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01-01 December COver_Layout 1 15/11/2015 15:09 Page 1
A
A Chess Opening Repertoire for Blitz & Rapid
Sharp, Surprising and Forcing Lines for Black and White
Evgeny & Vladimir Sveshnikov
416 pages - £19.99
NEW!
Every day, countless numbers of rated blitz and rapid games are being
played in online and over-the-board competitions. In blitz, even more than
in classical chess, it is important to make the right decisions quickly and
almost instinctively. World-famous opening expert GM Evgeny Sveshnikov
and his son, IM Vladimir Sveshnikov, have created a repertoire that is
forcing, both narrow and deep, and aggressive. The Sveshnikovs want you
to end up in positions where it is relatively easy to keep finding the moves
with the greatest practical effect.
Mastering Chess Middlegames
Lectures from the All-Russian School of Grandmasters
Alexander Panchenko
272 pages - £16.99
NEW!
The secrets of GM Alexander Panchenko’s success were his dedication as a
teacher combined with his outstanding training materials. Now, his classic
Mastering Chess Middlegames is for the first time available in translation.
It presents almost 450 examples and tests on the most important topics of
middlegame technique. Defence and counterattack are two of his main themes,
and his concise training material on realising the advantage and two minor
pieces against a rook may be the best ever seen. Panchenko’s didactic brilliance
shines through in this book and his aim is always: taking practical decisions.
Bologan’s Ruy Lopez for Black
How to Play for a Win against the Spanish Opening
Victor Bologan
544 pages - £22.99
NEW!
With his bestselling Bologan’s Black Weapon’s in the Open Games he shook
up the world of repertoire books. Now Bologan is back with the much awaited
companion volume on the Ruy Lopez, presenting an eminently playable
repertoire with hundreds of theoretical improvements, alternatives and
fresh weapons. At its heart are the Breyer Variation and the Marshall Attack.
Featured again are innovations such as ‘The Fast Lane’, the ‘The Very Fast
Lane’ and the much-applauded ‘Arsenal of Strategic Ideas’. Bologan presents
two different options against every line: a common sense approach and an
aggressive weapon.
The Double Queen’s Gambit
A Surprise Weapon for Black
Alexey Bezgodov
NEW!
272 pages - £18.99
Former Russian Chess Champion Alexey Bezgodov provides a complete
repertoire for Black against 1.d4, starting with the sharp and surprising
2...c5! against both 2.c4 and 2.♘f3. There is comparatively little to study and
Black is able to solve most of his opening problems and get a position that
is both solid and active. “What more can one ask?”, says Alexey Bezgodov.
He provides dozens of exercises to test your understanding of his system.
Bezgodov promises: “It will bring many practical successes and much creative
satisfaction!”
available at the London Chess Centre - www.chess.co.uk/shop
03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2015 15:43 Page 3
Chess
Founding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc †
Executive Editor: Malcolm Pein
Editors: Richard Palliser, Matt Read
Associate Editor: John Saunders
Subscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington
Twitter: @CHESS_Magazine
Twitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm Pein
Website: www.chess.co.uk
Contents
Editorial.................................................................................................................4
Malcolm Pein on the latest developments
60 Seconds with... ...........................................................................................7
Grandmaster Yannick Pelletier
The Rose on Tour ..............................................................................................8
Steve Barrett reports from the European Club Cup
Studies with Stephenson............................................................................12
Thinking of the upcoming Hastings, Brian looks back to 1995
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How Good is Your Chess? ..........................................................................14
Daniel King on Yannick Pelletier’s crushing win against Nakamura
London Calling ................................................................................................18
James Coleman previews the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour
Who Else?..........................................................................................................20
Magnus Carlsen retained his World Rapid title in Berlin
Go East! .............................................................................................................24
Carl Strugnell concludes his chess-themed tour of Eastern Europe
Readers’ Letters.............................................................................................28
Chess Engulfed in Fresh Cheating Scandal.........................................29
Our correspondent Fi Day explains
What is it about those Welsh Girls?......................................................30
Richard Stevenson investigates the rise of girls’ chess in Wales
Carlsen’s Stonewall Dutch .........................................................................32
Dutch expert Mark Lyell explains how to play the opening like Magnus
Back to Basics .................................................................................................35
