41. Kg3 Qc3+ 42. f3 Qc7+ 43. Kh3 Qg7 44. Ne6 Qf7 45. Qxf8+ Qxf8 46. Nxf8 Kxf8 47. Kg3 Ke7 48. Kf4 Kf6 49. g4 and White wins the ending.
28. Qd3 Qf7 29. Qd8+ Kh7 30. Qd1 Qf5 31. Qe2 g5
After this, Black is probably lost. The
strategic consideration was summed up by Botvinnik: one weakness you can defend, two no. Now g5 and e6 (and maybe even a7) become targets. In the maneuvering against these squares, the computer is especially strong.
32. hxg5 hxg5 33. g3 Bh8 Black sees a ghost and abandons his
plan of ... g4 and ... Bxe5. White would still have good chances against this line, but at least the bishop would gain some scope.
34. Kg2 Kg6 35. Qc4 Bxe5 36. g4 Qf4 37. Qxe6+ Bf6 38. Nh2 Qe5 39. Qg8+ Kh6 40. Qc4 Qc5 41. Qf7 Qd4 42. Qe6 Qe5 43. Qf5 Bh8
It’s a fundamental endgame win after
43. ... Qxf5 44. gxf5 g4 45. Nxg4+ Kg5 46. Nxf6 Kxf6 47. Kg3 Kxf5 48. Kf3.
44. Qf8+ Bg7 45. Qf7 Kh7 46. Qd7 Kg8 47. Qd3 Kf7 48. Nf1 Bf8 49. Qd7+ Kg6 50. Ng3 Bc5
-+-+-+-+
pz -+Q+-+- -zp-+-+k+ +Pvl-wq-zp- -+-+-+P+ +-+-+-sN- -+-+-zPK+ +-+-+-+-
After 50. ... Bc5 Black has defended well to place his
pieces on active squares, but the white king is safe and the black king exposed.
51. Qd3+ Kg7 52. Qb3 Kf6 53. Qf3+ Kg6 54. Qc6+ Kf7 55. Qb7+ Kg6 56. Qf3 Be7 57. Nf5 Bc5 58. Qc6+ Kf7 59. Qd7+ Kg6 60. Ng3 Bd4 61. Qc6+ Kf7 62. Qe4 Bb2 63. Qf3+ Ke6 64. Qc6+ Kf7 65. Nf5 Ba3 66. Qd7+ Kg6 67. Qd3 Bb2 68. Qc2 Kf6 69. Qd2 Ke6
Black has to abandon the g-pawn.
After 69. ... Kg6 (69. ... Qe4+ 70. f3 Qe5 71. Qd8+ is no better) the b-pawn shines after 70. Qd3 Bc1 71. Ng3+ Kh6 72. Qc4 Bf4 73. Nf5+ Kg6 74. Qg8+ Kf6 75. Qg7+ Ke6 76. Qg6+ Kd5 77. Qc6 mate.
70. Qxg5 Qe4+ 71. Kh2 Be5+ 72. Ng3 Qf3 73. Kg1 Kd5
Black can’t draw after 73. ... Bxg3 74.
Qf5+ Qxf5 75. gxf5+ Kxf5 76. fxg3 Kg4 77. Kg2 and White will march the g-pawn up the board, stalemate the black king which will force the a-pawn to move and then the b-pawn graduates with bxa6, a7 and a8=Q mate.
74. Kf1 Qd1+ 75. Kg2 Qd3 76. Qh5 Kd6 77. Qe8 Qd5+ 78. f3 Kc5 79. Ne4+ Kd4 80. g5 Ke3 81. Kh3 Kxf3 82. Nf6 Qd3
After 82. ... Bxf6 83. Qc6! is the end.
83. Kh4 Bd4 84. Qe6 Kf2 85. Qe4 Qg3+ 86. Kh5, Black resigned.
An outstanding game by America’s newest international correspondence GM.
Although I am friendly with many other top-rated players, I don’t have a favorite game of theirs. As for a favorite player, GM Ron Langeveld, presently the #2 rated player at 2699, was a Champions League teammate of mine and gave me a lot of friendly advice. We still keep in touch and share ideas.
The grandmaster title—fantastic! And of course the inevitable question— what next? I don’t have any concrete plans other than to play my best. I just started a Category 13 and a Category 14 tournament, resulting in 25 more games against top-level opponents. Nonetheless, I already have several favorable positions and no inferior positions.
Finally—are there any CC secrets that you can share with your reading audience? This is perhaps the toughest question. But what works for me is to: 1) Play the board. Remain objective. 2) Play what analysis indicates is best, regardless of risk or the nature of the resulting position. 3) Don’t rush the moves. Don’t move until convinced that the selected move is best. There are no extra points for playing quickly. 4) Don’t be afraid of the result. Instead, find the best plans and play the best possible moves. The result will sort itself out. 5) Don’t be influenced by the computer. It’s common for my moves to not be top computer selections while my personal evaluations are always trusted over engine evaluations.
We leave you with one final Stephen Ham game. He has finished undefeated in second place in the 2009 Israeli Jubilee tournament. Here we see a model of White defensive play on the kingside in the King’s Indian Defense.
uschess.org
King’s Indian Defense (KID), Classical Main Line (E99) Stephen Ham (2535) C. Cruzado Dueñas (2576) 50 Israeli championship – Jubilee 2009
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. Be2 e5 7. 0-0 Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Ne1
Many players have been avoiding the 9.
b4 Bayonet attack lately in favor of the balanced 9. Ne1 with b4 to follow later.
9. ... Nd7 10. Be3 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bf2 g5 13. Rc1 Rf6
Two major shifts in the playing of either
side of the KID occur here. 13. a4 had been the most popular move scoring the highest percentage and 13. ... Ng6 is now the most popular choice for Black. Nev- ertheless Cruzado’s choice has been scoring well lately.
14. Nd3 b6 15. b4 Rh6 16. c5 Qe8 17. Be1 This might be entitled “the mysterious
bishop move” as the depth of White’s defensive setup does not become clear for some moves. White vacates f2 for the d3-knight which will then guard the sen- sitive h3 and g4 squares. Black’s next is designed to throw all his army at the white king. It fails, but only because of Ham’s tactical alertness.
17. ... Nxc5!? It’s not the easiest choice just to find
punctuation marks for this move. The “!” is for its bravery; the “?” is for its result.
18. bxc5 Qh5 19. h4! bxc5 20. Qa4 White has some problems to solve. His
queenside action has been stymied by 17. ... Nxc5!? and the kingside is no place for White to pick a fight. His extra piece (for two pawns) is healthy but not doing much for the moment. Ham activates his queen in anticipation of the fight to come.
20. ... gxh4 21. Kh2! The weak spot in White’s position is the
g2-square. Ham’s king move allows him to protect the square twice more after Rg1 and Bf1. After these defensive moves White is ready to go on the counterattack.
21. ... Bf6 22. Rg1 Rg6 23. Qe8+ Kg7 24. Bf1 Rb8 25. Ne2 Ng8 26. Nf2 Be7 27. Rc3 Kh8 28. Kh1 h3 29. g4 fxg3 e.p. 30. Nxg3 Qg5
Black keeps attacking but he is running out of threats.
31. Ne2 Qh5 32. Rxg6 hxg6 33. Ng3 Qh4 34. Kh2 Rb1 35. Nd3 Ba6 36. Nf5 Qh7 37. Nxe5 gxf5 38. Ng6+, Black resigned.
.
See more correspondence chess features on pages 28 and 32. Also see Alex Dunne’s monthly column, “The Check is in the Mail,” on
uschess.org.
Chess Life — August 2011 39
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