"To become a Queen" by Victoria Ivanova

White to Play – Mate in 2!

Hermanis Matisons X Aaron Nimzowitsch - Karlsbad 1929

ChessBase

Matisons, Hermanis–Nimzowitsch, Aaron0–1E21Karlsbad12Karlstad1929

Weak Pawns, Weak Squares and Mighty, Mighty Knights In this game, Nimzovich (a) plants his Knight on a weak square, (b) forces open a file for his Rook and (c) switches the other Knight over to the center of the board, and the power generated by the centralized Knights are devastating. 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.c3 b4 4.f3 xc3+ 5.bxc3 d6 6.c2 e7 Black is ready to meet 7.e4 with 7... e5, securing a fair share of the center. 7.a3 White has two objects in mind: (1) to prevent 7... e5, after which 8.dxe5 leaves Black unable to recapture; (2) To advance 8.c5, with the idea of dissolving the doubled Pawn. c5 This fixes White´s Pawn at c4, making it a targit of Black´s future attack. 8.g3 White will fianchetto the Bishop and control the long diagonal. Here it has the drawback of depriving the weak Pawn at c4 of a defender. 8.e4 e5 9.d5 0-0 10.c1 8...b6 Black will dispute control of the diagonal. 9.g2 b7 10.0-0 0-0 11.h4 White is anxious to exchange Bishops because Black´s has more scope, making (together with f6 Knight) strong pression on e4 square, but a better way to bring about an exchange was by 11.Nd2. The Knight would then exert more influence on the center and also would be a useful protector od the c4 Pawn. xg2 12.xg2 Much better would be 12.xg2 brining the Knight back into play c6 13.e4 a5 14.e3 with White´s Knight centralized and c4 Pawn defended. 12...b7+ 13.g1 White gets into dificulties after this. The right move was 13.Nf3. 13.f3 a6 14.b3 c6 15.c1 fc8 16.g5 e4 17.c2 f5 18.d5 e5 19.xe5 dxe5 20.e7 xc4 21.d6 xc3 22.b3 f7 23.h1 13.f3 g5 13...a6! 14.b2 c6 15.g1 a5 16.g2 xc4 17.e4 14.d2 14.c1 14...h6 and the Knight has no flight square. 15.f2 gxh4 16.xh6 h7 17.gxh4 h8 18.g1 13...a6 14.b3 c6 15.fd1 15.dxc5 bxc5 The threat is 16... Rab8, winning the a3 Bishop, or 16... Ne5, winning the c4 Pawn. 16.b5 xb5 17.cxb5 a5 15.f3 a5 16.b5 xb5 17.cxb5 c4 18.c1 d5 and the c3 Pawn falls. 15...a5 16.b5 xb5 17.cxb5 c4! The doubled Pawn has been dissolved, but the weakness of the c4 square remains. Nimzovich anchors his Knight on this vital square and secure new advantages: (1) The Knight is posted aggressively. It attacks the Bishop and drives it back to its original square. (2) The Knight is posted defensively, protecting the d6 and b6 Pawns. (3) The Knight cannot be dislodged by Pawns nor by the Bishop (which operates on black squares only). 18.c1 a6! Forces opening of the A file: White must capture or loses a Pawn. 19.bxa6 xa6 20.dxc5 bxc5 21.g2 d5 Black´s position is superior: his Knights are centralized, while White´s minor pieces are widely scaterred. 22.d3 22.d2 fa8 23.e4 f6 24.e3 e5 25.g2 xa2 26.xa2 xa2 27.f3 22...fa8 23.e4 e5 23...e5 24.d1 xc3 25.f1 25.d2 f3+ 25.e1 f3+ 25...xa2 26.xa2 f3+ 27.h1 xa2 and White must lose the third Pawn (the e4 one). 0–1

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White to Play – Mate in 2!

Liren Ding X Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Round 10.1 - 43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open

ChessBase

Ding, Liren2804–Duda, Jan-Krzysztof27391–0D2443rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open10.1Batumi04.10.2018

