Games – Page 2

Peter Svidler vs. Veselin Topalov at Candidates Tournament 2016 Round 2

March 13, 2016 By Mike Leave a Comment

This was a hard fought game between two amazing Grandmasters.

[Event "FIDE Candidates 2016"]  [Site "Moscow RUS"]  [Date "2016.03.12"]  [Round "2.1"]  [White "Svidler, Peter"]  [Black "Topalov, Veselin"]  [Result "1/2-1/2"]  [WhiteTitle "GM"]  [BlackTitle "GM"]  [WhiteElo "2757"]  [BlackElo "2780"]  [ECO "C67"]  [Opening "Ruy Lopez"]  [Variation "Berlin defence, open variation"]  [WhiteFideId "4102142"]  [BlackFideId "2900084"]  [EventDate "2016.03.11"]   1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5  8. Rxe5 O-O 9. Nc3 ({Relevant:} 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8  13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3 g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Nf3 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Qe2 c6 19. Re1  Ng7 20. Be5 Bxe5 21. Nxe5 Qd6 22. Qf3 f6 23. Nd3 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Qe3 Ng7  26. h3 Kf7 27. Qh6 Kg8 28. Qe3 Kf7 29. Qh6 Kg8 30. Qe3 Kf7 {1/2-1/2 (30)  Carlsen,M (2834)-Kramnik,V (2796) Doha 2015}) 9... Ne8 10. Nd5 Bd6 11. Re1 c6  12. Ne3 Be7 13. c4 Nc7 14. d4 d5 15. cxd5 Bb4 $146 ({Predecessor (3):} 15...  Nxd5 16. Nxd5 cxd5 17. Bf4 Bf6 18. Be5 Bxe5 19. Rxe5 Re8 20. Rxe8+ Qxe8 21. Qb3  Qc6 22. Bb5 Qb6 23. Qxd5 a6 24. Bd3 Be6 25. Qe4 g6 26. d5 Bf5 27. Qe2 Bxd3 28.  Qxd3 Qxb2 29. Re1 Rd8 30. d6 Rd7 31. g3 Qf6 32. Rd1 Qe5 33. Qa3 a5 34. f4 Qe2  35. Qc1 Qe6 36. Qc5 b5 37. Qxb5 Rxd6 38. Qb8+ Kg7 39. Qxd6 Qe3+ 40. Kg2 Qe2+  41. Kg1 Qe3+ 42. Kg2 Qe2+ {1/2-1/2 (42) Carlsen,M (2850)-Caruana,F (2787)  London 2015}) 16. Bd2 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Qxd5 19. Re5 Qd6 20. Bc4 Bd7  21. Rae1 b5 22. Bb3 a5 23. a4 bxa4 24. Bxa4 Be6 25. Rxa5 Rxa5 26. Qxa5 Qxd4 27.  Bxc6 Qxb2 28. Bd5 Bxd5 29. Qxd5 Qf6 30. g3 g6 1/2-1/2

IECC Pyramid Match: Mahony v. Jacob

April 17, 2015 By Mike Leave a Comment

I have been actively playing games in the IECC. I particularly enjoy their pyrmaid ladder, so I have played several games in that format. This is the latest win for me in that area of the site. I am currently working on an annotation, but this version has a few notes in it.

[Event "P-4961"]                                           [Site "IECC"]  [Date "2015.02.26"]  [White "Mahony, Michael J."]  [Black "Jacob, Sheeju Urbanus"]  [Result "1-0"]     1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Qg4 O-O 8.Nf3 {Theory is to play 8.Bd3, but I purposely played this move order because in email games my opponent is allowed to consult books, publications and databases. My plan is to potentially throw him out of theory as soon as possible so that I can take advantage of the almost 800 rating points I have on him.} c5 9.Bd3 {Transposing right back into a theoretical position.} cxd4? {9...f5 was necessary to avoid what came next.} 10.Bxh7+! {This move opens up the attack that ensues. White has a clear advantage.} Kxh7 11.Ng5+ Kh6 {Safer was 11...Kg8 12.Qh5 Qxg5 13.Qxg5 with white still holding an advantage.} 12.Qh4+ {White now has a forced mate in 9 according to Aquarium.} Kg6 13.Qh7+ Kxg5 14.Qxg7+ Kh4 {14..Kf5 holds on longer, but it is still a forced mate.} 15.h3 Qg5 16.Qh7+ Qh5 17.g3+ Kg5 18.f4# {The moral of this game is that you should understand the opening you choose to play. Simply making moves because they are in a book or database is going to get you in trouble more often than not.}

