AUGUST 2018

AUSTRALIA’S LEADING CHESS MAGAZINE 50MOVESMAGAZINE.COM

Kuybokarov The blindfold

wins Gold king
Coast Open with GM Timur Gareyev
2018
Norway chess
Analysis by GM Ian
2018 Recap
Rogers
Fabiano Caruana wins
another event heading into
the World Championships

Justin Tan
“I prefer the Australian Way of Life”

Choosing the Right Opening European Studies Part 2 Love Letter to the Najdorf
GM Moulthun Ly IM Junta Ikeda GM Max Illingworth
 EDITORIAL
EDITOR
GM Moulthun Ly

PROOFREADER
IM Junta Ikeda

MAIN CONTRIBUTORS
GM Ian Rogers
GM Max Illingworth
IM Junta Ikeda
FM Chris Wallis
GUEST INTERVIEWS
GM-Elect Justin Tan
GM Timur Gareyev
PHOTOGRAPHY
Cover: Maria Emelianova
Cathy Rogers
Welcome to the August edition of 50 Moves!
This is now our sixth printed edition and after a full year we have
decided to discontinue the printed version. We will of course still
have the digital editions avaliable with some changes. To allow
us to write better quality material in a timely manner, we have
decided to change the format to a quarterly magazine, starting
from next year onwards. Now let’s get back to the issue!
In this issue: GM Ian Rogers gives an in-depth look back at Nor-
way Chess and the Gold Coast Open where Kuybokarov became
WA’s first resident Grandmaster. GM Max Illingworth writes a
funny article looking back on his personal relationship with the
Najdorf Sicilian. IM Junta Ikeda gives another set of European
inspired studies whilst playing abroad for the past few months. I
interview a player from Melbourne whom resides in the UK, GM-
elect Justin Tan who made his final GM norm and title recently.
Finally, GM Timur Gareyev gives us his thoughts on how blind-
fold differs to regular chess.

Plus all the regular chess you have come to expect.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

GM Moulthun Ly
50 Moves Magazine ©
Founder and Editor
New issues are released in early 50 Moves
February, April, June, August,
October and December.

Email:
General Support:
support@50movesmagazine.com

Other Enquiries:
moulthun@50movesmagazine.com

Website:
50movesmagazine.com
 CONTENTS

6 INTERVIEW - JUSTIN TAN

We chat with Melbourne player Justin Tan on becoming Australia’s newest

Grandmaster.

9 CHOOSING THE RIGHT OPENING

Find out why it’s so important to have a good opening repertiore. It can not only give
page 26 you a head start in the game but determine the resulting middlegame.

10 CZECH, SERBIAN AND SWISS STUDIES

Another set of six aesthetically pleasing studies selected by IM Junta Ikeda, inspired
by his European trip.

12 A LOVE LETTER TO THE NAJDORF SICILIAN

GM Max Illingworth looks back on his personal relationship with the Najdorf in this

comical opening article.

25 ONLINE BLITZ TACTICS PART 3

Practice your tactics with another set of fun blitz positions.

page 44 26 KUYBOKAROV WINS GOLD COAST OPEN 2018

Temur Kuybokarov earns his Grandmaster title after his impressive tournament win.

40 THE BLINDFOLD KING - GM TIMUR GAREYEV

We learn a bit more about Gareyev and his many blindfold chess records.

44 CARUANA TAKES NORWAY CHESS 2018

Fabiano Caruana wins another super tournament, showing excellent form in time for

the upcoming World Championship Match.

64 SOLUTIONS TO STUDIES

Get the answers to all our studies.

66 SOLUTIONS TO TACTICS
page 40
Get the answers to our online blitz tactics.
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 INTERVIEW

JUSTIN TAN
Becomes Australia’s
Newest Grandmaster
Interview by GM Moulthun Ly

6

How do you feel now after making your final GM
norm?
Relieved :)
What was your greatest motivation for trying to
obtain the Grandmaster title?
Hm, I suppose it was my urge to prove my favourite
maxim that hard work pays off!
What aspects of your game did you have to focus
on most to reach that next level?
Maybe psychology? In terms of chess, it is hard to say. I
always believed that the main difference between club
players and GMs is that GMs are far better at calculat-
ing. However, I’m not sure that I necessarily focussed
on that recently. One thing which is clear is that I
always look for improvements and try to learn as many
different perspectives as possible. So I guess you could
say I focussed on a number of aspects.
Do you wish to pursue chess further and what
other chess goals would you like to obtain?
Of course! But I would not pursue it professionally. A
short term goal would be to reach 2550. That seems
quite attainable even during my time as a law student.
Of course, the indication of a truly strong chess player
is the 2600 benchmark - that would take time and effort
but I think it’s possible too. Otherwise, I’m considering
writing a bit or doing something that might benefit the
chess community somehow.
Do you currently do any coaching yourself? I’m
sure some of our readers may be interested. If so
what would be the best way to get in contact with
you?
Yep! I enjoy coaching ambitious students who have a
curiosity for the game. Email is best: justin.tan@mac.
com.
If you could recommend one tournament to our
readers to play, which would it be?
INTERVIEW
Gibraltar - it helps to have a good roommate :P The
atmosphere in that tournament is great.
What have you decided to do after finishing your
schooling? Have you yet decided what you might
want to pursue?
I have not yet decided. There are areas of my course that
frankly bore me, yet there are others that I find very in-
teresting and topical (human rights, jurisprudence and
intellectual property spring to mind).
Luckily, law is not exactly a vocational course. So on the
one hand, I could go into legal practice straight after my
degree, on the other, I could look into other, interrelated
fields - It’s fairly flexible.
You mentioned in a post after missing out on your
final GM norm the first time due to technicalities,
that it was okay since chess was only a part of your
life. What other hobbies or work currently interest
you outside of chess?
I used to be a gymnast, so I tried to return to my favou-
rite sport last year. It was fun while it lasted although
my body cannot really take it anymore (old man
things…). I go to the ‘normal people’ gym frequently
and I generally like to exercise. In terms of other sports,
table tennis is about as addictive as blitz :D Otherwise,
my downtime is mostly spent watching series or mov-
ies (often French, for the sake of learning) plus I enjoy
reading - I recently found it more interesting to read
political commentaries than fiction although maybe it’s
just a phase!
When I’m in university, I don’t spend so much time on
chess, as I’m either studying or going out with friends…
does partying count as a hobby?
Now that you have lived in Britain studying for a
while. Do you think you enjoy it more than Mel-
bourne? Do you think we will be seeing you return
back to Australia again one day?
It’s interesting how the general outlooks are different:
AUGUST 2018 | 7
 INTERVIEW

in Australia, I would say you learn how to be warm

towards others, while in the UK you learn how to be
polite. Well, I prefer the Australian way of life, however
I am quite used to the UK now. And let’s be honest,
the food and weather is much better at home! (Mel-
bourne).

One point for the UK though - and it’s a critical one- is

that the chess is much better. At least, it is closer to the
action. The European chess scene is more exhilarating
and you are playing in a wholly different ball park. So,
whilst I always return to Australia for holidays, it seems
unlikely that I would be there long term, at least any
time soon. Sorry guys.

FAST FIVE
1. If you could “borrow” any current chess player’s Opening Files from their
laptop. Whom would you choose?
Anish Giri.

2. You had to publish a chess book on one topic, what would it be?
Insights from the top - interviews and analysis from all the best players in the
world. Probably too difficult in reality :)

3. If chess and gymnatists both didn’t exist. What other hobby would you pur-
sue?
What a dystopian question! I’ll go with boxing.

4. If you are stuck in one non-dominant English speaking country for a year,
which country would you choose?
France.

5. Guest appearance or Extra on any TV Show you choose.

Simpsons - playing chess in the pub, against Barney with Mo at the bar.

8
 Choosing the

RIGHT
Openings
Now that you are more aware and honest about your strengths and weaknesses, the next
step is to choose the openings which suit you. This is surprisingly quite important and will
determine the resulting middlegame opportunities you will get later. There are so many
opening possibilities and branches in chess but I have tried my best to stick to the main
possibilities against both e4 and d4. From these you can get an idea of which openings suit
each other. Then try to develop a repertoire from there.

One time, surprise and riskier Dynamic Openings with chances to

openings. As well as openings unbalance the position. Considered
difficult to play long term. a bit sounder than the previous.

King’s Gambit Pirc/Modern Slav

Danish Gambit Sicilian Defences Semi-Slav
Albin-Counter Gambit Grunfeld Marshall Spanish
Budapest King’s Indian Schliemann
2 Knights Tango Dutch Benko
Nimzovich Scandanavian Benoni
Most gambits named after an animal Alekhines
Scotch

Solid positions with chances for Solid and more maneuvering

play to develop. Openings.

Classical 1.e4 e5 Bogo Indian

Ruy Lopez Queen’s Gambit Accepted
Queen’s Indian Queen’s Gambit Declined
Nimzo Indian Petroff
Catalan Berlin
Breyer London/Torre
Caro-Kann Exchange Spanish
French Exchange Slav
CZECH, SERBIAN AND SWISS STUDIES
By IM Junta Ikeda

I’m currently in Europe for another chess trip, so I’ve compiled some studies from the countries I’m
competing in: this time, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Switzerland.

The stipulation in these studies is for White to play and win, with the exception of #2 where we are
aiming for a draw.

We kick things off with #1 by Hans Fahrni, who was once Swiss co-champion; Black is trying to
draw by munching White’s last pawn. In #2 you will see the Prokeš manoeuvre, a tactic introduced
in this study by the prolific Czech composer (look it up after solving!). In #3 by the Serbian
composer, Marjan Kovacevic, it looks like a pawn from each side is about to promote. While the
first three studies are quite minimal in terms of material, the complexity is increased in the last
three. The Czech composer of #4, Oldřich Duras, was also a leading player in the early 20th century,
awarded the GM title decades later. White only has a rook against Black’s bishop and pair of knights.
Although the most difficult to solve, I especially loved the ideas in the final two studies: #5 by the
Czech composer, Jindrich Fritz, looks tense with pieces en prise; the denouement is highly unique.
Finally, just from looking at the starting position of #6 by the Czech (/New Zealand) composer Emil
Melnichenko, you know there are going to be some fireworks; although White is a rook and three
pawns up, extraordinary measures are required to win. The twin variations in it are astounding.

Happy solving!

10
Studies: Czech, Serbian and Swiss Studies
Solutions page 64

White to play and win White to play and draw White to play and win

1. Fahrni, H. 2. Prokes, L. - Honourable Mention 3. Kovacevic, M. - 3rd Commendation

Das Endspiel im Schach, 1917 Schackvarlden, 1939 Problem, 1972

White to play and win White to play and win White to play and win

4. Benko, P. - 1st Prize 5. Fritz, J. - 1st Prize 6. Melnichenko, E. - 1st Prize

Magyar Sakkelet 1985 Ceskoslovensky Sach, 1954 Krabbe 60 JT, 2003

AUGUST 2018 | 11
 OPENINGS COLUMN

A Love Letter to
the Najdorf Sicilian
By GM Max Illingworth

Dearest Najdorf Sicilian,

Normally I am very good with words, but I cannot

do justice to your timeless, unparalleled beauty with
words alone. How could I tire of you, what with your
almost inhuman flexibility and that gorgeous smile
formed by the pawns on a6 and d6.

12

Leko, Peter 2723
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Beijing Sportaccord Blitz 2014
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3
Ng4 7.Bc1 Nf6 8.Be3 Ng4
9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3
Bg7 12.f3 Ne3 13.Qd3 Bxd4
14.Bf2 Qb6 15.Bxe3 Bxe3
16.Nd5 Qxb2 17.Qxe3 Qxa1+
18.Kd2 Kf8
19.Nb6 Nc6 20.Nxa8 Be6
21.Nb6 Qxa2 22.h4 Qa5+
23.Kd1 g4 24.f4 f6 25.g3 d5
26.exd5 Bxd5 27.Rh2 Bf3+
28.Be2 Kg7 29.Bxf3 gxf3
30.Nc4 Rd8+ 0-1
You may remember that our first
encounters were not the most
pleasant, though. You would
constantly warn me against play-
ing 1.e4 as a junior, ‘threatening’ to
show yourself if I insisted on play-
ing the Open Sicilian as White. You
have no idea how many scoresheets
I burned in frustration at not find-
ing a counter to your charms.
Illingworth, Max 2389
Antal, Tibor Kende 2256
Kecskemet 2011
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5
7.Nb3 Be7 8.f3 Be6 9.Qd2 O-O
10.O-O-O a5
11.Qe1 Qc7 12.Nb5 Qc6
13.Nxa5 Qd7 14.g4 Bxa2 15.b3
Bd8 16.Bd2 b6 17.Bb4 bxa5
18.Bxd6 Be7 19.Kb2
19...Bxd6 20.Rxd6 Qc8 21.Qc3
a4 22.Kxa2 axb3+ 23.Kxb3
Na6 24.Qxc8 Rfxc8 25.Be2
Nc5+ 26.Kb2 h6 27.Ra1 Na4+
28.Kc1 Ne8 29.Rd3 Nc5
30.Rda3 Nb3+ 31.Rxb3 Rxa1+
32.Rb1 Rxb1+ 33.Kxb1 Nc7
34.c4 Kf8 35.Kb2 Ke7 36.Kb3
Nxb5 37.cxb5 Kd6 38.Kb4 Rc2
OPENINGS COLUMN
39.Bc4 f6 40.h4 Rf2 41.b6 Rb2+
42.Bb3 Kc6 43.h5 Kxb6 44.Kc4
Rd2 45.Kc3 Rf2 46.Bd1 Kc5
47.Kd3 Ra2 48.Ke3 Ra3+
49.Kf2 Kd4 50.Kg3 Ke3 51.g5
Kd2 0-1
I suppose you fit my ‘type’ perfectly,
given that as a young kid, my first
love was the Sveshnikov Sicilian,
where one also sees …e5, …d6
and …a6, albeit in a different move
order. Like a Pelikan I would motor
through any dangerous current,
guided by the swathes of opening
theory, with no fear for minor trifles
such as doubled pawns:
Semeniuk, Alexander A
Timoscenko, Gennadij 2470
URS Soviet Union 1976
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Ndb5
d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Na3 b5
10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Nd5 f5 12.Bd3
Be6 13.Qh5 Bg7 14.O-O-O
Rc8 15.Kb1 Bxd5 16.exd5 Ne7
17.f3 O-O 18.Rhe1 Rc5 19.g4 e4
20.fxe4 fxe4 21.Rxe4 Nxd5
22.Re5 Nf6 23.Bxh7+ Kh8
24.Rxc5 dxc5 0-1
AUGUST 2018 | 13
 OPENINGS COLUMN
However, I already wrote about this
bird in a previous 50 Moves Maga-
zine, whereas for many years I kept
you, sweet Najdorf, hidden away, so
that my opponents could not snatch
you away from me.
halfnatty 2555
Illingworth 2734
Chess.com Live Chess 2018
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6
4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 c5 6.c3 b5
7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Nf4 b4 9.Bb5
Qb6 10.Qa4 Bb7 11.Be3 a6
12.Be2 c4 13.O-O Be7 14.Qc2
O-O 15.h4 h6 16.g4 a5 17.g5
Kh8 18.gxh6 gxh6 19.Nh5
Rg8+ 20.Kh1 Ndxe5 21.dxe5
d4 22.cxd4 Nxd4 23.Qd1 Nxe2
24.Bxb6 Bxf3+ 25.Kh2 Rg2+
26.Kh3 Rag8 27.Be3 R8g4
28.Nf6 Rxh4+ 29.Kxh4 Rh2#
0-1
I lose count of how many years I
watched you from afar, trying to
understand your enigmatic ways. I
read ‘Mastering the Najdorf’ around
the same time as Maxime Vachier-
Lagrave, but whereas he became a
2800 Grandmaster, I was left more
confused than before. What if I
forgot some sweet nothings you
14
whispered to me late into the night?
Would my coach, my family, my
friends approve of my new love?
I did give you a chance, but get-
ting mated on move 20 in a 6.Bg5
Najdorf blitzkrieg (pun intended)
broke my heart, and I switched my
attention to a cute Chinese girl at
school.
Byvshev, Vasily M
Rovner, Dmitry O
URS Soviet Union 1954
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5
Nbd7 7.Bc4 e6 8.O-O b5
9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Nxe6 Qb6
11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.Qxd5
12...Nb8 13.Nxf8 Qc6 14.Ne6
Qxd5 15.exd5 Bxe6 16.dxe6 1-0
Ultimately, when I was thrown into
the deep end of the chess world
many years ago, I kept looking at
you, but would always turn you
down, for the scars of my youth had
not completely healed, and even the
old Sveshnikov had lost its glamour,
with 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6
11.c4 being such an easy way for
White to make a draw (or some-
times win).
Morozevich, Alexander 2707
Leko, Peter 2763
FIDE-Wch San Luis 2005
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5
d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5
Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c4 b4
12.Nc2 Rb8 13.b3 Bg5 14.g3
O-O 15.h4 Bh6 16.Bh3 Be6
17.Kf1 a5 18.Kg2 Rb7
19.Bf5 Kh8 20.Qd3 Nb8
21.Rad1 Na6 22.Qf3 g6 23.Bh3
f5 24.h5 fxe4 25.Qxe4 Nc5
26.Qe2 Bxd5+ 27.Rxd5 Rbf7
28.Rf1 gxh5 29.Qxh5 Qf6
30.Bg4 Ne4 31.f3 Qg7 32.Rdd1
Nf6 33.Qh3 Nxg4 34.Qxg4 Qf6
35.Qe4 Bf4 36.Kf2 Qh6 37.gxf4
Rxf4 38.Rh1 Qg7 39.Qd5 e4
40.Rdg1 Rxf3+ 41.Ke2 Rf2+
42.Kd1 Qe5 43.Rh5 Rf1+
44.Rxf1 Rxf1+ 45.Ke2 Qf4
46.Qd4+ Kg8 47.Rg5+ Qxg5
48.Kxf1 Qc1+ 49.Ne1 Qf4+
50.Kg1 Qg5+ 51.Ng2 Qc1+
52.Kh2 Qh6+ 53.Kg3 Qg5+
54.Kf2 1-0
Furthermore, the English Attack
had given me the FIDE Master title,
and I did not want the aggression
I’d encountered in high school to
continue into my adult years.
 OPENINGS COLUMN

