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A Chess Opening Repertoire for Blitz & Rapid Sharp, Surprising and Forcing Lines for Black and WhiteEvgeny & Vladimir Sveshnikov 416 pages - £19.99Every day, countless numbers of rated blitz and rapid games are being played in online and over-the-board competi ti ons. In blitz, even more than in classical chess, it is important to make the right decisions quickly and almost insti ncti vely. World-famous opening expert GM Evgeny Sveshnikov and his son, IM Vladimir Sveshnikov, have created a repertoire that is forcing, both narrow and deep, and aggressive. The Sveshnikovs want you to end up in positi ons where it is relati vely easy to keep fi nding the moves with the greatest practi cal eff ect.

Bologan’s Ruy Lopez for BlackHow to Play for a Win against the Spanish OpeningVictor Bologan 544 pages - £22.99With his bestselling Bologan’s Black Weapon’s in the Open Games he shook up the world of repertoire books. Now Bologan is back with the much awaited companion volume on the Ruy Lopez, presenti ng an eminently playable repertoire with hundreds of theoreti cal improvements, alternati ves and fresh weapons. At its heart are the Breyer Variati on and the Marshall Att ack. Featured again are innovati ons such as ‘The Fast Lane’, the ‘The Very Fast Lane’ and the much-applauded ‘Arsenal of Strategic Ideas’. Bologan presents two diff erent opti ons against every line: a common sense approach and an aggressive weapon.

Mastering Chess MiddlegamesLectures from the All-Russian School of GrandmastersAlexander Panchenko 272 pages - £16.99The secrets of GM Alexander Panchenko’s success were his dedicati on as a teacher combined with his outstanding training materials. Now, his classic Mastering Chess Middlegames is for the fi rst ti me available in translati on. It presents almost 450 examples and tests on the most important topics of middlegame technique. Defence and counteratt ack are two of his main themes, and his concise training material on realising the advantage and two minor pieces against a rook may be the best ever seen. Panchenko’s didacti c brilliance shines through in this book and his aim is always: taking practi cal decisions.

The Double Queen’s GambitA Surprise Weapon for BlackAlexey Bezgodov 272 pages - £18.99Former Russian Chess Champion Alexey Bezgodov provides a complete repertoire for Black against 1.d4, starti ng with the sharp and surprising 2...c5! against both 2.c4 and 2.♘f3. There is comparati vely litt le to study and Black is able to solve most of his opening problems and get a positi on that is both solid and acti ve. “What more can one ask?”, says Alexey Bezgodov. He provides dozens of exercises to test your understanding of his system. Bezgodov promises: “It will bring many practi cal successes and much creati ve sati sfacti on!”

NEW!

NEW!

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available at the London Chess Centre - www.chess.co.uk/shop

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ContentsEditorial.................................................................................................................4Malcolm Pein on the latest developments

60 Seconds with... ...........................................................................................7Grandmaster Yannick Pelletier

The Rose on Tour ..............................................................................................8Steve Barrett reports from the European Club Cup

Studies with Stephenson............................................................................12Thinking of the upcoming Hastings, Brian looks back to 1995

How Good is Your Chess? ..........................................................................14Daniel King on Yannick Pelletier’s crushing win against Nakamura

London Calling ................................................................................................18James Coleman previews the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour

Who Else? ..........................................................................................................20Magnus Carlsen retained his World Rapid title in Berlin

Go East! .............................................................................................................24Carl Strugnell concludes his chess-themed tour of Eastern Europe

Readers’ Letters .............................................................................................28

Chess Engulfed in Fresh Cheating Scandal .........................................29Our correspondent Fi Day explains

What is it about those Welsh Girls?......................................................30Richard Stevenson investigates the rise of girls’ chess in Wales

Carlsen’s Stonewall Dutch .........................................................................32Dutch expert Mark Lyell explains how to play the opening like Magnus

Back to Basics .................................................................................................35Nick Ivell explains the intricacies of the combined method

Stocking Fillers ...............................................................................................36Sean Marsh has some suggestions for Christmas

Good Old Informator ...................................................................................38John Cox enjoyed reading his first Chess Informant in many a year

Expand Your Club! .........................................................................................39Charles Higgie explains how best to attract new members

