Nigel Short In Sole First So Far At Corus (Group B)

The 71st Corus Tournament is presently going on. It is usually divided into three groups. In Group B, at the time of this post, Nigel Short is thus far solely in first place. Here is one of his wins from the tournament:

Dimitri Reinderman vs Nigel Short
Corus (Group B) 2009
Spanish Game: Exchange. Gligoric Variation

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O f6 6. d4 Bg4 7. c3 Bd6 8. Be3 Ne7 9. dxe5 fxe5 10. c4 c5 11. b4 b6 12. bxc5 bxc5 13. Nbd2 O-O 14. Qa4 Ng6 15. Kh1 Qe7 16. Ne1 Nf4 17. f3 Bd7 18. Qa5 Rf6 19. Rf2 Rh6 20. Nf1 g5 21. g4 Rh3 22. Ng3 h5 23. gxh5 Rf8 24. Qd2 Qf7 25. Rc1 Be6 26. Bxf4 exf4 27. Nf5 Bxf5 28. exf5 Qxf5 29. Nd3 g4 30. Qe2 g3 31. Rg2 Qxh5 32. Qe6+ Kg7 33. Rcc2


Position after White's 33rd move



The actual game continued: 33 ... Re8 34. Qd5 Qxd5 35. cxd5 Re3 36. Nf2 Re1+ 37. Rg1 Rxh2+ 0-1. A stronger 33rd move for Black is 33...Qxf3 and play could then go 34.Ne1 Rxh2+ 35.Kg1 Rh1+ 36.Kxh1 Qf1+ 37.Rg1 Rh8+ and mate to follow.

From A Game I Played

A game I played, playing White, against a program, set at one of the lower levels, went: 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Ne7 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 dxc4 9. Be3 Nd5 10. Bxc4 Bb4 11. 0-0 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bxc3 13. Rab1 Qc7 14. Rfc1 Ba5 15. Qg4 Kf8 16. Rb2 Nd7 17. Rcb1 Bb6 18. Bd2 Rd8 19. a4 Rb8 20. a5 Bxa5 21. Bxa5 Qxa5 22. Rxb7 Rxb7 23. Rxb7

I think the resulting position is interesting. I am a pawn down, but have an advanatge in space and time. According to the computer evaluations, the position actually is winning for White:


Position after White's 23rd move

Lopsided Opening Results Part Three

Some posts ago I presented two examples from the opening in which one side as a lopsided score against the other, that is, one side won twice as many games as the other side. Here is another example, arising from Alekhine's Defense:

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. h3 Bf5 8. Nf3 0-0

The game database of chessbase.com has 116 games starting with the above line. From my manual count, which is fallible though, White won 50 times, and Black won 21 times.

Fourth World Championship Game

The fourth game ended in a draw:

White: Anand Black: Kramnik

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5 Bf5 12.Be2 Bf6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Nd4 Ne6 15.Nxf5 Qxf5 16.O-O Rfd8 17.Bg4 Qe5 18.Qb3 Nc5 19.Qb5 b6 20.Rfd1 Rd6 21.Rd4 a6 22.Qb4 h5 23.Bh3 Rad8 24.g3 g5 25.Rad1 g4 26.Bg2 Ne6 27.R4d3 d4 28.exd4 Rxd4 29.Rxd4 Rxd4 1/2-1/2

Great Game by Aronian

Besides the Chess World Championship, the Euro Clup Cup is also going on, which has a large number of participants, including some of the top grandmasters. The following game, Aronian vs Volokitin, was played in Euro Clup Cup. It is probably one of Aronian's best games. It went:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. h3 O-O 7. Bd3 Be6 8. Ng5 Bf5 9. Bxf5 gxf5 10. Qb3 Qb6 11. Qc2 e6 12. g4 h6 13. Nf3 fxg4 14. hxg4 Nxg4 15. e4 dxc4 16. e5 Nd7 17. Be3 f5 18. O-O-O c5 19. d5 f4 20. Ng5 hxg5 21. Qh7+ Kf7 22. Ne4 exd5 23. e6+ Kxe6 24. Qxg7 Ngf6 25. Bxc5 Nxc5 26. Nxc5+ Qxc5

Position after Black's 26th move


This position is like a chess problem: there is a mate to be had. The game continued: 27. Rde1+ Kf5 28. Rh5 Nxh5 29. Re5+ Kg4 30. Qxg5+ Kf3 31. Qxh5+ Kxf2 32. Qe2+ 1-0

World Championship Match Game 3

The third game of the Championship Match was brilliantly won by Anand, playing Black. The game started: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5 axb5 12.exf6 gxf6 13.O-O Qb6 14.Qe2 Bb7 15.Bxb5 Bd6 16.Rd1 Rg8 17.g3 Rg4 18.Bf4 Bxf4 19.Nxd4 h5 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Rxd7 Kf8 22.Qd3 Rg7 23.Rxg7 Kxg7 24.gxf4

Position after White's 25th move

Notice at this point Anand is down two pawns. From what I have heard, computers gave Kramnik some advantage here, but this might be one of rare cases where computers mis-evaluated a position. Anand proceeded to win: Rd8 25.Qe2 Kh6 26.Kf1 Rg8 27.a4 Bg2+ 28.Ke1 Bh3 29.Ra3 Rg1+ 30.Kd2 Qd4+ 31.Kc2 Bg4 32.f3 Bf5+ 33.Bd3 Bh3 34.a5 Rg2 35.a6 Rxe2+ 36.Bxe2 Bf5+ 37.Kb3 Qe3+ 38.Ka2 Qxe2 39.a7 Qc4+ 40.Ka1 Qf1+ 41.Ka2 Bb1+ 0-1

World Championship Match 2nd Game

The second game of the championship match ended in a draw:

White: Anand Black: Kramnik
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. dxc5 f5 9. Qc2 Nd7 10. e4 fxe4 11. fxe4 N5f6 12. c6 bxc6 13. Nf3 Qa5 14. Bd2 Ba6 15. c4 Qc5 16. Bd3 Ng4 17. Bb4 Qe3+ 18. Qe2 O-O-O 19. Qxe3 Nxe3 20. Kf2 Ng4+ 21. Kg3 Ndf6 22. Bb1 h5 23. h3 h4+ 24. Nxh4 Ne5 25. Nf3 Nh5+ 26. Kf2 Nxf3 27. Kxf3 e5 28. Rc1 Nf4 29. Ra2 Nd3 30. Rc3 Nf4 31. Bc2 Ne6 32. Kg3 Rd4 1/2-1/2