Mighty Underdogs of the European Chess Club Cup
By GM Lubomir Kavalek
Miracle on ice turned into miracle on chessboards when Novy Bor defeated
the top seed, the Azerbaijani team of SOCAR 3.5-2.5. To pull off such an
amazing feat, you need the stars to be perfectly aligned, play well and
have some luck. The oil money from Baku was able to buy a powerful lineup,
but on that day the top three boards crashed.
The winning G-Team Novy Bor from the left:
Robert Cvek, Viktor Laznicka, Zbynek Hracek, Krishnan Sasikiran, Radoslaw
Wojtasek (with trophy), Petr Boleslav (captain), Mateusz Bartel, David Navara
On the top board the Czech champion David Navara, always smartly dressed,
played the American-born Italian GM Fabiano Caruana, rated among the world's
top six players. It was not a duel between David and Goliath, since Navara
is known to be a dangerous opponent to anybody. For example, in the past
he defeated the world's best two grandmasters, Magnus Carlsen and Levon
Aronian. Caruana decided to take an exchange in the Spanish opening, but
his position was not easy to play and his chances to make a draw gradually
worsened.
David Navara (Alexei Shirov and Sergey Karjakin
in the background)
[Event "29th ECC Open 2013"] [Site "Rhodes GRE"] [Date "2013.??.??"]
[Round "?"] [White "Navara, David"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result
"1-0"] [ECO "C84"] [WhiteElo "2703"] [BlackElo "2779"] [Annotator "lk"]
[SetUp "1"] [FEN "3k4/5P2/1PP5/1rb5/2N5/3K4/2B5/8 w - - 0 61"] [PlyCount
"1"] [EventDate "2013.10.20"] [WhiteTeam "G-Team Novy Bor"] [BlackTeam
"SOCAR"] 61. Bd1 {Black has no defense against 62.c7+ Kd7 63.Bg4+ and
white queens.} 1-0
Viktor Laznicka played well on the third board throughout the event. He
scored an important victory against the creative Moscow GM Alexander Morozevich,
tying the match against the Russian team of Malachite 3-3.
Jumping from joy: Viktor Laznicka
Against SOCAR, Laznicka outplayed the U.S. champion Gata Kamsky, known
to be a tough nut to crack.
[Event "29th ECC Open 2013"] [Site "Rhodes GRE"] [Date "2013.??.??"]
[Round "?"] [White "Laznicka, Viktor"] [Black "Kamsky, Gata"] [Result
"1-0"] [ECO "D15"] [WhiteElo "2666"] [BlackElo "2725"] [Annotator "lk"]
[SetUp "1"] [FEN "7R/8/pr3pk1/5N2/6PK/8/8/8 w - - 0 60"] [PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2013.10.20"] [WhiteTeam "G-Team Novy Bor"] [BlackTeam "SOCAR"]
60. Re8 {Black is a piece down a white threatens 61.Re7 and 62.Rg7 mate.
Kamsky resigned.} 1-0
The Polish GM Wojtazsek provided the third victory against the former world
champion and the current FIDE World Cup winner Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.
[Event "29th ECC Open 2013"] [Site "Rhodes GRE"] [Date "2013.??.??"]
