By James Gaylard.
We are just two rounds away from the end of Phase 1, and the race is hotting up for qualification for the top section in Phase 2.
Howard Goldberg has expressed his regrets at having to withdraw from the tournament. He will be out of town for two Thursdays and has no reasonable prospect of catching up the games before 4 March, when Phase 1 will draw to a close. This means that Deon Solomons, with 2½ out of 3 and a guaranteed point against Howard to come, is the first to qualify for the A section from the Alekhine group. Nathan Geffen is the only player in the competition to retain a perfect score (3 out of 3 to date) and we look forward to the showdown between Nathan and Deon in Round 5, which will decide the Alekhine group honours.
The Bronstein Group is wide open at this stage, with only 1 point separating first from last, meaning that no player in the group is guaranteed a place in the top section. It would be foolish to bet against Charles (with 2 out of 3) making it however. After Tinto’s upset win against Warrick, making him the only player in the group not to have lost a game over the board, he perhaps too has the momentum to carry him into the top 3. Will round 4 clarify matters, or will we be kept in suspense to the last ?
Results from Round 3:
Howard Goldberg 0 - 1 Nathan Geffen
Deon Solomons ½ - ½ Nick Barnett
Denise Frick 1 - 0 Stephen Gallied
Laura Irving 1 - 0 Anzel Solomons
Anant Dole 0 - 1 Charles de Villiers
Tinto Seotloadi 1 - 0 Warrick Erlank
Log after Round 3:
Alekhine Group
|
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | Total | Rank |
| 1 | Nick Barnett | X | 1 | ½ |
|
| 0 | 1½ | 4 |
| 2 | Howard Goldberg | 0 | X | d
| d
| d
| 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | Deon Solomons | ½ | 1
| X | 1 | 1 |
| 3½ | 1 |
| 4 | Denise Frick |
| 1
| 0 | X | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | Stephen Gallied |
| 1
| 0 | 0 | X |
| 1 | 5 |
| 6 | Nathan Geffen | 1 | 1 |
| 1 |
| X | 3 | 2 |
Bronstein Group
|
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | Total | Rank |
| 1 | Charles de Villiers | X | 1 | 1 |
|
| 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Laura Irving | 0 | X |
|
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Anant Dole | 0 |
| X | 1
| ½ |
| 1½ | 2 |
| 4 | Tinto Seotloadi |
|
| d
| X | 1 | ½ | 1½ | 2 |
| 5 | Warrick Erlank |
| 1 | ½ | 0 | X |
| 1½ | 2 |
| 6 | Anzel Solomons | 1 | 0 |
| ½ |
| X | 1½ | 2 |
Two of this week’s games have been kindly supplied by the contestants, one a tactical slugfest in what seems to be typical Geffen fashion, the other a demonstration of good positional play by Nick against his much fancied opponent.
Howard Goldberg - Nathan GeffenClaremont Invitation, 2007
Opening: a45 Trompowski Attack
[Analysis by Nathan Geffen and Fritz 4.01]
I played the opening well, started a correct powerful attack, missed a win by sacrificing a rook, got into a worse 2R v Q+2p ending and then found a saving tactic that actually gave me a won game. The last few moves are Q+2R v. 2Q - very rare. Fascinating game.
1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bd3 0-0 6.c3
The knight is better placed on c6 than d7. White has to waste a tempo if he wants to kick the knight. 6...Nc6
7.e4 e5 8.d5 Nb8! Black preferred this to Ne7 which would block the queen's operation on the d8-h4 diagonal in the case of White taking the e5 pawn with his knight.
9.fxe5 dxe5 10.Bg5 [10.Nxe5 Nxe4 and White is is in trouble.] 10...c6 11.c4
This allows a tactic which gives Black the much better game. 11...Qb6 12.Qd2 cxd5 13.cxd5 White had to play Bxf6. Now he gets into serious trouble.
13...Nxd5 14.exd5 e4
15.Nc3 [All other moves lose immediately.] 15...exd3 16.0-0-0 Na6 17.Bh6 Bf5 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qf4 Rac8 20.g4 d2+ 21.Nxd2 Nb4 22.Nde4 Nxa2+ 23.Kc2 Nxc3 24.bxc3
24…Rxc3+? Black spoils a choice of pretty wins with this unnecessary sacrifice.
