Tata Steel-75 AT 2013: Provisional Awards
By Yochanan Afek
Tata Steel Tournament, arguably the most prestigious contemporary chess event
celebrated its 75th edition this year, and among other festivities a special
composing tourney was announced by its organizing committee with a generous
prize fund. I was expecting a great happening and indeed my colleague composers
did live to the expectations in regards to both quantity and quality. I am grateful
to each and every one of them for their much appreciated efforts.
Israeli IM and problem expert Yochanan Afek
I received 89 entries from our devoted tournament director Harold van den
Heijden in anonymous files (one with the full solutions and another one with
just the artistic lines) as well as a detailed report specifying correctness
and originality of all entries. The general standard was one of the highest
I have witnessed for years and decision making turned to be a rather tough job.
As we are celebrating an over-the-board major event I tried to pay a special
attention to human and player friendly entries. I sincerely hope that the following
selection would achieve this aim. It certainly is a combative one with a clear
majority of winning studies over the more peaceful ones notably among the prize
winners.
The studies – part three
3rd Hon. Mention: Sergiy Didukh (Ukraine)
In a middle-game like position White is building up in secret the unexpected
opening of the crowded "g" file. A surprising triple ambush which
should appeal to players of any level.
[Event "(71) 3rd HM Tata Steel -75 JT "] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.??.??"] [Round
"?"] [White "Didukh, Sergiy"] [Black "White to play and win"] [Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"] [FEN "1N6/1r2nPpk/p2p4/3Pq1pP/8/1P2P2Q/1p2PKP1/2R5 w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount
"23"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. Nd7 $1 Rxd7 (1... Qxd5 2. f8=Q bxc1=Q 3. h6
$18) 2. f8=N+ $1 {fork} Kg8 $1 ( 2... Kh8 3. Ng6+ $1 {fork} Nxg6 4. hxg6+ Kg8
5. Rc8+ $18) (2... Kh6 3. Nxd7 Qe4 4. Rh1 g4 5. Qg3 Nf5 6. Qf4+ $18 {with check})
3. Nxd7 Qe4 $1 (3... bxc1=Q 4. Nxe5 dxe5 5. Qe6+ Kf8 6. d6 $18) 4. Rg1 $1 {Invisible
ambush behind three pawns!} (4. Rd1 $2 g4 5. Qg3 Nf5 6. Qf4 {no check} g3+ 7.
Ke1 b1=Q $11) 4... g4 (4... b1=Q 5. Rxb1 g4 6. Qh1 $1 g3+ 7. Kxg3 Nf5+ 8. Kh2
Nxe3 9. h6 $18) 5. Qf3 $1 gxf3 (5... b1=Q 6. Qf8+ Kh7 7. Rxb1 Nf5 8. Nf6+ $1
gxf6 9. Qf7+ Kh8 10. Qxf6+ Kh7 11. Rd1 Qxe3+ 12. Ke1 $18) 6. Nf6+ $1 {fork}
gxf6 7. gxf3+ Qg6 $1 8. hxg6 Nxd5 9. Rb1 $1 Nc3 10. Rxb2 Nd1+ {fork} 11. Ke1
Nxb2 12. Kd2 1-0
4th Hon. Mention: Stanislav Nosek (Slovakia)
The power of the bishop pair in a charming miniature.
[Event "(25) 4th HM Tata Steel -75 JT "] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.??.??"] [Round
"?"] [White "Nosek, Stanislav"] [Black "White to play and draw"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]
[SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/8/4P3/1B3k2/1p6/7K/8/2q1B3 w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "15"] [EventDate
"2012.??.??"] 1. e7 $1 (1. Bd7 $2 Qxe1 2. e7+ Kf4 3. e8=Q Qh1#) 1... Qe3+ 2.
Bg3 b3 $1 (2... Qxe7 3. Bd3+ Ke6 4. Bc4+ Kd7 5. Bb5+ Kc8 6. Ba6+ $11) 3. Bd7+
$1 (3. e8=Q $2 Qxe8 4. Bxe8 b2 5. Bh5 (5. Bc6 b1=Q 6. Bf3 Qf1+ $1 7. Bg2 Qd3
$1 8. Bc6 Kg5 9. Ba8 Qf5+ 10. Kg2 Kg4) (5. Bd7+ Kg5 6. Bh4+ Kg6 7. Be8+ Kh6
$19) 5... b1=Q 6. Kg2 Qb2+ 7. Kg1 Ke4 $19) 3... Kg5 $1 4. e8=Q Qxe8 5. Bf4+
$1 (5. Bxe8 $2 b2 6. Bc6 (6. Bf4+ Kf5 $1 $19) 6... b1=Q 7. Bf3 Qf1+ $1 $19)
(5. Bh4+ $2 Kh6 6. Bxe8 b2 $19) 5... Kf6 (5... Kxf4 6. Bxe8 b2 7. Bg6 $11) 6.
Bxe8 b2 7. Be5+ $1 Kxe5 8. Bg6 1/2-1/2
5th Hon. Mention: Peter Krug (Austria)
A pair of rooks artfully tames the enemy queen. A remarkable development of
an old scheme by Ladislav Prokes.