Nick Ivell explains the intricacies of the combined method
Stocking Fillers ...............................................................................................36
Sean Marsh has some suggestions for Christmas
Good Old Informator ...................................................................................38
John Cox enjoyed reading his first Chess Informant in many a year
Expand Your Club!.........................................................................................39
Charles Higgie explains how best to attract new members
Find the Winning Moves .............................................................................40
The Indignity of Grovelling: Part II........................................................44
Matthew Lunn looks at two games where one side was out-rated
Never Mind the Grandmasters.................................................................46
Carl Portman very much enjoyed playing Peter Hempson
Home News.......................................................................................................48
Mark Hebden and Ameet Ghasi came top at the British Rapidplay
Overseas News ...............................................................................................50
Hikaru Nakamura triumphed in the Millionaire Chess tournament
Solutions............................................................................................................54
New Books and Software...........................................................................55
Saunders on Chess ........................................................................................58
Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing
Company using only paper from FSC/PEFC
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www.chess.co.uk
Photo credits: Agon (pp.20-23), Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (pp.1, 18-19, 33),
Calle Erlandsson (p.48), Fédération Suisse des Echecs (p.7), Hip Hop Chess Federation (p.5), Bob Jones
(p.47), David Llada (p.53), Arnold Lutton (p.31), Marjan Mitkov (p.11, top right), Ray Morris-Hill (pp.1,
top left; 4, left; 5, centre; 14), Brendan O’Gorman (p.49), John Saunders (p.5, bottom right), Elizabeth
Spiegel (p.58), Fiona Steil-Antoni (pp.8-9; 11, top left), Richard Stevenson (p.30).
3
08-11 EuroClubCup_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2015 16:41 Page 8
The Rose on Tour
Steve Barrett reports from an action-packed week at the
European Club Cup, while Malcolm Pein annotates
Stuck up a mountain with no obvious way
to traverse the 15 miles to the airport, where
our planes were due to depart in the next two
hours, was not how the White Rose chess
team envisaged ending its trip to Skopje for
the European Club Cup.
Lacking the wise counsel of our skipper,
Paul Townsend, who had departed early at
5am to get a bus to Greece, myself, board
one Peter Wells, board two James Adair, and
Kieran O’Driscoll had made the unwise
decision late Sunday morning to head up to
see the Millennium Cross.
The Cross dominates the Skopje skyline at
night when it is lit up and appears to be
hanging unsupported in the air, and since we’d
spent the whole week with our heads down
playing chess, we wanted to experience at
least one piece of local culture.
In reality, the plan had become somewhat
derailed the night before, when the team
joined most of the rest of the participants of
what is essentially the Champions League of
chess in letting their hair down after a tough
seven days of high-level competition.
Having experienced salsa night in a local
Cuban restaurant, fluorescent green cocktails
The impressive Millennium Cross of Skopje
coupled with the previous night’s
celebrations nearly caused the White Rose
team to miss their flights home.
8
in the Irish bar of choice for the chess players
(there’s always an Irish bar), the White Rose
contingent somehow ended up at a
Macedonian heavy metal gig in the old town
part of the country’s capital city.
Several bottles of Macedonian wine were
then consumed back at our hotel before we
retired for the night. The skipper barely had
time to pack his gear before heading for his
bus, and tentative plans were made for the
morning to go and see the Cross.
Early on Sunday afternoon, as we surveyed
the gridlock on the hill that snaked down from
the landmark, we started to regret our decision
to ‘have a quick look’ before decamping for the
airport. Locals told us the snarl-up would not
ease for at least two hours.
For our intrepid board six O’Driscoll, this
was a minor snafu. He had already had a slew
of touristic adventures prior to the
tournament in a whistle-stop tour around the
Balkans, which took in places like Albania,
Serbia, Kosovo, and the southern part of
Macedonia in Ohrid, where White Rose had
made its European Club Cup debut in 2009.
For the rest of us, it was a more pressing
concern. There is only one plane out of town
per day and the prospect of another night in
Skopje and missing work or flight connections
was not in the least appealing. Someone with an
ounce of sense suggested walking – OK,
running – to the base of the traffic and calling a
cab company to see if they’d come and get us.
We weren’t optimistic, but it was our only
hope. Miraculously, 30 minutes later we were
in a taxi driven by a sunglasses-toting heavy
metal fan cab driver who had somehow
located us on the hill and appeared to have
learned his driving skills from Lewis Hamilton,
i.e. just what we needed in the circumstances.