Nf6 28.Rg1 Rg8 29.Ne4 Nh5

Illingworth, Max 2289
Johansen, Darryl K 2457
Sydney Open 2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3
Nf6 7.f3 Be7 8.Qd2 O-O 9.O-
O-O a6 10.g4 Nd7 11.h4 Nde5
12.Qg2 b5 13.g5 Bd7 14.Kb1
Nxd4 15.Bxd4 b4 16.Ne2 Qc7
17.f4 Rfc8 18.Ng3 Nc6 19.Be3
d5 20.exd5 b3
21.g6 bxa2+ 22.Ka1 Nb4
23.gxf7+ Kxf7 24.dxe6+ Bxe6
25.c3 Rd8 26.Re1 Nd5 27.Bd4
30.f5 Bxf5 31.Ng5+ Bxg5
32.Qd5+ 1-0
When I started university, my family
were concerned by the short-term
nature of my many relationships –
be it the French, Caro-Kann, 1…e5,
1…g6, 1…d6, even other Sicilians.
Don’t worry, you have no reason to
be envious – you, sweet Najdorf,
are truly the most attractive of them
all – but I could never get you on 13.Be3 d5 14.Qc1 c4 15.Bh6
board. cxd3 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Bxd3
dxe4 18.Nxe4 Nd5 19.Bf1
f5 20.Ng3 N5f6 21.Nd2 Nc5
Dragicevic, Domagoj 2247
22.Qc2 e4 23.Nb3 f4 24.Ne2
Illingworth, Max 2401
Nd3 25.Red1 Nb4 26.Qd2
Australian Championship 2012
Nbd5 27.Nbd4 Qe5 28.Nxf4
Rce8 29.Nxd5 Nxd5 30.Nc2
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.h3 Rf6 31.Ne3 Nxe3 32.Qxe3 Re7
Nbd7 5.Bd3 b6 6.O-O Bb7 33.Bc4 g5 34.Qd4 Qf4 35.Qe3
7.Re1 Rc8 8.Bc2 Qc7 9.d3 h5 36.Rd8 Kh7 37.Rad1 Bc6
g6 10.Nbd2 Bg7 11.Nf1 O-O 38.Rg8 Bb5 39.Bb3 Qxe3
12.Ng3 e5 40.fxe3 Bd3 41.Rxg5 Kh6 42.h4
Rg7 43.Rxg7 Kxg7 44.Re1
Kg6 45.Bd1 Rd6 46.Be2
Bc2 47.Rf1 Bd3 48.Rd1 Kh6

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AUGUST 2018 | 15
 OPENINGS COLUMN
49.Rd2 Kg6 50.Kf1 Kf5 51.Ke1
Ke5 52.Bxh5 Rh6 53.g4 Rf6
54.Rf2 Rh6 55.Rf5+ Kd6
56.Kf2 1-0
I had some very traumatic experi-
ences with 3.Bb5 and 3.c3, obtain-
ing better positions as Black only
to choke in the most spectacular
ways. I would hear your giggles in
the background as my opponents
would fear your emergence, and
I wondered why I spent so much
time getting to know you, when we
may never even meet again. Now
you understand why this part of the
letter is a bit wetter.
Hossain, Enamul 2423
Illingworth, Max 2442
Asian Clubs League 2014
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nc6
4.O-O Bd7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.c3 a6
7.Ba4 c4
8.d4 cxd3 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6
gxf6 11.Qxd3 e6 12.Nbd2 Qc7
13.Rad1 Be7 14.Bc2 O-O-O
15.Qe3 Kb8 16.Nd4 Nxd4
17.Qxd4 Bc6 18.c4 Rhg8 19.b4
f5 20.a4 fxe4 21.b5 axb5 22.axb5
Bxb5 23.cxb5 Qxc2 24.Nxe4
Rc8 25.Ra1 Rc4 26.Qb6 Rd8
27.Qa5 Kc8 28.Nd2 Rc5 29.Nf1
16
Bf6 30.Ne3 Qd3 31.Rab1 Bc3
32.Qa3 Qe4 33.Red1 Bd4
34.Qa4 e5 35.b6 f5 36.Qb3 Kb8
37.Nf1 Qc6 38.Rd2 d5 39.Qa3
Rc3 40.Qe7 Qd6 41.Qg7
Bxb6 42.Rdb2 Rc7 43.Qg3
Bd4 44.Rb4 Bc3 45.Rb6 Qc5
46.Rxh6 d4 47.Rhb6 d3 48.Qg5
Rdd7 49.Qg8+ Ka7 50.R6b5
Qd4 51.Nd2 Bxd2 52.Qa2+
Kb8 53.Qxd2 Rc2 54.Qg5
d2 55.Rd1 Rc1 56.Qg8+ Rd8
57.Qb3 Qe4 0-1
I do not know whether Zong-Yuan
had the same issues with you as I
did in our time together, but in any
case, I was inspired by Fischer’s and
Kasparov’s patronage of you, and
you served me well in 2014.
Ly, Moulthun 2463
Illingworth, Max 2493
Australasian Masters 2014
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3
cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.Be3
Qc7 8.O-O b5 9.a4 b4 10.Na2
Nxe4 11.Nxb4 d5 12.Qe1
12...Bd6 13.Nf3 Bb7 14.c4
Qe7 15.Nc2 Nc6 16.cxd5
Nb4 17.Nxb4 Bxb4 18.Qd1
Bxd5 19.Rc1 O-O 20.Qc2
Qb7 21.Bc4 Bxc4 22.Qxc4
Rfc8 23.Qe2 Be7 24.Bd4 Nf6
25.Ne5 Nd5 26.g3 Bf6 27.Nf3
Be7 28.h4 h6
29.Kh2 a5 30.Be5 Qb3 31.Qe4
Bf6 32.Nd2 Qb6 33.Kg1
Bxe5 34.Qxe5 Qb4 35.Ne4
Qxa4 36.Nd6 Rxc1 37.Rxc1
Rd8 38.Nb7 Rf8 39.Qe1 Qb5
40.Nxa5 Nb4 41.Nb3 Nd5
42.Qd1 Rb8 43.Nd2 Qxb2
44.Rb1 Qe5 45.Rxb8+ Qxb8
46.Nf3 Qb6 47.Qc2 g6 48.Ne5
Kg7 49.Qc1 Qd4 50.Nf3 Qf6
51.Kg2 Kh7 52.Qd2 Qf5
53.Qd4 Qf6 54.Ne5 Kg7
55.Qb2 Ne7 56.Qb8 Nf5
57.Qb2 Kh7 58.Qc3 h5 59.Qc7
Kg7 60.Nf3 Qe7 61.Qc3+ f6
62.Ng5 e5 63.Ne4 Nd4 64.f3
Qf7 65.Kh3 Qd7+ 66.Kg2
Nf5 67.Kh2 Ne7 68.Qa3 Nd5
69.Qa6 Qe7 70.Qc6 Ne3
71.Nd6 Kh7 72.Ne4 Kg7
73.Nd6 f5 74.Ne8+ Kh6 75.Nf6
Qa3 76.Ng8+ Kg7 77.Kh3 Qd3
78.Qf6+ Kxg8 79.Qxg6+ Kf8
80.Qf6+ Ke8 81.Qxe5+ Kd7
82.Qg7+ Kc6 83.Qf6+ Kc5
84.Qf8+ Kc4 85.Qc8+ Kb3
86.Qb7+ Kc2 0-1
I even used this magazine to defend
you against the virulent, obsequi-
ous attacks of those GMs serving

under the zealous 6.h3 cult of
Weaver Adams, despite having
played the little pawn move myself.
I apologise that our meetings in this
time had to be so brief – I did not
wish to bear the brunt of my then-
girlfriend’s jealousy.
Illingworth, Max 2423
Feldman, Vladimir 2233
Oceania Zonal Fiji 2013
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3
Nbd7 7.Be3 e6 8.g4 h6 9.Bg2
Be7 10.Qe2 Qc7 11.h4 g6 12.O-
O-O h5 13.g5 Ng4 14.Bd2 Nb6
15.f3 Ne5 16.f4 Ng4 17.Kb1
Qc4 ½-½
Only now do I understand why I
resorted to you in my lowest mo-
ments – you were the one thing I
could really trust in, when all hope
seemed lost. I knew your solid
structure would guard me against
all assaults, while availing the op-
portunity to pounce on every little
mistake of my opponent.
Charles, Gareth 2072
Illingworth, Max 2504
NSW Championship 2017
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6
7.O-O Be7 8.f4 O-O 9.Be3 Qc7
10.Qe1 b5 11.a3 Bb7 12.Bd3
Nbd7 13.Qg3 Kh8 14.Rae1 g6
15.f5 gxf5 16.Qh4 Rg8 17.Nf3
Rg4 18.Qh3 Rag8 19.exf5
Rxg2+ 20.Qxg2 Rxg2+ 21.Kxg2
Ne5 22.Be2 exf5 23.Kg1 Nfg4
24.Bd4 Bf6 25.Nxe5 dxe5
26.Bxg4 exd4 27.Ne2 d3 0-1
Every now and then I’d get nervous
about a White knight landing on
d5, but my Sveshnikov experience
taught me not to fear this, and I
could always play …Bxd5 and re-
place the beast with a pawn.
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2744
Anand, Viswanathan 2810
Tata Steel-A 2011
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5
7.Nb3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Be3
Be6 10.Nd5 Nbd7
OPENINGS COLUMN
11.Qd3 Bxd5 12.exd5 Nc5
13.Qd2 Nfe4 14.Qb4 a5 15.Qb5
Qc7 16.Qc4 Rac8 17.Rfd1 f5
18.c3 Qd8 19.Qb5 b6 20.Nd2
Nxd2 21.Bxd2 Bf6 22.Rab1 e4
23.b4 Nd7 24.Rb3 Be5 25.a3
Rf7 26.c4 axb4 27.axb4 Ra8
28.Bc3 Bxc3 29.Rxc3 Ra2
30.Re3 g6 31.Bf1 Qf6 32.Rde1
Kg7
33.R3e2 Ra3 34.Qc6 h5
35.Re3 Ra7 36.h3 h4 37.Rb3
Ra2 38.Rbe3 g5 39.R3e2 Ra7
40.Qc8 Ne5 41.Rc2 Rf8 42.Qe6
Qd8 43.c5 bxc5 44.bxc5 Rf6
45.Qxe5 dxe5 46.d6 g4 47.hxg4
fxg4 48.g3 hxg3 49.fxg3 Qa5
50.Rec1 Qa3 51.Rc3 Qb2
52.R1c2 Qb4 0-1
Besides, there was always a part of
me that got a kick out of correctly
pronouncing ‘Scheveningen’ to my
opponent after …e6, thus proving
that I was not a time-travelling Ger-
man spy from World War II.
Bartnik, Robert
Ozols, Karlis
AUS Championships 1974
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5
c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 f5 7.a4
AUGUST 2018 | 17
 OPENINGS COLUMN
Qa5 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Nf3 Nge7
10.Be2 h6 11.O-O g5 12.Qd3 c4
13.Qd2 Bd7 14.h4 g4 15.Ne1
O-O-O 16.g3 Rde8 17.Ng2
Nd8 18.Ba3 Bxa4 19.Nf4 Rh7
20.Nh5 Ng8 21.Rfb1 b5 22.Bf1
Nc6 23.Bg2 Qd8 24.Bd6 Rb7
25.Nf4 Nf6 26.Qc1 Ne4
18
27.Bxe4 fxe4 28.Nh5 Rh8
29.Qf4 Bxc2 30.Rb2 Bd3
31.Qxg4 Qg8 32.Qh3 Qg6
33.Nf6 Qf5 34.Qxf5 exf5
35.Ra6 Nb8 36.Bxb8 Kxb8
37.Nxd5 Rg8 38.Rxh6 a5
39.Ra6 a4 40.e6 e3 41.fxe3
Rxg3+ 42.Kf2 Rg8 43.Nf6
Rd8 44.Kf3 b4 45.Rxb4 Rxb4
46.cxb4 c3 47.Rxa4 c2 48.Ra1
Rc8 49.Rc1 Bb5 50.e7 Kb7
51.d5 Rc4 52.e8=Q Bxe8
53.Nxe8 Kb6 54.Nd6 1-0
I know you’re still hurt by the fact
that I published ‘Dismantling the
Sicilian’, and trust me, it was no less
difficult for me. I honestly won-
 STAY  C O N N E C T E D
dered what opening I was going
to play once everyone saw how to
beat my rock, my precious Sicilian.
Even though I had some history
with you, for a while I had no idea
how I was going to bring up the
topic of you on paper. I couldn’t
convince myself that 6.Be3 was
the Jesus touch, for 6…Ng4 proved
much more unbreakable than my
old affection for the King’s Indian
Defence.
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772
Gelfand, Boris 2764
Paris FIDE GP 2013
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3
Ng4 7.Bc1 Nf6 8.Be3 Ng4
9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.Bg3
Bg7 12.h3 Ne5 13.f3 Nbc6
14.Bf2 Be6 15.Qd2 Rc8 16.O-
O-O Nxd4 17.Bxd4 Qa5 18.a3
O-O 19.h4 g4 20.Qf2 Rc6 21.f4
Rfc8 22.Qg3 Nd7 23.Bxg7
Kxg7 24.f5

