Snowdrops and Oldhands 2013

Snowdrops leading over Oldhands, with five points more...

[07.12.2013 00:00:00] - Oldhands, who played white, should have been in charges of the yesterdays round, which took place after the day off. It was high time to erase the four points lead of Snowdrops. Sadly, GM Uhlmann is not in his best condition. He had a really good position in the game with Alina Kashlinskaya. Apparently he has surprised her with his choice of opening. Just after 10…cxd5 it could be enough to play 11.Ncb5 with an advantage. After that it would be simple 13.Rc1, which would give a really good place for the white, but instead of that, German GM played suicidal 13.d4 after which the position of the white was very complicated. Afterwards it was possible to fight with move 16.Na4, but with a quality less. But after 16.Nb5, where the white had lost a figure, he lost very quickly. The game of Boris Ivkov and Victoria Cmylite was not full of action. GM Ivkov is on antibiotics so he wasn’t in a good condition neither. He choose to build a super strong Dutch and the game slowly escalated to a draw. In the final position there was an equal position with lack of chances for both sides.

The game of Iossif Dorfman and Anastassiya Zjazjulkina was really sharp. The chess veteran probably surprised his opponent with 9.h4!? because the main move in this position is 9.Be2. A very interesting battle was unleashed. In the ending, the black should take on g2 – 23…Bxg2 and mainly, the white could do a strong move 25.b3! and gain a great advantage after that. This was the move, proposed by Petr Boleslav during the analysis of GM Ján Plachetka. In the closing position, the white has a better position. I have to admit that it was a disappointment for me that both of the games of GM Gulko and GM Dorfman, were ended by a draw in position where the white have an advantage. They should have played longer, especially for the team. If it will continue like this, the Snowdrops have it too easy.

The last game to talk about is the one of Boris Gulko and Mariya Muzychuk. The game is analyzed lower on the page so I will just say that GM Gulko has played a great game and had a better position. The draw, where the white had better position and had twenty minutes left, but his opponent had just five minutes, was a really unpleasant surprise for us. It is possible that GM Bulko overestimated the power of the black pawns, but according to the score, he should have continued.

Gulko,Boris F - Muzychuk,Mariya
Vršanská Uhelná chess match 2013 Poděbrady (5.4), 05.12.2013
[GM Robert Cvek]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 This is a favorite move of GM Gulko. I remember his old games where he played exactly the same moves. 3...cxd5 4.Bf4 Nc6 5.e3 Bf5 6.Nc3 In positions like this, it seems to me that the black have no problems with compensation. It can be, but you need to know it and you have to have the temper for playing such a position. And that is not easy at all, especially for the aggressive Snowdrop. 6...e6 7.Qb3 Bb4 8.a3!? GM Plachetka proposed this move during the analysis as a possible improvement for the white and that was exactly what happened. 8...Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Exactly, to take with queen would just helped to the black, after 9....Rc8 with a good position. 9...Qd7 10.Nf3 Nge7 11.a4! Nice strategic move. To be honest, after the first look over the position, I thought that the black is OK. She would play 11...b6, than move her knight to a5 with a blockade. However the white bishops would be strong. That is an educative strategic lesson. 11...b6


12.Ba6! Yes, it took control of the square c8, so the plan of the black is not that clear anymore, as it was in the game after the “c” column (pressure against the groin c3). 12...0-0 13.0-0 Na5 14.Qa2 Nec6 Maybe it is an inaccurate move. The black moves “too much” figures to queens wing. It would be good considering the move 14...f6 or 14...Jg6 with f6 and some counter play. 15.Nd2 Nb8 16.Bb5 Qb7 17.Rfe1! That is a nice move, with an idea of playing e4 or after preparing f3. Now, we can see that the position of white is a bit nicer. 17...Rc8 18.Rac1 a6 19.Bf1 b5 That is the key position. Now, GM Plachetka recommended 20.Qb2?! However it is nice, the black played correctly [20.axb5! this is the key to the lock of the advantage, recommended by the GM Plachetka 20...axb5 21.Qb2 the black must play (for avoid loosing the pawn b5): 21...Nc4 22.Nxc4 dxc4 23.f3 with a better game, for example: 23...Bd3 otherwise there will come 24.e4 with the advantage of 24.Bxd3 cxd3 25.Qd2 and the gain of pawn] 20...bxa4 However the closing is better for the white, it still is not too clear. 21.Qxb7 Nxb7 Because the pawns on the “a” column are complicating the life of the white. 22.c4 Nc6 23.Rc3 Nb4! The correct activity of the knight 24.Ra1 Bc2! 25.Rc1


It would be good considering 25.c5, but the black has a nice square c6there for the knight after the 25… Na5 with Nac6! And now there is critical position. 25...dxc4? That is unnecessarily complicated. The black had not got too much time and she thought that the position was not too good for her. That is why she reached for the tactic complications, however if she moved her bishop back, she would be OK. [25...B6!= and now, what about the white one? The machine proposes to me just repeating moves after 26.Ra1 26.Ra1 (26.c5? certainly not for 26...Na2; 26.cxd5?! Rxc3 27.Rxc3 Nxd5 28.Rc4 Nxf4 the black is OK) 26...Bc2 with the draw] 26.R3xc2 Nxc2 27.Rxc2 Na5 28.Bd6 c3 29.Ne4 Nb3 30.g4! This is really good move – she makes place and also controls the square f5. After the 30...Rc6 31.Rxc3 Rac8 32.Bc5 the white has got a clear advantage. The game ended and the black took the draw. 1/2

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