Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
CHESS BY VICTOR STRUGO
Lots of local news today. At the Claremont Chess Club, Lyndon Bouah and Jason Davies tied 1st-2nd in the Cape Town Rapid Open. Lyndon was declared winner on tie-break. More Rapid chess happens today in Grassy Park.
In Kimberly, the Moja Chess Extravaganza boasted four International Grandmasters in the top round-robin section. The GMs duly topped the standings in rating order: 1st: Nigel Short (England) 8/9 points, 2nd: Grover Sahaj (India), 3rd Hesham Abdelrahman (Egypt), 4th Zaibi Amir (Tunisia). Top SA finisher FM Daniel Barrish was only half a point behind Amir on 5/9. In round 7, his provocative 3rd move was good psychology against a GM – unsettling but not unsound.
Barrish, D (2266) – Abdelrahman, H (2424) (King’s Indian Defence): 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 h4!? Bg7 4 Nc3 d6 5 e4 Nbd7 6 Be2 e5 7 d5 Nc5 8 Qc2 a5 9 h5 Nxh5 10 Bxh5 gxh5 11 Rxh5 Qe7 11 … 0-0 and 11 … Qf6 have been played here. This planned risky central assault leads to ultra-sharp complications) 12 f3 f5?! 13 exf5 e4 14 Nxe4?! (Stockfish puts White firmly on top with 14 Kf1! 0-0 15 g4! exf3 16 Nxf3. White is planning the coming Exchange sac 15 g4! was stronger) 14 … O-O 15 Ne2?! Bxf5 16 Rxf5 Rxf5 17 Nxc5 Qh4+ 18 Kd2 Bh6+ 19 Kc3? (d3 is better) 19 … Qe1+ 20 Kd3 dxc5 21 Bxh6! Qxa1 (A brave second Exchange sac forces Black to focus solely on extricating his trapped Queen. But he fails to find the key move to dismantle White’s fortress, … b5!) 22 Nc1 a4 23 Bd2 Re8 24 a3 c6 25 Kc3 Rf6? 26 Qd3 Rd6 27 Kc2 cxd5 28 cxd5 Re5 29 Qb5 Re7 30 Qxa4 Rxd5 31 Qg4+ Kf7 32 Qc4 Rd7 33 Bc3 Ke7 34 Qh4+ Kd6 35 Qf4+ Kc6?? (The losing move! White can now protect a3 and play b3) 36 Qa4+
Kc7 37 b3 Rd2+ (Forced) 38 Bxd2 Qg7 39 Qf4+ Kc8 40 Qg5 Qf7 (From here on, Daniel cautiously converts his advantage) 41 Bc3 b6 42 Qg4 Kb7 43 Qe4+ Ka7 44 Nd3 Rc7 45 Ne5 Qe6 46 f4 h5 47 f5 Qd6 48 Qf3 b5 49 f6 b4 50 Nc4 Qe6 51 axb4 cxb4 52 Bxb4 h4 53 Bc3 Rh7 54 Bd4+ Kb8 55 Be5+ Ka7 56 Qe3+ Ka6 57 Qd3 Rd7 58 Nd6+ Ka7 59 Qd4+ Ka8 60 Qa4+ Kb8 61 Qb5+ Ka7 62 Nc8+ Black resigned. A memorable upset!* * * * I welcome comments, games and news at victor.strugo@gmail.com. Find local news at https://africachessmedia.com, www.chesshub.org.za and facebook.com/ SACHESSPLAYERS.