[Event "(09) 5th HM Tata Steel-75 JT "] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.??.??"] [Round
"?"] [White "Krug, Peter"] [Black "White to play and win"] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp
"1"] [FEN "7k/2R5/2p5/1p1PK1R1/8/8/q7/8 w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "21"] [EventDate
"2012.??.??"] 1. Kf6 $1 Qf2+ 2. Kg6 Qf8 3. Rh7+ Kg8 4. Rd7 cxd5 5. Rg1 $1 (5.
Rgxd5 $2 Qe8+ 6. Kf6 Qf8+ 7. Kg5 Qb4 8. Rd8+ Kf7 9. Kf5 Qb1+ $11) 5... d4 6.
Rg5 {zz} d3 7. Rgd5 Qe8+ 8. Kf6 Qf8+ 9. Kg5 Qb4 10. Rd8+ Kf7 11. Kf5 1-0
Special Hon. Mention: Jan Timman (The Netherlands)
A similar idea in a similar setting has been already shown by Tkachenko a6a8
(#57608) however the daring sacrificial fore-play is a considerable improvement.
[Event "(50) Special HM Tata Steel-75 JT "] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.??.??"] [Round
"?"] [White "Timman, Jan"] [Black "White to play and win"] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp
"1"] [FEN "4Brk1/RR5p/1PP2b1P/8/4PK2/2n5/4r3/8 w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "19"] [EventDate
"2012.??.??"] 1. Bf7+ Kh8 2. Rb8 (2. Rd7 $2 Rxe4+ 3. Kf5 Bd4 $1 $11) 2... Rxb8
3. c7 Rf8 4. Ra8 $1 Rxa8 (4... Be5+ 5. Kf5 $1 Rxa8 6. b7 Re8 7. c8=Q Rf2+ 8.
Kg4 Rg2+ 9. Kf3 Rg3+ 10. Kf2 $18) 5. b7 Rxe4+ 6. Kf3 $1 Re3+ (6... Rf4+ 7. Kxf4
Nd5+ 8. Bxd5 Bd8 $1 9. Kf5 $1 $18) 7. Kxe3 Nd5+ 8. Bxd5 Bd8 $1 9. Bb3 $1 Rb8
10. cxb8=N $1 ( 10. cxb8=Q $2 {stalemate}) (10. cxb8=B $2 Bc7 11. Ba7 Bb6+ $1
12. Bxb6 { stalemate}) 1-0
1st Comm: Iuri Akobia (Georgia) & Richard Becker (USA)
Positional draws following consecutive reciprocal Zugzwangs. A Rook ending with
theoretical merits rather than artistic ones.
[Event "(27) 1st Commend. Tata Steel-75 JT "] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.??.??"]
[Round "?"] [White "Akobia/Becker, Iuri/Richard"] [Black "White to play and
draw"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "6k1/1R4p1/8/3p1K2/7p/r4P2/8/8 w
- - 0 1"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. Rb8+ $1 (1. Rd7 $2 h3
2. Rxd5 h2 3. Rd8+ Kh7 $1 4. Rd1 Rxf3+ $19) (1. Kg4 $2 h3 $1 2. Rb2 Kf7 3. Rf2
Ke6 4. Kxh3 d4 5. Kg3 Kd5 $19) 1... Kf7 (1... Kh7 2. Kg4 $1 Ra4+ 3. f4 Ra6 4.
Kxh4 Rd6 5. Kg3 d4 6. Kf2 d3 7. Ke1 d2+ 8. Kd1 {e.g.} Kg6 9. Rb5 $11) 2. Rb7+
Kf8 3. Rd7 $1 Rxf3+ 4. Kg4 Rd3 5. Kxh4 Rd1 (5... Rd2 6. Kh3 $1 Rd1 7. Kg2 $1
Rd4 8. Kg3 $1 $11) 6. Kh3 $1 Rd2 7. Kh4 $1 ({Thematic try: } 7. Kg3 $2 Rd4 {zz}
8. Kf3 Kg8 $1 {zz} 9. Ke3 Re4+ 10. Kf3 Re5 11. Kf4 Rh5 12. Rd8+ Kf7 $1 $19 ({Not}
12... Kh7 $2 13. Rd6 {see main line})) 7... Rd1 8. Kh3 Rd4 9. Kg3 {zz} (9. Kg2
$2 Rg4+ 10. Kf3 Rg5 11. Kf4 Rh5 12. Kg4 g6 $19) 9... Kg8 10. Kf3 {zz} Kf8 11.
Kg3 {positional draw, or} Kg8 12. Kf3 Kh7 13. Ke3 Rd1 14. Ke2 Rd4 15. Ke3 Re4+
16. Kf3 Re5 17. Kf4 Rh5 18. Rd6 $1 (18. Kg4 $2 Kh6 19. Rd6+ g6 $19) 18... g6
({2nd main line:} 18... Kg8 19. Kg4 Re5 20. Kf4 Rh5 21. Kg4 {positional draw
with perpetual check along the 5th rank}) 19. Rd7+ Kh6 20. Kf3 ({or} 20. Kg3)
20... Rg5 21. Kf4 Rf5+ 22. Kg4 Re5 23. Kf4 Re4+ 24. Kf3 Rd4 25. Ke3 Rd1 26.
Ke2 Rd4 27. Ke3 {positional draw with perpetual attack along the d-file} 1/2-1/2
– Part four to follow soon –
Copyright
Afek/ChessBase
