Chess.com Isle Of Man Tournament 20 to 28 October 2018

[Leonard Barden]

On 4, Nigel plays D. Gukesh of whom I never heard.

Nigel has CERTAINLY heard of Dommaraju Gukesh.

From my Guardian column of 20 April this year:

What occurred to Nigel Short at the Bangkok Open this week was much worse. The former world title challenger is a regular at Thailand’s annual event, won it in 2017, began this week with 3.5/4, and as the No 2 seed looked set for a strong performance. In round five Short steadily outplayed India’s youngest and newest IM, 11-year-old D Gukesh, and reached a won ending two pawns up.

Then, disaster. Short gave a rook check, forgot to press his clock and after a few minutes his flag fell. He wrote on Twitter: “Lose with dignity … is a bit hard when your opponent is fully aware that you have not pressed your clock and jumps up and down with glee the moment your flag falls.”

[Brian Valentine]

It's a reversed Vienna, surely? It's 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.d3 with colours reversed.

Indeed, and so 6 Qh5+ was in fact already known to be very bad. The same error of 5...Qh4+ in the (real) Vienna featured in Andrew Hon v Paul van der Sterren, Lloyds Bank 1993, when one of our 190-odd players scored an easy win against someone who had recently qualified for the Candidates (!).

Can we tease Tim as well as van der Sterren over this? My immediate thought was that maybe he wrote a book on the Vienna many years ago, but perhaps not (maybe I am confusing it with the Bishops Opening).

The first opening trap I ever learnt was how to win against 5....Qh4+. It was with horror that I saw an article in chessbase magazine a few years back, pointing out that in itself it was not an error. Put it in an engine and it come out =. The error by black is the next move 6...Nxg3; 6..Nxc3 is fine. My copy of Tim's book is a bit dog-eared, maybe a second edition is required.

[Roger de Coverly]

t was with horror that I saw an article in chessbase magazine a few years back, pointing out that in itself it was not an error. Put it in an engine and it come out =. The error by black is the next move 6...Nxg3; 6..Nxc3 is fine.

That's a useful piece of knowledge. Engine suggested Queen moves are 7. ..Qa4, 7. .. Qe7 and 7. .. Qd8.

[John Saunders]

... 6 Qh5+ was in fact already known to be very bad. The same error of 5...Qh4+ in the (real) Vienna featured in Andrew Hon v Paul van der Sterren, Lloyds Bank 1993, when one of our 190-odd players scored an easy win against someone who had recently qualified for the Candidates (!).

This is a cue for one of my favourite anecdotes. I was sitting next to Paul van der Sterren when he was being put to the sword by Andrew Hon in the game to which Jonathan refers (I was busy losing to GM Barua). On my other side was David Bronstein. He spotted the position in Hon-vd Sterren and then got up from his chair and walked purposefully down the playing hall. When he came back, he had in tow a slightly bewildered looking Sir Stuart Milner-Barry, who had been playing his own game elsewhere in the room. Bronstein then pointed at the Hon game and said something to Sir Stuart. I cannot now remember if I actually heard what Bronstein said at the time or discovered it later from one of the other spectators watching the game but it was along the lines of "Look! Your game against EG Sergeant! Margate 1938!"

[Event "Margate"] [Site "Margate"] [Date "1938.??.??"] [Round "9"] [White "Milner Barry, Philip Stuart"] [Black "Sergeant, Edward G"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C29"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "1938.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "HCL"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceVersion "2"] [SourceVersionDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. Nf3 Qh5 8. Nxd5 Bg4 9. Bg2 Nxh1 10. Nxc7+ Kd7 11. Nxa8 Nc6 12. Be3 f6 13. d4 fxe5 14. d5 Kc8 15. dxc6 Bb4+ 16. c3 bxc6 17. cxb4 Rd8 18. Qe2 Kb7 19. Rd1 e4 20. Rxd8 exf3 21. Bxf3 Qh4+ 22. Kd2 Qxd8+ 23. Kc1 Bxf3 24. Qxf3 Qd5 25. Qxd5 cxd5 26. Kd1 g5 27. Ke1 g4 28. Kf1 g3 29. Kg2 Nf2 30. Bxf2 gxf2 31. Kxf2 Kxa8 32. Ke3 1-0

