Tactics with two bishops

Black to play and win

Position extracted from an online sicilian B47 game.

Anand-Wang Yue, Linares 2009 Variation

The game Anand-Wang Yue 1-0, Linares 2009 can be replayed here.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1535930

Instead of 25..Kf6? losing to 26 Rf3+, Wang could have chosen 25..Kf8 26 Rc7! f6 leading to the following position.

White to play and win (Anand-Wang Yue 2009 Variation)

GrandMaster blitz tactics

White to play and win

2 GMs were playing blitz online (3 minutes + 0 secs) and the following position appeared, with White to Play.

Because this game wasn't played in a official tournament, the position above is unlikely to have been published anywhere !

Of course, Shredder, Fritz or Rybka would be able to help , should you need some advice .

Playing White was GM Sergey Zhigalko, and he found the winning move in 11 seconds. Very impressive !

Amber Chess 2009: Aronian wins in Nice !

Levon Aronian, Nice winner Amber Edition 2009

By drawing his two games against Topalov today, Levon Aronian won the combined 2009 Amber tournament. This is the second win in a row for the armenian grand master, as he won last year's combined Amber event as well.

Levon Aronian overall winner in Amber 2009 !

The tournament was incredibly strong this year, with the participation of Anand,Kramnik,Topalov,Carlsen,Morozevich,Karjakin and many other top GMs.

I think that Aronian's success lies in very strong middle-game skills both from a tactical and strategic standpoint, the ability to save or turn around compromised positions ( see rapid game against Carlsen for instance), finding counter-chances and making superb practical decisions especially in complex positions, and excellent nerves & self-control in time-trouble.

A great example today was his move 32..Re8! in the blindfold Topalov-Aronian.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1541024


Finally Aronian has developed a well-thought out opening repertoire with 1d4 as main weapon for White (with also 1.c4 and 1Nf3 as alternatives). As Black, he can play 1..e5 or 1..c6 against 1.e4, and favors the Slav against 1.d4.

Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen were also in the running for first place during the tournament.
This year's event produced numerous exciting battles, including the blindfold tournament, which showed that top grandmasters can play fast and accurately without a chessboard, which I find personally very impressive. Only a few blindfold games were decided by blunders, with the vast majority displaying quality chess !



Official Website and Final Standings :
http://www.amberchess2009.com/

Excellent coverage also at :

http://www.chessvibes.com/ (with on-site videos)

http://www.chessgames.com/

http://www.theweekinchess.com/

Toward the end, Europe-Echecs provided on-site coverage as well:
http://www.europe-echecs.com/

Carlsen-Kramnik Blindfold Brilliancy (10)

Another brilliant game at Amber, this time Vladimir Kramnik produced a blindfold masterpiece !

[Event "Amber Blind"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen,M"]
[Black "Kramnik,V"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Ba5 8.O-O Bb6 9. d5? Nb4 10. Qd2 exd5 11. cxd5?! Ng4! 12. Bb1 Qh4 13. Qf4 f5! 14. exf5Bxf5 15. h3 Bxf2+ 16. Kh1 Bd7 17. Qg5 Bc5! 18. Rxf8+ Rxf8 19. Ng1 Rf1! 20.Bxh7+ Kh8 0-1

After 13..f5!


Comments :

5 e4 !? is a interesting attempt to deviate from main lines of 4 Qc2

7..Ba5!? Kramnik relocating the bishop to b6 to attack d4

7 Nf3 instead of 7 Nge2 has the advantage of controlling h4, which was a factor in the game

8 a3!? to prevent Nb4 and prepare b4, without castling was probably an improvement on the game 8 0-0.

9 d5? more cautious was 9 Be3 Ng4 10 h3 Ne3 11fe3 Qg5 12 Rf3



11 Nd5 was probably better than the game's 11 cd5.

12 Bb1 sounds passive but 12 h3? Ne5 13 Bb1 Bxh3! with idea Nf3+

14 ef5?, it was better to admit that Black's attack is dangerous and play 14 Qg3

15 Bf5 was not possible because of 15..Rf5! 16 Qg3 as 16 Qf5 is met by Qh2 #.

Instead of 20 Bh7+, 20 Nce2 Bg1 21 Ng1 Rg1+! 22 Kg1 Qe1 is Checkmate

20 Bh7+ was a cheap trick, as 20..Kh7?? is met by Qxh4+, but Kramnik correctly played Kh8 of course.

Full Game replayable here:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1541010

Amber 2009 opening ideas

Interesting opening ideas in Amber 2009


Rapid tournament:

Aronian-Leko (2) West-Indian
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 !?
Also played in Topalov-Anand Bilbao 2008 and Nielsen-Heinemann 2008.

Carlsen-Ivanchuk (2) E32 Nimzo Qc2
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bd2 a5 !?

Leko-Morozevich (7) Caro-Kan
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e5 !?

Kramnik-Anand (8) E32 Nimzo Qc2
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 !? 7. cxd5 Ne4 !?
Other moves for White would be 7.Bg5 or 7.Nf3 where Black can try 7..dc4 8 Qc4 b6 !? with idea ..Ba6 just like in Morozevich-Topalov (blindfold round 4)

Blind Tournament:

Kramnik-Morozevich (1) Gruenfeld
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 O-O 9. Nf3 Qxc5 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. O-O Qa5 12. h3 Bf5 13. Ng5 !?

Morozevich-Wang (2) Petroff
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be78. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Qc2 Nc6 13. b4 !?

Leko-Kamsky (5) Double fianchetto-Hedgehog for Black.
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 b6 !? 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. O-O d6 6. c3 e6 !? 7. Re1 Ne7 8.Nbd2 Nd7 9. Nf1 a6

Anand-Radjabov (6) Sicilian Rossolimo
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 b6 7. O-O e5 8.a3 !?

Anand-Kramnik (8) Petroff
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 !? Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-OBd6 8. c4 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. Qh5 !?
Also 5 de5 is a valid alternative in the Petroff

Anand-Kramnik Amber Tactics 2009 - Round 8

White to play and win

Anand-Kramnik , Amber Blindfold (8)

Anand won the blindfold game and drew the rapid , to win the mini-match 1.5-0.5

Round 7 at Amber : Tactics !

Radjabov-Kamsky, Amber Blindfold (7)

White to play a strong move !

17.?

Leko-Morozevich , Amber Rapid (7)

White to play and win (easy!)

40.?

Tournament Standings :
Anand to face Kramnik tomorrow in a key match, as the two players currently lead the combined tournament at Amber