In the last 2024 quad I played with my familiar player Shahryar (I was White, he was Black). I have played with him many games; often with my favorite “Italian game” opening. Almost all these games were very productive, with many tactical and combinational means. Last time I played with Shahryar in July and in the key black position “B” (at the very upper part of the picture) he chose 5…Nf6 move, what led to position “J” (abbreviation of “July”, below and left of “B”). In December quad he suddenly played 5…Nxc3 what led to position “D” (abbreviation of “December”, below and right of “B”).
When I said “suddenly” above I meant that I did not expect such a continuation. Actually I had prepared a new variant in 5… Nxf6 continuation and was a little disappointed that Shahryar had chosen 5… Nxc3. This continuation was clearly quieter than “J” continuation and if I wanted to win (after two draws in this quad I had to win my third game) I should have to do something extraordinary (read below). Now I am passing to comment my game by the six key positions in the lower part of the picture (in all of them White is to move).
In position 1 White could simply win his pawn back after 7. Qd5 (in the game I had played 7. Re1). Of course I saw this move but counted that taking back e5-pawn was too simple for a play to win. In particular, after 7.Qd5 O-O 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. Qxe5 all knights would have been eliminated, other pieces would have been equally balanced and in general the position would have become too calm for Shahryar to play. I have known him as “timid for complications guy”, who prefers playing mostly quite positions. So I had decided to choose more complicated continuation. I had found an idea of getting an “advantage of two bishops” well-known in chess. That idea was based on playing Ng5 and Qh5 and Black (in order to prevent a checkmate Qxf7) had to trade his bishop for my g5-knight. To execute this idea I started with 7. Re1 and after 7…d6 had played 8. Ng5 Bxg5 9. Qh5 g6 10. Qxg5 Qxg5 11. Bxg5. That gave me the above mentioned advantage of two bishops, but cost me a pawn.
For some time we had played under such unbalanced positions. I have usually set some uneasy chess tasks for my opponent (here, Shahryar) to solve hoping he would commit a mistake. For example, take a look at position 3. Black had just played 11… Be6 and I, in response, played 12. Bf6 sacrificing the c4-bishop. I had to calculate a variant 12…Bxc4 13. Bxh8 Ke7 14. Bg7 f6 (or 14…Rg8) with an idea of trapping my bishop by 15…g5. Fortunately, playing 12. Bf6 was possible and my dark-squared bishop had significantly been annoying a black position for a long time. In position 5 I had calculated a variant 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. f4 exf4 15.Rxe6 Kf7 16. Rae1… But at the last moment I noticed a refutation: 16…Ne5!
As I said above, such complicated play had continued for some time. But even I (somebody may call me a difficult and problematic partner who constantly looks for complications…) had not stood the pressure of a fight. Thus in position 7 I had to play 20. Bf6 keeping the tension up. But I played 20. Rxe5 (temporarily winning e5-pawn) and somehow miscalculated in a variant 20. Rxe5 Nxg5 21. Rxe8 Nxf3+ 22. gxf3 Rxe8 23. Kf2, what resulted in the White’s position was still down a pawn but without the two bishops advantage.
However I had continued fighting. I was lucky to create a very dangerous passed a-pawn and got an obvious counter-play. Thus take a look at position 9. I had correctly played 32. c5 sacrificing a pawn but getting a possibility to activate my rook (by the maneuver Ra2-c2-c5). My zeal had been finally justified! I completely took an initiative. But I had not to cheapen my advantage and had to be exact as much as possible. The last key position 11 confirms that. In it I could play 37. Bxf7 winning a pawn, but I was afraid of the drawn rook endgame after trading bishops (it was also possible to get the “famous f- and h-pawn” rook endgame famous for its drawish tendencies). So I had decided to play 37. Bd5, what after 37. Bd5 Rd4 38. Rxc7+ Ka6 39. Rc5 had led to a complete White’s domination! My opponent did not stand that, began to make new mistakes, got in serious time trouble and missed queening my a-pawn. I had won a game and split the first prize!
In conclusion, I want to congratulate all students and teachers of ICA with upcoming holidays – Hanukkah, Christmas, and a New Year. Most probably I will not play in the New Year’s blitz tournament planned on 12/31/2024 (because I will be tired from the Eastern Open tournament in Washington, DC).
So, I wish all of you Happy Holidays and, mainly, new Victories in Chess!
Congratulations to Yefim Treger for winning our report contest, and a free entry to the tournament. If you want a chance to win a free entry into our Saturday Quads, email a report to icanewjersey@gmail.com, following these guidelines. We hope you guys have had a great week, and we hope to see you at our New Year’s blitz tournament on December 31 and our next Quad which is January 4. Enjoy and we hope to see you soon!
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