Euro Club Cup: Clichy and Deizisau in the lead

European Online Chess Club Cup

One looks in vain for French players in the lineup of the French club Clichy Echecs 92. Two young players — Jorden van Foreest and Parham Maghsoodloo — have been very successful so far on top boards, which perhaps supports the thesis that online rapid chess is something that favours players of this generation. 

The municipality of Deizisau in the Esslingen district is located a few kilometres southeast of Stuttgart. Anyone who has followed the German Chess League closely in recent years knows that the Schachfreunde Deizisau squad counts with many young players in its ranks. Bluebaum, Donchenko and Keymer all play for the SF Deizisau. 

There are no ‘weaker’ players at all in this final all-play-all phase. A look at the names in the remaining teams shows how difficult it will be for Clichy and Deizisau to keep the lead in the second half of the finals. 

Mednyi Vsadnik is made up exclusively of Russian top grandmasters, led by Vladimir Fedoseev; Novy Bor has David Navara and Radoslaw Wojtaszek reinforced by the Indians Harikrishna, Vidit and Sasikiran; and the Poland Husars are led by Polish star Jan-Krzysztof Duda. These three teams have five match points each. They are followed by Odlar Yurdu, led by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Hamburger SK, both with four match points. 

Standings after round 4

Find all results at Chess-Results

In the game below, 23-year-old Matthias Bluebaum defeated 35-year-old chess superstar Shakhriyar Mamedyarov as the latter blundered his queen in one move. Thanks to this full point, SF Deizisau won the team match against Odlar Yurdu.

Bluebaum, M. (2670) - Mamedyarov, S. (2770)
EOC-ch-Final 2021 Online (3.9)

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 

Fighting the Grünfeld with g3

The Grünfeld Defence was invented by the famous Austrian Grandmaster Ernst Grünfeld in the early twenties of the last century. One of the first reactions to it came from the great Akiba Rubinstein - the g3 system, fianchettoing the bishop to g2. After that many systems were tried to refute the Grünfeld and nothing really worked. So, Rubinstein's recipe remains a very important positional approach against this dynamic opening.

In contrast to the ‘normal’ Gruenfeld Defence, White’ e-pawn has reached e4 in two steps. On the other hand, White has the advantage that the black knight cannot exchange comfortably on c3, but must first head for a weaker spot on b6.

6...Nb6 7.h3 0-0 8.Nc3 c5 9.Be3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Bd7 11.Be2 Nc6 12.0-0

But, of course, it was all correct and so the position is balanced.

12...Rc8 13.Nb3 Ne5 14.Nc5 Bc6 15.Qb3 e6?! 

However, this move by Black seems to be a bit slow.

[With 15...Ned7 Black would have better dealt with the knignt on c5.]

16.a4! White has the initiative and gains space.

16...Qc7 17.a5

[Here 17.Nb5 was strong.]

17...Nbd7 18.Nxd7 Nxd7 19.Nb5 Bxb5 20.Qxb5 a6 21.Qb4 Nb8! 

Realizing an Advantage

It’s a problem every player encounters when he stands better in a game: how to convert his plus into a full point? In this DVD the author answers this difficult question of chess strategy, considering both the psychological aspects of the realisation of an advantage and the technical methods.

White’s initiative has fizzled out again.

22.Rfc1 Nc6 23.Qa3 Qe5 24.Rc5 Qxe4 25.Bf3 Qh4 26.Rac1 Rb8 27.R1c4 

In this position, which is actually very acceptable for him, Mamedyarov now makes a bad blunders — 27...Nd4??

[Correct was 27...Qd8=]

28.Bg5

The black queen is trapped. 1-0

Hamburg SK in turn beat the strong Novy Bor. Responsible for this was the impressive endgame performance of Julian Kramer against Czech star David Navara on board 4:

Navara,David (2697) - Kramer,Julian (2419)
EOC-ch-Final 2021 Online (3.16)

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 g6 6.Qb3 Nb4 7.Ne4 Qd5 8.Qxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxc5 Nb4 10.Bb5+ N8c6 11.0-0 e5 12.d4 a6 13.Ba4 Bxc5 14.dxc5 Nd3 15.Rd1 e4 16.Nd2 f5 17.Nc4 Nxc5 18.Bxc6+ bxc6 

Marin's English Love Vol.1 and 2 - A complete repertoire for White after 1.c4

The aim of these Dvd's is to build a repertoire after 1.c4 and 2.g3 for White. The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups. The second DVD includes the systems with 1...c5, 1...c6 and 1...e6.

A critical position has been reached. Black, who had not handled the opening well, has regained the pawn with a lot of effort, but is still not in a good position.

19.b3?! But this is not the best move: White allows the return of the black knight to d3 — usually not a good omen.

[19.Ne5! and only later b2-b3 would have given White quite a large advantage.]

19...Nd3! 20.Ba3

And now the white advantage is completely gone.

[Consistent would have been the elimination of the intruder with 20.Nb2!]

20...Be6 21.Nd6+ Kd7 22.f3 Bd5 23.fxe4 fxe4 24.Rf1 a5 25.Nf7 Rhe8 26.Ng5 Rh8 27.Rf6 a4 28.b4 Rhf8 29.Nxh7 Rxf6 30.Nxf6+ Ke6 31.Nxd5 Kxd5 32.Rf1 Rb8 

Black’s excellent, well-centred position fully compensates for the sacrificed pawn.

33.Rf6 Ne5 34.b5?

White wants to improve the coordination of his pieces, but it doesn’t work.

[Better was 34.Bb2]

34...Nc4!

Crushing Isolated Queen's Pawn Tactics

The aim of this DVD is to offer the viewer tactical exercises that also illustrate the attacking prospects within IQP positions. The content of the DVD emphasizes the importance of understanding this type of pawn structure.

This intermediate move gives Black a nice advantage for obvious reasons.

35.Be7 cxb5 36.Rxg6

After this move the game should be lost for White.

[With 36.Bb4 the black pawns would have been stopped for the time being.]

36...b4

The pawns are rolling!

37.Ra6 b3 38.axb3 axb3 39.Bf6 b2

40.Bxb2 Rxb2 41.h4 Nxe3 42.Rg6 Ke5 43.h5 Kf5 44.Kh2 Rb3 45.g3 Ng4+ 46.Kh3 Ne5 47.Rg8 e3 48.Rf8+ Ke4 49.Rf4+ Kd3 50.Rf5 Rb5 51.Rf1 e2 52.Ra1 Ke3 53.h6 Nf3 54.g4 Kf2 55.g5 Nxg5+ 56.Kg4 Nf3 57.h7 Rg5+ 58.Kf4 Rh5

59.Rh1 Rxh1 0-1

All games

Links

• Official site
• The European Chess Club Cup will be played online this year
• Find all results on Chess-Results