Exciting eighth round leaves everything open for an electrifying final round

Tapani Sammalvuo
tapani@sammalvuo.fi

Just like in the fifth round, the first ranked GM Sergey Fedorchuk had the white pieces against the sole leader of the tournament, this time GM Lucas van Foreest. Whereas the fifth round game against Kevlishvili ended favourably for the “top dog”, now he got into real trouble and was lucky to salvage a draw in a difficult ending.

We have learned that GM Gábor Nagy doesn’t like to lose. Today he made already his fourth short draw, but to be fair, his tournament strategy seems to be working fine. GM Bartłomiej Heberla never had chances for an advantage on the white side of a Queen’s Indian Defence. In fact, Black was to be preferred in the final position.

GM Victor Mikhalevski won a nice technical game against IM Mikael Agopov.

[Event "XXX Heart of Finland Open / Nordic Cham"] [Site "Jyvaskyla, Finland"] [Date "2022.07.23"] [Round "8"] [White "Mikhalevski, Victor"] [Black "Agopov, Mikael"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A35"] [WhiteElo "2540"] [BlackElo "2455"] [Annotator "Sammalvuo,Tapani"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 {Agopov’s favourite set-up against the English Opening.} 4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 d5 {This position can also arise from the Panov Attack of the Caro-Kann Defence.} 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qb3 e6 ({Mikael has also played the other main line} 8... Nxc3 9. Bc4 $1 Nd5 10. Bxd5 e6 11. Bxc6+ bxc6 {which leads to a similar position as in the game but here one pair of knights is missing. I’d probably prefer the position in the game as the presence of the knights potentially gives Black more chances for counterplay.}) 9. Bb5 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Re1 {The most flexible move.} ({ Mikael has previously met} 12. Na4 Ba6 13. Re1 Nb6 14. Nc5 Bc4 15. Qc3 Bd5 16. Ne5 {which leaves Black with a nice bishop on d5 but White’s knights on c5 and e5 are also strong. The game Karttunen-Agopov, Finnish Championship 2017 ended in a draw.}) 12... Qb6 13. Qc2 a5 ({D4-pawn is not hanging:} 13... Bxd4 $4 14. Na4 Qb4 15. Bd2 {wins a piece for White.}) (13... Nb4 $1 {may look like a strike into thin air, but White has to retreat his queen to a passive square and a later a3 will slightly weaken White’s queenside.} 14. Qd1 $1 (14. Qe4 $2 e5 $1 {gives Black a strong initiative.}) 14... Rd8 {is Black’s best, but White can still continue to fight for the advantage with} 15. Bg5 $1 {.}) 14. Na4 Qb5 15. Nc5 {N} Nb4 (15... e5 $5 {was an interesting possibility.} { Then critical is} 16. a4 $1 {.} ({Instead,} 16. Nxe5 Bf5 17. Qd1 Rfe8 {gives Black ample compensation for the pawn.})) 16. Qc3 Na6 {I find this slightly risky. If Black succeeds in playing …c5, he is surely OK, but if not…} ({ I’m not sure where White’s queen was planning to go after} 16... Nd5 {. Perhaps } 17. Qa3 {, but a3 is clearly a worse square her than c3.}) 17. Ne4 {[#]} Qd5 $2 {A grave positional mistake. If there is a pair of pieces that Black shouldn’t exchange in this pawn structure, it is the dark-squared bishops.} ( 17... c5 $5 {was an interesting try.} 18. Nxc5 (18. Bg5 $5 {planning Nf6+ may actually be stronger.}) 18... Nxc5 19. Qxc5 Qxc5 20. dxc5 a4 21. Rb1 Ba6 { followed by …Rfc8 should win the pawn back sooner or later.}) 18. Bh6 $1 { I believe that Mikael simply missed this move, he wouldn’t voluntarily let White realize this exchange.} Ra7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 {White is positionally winning. Black’s bishop is never going to find an active square, his a5 and c6-pawns are weak as are many important dark squares. Should he manage to exchange his a-pawn, he might have drawing chances, but White can easily prevent it.} 20. Nc5 ({The most thematic to me looks} 20. a3 {followed by Rac1.}) 20... Nxc5 21. dxc5+ f6 22. Red1 {White’s transformation of advantages works well enough. The rook takes up residence in d6 from where it puts pressure on the pawns on the sixth rank while simultaneously preparing to double (or even triple) on the d-file.} Qh5 23. Rd6 Bd7 24. Nd4 {White wins a pawn and keeps the control. The game is over.} e5 25. Nxc6 Bxc6 26. Rxc6 Rd8 27. Rd6 Rxd6 28. cxd6 Qe2 29. Rc1 {Threatening 30.Qc7+!.} Qa6 30. Qd2 Rd7 31. Rc7 Rxc7 32. dxc7 Qc6 33. Qc3 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

IM Vilka Sipilä is known for his games that seem to defy all logic. He chose the Scotch Opening against GM Héðinn Steingrímsson, but it was Black who soon took over and at some point was already two pawns up in an endgame. White was definitely lost, but in the time-trouble Vilka-magic started happening. First, Vilka recovered his lost pawns and then, in a rook ending with equal material, Black got flustered and lost two more. Thanks to this game, Sipilä is now sharing the overall lead in the tournament and leads alone the Nordic Championship.

IM Tarvo Seeman’s English Opening didn’t succeed against GM Robby Kevlishvili. Black took soon over and for most of the game White was in trouble.

Exciting eighth round leaves everything open for an electrifying final round

in English / på svenska

Avainsiirto

Tiedotteet

Uutiset

Linkit

RSS