A lightning-fast luggage pit stop at our
hotel later and finally the Alexander the Great
Airport beckoned. Pretty much everything in
Skopje is named after Alexander the Great,
including The Aleksander Palace hotel where
the chess competition was held.
The tournament had started seven days
earlier, as 50 teams congregated for the
Open tournament and 12 for the Women’s
event, including 16 of the top 20 rated
players in the world. One of the great
attractions of playing in this event is the
prospect of rubbing shoulders with people
such as Kramnik, Aronian, Nakamura,
Caruana, Giri, Vachier-Lagrave, Grischuk,
Topalov, Karjakin, Yu Yangyi, England’s top
player Michael Adams, and so on.
This year, England was represented by
Cheddleton, Blackthorne Russia, and White
Rose; Wales by Abergavenny and Cardigan;
Ireland by Gonzaga and Adare. England also
had a Midland Monarchs team in the Women’s
competition.
The first round offered the usual
opportunities for amateurs and semiprofessionals to pit their wits against some of
the strongest players in the world, and this
year’s renewal did not disappoint.
Blackthorne Russia’s Adam Hunt started the
tournament well, and looked to be on course for
a GM norm, especially after an exciting draw
with Vassily Ivanchuk from the Macedonian
Alkaloid all-star team in round one.
A.Hunt-V.Ivanchuk
Blackthorne Russia vs Alkaloid
Caro-Kann Defence
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 Ìf6
5 Ìc3 e6 6 Ìf3 Íb4 7 cxd5 Ìxd5
8 Íd2 0-0 9 Íd3 Ìc6 10 0-0 Íe7
11 Îe1 Íf6 12 Ìe4
12 Ëe2 Ìxd4 13 Ìxd4 Íxd4 14 Íxh7+
Êxh7 15 Ëe4+ yields a small advantage.
12...Íxd4
12...h6!? was possible.
13 Ìeg5
13...g6
If 13...h6 14 Ìxd4 Ìxd4 15 Ìh7 Îe8
16 Íxh6! e5 17 Ëh5 with a dangerous attack.
14 Ìxd4 Ìxd4 15 Ìxh7 Êxh7 16 Ëh5+
Êg8 17 Íxg6 Ìf6
17...fxg6 18 Ëxg6+ is immediately drawn.
18 Ëh6 fxg6 19 Ëxg6+ Êh8 20 Íc3
(see diagram at top of next page)
20 Îe4 Ìf5 21 Íc3 was an intriguing
December 2015
08-11 EuroClubCup_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2015 16:41 Page 9
possibility, but 20...Ìf3+ 21 gxf3 Ìxe4
forces White to take a draw.
20...Ìf3+ 21 Êh1 Not 21 gxf3?? Îg8
22 Íxf6+ Ëxf6 or 21 Êf1 Ìxh2+.
21...Ìxe1 22 Ëh6+ Êg8 23 Ëg6+ Êh8
24 Ëh6+ Êg8 25 Ëg6+ Êh8 26 Ëh6+
Êg8 ½-½
White Rose faced off against Azerbaijani
team Odlar Yurdu in round one, and came away
with a creditable 4-2 defeat, despite being
outrated by an average of almost 250 points
on each board. At one point the ninth-seeded
Azerbaijanis must have started regretting
resting their two top players – Sutovsky and
Durarbayli – against the humble 34th seeds,
but they scraped through in the end.
James Adair continued his sensational form
in a White Rose shirt, though for once he
narrowly missed out on a norm. In round one
he took out GM Vugar Rasulov in fine style.
V.Rasulov-J.Adair
Odlar Yurdu vs White Rose
The British teams had some tough pairings in the opening round in Skopje, but Adam Hunt
most certainly wasn’t intimated by the legend that is Vassily Ivanchuk, who held the draw.
I was down to three seconds on three
different occasions during the final moves
before the time control, which certainly
concentrates the mind, but thanks to the 30second increment I just about managed to track
my way through the complications to victory.
S.Barrett-N.Mamedov
White Rose vs Odlar Yurdu
In the cold light of day the silicon monster
points out the decisive 35...Ëb4!. Instead,
play continued:
35...Îa8? 36 Ëd1! Ìe4
Black had missed that 36...bxa2 37 Îxb7
a1Ë fails to 38 Îb8+!.
