Spanish Team Championship, Round 5: Silla Bosch Serinsys tops the standings

An all-around strong team

Silla Bosch Serinsys is the only team not to have a single player below the fifty percent mark after five rounds at the Spanish Team Championship in Linares. Led by Anton Korobov and Alexei Shirov, the Valencian squad has scored 19½ out of 30 board points so far and goes into the last two rounds of the event in the sole lead.

Nonetheless, a massive tie for first might be seen after round 6 if Beniaján Duochess beats the leading team on Monday. Beniaján is currently two points behind Silla Bosch Serinsys, much like Solvay and Andreu Paterna. Andreu Paterna will be playing second-placed Magic Extremadura while Solvay will face Gros Xake Taldea. 

Magic Extremadura beat Jaime Casas on Sunday to climb to second place in the standings.

Irina Bulmaga (Jaime Casas) v Antoaneta Stefanova (Magic Extremadura)

Silla Bosch Serinsys 6:0 Collado Villalba

Getting wins on all six boards against the tailenders from Collado Villalba might be of great relevance for Silla Bosch Serinsys if a tie for first place in match points means board points end up deciding the winner of the event.

In his second straight win, Álvar Alonso defeated Liudmila Kolotilina in attacking style with the white pieces:

Power Play 17 - Attack with 1.e4

A repertoire of attacking lines against the four major defences to 1.e4 – that is, 1...e5, the Sicilian, the French, and the Caro Kann. These systems will put your opponent under pressure, and when players are under pressure, mistakes occur. This is a practical repertoire – if we study openings we want to be sure to use them in our games.

18.f5 Qe7 19.Ng4 Ne5 20.Qh6 followed, and White has his queen, two knights and potentially the rooks ready to attack. Kolotilina quickly cracked under pressure and Alonso ended up getting the full point after 32 moves. 

Beniaján Duochess 4:2 Solvay

After surprisingly losing two matches in a row in rounds 2 and 3, the rating favourites from Beniaján Duochess have bounced back with back-to-back victories over Andreu Paterna and now Solvay. 

David Navara’s first win of the event was a fine effort against Niclas Huschenbeth’s Petroff Defence. The Czech star opened up the position for his bishop pair on move 24:

White correctly assessed it was time to go for it with his better-developed army — 24.g4 hxg4 25.fxg4 Be4 (25...Qxg4 was better) and Navara continued the onslaught making use of Black’s weakness along the h1-a8 diagonal:

The Reliable Petroff

The Petroff (or Russian) Defence which is characterised by the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 has been popular at the highest levels for many years and enjoys the reputation of being an extremely solid defence.

After 26.Bxb6 capturing the bishop would be disastrous, so Huschenbeth opted for 26...Rxh2, but Navara had foreseen 27.Rxe4 Qxe4 28.Bg1 Qxg4, attacking the d1-rook. There followed 29.Bxh2 Qxd1 Bg2+ and then came Black’s decisive mistake:

30...Kb8 would have kept the game going, although Black will have trouble defending with his awfully-placed rook and knight. Instead, 30...c6 was punished by 31.Bf3 Qf1 32.Bxd6 Qf2 33.Qe5 Rc8 34.Qe7+ Kb6, with mate-in-four on the board:

35.c5+ Kxb5 36.Be2+ and Black resigned.

Solvay v Beniaján Duochess

Gros Xake Taldea 3:3 Andreu Paterna

Andreu Paterna could be sharing second place had Julen Arizmendi not faltered in a sharp position against Gros Xake Taldea’s Santiago González

Black is two pawns up, but White controls the dark-squared long diagonal and has just played 21.Kh1, planning to place his rook on the g-file. At this point, Black needed to be extremely precise in defence and play 21...h6, giving his king a square to escape the attacks. Arizmendi’s 21...Rfe8, on the other hand, lost quickly to 22.Rg1 Kf8 23.Qb4+ gaining the light-squared bishop. Black resigned.

Daniil Yuffa tied the score for Andreu Paterna, as he beat Alejandro Franco on board 4. Yuffa has yet to draw a game in Linares — he has won three and lost two so far in the event.

Magic Extremadura 4:2 Jaime Casas

Much like the current leaders, Magic Extremadura has used the same six players in all five rounds of the event. Unlike the Valencians, however, one of their representatives is having a tough time, which means his teammates need to step up to score match victories. Igor Kovalenko lost his third game of the championship on Sunday, but wins on all three bottom boards gave Magic the win that left them in sole second place with two rounds to go.

Emilio Moreno took advantage of Joaquín Antolí’s weakened kingside to win with white on board 6:

Master Class Vol.2: Mihail Tal

On this DVD Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller present the 8. World Chess Champion in video lessons: his openings, his understanding of chess strategy, his artful endgame play, and finally his immortal combinations.

24.Nh2 opened up the d1-h5 diagonal and after 24...Kg7 25.Qh5 c6 26.Ng4 Rh8 27.Nxf6 Kxf6 White decisively opened up the position against Black’s uncoordinated army:

28.f4, of course. Black’s resignation came shortly after — 28...Kg7 29.fxg5 Qg8 30.gxh6+ Kf8 31.Qxe5 dxe4 32.Qb8+ 1-0

Jaime Casas v Magic Extremadura

Standings after Round 5

Pairings - Round 6

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

All games

Links

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