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Chess Life Online 2009 July Gurevich Takes Chicago Class
Chess Life Online 2009 July Gurevich Takes Chicago Class | Gurevich Takes Chicago Class |
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| By Betsy Dynako | |
| July 21, 2009 | |
GM Dmitry Gurevich, Photo Betsy Dynako
3321 [Gurevich,Dmitriy] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Be2 0-0 8.b3 dxc4 9.bxc4 e5 10.0-0 Re8 11.Rd1  11...Qc7?! 12.c5 Bf8 13.Bc4 h6 13...Re7 14.Ba3 exd4 15.exd4 Nb8 14.Qb3 Re7 15.Ba3!  15.Nh4 exd4 16.exd4 b5 17.cxb6 Nxb6 18.Ng6 Re8 19.Bf4 Qb7 20.Nxf8 Nxc4 21.Qxc4 Rxf8 22.Rab1 (22.Be5 Be6) 22...Qa6 15...exd4 15...g6; 15...g5!? M.Amanov; 15...Rb8 16.Rac1 16.exd4 Nb8 17.Re1 Rxe1+ 18.Rxe1 b5 19.cxb6 axb6  20.Ne5!+- 20.Bxf8 Kxf8 (20...b5 21.Re7) 21.Ne5 Ng4!? M. Amanov.. but 22.Nb5! cxb5 23.Ng6+ (23.Qb4+ Kg8 24.Bxf7+ Kh7 (24...Kh8 25.Qf8+) ) 23...Kg8 (23...fxg6 24.Qb4+) 24.Re8+ Kh7 25.Nf8+ Kh8 26.Nd7+ Kh7 27.Bd3+ f5 28.Bxf5+ g6 29.Qf7# 20...Bxa3 21.Bxf7+ Kh8 22.Qc2!  22.Ng6+ Kh7 23.Qc2? (23.Qxa3! Rxa3 24.Nf8+ Kh8 25.Ng6+) 23...Qxf7 24.Ne5+ Bf5 M. Amanov (24...Kg8 25.Nxf7 Kxf7 26.Qb3+ Kg6 27.Qxb6) 25.Qxf5+ g6 26.Qb1 Qg7; 22.Bg6!? Ra7 23.Nf7+ Kg8 24.Nxh6+ Kh8 25.Re8+ 22...g5 22...Qd6 23.Ng6+ Kh7 24.Re8! M.Amanov (24.Nh4+ Kh8 25.Nb5) 24...Nxe8 25.Nf8+ Kh8 26.Qh7#; 22...Bd6 23.Ng6+ Kh7 24.Nf8+ Kh8 25.Qh7+ Nxh7 26.Ng6# 23.Qg6 Bf8 24.Qxf6+ Bg7 25.Ng6+ Kh7 26.Nf8+ Kh8 27.Qg6 Bf5 28.Qxf5 Bxf8 29.Qf6+ 1-0  Lawrence Cohen also sent the score and a few of his notes on Gurevich's final round win over Karklins. 3322 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Nd2 a5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Ngf3 d6 7.0-0 e5 8.e3 a4 9.Nb1 Bd7 10.a3 Ba5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 dxe5 13.Bxb7 Rb8 14.Bg2 White has won a pawn, and in compensation Black has pressure down the b file. 14...0-0 15.Bd2 c5 16.Qc2 Bxd2 17.Nxd2 Qa5 18.Ne4 Nxe4 19.Bxe4 g6 20.Rfd1 Be6 21.Rd3 An excellent move that threatens to double the Rooks on the file, and prevents Black from playing Rb3. 21... Rfd8 22.Bd5 Bf5 23.e4 Bh3 24.b3 Bd7 25.b4 cxb4 26.Qd2 !  A great move by GM Gurevich. Not only can Black not do anything with the b pawn, but there is now the threat of Bxf7. Black needed to guard against that threat, as trades are not good here for the second player. 26...Qc5 27.Bxf7+ Kxf7 28.Rxd7+ Rxd7 29.Qxd7+ Qe7 30.Qd5+ Kg7 31.axb4 Rxb4 32.Kg2 This allows the Rook of the first rank, as there are now no worries over back rank checks. 32...Qc7 33.c5 Rd4 34.Qa8 Qxc5 35.Rxa4 Rxa4 36.Qxa4 Qc7 From this point on we see Grandmaster technique! 37.Qb4 Kf7 38.Qd2 Kg7 39.h4 Qe7 40.Qg5 Qc7 41.h5 Qd6 42.Kh3 Kf7 43.Kh4 Qd4 44.f3 Qc3 45.Qh6 Qxf3 46.Qxh7+ Kf6 47.Qh8+ Kf7 48.hxg6+ Ke6 49.Qg8+ 1-0 Sam Shankland has been on a whirlwind East Coast tour lately, and the Chicago Class was the last of his stops. Here's a game from him over Nguyen Tam: 3314 I would have preferred to annotate my game against Mesgen Amanov, but it gives away too much of my opening preparation. After asking my friend Alex Betaneli which game I should annotate, he suggested this one as it can show some readers a slow and positional yet very powerful way of playing against the Alekhine defense. 1.e4 Nf6 The Alekhine defense 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 dxe5 This is the main move, but intuitively I would prefer to play Bg4 as Black here- Those positions tend to seem a little more comfortable. 