24...Rxc3 25.bxc3 Qxa3+
26.Kd2 Nf6 27.Qd3 Bc4
28.Qd4 d5 29.exd5 Bxd5
30.Rg1 Be4 31.Bd3 Qa5
32.Qb4 Qc7 33.Bxe4 a5
34.Qxb7 Qf4+ 35.Ke2 Rc7
36.Qb6 Nxe4 37.Qd4+ Kh7
38.c4 Rd7 39.Qe3 Ng3+
40.Qxg3 Qxg3 41.Rxd7 Qe5+
0-1
Meanwhile, the English Attack had
been worked out to a draw – could
I honestly recommend that on a
global stage?
Vesely, Pavol 2583
Nefedov, Sergey V 2561
ICCF WC30/Final 2017
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3
e6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.g4 b4
10.Nce2 h6 11.O-O-O Qc7 12.h4
d5
13.Bf4 e5 14.Bh2 dxe4 15.g5
hxg5 16.hxg5 Rxh2 17.Rxh2
exd4 18.Rh8 Nd5 19.Qxd4 Bb7
20.fxe4 N5b6 21.Qxb4 O-O-O
22.Qd4 Qc5 23.g6 fxg6 24.Qd3
Kb8 25.Bh3 Ka7 26.Nc3 Bc6
27.Bf1 Bb7 28.Bh3 Bc6 29.Bf1
Bb7 ½-½
I was so close to giving up, admit-
ting defeat that you could never be
trumped – when I finally decided
not to do what I thought others
wanted of me. You have no idea of
the freedom that brought to my life,
and I even came to accept that there
was no way I could bring an angel
like you down, even when I wanted
to.
Illingworth, Max 2613
McClymont, Brodie 2454
Gold Coast Open 2018
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e5
7.Nde2 h5 8.Bg5 Be6 9.Bxf6
Qxf6 10.Nd5 Qd8 11.Qd3 Nc6
12.O-O-O g6
OPENINGS COLUMN
13.Kb1 Bg7 14.f4 exf4 15.Nexf4
Bxd5 16.Nxd5 O-O 17.g4 h4
18.Qe3 Qe8 19.c3 Qe5 20.Bd3
b5 21.Qf2 Rab8 22.Qf4 Qxf4
½-½
Ironically, I recommended the very
Adams Attack – 6.h3 – that I had
defended you from some years ago.
I hope you’ll admire my flexibility
to change my views based on new
evidence, much as I admire your
ability to shift gears at the first sign
of danger, averting all blows like
Komodo on steroids.
Andscacs 0.921 3250
Komodo 11.3.1 3409
CCRL 40/40 2018
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.Nge2 d6 4.d4
cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Rg1 g6 7.g4
Bg7 8.Be3 b5 9.f3 Bb7 10.Qd2
Nbd7 11.O-O-O Nb6 12.h4 h5
13.gxh5 Nxh5 14.Rxg6 fxg6
15.Ne6 Qc8 16.Nxg7+ Nxg7
17.Bxb6 Qe6 18.Bf2 Nh5
19.Be3 O-O 20.Bg2 b4 21.Ne2
Qxa2 22.Qxb4 Rfb8 23.Nc3
a5 24.Qd4 Qf7 25.Rg1 Kh7
26.f4 Rg8 27.e5 dxe5 28.Qxe5
Bxg2 29.Rxg2 Qf5 30.Qxe7+
Rg7 31.Qe5 Rf7 32.Nd5
Qxe5 33.fxe5 Rf5 34.Rg5 Re8
AUGUST 2018 | 19
 OPENINGS COLUMN
35.Rxf5 gxf5 36.Bd4 Kg6
37.Kd2 Ng7 38.c4 a4 39.Kd3
Kf7 40.Nc3 Rd8 41.Nb5 Kg6
42.Nd6 Rb8 43.c5 f4 44.c6
Ne6 45.Bc3 Rb6 46.Nc8 Rb5
47.Ne7+ Kf7 48.Nf5 Rd5+
49.Ke2 Rc5 50.Kd3 Rxc6 51.h5
Rc5 52.Nh6+ Kg7 53.Ng4
Rc8 54.Ba5 Rc1 55.Bd2 Rh1
56.Nf6 Rh2 57.Ne4 Kh6 58.Nf6
Kg5 59.Ne4+ Kxh5 60.Kc3
Re2 61.Nf6+ Kg6 62.Nd5 Kf5
63.Kd3 f3 64.Ne3+ 0-1
When I sent the final manuscript
over, a great weight was lifted from
my shoulders, and while I knew
I could play my White repertoire
book before it was published, the
question remained as to what to
play as Black. We’d spent hundreds
of hours in the same close quarters,
and I thought of you whenever I ate
something sweet. You were truly
flawless, with your curves, loving
dark brown eyes and black hair,
which you love to style in multi-
tudinous ways. I only had to ask
Stockfish for approval, and when
my computer’s language switched
to binary (0.00s everywhere), I
knew you were the one.
Radjabov, T 2696
Giri, Anish 2767
EU-Cup 32nd Novi Sad 2016
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6
7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2
20
8...Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 h6
11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7
13.Ne4 Qxa2 14.Rd1 Qd5
15.Qe3 Qxe5 16.Be2 Bc5
17.Bg3 Qd5 18.c4 Bxd4
19.Rxd4 Qa5+ 20.Rd2 O-O
21.Bd6 f5 22.Bxf8 Nxf8 23.Nd6
Nbd7 24.Bf3 Rb8 25.Kf2
Qc5 26.Rb1 b6 27.Qxc5 Nxc5
28.Nxc8 Rxc8 29.Rxb6 Ncd7
30.Rxa6 Rxc4 31.Ra7 Kf7
32.Rdxd7+ Nxd7 33.Rxd7+
Kf6 34.h3 g6 35.g3 h5 36.h4
g5 37.hxg5+ Kxg5 38.Rg7+
Kf6 39.Rh7 f4 40.gxf4 Rxf4
41.Rxh5 Rf5 42.Rh6+ Ke7
43.Ke3 Ra5 44.Bg4 Ra3+
45.Kf4 Ra4+ 46.Kg5 Re4
47.Rh7+ Kd6 48.Ra7 Re1
49.Kg6 Re4 50.Kg5 Re1
51.Bh5 Rg1+ 52.Bg4 ½-½
I was so comfortable with you,
trusting you to give me winning
chances in every game against 1.e4.
Whenever someone would play an
Anti-Sicilians, I would join in your
laughter, knowing that my op-
ponents were truly terrified of our
powerful bond. It is not a coinci-
dence that it was on my favourite
Victorian hunting grounds, the
Melbourne Chess Club, that many
innocent players were Hjorth by my
precise, tender handling of you. I
was very careful to dodge the sub-
ject of past girlfriends at the tourna-
ment while in your presence.
Tao, Trevor 2378
Illingworth, Max 2484
MCC Open 2017
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7
4.O-O a6 5.Bxd7+ Bxd7 6.d4
cxd4 7.Qxd4 Rc8 8.Na3 e5
9.Qd3 b5
10.c3 h6 11.Re1 Nf6 12.Nh4
Be6 13.Nc2 g6 14.g3 Bg7 15.f4
Qb6+ 16.Be3 Qb7 17.f5 Bc4
18.Qxd6 Nxe4 19.Qd1 g5 20.f6
Bxf6 21.Nf5 Rd8 22.Qf3 Bd5
23.Qh5 Nd6 24.Ncd4 Nc4 25.b3
Nxe3 26.Nxe3 Be4 27.Ne6
Rd2 28.Nc5 Bf3 29.Nxb7 Bxh5
30.Nc5 Bd8 31.Ne4 Rd3 32.c4
O-O 33.Nd5 bxc4 34.bxc4 Bf3

35.Rac1 Rd4 36.Nd6 Bxd5
37.cxd5 Rxd5 38.Nf5 h5 39.Rc6
e4 40.g4 hxg4 41.Nh6+ Kg7
42.Rxe4 Rb5 43.Kf1 f6 0-1
I must thank you for bringing me
to the number one position on
the ACF Ratings, with a spiffing
win over Danny Dwyer in the Big
Boards Match. In a time of turbu-
lent interactions with the fairer sex,
you kept my focus on chess, and
showed me what it means to love.
I took you to my place, finding out
more about you as I penetrated the
heart of your positions, many of
which, I must admit, I had not seen
before.
Dwyer, Danny 2363
Illingworth, Max 2587
Big Boards Match China 2017
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6
7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.f4 Nc5
9.O-O Be7 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5
Nxb3 12.axb3 Bc5 13.Be3 Nd5
14.Qf3 O-O 15.Rad1 Nxe3
16.Qxe3 Qc7
17.Kh1 b5 18.Qg5 Bb7 19.Nce2
Rad8 20.c3 Rd5 21.Nf3 Rfd8
22.Rxd5 Bxd5 23.Nfd4 h6
24.Qg3 b4 25.Rf6 bxc3 26.bxc3
Bxb3 27.Rxh6 Bxd4 28.cxd4
Bd1 29.Nc3 Rxd4 30.h3 Qd8
31.Nxd1 Rxd1+ 32.Kh2 Qd4
33.Qg5 Qg1+ 34.Kg3 Rd3+
35.Kh4 Qf2+ 36.g3 Rd4+
37.Kh5 Qf3+ 0-1
My unwavering loyalty to you
continued through the beginning
of 2018, where after a tough second
round game in the Australian
Championship (I had the White
pieces, but I trust you enjoyed the
Sydney sights), I was ready to offer
James Morris an early draw and
sleep. But, when 1.e4 hit the board,
I saw your cute legs run across the
room, landing in my lap before I
could declare my peaceful inten-
tions. Fuelled by your love, and the
lovely lamb roast you brought for
me, I scored a devastating win and
never looked back.
Morris, James 2477
Illingworth, Max 2484
AUS-ch Cammeray 2018
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 g6
OPENINGS COLUMN
7.Bg2 Bg7 8.O-O O-O 9.Re1
Nc6 10.Nde2 Rb8 11.Nf4 b5
12.Ncd5 Nd7 13.c3 e6 14.Ne3
Qc7
15.Bd2 a5 16.Rc1 Ba6 17.h4
Nce5 18.Bf1 Nc5 19.f3 Qa7
20.Qe2 b4 21.Qf2 Bxf1 22.Qxf1
bxc3 23.Bxc3 Na4 24.Qf2 Nxb2
25.Qe2 Nbc4 26.Bxe5 Nxe5
27.Kg2 Rfc8 28.a4 Nc6 29.Qd3
Nd4 30.Ne2 h5 31.Nxd4 Bxd4
32.Nc4 d5 33.exd5 exd5 34.Na3
Rb2+ 35.Rc2 Rc3 36.Qd2
Rcxc2 37.Nxc2 Qc5 38.Re2
Qc4 39.Kf1 Bc3 40.Qd1 Qxa4
41.Qd3 Bg7 42.Ne3 Qa1+
43.Re1 Qa2 44.Qxd5 Rf2+ 0-1
I got such a twisted kick out of see-
ing my opponents look squeamish
as I held your hand, before turning
away from you with 1.d4.
Izzat, Kanan 2487
Illingworth, Max 2494
AUs-ch Cammeray 2018
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3
a6 5.Bg5
AUGUST 2018 | 21
 OPENINGS COLUMN
5...dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4
g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5
Nbd7 11.Qf3 Rb8 12.exf6
Bb7 13.Qe3 Nxf6 14.d5 Nxd5
15.Qd4 Qxg5 16.Qxh8 Nb4
17.Rd1 Nc2+ 18.Ke2 Ke7
19.Qh7 Bh6 20.Ne4 Qf4 21.g3
Bxe4 22.gxf4 Bxh7 23.Kf3 c5
24.Bh3 Nd4+ 0-1
During my great success, I couldn’t
help but notice that you had shared
some of the magic with another
Australian Grandmaster, Anton
Smirnov. Is there an Australian
Grandmaster (other than David
Smerdon) who has not fallen for
you? I did not mind, though – for I
knew my time would come when I
would enjoy a long winning streak
with you.
22
Solomon, Stephen J 2365
Smirnov, Anton 2527
AUS-ch Cammeray 2018
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5
7.Nb3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Be3
Be6 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.exd5 Bf5
12.c4 Nd7 13.Rc1
13...Bg5 14.Qd2 Bxe3 15.Qxe3
a5 16.Rc3 Bg6 17.f4 a4 18.Nd2
exf4 19.Rxf4 Re8 20.Qf2 Nc5
21.h4 Qb6 22.h5 Rxe2 23.Qxe2
Nd3+ 24.Rf2 Nxf2 25.hxg6
Nd1+ 26.c5 Nxc3 27.gxf7+ Kf8
28.Qe8+ Rxe8 29.fxe8=R+
Kxe8 30.cxb6 Nxd5 31.Nc4
Kd7 32.Na5 Nxb6 33.Nxb7
Nc4 34.b3 Kc7 35.Nxd6 Kxd6
36.bxa4 Ke5 37.Kf2 Kf4 38.a3
h5 39.g3+ Kg4 40.Kg2 g5 0-1
Perhaps it was the non-exclusivity
of our relationship that led me
down the ‘dark side’, playing other
Sicilians and even making the ‘fin-
gerfehler’ 1…c6 in my next tourna-
ment. Without your light to guide
me, I quickly lost my way, and was
lucky to win even after blundering
my queen. I was very close to hang-
ing a forced checkmate when you
took me aside, and planted your
kiss on my lips one more time.
Parle, Hughston 1982
Illingworth, Max 2613
Gold Coast Open 2018
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4
Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.cxd5
Nxd5 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Nf3 O-O
10.Bc4 Nxc3 11.bxc3 b6 12.O-O
Bb7 13.Re1 Qc7 14.Bd3 Nd7
15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.Rxe5 Qxc3
17.Re3 Qb2
18.Bxh7+ Kxh7 19.Rb3 Qxa1
20.Qxa1 Rac8 21.h4 Rc4
22.Qd1 Kg8 23.Rg3 Rd8
24.Qg4 g6 25.h5 Rdxd4 26.Qg5
Rd5 27.Qh6 Rd1+ 28.Kh2
Rh4+ 29.Rh3 Rh1+ 30.Kg3
R1xh3+ 31.gxh3 Rxh5 32.Qf4
Bd5 33.Qb8+ Kg7 34.f4 Bxa2
35.Qxa7 Bd5 36.Qxb6 g5 37.f5
Kf6 38.fxe6 Bxe6 39.Qd8+ Kg7
40.h4 gxh4+ 41.Kh2 h3 42.Qd4+
f6 43.Qe4 Re5 44.Qb7+ Kg6
45.Qf3 Kg5 46.Qg3+ Bg4
47.Qd3 Re2+ 48.Kh1 Kh4
49.Qc3 Rf2 50.Qe3 Re2 51.Qc3
f5 52.Qd4 Re4 53.Qd3 Re1+
54.Kh2 Re2+ 55.Kh1 f4 56.Qc3
Re3 57.Qd2 Bf3+ 58.Kg1 Kg4
59.Qc1 Kg3 60.Qd2 Re2 0-1
At the time, I thought it was a

farewell kiss, but I could not stop
thinking of you. I would sit at the
board saying ‘This time I move on’,
only to find my hand bashing out a
Najdorf main line before my brain
could intervene. To make matters
worse, I would score a victory, and
check the opening theory, to find
every time that I’d played the open-
ing brilliantly, despite being out of
book on move 6.
francy29 2985
Passion 3241
chess24.com blitz 2018
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6
7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.O-O Nc5 9.Bg5
Be7 10.Qe1 O-O 11.Rd1 Qc7
12.f4 h6 13.Bh4 Re8 14.e5 dxe5
15.fxe5 Nfd7 16.Bxe7 Rxe7
17.Nf3 b5
18.Ne2 Bb7 19.Ned4 Nxb3
20.axb3 Bxf3 21.Nxf3 Qxc2
22.Qh4 Rae8 23.Rd2 Qxb3
24.Rfd1 Nf8 25.Rd8 Qxb2
26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Qg4 Ng6
28.h4 Nxe5 29.Nxe5 Qxe5
30.Rd7 a5 31.Qf3 Qf5 32.Qc6
b4 33.Rd1 Rb8 34.Qc7 Qb5
35.Rf1 Qb6+ 36.Qxb6 Rxb6
37.Rd1 b3 0-1
Meanwhile, I had a few students
who were playing the Najdorf on
my recommendation, and when-
ever I tried to teach them important
things like positional play or end-
games, they’d keep chanting ‘Next
Lesson Najdorf Nothing’ – which
means only covering the Najdorf
(in case you haven’t mastered gam-
ing lingo yet).
Thus, I found myself playing
through all Najdorf’s wins with the
Najdorf, then Fischer, then Kasp-
arov, and finally Maxime Vachier
Lagrave’s games with this opening.
Soon I realised that, put simply, you
make me a much better version of
myself. Just as I’d found with the
London System, I suddenly turn
into a 2800+ monster when you are
there with me. Now I don’t want
to sound needy or anything, but
you must admit by now that we are
simply right for each other.
I was about to send this letter to
you, but I need to apologise for
cheating on you recently, with your
worst enemy the French Winawer.
I was ungrateful of everything
you’d done for me in the past, and
in looking for something better I’d
missed what was right in front of
me. I promise not to take you for
granted again and trust that we can
relive the magical times, where you
guided me to number one on the
Chess24 server.
O’Chee Kevin 2281
Illingworth, Max 2683
NSW Open 2018
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5
c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.a4
OPENINGS COLUMN
Qc7 8.Nf3 b6 9.Bb5+ Bd7
10.Bd3 h6 11.O-O Nbc6 12.Ba3
Na5 13.Re1 Bxa4 14.Bxc5
bxc5 15.Rxa4 c4 16.Bf1 Nac6
17.Nh4 g5 18.Nf3 Rb8 19.h3
Kd7 20.Nh2 Rb2 21.Ng4 Kc8
22.Nf6 Qb7 23.Be2 Kb8
24.Bh5 Nf5 25.Qa1 Rb6
26.Bg4 Ng7 27.Qa3 Ka8
28.Ra1 Ne8 29.Nh5 Nc7
30.Rf1 Rb1 31.Qa2 Rb2
32.Qa1 Rb8 33.Nf6 Rb1
34.Qa2 Qb2 35.Qxb2 R1xb2
36.Bf3 a5 37.Rc1 Ka7 38.Ng4
Nb5 39.Nxh6 Nxc3 40.Ra3
Nb5 41.Re3 a4 42.Ra1 a3
43.Rexa3+ Nxa3 44.Rxa3+ Kb6
45.Nxf7 Nxd4 46.Nxg5 Nxc2
47.Rc3 Nd4 48.Bg4 Rg8 49.f4
Kb5 50.Nxe6 Nxe6 51.Bxe6
Rgxg2+ 52.Kf1 Rgd2 53.Rc1 c3
54.f5 c2 55.Ke1 Rh2 56.f6 Rb1
57.Bd7+ Kb6 0-1
I love you, dearest Najdorf Sicilian,
with all my heart, and I promise not
to ever let you go. I will give you
strength every day, just as you’ve
done for me. You are not only the
love of my life, but also my best
friend and companion through both
the tournament-dominating times
and the setbacks. You always know
what to say to make me feel good,
and let’s cheer to the rest of our
AUGUST 2018 | 23
 OPENINGS COLUMN

wonderful life together.

Love,
Max

PS I’ll make sure to introduce you to

my next girlfriend. Promise.

Chess Novels
A Survey  by Bill Egan

Now on the Kindle App.

A survey of English language chess novels of all genres, excluding

children's and "Young Adult" books. Short form fiction (short story)
is not included but anthologies including some of the most notable of
these are identified.

Coverage includes seventy-eight books considered to be true chess

novels, and another thirty-two identified as having some relevant
chess content. There is also identificataion of some titles
occasionally claimed wrongly to be about chess.

