Mar del Plata 2012 : The going gets tough
10/17/2012 – After round six a group of players merged with the leaders from round five, and eleven heavy guns lead. Though over one third of the players are titled, the ability of the rest has been a source of intense headache for one master after another. The players here are not coming to for a chess holiday, there are here for blood, and it shows. Round six report with GM commentary by Sergio Slipak.
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7th Continental Chess Tournament / Mar del Plata 2012Tourney type: Eleven-round swiss open Special: Event is considered a world championship qualifier thus all norms earned are worth double. |
Mar del Plata 2012 : The going gets tough
Report and pictures by Albert Silver
The main playing hall
After round six a group of players merged with the four leaders from round five, and the top podium is once again crowded with no fewer than eleven heavy guns. The manner in which the players have reached this shared spot speaks of wildly varying tournament strategies, barring the few who are recovering from early accidents on the way. Top seed Lazaro Bruzon Batista started by pounding the early opposition, and in the last two rounds has taken early draws, one against his high-rated compatriot GM Suarez Isan, and then again in round six against the young Venezuelan on the rise, Eduardo Iturrizaga.
After an early misstep, GM Shabalov (right) has been climbing his way up the ladder.
In round six he beat FM Dirceu Viana.
Brazilian GM Krikor Mekhitarian has less latitude for such game-management, and instead has come with a fire to let no one off the hook no matter how high their Elo. Then there are others who are only now rejoining the pack after suffering lapses at one stage or another. Though over one third of the players are titled, the genuine ability of the rest stands out, and has been a source of intense headache for one master after another. The players here are not coming to join chess with a holiday, but rather chess with hungry ambition, and it shows.
IM Roselli, whose arms frame the picture, lost to GM Ruben Felgaer
Among the newsmakers here, is one player whose rating would normally not warrant any special attention, and that is 74-year-old Juan Carlos Desanzo.
Argentine director Juan Carlos Desanzo
An avid chess fan, when not playing, he can be seen following the games of the top players
The reason is that the grand old man is one of Argentina’s well-known movie directors, continuing a tradition of chess-playing directors, such as Stanley Kubrick. The difference however is that the Argentine gentleman is not content to just play a few games here and there, but seeks out competition and even has a FIDE rating!
The internationally acclaimed "El Polaquito" is one of his best
known films, which he wrote and
directed in 2003.
Annotated game by GM Sergio Slipak
GM Sergio Slipak has been providing regular commented games
[Event "VII Continental Americano"]
[Site "Mar del Plata, ARG"]
[Date "2012.10.16"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Leitao, Rafael"]
[Black "Tristan, Leonardo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A87"]
[WhiteElo "2617"]
[BlackElo "2442"]
[Annotator "Sergio Slipak"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
{Round six saw an interesting victory by Brazilian GM Rafael Leitao, fourth
seed, over the young Argentine IM Leonardo Tristan.} 1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2
d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. b3 {The double-fianchetto is a solution found in a
wide variety of openings. Here Rafael uses it to fight Leonardo's Dutch
Leningrad.} O-O 7. Bb2 Ne4 $6 {This plan doesn't seem very precise and the
reason why will soon be revealed.} 8. Nbd2 Nxd2 9. Qxd2 {As an exercise, let's
go back to the position before Black's seventh move and compare. Now go back
to the current position and see. We can see that Black has managed to not play
a single move, except to remove the Nf6 from the board, his only developed
piece. In exchange, White exchanged off his Nb1, a piece that had yet to be
developed, and has played Qd2, a useful move. In conclusion, Black's Ne4-d2
can be considered a waste of time.} Nc6 10. c4 e5 11. dxe5 {Leitao tends to
prefer solid positions with small advantages and no rival compensation, which
is why he opts for this move.} (11. d5 {was more incisive, followed by Ng5,
exploiting the weak e6 square.}) 11... dxe5 12. Qd5+ Kh8 13. Qc5 $1 {Now the
e5 pawn is under fire and if it advances, Black will have weakened his
kingside.} e4 {The best move in any case, even if White is clearly better. It
restricts the g2-bishop, which gives Black hope to equalize.} 14. Rad1 Bxb2 $2
{Ah the youth! White's advantage was hard serious enough to warrant this queen
sacrifice, especially as the queenside pieces will take time joining the
battle.} 15. Rxd8 Rxd8 16. Ng5 Bd4 17. Qa3 Kg7 18. Nh3 Be5 19. Nf4 Rd2 20. b4
$1 {Threatening b5 followed by Qe7.} a5 21. b5 Nb4 22. Qe3 $1 {Taking
advantage of Black's lack of piece coordination, White is able to invade with
his queen.} Rd4 $2 {This loses.} ({Also interesting was how White would win in
case of} 22... Rxa2 {Now White would follow up with} 23. Qc5 $1 Bd6 24. Qd4+
Kg8 25. c5 $1 Bxf4 26. Qd8+ $1 Kg7 27. gxf4 {with an easy win.}) 23. a3 Rxc4 {
El ultimo intento, dejar pasado el peon a. De todos modos perdian todas, por
ejemplo: The last try, hoping to pass the a-pawn. In any case, all other
moves lost as well.} ({For example,} 23... Na2 24. f3 Rxc4 25. Qb3) ({or} 23...
