World Championship Zwartsluis round 8

In this apparently quiet position Andall suddenly made a mistake that cost him the game: 36.42-37? and after 18-23 37.27-22* 9-13 38.40-34 23-29 39.34x23 24-30 40.35x24 20x27 he had lost a piece. But what should white have played in this position? After ≡ 36.40-34? 11-17 37.34-30 24-29! the position is lost too. For example 38.30-24 29-34 39.39x30 20x29 40.42-37 9-14 41.48-42 18-23 42.30-25 8-12 43.35-30 12-18 and the threat 23-28 is decisive. The best defense for white is probably ≡ 36.39-33 11-17 37.33-28 8-13 38.40-34! and the black advantage after 18-22 39.27x18 13x33 40.38x29 24x33 41.43-38 is not enough to win the game. In this variant even ≡ 37.42-37 was an option, since after 24-29 38.33x24 20x29 white can simply exchange with 39.40-34 29x40 40.35x44, and after ≡ 18-23 white can play the ingenious 38.48-42! Now if black plays 9-13? or 8-12? white can reply with 39.37-31! 21-26 or? 40.33-29 26x39 41.29x7. And after ≡ 24-29 39.33x24 20x29 again the move 40.37-31 will rescue white, this time due to 21-26? 41.27-21! 26x39 42.21x14.

Tsjizjow managed to make a brilliant win against Schwarzman: 18-23! 39.28x19 24x13. Now the safest continuation for white is 40.16-11! 7x16 41.40-35 and the position is equal. And even the move ≡ 40.38-33 was possible, because after 8-12 41.27-22! 30-35 42.16x27 35x44 43.33-28 the black king will be captured. But who would have foreseen the hidden trap after the seemingly logical ≡ 40.43-39? 8-12! Introduces the threat 7-11 16x18 13x35, so white has to respond with ≡ 41.37-31 12-18 42.40-34* 18-23!! This is what Schwarzman must have missed in his calculations. White can not play 43.38-33? because of 7-11 44.16x7 1x12 45.27x16 36x40 46.45x34 12-17, and so he has to settle for a losing endgame: ≡ 43.31-26 23-28 44.26x17 28x37 45.38-32 37x28 46.34-29 30-35 47.29-24 1-6 48.27-22 25-30 49.22x33 30x19 50.33-28 7-12 51.17x8 13x2 52.39-33 19-23 B+

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