Grandmasterly Queen Sacrifice

During research of the Glek variation of the C46 Four Knights game, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3, I discovered a game played a few years ago between WIM Fiona Steil Antoni

and GM Mark Hebden,

which reached this position:

The Grandmaster has just played 24…Qxe4. Imagine you are sitting behind the white pieces facing a GM. How do you respond?

These are the moves which brought us to the position:

WIM Fiona Steil Antoni (2095) vs GM Mark Hebden (2498)

4NCL 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bc5 8.O-O O-O 9.d3 Bb6 10.Re1 Qf6 11.Bd2 Re8 12.Qe2 h6 13.h3 Bd7 14.Nh2 Rad8 15.Ng4 Qg6 16.Kh2 h5 17.Be4 Qe6 18.Nh6+ gxh6 19.Qxh5 Kg7 20.g4 Rh8 21.f4 Ne7 22.fxe5 Bc6 23.Bf5 Qd5 24.Be4 Qxe4

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2017/8/1/episode-34-wim-fiona-steil-antoni

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdPNJ2wJibXeiCuB8u3P5Iw

With the Ginger GM Simon Williams

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 (After black plays what Stockfish considers the best move, 4…Bc5, the Fish has black better by about a third of a pawn. SF considers 4 Bb5 best with white holding on to the usual small advantage with which white begins the game) 4…d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bc5 8.O-O (SF 310519 at depth 34 plays the game move but SF 9 at D48 plays the infrequently played 8 d3) 8…0-0 9.d3 Bb6 (SF & Komodo prefer 9…Bg4) 10.Re1 SF prefers 10 a4) 10…Qf6 (Although the most played move according to the CBDB SF would play 10…f6 while Komodo opts for 10…Re8) 11.Bd2 (SF plays 11 a4; the Dragon prefers 11 Be3) 11…Re8 (SF 11…Bg4; Dragon 11…h6)

12.Qe2 h6 13.h3 Bd7 (13…Bf5 SF) 14.Nh2 Rad8 (14…Qg6 may be better) 15.Ng4 Qg6 16.Kh2 (16 Ne3!?) 16…h5 (The GM could have taken control of the game by playing 16…e4!)
17.Be4 (17 Ne3 looks OK) 17…Qe6 18.Nh6+ (Objectively speaking 18 Ne3 may be technically correct but where is the fun in making that move?!) 18…gxh6 (Although white is losing the lady does have the Queen and both Bishops firing at the GMs kingside)
19.Qxh5 Kg7 20.g4 Rh8 21.f4 Ne7 22.fxe5 Bc6 (22…Ng6) 23.Bf5 Qd5 (Maybe 23…Nxf5 24 gxf5 then 24…Qd5)
24.Be4 Qxe4??!? (24…Qe6 looks reasonable. The Grandmaster is now quite lost because of a case of “temporary insanity.”) 25.dxe4? (Fiona must have been in a state of shock. 25 Rxe4 is the winning move.) 25…Rxd2+ 26.Kh1 Ng6 27.Qf5 Rf2 28.Qh5 Rd8 29.g5 Rdd2 0-1 (It is mate in five)

The Wormald Attack

GM Sergey Tiviakov

of the Netherlands tied for first with GM Gawain Jones,

from England, at the recently completed, record breaking 25th anniversary of the Bunratty Masters.

There is a reason the Bunratty Masters, commonly known as “best weekender in the world.”

Where else does one see Chess players sitting at the board with a pint?

When the beer flows freely so does the Chess!

There was yet another ridiculous speed “playoff” after the event ended between the two players who tied for first, which was won by Sergey, who was declared the “winner.”

Gawain held a pawn down ending versus GM Nigel Short in the final round, while Sergey could have taken clear first if he had won his pawn up game against GM Mark Hebden.

Tiviakov, Sergey vs Hebden, Mark
Bunratty Masters 2018 last round

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Be7 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4 d6 9. Nbd2 exd4 10. cxd4 Bg4 11. Qe3 Bh5 12. O-O Bg6 13. Re1 Na5 14. Bc2 Re8 15. b3 Bf8 16. Qc3 c5 17. dxc5 dxc5 18. Bb2 Qc7 19. Nh4 Ng4 20. Qh3 c4 21. Nxg6 hxg6 22. Qxg4 c3 23. Bc1 cxd2 24. Bxd2 Qxc2 25. Bxa5 Re6 26. Re2 Qc6 27. e5 Qc5 28. Qf3 Rae8 29. Bc3 Qc6 30. Qxc6 Rxc6 31. Bb2 Rec8 32. Kf1 Bb4 33. Rd1 Kf8 34. g3 Ke7 35. Rd4 a5 36. a3 Bc3 37. Rd5 Bxb2 38. Rxb2 Rc5

