Plovdiv European Championship: Revolt of the underrated

by ChessBase
3/23/2012 – There were plenty of upsets in the first three rounds in Bulgaria. Typically an IM or even FM rated 250 points below his opponent would take the full point, often with the black pieces. There are now eleven players with 3.0/3 and 41 with 2½ points. The hero of round two was 15-year-old Illya Nyzhnyk, who defeated Dutch Champion Anish Giri, 132 points his senior. Report with GM commentary.

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The 13th European Individual Championship is taking place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from March 20th to 31st, 2012. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves, plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. The total prize fund is 100,000 Euros, with the top three taking 14,000, 11,000 and 9,000 Euros respectively.

Round two

The game of the round was between the two youngsters Illya Nyzhnyk from Ukraine and Anish Giri from the Netherlands. The former is just fifteen and already a GM rated 2585. Giri is seventeen and has won two national championships (in 2009 and 2011) as well as a super-GM tournament (Reggio Emilia 2011-2012). His rating is 2717, exactly 132 points above Nizhnyk's, so he was the clear favourite in this game, even though he had the black pieces. However, Giri committed an inaccuracy on move 21 and an error on move 22, and was professionally dispatched by his younger colleague. This interesting game was annotated for us by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Note that on our JavaScript player you can use the cursor keys to play through the main line or click on moves to jump to them on the board. The ChessBase training DVDs shown below the board teach you more about the opening played in the game. The games will be more extensively analysed for the next issue of ChessBase Magazine.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 Playing this move order is not as easy as it looks. Many top GMs are using it, but it's hard to recommend to the club player because the amount of theory one needs to know is humongous! 3.Nf3 3.Nc3 Bb4 is the Nimzo-Indian 3.g3 Allows Black the choice between a Catalan, a Tarrasch or a g3 Benoni. 3...d5 3...b6 is the Queen's Indian 4.Nc3 Again Black has several options. c6 Black chooses a Semi-Slav. Notice how White also has to be extremely well-prepared to meet this move order: 4...c5 is a a Tarrasch again 4...Bb4 is a Ragozin 4...dxc4 leads to a Vienna 4...Be7 is the fabled Orthodox 5.g3 Ok, enough with the opening survey. White chooses a line that has become popular only recently. It is not as theoretically messy as the alternatives, Bg5 which leads to the Botvinnik or Moscow or e3 which leads to the Meran, both quite exhaustively looked into. dxc4 5...Nbd7 6.Bg2 dxc4 leads to a slightly different type of game, where Black doesn't allow Ne5. 6.Bg2 b5 7.Ne5 a6 7...Nd5 8.0-0 f6 9.Ng4 Be7 10.e4 Nb4 11.a4 favored White in the recent Eljanov-Gurevich game. 8.a4 8.Nxc6?! Qb6 9.Ne5 Bb7 leads to nothing more than equality. Actually, maybe Black's chances are already preferable. 8...Bb7 9.0-0 Be7 This is already kind of rare. Nd5 had been tried a few times. 10.axb5 axb5 11.Rxa8 Bxa8 12.Nxb5 cxb5 13.Bxa8 0-0 Black gave up the pawn to finish his development, but has given up the pair of bishops in the process. It's possible that Black is quite ok here since he has no attackable weaknesses now that the c3 N has been removed, but it seems easier to play as White. 14.Bg2 Nd5 15.f4 Bd6 16.e3 16.e4? Nb4 Simply forces the knight to a better square and weakens d4. 16...Bxe5 17.fxe5 Nc6 18.Qg4 18.Bd2 Qd7 19.Be4= 18...Qd7 19.h4 Ncb4 20.h5 White initates a not-so-subtle attack on the kingside. Giri takes note, and I'm sure calculated some variations, but was unable to cope with it properly. Nd3 20...f5 21.exf6 Nxf6 22.Qh4 h6 already seems preferable for Black, as the c1 bishop is rather useless - e4 can never be pushed because there is no adequate way of defending d4 in the near future. 21.h6 f5 21...g6 was probably ok but visually ugly. 22.exf6 Rxf6? A rare oversight by the 2700. It's hard to say exactly what Giri missed in this move sequence. Perhaps Bf3? 22...Nxf6 23.hxg7 Rf7 24.Qg5 Ne8= still holds for Black. White has enough resources against the weak king to force at least a perpetual though. 23.Bxd5 Rxf1+ 23...Rg6 24.Qf3 Rf6 25.Bc6 24.Kxf1 Qf7+ 25.Bf3 The only move, but oh so strong. Of course White wants to retain his active light-squared bishop, not his useless one on c1 that hasn't even moved yet. Nxc1 26.d5! Or perhaps this is the move that he missed. Black is ok if he is allowed to put his pieces back on good squares, especially the N on d3 - had it been there, Ne5 would've crushed. As it is, Black is defenseless against the threats. Nd3 26...exd5 27.Kg2 is over, as Qc8+ next move is totally devastating. 27.dxe6 Qe7 28.Bd5! An important finesse so that Black has no counterplay. Kf8 28...Nb4 29.e4 changes nothing but is more resilient. 29.Qxg7+ 29.Qxg7+ Qxg7 30.hxg7+ Kxg7 31.e7 and the pawn is unstoppable. Nyzhnyk played surprising ABC chess and Giri confused himself, lost focus or something and got himself killed. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nyzhnyk,I2585Giri,A27171–02012E04European Chess Championship2


