ODT140204

=**Australian Championship to Illingworth**=




 * Problem:** Black to play and mate in two.

The 2014 Australian Championship was held in Melbourne at the start of the year. Top seed was the invited Russian GM, Vasily Papin, one of four non-Australians allowed to enter. After an extremely close contest over the eleven rounds, Sydney International Master Max Illingworth emerged as the outright winner on 8/11. Illingworth's play was characterised by seeking unbalanced positions and a belief in his ability to outplay his opponents. This uncompromising approach suffered two setbacks in the early rounds, but enabled a run of 5½/6 to finish the tournament, including a win over Papin.

Today's game is Illingworth playing White against the defending champion, IM Bobby Cheng of Melbourne, from the eighth round of the Championship. media type="custom" key="24990098" In this line of the French Defence Tarrasch, White plays to hold the pawn on c5 for a while, mainly to force Black to spend time recovering the pawn. This exchange only seems to strengthen Black's centre. 10. Ba4 retains the bishop pair, though Black gains active play in return for his pawn minus. Allowing Black to recover c5 easily, but trying to hold the pawn by 12.Nbd4 Qc7 13.Bg5 Ne4! 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 is futile, since 15.Nxc6? Qxc5 16 Nce5 Ba6 leads to serious problems. The possibility of 12.O-O? Ba6 enabled by the bishop exchange on move 10 forces the white king to the less desirable queenside. Black's advantage of two bishops and a mobile pawn centre should eventually result in a powerful attack on the white king position, once the bishops sort themselves out. Black starts to drift, as the rook is not effective on the 4th rank. A powerful alternative was the multipurpose 23... Qf6! controlling f5, removing potential pins down the d-file and introducing the latent threat of … Bxh3 if the knight on f3 is left undefended. E.g. 24. Qa6 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 (25.Nxd4? Re1+ 26.Rd1 Qf4+) 25... Bxh3! 26.gxh3 Qxf3 with advantage, or 24.c3 c5 25.Nc2 Bc6 and the hanging pawns become very strong. White misses the best reply which is 24.Nb5! Qf6 (24... cxb5? 25.Qxe4!) 25.Nc3 utilising the d-file pin to reposition the knight on the key c3 square attacking a4, d5 and e4. Allowing the knight maneouvre to c3 via a different route. Instead 24... Qc7! retains Black's advantage, as if 25.Ne2? Bxf2 26.Nc3 Be3. Better was admitting his earlier error and retreating to the back rank where the rook could be switched to the b-file. Here it continues to get in the bishops' way and fails to defend a4, which is unnecessary anyway. e.g. 26... Re8 27 Nxa4? (27.Qxa4? c5 28.Qb3 d4 and the pawns get rolling) 27... Qg6 28.g3 Qf6 29.Rd3 Bxh3 winning back the pawn with advantage. Black is provoked into an exchange sacrifice that sharpens the game. After 31... Re4 Black's bishops and attacking chances still balance White's extra pawn. Black might have recouped his sacrifice by 32... Bf4! 33.cxd3 dxc4 34.d4! Qg5 35.Qa8+ Kh7 36.Qxc6 Bxd2+ 37 Kc2 and draw after 37... Qf5+! 38.Kxd2 Qd3+ 39. Kc1 Qxa3+ with perpetual check, as 40.Nb2 c3 also draws. Or 36... Bc7!? 37.Qxd6 Bxd6 38.Nc3 Bxa3+ 39.Kb1! (39.Kd2 Bb4 draws) and White's extra material gives him the edge in the endgame. White's tenacious defence finally results in a Black slip, allowing White to break up his central pawns. After 37... Bb6 38.Qb4 Bc4 the game is still dynamically balanced. No better is 39... cxb5 40.Qxd5 b4 41.Qd8+ exchanging queens with an easy win. The combined rook and queen assault on the black king is immediately decisive.
 * 1.d4 e6**
 * 2.e4 d5**
 * 3.Nd2 c5**
 * 4.exd5 exd5**
 * 5.Bb5+ Nc6**
 * 6.Qe2+ Be7**
 * 7.dxc5**
 * 7... Nf6**
 * 8.Nb3 O-O**
 * 9.Be3 a6**
 * 10.Bxc6?!**
 * 10... bxc6**
 * 11.Nf3 a5**
 * 12.O-O-O**
 * 12... a4**
 * 13.Nbd4 Qc7**
 * 14.Bg5 Bxc5**
 * 15.Bxf6 Qf4+**
 * 16.Qd2 Qxf6**
 * 17.Qc3 Qd6**
 * 18.a3 Bg4**
 * 19.Rd2 Rfe8**
 * 20.h3 Bd7**
 * 21.Re1 Bb6**
 * 22.Rxe8+ Rxe8**
 * 23.Qd3 Re4?!**
 * 24.Qa6 Bc7**
 * 25.Ne2! h6**
 * 26.Nc3 Rf4**
 * 27.Ne1 Qf6**
 * 28.Qa7 Qd8**
 * 29.Nd3 Rc4**
 * 30.Nxa4 Bf5**
 * 31.b3!? Bxd3!?**
 * 32.bxc4! Bxc4!?**
 * 33.g3 Ba5**
 * 34.Rd1 Bb5**
 * 35.Qd4 Qd6**
 * 36.Qc5! Qd8**
 * 37.Nc3 Qf6?**
 * 38.a4! Bxc3**
 * 39.axb5 Ba5**
 * 40.Kb1 Qf3**
 * 41.Rd3 Qh1+**
 * 42.Kb2 cxb5**
 * 43.Qc8+ Kh7**
 * 44.Qf5+ Kg8**
 * 45.Re3!**
 * 45... f6**
 * 46.Qd7 Kh7**
 * 47.Re7 Bc3+**
 * 48.Kxc3 Qa1+**
 * 49.Kd2 Qd4+**
 * 50.Ke2 Qc4+**
 * 51.Kf3 Kh8**
 * 52.Re8+ Resigns**


 * 1-0**


 * Solution:** 1... e5+! 2. dxe5 Rg4#.