There I was minding my own business while reviewing games at lichess.org when the VII Festival Salamanca Cuna del Ajedrez Moderno was spotted. It was surprising to see the women were playing in the same event with the men. It was also surprising to see there were only forty minutes for the entire game. I almost clicked off to check out the “serious” Chess, but what goes for “serious” Chess these daze is not what it used to be…
I check out the games of players known and check out the openings looking for what can be called “offbeat” openings, which are being played much less often these daze than they were ‘back in the day’. The vast majority of openings currently played by the top players could be described as “same ol’, same ol’, openings. The variety is no longer there, and if I earned my living by playing Chess, I, too, would probably be forced to resort to the ol’ tried and true openings given the Stockfish seal of approval. The fact is that there has become a dull, boring, sameness to the opening of the games by the best players. For variety one must look to other, lesser, tournaments, such as Open and Senior events, which is where one can usually find the AW.
The first round game between GM Kirill Alekseenko
vs WGM Monica Calzetta Ruiz
was the first board shown at lichess.org. It featured 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6. The second move of 2…a6 has been all the rage recently, but I wondered if that was only after 2 Nc3. Oh well, this old Nadjorf player was pleased to see Stockfish says 2…d6 is the best move. The real GM played the SF approved 3 Bb5. Stockfish says 3…g6 is best, but 3…e6, d6, and e5, all score the same +0.4. The Expert rated Woman Grandmaster essayed 3…g5!??!! I kid you not…
This move reminded me of some of the moves seen in the skittles room at the old Atlanta Chess and What Other Game Center, aka, The House of Pain. I can hear Dauntless Don Mullis, after an opponent played a move like this, loudly announcing in his deep baritone voice, “Now there’s a Chess move!” That would be about a nanosecond before the Dauntless one would take that pawn offa the board. Don knew that if he did not take the pawn the response would be an immediate something about not having a hair on his derriere. Or maybe something about taking up a new game:
Kirill Alekseenko somehow managed to make it into the Candidates tournament before the pandemic. If memory serves, he was the lowest rated player who was given a wild card into the prestigious Candidates tournament in which a challenger for the World Chess Championship was chosen. From FIDE:
Alekseenko’s real breakthrough came in 2019 – his rating crossed the 2700 mark thanks to an excellent performance at the FIDE World Cup and to a third-place finish in the 2019 Grand Swiss, the strongest ever Swiss tournament. The latter result made him a possible participant of the Candidates Tournament. Upon completion of all the qualifying competitions, the President of the Chess Federation of Russia (the country-host of the Candidates Tournament) Andrey Filatov announced that Kirill Alekseenko has been granted a wild card. (https://www.fide.com/news/352)
2020-2021 FIDE Candidates DOCUMENTARY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BdlC_jRaR4
Considering Alekseenko was the lowest rated player, by 64 points, a nice Chess number, he did well to finish out of last place, thanks to the man from China, Wang Hao, who finished one half point behind Alekseenko. Not much has been heard from Wang Hao in the past few years. What’s up with that?
GM Kirill Alekseenko, now know as, “No guts, no glory,” did not take the pawn.
I cannot make this stuff up, folks. I will not speculate why the gift was eschewed. It may give Alekseenko solace to know he is not the first player to refuse the gift.
Paszewski, Mateusz (2100)
Black Player Westerberg, Jonathan (2412)
Event: 25th Czech Open A 2014
Site: Pardubice CZE Date: 07/20/2014
Round: 3.41 Score: ½-½
ECO: B30 Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (without …d6)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g5 4.h3 a6 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nxg5 Nf6 7.d3 Rg8 8.e5 Qd5 9.exf6 Qxg2 10.Ke2 Rxg5 11.Bxg5 Qxg5 12.fxe7 Qxe7+ 13.Kf1 Bg7 14.Nc3 Be6 15.Qh5 O-O-O 16.Re1 c4 17.Qxh7 Bf6 18.Rxe6 Qxe6 19.Qe4 cxd3 20.cxd3 Qxe4 21.Nxe4 Bxb2 22.Ke2 b5 23.h4 f5 24.Ng3 Rf8 25.Kf3 a5 26.Rb1 Be5 27.Ne2 Kc7 28.d4 Bf6 29.h5 Kd6 30.Kf4 Kd5 31.Rc1 a4 32.h6 Rh8 33.Rh1 Ke6 34.Rc1 Kd5 35.Rh1 Ke6 36.Rc1 Rc8 37.d5+ Kxd5 38.Kxf5 Bb2 39.Nf4+ Kd4 40.Rh1 b4 41.h7 Kc4 42.Ng6 b3 43.Ne5+ Bxe5 44.axb3+ axb3 45.Kxe5 b2 46.Kf6 Kc3 47.Kg7 Kc2 48.h8=Q Rxh8 49.Kxh8 b1=Q 50.Rxb1 Kxb1 51.f4 c5 52.f5 c4 53.f6 c3 54.f7 c2 55.f8=Q c1=Q 56.Qf5+ ½-½
https://www.365chess.com/game.php?back=1&gid=3903931&m=8
For the record here is the GM Kirill Alekseenko vs WGM Monica Calzetta Ruiz game, which can be found at lichess.org:
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g5 4. h3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Rg8 6. d3 g4 7. hxg4 Nxg4 8. Bf4 Qa5 9. Qd2 e6 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. e5 Rb8 12. Ne4 Qxd2+ 13. Nfxd2 Rxb2 14. f3 f5 15. exf6 d5 16. Rxh7 Rb7 17. Rxb7 Bxb7 18. Rb1 dxe4 19. f7+ Kxf7 20. Rxb7+ Kg6 21. fxg4 exd3 22. cxd3 1-0 (https://lichess.org/broadcast/vii-festival-salamanca-cuna-del-ajedrez-moderno/round-1/l0kuIXBa)
Armchair Warrior 