iking: On his way to the final score of 8/10 Wesley was undefeated and scored six wins against four draws. So when exactly did he cross the 2700 hump? This was in the penultimate round, against the Polish GM Marcin Dzuiba. Was it worthy of the occasion? Well, you be the judge.So, Wesley (2684) - Dziuba, Marcin (2602) [B12]
Reykjavik Open 2013 ISL (9), 26.02.2013
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5
The Advance Variation of the Caro-Kann. This is one opening which Wesley plays with both colors.
3...Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2
The Short System. Before Nigel Short White usually played this bishop to d3. The Englishman preferred to keep his bishop and go for exchanging the f5-bishop with his knight.
5...Ne7 6.0-0
For a while some players tried 6.Nbd2 with the idea of Nb3, but it turned out that Black can play 6... 6...c5 anyway! After 7.dxc5 Nec6 8.Nb3 Bxc5 9.Nxc5 Qa5+ 10.c3 Qxc5 Black was ok. Vachier Lagrave-Svetushkin, Mulhouse 2011 1/2 39.
6...c5
There are many possible continuations here but this particular move has a nice pedigree: Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand and Grischuk among the chess elite use this when facing the Caro as Black.
7.c4
The other move is 7.dxc5 Nec6 and White has tried 8.Be3, 8.Be5 and 8.a3.
7...Nbc6 8.Na3
This is considered to be the main line.
8...dxc4 9.Nxc4 Nd5 10.Bg5 Qd7 11.Rc1 h6 12.Be3 b5 13.Na3
The aggressive 13.Nd6+ actually allows multiple piece exchanges and after 13...Bxd6 14.exd6 c4! 15.a4 a6 16.axb5 axb5 17.b3 Qxd6 18.bxc4 bxc4 19.Bxc4 0-0 Black is even slightly better. Cheparinov-Bologan, Khanty-Mansiysk 2009 1/2 54.
13...a6 14.dxc5 Be4
Warning: 14...Rd8?! allows 15.Nxb5! axb5 16.Bxb5 and the awkward pin on the c6-knight coupled with three connected passed pawns means White is playing for a win.
15.Nc2 Nxe3 16.Nxe3 Be7 17.a4 Qb7 18.Nd2!?
A novelty. White had previously tried 18.Bd3 and 18.axb5 but neither move had shown much promise. Wesley’s idea is 18.Nd2 Bg6 19.axb5 axb5 20.Bf3 when his White bishop is now powerfully positioned on the long diagonal. Dziuba tries another way.
18...Rd8 19.axb5 axb5
Dziuba has a good idea too -- after 20.Qe1 Nd4 he manages to get rid of White’s e2 bishop and it is now Black with a strong grip on the long diagonal. There is one problem, though...
20.Nxe4!
White gets rook and bishop for the queen and his pieces become very active. Make no mistake though that Wesley wanted to win badly and it took tremendous courage to give up his queen and go for it, especially when facing a 2600+ GM.
20...Rxd1 21.Rfxd1 Nxe5 22.c6!
A nice point. If now 22...Nxc6 then 23.Bf3! and Black loses the c6-knight, for example after 23...0-0 24.Rxc6!
22...Qc7 23.Bxb5 0-0 24.Nc4! Bd8
Of course not 24...Nxc6? 25.Ne3.
25.Nc5 Nxc4
And now 25...Nxc6 is met by 26.Nd7! Bg5 (26...Re8? 27.Nd6! Re7 28.Rxc6 Qxd7 29.Rc8) 27.Ne3 Bxe3 28.fxe3 once again the c6-knight is a goner.
26.Rxc4
Now Black has to attend to White’s threat of 27.Na6 Qe5 28.Rc5 Qxb2 29.c7.
26...Qe5 27.Rc2 Bc7 28.g3 Rb8 29.Ba4
The trick here is that the pawn on b2 is poisoned. 29...Rxb2? Nd3 forks rook and queen. However, 29.Bf1 might be a stronger move here as the bishop is a bit awkward on a4 while on f1 it is ready to defend the King.
29...Ra8 30.b4 Qf5 31.Rdc1 h5 32.Bb5
Wesley realizes his mistake on move 29 and hurries to reposition the bishop to f1.
32...Bb6 33.Bf1 h4 34.Nd7 Bd4 35.c7 Rc8 36.Rd2
Of course the pawn cannot be taken: 36.gxh4? Rxc7! and now the rook is immune because of 37.Rxc7?? Qxf2+ 38.Kh1 Qg1# mate. If you fall for that you should probably kill yourself.
36...hxg3 37.hxg3 Qg5?
A blunder. If he wanted to threaten to take the g3-pawn then he should have played 37...Qg4.
38.Rxd4! Qxc1 39.Nf6+!
A nice way to finish off the opponent.
39...Kf8
No way out -- 39...gxf6 40.Rd8+ Kg7 41.Rxc8 Qc6 42.Ba6! followed by Rg8+ and then c7-c8=Q. If Dziuba takes the bishop then 42...Qxa6 43.Rd8 and queens.
40.Rd8+ Ke7 41.Ng8# 1-0
A pure checkmate.
Well done Wesley! We look forward to more of your successes in the near future!
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