NIC #4: Shankland's sprint

by New In Chess
7/4/2018 – In the latest magazine issue #4 from New In Chess, you can find an in-depth story on the U.S. Championship by GM Alejandro Ramirez: "The tallest king In St. Louis". Sam Shankland's win kicked off a remarkable streak — in a matter of two months, he jumped from 2671 to 2727. He gained 59 Elo points in a span of just 60 days and raced to the rank of world number 27, jumping from being a strong grandmaster to a super elite player. NIC shares this excerpt from their feature story. Photo: Lennart Ootes
No other World Champion was more infamous both inside and outside the chess world than Bobby Fischer. On this DVD, a team of experts shows you the winning techniques and strategies employed by the 11th World Champion.

Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco delves into Fischer’s openings, and retraces the development of his repertoire. What variations did Fischer play, and what sources did he use to arm himself against the best Soviet players? Mihail Marin explains Fischer’s particular style and his special strategic talent in annotated games against Spassky, Taimanov and other greats. Karsten Müller is not just a leading international endgame expert, but also a true Fischer connoisseur.

The final sprint

The three last rounds were focused on only three people. Caruana, Shankland, and So as the outsider looking in. It was easy to predict that Shankland and Caruana would fight tooth and nail for every full point every game, but the outcome of the last rounds was amazing. ‘I’ve never been tied for the lead with three rounds to go, scored 2½/3 and not even shared first’, said an incredulous Caruana.

Things started off in a strange game between Shankland and St. Louis University’s Yaroslav Zherebukh. After winning a piece due to a mistake by his opponent, Shankland contained the counterplay and obtained a decisive advantage, which he let slip little by little until Zherebukh had a certain draw. Not finding it, he kept misplaying the endgame, and eventually lost it. Caruana was unable to break through Nakamura’s defences, and was lucky that Nakamura rejected the following combination:

 
Caruana vs Nakamura
Position after 45.Re1

After suffering for a while, Caruana misstepped and was forced into this position. Here Nakamura played 46...♖d8 and the game ended in a draw after 53 moves.

In a bullet game Nakamura finds 46...♕xe4, plays it and collects the full point. Nakamura finds the move and for some odd reason does not play it.

After 46...♕xe4 47.♕xe4 ♗xe4 48.♖xe4 ♘xb2 the passed pawn is impossible to stop. There are too many checks with the knight and White’s pieces are constantly getting forked. The only try is: 49.♔e2 ♘xc4! 50.♗c3 b2 51.♗xb2 ♘xb2. We reach this position basically by force. Caruana asked Nakamura after the game if he had not seen 46...♕xe4, to which he replied that he had, but that he thought that this endgame was unclear. That is baffling.

With two rounds to go, Shankland had established a half-point lead, but he had to face Onischuk with Black in the penultimate round. Besides Nakamura, Onischuk was certainly the most negative surprise of the event. Going from second place last year to a dismal 3/11 is hard to explain. Probably the truth is that everyone, even someone as strong and consistent as Onischuk, can have a bad tournament once in a while. Shankland was on fire, and despite missing a simple win in the middle of the game, he convincingly outplayed his opponent with no chances at all. 

Well, why am I telling you anything, here are the annotations by the winner!

Alexander Onischuk 0-1 Sam Shankland (annotated by Shankland)
 
