In the most recent April tournament I managed to defeat Stephen, a veteran of the competition, which resulted in a shared first and second place with another participant, with whom I had previously drawn. Yet perhaps even more satisfying than the result was the quality of my play, highlighted by an interesting positional pawn sacrifice.
Thus in the black position 38 I played “c5-c4”, leading to the white position 39. Such a sacrifice would not be out of place among the games of strong grandmasters, particularly my compatriot from Belarus, Boris Gelfand (who now resides in Israel), who executed a similar move in the 12th game of the 2012 World Chess Championship match. Before delving into the chess logic behind this move, I would like to address the psychological reasoning that led me to it. Stephen, primarily a positional player, tends to avoid unnecessary complications; in particular, he seems somewhat cautious when facing my attacking and creative style. Thus, I anticipated that Stephen would hesitate to capture my sacrificed c4-pawn directly, even though accepting it would have maintained equality in the position.
There were two possible captures: either with the b3-pawn (see bottom-left position) or the d3-pawn (see bottom-right position). However, the following variations demonstrate that Black would have had solid compensation for the sacrificed material. For “b3xc4”-capture it is 20.bxc4 Qb2 21.Qc1 Qc3+ 22.Kf2 Ba3; for “d3xc4”-capture it is 20.dxc4 Rd8 21.Qxb4 Bxb4+ 22.Kf2 Nd6.
Instead, Stephen made a weak move “e3-e4,” and after a natural reply “c4-c3” Black obtained a powerful position. White was unable to castle, while Black could both castle and launch a devastating mating attack against the white king stranded in the center of the board.
That is exactly how the game unfolded. Beyond the first conclusion - that Chess allows very interesting strategic pawn sacrifices - another important lesson emerges. Often, the best refutation of such sacrifices lies in accepting them. Refusing active play is almost always tantamount to defeat!
Section 3 Report by Kian Zarineh
On Saturday, April 26, I participated in a chess tournament that followed a quad format, with each player scheduled to play three games. Despite the rainy weather outside, the tournament had a strong turnout, and many of the participants had ratings higher than mine, making for a very competitive atmosphere.
In my first game, I secured a win after my opponent made a critical positional blunder. He took my bishop with the g pawn on move 14 and then I brought my queen to h3 and eventually won his queen and the game.
My second game was more challenging. He played the French Defense. He played Nf6 and then Nfd7 which allowed me to play F4. I launched an early kingside attack, aiming to create pressure, but my opponent managed to castle queenside safely, neutralizing much of my initiative. Meanwhile, he developed a strong queenside counterattack and eventually opened the a8-h1 diagonal. Quickly, his bishop and queen came on the squares f3 and g2. I was eventually forced to lose an exchange. In the endgame I had two strong passed pawns so I might have been able to hold that position but then I blundered the pawns leading to my loss.
The third game also ended in a loss. In the opening on move 14 he could have played Be4 after my dxc4. Luckily, he missed it. We were playing solid and then my opponent blundered a pawn. He paced his knight on f5 making it dangerous. I then blundered when I offered a queen trade with Qa6. He then had forced mate in two with qc3 and then qc7.
Overall, the tournament was a valuable learning experience. Competing against stronger players helped highlight areas of my game that I need to work on, and I look forward to improving and playing better in future events.
Congratulations to Kian Zarineh 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 next two tournaments on May 3, our Quad and our ICA Open. Enjoy and we hope to see you soon!
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