Speelman's Agony: A clash of Sveshnikovs

by Jonathan Speelman
12/1/2019 – The Sicilian Sveshnikov is on tap for this penultimate column of 2019 as GM JON SPEELMAN tackles a pair of clashes from "clashkid". Pictured: Evgeny Sveshnikov by GFHund (CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons) | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
Always wanted to play like a World Champion? Search no further! With Magnus Carlsen using the Sveshnikov variation as his weapon of choice in the World Championship match against Fabiano Caruana, this DVD could not be better timed.

Agony & Ecstasy #111

This week's pair of games are by an Austrian teenager who goes under the name of "clashkid" on my stream. When I asked for games for here he kindly sent me these but wishes to stay anonymous saying:

I am a 17 year old player from Austria rated in the 1900s but the games were played in 2016 - back then I was rated around 1600. The first was against an FM which I lost pretty quickly. The second was a club game against my friend which I managed to win. I was Black in both games which were at a time control of  90+30.

Since they are against people I personally know and I'm not sure if they are OK with the games being published, I haven't included my and the opponents' names. 

Both are Sicilian Sveshnikovs, and we start with the horrible loss, admittedly against a much stronger player at a time when "clashkid" had a fairly rudimentary understanding of the opening

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
1.Nc33,80151%2384---
1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466446%2360---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c343351%2426---
1.h328056%2418---
1.a411060%2466---
1.f39246%2436---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3
8...Be7?! This allows White to reroute the a3 knight immediately. One of the main points of the normal b5 is to prevent this. 8...Be6 9.Nc4 Rc8 is a better version for Black since the bishop can go out to h6 after the exchange on f6: 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Ne3 Bh6 9.Nc4 b5 Now this just hastens the knight to where it wants to be. 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Ne3 Nd4 This is often a good move when it interfers with White but here it just invites c3 with tempo. 12.Ncd5 Rg8 12...f5 13.Nxe7 Kxe7 13...Qxe7 14.c3 14.c3 simply loses a pawn 13.c3 Nc6 14.Qh5 With total control of the light squares White has a positionally won game. Be6 14...Rg7 would at least have made White work to win mterial. 15.Qxh7 Kd7 16.Qh5 Rg5 17.Qf3 b4 18.Bd3 bxc3 19.bxc3 Rb8 20.0-0
20...f5? This is the break that Black wants to play with this pawn structure but of course here it just hastens the end. 21.exf5 Bxd5 22.Qxd5 Qg8 23.Rab1 Rxb1 24.Rxb1 And "Clashkid" resigned. A horrible loss form a time when he much weaker than today. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
NN-\"Clashkid\"-1–0 B33
NN-Clashkid-0–12019B33

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Always wanted to play like a World Champion? Search no further! With Magnus Carlsen using the Sveshnikov variation as his weapon of choice in the World Championship match against Fabiano Caruana, this DVD could not be better timed.

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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