Weekly Newsletter

Issue 64
17th of May 2013

Issue 64
17th of May 2013

Editorial Preface Table of Contents

Editorial Preface 4 best games of the past week Puzzle section Endgame section Clash of the Titans Surprise section / study Solutions 2 3 15 18 23 25 26 In the current issue of CEWN 64 (achess number), indeed, alot of chess was played. The new European Champion is the Ukrainian GM Alexander Moiseenko. He played great chess and totally deserved this victory. Second place went to Alekseev and third to Romanov, all three obtained 8/11 points. A very good result was showed by probably the oldest Top GM, Alexander Beliavsky, who was Worlds Nr 3 many many years ago. He also got 8/11. The Super Tournament in Norway is getting ruled by Sergey Karjakin with 5,5/7. Close behind is Magnus Carlsen with 5/7 and there are two more rounds to go. It is going to be avery exciting finish. The FIDE Women Grand Prix was won by Khotenashvilli Bella with agreat 8/11. 2nd place went to Muzychuk Anna with 7.5/11 and 3rd to Kosintseva Tatiana with 6.5/11. In the current issue, we analyze alot of interesting games from the recent Top events! We wish you a lot of chess joy with your new issue of CEWN, the 64th.
Arkadij Naiditsch & Csaba Balogh

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4 best games of the past week

(1) Karjakin,Sergey (2767) Radjabov,Teimour (2745) [B30] Supreme Masters 2013 Sandnes NOR (1.5), 08.05.2013 [Csaba Balogh] An impressive positional performance by Karjakin. 1.e4 c5 2.N f3 Nc6 3.Nc3 White tries to avoid the Sveshnikov defense. Usually, he does this by playing 3. B b5, but the text move is also possible. 3...g6 4. B b5 White succeeded to avoid Radjabovs pet line with 3. B b5 e6, but of course, this g6 system is the other huge main line. 4... Bg7 5.00 Black has to decide how to finish the development. Radjabov chooses one of the most popular ways with e5- Nge7, but it has adrawback, that it weakens the d5 square. 5...e5 6.d3 Nge7

7. Bc4 White immediately focuses his pieces on the d5 square. Usually, the Sveshnikov players are not impressed by this, since they are used to face this in many lines. 7...h6 Black prevents the potential plan of Bg5, trading one of the defenders of the d5 square. 8.a3! This is aknown plan in this kind of closed positions. White initiates by grabbing space on the queenside with b4. Black should not prevent it with a5 because the b5 square gets crucially weakened. 8...00 9.b4! White could save atempo by not playing R b1, since accepting the pawn sacrifice would lead to more than enough compensation. 9...d6 [9...cxb4? 10.axb4 N xb4 11. B a3! N bc6 12. Bd6 Black is completely tied up!] 10.bxc5 White has achieved some positional trumps by taking once towards to the center, forcing Black to take outwards. Also, the b-file will be an important factor in the game later on. 10...dxc5

11. Re1! At first sight, amysterious move, but actually, it is avery deep positional idea. Karjakin would like to settle his knight on d5 and he gets ready to take back with
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exd5, after which the e5 pawn is hanging, thanks to Re1. Black can hardly carry the d5 knight if he does not take it. 11... Kh7 Black would like to get counterplay by playing f5, so he left the pin. [11... Bg4 just gives temporary activity. 12.h3 B xf3 13. Qxf3 Nd4 14. Qd1 White just got the bishop pair and the d4 knight will be kicked out soon after Nd5 and c3.] 12.Nd5 Be6 Black succeeded to get rid of the d5 knight, but another piece is replacing it there, which will also be very annoying. [12...N xd5 13.exd5 and e5 is hanging.; 12... f5 is premature at the moment. 13.N xe7 Qxe7 14.exf5 gxf5 15. B b2 White quickly puts very strong pressure on the e5 pawn. There is adirect threat with Bd5, winning the e5 pawn.] 13.N xe7 Qxe7 14. Bd5! Whenever Black takes on d5, he will create avery strong protected passed pawn (after c4) for White. 14...Nd4 [14... B xd5 15.exd5 Nd4 16.c4 White takes on d4 next (or plays Nd2, B b2-d4 as in the game) and the structure is seemingly similar, but actually, White has alarge advantage because the d4 pawn is not apassed pawn.]

15.Nd2! Another stron g positional move to save the knight for the future. White sees the following position in his eyes: he will play c4, B b2 and B xd4 , when the knight dominates the g7 bishop. The game demonstrates this well. 15... B xd5 [15... R ad8 would be met by 16.c3 Nc6 17.c4 Nd4 18. B b2 and B xd4 next, followed by queenside play. White forces Black to play b6, which is going to be countered by aminority attack with a4-a5.] 16.exd5 R ad8 17.c3 N b5 18.c4 Nd4

19.a4! Another great move! Prophylaxis against Blacks idea to push b5 and bxc4, when he will also obtain aprotected passed pawn on d4. [19. B b2 b5 20. B xd4 cxd4 is what White cleverly prevented.] 19... Qd7 20. R b1 Provoking the b6 move to make a5 more effective. 20...b6 21. B b2 White has avery easy game from now on. All the moves on the queenside suggest themselves. 21... R fe8 22.a5 Qc7 [22...bxa5 would just help White, since it weakens the c5 pawn. 23.Ne4 Rc8 24. B a3 ]
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23. Qa4 Focusing all the pieces on the queenside. Black cannot create any serious counterplay. 23...f5 24.axb6 axb6 25. B xd4 cxd4 White got what he wanted with the passed pawn on d5, the b6 weakness and the superior knight. He has various ways to increase the advantage. He could double his rooks on the b-file or prepare for an invasion on the a-file. Karjakin chooses the most direct way.