[Round "?"] [White "Topalov, Veselin"] [Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Result
"0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2698"] [Annotator "GM
Lubomir Kavalek/The Huffington Post"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2r4r/1n1n1pk1/1p1p2p1/pN1Pp3/1PP2q1p/P2B1P2/2R2QPP/1K5R
b - - 0 45"] [PlyCount "15"] [EventDate "2013.10.20"] [WhiteTeam "SOCAR"]
[BlackTeam "G-Team Novy Bor"] {In the Sicilian Najdorf, Topalov didn't
get anything going on the kingside and Wojtazsek was able to prevent the
break c4-c5 on the opposite wing. The chances are equal, but the Polish
GM has one idea in mind.} 45... Ra8 $5 { Black threatens to open the a-file
and Topalov makes a losing blunder.} 46. Nc3 $2 ({It is too late to repeat
moves with} 46. Nc7 {because black can sacrifice the exchange:} axb4 $1
47. Nxa8 b3 $1 48. Rb2 Nbc5 49. Qd2 Rxa8 50. Qxf4 exf4 51. Rd1 Rxa3 {and
white's position is hopeless.}) ({Anticipating 46...axb4 with } 46. Ra2
{would have kept the game in balance.}) 46... axb4 47. axb4 Ra3 48. Kb2
Rha8 {The infiltration is complete and black adds elegant final touches.}
49. Rd2 Nbc5 $1 {Smashing piece sacrifice, allowing black to knock down
white's pieces on the third rank and create mating threats.} 50. bxc5
Nxc5 51. Be4 ({After} 51. Rb1 Nxd3+ 52. Rxd3 Qxc4 53. Kc2 Ra2+ 54. Rb2
Rxb2+ 55. Kxb2 Qxd3 {wins.}) 51... Rb3+ 52. Kc2 Raa3 ({After} 52... Raa3
53. Nb1 Ra2+ 54. Kc1 Nxe4 55. fxe4 Qxe4 56. Rc2 Ra1 {wins.}) 0-1
The Indian GM Krishanan Sasikiran delivered the team victory by holding
a draw against the dangerous Azerbaijani Shakriyar Mamedyarov.
In the final tally G-Team Novy Bor scored 13 match points, undefeated with
six wins and one draw. The Russian team Malachite, with Alexander Grischuk,
Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Morozevich, Alexei Shirov on top boards, drew
with Novy Bor and the second Azerbaijani team of Odlar Yurdu, ended second
with 12 points. The top seed, the Azerbaijani team SOCAR with Caruana, Teimur
Radjabov, Topalov, Kamsky, Mamedyarov, Wang Hao, and Anish Giri finished
third on a better tiebreak. They won five matches, lost one and drew one,
and finished with 11 points.
With 92 grandmasters participating, it was a formidable event. The top
two rated Americans, Hikaru Nakamura and Kamsky, crossed the ocean to play.
Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo with the women's world campion Hou Yifan,
Humpy Koneru, Anna Muzychuk, Pia Cramling and Almira Skripchenko finished
first in the ECCC women's section, winning all seven matches. It is their
fifth victory in the Cup.
The threat was stronger...
As one can see on the fabulous Wojciech Bartelski's web site Olimpbase,
the European Club Cup has been played 29 times. At the beginning it was
a knockout event. A Swiss system was used in Rhodes to accommodate 53 teams.
In the first Cup in 1976, SG Solingen and Burevestnik Moscow made it to
the final and after two days of playing the score was tied 6-6. In the tiebreaking
match on the third day four games were quickly drawn and the Cup hung on
the last two games. I was facing Boris Gulko who won the Soviet championship
a year later. After 20 moves I was contemplating a knight leap.
[Event "EU Cup f (Solingen-Burevestnik"] [Site "?"] [Date "1976.??.??"]