The chess novels are assessed under these criteria: Chess content,
Chess treatment, Readability, Plot and Characterization, with
identification of the author's top picks. The author is a FIDE
Candidate Master with a long history of experience in chess
administration and is also the author of the book "The Doeberl Cup:
Fifty Years of Australian Chess History"

24
 tic
s ONLINE BLITZ TACTICS PART 3
a c
t
a i ner Solutions on page 66
tr

White to move White to move White to move

1. Molton-Nos ICC, 2004 2. Molton-Scarlette ICC, 2005 3. Molton-Whole ICC, 2006

White to move White to move Black to move

4. Molton-Smallville ICC, 2006 5. Molton-Chomsky ICC, 2011 6. Raix-Molton ICC, 2006

AUGUST 2018 | 25
 Kuybokarov Wins Gold
Coast International Open
Becoming the first WA Grandmaster

By Ian Rogers Photos by Cathy Rogers

26

W
hen 16-year-old Uzbek
Temur Kuybokarov tied for
the Australian Open title in
Brisbane in January 2017, the
general reaction, even in his
home town of Tashkent, was “Temur who?”.
The confusion was understandable – until a few
months earlier, Kuybokarov was known as Igonin,
ranked among the top 25 juniors aged U/18 in the
world. Kuybokarov and his family had just moved
to Perth and with the new life came a new name
and the Australian Open was only his second tour-
nament, after the 2016 Penang Open, under this
moniker.
Kuybokarov explained the name change as follows:
“When I was born my parents decided to give me
my mother’s Russian surname. At that time Uzbeki-
stan’s economical and political situation was hope-
less and there was a high probability of moving to
Russia. Unfortunately in the last four to five years
many political and economic changes took place
in Russia, including starting wars with neighbour-
ing countries, [suffering] international economic
sanctions, and so on. In view of this we changed
our plans about moving to Russia and [eventually]
I took my father’s Uzbek surname.”
Kuybokarov – then Igonin - had first gained world-
wide attention when he defeated Viswanathan
Anand in a simultaneous exhibition in Tashkent,
aged 11, having already gained the FM title at the
Asian Youth Championships a year earlier. He sub-
sequently represented Uzbekistan in international
junior tournaments with some success, earning his
International Master title in early 2016.
In the early years Kuybokarov’s best performances
were political as well as personal achievements,
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
one reported by the media as being “the result
of wide-ranging reforms under the leadership of
President Islam Karimov in order to foster ad-
vanced youths and raise their knowledge base and
potential in the international sports arena.”
The 2017 Australian Open, where Kuybokarov was
mistakenly awarded the winner’s trophy due to a
tie-break mix-up, was the new Perth resident’s first
Grandmaster norm. Just a year and a half later Kuy-
bokarov became a fully-fledged Grandmaster by
playing the tournament of his life at the Gold Coast
Open, edging out another 17-year-old, Sydney’s
Anton Smirnov.
In its 26th year the Gold Coast Open was upgraded
to an international open, attracting its strongest
field ever including all five members of Australia’s
open Olympic team. The record entry of 181 play-
ers also made the event second only to the Doeberl
Cup in size for an adult tournament in Australia.
Playing the event over a short weekend, rather than
the Doeberl Cup’s Easter long weekend, makes
these attendance numbers particularly remarkable.
After the success of the Nell van de Graaff Classic
at the Arundel Hills Country Club last September,
relocating the new, improved Gold Coast Open to
the AHCC was a no-brainer. With two playing halls,
a commentary and analysis room plus a restaurant,
the AHCC made for excellent playing conditions.
The tournament started on a Thursday evening in
sensational fashion, with top seed Timur Gareyev
beaten by the mercurial Gene Nakauchi. The blind-
fold world record-holder, whose opening repertoire
seems to be heavily influenced by his blindfold
feats, found a series of crowd-pleasing sacrifices
– including 5 pawns – but missed one important
finesse and ran out of material.
AUGUST 2018 | 27
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
Gareyev, Timur 2611
Nakauchi, Gene 2216
Gold Coast Open
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4
c5 4.f3 Nf6 5.d5 e6 6.e4 exd5
7.exd5
7...Qb6!?
A new idea. 7...d6 would be stan-
dard.
8.Qe2+!?
“Of course I should play 8.Nc3
Qxb2 9.Bd2 when White stands
well,” explained Gareyev to the au-
dience in the commentary room.
8...Kd8!
“Now I realised that he is threaten-
ing moves like 9...Bd6 and I just
have to go for it,” said Gareyev.
9.Nd2! Qxb2 10.Be5! Qxc2
11.Qb5 Qf5! 12.f4 Nxd5!
“I really didn’t expect [Nakauchi] to
just take everything,” said Gareyev,
“but he played well.”
13.Ngf3 Nxf4
28
14.O-O-O?!
“This is where I missed my chance,”
said Gareyev, a mere four pawns
down. “I should play 14.g4! im-
mediately, e.g. 14...Qxg4 15.Rg1
Qe6 16.O-O-O and I believe Black’s
position would be very dangerous.”
14...f6! 15.g4 Qxg4 16.Rg1 Qf5
“Now I don’t have the g5 square,”
said Gareyev.
17.Bc3 Nc6 18.Nh4 Qh5
19.Ndf3 Nd5 20.Rxd5!
“By now I have to keep sacrificing,”
said Gareyev.
20...Qxd5 21.Bc4 Qe4 22.Re1
Qf4+ 23.Bd2 Qc7 24.Bd5 Qb6
25.Qa4 Nb4 26.Bc4
26...d5!!
“This is where I was really im-
pressed by my opponent’s play,”
said Gareyev. “Not many players
would allow me to invade on e8
and have their king pushed around.”
27.Qe8+ Kc7 28.Re7+ Bxe7
29.Qxe7+ Kc6
Forced, but good enough.
30.Bb3 Qd8 31.Nd4+ Kb6
32.Qxc5+!?
“Well, I have to try to keep the at-
tack going, don’t I?” said Gareyev
with a smile.
32...Kxc5 33.Bxb4+ Kxb4
34.a3+ Kc5 35.Nhf3 0-1
Zulfic, Fedja 2179
Narayanan, Srinath 2549
Gold Coast Open
After a crazy game where Zulfic was
close to winning, then a piece down
for little and now is close to a draw,
the South Australian, playing on 30
second increments, finally falters...
50.g7?
Pushing the wrong pawn. After
50.f7+ Kg7 51.Rh7+! Kxg6
52.Rh1!!, Black can make no
progress, although there was also
the more subtle, and harder to find,
50.Rh7!! with the idea that after
50...Rc6+ 51.Ke5 Rxf6! White has
 GOLD COAST OPEN 2018

GM Timur Gareyev demonstrating his win on the commentary board.

Photos: Cathy Rogers

time to capture both Black pawns Qd6 7.c5 Qxc5

after 52.Rc7! Rf2 53.Kd4! Gareyev, Timur 2611
Zulfic, Fedja 2179
50...Re8+! 51.Kd7 c1=Q Gold Coast Open
52.Kxe8
It is too late for 52.Rh8+ Kf7 1.g4!? h5!? 2.g5 h4?!
53.Rxe8 in view of 53...Qd2+ In view of White’s novel reply, Black
54.Kc7 Qc3+ 55.Kd7 Qd4+ will probably prefer 2...g6 in future.
56.Kc7 Qc5+ 57.Kb7 Qb5+, cap-
turing the rook with the queen. 3.g6!

52...Qe3+ 0-1

However it was a local, 28th seed

Ross Lam, who managed to com- 8.b4! Qd6 9.Na3! Rh5! 10.Nc4
plete two significant upsets, beating Qxb4 11.e3 dxe3 12.Ba3! exd2+
Hughston Parle and Dusan Stojic in 13.Nfxd2
rounds 3 and 4.

Gareyev continued to play swash-

buckling chess, with his multiple
– and this time successful – pawn
sacrifices against the unfortunate
Zulfic particularly notable. 3...fxg6 4.Nf3 d5 5.c4 d4 6.Rg1

JUNE 2018 | 29
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
13...Re5+?!
Having taken the fourth sacrificed
pawn, Zulfic makes his first misstep.
13...Qc3 was more sober.
14.Be2?!
14.Nxe5! Qxa3 15.Bd3! was hard
to meet.
14...Qc3?!
Now the queen is in trouble. 14...
Qb5 was risky but playable.
15.Rc1 Rxe2+ 16.Qxe2 Qh3
17.Rxg6
17...Bf5?
Missing Gareyev’s idea. 17...Nf6
would have left the position crazily
unbalanced.
18.Qh5! Kd8 19.Nf3! Bxg6
20.Qxg6 Nd7
20...Qxf3 21.Ne5! was also hope-
30
less.
21.Ng5! 1-0
A game more reminiscent of the
19th century rather than the 21st.
However Gareyev’s comeback was
brought to an end in the fifth round
by fellow Uzbek-born Kuybokarov.
Kuybokarov, Temur 2472
Gareyev, Timur 2611
Gold Coast Open 2018
I am IM Temur Kuybokarov and
here I will show you my game
against 2600+ rated GM Timur
Gareyev.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3
I used this move order to prevent a
Queen’s Indian.
3...Bb4+
3...b6 This is just bad. 4.Bg2 c6
5.e4 d5 6.e5 Nfd7 (6...Ne4? 7.f3)
7.Nh3 with a better position for
White.
4.Bd2 a5 5.Bg2 O-O 6.Nf3 b6
7.O-O
We now get one version of the
Queen’s Indian with ...a5
7...Ba6
7...Bb7 A main move but after
8.Bf4! Black now has to bring the
bishop on b4 back into the game.
8.Qc2 Ra7!?
An original move. If 8...d5 then
9.Ne5 or 9.cxd5!? Bxe2? 10.dxe6!
Bxf1 11.Kxf1 and White is win-
ning. 11...fxe6 12.Ng5 with advan-
tage for White.
9.a3
9.Bf4 This typical move also strong
9...d5? 10.c5! with an edge for
White.
9...Be7 10.Re1
Leaving from the f1-a6 diagonal
and preparing e4 in the centre.
10.b4 I didnt play this logical move
because of 10...d5 11.b5 Bb7
12.c5? (12.cxd5! Bxd5 13.Be3!
(13.Nc3 Bxf3 is unclear) followed
by Nc3)
12...c6 is good for Black but
12.cxd5! gave White a serious
advantage.
10...c5
10...d5 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Nc3 with
an edge for White.
11.dxc5 Bxc5
11...bxc5 12.e4 Nc6 13.e5 Ne8
14.b3! Important move, preparing
Nc3. 14...a4 15.bxa4 with advan-
tage for White.
12.b4
12.Bc3!? with the idea of Nbd2
was very interesting.
12...Be7 13.b5 Bb7 14.e4 d6
15.Nc3 Qc7
After 15...Nbd7 White will use

the weakness of c6 by 16.Nd4!
Qa8 (16...Qc7? 17.Nc6 is great
for White) 17.Na4 Rc8 18.Rac1
Bd8 Preparing Ne5. 19.Qd3! Ne5
20.Qe2 and White has a great ver-
sion of the hedgehog.
16.Na4 Rc8?
Better was 16...Nbd7 17.Nd4 Rc8
18.Rac1
17.Rac1?
We both missed the amazing move:
17.c5!!
Analysis Position
17...dxc5 18.Bf4 Qd8 19.Ne5!
Strong manoeuvre, transferring the
knight to a wonderful square on c4.
19...Nbd7 20.Nc4 Ba8 21.Rad1
Rb7 22.Bd6 with advantage for
White.
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
17...h6 18.h4?
Errors don’t happen alone, I played
this move to prepare Bf4, but it just
doesnt work. 18.c5!! dxc5 19.Bf4
Qd8 20.Ne5! is good for White.
18...Nbd7 19.Bf4? e5 20.Bd2
d5!
Last chance. 27.Nd3 e4 28.Nxc5
Nxc5 29.Qc2 f5 is winning for
Black.
27...a4?
Timur had a strong move here-
but he miscalculated 27...Rxc6!
We both saw it, but position after
28.Be3 Bxe3! 29.Rxd6 Bxf2+
I just forgot about this move, now 30.Rxf2 Rxd6 looked unclear, but
White should be very careful. objectively it’s dead lost.
21.exd5 Bxa3 22.Nb2? 27...Bd4 28.Bc3 Nc5 29.Qc2 is
I had to give the exchange with slightly better for Black.
22.Qa2! Bxc1 23.Rxc1 with full
compensation. 28.Nxa4 Rxa4?
The last mistake. 28...Bd4! was
22...Bxd5 23.Qb3 Bxf3 24.Bxf3 better.
Bc5
24...Bd6! followed by Nc5, Black is 29.Qxa4 Qd3
a just pawn up.
25.Bc6?!
25.Na4 Bd4 26.Bc6 Qd6 27.Be3
was more stubborn.
25...Ng4 26.Re2?!
26.Nd3 Bd4 27.Qd1 Ndf6 is bet-
ter for Black.
26...Qd6 27.Rd1
30.Re3!
This move Gareyev overlooked.
AUGUST 2018 | 31

30...Qg6 31.Bxd7 Nxe3 32.h5!
Qxh5
32...Qf6! was last chance,but
after 33.Bxe3 Bxe3 34.fxe3 Qf3
35.Bc6! Qxg3+ 36.Kf1 Qxe3
37.Qc2! Qh3+ 38.Qg2 Qxh5
39.Rd3 when Black’s position is
hopeless.
33.Bxe3 Bxe3 34.Bxc8 Qf3
35.Rd8+ Kh7 36.Qc2+ e4
37.fxe3 Qxg3+ 38.Kf1 Qxe3
39.Bf5+ g6 40.Qxe4 Qc1+
41.Ke2 1-0
Gareyev failed to recover from this
defeat and went on to lose fur-
ther games to Smirnov and Bobby
Cheng.
After five rounds Smirnov was lead-
ing by half a point over Kuybokarov
and the two Australian Kangaroos
team-mates met in the decisive
game of the tournament. Kuybo-
karov takes up the story...
Smirnov, Anton 2529
Kuybokarov, Temur 2472
Gold Coast Open 2018
This game was played in round 6,
and Anton had half a point more,
therefore I wanted to fight.
1.Nf3
A small surprise, usually Anton
plays 1.e4.
1...d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4
QGA! When I was a kid, the
Queen’s Gambit Accepted was my
main weapon against 1.d4.
4.e3 b5
Interesting idea, which was fre-
quently played by Kacper Piorun
and Evgeny Romanov.
5.a4 b4 6.Bxc4
If 6.Nbd2 then 6...c3! and Black
okay.
6...e6 7.O-O Bb7 8.Nbd2 Be7
9.b3 O-O 10.Bb2 Nbd7 11.Qe2
c5
Tabiya of this variation.
12.Rfd1 Qc7!?
Interesting move, with the idea to
put the queen on b8 after Rac8.
13.Ba6
New move, but pretty harmless.
13...Rac8
Easiest way to equalize was 13...
cxd4 14.Nxd4 Bxa6 15.Qxa6 Nc5
with equal chances.
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
14.Rac1
Here Anton can go to a slightly bet-
ter endgame with 14.Bxb7! Qxb7
15.Qb5.
14...Rfd8
Centralization first of all!
15.Bxb7 Qxb7 16.Nc4 Qa6!?
Pinning the White queen looks
unpleasant.
17.Kf1 Ne4
Here Anton made a positional error.
18.d5?
18.Nfe5 cxd4 19.Nxd7 but not
19.Bxd4? Nxe5 20.Nxe5 Nd2+!
19...Rxd7 20.Bxd4 with a slight
edge.
18...Bf6!
Now nobody can protect the c3
square.
19.Bxf6 Ndxf6 20.dxe6 Qxe6
21.Rxd8+ Rxd8 22.Ncd2
After the natural 22.Rd1, Black
plays 22...Re8! threatening Ng4
and Nc3.
22...Nc3 23.Qc4 Qf5
AUGUST 2018 | 33
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
24.h3 Nfe4
Here I missed that after 24...h5!
25.Nh4 I had the move 25...Nfe4!!
26.Nxe4 Qxe4 27.Qxe4 Nxe4
28.Nf3 Rd3 29.Rb1 Rd2! and
Black is easily winning.
25.Nxe4 Nxe4 26.Kg1 Nc3
27.Re1 27...Qd5! 28.Qxd5
Rxd5
34
Left: GM Anton Smirnov
suffered a crucial loss with
the White pieces.
Photo: Cathy Rogers
29.e4 Rd6!? The last mistake. The alternative
An original move, but Rd8 also 32.Na5 Rxe4 is still much bet-
transposes. ter for Black. While 32.Re3 Nxa4
33.f4 Rxc4! 34.bxc4 a5 35.e5 Nb6
30.Ne5 also gives a winning position.
If 30.e5 then 30...Rd8 is good for
Black. 32...Rxc4 0-1
30...f6 31.Nc4 Rd4 32.e5?