Find the Winning Moves .............................................................................40

The Indignity of Grovelling: Part II........................................................44Matthew Lunn looks at two games where one side was out-rated

Never Mind the Grandmasters.................................................................46Carl Portman very much enjoyed playing Peter Hempson

Home News.......................................................................................................48Mark Hebden and Ameet Ghasi came top at the British Rapidplay

Overseas News ...............................................................................................50Hikaru Nakamura triumphed in the Millionaire Chess tournament

Solutions............................................................................................................54

New Books and Software...........................................................................55

Saunders on Chess ........................................................................................58

Photo credits: Agon (pp.20-23), Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (pp.1, 18-19, 33),Calle Erlandsson (p.48), Fédération Suisse des Echecs (p.7), Hip Hop Chess Federation (p.5), Bob Jones(p.47), David Llada (p.53), Arnold Lutton (p.31), Marjan Mitkov (p.11, top right), Ray Morris-Hill (pp.1,top left; 4, left; 5, centre; 14), Brendan O’Gorman (p.49), John Saunders (p.5, bottom right), ElizabethSpiegel (p.58), Fiona Steil-Antoni (pp.8-9; 11, top left), Richard Stevenson (p.30).

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03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2015 15:43 Page 3

December 2015

Stuck up a mountain with no obvious wayto traverse the 15 miles to the airport, whereour planes were due to depart in the next twohours, was not how the White Rose chessteam envisaged ending its trip to Skopje forthe European Club Cup. Lacking the wise counsel of our skipper,Paul Townsend, who had departed early at5am to get a bus to Greece, myself, boardone Peter Wells, board two James Adair, andKieran O’Driscoll had made the unwisedecision late Sunday morning to head up tosee the Millennium Cross. The Cross dominates the Skopje skyline atnight when it is lit up and appears to behanging unsupported in the air, and since we’dspent the whole week with our heads downplaying chess, we wanted to experience atleast one piece of local culture. In reality, the plan had become somewhatderailed the night before, when the teamjoined most of the rest of the participants ofwhat is essentially the Champions League ofchess in letting their hair down after a toughseven days of high-level competition. Having experienced salsa night in a localCuban restaurant, fluorescent green cocktails

in the Irish bar of choice for the chess players(there’s always an Irish bar), the White Rosecontingent somehow ended up at aMacedonian heavy metal gig in the old townpart of the country’s capital city. Several bottles of Macedonian wine werethen consumed back at our hotel before weretired for the night. The skipper barely hadtime to pack his gear before heading for hisbus, and tentative plans were made for themorning to go and see the Cross. Early on Sunday afternoon, as we surveyedthe gridlock on the hill that snaked down fromthe landmark, we started to regret our decisionto ‘have a quick look’ before decamping for theairport. Locals told us the snarl-up would notease for at least two hours. For our intrepid board six O’Driscoll, thiswas a minor snafu. He had already had a slewof touristic adventures prior to thetournament in a whistle-stop tour around theBalkans, which took in places like Albania,Serbia, Kosovo, and the southern part ofMacedonia in Ohrid, where White Rose hadmade its European Club Cup debut in 2009. For the rest of us, it was a more pressingconcern. There is only one plane out of townper day and the prospect of another night inSkopje and missing work or flight connectionswas not in the least appealing. Someone with anounce of sense suggested walking – OK,running – to the base of the traffic and calling acab company to see if they’d come and get us. We weren’t optimistic, but it was our onlyhope. Miraculously, 30 minutes later we werein a taxi driven by a sunglasses-toting heavymetal fan cab driver who had somehowlocated us on the hill and appeared to havelearned his driving skills from Lewis Hamilton,i.e. just what we needed in the circumstances. A lightning-fast luggage pit stop at ourhotel later and finally the Alexander the GreatAirport beckoned. Pretty much everything inSkopje is named after Alexander the Great,including The Aleksander Palace hotel wherethe chess competition was held. The tournament had started seven daysearlier, as 50 teams congregated for theOpen tournament and 12 for the Women’sevent, including 16 of the top 20 ratedplayers in the world. One of the greatattractions of playing in this event is theprospect of rubbing shoulders with peoplesuch as Kramnik, Aronian, Nakamura,Caruana, Giri, Vachier-Lagrave, Grischuk,Topalov, Karjakin, Yu Yangyi, England’s topplayer Michael Adams, and so on.

