World Junior Rd 7: Unstoppable Shtembuliak

by Sagar Shah
10/22/2019 – In 2018 we had Parham Maghsoodloo who made a dash towards the finish line at the World Junior Championships. He won the event with one round to spare. In 2019 it seems like Evgeny Shtembuliak is going to take the honours. Although there are still four rounds left to be played, the Ukrainian GM has beaten some of the strongest opposition in the tournament. In round seven he got the better of GM Aram Hakobyan in a tense encounter. Shtembuliak leads with 6.0/7. He is followed on 5½/7 by Miguel Santos Ruiz alone. In the girls section Mobina Alinasab remained in the lead after her draw against Stavroula Tsolakidou, but she was joined at the top by Polina Shuvalova as well. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you detailed round seven report from New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain
On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black with the French. Based around ten stem games, all White's major lines against the French are covered.

Remembering the legacy of Korchnoi

One of Korchnoi's biggest contributions to opening theory was seen in his game against Udovcic from 1967. It was a pawn sacrifice line in the French. It was not the first time that someone had played this, but Korchnoi was the first world-class player who tried it in practice. It went very well for him in the game and till date the opening has been played on the highest level.

 
Divya - Altantuya
Position after 9.0-0

The pawn on d4 is given up for quick development and activity:

 
Position after 11...♛b6

In this position the main move for White is 12.♕a4, when Black does best to prevent the queen from sliding on the kingside with 12...♛b4. Hence, Divya played 12.a3 first. Not the most popular, but it was enough to throw her opponent off track. Altantuya responded with 12...a5 and this was the critical mistake. White jumped in with 13.♕a4 and with no ♛b4 possible and the b5 square weakness, the game was already decided in Divya's favour.

 
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Ngf3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Bd3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Qb6 9.0-0 Divya Deshmukh chooses the Tarrasch line with the pawn sacrifice, to face the French defense today. In return the black must face its poor development, the passive bishop of the white squares and less activity. Nxd4 If you do not want to accept the pawn sacrifice, you can continue with: 9...Be7 10.Nb3 a5 11.a4 Nb4 12.Bb5 0-0 13.Bg5 Qd8 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.Nxd4 Qxd4 11.Nf3 Qb6 12.a3 a3 a very interesting continuation chosen by the little master, avoiding some early exchanges. The most common is: 12.Qa4 Qb4 13.Qc2 Nc5 14.Bd2 Qa4 15.b3 Qd7 16.Rac1 b6 17.Nd4 Ba6 18.Bxa6 Nxa6 19.Qd3 Nc5 20.Qe2 a5 21.Be3 1-0 Mamedov,R (2660)-Wang,H (2734) Shamkir 2014 1-0 12...a5 13.Qa4 Be7 14.Bb5 Qd8 Sad move needed in the position to make an attempt to castle. 15.Qg4 g6?N The right move defending g7 and with idea of h5, in the future maybe pass the rook through g6 or just push the pawn h: 15...Kf8 16.Be3 h5 17.Qf4 Kg8 18.Rac1 b6 19.Rfd1 Nf8 16.Bh6!
16...Bf8 17.Qf4 Bxh6 18.Qxh6 Qe7 19.Qg7 Qf8 20.Qf6 Rg8 21.Rac1 Qe7 22.Qf4 Kf8 23.Rc7 The pressure exerted by the white is despairing for the black pieces, excellent way to handle and understand the position of the Indian player. g5 24.Qa4 g4 25.Nd4 Qd8 26.Rxd7 Bxd7 27.Bxd7 Ke7 28.Bb5 Qb6 29.Qd1 A very elegant move that seeks to recycle the Queen and pass it to the black diagonals via d2. a4 30.Qd2 Rac8 31.Qf4 Rg6 32.Bd3 f5 33.exf6+ Rxf6 34.Qxg4 Rcf8 35.Re1 Fulfilling the principle of the less active pieces, so Divya puts the cherry on the cake and wins a very instructive game. h5 36.Qh4 Kd6 37.Qg3+ Ke7 38.h3 R8f7 39.Qh4 Kf8 It didn't make much difference either: 39...Kd7 40.Bb5+ Kc8 41.Rc1+ Kb8 42.Bd7+- 40.Re2 Qd6 41.Qxh5 e5 42.Rxe5 Rh6 43.Qe2 Without any hope black leaves the battle, moves like Te7 does not work because the tactical theme after the exchanges Nf5. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Divya,D2358Altantuya,B22771–02019C05girls7.4

Divya Deshmukh showed some fine opening preparation to beat Boldbaatar Altantuya in round 7 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Divya Deshmukh explains her game

In the girls section on board no.1 we had IM Stavroula Tsolakidou coming up with an interesting novelty on move no.8: 

 
Mobina - Stavroula
Position after 8...Bd6

In this well known position of Sicilian Taimanov, the move 8...♝d6 has never been played before. The point is that 9.♕xg7 is met with 9...♞g6 and Black is doing completely fine. But what about f4 and e5? Well, this is how Mobina continued.