Gareyev, Timur 2611
Smirnov, Anton 2529
Gold Coast Open 2018
Gareyev had sacrificed a piece for
what always seemed to be insuf-
ficient compensation, but the top
seed kept causing problems for his
opponent, with the bizarre dia-
grammed position being reached
after 50 moves.
51.Rh7!?
Typical optimism. 51.Rc1 was the
best chance, although after 51...
Rc3! (51...Ba4 52.Qe5 is less con-
vincing.) 52.Bxc2 Qc7 Black is well
on top, though he has no immedi-
ate threats.
51...c1=Q 52.Rxd7+ Qcc7?!
Played instantly by Smirnov who,
short of time, could not be expected
to find the sole winning path: 52...
Ka8! 53.Rxd6 Rh8!!
53.Bxf5?
Overlooking Black’s reply. After
the more obvious 53.Rxc7+ Qxc7
54.Qe5! it is far from clear that
Black can win.
53...Rf8!
Forcing an exchange of queens,
after which the Black rook can mop
up the White pawns with ease.
54.Rxc7+ Qxc7 55.g4 Nxf5
56.Qxc7+ Kxc7 57.gxf5 Rxf5
58.a4 Rg5+ 59.Kf1
59...Rg6! 60.b5 Rg8
60...Kb6 is even simpler.
61.a5 Ra8 62.a6 Kb6 63.a4 Ka5
64.e4 Kxa4 65.b6 Rxa6 66.b7
Rb6 67.exd5 Kb5 68.Ke2 Kc4
69.d6 Rxb7 0-1
The two teenagers then fought for
the lead until the final round when
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
Smirnov was held to a draw by sec-
ond seed Srinath Narayanan while
Kuybokarov demolished another
GM norm hunter, Indonesia’s top
female player Irine Sukandar.
Sukandar had earlier destroyed
Brandon Clarke’s title hopes by win-
ning the craziest non-Gareyev game
of the tournament.
Sukandar, Irene K 2396
Clarke, Brandon 2411
Gold Coast Open
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nc6
4.O-O Nf6 5.Re1 Bd7 6.h3
The modern choice. 6.c3 a6 7.Bxc6
Bxc6 8.d4 is an exciting old gambit
line, regrettably defanged.
6...a6 7.Bf1
7...g5!?
The revival of this ambitious line,
which almost died out after some
successful trials in the 1970s, is
probably due to the recent realisa-
tion that ...g5 can give a castled king
problems in almost any position.
The most famous recent example is
Kramnik’s win over Aronian from
the Candidates tournament in Ber-
lin in March, but going back a little
further one can find Topalov defeat-
ing Carlsen at the 2015 Sinquefield
AUGUST 2018 | 35
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
Cup in the line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6
3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.O-O Nf6 5.Re1 a6
6.Bd3 b5 7.c4 g5!?.
8.Nxg5!?
8.d4 g4 9.d5 is the alternative and
probably superior main line.
8...Rg8 9.h4 Ne5!?
Clarke is following an old game by
Australia’s Julia Ryjanova, no doubt
with an improvement prepared on
Svetushkin’s successful reply 9.d3!.
9...Bg4! 10.f3 Bd7 turns out to
36
be Black’s most accurate continua-
tion, with full compensation for the
pawn.
10.d4!? cxd4 11.f4 Neg4! 12.Bc4!
d5!? In keeping with the spirit of
the game, although 12...e6 was
safer.
13.exd5 Qb6 14.Qd3! Bf5
15.Qb3 Qc5
16.Qxb7!
Played after long thought and a
Left: IM Irene Sukandar
convincingly refuted FM
Brandon Clarke’s ambitious
opening play.
Photo: Cathy Rogers
brave and correct decision. 16.Bd3
Bxd3 17.cxd3 Qxd5 would be
handing Black an endgame edge
whereas after the text move Sukan-
dar can keep playing for a win.
16...Rc8 17.Bd3! Bxd3 18.cxd3
Too late, Clarke realises that his
long-planned 18...Qxc1 “and wins”
in fact loses after 19.Nc3!!.
18...h6!? 19.Na3!?
Tempting Clarke with the g5 knight.
The computer claims an edge for

White after 19.d6!? hxg5! 20.Rxe7+
Kd8 21.Bd2! gxf4 22.d7! Rc6!
23.Qa8+ Kxe7 24.d8=Q+ Ke6
Analysis Position
Yet who but Gareyev would vol-
untarily head for such a sharp line,
where one small miscalculation
could be fatal?
19...Rd8
19...hxg5 was playable, with the
idea 20.Bd2 Nxd5 21.Rac1 Nc3!
However even here Black is not out
of the woods should White calmly
respond 22.Nc4!.
20.Ne4 Nxe4 21.Rxe4 Rg6
22.Nc4 Qxd5 23.Qxd5 Rxd5
24.Bd2
The position has finally stabilised
and White’s extra pawn on the
queenside - remember 16.Qxb7! -
outweighs White’s crippled king-
side pawns.
24...e6 25.Rc1 Nf6 26.Re2
Rh5?
The final error. After 26...Ng4 Black
is still in the game.
27.Ne5! 1-0
Kuybokarov’s half point victory – a
point above the GM norm - was
probably the best result of his
career. Having finished school in
Uzbekistan before he came to Perth,
the 17-year-old plans to become
the first chess professional based on
Australia’s west coast: “My family
came to Australia about one and
a half years ago and we are plan-
ning to stay permanently. I really
like Australia, especially the city of
Perth. My ambition is to become
World Champion.”
Apart from another outstanding
Smirnov performance, the most en-
couraging aspect from the point of
view of Australia’s Olympic hopes
was Bobby Cheng’s fine showing.
The Melbourne 21-year-old missed
out on his third and final Grand-
master norm by just half a point,
despite finishing undefeated and
beating top seed Timur Gareyev in
the final round.
Gareyev, Timur 2611
Cheng, Bobby 2496
Gold Coast Open
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
Black has all the pressure but Gar-
eyev’s last move, 34.Re1, allows
Cheng a winning combination...
34...Nd3! 35.Re3 Nf4!!
Suddenly the threat of mate in 3
forces Gareyev to give up his queen.
36.gxf4 Rg8+ 37.Qg3 Qh8!
38.fxe5?!
Hastening the end. 38.Nc3 Rxg3+
39.fxg3 e4 would be a slow but sure
win for Black in any case.
38...f4! 39.exd6+ Kd8 40.Nd4!?
Rxg3+! 41.Rxg3 fxg3 0-1
The second seed Srinath Narayanan
very nearly became another first
round casualty and needed some
good fortune to fall over the win-
ning line.
To finish, a spectacular last round
game from the U/1800 division,
a game which enabled 8-year-old
Jayden Ooi to tie for first place,
one of the youngest players to win
a ratings division in an Australian
tournament.
AUGUST 2018 | 37
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018

17.Bxg5! Nxe4! 18.Rxe4 hxg5 2018 Gold Coast Open

Ooi, Jayden 19.Rg4 f6 20.h4 Bf5? Leading Final Scores
Wang, Eason 20...Bg6! keeps Black alive.
Kuybokarov 7.5/9
Gold Coast Open U1800
Smirnov 7
21.Rg3 g4 22.Qh6 Kf7 23.Qg7+
Cheng 6.5
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 Ke6
Narayanan 6.5
4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 Bb6 6.O-O d6
Izzat 6.5
7.Nbd2 O-O 8.Re1 Re8 9.Nf1
Zhao 6
Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Ng3 Bg6
12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 Bh7?! Morris 6

14.Qd2 Na5 15.Nh5 Nxc4

16.dxc4 g5

24.Nf4+! exf4 25.Re1+ Be3

26.Nd4+ Ke5 27.Rgxe3+! fxe3
28.Rxe3+ Be4 29.Rxe4+! 1-0

38

Australia’s Booming
International Tournament
Circuit
F
or decades Canberra’s Doe-
berl Cup has been Australia’s
premier open tournament; the
gap between the Doeberl Cup
and its rivals widening after
O2C took over organisation and major
sponsorship in 2007 and turned each
Easter’s Doeberl Cup into an international
event with the possibility of earning FIDE
titles.
Prior to 2007, Australia had hosted only
four Grandmaster round-robins plus a
number of open events (including the
three Lidums Australian Opens in Ad-
elaide and the 2006 Australian Champion-
ship) where Grandmaster ‘norms’ were
possible.
However since O2C showed the way in
2007, the number of domestic tourna-
ments where Grandmaster norms are pos-
sible have exploded.
From 2008 until 2013 the Sydney Inter-
national Open in Parramatta followed the
O2C Doeberl Cup, but modest turnouts
and organisational issues ended that event.
The are, however, plans afoot to revive the
SIO in 2019.
Two round-robin Grandmaster tourna-
ments are now held each December with
Leonid Sandler turning the Australian
GOLD COAST OPEN 2018
Masters in Melbourne into a GM level
event and the Koetsiers upgrading the
Australian Young Masters in Adelaide into
a chess festival with a GM tournament at
its pinnacle.
Now the Gold Coast Open has made its
move to become an international open
where GM norm performances are pos-
sible.
Organiser Shaun Curtis explains: “After
the 2017 Gold Coast Open attracted such
a strong field, the possibility of the event
becoming an international open began
to appear more achievable. We polled the
players after last year’s tournament (with
mixed feedback about the idea!) and dis-
cussed options; there were factors such as
significantly higher costs, suitable venue
and general timing of the event. At the start
of this year Andrew Fitzpatrick, Justine
Jule and myself had a discussion and made
the decision to have a crack at making the
Open as big as possible.”
No Australian Grandmaster has secured a
majority of their GM norms in a domestic
tournament – of our 8 GMs, David Smer-
don, Max Illingworth and Moulthun Ly are
the only ones to have earned one of their
GM norms in Australia - but with so many
opportunities nowadays that statistic will
surely be be redundant soon.
AUGUST 2018 | 39
 INTERVIEW
THE BLINDFOLD KING
Interview with GM Timur Gareyev
How did you first discover your talent for blind
fold chess?
Blindfold chess must be practiced! This is the only way
to find out that you are capable of playing without
sight of the board or the moves of the pieces. I believe
just about everyone can try and eventually succeed by
taking gradual steps to expanding one’s comfort zone.
However, if you don’t try, you will never know you can
do it, and you’ll never break the world record!
The aspect of visualization without moving the pieces
on the physical board is integral to playing sighted
chess- that essentially is calculation in its simple or
complex form. Thus thinking ahead is a blindfold chess
ability, and however new or an experienced player you
40
Photos by Adrian Chew-Lee
already are, you play blindfold chess!
As I was working to master my game in my youth, I
tended to read chess books without setting up and
playing moves over the board. This skill came handy
during many hours and days of travels for competitions.
Though, I never realized I was exceptionally good at
playing multiple games of blindfold chess.
First time I was curious to try and faced 4 players simul-
taneously back in Austin, Texas in 2012. Surprisingly,
even though the sensation of trying to keep track of
the openings was getting tough and almost confusing,
gradually I was able to visualize the positions and won
all 4 games.

As I played more matches and kept increasing the chal-
lenge, I was still able to keep up. I started to realize that
there was something going for me and I must eventu-
ally take the opportunity for the ultimate world record.
You currently hold the world record for playing
48 simultaneous blindfold games conducted in
Las Vegas in 2016. Scoring an astounding 38.5/48!
While the simul lasted over 19 hours. How do you
prepare for such an event both mentally and physi-
cally?
Physical and mental preparation are essential!
I feel like daily exercise and activity including just walk-
ing as well as focus training with meditation are quite
INTERVIEW
powerful in enhancing one’s ability. I ran a couple mara-
thons including an ultra for 77km prior to my world
record in 2016. Due to the length of the effort over
many hours of play, just the psychological advantage of
being engaged in something over multiple tough hours
is critical in preparation.
Do you find it more difficult playing against a play-
er around 1800 level who sticks to known opening
positions or a 1200 player whom may move much
more randomly in nature?
Skilled players are most challenging to try and defeat,
even though my first win in the world record event
came against the top participant in the match. The
aspect of playing blindfolded comes to my advantage
AUGUST 2018 | 41
 INTERVIEW

at times as my opponents anticipate the more peace-

ful beginning but face a tough dynamic and strategic
task. I try to lead an uncompromising attack to put my
opponent on the defensive. The tougher my opponent “Your heart is free.
the more careful I have to be about taking calculated
“gambles” with all-attacking strategy. Development is
truly essential for good initiative! Players rated 1200 in
Have the courage
Australia are certainly good fighters, and can come out
spotting a lot of good unexpected moves!
to follow it.”
When playing multiple games, do you remember
associated sports, interesting guests, and performances,
the moves from each game or only the current posi-
cool outdoor venue.
tion on the board? Do you happen to have a photo-
graphic memory by any chance?
Put together a book describing my experience in the
game of 25 years as well as elaborating on the intrica-
I remember the games from the very beginning and
cies of blindfold chess mind, cool games played over
till the end as a whole story and a major scene of a
the last couple of years, and interesting stories.
movie, one leading onto the next as a chain of events
I must chunk together. I believe blindfold chess is not
Travels for chess and fun have taken over my life, I
so much multi-tasking as it is the focus and attention
certainly see plusses and minuses of the ever-evolving
to individual games one at a time. Then the blindfold
traveler’s lifestyle. However, I feel like there is a certain
master must link those together to be able to associate
current of inspiration. I truly enjoy Australia and hope-
and differentiate. I do definitely have certain qualities
fully the warm currents will bring me once again over
of photographic memory in the same way other chess
to the continent in summer 2018!
players do when it comes to chess.

What upcoming plans for your blindfold chess do Timur played in 2018 the following
blindfold simuls in Australia
you have in store? 
King’s College (Gold Coast) 10-0
I think it would be fun to experiment and provide more Chuchie Grammer (Brisbane) 10-0
value, insights in the area of blindfold chess as well as Melbourne Chess Club 7-3
our beloved game in general. Canberra 10-0

A Blindfold Chess Festival dedicated to setting another

world record with all the cool fireworks: high-tech stuff,

42
 Norway Chess
By Ian Rogers Photos by Cathy Rogers

F
abiano Caruana con- Caruana finished ahead of World
tinued his stellar 2018 Champion Magnus Carlsen at a major
by winning the sixth tournament and for the third time in
edition of the Norway 2018 a strong finish enabled Caruana
Chess supertourna- to run down his rivals.
ment in Stavanger, the
American’s third major With his Norway Chess win, Caruana
tournament victory this year. confirmed his reputation for winning
clutch games, inched a little closer to
the world number one ranking that
Altibox Norway Chess 2018 – the
Carlsen has held for six years, and se-
sponsor is a cable and internet provider
cured the 75,000 Euro first prize. “[This
- attracted 10 of the top 13 players in the
year] I’ve played well at times and
world and seven of the top 8, to recon-
badly at times, but somehow I have
firm the position it has established since
always managed to come through,” said
2015 as the year’s strongest round-robin
Caruana.
tournament.

Caruana has been a regular visitor to

The 2018 event was the closest in the
Stavanger, previously without success:
series, with the organisers preparing for
“I think [to win Norway Chess 2018]
a five-way playoff at one stage. How-
is a big deal; it’s not often you win a
ever Caruana broke away from a large
tournament with all the top players in
peleton in the final round, beating his
the world. I’ve played several times, but
compatriot Wesley So while his other
never managed to even make a plus
co-leaders going into the last round,
score - somewhere during [the last]
Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura,
game I thought I might again finish on
were playing quiet draws.
50%! I’m proud of some moments from
this tournament, but it wasn’t a flawless
For the second time since qualifying to
performance.”
challenge for the world title in March,

