Monday, August 28, 2017

TENSE FINISH TO THE BARCELONA SANTS INTERNATIONAL OPEN


Heading into the final round at the Barcelona Sants International Open GM Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ), GM Daniele Vocaturo (ITA) and GM Leonardo Krysa (ARG) were all tied on 7.5 out of 9. However another 11 players were just a half a point behind the three leaders leaving the final round with must win games all the way down to board 7 in order to stand a chance of being on the podium.

In the tenth and final round, top seed GM Jumabayev drew black against the number 14 seed GM Krysa. Meanwhile GM Vocaturo also had black against GM Svetushkin (MDA). So, only one of the three leaders had the white pieced.

Before we look at the outcomes of the top boards, let’s pause a moment and look at the the two protagonists from our previous blog from the Saints Open…

Unfortunately young Leon Luke Mendonca (IND) faltered in later rounds, including a loss in the final round to finish on 4.5 and miss out on his first IM norm. But, remember his name for the future as he has many years of superb chess ahead of him.

If you recall, Mendonca’s opponent in the second round was the third seed, GM Siman Agdestein (NOR). GM Agdestein recovered through the tournament to eventually win on board 8 in the final round, finishing with a respectable 7.5.

Back to the business end of the final round, board 1 was the last to finish, allowing both players to calculate their odds of winning, should they make a draw. Boards 3, 5 and 6 all drew to finish with 7.5. Including winners from as low as board 15, we now had 12 players on 7.5 already.

FM Julian Martin (GER) on board 7, GM Jan-Christian Schroeder on Board 4 and GM Sverushkin on board 2 all won to go 8 out of 10. That relegated GM Vocaturo to join the 12 others on 7.5 out of 10.

That left the marathon on board 1 where GM Jumabayev converted his Kings Indian into a won rook and pawn endgame with black to take a clear win on 8.5 out of 10.


I leave you with a detailed look at this tournament winning game…



Krysa,Leandro (2537) - Jumabayev,Rinat (2610)
XIX Sants Open 2017 Cotxeres de Sants (10), 27.08.2017

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0–0 5.Bg2 c5 6.Nc3 d6 7.0–0 Nc6 8.dxc5 dxc5 9.Be3 Be6 10.Qa4 Nd4 11.Rac1 E65: King's Indian: Fianchetto: 6...c5 7 0–0 without d5 by White [11.Rad1 Bd7 12.Qa3 Nc2 13.Qxc5 b6 14.Qg5 h6 15.Qf4 g5 16.Qe5 Rc8 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.Qxd5 Bc6 19.Qxd8 Rfxd8 1/2–1/2 (54) Wang,Y (2705)-Giri,A (2734) Beijing 2013]
11...Ng4 12.Bf4 Bd7 13.Qa3 White is slightly better. 
13...e5 14.Bg5 f6 15.Bd2 Bc6 16.h3N [16.Rfd1 Re8 17.Ne1 Bxg2 18.Nxg2 Qc8 1/2–1/2 (27) Prokhorov,A (2071)-Zazuliak,A (2189) Lvov 2011] 
16...Nh6 17.Nxd4 cxd4 18.Nd5 Kh8 19.e3 dxe3

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20.Bxe3 [20.fxe3 feels hotter. 20...Nf5 21.Kh2 Re8 22.e4 Nd4 23.Be3] 
20...Nf5 21.b4 Nxe3 22.Qxe3 f5 23.b5 Bd7 24.Rfd1 e4 25.c5 Bxb5 Strongly threatening ...Qa5. 
26.Nb6! Qe7 27.Nxa8 Rxa8 28.Bf1 Ba4 29.Rd6 Be5 30.Qa3 Bc6 31.Rcd1  

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31...f4 [31...e3!? 32.f4 e2 33.Bxe2 Bxd6 34.Qc3+ Be5 35.fxe5 Re8 36.e6+ Qg7=] 
32.gxf4 Bxf4 33.Qc3+ Be5 34.Qd2 Bxd6 35.cxd6 Qe5 36.Bg2 Rd8 37.Qd4 Qxd4 38.Rxd4µ Endgame KRB-KRB 
38...Re8 39.Kf1 Kg7! 40.Ke2 Kf6 41.h4 Rd8 42.Ke3 Ke5 43.Bxe4 Bxe4 KRB-KR 
44.f4+  

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44...Ke6 [44...Kf5 looks sharper. 45.Rxe4 Rxd6 46.Re5+ Kf6 47.Rb5 b6] 
45.Rxe4+ Kxd6 KR-KR 
46.h5 Rd7 Hoping for ... Re7. 
47.hxg6 hxg6 aiming for ...Re7. 
48.Kd3 Re7 Threatens to win with ... Rxe4. 
49.Ra4 b6 50.Rd4+ Ke6 51.Ke4 Rc7 52.Rb4 Rc5 [¹52...Rc2 ...Re2+ is the strong threat. 53.a4 Rc5] 
53.a4 Rf5 54.Rc4 Rc5 55.Rb4! Kd6 56.Kd3 Rh5 57.Re4 Rh3+ 58.Kc4 [58.Kc2µ was called for.] 
58...a5–+  

