IM Irina Krush
4-Time U.S. Women’s Champion
M MY BEST MOVE
y best move came from the final round of the 2003 Continental Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. My opponent was a
fearsome animal from Peru called “the Zambrana.” Well, OK, that was the funny spin on his name bestowed by Pascal, who spots such opportunities with hawk- like precision.
Actually, you might have heard of Oswaldo Zambrana if you were following the recent Olympiad. In the first round, pow- erhouse Armenia was supposed to crush little Peru, but surprisingly, they only won 3-1. Their board one GM Sergei Movsesian was defeated in an up and down but ulti- mately nice game by the Zambrana! This entire game was very memorable for me, because I don’t play in such a style often. At the time, I was in a “Petroff” phase, and that was the opening out of which the position below arose. I’d heard that the Petroff is a drawing weapon, but some of my best attacking games were in this opening! I became so fond of it that I thought if I ever had a dog, I’d name him Petroff.
The Zambrana likes to sacrifice his pieces, but in this game, he met a new creature, the “Irinosaur,” a friendly animal with occasionally sharp teeth, who stole this role from him …
The Irinosaur pounces
IM Oswaldo Zambrana (FIDE 2404, BOL) IM Irina Krush (FIDE 2449, USA)
American Continental, Buenos Aires 2003 (11)
“... in this game, he met a new creature,
hey, my knight just came from there! While the knight jump to e4 is pretty standard, this one is more unusual. The idea is simple—promote the pawn to g3 and infiltrate on h2 with the queen.
27. hxg3 fxg3 28. f4
Trying to stop both ... Be3+ and the queen from coming to f4.
28. ... Rxe1?! Why only a rook? The queen sacrifice
26...Ng3!! It takes my computer a minute to sug-
gest this move, and a minute after that it’s still at the evaluation of ‘equal.’ Its other suggestion is the retreat back to f6; but
72 November 2012 | Chess Life
28. ... Qxf4!! would’ve been more stylish. (28. ... Qxf4 29. Rxf4 Rxe1+ 30. Rf1 Be3+ 31. Kh1 Rxf1+ 32. Bxf1 Bxc2 33. Rb2 [33. Ra1 Rf8 34. Ne2 Rf5 35. Nxg3 Rf4] 33. ... Rf8 34. Be2 Rf4 finishing up with a nice mate on the h-file.)
31. Kf1 Rf8 32. Rb3 Bxc1
32. ... Nxf5 was again the way to go: 33. Rf3 Qh4 34. Qd3 Qh1+ 35. Ke2 Re8+.
33. Rf3 Nxf5 34. Qxc1 Qh4 35. Ke2 Nd4+
My recollection is that White lost on time here. But Black will take the rook on f3 with a winning position. I think the Zambrana appreciated being beaten in his own style. After the game he smiled and said “nice game.” Yes, it was cer- tainly nice, to sacrifice a piece on every move! I felt like such a hero.
the ‘Irinosaur,’ a friendly animal with occasionally sharp teeth ...
29. Rxe1 Qxf4 30. Bxf5 Qxd4+?! In time trouble I didn’t play this attack
”
as well as it deserved. The simple 30. ... Nxf5 with either ... Qh4 or ... Qxd4 is best.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ST LOUIS CHESS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76