This year, England was represented byCheddleton, Blackthorne Russia, and WhiteRose; Wales by Abergavenny and Cardigan;Ireland by Gonzaga and Adare. England alsohad a Midland Monarchs team in the Women’scompetition. The first round offered the usualopportunities for amateurs and semi-professionals to pit their wits against some ofthe strongest players in the world, and thisyear’s renewal did not disappoint. Blackthorne Russia’s Adam Hunt started thetournament well, and looked to be on course fora GM norm, especially after an exciting drawwith Vassily Ivanchuk from the MacedonianAlkaloid all-star team in round one.

A.Hunt-V.IvanchukBlackthorne Russia vs Alkaloid

Caro-Kann Defence

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 Ìf6 5 Ìc3 e6 6 Ìf3 Íb4 7 cxd5 Ìxd5 8 Íd2 0-0 9 Íd3 Ìc6 10 0-0 Íe7 11 Îe1 Íf6 12 Ìe4 12 Ëe2 Ìxd4 13 Ìxd4 Íxd4 14 Íxh7+Êxh7 15 Ëe4+ yields a small advantage.12...Íxd4 12...h6!? was possible.13 Ìeg5

13...g6 If 13...h6 14 Ìxd4 Ìxd4 15 Ìh7 Îe8 16 Íxh6! e5 17 Ëh5 with a dangerous attack.14 Ìxd4 Ìxd4 15 Ìxh7 Êxh7 16 Ëh5+Êg8 17 Íxg6 Ìf6 17...fxg6 18 Ëxg6+ is immediately drawn.18 Ëh6 fxg6 19 Ëxg6+ Êh8 20 Íc3(see diagram at top of next page) 20 Îe4 Ìf5 21 Íc3 was an intriguing

Steve Barrett reports from an action-packed week at theEuropean Club Cup, while Malcolm Pein annotates

The Rose on Tour

8

The impressive Millennium Cross of Skopjecoupled with the previous night’s

celebrations nearly caused the White Roseteam to miss their flights home.

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possibility, but 20...Ìf3+ 21 gxf3 Ìxe4forces White to take a draw.

20...Ìf3+ 21 Êh1 Not 21 gxf3?? Îg8 22 Íxf6+ Ëxf6 or 21 Êf1 Ìxh2+.21...Ìxe1 22 Ëh6+ Êg8 23 Ëg6+ Êh824 Ëh6+ Êg8 25 Ëg6+ Êh8 26 Ëh6+Êg8 ½-½

White Rose faced off against Azerbaijaniteam Odlar Yurdu in round one, and came awaywith a creditable 4-2 defeat, despite beingoutrated by an average of almost 250 pointson each board. At one point the ninth-seededAzerbaijanis must have started regrettingresting their two top players – Sutovsky andDurarbayli – against the humble 34th seeds,but they scraped through in the end. James Adair continued his sensational formin a White Rose shirt, though for once henarrowly missed out on a norm. In round onehe took out GM Vugar Rasulov in fine style.

V.Rasulov-J.AdairOdlar Yurdu vs White Rose

31...Íxe6!! 32 fxe6 Îxf4 33 Ìxf4Íxd4+ 34 Êf1 Íe5 35 Îg4 g5 36 g3gxf4 37 gxf4? Ëxe6 38 Êg2 Ëh6 39Îg3 Ëxf4 40 Ëxf4 Îxf4 41 Îa3 a6 42Îb3 Îf7 43 Íd1 0-1

I managed to beat the highest-ratedplayer I have ever beaten, 2590 GM NidjatMamedov, after he went wrong in the timescramble and missed a neat tactic, followingwhich he fell apart, no doubt in disgust atthrowing a game away against such a patzer.

I was down to three seconds on threedifferent occasions during the final movesbefore the time control, which certainlyconcentrates the mind, but thanks to the 30-second increment I just about managed to trackmy way through the complications to victory.