 
Position after 10...♝b4

In this position the Iranian girl had to play 11.♗d3 and after 11...♝xc3 12.bxc3 ♛xc3, move her king to f2 to get a very nice and active position. But in the above position Mobina went 11.0-0-0 and the position was extremely complex.

The game went on for 72 moves before the players agreed to a draw.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qf3!? One of the most popular and aggressive systems against the Taimanov. Ne5 7...Bb4 8.Nxc6 Qxc6 9.Bd4± 8.Qg3 Bd6?! This has never been seen before! 8...h5 is the main move so that f4 can be met with Ng4. 8...b5 is also possible. 9.f4 9.Qxg7 Ng6 And the queen on g7 doesn't feel very comfortable. 9...Ng6 10.e5 Bb4 11.0-0-0!? White's idea is correct. She tries to develop as quickly as possible. However, after Bxc3, bxc3 it's White's king who starts to get a little weak. 11.Bd3 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Qxc3+ 13.Kf2± Would have given White an excellent position. 11...Bxc3 12.bxc3 N8e7 13.c4 0-0 13...b5!? 14.cxb5 0-0 14.h4 h5 15.Qf3 d6 16.exd6 Qxd6 17.Nb3 Qc7 18.Bc5 Rd8 19.Rxd8+ Qxd8 20.Qxh5 Nf5 21.Qf3 e5 22.fxe5 Bd7 23.Qc3 Nfxh4 24.Qg3 Nf5 25.Qh2 Qg5+ 26.Kb1 Nh6 27.Bd6 Re8 28.Qh5 Qg3 29.Bd3 Nxe5 30.Rf1 Qe3 31.Bc5 Qg3 32.Bd6 Qg4 33.Qxg4 Nhxg4 34.Re1 Re6 35.Bc7 Nxd3 36.Rxe6 Bxe6 37.cxd3 Bf5 38.Nc5 Ne3 39.g3 Nxc4 40.Kc1 Na3 41.Nxb7 Bxd3 42.Nd6 Nc2 43.Kd2 Bg6 44.Nb7 Nb4 45.a3 Nd5 46.Bd6 Bf5 47.Nc5 Bc8 48.Kd3 f5 49.Kc4 Ne3+ 50.Kd3 Ng4 51.Kc4 Kf7 52.a4 g5 53.Kd5 Ne3+ 54.Kc6 Nc4 55.Bb8 Ke7 56.Kc7 Nd6 57.Ba7 Be6 58.Nxa6 Nc4 59.Bd4 f4 60.gxf4 gxf4 61.Nb4 Ke8 62.Nd3 Bd7 63.Nc5 Bf5 64.Nb7 Be4 65.Nc5 Bf5 66.Kc6 f3 67.Kd5 Na5 68.Bf2 Bc2 69.Ke5 Kd8 70.Be1 Kc8 71.Kf4 Nb7 72.Nxb7 Kxb7 Ke4 1/ 2-1/2 (72) Alinasab,M (2239)-Tsolakidou,S (2431) girls 2019 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Alinasab,M2239Tsolakidou,S2431½–½2019B48girls7.1

Final part of the game between Mobina and Tsolakidou

Polina Shuvalova played a very nice game to beat Vaishali and become joint leader with 6.0/7 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.b3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Bb2 c5 7.0-0 b6 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.d4 Bb7 10.Nc3 Nd7 11.Rc1 Rc8 12.Nxd5 Bxd5 13.Qd3 cxd4 14.Bxd4 Nc5 15.Qe3 Qd7 16.b4? This move weakens the c4 square and the knight will make its way to the square via d6 and c4. Nb7 17.a3 Nd6 18.Ba1 Qb7 19.Rfd1 h6 20.Qf4 Rxc1 21.Rxc1 Rc8 22.Rd1 Bf8 23.Bf1 Nc4 24.b5 Nxa3 Black has won the pawn without any real compensation. The rest is easy. 25.Ne5 f6 26.Ng4 Rc4 27.e4 Rxe4 28.Nxf6+ gxf6 29.Qxf6 Qg7 30.Qd8 Qf7 31.Rc1 Nc4 32.Bf6 Rg4 33.Be2 Rg6 34.Ba1 Nd2 35.Rc7 Qf5 36.Rc1 Nf3+ 37.Kf1 Qh3# 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vaishali,R2385Shuvalova,P24120–12019A05girls7.2