The hero of round two: 15-year-old GM Illya Nyzhnyk

Second seed Shakhryar Mamedyarov (2752, AZE) drew with the black pieces against Luka Paichadze of Georgia, 261 points below him on the rating scale. Similarly Baadur Jobava (2706, GEO), the eighth seed in this event, was unable to score against Bulgarian GM Petar Drenchev, 207 points below him, and David Navara (2700, CZE), playing black, shared the point with IM Dalibor Stojanovic of Bosnia-Herzegovian, 229 rating points below him.

The winner of the European U18 championship in Albena 2011, Nils Grandelius (2545, SWE), beat the more experienced Bartosz Socko (2647, POL), while former European Champion GM Zdenko Kozul (2602, CRO) defeated the winner of the European U14 championship in Albena 2011 Ali Marandi Cemil Can (2315, TUR) in less than 2.5 hours. In an interesting game Vladimir Malakhov (2705, RUS) was defeated by Russian GM Boris Savchenko (2580, RUS). This game has been annotated for us by GM Ramirez:

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.Qe2 Because no one wants to grind down a 2700 in a Berlin. d3 is a more common way of avoiding the endgame, though. Bd6 This slightly strange looking move had already been used by Malakhov twice, once to defeat Bartel and once to defeat Amin. The point of the system is that if White ever takes on c6, the bishop belongs on d6, so it in some ways discourages that trade. 5.d3 0-0 6.c3 Re8 7.Nbd2 Bf8 8.Nf1 d6 9.Ba4 9.h3 Nd7 10.Be3 Nb6 11.Ng3 a6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 eventually lead to a full point for Black. Bartel-Malakhov, 2010 9...Bd7 10.Bc2 Ne7 11.Ne3 Ng6 12.g3 d5 White's playing style is conservative to say the least, so Black rushes in to try to take some action. Opening the center is quite normal when your opponent is underdeveloped. 13.exd5 c6 13...Nf4 14.gxf4 exf4 15.Bd2 Nxd5 16.0-0-0 is quite unclear. 14.dxc6 Bxc6 So Black sacrificed a pawn, and now has a nice initative. 15.0-0 Nd5 15...Nf4 16.gxf4 exf4 17.Nd4! is slightly annoying for the attacker, as the Bishop is removed from the diagonal. 16.Qd1 Ndf4!? Black finally sacrifices on f4, but this time he does it without even getting his piece back! The attack is quite strong. 17.gxf4 Nxf4 17...exf4 18.Ng2! Qd5 19.d4 Qxf3 20.Qxf3 Bxf3 21.Nxf4 gives Black compensation but without the queens it will be hard to force the attack through. 18.Re1 Now, at this point, as a reader, you might expect that Malakhov will crash through in a brilliant way. But, it just happens that sometimes it is the defender who plays good chess and ends up victorious. Not every attack in your lifetime will work. Re6?! Already too optimistic. 18...Nh3+ 19.Kf1 Qf6 20.Ng4 Qxf3 21.Qxf3 Bxf3 22.Nxe5 was still compensation. 19.Nf5 A normal regrouping of pieces - now g3 will be solid blockaded by the N. Rg6+ 20.Ng3 Qd7 21.d4! Using the hidden power of the pieces. Savchenko is hitting the rook on g5, which forces Black to act quickly. It's possible that this is the move that Malakhov missed when organizing his attacks. Qh3 22.Bxf4 exf4 23.Bxg6 hxg6 24.d5 cool as a cucumber. The king is exposed, but Black has not enough pieces. fxg3 25.dxc6 gxf2+ 26.Kxf2 Bc5+ 27.Nd4 Qxh2+ 28.Ke3 bxc6 29.Kd3 Rd8 30.Qe2 The valiant king sits in the middle of the board - where it is totally safe. Black resigned as his attacking potential has been snuffed out. A sobering game. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Savchenko,B2580Malakhov,V27051–02012C65European Chess Championship2

