8/8/2022 – Inspired by Gukesh’s remarkable win over Gabriel Sargissian in round 6 of the Chess Olympiad, star columnist Jon Speelman looked at a few more instances of cross checks and deflections that left a strong aesthetic impression. A beautiful study by the Danish composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen is included in the mix. | Photo: Stev Bonhage
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Splendid moves
[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]
Of all the players in the Chennai Olympiad, the one with much the best result as I write on Thursday, the mid-tournament rest day, is India 2’s top board Dommaraju Gukesh.
It’s one of the perks of organizing this great event that you’re allowed a second team and, if (as somehow quite unaccountably always seems to happen) there appear to be an odd number of teams at the critical moment, a third. India 1 are the old guard, though not counting this time with Viswanathan Anand; India 2, the young guns; and India 3 are also far from weak. Indeed, as I write, all three have 10/12 match points.
In one of the variations, it set me thinking about cross checks, and I’ve added an amazing game incorporating the same move: ...Qe7-h7+ in answer to Qh6+.
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I'd already done some notes on this myself, before I picked it
up off the Chessbase website which gave me a couple of games I didn't have in
my database and some comments, most of which I've amended.1.d4d52.c4e63.Nf3Nf64.Nc3Bb45.Qa4+Nc66.e30-07.Bd2dxc48.Bxc4Bd69.Qc2e59...a6!?10.dxe5Nxe511.Be2!?Nxf3+11...Qe712.Nd4c513.Nf5Bxf514.Qxf5Ng615.g3a616.f4b517.a4b418.Nd5Nxd519.Qxd5Rad820.Qc4a521.Bf3Bxf422.gxf4Qh4+23.Ke2Ne524.Be1Rd2+25.Kxd2Nxc4+26.Kd3Nxb2+27.Ke2Qd828.Be4Re829.Kf3Rxe40-1 (29) Kjartansson,G (2456)
-Sebenik,M (2534) Hersonissos GRE 201712.gxf3!Opening the g-file to
attack.a613.0-0-0b5!14.Rhg1
19...g620.h420.Rdg1!If White is going
to double, then he must do so before exchanging on a6, because otherwise Black
could block with Ra6-g6. Instead, Bf3 was also good.20.Bf3Rad821.Be4g622.e6Bb623.exf7+Rxf724.Re5My engine quite likes this for White, but
doubling with Rdg1 was much more natural.20.Bxa6Rxa621.Rdg1Rg620...g621.Bxa6Rxa622.f5Threatens to win with Qc4.Ba7Black should try22...Rc6!23.Kb1Rd823...Qe824.e6fxe625.fxg6h626.R5g2Qf623.e623.Kb1±aiming for Qc4.Rd824.e623.Qc4Qc523...Kh8?!
This turns out to be a mistake. However, the alternative23...fxe624.fxg6h625.g7looks very scary, though in fact after...hxg526.gxf8Q+Kxf824.Kb1!+-...this excellent prophylactic move leaves Black in deep
trouble. Indeed the variation-churning engines say that there's no defence.24.fxg6?fxg625.Qc4Rxe626.Rxa5Bxe327.Bxe3Rxe324...gxf5?
After this White has a pretty but fairly straightforward forced win.
Instead, 24...h6 would have put much more pressure on White, though Stockfish
does find a clear path:24...h625.R5g3!25.R5g2g526.exf7Qxf727.Rf125.Rxg6fxg626.Rxg6Rf625...g526.Rh3Kg7
27.Rxh6!
