SWMG 2011 finals

The Sport Accord Mind Sport Games were won by world champion Alexander Georgiev. Given his performance in the week before, there was no one who deserved the title more than him. But in the final against former world champion Guntis Valneris he had a few anxious moments. It took him no less than 10 games before he finally was able to claim the victory. The trophy in the women's tournament was for Olga Fedarovich. She played a very steady tournament, and is rapidly becoming one of the strongest female players in the world. The final results were:

Men:

1. Alexander Georgiev (Russia)
2. Guntis Valneris (Latvia)
3. Roel Boomstra (Netherlands)

Women:

1. Olga Fedarovich (Belarus)
2. Zoja Golubeva (Latvia)
3. Darja Tkachenko (Ukraine)

In the first game of the final, in an interesting position Georgiev forced a draw with 18-22 42.31-26 22x33 43.38x18 8-13! 44.18x9 14x3 45.25x23 7-12 46.30x19 12-18 47.23x21 16x47 and Valneris agreed to a draw.

In the seventh game Valneris had a good opportunity to win. Georgiev did not want to defend the position after 12-18 34.33-29 24x33 35.38x29, in which black has to accept a very passive role. Instead he played the risky ≡ 23-29!? 34.34x23 19x39 35.30x17 39-44 36.32-28? After the logical ≡ 36.27-21! 16x27 37.32x21 white can easily keep black from making a king. Then the situation looks very dangerous for black. ≡ 14-19! 37.27-21 16x27 38.17-11 6x17 39.37-31 26x37 40.42x11 44-50! White reaches an endgame with a piece more, but it does not give real chances to win. 41.11-6 50x17 42.6-1 17-21 43.38-33 21-17 44.33-29 9-14 45.35-30 17-11 46.30-25 11-2 47.36-31 2-13 48.31-26 13-4 49.29-24 19x30 50.25x34 14-19 51.34-30 19-24 52.30x19 3-9 with a draw.

In the eight game Valneris had an even better chance to win the tournament. 34.32-28!? 23x32 35.38x27 14-20! 36.25x23 18x40 37.27x7 6-11(?) 38.7x16? 40-45! 39.31-27 3-8 40.26-21 17x26 41.16-11 26-31! 42.11-7 31x22 43.7-2 45-50(?) After ≡ 22-28! white would have to sacrifice another piece with 44.35-30 24x35 with a hopeless endgame. ≡ 44.39-34 22-28 45.34-29 24x33 46.35-30 33-39 47.2-16 50-45 48.16-49 45-23 49.36-31 23-19? It turns out that this is not the best move. But the endgame is far too complicated to play correctly in a blitz game. 50.49-43! 19x35 51.43x25 8-12 52.31-27 28-33 53.25-34 13-18 54.27-21 33-38 55.21-17 12x21 and the players agreed to a draw.

The 10th and last game was a bit of an anti climax. In a slightly worse position Valneris made a huge mistake with 13-18? This gave Georgiev the opportunity to win a piece with 32.28-22! 9-13 33.22-17 11x22 34.33-29 24x33 35.39x26 and black resigned a few moves later.

Boomstra has a promising attack, but after 43.40-34? Getmansky made a draw with the sacrifice 22-28! 44.23x32 12-18 45.32-28 17-22 46.28x17 18-23 47.29x18 20x40 48.17-11 40-44 =

