Hoogeveen matches all tied

Svidler recovers

Sam Shankland took the lead in the Hoogeveen Chess Festival competition on the first day of the match against Peter Svidler, but the St. Petersburg super-GM immediately struck back the next day. In a symmetrical English opening, the US grandmaster never found a safe haven for his king. 

English 1.c4 c5 for Black

When White doesn’t want to get involved into tons of theory, when he thinks that he is better than his opponent and can outplay him in a long game, then he uses 1.c4, the opening called English. 14 years ago Bologan started to play 1...c5 and until now he likes this move thanks to the rich type of positions arising after it, thanks to the aggressive and comfortable setups Black can get against the English Opening. “1...c5 is the best for Black!”

Here, the computer likes the odd-looking 21.Qd2, eyeing the weak dark squares in the Black camp with Qf4 or Qh6 to follow. Svidler went for the more logical 21.Bf4 which challenges Black to ignore the fact that he just recently played his rook to b8 move it once again 21...Rbc8 when White has annoying pressure.

Shankland's option was significantly worse: 21...Bd6 22.Bxd6 Qxd6 23.Rfd1 and now White's initiative coupled with Black's weak king is enough for Svidler to win fairly quickly. 

The English Opening Vol. 1

Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.

Svidler's 27.Qh6 is an attractive move, leaving the rook en prise by taking advantage of the skewer on the 7th rank. It was only a matter of time. 1-0 (34 moves).

Nice pawn in the playing hall | Photo: Hoogeveen Chess

Game 3 had sigificantly fewer fireworks. The players followed the game of Vladimir Kramnik vs Anish Giri from Norway Chess 2016 (among others) through move 12.

Svidler prefered 12...Bg4 over Giri's 12...Qc7, giving up the c-pawn in exchange for major piece activity. The key moment came a few moves later, when black played 16...Rfd8:

According to Peter Boel writing for the tournament website, "17.Nb3 'looked scary', Svidler thought. 'But it doesn't work', Shankland replied immediately, giving the line: 17...Qxd1 18.Rfxd1 Rxd1+ 19.Rxd1 Rxc4 20.Rd8+ Bf8 21.Bd4 and now 21...Ra4 saves Black: 22.Bxf6 exf6 23.Nc5 Rxa2 24.Nd7 Kg7 25.Nxf8 and now White's knight doesn't get out. Perhaps White can get a pawn for it but this should be an easy draw.

In the game, Shankland played 17.Bc3 which led to full equality for Svidler after 17...Bh6 18.f4 Ne4 19.Nxe4 Qxe4. But there was one final moment worth pondering before the draw was signed:

But in the game, after 23...Qf3 24.Bd4 Rxc1 25.Rxc1 Bf8 26.Rc8 Ra8 27.Rxa8 Qxa8 28.Be3 a draw was agreed.

'A pretty OK game', Svidler said. 'Of course it's better if you know everything and you don't have to work it all out over the board.' 'Anyway the level of the three games has been pretty good so far', Shankland ventured. 'Yes', Svidler agreed. 'In the first game, Sam played much better, in the second I played slightly better...' 'Much better', Shankland interrupted. 'Of course if both sides play good all games should end in a draw, but still it was OK.' And off they went to grab a bite to eat together.

Svidler is back to even but will need to win the match to remain in the world's top 20 | Photo: Hoogeveen Chess

In the second match between Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev all three games have ended drawn. We looked at the first game, and in game two the story was similar — White had some chances (van Foreest this time) but didn't find the most incisive moves at a key moment.

Van Foreest went for 42.b5 but axb5 43.axb5 Ne7 left him with a weak b-pawn and no winning prospects. A better try was 42.Bf2 when Black is lacking a useful move. E.g. 42...Qd2 43.Bc5 threatens b5 more strongly since the knight lacks the e7 square, while 42...Ne7 43.Qe6! forces a favourable queen endgame after 43...Qd2 44.Qxe7 Qxf2 45.Qxb7 Qxf4 46.a5.

Wednesday is a rest day for the Hoogeveen matches, although there is still action in Round 6 of the Open.

All match games

Amin and Kryakvin lead the Open

In the Open, Azerbaijan's Gadir Guseinov led the field with 4 out of 4, but he was beaten on board one in round five by the Egyptian number one Bassem Amin. Amin won a pawn in a rook and minor piece ending, and Guseinov was banking on his far advanced passed f-pawn: 

Chess Endgames 9 - Rook and Minor Piece

Endings with rook and minor piece against rook and minor piece occur very frequently, even more often than rook endings, yet there's not much literature on them. This endgame DVD fills this gap. The four different material constellations rook and knight vs rook and knight, rooks and opposite coloured (and same coloured ) bishops and rook and bishop vs rook and knight are dealt with. In view of the different material constellations Karsten Mueller explains many guidelines like e.g. "With knights even a small initiative weighs heavily".

But in this position right after the time control at move 40, the f-pawn is dropping off. Guseinov tried 41...f2 relying on the tactic 42.Rxd1 Rd2 to win back his piece, but 43.Rf1 Rxd4 44.Ke3! forces a winning rook ending.

Guseinov (right) is now one of six players trailing by half a point | Photo: Hoogeveen chess

There's a Van Foreest in the Open section as well. No, it's not Jorden's younger brother, GM Lucas van Foreest, but their even younger sister, eleven-year-old Machtheld van Foreest who currently sits in place 72 with 1½/5. She is among the best in the world for her age and with such a chess-loving family it already seems clear that one day she will play a prominent role among women in international chess. 

Machtheld van Foreest

Open standings after Round 5 (top 10)

...82 Players

All Open games

Andre Schulz contributed reporting

Links

• Official site
• Game 1: Shankland scores first in Hoogeveen
• Full results (Chess-results)