Seaport Masters 2012 round 6

Zhou - Golubeva 0-2

Zhou's 23.39-34? was quite careless, as Golubeva demonstrated with the attack 16-21! 24.27x16 17-22 25.28x17 12x21 26.16x27 24-30 27.35x24 19x28 28.38-33? 28x39 29.43x34 8-12! Now the connection between the white wings is broken, and there is no way to repair it. Therefore white has to prepare for a passive defense, with moves like 42-38, 31-26, 27-21, 48-43, 43-39 etc. 30.48-43 13-19 31.43-38(?) This only makes the situation worse. 9-13 32.27-22 18x27 33.32x21 11-17 34.21-16 3-9 35.31-27? 6-11 36.38-32? The last two white moves only gave black more control over the position. It is definitely lost now for white. 13-18! 37.42-38 17-22! 38.27-21 9-13! (and not 11-17? due to 39.40-35! 17x26 40.37-31 26x28 41.38-33 28x30 42.35x4) 39.36-31 22-27 40.31x22 18x27 41.34-29 23x34 42.40x29 11-17 43.45-40 17x26 44.32x21 26x17 45.40-35 15-20 46.35-30 13-18 47.38-32 18-23 48.29x18 12x23 49.32-27 20-24 50.37-31 24x35 51.27-22 17x28 52.31-26 35-40 53.26-21 40-44 54.21-17 44-49

Borghetti - Silva 2-0

15-20? Silva became the victim of a famous opening trap: 11.36-31! 27x36 12.23-18 12x32 13.38x18 13x22 14.37-31 36x27 15.30-24 20x38 16.43x1 19-24 17.40-35 14-19 18.1-34 9-13 19.42-38 13-18 20.34x16 6-11 21.16x7 2x11 and with a piece more Borghetti won the game.

Heusdens - Georgiev 0-2

The presence of the extra pieces on 36 and 47 makes this 'late classical' position less obvious than usual. It demonstrates the strength of Georgiev that he has foreseen the difficulties of the white position. 12-18! 45.47-42? At first sight this looks like a very careless move from Heusdens. But the position was not so easy as it might look. A problem for white is that 45.30-25? 9-14! is very dangerous, for example 46.28-22 17x28 47.33x22 24-30! 48.35x24 19x30 and white has no better than 49.37-31 21-26 50.22-17 26x28 51.27-21 16x27 52.17-11. The best continuation for white was to immediately play 45.28-22 17x28 46.33x22 24-29 47.30-25 29x40 48.35x44 9-14 and now 49.39-34! (since 49.44-40(?) 19-24! 50.39-33 13-19! 51.22x13 19x8 is far from straightforward for white. White can only survive with 52.33-28 23-29 53.28-22 (not 53.37-31? 21-26! B+) 29-33 54.47-42!! etc.) 19-24 50.37-31! 14-19 51.25-20 24x15 52.31-26 and the position is about equal. 21-26 46.42-38 9-14 47.30-25 17-21 48.34-30 36-41! Of course! After this exchange a 6x6 position remains that is winning for black. 49.37x46 26-31 50.27x36 21-27 51.32x21 23x34 52.30x39 16x27 53.46-41 18-23 54.41-37 13-18 55.39-34 18-22 56.35-30 24x35 57.33-29 35-40 58.29x18 22x13 59.34x45 13-18 60.45-40 18-22 61.40-34 19-24 62.37-31 27-32 63.31-26 32-38 64.26-21 38-43 65.21-16 43-49 66.36-31 24-29

Mbongo - Schwarzman 1-1

12-18!? Schwarzman had to make a difficult choice here. With 14-20! 40.25x3 23-29! he could try to force a quick win. Indeed, after 41.3x17? 29x49 the white position would be completely lost, for example 42.17-3? 13-18 43.22x13 19x8 44.3x17 24-30 45.35x24 49x25 B+ But white can also play the surrealistic 41.3x21! 29x49 42.22-17!! and it turns out that black cannot take advantage of the awkwardly placed white king. 40.22-17 23-29! 41.43-38 18-22 42.27x18 13x11 Black has gained a piece, and white cannot take it back using 43.39-34? due to the combination 16-21! 44.34x23 24-30 45.35x13 9x29 46.33x24 26-31 47.37x17 11x42 B+ Mbongo wisely leaves the piece alone, and played 43.32-27! 11-17 44.37-32 17-21 45.28-22!! Again Mbongo ignores the possibility to take the piece back using 45.39-34?, this time due to 6-11! 46.34x23 11-17!! Then white has to give back the piece immediately using 47.23-18 17-22 48.28x17 21x23 49.33-28 9-13 50.40-34 , with a narrow draw at best. 6-11 (since 19-23 46.33-28 14-19 47.25-20! 24x15 48.39-33 26-31 49.33x13 9x18 50.27x36 18x27 51.28x19 would lead to a draw) 46.33-28! Now black can no longer prevent the attack 39-34 Therefore he played 11-17 47.22x11 16x7 48.27x16 26-31 49.28-22 31-36 50.22-17 36-41 51.17-11 41-46 52.11x2 46x50 53.16-11 and the players agreed to a draw.