A baby ‘Beast of Baku’ captures strong Aeroflot chess tournament

Young Azeri comes out of nowhere, takes the world by storm. Seems like we’ve seen this movie before.

Fourteen-year-old GM-in-waiting Aydin Suleymanli may not be the next Garry Kasparov, but he gave a very convincing imitation of the world champion “Beast of Baku” at the strong Aeroflot Open tournament last month in Moscow. Ranked 71st in the field at the start, Suleymanli wound up in the four-way tie for first at 6½-2½, taking the title on tiebreaks.

Kasparov’s young compatriot, already a world under-14 champion, ran off a slew of very nice games in Moscow, outclassing a number of older and more experienced rivals. We pick up one of his most impressive efforts from today’s diagram, against veteran Israeli GM Ilya Smirin.

Out of an English Opening, Smirin as Black looks to free his g7-bishop and open the game in his favor, having just played 13…f5-f4. Instead, White crosses him up with a positional sacrifice of his own.

Thus: 14. gxf4 exf4 15. Nxf4! Bxc3 16. Qxc3 Rxf4 17. Rad1! (Black would be very happy with the rote 17. Bxf4? Qxf4 18. Qb4 Qe5 19. Rad1 Bg4, with at least equality; Suleymanli instead keeps his powerful bishop pair and developmental lead at the slight cost of the exchange) Be6 18. c5 Rh4 19. Rd6 (cxb6?? Qxh2 mate), with powerful pressure on the Black position.

The pressure turns into a winning material edge after 19…Nd7 (Nbc8 20. Qf6! Nxd6 21. cxd6 Qxd6 22. Qxh4, and White is better) 20. f4 Bh3 21. Qc4+ Kf8 22. Bxh3 Rxh3 23. Qe6!, hitting d7 and the loose rook on h3. There followed 23…Rxe3 24. Rxd7 Qxd7 (the only practical move to stop mate) 25. Qxd7 Rxe4 26. Qd3, and White’s powerful major pieces decide the affair: 26…Re6 27. Qd7 Re4 28. f5! gxf5 29. Rxf5+ Kg7 (Nxf5 30. Qxf5+ Kg7 31. Qxe4, winning) 30. Rg5+ Kf6 (Kh6 31. Rg3 Ng6 32. Rh3+ Rh4 33. Qd2+ Kg7 34. Rxh4 Nxh4 35. Qd4+ and wins) 31. Rg3 b5 (desperation) 32. Qd6+ Kf7 33. Qh6 — the h-pawn will fall and the Black king has no refuge;
Smirin resigned.

—-

Just one round earlier Suleymanli showed excellent nerves in a wildly uneven game against yet another Azerbaijani star, GM Vasif Durarbayli. Suleymanli plays aggressively from the Black side of a Caro-Kann Advance with 15. Qc2 d4! 16. cxd4, but misses a nice follow-up with the stronger 16…f4!. White finds a clever counter in 18. a4! f4 19. axb5!, and when the position finally clarifies after 23. Qe4 0-0, Black has won a piece for two pawns but faces a terrifying phalanx of connected White passed pawns.

Black goes back on top after 30. b7 Rb8 31. e6? (the computer notes that control of f5 is critical in this position, spitting out 31. g4! Rxb7 32. e6 Kf8 33. exf7 Rxf7 34. Rxf7+ Kxf7 35. Rf1+ Rf5 36. Rxf5+ gxf5 37. Qxf5+ Ke8, and Black’s king can’t escape the checks) f5! 32. Rxc2 Qxc2 33. Qxc2 Nxc2 34. c6, and White has just three pawns for the rook and knight.

Still, the game is not over until 35. d5 Kg7?! (Black appears to hold the edge on 35…Nb4; e.g. 36. c7 R5xb7 37. cxb8=Q+ Rxb8 38. d6 Kg7 39. e7 Kf7 40. e4 Ke6 41. exf5+ gxf5 42. Rxf5 Nc6 43. Rf8 Kd7) 36. d6 Kf6 (a truly remarkable position — which pawn to push?) 37. d7? (wrong — the right button was 37. e7! R5xb7 38. cxb7 Ke6 39. Rb1 Kxd6 40. e8=Q Rxe8 41. b8=Q+ Rxb8 42. Rxb8 Nxe3, with a roughly equal ending) Rc5!, and just like that the White pawns are immobilized.

It’s over on 38. Rd1 Rd8 39. e4 (b8=Q Rxb8 40. d8=Q+ Rxd8 41. Rxd8 a4 42. Ra8 a3 wins for Black) Ke7 40. exf5 gxf5 41. Rd5, and Durarbayli resigned before bothering to see 41…Rxc6 42. Rxf5 Rb6 43. Rxa5 Kxe6 44. Ra8 Kxd7, and his proud array of pawns has disappeared.

—-

The coronavirus fear has claimed its first major chess event: Vietnamese organizers say that the HD Bank Open, a nine-round Swiss that is annually one of Asia’s strongest open events, has been canceled over travel and infection fears. It probably won’t be the last cancellation, but FIDE officials do say the world championship candidates tournament, which will pick a challenger to world champion Magnus Carlsen, will go off as scheduled starting March 16 in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

Durarbayli-Suleymanli, Aeroflot Open A Tournament, Moscow, February 2020

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Na4 Qa5+ 9. c3 c4 10. Nh4 b5 11. Nxf5 exf5 12. Nc5 Bxc5 13. dxc5 Nge7 14. b4 Qa3 15. Qc2 d4 16. cxd4 Qxb4+ 17. Qd2 a5 18. a4 f4 19. axb5 c3 20. Qd3 fxe3 21. fxe3 Qb2 22. O-O Nb4 23. Qe4 O-O 24. Bc4 c2 25. Rac1 Rad8 26. Bd3 g6 27. b6 Ned5 28. Bc4 Qc3 29. Bxd5 Rxd5 30. b7 Rb8 31. e6 f5 32. Rxc2 Qxc2 33. Qxc2 Nxc2 34. c6 Rb5 35. d5 Kg7 36. d6 Kf6 37. d7 Rc5 38. Rd1 Rd8 39. e4 Ke7 40. exf5 gxf5 41. Rd5 and White resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.