I was also wondering about 39...Kf8. What happens if 39...gxf6 instead?

“Dziuba’s Weakness(es)”

19. axb5, which must be made before Nxe4

then of course the Nxe4 and finally the 4 move combo at the end resulting in mate.

click for larger view

White's plan is to play b5-b6 protecting the c-pawn, then move his rook away and promote. If Black moves the queen off the c-file to take the b-pawn, White sacrifices his rook with check and promotes.

Black is unable to stop this since his king needs two moves to reach a square where it can't be checked, which gives the pawn time reach b6.

39...gxf6 40.Rd8+ Kg7 41.Rxc8 f5 42.b5 Qc5 43.b6 Qxb6 44.Rg8+ Kxg8 45.c8=Q+ Kg7

click for larger view

Well…? Oh, alright. I’ll walk my way out.>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbq4...

28th Reykjavik Open
Harpa Music Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland
Feb. 19-27, 2013
Final Top Standings

1-3. GM Pavel Eljanov UKR 2678, GM Wesley So PHI 2684, GM Bassem Amin EGY 2631, 8.0/10

4-11. GM Anish Giri NED 2722, GM Ivan Cheparinov BUL 2709, IM Wei Yi CHN 2501, GM Marcin Dziuba POL 2602, GM Ding Liren CHN 2709, NM Yaacov Norowitz USA 2432, GM Gawain Jones ENG 2637, GM Ivan Sokolov NED 2644, 7.5/10

12-20. GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2688, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2715, GM Grzegorz Gajewski POL 2644, GM Alexander Ipatov TUR 2569, GM Erwin L’Ami NED 2622, GM Mustafa Yilmaz TUR 2531, GM Yury Shulman USA 2563, GM Vladimir Baklan UKR 2609, GM Xiu Deshun CHN 2530,7.0/10

Total of 227 participants, including 35 GMs, 11 WGMs, 26 IM and 1 WIM

Time Control: 90 minutes for first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game. There is a 30-second increment after every move starting move 1.

Anand: "Nowadays, when you’re not a grandmaster at 14, you can forget about it." Judging by that criteria Wesley So is the only Filipino player capable of contending for the world title. He became an International Grandmaster by scoring his third and final Grandmaster norm on Dec. 8, 2007 at the third Pichay Cup International Open in Manila. At 14 years, one month and 28 days old, he is the 9th youngest GM in chess history.

Ten months later, at the age of 14 years 11 months and 22 days he achieved another world record -- the youngest ever player to reach ELO 2600.

Back in 2011, IM John Watson interviewed your humble scribe for his video show in the Internet Chess Club, and John asked me what I thought of Wesley. My reply was that he is either the strongest or 2nd strongest Filipino player ever (the other contender is, of course, Eugene Torre), and he will be rated ELO 2700 by the end of the year. IM Watson was surprised and said something like "My! A very ambitious guy!" Well, Wesley was delayed by a year and 2 months, but now he has done it.

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.