disturbs the king and prevents all the Black ideas connected with the d-pawn as well. 33... Kg8 34. Rd7 B f8 35.Ne4 Provoking the advance of the d-pawn, when it becomes more vulnerable. White threatens to take on d4 at the moment, because he prevented Bc5, and R xc4 does not work because of the mate after N f6 and R h7. 35...d3 36. Kf2 B a3 Black already wants to take on c4, because N f6 is not mate anymore after Kf8. White simply protects his pawn and is going to take it with the king. 37. Rd4 Kf7 [37... B b2 would be met by 38. Rd8+ Kg7 39.c5! B a3 40. Rd5+- and Ke3 next.] 38. Ke3 Bc1+ 39.Nd2 and the second pawn is lost, which is already too much for Black. 39... B xd2+ 40. Kxd2 R a6 41.c5 [Black resigned in view of 41.c5 R a2+ 42. Kxd3 R xg2 43.c6 The black king is cut from the c-pawn. Agreat game by Karjakin! It is very hard to win such aclear-cut game on the highest level.] 10

26. Qc6 Qxc6 27.dxc6 Rc8 [27... R b8 was clearly abetter defense for Black. White plays here again 28.f4! Rec8 (28... exf4 29. R xe8 R xe8 30. R xb6 c6 is too strong. The knight is coming too support it with b3.) 29.fxe5 R xc6 30.N f3 B f8 31. R a1 with ahuge advantage for White.] 28. R xb6 Re6 29.f4! White wins the e5 pawn. 29...e4 The best chance to get rid of some material, as White has enough left to win the game. [29... Rcxc6 30. R xc6 R xc6 31.fxe5+- followed by N f3 and d4 will also fall soon.] 30.dxe4 fxe4 31. R xe4 Rexc6 32. R xc6 R xc6 33. Re7 Driving the rook to its most active place on d7, where it

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(2) Anand,Viswanathan (2783) Topalov,Veselin (2793) [B90] Supreme Masters 2013 Sandnes NOR (3.5), 10.05.2013 [Csaba Balogh] A huge theoretical battle between two of the greatest Najdorf players. 1.e4 c5 2.N f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.N xd4 N f6 5.Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7.N b3 Be6 8.f3 Black has various different setups here and Topalov has big experience in almost all of them. Recently, he played some games with the 8...h5 line. 8... Be7 9. Qd2 00 10.000 Just afew weeks ago, Topalov beat Caruana in the 10. ..a5 line, but this time he went for the most common continuation. 10...N bd7 11.g4 b5

12...N b6 [12...b4 is the other option for Black. 13.Nd5 B xd5 14.exd5 a5 15.g5 N h5 16. Kb1 a4 17.Nc1 with many games in the database, but it is considered to be slightly better for White. Here we can see the main idea behind the 12. Rg1 move, that the rook joins to the battle through g4!] 13.N a5! At the moment, White is threatening with Nc6 and also preparing for anice positional pawn sacrifice. 13... Rc8 [13... Qc7 is the other move which leads to avery similar position to the one in our game. 14.g5 N h5 15.Nd5 B xd5 16.exd5 N xd5 17. Qxd5 Qxa5 18. Kb1 White is aiming for this position in these lines. He has sacrificed apawn, but the bishop pair gives huge compensation for that. He is intending to bring the rook to the game with Rg4, which could be followed by, for instance, c4, or just Bd3-e4. From apractical point of view, White has amuch easier game here. 18... Qc7 19. Rg4 g6 20. R b4! White is ready to open the position with c4!] 14.g5 N h5 15. Kb1 N f4 Black threatens to push b4 now, as Nd5 is prevented. White makes asimple prophylactic move against it. [Topalov deviates from the Anand-Karjakin 2009 game, which continued with 15...g6 Recently, there was a strong novelty by White and probably Anand wanted to play this too. 16.a3! and we will probably transpose to the game.; It is important to mention that 15...b4 is met by 16.Nd5! N xd5 17.exd5 Qxa5 18.dxe6 fxe6 19. B h3 Black cannot protect the e6 pawn.] 16.a3! g6

12. Rg1! This is ademonstration by the World Champion to the Najdorf players, showing which line they should go for. The main line is by far 12.g5, but the text move also has huge theory. Actually, this was introduced by Anand himself back in 2006 against Morozevich.

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22. Rg4! And now comes the rook into the game. White wins back the pawn and the arising opposite-colored bishops position is better for him, as he can create amuch more dangerous attack against the black king, while the one on b1 is very safe. Here we can also see the point of the h4 moveg5 is protectedotherwise, Black would simply win it after Rc5. It is slightly strange what Topalov has prepared in this game, because all white ideas were already well-known so far and he got an advantage. 17.h4! White protects the g5 pawn, which was not hanging at the moment, but White is preparing for the same pawn sacrifice that was seen in the 13... Qc7 line; there, at the end, is very important to have the g5 pawn protected. 17... Qc7 Black is making some useful moves. He wants to play R fd8 and is ready to push d5 then. White has to start the action. 18. B xf4 exf4 19.Nd5! This is a standard method in this line to facilitate the c6 square for the knight. Black is forced to accept the sacrifice. 19... B xd5 20.exd5 N xd5! 21. Qxd5 Qxa5 [21... Qxc2+? is just acheck. 22. Ka1 Another point of the 16.a3 move to have the back-rank open. Otherwise, Qc1 mates.] 22... Rc5 23. Qb3 d5 Black decided to close the a2-g8 diagonal in order to reduce the pressure on the f7 pawn, but on the other hand, he creates a clear weakness for himself on d5. [23... R f5 would have been met by 24. Bd3 and R xf4 next.] 24. R xf4 Qc7 25. R fd4 Qh2 Black would like to trade his d5 pawn for the one on h4, which would solve his problems. [25... Rd8 is met by 26.f4! with two unpleasant ideas. One is to destroy Blacks pawn structure with f5 and the other is simply Bg2, taking on d5.] 26.c3! Very nice, cold-blooded reaction by Anand. The idea can be seen in the next move. 26... Rd8