Other upsets: Russian FM Kirill Alekseenko, rated 2367, won with the black pieces against his compatriot, GM Sergey Volkov, rated 2623, i.e. 256 points below him. And Sarunas Sulskis (2569, LTU) lost against Avital Boruchovsky (2333, ISR). The Bulgarian champion GM Julian Radulski, 2552, defeated Maxim Rodshtein, 2652, with the black pieces. The young Israeli GM is the second of the World Championship challenger Boris Gelfand. Top seed Fabiano Caruana beat GM Tamas Banusz and was one of exactly 40 players with 2.0/2 points.

Round three

Once again attention was focussed on the game of our round two hero Elijah Nizhnik playing with the black pieces against 26-year-old Ukraine GM Anton Korobova, 2679 and 94 points above the lad. It was a super-sharp game that is certainly worth study (it will be fully analysed in the next issue of ChessBase Magazine).

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 c6 10.Ba3 cxd5 11.cxd5 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Nd7 14.Bc1 f5 15.Bd2 Nf6 16.Rc1 Qd7! 17.Qe2 Rac8 18.Qd3 Rc7 19.Rc2 Rfc8 20.Rfc1 Rc4 21.a3 a6! 22.Be3 b5! 23.Qd1 fxe4 24.Nxe4 Nxe4 25.Rxc4 Rxc4 26.Rxc4 Nxf2! 27.Bxf2 bxc4 28.g4 Qb5 29.Qc2 Nc8 30.h4 Kh8 31.Be2 Nb6 32.h5 Things are getting very sharp. Nxd5 33.Bxc4 Qc6 34.Qe4 Nxb4! 35.Qxc6 Nxc6 36.Bxa6 gxh5 37.gxh5 Bh6 38.a4 Nd4 39.Bc4 Bd2 40.h6 Nf5 41.Be6 Nxh6 Black is two pawns up and has connected passed pawns in the centre. But White has the powerful bishop pair and objectively the position is drawn. 42.Kf1 Ba5 43.Be1 Bc7 44.a5 Bxa5 Pragmatic - securing the draw at least. 45.Bxa5 Kg7 46.Ke2 Kf6 47.Bd5 Nf7 48.Kf3 Ng5+ 49.Kg4 Ne6 50.Ba2 h5+ 51.Kxh5 Kf5 52.Kh4 Nf4 53.Kg3 d5 54.Kf3 d4 55.Bb1+ d3 56.Ke3 e4 57.Ba2 Ng2+ 58.Kd4 Kf4 59.Bd5 d2 Okay, the lad concedes, I cannot win this. 60.Bxd2+ e3 61.Ba5 e2 62.Bxg2 Kg3 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Korobov,A2679Nyzhnyk,I2585½–½2012E9713th EICC3

After his round two loss the other youngster, Dutch GM Anish Giri, was unable to score with the white pieces against IM Dalibor Stojanovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, ranked almost 250 points below him. Czech GM David Navarre had a bad start as well, losing in round three with white against IM Zoran Arsovich from Serbia, 265 point below him in the Elo rankings. Navara's compatriot Victor Laznicka, rated 2702, lost with the black pieces against 20-year-old Russian GM Alexander Shimanov, who is 111 points below him. Other upsets: French GM Romaine Edward, 2607, lost with black to IM Popilski Gill, 2389, from Israel, and another French GM, Matthew Cornette, 2545, lost to the young Slovak FM Tamas Petenyi, rated 2359.