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Going into the penultimate round, I knew I had a tough task ahead of me. Alex Onischuk was having the worst tournament I can ever remember seeing him play, but that did not change that he is a very high-class player. I had a feeling I might really need a win with Black, so I chose a line that I thought gave me certain positional long-term trumps. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 I am not much of a Ragozin player, but I prepared it for the US Championship and reviewed it for three different games before this one, despite not actually getting a chance to play it. So the analysis was fresh in my head. 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 0-0!? An interesting new trend. 7...c5 is the main move, leading to a totally different position. 8.e3 Bf5! Black reaches a standard Carlsbad structure in which he has already assumed control of the all-important b1-h7 diagonal. If White does not do something very direct, Black will have a very comfortable game in just a couple of moves. 9.a3 White forces the win of the bishop pair, but he had a more effective way to do so. I believe 9.Qb3 is White's most critical try, as has been tested recently in the games Le Quang-Vidit and Aronian-Wojtaszek. White snags the bishop pair while still developing the queen: Bxc3+ 10.bxc3! 10.Qxc3 Nbd7 is equal 10...Nbd7 11.Be2 c5 12.dxc5 . White might have some edge, but it is nothing too serious. Black held easily in the afore-mentioned Aronian-Wojtaszek encounter. 9...Bxc3+ Bad is 9...Be7? , as after 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Qb3 Black loses material. 10.bxc3 Nbd7 11.Be2 c5 12.0-0 g5 Perhaps it was more in the spirit of the Ragozin to lock the queenside with 12...c4!? , when Black can hope his pawn majority will be more effective than White's, since the e3-e4 advance will be very hard to carry out. For some reason I was hesitant to do so, though it would have been an opportunity for me to put a more imbalanced position on the board: 13.Nd2 Qa5 14.Qc1 Rfe8 . I was not sure about a position like this one, though the computer thinks Black is fine. 13.Bg3 Ne4 Black's play is very natural. 14.c4 If 14.Rc1 then c4 . I would not have had to be asked twice about this one. 14...dxc4 15.Bxc4 Rc8 16.Rc1 Qe7 The position seems very balanced, but I actually think Black is under a little pressure. His compromised kingside may not seem like much of an issue, but it can become one faster than I might appreciate. 17.Bd3 Rfd8 18.Qe2 Nb6 19.Bxe4 This move surprised me, but it is not without merit. I had expected White to complete his development with 19.Rfd1 . After cxd4 20.Rxc8 Rxc8 21.Bxe4 Bxe4 22.Nxd4 Qxa3 23.h4 the machine reads equal, but it looked very scary to me during the game. White has serious attacking chances. 19...Bxe4 20.Ne5 cxd4 21.Rxc8 Rxc8 22.exd4 Black's king's cover is a little loose, and the opposite-coloured bishops do not help. But with accurate play, he should be fine. Bf5! The right square. White's knight mustn't be allowed to come to g4, and the f2-f4 thrust can now be comfortably met by ...g5-g4, keeping the position closed. After 22...Bd5? 