T78 Playoff highlights #2

Ajolote takes on the French using Chigorin (2. Qe2) variation. Solid play results in overwhelming advantage.

Ajolote (1935) - Portola (1736)

Result: 1-0

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2018.11.11

[...] 1.e4 e6 2.£e2 Chigorin variation with Qe2! 2...¥e7 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.d3 d5 5.e5 ¤fd7 6.g3 c5 7.¥g2 ¤c6 8.O-O h6 9.c3 £c7 10.¦e1 b6 11.a3 a5 12.h4 ¥b7 13.¥f4 b5 14.c4 bxc4 15.dxc4 d4 16.¤bd2 ¤b6 17.¤e4 ¤c8 18.¥h3 ¤d8 19.h5 ¥xe4 20.£xe4 ¦b8 21.¦ab1 £b7 Black bringing pressure on b2 pawn. 22.£e2 £a6 23.¤d2 ¤b6 24.b3 O-O 25.¤e4 ¤d7 26.g4 Leaping to the attack with Qg4 is another possibility, but Black can defend

26.£g4 ¢h8 27.¤d6 ¥xd6 28.exd6 a4 29.b4 cxb4 30.¥xh6 gxh6 31.£xd4 ¢g8 32.axb4 a3 33.c5 ¤c6 34.£f4 ¢g7 35.£g4 ¢h8 36.£f4 ¢g7 37.£g4

26...¦b6 27.g5 hxg5 28.¤xg5 f6 29.exf6 ¥xf6 White is ahead now - Rf6 is a little better for Black, but still not enough. (29...¦xf6 30.¥c7 ¤f8 31.¤e4 ¦h6 32.¥xb6 £xb6 33.f4 ¤f7 34.£g4 £c7) 30.¤xe6 ¦f7 31.¤xd8 ¥xd8 32.£e8 (32.¥xd7 ¦xf4 33.£e8 ¦f8 34.¥e6 ¦xe6 35.£xe6 £xe6 36.¦xe6) 32...¤f8 33.¥g3 ¥f6 34.¥g2 ¦e6 35.¦xe6 £xe6 36.£xe6 ¤xe6 37.¥d5 ¦e7 38.¦e1 ¢f7 39.f4 Black will lose a piece here... White has overwhelming advantage... 39...d3 40.f5 d2 41.fxe6 ¢e8 42.¦d1 ¥g5 43.¥e5 g6 44.hxg6 ¥h6 45.¥f6 ¦c7 46.e7 Threatening Bf7+ and e8=Q - Black must exchange R 46...¦xe7 47.¥xe7 ¢xe7 48.¦xd2 ¥xd2 White will Queen the pawn..... 49.g7 ¥e3 50.¢g2

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T78 Playoff highlights

leandromorg conquers the English! Early disruption of White's pawn structure coupled with an aggressive attack was key.

primerpaso (1760) - leandromorg (1776)

Result: 0-1

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2018.11.11

[...] 1.c4 e6 2.¤c3 d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.d4 f5 5.g3 ¤f6 6.¥g2 c6 7.¤h3 ¥d6 8.O-O O-O 9.¥f4 ¤a6 10.¦b1 ¤c7 11.b4 b4 moves give Black a slight advantage... 11...¤e4 12.£d3 ¥xf4 13.gxf4 ¤e6 14.b5 £h4 Black is taking an aggressive line to take advantage of white's disrupted pawn structure. 15.e3 ¦f6 16.¤e2 g5 17.fxg5 ¤6xg5 18.¤xg5 ¤xg5 Theoretically even here (by C) but Black has a strong attack going. 19.¤f4 ¦h6 20.h3 ¤e6 21.¤xe6 ¥xe6 22.f4 ¢h8 23.bxc6 bxc6 24.¦b2 ¦g8 Increasing pressure on White's K 25.¢h1 £g3

25...¦g3 26.¦b8 ¢g7 27.¦b7 ¢f6 28.¦b2 ¦xh3 29.¥xh3 £xh3 30.¢g1 ¦g6 31.¢f2 ¦g2

26.£e2? And it is over - no escape for White!

26.£d1 Essential move for White.... 26...¥f7 27.£e1 ¦e6 28.£xg3 ¦xg3

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 Round 5: nealbruce takes apart the Sicilian Defense!

nealbruce (1653) - walkover (1712)

Result: 1-0

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2018.07.22

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 £xd5 4.d4 e6 5.¤f3 ¤f6 6.¥e2 ¤c6 7.¥e3 cxd4 8.cxd4 ¥e7 9.O-O O-O 10.¤c3 £d6 11.h3 b6 12.¦c1 ¥b7 13.£d2 ¦ac8 14.¦fd1 ¤d5 15.¤xd5 £xd5 16.¥c4 £h5 17.¥e2 £d5 18.a3 ¥f6 19.¥c4 Continuing the Q chase and development! 19...£h5 20.b4 ¦fd8 21.d5 exd5 22.¥xd5 ¦e8? Better to keep pressure on white Q... 23.¥g5 £g6 24.¥xf6 £xf6 25.¤g5 ¦f8

25...¤d8 is much better for Black 26.¤xf7 ¦xc1 27.¤xd8 ¥xd5 28.£xd5 ¢h8 29.¦xc1 ¦xd8 30.£c6 £f4 31.¦e1 h6