Top rankings after round three

Rk. Ti. Name FED Rtng Pts.
1 GM Vitiugov Nikita RUS 2709 3.0
2 GM Savchenko Boris RUS 2580 3.0
3 GM Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2702 3.0
4 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime  FRA 2682 3.0
5 GM Lenic Luka SLO 2637 3.0
6 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2635 3.0
7 GM Melkumyan Hrant ARM 2628 3.0
8 GM Radulski Julian BUL 2552 3.0
9 GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2615 3.0
10 GM Sjugirov Sanan RUS 2610 3.0
11 GM Kulaots Kaido EST 2585 3.0
12 IM Azaladze Shota GEO 2419 2.5
13 GM Nyzhnyk Illya UKR 2585 2.5
14 GM Caruana Fabiano ITA 2767 2.5
15 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2729 2.5
16 GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2706 2.5
17 GM Movsesian Sergei ARM 2702 2.5
18 GM Dreev Aleksey RUS 2698 2.5
19 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2693 2.5
20 GM Andreikin Dmitry RUS 2689 2.5
21 GM Korobov Anton UKR 2679 2.5
22 GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2710 2.5
23 GM Kobalia Mikhail RUS 2666 2.5
24 GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2664 2.5
25 GM Ragger Markus AUT 2654 2.5
26 GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2695 2.5
Rk. Ti. Name FED Rtng Pts.
27 GM Timofeev Artyom RUS 2650 2.5
28 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2653 2.5
29 GM Esen Baris TUR 2555 2.5
30 GM Popov Ivan RUS 2605 2.5
31 GM Zhigalko Sergei BLR 2649 2.5
32 GM Bologan Viktor MDA 2687 2.5
33 GM Berkes Ferenc HUN 2682 2.5
34 GM Beliavsky Alexander SLO 2630 2.5
35 GM Khairullin Ildar RUS 2626 2.5
36 GM Durarbeyli Vasif AZE 2543 2.5
37 GM Hracek Zbynek CZE 2627 2.5
38 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr  RUS 2602 2.5
39 GM Mamedov Rauf AZE 2624 2.5
40 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2616 2.5
41 GM Lysyj Igor RUS 2656 2.5
42 GM Parligras Mircea ROU 2614 2.5
43 GM Hovhannisyan Robert ARM 2600 2.5
44 GM Pap Gyula HUN 2538 2.5
45 GM Shimanov Aleksandr RUS 2591 2.5
46 GM Stefansson Hannes ISL 2531 2.5
47 GM Matlakov Maxim RUS 2632 2.5
48 GM Delchev Aleksander BUL 2622 2.5
49 GM Lupulescu Constantin ROU 2616 2.5
50 GM Brkic Ante CRO 2587 2.5
51 GM Kempinski Robert POL 2610 2.5
52 IM Dvirnyy Daniyyl ITA 2507 2.5

Remaining schedule + Playchess commentary

After every round there will be special wrap-up commentary on Playchess. This starts at 20:00h Server time (= CET, = , 23:00h Moscow, 19:00h London, 3 p.m. New York, 12:00 noon California, 03:00h Beijing, 00:30h New Delhi – you can find the time in your location here). Commentary is in English.

Day Date Time Program Playchess commentary
Friday March 23 15:00 Round 4 Valeri Lilov
Saturday March 24 15:00 Round 5 Lawrence Trent
Sunday March 25 15:00 Round 6 Lawrence Trent
Monday March 26      Free Day  
Tuesday March 27 15:00 Round 7 Sam Collins
Wednesday March 28 15:00 Round 8 Sam Collins
Thursday March 29 15:00 Round 9 Robert Ris
Friday March 30 15:00 Round 10 Robert Ris
Saturday March 31 13:00 Round 11 Valeri Lilov
Saturday March 31 20:00 Closing  
Sunday April 01     Departure  

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