ODT091020

=**Jones tested in George Trundle Masters**=




 * Problem:** White to play and mate in three.

The George Trundle NZ Masters is an annual invitational event hosted by the Auckland Chess Centre. Sponsored by former New Zealand championship player George Trundle, the Masters and Qualifier events are 10-player round-robins designed to give IM norm chances to local players. This year the top seed in the Masters was English GM Gawain Jones, whose relationship with New Zealand WIM Sue Maroroa affords him frequent opportunities to play in this part of the world. Despite a hefty rating gap back to the next two seeds, Australians IM Stephen Solomon and GM Darryl Johansen, Jones only secured victory with a last round victory over Solomon. This was partly due to an early upset loss to Auckland's Mike Steadman. Fresh from gaining the FM title a few months ago, Steadman finished as the highest local player. The final scores were Jones 7½/9; Johansen, Solomon 6; Steadman 5; Bruce Watson 4½; Stephen Lukey 4; Robert Smith, Tim Reilly 3½; Nic Croad 3; Ralph Hart 2.

Today's game is Steadman's valiant effort against Jones (playing Black) to earn a rare victory over a strong grandmaster. media type="custom" key="26364488" In an unusual variant of the King's Indian Defence this exchange has the drawback of opening the c-file onto Black's backward c-pawn. The alternative is 9...Nxe2. Necessary to organise the key thematic thrust for Black, f7-f5, but leaves queenside weaknesses for White to target. White holds the long-term positional trumps on the queenside, but his achilles heel is the safety of his king. He correctly avoids kingside castling (29 0-0? Qd4+ loses a pawn, but the kingside is not a safe haven anyway) and attempts to find shelter on the queenside. Losing a pawn – 33...Qc5! does not allow the game continuation. With the queen on c5, here 36...Re3 would have won a piece. White's exposed king makes the win extremely difficult, but his inspired use of the fourth rank allows him to activate his rook and gain positional as well as material ascendency. Centralising the queen spells the end for Black – White controls the board. Winning the exchange, but White's pawns are overwhelming. Black fights on to the thrilling finish, hoping rook and queen can generate threats before White's second queen enters the game. Next move is mate.
 * 1.d4 Nf6**
 * 2.c4 g6**
 * 3.Nc3 Bg7**
 * 4.e4 d6**
 * 5.Bd3 Nc6**
 * 6.Nge2 Nd7**
 * 7.Be3 e5**
 * 8.d5 Nd4**
 * 9.Nb5 Nxb5**
 * 10.cxb5 O-O**
 * 11.Ng3 h5**
 * 12.Qc2 b6**
 * 13.f3 h4**
 * 14.Ne2 Nc5**
 * 15.Bc4 f5**
 * 16.b4 Nd7**
 * 17.Bd3 Rf7**
 * 18.Rc1 Nf8**
 * 19.Qc6 Rb8**
 * 20.h3 Bf6**
 * 21.Qc2 Bg5**
 * 22.Qd2 Nh7**
 * 23.a4 Ra8**
 * 24.a5 Bd7**
 * 25.Nc3 Qf6**
 * 26.Ra1 Bf4**
 * 27.Bxf4 exf4**
 * 28.Rc1 Re8**
 * 29.Kd1! ---**
 * 29.--- bxa5**
 * 30.bxa5 Qd4**
 * 31.Ra1 Ng5**
 * 32.Ra4 Qe5?!**
 * 33.exf5! Bxf5**
 * 34.Rxf4 Bxd3**
 * 35.Rxf7 Kxf7**
 * 36.Qxd3 Qf4**
 * 37.Qd2 Qb4**
 * 38.Kc2 Nh7**
 * 39.Ra1! Nf6**
 * 40.Ra4 Qc5**
 * 41.Rxh4 Re5**
 * 42.Rd4 Qa3**
 * 43.f4 Re7**
 * 44.Ra4 Qc5**
 * 45.Kb2 Qg1**
 * 46.Rc4 Qf1**
 * 47.Kb3 Qa1**
 * 48.a6 Qf1**
 * 49.Qd4! ---**
 * 49.--- Qa1**
 * 50.g4 Nd7**
 * 51.Rxc7! Nc5+**
 * 52.Rxc5 dxc5**
 * 53.Qxc5 Qh1**
 * 54.d6 Re1**
 * 55.Qxa7+ Kf8**
 * 56.Qb8+ Kf7**
 * 57.Qc7+ Kf8**
 * 58.a7 Re3**
 * 59.Qb8+ Kg7**
 * 60.a8=Q Qb1+**
 * 61.Kc4 Qd3+**
 * 62.Kc5 Qxc3+**
 * 63.Kb6 Qd4+**
 * 64.Kc7 Qc4+**
 * 65.Qc6 Qxf4**
 * 66.Qd7+ Kh6**
 * 67.Qh8+ Resigns**


 * 1-0**


 * Solution:** 1 Rxa6+! Rxa6 (1... Kxa6 2 Qa4#) 2 Qd7+ Kb6 (2...Qb7/c7 3 QxQ#) 3 c5#.