S.Barrett-N.MamedovWhite Rose vs Odlar Yurdu

In the cold light of day the silicon monsterpoints out the decisive 35...Ëb4!. Instead,play continued:35...Îa8? 36 Ëd1! Ìe4 Black had missed that 36...bxa2 37 Îxb7a1Ë fails to 38 Îb8+!.37 Íxb3 Îb8 38 c5 Êf8 39 Ëc2 Ëb440 c6 Ëc3 41 c7 Îc8 42 Ëxe4! 1-0

Other early round upsets included lossesfor Anish Giri and Hikaru Nakamura in roundtwo, the latter after a fine piece ofpreparation by Yannick Pelletier.

V.Babula-A.GiriWerder Bremen vs SOCAR

Abrahams-Noteboom variation

1 d4 e6 2 c4 d5 3 Ìc3 Íb4 4 Ìf3 dxc45 e3 b5 6 a4 c6 7 Íd2 a5 8 axb5 Íxc39 Íxc3 cxb5 10 b3 Íb7 11 bxc4 b4 12 Íb2 Ìf6 13 Íd3 0-0 14 0-0 Ìbd715 Ìd2 Ëc7 16 f4 a4! A typical theme, if 17 Îxa4 Ëc6

The British teams had some tough pairings in the opening round in Skopje, but Adam Huntmost certainly wasn’t intimated by the legend that is Vassily Ivanchuk, who held the draw.

James Adair has enjoyed a meteoric rise since joining White Rose. Having only previouslyplayed for them in the 4NCL, he made his European Club Cup debut and almost got a norm.

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December 2015

threatens mate on g2 and the rook.17 Îb1 Ëd6 18 Ëe2 Îfd8 19 e4

It looks like Black is about to be flattened,but he has a resource:19...Ìc5! 20 e5 20 d5 runs into 20...exd5 21 cxd5 Ìxd5!22 exd5 Ëxd5.20...Ëc6 21 dxc5 Îxd3 22 exf6 Îad823 Ìf3 Ëxc5+ 24 Êh1 b3? A blunder. Black would stand very well after24...a3 25 Íe5 b3 26 fxg7 Íxf3 27 Îxf3 Ëxc4.25 Îbd1 Î3d6 25...Ëxc4 26 Ìe5 Îxd1 27 Ìxc4 wins.26 Íe5 26 Ìe5! a3 27 Ëh5 is all over, as is here26...g6 27 f5 exf5 28 Ìxf7!.26...Îxd1 27 Îxd1 Ëa5 28 Ìd4 g6 29h3 Ëb6 30 Êh2! h6 31 c5! Ëa6 31...Ëxc5 32 Ìxe6 Îxd1 33 Ëxd1 fxe634 Ëd3 wins on the spot.32 c6! Ëxe2 33 Ìxe2 Îxd1 34 cxb7Îd8 35 Ìc3 a3

Now it’s White to play and win.36 Ìb5! Not 36 b8ËÎxb8 37 Íxb8 b2 and Black wins.36...a2 37 Ìd6 Îb8 38 h4 Êh7 39 g4 1-0

Our week continued in its usual topsy-turvytense fashion – White Rose never doesanything the easy way – but we ended in 27thplace, seven places above our seeding, and witha fair wind in the last round we could maybehave pushed the ball over the line againstanother Macedonian team, Gambit Asseko See,to post our highest-ever points tally (8) inseven years at the European Club Cup. However, it wasn’t quite to be and we had to

settle for a 3-3 draw and a 50% performanceacross the week. James Adair rode his luck, butonce again prevailed against GM opposition tofinish the week on 5-7. If Adair hadn’t sufferedan unlucky loss to Robin Swinkels in roundthree, he may well have achieved that final GMnorm, but those are the swings androundabouts of the ECC, and the luck usuallybalances itself out by the end of the week. In the upper reaches of the tournament,the seedings were upset slightly as second-ranked Siberia pipped top-seeded SOCAR forthe number one spot. Siberia was led by themajestic and legendary figure of former worldchampion Vladimir Kramnik, who showed amagnificent return to form. After sitting out the first two roundsagainst weaker opposition he reeled offsuccessive victories against Nepomniachtchi,Svidler, and his nemesis Veselin Topalov. In thelatter game, Topalov apparently objected to alamp that Vlad had stationed near his boarddue to his ongoing eyesight problems, sovictory was even sweeter than usual for theindomitable Russian. A fist pump at the end ofthe game demonstrated how much the winmeant to Kramnik.

