9/18/2024 – Sacrificing a queen is one of the most rewarding manoeuvres in chess. Such a drastic measure is often connected to a forcing sequence, which either delivers checkmate quickly or allows us to escape with a draw. In the first half of the Chess Olympiad, we saw both cases appear on the board in important matches of the open section. Arjun Erigaisi, who is on fire in Budapest, gave up his queen to checkmate Peter Prohaszka, while Valentin Dragnev (pictured) found a way to force a repetition by giving up his queen in his game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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Arjun and Dragnev give up their queens
The man of the hour, Arjun Erigaisi, has won all 6 of his games so far in Budapest. In round 3, playing white against Peter Prohaszka (Hungary 2), the 21-year-old had all his pieces pointing at the black king - and got to end the game in style.
Now that the
rook has been placed on g1, every single white piece is pointing at the black
king's position.25...Kh826.e4The e-pawn quietly begins marching down the
board - it will create havoc at every step.Rf727.Qd2Qf828.d5Crucially
opening up the dark-squared diagonal.cxd528...Bxc3solves nothing, e.g.:29.Qxc3Kg830.Be6cxd531.Rxg7+Kh832.Rg8+Kh733.Qh8#29.e5Bxh4
Prohaszka might have resigned the game here had this not been a team event.
Black is doomed.30.e6Rf630...Rxf531.Qxh6+Kg832.Rxg7+Qxg733.Qxg7#31.e7The pawn has made its way to e7!Qxe7
32.Qxh6+Although
this is trivial for professtional players, giving up the queen amid a mating
attack is always satisfying.gxh633.Rxh6+Qh734.Rxh7#Prohaszka allows
checkmate to appear on the board.1–0
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Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
In round 6, the last one before the rest day, Austria (seeded 31st) drew Poland (11th) on all four boards to collect a valuable match point. Vladimir Dragnev had the tough task of playing black against elite-GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda on the top board. In a late middlegame position with a queen, a rook and two minor pieces per side, the Polish grandmaster had an extra pawn and a clear advantage.
But Dragnev never stopped looking for ways to create complications - and a single mistake by Duda allowed him to force a draw by giving up his queen!
White will grab
the pawn on b6, with a winning position. But Dragnev can still look for tricks
on the kingside, as his queen, rook and knight are all surrounding White's
king.33.Qxb6Nh434.Qd8+Kf735.h3Rxf1+The one move that gives Black
hope. Duda had 3 minutes (to Dragnev's 1) at this point, and he had to find
the only move that kept his advantage amid the chaos here - and he failed to
do so.36.Kh236.Kxf1Winning isQd1+37.Be1Bxh3This is the line
that perhaps prevented Duda from playing Kxf1 - and it is true that grabbing
the bishop here leads to a draw:38.gxh3But White wins with38.Qc7+Kf839.Qxc5+Kf740.Qe3and now everything is defended, e.g.:Bxg2+41.Rxg2Nxg242.Kxg2Qg4+43.Bg338...Qd3+39.Kg139.Re2Qxh3+40.Kg1Qg4+41.Kf1Qh3+is also a perpetual.39...Qg3+40.Kh1Qxh3+41.Kg1Not41.Rh2due toQf1#41...Qg3+42.Kh136...Qxh3+
Remarkable!37.gxh3Rxf2+38.Kg3Rf3+39.Kh2Not39.Kxh4because ofRxh3#39...Rf2+40.Kg3Rf3+41.Kh2White must agree to draw the game by repetition. In other
lines, he might in fact find himself lost, as the rook, knight and bishop can
create serious mating threats.41.Kh2Rf2+42.Kg142.Kh1in fact loses
toBf5and e.g.:43.Be3Ra244.Qc7+Kg645.Qe7Nf346.Bg1Kh6The most
accurate!47.Qe3Nd2and now that the d4-square is defended, the bishop
will give a deadly check on the long diagonal:48.Bf2Be4+49.Kg149.Kh2Nf1+with a royal fork.49...Ra1+50.Be1Rxe1+51.Qxe1Nf3+with a
royal fork.42...Rg2+43.Kh1Bxh3and now White must find an only move to
keep the balance:44.f5Nf345.Qd7+Kf846.Qd8+escaping the checkmate on
h2 or g1 with a perpetual.½–½
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Vladimir Dragnev has a 4/6 score so far in the event - in round 3, he held a draw against another super-GM, Hungary's Richard Rapport | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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