Jules Moussard wins Semana Santa Open in Torrevieja

by Klaus Besenthal
4/19/2022 – The Spanish town of Torrevieja, located on the Costa Blanca in the province of Alicante, hosted the sixth edition of the Open “Semana Santa” this Easter weekend. French grandmaster Jules Moussard won the event, as the only player among the 400+ participants who scored 8/9 points. Karen Grigoryan from Armenia and Eduardo Iturrizaga, who recently transferred to the Spanish federation, finished second and third respectively. | Photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar

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A deciding rook endgame

Crucial to Jules Moussard’s tournament victory was the full point he obtained against Spain’s Jose Cuenca Jimenez in the final round. The game lasted no fewer than 132 moves and was decided after the Spaniard erred by exchanging the last pair of minor pieces in a holdable position to enter a lost rook ending.

Cuenca’s compatriot Jesus de la Villa, who wrote one of the most acclaimed endgame books in recent times, 100 Endgames You Must Know, states: “Rook endgames are undoubtedly the most important endgames of all”. De la villa adds: “Certainly you have often mourned losing half points [in these endings]”.

 
Moussard, Jules26301–0Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando2552
Semana Santa Torrevieja 2022
Torrevieja Alicante17.04.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e5 4.0-0 Bd6 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 b5 7.Bc2 Nge7 8.a4 b4 9.d3 0-0 10.Be3 Ng6 11.Nbd2 Be7 12.Bb3 Na5 13.Bd5 Rb8 14.d4 bxc3 15.bxc3 cxd4 16.cxd4 Bf6 17.dxe5 Nxe5 18.Nxe5 Bxe5 19.Rc1 Bb7 20.Nf3 Bb2 21.Rc2 Bf6 22.Bxb7 Rxb7 23.Qd3 Nc6 24.Bc5 Nb4 25.Bxb4 Rxb4 26.e5 Be7 27.Qxa6 Qa8 28.Qxa8 Rxa8 29.Rc7 Rbxa4 30.Rxd7 R4a7 31.Rxa7 Rxa7 32.Rc1
Since he will probably need to defend passively for a long time, the game has certainly not gone optimally for Black up to this point. Nevertheless, he should be able to hold the draw. 32...Rd7 33.Kf1 g6 34.Ke2 f6 35.Rc6 fxe5 36.Nxe5 Rb7 37.g3 Kg7 38.h4 Bf6 39.Nd3 Of course, White does not allow the exchange of the minor pieces - to play for a win would no longer have been possible after that. Bd4 40.Kf3 Rf7+ 41.Kg2 Rf6 42.Rc7+ Rf7 43.Rc4 Rd7 44.Nf4 Kf7 45.Kf3 Be5 46.Ne2 Bf6 47.Rc5 Rb7 48.Nc1 Rd7 49.Rc4 Be5 50.Ke2 Rc7 51.Nd3 Re7 52.Kf3 Bf6 53.Rc6 Re6 54.Rc5 The same applies to the exchange of rooks. Re7 55.Rd5 Ra7 56.Rb5 Rc7 57.Nc5 Be7 58.Ne4 Ra7 59.Kf4 Rd7 60.h5 A pawn push was bound to be played at some point, since the "50-move rule" states that you can claim a draw if neither a piece has been captured nor a pawn moved for the last 50 moves. Since White doesn't want to exchange pieces, he has to move a pawn. Kg7 61.f3 Bd6+ 62.Kg4 Be7 63.Rb6 Rd5 64.hxg6 hxg6 65.Rc6 Kf7 66.Kf4 Rf5+ 67.Ke3 Ra5 68.Rc7 Ke6 69.Rb7 Ra3+ 70.Kf4 Ra5 71.Kg4 Rd5 72.f4 Ra5 73.Nd2 Rd5 74.Nc4 Bf6 75.Rb6+ Ke7 76.Rc6 Rd4 77.Nb6 Kf7 78.Nc8 Bd8 79.Nd6+ Kg7 80.Ra6 Be7 81.Nb5 Rd3 82.Rc6 Kf7 83.Nc3 Rd4 84.Ne2 Rb4 85.Nc3 Rd4 86.Nb5 Rd5 87.Rb6 Rd7 88.Ra6 Rd8 89.Ra7 Rd5 90.Nc3 Rd4 91.Ne2 Rb4 92.Kf3 Ke6?
