European campaign
44th Sitges International Open
Sitges, Spain
July 22-29, 2018 Final Top Standings
1. GM Gadir Guseinov AZE 2654, 7.5/9 2-7. IM Rolando Alarcon Casellas CUB 2389, Shrivatri Anuj IND 2094, GM Miguel Muñoz ESP 2500, GM Sergey Volkov RUS 2574, Das Abhishek IND 2325, IM Inigo Argandona Riveiro ESP 2323, 6.5/9
8-14. IM Luis Lazaro Aguero Jimenez CUB 2473, Gaurav Kumar IND 2074, Andreu Blasco Coll ESP 2242, IM John Marvin Miciano PHI 2411, WGM Janelle Mae Frayna PHI 2315, IM Florian Grafl GER 2364, IM Andrew Hernandez Cristian COL 2323, 6.0/9
Total of 105 participants
Time Control: Total of
90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then an additional
30 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1.
A small Filipino delegation is currently in Europe playing in chess opens with the end in view of toughening themselves up through continuous competition, bringing up their FIDE ratings and perhaps to earn new titles. Led by GM Jayson Gonzales, the glory-seekers are WGM Janelle Mae Frayna and IM John Marvin Miciano. I believe their campaign is made possible by Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez, NCFP President Rep. Prospero Pichay, Jr., FEU Chairman Aurelio Montinola III and Philippine Star President/CEO Miguel Belmonte.
Moving from tournament to tournament could be a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of work. Thank goodness it is already the digital information age and they do not have to lug around their chess books! GM Eugene Torre when he was campaigning in Spain for his GM title in the early 70s would be bringing around a sack (yes, literally a sack) of chess informants with him wherever he went.
I was recently going over GM Alex Yermolinsky’s book “The Road to Chess Improvement,” and he has some good advice on how to cope with the daily grind and achieve your objectives:
“Firstly, I need some knowledge of openings to stay competitive. Too many players of my generation I have known and used to admire could not make the adjustment to the ever-increasing pace of the modern theory and slipped back into a simplistic approach of avoiding critical continuations. The price they pay is enormous: not only do they suffer from getting very little with White out of the opening and/or putting themselves into difficult situations with Black; most importantly, their chess style begins to change towards dry, technical play. These days you’re not going to beat a lot of people by just sitting there waiting for your opponent to self-destruct. An aging chess-player must keep rejuvenating himself by constantly sharpening up his opening repertoire. And those who do, get rewarded by the amazing longevity of their chess careers. Look at Korchnoi, Timman and Beliavsky (Bobby Ang: this book was written several years ago, as you may have noticed) — their openings are the cutting edge, and that’s why they are still a force against the youngsters of today.
“Secondly, not too many games are going to be decided by a memory contest. Somebody wins a theoretical duel, then proceeds to lose the game — an almost everyday occasion. A vast majority of theoretical variations end with the ‘unclear’ assessment — that means they are playable for both sides. Sooner or later players find themselves out there on their own, and the outcome of the battle will be decided by matching their middle game skills. And there comes a type of situation I would like to come well-prepared for. Deep analyses of opening set-ups help to extend my factual knowledge into the middle game. One more thing is the durability of the product. Even if (realistically speaking — when) there come new developments that make your individually designed variations obsolete, the ideas will still be the same, thus valid, and they can be re-used within the newly set bounds of current fashion. Your opening just goes to the repair shop, that’s all.
“Thirdly, many openings can lead to the same kind of middle game setup. We get an isolated d4-pawn from the Panov Caro-Kann, Nimzo, Alapin Sicilian or Queen’s Gambit Accepted. For instance — and that brings me to another important subject, the variety of one’s opening repertoire. For the practitioners of a traditional ‘theory first’ approach, acquiring a new opening is a torture, simply because there’s so much to learn (memorize) before one feels he’s ready. This ‘ready’ thing never ceases to amuse me. When exactly does it happen? In other words, how far do you go before you finally take your new opening to the tournament hall? I have always been able to incorporate new openings into my repertoire seamlessly by doing things my way — through studying setups and structure. But it didn’t come too easy.”
Yermolinsky’s words are true even now, invest in hard work, don’t be content with your old opening systems and always be on the lookout for new ways to fight for an edge, and don’t memorize opening moves, study setups and structure.
The performance of our players in Sitges can be considered a minor success. WGM Janelle Mae Frayna came first among women participants and IM Marvin Miciano won a special prize for the Top 18-Under.
Followed by castling queenside, a Nakamura specialty.
4...h6 5.Bh4 e6
[5...c5 is more challenging.]
6.e4 dxe4 7.Nxe4 Be7 8.Nc3
Janelle’s idea, played to retain pieces on the board. Everybody else plays 8.Nxf6+
8...a6 9.Nf3 c5 10.0–0–0 cxd4 11.Nxd4 0–0 12.f4
To be followed up by Wd3–f3, Be2, Rhf1 and maybe f4–f5 or g2–g4.