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27. Qc2! White brings back his queen to the game, using the fact that the endgame is horrible for Black. 27... Qg3 [27... Qxc2+ 28. Kxc2 Black cannot prevent b4 followed by R xd5. After that, the a6-b5 would become the next targets, which are fixed on the bishops color. 28...f6 29.f4 ] 28.f4! Black was ready to play B f8-g7, so White had to hurry to improve his position. He wants to play Bg2 now. 28... Bd6 [28... Qxh4 should hav e been played, although White has aclear plus here as well. The important thing is that after 29. Bg2 Black can get rid of apair of rooks, which seriously eases his defense. 29... Rc4! 30. B xd5 R xd4 31. R xd4 ] 29. Bg2 B xf4 30. B xd5 Both rooks are on the board and the f7 pawn is extremely vulnerable after the white bishop has occupied its ideal place. He immediately threatens to take it. 30... Kg7 31. Qe4! Anand protects his d5 bishop in order to free his rook to go to f1, pressing the f7 pawn. 31... Qe3 Black obviously would like to exchange the queens, but White is not forced to agree... [31... Be5 loses to 32. R f1! B xd4 33. Qxd4+ and mate to follow.]

32. Qh1! Aspectacular move! The threat is Qf1 or R f1. 32... Rd7 Topalov tries to guide the weakness, but it does not help anymore. 33. R1d3? This gives chances for salvation. [33. Qf1! was the right move. 33... Be5 Covering the f6 square, but it blocks the queens route back to the e-file. White wins. (33... R cxd5 does not work. 34. R xd5 R xd5 35. R xd5 Qe4+ 36. R d3+-) 34. R 4d3! Qf4 There is no other square to go... 35. R f3!+-] 33... Qe5? Spoiling the sudden chance. [33... Qf2! is not easy, suddenly. The point is that after 34. R f3 Qxd4! 35.cxd4 Rc1+ 36. Qxc1 B xc1 Black escapes into only aslightly worse endgame. 37. Bc6 Rc7 38.d5 Bd2] 34. Qf3 B h2

35. Be6! Avery nice winning move, although it was not the only one. [The simple 35. B b3 was also enough. 35... Re7 36. Re3! Qxe3 37. Qf6+ Kg8 38. Rd8+ Re8 White can play for the spectators with 39. Qxf7+ Kh8 40. Qg8+ R xg8 41. R xg8#] 35... Re7 [35... R xd4 36. Qxf7++-]
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36. Re4! White wins the queen, because it cannot leave the f6 square. 36... R xe6 37. R xe5 Rcxe5 The rest is amatter of technique, but of course, for the World Champion, it is not adifficult task. 38. Rd8 Threating Qa8. 38... Re4 39. Ka2 Just to avoid all the checks. White has time for everything. 39... B f4 40. Rd7 Kg8 41. R a7 Creating anew threat of R xa6, Black resigned the hopeless position. 10

(3) Hammer,Jon Ludvig (2608) Wang,Hao (2743) [E60] Supreme Masters 2013 Sandnes NOR (5.5), 13.05.2013 [Arkadij Naiditsch] The first win of Hammer at the tournament, and in what afantastic fighting game! It is clear that Wang, with +140 ELO points above his opponent, tried to complicate things as much as he could, but lost the battle in avery complex position. 1.d4 N f6 2.c4 g6 After these two moves, we still do not know whether the game is going to be aKID or aGruenfeld. 3.f3 Lately, White started to choose this move order to avoid the main Gruenfeld. 3... Bg7 [3...d5 4.cxd5 N xd5 5.e4 N b6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 is, of course, the other main line.] 4.e4 d6 and we are in the KID.

5.Ne2!? Hammer quickly forces things away from the theory. This slightly strange-looking move is actually
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quite logical. White wants to play Nec3- Be3- Nd2 in order to get avery strong center. 5...a6!? Quite a creative move from Wang. Black is not trying to act in the center by playing c5or maybe at some good moment e5, but preparing the c6-b5 idea. 6.Nec3 c6 7.N a3 To me, it looks a bit too creative. [7. Be3 b5 8.Nd2 looks more solid for White.; 7.a4?! would be atypical inaccuracy here. 7...a5! and Black would continue with N a6 winning control of the dark squares.] 7...b5 8.Nc2 00 9. Be3 N bd7 All the standard moves are done. Now it is time to think about afuture plan. 10.cxb5 After this move, Black should be doing fine. [But, what else to play for White?! In case of 10. Be2 bxc4 11. B xc4 d5 Black is fine as well.] 10...axb5 11. Be2 B b7 To develop our pieces is never wrong. 12.00

