Chess to Enjoy / Entertainment 2013 U.S. Championship Redux
The last U.S. Championship had more splendid tactical finishes than any Championship since the 1960s. Six games from the 2013 Championship, which was won by GM Gata Kamsky, are featured in this month’s quiz. In each one you are asked to find the fastest winning line of play. This will usually mean the forced win of a deci- sive amount of material, such as a rook or minor piece. But keep an eye out for mates as well. For solutions, see page 71.
Problem I GM Marc Arnold GM Timur Gareev
Problem II
GM Alexander Onischuk GM Benjamin Finegold
Problem III
GM Benjamin Finegold GM Alexander Shabalov
BLACK TO PLAY
Problem IV GM Varuzhan Akobian GM Alexander Shabalov
WHITE TO PLAY
Problem V GM Alexander Ivanov GM Marc Arnold
BLACK TO PLAY
Problem VI FM Jorge Sammour Hasbun GM Alexander Ivanov
BLACK TO PLAY
BLACK TO PLAY
WHITE TO PLAY
Alekhine tried playing mind games. He
blitzed off his moves, then jumped out of his chair and began to circle around the board while his opponent was thinking. But Botvinnik sacrificed one knight,
then the other and repeated the position with three checks.
Giving Alekhine an alkaline sweat Alexander Alekhine Mikhail Botvinnik Nottingham 1936
Could Black play for a win with 20. ... Bxf5, he wondered? “My goodness, what came over Alexan-
der Alexandrovich,” Botvinnik wrote in his memoirs. “His tie became undone, his button-on collar curled up on one side, his thinning hair became disheveled.” He did not recover until Botvinnik offered a draw. If you find the three-into-two arith-
metic too simple-minded, let’s see if we can make sense of a recent game by talking in terms of percentages.
Playing with a draw in hand GM Vladimir Kramnik (FIDE 2784, RUS) GM Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE 2716, RUS) World Cup 2013
attacked queen, 30. Qf1, he would allow Black to coordinate his pieces, 30. ... Bd7 and 31. ... Nd6. “Only Black can play to win,” he concluded. That’s quite an exaggeration. But if you evaluate the possible outcomes, you might say there is a 50 percent chance of a draw. But there’s a 30-to-35 percent chance of a Black win and perhaps a 15-to-20 per- cent chance that White will win. With that in mind, White played 30.
dxc6! Rxe1+ 31. Nxe1. He must win the b- pawn because 31. ... Qb6 allows 32. Rxb5! Qxb5?? 33. Rd8+. Play continued 31. ... Qc7 32. Rxb5 g6! 33. Rc5 Ne5 34. Be4. The game headed “towards two results,” Kramnik wrote. “The probability of a draw is much higher than the probability of White winning but all the same he can play without the slightest risk.” Or, we might say, the likelihood of a
draw has soared to 60 to 70 percent. That’s what discourages some players about moves like 30. dxc6!. But, barring a blunder, there’s almost no
BLACK TO PLAY
Alekhine, caught off guard, expected Botvinnik to offer or claim a draw. But Botvinnik just studied the position. After five minutes Alekhine realized to his hor- ror that there might be a third outcome.
chance of a Black win. By limiting the outcomes to two, White gradually out- played his opponent (34. ... Ng4 35. Nd3! Kg7 36. Bf3 Nf6 37. Nb4 h5 38. Rdc1 Ra7 39. Nd5!). He got the outcome he wanted after 39.
White had foreseen that if he moved his
... Nxd5 40. Bxd5 Qd8 41. c7! and White even- tually won.
www.uschess.org 17
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