Double Dutch on the podium, Jung Min Seo the Nordic champion

Tapani Sammalvuo
tapani@sammalvuo.fi

The tournament victory was appropriately decided on the top two boards where the four leaders met. GM Lucas van Foreest’s Catalan proved to be a good choice against GM Victor Mikhalevski. White soon got a comfortable position and despite the Israeli’s tries to muddy the waters, went on to win a nice game.

[Event "XXX Heart of Finland Open / Nordic Cham"] [Site "Jyvaskyla, Finland"] [Date "2022.07.23"] [Round "9"] [White "Van Foreest, Lucas"] [Black "Mikhalevski, Victor"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E03"] [WhiteElo "2575"] [BlackElo "2540"] [Annotator "Sammalvuo,Tapani"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Qc2 ({ The more common} 7. d4 b5 8. Qc2 Bb7 {allows Black to complete his queenside development more straightforwardly.}) 7... c5 (7... b5 $2 8. Nd4 {is troublesome for Black.}) 8. d4 {Now the play transposes to a sort of Catalan.} ({I like} 8. Nc3 {, with the idea} b5 $2 ({better is} 8... Qc7) 9. Ne5 {.}) 8... b6 {Black avoids any weaknesses on the queenside.} ({There is nothing wrong with the more active} 8... b5 {either.}) 9. Ne5 $1 {This gives the game character.} ({After} 9. O-O Bb7 {it is White who has to be careful because of the vulnerable position of his queen on the c-file.}) 9... Nd5 10. Nxd7 (10. Nc6 Qc7 11. e4 $1 {is more dynamic. This has been tried in Nakamura-Grischuk, Internet rapid 2020 (amongst others).}) 10... Qxd7 (10... Bxd7 $1 {is more accurate.} 11. dxc5 Rc8 {(Postny-Naiditsch, Moscow 2005) again emphasizes the bad position of White’s queen.}) 11. dxc5 Bb7 {N} 12. O-O ({Not} 12. cxb6 $4 Nb4 {winning.}) 12... Bxc5 13. Rd1 h5 $6 {N I’m not sure if this was a semi-desperate attempt to get counterplay or an optimistic thrust with the goal of playing for three results and, consequently, for the first prize. In any case, this mainly serves to weaken Black’s kingside and delays his development.} (13... O-O $1 14. Nc3 (14. e4 $6 Nb4) 14... Qc7 $1 {would have solved all Black’s problems thanks to the trick} 15. Nxd5 $4 Bxf2+ {.}) 14. a3 {[#]} (14. Nc3 {looks more natural to me.}) 14... Rc8 $2 {Now Black lands in hot water.} ({Again, moving the queen away from the open d-file with} 14... Qc7 {was to be preferred.}) 15. e4 Bd4 {This way Black avoids losing material, but the pin along the d-file is annoying.} 16. Qe2 Ne7 17. Be3 e5 (17... Nc6 $2 18. e5) 18. Nc3 (18. Bxd4 exd4 19. Nc3 {(intending Nd5) was also strong.}) 18... Nc6 19. Nd5 Qg4 $1 {An indication that Black is in trouble.} ({After} 19... Qd8 20. Rac1 {I don’t see a way for Black to complete his development.}) 20. Bf3 ( 20. Qxg4 hxg4 21. Nxb6 {was a relatively clean pawn, but White already wants more! This all is a clear indication that 13…h5?! was not such a hot idea after all.}) 20... Qg6 21. Rac1 h4 {Now Black is finally ready to castle.} 22. Bxd4 $5 {A sharp choice, which may even be the best, but me – a simple man – would have just grabbed the b6-pawn.} Nxd4 23. Rxc8+ Bxc8 {[#]} 24. Rxd4 $1 exd4 25. Qc4 {White is banking on Black’s difficulties in completing his development.} Bh3 $4 {A grave mistake, losing a piece.} (25... Bd7 $1 26. Qxd4 Qg5 $1 {would have given Black his fair share of chances. White has to take care of not allowing …Qc1+ at wrong time and Black can complete his development (well, sort of) by …Rh6.}) 26. Nf4 Qd6 27. Nxh3 hxg3 28. hxg3 Qc5 {Black gets to support his passed d-pawn in the ending but he gets no open files for his rook, so the ending is basically lost.} (28... Rxh3 $2 29. Qc8+ Ke7 30. Qxh3 {loses the rook, so there was nothing better.}) 29. Qxc5 bxc5 30. Nf4 Kd7 $6 {Allowing White to build a blockade on light squares equals giving up.} ({Black needed to try} 30... c4 $1 {. Here White still needs some accuracy to convert his material advantage, for example.} 31. Nd5 Rh6 $1 32. Bd1 Kd7 33. b3 $1 {(this wouldn’t have been an easy choice)} c3 34. Bc2 Kd6 35. Nb6 Kc5 36. Nc4 f6 37. Kf1 {and White is winning, indeed, but assessing this from afar would have been difficult.}) 31. Nd3 Kc6 32. Ne5+ Kc7 33. Nc4 { Now White’s queenside is intouchable.} f6 34. Be2 Kd7 35. Kg2 g5 36. Bd3 Ke7 37. Na5 Ke6 ({Black couldn’t bring himself to play the passive} 37... Ra8 {.}) 38. Bxa6 {Now the a-pawn helps White to convert his advantage.} Rb8 (38... Ra8 39. Nb3 $5) 39. Bc4+ Kd6 40. Bd3 Ke6 41. Nc4 Rb3 42. Bc2 Rb8 43. a4 Kd7 44. b3 Rh8 45. Bd3 Kc6 46. Nb2 g4 47. a5 Rb8 48. Bc4 Re8 49. f3 Re7 50. a6 gxf3+ 51. Kxf3 Rh7 52. Na4 Kd6 53. Kf4 Rg7 54. Bd5 d3 55. Nb2 c4 56. Nxc4+ Kc5 57. Bb7 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

IM Vilka Sipilä’s Petroff Defence turned out to be quite rusty and after his unfortunate novelty 13…dxc4? GM Robby Kevlishvili had no trouble getting a winning ending. The converting phase wasn’t necessarily the cleanest ever seen, but in the end the extra pawn made itself felt. Thus, the win was shared by tournaments two Dutch players, van Foreest being crowned as the tournament winner thanks to his better Buchholz.

IM Mika Karttunen’s Classical Nimzo-Indian may not have been the best choice, as GM Sergey Fedorchuk seemed to be much more at home in the opening. White fell badly behind in the development (4.Qc2 is actually a rather double-edged move: instead of developing his kingside, White moves his queen at an early stage of the game), and this was enough to cause his downfall.

GM Bartłomiej Heberla confronted IM Jung Min Seo’s Giuoco Piano with the rare 4…h6. White got a nice space advantage in the centre and the position started to resemble a Ruy López. In a constrained position Black sacrificed his h6-pawn but didn’t get any compensation. Sweden’s Seo shared the 3^rd and the 4^th places with Fedorchuk and was the best Nordic player, thus winning the title of Nordic Champion 2022.

GM Gábor Nagy was the most solid player of the tournament. So far, all his draws had been quite short, but the last round economics dictated that now he needed to win in order to get a decent prize. FM Elham Abdrlauf didn’t cooperate, however, and the game that started as a Symmetrical English (by transposition), always looked to be headed to a draw, which was agreed on the 42^nd move.

Results

Double Dutch on the podium, Jung Min Seo the Nordic champion

Information in English

Avainsiirto

Tiedotteet

Uutiset

Linkit

RSS