GM Hansen attacks

The Canadian GM Eric Hansen has been playing very good for a while now. The following deadly attack he unleashed against his opponent, must produce a powerful impression on the public. There was simply nothing black could do to stop it!

[Event "Reykjavik Open 2015"][Site "Reykjavik"][Date "2015.03.11"][Round "2"][White "Hansen, Eric"][Black "Tjomsland, Stig"][Result "1-0"][SetUp "1"][FEN "3r1r1k/1p1qnp1p/pbppn1p1/4pN2/P3P3/2PP1Q1P/1PB2PP1/2BRR1K1 w - - 0 21"][ECO "C65"]21.d4!! gxf5 22.exf5 Nxd4 23.cxd4 Bxd4 24.f6 Ng6 25.Qh5 d5 26.Rxd4 exd4 27.Re7 Rg8 28.Rxd7 Rxd7 29.Bxg6

My best games (1)

GM Pascal Charbonneau was the reigning Canadian chess Champion back in 2006 and he did a tour of Canada together with IM Irina Krush (USA) to promote chess in a few Canadian cities from East to West. They stopped in Vancouver on June 10th, 2006 and both played at UBC in simuls (Irina in the morning, Pascal in the afternoon) against quite a few of us. I have rediscovered the records of my games with them. Here you can enjoy my victory versus Irina, one of the only 2 losses she recorded that day, with my original comments. Enjoy!

 [Event "Simul, Canadian Tour"] [Site "Vancouver, BC"] [Date "2006.06.10"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Demian, Valer-Eugen"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D36"] [WhiteElo "2437"] [BlackElo "2220"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 h6 9. Bh4 Nbd7 10. Nf3 Re8 11. O-O Ne4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Rae1 Ndf6 14. Ne5 {Strangely enough the same opening has been played identically a few boards to my left by Louie Jiang, a very promising local junior. Louie however lost in the endgame} Nxc3 15. bxc3 Ng4 {I cannot let Ne5 reign like that in the center} 16. Nxg4 Bxg4 17. f3 Be6 18. e4 dxe4 19. fxe4 Rad8 {White has a strong center which has not advanced yet. I decided on counter attacking "a2"} 20. Rf4 $6 {Not sure what was the idea behind this move} Qa3 21. Rf2 b5 22. Rb1 {Preventing b5-b4 and a weakening of the center} a6 {The threat was d4-d5 followed Bd3xb5 and e4xd5} 23. Qd2 a5 24. Bc2 $6 {The beginning of a dubious attacking plan on the Kingside. Black has enough tempi to gain material and come back to defend its King} Bxa2 25. Rbf1 Bc4 26. e5 Bxf1 27. Rxf1 Rxe5 {White's attack should involve a Bishop sacrifice on g6 and in that case the existence of a White pawn on "e5" makes a big difference. I decided to eliminate it at all costs} 28. Qd3 g6 29. Qf3 Re7 30. Qxc6 Rd6 $1 {No more sacrifices are possible now} 31. Qxb5 Kg7 {Putting the King on a dark square and working on the idea to exchange White's Rook. White's back rank becomes very weak once Rf1 disappears off the board} 32. Bb3 Rf6 33. Rb1 (33. Rxf6 Kxf6 {is hopeless}) 33... Qb2 $3 34. Bc4 (34. Rxb2 $4 Re1+ 35. Qf1 Rexf1#) 34... Qf2+

Dubai Open 2015, round 3

FM Saeed (UAE) was the hero again when he beat a second GM in this tournament, Milos Perunovic (SRB). He played the same Queen's pawn game as in round 1, except this time he went for quick exchanges from opening all the way to a complex Rooks and pawns endgame, having 2 connected pawns on the Queen side. His technique was very good and managed to simplify the position into a won endgame. Who says one cannot play for a win against GMs rated 2600+? Enjoy the game!