[Event "Lloyds Bank op 16th"] [Site "London"] [Date "1992.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hon, Andrew"] [Black "Van der Sterren, Paul"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C29"] [WhiteElo "2215"] [BlackElo "2530"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "1992.08.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "CBM 031 ext"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1993.01.01"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "1993.01.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. Nf3 Qh5 8. Nxd5 Nxh1 9. Nxc7+ Kd8 10. Nxa8 Bg4 11. Bg2 Nc6 12. d4 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Qxf3 14. Bxf3 Nxd4 15. Bg5+ Kc8 16. O-O-O Bc5 17. Bxh1 Kb8 18. b4 Ne6 19. bxc5 Nxg5 20. Rd7 Kxa8 21. Rxb7 1-0

[Nick Ivell]

I fell for that Vienna trap against none other than L Barden. Simul, London 1974. Bet he's forgotten though...

[Leonard Barden]

I don't remember that particular occasion, Nick. Would it have been the simul after the London junior prizegiving, with Szabo giving the main simul and myself the secondary one?

I used 2 Nc3 and 5 d3 so pulled off the Qh4+ and other Vienna snares often in simuls in the 1960s and 1970s. The Vienna had been one of my regular tournament openings in the early 1950s and I think I also recommended it in A Guide to Chess Openings, possibly including that very trap. I played it less in tournaments after the 1952 Helsinki Olympiad, where my Vienna lost to Eldis Cobo of Cuba.

There is even a link with Milner-Barry. Stuart was my room mate at Helsinki, where he spent the evenings after the games composing a letter to Thelma, and always taking a sip from a flask of whisky before bed. He clearly disapproved when I went to a party given by Arthur Bisguier and Larry Evans the night before the Cobo game, which I also remember because the Cuban wore a tie featuring a large picture of a dancing girl as he ground me down to defeat.

In my defence it was a late round of the Olympiad and we were in mid-table in final pool B, so it didn't make much difference. However I learnt the lesson and never went to another party during an Olympiad.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Brian is right, of course; 5...Qh4+ is not itself so bad since one can still play 6...Nxc3. But since it tends to be played with the intention of 6...Nxg3?? one can see why it is treated as a mistake. I am curious to see Justin's reference to 5....Bb4. It seems playable, but I have not see this before, nor has it occurred to me, even though the position after 5 d3 has been familiar to me since 1981 when it was recommended by Leonard in Play Better Chess !

[Leonard Barden]

5...Bb4 is well analysed dating back to 19th century games with Steinitz and Tchigorin as White.
One of the main lines leads to perpetual check with Ke3 Qe1+, another to a forced and about level ending. Plenty of examples in the database.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Though in practice the ending is one where White often gets an advantage thanks to his centralised monarch!

[Nick Ivell]

Leonard: Yes, that's the one. Szabo was there. I wouldn't describe your display as in any way secondary. After all, Szabo would not have sprung the Vienna trap on me!

[Jonathan Rogers]

Gawain still much better. I presume that, if he can see it through, Aronian would be his biggest scalp (since they don't come much bigger)?

[Jonathan Rogers]

Whilst Nigel is not currently exacting revenge on his 11/12 year old opponent

[LawrenceCooper]

Gawain still much better. I presume that, if he can see it through, Aronian would be his biggest scalp (since they don't come much bigger)?

Now 1-0

[Tim Harding]

Gawain still much better. I presume that, if he can see it through, Aronian would be his biggest scalp (since they don't come much bigger)?

Yes, shame about the one that got away at the Tata Steel but Gawain can be rightly very satisfied with this scalp.

No payback for Nigel it seems!

[Tim Harding]

The joint leaders Naiditsch and Wojtaszek (both 6.5/8) must play tomorrow, I think, assuming Xiong doesn't win.

Currently on 6: MVL, Wang Hao, Jones with one of Kramnik or Xiong to join them.