Spanish Team Championship, Round 3: Andreu Paterna in the lead

A tough field

Despite being the only team fielding four 2600+ rated players, Beniaján Duochess is currently placed sixth in the eight-team Spanish “División de Honor”. This talks about how competitive the tournament actually is, with some underrated players showing they can be dangerous when in form.

Andreu Paterna (led by Jorden van Foreest, pictured), the current leading squad on 5/6 match points, is one of two teams still undefeated after three rounds — the Silla Bosch Serinsys has not lost a match yet, but has drawn twice. Silla Bosch Serinsys is sharing second place with Solvay and Gros Xake Taldea, two teams that have won twice and lost once.

In round 4, Andreu Paterna will have the tough task of facing a wounded team in Beniaján Duochess. The two top boards will see Jorden van Foreest (AP) facing David Navara (BD) and Francisco Vallejo (AP) playing against David Antón (BD) in a clash of the two highest-rated Spanish representatives.

Solvay and Gros Xake Taldea score big wins

While Andreu Paterna comfortably beat the lowest-rated Collado Villalba, Solvay and Gros Xake Taldea obtained key victories in round 3, both beating teams that had higher-rated players than them in all but one board.

Solvay defeated Jaime Casas 4:2, with wins by Polish couple Bartosz and Monika Socko and by Alberto Martín. The latter took advantage of Joaquín Antoli’s careless 15th move:

English Attack

Daniel Gormally shows how to combine strategic and attacking ideas in the sicilian. Use the english attack as a lethal weapon!

By playing 15...Nd4, Black underestimated White’s attacking chances along the b-file and the light-squared long diagonal. Martín found 16.b5 a5 17.b6 Bxb6 18.Nxd4 exd4 19.Qf3 c6 20.Rxb6 dxc3 21.Rfb1:

Black is a pawn up, but his king is in trouble. Antoli tried 21...Bg4 and resigned after 22.Qf4 — for example, after 22...Be6 there would come 23.Bxc6 and Black needs to give up a massive amount material to avoid mate.

Solvay 4:2 Jaime Casas 

The playing hall | Photo: FEDA

Meanwhile, Gros Xake Taldea beat Beniaján Duochess 3½:2½, with wins for Arkadij Naditisch and Íñigo Argandoña. This was Naiditsch’s third consecutive win, as he defeated David Antón with the white pieces. Antón played sharply in the opening, putting his hopes on a kingside attack after giving up a piece. The Spaniard missed a big — though difficult to find — chance to break through on the g and h-files:

And Action! - How to crown positional play by tactics

There are few names which, like that of Alexei Shirov, can be associated with fantastically imaginative and tactically influenced play. Now the Latvian grandmaster is presenting a DVD on precisely that element of the game of chess. And one that is completely based on his own games.

Black went for 20...Qxf5, as White cannot capture the queen without allowing mate on h1. However, the winning move was 20...Qf6 — 21.Qxg5 fails to 21...Rdg8 22.Qxg8 Rxg8 23.Kh2 Rh8, while 21.f3 runs into 21...Rxh4 22.gxh4 Qxh4 and Black breaks through.

After the text, Naiditsch had calculated that 21.f3 was the way to go. At that point, Antón needed to stick to his guns and play 21...Rxh4, but opted for 21...Qe6 instead. A piece to the good, Naiditsch went on to get a 55-move win.

Gros Xake Taldea 3½:2½ Beniaján Duochess

Arkadij Naiditsch | Photo: FEDA

Standings after Round 3

Pairings - Round 4

All games

Links

• Full results at info64.org