English Chess Forum

I work with Chris Ward at a school in Dulwich and when I met him today he was just finishing off annotating a game by England's brightest junior prospect, Shreyas Royal, which features below. Played in Warwickshire a few days ago, 9 year old Shreyas, the UK's youngest ever CM and surely a future England number 1, carves up an experienced opponent, Black side of a Dragon. Apologies to Roger, but its because I know how strong Roger is that makes this game so impressive. Chris W didn't know which round it actually was but hopefully Roger can fill in the blanks:

[Event "Warwickshire"] [Date "2018.03.03"] [White "De Coverly, R.."] [Black "Royal, R.."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B78"] [WhiteElo "1953"] [BlackElo "1739"] [Annotator "Chris Ward"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Bc4 Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. h4 h5 13. Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 b5 ( 14... Re8 {reaches the familiar position more typically reached after 12 Kb1 Re8 13 h4 but given this main Soltis move order, the text is consistent.}) 15. Bxf6 ({} 15. Rhe1 and) (15. g4 {are the main continuations here but in fact this is the first time that we have featured this early trade. It has occurred on a few occasions before but not by too many strong players. I suppose the bishop effectively gets out of the way of the pawns but if Black deals accurately with that oncoming rush then the bishop will be better than the knight.}) 15... Bxf6 16. f4 (16. g4 {is arguably more challenging but then after} hxg4 17. h5 {Black can keep the h-file closed through} g5 $1) 16... Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 ({Immediately pressurising the knight on d4. Very reasonable but actually} 17... bxc4 { opening the b-file also looks quite appealing. Black could then meet 18 f5 with 18...Qb6 whilst} 18. e5 Bg7 19. exd6 exd6 20. Nde2 $6 Qb6 21. Nd4 $6 Rb8 22. b3 a5 23. Nce2 a4 {had seem rather lame play by White duly punished in Meetei,A-Passerotti,P (2330) Valetta 1980.}) 18. e5 Bg7 $1 ({Correctly side-stepping} 18... dxe5 19. Ndxb5 $1 {with an annoying d-file pin.}) 19. Nf3 ({Instead} 19. b3 {would essentially look to unpin the e5-pawn but after} Rc8 $1 20. exd6 Bg4 $1 {Black would have a pretty tasty bishop pair.}) 19... b4 ({ Straight to the point although} 19... Bf5 $5 {scrutinising c2 also looks attractive. Then after} 20. exd6 exd6 21. Qxd6 Qxd6 ({Of course} 21... Qc8 { looks good too.}) 22. Rxd6 b4 23. Nd5 Bxc2+ 24. Ka1 b3 {the bishop pair again looks awesome with the white king potentially in trouble on a-file or back rank.}) 20. Nd5 a5 (20... Be6 21. Nxb4 Qb6 {clearly tenders very reasonable compensation but there is nothing wrong with the text. I make no excuses in including this game in an update otherwise packed with IMs and GMs. Playing with the Black pieces here is a wonderful 8 year old talent. It really wouldn't surprise me if this boy went on to become World Champion one day but I just hope that if he does, he won't by such a time have switched to the Berlin Defence!}) 21. Rhe1 Bg4 (21... Bf5 22. Ne3 Rxf4 23. Nxf5 Rxf5 24. exd6 exd6 25. Qxd6 Qxd6 26. Rxd6 Rf4 {would leave Black with a slight endgame advantage but it could be that Shreyas was after more!}) 22. exd6 exd6 ({ Obviously not} 22... Qxd6 $4 23. Nxe7+) 23. Ne7+ Kh8 24. f5 (24. Qxd6 $6 Qxd6 25. Rxd6 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Rxf4 {would be clearly better for Black. Instead then as most experienced tournament players would, White tries to mix things up. The way that someone so young deals with White's attempts at action though is frightening.}) 24... gxf5 {Correctly keeping the bishops that comfort Black whilst his pawn structure is being compromised.} 25. Qxd6 $2 (25. Qd3 {or}) ( 25. Qd5 {would keep things going but the text allows Black the opportunity to ruthlessly close out.}) 25... Qxd6 26. Rxd6 Re4 $1 {Sort of forking the rook and knight and certainly threatening ...Bxf3.} 27. Rxe4 fxe4 28. Ng5 e3 { All of a sudden Black has a runaway passed pawn.} 29. Rd3 e2 30. Re3 Bd4 31. Re4 Bf2 {Mature beyond his years is somewhat of an under-statement!} 0-1

It was Round 2

I didn't get an opportunity to look at his games beforehand, but it was a reasonable guess that he would play the Dragon given that he's from Kent and Chris Ward is a Kent coach. I don't believe the Yugoslav Attack is mate, but White should maintain a decent position. Arguably I ran out of theory at move 15. Punting 15. g4 is a usual idea, but difficult to assess unless you can recall a detailed sequence. You have to know 13 Kb1 and 14 Bg5 (or vice versa) but otherwise it's a tabiya that's easy to reach.

The critical position is this one

[SetUp "1"] [FEN "3q1r1k/4Npb1/3p4/p4p1p/1pr3bP/5N2/PPPQ2P1/1K1RR3 w - - 0 25"]

According to an engine I should decline the immediate offer of the d6 pawn and first nudge the Rook with Qd3. That's supposedly just equal. I had totally overlooked the .. Re4 idea after which there's no defence. Ironically the idea of playing f5 was to not allow .. Rxf4

I guess this will be available to readers of Chris W's column at chesspublishing in his update this month!

Paul

Paul Dargan wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 13, 2018 7:27 pm

I guess this will be available to readers of Chris W's column at chesspublishing in his update this month!

Paul

Yes it will be Paul. Pretty amazing that a 9 year old will be adding to the theory of the Dragon.