Of course everybody sees that this might work, but having the bottle to play it
in a game would be something else.Kxh628.h4!and according to our
lords and masters, there is no defence, e.g.:g428...Rg829.Qc4!g430.exf7or simply30.Qxa630...Rg731.Qxa6+29.Rxg4Qd830.f6Rxe631.Qf525.Bxb4!White just needs to open the path to g2 for the queen, and this is
the best way to do it.25.Bc3+bxc326.Qxc3+26.Qg2Qe827.Rg7?
is what White wants to play, but at this exact moment c2+ puts a huge spanner
in the works:27.e7Rg628.exf8Q+Qxf829.Qc2and White is better but
the battle continues.27...c2+!28.Kxc2Qc6+26...f627.Rg7Qxg728.Rxg7Kxg729.Qxc7+Kg630.Qg3+Kh631.Qf4+Kg632.e4Worse is25.Rxf5Rxe626.Rxa526.Rh5f626...c5=25.Qxf5Rxe626.Rg726.Qxa5c5=26...Rg627.R1xg6hxg628.Qxg6fxg6=25...Qxb425...axb426.Qg2Qe827.Rg7wins on the spot, as does27.Rh526.Qg226.exf7?Rg627.Qxf5Qd628.Rxg6hxg629.Qxg6Qxg6+30.Rxg6Rxf7-+26.Qxf5?Rxe627.Qxf7Here the defelection Qe1+! wins, but I also wondered about Rg6Qe1+!27...Rg628.Rxg6hxg629.Qxg6Qe7
Diagram after Black misses Qe1+!
Here I noticed the cross-check after Qh6+ which led to the next example. I
thought that Rg5 would draw, but in fact Black has a pretty win. Though the
outstanding Ka1!!, avoding the check, wins.30.Ka1‼30.Rg5Rf1+31.Kc2Rc1+!32.Kxc1Bxe3+30...Qh7I started thinking about this while lying
in bed on Friday morning and got up to 36 Qxc7+ Kf7, but of course couldn't
work out the fine details of the king hunt in my mind's eye.31.Qg5Rg832.Qf6+Rg733.Rg4!Kg834.Qd8+Kf735.Qxc7+Kg836.Qd8+Kf737.Rf4+Ke638.Rf6+Ke539.Qd6+Ke440.Qf4+Kd341.Qf1+and unsurprisingly White soon
gives mate, though it's still pretty confusing to the human eye:Ke442.Qf3+Ke543.Qf4+Kd544.Rd6+Kc545.Qd4+Kb546.a4#28.Rxe1Rxf726...Qe4+27.Qxe4fxe428.e7Re8
29.Rg8+!Rxg830.Rxg8+Kxg831.e8Q+
Of course the queen is now vastly superior to the rook and bishop.Kg732.Qe5+Rf633.Qg5+Rg634.Qxa5Not34.Qe5+Kg835.Qxc735.Qxe4Bb6±35...Bb636.Qb8+Kg737.Qe5+Kh638.Qxe4Kg739.Qe5+Kg8+-34...Rg1+35.Kc2Rg2+36.Kb3Bb637.Qe5+Kf838.Qh8+Ke739.Qxh7Re239...Rg640.Qh4+Ke840.Qxe4+Kf841.Qb4+!The rook now drops off to a light
square check, so Black resigned.1–0
Select an entry from the list to switch between games
I looked up cross checks and found an example of 37 half moves of checks in a row in an article by Gregory Serper. Obviously, it’s a task rather than chess as such, but still extremely impressive.
In recent weeks, I’ve been showing anybody who will listen a beautiful study by the Danish composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen. I thought I’d already done so in this column, but looking back apparently not. It was first sent to me by the English IM John Cox, but unfortunately I lost it in my inbox and when he resent it, it was only with the final move to find — and sufficient information for this to be quite easy. I therefore have no idea how I would have fared had I tried to solve it from the beginning.
Later, I managed to retrieve the whole study from Mr Nielsen’s Twitter feed and sent it to two former world solving champions, Jonathan Mestel and John Nunn. John had seen it before at a solving competition and Jonathan had not. Both said that they took quite a while to solve it. It’s an absolute gem, with pretty natural chess leading to the stunning finish.
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Jonathan SpeelmanJonathan 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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