Recent Games

Pervez Mandviwala triumphs for the Indain team against his redoubtable Russian opponent in the ICCF Olypiad 16 that too in a Petrov defence (sometimes called the Russian Defence).

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.O-O Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c3 f5 10.h3 Bh5 11.Qb3 O-O 12.Qxb7 Rf6 13.Qb3

An apparently safe retreat after grabbing the queen-knight pawn. 13.Bb5 and 13.Bf4 were seen in Kasik, M - Stefanik, O (1992) and Grzybowski, E - Sebastianiuk, C (1998) both ending in 0-1

13...Rb8

Mandviwala writes: Necessary, since d pawn is weak.

14.Qc2

This is the type of position one should strive to get nowadays. Most computer engines show White ahead to the extent of at least 1.25 because they value material more than anything else. Mandviwala writes: 14.Qa4 looks better e.g.

14.Qa4 Re6 15.Nbd2 Qe8

14...Bxf3 15.gxf3 Rg6+ 16.Kh1

16...Bd6!

A nice piece sacrifice. It gives Black an irresistible kingside attack. Mandviwala writes: This piece sacrifice, I think decided the game.

17.fxe4 Qh4 18.Bf1 fxe4 19.Qe2

White is helpless against the forthcoming onslaught!

19...Rf8 20.Be3 Rf3 21.Qxf3

Curtains

21...exf3 22.Nd2 Qh5 23.Rac1 Ne7 24.Rc2 Nf5 0-1

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Bb4

Unusual. The common book moves are: 6...Qc7 7.O-O, 6...d6 7.f4, 6...Nge7 7.O-O, 6...Qb6 7.Nxc6 or 6...Nf6 7.O-O

7.Nxc6 bxc6

7...Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 bxc6 9.Qd6 Qe7 10.Ba3 += Black has a dark square weakness, but it would have certainly been better than the text.

8.Qd4 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 Nf6 10.e5 Nd5

No better was 10...Ne4 11.Qd4 f5 Not (11...Ng5? 12.h4 +-) 12.O-O +/-

11.Qg3 g6

Creating a full house of dark square weaknesses. However Black could hardly have held on either with 11...Rg8 or 11...Kf8 Of course not

11...O-O? 12.Bh6 wins

12.c4 Ne7 13.Bg5 h6

13...Qa5+ 14.Bd2 Qb6 15.Bc3 +/-

14.Bf6 Rg8

14...Qa5+ 15.Qc3 Qxc3+ 16.bxc3 Rh7 17.Rb1 +/-

15.Qa3 Bb7 16.O-O Rc8 17.Qc5 Ba8 18.Rfd1 Rc7 19.Rd2 Kf8

Black is running out of moves.

20.Rad1 Bb7

21.Qd6

Winning a piece.

21...Bc8 22.Bxe7+ Qxe7 23.Qxc7 1-0

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 Ngf6 12.O-O-O Be7 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 15.Qe2 Qd5 16.c4 Qe4 17.Be3 b5 18.Rh4 Qh7 19.Ne5 Rc8 20.Rf4 bxc4 21.Qxc4 O-O 22.Ng6!

Daholkar plays a flashy move that exchanges off black's bishop.

22...Rfe8

fxg6 23.Qxe6+ Kh8 24.Qxe7

23.Nxe7+ Rxe7

24.Rxf6

Maybe Dabholkar gets too carried away in making this exchange sac. The position was otherwise close to being equal.

24...gxf6 25.d5

This is the point of the sac. A breakthrough in the center taking advantage of black's disorganised forces.

25...Qf5 26.dxe6 Rxe6

26...fxe6 27.g4 Qf3 28.Bxh6 would be just what white would want.

26...Qxe6 27.Qf4 Rd7 28.Rxd7 Qxd7 29.Qxh6 white has a reasonable position.

27.Bxh6 Qxh5 28.Be3 c5 29.g3 a6

Though white is now material down, he has some compensation in view of black's weak pawn structure, exposed king and poorly placed pieces. Though objectively Black is likely to win, we wonder how Dabholkar makes the next move blunder, as though he setup the pieces wrongly.

30.Qxa6?? Rxa6 0-1

Anil Anand joins the irregular openings bandwagon though with the Sokolsky he is not into the same wild ways as his Visakhapatnam senior colleague Dr.D.R.K.S.Rao.