White to move

There is only one move to retain the advantage. Tiviakov did not find it…

39. Rxc5 Rxc5 40. b4 axb4 41. Rxb4 Rxe5 ½-½

Tiviakov, having played this variation an astounding 71 times according to 365Chess.com, must be the world’s leading exponent of the Wormald attack (for information on Wormald see 3974. The Steinitz-Wormald-MacDonnell controversy, at Edward Winter’s excellent Chess Notes – http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter15.html). Having played the variation ‘only’ 27 times, Bukhuti Gurgenidze is lags behind in second place.

Tiviakov, Sergei – Beliavsky, Alexander G

Cacak 1996

C77 Ruy Lopez, Wormald attack

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Be7 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4 d6 9. Nbd2 exd4 10. cxd4 Bg4 11. Qe3 d5 12. e5 Ne4 13. O-O Bf5 14. Bc2 Nxd2 15. Qxd2 Be4 16. Rd1 Qd7 17. Qe2 f5 18. Ne1 1/2-1/2

Tiviakov, Sergei (2615) v Leko, Peter (2630)

Cacak 1996

C77 Ruy Lopez, Wormald attack

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. d4 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. O-O Re8 11. Ng5 Rf8 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Rd1 Bd6 14. Nf1 Na5 15. Bc2 Nc4 16. Ng3 g6 17. a4 Nb6 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 20. Qxb5 Ba6 21. Qa5 Qb7 22. Qa2 Bc4 23. b3 Bb5 24. Nf3 Nbd7 25. b4 Ra8 26. Qb2 Nb6 27. Bg5 Nc4 28. Qc1 Nd7 29. Bh6 Be7 30. Bb3 c5 31. h3 cxb4 32. cxb4 Rc8 33. Qa1 Ndb6 34. Nd2 Rd8 35. Nxc4 Rxd1+ 36. Bxd1 Nxc4 37. Bb3 Qa6 38. Qd1 Qd6 39. Qg4 Nb6 40. Nf5 Qxb4 41. Qg3 Nd7 42. Nxe7+ Qxe7 43. Bg5 Qb4 44. Bd5 Kg7 45. Qe3 h5 46. Bh6+ Kg8 47. Qf3 Qe7 48. Qb3 Ba6 49. Qa2 Bd3 50. Qa7 Kh7 51. Bd2 Bb5 52. Qa5 Bd3 53. Qc7 Bb5 54. Qb7 Ba4 55. Qa6 Bd1 56. Qa7 Qd6 57. Bc3 Kg7 58. Kh2 h4 59. Bd2 Bb3 60. Bxb3 Qxd2 61. Bd5 Qf4+ 62. Kg1 Nf8 63. Qc7 Nh7 64. Qc3 Nf6 65. Qc2 g5 66. Qd3 g4 67. g3 hxg3 68. fxg3 Qc1+ 69. Kh2 Qb2+ 70. Kh1 Qf2 0-1

Tiviakov, Sergei – Ibragimov, Ildar

C77 RUS-ch m5-8 Elista 1997

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Be7 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4 d6 9. Nbd2 exd4 10. cxd4 Bg4 11. Qe3 d5 12. e5 Ne4 13. O-O Bf5 14. Rd1 Qd7 15. Nf1 Na5 16. Bc2 Nc4 17. Qe2 f6 18. Ne3 Bg6 19. Nh4 f5 20. Nxg6 hxg6 21. Nxc4 bxc4 22. f3 Ng5 23. b3 cxb3 24. Bxb3 Ne6 25. Qc2 Rfc8 26. Be3 c6 27. Ba4 Rab8 28. Rab1 Nd8 29. Rdc1 Rxb1 30. Rxb1 Qc7 31. g4 fxg4 32. fxg4 Kh7 33. Qd3 Qd7 34. h3 a5 35. Bc2 Qe8 36. Kg2 Ne6 37. h4 c5 38. h5 cxd4 39. Qxg6+ Qxg6 40. hxg6+ Kg8 41. Bf5 Rc6 42. Rb8+ Bf8 43. Bc1 d3 44. Ba3 Nf4+ 45. Kf2 Rxg6 46. e6 d2 47. Bxg6 1-0

I can still recall the time Ildar,

who played at the Atlanta Chess Center while visiting his sister, and I were standing outside the House of Pain and he said, “You are very lucky to have this place.”

Chess : Black destroys white in 15 moves in Ruy Lopez | Brilliant attack by Black (Wormald attack)