44
Caruana struggled to determine
why he had performed well this
year, eventually settling on the
unseasonably warm weather in the
normally wet and windy fjordlands.
“The weather was great. [My second
Rustam Kasimdzhanov and I] had
a chance to go outdoors a lot [this
year], to do sports and get your mind
off the chess and keep a good mood.”
Caruana’s victory did, however, hang
by a thread. Having lost the first
round to Carlsen, Caruana fought
back but did not manage to reach a
tie for the lead until the penultimate
round. Then So was offered plenty
of chances by Caruana in a tense
time scramble and a single rushed
move after the move 40 time control
sealed So’s fate and handed the title
to his compatriot. (“Wesley will
have a sleepless night,” commented
Viswanathan Anand.”)
So dropped from first to fifth place
with his dramatic final round defeat,
his only loss of the tournament.
Having played some of his best
chess for the year, So could con-
sider himself unlucky not only to
fail to win the tournament but also
to receive a prize 57,000 Euro less
than Caruana. On the plus side, the
24-year-old became the only player
to beat World Champion Carlsen in
2018, his sixth round victory over
the local hero throwing the tourna-
ment wide open after Carlsen had
begun the event in dominating form.
For Carlsen a tie for second place,
especially after his 2.5/3 start, can be
considered a disappointment; not so
for Anand and Nakamura who tied
with him.
After six consecutive draws, the
Indian former World Champion par-
ticipated in three consecutive wins
for Black, beating Maxime Vachier-
Lagrave and Sergey Karjakin but los-
ing a tough game against Caruana in
between.
Nakamura, the tournament’s only
undefeated player, broke a run of
seven draws with a demolition of
Karjakin in round eight, but that sin-
gle victory was not enough, though
28,000 Euros and eight rating points
was some compensation for missing
out on the title.
Of the rest of the field, Karjakin
would be the most disappointed.
Having reached 2.5/4 Karjakin suf-
fered heavy defeats against Caruana
and Nakamura, followed by a weird
loss to Anand in the final round
which pushed the Russian down to
the tail of the field. Karjakin has now
achieved the rare feat of winning
Norway Chess twice and finishing
last twice!
Norway Chess 2018 was full of
incident off the board as well, from
a cooking competition to television
debates about whether the chess
world is infested by match fixing.
World number five Ding Liren was
forced to withdraw after fracturing
his hip and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
almost did the same at the start of
the event due to dental problems.
(See sidebar: The Shrinking Tourna-
ment)
By the end of the tournament, Nor-
wegian commentator Simen Agdes-
tein stated that Caruana was playing
the best chess in the world at the
moment. Whether or not his com-
patriot Carlsen agrees, the World
Championship match in November
is looking an attractive prospect; the
first time the world number one and
two will have met in the title match
since 1990!
JUNE 2018 | 45
 NORWAY CHESS 2018
Anand, Viswanathan 2760
Caruana, Fabiano 2822
Norway Chess 2018
Caruana had played aggressively
since the start and managed to
convince Anand to sacrifice the ex-
change, However the game is very
much up in the air, especially with
time trouble looming.
36.Ra8?!
After the game Anand said he
should have played, 36.g3? but
Caruana replied that this was the
move he was hoping for because of
36...Qf5!!.
In fact White had a narrow path to
a draw, starting with 36.Bxb7! Qf4
and now the incredible 37.Re5!!.
Then after 37...Qc1 38.Rxe8+
Rxe8 39.Be4! Black has nothing
better than 39...Qxb2+ (On 39...
d5 40.Qa6! holds.) 40.Qc2 Qxc2+
41.Bxc2 Rc8 42.Bg6 h4 43.f4! and
White king is active enough to hold
the draw.
36...Qf4! 37.Rxe8+ Rxe8
38.Qd1!
38.Be4 loses immediately to 38...
d5!
46
38...Qxh2 39.Qd2 Qh4+ 40.Kf1 when White’s pawns will soon start
Qh1+ 41.Kf2 Qh4+ 42.Kf1 to fall.
Ra8?!
Allowing Anand’s king to make 47...Qc1+ 48.Kb5 Qc8!
the great escape After 42...Kg7!
43.Bxb7 g4! White is in desperate
trouble.
43.Ke2! Ra1 44.Kd3! b5
49.Kb6?!
49.Kb4 is forced, but still losing
after 49...Qb8+ 50.Qb5 Qxb5+
51.Kxb5 Rd1 52.Kc4 Kg7 53.b4
h4 54.b5 Rb1 when Black’s king
The critical moment for Anand who will reach the queenside, after
misses the chance to make his king which the White pawns will start to
escape even more impressive. fall.
45.c4? 49...Qb8+ 50.Kc6 Rc1+ 0-1
Anand rejected 45.Bc6! because of
45...Qh1 which Caruana believed
Nakamura, Hikaru 2769
to be winning. However he had
Karjakin, Sergey 2782
missed the unlikely 46.Ke4!!, when
Norway Chess 2018
Black has nothing better than 46...
Qe1+ 47.Qxe1 Rxe1+ 48.Kd5
Re2 49.Kxd6 Rxg2 50.Kc7 which 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6
leads to a pawn race where White 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O e4
draws without undue difficulty. e.g. 7.Ng5 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Re8
50...h4 51.d5 h3 52.d6 Rd2 53.d7
Kg7 54.d8=Q Rxd8 55.Kxd8 Kf6
and now 56.b3! Ke5 57.f4+ Kxf4
58.c4 bxc4 59.bxc4 g4 60.Bd7!
holds up the kingside pawns long
enough to enable the c-pawn to
queen.
45...bxc4+ 46.Kxc4 Qf4! 47.Qe2
47.Qxf4 gxf4 is now too slow to
hold, e.g. 48.Be6 Kg7 49.Kd5 Kf6
 NORWAY CHESS 2018

9.f3
“Sergey probably didn’t expect this
line, since I have not used it since
my game against [Aronian last
year],” said Nakamura.

9...exf3
“Sergey had previously played 9...
e3!?,” said Nakamura, the move
popularised by Anatoly Karpov aff-
ter using it to defeat Garry Kasparov
in their 1987 world title match in
Seville.

10.Nxf3 d5 11.d4
11.cxd5 was almost universally
played when Smyslov introduced
Black’s defensive set-up to top level
play.
The open press conference room.
Photo: Cathy Rogers
11...dxc4
“11...Ne4 12.Qc2 dxc4 13.Rb1 f5
14.g4! was the famous Kasprov-
Qg6.” 16...Be6?!
Ivanchuk game which popular-
“I was shocked by this,” said Naka-
ised [11.d4 for White],” explained
15.e4 Na5?! mura, “since after 17.Ne4 I thought
Nakamura.
“A terrible move.” said Nakamura, “I he pretty much had to resign. I
guess he was trying to take advan- thought he had to try 16...c5 since
12.Bg5 h6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6
tage of my delaying e4. However after 17.Qa4 Nc6 is just about OK
15...b5 16.e5 could be similar.” In for Black. (The computer disagrees,
fact Black already has no easy move, offering 18.Nxc4! cxd4 19.cxd4
since 15...Qa3 16.Qc2 only helps Nxd4 20.Nd6 Ne2+ 21.Kh1 Rf8
White to double on the f-file. 22.Qc4! trapping the knight. IR)
Nakamura also pointed out that
16.e5! 17.Ne4 is also unpleasant for Black
since after 17...cxd4 18. cxd4 Rd8
17.Nd6, Rxd6 fails to 18.exd6
Qxd6 19.Qh5!.

17.Ne4
“Without a ... c5 break in the centre
[for Black] I have plenty of time
14.Nd2!?
- I don’t even have to rush [my at-
A novelty which caused Karjakin to
tack],” said Nakamura.
spend 23 minutes on his reply.
17...Rad8 18.Qh5 b5
14...Qe7?!
“Probably OK, “said Nakamura.
“I was expecting 14...Qg5 or 14...

JUNE 2018 | 47
 NORWAY CHESS 2018
“Everything loses here,” said Naka-
mura.“ 18...Rf8 loses to 19.Rf6!
and 20.Rxh6 is crushing, and on
18...Qf8 I can choose 19.Rf4 or
19.g4.
“I thought Sergey would probably
play 18...c5 when I saw 19.Nf6+!
gxf6 20.Rxf6 Qf8 21.Rxh6
Qg7 22.Be4! Bg4 23.Qh4 cxd4
24.Rh7! Qxe5 25.Qxg4+ Kf8
26.Rf1, and probably there are
other ways to win.”
19.Nf6+! Kh8 20.d5
“I wanted to find the simplest way,”
said Nakamura, “but actually I had
miscalculated something.”
48
20...Bxd5 21.Bxd5 Rxd5
22.Nxe8 Rxe5 23.Qxf7 Qxe8
24.Qxe8+
“24.Qxc7 Nc6 25.Qf7 should be
winning too,” said Nakamura, “but I
didn’t want to give him any activity.”
24...Rxe8 25.Rae1 Rxe1
26.Rxe1
“After exchanging rooks I knew that
at the very worst I could get a R+2
v N+2 ending,” explained Nakamu-
ra. “I didn’t particularly want to get
it, but then I realised how simple it
should be.”
26...c5!
27.Kf2!
Nakamura explained the 11 min-
utes spent on this move by saying,
“When I went into this line I had
intended 27.Re5 but to my horror
I realised that he had 27...Nb3!.
Taking the knight loses, e.g. 28.axb3
cxb3 29.Kf2 (29.Rxc5 loses to
29...b4!) 29...a5! 30.Re1 (30.Rxc5
allows 30...b4!) 30...a4 31.c4!? (If
31.Rb1 c4 wins.) 31...b4! 32.Ke3
a3 33.Kd2 a2! and he wins by one
tempo. “I suspect 28.Kf1 is winning
but already [something could be
going wrong].”
27...b4 28.Ke3 bxc3 29.Rc1 Nc6
30.Rxc3 Nb4 31.Rxc4
“I believe that the pawn ending
after 31.a4 is also winning, but after
getting to this point I couldn’t bring
myself to calculate it,” admitted
Nakamura, who showed a num-
ber of pawn endgame lines to the
commentators, accidentally losing a
tempo with White but still winning!
31...Nxa2 32.Rxc5 Nb4
 NORWAY CHESS 2018

33.Ke4 39.Kf5, without the knight [reach-

“When I played 31.Rxc4 I realised ing] f6 Black doesn’t really have a
that he couldn’t even get a good chance.”
set-up on the kingside, so [the 2v2
endgame] was easily winning,” said 38.Ra6 Nf7 39.Kf5 Nh8 40.h4
Nakamura. Nf7 41.g4 1-0

33...Kh7 34.Rc4 a5 35.Rc5 a4

36.Ra5 Nc6 37.Rxa4 Nd8

37...Ne7 is a better square,” said

Nakamura, “but after 38.Ra6 Ng8

Stavanger
Home to the Norwegian oil industry,
Stavanger suffered a mini-recession af-
ter the oil price dropped dramatically
between 2014 and 2016, witnessing
job losses and business closures.
tre buildings to oil silos. (The NuArt
Festival in Stavanger each September
encourages artists from around the
world to find a blank wall and create
art on it.)

As the oil price has recovered, so has
the city. This year hardly a shop was
vacant and Stavanger also enjoyed the
warmest May in living memory.
Stavanger, on the south-west coast of
Norway and offering access to tour-
ist attractions such as the fjords, the
old town, and Pulpit Rock, has always
been an appealing place to visit but
the city has become prominent for a
new attraction.
The sunny days showed up Stavan-
ger’s astonishing variety of street art,
displayed on everything from city cen-
The improved economic situation
enabled the tournament to attract new
sponsors in addition to the regular
funding sources of local government,
TV2 and the naming rights sponsor,
Altibox, which is in the final year of
their three year contract with Norway
Chess.
(Negotiations are in progress to con-
tinue the agreement.)
Altogether, a budget of 7 million
kroner enabled the organisers to bring
the strongest field of 2018 together to
Stavanger.

AUGUST 2018 | 49
 NORWAY CHESS 2018
So, Wesley 2778
Carlsen, Magnus 2843
Norway Chess 2018
The day before this game, when
asked about his round six clash
with So, Carlsen opined, “To be
honest, usually nothing happens in
these games. I can’t remember him
ever being close to beating me. If I
want a draw, I will often get it eas-
ily.” Famous last words...
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5
Played after eight minutes thought.
“I was totally surprised by his Slav
Defence,” admitted So, “but I had
studied [the Exchange variation]
recently and what’s the point of
studying it if I’m not going to play
it?”
3...cxd5 4.Bf4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6
6.Nf3
“6.e3 allows the 6...Bg4 line,” said
So, “though here 6...Nh5 7.Bd2
Nf6 is a good line; Magnus faced it
with White against Nepomniacht-
chi.” Unspoken was So’s expectation
that Carlsen, playing So, would
never allow his opponent to repeat
moves so easily.
6...a6
50
“Magnus decided to go for a side-
line that I had not looked at much,”
said So.
7.Rc1 Bf5 8.e3 Rc8 9.Be2 e6
10.O-O Nd7
“10...Be7 is the main move,” said
So. However the line 11.Qb3
Na5 12.Qa4+ Nc6?! (12...Kf8)
13.Bxa6!! has scored very well for
White.
11.Na4 Be7
12.h3
“I have to play 12.h3,” said So,
“because if I play the simple move
12.a3 then Black has 12...g5!
13.Bg3 h5 14.h3 g4 with a power-
ful initiative.”
12...O-O
“If now 12...g5 13.Bh2 h5 he is
missing a tempo and after 14.Nd2
g4 15.hxg4 hxg4 his queen cannot
come to h4 right away and I can
simply take the g4 pawn.”
13.a3
“I assume Magnus was still in his
preparation since he has very deep
preparation, but I remembered
that White should be [a little] bet-
ter here because I occupy the c5
square faster than he occupies ...c4,”
explained So. “I thought at least
here if I did not make too many
mistakes I wouldn’t end up losing
[to Magnus] ... again.” So may have
been mistaken about the depth of
Carlsen’s preparation since from his
next move, Carlsen started thinking
hard about almost every move.
13...Na5
“If 13...b5 14.Nc5 Nxc5 15.dxc5,
this structure is better for White,
which is good because usually I do
not get anything with White!” half-
joked So.
14.Nc5 Nc4
After the game So could find no
good answer to 14...Nxc5 15.dxc5
b6, analysing 16.b4 Nc4 17.Bxc4
dxc4 18.Qxd8 Bxd8 but missing
that here White can win a safe pawn
with 19.cxb6! Bxb6 20.Ne5!.
15.b4! Nxc5 16.dxc5 Nxa3?!
Very risky. “16...b5 was also an op-
tion,” said So.
17.Nd4 Be4 18.f3 Bg6 19.Qb3
Nc4
“This seemed forced to me since
after 19...Nb5 Black will be a little
worse,” said So.
20.Bxc4 dxc4 21.Qxc4 Qe8
“I expected 21...Bg5, trading some

pieces,” said So, “but Magnus
[feared] 22.Bxg5 Qxg5 23.e4 Rfd8
24.Nb3. [After] 21...Qe8 I thought
he must be playing for a win again.”
22.Bg3!
“If 22.Rfd1 e5! 23.Bxe5 Bxc5
24.bxc5 Qxe5 25.e4 Kh8 and Black
is probably OK as he just needs
to play ...f6 or ...f5, [freeing] his
bishop,” explained So.
22...e5 23.Nb3
23...Bd8?
“I was expecting 23...Bg5 when
I was considering 24.Rce1,” said
So. “After the game we looked at
24...Bf5 25.Qc3 Bf6 26.e4 Bd7
27.Na5 when probably White is
still a bit better. “Anyway 23...Bg5
is better [than 23...Bd8] since it
doesn’t lose a pawn!”
24.Qd5! Qb5 25.Bxe5 Be7
“Magnus explained that he thought
he could take on b4 but he had
missed that after 25...Qxb4?
26.Bd6 Re8 27.c6, 27...bxc6 is im-
possible in view of 28.Bxb4 cxd5
29.Rxc8,” said So.
26.Qd2 Rfd8 27.Bd6 Bf6 28.e4
h6 29.Nd4 Bxd4+
Hoping for salvation in a future
opposite bishops endgame, but
Black is never given time to free his
bishop with ...f5.
30.Qxd4 Re8 31.Rfe1 Kh7
32.g4!
“I like this move,” said So. “We were
both down on time and [I get some
automatic moves].”
32...f6 33.f4 Qc6 34.f5 Bf7 35.h4
Ra8 36.Rc2
“I want to mate him, but 36.Rc3
was stronger because after 36...a5
37.g5 Bh5 I have 38.Rg3 and there
is no ...Bf3 [counterplay],” said So.
36...a5 37.g5
37...Bh5
“I thought he was just going to give
up a piece with 37...axb4 38.g6+
Bxg6 39.fxg6+ Kxg6 when my
36.Rc2 would be more precise than
NORWAY CHESS 2018
36.Rc3,” explained So.
38.g6+
So used up almost all of his remain-
ing time on this move. “With the
pawn on g6 he has back rank prob-
lems forever,” explained So.
38...Kh8 39.b5 Qxb5 40.Rb2
Qc6?!
This makes So’s job easy. As So indi-
cated after the game, 40...Qd7 was
necessary, after which 41.Re3 keeps
the bishop locked away on h5 and
should win slowly but surely.
41.Rb6 Qc8 42.Qd5
42...a4
So was most nervous about 42...
Bxg6 43.fxg6 Qg4+ 44.Kf2 Rad8
but had the position been reached
there is little doubt So would have
been able to calculate the winning
line 45.Qf5 Qxh4+ 46.Bg3 Rd2+
47.Ke3 Qxg3+ 48.Kxd2, etc.
43.Rxb7 Rg8
On 43...a3, 44.Rxg7! wins.
44.c6 1-0
Carlsen’s first loss for 2018 and
“my first classical victory against
Magnus - I finally managed to get
Magnus on his off day,” said So.
JUNE 2018 | 51
 NORWAY CHESS 2018
The Match-Fixing Controversy
During the seventh round, Magnus
Carlsen took over as host of the TV2 cover-
age of Norway Chess.
Carlsen, who was scheduled to play the
injured Ding and so had a bye, did not hold
back in his comments on the top players
and chess world, saying that the status quo
in the world body FIDE could not continue.
However Carlsen’s comments which cre-
ated the greatest stir, and led to days of dis-
cussion on TV2, were that he had noticed
in Shamkir how often Sergey Karjakin and
the top Azeris prearranged draws against
each other. Carlsen also commented that
he suspected, but wasn’t sure, that the draw
a few days earlier between Karjakin and
Mamedyarov was also prearranged.
That day when Mamedyarov was inter-
viewed after his game, he readily admitted
prearranging draws in the past, particularly
against his Azeri teammate Teimour Rad-
jabov, but noted that if two players really
wanted to draw it was hard to stop them,
52
prearranged or otherwise.
TV2’s commentary team were stunned at
how ‘match fixing’ was so apparently wide-
spread in chess – though far less common
than in decades past - and debated the
ethical and sporting consequences of this.
(Ethically, it is hard to tell the difference
between prearranging a draw or a loss, but
in a sporting sense a prearranged draw
rarely makes much difference to the result
of a tournament.)
The debate seemed to end when local hero
Carlsen took a 20 minute move-repetition
draw in the final round against Vachier-
Lagrave, despite the Sofia Rules in opera-
tion at Norway Chess which forbade any
draw offers at all. Prearranged or not, short
draws, they decided, were a real scourge of
tournament chess, but little could be done
to stop them.

