Negros Open 2017
2017 Negros International Open Ikthus Osbrown Hall, Bacolod City Oct. 11-19, 2017 Final Top Standings
1. GM Nigel Short ENG 2698, 8.0/9 2-3. GM Karen Grigoryan ARM 2586, GM Nguyen Duc Hoa VIE 2499, 7.0/9
4-8. GM Narayanan Srinath IND 2511, GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. PHI 2365, IM Tran Minh Thang VIE 2352, IM Kim Steven Yap PHI 2361, IM Oliver Dimakiling PHI 2419, 6.0/9
9-15. Edsel Montoya PHI 2262, IM Ronald Dableo PHI 2419, Jayson Salubre PHI 2282, GM Tran Tuan Minh VIE 2558, Ted Ian Montoyo PHI 2297, GM Darwin Laylo PHI 2402, Xavier John Verdun PHI 2147, 5.5/9 Total of 51 participants Time Control: 90 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added to your time after every move starting move 1.
This year for the first time several top foreign grandmasters participated in the Negros Open including former world championship challenger GM Nigel Short of England. He was just too strong for the opposition.
Short, Nigel D. (2698) — Elorta, David (2313) [D55] Negros Open 2017 Bacolod City (2), 12.10.2017 1.d4
Until a few years ago, Short almost exclusively played 1.e4, but in the past few years he has been alternating that with 1.d4. And he has a good score with either move.
1... d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5
GM Lars Schandorff wrote a “Grandmaster Guide” to the Queen’s Gambit from the White side. He suggests playing the Exchange Variation and then go for the Botvinnik System with Qc2, e3, Bd3 and then Nge2 followed by f3! and e3–e4. GM Nigel follows this plan for a while but then deviates. Let us see...
5...Be7 6.e3 0–0
[6... Bf5? 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. Qb3 White wins a pawn]
7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Nf3
Going 8.Nge2 would have kept to the Botvinnik plan, but Short continues to play in the classical way.
8...c5?!
The text move scores poorly for Black — it appears that his center pawns become too loose. The normal way is to play 8...c6 after which we get the “Carlsbad formation” with White’s pawns on d4, e3 and f2 and Black’s on b7, c6 and d5. White will be playing for the minority attack with a2–a4, b2–b4–b5 and Black will attempt to use the half-open e-file to get a first strike against the enemy king.
9.0–0 b6 10.Ne5 Bb7 11.Qf3
The first deadly threat appears. Short’s idea is 12.Qh3 targeting h7.
12... h6 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 ( 13... Qxd7? 14.Qxd7 Nxd7 15.Bxe7) 14.Bxh6 gxh6 15.Qxh6 Black is hard-pressed to defend against the coming f2–f4, Rf1–f3–g3.
Perhaps the best defense is 12...g6, but even then after 13.Bh6 Re8 14.Bb5 Black is under pressure as well.
11...cxd4
GM Nigel actually got this exact same position in a simultaneous exhibition he gave 27 years ago. He also won that game pretty quickly. 11... Nxe5 12. dxe5 Ne4 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Bxe4 Bxe4 16.Qxe4 Rad8 17.Rad1 Rd7 18.Rxd7 Qxd7 19.f4 Qd2 20.f5 Qxb2 21.f6 Re8 22.e6 Qxa2 23.Qg4 g6 24.e7 Qd5 25.Rd1 Qe6 26.Qf4 Kh8 27.Rd8 Rg8 28.Qh6 Qxf6 29.Rxg8+ 1–0 (29) Short,N (2635)-Krnak,V Prague 1990.
12.exd4 Nxe5 13.dxe5 Nd7 14.Qh3!
Elorta probably expected 14.Bf4 after which 14...Nc5 followed by 15...d4 would equalize.
14...g6
No choice. 14... h6? 15. Bxh6 gxh6 16.Qxh6 f5 17.Qg6+ Kh8 18.Rae1 Black’s king is defenseless.