Bibisara Assaubayeva was too strong for Rakshitta Ravi | Photo: Niklesh Jain

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.0-0 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.b3 d4 7.e3 c5 8.exd4 cxd4 9.d3 Nc6 10.Re1 Nd7 11.Ba3 Re8 11...a5 12.Bxe7 Qxe7= 12.Bxe7 Rxe7 13.Na3 e5 14.Nc2 a5 15.Nd2 f5?! 16.Bd5+! Kh8 17.Nf3 Black's centre is under tremendous pressure. Qe8 18.Qe2 Nf6? 18...Qg6 Black is already under a lot of stress, but this would keep the position going. 19.Bxc6 bxc6 20.Nxe5 White is just a pawn up and is now completely winning. Kg8 21.Nxd4 c5 22.Nb5 Ra6 23.d4 cxd4 24.Nxd4 Ng4 25.f4 Rd6 26.Rad1 Qd8 27.c5 Rxd4 28.Qc4+ Rxc4 29.Rxd8+ 1–0
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Assaubayeva,B2381Rakshitta,R23101–02019A05girls7.3

Antova Gabriela is on 5½/7 after her win over Arpita Mukherjee | Photo: Niklesh Jain

In the open section we had the two leaders Aram Hakobyan and Evgeny Shtembuliak. Both Hakobyan and Shtembuliak have shifted their base to the USA. While Aram studies at Saint Louis University, Shtembuliak is from the Texas Tech University. They both met each other on the top board. It was a big fight that in the end went Shtembuliak's way.

Evgeny Shtembuliak's latest claim Aram Hakobyan | Photo: Niklesh Jain

 
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The analysis of this game are the variations that were discussed with Shtembuliek after the game. 1.g3 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0!? If you play this move you are allowing Black to play e5. If White wants to avoid that, then he should go for d4 instead of 0-0. e5 5.d3 Ne7 6.e4 Nbc6 6...0-0 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Re1 Nc6 9.Nc3 Nde7 7.Nc3 0-0 7...d4 8.Ne2 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5! Shtembuliak knows his openings! 9.Nxe5 Nxc3 10.Nxc6 Nxd1 11.Nxd8 Nxb2 12.Bxb2 Bxb2 13.Rab1 Rxd8 14.Rxb2 Rb8= 9...Qxd5 10.Re1 Although Shtembuliak has taken time for his moves, it is clear here that Black has to move his queen. Which is a good square? Aram had to decide. Qd8 11.Bg5 f6 12.Bd2 12.Be3 f5 13.c3 Be6 13...Kh8 14.d4 e4 15.Nd2 g5 16.f3 16.f4 16...f4 14.d4 e4 12...Bg4 13.h3 Be6 14.Bc3 14.d4 Nxd4 15.Bb4 Nxf3+ 16.Qxf3 Re8 17.Qxb7 17.Rad1 Qc8 18.Qxb7 Qxb7 19.Bxb7 Rab8 20.Bc6 Rec8 21.Bc3 Bxh3 22.f4 Rd8 17...Rb8 14...Bd5 14...Qd7 15.d4 Bxh3 16.dxe5 Qxd1 17.Raxd1 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 fxe5 19.Nxe5 Nxe5 20.Bxe5 Rae8 21.Bxg7 Rxe1 22.Rxe1 Kxg7 23.Re7+ Rf7 15.b4 Qd7 16.b5 Nd8 17.a4 Re8 18.Bb2 Nf7 19.h4 Rad8 20.Qe2 Bf8 20...b6! was the best move and would have given Black an excellent position. The main idea is that the bishop can remain on the a8-h1 diagonal. 21.c4 Ba8 22.Red1 f5 23.a5 20...f5 21.c4 Bxf3 22.Bxf3 Qxd3 23.Bxb7= 21.c4 Be6 22.d4 Bb4 23.Red1 e4 24.Nh2 Bh3 24...f5 25.d5 25.c5 Bxg2 25...Kg7 26.Qc4 26.Bxh3 Qxh3 27.Ng4 27.Qg4 26...e3 26.Kxg2 h5 26...Kg7 27.Ng4 27.Nf1 Nh6 28.Qc4+ Qd5 29.Qxd5+ 29.Qxb4 e3+ 30.f3 e2 29...Rxd5 30.Ne3 Rd7 31.a5 Red8 31...b6 32.axb6 axb6 33.c6 Rf7 34.Ra7 32.Ra4 Bxc5 33.dxc5 Rxd1 34.Bxf6 34.Nxd1 Rxd1 35.Bxf6 Ng4 34...R8d3 35.Nxd1 Rxd1 36.Rxe4 Rd5 37.Bg5 Nf5 38.Re8+ Kf7 39.Rb8 Rxc5 40.Rxb7 Nd6 41.Rxa7 Nxb5 42.Ra8 Nd6 43.Be3 Rc2 44.a6 Nf5 45.Bf4 c5 46.Kf3 46.a7 Ra2 47.Rh8 47.Be5 Ne3+ 47...Ke6 48.Re8+ Kd5 49.a8Q+ Rxa8 50.Rxa8 Kxe5 47...Rxa7 48.Rh7+ Ng7 46...c4 47.a7 Ra2 48.Ke4 c3 49.Kd3 c2 49...Ra3 50.Be3 Nxe3 51.fxe3 Kg7 52.e4 50.Kc3 Nd4 51.Kxd4 Ra4+ 52.Kd3 Rxf4 53.Kxc2 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Shtembuliak,E2577Hakobyan,A25611–02019A06open7.1