The Shrinking Tournament
Norway Chess, as usual, managed to con-
tract 10 of the top 12 players in the world
for their 2018 tournament, but this year
seemed to have great difficulty keeping
them in the event!
Weeks before the start of Norway Chess
2018, Fabiano Caruana expressed his
wish to receive an extra fee given his new
status as a challenger for the world title
or, if not, to drop out of the tournament.
Negotiations followed and ultimately
Caruana honoured the original contract
he had signed.
Then Shakhriyar Mamedyarov found
himself suffering a severe toothache on
his arrival in Stavanger and indicated
that he might have to withdraw. Anish
Giri was the proposed substitute but the
Dutchman declined. Fortunately a series
of dental appointments in Stavanger
solved the problem for Mamedyarov,
though the Azeri admitted that due to the
tooth he had had little sleep in the early
days of the tournament.
Then came the bicycle crash heard around
the chess world.
On the first rest day Ding Liren went cy-
cling with his father around the Byfjorden
– the fjord running past Stavanger - when
he took a corner at excessive speed and
was thrown off his bicycle.
NORWAY CHESS 2018
Feeling pain in his hip and wrist, Ding
was not unduly worried about his inju-
ries. He declined an offer to be checked
out by a hospital, instead proceeding to
the rest day cooking competition where
he was paired with Anand.
By now Ding was unable to stand and
was confined to a chair, from where he
chopped vegetables while Anand cre-
ated a winning hollandaise sauce for the
judges from a top hotel.
In severe pain, Ding did not wait for the
judge’s decision and was taken to a local
hospital where he was told he had broken
his hip and would undergo an operation
the next day.
Ding’s fourth round game against Ca-
ruana was postponed but Ding said later
“I already knew when they mentioned
an operation that I would be out of the
tournament.”
By the second rest day Ding was well
enough to take the yacht trip around the
fjords offered to the players, although he
needed crutches to walk.
A day later Ding returned home to China,
leaving Norway Chess with just nine
players and Ding’s three draws annulled.
AUGUST 2018 | 53
 NORWAY CHESS 2018
Caruana, Fabiano 2822
Karjakin, Sergey 2782
Norway Chess 2018
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6
4.e3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Bxc3 6.Qxc3
Qe7
7.b3!?
“A rare move,” said Caruana, “which
seemed to surprise Sergey. White
has many moves here, including the
main lines 7.a3 and 7.Be2.”
7...O-O
54
“The most solid move, said Ca-
ruana. “One of the points of 7.b3
is that after 7...d5 White can play
8.d4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4
and now after 10...dxc4 11.Bxc4
White has taken back on c4 with
one tempo more than in the 7.Be2
line. Of course these lines are still
very sharp.”
8.Bb2 Re8 9.a3 a5
“A waiting move. I was expecting 9...
d5 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Qc2 Bg4 or
9...e4, when I can choose between
10.Nd4 and 10.Ng5!?,” explained
Caruana.
10.h3
“So I came up with a waiting move
myself. I think Sergey’s idea was
that after 10.Be2 he plays 10...d5
11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Qc2, giving a po-
sition where I have to lose a tempo
to get my bishop to the [ideal] b5
square,” said Caruana. “Here 12...e4
13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 b6 looks
playable for Black.”
10...b6
“A little slow,” said Caruana.
“I was [again] expecting 10...e4 or
10...d5 .”
11.Be2
In the commentary room Agdestein
had advocated 11.g4!? but Caruana
dismissed the idea, saying “My posi-
tion is fine. Why invite chaos?”
11...Bb7 12.O-O d5
“This surprised me, but after 12...
e4 I was simply intending 13.Nh4,”
explained Caruana.
13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Qc2 e4
15.Nh2!
Left: Caruana played aggres-
sively with the Petroff taking
Anand by suprise. Scoring a
crucial point with the Black
pieces.
Photo: Cathy Rogers

“After 15.Nd4 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 c5
Black would be very comfortable,”
said Caruana.
15...Qg5
“He would love to play 15...Ne5,
preventing 16.f4,” said Caruana,
“but after 16.Qxe4! Nc3 17.Qxb7
nothing works for Black, e.g. 17...
Reb8 (17...Rab8 18.Qa6 Ra8
19.Bxc3 is similar, while after 17...
Nxe2+ 18.Kh1 Nd3 19.Qf3 Nxb2
20.Qxe2 he is a pawn down and his
knight is trapped.) 18.Qxb8+ Rxb8
19.Bxc3 I am up almost a whole
[set].”
16.f4 exf3 17.Nxf3 Qg3
“The queen is pretty annoying here,
“ said Caruana. “If he’d played a
move such as 15...Rad8, we’d reach
this position with his queen worse
placed on e7.”
18.Rf2
“If 18.Qf5?, 18...Nf4! at least equal-
ises,” Caruana pointed out.
18...Rad8 19.Bc4
“I decided to play quickly and not
worry too much if I was playing the
most accurate way,” admitted Ca-
ruana. “I knew 19.Bc4 couldn’t be
a bad move - it’s on such a beautiful
diagonal.”
19...Nf6?!
Played after 8 minutes. “A panicky
decision - it’s just so [ugly],” said
Caruana, “[Playing such a move] is
admitting that your position isn’t
good. 19...Rd6 might be bad tacti-
cally, but at least there will still be
hope positionally. I was intending
20.Raf1 Nf6 21.Qf5!? (21.e4!)
21...Bc8 (21...h6! is necessary. IR)
22.Qg5 when it is hard for him to
deal with all the threats.”
20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Raf1
“I wanted to play 21.Bxf7+!? Kxf7
22.Qxh7+ Qg7 (If 22...Kf8 23.Nh4
is very strong.) 23.Ng5+ Kf8
24.Rxf6+! Qxf6 25.Rf1 Qxf1+
26.Kxf1 and I have too many
threats,” explained Caruana. “But I
didn’t see what to do after 22...Ke6.
After all, I am not attacking with so
many pieces.”
21...Rd6 22.b4!
“22.Bxf7+ was again tempting,” ad-
mitted Caruana, “but after 22...Kxf7
23.Qxh7+ Qg7 24.Ng5+ Kf8
my threats are not clear, and after
25.Qh5 he can just run with 25...
Ke7.” Later analysis showed that
25.Qh4! would keep the attack go-
ing since 25...Ke7 26.Ne4 causes
the f6 pawn to fall.
22...axb4 23.axb4
NORWAY CHESS 2018
23...Re7
“I am not sure how seriously he
considered 23...Nxb4 24.Bxf7+!
Kxf7 25.Qxc7+ but I couldn’t see
what to do after 25...Kg8!,” admit-
ted Caruana, mentioning Caruana
analysed 25...Re7 26.Ng5+!
Qxg5 27.Qxd6 Nd5 28.Rf5 Qg6
29.Rxd5 “and I should win this.”
26.Qxb7 Nd3 27.Nd4! Nxf2
28.Rxf2, describing the final
position as “unclear” but he had
missed 28.Nf5!! when Black has
no defence. “I was thinking I might
need to play 24.Qb3 Nd5 25.Nd4
but after the only move 25...Re5! I
knew that I had to find a good move
but I didn’t know what it was!”
confessed Caruana. In fact 26.Qc2
retains White’s edge in this line and,
as Caruana said, “I had a feeling I
would find something!”
24.b5 Ne5 25.Nd4 Bc8
“25...Nxc4 26.Qxc4 Be4 may be [a
better defence], but 27.Qe2 looked
very good for White to me,” said
Caruana.
26.Kh1 Kg7 27.Be2 Kh8
“My position is very solid and I was
threatening 28.Qf5!,” explained
Caruana. “He can try 27...Qg6 but
after 28.Qc3, I don’t see how it
helps him.”
28.Qc3 Kg7
JUNE 2018 | 55
 NORWAY CHESS 2018
World Champion Magnus Carlsen enjoying being a spectator instead.
Photo: Cathy Rogers
na. “Then I noticed the plan to put
my bishop on f5...”
29.Bd1! Kg8 30.Bc2 Qh4
31.Rf4 Qg3 32.Bf5 Bb7 33.Be4
Bc8 34.Qa3!
“More accurate than 34.Qa1 when
he can defence with 34...Rd8, ex-
plained Caruana.
34...Kg7 35.Qa8
“Once he started playing ...Kg7-h8-
g7 I was quite sure I would find a
way to break through,” said Carua-
56
35...Bxh3!?
A combination which Karjakin
knew to be flawed but he felt had
little choice since it was played
with 31 seconds left on the clock.
“I think Sergey missed that after
35...Bd7!? 36.Qd8 he has 36...
Ng6! - a hard move to see because
you never want to move this knight
- and if 37.Bxg6 Bxh3! 38.Qa8
hxg6 39.gxh3 Qxh3+ is still messy,
“ said Caruana. “So I was intending
36.Bf5!”
36.gxh3 Qxh3+ 37.Kg1 Rxd4!
38.Bg2!
“The last important move,” said
Caruana.
38...Qg3 39.Rxd4 Ng4 40.Rf3
Qe1+ 41.Bf1 1-0
“After 41.Bf1 Qh4 42.Bh3 Qe1+
43.Rf1 Qg3+ my queen gets back
with 44.Qg2!,” said Caruana, “and
with all my pieces defending I
should be pretty safe!”
Carlsen, Magnus 2843
Caruana, Fabiano 2822
Norway Chess 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
Avoiding Caruana’s new weapon,
the Petroff’s Defence.

2...Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3
Bb4+ 6.Bd2
6.c3 Bd6 would have had happy
memories for Caruana, who beat
Carlsen with this line at the 2014
Sinquefield Cup on his way to a 7/7
start.
6...Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2
7...a5!?
“7...a5 is not a very usual move,”
said Carlsen, “but it is known. [With
my opening] White is not pretend-
ing to play for too much. As you will
see [after my ninth move], although
the position is balanced the pawn
structure is not completely sym-
metrical so there is something to
play for for both sides.”
8.c3 Nbd7 9.exd5 cxd5 10.O-O
O-O 11.Re1 Re8 12.Nf1
12...b5!?
“12...b6 looks normal,” said Carlsen.
“Then I would probably continue
13.Ne3 Bb7 14.d4 e4 15.Nd2
when 16.f3 is coming and I am try-
ing to claim that the ...b7 bishop is
misplaced.”
13.a4 b4 14.cxb4 axb4 15.Ne3
Bb7 16.d4 e4
17.Ne5!?
A promising pawn sacrifice. “I
spent a lot of time on 17.Nd2,” said
Carlsen, “but after 17...Qb6 (If im-
mediately 17...Nf8 I have time for
18.Bc2 Ne6 19.Nb3 when I think
White is a little better.) 18.Ndf1
Nf8 19.Nc2 Ne6 20.Qd2 and I
found it very difficult to assess these
types of position.”
17...Nxe5?!
Played after six minutes thought -
“A very short time” said Carlsen.
“The position after the opening
wasn’t particularly exciting but it
could have become exciting [now].
I expected him to sacrifice the
exchange and then I didn’t really
know what was going to happen,
e.g. 17...Rxe5! 18.dxe5 Nxe5
19.Qd4 Nc6 20.Qd2 d4 and I
wasn’t sure about this at all - it’s
completely unclear.”
NORWAY CHESS 2018
18.dxe5 Rxe5 19.Qd4 Re7
“He probably thought he was doing
well here,” said Carlsen of Caruana.
“It’s very hard for me to make prog-
ress since I have to maintain the d4
blockade. You often get this sort of
position with colours reversed in
a Ruy Lopez. With Black in such a
position you are always happy but
with White I was thinking ‘Am I
really better or is my position just
comfortable?
20.Rac1 Rd7 21.Red1 h6
22.Rc5 Ra5
“All very logical,” said Carlsen.
23.Rxa5 Qxa5 24.h3 Kh7
“I am not sure about 24...Kh7,” said
Carlsen, but Caruana’s response was
“I didn’t see a move any more.”
25.Rc1
25...Rc7?
“This is just insane,” said Carlsen.
“His position is unpleasant but I am
really not sure if I can make serious
progress, though it is harder for
him to find a move.“ 25...Qa6!? was
suggested after the game, though
Carlsen did not believe even this
was necessary since he agreed that
26.Rc5 will be well met by 26...
Qa7.
JUNE 2018 | 57
 NORWAY CHESS 2018
26.Rxc7 Qxc7 27.Qxb4 Qc1+
28.Bd1
“Now he’s just much worse. “ said
Carlsen who avoided 28.Kh2 be-
cause of 28...Qxb2 29.Qxb7 Qxf2
30.Nxd5 Ng4+! with a perpetual
check. However after the game
Carlsen was shocked to learn that
in this line White has 30.Qb6 and
then his intended 30...Ng4+ no
longer works, and his plan B 30...
Nh5 fails to 31.Bc4, so White is
winning. However 28.Kh2 Qc7+
29.g3 Bc6! is harder to break down.
“Let the computer figure it out,” said
Carlsen, happy with 29.Bd1.
28...Ba6?!
28...Bc6! 29.a5 Qa1! would make
White’s task a lot more difficult.
29.Qd4 Be2 30.Kh2 Bxd1
31.Nxd1 Qc7+ 32.Kg1 Qc1
33.b4
33...e3!?
Desperation, but in the long run
there was no stopping White’s con-
nected passed pawns.
34.fxe3 Ne4 35.Qxd5! Nd2
36.Qf5+ Kh8 37.Qg4 f5 38.Qe2
Ne4 39.Qe1!
Completely controlling the Black
knight after which Black can only
58
“scratch and claw” to use Carlsen’s
words.
39...Qa1 40.a5 Nd6 41.Qd2 Nc4
42.Qd4 Qc1
43.Kf1! Nxe3+ 44.Qxe3
Qxd1+ 45.Kf2 Qc2+ 46.Kg3 g5
47.Qe5+ Kh7 48.Kh2
“Although I suspect my technique
wasn’t sublime, there really wasn’t
much that could go wrong [from
here],” said Carlsen.
48...f4 49.Qd5 Qa4
50.Qf7+ Kh8 51.Qg6! Qxb4
52.Qxh6+ Kg8 53.Qxg5+
Kh7 54.Qh5+ Kg7 55.Qg5+
Kh7 56.h4 Qd6 57.Qh5+ Kg7
58.Qg5+ Kh7 59.h5 f3+ 60.g3 f2
61.Qg6+! Kh8 62.Qxd6 f1=Q
63.Qh6+
Some felt that resignation would
have been more polite around here
but Carlsen disagreed, saying “He
has every right to play on. He felt he
might have some chances [to hold]
so why not fight on?”
63...Kg8 64.Qe6+ Kh8 65.Qe3
Qb5 66.Qc3+ Kh7 67.g4
Qd5 68.Qc7+ Kg8 69.Kg3
Qe6 70.Qd8+ Kh7 71.Qd3+
Kh8 72.a6 Qe5+ 73.Kh3 Qa1
74.Qd8+ Kh7 75.Qe7+ Kh6
76.Qe3+ Kh7 77.a7 1-0
Carlsen, Magnus 2843
Aronian, Levon 2764
Norway Chess 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6
4.O-O Nxe4

Right: Wesley So and Mam-
edyarov enjoying a nice chat
with Ian Rogers after their
tense game.
Photo: Cathy Rogers
5.Re1
“5.Re1 in the Berlin is often con-
sidered [complete] boredom, but
it can actually become a real game,
explained Carlsen. “In the Berlin
it is hard to get much anyway. My
approach was just like the first
round; I didn’t aim for too much
with White. I just wanted a position
where perhaps I am slightly better,
relatively safe, and I have some-
thing to play for.”
5...Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1
Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O 9.d4 Bf6
10.Re1 Nf5
The immediate 10...Re8 may after
this game be regarded as a more
reliable equaliser.
11.d5 Re8 12.Rxe8+
12.Bd3 Rxe1+ 13.Qxe1 Qe7 gave
White nothing in Caruana-Aronian,
Baden Baden 2018.
12...Qxe8 13.Qd3!?
Initiating a new plan which Carlsen
after the game admitted he had
prepared in depth.
13...d6 14.Nd2
NORWAY CHESS 2018
14...Bg5?!
“A terrible move,” said Carlsen,
exaggerating only slightly. “I was
surprised because I can play as I did,
[very simply], and hold a comfort-
able advantage.” If Aronian had had
any idea of how difficult his posi-
tion would soon become, he would
have tried 14...c6!?, e.g. 15.Ne4
Be5 16.c3 cxd5 17.Qxd5 Bd7!
when Black’s isolated pawn is of
little consequence and the position
is roughly equal.
15.Nf3
“15.b3 was also possible,” said
Carlsen. “However after 15.Nf3 I
have a comfortable advantage and I
am not sure what his plan is.”
15...Bxc1 16.Rxc1 Bd7 17.Re1
Qd8
Aronian still cannot find a good
moment to break out, since after
17...Qf8 18.Qc4 c6 19.dxc6 bxc6
20.Bd3! is awkward for Black.
18.Qc4 g6
AUGUST 2018 | 59
 NORWAY CHESS 2018

A pieceful draw secured Nakamura third place.