Nisha Mohota Wins Indian National Challenges

September 26, 2014 By Mike Leave a Comment

I was reading an article at Chessbase.com regarding Nisha Mohota and it contained a very interesting game. I thought I would share it here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Event "41st ch-IND w Challengers, Goa"]  [Site "Mapusa IND"]  [Date "2014.09.09"]  [Round "5"]  [White "Mohota, Nisha"]  [Black "Soumya, Swaminathan"]  [Result "1-0"]  [ECO "D90"]  [WhiteElo "2248"]  [BlackElo "2352"]  [Annotator "Nisha Mohota"]  [PlyCount "105"]  [EventDate "2014.09.07"]  [EventRounds "11"]  [EventCountry "IND"]   {This was the second round of the day. I had a long game in the morning. So  there was hardly enough time for food and rest. All I did as part of my  preparation was thinking for ten minutes as to how I would counter different  systems of my opponent. Soumya, who not only is a very good player (she was  current National Challengers Champion, Former National Premier Champion and  also former World Junior Girl's Champion) and a very good friend of mine but  is also a great human being! This is one of my favourite games in this  tournament and I like this game for its simplicity.} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4  g6 {The game transposed to a Grunfeld and this was one of the openings I  expected.} 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. h4 {This was the first time I tried this move and  Soumya took some time to make her next move.} c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.  Qxd5 Bxc3+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 Qxd2+ 11. Nxd2 $14 {White has emerged a pawn  up and Black will have to spend some time trying to get back the pawn.} Be6 12.  e3 O-O 13. Rc1 Rc8 14. a3 a5 {There was no way I could hang on to the pawn, so  I decided to give it in a situation when my centralised king's position will  prove more useful than opponent's castled king.} 15. Bc4 Rxc5 16. Ke2 Bxc4+ 17.  Rxc4 Rxc4 (17... Nd7 $142 {In my post mortem analysis with Soumya we felt that  this is the way for Black to equalise.} 18. Rxc5 Nxc5 19. Rc1 b6 20. Nc4 Nd7  21. Rd1 Rc8 22. b3 Rc7 $11) 18. Nxc4 Nc6 19. a4 {The position is very close to  equality.Only my king is better placed than opponent's.} h5 $2 {I think this  move could have been avoided. I got time to control the open d file.} (19...  Rd8 $142) 20. Rd1 $14 {Now things are getting difficult for Black.} Kf8 21. Rd7  Ra7 $6 {This move was a little unexpected. The rook on a7 looks a bit odd.} (  21... Rb8 22. Rd5 Ra8 23. Rb5 Ra7 $16 {I was expecting the game to go this way  and I thought I will be able to press from here as I have the better placed  pieces.}) 22. Rc7 Kg7 (22... Ke8 23. Nb6 e6 $2 24. Rc8+ Ke7 $4 25. Rxc6 $18 {  This was one of the lines my mind was fantasizing about!!}) 23. Na3 Kf6 24. Nb5  Ra8 25. Rxb7 $16 {Finally I managed to win material but I knew that I still  have to play precisely to win.} Nb4 26. Nc3 Ke6 27. g3 f6 28. Nb5 Rc8 29. Kf3  Nd3 30. Nd4+ Kf7 31. b3 Ke8 32. Ke2 Nb4 33. f4 $5 {This was a multipurpose  move. In some lines that I was calculating the black knight was coming to e5,  in the others Black's ...e5 was also irritating, so this was aimed to stop  them.} Rc5 {Now I felt that it was the right moment to exchange rooks.} 34.  Rb8+ Kd7 (34... Kf7 35. Rf8+ Kxf8 36. Ne6+ $18) 35. Rd8+ Kxd8 36. Ne6+ Kd7 37.  Nxc5+ Kc6 38. Ne6 Kd5 39. Nf8 $18 {I had seen this when exchanging rooks and I  thought it should be easy for me from here.} Ke4 40. Nxg6 Nd5 41. f5 $1 {I  felt that this is the easiest way to win.} Kxf5 42. Nf4 Nc7 43. Kf3 Na6 44. e4+  Ke5 45. Nxh5 Nc5 46. Nf4 f5 47. exf5 Kxf5 48. g4+ Kf6 49. g5+ Kg7 50. h5 e5 51.  Nd5 Nxb3 52. Ke4 Nc5+ 53. Kf5 {Playing and winning on table 1 is always a good  feeling!With this win I emerged as the sole leader at the end of 5 rounds with  5/5. It was very satisfying!} 1-0

The Week in Chess 1037

September 25, 2014 By Mike Leave a Comment

To get this section going I thought I would provide the PGN of The Week in Chess #1037 for your viewing pleasure. Simply click the ellipses (…) above the board to see a listing of the games included in the file. You can select any of the included games for replay here.