V.Kramnik-V.TopalovSiberia vs SOCAR

Colle/e3 Queen’s Indian

1 d4 Ìf6 2 Ìf3 e6 3 e3 c5 4 Íd3 b6 50-0 Íb7 6 c4 cxd4 7 exd4 Íe7 8 Ìc3d5 9 cxd5 Ìxd5 10 Ìe5 0-0 11 Ëg4 f5 Designed to close lines towards the blackking, as if 11...Ìf6 12 Ëh4.12 Ëe2 Íf6 13 Íc4 Îe8 14 Îd1 Ìd7 14...a6 15 Ëh5 Îe7 16 Íxd5 Íxd5 17Íg5 gives White some initiative.15 Íb5! Íxe5 16 dxe5 Ëe7 17 Ìxd5Íxd5 18 Ëh5!

Black’s position is uncomfortable and Íc1-g5 a threat. Topalov feels obliged to weaken hisdark squares and that proves his undoing.18...g6 19 Ëh6 Îec8 20 Íg5 Ëf7 21 Íxd7 Ëxd7 22 Íf6 Ëf7 23 b3 Ëf824 Ëf4 Îc2 25 h4 Îac8 26 h5 Ëe8 27 Îd3 Î2c3 28 Îad1 gxh5? 28...Ëf7 29 Ëg3 Îxd3 30 Îxd3 is stillbetter for White.

29 Îxd5! exd5 30 e6 Î3c7 White wins too after both 30...Ëg6 31 Íxc3Îxc3 32 Ëb8+ Êg7 33 e7 and 30...Ëxe6 31 Ëg5+ Êf8 32 Ëg7+ Êe8 33 Íxc3.31 Îxd5 Ëxe6 32 Ëg5+ Êf8 33 Îxf5 Îf734 Ëh6+ Êe8 35 Îe5 Îc6 36 Ëxh5! 1-0

A fourth win in a row, this time againstIvanchuk, followed by a draw in the final roundagainst the super-solid Peter Leko produced a3100 rating result for Kramnik, which almostpropelled him above Anish Giri in the race tothe Candidates Tournament, but, mainly,helped his team win the competition. Of the Brits, led by David Howell on topboard, Cheddleton came out top (22nd place)by virtue of a superior tie-break over WhiteRose (27th). Cheddleton’s best performer wasFM Ezra Kirk who was on for an IM norm untilhe lost the last two rounds, but still managedto gain an impressive 30 rating points.Meanwhile IM Vladimir Hamitevici won asparkling, attacking game on board 2.

V.Hamitevici-B.LindbergCheddleton vs SK Viking

Spanish Four Knights

1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Ìc3 Ìf6 4 Íb5 Íc55 0-0 0-0 6 Ìxe5 Ìxe5 7 d4 Íd6 8 f4! Far more incisive than just regainingmaterial with 8 dxe5.8...Ìeg4 9 e5 Íb4 10 f5 d6 11 exf6Ìxf6 12 Íg5 After the early skirmish White emergeswith space, a strong pin and copious attackingpossibilities thanks to his pawn on f5. Now12...Íxc3 13 bxc3 h6 was essential.12...c6?

10

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13 Ìe4!! cxb5 14 c3 Ía5 15 Ìxf6+ 15 Íxf6 gxf6 16 Ëh5 was also strong:for example, 16...Êh8 17 Ëh6 Îg8 18 Ìxf6Îg7 19 Îae1 Íd7 20 Îe3 Ëf8 21 Îh3threatening Ëxh7+ and wins.15...gxf6 16 Íh6 Êh8 17 Ëh5 Íd7 18 Îae1 Íc6 19 Îe2 Îg8 If 19...Ëd7 20 Íg7+! Êxg7 21 Îf4 Îg822 Îh4 Êf8 23 Ëh6+ Îg7 24 Îg4, mating.20 Îf4

20...Ëd7 Somehow 20...Íxg2!? might yet havesaved Black.21 Îh4 Íf3 If 21...Íd8 22 Íf8.22 Ëxf3 Îae8 23 Îe3 d5 24 Ëh5 Îxe325 Íxe3 Îg7 26 Íh6 1-0 The rook must move and then 27 Íg5 or27 Íf8 wins.

