Out of nothing at all
WE TRY to catch-up with the news by bringing up two tournaments which we did not cover but both with significant developments.
2nd Sharjah Masters International Sharjah Culture & Chess Club, UAE, April 12-19, 2018
Final Top Standings
1. GM Parham Maghsoodloo IRI 2615, 8.0/9
2-3. GM Eltaj Safarli AZE 2653, GM Wang Hao CHN 2707, 7.0/9
4-14. GM S.P. Sethuraman IND 2631, GM Vladislav Artemiev RUS 2701, GM Yuriy Kryvoruchko UKR 2703, GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonell VEN 2624, GM Ernesto Inarkiev RUS 2680, GM Pavel Eljanov UKR 2700, GM Arkadij Naiditsch AZE 2701, GM Baskaran Adhiban IND 2661, GM Ahmed Adly EGY 2626, GM Rinat Jumabayev KAZ 2612, GM Sandro Mareco ARG 2645, 6.5/9 Total Participants: 118 players Time Control: 90 minutes for the entire game with 30 seconds addedGM Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran put up an overpowering display and won the very strong Sharjah Masters Open 1 full point ahead of the field with 8.0/9 — he started the tournament with 7 straight games and then coasted home with 2 draws. Among his GM victims were Vladislav Artemiev, Wang Hao, Sethuraman and Gawain Jones. This was equivalent to a performance rating of 2837!
And the chess he played was very impressive.
Maghsoodloo, Parham (2615) — Artemiev, Vladislav (2701) [D78] 2nd Sharjah Masters 2018 Sharjah UAE (4.2), 14.04.2018 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.c4 c6 5.d4 d5 6.Nbd2
Artemiev is known as a very strong endgame player so Maghsoodloo decides to retain as many pieces as possible and keep the position closed.
6...0–0 7.0–0 Bf5 8.b3 Nbd7 9.Bb2 b5 10.Nh4 Be6 11.c5 Qc7 12.Qc2 a5 13.a4 b4
During my active days in the Internet Chess Club I made the acquaintance of Gary Sanders, a successful chess coach from I-don-remember-where. Anyway, while sitting-in on some of his coaching
sessions I remember that he used to emphasize pawn levers. In this position for example, White has possible pawn breaks on e4 and f2–f4–f5, while Black has none. Based on that the assessment is that White has the better game here. 14.Rfe1 Rae8 15.Rad1 Qc8 16.f4 Ng4 17.e4
If Black just sits and does nothing White will continue with f4–f5, winning the bishop. 17...dxe4 18.Bxe4 Ndf6 19.Bd3 Nh6 20.Nc4 Bxc4 21.bxc4
White’s pawn levers are now on d5 and f5. Black still has none.
21...e6 22.Nf3 Rd8 23.Qg2
Intending to play Ne5 and win the Black pawn on c6. 23...Qc7 24.Ne5 Rc8 25.g4 Nd7 26.h3 f5 27.Bc1 Nf7 28.Nf3 Rfe8 29.Bc2 Rcd8 30.Be3 Rb8 31.Nd2 Nf6 32.Nb3 Kh8 33.Re2 h6 34.Rde1 Maghsoodloo has been methodically building up his position while there is nothing that Black can do but wait. 34...Re7 35.Bc1 Rbe8 36.Kh1 Nh7 37.Rg1
Already winning is 37.gxf5! gxf5 (37... exf5 38.Rxe7 Rxe7 39.Rg1 Nf8 40.Bxf5!) 38.Rg1 Nd8 (38...Rg8 39.d5! exd5 40.Rxe7 Qxe7 41.cxd5 cxd5 42.Bxf5 White is also winning here) 39.d5 cxd5 40.cxd5 exd5 41.Qxg7+ Rxg7 42.Rxe8+ Nf8 43.Rxf8+ Kh7 44.Bxf5+ Rg6 45.Rxg6 there is forced mate. However, if there is anything you will notice about GM Parham’s play is that he is never in a hurry. The text does not give away anything and he continues the build-up in order to win with less risk. 37...Rg8 38.Qf3 Nf8 39.Reg2 Rd7 40.Bb2 Qd8 <D> All of his pieces are already at their optimal positions, so White now strikes.
41.gxf5! exf5 42.Bxf5 gxf5 43.Rxg7 Rxg7 44.d5 Ng5 45.fxg5 hxg5 46.Qxf5 Kg8 47.Bxg7 Rxg7 48.Nd4 Qe7 49.d6 Qe8 50.Qf3 Ng6 51.Nf5 Nh4 52.Nxg7 Kxg7 53.Rxg5+ Ng6 54.Qf5 b3 55.d7 1–0
Not much to comment on. Everything is crystal-clear and straightforward. That is GM Parham Maghsoodloo.
By the way, for those of us who recall the Philippines’ glory days in the ’60s and ’70s when we were the no. 1 chess power in Asia, with the rise of Iran as a chess power we have gone down another rung in the chess hierarchy in Asia. Was it just 1974 when our country sent IM Rudy Tan Cardoso plus a group of college students (correct me if I am wrong, but the names of Rico Mascariñas, Lito Maninang, Glenn Bordonada, Cesar Caturla, Roger Abella and Roger dela Vega come to mind) to the Asian Team Championships and we still won it without breaking a sweat?