15.Bh6 Re8
David Elorta is a strong player but apparently gets fixated on saving the exchange. In this position he should have just given it up. 15...Nxe5 16.Bxf8 Bxf8 Black can still resist.
16.Bb5 Nc5 17.Rad1!
Black’s rook on e8 is not going anywhere. The text move threatens 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Bxe8 and, aside from the material loss, the second player’s position is in shambles.
17...Bc8 18.Qf3 Bd7
Does this move save the exchange? Unfortunately Black overlooks a tactic...
19.Rxd5 Qc8 <D>
POSITION AFTER 19...QC8
Now for the final combination. 20.Rxc5! bxc5 [20...Bxc5 21.Nd5 Bf8 22.Nf6+ Kh8 23.Bxd7]
21.Nd5! 1–0
After 21.Nd5 Black is helpless: 21...Bxb5 22.Nxe7+ Rxe7 23.Qf6 Black has to give up his queen to avoid mate;
21...Bf5 22.Bxe8 Qxe8 23.Nxe7+ the rook at the corner is en prise;
21... Rb8 22. Bxd7 Qxd7 23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24.Qxf6 followed by mate on g7.
On the local side it was the unknown and untitled Edsel Montoya who made waves — he defeated GMin-waiting Ronald Dableo in round 2 and then brought down a big fish in round 3.
22-year-old GM Karen H. Grigoryan (not to be confused with Karen Grigorian, Armenian Chess Champion in 1969, 1971 and 1972 who committed suicide by jumping from the highest bridge in Yerevan in 1989) came up recently from junior ranks and is just now making his climb up the ELO rating tables. He is almost at the 2600 level and the way GM Karen is playing it is a matter of when rather than if he will attain that rating. He has won the Championship of Armenia twice, in 2011 and 2015 — that is saying a lot considering that this tiny country of 3 million has already won the Chess Olympiad thrice — in 2006, 2008 and 2012. Grigoryan, Karen H. (2586) — Montoya, Edsel (2262) [B78] Negros Open 2017 Bacolod City
(3), 13.10.2017 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 0– 0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0–0–0 Rc8 11.Bb3
While reviewing this position in the database I found out that a huge amount of players have fallen for 11.h4?? Nxd4 12.Qxd4 (12.Bxd4 Rxc4) 12...Ng4! White loses a piece.
11...Ne5 12.Kb1 Re8
GM Gawain Jones wrote a 2– volume series on the Sicilian Dragon and commented that 12. Kb1 is arguably the most critical test of the Dragon. His suggestion is to meet it with 12... Nc4 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14. g4 b5. Some of our attentive readers might protest that nobody likes to play this line for Black anymore because of 15. b3! but Gawain has a very interesting suggestion: 15... b4!? this he calls the Burnett Variation. ( 15... Rc5? 16. Ne6!; 15... Rc8 16. Ndxb5 Black doesn’t have enough for the pawn) 16. bxc4 bxc3 17. Qxc3 Qc7 Gawain: “White’s king is now rather vulnerable; Black can attack down both the open b-file and the long diagonal. The queen on c3 defends the c4–pawn but feels rather loose, while the c4– pawn is likely to drop off whenever Black wishes.” This book is definitely worth a read!
13.g4
The strongest move now is supposed to be 13.h4 and after 13...h5 White plays 14.Bh6 and now Black cannot play 14... Bxh6 15.Qxh6 Rxc3?! because of 16.bxc3 a5 17. f4 Black’s e5– knight cannot be moved because of Qxg6. He is forced to go for 17...Nfg4 (17...a4 18.fxe5 axb3 19. exf6 bxa2+ 20. Kxa2 exf6 21. Qf4 White is simply a rook up) 18.Qg5 a4 19.fxe5 axb3 20.cxb3 Nxe5 21.Nf3 Black doesn’t have enough for the quality down. I don’t know why White avoids this and can only surmise there has been some new discovery. Pity, I would have been very interested to see what it is.
