Pearly Kings

by Jonathan Speelman
5/16/2021 – Looking at the games from the recent Russian Team Championship, played in Sochi, prompted Jon Speelman to reminisce on a tournament he played nearly four decades ago in the same Russian city near the Black Sea. “In those distant Soviet times, the seven foreigners were put up in the Zhemchuzhina (Pearl) Hotel while the nine Soviets were dispersed among other lesser establishments”. | Photo: John Saunders / John Nunn 60th Birthday Blitz Chess Tournament
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Distant Soviet times

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

Looking through the ChessBase website, I see that Merijn Van Delft used the game Esipenko v Kobalia this week (as I write) for his Game of the Week. I had also noticed the game at the Russian Team Championship and used it for my weekly column on the English newspaper The Observer, so I was pleased to see that he’d chosen such an excellent game though a tad disappointed not to have the pleasure of demonstrating it here myself.

Predrag NikolicThe team championship was in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi where I played nearly four decades ago in the 16th Mikhail Chigorin Memorial. In those distant Soviet times, the seven foreigners were put up in the Zhemchuzhina (Pearl) Hotel where the tournament was also held while the nine Soviets (and I can’t remember, but this may even have applied to the winner Misha Tal himself) were dispersed among other lesser establishments.

Despite the superior accommodation, the foreigners suffered at the hands of the Soviets, with Predrag Nikolic [pictured] coming second and myself sixth equal, while the rest finished in an ungainly heap at the bottom.

In any case, I thought today that I’d look at some games played in the Zhemchuzhina, starting with a somewhat preposterous one from the recent team championship and then moving back in time to 1982.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,183,38754%2421---
1.d4958,44955%2434---
1.Nf3286,13156%2441---
1.c4184,60856%2443---
1.g319,87756%2427---
1.b314,59854%2428---
1.f45,95348%2377---
1.Nc33,90550%2384---
1.b41,79048%2378---
1.a31,24954%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qd2 This strange-looking idea has been popularised by Magnus Carlsen in a few games. g6 5...Nf6 6.b3 e6 7.Bb2 a6 8.0-0-0 b5 9.f3 h5 10.Nh3 Be7 11.Ng5 h4 12.f4 Bb7 13.Kb1 Rc8 14.Be2 Qc7 15.Rhe1 Nh7 16.Nxh7 Rxh7 17.g4 hxg3 18.hxg3 Bf6 19.Bd3 Rh8 20.g4 Nd4 21.Re3 Kf8 22.Ne2 Nxe2 23.Rxe2 Bc3 24.Bxc3 Qxc3 25.Qe3 Rc5 26.e5 dxe5 27.fxe5 Rh1 28.Rxh1 Bxh1 29.Rh2 Rxe5 30.Rh8+ Ke7 31.Qa7+ 1-0 (31) Carlsen,M (2843) -Wojtaszek,R (2744) Shamkir AZE 2018 6.b3 Bh6 7.f4
7...e5 In one of the critical games form the second half of the Candidates, Alexander Grischuk played the Qd2 line against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and eventually won. 7...Nf6 8.Bb2 e5 9.Nge2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Be6 11.Kb1 a5 12.a4 Qb6 13.h4 Rac8 14.h5 Nxh5 15.g3 Nb4 16.Bh3 Bxh3 17.Rxh3 Bg7 18.g4 Nf6 19.g5 Nh5 20.f5 Rfd8 21.f6 Bf8 22.Ng3 d5 23.exd5 Nxg3 24.Rxg3 h5 25.Qe2 Rc5 26.Rh3 Nxd5 27.Nxd5 Rcxd5 28.Rdh1 Qd6 29.Ka2 Rd1 30.Rxh5 gxh5 31.Rxh5 Rd4 32.Rh1 Rxa4+ 33.Kb1 Qd5 34.Qh5 Qxh1+ 35.Qxh1 Rg4 36.Bxe5 Rxg5 37.Qxb7 Rd2 38.Bc3 Re2 39.Qc8 Rg1+ 40.Kb2 Rgg2 41.Bxa5 Rxc2+ 42.Qxc2 Rxc2+ 43.Kxc2 Kh7 44.Kd3 Kg6 45.Bc3 Kf5 46.Kc4 Ke6 47.b4 Bd6 48.b5 1-0 (48) Grischuk,A (2777) -Vachier Lagrave,M (2767) Yekaterinburg RUS 2021 8.Nb5 Bxf4 9.Qxd6 Qxd6 Of course Black can't interpose 9...Bxc1 due to 10.Nc7+ 10.Nxd6+ Kf8 11.Ba3
11...Kg7?? Black simply can't have been paying attention since now his king has to run for his life. 11...Nge7 12.Nf3 12.Bc4 Nd4 13.Nxf7? 13.Kd1 Bg4+ 14.Nf3 Nxf3 15.h3 Be6 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.gxf3 b6 18.Ke2 Kg7 13.Bd3 13...Nxc2+ 14.Ke2 Nxa3 12...Kg7 12.Ne8+ Kh6 13.Bf8+ Kh5 13...Kg5 14.Nf3+ Kh5 15.Ng7+ Kg4 16.Kf2 14.Ng7+ Kg5 15.Nf3+ Kh6 This gets mated. I suppose he had to try 15...Kf6 16.Ne8+ Ke6 17.Rd1 17.Nc7+ Kf6 18.Nxa8 is more than enoguh to win. 17...Nd4 18.Nc7+ 18.Nxd4+ exd4 19.Rxd4 is much less clear after Nf6 or rather White needs to find and calculate accurately 20.Ba3 Rxe8 21.Bc4+ Ke5 22.Bb2 Be3 23.Rd8+ Kxe4 24.Bd3+ Kf4 25.Rf1+ Bf2+ 26.Kxf2 Rxd8 27.Ke1+ Kg5 27...Kg4 28.Be2+ 28.Bxf6+ 18...Kd7 18...Kf6 19.Nd5+ Ke6 20.Nxf4+ 19.Nxa8 16.Nf5+ Kh5 17.Ng3+ Kg4 18.Kf2
Obviously it will be mate in a few moves, so Black resigned. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Popov,I2630Timerkhanov,A24031–02021B23TCh-RUS Premier 20219.4
Panchenko,A2480Speelman,J25750–11982B17Sochi Chigorin Memorial 16th1
Speelman,J2575Pigusov,E24301–01982B37Sochi Chigorin Memorial 16th13
Fressinet,L2637Maze,S2497½–½2004B37ch-FRA10
Nikolic,P2530Speelman,J25751–01982D94Sochi Chigorin Memorial 16th7
Tal,M2610Chandler,M25051–01982D43Sochi Chigorin Memorial 16th4

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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.

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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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