Black held his nerve for a long time, but now he has made a mistake. 93.Ra5? White missed 93.f5+! e.g.: gxf5 94.Nf4+ Kd6 95.Rxe7 93...Bf6 94.Nc1 Rd4 95.g4 Be7 96.Ke3 Rd5 97.Ra6+ Rd6 98.Ra4 Rb6 99.Nd3 Bd6 100.Ke4
100...Rc6? Once again Black falters. 101.Ne1? Now White could have gone for the exchange of minor pieces: 101.Ne5! Bxe5 102.fxe5 This ending is won for White. 101...Rb6 102.Nc2 Bc5 103.Ra5 Rc6 104.Ne1 Bb4 105.Re5+ Kf7 106.Nd3 Bd6 107.Kd5 Rc3 108.Kd4 Ra3 109.Rb5 Ra4+ 110.Ke3 Ke6 111.Rb6 Kd5 112.Rb5+ Ke6 113.Rc5 Ke7 114.Rc6 Kd7 115.Rb6 g5!
Now Black should be able to achieve a draw. 116.Rb7+ Kc6 117.Rf7 gxf4+ 118.Nxf4
118...Bxf4+?? But this transition into a rook ending is not the way to go! Pretty much any other move was fine. For example: 118...Bc7 119.g5 Bd8 120.g6 Bb6+ 121.Kf3 Bd4 122.Nh5 Be5 123.Ke3 Bc3 124.Nf6 Bxf6 125.Rxf6+ Kd7= Here the statement from Dvoretsky's "Endgame Manual" applies: "Horizontally cutting the king off from the pawn is a useful defensive method". I wonder if Cuenca had this sentence in mind when he transitioned into the rook ending. 119.Rxf4 Ra3+ 120.Ke4 Ra5 121.Rf6+ Kd7 122.Kf4
Now the white king is cut off along a rank, but it is not separated from its pawn. The black king, on the other hand, is actually separated from the pawn. 122...Ke7 123.g5 And there are other things that work against Black's defensive task: his king does not get in front of the pawn (the most important goal of the defender!) and potentially stands in the way of side checks against the white king, although the latter can also hide behind his pawn or his rook. Ra8 124.Kf5 Rg8 125.g6 Rb8 126.Rf7+ Ke8 127.Kf6 Rb6+ 128.Kg7 Rb1 129.Kg8 Rh1 130.g7 Rh2 131.Rf4
The classic Lucena position! 131...Re2 132.Rh4 Kh7 will follow.
1–0

Jose ‘Pepe’ Cuenca and Jules Moussard played a memorable final-round marathon game


In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.


Final standings

Pos.   Name Ctry. Points Wins Rating
1 GM Moussard, Jules FRA 8.0 7 2630
2 GM Grigoryan, Karen H. ARM 7.5 7 2630
3 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo ESP 7.5 6 2594
4 IM Suarez Uriel, Adrian ESP 7.0 7 2363
5 IM Cruz, Jonathan PER 7.0 7 2363
6 GM Yuffa, Daniil ESP 7.0 6 2576
7 IM Sabuk, Piotr POL 7.0 6 2416
8 GM Chatalbashev, Boris DEN 7.0 6 2539
9 GM Movsziszian, Karen ARM 7.0 6 2457
10 FM Garrido Outon, Alex ESP 7.0 6 2429
11 IM Camacho Collados, Marcos ESP 7.0 6 2470
12 GM Dardha, Daniel BEL 7.0 5 2552
13 GM Nasuta, Grzegorz POL 7.0 5 2518
14 FM Moral Garcia, Serafin ESP 7.0 5 2214
15 FM Davtyan, David Arm. ARM 7.0 5 2305

...446 players


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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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