[Round "?"] [White "Kavalek, Lubomir"] [Black "Gulko, Boris"] [Result
"1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C10"] [Annotator "GM Lubomir Kavalek/The Huffington Post"]
[PlyCount "40"] [EventDate "1976.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4
4. Nxe4 Be7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. Qe2 c5 8. Be3 Nxe4 9. Bxe4 Qa5+
10. c3 O-O 11. Bc2 Nf6 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. Bg5 Be7 14. Ne5 h6 15. Bh4 Rd8
16. O-O Bd7 17. Rfe1 Bb5 18. Qf3 Qb6 19. Bb3 Bc6 20. Qh3 Be8 { Two games
were left at this point and draws would have resulted in Solingen winning
the European Club Cup on tiebreak. But the Solingen captain offered the
Soviets to share the championship. While they were contemplating the offer,
I was calculating variations after 21.Ng6. Mark Taimanov, having more
space against Hans Joachim Hecht, wanted to play for a win, but Vassily
Smyslov thought Gulko was in danger and persuaded the team to take the
offer. We became co-champions. Let's see what would have happened after
21.Ng6!:} ( 20... Be8 21. Ng6 $1 Bc5 $1 {the only good move} (21... Qc5
22. Bxe6 $18) ( 21... Qd6 22. Bg3 Qc5 23. Re5 Nd5 24. Bxd5 Rxd5 25. Rxd5
exd5 26. b4 $1 Qxc3 27. Nxe7+ {wins.}) (21... fxg6 22. Rxe6 Qxb3 23. axb3
Bd7 24. Qe3 Ng4 25. Qe2 Bxh4 26. Qxg4 Bf6 27. g3 $18) 22. Bxf6 $1 Bxf2+
$5 (22... Rd2 $2 23. Kh1 $1 ( 23. Ne7+ {is also possible, for example}
Bxe7 24. Bxe7 Qxf2+ 25. Kh1 Bc6 26. Rg1 $18) 23... Kh7 (23... Rxf2 24.
Bh4 Rxb2 25. Ne5 $18) (23... gxf6 24. Qxh6 $18) 24. Ne5 gxf6 25. Ng4 Bf8
26. Nxf6+ Kg7 27. Re3 Rxf2 28. Ne4 Rf5 29. Rg3+ Kh8 30. Qg4) 23. Kh1 Bxe1
24. Ne7+ (24. Bxd8 $2 Qf2 $19) 24... Kf8 (24... Kh7 25. Bc2+ g6 26. Bg5
$18) 25. Rxe1 {A critical position. Black can still go wrong, for example:}
gxf6 $1 {The only good defense and white has to find the correct square
for his knight:} (25... Rd7 $2 26. Qh4 Qd6 (26... gxf6 27. Qxf6 $18) 27.
Re4 $1 gxf6 (27... Qd3 28. Bxg7+ Kxg7 29. Rg4+ Kh7 30. h3 $16) 28. Nd5
$1 {White still has to be careful about jumping out with his knight. Blocking
the d-file is correct.} ({Black wins after} 28. Nf5 $2 Qd2 $1 $19) 28...
Qxd5 29. Qxh6+ Ke7 30. Bxd5 Rxd5 31. h4 $18) (25... Rd2 $6 26. Rf1 $5
{A strong computer move, threatening 27.Bxg7+ Kxe7 28.Qxh6 or 27...Kxg7
28.Qg3+ Kf8 29. Ng6+ Kg8 30.Ne5+ Kf8 31.Qf4 winning.} Qa6 (26... gxf6
27. Nf5 exf5 28. Qxh6+ Kg8 29. Qxd2 $16) 27. Qf3 gxf6 28. Ng6+ $1 Kg8
29. Qxf6 Qxf1+ 30. Qxf1 fxg6 31. Bxe6+ Kg7 32. Qe1 $1) 26. Nf5 $1 (26.
Nd5 $2 Rxd5 27. Qxh6+ Ke7 28. Bxd5 Rd8 29. Bb3 Qf2 $17) 26... exf5 (26...
Bb5 27. Qxh6+ Ke8 28. Bxe6 $1 fxe6 29. Qh7 $18) 27. Qxh6+ Kg8 28. Re3
$1 Qxe3 $1 (28... f4 29. Qg6+ Kf8 30. Rxe8+ Rxe8 31. Qxf7#) 29. Qxe3 Bc6
30. h4 {the position is just a tiny bit better for white, but black can
hold it.}) 1/2-1/2
To paraphrase the old saying, the threat of 21.Ng6 was stronger than the
execution and won the Cup.
Images by by Petr Boleslav and Alina Kashlinskaya
Original
column here – Copyright
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