[Event "17th Dubai Chess Open"][Site "Dubai"][Date "2015.04.08"][Round "3.27"][White "Saeed, Ishaq"][Black "Perunovic, Milos"][Result "1-0"][WhiteElo "2200"][BlackElo "2632"][ECO "E10"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 a6 5. c5 b6 6. cxb6 c5 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. Na4 cxd4 9. Qb3 Rb8 10. Nxd4 Bb7 {That is one way of staying away from home preparation in the opening} 11. Bd2 Ne4 12. Bb4 Nec5 13. Nxc5 Nxc5 14. Bxc5 Bxc5 15. Bxa6 Bxa6 16. Qa4+ Qd7 17. Qxa6 e5 18. Qa7 Bd6 19. Qxd7+ Kxd7 20. Nb5 Rxb6 21. Nxd6 Kxd6 22. b3 {A series of exchanges took the game from the opening into a complex endgame without any stop in the middle game} Ra8 23. Kd2 Rba6 24. a4 Rb8 25. Rhb1 Rb4 26. Ra3 d4 27. exd4 exd4 28. a5 Ra7 29. Kd3 Kd5 {Desperately trying to hold the position} 30. a6 Rb6 31. Rba1 Rb4 32. Ra5+ Kc6 33. R1a3 Kb6 34. R5a4 Kb5 35. Rxb4+ Kxb4 36. Ra1 Kxb3 37. Kxd4 Kb4 38. Kd5 Kb5 39. Rb1+ Ka5 {It is all over. Here the game ended. It could have continued a bit longer with} 40. Kc5 Kxa6 41. Ra1+ Kb7 42. Rxa7 Kxa7 43. Kd6 {Now we have a simple win for white here}

Dubai Open 2015, round 1

The most spectacular attacking game of the round saw FM Saeed (UAE) beating convincingly GM Safarli (AZE). Enjoy the game and carefully observe how persistence and desire to win on the white side triumphed in the end.

[Event "Dubai Open 2015"][Site "Dubai"][Date "2015.04.06"][Round "1.9"][White "Saeed, Ishaq"][Black "Safarli, Eltaj"][Result "1-0"][WhiteElo "2200"][BlackElo "2637"][ECO "E10"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. exd4 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Bf4 Nc6 9. Rc1 Ne4 10. Bd3 Nxc3 11. Rxc3 Bf6 12. h4 !? {The opening was not eventful and one expected white to castle here; instead white shows its aggressive side} h6 13. Bb1 Re8 14. Ne5 dxc4 15. Qh5 ! {Who needs castling when the attack develops so nicely?} Bxe5 16. dxe5 Qd4 17. Rf3 Qxb2 18. O-O {Finally it is done! I like white's chances here with all pieces pointing at the black's castle} Nd4 19. Bxh6 !! {Spectacular} Nxf3+ 20. gxf3 Kf8 21. Bxg7+ {Why play boring, right?} (21. Be3) Kxg7 22. Qg5+ Kf8 23. Rd1 ?! {The engines show this to lead to equality. The correct way is} (23. Qh6+ Ke7 24. Qf6+ Kd7 25. Qxf7+ Kc6 26. Qxe8+) {1-0} Qb3 24. Qh6+ {This begins the search for the winning setup for white; probably it saved reflection time as well} Ke7 25. Qg5+ Kf8 26. Qh6+ Ke7 27. Qf6+ Kf8 28. Qh8+ Ke7 29. Qf6+ Kf8 30. Rf1 Qb6 31. Bg6 Qc7 32. h5 ! {It is over now} Kg8 33. Bc2 Qd8 34. Qh6 f5 35. exf6 Re7 36. Kh1 

US Championship 2015, round 5

The following position arose after an edge of your seat game with sacrifices, blunders, come backs and time pressure; both players went for the win and one (black) got rewarded when white went for the natural hiding of its King after being attacked for most of the game.

[Event "U.S. Championship 2015"][Site "Saint Louis"][Date "2015.04.05"][Round "5"][White "Holt, Conrad"][Black "Troff, Kayden W"][Result "0-1"][SetUp "1"][FEN "2r2k2/3R1P1p/1q4p1/8/8/1B2n1P1/P2Q2KP/8 w - - 1 43"][ECO "D83"]43. Kh3 $4 {GM Friedel "this loses in an amazing fashion"} (43. Kf3 {GM Friedel suggests this instead, but how many would play it in reality?}) 43... g5 $1 {all is now nicely lined up for black} 44. Rd6 (44. Qd6+ Qxd6 45. Rxd6 g4+ 46. Kh4 Nf5+ {0-1}) 44... g4+ 45. Kh4 Nf5+ 46. Kg5 Qxd6 {black is up a rook.} 47. Qb2 Nd4 48. Kxg4 Rc5 {"This is the end" Jim Morrison}