I’ve just returned from the extremely strong Greek Open Championship in Kavala, where in between lying on the beach, eating olives and drinking beer I played some chess: 5.5/9 for a pretty mediocre performance in terms of rating points.
I made 0.5/4 with Black, spoiling some perfectly acceptable positions with ridiculous moves. But with White I scored 5/5 and played some nice games, in all of which BISHOPS were instrumental!
A Greek Orthodox Bishop.
All three games with annotations are downloadable as a pgn file.
I played a young Greek player in Round 1:
Ansell, Simon (2394) – Sevastopoulous, Vasilis (2063), Kavala Open 2009 (1)
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Be3 e6 5. Nd2 Nd7 6. f4 c5 7. Ngf3 Qb6
Position after 7. Qb6.
8. Qc1 Played once, according to my database (by Kasimdzhanov, no less). Shirov and Short both played 8. Rb1 here, while Morozevich obviously sac’ed the b-pawn with 8. Be2. 8…Rc8 Anand played 8…Ne7 against Kasim and drew fairly quickly. 9. a4 A novelty, apparently, but it seems pretty natural to me. The move takes advantage of the rook staying on a1, compared with 8. Rb1. 9…a6 To stop Bb5. 10. a5 I realised the a4-a5 plan might involve losing the a-pawn, but felt it was important to relieve the pressure on the queenside. Black will lose a lot of time taking the pawn, when I can probably start an attack on the kingside, as happened in the game. 10…Qc7 11. c3 Ne7 12. Nb3 Forcing the closing of the queenside. White has the advantage on the other side of the board. 12…c4 13. Nbd2 Nc6 14. Nh4!
Position after 14. Nh4.
This is the point, I gain the two BISHOPS and Black will find it hard to hold f5. The Black knight will be out of play on a5; with hindsight, it was more prudent for Black to get castled quickly than round up the a-pawn. 14…Nxa5 15. Nxf5 exf5 16. Qc2 It’s useful to include this move I think, compare 16. g4 fxg4 17. Bg2 Qd8 18. Bd5 Nxe5! to the game. With the queen on c2 White can play Qe4 here, winning. 16…g6 17. g4! fxg4 18. Bg2
Position after 18. Bg2.
I thought Black couldn’t defend d5 here but the computer points out 18…Rd8 19. Bxd5 Nxe5 20. Qe4 f5! Funny that I saw the …Qd8 idea but not…Rd8. In any case, White has a strong attack after 18…Rd8 19. f5 and 20. O-O. After the move in the game, the centre collapses, the Black knight on a5 is stranded and White dominates the light squares. Pretty solid compensation for a pawn. Black goes downhill quickly. 18…Bh6? The best defence is probably rushing to get the a5 knight back in the game with 18…Nc6 19. Bxd5 Nb6 20. Bg2 Ne7 21. Ne4 Ned5 22. Bd2. I still like White though, just castle kingside and f5 happens quickly. But at least all the Black pieces are contributing here, compared to the game. 19. Bxd5 O-O 20. O-O Rfe8 I was expecting 20…Kh8, to try and play …f6 and mix it up. 21. Ne4 Re7 22. Nd6 Rd8 23. Qf2 Possibly inaccurate, 23. Qe2 or 23. Qg2 and just taking the g-pawn was better, but this doesn’t spoil anything. 23…Nb3 24. Rae1 Nb6 25. Bg2 I didn’t see any point in taking the b-pawn and possibly leaving the valuable bishop hanging. I’m going to checkmate him! Nc8? Now it is over, I guess Black should try 25…Rxd6. 26. Ne4
Postion after 26. Ne4
26…Bg7 27. f5 Finally. Ree8 28. Bg5 Rd7 29. Nf6+ Gaining the second bishop! 29…Bxf6 30. Bxf6 h6 31. Qh4 Kh7 32. Bg5 h5 33. Be4 The white-squared bishop returns to the game, with complete domination. 33…Ne7 34. f6
Position after 34. f6
1-0
Replay the game:
Round 3, against another young Greek player:
Ansell, Simon (2394) – Skoulakis, Charalambos (2132). Kavala Open 2009 (3)
1. d4! For the third time in a serious game in 25 years of playing chess! 1…d5 2. c4 c6 Fortunately I play the Slav as Black and know the positions well. 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 Nbd7 10. e4 Bg6 11. Bd3 Bh5
Position after 11…Bh5.
12. Bf4 A little unusual, 12. e5 is the main move here but he was moving quickly and I wanted to take him out of his theory. 12…Rc8?! Not a terrible move, but there were more useful waiting moves. 12…Re8 or 12…Qe7 for example. Black should be trying to play …e5 in this position rather than …c5. White will have to play e4-e5 sooner or later to stop the pawn break.13. Rfd1 I decided to take the time to make a useful developing move of my own, as Black’s last didn’t threaten anything. 13…Re8 14. Bc2 14. e5 is also possible and fine, but the move in the game also stops the break for a move, and gives Black a chance to go wrong…
Position after 14. Bc2.
14…Qa5? 14…Qe7! finally forces White to play 15.e5 when after 15…Nd5 16. Nxd5 cxd5 the position is roughly equal. 15. e5 What is the difference? 15…Nd5 16. Nxd5 cxd5? 16…Bxf3 was necessary when White is better. After all, he has the BISHOPS! 16…Qxd5 17. Be4 is also better for White.
Position after 16…cxd5.
