1st Chesseminar concluded

My first Chesseminar last Saturday drew a total of ten participants. They included Lim Zhuo Ren logging in from the U.K., the father and son pair of Yeoh Chin Seng and Li Tian, chess coach Collin Madhavan and also a former student of mine currently working in Indonesia.

I was hoping to post a recording of the session on-line. But a technical glitch resulted in the session not recorded. Here I will give the full game. In fact, during the seminar I could not go through every line since there would be no time left for the question and answer session.

The game that I choose was one of my lesser known games.In the year 2003, I received a call from Hamid. He wanted to know if I could play in the first SEA Games where chess would be featured. It was a surprise since I was already in-active in the international arena for some years (my last international being the Yerevan Olympiad, 1996). In the first few rounds, I quickly found I was no longer able to concentrate for long hours and play in a tournament of this level. Nevertheless I played a few good games and this is one of them.



[Event "22nd SEA Games"]
[Site "Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam"]
[Date "2003.12.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "GM Nguyen Anh Dung"]
[Black "IM Jimmy Liew"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C48"]


1.e4 e5

I had not played this move in quite a while. My sole motivation was that the Vietnamese grandmaster almost always played the Four Knights Game, and I had prepared a little in this opening.

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Ba4 

5.Nxe5 Qe7 6.Nf3 Nxb5 7.Nxb5 Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Nd5 10.c4 (10.d4 a6 11.Nc3 Nxc3+ 12.bxc3 Bd6 with advantage)  a6 and black is better


5...Bc5 

In this very complicated and sharp variation Black sacrifices a pawn for free piece play.

 6.Nxe5 0-0 7.Nd3 Bb6 8.e5 Ne8 9.Nd5

The purpose of this move is not to take on b6 but retreat the knight to e3 where it attacks g4 and f5 squares.

9...d6 10.Ne3 f5

My book already run out by now. This move is known to be bad because of the game Alavkin - Diu , Russian Championship 2002, which I was not aware of at the time. 11. c3 Ne6 12. Bb3 dxe5 13. Nxe5 f4 14. Nd5 Qg5 15. d4 Qxg2 16. Ne7+ Kh8 17. Qh5 Qxh1+ 18. Kd2 h6 19. N5g6+ Kh7 20. Nxf8+ Nxf8 21. Qxe8 winning.

11.exf6 Nxf6 12.0-0 d5 13.c3 Ne6 14.Ne5 c5 15.d3

I'm quite happy with my position. For the pawn, black has a very active position. White will have to develop quietly and hope to make the pawn plus win for him in the ending.

15...Qd6 16.Nf3 Nf4 17.Re1


17.h3? Nxh3+ 18.gxh3 Bxh3 19.Re1 Ng4 White has no answer to ...Rxf3 and ...Qh2


17....Ng4

A little bit of psychology here. I had seen that in this position if black has the move , there is a fantastic sacrifice. I played this move as fast as I could, checking the main lines to verify the accuracy of the coming sacrifice. The reason, if I had taken too long over this move, my opponent might suspect something.

18.Bc2?  

Played without much thought so I suspect my opponent had totally overlooked my next move. There are four other possible moves.

A) 18.h3?? Nxh3+ 19.gxh3 Nxf2 20.Kxf2 Qh2+ 21.Ng2 Bxh3 22.Rg1 c4+ 23.d4 Bc7 24.Ke3 Rxf3+

25.Kxf3 (25.Qxf3 Qxg1+ 26.Qf2 Qh1) 25...Rf8+ 26.Ke3 (26.Ke2 Bg4+) 26...Qg3+ 27.Kd2 Qd3+ 28.Ke1 Bg3#

B) 18.Bb3 can stop the intended sacrifice because 18...Nxf2 19.Kxf2 Nh3+ 20.Ke2 Rxf3 does not work due to 21.Bxd5+ . I planned to answer with 18....Nxe3 19.Rxe3 Bg4 20.d4 Rad8 White is unable to develop his queen-side 21.Re5?  (21.Re1 Nxg2-+) is answered by c4 22.Bc2 Nh3+ 23.Kf1 Nxf2 24.Kxf2 Qxe5 with an exchange up.

