MARK RUBERY CHESS
The 2019 edition of the South African Closed Championship was hosted in Cape Town last December and resulted in a victory for the FM Daniel Barrish (19) who edged out grandmaster Kenny Solomon. 1st D Barrish, 7,5/11 2nd K Solomon 7 3rd-5th M Bhawoodien, W Kobese, and R De Abreu 6 6th-8th P Gluckman, M Pon and R Bezuidenhout 5,5 9th K Khumalo 5 10th-11th C Klaasen and M James 4,5 12th B Hercules 3 The following rollercoaster of a game was the most entertaining of the event. Pon, M (2189) - Bhawoodien, M (2129) [C50] ch-RSA 2019 Cape Town RSA (9.3)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0–0 d6 5.c3 Nf6 6.d3 a6 7.a4 Ba7 8.Nbd2 0–0 9.Re1 Ng4 10.Re2 Kh8 11.h3 f5 (This has appeared in a number of high profile encounters: 12 exf5 Nxf2 Topalov-Nakamura 2016 and 12 d4 Nh6 Adam-McShane 2018) 12.hxg4?
(Up till now nobody has dared to take the knight)… fxg4 13.Nh2 Qh4 14.d4 exd4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Ndf1 dxc3 (The computers prefer 16…d3) 17.Be3 Ne5 18.Bxa7 Nf3+ 19.Kh1 Rxa7 20.e5 dxe5 21.bxc3 Ra8
22.Qd5 (22 Re3 followed by giving up the exchange is more tenacious. However…)… Bf5 23.Rd1 c6
24.Qd6 Rae8 25.Bd3 Rf6? (25...Be6! 26.Be4 Rf6 is crushing after 27.Re3 Rh6 28.Rxf3 gxf3 29.Bxf3 Bd5. Instead White is allowed to part with his queen under most favourable conditions) 26.Bxf5 (26 Qxf6 seems more accurate)… Rxd6 (26…Rxf5! cold-bloodedly ignoring the queen was a better alternative) 27.Rxd6 h5 28.Re3 e4 29.Rxe4 Rf8 30.Bg6 Kg8 31.Re7 h4 32.Rdd7 Ng5 33.Rxg7+ Kh8 34.Rh7+ (34 Be4! is spectacular… Rxf2 35 Re8+ Rf8 26 Rxf8+ Kxf8 27 Bg2! snaring the queen)… Nxh7 35.Rxh7+ Kg8 36.Rxh4
(And after all that the Black queen is trapped!)…
Qxh4 37.gxh4 Rxf2 38.Ng3 (White has emerged with a winning ending, albeit an unusual one)… Ra2 39.Nxg4 Rxa4 40.Bf5 Rf4 41.Nh5 Rf3 42.Kg2 Rxc3 43.Nhf6+ Kh8 44.h5 Rc5 45.Be4 a5 46.h6 a4 47.h7? (Now it seems Black can hold. The correct route was 47.Nd7! Rh5 48.Nde5 a3 49.Bb1 but one cannot fault White for missing it) 47...a3 48.Nh6 Rg5+ 49.Kf3 Rg7 50.Bb1 b5 51.Ba2 c5 52.Ke3
c4 53.Kd4 Rc7 54.Ke3 Rc8 55.Kd2 (55.Nf7+ Kg7 56.Nd6 Rb8 57.Nfe8+ Kxh7 58.Nc7 and although all the black pawns drop 2 N + B v R is just a draw) 55... Kg7 56.Nhg4 b4 57.Kc2 0,5-0,5 The SA Ladies Closed was won by the favourite, Jesse February, with 8,5/11 followed by Robyn Van Niekerk on 7,5 “He examined the chess problem and set out the pieces. It was a tricky ending, involving a couple of knights.
‘White to play and mate in two moves.’ Winston looked up at the portrait of Big Brother. White always mates, he thought with a sort of cloudy mysticism. Always, without exception, it is so arranged. In no chess problem since the beginning of the world has black ever won. Did it not symbolize the eternal, unvarying triumph of Good over Evil? The huge face gazed back at him, full of calm power. White always mates.”
― George Orwell, 1984