In the Arena / 3rd Washington International
his “novelty” against him! I had to calculate the following lines, which seemed to lead to a strong initiative.
11. ... c5 White has full compensation after 11.
... Bxb2 12. Bxa5 Bxa1 13. Nc3 Bxc3 (13. ... Bb2 14. d6 Nc6 15. Bxc7 Qe8 16. Nd5) 14. Bxc3 d6 (14. ... f6 15. e5!) 15. Bf6 Bg4 16. Qd2 Bxf3 17. gxf3); 11. ... Nc4 12. Bc3 Nxb2 (12. ... Bxc3 13. Nxc3 Nxb2 14. Qd4) 13. Qc1 Nc4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Bb3 Nb6 16. Qc3+ f6 17. Nbd2.
12. Bc3 Another possibility was 12. d6 when
Black resigned at move 41 in Zherebukh- Zvjaginsev/12th European Individual Chess Championship, Aix-les-Bains, France, 2011.
GM Sergei Azarov of Belarus topped the international field by a full point.
round. This led to him playing four grand - masters and three international masters in his first seven games. The Washington International, run by
the Maryland Chess Association (MCA), has several characteristics that make it unique, the most important being that the tourna - ment is set up to pro vide both a high-quality playing envi ron ment and a strong field. The minimum FIDE rating of 2100 in the A- section and conditions for non-U.S. grand - masters and international masters led to that section having a median rating of 2400 FIDE and over half the field being grand- masters and international masters. IM, now GM-Elect, Sevian had a nice
win against GM Yaro Zherebukh to put him into sole first place in the A-section after five rounds.
Ruy Lopez (C60) IM Samuel Sevian (2553) GM Yaroslav Zherebukh (2709) 3rd Annual Washington International (5) 08.11.2014 Notes by Sevian.
start, 31 /4. I had a very interesting game
I was going into round five after a good ⁄2
with Illya Nyzhnyk in round four playing the Botvinnik Variation of the Slav. This
44 November 2014 | Chess Life
game was no less complex thanks to my opponent’s challenging play.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nge7 The Steinitz Defense.
5. 0-0 I have also played 5. c3 before.
5. ... g6 6. c3 Bg7 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 b5 9. Bc2 The bishop stands better on c2 here
than on b3, because after I play d4-d5, Na5 does not come with tempo: 9. Bb3 0- 0 10. d5 Na5.
9. ... 0-0
Also playable is 9. ... d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Bg5 Nce7. 10. d5 Na5 White is slightly better after 10. ... Nb4
11. Bb3 a5 12. a3 Na6 13. d6 cxd6 14. Qxd6 because of Black’s d7-weakness.
11. Bd2
(see diagram top of next column) White offers material for a strong attack.
Surprisingly after the game when I checked this line, I saw the game GM Yaroslav Zherebukh (FIDE 2559, UKR)-GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (FIDE 2663, RUS)! so I played
12. ... Bxc3 The line 12. ... d6 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14.
b3 gives White an extra option of develop - ing the knight to d2 after ... Bg4 with a subsequent capture on f3.
13. Nxc3 d6 14. b3 I restrict his knight on a5 (14. h3 stop -
ping 14. ... Bg4 allows the knight on a5 to get out via 14. ... Nc4 15. b3 Na3 16. Bd3 f6 with interesting play).
14. ... Bg4 I anticipated this move, as the knight
on f3 plays the key role in supporting the e4-e5 advance and also vacates space on the queenside for the pieces (White also has an edge after 14. ... b4 15. Na4 Bd7 16. Nb2).
15. h3 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Nc8 17. Rad1
I played this move a bit too fast; I thought that the main plan was to play e4-e5. I impatiently started down that path when instead I first had to improve the position of my knight (17. Nd1 Nb6 18. Ne3 and from here the white knight can go to g4, supporting the f4-f5 advance).
17. ... Nb6 18. a3 Rc8 19. Ne2 The knight goes to g3 to support f4-f5.
19. ... Nd7 20. Ng3 Nb7 21. Qe3 Qf6 (see diagram top of next page)
PHOTO: MICHAEL REGAN
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