1.b4 Nc6 2.b5 Ne5 3.d4 Ng6 4.e4 e5 5.Bb2 Nf6 6.Nd2 exd4 7.Bxd4 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Qe2+ Be6 10.g3 Nb4 11.Ndf3 c5 12.bxc6 Nxc6 13.c3 Qd5 14.Qb5 a6 15.Qxd5 Bxd5 16.Bb6 Nge5 17.Bg2 Nc4 18.Bc7 Rc8 19.Bf4 Bc5 20.Ne2 O-O 21.O-O Rfd8 22.Rad1 b5 23.Rfe1 h6 24.Bc1 Nb6 25.a3 Nc4 26.Nf4 Bxf3 27.Bxf3 Rxd1 28.Rxd1 Bxa3 29.Bxa3 Nxa3 30.Nd5 Nc4 31.Be2 Nb2 32.Ra1 Na4 33.c4 Rd8 34.cxb5 Nd4 35.Ne7+ Kf8 36.Nc6 Nxe2+ 37.Kf1 Rc8 38.Kxe2 axb5 39.Nd4 Nc3+ 40.Kd3 b4 41.Ra7

The draw is agreed. Black probably cannot make any headway with his extra pawn in view of white's well placed pieces especially the 7th rank rook.

1/2-1/2

Dr. Saxena choses the quiet Vienna Opening against his fancied opponent Ivanov, Alexandr Sergeevich of Belarus with a rating of 2515. Apparently Saxena's strategy to play a quiet game without complications does work out.

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Bd3 dxe4 7.Bxe4 Bd6 8.O-O O-O 9.c3 Bg4 10.Re1 Qd7 11.h3 Bf5

12.Bxc6

With this move white wins a pawn. However, his dark squared bishop is still on its home square and hemmed in. There is also a weakness on the light squares.

12...Qxc6 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.Rxe5 Bd3

Occupying the hole at d3 and keeping white cramped.

15.Re3 Rad8 16.Qg4 f5 17.Qf4 h6 18.b3

White has to find a way to liberate the queen bishop.

18...g5 19.Qb4 f4 20.Re7 Rfe8 21.Rxe8+ Rxe8 22.Bb2 Qb6

This simplification will certainly lead to a drawish position because of the opposite coloured bishops. However Black doesn't find a better continuation because he has weakened his king.

22...Re2 23.Ba3

23.Qxb6 axb6 24.c4 Kf7 25.Bc3 h5 26.a4 g4 27.g3 f3 28.a5 bxa5 29.Rxa5 Re1+ 30.Kh2 Bf1 31.hxg4 hxg4 32.Ra1 1/2-1/2

P.B.Dhanish won both his games in ICCF FM/0261 against J.R.Gaspar Fernando of Portugal. Based on his performance in the 6th AICCF Championship, he is given a provisional ICCF Rating of 2504. The results from these freindly matches were not rated.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.O-O Bd6 11.Nf3 Qc7 12.g3 O-O 13.Bf4 Ng4 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.Nc3 e5!

The correct way, striking out in the centre.

16.Nxe5 Ncxe5 17.dxe5 Qh6 18.h4 Nxe5

Nf3+ is threatened.

19.Be2

19.Nxd5 is not to be recommended 19...Bh3 20.Re1 Nf3+ wins the exchange.

19...Be6 20.f4

20...Qg6! 21.Kg2

21.fxe5 Qxg3+ 22.Kh1 Qxh4+ 23.Kg1 d4 clearing d5 for the bishop wins easily.

21.Qe1 may hold out longer.

21...Qf5

An early resignation by White, but after 22.Rh1 Rad8 black is in a commanding position.

0-1

A good victory for P.S.Dabholkar. He employs correct strategy with queenside play in the Gruenfeld defence. At the end, his queenside pawns are rushing towards the queening square white's central pawns are blockaded by a well placed knight.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Qd2 O-O 9.Nf3 Qa5 10.Rc1 Nc6 11.d5 Nb8 12.Bh6 Bxh6 13.Qxh6 f6 14.Qd2 e5 15.Be2 b5 16.c4 b4 17.O-O Nd7 18.Qc2 Qc7 19.Ne1 Nb6 20.Bd3 Bd7 21.g3 Na4 22.f4 Nc3 23.Rf2 exf4 24.Rxf4 Rae8 25.a3 f5 26.axb4 cxb4 27.exf5 Bxf5 28.Qd2 a5 29.Bf1 g5 30.Rf3 Qc5+ 31.Qf2 Ne4 32.Qxc5 Nxc5 33.Rf2 a4

0-1