Vassily Ivanchuk continued his winning ways with a come-from-behind victory in this three-day round-robin rapid event in Odessa, Ukraine. Grischuk started out with 3/3 on the first day, including a win over Ivanchuk. But Chukky came back with his own 3/3 on the second day to tie for the lead. Today he scored wins over tailenders Smirin and Tukmakov to take first place alone on 7/9, a half-point ahead of Grischuk, who managed only one win today. Radjabov and Shirov were a point back at 5.5 and Gelfand finished with 5. The bottom half was Drozdovskij - 4; Bacrot - 3.5; Korchnoi - 3; Smirin and Tukmakov - 2.5. Korchnoi got his lone win of the event when Smirin stuck his head far enough into the old lion's mouth with the King's Indian. Black was actually doing okay when he hung a rook to a cute knight retreat and had to resign immediately. Viva Ivanchuk! What a run he's having.
But the real show was Gelfand-Shirov in round seven, which reached a position worthy of one of our rare diagrams. The position is black to move. Shirov got the right brilliant idea but in the wrong order, although it was still enough to win easily. He played 41..Qf4+!!? 42.gxf4 Bf2+ 43.Qg3 Bxg3 and Gelfand struggled on for a while with a rook a pile of pawns against the queen and the rapidly advancing b-pawn. Gorgeous.
But there was an even more convincing and spectacular line available. 41..a1Q! 42.Qxa1 Qf4+ 43.gxf4 Bf2#. Or, and this is really cool, 42.Rxf6+ Qxf6 43.Qxf6+ Qxf6 (three consecutive Qxf6 can't be very common...) 44.gxf6 looks like a fairly simple endgame win for Black, but he doesn't need no stinkin' endgame: 44..Be3 and it's forced mate in one on g5 or f2! Get Horwitz and Kling on the line.
[Ryan points out in the comments that on the previous move for White, instead of 41.Rd5-f5 leading to the diagram, he had the sensational try 41.Rxc5! bxc5 42.Qe5!! with stalemate if Black takes the queen. Black plays on with 42..fxg5+ 43.Qxg5+ with a few dozen checks, although it looks like they should run out eventually.]
Thanks to Mikhail Golubev's fine work in the press room, as always.
Small typo, Mig -- at the end of that line, there's mate on either g5 (not g6) or f2. Amazing stuff!
Ivanchuk is like a god of chess. I love how he plays the game. You never now just how Chucky is going to beat you: mating attack, endgame grind, strange material balance (Q vs R+B like yesterday versus Radjabov), etc.
In contrast to Chucky's versatility, every Kramnik win looks the same.
@Mig: Wow, that really is a stupendous idea Shirov came up with.
What a line that is!
41 ... a2-a1=Q! 42 Qc3xQa1 Qf2-f4+!! 43 g3xf4 (43 Rf5xf4 f6xg5#) Bc5-f2#
Congrats to Chuck! Does he have a new girl friend? He plays better than ever these days!
Also Shirov - since he lost mounts of weight - is getting back to the level he had a lot of years ago.
Well, if Chucky does have a new girlfriend, it would explain why he always looks exhausted ;-)
Anyway, it's great to see him doing so well. I would love to see Shirov return to his full strength, and I'm sure many others on this board would agree.
Mig ... thanks for sharing a very cool position. It's the kind of tactic that inspires me to get back to OTB play. :-)
Whenever I think of of paradise, I think of 1.000 virgins, pizza, beer, and and a never ending match between Topalov and Kramnik. But then there is Ivanchuk, Gelfand, and others. They just ruin my dream.
My engine noticed 41. Rxc5! bxc5 42.Qe5!
At the Canadian Open Ivanchuk was trailed by a knockout Slav gamine with whom he spent all his time away from the board; she was more of a spectator attraction than a handful of simuls. Whether she had an effect on his chess cannot be known; for some players, divorce and turmoil are strong motivators as well (one obvious example would be Gulko's best chess happening around the time of his hunger strikes).
Shirov's brilliancy (this 41.rxc5 bxc5 42.qxe5 variation is a computer line, which ends after 47.qe5+ kb6 ...) strongly reminded me on a combination by Carl Schlechter - listed against a "Philip Meitner 1899 in Berlin" - but i could not figure out the whole game notation. Any clue here around where to find it? Chessbase Mega 2007 does not include it, and my own database (containing even one more million of games, also does not include it). Schlechter's combination started with a queen sac on h6, followed by a quiet king move to h2 (against queen and a knight plus) and finished with a bishop mate on f2.
greetings
Shirov's brilliancy (this 41.rxc5 bxc5 42.qxe5 variation is a computer line, which ends after 47.qe5+ kb6 ...) strongly reminded me on a combination by Carl Schlechter - listed against a "Philip Meitner 1899 in Berlin" - but i could not figure out the whole game notation. Any clue here around where to find it? Chessbase Mega 2007 does not include it, and my own database (containing even one more million of games, also does not include it). Schlechter's combination started with a queen sac on h6, followed by a quiet king move to h2 (against queen and a knight plus) and finished with a bishop mate on f2.
greetings
hmmmm - i fell into the error trap ... "sh**" - even though i'm old, i hope it will not happen again!
greetings
Vohaul,
reference to this Schlechter game
is in his vikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schlechter
Schlechter-Meitner, Vienna 1899, 1-0
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1121017
"An interesting combination in the endgame: White sacrifices his queen,
then makes a quiet move with his king - and black is unable to prevent a mate in two moves."
jap
Thx a lot for the very useful links (in Carl Schlechters GERMAN wikipedia entry, the one i only knew thus far, the game link is not given!) - i knew the combination from a book i've read some years ago... (but i didn't even remember the book...^^)
Thx a lot again, greetings
Also compare to Edward Mackenzie Jackson-Frank Marshall, London 1899: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1094456
According to the ChessBase report, Shirov and Ivanchuk shared a car from Foros to Odessa on the way to the tournament. Shirov was driving, which was probably just as well - I can imagine Chucky getting engrossed in a variation and driving into a field, or worse.
I wonder if he shared the secret of his recent success? If so, I expect GM Shirov will prefer to keep this "novelty" for his own use.
Another nice position is the one at the end of the first Anand-Ponomariov game from Leon, where White's h-pawn has sucked all the pieces into the top right-hand corner. The moves are obvious here (which is why Pono resigned), but the tableau fascinates me.
At the Canadian Open Ivanchuk was trailed by a knockout Slav gamine with whom he spent all his time away from the board;
-- Posted by: Clubfoot at July 7, 2007 12:01
Let's see some pics of this "knockout Slav gamine"! I don't even know what "gamine" means but I don't care. She must be hot!
Go Chucky!
gmnotyet, a "gamine" is a street girl-- not a street walker, though. I think of her as living by her wits, being sassy and practical and not not buying frivolous luxury items...
one "not" in that last sentence above, obviously...
from m-w.com:
Main Entry: 1ga·mine
Pronunciation: ga-'mEn, 'ga-"mEn
Function: noun
Etymology: French, feminine of gamin
1 : a girl who hangs around on the streets
2 : a small playfully mischievous girl
I can't imagine what people see in playful and mischievous.