CHESS BY VICTOR STRUGO

DOWN

1 Left, in Bontas

2 Celtic priest, moons ago

3 Freshwater crustacean, in the Margaret river Embrace

Show off, in Cap city

Two Zimbabweans impressed at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai and propelled their 94th ranked team to a commendable 58th position, tied with South Africa on 13 match points. Roy Mwadzura’s 6/9 score pushed his Elo up 45 points (from 2093), while young Jemusse Zhemba (2162) tallied 7.5/10 and gained a whopping 66 points. His 9th round upset against Mexico wasn’t totally sound but showed courage and calm in the heat of battle. Uriel Capo Vidal – Jemusse Zhemba

System, Steinitz Counter-Gambit): 1 d4 d5 2 Bf4 c5 3 e3 Nc6 4 Nf3 cxd4 5 exd4 Bg4 6 Nbd2 Qb6 7 Nb3 e6 8 Be2 Be7 9 O-O Nf6 10 a4 a5 11 h3 Bf5 12 Ne5 O-O (White now wants to gain Kside space but throwing stones from a glass house can be risky)

13 g4 Be4 14 g5 Nxe5??! (Is Black losing a piece?) 15 gxf6 Ng6?!? 16 fxe7 Nxf4 (No! He’s sacrificing a whole Rook!) 17 exf8=Q+ Rxf8 18 f3 Bf5 19 Bd3 Bxd3 20 cxd3 e5 21 Rf2? (He’s spooked! 21 Qc2 renders the check on g6 harmless) … Nxh3+ 22 Kf1 Nxf2 23 Kxf2 exd4 (Material is equal but White can’t easily coordinate his pieces) 24 Rc1 Re8 25 Nd2 Qf6 26 Nf1 Qh4+ 27 Kg1 h5 28 Rc2 Re6 29 Rg2 Qf4 30 Qd2 (White loses patience and trades Pawns unfavourably) … Qxf3 31 Qxa5 Rf6 32 Qe1 Qxd3 33 Ng3 Re6 34 Qf1 Qe3+ 35 Kh2 d3 36 Qf5? h4?! (36 … Qd4! 37 Nf1 Rf6 38 Qc8+ Kh7 39 Qc1 Qh4+ is winning) 37 Nf1 Qd4 38 Qg4 Qe5+ 39 Kh3 g6 40 Qf3 Qd4 41 Rf2 f5 42 Rd2 Re2 43 Rxd3 Rf2 44 Rxd4 Rxf3+ 45 Kg2 Rb3 46 Rxd5 Rxb2+ (After these exchanges White should hold the draw …) 47 Kh3 Rb4 48 Rb5 Rxa4 49 Rxb7 g5 50 Rc7 Ra3+ 51 Kh2 Rf3 52 Kg2 g4 53 Nd2? (… but the pressure is getting to him! 53 Rb7 holds firm) h3+! 54 Kg1 Rg3+ 55 Kh1 Rd3! 56 Nf1? (56 Rc5 Rxd2 57 Rxf5 Rd7 58 Rg5+ Rg7 59 Rh5 still offers good drawing chances with Black’s King cut off from his Pawns) … Rd1 57

Kg1 h2+ 58 Kxh2 Rxf1 59 Kg2 Rf3 60 Rb7 f4? 61 Ra7? (Missing his last drawing chance, 61 Rb5! The rest was easy and White resigned on move 86.

I welcome comments, games and news at victor.strugo@gmail.com. Find local news at www.chesshub.org.za and facebook.com/ SACHESSPLAYERS.

Caruana – Ponomariov, Dortmund 2014. White to play and win