4 22. f3 Nf5. Rambaldi concludes the game with restless energy. 23. Rf2 Rad8 24. Re1 Qg5 25. Qc4 Ne3 26. Qe4 Rg8 27. g4 Rge8 28. h4 Qxe5 29. Qxb7 Rd1 30. Rxd1 Nxd1 0 : 1.

Trần Tuấn Minh vs. Francesco Rambaldi
Photo: Vladimir Barsky