C) The best defence is 18.Nf1 Nxg2 19.Kxg2 Nxf2 20.Kxf2 (20.Qd2 Bh3+ 21.Kxf2 Rxf3+ 22.Kxf3 Rf8+ 23.Ke2 Bg4+ 24.Ke3 Qe5#) 20...Bg4 21.Re3 d4 22.cxd4 cxd4 23.Re4 Bxf3 24.Qxf3 Rxf3+
25.Kxf3= Rf8+ 26.Kg2 Bc7 27.Bd2 Qa6 Black starts attacking the white weakness on d3 before white can bring his last piece into action 28.Bb3+ Kh8 29.Bc4 Qf6 30.Bb4! Qf3+ 31.Kg1 Black has no time for ...Rf6 because of Re8+ 31...Qf2+ 32.Kh1 Qf3+ 33.Kg1=

D) Finally 18. Rf1 to defend f2. White loses two moves but at least he does not get into an attack.
    
18...Nxf2 !!

As I played this move, I knew that it was fated that I was creating something special. I could feel a tingling sensation all over my head like Spider-Man in the comics!  Anh Dung was stunned for a moment. He had no choice but to take the sacrifice. After 19.Qd2 N4h3+ 20.Kf1 Rxf3 21.gxf3 Qxh2 threatens 22...Qf1+ 23. Ke2 Nf4 mate. White can try to avoid this in two ways.

A)  22.Ng4 Bxg4 23.fxg4 Qg1+ 24.Ke2 Re8+ 25.Kf3 Rxe1 completely winning for black.

B) 22.Nxd5 Bg4 23.Re3 Rf8 24.Bd1 Qh1+ 25.Ke2 Nxd1 [The other choice is less clear 25...Ng1+ 26.Kxf2 Nh3+ 27.Kg3  (27.Ke2 Qg2+ 28.Ke1 Qg1+ 29.Ke2 Qf2 mate)  and no clear mating ideas]
26.Qxd1 Qg2+ 27.Ke1 Qf2 mate


19...Nh3+ 20.Ke2  


20.gxh3 Qxh2+ 21.Ng2 Bxh3 22.Rg1 Rae8 23.Be3 Bxg2 24.Rxg2 Qh4+ 25.Ke2 Rxe3+ 26.Kxe3 Re8+ 27.Ne5 (27.Kd2 Qf4 mate)  27...Rxe5+ 28.Kf3 Qf6+ 29.Kg3 Bc7-+ , black will mate

 20...Rxf3 

The third consequtive sacrifice. It cannot be accepted.

A) 21.Kxf3 Qf4+ 22.Ke2 Qf2 mate.
B) 21.Kd2 Rf2+ 22.Re2 Bg4 23.Nxg4 Qf4+ 24.Ne3 Re8 thre is no defence to ...Qxe3+


21.Rf1  21...Rxe3+! 22.Bxe3 

22.Kxe3 Qh6+ 23. Ke2 (23. Kf3 Qh5+ 24. Ke3 Qg5+ 25. Ke2) 23... Bg4+ 24. Rf3 Bxf3+
25. gxf3 Re8+ 26. Kf1 Qg6

22...Bg4+ 23.Rf3 Bxf3+ 24.Kxf3

24.gxf3 Qxh2+ 25.Kf1 (25.Ke1 Re8 26.Qd2 Qg1+ 27.Ke2 Nf4 mate ) 25...Qh1+ 26.Ke2 Qg2+ 27.Ke1 Ng1 28.Bxg1 Re8+ wins.


24...Rf8+ 25.Ke2 Nf4+ 26.Kf1


26.Kd2 Nxg2 (26...d4 27.Bg1 Qh6 28.Kc1 Nxd3+ 29.Kb1) 27.Qg1 d4 28.Bf2 Qh6+ 29.Kd1 Ne3+ 30.Bxe3 dxe3-+; 26.Bxf4 Qxf4 27.Qg1 Bd8 28.Rf1 Qg4+ wins. The rest of the game is easy

 26...Nxd3+ 27.Kg1 c4 28.Bd4 Bxd4+ 29.cxd4 Qf6 30.Bxd3 Qxd4+ 31.Kh1 cxd3 32.h3 Qxb2 33.Qg1 d2 34.Rd1 d4 35.Rb1 Qc3 36.Qd1 Rc8 37.Kh2 Qe3 38.Qg4 Qe5+ 39.g3 Re8 0-1