and not allow his opponent to play Qd2, R ad1, a3, after which, Whites advantage would grow. 13. Qd2 exd4 14. B xd4 We have a typical position for the KID structures. A lot of motives are based on tactical possibilities. Black usually looks for active play while White tries to keep things together. Objectively, I think this position should be good for Black. 14... Qe7 Queen to e7, rook to d8, very logical. Another usual place for the black queen is c7, but now it would be not optimal because of R ac1 and the queen could get quickly under attack. 15.a3 A risky move. Now the black knight gets the b3 square. [15. R fd1 would have been more solid.] 15...Nc5 16. R ad1 Atactical defense against N b3. 16... R fd8 Very solid [Maybe this pawn sacrifice would be possible as well. 16...N b3 17. B xf6 B xf6 18. Qxd6 Qxd6 19. R xd6 Be5 Black is apawn down, but the darksquared bishop is amonster piece that clearly gives very good compensation.] 17. B f2 Ne6?! Aslightly strange decision. Probably Wang did not want to exchange pieces and tried to keep the position as complicated as possible. [17...d5! If Black can play d5, he should definitely do it! In my opinion, Black is already slightly better here.] 18. B h4! A good place for the white bishop. No more N h5 or d5 because of the pin, and amove like g5 is clearly not an option for Black. 18... Rd7 19. Qc1 Qe8 Black is moving his pieces away from the nasty pin.
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12...e5! I think this was a good positional decision by Black in a very complex position with a lot of different ideas. He realizes that he needs to attack the white center

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20. R fe1 N h5 21. B f1 White consolidates in the center as well. The position remains very complex. 21... Be5 Ithink Wang asks too much from his position and provokes White into something that he might regret. [21... Qf8 would be apossible solid way to go on.]

27.Ne2! Good defense by Hammer. He needs to exchange at least acouple of pieces to reduce the power of Blacks attack. 27...N xg3 28.N xg3 R xg3+ 29. Kf2 Rg7 We are in front of a very funny position. Who is better here? It is hard to say. At first sight, Whites king is very badly placed on f2, but on the other hand, if White manages to play Bd3- Rg1, suddenly, the black king would be in trouble. Whites idea Ne3- N f5 next might be very dangerous as well. Black needs to react very quickly. 30.Ne3 The white knight is on aroll. 30... Qh5 31.N f5 It is funny to see how just one knight holds Whites position together.

22.g3! It might be that Wang blundered this very strong reply by White. The idea of playing f4-f5 next can be very dangerous for Black. 22...f6 The beginning of some crazy complications. 23.f4 Hammer has no fear at all and he is right! Whites play is stronger here. 23...g5 Nothing else left for Black to do. 24.fxe5 gxh4 25.exd6? Quite aserious mistake. [25. Qh6! White should have continued in adynamic way. 25...fxe5 Probably Black got abetter option, but here Whites idea becomes more visible. 26. B h3! and Black would have troubles to get his pieces together.] 25...hxg3 Now the white king gets seriously weakened. 26.hxg3 Rg7 Suddenly, Whit e is under big pressure, but the position remains very complicated.

31... Rg5? In avery complex position, Black gives his opponent abreak to consolidate. [First 31... Qh2+ to force the white king to abad square on e3. 32. Ke3 Rg5 and only now Rg5 would give Black avery dangerous attack.]

32. Re3! Now the White king is escaping to e1! 32... Qh2+ 33. Ke1 Suddenly, Black has no more threats against the white king, and the d6 pawn is getting super strong.
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33...N f4 34.d7 [White could have finished the game on the spot by playing 34. Rd2! first hitting away the black queen from h2, which will also disturb Blacks Rg1. 34... Qg1 and only now 35. Qc3 The f6-pawn is going to fall and, with it, the whole black position.] 34... Rd8 35. Qc3 Of course, Qc3 is strong here as well. It is clear now that White is doing much better. 35... Rg1 Threatening Ng2. 36. Rg3+ White is exchanging one of the few active pieces Black has. 36... R xg3 37.N xg3?! Hammer asks for too much now. [37. Qxg3+ would also lead to a much better endgame for White.] 37... Qh4! The game is getting tricky again. Whites knight cannot reach his best square on f5 because of the nasty pin. 38. Kf2 Kf7? [Iwould like to know what did White want to play against 38... Qh2+ 39. Kf3 N h5 and it seems like Black is back in the game.] 39.b4 It is always good to fix Blacks pawn structure, but the Qh2 idea is still there.

39...Ne6? The wrong direction. [39... Qh2+ with an unclear position.] 40. Qf3! With the 40th move, White fixes his advantage! And it is already quite abig one. The bishop on b7 is really adead piece and the d7 pawn is superdangerousit can always be protected with B h3 in the future. 40...Ng5? It was the last chance for Black to complicate things by playing 40...c5!. 41. Qf5 Now White completely dominates the position. Bg2- R h1 is adeadly threat. 41...Ne6 Black tries to react to Whites threat, but the bishop is coming to h3 now. 42. B h3 Qf4+ 43. Qxf4 N xf4 44. B f5 We can clearly see that there is no escape for Black. 44... Ke7 45. R h1! The simplest! Black is playing abishop down. 45... R h8 46. Ke3 The last precise move. 46...Ne6 47. B xe6 Kxe6 48. R xh7 Asmall tactic. 48... Rd8 49.N h5 and it is over. What a great fighting game! 10

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(4) Aronian,L (2813)Hammer,J (2608) [D85] Supreme Masters 2013 Sandnes NOR (6), 14.05.2013 [Arkadij Naiditsch] Agreat game on the topic: If you dont remember the lines, dont even try to play the Gruenfeld! In amore or less well-known position, Hammer gets lost and tries to play by himself. A big mistake! The Gruenfeld is one of the most attractive openings for Black right now, but it requires very good memory and precision. Things can go wrong very quickly, as the next moves show. 1.d4 N f6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 The very main Gruenfeld. 4.N f3 Bg7 5.cxd5 N xd5 6.e4 N xc3 7.bxc3 c5 8. R b1 At the moment, 8. R b1 is one of the most popular moves. The idea of this move is simple, to be ready to answer with d5 against Blacks Nc6. On the other hand, Black has been showing great results here and it would be really very interesting to know what Aronian had prepared here, that is still not known to theory. 8...00 9. Be2 cxd4 This move starts avery forced line. [9...b6 deserves attention here as well. Alot of free time is also needed to memorize all the long lines!] 10.cxd4 Qa5+ This is the key idea. Black is simply winning a pawn, but losing two very important tempos in exchange. 11. Bd2 [Of course, White should not try to protect the a-pawn by exchanging his queens. 11. Qd2?! Qxd2+ 12. B xd2 b6 and as the well-known rule goes, in aGruenfeld, if Black reaches an endgame, afull point is closer than ever :).]