Final moments of Shtembuliak winning his game against Aram Hakobyan

Miguel Ruiz beat Ravi Haria | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Miguel Ruiz played an excellent exchange sacrifice against Ravi Haria. He didn't follow it up well and after a few moves had a pretty bad position. But Haria blundered and eventually lost the game. 

 
Ravi - Ruiz
Position after 27...d3

White in this position blundered with 28.♖e1. Do you spot how Black can win?

SHOW

Miguel Ruiz speaks about his win against Ravi Haria

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c3 e5 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 exd4 8.Bf4 a6 9.Bc4 d6 10.Nbd2 Nf6 11.Re1 0-0 12.Bb3 h6 13.h3 Re8 14.Rc1 d5 15.exd5 Rxe1+ 16.Qxe1 Nxd5 17.Bxd5 Qxd5 18.Qe8+ Kh7 19.Ne4 Bxh3 19...Be6 20.Qxa8 Qxe4 21.Qxb7 Bd5 19...Bd7 20.Qxa8 Qxe4 21.Qxb7 Qxf4 22.Qxc6 Be6 23.b3 Bd5 24.Qc7 Qg4 25.Qg3 Qf5 26.Nh4 Qe4 27.Nf3 d3 28.Re1 28.Rd1 Qe2 29.Re1 29.Rd2 Bxf3 30.Rxe2 dxe2 29.Rxd3 Qxd3 30.Ng5+ 29...Qxe1+ 30.Nxe1 d2 28...Qxe1+ 29.Nxe1 d2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Haria,R2463Santos Ruiz,M25600–12019B31open7.4

After this win Miguel Ruiz moves to the sole second spot with 5½/7 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Volodar Murzin continued his fine show, holding India Triple Crown champion Aravindh Chithambaram to a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

After missing round six, Amin Tabatabaei made a successful return by winning his round seven game against Ganzorig Amartuvshin | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Israeli IM Or Bronstein beat one of the top GMs of the tournament Albornoz Cabrera | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The game between Dmitrij Kollars and Sergey Drygalov ended in a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Indian journalist Rakesh Rao takes a photo of Praggnanandhaa vs Khanin game which ended up in a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Video Gallery

Top seed of the girls section Zhu Jiner is having quite a forgettable tournament | Photo: Niklesh Jain

A very interesting Opposite Color Bishop endgame analysis by IM Sagar Shah

Open standings after round 7

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Girls standings after round 7

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.nTBPerf.
1
Shuvalova,P
2412
9.5
11
67.50
2338
2
Alinasab,M
2239
9.0
11
65.50
2294
3
Berdnyk,M
2349
8.0
11
61.50
2358
4
Solozhenkina,E
2283
8.0
11
59.50
2155
5
Aakanksha Hagawane
2181
8.0
11
58.00
2329
6
Song,Y
2292
7.5
11
57.00
2183
7
Diakonova,E
2231
7.5
11
56.00
2165
8
Li,Y
2289
7.5
11
54.50
1816
9
Stavroula Tsolakidou
0
7.0
11
67.50
2159
10
Assaubayeva,B
2381
7.0
11
66.00
2320
TBs: Buchholz

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Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.

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