CHESS BY VICTOR STRUGO
At the recently completed Olympiad in Chennai, Africa’s two top-rated teams (Egypt, 38th with average rating 2530 and South Africa, 68th with 2342) faced off in Round 6. Having lost 3 games in a row, SA Open champion Daniel Cawdery was rested and Daniel Barrish (on his 22nd birthday!) was promoted to second board to face the redoutable GM Ahmed Adly.
GM Ahmed Adly (2582) – FM Daniel Barrish (2283) [King’s Indian Attack]: 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 g3 c5 3 Bg2 Nc6 4 O-O e5 5 d3 d5 6 Nbd2 Be7 7 e4 d4 8 Nc4 Nd7 9 a4 h5! (A brave declaration of intent to fight) 10 h4 f6 11 Nh2 g5 12 Bf3 g4 13 Bg2 Nb6 14 b3 Be6 15 Bd2 Qd7 16 a5 Nc8 17 f3 Rg8 18 fxg4 hxg4 19 Rf2 Rb8 (Judging that the closed centre is a safe enough home for his King) 20 Qf1 b5 21 axb6 axb6 22 Ra6 b5 23 Na5 Nxa5 24 Bxa5 Kf7 25 Bd2 Nd6 26 Bg5 Rg6 27 Qc1 c4 28 h5 Rg7 29 bxc4 bxc4 30 Ra5 Nb5 31 Bh4 Rh8 32 Qf1 Rh6 33 dxc4 Nd6 34 Rxe5?! (34 Qa1 Qc6 35 c5 Nc4 was better but with time running short, White follows a risky plan. The extra Pawn is arbitrary since h6 is terminally weak) 34 … Nxc4 35 Bg5? Nxe5 36 Bxh6 Rh7 37 Bg5 Qd8 38 h6 Kg6 39 Bf4 d3! (Threatening 40 … Bc5, so) 40 Kh1 Bc5 41 Rd2 Bb4 42 Rd1 d2 (42 … Qd4 is objectively better, but a Pawn on the 7th unsettles most players!)
43 Qb5 Bc3 44 Nf1 Bc4 45 Qc5 Be2 46 Rxd2 Bxd2 47 Nxd2 Qe7 48 Qc8 Qd7 49 Qc5 (49 Qg8+ Kh5 leads nowhere) 49 … Nf3 50 Qf2 Qd4 51 Qxd4 Nxd4 52 c4 Ne6 53 Be3 Ng5 54 Kg1 Rc7 55 c5 Bb5 56 Kf2 Bc6 57 Bf4 Re7 58 Bd6 Re8 59 Bf1 Bxe4 60 Bb5 Ra8 61 c6 Bf5 62 c7 Ra2 63 Bf4? Ne4+ 64 Ke3 Nxd2 65 Be8+ Kh7 66 Bb5 Nf3 67 Bc6 Ra3+ 68 Kf2 Rc3 White resigned
Impressively level-headed play. Daniel seems to have a particular talent for beating GMS from the country of my birth! Earlier this year he bagged his first GM scalp in a wild game in Kimberly (published on this page in April), the Egyptian Hesham Abdelrahman (rating 2424).
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Can you see the move with which Black forced immediate resignation?