Szabo’s February brilliancy among the best of chess in 2023

GM Gergely Szabo’s fabulous sacrificial win at February’s Romanian championship tournament was tipped early on as a candidate for “game of the year.”

Now, in our penultimate column of 2023, the early front-runner may just still be in the lead.

It may not match the final game of the Ding-Nepomniachtchi world title match for drama, plot twists or impact on the game, but Szabo’s win in an Advance Caro-Kann over master Nicodim-Cosmin Stepanencu is a refreshing reminder that Caissa’s favor can fall on any player at any venue at any time.

After a relatively normal opening, the fun begins with a speculative queen sacrifice — perhaps the least interesting sacrifice of the game — with Szabo’s 15. Nf1!? (setting up the sharp play to come; 15. Bb2 was sound but boring) dxc4 16. Qxd8+!? Bxd8 17. Rxd8+ Kh7 18. Ne3 — White only gets a rook and minor piece for the queen, but his rook on d8 locks up Black’s queenside and allows the kingside mating attack to proceed.

Stepanencu understandably seeks some running room for his harassed king, but runs into a buzzsaw of inspired moves: 20. Ng2 (already threatening 21. Nf4+ Kh6 22. Rh8 mate) Nxg3?! (the cold-blooded computers like 20…Nh6!?, when Black survives after 21. Rf8 Nc6! 22. Rxa8 Qc3 23. Bb2 Qxb2 24. Nf4+ Kf5) 21. Nf4+ Kf5 22. Nxf7! (the White knights dance nimbly; now the threat is 23. Nd6+ Kg4 24. Kg2 Qc3 25. Be3 Qxa1 26. f3+ Kxh4 27. Ng6 mate) Qc3 (interesting here would have been 22…Ne2+!? 23. Nxe2 Qe1+ 24. Kg2 Qxe2 25. Nd6+ Kg6 26. Bf4, with complex play) 23. Kg2!, ignoring the attacked rook to tighten the mating net.

The hits just keep coming: 23…Ne4 (Qxa1? 24. Nd6+ Kxe5 [Kg4 25. f3+ Kxh4 26. Ng6 mate again] 25. Nxc4+ Kf5 26. Kxg3 Qxc1 27. Rf8+ Ke4 28. f3+ Kd4 29. Ne2, with a dominating position) 24. Rf8 Kg4? (the last mistake — on 24…Nc6!, White could play on or bail out with the perpetual 25. Nh6+ Kxe5 26. Nf7+ Kf5 27. Nh6+ Ke5 28. Nf7+, as 28…Kd4? 29. Be3+ wins on the spot) 25. Be3!? (setting up the fireworks to come, so it’s perhaps a blessing White missed the computer’s putaway here of 25. Nh6+! gxh6 26. Nd3!! Kxh4 27. Bxh6 Nf6 28. Rh1+ Kg4 29. f3+ Kf5 30. Rxf6 mate) Nxf2 (see diagram) 28. Nd5!!, putting a knight en prise with a rook already hanging in order to run down the Black king.

Stepanencu’s king proves remarkably hard to pin to the canvas, making White’s concluding play all the more remarkable: 26…Qxa1 27. Nh6+! Kxh4 (gxh6 28. Rf4 mate) 28. Bxf2+ Kg5 29. Be3+ Kg6 30. Ne7+ Kh7 31. Nf7 Nc6 (finally developing the knight, but White will not bother to take the hapless Black rook for another 10 moves) 32. Ng5+, and the knights harass the Black king right to the end.

Fittingly, White winds things up with one last cool sacrifice: 42. Rg8 Nxe5 (Qb1 43. Ne4+ g5 44. Bxg5+ Kh7 45. Nf6 is mate) 43. Rxg6+!, and Black finally concedes as the knights will deliver the kill after 43…Nxg6 44. Nf5 mate.

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A century from now, 2023 also may be remembered as the year the post-Anand generation of superstars inaugurated the Indian chess dynasty.

Viswanthan Anand, world champion from 2007 to 2013, sparked a chess craze in his country that shows no signs of slowing down. At least two Indian grandmasters will be in the FIDE Candidates Tournament next spring, and, remarkably, three Indian young guns — GMs Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Dommaraju Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi — made it to the quarterfinals of the elite FIDE World Cup knockout event in August.

Praggnanandhaa — “Pragg” for short — not only made it to the finals, losing to ex-world champ Magnus Carlsen, but his sister Vaishali scored a sensational win in the FIDE’s Women’s Grand Swiss last month and will be in the women’s Candidates field in 2024 field in search of a world title.

Pragg’s route to the World Cup finals included wins over the top three seeds, including American stars Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. His best effort, though, may have been the match-clincher against French GM Maxime Lagarde earlier in the event.
Black’s Cozio Defense (3…Nge7) is a not-too-often seen variation of the Ruy Lopez which has the advantage of being a not-too-often seen variation of this heavily analyzed opening.

