Speelman's Agony #86

by Jonathan Speelman
11/4/2018 – This week Jon examines two games from the top scorer for Sri Lanka in the Batumi Chess Olympiad. As the coach of the team, he was impressed by the play of the youngest member, fifteen-year-old Harshana Thilakarathne (pictured). But continue sending in your own games! Jon can always use more material 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! | Photo: Panagoda Buddhi
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Speelman and Sri Lanka

During the Batumi Olympiad, I was assigned by FIDE, under the scheme which matches coaches without a country to countries without a coach, to captain Sri Lanka. They were a lovely team who worked hard and even managed to get into the top playing hall with two rounds to go. But sadly after the expected defeat by Bosnia in the penultimate round we lost even more heavily to Yemen in the last and ended up only just above our seeding: 112th as compared to 115th.

Sri Lankan team

The Sri Lankan open and women's teams with coach GM Jon Speelman | Photo: Panagoda Buddhi

The best result was scored by the youngest player, our board two: fifteen-year-old Harshana Thilakarathne. He would have made an IM norm with a round to spare had he not, unfortunately, had a default against Djibouti in round 2; and a draw in the final round against Yemen would still have been enough for a norm. Sadly he lost as you can see in the first game below but I'm sure he'll soon get some norms. In the World Youth Championship which has just finished in Greece he made an unbeaten 7/11 which netted 100 rating points and by December he expects to have gained over 200 points in two months to hit 2446!

When I asked Harshana whether I could use his games here he kindly agreed so I'm starting with the Agonising last round loss and then moving on to an, if not Ecstatic, certainly rollicking draw with a grandmaster a few days earlier. All notes are mine.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 e5 7.Nde2 b5 8.Bg2 Bb7 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.h3 h5 11.Bg5 Be7 12.a3 Rc8 13.Qd2 Rc4 14.Rfd1 Qa8
15.Nd5 Black was already pretty comfortable and after this more so since he's able to close the d-file taking the pressure off his d6 pawn and gets a nice kingside majpority. As long as he can navigate his way through some short term problems on the queenside, he will get a good game. Nxd5 16.exd5 Qd8 16...Bxg5 17.Qxg5 0-0 was perfectly okay. If White stops Rxc2 then Nf6 will consolidate while the attempt to mix things with Qe7 would backfire though Qxh5 looks reasonable. 18.Nc3 18.Qe7 Nf6 19.Qxd6 Rd8 20.Qb6 Nxd5 18.Qxh5 is obviously critcal Rxc2 18...Nf6 19.Qf5 Nxd5 20.b3 Rc5 19.Qf5 Rc7 19...Rxe2 20.Qxd7 Qb8 21.Rac1 Rd8 22.Qf5 Rxb2 23.Be4 g6 24.Qf6 Rd7 20.Rac1 Rfc8 21.Rxc7 Rxc7 18...Nf6 17.Bxe7 Qxe7 18.b3 Rc5 18...Rc7 19.a4 0-0 19...bxa4 20.Rxa4 0-0 20.axb5 axb5 21.Nc3 Rfc8 22.Nxb5 Rxc2 23.Qe3 xBb7 19.a4 0-0 20.axb5 axb5 21.Ra7 A fire fight now develops on the queenside as White tries to make gains before Black can get fully organised - in which case he would be doing well. Nf6 21...Nb6 22.Nc3 Nc8 is awkward. 22...Rfc8 23.Na2 R8c7 23...Rxc2? 24.Qa5 24.Nb4 23.Ra5 Qc7 24.Nxb5 Qb6 25.c4 with a nice advantage. 22.Qa5 22.c4 bxc4 23.Qb4 Rc7 24.bxc4 Bc8 22...Rfc8 23.c3 Qc7 23...Qd7 24.b4 Qxa5 25.Rxa5
25...Rxd5 25...R5c7 is perfectly playable but there was certainly a huge temptation to give the exchange. 26.Bxd5 Bxd5 27.Rda1
The critical position. As long as Black keeps his rook on the board he should be fine for his minor pieces are excellent and his centre a nice potential asset while White's queenside is damaged. I spent some time looking at this in the bar on the last night of the Olympiad with a couple of Harshana's team mates and decided that the safest move was probably the prophylactic Kh7. 27...Ne4 27...Kh7 28.Re1 Bc4 can't be bad for Black 28.R1a3 Nd2 28...Kh7 was fine now too. 29.Ra6 Bf3 29...Nf3+ 30.Kf1 Bc4 31.Rxd6 g5 30.Ra2 Nb1 31.Ra1 Nxc3? Black has been drawn into tactics before he's fully ready and these now rebound. 31...Nd2 32.R6a2 Nb3? 32...Nc4 33.Rb1 Bxe2 34.Rxe2 Rxc3 35.Re3! 31...Bxe2 32.Rxb1 Rxc3 33.Rxd6 Kh7 32.Nxc3 Rxc3
33.R6a3! The move that he'd missed or at the very least grossly underestimated. Rxa3 34.Rxa3± Untortunately White now wins a pawn after which he has excellent winning chances. Be2 35.Ra8+ Kh7 36.Rd8 Kg6 37.Rxd6+ Kf5 38.Rd2 Bc4 39.f3 h4? This helps White but 39...e4 40.Kf2 exf3 41.Kxf3 Ke5 was also dire. 40.gxh4 Kf4 41.Kf2 With the time control reached, Black is now lost. Mercifully, his suffering was cut short after: g6 42.Rd6 Be6 43.Rb6 Bc4 44.Rf6# It's really a shame that Harshana ended such an excellent tournament with this loss but as I said I'm sure he'll make some norms very soon. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Al-Zendani,Z2301Thilakarathne,G22381–02018B9143rd Olympiad 201811.2
Thilakarathne,G2238Matamoros Franco,C2494½–½2018B1243rd Olympiad 20188.1

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There are few opening systems which have been undergoing such a fast and furious renaissance as the 6.Bg5 Variation of the Najdorf System. Inspired by Radjabov’s victories over Anand and Karjakin in 2006, a great number of games have been played since then, meaning that the theory has developed enormously. But even before then it stretched to such distant horizons that makes it all the more important to have someone who can explain the ideas which underlie the variations. That is exactly what Alexei Shirov does on his DVD.

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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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