But Carlsen, 20, had the better tie-break score and was awarded the grand prize. Karjakin, 21, took the second prize and qualified for the Grand Slam Masters Final in Sao Paulo/Bilbao. Radjabov and Nakamura shared third-fourth places while Nisipeanu and the erratic Ivanchuk were the tail-enders. More about this elite tournament next week.
Today, we discuss the 19th Sigeman tournament in Malmo, Sweden, a six-player round-robin event that featured last year’s winner, 16-year-old Anish Giri of the Netherlands, 39-year-old veteran GM Alexei Shirov of Spain and 17-year-old Philippine GM Wesley So. They competed against three Swedish GMs: Jonny Hector, Nils Grandelius and Hans Tikkanen.
According to Chess Base, to make the event as exciting as possible, “the organizers chose players they considered extremely attack-oriented….
[However], none of the players was able to really stand out…. Giri and Tikkanen led the event with a modest +1 while So, who had started with a nice win over Shirov, got a little overconfident, and ended up losing to Grandelius. In the final round, Giri and Tikkanen drew while So won after Hector botched a winning sacrificial attack.” Tikkanen, Giri and So finished in a tie for first, Shirov was fourth, Grandelius fifth and Hector dead last.
Game of the week. Bobby Ang, who annotates the following partie, describes Hector, 47, as a very aggressive player who specializes in unusual openings. “Hector tried the Alekhine-Chatard Attack against Wesley in the last round and threw everything he had against the Black King, but Wesley managed to survive.”
White: J. Hector (2588)
Black: W. So (2667)
French Defense
Malmo 2011
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4 ahhh … the good old days. This Alekhine-Chatard Attack is hardly seen anymore although Hector and his compatriot GM Emanuel Berg have been known to dabble in it. 6…0-0 If Black accepts the sacrifice then 6…Bxg5 7.hxg5 Qxg5 8.Nh3 has been the main line for many decades. The new main line, 8.Qd3!? was popularized by Jonny Hector. It clears the way for queenside castling and incidentally attacks the h7 pawn. Now there might follow 8…g6 9.Nf3 Qe7 10.0-0-0 Nc6 11.Qe3 Nb6 with a nice fight ahead of us. Hector,J (2500)-Fries Nielsen,J (2380)/ Stavanger 1991 1-0 (41). 7.Qg4 f6 8.Nf3 Other tries: 1. 8.Qxe6+!? Kh8 9.Qxd5 fxg5 10.hxg5 Bxg5 11.Bd3 Bh6 is unclear, although this is the type of position Hector usually wins. Hector, J. (2576)-Matthiesen, A. (2315)/ Denmark DEN 2010 1-0 (70); 2. 8.Bd3!? Rf7 9.Nxd5!? exd5 10.e6 with heavy complications. Papa,S (2399)-Ulibin,M (2586)/ Geneve 2004 1/2 (42). Interesting stuff — you really should try this Alekhine-Chatard Attack! 8…Rf7 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Qg3 Nc6 The usual counter for Black in this line is 10…c5, which also seems to be best here. 11.0-0-0 Qf8 12.h5 Bb4 13.Bxf6 Rxf6 14.Bd3 Bd6 15.Ne5 Rxf2 16.Rdf1 Bxe5 17.dxe5 Rxf1+ 18.Rxf1 Qe7 19.Bg6?! But here Hector’s imagination has gone a little wild. A better try is 19.Nb5! with the idea that 19…Nb4 20.Bxh7+! Kxh7 21.Qg6+ Kg8 White can either go for a draw with 22.Nxc7 Qxc7 23.Qe8+ or try for more with 22.h6. 19…hxg6 20.hxg6 Nd4! Bringing this knight into the defense is key to breaking Hector’s offensive. 21.Rf7 Qd8 22.Qf4 Nf5 23.g4 Nh4! [23…Nh6? 24.g5! Nxf7 25.Qxf7+ Kh8 26.Qf4 Kg8 27.Qh4 Qe8 28.Qh7+ Kf8 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qxg7+ Kd8 31.Qh7 Qf8 32.b3 Black does not seem to have a defense against the passed pawns] 24.Rxg7+ Desperation. 24…Kxg7 25.Qf7+ Kh6 26.Qh7+ Kg5 27.Qh5+ Kf4 28.Ne2+ Ke3 29.g5 Nf3 30.Kd1 Qxg5 31.Qh7 Kf2 0-1.
Puzzler.
White: Ka5, Nb5, Qc1, Bd3, pawn on d4
Black: Kd5, Ne5, pawns on a6 and f3
White to play and mate in three moves.
Send your answers to “64” c/o Marianas Variety, P.O. Box 500231, Saipan MP 96950. Our fax no. is 670-234-9271. You can also e-mail [email protected].