37 Íxb3 Îb8 38 c5 Êf8 39 Ëc2 Ëb4
40 c6 Ëc3 41 c7 Îc8 42 Ëxe4! 1-0
Other early round upsets included losses
for Anish Giri and Hikaru Nakamura in round
two, the latter after a fine piece of
preparation by Yannick Pelletier.
V.Babula-A.Giri
Werder Bremen vs SOCAR
Abrahams-Noteboom variation
1 d4 e6 2 c4 d5 3 Ìc3 Íb4 4 Ìf3 dxc4
5 e3 b5 6 a4 c6 7 Íd2 a5 8 axb5 Íxc3
9 Íxc3 cxb5 10 b3 Íb7 11 bxc4 b4
12 Íb2 Ìf6 13 Íd3 0-0 14 0-0 Ìbd7
15 Ìd2 Ëc7 16 f4 a4!
A typical theme, if 17 Îxa4 Ëc6
31...Íxe6!! 32 fxe6 Îxf4 33 Ìxf4
Íxd4+ 34 Êf1 Íe5 35 Îg4 g5 36 g3
gxf4 37 gxf4? Ëxe6 38 Êg2 Ëh6 39
Îg3 Ëxf4 40 Ëxf4 Îxf4 41 Îa3 a6 42
Îb3 Îf7 43 Íd1 0-1
I managed to beat the highest-rated
player I have ever beaten, 2590 GM Nidjat
Mamedov, after he went wrong in the time
scramble and missed a neat tactic, following
which he fell apart, no doubt in disgust at
throwing a game away against such a patzer.
www.chess.co.uk
James Adair has enjoyed a meteoric rise since joining White Rose. Having only previously
played for them in the 4NCL, he made his European Club Cup debut and almost got a norm.
9
08-11 EuroClubCup_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2015 16:41 Page 10
threatens mate on g2 and the rook.
17 Îb1 Ëd6 18 Ëe2 Îfd8 19 e4
It looks like Black is about to be flattened,
but he has a resource:
19...Ìc5! 20 e5
20 d5 runs into 20...exd5 21 cxd5 Ìxd5!
22 exd5 Ëxd5.
20...Ëc6 21 dxc5 Îxd3 22 exf6 Îad8
23 Ìf3 Ëxc5+ 24 Êh1 b3?
A blunder. Black would stand very well after
24...a3 25 Íe5 b3 26 fxg7 Íxf3 27 Îxf3 Ëxc4.
25 Îbd1 Î3d6
25...Ëxc4 26 Ìe5 Îxd1 27 Ìxc4 wins.
26 Íe5
26 Ìe5! a3 27 Ëh5 is all over, as is here
26...g6 27 f5 exf5 28 Ìxf7!.
26...Îxd1 27 Îxd1 Ëa5 28 Ìd4 g6 29
h3 Ëb6 30 Êh2! h6 31 c5! Ëa6
31...Ëxc5 32 Ìxe6 Îxd1 33 Ëxd1 fxe6
34 Ëd3 wins on the spot.
32 c6! Ëxe2 33 Ìxe2 Îxd1 34 cxb7
Îd8 35 Ìc3 a3
settle for a 3-3 draw and a 50% performance
across the week. James Adair rode his luck, but
once again prevailed against GM opposition to
finish the week on 5-7. If Adair hadn’t suffered
an unlucky loss to Robin Swinkels in round
three, he may well have achieved that final GM
norm, but those are the swings and
roundabouts of the ECC, and the luck usually
balances itself out by the end of the week.
In the upper reaches of the tournament,
the seedings were upset slightly as secondranked Siberia pipped top-seeded SOCAR for
the number one spot. Siberia was led by the
majestic and legendary figure of former world
champion Vladimir Kramnik, who showed a
magnificent return to form.
After sitting out the first two rounds
against weaker opposition he reeled off
successive victories against Nepomniachtchi,
Svidler, and his nemesis Veselin Topalov. In the
latter game, Topalov apparently objected to a
lamp that Vlad had stationed near his board
due to his ongoing eyesight problems, so
victory was even sweeter than usual for the
indomitable Russian. A fist pump at the end of
the game demonstrated how much the win
meant to Kramnik.