1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.f3 d5 4.c3 dxc4 5.e4 LiveBook: 1741 Games b5 D24: Queen's Gambit Accepted: 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 6.e5 d5 7.xb5 b6 8.e2 c6 9.0-0 e7 10.d2 10.e3 0-0 11.c3 b8 12.a3 b7 13.c2 1/2-1/2 (61) Mamedyarov,S (2801)-Caruana,F (2822) Saint Louis 2018 10...0-0 11.f4 b8N Predecessor: 11...b4 12.g4 e8 13.d1 1/2-1/2 (64) Dreev,A (2649) -Grachev,B (2626) Moscow 2018 12.c3 f5 13.g3 h8 14.d1 b4 15.b3 cxb3 16.axb3 a6 17.c4 c2 18.a2 b4! 19.a1 c2 20.a2 b4 21.e2 a5 22.d5 exd5 23.e6 d6 23...f6= 24.h3 24.f4± xf4 25.xf4 24...f6 24...dxc4 25.g5± 25.e7 xe7 26.xe7 xe7 25.b5 Stronger than 25.xd5 4xd5 26.xd5 26.g5 h6-+ 26...xd5 Of course not 25.g5 h6 25...dxc4 26.xd6 26.g5!= hält das Gleichgewicht. h6 27.xd6 cxd6 28.e7 26...cxd6 26...xe6 27.xc4 27.g5 g8 27...xc4 28.bxc4 bd8 27.e7 e8

27...d7! 28.exf8 xf8 29.g5 g6 28.g5! g6

28...h6 29.h5 d7 30.xd6 6d5 31.f7+ 31.bxc4? f4-+ 31...h7 29.xd6! f4

30.h4! b1 31.e1? 31.xf4+- d7

32.f6‼ 32.bxc4 a2= 32...gxf6 33.xf6+ g8 34.f7+ h8 35.c2! 31...f5? Wrong is 31...cxb3? 32.d8+- 31...d7± is a better defense. 32.d8 g6?

32...c6 33.xb8! Worse is 33.xh7 g8 33...xb8 34.xf4 Don't go for 34.xh7? g8-+ 34...g8 35.f7+ xf7 36.xf7 d7 37.e8 f6 38.g5+- 1–0

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Peter Leko X Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - Round 7.1 - 43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open

ChessBase

Leko, Peter2690–Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime27800–1B9043rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open7.1Batumi01.10.2018

1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.b3 e6 8.e3 h5 9.d2 bd7 10.d5 B90: Sicilian Najdorf: Unusual White 6th moves, 6 Be3 Ng4 and 6 Be3 e5 xd5 11.exd5 g6 12.e2 g7 13.0-0-0 LiveBook: 3 Games 13.0-0 a5 14.a4 0-0 15.b5 c7 16.c4 b6 17.h3 c5 18.xc5 bxc5 1/2-1/2 (49) Carlsen,M (2842)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2779) Biel 2018 13...0-0

14.g4N Predecessor: 14.b1 c7 15.g4 fc8 16.c1 a5 1/2-1/2 (44) Velilla Velasco,F (2565)-Biedermann,T (2456) ICCF email 2014 14...a5 15.a4 b6 16.gxh5 xh5 17.b5 f6 18.h4 c7 18...c8 19.h5!± xh5 20.h6 20.xh5± gxh5 21.g1 20...f4! Not 20...xh6? 21.xh6 fc8 22.c3+- 21.xf4 21.d4!? 21...exf4 22.xf4 fc8 23.e4! xa4 24.xa4 b5 25.xb5 a4 26.d4 Black must now prevent Bc6. a3 Hoping for ...Bxd4. 27.c6 bxa3 is the strong threat. axb2+ 28.d2 a2 29.b1! a5+ 30.c3! a4 31.xa4 xc3+ 32.d1 32.e2± xd4 33.d3 32...c1+? 32...xd4= and Black is okay. 33.c6 b8 33.e2+- c4+ 34.d3 xa4 35.c6? 35.h4!+- e8+ 36.f2 35...e8+= 36.f2 And now Kg3 would win. f4! 37.be1? 37.h3= 37...xe1-+ 38.xe1 h2+ 39.f1 h1+ Black has strong compensation. 40.f2 h2+ 41.f1

f6! ( -> ...Bh4) 42.d1

h4! 43.d4 g3 White is in trouble. 44.b4

b1! 45.xb1 h1+ 46.e2 xb1 47.d3 c2+ 48.f1 d2 49.e4

h4! 50.f4? 50.e2 might work better. a5 51.e4 50.xh4 xd3+ 50...d1+ 51.g2 g4+ 52.f1 f8 53.e3 f5 54.f3 g5 55.e2 55.e3 55...g4 56.g2 g6 57.h1 f6 58.e3 g7 59.g2 d8 60.b2+ h7 61.h2+ g8 62.b2 a5 Black should try 62...f5-+ 63.f2 g3+ 64.f1 h5 63.g2? 63.f2 63...b6+ 64.e2 g3 65.e1 a5 66.d3 f8 67.e3? 67.f5 h5+ 68.e3 67...b6+ Black is clearly winning. 68.d2 g4 69.c3 e3 70.c2 xf4 71.e1 e5 Precision: White = 61%, Black = 67%. 0–1

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