Special mention must also be given toMichael Adams, who was the star performerfor SOCAR, making an impressive 5/6 for awhopping 2943 performance on board 4.

M.Adams-M.MatlakovSOCAR vs Mednyi Sadnik

Ruy Lopez

1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Íb5 a6 4 Ía4 Ìf65 0-0 Íe7 6 Îe1 b5 7 Íb3 0-0 8 c3 d69 h3 Îe8 10 d4 Íb7 11 Ìbd2 Íf8

12 a3 h6 13 d5 Following this Black is more or less obligedto prepare ...c7-c6 after which the d5-square becomes of paramount importance.13...Ìb8 14 Ìh2 Preparing to exchange the defender of thekey square.14...Ìbd7 15 Ìg4 Ìc5 If 15...g6 16 Ìf1 Êh7 17 Ìxf6+ Ìxf617 Ëf3 with nagging pressure, but possiblythe immediate 15...c6!? was best.16 Ìxf6+ Ëxf6 17 Íc2 c6 18 b4 Ìd719 Ìb3! cxd5 20 Ìa5 Îab8 21 Ìxb7Îxb7 22 Ëxd5

As ever, in middlegames with oppositebishops, the activity of each side’s bishop isparamount. White’s light-squared bishopsoon dominates after Matlakov missesopportunities to free his dark-squaredbishop.22...Îc7 23 Ëd3 Îec8 24 Íd2 White has the edge in view of Black’sweakness on d5 and passive bishop. Matlakovnow seeks to blunt White’s bishop.24...Ìb6 25 a4 Ìc4 26 axb5 axb5 27Íb3 27 Íe3!? Ìxe3 28 Îxe3 is well met by28...d5!, and if 29 Îf3 Îxc3! or 29 exd5 g630 Ëxb5 Îxc3 31 Îxc3 Îxc3. Likewise,after 27 Íc1 Ìb6 28 Ëxb5 Îxc3 29 Ëxb6Îxc2 30 Íe3 d5 31 Ëxf6 gxf6 32 exd5Íxb4 Black should hold the draw.27...Ìxd2

Missing 27...d5! when Black is better after28 exd5?! Ìxd2 29 Ëxd2 Îxc3 and even28 Íxc4 dxc4 29 Ëg3 Îd7 is fine for him.28 Ëxd2 Îxc3 29 Îe3!! Îxe3 30 fxe3

30...Îc7? Black is fine after 30...d5! 31 Ëxd5 Íxb432 Îf1 Ëg5 33 Ëxf7+ Êh8 as his king isquite safe.31 Íd5! Locking the door.31...g6 32 Ëd3 Ëg5 33 Îf1 h5 34 Îf3 Black is under great pressure as f7 and b5are weak.34...Ëh4?! 34...Êg7 35 Ëxb5 Îc2 was a better defence.35 Êh2 Íh6?! 36 Ëxb5 Black is already lost here as f7 falls andthen g6 as well.36...Êh7 37 Ëe8 Íg7 38 Íxf7 Îe7 39 Ëd8 1-0 39...Ëg5 40 Ëg8+ Êh6 41 Îg3 wins the queen.

As we made our escape from themountain and just about managed to catchour flights out of Macedonia, we could reflecton another fun week of European Club Cupchess and a reminder of how unforgiving thegame is at this level. We look forward toreconvening in Serbia in early November nextyear, always assuming that White Rose can dothe business in qualifying from the 4NCL forthe eighth year running.

Champions Siberia minus board 3, Alexander Grischuk: (l-r), Wang Yue, Dmitry Kokarev, aclub official, Vladimir Kramnik (4½/5 on board 1!), Levon Aronian, Pavel Maletin and Li Chao.

Vladimir Kramnik surprised nemesis Topalovwith the Colle - and scored a crushing win.

08-11 EuroClubCup_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2015 16:41 Page 11

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