11... Qxa2 12.00

12... Bg4 The main move for Black. His idea is simple, to attack the white center and combine this with aquick advancement of the a-pawn, which might become dangerous very quickly. As for White, of course, to make use of the strong central pawns which always give some attacking chances in the future. However, as Isaid before, the position is very forced. 13. R xb7 This logical move was not played very often. [13. Bg5 h6 14. Be3 Nc6 is sort of the main line here.] 13...Nc6? This logical move, which, in most of the cases, is the correct one, is simply abig mistake! [13... B xf3 14. B xf3 B xd4 is the main move here, with an evaluation of equality. It would be great to see what kind of new hammer Aronian had prepared here. The number 2 in the world is very well-known astonishing preparation.] 14.d5! The punishment comes immediately. This very logical move is just winning the e7 pawn. 14... B xf3 15. B xf3 Nd4 16. R xe7 White is aclear pawn up, but things are still not that easy. Black still has quite

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afew drawing chances due to the strong a-pawn, which can become very fast and difficult to stop.

21. Qd5

16...a5! The last Black joker, and avery strong one. 17.d6 Iam not sure whether this is the easiest way to go for White or not. [The simple 17. Be3 N xf3+ 18. Qxf3without destroying the structure 18...a4 19.e5 and I think White has quite asolid advantage.] 17...a4 Blacks only hope moved one more square up. 18.e5 It is logical for White to try to close the bishop on g7, but only if he is on time to stop the a-pawn and keep the pawn on e5 alive. We will see this during the next moves. 18...N xf3+ 19.gxf3 Now Black can also hope for some kind of perpetual check. 19... Qb2 20. Be3! Very strong move by Aronian. 20...a3 [It looks very tempting for Black to take on e5. 20... B xe5 White has a nice trick against this. 21. Qd5 Bg7 22. R xf7! and the rook on a8 is hanging. 22... R xf7 23. Qxa8+ B f8 24. Rd1 Also, it is very important, of course, to keep the d6 pawn alivethe d7 threat is just deadly. 24...a3 25.d7+-]

21... R ae8? and Black panics again, and this will be the last time. [Of course 21...a2? is just losing to the already known idea 22. R xf7+-; But 21... R ab8 would keep Black in the game. Of course, White is doing better, but the position is still not that simple as it might look like. 22.f4 Black wanted to play R b5. 22... R b5 23. Qc4 Now the pawn on e5 is not hanging. 23... R b4 24. Qa6 Qb3 and it is not that easy for White to improve his position.] 22. R xe8 Simple and good. 22... R xe8 23.d7 and Whites d-pawn is faster than Blacks soldier on the a-file. 23... Rd8 24. Bg5 Afast process by the number 2 in the world against Mr. Hammer, whosepreparatio n did not hammer at all :). 10

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Puzzle section
(5) Karjakin,S (2767)Carlsen,M (2868) Supreme Masters, 13.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1... +

(7) Khairullin,I(2657)Pashikian,A(2603) European Championship, 07.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1.

(8) Papp,G (2570)Potkin,V(2666) (6) Fedorchuk,S (2660)Szwed,J (2354) European Championship, 06.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1. +European Championship, 07.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1... =

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(9) Socko,B (2647)Gritsak,O(2549) European Championship, 07.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1. +-

(11) Kraemer,M (2544)Ernst,T (2387) European Championship, 09.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1. +-

(10) Danielian,E (2478)Fedorchuk,S (2660) European Championship, 07.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1... +

(12) Nepomniachtchi,I(2710)Shengelia,D (2546) European Championship, 13.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1. +-

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(13) Nakamura,H (2775)Topalov,V(2793) Supreme Masters (blitz), 07.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1. +-

(14) Shulman,Y (2570)Finegold,B (2505) US Championship, 10.05.2013 [CEWN ] 1... +

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Endgame section
(15) Vachier Lagrave,M (2718)Balogh,Cs (2644) European Championship, 11.05.2013 [Chess Evolution]

49... Kg4 50. Bd2 Kf3 51. Be1 Blacks only chance to win the game is to get behind the b3 pawn. It looks impossible to get there, but things are not so easy. 51... Kg2 The king is heading to the e1 square, but of course, it will not be easy to get the bishop out from the diagonal. 52. Bd2 Kf2 53. B b4 a6 Ialso put my pawn on alight square to avoid getting attacked later on. [There was anice trick, for example, after 53... Kf1 White cannot trap the bishop with 54. Bc5 with the idea of paralyzing Black, because of 54...e5! 55. B xb6 e4+! This intermediate check wins the game. 56. Ke3 axb6+] 54. Bd2 Bc7 Black does not need to hurry to make progress, since White can only pass with his bishop... 55. Bc3 B f4 56. B b4

Imanaged to get an endgame with an extra pawn, but to convert it should be extremely difficult because of the limited material left on the board. Black can only create apassed pawn with the e5 break, but it leads to further exchanges. 48. R xh5 White trades the rooks, as he does not see how can Black break through. Although it is going to be much more difficult for him to defend as it looks, at first sight... In my opinion, if White keeps the rooks on the board, that should hold as well, but of course, Black can try for very long by going with the king to the queenside. 48... Kxh5 49.b3 Aprincipled move to put the pawn on alight square, where the Black bishop cannot attack it.