23.Qh5 Kh7 24.h4 White's initiative is growing rapidly. And 22...Bh7? loses to 23.Qh5 Kg7 24.Ng4 . 23.Qh5 I was expecting White to provoke the bishop to e6 first with 23.Qf3 , before going to h5, but after Qe6! 24.Qxb7 f6 25.Nf3 Qd7 , despite the pawn deficit, Black looks fine. His pieces are much better than their white counterparts and the d-pawn is firmly under control. 23...f6! Around here I was starting to get optimistic. The good knight vs bad bishop could get pretty bad for White. 24.Ng4 After 24.Qxh6 Black goes Qg7! . There is no need to let White get attacking chances. 24...fxe5?! 25.Bxe5 looks much less clear to me 25.Qxg7+ after 25.Qh5 fxe5 26.Bxe5 Qg6! the g5-pawn lives and Black is safe enough, he should just be winning 25...Kxg7 26.Nf3 Rc3 . Black's activity is very impressive. 24...Bxg4 25.Qxg4 Qd7 26.Qf3?! Around here, White started to drift. I would have gone with the most direct move, 26.Qh5 , when there are still attacking chances: Kg7 27.f4 and both sides have their chances. 26...Nd5 27.Qh5 Kg7 28.f4? A bad move in a bad position. Qe8? A clear case of 'if you see a good move, look for a better one!' I noticed that White was now forced to swap queens and go into a miserable endgame, but I had a better option. 28...Nxf4! , trading the knight for White's bishop is a very difficult candidate move to spot because it looks so silly, but it simply wins the game on the spot! There is even hardly any calculation to be done: 29.Bxf4 Qxd4+ 30.Kh1 Qxf4 , and wins. 29.Qf3 Qe3+ 30.Qxe3 Nxe3 White now has a very unenviable task ahead of him. 31.Rf3 Nd5 32.fxg5 hxg5 33.h4 gxh4 34.Bxh4 Kf7 35.Be1 b6 36.Bd2 Rc2 37.Rd3 Ke6 38.g4 Kd6? I was hoping to keep the pawns on the board, but ultimately White was able to get them off anyway. I could have got to the centre much faster by forcing through with ...f5 directly: 38...f5! 39.gxf5+ Kxf5 40.Bh6 Ke4 41.Rg3 Kxd4 . White's king is much farther away from the action than it was in the game. Black should win. 39.Kf1 Kc6 40.Ke1 Kb5 41.g5! Around here, I felt it had been a bad idea to not play ...f5, since the pawns will trade anyway and I lost some time with my king. fxg5 42.Bxg5 Kc4 43.Rg3 Nc3! I like this move a lot. White should not be allowed to play Bd2 or Kd1. 44.d5! Nxd5 Around here, I thought I should be winning, but it's not nearly as clear as I expected it to be during the game. 45.Kd1? Losing on the spot. The alternative did not necessarily guarantee a draw, but it would have offered a lot more resistance. I am still unsure of the objective evaluation. After 45.Bd2 , Kb5! , the computer's move, is best, and Black retains good winning chances. 45...Nc3? was my plan during the game, but it had a large flaw. After 46.Rg7 Nb5 , I thought White is just losing on the spot, but I had missed that after 47.Rg4+! my king cannot go to b3! Now it should be a draw. 45...Rc3! Now the a3-pawn falls. 46.Rg4+ Or 46.Rxc3+ Kxc3 47.Bh6 Kb3 48.Bf8 Nc3+ 49.Kc1 Nb5 , winning. 46...Kb3 47.Rd4 Ne3+ 48.Bxe3 48.Ke2 Nc4 does not help matters. 48...Rxe3 49.Kd2 Rh3 With the a-pawn about to fall, Alex called it a day. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Alexander Onischuk2672Sam Shankland26710–12018D38ch-USA10