Photo: Cathy Rogers

“There were many moments when easier to find good moves. For him,
he could try ...c6,” said Carlsen. it’s trying to break out and then it’s
“I didn’t think 18...c5 was good easy to go wrong.”
because of 19.Qf4!, with both 20.g4
and 20.Bd3 threatened.” 22...Ng7
Played almost instantly; while
19.h3 Ng7 Carlsen was thinking about his last
“Here he could have tried 19...c6,” move Aronian was accepting that
said Carlsen. “I was thinking about his planned 22...Qf6 now fails to
20.Bd3 and if 20...cxd5 21.Qf4!.” 23.Rxe8+, while 22...Nf6 23.b3
leaves Black struggling to find a
20.Re3 a5 21.a4 Ne8 constructive move.
22.Qd4!
“I’m not sure if there was a turn- 23.g4!
ing point because I thought I was I think what he underestimated was
always on the front foot,” said 23.g4. He probably felt that I was
Carlsen. “I felt that very early on I asking too much of the position, but
had a very nice position, not a lot it feels very normal to me. I’m play-
better but certainly more pleasant. ing all these moves, a4, g4, every-
In positions where you have a slight thing just to restrict his pieces. Now
advantage with more space it’s if my knight gets to e5, or even g5,

60

it a big deal.
23...c6
The first of three moves whicch cost
Aronian 35 minutes and saw Black
add time trouble to his worries. “In
a position where you have more
space it is always easier to find good
moves,” said Carlsen, “and for him,
trying to break out, it is easy to go
wrong. He can put up better resis-
tance but after 23.g4! the batlle is
already very much in my favour.”
24.c4 Ne8 25.Qf4 Kg7 26.Rb3
Rb8
This obvious move cost Aronian
five and a half of his last nine min-
utes, leaving Black in near-disas-
trous time trouble given that there
were no 30 second increments
during the first two time controls in
this tournament.
27.Ng5
27...Nf6?
Aronian’s first quick move since
23.g4 and a blunder. 27...Qf6 was
necessary, although after 28.Qd2
White stays well on top.
28.Rf3! h6
28...Qe7 29.Re3 Qd8 30.Qxd6
29.Ne4! Nxe4 30.Qxf7+! Kh8
31.Qxg6 1-0
31.Qxg6 Ng5 32.Qxh6+ Nh7
33.Rf7 is game over. “It’s shock-
ing how easily I succeeded in this
game,” admitted Carlsen. “but he
did not find any opportunities, was
pressed on time and it collapsed
very quickly.”
Vachier-Lagrave M 2789
Anand, Viswanathan 2760
Norway Chess 2018
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6
4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 b5
7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Be7
10.Nbd2 O-O
11.Re1!?
A rare move at top level. Anand
with White has played both of the
more popular lines, 11.Bc2 - by far
the main line - and 11.Qe2.
11...Nc5 12.Nd4!
“I surprised him with the [Open
Ruy Lopez] opening, but he
surprised me with the variation,”
admitted Anand. “In almost all
openings Maxime has an idea. It
was clever of him to catch me with
this.” 12.Bc2 is more usual but then
12...d4 has effectively put the whole
variation out of use.
NORWAY CHESS 2018
12...Nxd4 13.cxd4 Nd3 14.Re3
Nf4
“After 14...Nxc1 15.Rxc1 White
is slightly better,” said Vachier-
Lagrave.
15.Nf3 Bg4 16.h3 Bh5 17.Rc3!?
“Despite not having checked this
line I think I managed to come up
with something a little venomous,
“ said Vachier-Lagrave. Previously
only 17.Bc2 had been played here,
after which 17...c5 should equalise.
17...Ne6 18.g4?!
“Maybe I should start with 18.Be3,”
said Vachier-Lagrave, and his
instinct was correct since Anand’s
suggested 18...Bxf3!? 19.Qxf3 c5
fails to 20.dxc5! d4 21.Rd1 when
21...Bxc5 can be met by 22.Bxe6
fxe6 23.Qc6.
18...Bg6 19.Be3
19...a5!
“It is important to fight for space on
the queenside. Though I really like
my knight on c6 and it is holding
the Blacky position together, in
itself it’s not enough,” explained
Anand. “If he can put a rook on c5 it
is not clear what I can do.”
20.Bc2
AUGUST 2018 | 61
 NORWAY CHESS 2018

Vachier-Lagrave spent much of his

15 minutes thought on this move
on 20.Rac1 - the move Anand
feared - yet missed that after his
intended exchange sacrifice 20...
b4 21.R3c2 (21.Rc6! is the critical
line.) 21...Bxc2 22.Rxc2? Black
wins immediately with 22.Bxc2
Rc8 is fine for Black. 22...a4!

20...Bb4 21.Rb3 f5!

“20...Bb4 and 21...f5 seemed to
be the only plan for Black,” said
Anand, yet 21...f5 was a surprise for
Vachier-Lagrave who went to the
confessional after 20.Rb3 and said,
“I expect he will take on c2 and play
...c5 after which I am still slightly
better although it is far from clear.”

22.exf6
“After 22.a3 Be7 I have problems
on the kingside,” said Vachier-
Lagrave.
Fabiano Caruana wins yet another super tournament and looks in great
22...Bxc2 23.Qxc2 Qxf6 shape leading into the World Championship matchup.
“Suddenly, after [playing ‘only Photo: Cathy Rogers
moves] I realised that I was playing
for advantage,” said Anand.

24.Ne5 24...c5! reason for avoiding 25...Qh4.)

“I still felt that I was pushing, but
if 24.Qc6 Qxf3 25.Qxe6+ Kh8
followed by 26...Rae8 is bad for
White,” said Vachier-Lagrave.
An exchange sacrifice played after
only five minutes’ thought. “It was
automatic - I don’t know if I have
any other plan. 24...Bd6 25.Rxb5!
(25.Nd7 Qf3!) 25...Bxe5 26.dxe5
Qxe5 is not better for Black than
the game so it makes no sense to
play this,” said Anand.
25.Nd7 Qf7
“I thought I might be in trouble
after 25...Qh4,” admitted Vachier-
Lagrave, although it turns out that
Black has no more than a draw after
26.Nxf8 Rxf8 27.dxc5! Rf3! (27...
d4 28.Qe4! Qf6 29.g5! was Anand’s
28.Qd1 Rg3+ (28...Qxh3
29.Qxd5!) 29.fxg3 Qxg3+ with
perpetual check.
26.Nxf8 Rxf8 27.Qf5
“I thought that 27.a3 c4 would give
Black no problems, but of course
in hindsight I should have been
[happy] to equalise,” said Vachier-
Lagrave. The players analysed
28.axb4 cxb3 29.Qc6 (Both play-
ers underestimated 29.Qxb3! Qf3
30.Qd1 Qxh3 31.bxa5! when Black
has many ways to attack but no
obvious way to force a win.

62

29...a4! but even here White is in
trouble, e.g. 30.Qxb5 (30.Qxd5
Nf4! gives a large endgame advan-
tage.
30...Ng5!! 31.Bxg5 Qxf2+ 32.Kh1
Qf3+ 33.Kh2 a3!! and Black
crashes through.
27...cxd4
“A relief,” admitted Vachier-Lagrave
in the confessional. “I thought his
best way to keep the attack going
would be 27...Qd7 28.Qe5 but
after 28...c4 (28...cxd4 29.Bxd4
Bd6 30.Qe3 when I cannot be
worse, I assume.) 29.Rxb4 axb4
30.Bd2 when I am completely out
of danger.”
28.Qxf7+ Rxf7
NORWAY CHESS 2018
29.Rxb4?
“This is where it went wrong,”
admitted Vachier-Lagrave. 29.a3!
Nc5 30.Rxb4 axb4 31.Bxd4 Nb3
32.Rd1 leads to a draw but “some-
how it didn’t even cross my mind,”
admitted Vachier-Lagrave, “ even
though it was legal and not losing
by force!”
29...axb4 30.Bd2
When calculating 27.Qf5, Vachier-
Lagrave thought that this posi- 35...Rd3!
tion was fine for White, forgetting “I was thinking I might just have
about... a chance, but [now] I don’t,” said
Vachier-Lagrave. “Yes, my rook is
30...b3! 31.axb3 Rf3! dominating your bishop,” agreed
“I spent a split second contemplat- Anand. “I think it’s just gone.”
ing 31...Nc5??,” said Anand, “since
the knight on b3 is much better for 36.Kf1 Rd1+ 37.Re1 Rxe1+
helping the d-pawn. But of course 38.Kxe1 g6 39.f4 Nd8
it loses to 32.Ra8+ Rf8 33.Rxf8+ Threatening to create a new passed
Kxf8 34.Bb4.” pawn with 40...h5.
32.b4 Rd3 33.Re1 Kf7 34.Bc1 40.g5 Ke6 0-1
Rxh3 35.Re5
 STAY  C O N N E C T E D
AUGUST 2018 | 63
CZECH, SERBIAN AND SWISS STUDIES SOLUTIONS
SOLUTION 1
Difficulty:
White is a knight up, but it’s not
easy to prevent Black from liqui-
dating White’s last pawn; the only
move to win is a nice sacrifice.
1.Nb6+!
1.Kf3? Kb7 2.Ne7 Kb6
1.Ne7? Kb7 2.Nc6 Kb6 3.Nd4
Kc5
1...cxb6
1...Kb7 2.Nc4 c6 3.b6
2.Kf3 Kb7 3.Ke4 Kc7 4.Ke5!
4.Kd5? Kd7
4...Kd7 5.Kd5 winning the oppo-
sition; outflanking does the rest.
5...Kc7 6.Ke6 winning, for ex-
ample 6...Kc8 7.Kd6 Kb7 8.Kd7
Ka7 9.Kc7 Ka8 10.Kxb6 Kb8
11.Ka6
11.Kc6 Ka7 12.Kc7 Ka8 forces
White to find 13.Kb6 Kb8 14.Ka6
11...Ka8 12.b6 Kb8 13.b7
64
SOLUTION 2
Difficulty:
Two connected passed pawns on
the sixth are usually deadly, but
White has an aesthetically pleasing
way to draw.
1.Kg4 e2
1...d2 2.Kf3 Kd3 3.Ra1 e2 4.Ra3+
Kc2 5.Ra2+ Kc1 6.Ra1+ Kb2
7.Kxe2
2.Rc1+ Kd4
2...Kb3 3.Kf3 d2 4.Rb1+ Kc2
5.Kxe2
2...Kd5 3.Kf3 d2 4.Rc5+! Kxc5
5.Kxe2
3.Kf3 d2 4.Rc4+!
The key move! By giving itself up,
the rook denies Black the option
of capturing on c1, which Kxe2
wouldn’t have protected against.
4...Kd3
4...Kxc4 5.Kxe2
5.Rd4+! Kxd4 6.Kxe2 Kc3
7.Kd1 Kd3
SOLUTION 3
Difficulty:
One forced line, from start to finish!
1.b7 g2 2.b8=Q g1=Q 3.Qb4+
Kd3 4.Qd2+
4.Qb5+ wins the knight, but it isn’t
enough: 4...Kc2 5.Qxa4+ Kb1
6.Qb3+ Kc1 7.Qc3+ Kb1 8.Qd3+
Ka2 9.Qd2+ Kb3 10.Qb4+ Ka2
4...Ke4
4...Kc4 5.Qd5#
5.Qd5+ Kf4 6.Bd2+ Kg3
6...Kg4 7.Qg8+
7.Qg8+ Kh2
7...Kf2 8.Be3+
8.Bf4+ Kh1 9.Qd5+ Qg2
10.Qd1+ Qg1 11.Qf3+ Qg2
12.Qh5+ Kg1 13.Be3+ Kf1
14.Qd1#

SOLUTION 3
Difficulty:
White’s down on material, but
Black’s king in the corner is in grave
danger.
1.f7
1.Rg5? Nb3!
1...Bxf7 2.Rg4
Of course, White must go for mate
or Black will promote.
2...Bb3 3.Rg1!
3.Rg5? Bd5! 4.Rxd5 Nb3 and
Black escapes.
3...Nc2
3...Bd1 4.Rg5 Nb3 5.Kb6
3...e1=Q 4.Rxe1 Bd1 (4...Nc2
5.Re5 d5 6.Kb6 Ba4 7.Rxd5 Bd7
8.Rxd7) 5.Kb6 Bh5 6.Re7 Kb8
7.Rg7
4.Rg5 d5 stopping mate on the
a-file... 5.Kb6 d4 stopping mate on
the 8th rank...
5...Ng6 6.Rxg6 d4 7.Rd6
6.Kc7 but with the king switch-
back, Black is helpless!
CZECH, SERBIAN AND SWISS STUDIES SOLUTIONS
SOLUTION 5
Difficulty:
White is only up a rook for knight
and pawn, so mate or material gain
is required; however, Black has
threats of his own so White must
defend those first.
1.Bg2+ forced, as the rook and
bishop were both en prise.
1...Kf2
1...Kf4 2.Re4+
2.Re4 the only safe square on the
e-file, defending e6, and also threat-
ening Bc5#!
2...Be2! 3.Bc5+ Ke1 4.Bg1 it
looks like White is a winning piece.
4...Kd2!
Other moves lose, e.g. 4...Ng4
5.Bf3 Nf2+ 6.Bxf2+ Kxf2 7.Bxe2
5.Bxh2 Bd3
Now we see Black’s idea; they’re a
rook down, but White has to keep
parrying with the rook while avoid-
ing mate; two bishops against one
is only a draw.
6.Rd4 Kc3 7.Rd5 surprisingly, a
staircase manouevre appears!
7...Bc4 Black must renew the
threat; 8.Rc5 White must pin
again; 8...Kb4 and Black must
sidestep again.
9.Rc6 Bb5 10.Rb6 Ka5 11.Rb7
Ba6 12.Ra7
A beautiful idea, with Black’s king
and bishop following their respec-
tive diagonal paths. Now, there are
no more tricks so White wins with
the extra rook.
SOLUTION 6
Difficulty:
This composition is actually a
twin; in the other, the Black king is
instead on a6 and the two bishops
are on a8 and d6, with all the other
pieces on the same squares; the
solution is similar, but different, and
again, beautiful. Let’s take stock of
the position; White is up a lot, but
Black is threatening mate in one
on the h-file; basically, White must
keep checking the Black king until
they are able to release the g8-rook
with check, after which g8=Q will
save the monarch. The moves must
all be checks, so it doesn’t seem like
it should be complicated; but the
false trail and the pleasing patterns
deservedly gave this work a 1st
Prize in the tourney.
AUGUST 2018 | 65
CZECH, SERBIAN AND SWISS STUDIES SOLUTIONS
1.Bb7+
1.Bd7+? the ‘try’, which also occurs
in the other twin (albeit in a differ-
ent way).
1...Kxd7! 2.Rd8+ Kc6 3.Rd6+
Kxc7! 4.Rc8+ Kxd6 5.g8=Q
(5.Rd8+ Ke7! 6.g8=N+ (6.g8=Q
even loses after 6...Nf8+ 7.Kg7
Rxg6+ 8.Kh8 Nf7+ 9.Qxf7+
Kxf7) 6...Kxd8 7.Nxh6 Nf8 8.fxg5
Nxg6+ 9.Kg7 Nf4 and Black
draws.)
5...Nf8+ 6.Kg7 Rxg6+ 7.Kxf8
Ne6+ 8.Qxe6+ (8.Kf7 Rxg8
9.Rxg8 Nxf4)
8...Kxe6
1...Kxc7
1...Kxb7 results in the same pattern
ONLINE BLITZ TACTICS P2 SOLUTIONS
SOLUTION 1
Difficulty:
26.Qxf6+ 1-0
SOLUTION 2
Difficulty:
38.Qg7+ Rxg7 39.hxg7+ Kg8
40.Rh8# 1-0
66
as the main line, but with the other
bishop: the symmetry between the
paths of the rook and bishop in the
two lines is wonderful.
2.Rb8+ Kc6 3.Rb6+ Kc5
(3...Kxc7 4.Rc8+ Kxb6 5.g8=Q
Nf6+ 6.Kg7 Nxg8 7.fxg5)
4.Bd6+ Kd5 5.Rb5+ Kd4 6.Bc5+
Kc4 7.Rb4+ Kc3 8.Bd4+ Kd3
9.Rb3+ Kd2 10.Bc3+ Kc2
11.Rb2+ Kc1 12.Bd2+ Kd1
13.Rb1+
2.Rc8+ Kb6
2...Kxb7 3.Rb8+ Ka6 4.Ra8+
Kb5 5.Rgb8+
3.Rc6+ Kb5
3...Kxb7 4.Rb8+ Kxc6 5.g8=Q
Nf8+ 6.Kg7 Rxg6+ 7.Kxf8 Ne6+
SOLUTION 3
Difficulty:
28.Bxh5 Qxa1+ 29.Bd1# 1-0
SOLUTION 4
Difficulty:
17.Nxe5+ fxe5 18.Rhf1+ Ke6
19.Rd6+ Qxd6 20.Qf7# 1-0
8.Qxe6+ Rxe6 9.Kf7 is a winning
rook endgame.
4.Ba6+ Ka5
4...Kxc6 5.Rc8+ Kb6 6.g8=Q
Nf6+ 7.Kg7 Nxg8 8.fxg5
5.Rc5+ Ka4 6.Bb5+ Kb4
7.Rc4+ Kb3 8.Ba4+ Ka3
9.Rc3+ Ka2 10.Bb3+ Kb2
11.Rc2+ Kb1 12.Ba2+ Ka1
13.Rc1+ and there’s no more
escape.
13...Kxa2 14.Ra8+ and White
wins, e.g. 14...Kb2 15.g8=Q Nf6+
16.Kg7 Nxg8 17.fxg5
SOLUTION 5
Difficulty:
23.Rh6 Ne4 24.Bxe4 dxe4
25.Qf6+ Kf8 26.Ng6+ Rxg6
27.Rh8+ Rg8 28.Bxd6 Qd7
29.Bxe7+ 1-0
SOLUTION 6
Difficulty:
22...Rxf3 23.gxf3 Rxf3 24.Kh1
Bd6 0-1
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