[24...Qb4! 25.gxf5 (25.Qe5+ f6 26.Qd4 Bxe4+) 25...Rxc3+ 26.Nxc3 (26.Kd2 Rf3+) 26...Qxf4-+; 24...Qc7!-+ 25.Qxc7 E.g. 25...Bxe4+ 26.Kb3 Rxc7 27.Rhe1 f5 28.d6 Rd7]
25.Kxc3 Rc8+ 26.Kd3 Qb5+ 27.Ke3 [27.Kd2!] 27...Bxe4 28.Qxe4 [28.Kxe4 Qe2+ 29.Qe3 Re8+ -+]
28...Re8 29.Qxe8 Qxe8+ 30.Kf3 Fritz evaluates this as winning for black, but it is unclear. White's d6 pawn is strong and his rooks will co-ordinate well.
30...a5 [30...Qe5 31.d6 g5 32.d7 Qf4+ 33.Ke2 Qxg4+ 34.Kf2 Qf4+ 35.Ke2 Qg4+ 36.Kf2 Qf5+ 37.Ke2]
31.Rhe1 Qd7 32.d6 a4 33.Re7 Qc6+ 34.Kf2 Qc2+ 35.Ke1 Kf8 36.Re2 Qc3+ 37.Rdd2?
Suddenly Black looks like he might be lost. Does he have a perpetual check to stop the d6 pawn queening?
No need! White's last move is a mistake that allows an extraordinary tactic.
37...a3!-+ 38.d7 a2 Amazing! White will queen first with check and still not be able to stop black queening. Now at worst for Black he will have a queen and two clear pawns for the two rooks. Unlike earlier in the game, White does not have any powerful passed pawns after he queens and therefore Black has a won game.
39.d8Q+ Kg7 40.g5? White is lost no matter what. If he swaps queens with Qd4+, Black gets a queen and two pawns for the rooks. But the move White played hastens the loss.
40...a1Q+ 41.Kf2 Qh3 A highly unusual position with two queens v. queen and two rooks.
42.Rd1 An attempt to complicate in Black's time-trouble. [42.Re1 Qxh2+ 43.Kf3 Qc3+]
42...Qxh2+ Black is in a frantic time scramble now, but the game is easily won even though he makes heavy weather of it.
43.Kf3 Qc3+ 44.Rd3 Qh3+ 45.Ke4 Qf5+ [45...Qg4+! 46.Ke3 Qg3+ 47.Ke4 Qce5# Found by Fritz 4.01]
46.Ke3
Black had a couple of minutes left for the rest of the game and failed to record the game properly. The time-scramble was so frantic that Black cannot reconstruct the remaining moves. But there's a choice of wins. Fritz finds a mate in 4 starting with 46 ... Qc1+. 47. Rdd2 Qe5+ 48. Kf2 Qf4+ 49. Kg2 Qcf1#. Black found something else, less spectacular, but also effective.
0-1
Deon Solomons – Nick BarnettClaremont Invitation, 2007
Opening: D32 Tarrasch Defence
[Analysis by Nick Barnett, James Gaylard and Fritz 6.0]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.e3 dxc4 5.Bxc4 Nf6 6.a3 Nc6 7.Nf3 a6 8.0–0 cxd4 9.exd4 Be7 10.Re1 0–0 11.Ba2 b5
12.h3? [with loss of time - d5 is required to maintain white’s advantage]
12.. Bb7 13. Be3 [again d5 seems to be the correct move, now White cedes the initiative to Black]
13…b4 14.axb4 Nxb4 15.Bb1 Nbd5 16.Bd2 Nxc3 [16...Qb6 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.Bc3]
17.Bxc3 a5 18.Qd3 g6 19.Re5 Bd5 [a well posted bishop] 20.Bd2 [20.Bc2 Qc7=]
20...Qb6 21.Bc3 a4 22.Re2 [22.Bc2 a3 23.bxa3 Rfc8]
22...Qb7 23.Bc2 Rfc8 24.Qe3 [24.Re3!? e.g. 24...Bb3 25.Bxb3 Qxb3 26.Nd2 seems to diminish Black’s advantage somewhat]
24...Bxf3 25.Qxf3 [25.gxf3 Nd5 26.Be4 Bf6 (26...Nxe3? looks tempting, but 27.Bxb7 Nf5 28.Bxc8 Rxc8 29.Rxa4+-) ]
25...Qxf3–+ 26.gxf3 a3 27.Rae1 [27.Rd2 Nd5 28.Be4 f5 29.Bxd5 exd5–+]
27...Nd5 28.Be4 Bf6 [28...Nxc3 29.bxc3 Rab8 30.d5–+] 29.Bxd5 exd5
30.Re3 ½-½.
After 30…a2 31.Ra1 Rc4, Black has a clear advantage, but as Nick says it’s difficult to find the winning plan. Against a player of Deon’s calibre, it would take a brave person not to accept the draw offer.
