Montevideo’s messy showdown

SAM Shankland has well and truly solidified his super GM status with another commanding win at the American Continental Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay. Regardless of the much weaker field, his 9/11 +7 score, featuring no losses, is not to be scoffed at. This comes immediately after his duo of dominant performances at the Capablanca Memorial and the United States Championship ahead of titans Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Hikaru Nakamura.

Today’s featured game is a big upset from round 2 of the American Continental Championship. The two Argentinians GM Sandro Mareco (2643) and IM Alejo de Dovitiis (2343) went head to head in a messy tactical showdown which shows that truly anything can happen on the day. A great boost for both casual and club players alike! Mareco has the white pieces.

1 Nf3 Nf6

2 c4e6

3 d4d5

4 Nc3 Be7

5 Bf4—

Mareco goes in for the Harrwitz attack: Three Knights Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. 5 —OO

6 e3 Nbd7

7 cxd5 Nxd5

8 Bg3 c5

Black has equalised with this liquidation of the centre.

9 Nxd5 exd5

10 dxc5 —

Problem: Black to play and mate in 4.

White chooses to fight against Black’s classic QGD isolated pawn, but the cost is that White is slightly lagging in development.

10 — Nxc5

11 Be2!?Qa5+!

Black accurately takes the initiative.

12 Kf1 —

Unfortunately, 12 Qd2 doesn’t work. E.g. 12 — Nd3+!, 13 Bxd3 Bb4 pins and wins. White would be advised to go down the exchange here, starting with 13 a3 Bf6, 14 b4. 12 — Ne4

13 Be5 Bg4

Black recruits the last of his minor pieces

14 h3 Bxf3

15 gxf3 Nd2+

16 Kg2 d4

Attempting to crack open the position and with it a path to White’s airy king.

17 exd4 Rad8

18 a3? Rxd4!

A surprising oversight from the GM since 19 Bxd4 fails to a mate in 4 (see problem).

19 Bg3 f5

It’s not looking good for White. 20 Rg1 f4

21 Bh2 Qg5+ 22 Kh1 Qd5

23 Rc1 —

The Black pieces have seized the centre and it seems like just a matter of cleaning up after breaking through on f3. But it’s not so easy.

23 — Bd6?!

Black needed to get the bishop quickly to f6 in order to not allow White to solidify.

24 Rc3 b5

25 Qc2 Re8

26 Rc8 —

The enine says White is less than half a point down, Black shouldn’t be winning any time soon.

26 —Nxf3?

Now White holds the advantage (27 Rxe8 Kf7, 28 Qc8 Nxf1+, 29 Kxf1 isn’t good for Black).

27 Rxe8+ Kf7

28 Rg2? —

Gives the advantage right back (better was 28 Qc8 Nxf1+, 29 Kxf1). 28 — Nh4

29 f3 Nxg2

30 Qc8 Ne3

31 Qd7+ Kf6

32 Bg1 Rd2

33 Bxe3 fxe3

34 Re4? —

A terrible gameending blunder from Mareco with more than 11 minutes on the clock.

34 — Rd1+!

35 Kg2 Rg1+

White loses the queen for rook and bishop via a discovered attack and won’t get a fortress.

White resigns.

01

Regardless of this messy loss, 4th seed Mareco did very well to stabilise and finished fifth on 8/11 after tiebreaks. De Dovitiis finished on 6.5/11, placing him in the 35th49th category.

Solution: 19 — Qg5+, 20 Kh2

Bd6+, 21 Be5 Bxe5+, 22 f4 Bxf4# is a tidy mate.