Sport Accord World Mind Sport Games 2011

The first round of the Sport Accord mind sport games in Beijing started with a couple of surprises. Some players appeared to be not completely ready at the start, and that turned out to be costly.

Guntis Valneris - Murodullo Amrillaev 2-0

Amrillaev has ended up in a very suspicious classical position. And 8-12? was already the decisive mistake. Black needed to defend himself with 24-29! 34.42-38 18-22! 35.28x17 21x12 36.43-39 14-20 37.25x14 19x10 38.48-43 13-18 with a slight advantage for white. 34.42-38! 12-17 Note that 24-29? is no longer possible due to 35.38-33 29x38 36.30-24 19x30 37.28x17 21x12 38.35x24 W+ 35.38-33 14-20? A severe mistake, but the position was lost already. For example 17-22 36.28x17 21x12 37.33-28! 12-17 38.43-38 17-21 39.38-33! 3-8 40.28-22! leads to a positional disaster for black. 36.25x14 9x20 37.30-25 17-22 38.25x14! 22x42 39.48x37 19x10 40.28x30 and black resigned. An important victory of Valneris against the almost unbeatable Amrillaev!

Roel Boomstra - Allan Silva 2-0

In the rapid game Boomstra showed his technical skills in a classical game. It is more than likely that in this phase of the game he already spotted the winning 9x9 position after the 47th move. 24-29 35.50-45 29x40 36.45x34 20-24 37.38-33 4-10 38.43-38 17-22 39.28x17 21x12 40.33-28 24-29 41.48-43 29x40 42.35x44 10-14 43.44-40 14-20 44.39-34 20-24? Black is slowly getting into trouble. The black center is too static, and after his last move black is in danger to run out of moves. With the less obvious 20-25! 45.40-35 3-9 46.38-33 9-14 47.33-29 14-20 48.35-30 20-24 49.29x20 25x14 black could have saved himself from a lot of troubles. 45.40-35 3-9 46.34-30 9-14? Black has played logical moves, but this turns out to be the decisive mistake. With the difficult to find 24-29! 47.30-25 29-34!! 48.43-39 34x43 49.38x49 23-29! 50.35-30 9-14! 51.36-31 18-23 52.49-43 12-17 53.27-22 17-21 54.31-27 29-33 55.28x39 13-18 56.22x24 23-28 57.32x23 21x41 black could still make a draw. 47.43-39! Suddenly the game ended up in a variation of the famous Ricou-Bonnard position. It is well known that white wins after 12-17 48.39-34! etc. 24-29 48.39-33 29-34 49.30x39 14-20 50.39-34 20-24 51.34-30 23-29 52.28-22 16-21 53.27x16 18x27 54.32x21 26x17 55.37-31 13-18 56.16-11 17x6 57.38-32 29x27 58.31x13 19x8 59.30x19 12-18 60.19-14 18-23 61.14-9 23-28 62.9-3 8-13 63.3-17 and black resigned.

Roberts Misans - Alexander Georgiev 0-2

22.33-28? 24x33! Probably Misans totally missed the now following combination from black. 23.28x17 13-18 24.39x28 8-13 25.17x19 14x41 26.31-27 21x32 27.36-31 26x37 28.47x36 10-14 29.42x31 14-19 The number of pieces is equal, but it is clear that white is in a lot of trouble. Not only due to the strong black outpost on 32, but also due to the passive white pieces on the right side of the board. 30.34-30 4-9 31.30-25 9-14 32.44-39 6-11 33.48-42 11-17 34.31-26 20-24 35.39-34 19-23 36.36-31 23-29!! Here 24-30!? 37.35x24 32-37 was an interesting alternative. But world champion Georgiev has estimated well that white has good opportunities to defend this position, for example 38.43-39 37x48 39.34-30 48x34 40.30x39 16-21 41.39-34 23-28 42.40-35 18-22 43.34-30 14-19 44.24x13 21-27 45.25-20 etc. 37.34x21 16x36 38.26-21 36-41 39.42-38 32-37 40.21-16 41-46 41.16-11 37-41 42.11-6 24-29 43.38-32 41-47 44.32-27 47-36 45.27-21 36-9 46.40-34 29x40 47.35x44 46-32 48.45-40 32x49 49.21-17 49-32 50.6-1? A mistake in an already lost postion. 32-23! And white resigned.