26.¤e4 £e5 It's all over with this move 27.¤d6!27...£xd6??28.¥xf7 ¢xf7 29.£xd6 ¦fd8 30.£f4 ¢g8 31.¦xd8 ¦xd8 32.£c4 ¢h8 33.£f7 ¤d4 34.¦c7

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T77: Highlights

Here is a nice little French defense R4...

andrew37 (1623) - fireball (1571)

Result: 0-1

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2018.07.13

[...] 1.e4 e6 2.¤f3 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.d4 ¤f6 5.¥d3 ¥d6 6.O-O O-O 7.c3 ¥g4 8.¥e3 ¤bd7 9.¤bd2 ¦e8 10.h3 ¥h5 11.£c2 ¥g6 12.¦ae1 ¤e4 13.c4 c6 14.c5 ¥c7 15.b4 f5 16.¤b1 ¤df6 Black has a strong attack here 17.¤h4 f4 18.¤xg6 hxg6 19.¥c1 g5 20.¥xe4

20.¤d2 g4 21.hxg4 ¤xg4 22.¥xe4 ¦xe4 23.¦xe4 If white takes with N - it's all over! (23.¤xe4 £h4 Best for White is this ) 23...dxe4 24.£xe4 ¤f6 25.£e6 ¢f8 26.¦e1 £e8 27.£xe8 ¦xe8

20...dxe4 21.£c4 ¢h8 22.¤c3 £d7 23.a4 f3 24.¥xg5 fxg2 25.¢xg2! This wins 25...£f5 26.¥xf6 £f3 27.¢g1 gxf6 28.¦e3 ¦g8

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T76 Highlights: Round 2

fireball wins with the Smith-Morra Gambit! . 
One of my favorite openings - key after gambiting the pawn is keeping the pressure on.

fireball (1593) - az2112 (1528)

Result: 1-0

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2018.04.07

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.¤xc3 ¤c6 5.¤f3 d6 6.¥c4 ¤f6 7.O-O Pushing e pawn early here is an option...

7.e5 ¤g4 (7...dxe5 8.£xd8 ¢xd8 9.¤g5 ¤a5 10.¥xf7) 8.exd6 £xd6 9.£xd6 exd6 10.¤b5 ¦b8 11.¥f4 ¤ge5

7...e6 8.£e2 ¥e7 9.¦d1 ¥d7 10.¤b5 £b8 11.¥f4 e5 12.¥g5 Keeps attack going - Bg3 is too passive... 12...a6 13.¥xf6! Disrupting pawn structure and delaying Black castle... 13...gxf6 14.¤c3 b5 15.¥b3

15.¥d5 £b6 16.¥xc6 £xc6 17.¤d5 ¦c8 18.£d2 h5 19.¦ac1 £b7 20.¦xc8 ¥xc8 21.¤h4 ¦g8 22.g3 ¦g4 23.f3 ¦g5 24.¢g2 £b8 25.¦c1 ¥d8 26.¤e3 ¥e6

15...¤a5 16.¥c2 ¤c4 17.¥d3 ¥e6 18.¤d5 ¤b6 19.¤e3 £b7 20.¤h4 d5?21.exd5!21...¤xd5 22.¥e4 (22.£f3 ¥c5 23.¤hf5 £b6 24.¤xd5 ¥xf2 25.¢h1 ¥xd5 26.£xd5) 22...f5 And it's over for Black. I thought about this move below, which looks good at first blush but fails to the B check which gives back a tempo... (22...¤c3 23.¥xb7 ¤xe2 24.¢f1 ¦b8 25.¥c6 ¢f8 26.¢xe2) 23.¤hxf5 £d7 24.¤xd5

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T76 Highlights: Round 2

Tobiasdelmonte shows how to play a QG - lots of great tactics and a key sacrifice. 
This is the sort of game I love. White's King was engineered into an inescapable position after setting up a mating net and a sacrifice.

Tobiasdelmonte (1668) - Konstantinos (1658)

Result: 1-0

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2018.04.01

[...] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¤c3 e6 5.¥g5 ¥e7 6.e3 ¤bd7 7.¦c1 b6 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.¥b5 ¥b7 10.¤e5 O-O 11.¤c6 ¥xc6 12.¥xc6 ¦c8 13.¥a4 ¤e8? Opens the door for a nice combination! 14.¥xe7 £xe7 15.¤xd5 exd5 16.¦xc8 Advantage White - just need to finish it! 16...£b4 17.¢f1 ¤df6 18.¥xe8 ¦xe8 19.¦xe8 ¤xe8 20.£c2 White is up exchange and a pawn but Black still has resources... 20...¤d6 21.g3 g6 22.¢g2 a5 23.h4 £b5 24.h5 Keep attack going with pawn push to open Rook file!! 24...£e8 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.b3 £e7 27.£e2 ¤f5 28.£f3 £e6 29.£f4! And not a lot Black can do here... 29...f6 Best defense for Black looks like

29...¤g7 30.£b8 ¤e8 31.£e5 £xe5 32.dxe5 g5 33.¦h6 b5 34.¦b6 b4 35.¦b5 a4 36.bxa4 ¢g7 37.¦xb4 ¤c7

30.£b8 ¢f7 31.¦h7

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