The coronavirus is supposed to be a particular danger for the elderly, but the global pandemic actually provided a little tailwind for the triumphant American squad at the truncated World Senior Team Championship in Prague last week.
The U.S. veterans — GMs Alex Shabalov, Joel Benjamin, Igor Novikov, Gregory Kaidanov and Alex Yermolinsky — might not have needed the help, as the Americans have now won the 50+ senior competition for three straight years. But with much of the continent — and the world — shutting down over infection fears, the Czech organizers decided to end the event after just seven of the nine rounds had been played, handing the front-running U.S. team the gold.
Shabalov has been a Board 1 stalwart for the American team in this event, and came through with another key point in his Round 3 win over Czech IM Vitezslav Priehoda. The always aggressive Shabba got the kind of game he loves out of this QGD Ragozin, with the kings on opposite wings and a White pawn storm quickly forming.
With 16. g5 Ne4 17. Bxc4 Nxc3 18. Bxc3 dxc4 19. e4, White gives up a useful bishop to obtain a strong pawn center, and with 23. h5 Bg4 24. Ne5!? Bxd1 throws more fuel on the fire with a speculative exchange sacrifice.
Black can defend, but it’s not so easy over the board: 25. h7+ Kh8 26. Rxd1 (a critical position, with White threatening things like 27. Qg5 Bg7 28. h6 Bxe5 29. dxe5 Qe6 30. Rd8+ Rxd8 31. Qxd8+ Kxh7 32. Qf8 with mate to come; best now is the cold-blooded 26…gxh5! 27. Qg5 [f3 Rxe5! 28. dxe5 Qxd2+ 29. Rxd2 Kxh7 30. Rh2 Kg6 31. f4 Be7, defending] Rg4 28. Qxh5 Rg7 29. Qf5 Rxh7 30. Rg1 Bg7, and White still must justify his sacrifice) 27. hxg6 fxg6 28. Qg5!, and Shabalov’s attack moves into overdrive.
The best chance now was 28 … Rxe5 29. dxe5 Qe4 30. Re1 Qf5 31. Qxf5 gxf5, but Black falters again — this time fatally — with 28 … Bxe5? 29. dxe5 Qe6 (this blockade proves short-lived) 30. Rd6 Qf5 31. e6+ Kxh7 32. Rd7+ Kg8 33. Rg7+, Black resigned just ahead of either 33…Kh8 34. Qh6 mate or 33…Kf8 34. Qe7 mate.
COVID-19 has also been an unwelcome guest at the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinberg, Russia, where play is scheduled to start Tuesday. Eight of the world’s top grandmasters, their seconds, arbiters and match officials are being tested twice during the event for infection, along with daily health checkups. We shall see whether the uncertainty and fear will affect the quality of chess play. The winner of the three-week, double round-robin faces Norwegian champ Magnus Carlsen in a title match later this year.
There was already an upset in Tuesday’s first round: Red-hot Chinese GM Ding Liren, one of the pre-tournament favorites, lost with White to fellow Chinese GM Wang Hao. Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi also got off to a good start, defeating Dutch GM Anish Giri. We’ll have games and color from the event in the coming weeks.
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Georgian GM Nana Dzagnidze was the surprise winner of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix event in Lausanne, Switzerland, edging young Russian star GM Aleksandra Goryachkina on tiebreaks.
Ranked sixth in the 12-player field at the start of the event, Dzagnidze lost only one game and notched a critical endgame win over reigning women’s world champ GM Ju Wenjun of China in Round 9. We pick up the knotty knight-and-pawn ending from today’s diagram, where Dzagnidze as Black has just played 60 … Nb6-a4.
The value of passed pawns in the ending is on vivid display after the game’s 61. a3 Nc3+ 62. Kd3? (in light of Black’s next move, Ju should have tried 62. Kd2! Nb1+ [Kxf3 63. Nd1+ Kf2 63. Nd3+ Kf1 and only then 64. Kxc3] 63. Ke2 Kg2 64. Ne1+ Kh3 65. a4 Nc3+ 66. Kf2 Nxa4 67. Nd3 — White has lost a pawn, but her knight and rook are far better placed to restrain her opponent’s pawns) Kxf3! (a brave and well-calculated move, particularly given that White has an outside passer of her own) 63. Kxc3 Ke2! (now both the White king and knight will have trouble finding a way back to the kingside) 64. Nb4 f3 65. Nd3 g4! (and not 65 … f2?? 66. Nxf2 Kxf2 67. a4 g4 68. a5, and the queen race is a tie) 66. Nf4+ Ke1 67. Nd3+ Kf1 68. Ne5 g3! 69. Nxf3 g2 70. Kb4 Kf2 71. Ng5 Kg3! (one last finesse before queening; 71 … g1=Q?? 72. Nh3+ would actually lose for Black) 72. Kc5 g1=Q, and the Georgian GM went on to win 10 moves later.
Shabalov-Priehoda, World Senior Team Championship, Prague, March 2020
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Qc2 Re8 8. Bd2 a6 9. a3 Bf8 10. h3 h6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bd3 g6 13. g4 Be6 14. O-O-O Na5 15. Be1 Nc4 16. g5 Ne4 17. Bxc4 Nxc3 18. Bxc3 dxc4 19. e4 c6 20. Qd2 Bc8 21. gxh6 Rxe4 22. h4 Qd5 23. h5 Bg4 24. Ne5 Bxd1 25. h7+ Kh8 26. Rxd1 Bg7 27. hxg6 fxg6 28. Qg5 Bxe5 29. dxe5 Qe6 30. Rd6 Qf5 31. e6+ Kxh7 32. Rd7+ Kg8 33. Rg7+ Black resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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