11. ... Qb8 Worse is 11. ... Qc5? 12. b4 Qxb4 13.
Rb1. 12. cxd5 Nc5?! I think the variation 12. ... a6 13. Nc3
b5 was more accurate, and Black should be close to equal. 14. b4 (14. a3 Ra7! 15. Be3 Rc7 is equal) 14. ... Nb6.
13. Nd2 a5?! This move makes sense, it’s prophylaxis
against b2-b4 (trying to maintain the knight on c5), but it also weakens the dark squares, which I tried to exploit, but unfortunately not in the best way. The position is equal after 13. ... Bd7!? 14. Nc3 b5 (14. ... Rc8!? 15. a4 a5 16. Nc4 Nxa4 is also not so clear.) 15. b4 Na4 16. Nxa4 bxa4 17. Nc4 Rc8 18. Be3 Bb5 19. Rac1 Bxc4 20. Bxc4 Qxb4 21. Qd3 Qa5.
14. Nc4! Ncxe4
ically after playing ... Bh6 just two moves ago.
28. Bc4 Rxa8 29. Rxa8 Qc7 30. Kf1 Maybe a bit dangerous (exposing my
king a bit, although I didn’t see anything concrete, and we were both getting a bit low on time by now. White keeps an edge with 30. Kh1!? Qd7 (30. ... Bg5) 31. Bxc5 dxc5 32. g3.
30. ... Qd7 31. Qd1 Nce6 32. g3 Nh3? Better is 32. ... Ng5 33. Ra3 (33. gxf4
Qh3+ 34. Ke1 Nxf3+ 35. Ke2 I was going to go for this position, thinking I was consolidating here, but it turned out even despite the extra rook ... 35. ... Nxh2 36. Bd5 Bxf4 Black has enough resources to maintain the balance.)
33. Bb6 Neg5 34. Bc5?! The continuation 34. Rd8 Qf5 35. Bd5
was just winning. His pieces are too tangled up to do anything. (35. Qd3).
15. f3? White obtains a large edge with 15. Be3!
Bf5 16. g4! Nxg4 17. Bxg4 Bxg4 18. Qxe4 f5 19. Qg2 Bxd1 20. Rxd1.
15. ... Bd7 16. a4! Bxb5 17. axb5 Nc5 18. Nb6!?
It is unclear after 18. Rxa5 Rxa5 19. Nxa5 e4.
18. ... Ra7 19. Be3 Rd8! 20. Ra3 Bf8 21. Rda1 Qc7 22. b4 Qxb6
22. ... axb4!? 23. Rxa7 Qxb6 24. Qd2
b3 25. R7a3 e4 26. Rb1 Re8 27. Bc4 Bg7ª It is anyone’s game here.
23. bxa5 Rxa5 24. Rxa5 Nxd5 25. Bf2 Bh6?! Here Vassily is starting to lose the thread.
Up to here he was playing great and his psychological approach was paying off.
26. R5a3! Nf4 27. Ra8
(see diagram top of next column) Now we see how the bishop isn’t so well
placed on h6, it is just attacking air. Also, I have active rooks.
27. ... Kg7 The move 27. ... Bf8!! was safer, but it’s
hard to play such a move psycholog-
34. ... Nf4 35. Bxd6 Qh3+ 36. Ke1 Ng2+ And as soon as we got to this position I
got scared, since I thought I blew the win. The “win” I planned to go for originally failed.
37. Ke2 Worse is 37. Kf2? Ne4+!, I missed this
resource originally. It’s a draw here. 38. fxe4 Be3+ 39. Kf1 (39. Kf3?? Qh5+ picks off the queen) 39. ... Nf4+ 40. Ke1 Ng2+.
37. ... Nf4+ 38. Ke1 Now just in case, I decided to repeat once
in order to gain time on the clock and get closer to the time control. I also had to make sure I wouldn’t repeat three times.
38. ... Ng2+ 39. Ke2 Nf4+
International Events / 2015 World Team Championships And finally the moment of truth: It’s
move 40, I have about three minutes left to make my one move to get to the time control, I’m playing Ivanchuk, and I have to decide if it’s safe to play Kd2. This was a very nervous moment for me since I’ve been notorious for making lots of blunders in critical moments. With the match tied 1-1, the pressure was mounting. I started looking at Kd2. At first this move seemed absurd, going into the same diagonal as the bishop. But as I started calculating, I’m having more and more faith that the lines are working in my favor. I’m down 30 seconds. I have to make the decision. I’m very thankful that I made the right deci sion, perhaps one of the best I’ve made ever in a chess game! No matter what happened to you in the past, and how strong your opponent is, you still have to have faith.
40. Kd2! After I made this move Ivanchuk became
visibly upset, and immediately made the move ...
40. ... Nfe6 Phew! Now I had 30 minutes, I stood
up, took a stretch, relaxed, and started looking at the position with fresh eyes. I realized more and more that I’m probably just winning.
41. Kc3 Qf5 42. h4!, Black resigned. The final important move. Ivanchuk
thought for a couple of minutes and decided to call it a game. No matter what he tries to do, he’s completely lost. This was the happiest moment for me of this tournament, and also a huge relief. I am very thankful for the opportunity to get a chance to play for the U.S. Team, to get a chance to play against a legend like Ivanchuk—and to play such an interesting battle with him. 42. h4 Qxf3+ (42. ... Nxf3 43. Bxe6 Bd2+ 44. Qxd2 Qxe6 45. Qd3) 43. Qxf3 Nxf3 44. Bxe6 fxe6 (44. ... Bd2+ 45. Kd3 fxe6 46. Ke4 Nh2 47. Ra7) 45. Bf8+.
A victory in this match had a big impact
on the final results of the event. Before this round Ukraine was a half point ahead of China, but by losing, they practically abandoned all chances for a gold medal. In the final round, the Chinese players easily beat India plus-two. Once again, as in the last chess Olympiad, they proved that China is now a leading chess country. Second place went to Ukraine, and
Armenia finished third. The U.S. tied with Russia for fourth, which was a great achievement, especially considering our bad start.
Read more about the World Teams in Chess Life Online at
uschess.org, April/May archives.
www.uschess.org 35
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