Shankland pacing

Sam Shankland briefly glances at the game Robson-So as he places the playing room in full concentration during his game against Onischuk | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Meanwhile, also with black, Caruana evaporated Zherebukh, keeping the tension alive. Round 10 had a very curious statistic. Three players scored their only full point of the tournament: Xiong (over Lenderman), Liang (over Izoria) and Nakamura (over Akobian). If someone had predicted this before the event, with Nakamura being one of the players and Xiong coming from a 2800+ performance in his previous tournament, I would have been incredulous.

The last round was set, one more hurdle for Shankland: boy-wonder Awonder Liang, with White. As it was not unreasonable to expect that Caruana, also with White, would outplay Onischuk and take the full point (as indeed happened), Shankland needed a win.

Sam Shankland 1-0 Awonder Liang (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)
 
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1.e4 c6 A surprising choice. Awonder hasn't played the Caro a lot, but one should always expect a new opening from an up-and-coming youngster. 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 The old Exchange Variation, long ago favored by R. J. Fischer has made a bit of a comeback lately. It certainly was appropriate for Shankland's tournament situation to play for a small advantage without taking excessive risks. Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3 e5?!
While not a novelty, this is still a fresh idea. Despite Black's statistical success, it is too early to pass a verdict on the validity of this move. As they say: small sample size. 8.h3! Shankland didn't look surprised at all. His move is, undoubtedly, the most challenging reply. 8.dxe5 Nh5 is the idea. The bishop is pushed away from defending the e5-pawn, and 9.Be3 Nxe5 10.Bb5+ Nc6 11.h3 Be6 12.Qd1 Nf6 13.Nf3 Bd6 Wei Yi-Navara, Blitz 2018 took the game into a Tarrasch French type of position. 8...exf4 Perhaps, 8...Na5!? 9.Qc2 exf4 10.hxg4 Nxg4 11.Qe2+ Qe7 is the critical line to be investigated in the future. 9.hxg4 Qe7+ 9...Nxg4 10.Qxb7 Rc8 11.Bb5 Qe7+ 12.Qxe7+ Bxe7 10.Kf1 0-0-0 11.Nd2 g6? The hunter has become the hunted. Awonder finds himself in an unfamiliar position, and isn't able to hit on the right plan. The sharp 11...g5 12.Ngf3 h5 appears to be the only way to handle this position, 12.Re1 Qc7 13.g5!
The weak d5-pawn will be cause Black headache for the rest of the game. 13...Nh5 14.Be2 Ng7 15.Ngf3 Ne6 16.Bb5! Unlike his opponent, Sam hits on the right plan. The key square is e5. Bg7 16...Be7 17.Qa4 Nxg5 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Ne5 Rd6 20.Nxc6 Qxc6 21.Qxc6+ Rxc6 22.Rxe7 is a grim scenario for Black. 16...h5!? deserved attention. At least Black would be able to use his h8-rook for better deeds than just protecting a weak pawn. 17.Qa4 Rd6 17...a6 18.Bxc6 Qxc6 19.Qxc6+ bxc6 20.b4 Kd7 21.Ke2 seems a difficult endgame for Black. If he's desperate enough he might even try a5 22.bxa5 Ra8 23.Nb3 c5 although I don't expect him to succeed. 18.Nb3
18...b6?! Weakening the light squares is just too accommodating. For better or worse, 18...a6 19.Bxc6 Rxc6 just had to be played. 19.Nc1! A very Karpovian approach: calm piece improvement when the opponent is devoid of ideas. Sam Shankland's chess really grows on me. Nb8 20.Nd3 Kb7 21.Nb4 Qd8 22.Ne5 Qc7 23.Qb3!
Now it's either d5, f7 or h7, one of them has to go. White's advantage is already decisive. 23...Rhd8 24.Rxh7 a6 25.Bd3 Ka7 26.Qa4 a5 27.Bb5 Kb7 28.Nbd3 Rg8 29.Nf3 Rh8 30.Rxh8 Bxh8 31.a3 Nc6 32.Bxc6+ Rxc6 33.Nde5 Bxe5 34.Nxe5 Rd6 35.Qe8!
This about wraps up Shankland's greatest achievement to date: his first US Championship title, along with the entrance into the 2700 Club. Well done! 35...Rd8 36.Qxf7 Nxg5 37.Qxc7+ Kxc7 38.Nxg6 f3 39.Nf4 Kc6 40.gxf3 Nxf3 41.Re6+ Kb5 42.Ke2 Ng1+ 43.Kd3 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Shankland,S2671Liang,A25521–02018ch-USA 201811

Note: In New In Chess the same is annotated by Shankland himself

Shankland vs Liang

They both know Black is completely lost. Awonder Liang will soon resign. Sam Shankland patiently awaits the greatest moment in his career so far. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Finally US Champion! I had dreamt of this moment for as long as I could remember, and I was glad to play a strong final game to clinch the title, a 2700+ rating, $50,000, and the satisfaction of playing the best tournament of my career so far.

 

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In issue 2018#4

NIC cover

The fourth issue of the year contains 108 pages of the best in chess, including:

Sam Shankland: The tallest king In St. Louis
Caruana, So or Nakamura, who would be the new US Champion? Well, none of them, as Sam Shankland claimed the title, pocketed $ 50,000 and finally crossed the 2700 ELO mark.

Magnus Carlsen: Hat-trick in Shamkir
‘Mediocre’ play proved good enough for Magnus Carlsen to win the Vugar Gashimov Memorial for the third time (with a 2884 performance).

Fabiano Caruana continued
Only four days after the Candidates in Berlin, Fabiano Caruana sat down to play ... Magnus Carlsen! The American won the Grenke Classic. Vincent Keymer (13) sensationally claimed the Grenke Open.

Nigel Short
Columnist Nigel Short explains why he is running for FIDE President.

Judit Polgar
Time-trouble is no good, Judit Polgar warns, but can produce fascinating chess.

And much more...

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New In Chess (NIC) was founded in 1984 and appears eight times a year. It is read by club players in 116 countries. A yearly subscription for eight issues costs €79.99.

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