V.Kramnik-V.Topalov
Siberia vs SOCAR
Colle/e3 Queen’s Indian
1 d4 Ìf6 2 Ìf3 e6 3 e3 c5 4 Íd3 b6 5
0-0 Íb7 6 c4 cxd4 7 exd4 Íe7 8 Ìc3
d5 9 cxd5 Ìxd5 10 Ìe5 0-0 11 Ëg4 f5
Designed to close lines towards the black
king, as if 11...Ìf6 12 Ëh4.
12 Ëe2 Íf6 13 Íc4 Îe8 14 Îd1 Ìd7
14...a6 15 Ëh5 Îe7 16 Íxd5 Íxd5 17
Íg5 gives White some initiative.
15 Íb5! Íxe5 16 dxe5 Ëe7 17 Ìxd5
Íxd5 18 Ëh5!
29 Îxd5! exd5 30 e6 Î3c7
White wins too after both 30...Ëg6 31 Íxc3
Îxc3 32 Ëb8+ Êg7 33 e7 and 30...Ëxe6
31 Ëg5+ Êf8 32 Ëg7+ Êe8 33 Íxc3.
31 Îxd5 Ëxe6 32 Ëg5+ Êf8 33 Îxf5 Îf7
34 Ëh6+ Êe8 35 Îe5 Îc6 36 Ëxh5! 1-0
A fourth win in a row, this time against
Ivanchuk, followed by a draw in the final round
against the super-solid Peter Leko produced a
3100 rating result for Kramnik, which almost
propelled him above Anish Giri in the race to
the Candidates Tournament, but, mainly,
helped his team win the competition.
Of the Brits, led by David Howell on top
board, Cheddleton came out top (22nd place)
by virtue of a superior tie-break over White
Rose (27th). Cheddleton’s best performer was
FM Ezra Kirk who was on for an IM norm until
he lost the last two rounds, but still managed
to gain an impressive 30 rating points.
Meanwhile IM Vladimir Hamitevici won a
sparkling, attacking game on board 2.
V.Hamitevici-B.Lindberg
Cheddleton vs SK Viking
Spanish Four Knights
1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Ìc3 Ìf6 4 Íb5 Íc5
5 0-0 0-0 6 Ìxe5 Ìxe5 7 d4 Íd6 8 f4!
Far more incisive than just regaining
material with 8 dxe5.
8...Ìeg4 9 e5 Íb4 10 f5 d6 11 exf6
Ìxf6 12 Íg5
After the early skirmish White emerges
with space, a strong pin and copious attacking
possibilities thanks to his pawn on f5. Now
12...Íxc3 13 bxc3 h6 was essential.
12...c6?
Now it’s White to play and win.
36 Ìb5!
Not 36 b8Ë Îxb8 37 Íxb8 b2 and Black wins.
36...a2 37 Ìd6 Îb8 38 h4 Êh7 39 g4 1-0
Our week continued in its usual topsy-turvy
tense fashion – White Rose never does
anything the easy way – but we ended in 27th
place, seven places above our seeding, and with
a fair wind in the last round we could maybe
have pushed the ball over the line against
another Macedonian team, Gambit Asseko See,
to post our highest-ever points tally (8) in
seven years at the European Club Cup.
However, it wasn’t quite to be and we had to
10
Black’s position is uncomfortable and Íc1g5 a threat. Topalov feels obliged to weaken his
dark squares and that proves his undoing.
18...g6 19 Ëh6 Îec8 20 Íg5 Ëf7
21 Íxd7 Ëxd7 22 Íf6 Ëf7 23 b3 Ëf8
24 Ëf4 Îc2 25 h4 Îac8 26 h5 Ëe8
27 Îd3 Î2c3 28 Îad1 gxh5?
28...Ëf7 29 Ëg3 Îxd3 30 Îxd3 is still
better for White.
December 2015
08-11 EuroClubCup_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2015 16:41 Page 11
Vladimir Kramnik surprised nemesis Topalov
with the Colle - and scored a crushing win.
13 Ìe4!! cxb5 14 c3 Ía5 15 Ìxf6+
15 Íxf6 gxf6 16 Ëh5 was also strong:
for example, 16...Êh8 17 Ëh6 Îg8 18 Ìxf6
Îg7 19 Îae1 Íd7 20 Îe3 Ëf8 21 Îh3
threatening Ëxh7+ and wins.
15...gxf6 16 Íh6 Êh8 17 Ëh5 Íd7
18 Îae1 Íc6 19 Îe2 Îg8
If 19...Ëd7 20 Íg7+! Êxg7 21 Îf4 Îg8
22 Îh4 Êf8 23 Ëh6+ Îg7 24 Îg4, mating.
