31.10.14

Time Trouble

The ninth round of the Tashkent Grand Prix saw more exciting chess with two black wins. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was quite lucky to turn the tables in his favour against Dmitry Jakovenko:
A game that I liked (ChessBase 12)

[Event "Tashkent FIDE GP"]
[Site "Tashkent UZB"]
[Date "2014.10.31"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Jakovenko, D."]
[Black "Mamedyarov, S."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Bojkov, Dejan"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2014.10.20"]

1. Nf3 {In this game Mamedyarov surprised his opponent with the Dutch defense.
One should be looking forward to those surprises at a top level. Especially
after the free days!} f5 {"It is the second time in my life that I play 1...f5.
I just wanted to play chess." Mamedyarov} 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. b4 d6 5. d4 Bg7
6. Bb2 {However, it seems as something went wrong with Shakh's preparation as
after the game he called his next move a mistake} e5 $6 7. dxe5 Nfd7 8. Bg2
dxe5 ({Probably the lesser eveil for the second player is} 8... Nc6 9. Qb3
Ndxe5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 $14 {Kovalyov,A (2599)-Mastrovasilis,A (2539) Leros 2010})
9. O-O Qe7 {Diagram [#]} 10. e4 $1 $146 {A powerful novelty which Jakovenko
found over the board.} ({Black hoped he will have time to play e5-e4 himself,
for example} 10. Nc3 c6 11. b5 e4 $132 {Gagliardi,V (2034)-Fister,B (2235)
ICCF email 2008}) 10... O-O ({Black suggested the following line at the press
conference as advantageous for White} 10... f4 11. gxf4 (11. Ba3 $1 {also
looks fine as} O-O 12. b5 Nc5 13. Qd5+ {loses a piece for Black.}) 11... exf4
12. Bxg7 Qxg7 13. e5 $16) (10... Qxb4 $2 {would be horrible and will give a
chance to Shakh to become part of the miniature textbooks} 11. Ba3 Qxc4 12.
exf5 {and if Black is still greedy the game might rapidly finish} gxf5 13. Ng5
$1 Nf6 ({There is also the fancy line} 13... h5 14. Bd5 Qa6 15. Bf7+ Kd8 16.
Ne6+) 14. Re1 $18 {with decisive attack in the center, say} e4 15. Nd2 Qa6 16.
Ndxe4 $1 fxe4 17. Bxe4 {[%csl Ge4,Re8][%cal Ge1e8,Gd1d8,Ga3f8,Gg5f7,Ge4g6,
Ge4c6] Diagram [#]}) 11. b5 $1 {Energetic play! Jakovenko will tie up the
black pieces before they wake up from the slumber.} Nc5 12. Nc3 Be6 13. Nd5 Qd6
14. Ng5 $16 {"It is very bad", repeated Mamedyarov, shaking his head.} Nbd7 15.
Ba3 Bf7 {A critical moment.} ({Black wanted to play} 15... Rae8 {but did not
like the lines after} 16. exf5 gxf5 {is even worse} (16... Bxf5 17. g4 $1 Bd3 (
17... Be6 18. Ne4 $1 {[%csl Rd6] Diagram [#] curiously traps the queen in the
middle of the board.}) 18. Qxd3 Nxd3 19. Bxd6 cxd6 {with big advantage for
White as he wins at least a pawn after} 20. Ne4 Re6 21. Rad1 Nb2 22. Nc7 $16)
17. Qh5 h6 18. Nxe6 Rxe6 (18... Qxe6 19. Nxc7) 19. Rad1 $18) 16. Qc2 {A good
move with the idea Ra1-d1, but it gives some time to Black to catch his breath
up.} (16. exf5 $1 {would have increased White's advantage. The timely capture
on f5 is a common theme in both the KID and the Dutch. It is curious to know
what did the former European champion Jakovenko miss in this line. White is
most likely winning after} gxf5 17. Ne3 $1 {Mamedyarov} Qxd1 18. Raxd1 {with
the threats Ne3xf5, Bg2xb7, Ng5-e6, Bg2-d5 and maybe five more that I am
missing.} e4 19. Nxf5 Bxc4 20. Nxg7 Bxf1 21. Rxf1 Kxg7 22. Nxe4 b6 (22... Nxe4
23. Bxf8+) 23. Nxc5 Nxc5 24. Bxa8 Rxa8 25. Bxc5 bxc5 26. Rc1 $18) 16... c6 17.
Nb4 a5 {Now the games follows a forced line.} 18. Rad1 ({The computer suggests
} 18. Na6 $5 bxa6 19. Rad1 Qf6 20. bxc6 Qxc6 (20... Qxg5 21. cxd7 Qe7 22. exf5
$16) 21. exf5 e4 22. Nxe4 Nxe4 23. Bxe4 Qc7 24. Bd6 Qa7 25. Bxf8 Rxf8 26. fxg6