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59.Rd4+? [59.Re1 Rh4 60.Kb5] 
59...Ke6 Black is clearly winning. 
60.Re4+ Kf6 61.Kd5 Rb3  

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62.Re8 If White can now play Rf8+ this consolidates a bit. 
62...Rb4 63.Rf8+ Kg7 64.Rb8 Rxf4 65.Rxb6 Rxa4 66.Ra6 Kh6 67.Ke5 Kh5 68.Kf6  

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68...g5 69.Ra7 Rf4+ 70.Ke5 a4 71.Rh7+ Kg4 72.Rh1 a3 Precision: White = 42%, Black = 73%. 0–1

Thursday, August 24, 2017

AMAZING 11 YEAR OLD AT THE BARCELONA SANTS OPEN


Most 11 year old junior chess players get crushed by Grandmasters in simultaneous exhibitions. However, young Leon Luke Mendonca is not just any 11 year old junior player. He is asserting himself as the next big star to come from India.

After just 6 of the 10 rounds completed at the Barcelona Sants International Open Luke is well on his way to securing his first IM norm.

In round 2 he faced off against the number 3 seed of the tournament, GM Simen Agdestein of Norway. Far from being intimidated by the prospect of facing such a strong player at his tender age, Luke rose to the occasion - showing an accuracy of play that bodes very well for the future.

Let's take a look at that round 2 game:

Mendonca,Leon Luke (2286) - Agdestein,Simen (2604)
XIX Sants Open 2017 Cotxeres de Sants (2), 19.08.2017

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0–0 5.Nge2 Re8 6.a3 Bf8 7.d5 h5N E46: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein: 4 e3 0–0 5 Ne2 without early Bd3 [Predecessor: 7...a5 8.Ng3 Na6 9.Bd3 Nc5 10.Bc2 exd5 11.cxd5 b5 12.0–0 Bb7 13.Qd4 b4 14.axb4 axb4 15.Rxa8 Qxa8 16.Qxb4 Nxd5 1–0 (57) Ipatov, A (2613)-Eljanov,P (2723) Dubai 2014] 
8.g3 exd5 9.cxd5 c5 [9...h4=] 
10.Bg2 d6 11.0–0 h4 12.e4 hxg3 

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[12...h3!? 13.Bf3 Nbd7²] 
13.hxg3 Na6 14.Rb1 Bd7 15.b4 cxb4 16.axb4 Ng4 17.f3 Qb6+ 18.Qd4 Qxd4+ 19.Nxd4 Ne5 20.Ncb5 Rec8 21.Rd1 Rc4 22.Bd2 Nc7 23.Nxc7 Rxc7 24.Bf1 Nc4 25.Rdc1 Rac8 26.Bxc4 Rxc4 27.Rxc4 [27.Nb3 looks sharper. 27...f5 28.Na5 Rc2 29.Bf4 fxe4 30.fxe4 b6 31.Nc6] 
27...Rxc4 28.Nb3 Rc2 29.Bf4 Rc3 30.Kf2 Be7 31.Nd4 Rc4 32.Nf5 Bxf5 33.exf5= Endgame KRB-KRB 
33...a6 34.Ke3 Rc3+ 35.Kf2 Bf6 36.Rd1 Be7 37.Re1 Kf8 38.Rh1 Ke8 39.Rc1 Rb3 40.Rc4 Kd7 41.Ke2 Bf6 42.Bd2 Ra3 43.g4 Bd8 44.g5 Ra2 45.Kd3 a5 46.bxa5 Bxa5 47.Bxa5 [47.Bc1 seems wilder. 47...Rf2 48.Ra4 Bb6 49.Rb4 Rxf3+ 50.Ke4] 
47...Rxa5 48.Ke4 Rc5 49.Rd4 b5 50.f6 gxf6 51.gxf6 Kc7 52.Ke3 Rc3+ 53.Ke2 Rc4 54.Rg4! Kb6 55.Kd3 Rc7 

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[55...Rc5!? 56.Rg7 Rc7³] 
56.Re4 Rc5 [56...Kc5!?] 
57.Re7 Rxd5+? [57...Rc7!= and Black has nothing to worry.] 
58.Ke4+- Re5+ 

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59.Kd4? [59.Kf4+-] 59...b4= The position is equal. 
60.Rxf7 b3 61.Kc3 Re3+ 62.Kb2 White wants to play f4. 
62...Rxf3 63.Rf8 Kc5 64.f7 Kd5 65.Rc8 Rxf7 And now ...Rf3 would win. 
66.Kxb3 Kd4 67.Rc4+! Kd3 [#] Strongly threatening ...Rb7+. 
68.Rc3+! Kd2 ...Rb7+ is the strong threat. 
69.Rc2+ Kd1 ( -> ...Rb7+) [69...Ke3!? 70.Rc3+ Ke2 71.Rc2+ Kd3 72.Rc3+ Kd2 73.Rc2+ Kd3 74.Rc3+³] 
70.Rc6 d5 aiming for ...Rf3+. 
71.Rd6 Precision: White = 71%, Black = 65%. ½–½