13... b5 14. g5 b4 15. Nce2 Nh5 16.Ng3 a5 17.Nxh5 gxh5 18.Nf5 a4 19.Bd5 Bxf5 20.exf5 e6 21.f4
In an earlier game White continued 21.fxe6 and won, but there is a flaw: 21... fxe6 22. f4 Ng4 23. Bf3 Nxe3 24. Qxe3 Qc7 25.Rd2 h4 26.Bg4 Qc4? 1–0 (40) Neiksans, A ( 2487)- Bakalarz, L ( 2137) Warsaw 2009. With 26...Bxb2! Black would have turned the tables.
21... exd5 22. fxe5 Bxe5 23. Rhg1 Qc7 24.g6
It looks like White’s attack is crashing through, but Montoya has evaluated the position correctly and coolly plays ...
24...Qc4! 25.gxf7+ Kxf7 26.Rc1 b3! 27.axb3
[27.cxb3 Qe4+ 28.Ka1 (28.Rc2 axb3 29.axb3 Rxc2 30.Qxc2 Qxe3 with an easy win) 28...a3!]
27...axb3 28.Rg2 bxc2+
All this calculation has taken a toll on both players. Here Edsel misses that 28...Ra8! intending ...bxc2+ is the quickest way to a win. 29.cxb3 Qxb3 30.Rc7+ Re7 31.Rxe7+ Kxe7 32.f6+ Ke6 and now there is no defense to the threat of 33... Qa2+ 34.Kc1 Qa1+ 35.Kc2 Rc8+ 36.Kb3 (36.Kd3 Qa6#) 36...Rb8+.
29. Rxc2 Qxc2+ 30. Qxc2 Rxc2 31.Kxc2 Bxb2! 32.Kd3
[32.Kxb2 Rxe3]
32...Bf6
Montoya is two pawns up with a winning endgame. Grigoryan made it difficult but in the end, after 95 moves, Montoya reeled in the point.
33.Ra2 Re7 34.Ra8 Rb7 35.Ra4 Be5 36.Bg5 h6 37.Bh4 Rc7 38.Ra3 Bxh2 39.Ra5 Be5 40.Rxd5 Rc3+ 41.Ke2 Rc4 42.Bd8 Ke8 43.Bb6 Rf4 44.Be3 Rxf5 45.Rd1 h4 46.Rf1 Rxf1 47.Kxf1 h5 48.Kg2 d5 49.Kh3 Bf6 50.Bf2 Kf7 51.Be3 Ke6 52.Bf2 Kf5 53.Bb6 Ke4 54.Bc5 Kd3 55.Bb6 Kc4 56.Be3 Be7 57.Bf2 Bc5 58.Be1 Be7 59.Bf2! Bg5 60.Bg1 Kd3 61.Bb6 Ke2 62.Bc5 Be3 63.Bb4 Bf2 64.Bc3 Kd3 65.Be5 Be1 66.Bf6 Kc4 67.Be5 Bc3 68.Bf4 Bf6 69.Be3! Kd3 70.Bb6! Bg5 71.Bc5 Ke2 72.Bd4 Kd3 73.Bb6 Be3 74.Bd8 Bf2 75.Bf6 Ke4 76.Bc3 Bg3 77.Bb2 Be5 78.Ba3 d4 79.Kxh4 d3 80.Bb4 Bd6! 81.Bc3 Be5 82.Ba5 Bc7 83.Bc3 Be5 84.Ba5 Kf3 85.Kxh5 Bf4 86.Kg6 Ke2 87.Kf5 Bd2 88.Bd8 Kf3 89.Be7 Bc3 90.Bg5 Bb4 91.Bf4 Be1 92.Bg5 Bf2! 93.Bd2 Ke2 94.Bb4 Be1 95.Kf4 0–1