CHESS
Alexander Baburin
THE Irish Chess Championship finished last Sunday in Ennis. FM Philip Short and IM Alex Lopez shared victory in this tournament after both scored seven points in nine rounds. Third place went to FM Conor O’Donnell, who scored 6.5 points, while GM Alex Baburin finished fourth on six points. Some 47 players took part in a weekend tournament, won by David Murray and Chilean IM Alvaro Valdes Escobar. I would like to show a very complicated endgame from the penultimate round of the Irish Championship: A position like this isn’t something you want to have when you are short of time — and that applies to both sides. It’s probably easier to handle this position for White, particularly if he would keep queens on the board by playing 81.f3!. 81.f4 Qb7! 82.Qxb7+ Kxb7 83.Kf3 b4 84.Nd4 Kb6 85.Ke4 Bg7 86.f5 Rd6 87.Nhf3 Kc5 88.Ne6+ At this point both players relied on the 30-second per move increment. Watching this game, I thought that Black had to play 88...Rxe6+! 89.fxe6 Kd6=, but Alex tried to play for a win:
88...Kc4?? 89.Nxg7 b3 90.Ne5+?? Returning the favour. In this position, time is of the essence — and White had to gain it by attacking the enemy rook with 90.Ne8!. After 90... Rd8 91.Nd6+! Rxd6 92.g7 Rd8 93.Nd2+ Kc5 94.f6 White wins, though this isn’t an easy line to find in time trouble.
90...Kc3 91.Ne6 b2 92.g7 b1Q+ 93.Kf4 Qb8 94.Nf8 Rd4+ 95.Kg5 Qxe5 96.Ne6 Qg3+ 97.Kf6 Rd5 0–1