Spring Classic: Youth leads

by Macauley Peterson
3/9/2019 – The Spring Chess Classic is a pair of 10-player round-robin tournaments at the Saint Louis Chess Club. After four rounds, the A group field was surprisingly tight with five out of the ten players tied on 3 points. But after seven, Jeffrey Xiong (pictured) and Illya Nyzhnyk have taken the lead. Vassily Ivanchuk and Rustam Kasimdzhanov, meanwhile, are struggling. | Photo: Austin Fuller

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Two leaders with two rounds to play

The quarterly "Classic" events at the Saint Louis Chess Club provide opportunities for players in the 2600 Elo range to gain round-robin tournament experience as they fight for over $30,000 in prize money.

After seven rounds, the youth are the standouts as Illya Nyzhnyk (22) and Jeffery Xiong (18) are leading, with Ray Robson (24) and Aryan Tari (19) a half point behind.

Standings after Round 7 — Group A

Loading Table...

Click or tap any result to jump directly to that game in live.chessbase.com

Ivanchuk

It's rare to see Ivanchuk playing in a tie! | Photo: Austin Fuller

Veterans struggling

Vassily Ivanchuk got off to a bad start in his first ever appearance in St. Louis. He became overly ambitious as time control approached against Varuzhan Akobian.

 
Ivanchuk vs Akobian, Round 1
Position after 36...Ne7

Black's knight just vacated the g6 square so it may have come as a surprise that after Ivanchuk lashed out with 37.g4? Akobian's 37...g6 is winning for black. 38.g3 b6 29.d7, but not because of 29...c5 which gave Ivanchuk the chance to bring his queen back on defence and grab a pawn at the same time with 30.xa4. Instead 29...a6 penetrates into White's position via d3 with devastating effect.

Ivanchuk squandered the second chance, however: 

 
Position after 54...h5

White's only chance is to keep the position messy with 55.h4 d3 and 56.f5, but the Ukrainian's 55.xe6 allowed a pretty mate: 55...h4+ 56.g4 xf4+ 57.h5 xf3+ 58.g4 f4+ with mate in four.

After this loss Ivanchuk made four consecutive draws but then over pressed against Dutch GM Benjamin Bok and now stands at just 2½/7.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov is also far off the pace after dropping a three games to Robson, Le and Akobian. In Round 1, Robson showed how opposite-coloured bishops can be dangerous with queens on the board.

Can you spot the mate in three?

 
Robson vs Kasimdzhanov, Round 1
White to play
SHOW

In round four, Le Quang Liem tested Kashimdzhanov in one of the main lines in the Berlin Defence, until the move 12...d7 (lately players like Hikaru Nakamura prefer Be6). 

 
Kasimdzhanov vs Le, Round 4
Position after 12...Bd7

There followed 13.g3 d8 14.g5 as in Kramnik-Naiditsch, Dortmund 2014, but Le played the novelty 12...c8.

The game looked to be heading towards a draw until Kasimdzhanov blundered a pawn with 31.d5

 
Kasimdzhanov vs Le
Black to move

Grabbing the c4-pawn immediately allows White to take on c7, but 31...b7 takes advantage of the long diagonal and Le had a healthy pawn up after 32.f3 xd5 33.cxd5 xd5. Black was eventually able to swap his c7-pawn for both White's h-pawns and advance his queenside majority.

Kasimdzhanov

Kasimdzhanov is languishing in last place | Photo: Austin Fuller

Solid 'plus two'

Jeffry Xiong, the world's number three junior player, is undefeated with two wins. In round three, he set the pace with a win over Bok:

 
Bok vs Xiong
Position after 36...Re8

White's position is losing, but 37.e4 hastens the end. What was the knockout blow?