Nc2 24. Qc3) 24. axb4 a4 25. Qa3 Rc2 26. b6 cxb6 27. Re1 g5 28. Nd5 Be6 29. b5
$1 {The queen penetration against the king is decisive.} Bb2 30. Qe7+ Bf7 31.
Qxg5+ Kh8 32. Nxb6 1-0
GM Rafael Leitão faced IM Leonardo Tristan in round six
Leitão is the fourth seed and one of the forces to be reckoned with
Standings after six rounds
Rk |
Tit |
Name | FED |
Rtg |
Pts |
TB |
1 |
GM |
Granda Zuniga Julio E | PER |
2647 |
5.0 |
23.0 |
2 |
GM |
Iturrizaga Eduardo | VEN |
2639 |
5.0 |
23.0 |
3 |
GM |
Bruzon Batista Lazaro | CUB |
2717 |
5.0 |
22.5 |
4 |
GM |
Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag | BRA |
2503 |
5.0 |
21.5 |
5 |
GM |
Valerga Diego | ARG |
2485 |
5.0 |
21.5 |
6 |
IM |
Hungaski Robert Andrew | USA |
2451 |
5.0 |
21.0 |
7 |
GM |
Leitao Rafael | BRA |
2617 |
5.0 |
20.5 |
8 |
GM |
Ortiz Suarez Isan Reynaldo | CUB |
2579 |
5.0 |
19.0 |
9 |
GM |
Bacallao Alonso Yusnel | CUB |
2580 |
5.0 |
19.0 |
10 |
GM |
Cori Jorge | PER |
2522 |
5.0 |
18.0 |
11 |
GM |
Felgaer Ruben | ARG |
2579 |
5.0 |
17.5 |
12 |
GM |
Hernandez Guerrero Gilberto | MEX |
2531 |
4.5 |
20.0 |
13 |
GM |
Mareco Sandro | ARG |
2581 |
4.5 |
20.0 |
14 |
GM |
Ricardi Pablo | ARG |
2505 |
4.5 |
19.5 |
15 |
GM |
Kaidanov Gregory S | USA |
2587 |
4.5 |
19.5 |
16 |
GM |
Flores Diego | ARG |
2598 |
4.5 |
19.0 |
17 |
FM |
Martinez Romero Martin | COL |
2368 |
4.5 |
19.0 |
18 |
GM |
Perez Ponsa Federico | ARG |
2489 |
4.5 |
19.0 |
19 |
GM |
Slipak Sergio | ARG |
2447 |
4.5 |
18.5 |
20 |
IM |
Real De Azua Ernesto | ARG |
2482 |
4.5 |
18.5 |
21 |
IM |
Soppe Guillermo | ARG |
2417 |
4.5 |
18.0 |
22 |
WGM |
Cori T. Deysi | PER |
2411 |
4.5 |
18.0 |
23 |
GM |
Shabalov Alexander | USA |
2570 |
4.5 |
17.5 |
24 |
IM |
Molina Roberto Junio Brito | BRA |
2400 |
4.5 |
17.5 |
25 |
IM |
Rosito Jorge | ARG |
2387 |
4.5 |
17.0 |
26 |
IM |
Hansen Eric | CAN |
2527 |
4.5 |
17.0 |
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