in the second round of the 19th Bangkok Open when Mick Tobor of Germany, rated 1949, born in 1950, the same year of my birth, faced Chinese IM Yiping Lou,
rated 2482, born in 1991, in the 2019 Bangkok Chess Open (http://bangkokchess.com/).
Yiping Lou 2482 (CHN) – Detlef Tobor 1949 (GER)
Bangkok Chess Open 2019 round 02
B90 Sicilian, Najdorf, Adams attack
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 (Both SF and Komodo play 6…e6) 7. Nde2 Be6 (SF gives 7…b5 8 Ng3 Nbd7) 8. g4 Be7 (SF plays 8…h6. The move 8…h5 was seen in the game Jovan Todorovic (2431) vs Vlado Narandzic (2402) at the 52nd Montenegro-ch during the ninth round at Tivat, 12/17/2000. The game ended prematurely after 9.g5 Nh7 10.h4 g6 11.Be3 Nd7 12.Qd2 Rc8 13.f4 ½-½. Makes one wonder why they played the ‘game’ does it not?) 9. g5 (SF plays 9 Bg2 as do the vast majority of human players) 9…Nh5 TN (SF would play 9…Nfd7 as played in a game between Constantinos Vassiades and Herbert Scheichel at Groningen, 1970, in the EU-ch U20 fin-C, which continued, 10.Be3 Nc6 11.Qd2 Nc5 12.O-O-O Qa5 13.a3 Rc8 14.Bxc5 Qxc5 15.Ng3 Nd4 16.Bg2 Nb5 17.Na4 Qc4 18.Nb6 Qa2 19.Qe3 Rc3 20.bxc3 Bb3 21.cxb3 Nxa3 0-1)
finished with a score of 5 1/2 out of 9, which included the upset win over Sengupta in the first round and three draws with GM’s. He drew with Black against GM Alexander Cherniaev (2436) in the second round; Alexandr Fier, with White, in the penultimate round; and Bogdan Lalic (2415),
also playing White, in the last round. Mr. Taylor’s performance rating was 2452, over 200 points higher than his FIDE rating.
After his first round draw with GM Daniel Gormally in round one Kim Yew Chan (2299) beat an FM with Black in the second round. Then the wheels came off as he first lost to GM Alexander Cherniaev with White in the third round. He drew with the Black pieces versus a player rated 1961, Mikolaj Rogacewicz, in the fourth round before losing to a titled woman player rated only 1993 WFM Rasa Norinkeviciute in the fifth round. Unable to take the woman’s Chess punch, he withdrew. His PR was only 2151.
GM Jens Kristiansen (2415),
playing White, managed to draw a long game versus John N Sugden (2059). The GM is sixty five years young, showing fighting spirit the above named players who agreed to quick draws should envy, if not emulate. There is no shame in a game of 70+ moves which ends in a hard fought draw, unlike the aforementioned gentlemen with short drawers.
Jonah B Willow (2152), with the Black pieces, beat Brian Hewson (2007) in the last round. He also won the previous round game to finish with a flourish. Unfortunately the games between his opening round draw with GM Kristiansen and the penulitmate round were not kind to Mr. Willow.
The Najdorf was my weapon in the 1970’s. Like many other players who also played The Najdorf, Bobby Fischer had a tremendous influence on making The Najdorf my weapon in the 1970’s. Returning to Chess from years of playing Backgammon professionally I no longer played The Najdorf simply because of not having the time to keep up with the ever changing and developing theory of the opening. The Najdorf is so much more than just an opening; it is an opening SYSTEM. Players who challenge The System have thrown EVERYTHING against it, yet The System prevails. The System works unless and until someone screws up The System more than Donald J. Trump has screwed up the US system of government. GM Gormally’s handling of The System is such an example.
One thing learned from my time attempting to play The Najdorf is that many of the same moves feature in The System. What is important is WHEN they are played, and in what ORDER. Once one learns The System the moves sort of fall into place as one gets a “feel” for what to play and when to play it. The first thing that hit me when playing over the game was that the move 7…Qc7 is not good because White can obtain a very good position by taking the Knight immediately, playing 8 Bxf6. I never played anything other than 7…Be7. I studied other ways of playing without the move, but found none appealing. Deep refused to play the best move and played 8 Qf3, cutting the Gorm much slack. Unfortunately, the Gorm once again refused to play Be7. When he did finally play Be7 on his ninth move it was the wrong move. He should have played 9…b5. Gormally never played b5. The reason one plays a3 in the Najdorf is to follow with the move b5 ASAP. If one is not going to play b5 then one should not attempt playing The System known as the Najdorf. Frankly, this is a pitiful effort by GM Gormally, especially considering it was the last round. The way he played The Najdorf System resembles something a player learning The Nadjorf System might produce, not something one would expect from a long time veteran like the Gorm. I continue reading his fine book, Insanity, passion and addiction: a year inside the chess world, with his constant comments questioning why he continues playing Chess. After this game the Gorm needs to do some SERIOUS soul searching. Maybe he should get a job, or become one of the GM’s he writes about who stay home and give lessons via the internet.
Armchair Warrior 