SHOW

Xiong followed this win with two draws and then a crucial victory over top seeded Le, in a game he controlled from start to finish:

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Ne2 C11: French: Classical System: 4 e5 and 4 Bg5 dxe4 b5 9.c3 LiveBook: 5 Games Be7 10.dxc5 The position is equal. Nxc5 11.Ned4 Bd7 12.Be2N Predecessor: 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Nd4 Bd7 14.Be2 Na4 15.Qd2 Rb8 1/2-1/2 (64) Volokitin,A (2709)-Ding,L (2695) Istanbul 2012 12...0-0 13.0-0 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 a5 15.Qe1 Qc7 16.Rc1 Rfc8 17.Qf2 Qb7 18.Qe3 Rc7 19.Nd2 Rac8 20.Bf3 Qa6 21.Be2 Qb7 22.Bf3 Qa6 23.Rc2 Better is 23.a3 23...b4= 24.cxb4 axb4 25.Rfc1 Qa5 26.Be2 Ba4 27.b3 Bb5 28.a4 28.g3= 28...bxa3 29.b4 Qxb4 30.Bxb5 Qxb5 31.Qxa3 Na6 White is under strong pressure. 32.Qxe7 32.Qb3 Qxb3 33.Rxc7 Rxc7 34.Nxb3 32...Rxe7-+ 33.Rxc8+ Re8 34.R1c6
34...Kf8 35.f5 35.Rxe8+ Kxe8 36.Rb6 35...exf5 36.e6 fxe6 37.Nf3 Rxc8 Black is clearly winning. 38.Rxc8+ Ke7 39.Rg8 39.h3 Nb4 40.Bxg7 39...Qb1+ 40.Kf2 f4 41.Rxg7+ Kf8
Threatens to win with ...Qc2+. 42.Ng5 Qc2+ 43.Ke1 e5 44.Bxe5 Qc1+ Precision: White = 36%, Black = 68%.
0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kasimdzhanov,R2663Akobian,V26250–12019Spring Chess Classic-A6.1
Xiong,J2663Le,Q27151–02019Spring Chess Classic-A6.2
Robson,R2667Hansen,E2612½–½2019Spring Chess Classic-A6.3
Nyzhnyk,I2638Tari,A2613½–½2019Spring Chess Classic-A6.4
Ivanchuk,V2698Bok,B26380–12019Spring Chess Classic-A6.5

Le Quang Liem

Le was leading earlier but now trails by a full point | Photo: Austin Fuller

Nyzhnyk scored his wins over Robson and Eric Hansen, the latter after Hansen missed a good opportunity to liquidate in time pressure on move 37.

 
Hansen vs Nyzhnyk
Position after 36...Kxd5

Here 37.a5 is a tricky move, with the idea that 37...xa5 is met by 38.xb5 xb5 and 29.a7 queening.

After Hansen's 37.a3 Nyzhnyk kept the position complicated in his opponent's time trouble, a good strategic choice as GM Aman Hambleton explained in the live commentary:

Nyzhnyk ended up slightly better in a rook ending, which he won in 58 moves, to join Xiong in the lead.


Group B

Chinese GM Bai Jinshi is on the verge of winning the B group in St. Louis as he leads Andrey Baryshpolets, whom he has already played (to a draw), by a full point with two rounds to go. Bai is currently on 5½ points with four wins to his credit. He kicked off a three-game winning streak in round three, when he defeated GM Gregory Kaidanov with the black pieces from an equal knight endgame.

 
Kaidanov vs Bai
Position after 33...Ne8

Black's kingside pawns are menacing and Kaidanov tried 34.e4+ but he needs his king on d4 to be able to recapture as after 34...fxe3 35.fxe3 h4 36.e4+ f4 37.e5 e3 38.e6 g3 Black's g-pawn is faster than White's e-pawn. Bai queened first and could get back in time with the king.

A pretty forcing sequence brought home the advantage in his next game against Sergey Erenburg:

 
Bai vs Erenburg
Position after 36...g4

It looks like Black is braking up the strong why pawns, but 37.f4 (hits the black bishop) 37...f7 38.e5 (now the knight) h5 39.h4+ (driving the king back) f8 40.xh5 xh4 41. f4 g6 42.f5 and Erenburg resigned since he cannot take of f5 due to a pin on the f-file. Bai would collect the g-pawn and advance his connected passers.

Bai Jinshi

Bai Jinshi has a full point lead | Photo: Austin Fuller

Standings after Round 7 — Group B

Loading Table...

Click or tap any result to jump directly to that game in live.chessbase.com

All games and commentary

Players receive 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus 30 seconds per move starting from move one. No draw offers are allowed before move 30.

Group A

 
Loading...
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.

Group B

 
Loading...
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.

Commentary playlist

Click or tap the menu icon to select a video from the playlist.

Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel

Links


Macauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.