Because it has become so difficult to win a Chess game in Grandmaster tournaments these days a loss in the first round can be devastating. In the first round of the recently completed 2022 Fall Chess Classic B, held at the St. Louis Chess Campus, GM Ioan-Cristian Chirila
showme.missouri.edu
had the black pieces against GM Tigran K. Harutyunyan.
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As it turned out the game was one of, if not the most interesting game of the event.
There had already been a few twists and turns in the game at this point, but this is where the fun really begins. We will move along to a later position:
The 51st move made by White was not good. Prior to the move Black was much better but now he is winning. The hardest game to win is a won game. What move would you make?
As Robert Zimmerman sang, things have changed. I’ll say! The black advantage has dissipated and it is now an even game, according to the Stockfish program at Lichess.com. The move that should be made looks rather obvious, but then we are not at the board with the clock ticking…
I will leave the remainder of the game for your amusement…
[Event “St Louis Fall B 2022”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2022.11.02”]
[Round “1.1”]
[White “Harutyunyan, Tigran K.”]
[Black “Chirila, Ioan-Cristian”]
[WhiteElo “2504”]
[BlackElo “2536”]
[ECO “A15”]
[Opening “English opening”]
- Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. e3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bc4 Nb6 7. Be2 Nc6 8.
O-O e5 9. d3 Be7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. b3 Re8 12. Bb2 Bf8 13. Rc1 Nd5 14. Qc2 b6 15.
Qb1 Qc7 16. Rfe1 Qb7 17. a3 Rad8 18. Qa2 Nc7 19. Qa1 f6 20. Qb1 Nd5 21. Bd1 Be6 - Bc2 g6 23. Qa1 Bf7 24. Ne4 Bg7 25. Ng3 Rc8 26. h4 Qd7 27. h5 Qg4 28. Bd1 Qd7
- Qb1 a5 30. Be2 g5 31. Bd1 h6 32. Nh2 Nde7 33. e4 Rcd8 34. Re3 Be6 35. Bc3 f5
- exf5 Nxf5 37. Nxf5 Bxf5 38. Bf3 Nd4 39. Be4 Bxe4 40. dxe4 Qf7 41. b4 axb4
- axb4 c4 43. Nf1 Rf8 44. Qb2 Qxh5 45. b5 Qe8 46. Ng3 h5 47. Bb4 Qxb5 48. Nxh5
Rf7 49. Nxg7 Kxg7 50. Qc3 Rc8 51. Rce1 Kg6 52. Rg3 Qd7 53. Qe3 Rf4 54. Bd2 g4 - Qc3 Kg5 56. f3 Kf6 57. Bxf4 exf4 58. Rxg4 b5 59. Rxf4+ Ke6 60. Rh4 Qg7 61.
Qe3 c3 62. e5 Nc6 63. Qxc3 Qa7+ 64. Kh2 Qf2 65. Qb3+ 1-0
It is always difficult to lose a Chess game, especially when that game is the first game of a tournament. When one has a winning advantage, and blows it, how it affects a player is exacerbated. To the male psyche it can be devastating. After losing a won game one is often told to “Put it out of your mind.” That is something easier said than done. It is also difficult to sleep the night after a loss, which will have a deleterious effect on play later in the tournament. Only the strong survive, and only the exceptionally strong comeback for such a devastating loss. GM Chirila is one of those players because he returned from the dead to tie for third place in the event while having the third highest performance rating to show for it. He sort of stabilized himself with a draw with the white pieces in round two, but let go of the rope again against with the black pieces versus young Christopher Yoo in round three. With only one half point after the first three rounds some, if not most, players would go into the tank and be happy to, hopefully, make a few draws while playing out the string. Christian Chirila is not one of those players. He defeated the eventual winner of the tournament, Aleksandr Linderman,
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with the black pieces in the final round. Lindy ran away with the tournament by scoring 6 1/2 points to finish one point in front of the second place finisher, GM Raunak Sadhwani, from India. I cannot count the number of times a player who had an insurmountable lead lost in the last round. It happens so frequently that it would seem to be better if the player who has already clinched first place would simply refuse to play the meaningless last round game. Nevertheless, my hat is off to both of these players, especially Chirila, for showing his measure as a player and as a man. Even with the last round loss, the winner, Lucky Lindy, over performed his rating by 167. The number two player was Christian Chirila, who finished with a performance rating of 2596, which is 60 points more than his rating.
The other game being presented was played in the first round and the opening was one of my favorite openings, “The truth as it was known in those long ago days.” Christopher, I love Yoo, Man!
[Event “St Louis Fall B 2022”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2022.11.02”]
[Round “1.2”]
[White “Yoo, Christopher Woojin”]
[Black “Jacobson, Brandon”]
[WhiteElo “2573”]
[BlackElo “2551”]
[ECO “C24”]
[Opening “Bishop’s opening”]
- e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Bc5 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. Na4 Bb6 7. O-O h6 8. b4
Re8 9. Bb2 Nc6 10. Nxb6 axb6 11. a3 Be6 12. Bb5 Bd7 13. Re1 Ne7 14. Bxd7 Qxd7 - d4 Ng6 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Qxd7 Nxd7 18. Red1 Ndf8 19. Nd2 f6 20. Nc4 Red8 21.
f3 Kf7 22. Kf2 Ne6 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. a4 Ne7 25. g3 Nc6 26. c3 h5 27. Bc1 Ra8 28.
Ra3 Rd8 29. Ra1 Ra8 30. Ra3 Rd8 31. Ra1 Ra8 32. Ra3 1/2-1/2
1.e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 (SF plays 3 Nc3) Bc5 (3…c6) 4. Nc3 (4 Nf3) O-O (4…c6) 5. Nf3 (SF plays 5 a4, a move yet to be played by a human)
George Hatfeild Gossip
vs Siegbert Tarrasch
Event: DSB-06.Kongress
Site: Breslau Date: ??/??/1889
Round: 4 Score: 0-1
ECO: C25 Vienna game
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Bc4 Bb4 7.O-O Bxc3 8.bxc3 h6 9.Ba3 Nbd7 10.Qd2 O-O 11.Rae1 Re8 12.Nf5 Ne5 13.Bb3 Bxf5 14.exf5 Qd7 15.f4 Nc6 16.Qd3 Ne7 17.Be6 fxe6 18.fxe6 Qa4 19.c4 Qa5 20.f5 Nc6 21.Bb2 Qb6+ 22.c5 Qxb2 23.cxd6 cxd6 24.Qxd6 Qd4+ 25.Qxd4 Nxd4 0-1
https://www.365chess.com/game.php?back=1&gid=2693930&m=13
Armchair Warrior 