17. Bxh7+! A BISHOP sacrifice. The Greek Gift. How appropriate. 17…Kxh7 18. Ng5+ The queen doesn’t defend g5 any more, this is why 14…Qe7 was possible and 14…Qa5 is bad. 18…Kg6 19. g4 Rh8 20. gxh5+ Rxh5 21. Qd3+ f5 22. Nxe6 Rch8 23. Kh1 Kf7 24. Ng5+ Ke7
Position after 24…Ke7
25. Qxf5 1-0
Replay the game:
Round 5 was fun, again against a young Greek player moving extremely quickly:
Ansell, Simon (2394) – Kaforos, Dimitrios Alkis (2203). Kavala Open 2009 (5)
1. e4! He doesn’t play the Slav. c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2
Position after 4.Be2.
This system is not as innocent as it looks, having been played by Morozevich, Kashimdzhanov, Akopian and Svidler (who beat Kasparov) amongst others.
4…Nc6 This was the first time I have faced this move in a non-blitz game, most Black players prefer the quieter alternatives 4…g6 or 4…Nbd7. Now White can play d4 in one move (as opposed to having to play d3-d4, which he does often, for instance after 4…Nbd7), though this does involve sacrificing at least (!) a pawn. 5. d4 cxd4 5…Nxe4 loses a piece to 6. d5 and after the knight moves, 7. Qa4+. 6. cxd4 Nxe4 6…d5 7. e5 Ne4 is safer and more often played, but in my opinion there is nothing wrong with grabbing the pawn(s). 7. d5 Qa5+ Now with the c-pawns off the board Black doesn’t lose a piece, so White sacrifices a couple more pawns for rapid development. 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Ne5 10. Nxe5 Qxc3+ 11. Bd2 Qxe5 12. O-O Qxd5
Position after 12…Qxd5.
Three pawns down after 12 moves with White!
13. Rb1 As far as I’m aware this position was first reached in Basman – Stean, Hastings 1973, with Mike Basman winning a brilliant game. Since then Black players have been reluctant to defend this line, though according to my database, two grandmasters (Julian Hodgson and Thomas Ernst) have done; both played 13…f6 and won. 13…a6 A novelty, it seems. But it is natural to prevent Bb5+. 13…a6 has definitely been played against me in more than one internet blitz game. Somewhat worryingly, my opponent was blitzing out his moves. 14. Bf3 Qxa2 Four pawns! 15. Rxb7!? Winning a bishop for a rook! This might not be the strongest move and appears to lead to a draw. 15. Re1, 15. Bxb7 and 15. Be3 are serious alternatives according to my computer, with positions more to play rather than evaluate but I’m sure Black is doing fine everywhere. I’m surprised the computer evaluation is only roughly –0.5, it is four pawns after all. It felt like one of those days, and I had faith in the BISHOPS! Bxb7 16. Bxb7 Rb8 17. Bc6+ Kd8
Position after 17…Kd8.
18. Qg4 When I played 15. Rxb7, I had thought this was close to winning by force, but had missed at least one important detail. 18…e6 The only move, 18…Qe6 loses to 19. Qa4 (amongst others), and it’s, err, mate in 12 according to Fritz in about 10 seconds. 19. Qd4 Quiet centralisation the exchange and three pawns down. Qa7 is threatened. 19. Qg5+ Kc8 20. Ba5 f6 21. Qe3 Rb1 22. Qc3 is pointed out by my computer and is similar to the game with the difference that the Black f-pawn is on f6, which doesn’t make any difference. But this way does stop the possible move 20…Qxa5 in the game. 19…Rb1
Position after 19..Rb1.
19… Qc2 is an alternative, but I thought at the time it’s good for White and analysis seems to confirm this. 20. Qa7 Qxc6 21. Qxb8+ Ke7 22. Bg5+ f6 23. Rc1 Qd7 24. Bd2! No rush to take the queen, and the bishop will come to b4. 24…Kf7 25. Rc7 Be7 26. Qb7 Qd8 27. Rd7 Qe8 28. Bb4! +-
Analysis diagram, position after 28. Bb4.
Back to the game. 20. Ba5+ 20…Kc8 20…Qxa5 is interesting. After 21. Rxb1 Qc5 22. Qa4 I thought Black might have problems with the f7-pawn after a future Be8. My computer spoils the fun by suggesting it’s just a draw after 22…d5 23. Be8 Qc7 24. Bc6 Qe5 25. Be8 Qc7 etc. or the obvious 22…Ke7 23. g4! (the best move, apparently). Obvious. 21. Qc3
Position after 21. Qc3
21…Kb8?? He was still blitzing the moves, and this is what happens. 21…Rxf1 22. Kxf1 Qb1+ 23. Ke2 Kb8 (see diagram) is a draw.
Analysis diagram, position after 23…Kb8.
Despite the pretty bishops, White has nothing better than repeating moves with 24. Bc7 Kc8 25. Ba5 Kb8.
The important detail I missed when playing 18. Qg4 was that a move of the c6 bishop on either diagonal allows a queen check – on the a4-e8 diagonal the check is on e4, on the a8-h1 diagonal it’s on b5. It’s a funny position, White can also try to get his king safe before undertaking decisive operations on the queenside as Black can’t move his queen, can’t play Be7 (due to… Bc7+ Kc8 Bxd6!) or move the d-pawn! But there appears to be no way to do this. For example: 24. g4 Rg8 (what else?) 25. Kf3 now White threatens Be4, but Black can now play 25… Be7 because there’s a check on d1 after 26. Bc7+ Kc8 27. Bxd6! Funny old game.
Back in the game, after 22. Be4! Rxf1+ 23. Kxf1 there are no checks, and mate is unstoppable!
Position after 23. Kxf1.
23…d5 24. Qc7+ 1-0
Replay the game:
Two more fun games involving BISHOPS in Part Two to follow!
Nice annotations! I look forward to part 2.