56... Kf1! Getting ready to drive the bishop to e1 to send it away from the e1a5 diagonal. 57. Bc3 Bg5 58. B b4 B h4 59. B a5 Be1 60. Bd8 White transfers his bishop to the h4e1 diagonal this time, but this is one square shorter than e1a5, and it is enough for Black to get him into zugzwang!
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60... B b4 61. B h4 B a3 62. Kd2! Good prophylaxis against the Bc1 threat. [62. Bg3 would have been met by 62... Bc1 63. B h4 B f4! and White is in zugzwang. If the king moves, Ke2 comes closer, while on any bishop move, Ke1 is possible.] 62... Bd6 63. Ke3 B h2 White is in zugzwang. He must allow for Black to play Ke1! 64. Bg5 [64. Kd3 B f4 and Ke1 next.; 64. Kd2 B f4+ 65. Kd3 B h6 and again, Ke1 next.] 64... Ke1 65. Kd3 68. Kc3!! Brilliant defense by my opponent! Only this hidden idea saves White from losing! [If White continues waiting, then 68. B f4 Bc1 69. Bd6 Bd2 70. Bc5 Be1! This is the key and it wins for Black. Kc1 is threatened now, because after B a3, Black has Kb1. White is forced to play 71. B a3 but Black can create azugzwang with atriangulation! 71... B f2 72. Kc3 Bg3 73. Kd3 (73. B b2 loses to 73...e5!+ and e4 next, as the pawn cannot be taken.) 73... Be1 Here we are! Only the bishop can move now. 74. B b2 (74. B d6 Kc1+ wins.) 74... B b4 and here is another zugzwang. Black wins. 75. B a1 Kc1+] 68...a5 Iwas very unhappy to make this move, putting by pawn on adark square, but Icould not make progress. [The point of the 68. Kc3 move is that after 68... Bc1 White has 69. B xc1!! Kxc1

65... Kd1 Igot closer to my aim of getting my king to b2, but this time I need to send away the bishop from the c1h6 diagonal. It can only be done if Itransfer my bishop to c1. 66. Bd2 Bd6 67. Bg5 B a3

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(16) Khalifman,A(2614)Meier,Geo (2655) [A16] 14th Euro Indiv 2013 Legnica POL (4.16), 08.05.2013 [Chess Evolution]

70.b4! and the pawn endgame is drawn. White holds the draw by keep the opposition with the king. 70... Kb1 71. Kb3 Ka1 72. Ka3 Kb1 73. Kb3 Kc1 74. Kc3 Kd1 75. Kd3 Ke1 76. Ke3 Kf1 77. Kf3 Kg1 78. Kg3 Kh1 79. Kh3= Wherever the king goes, White just follows him.; 68... Ke2 would have been another way to progress, but this time White can trap the bishop by 69.b4! The only move to rescue it from the threat of Kb3 is 69... Kd1 but now 70. Kb3 Bc1 71. B xc1 Kxc1 72. Kc3= and we have the same draw.] 69. Kd3 Bc1 With the pawn on a5, Ialready cannot win the game, as White has atargetthere. 70. Bd8 Bd2 71. Be7! Another only move to have B a3 check on Kc1. 71... Kc1 72. B a3+ Kd1 73. Be7 B b4 [73... Be1 The triangulation does not help anymore. 74. Bg5 Bg3 75. Bd8 White can force the bishop back to e1...] 74. Bg5 Ihad to admit that my opponent defended perfectly and agreed to adraw.

At first sight, this position seems to be winning. In such cases, many GMs use to say that, somehow, it should be winning. But in fact, it is adraw! Blacks main idea is simple, to give away the bishop for the c-pawn and arrive in time with the king to a8. Let us take alook at how Georg Meier defended with Black. 52. B xa5 Kd7 Logical and good. The black king belongs to the squares c6-b7-a6. 53. B b6 Kc6 54.a5 If White would not play a5, Black would just keep the king on c6. 54... Kb7 The only way. White wants to play Be3 with the threat of playing a6 next. 55. Ke4 Ka6 56. Kd5 Now the game is about equal if White can push the c4 pawn to c6 somehow. 56... B b4 57. Kc6 Bd2 58. Bd8 [Of course 58.c5? leads to an immediate draw. 58... B b4 59. Kd5 B xc5=] 58... Be1 59. Kd7
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66... Be1! Meier keeps playing the exact moves! Blacks bishops best position is on b4! 67. Bd8 B b4 68. B b6 Be7 Strangely enough, Meier changes his defense. [68... Ka6 would be, of course, possible as well, and we would go back to the beginning of the game.] 69. Bc5 but also here, White cannot do any significant improvement. 59... B b4! Good defense by Black! By no means, he should allow White to play c5. 60. Bc7 Bc5! Again, the right choice, preparing to cover the c5 square from the diagonal a7-g1. 61. Bd6 Be3 62. B b4 [62. Bc7 Bc5 This just brings us back to the main position.] 62... Kb7 No reason now to allow the White king on c6. It seems like there is no breakthrough, or is there?! 63. Kd6 B f2 64. Kd5 Be3 65. Bc3 B f2 Black just keeps on waiting. 66. B f6 Khalifman finds nothing better than to bring the bishop back to b6. 74.a6+! After moving around for along time, White tries his last chance. 74... Kxa6 75. Be7 Finally, White gets rid of the black bishop from b4 and advances the c-pawn, however, the a-pawn is gone, so the position is still adraw. What happened now is just unbelievable! Meier simply resigns after defending so well for over 20 moves! What ashock for both players! The position is adraw, and actually, adraw that is not that hard to find. 75... B a5 76.c5 Kb5 77. Kd7 Kc4! 78.c6 Kd5! This is the trick, Black needs the king on
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69... Bg5 70. Bd4 Bd2 71. B b6 B b4 and the bishop is back on b4. 72. Bd8 B a3 73. Ke6 B b4