20 Îf4
20...Ëd7
Somehow 20...Íxg2!? might yet have
saved Black.
21 Îh4 Íf3
If 21...Íd8 22 Íf8.
22 Ëxf3 Îae8 23 Îe3 d5 24 Ëh5 Îxe3
25 Íxe3 Îg7 26 Íh6 1-0
The rook must move and then 27 Íg5 or
27 Íf8 wins.
Special mention must also be given to
Michael Adams, who was the star performer
for SOCAR, making an impressive 5/6 for a
whopping 2943 performance on board 4.
M.Adams-M.Matlakov
SOCAR vs Mednyi Sadnik
Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Íb5 a6 4 Ía4 Ìf6
5 0-0 Íe7 6 Îe1 b5 7 Íb3 0-0 8 c3 d6
9 h3 Îe8 10 d4 Íb7 11 Ìbd2 Íf8
www.chess.co.uk
Champions Siberia minus board 3, Alexander Grischuk: (l-r), Wang Yue, Dmitry Kokarev, a
club official, Vladimir Kramnik (4½/5 on board 1!), Levon Aronian, Pavel Maletin and Li Chao.
12 a3 h6 13 d5
Following this Black is more or less obliged
to prepare ...c7-c6 after which the d5square becomes of paramount importance.
13...Ìb8 14 Ìh2
Preparing to exchange the defender of the
key square.
14...Ìbd7 15 Ìg4 Ìc5
If 15...g6 16 Ìf1 Êh7 17 Ìxf6+ Ìxf6
17 Ëf3 with nagging pressure, but possibly
the immediate 15...c6!? was best.
16 Ìxf6+ Ëxf6 17 Íc2 c6 18 b4 Ìd7
19 Ìb3! cxd5 20 Ìa5 Îab8 21 Ìxb7
Îxb7 22 Ëxd5
As ever, in middlegames with opposite
bishops, the activity of each side’s bishop is
paramount. White’s light-squared bishop
soon dominates after Matlakov misses
opportunities to free his dark-squared
bishop.
22...Îc7 23 Ëd3 Îec8 24 Íd2
White has the edge in view of Black’s
weakness on d5 and passive bishop. Matlakov
now seeks to blunt White’s bishop.
24...Ìb6 25 a4 Ìc4 26 axb5 axb5 27
Íb3
27 Íe3!? Ìxe3 28 Îxe3 is well met by
28...d5!, and if 29 Îf3 Îxc3! or 29 exd5 g6
30 Ëxb5 Îxc3 31 Îxc3 Îxc3. Likewise,
after 27 Íc1 Ìb6 28 Ëxb5 Îxc3 29 Ëxb6
Îxc2 30 Íe3 d5 31 Ëxf6 gxf6 32 exd5
Íxb4 Black should hold the draw.
27...Ìxd2
Missing 27...d5! when Black is better after
28 exd5?! Ìxd2 29 Ëxd2 Îxc3 and even
28 Íxc4 dxc4 29 Ëg3 Îd7 is fine for him.
28 Ëxd2 Îxc3 29 Îe3!! Îxe3 30 fxe3
30...Îc7?
Black is fine after 30...d5! 31 Ëxd5 Íxb4
32 Îf1 Ëg5 33 Ëxf7+ Êh8 as his king is
quite safe.
31 Íd5!
Locking the door.
31...g6 32 Ëd3 Ëg5 33 Îf1 h5 34 Îf3
Black is under great pressure as f7 and b5
are weak.
34...Ëh4?!
34...Êg7 35 Ëxb5 Îc2 was a better defence.
35 Êh2 Íh6?! 36 Ëxb5
Black is already lost here as f7 falls and
then g6 as well.
36...Êh7 37 Ëe8 Íg7 38 Íxf7 Îe7
39 Ëd8 1-0
39...Ëg5 40 Ëg8+ Êh6 41 Îg3 wins
the queen.
As we made our escape from the
mountain and just about managed to catch
our flights out of Macedonia, we could reflect
on another fun week of European Club Cup
chess and a reminder of how unforgiving the
game is at this level. We look forward to
reconvening in Serbia in early November next
year, always assuming that White Rose can do
the business in qualifying from the 4NCL for
the eighth year running.
11
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