Those days now seem a century ago. Take a look at the FIDE list of top chess countries from Asia:
World Chess Federation (FIDE)
Top 10 Asian Chess Countries, July 2018 ( by average rating of Top 10 Players) 1. China (average 2706) 2. India (average 2675) 3. Iran (average 2543) 4. Uzbekistan (average 2526) 5. Kazakhstan (average 2510) 6. Vietnam (average 2507) 7. Philippines (average 2478) 8. Mongolia (average 2425) 9. Indonesia (average 2422) 10. Turkmenistan (average 2406) We have been relegated to no. 7! And since when has Iran overtaken us? Well, how about now? Take a look at the top 5 players from that country:
Top 5 Iranian players
1. GM Parham Maghsoodloo 2636 18 years old
2. GM M.Amin Tabatabaei 2590 17 years old 3. GM Pouya Idani 2583 23 yrs old 4. GM Alireza Firouzia 2561 15 years old
5. GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami 2537 36 years old
Three of their top 5 are still juniors! We here in the Philippines have our work cut out for us if we hope to regain some of our lost pride in this game which we all love.
The 4th Starodubtsev Memorial Rapid Regional Art Museum, Tula, Russia Jan. 8-9, 2018
Final Standings (Rapid Ratings are used) 1-2. GM Vladimir Potkin RUS 2650, GM Vadim Zvjaginsev RUS 2568, 7.5/9
3. GM Sergey Zagrebelny UZB 2466, 6.0/9
4. GM Alexander Morozevich RUS 2635, 5.5/9
5-6. GM Evgeni Vasiukov 2371, GM Yuri Balashov 2454, 4.0/9
7. GM Sergey Domogaev RUS 2311, 3.5/9 8. GM Igor Yagupov RUS 2412, 3.0/9 9. GM Alexander Zaitsev RUS 2348, 2.5/9 10. GM Petr Tishin RUS 2361, 1.5/9 Time Control: 15 minutes for whole game with 10 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1
Who is Vasily Starodubtsev? Well, he was in the group of 8 which made a coup attempt in the afternoon of Aug. 19, 1991 when President Mikhail Gorbachev was on holiday by the Black Sea. It did not last long though and in 4 days Gorbachev was back in the capital, in power, and all conspirators arrested. This was one of the series of events which triggered a domino effect and resulted in the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late 1991.
Starodubtsev was extremely lucky though — he was not considered a threat and was released from prison on condition that he not engage in politics. In 1993 though he was elected to the Russian Parliament and later served two four year terms as governor of the Tula Region south of Moscow.
For the Starodubtsev Memorial international tournament the organizers invited players with a connection to Tula — those who were either born there or stayed there for a period of time.
For me this tournament is notable for two things — it was the last tournament ever played by Vasiukov who passed away in May 2018, and it was the first sighting of the brilliant Alexander Morozevich in 2018. He was a bit rusty but still showed glimpses of his brilliant self. Morozevich, Alexander (2635) — Zagrebelny, Sergey (2466) [C45] Starodubtsev Memorial Rapid chess24.com (6.1), 08.01.2018
Filipino players all remember Sergey Zagrebelny, part of the upstart Uzbekistan team which won the silver medals in the 1992 Manila Olympiad. Their top board GM Valery Loginov take a beating on 1st board (4/13) but his teammates IMs Grigory Serper (8.5/13), Alexander Nenashev (9.5/12), Sergei Zagrebelny (8.5/11), Mikhail Saltaev (2/3) and untitled player Saidali Iuldashev (2.5/4) mopped up on the lower boards. Imagine that — a team of 1 GM, 4 IMs and 1 untitled player got 2nd place in the Manila Olympiad. Those were the days.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bb4+ 5.c3 Bc5 6.Be3 Bb6 7.Nf5 g6 8.Bxb6 axb6 9.Ne3 Nf6 10.f3 Qe7 11.c4 Qb4+ 12.Qd2 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 d6 14.Nc3 h5
This is actually a new move. Black usually tries to activate his rook quickly to the e-file with ...Kd8 and ...Re8 followed by tucking his king away on c7. Anyway, in this game this just amounts to a transposition of moves and soon we get back to the regular track.
15.h4 Kd8 16.g3 Ne5 17.Bg2 Be6 18.b3 c6 19.Kc2 Kc7 20.Rad1 Rad8 21. Kb2 Bc8 22. Rd2 Rhe8 23. Rhd1 Ng8 24. Ned5+!? cxd5 25. Nxd5+ Kb8 [25...Kc6 26.f4 Ng4 27.e5 opens up the long diagonal against the black king]
26.Nxb6 Kc7 27.c5 Be6
[27...dxc5 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Na8+! wins back the piece with an overwhelming advantage]
28. Rxd6 Rxd6 29. Rxd6 Rd8 30.Rxd8 Kxd8 31.Kc3 Ne7 32.a4 f6 33.b4 g5 34.f4 gxf4 35.gxf4 N5g6 36.f5 Nxh4 37.Bh1 Bxf5 38.exf5 Kc7 39.Nc4 Nhxf5 40.b5 h4 41.b6+ Kb8 42.Bg2 Ng3 43.Nd6 Nc6?
White was already winning but allowing the piece exchange finishes off the game earlier. 44.Bxc6 bxc6 45.a5 h3 46.a6 h2 47.a7+ Ka8 48.Ne8! Ne4+
[48...h1Q 49.Nc7+ Kb7 50.a8Q#]
49.Kb4 Kb7 50.Nc7 1–0