White’s aggressive early pawn pushes, neglecting his development, are punished after 10. f4 0-0 11. h4?! d5! (a principled central push against a premature flanking maneuver) 12. h5? (doubling down disastrously; 12. exd5 Rd8 was roughly equal) dxe4 13. Qg3 (Qxe4?? Bh4+ 14. Kd1 Rd8+ 15. Bd2 Qxb2 wins) Nh4! 14. Rxh4 (this leaves the back rank unguarded, but allowing 14…Nf5 was positional poison) Qg1+ 15. Bf1 (Kd2 Rd8+ 16. Bd3 Bxh4 17. Qxh4 e3+ 18. Ke2 Bg4+! 19. Qxg4 Qf2+ 20. Kd1 Qf1 mate is just one sample of the tactical landmines White now faces) e3!, far stronger than capturing the rook on h4.

As in the first game, the attacker prefers to intensify the attack rather than recover material losses: 17. Ke2 (best; 17. Nxe3 is met by 17…Bxh4 18. Qxh4 Rxe3+ 19. Bxe3 Qxe3+ 20. Be2 Bg4! 21. Qxg4 Qg1+ 22.Bf1 Re8+ 23. Kd2 Qe3+ 24. Kd1 Qe1 mate) Be6 18. b3? (this stops the terrifying 18…Bc4+, but now Black’s last cannon will slide into place; White had to try 18. f5 Bxh4 19. Qxh4 Bd5 20. Bxe3 and hope to survive) Rad8 19. Nxe3 Bf6!, again disdaining the rook on h4 to keep the attack humming.

Cute is 21. Qf2 Bxh4!, when 22. Qg1 Bg4 is mate, and even after 22. Qxh4 Bxc2 23. Qxd8 (the threat was 23…Bd1+ 24. Ke1 Rxe3+ 25. Bxe3 Qxe3+ 26. Be2 Qxe2 mate) Rxd8 24. Nxc2 Qc5, White’s jumbled pieces and exposed king lead to doom. The lift 30. Kg3 Re6!, eyeing the g- and h-files, only underscores Lagarde’s helplessness.

It’s over quickly on 36. Ke4 Rd6 37. Re2 (Bc3 Re6+ 38. Kd3 Qxf4 would only prolong the agony) f5+!, and White resigned facing 38. Nxf5 (Kxf5 Qg6+ 39. Ke5 Qe6 mate; or 38. Ke5 Qg6 39. Nc4 Rd5 mate) Qd3+ 39. Ke5 Qd5 mate.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Szabo-Stepanencu, Romanian Championship, Sebes, Romania, February 2023

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 Qa5+ 7. Nd2 e6 8. Nf3 Nh6 9. O-O Nf5 10. c4 Be7 11. g3 O-O 12. b3 Rd8 13. Rd1 c5 14. dxc5 Qxc5 15. Nf1 dxc4 16. Qxd8+ Bxd8 17. Rxd8+ Kh7 18. Ne3 Qa5 19. Ng5+ Kg6 20. Ng2 Nxg3 21. Nf4+ Kf5 22. Nxf7 Qc3 23. Kg2 Ne4 24. Rf8 Kg4 25.Be3 Nxf2 26. Nd5 Qxa1 27. Nh6+ Kxh4 28. Bxf2+ Kg5 29. Be3+ Kg6 30. Ne7+ Kh7 31. Nf7 Nc6 32. Ng5+ Kh6 33. Nf7+ Kh7 34. Ng5+ Kh6 35. Nxe6+ Kh7 36.Ng5+ Kh6 37. Nf5+ Kg6 38. Nh4+ Kh6 39. Nf7+ Kh7 40. Ng5+ Kh6 41. Rxa8 g6 42. Rg8 Nxe5 43. Rxg6+ Black resigns.

Lagarde-Praggnanandhaa, FIDE World Cup, Baku, Azerbaijan, July 2023

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. Nc3 Ng6 5. d4 Nxd4 6. Nxd4 exd4 7. Qxd4 c6 8. Be2 Qb6 9. Qd3 Be7 10. f4 O-O 11. h4 d5 12. h5 dxe4 13. Qg3 Nh4 14. Rxh4 Qg1+ 15. Bf1 e3 16. Nd1 Re8 17. Ke2 Be6 18. b3 Rad8 19. Nxe3 Bf6 20. Rb1 Bf5 21. Qf2 Bxh4 22. Qxh4 Bxc2 23. Qxd8 Rxd8 24. Nxc2 Qc5 25. Ne3 Re8 26. Kf3 Qd4 27. Ke2 Qc5 28. Kf3 Qxh5+ 29. g4 Qh1+ 30. Kg3 Re6 31. Bd2 h5 32. gxh5 Qxh5 33. Re1 Rg6+ 34. Kf2 Qh4+ 35. Kf3 Qg3+ 36. Ke4 Rd6 37. Re2 f5+ White resigns.

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