4...Bg4 5.Be2 e6 6.0-0 Be7 7.c4 Nb6 8.Nc3 0-0 9.Be3 Nc6 10.exd6 cxd6 11.b3 d5 12.c5 Nc8 This is the mainline of Bg4. White probably has a slight advantage but Black does have some play against the weak d4 pawn involving moves like Bf6, N8e7-f5, etc. 5.Nxe5 g6 6.Be2 This is also not the main move, Bc4 is, however Be2 does have the merit of leaving c4 available to the pawn. [6.Bc4 c6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Re1 0-0 9.Bb3 Be6 And black doesn't look to have too many problems.] 6...Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 c6?! 9...c5 If black can get away with this move, he is likely just fine. However, here it looks a bit suspect. 10.dxc5 Bxe5 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.cxb6 axb6 (12...Bxc3 13.bxc3 axb6 14.Be3 Nd7 15.Rfd1) 13.Nd5; 9...Be6! I believe this is the best move. 10.c5 Intuitively this looks strange as it gives white a backward pawn on d4 and black a nice outpost on d5, but after Nd5 Bf3! white does get some pressure. (10.b3 c5 The point. Now white will not be able to play dxc5 followed by Nd5 because- well everything is hanging.) 10...Nd5 11.Bf3 c6 12.Re1 10.Bf4! Protecting e5 in all key variations and developing the bishop to its best square. 10...Be6 11.b3 N8d7  12.Nf3! White must not trade pieces or else Black will be OK. Now Black is cramped and cannot connect his rooks. [12.Nxd7 Qxd7; 12.Re1 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Bxe5 14.dxe5 Qc7= 12...Nf6 12...c5?! 13.Qd2 White threatens d5 13...cxd4 14.Nxd4 Nc5 15.Rad1 White will likely get the bishop pair, and his bishop on e2 which never looked to have a good future will enjoy a fine post on f3, eyeing the weak long diagonal and putting pressure on black's queenside. 13.Qd2 Bg4 13...Qd7 14.Ne5! Now that the white knight cannot get kicked it comes back. 14...Qc8 15.Rad1 Nfd7 16.Nf3 Same business- if Black keeps doing this White will just keep gaining time. 14.Rad1 Bxf3 Black voluntarily exchanges his bishop to try to free up some space for his pieces. 15.Bxf3 Qd7? Now Black's position is close to hopeless. 15...Rc8 And White surely has a big advantage but Black is holding on. 16.d5!+- c5 16...cxd5 17.c5 Winning easily 17.Rfe1 The rest requires no commentary. 17...Rfe8 18.Nb5 Nc8 19.Nc7 Nd6 20.Nxa8 Rxa8 21.Qe3 Bf8 22.Qxc5 b6 23.Qc6 Qxc6 24.dxc6 Rc8 25.Bg5 Kg7 26.Rd3 h6 27.Bc1 Nfe8 28.Bb2+ f6 29.a4 Rc7 30.Re6 Rc8 31.h4 Nc7  32.Rdxd6 exd6 33.Rxf6 Be7 34.Rxd6+ Kf7 35.Rd7 1-0 
IM Sam Shankland at the Chicago Class Championships
Whether or not the fifth round would ever begin in the Class A section was up for debate. Passion got the best of Kent Cen and Joseph De Luna Barbin when they went an estimated 200 moves thanks to five second delay and maybe their lack of knowledge about rules. Well after the Masters and Experts had entered the playing hall, pairings in hand for their last game, a crowd still hung on to see the game end. Unsurprisingly, there was neither an exciting win nor a devastating loss as the Queen vs. Queen, Pawn game ended in a draw.  In the Class D and lower sections many of the younger players were a buzz about two brothers from Wisconsin 1st grader Awonder and little brother 3rd grader Adream Liang. Maybe it was all in a name but these young brothers sparked fear in the hearts of their slightly older competitors. Awonder tied with five others for 2nd place with four points, while Bohdan Khomtchouk and Arron Jing shared 1st. If your passion was for love a bridal show was conveniently located on the first floor of the hotel. Hard to imagine too many of the chessplayers were distracted by this. As Vince Pinkus, of Cicero, IL, put it, “I just want to play chess.” 
Chicago Class Champ Dmitry Gurevich in his final round game against Andrew Karklins.
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