Feb-19-21 J M Lopez Martinez vs J Guerra Mendez, 2017
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| LRLeighton: Yeah, I played a lot of Reti-type formations back then. I grew up in the Berkshires, so the Tanglewood Open was close to home, but then I went off to university. But in my late 20s, I went back to grad school, and I stopped playing chess -- I haven't played a serious tournament ... |
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Feb-15-21 Weenink vs Tarrasch, 1923
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| LRLeighton: Tarrasch misses a win on the final move -- 30...Rf3! decides the game. |
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Feb-12-21 D V Prasad vs Speelman, 1987
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| LRLeighton: Deeply calculated combination by Speelman, starting with 29....Nxc3! Not only does this lure the white Q away from defending g2, but it also lines up the Q for a variation that only appears in the notes: If instead 33 Rxf1, then 33...Rc8 34 Qb3 (best would be to give the Q up ... |
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Feb-10-21 Yudasin vs Kramnik, 1994 
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| LRLeighton: In the 24 h3 line, Brenin is correct that 30 Kxg3 is better for white than 30 Kxg1, but after 30...Re8, I doubt that white's pawn on d6 is even relevant -- white's King is in a lot of trouble, and it is likely that he will be giving up more material to save it. |
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Feb-08-21 Bologan vs Caruana, 2008
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| LRLeighton: The positions after 9 g4 have been reached by transposition in a few games at master level, and it was originally played in a correspondence game by a master named Mahler back in 1980. What sets this game apart is Caruana's anti-positional 11...g6?!. In any event, as goodevans ... |
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Jan-15-21 Vachier-Lagrave vs Anand, 2018
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| LRLeighton: MVL also missed a chance to equalize with 37 Bxb6! If black plays 37...d2xc1(Q), then white can draw by perpetual check, starting with 38 Rxd8+ followed by 39 Bg8+ etc. |
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Jan-10-21 Leitao vs Shirov, 2014
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| LRLeighton: Remarkably accurate ending by Shirov, featuring black's N + P vs 3 pawns. |
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Dec-30-20 Dorfman vs Tukmakov, 1991
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| LRLeighton: Black missed a win with 38...a3! as none of white's pieces can stop the passed pawn. |
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Dec-19-20 I Sokolov vs Karsten Larsen, 2012
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| LRLeighton: White's final move wins, of course, but he also had a very pretty forced mate: 37 Rg8+, Kf6 38 Qd8+, Re7 39 Qd6+, Re6 40 Rg6+, fxg6 41 Qc8 mate. |
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Dec-19-20 Ljubojevic vs Murey, 1994
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| LRLeighton: Murey starts a pretty combination with 35...Nf3+ and Ljubojevic blunders by recapturing with the queen (instead 36 gxf3, Qxg3+ 37 Nxg3, Bxd4+ is roughly equal), allowing black to win the queen for two knights. Unfortunately for black, he then fritters away the win starting around |
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Kibitzing