12...Qc7 13.Qf3?! b5
The a8–rook is taboo, as 14.Qxa8? Bb7 15.Qa7 Bc5 wins the White queen.
14.Bxf6 Bb7?! <D POSITION AFTER 14...BB7
Very playable is 14...Nxf6 but Black is enticing White to sacrifice the queen.
15.Bxe7!
And give up the queen she does!
15...Bxf3 16.Nxf3 b4 17.Bd6
Black’s idea is 17.Bxb4? Qxf4+ followed by taking the bishop on b4.
17...Qa5 18.Bxf8 bxc3 19.Rxd7 Qxa2 20.bxc3 Kxf8 21.Kd2 Qb1 22.Rg1 Qb6 23.Bd3 23...Qf2+ 24.Be2 a5 25.Rb1 Qxg2 26.Rbb7 f6 27.c4
Not the most efficient. Absolutely killing is 27.Nd4! (going for Nxe6+) 27... Re8 28.Kc1! (to unpin her bishop, which wants to go to h5) 28...Kg8 (28...g6 29.Bc4) 29.Bh5 Ra8 30.Nxe6 Black can already resign with a clear conscience.
27...Qg4 28.Ke3 e5 29.fxe5 fxe5 30.Rf7+ Kg8 31.Nxe5 Qg1+ 32.Ke4
The King is an attacking piece!
32...Qg2+ 33.Bf3 Qxc2+ 34.Kd5 Rd8+ 35.Kc5 Qf2+ 36.Kc6 Qg1 37.Bd5 Kh8 38.Rfe7 Rf8 39.Nf7+ Kh7 40.c5 a4 41.h4 Qg4 42.Nd6 Rf6 43.Rxg7+ Qxg7 44.Rxg7+ Kxg7 45.Kd7 1–0
Janelle’s c-pawn will queen while its counterpart on a4 has no chance.
John Marvin had this game with a cute finish. 5.Qd2 b5 6.Bd3 Bb7 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h3 a6 9.Ne2 c5 10.c3 Ngf6 11.Ng3 0–0
IM Miciano likes to play King’s Indian formations and maintain flexibility in the opening and strike back hard when his opponent errs.
12.Bh6 e5 13.d5 Bxd5?!
Vintage Miciano. He could have continued with 13...c4 14.Bc2 a5 with chances as well but he likes chaos.
14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.exd5 e4 16.Nxe4?!
Not the best. The bishop should be the first to go. For example 16.Bxe4 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 Qe7 (17...Re8? is a mistake because 18.Nfg5 h6 19.Ne6+ fxe6 20.Nxd6 the d6–knight attacks Black’s rook on e8) 18.Nfg5 h6 19.0–0 hxg5 20.Nxg5 White has given back the piece but remains a pawn up and his king is in a safe position.
16...Re8 17.Qf4 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Qf6 19.Qe3 Qe7 20.Nd2 f5 21.0–0 fxe4 22.Rae1 Nf6 23.f3 Nxd5 24.Qxe4 Qg5 25.f4 Nxf4 26.Qb7+ Kh6 27.Qf3 Rxe1 28.Rxe1 Rf8 29.Ne4 Qe7 30.Qd1 d5 31.Nf2 Qd6 32.Ng4+ Kg7 33.Qd2 h5 34.Ne5?
[34.Nf2 is an ugly move but it might be White’s best chance to hold his position together]
34...Rf5
The reason why Ne5 is bad. Now the knight has nowhere to go.
35.Nd3
[35.Nf3 Nxh3+ 36.Kh1 (36.gxh3 Rxf3) 36...Qg3 with the deadly threat of Nh3– f2+–e4]
35...Nxd3
Miciano was probably in time trouble. He is a tactical monster and I can’t imagine him missing 35...Nxh3+! 36.gxh3 Qg3+ 37.Qg2 Qxd3
36.Qxd3 Qf4 37.Re6 Qf2+ 38.Kh2 Rg5 39.Qf3 Qxf3 40.gxf3 Rf5 41.Kg3 Rf6 42.Re7+ Kh6 43.Rd7 h4+!
A great move. You will see later why.
44.Kxh4 Rxf3 45.Rxd5 Rf2 46.Rxc5 Rxb2 47.a4 bxa4 0–1
White now realizes what Miciano is playing for and resigns. You see, 47...bxa4 48.Ra5 Rg2! White’s king is in an inescapable bind. His rook cannot leave the 5th rank because of ...g6–g5 mate and otherwise Black’s a4–pawn will just march down the board and queen.
The next tournament for the Philippine delegation will be in Vlissengen, Netherlands, from Aug. 4-11, 2018.