World Championship Zwartsluis round 1

In this position, after exactly 40 moves, the players agreed to make a draw. That is very remarkable, since white has a practically winning position after the logical move 41.29-23! After 8-12 white can play 42.25-20! (and not ≡ 42.38-33? 14-20! 43.25x14 4-9 44.14x3 13-18 45.3x17 18x38 46.42x33 31x42 47.47x38 21x12 with a draw; perhaps this is why Ndjofang didn't play on?) ≡ 14x25 43.23-19 4-9 44.19x17 21x12 45.38-33 and it is not clear how black should defend this position. Due to the opposition of 24 against 15 and 25 white effectively plays with one piece more.

14-20! Tsjizjow is heading for a game type that has brought him already many successes in the past: a classical position with control over both wings. Probably that's why Weitsman panicked with 32.43-39(?) 20-25 33.39-34. It would have been much better to let black take control over square 25 with ≡ 32.30-25 8-12 33.25x14 9x20. The black advantage is only marginal then. It is very instructive to see how Tsjizjow takes advantage of the white mistake. ≡ 13-18 34.27-22? After this move the white position is probably lost. 18x27 35.37-31 26x37 36.42x22 9-13 37.34-29 23x34 38.30x39 11-17! 39.22x11 6x17 A nice switch. Tsjizjow now focuses on the inflexible position of the white center pieces. 40.48-42 13-18 41.42-37 8-12 42.37-31 18-23 43.31-27 21-26 44.27-22 3-8 45.22x11 16x7 46.28-22 8-13 47.33-28 7-11 48.39-33 12-17 and since 49.45-40? is prohibited due to 13-18 50.22x13 19x8 51.28x30 25x45, the white player resigned.

This position looks very suspicious for black. The obvious plan, putting pressure on piece 27, fails because of a combination: 12-17? 31.34-29 23x34 32.39x30 25x34 33.27-22 17x39 34.38-33 39x28 35.32x3 W+. That's why ≡ 14-20 31.15x24 23-29 32.34x23 18x20 seems the most realistic plan here. But Valneris decided to carry on his strategy, no matter how dangerous it is. May be it's because he was looking for revenge for his defeat against Jansen in the last European Championship? ≡ 8-13!? 31.34-30! 25x34 32.39x30 12-17? This is probably more than the black position can handle. Here ≡ 14-19 was a much better move. Then black can create the necessary expansion after 33.30-25 19-24! or ≡ 33.33-28 23-29! etc. ≡ 33.30-25 17-22 34.35-30! Jansen utilizes the extra time to completely entangle the black center. A convincing victory is his reward. 22x31 35.36x27 2-8 36.43-39 14-19 37.48-43 8-12 38.33-28 23-29 39.39-33 12-17 40.33x24 18-22 41.27x18 13x33 42.38x29 10-14 43.24x13 9x18 44.30-24 17-22 45.32-28 22x33 46.29x38 21-27 47.38-33 4-10 48.15x4 14-20 49.4x36 20x49 50.25-20 49-44 51.20-14 and Valneris resigned.

Samb and Thijssen played a very interesting game. In the middle game it was Thijssen who had the better position. But instead of 8-13 he should have played ≡ 29-33! 39.28x39 17-22 here. Now white can not respond with 40.37-31? because of the combination 12-17 41.21x12 18x7 42.27x29 36x49 B+. And so he has to settle for something like ≡ 40.47-42 22x31 41.32-28 23x41 42.26x46. No need to say that the opposition 36/46 gives black very good perspectives for a win. The game ended in an equal draw after ≡ 39.40-34 29x40 40.35x44.

Andall made a terrible mistake in this position: after 8-12? Clerc took the standard combination 40.27-22 18x27 41.32x21 23x41 42.21-17 12x21 43.42-37 41x32 44.38x7, after which he had no trouble to secure the victory. For the same reason ≡ 9-14? was impossible. It looks like black was already in trouble due to the unbalanced position of his pieces. But after ≡ 11-16 40.38-33 [the variant ≡ 40.37-31 26x37 41.42x31 23-29! leaves white no hope to win due to the combination after 42.31-26? 29-33 43.38x20 19-24 44.20x29 18-23 45.28x19 13x44 ] black can certainly escape with a draw, for example ≡ 6-11 41.37-31 26x37 42.42x31 8-12 43.43-38 9-14 44.31-26 11-17 45.48-42 23-29! 46.42-37 29-34 47.39x30 18-23 etc.

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