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d5 and not on b5. The idea is that if White gets the bishop to c7, Black would be forced to go to the b8-g1 diagonal, and then White will have no chance to transport the bishop to d6 because the black king will be placed on d5! What atragic loss for Georg Meier. 10

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Clash of the Titans

(17) Lilienthal,AndorCapablanca,Jose Raul [E24] Hastings 3435 Hastings (5), 01.01.1935 [Kamil Miton] 1.d4 N f6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 B b4 4.a3 B xc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 A typical plan to create pressure against the weak c4 pawn. 6.f3 d5

7...h6 8. B h4 B a6 9.e4? To look for active play with two bishops seems to be logical, but it was too optimistic. White should play [9.cxd5 exd5 10.e3 B xf1 11. Kxf1 N bd7 12.Ne2 00 13.g4 Re8 14. B f2 c5 15. Kg2 and White is better.] 9... B xc4? Capablanca took the wrong pawn. He could have played [9...dxe4 10.fxe4 (10.N h3 N bd7 11.N f2 g5 12. B g3 e3 )

7. Bg5 I am not sure if this is the right decision. White could play [7.cxd5 exd5 8.e3 00 9. Bd3 c5 10.Ne2 B a6 11. B xa6 N xa6 12.00 leads to other kind of structure. The main plan for White is to push e4 after Ng3B b2 (or sometimes, the bishop on f2 is well placed as well), but in general, it is not an easy task becasue Black can look for counterplay over the e-file with his heavy pieces. Besides, h5h4 is and idea to kick the knight out from g3. Irecommend you to look at one of the most famous classical games BotvinnikCapablanca.]

10...g5! Black is winning the pawn and White will not be able to get the initiative because of his inferior development. 11. Bg3 (11.e5 gxh4 12.Qf3 N bd7 13.exf6 c5 ) 11... N xe4 12. Be5 f6 13. Qh5+ Kd7 14. Bd3 B b7] 10. B xc4 dxc4 11. Qa4+ Qd7 [11...N bd7 12. Qxc4 (12.e5 g5 ) 12...c5 13.Ne2 00 (13...cxd4 14.cxd4 Qc8 15.Qb4; 13...Qc7 14.00 00 15.a4 Qb7 16. R fd1 Thanks to his better center, White has a typical slightly better position.) 14.e5!? At this moment, this idea is interesting, because White can try to create an attack against the king. 14...g5 15. B f2 Nd5 16.h4! Rc8 17. Qd3] 12. Qxc4 Qc6 13. Qd3 Of course, White keeps the queen on the board as he will need it to support the initiative on the kingside. [13. Qxc6+ N xc6 14. Ke2!? With the idea
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not to allow the black knight to take the good c4 square. (14.N e2 N a5) 14...N a5 15. Kd3 c5 16.Ne2 00] 13...N bd7 14.Ne2 Rd8 Capablanca ut the rook here in order to have some tricks with Ne5, but the rook on d8 has disadvantages as well: White will have some threats with e5 later. 15.00

18.f5 e5 Logical. Black is trying to close the position to avoid falling under pressure. Castling was very risky, let us see why it is so. [18...00 19.e5 Nd5 20.f6 Blacks position looks very dangerous because all the white pieces are well placed to attack the king. 20...gxf6 Only move. (20... g5 21. B xg5 hxg5 22. R f3 R fd8 23. R h3 N f8 24. R h5 N g6 25. R xg5 Kf8 26. R xg6 fxg6 27.Qxg6 R d7 28.Qh5 Kg8 29. R f1+-; 20...g6 21. R f3 Kh7 22. R h3 R h8 23. B g5 Kg8 24. B xh6 c5 25. R f1 cxd4 and now comes the nice

15...a5 Strange decision. This move weakens the position and loses time. Maybe the Cuban player was afraid of some Qa6 idea, but we will see below that it is not dangerous. [15...00 The most logical. 16. Qa6 N b8! 17. Qxa7 Qc4 18. B xf6 Rd7 and the white queen is in atrap.; 15... Ne5 The idea of gaining control over the c4 square does not work because of 16. Qc2 Nc4 and now 17.d5! exd5 18.Nd4 with adecisive attack.] 16. Qc2 [16.c4 e5 (16...N e5 17.Qc3 N xc4 18. R fc1 b5 19.a4 ) 17.d5 Qc5+ 18. B f2 Qe7 19.Nc3 Nc5 20. Qc2 00 21. R ab1 N fd7 22.N a4 Black is not able to create ablockade on the queenside. White is going to play R b5 next and push c5 later, which should give him good play.] 16... Qc4 17.f4 Rc8 because of the e5 threat.