In the deciding game for the third place Boomstra played 17-22 30.28x17 12x21? Now Getmansky could win using the spectacular combination 31.27-22! 18x36 32.32-28 23x43 33.47-41 36x47 34.25-20 14x25 35.39-33 47x29 36.34x12 25x34 37.48x8 W+ Instead he played ≡ 31.31-26?! 15-20 32.26x17 11x31 33.39-33 18-22 34.34-29 23x34 35.40x29 22-28 36.33x22 24x42 37.48x26 6-11! From here on Boomstra's strategy is to take advantage of the inproductive white corner pieces on the right side of the board. This strategy turns out to be very successful. 38.45-40 8-12 39.40-34 12-18 40.32-27 11-17 41.22x11 16x7 42.26-21 20-24 43.21-16? Here white could escape to a draw with ≡ 43.47-42 18-22 44.27x18 13x22 45.42-38! 22-27 46.21x32 24-29 47.34x23 19x37 48.38-32! 37x28 49.30-24 28-32 50.24-20 32-37 51.35-30! 37-41 52.30-24! etc. ≡ 18-22 44.27x18 13x22 The white position is hopeless now. 45.47-42 22-27 46.42-38 24-29 47.34x23 19x28 48.30-24 28-32 49.38-33 32-37 50.33-29 37-41 51.29-23 41-47 52.23-18 47x15 53.18-12 7x18 54.16-11 15-10 55.11-7 10-5 56.35-30 9-13 57.25-20 14x34 58.7-2 5-19 59.2-7 18-22 60.7x40 22-28 61.40-29 28-32 62.29-15 13-18 63.15-29 18-22 64.29-33 19-28 65.33-20 27-31 66.20-9 22-27 67.9-20 31-36 68.20-42 32-38 and white resigned.

Misans' strategy had become a total failure, and after 17-22(?) 25.26x17! 22x31 26.36x27 11x31 Dul appeared to strike the finishing blow with 27.28-22! 18x27 28.32x21 16x27 29.33-29 24x33 30.38x7 31-36 But instead of making a king with 31.7-2! he played ≡ 31.42-37? 8-12 32.7x9 3x14 Now most of the white advantage is gone. And when Dul made another mistake a few moves later, he even lost the game.

In her second game with Tkachenko, Fedarovich was already sure of the first place. When Tkachenko played 40.31-26? she was on her way to add another scalp with 7-12! 41.37-31 2-8? But here she missed the elegant combination ≡ 22-28 42.33x13 24x44 43.49x40 12-18! 44.13x22 23-29 45.34x23 25-30 46.35x24 20x38 B+ The game ended in a draw.

In the next game it was Tkachenko who won. In this innocent looking classical position white has to be very careful. After 29.45-40? 12-18! 30.40-34 4-10! white was suddenly out of moves. Of course 31.34-29? loses a piece after 23x34 32.30x39 24-29 33.33x24 19x30 34.35x24 18-22 35.27x18 13x44. And ≡ 31.37-31? 10-15! certainly does not make the situation any better for white. Finally ≡ 31.43-39? leads to a disaster after 17-21! 32.48-43 21-26 33.28-22 11-17! 34.22x11 16x7 35.33-28 7-12 36.39-33 10-15! 37.34-29 23x34 38.30x39 18-23! etc. B+ In the game Fedarovich lost quickly after ≡ 31.27-22? 18x27 32.32x12 23x41 33.42-37 41x32 34.38x27 13-18! 35.12x23 19x39 36.30x19 39x30 37.35x24 14x23 etc. B+

Golubeva missed the winning move 17-21! in her game with Nogovitsyna. Then white can no longer play 45.37-31? or ≡ 45.28-22? due to 7-11! B+ And the piece on 47 is bound to it's place as well, since after ≡ 45.47-42? 14-19 46.42-38 21-26 black will make a break-through on the left side of the board with 26-31 37x26 and 36-41. And so white can only play with the pieces on 39 and 44. But these pieces have nowhere to go, for example ≡ 45.39-33? 14-19, and the threat 9-14 14-20 25x23 18x38 32x43 21x41 forces white to play the weak move ≡ 47-42. The game ended in a draw after ≡ 18-22 45.27x18 13x33 46.39x28 9-13 47.47-42 13-18 48.44-39 24-29 49.42-38 18-22 50.38-33 29x27 51.37-31 22x44 52.31x2 etc.

© Wieger Wesselink https://10x10.org