Three Russians dominate Goodricke Open
By Kristianus Liem
JAKARTA (JP): A trio of ex-Soviets dominated the 8th annual Goodricke Open from Feb. 7 to Feb. 17 in Calcutta, India.
Grandmasters Vadim Zviaginsev of Russia, Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia and Alexander Nenashev of Uzbekistan scored 8 points in eleven rounds to top the 68-player field. The three top finishers shared the first three cash prizes taking Rupees 50,000 each. But Zviaginsev got a trophy in addition because he was better on tie- breaks.
Zviaginsev, a 20-year old economics graduate from Moscow State University, scored eight points in this 11 round Swiss system tournament without loosing a single game. A record 18 countries participated, included 12 grandmasters and 28 FIDE rated players.
Ehlvest, 34, started the tournament with a draw in the first round against Indian's new star Chandrasekhar Gokhale, but slowly gained ground and stayed in the leading pack until the very end of the tournament. Like Zviaginsev, Ehlvest was undefeated.
But for his one solitary defeat Nenashev played his usual game and notched many victories. He went off the rails in the third round when he lost to Vietnam's promising youngster Nguyen Anh Dung. He played very uncharacteristically and allowed Nguyen to win easily.
On the day Nenashev lost, his wife Mamedova Rena, a female FIDE Master who also played in the tournament, arrived 30 minutes late for her game. She said Nenashev had left for the tournament without her thinking she had already gone. Trouble in paradise?
The prize winners were: 1-3. GM Zviaginsev (Russia, 2,610), GM Ehlvest (Estonia, 2,635), GM Nenashev (Uzbekistan, 2,585) 8 MP; 4. IM Pravin Thipsay (India, 2,560, he got Rs 26,000) 7,5 MP; 5- 13. (each got Rs 7,555) GM Saidali Iuldachev (Uzbekistan, 2,555), GM Peter Szekely (Hungary, 2,455), GM Seregey Zagrebelny (Uzbekistan, 2,480), GM Mihail Marin (Rumania, 2,545), GM Dibyendu Barua (India, 2,535), MI Sudhakar Babu (India, 2,380), GM Nigel Davies (England 2,505), GM Vidmantas Malisauskas (Lithuania, 2,530), GM Viktor Komliakov (Moldova, 2,460) 7 MP.
Here is one of the best games.
White: GM Vadim Zviaginsev
Black: MB Muralidharan
King's Indian Defense
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be3 Nfd7 8.Qb3! Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Nc6 10.Rd1 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5!
If 11...Ndxe5?! 12.Be2 and White position is slightly better as in the game Vulfson-Kovalevskaya, Russia 1995.
12.Ne2! Qe7!
Here 12...Qc8!? is an interesting idea, but White will be better after 13.0-0 Rd8 14.Bg4 f5 15.Bh3 Nf6 16.exf5 gxf5 17.Rxd8+ Nxd8 18.Ng3 Ng4 19.Nxf5 Qxf5 20.f3 Nxe3 21.Bxf5 Nxf5 22.Rd1.
13.0-0!
Also good here 13.Qxb7!? Nd4 14.Nxd4 exd4 15.Bxd41 Bxd4 16.Rxd4 Nc5 17.Qc6 Black lost two pawns without compensation.
13...Nc5 14.Qa3 Ne6 15.Qxe7 Nxe7 16.Bg4
Also good here 16.Rd7! Nc6 17.Bg4 with the idea if 17...Ned4? 18.Rxc7 h5 19.Bf3! and White wins.
16...f5 17.Bh3 Rad8 18.exf5 Nxf5!? 19.Nc3 Kh8!?
Maybe better here 19...Ned4 20.Rfe1 h6 21.Nd5 Nxe3 22.fxe3 Nc2 with the balance position.
20.Bc1! Rd4 21.b3 Rfd8 22.g3 Bf8?
See diagram. The move 22...c6 depriving the Nc3 of squares and leaving the Bishop on g7, to support the isolated e5 pawn was better.
23.Rde1! Rd3
Of course not 23...Bb4? because of 24.Rxe5 Bxc3 25.Rxe6 threatening 26.Bxf5 gxf5 27.Bg5 and White wins.
24.Rxe5 Ned4 25.Rd5
The only move.
25...Rxd5 26.Nxd5 Ne2+ 27.Kg2 Nxc1 28.Bxf5!
If this Knight were to be allowed to d4, it would cause problems for White. Moreover, with this exchange, any prospects of a draw through the opposite colour Bishop are lost.
28...gxf5 29.Rxc1 Rd2 30.Nxc7 Rxa2 31.Ne6 Bh6 32.Re1 Kg8 33.Nd4
For 33.Re5 Rb2! 34.Rxf5 Rxb3 White still has a better position but it is more difficult to win.
33...f4 34.Re2 Ra3 35.Re7
Black lost on time here, but after 35...b6 36.g4 White is still winning. 1-0