26.Qxg6+ fxg6 27.f7+ Kh7 28. B f8#; 20...N e3 21.Qd2 N xf1 22. R xf1 c5 23.fxg7 K xg7 24. B g5 with adecisive attack.) 21. B xf6 (21.exf6; 21.Qd2 Kh7; 21. R f3 fxe5 22. R g3+ Kh8 23.Qd2 Kh7 24. R h3 R g8 25. B g5 R g6 26. B xh6 Kg8 Now the king is safe, Black takes the initiative.) 21...N7xf6 22.exf6 Kh8! with the defensive idea Rg8- Rg6. Black is on time! The position is unclear.] 19.dxe5 [19. B xf6 N xf6 (19...gxf6 looks unclear as well.) 20.dxe5 Qxe4 (20...Qc5+ 21.N d4 Qxe5 22.Qa4+ Kf8 23. R ae1 and soon after N f3, White will push e5 and crush his opponent.) 21. Qxe4 N xe4 22. R f4 Nc5 23.Nd4 00 Black does not have any serious weakness, so the position should be fine.]
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19... Qxe4?? A huge mistake by Capablanca. He overlooked the nice tactical idea [19...N xe5 20. B xf6 gxf6 21.N f4 Now the only chance for White is to create pressure against the f6 pawn. Otherwise, Black will be just better. 21... Qc5+ (21...c6 22.Qf2 Attacking the b6 pawn and preparing Qh4- N h5. 22...Qc5 23.Qxc5 bxc5 24. R ab1 White is better here. Black cannot put the king on e7 because of the check on b7.) 22. Kh1 Rd8 23.Nd5 c6 24.N xf6+ Ke7 25.N h5 Rd3 with good counterplay.]

Surprise section / study

(18) Troitzky [CEWN ] 1. +-

20.exf6!! Fantastic! Now White is winning. All the pieces come with tempo to the final attack! 20... Qxc2 21.fxg7 Rg8 22.Nd4 Qe4 23. R ae1 Nc5 24. R xe4+ N xe4 25. Re1 R xg7 26. R xe4+ 10

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Solutions
(19) Matinian,N (2491)Jobava,B (2702) European Championship, 05.05.2013 [Solutions]

(20) Butkiewicz,L (2410)Shimanov,A(2639) European Championship, 05.05.2013 [Solutions]

28... Qe8!! 29.f5 [29. Qc5 Qxe6! 30. R xe6 Rd1+ 31. Qg1 R xg1+ 32. Kxg1 fxe6+] 31... Rd1+! 32. Kh2 R h5!! 33. R xf4 [33.axb3 R xh4#] 33...N xc5+ 29...N f8! 30. Qg4 fxe6+

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(21) Hagen,A(2400)Lupulescu,C (2634) European Championship, 05.05.2013 [Solutions]

(22) Shimanov,A(2639)Prizant,J (2537) European Championship, 06.05.2013 [Solutions]

44.h4!! Be3 [44... Qxg4 45. Qf8+ Kg6 46. Qg8+ Kf6 (46... Kf5?? 47.Qc8+!+-) 47. Qf8+ Kg6 (47...Ke6?? 48.Qc8++-) 48. Qg8 ] 45. Rg7! Qe4+ 46. Kh2 Qc2+ 47. Kh3 Qf5+ 48. Kh2 Qf2+ 49. Kh3 Qf5+ 50. Kh2 Qf2+ 1/21/2

38.N f5!! N xf5 [38...gxf5 39. R xd7 B xb2 40. R xe7+-; 38... R xd2 39.N xe7+ Kf8 40. B xg7+! Kxg7 41. R xd2+-] 39. R xd7 N xh4+ 40. Kg3 B xb2 41. Rd8+ R xd8 42. R xd8+ Kg7 43.bxc5 bxc5 44. Kxh4 10

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(23) Djukic,N (2555)Khairullin,I(2657) European Championship, 06.05.2013 [Solutions]

(24) Arnold,M (2538)Gareev,T (2674) USA Championship, 03.05.2013 [Solutions]

37... Kc6!! [37... R xa8? 38. R b8] 38. R xb3 [38. R xc8 Kxb7+] 38...cxb3 39. R xc8 b2 40. R b8 Kxc7 41. R b3 a4 01

14...N xc3? [14...Ng3+!! 15.hxg3 Qxg3 16. B f3 Bd6! 17. Kg1 Bc5+ 18. R f2 (18.Kh1 Qh4#) 18... B xf3+] 15.bxc3

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(25) Mchedlishvili,M (2640)Javakhadze,Z(2448) Nakchivan Open, 30.04.2013 [Solutions]

(26) Haslinger,S (2535)Short,N (2692) 4NCL, 05.05.2013 [Solutions]

24.N f5!! [24. Rg1? Ng6; 24. B xg7? Kxg7] 24... B xh6 [24...exf5 25. Qg5 Ng6 26. Qxg6+-] 25. Qxh6! exf5 26. R h1! 10

27... R xe4! 28. Qxe4 B f5 29. Qe7 [29. Qe1 B xb1 30. Qxb1 Qxc5 31. Qxb2 fxg3 32.hxg3 Qxd5+] 29... B xb1 30. Qxg5+ Bg7+

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(27) Lou Yiping (2482)Yu Yangyi (2675) Chinese league, 30.04.2013 [Solutions]

(29) Sackmann [Solutions]

26...Nd3+!! 27. Kd1 [27.exd3 Re8+; 27. Kf1 N xc1+] 27...N f2+ 28. Ke1 N xh3 01 (28) Jobava,B (2702)Lan,Z(2165) Chinese league, 03.05.2013 [Solutions]

1.c7 Nd6 [1...N b6 2.Nd5!! N bxd5 (2...N fxd5 3.g8 Q+-) 3.c8 Q+-] 2.Ne4!! Ndxe4+ 3. Kf4 Nd6 4. Ke5!+-

28. R xd4! 10[28. R xd4! cxd4 29. Bc2! g6 30. Qf6#]

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