hxg6 27. Bxg6 $16 {and if this was played during the game I suggest that we
replace the human players with computers for the next cycle.}) 18... Qf6 19.
Nd3 Qxg5 ({Clearly worse is} 19... Nxd3 20. Rxd3 Qxg5 21. Rxd7 $18) 20. Nxc5
Nxc5 21. Bxc5 {Black managed to trade the horses but his position remains
unpleasant. White can push for the win without any risk. Unfortunately for the
Russian player, he got into time trouble.} Rfd8 $5 {Lures the bishop on the
less active b6 square.} ({After} 21... Rfc8 22. Rd7 $1 cxb5 23. Be7 Qh5 24. c5
$16 {White's clearly better due to the miscoordinated black pieces.}) 22. Bb6
Rdc8 23. exf5 $6 {Seven moves ago this was winning, now it lets the advantage
slip away. Chess that is...} (23. Rd7 $1 {Diagram [#] suggested by Shakhriyar
was best. He also showed the principled line} cxb5 24. c5 $1 Be8 {this is what
he wanted to play but Black is not doing great at all} (24... f4 25. Rxb7 Bc4
26. Rd1 Rab8 27. Rxb8 Rxb8 28. a4 $1 {wins for White.}) ({As does also} 24...
Bc4 25. exf5 Bxf1 26. Kxf1 $18 {and Black is helpless.}) 25. Rxb7 Bc6 {Here
Mamedyarov was not sure about the line} 26. Qb3+ ({But instead} 26. exf5 $1
Bxg2 27. Kxg2 Qxf5 28. Qb3+ Kh8 29. Qd5 {is huge advatage for White}) 26... Kh8
27. Rf7) 23... Qxf5 24. Be4 {Surprisingly the most natural move is inaccuracy.
It is interesting to see how differently the two players were evaluating the
position. Jakovenko thoought that he might be already worse, while Mamedyarov
stated that after his next move he is OK.} (24. Qxf5 gxf5 25. bxc6 bxc6 26. Rc1
Ra6 27. Bc5 Bf8 {with chances for a draw was suggested at the press conference.
}) (24. Rd2 $5 {was still leaving White somewhat better} Qxc2 25. Rxc2) 24...
Qe6 $11 25. bxc6 bxc6 26. c5 {In the time trouble Jakovenko tries to force a
draw, but this is very hard task against the mischievous Mamedyarov.} (26. Rc1
{was safer} Bh6 27. Be3 Bxe3 28. fxe3 $11) 26... Qxa2 27. Qxa2 Bxa2 28. Rd6 Bc4
29. Rb1 $2 {This is the actual mistake!} (29. Ra1 Bb5 30. Rxa5 Rxa5 31. Bxa5
Bf8 32. Re6 {was sugegsted by Mamedyarov at the press conference and he added
that the rook is not trapped after} ({White can aslo defend with} 32. Rd2 Bxc5
33. Bc3 Re8 34. Bc2) 32... Kf7 33. Rxe5 Bg7 ({In this line the Azeri GM missed
the geometrical motif} 33... Ra8 $1 {when the white bishop will have to stand
on the same diagonal with the bishop sooner or later} 34. Bd2 (34. Bb4 Ra4 35.
Bc3 Rc4 36. Bb2 Bg7 $19) (34. Bc3 Bg7) (34. Be1 Ra1 35. Bf3 Bg7 36. Re3 Bd4 37.
Re4 Bc3 $19) 34... Bg7 35. Rg5 Bh6 {still, it is hard to say if Black can win
this after the counter trick} 36. Rxg6 $5 Bxd2 37. Rd6 Bb4 38. Bxc6 Ra1+ 39.
Kg2 Bf1+ 40. Kf3 Bxc5 41. Bd5+ $17) 34. Rg5 {but if we continue the line with
the move} Be2 {we shall see that White's problems are still there. The rook is
not feeling comfortable at all, pour some zeitnot to that and you know how it
feels.}) 29... a4 $19 {Now the a passer is obviously much stronger than the c
one.} 30. Rxc6 a3 31. Rxc8+ (31. Rd6 {was suggested by Shakh as a last chance
for his adversary, but Black should win that too} a2 32. Ra1 Ra4 {with teh
idea to clear the diagonal for the dark-squared bishop.}) 31... Rxc8 32. c6 a2
33. Ra1 Bf8 34. c7 Bd6 35. Bb7 {Diagram [#]} Bxc7 $1 {The last finesse.} ({
Jakovenko was hoping for} 35... Rxc7 36. Bxc7 Bxc7 37. Be4 {followed by
Be4-b1! and chances for a draw.}) 36. Bxc8 Bxb6 {White loses the rook and
resigned. Jakovenko got big advantage out of the opening. He missed to
increase it by opening the position and then let it all slip away in the time
trouble.} 0-1



Shakhriyar is now sharing the second place with Nakamura. A sole leader is Dmitry Andreikin who won also with the black pieces to the former co-leader Baadur Jobava. Standings.

No comments: