ODT120501

=**Jakovenko wins European Individual Championship**=




 * Problem:** White to play and mate in 4.

The 2012 European Individual Championship was held at Plovdiv, Bulgaria in late March. The eleven round tournament was a massive 'swiss' with 348 players, including 176 grandmasters. Apart from the prize fund of 100,000 Euros, the drawcard for such a strong showing was that the top 23 finishers would qualify for the next World Cup tournament.

English GM Gawain Jones, who played in the Queenstown Classic in January, made the best start with 4/4. He was gradually overhauled, but held on to score 7½ and qualify for the World Cup. The sole leader going into the last round was French GM Laurent Fressinet, half a point ahead of nine players. Russian GM Dmitry Jakovenko was paired against Fressinet in the last round, which is today's game. In a powerful display of precision chess, Jakovenko gained a slight advantage with the white pieces and gradually enlarged it to win the game and the tournament. His final score of 8½ was enough for outright first place as all the other players within reach drew their final games. media type="custom" key="25351784" This pin is infrequently played in the Queen's Gambit Declined, but usually leads back to normal lines, such as the Ragozin System in this case. In turn an unusual choice, most common is 8 Bd3. Black should not recapture the pawn immediately here as 8... Nxc5?! 9 Qd4! Bxc3+ 10 Qxc3 offers him no compensation for his weak d-pawn and loss of the bishop pair. The strength of White's position is based around his central knight and two bishops. On the other hand Black has active pieces and weak pawns to attack on a2 and c3. His last move may not be the best, as 11...Ne4 freeing the Nd7 to capture on c5 keeps the black queen's gaze directed on the other two pawns. One of the advantages of the bishop pair is that it can given up for other advantages. This exchange of the seemingly powerful bishop allows White to eliminate the weak c-pawn while retaining the more active remaining minor pieces. The development of this bishop is a major headache for Black. It had no other square to move to and now gets driven back to allow an advantageous exchange for White. With bishop against knight and Black's glaring weakness on e6, White is content to grind out a technical win with minimal risk. He could well have chosen the more forceful 24 Rd4 Qf5 25 Rd6 Rae8 26 Bb5 Ne4 when 27 Rd4 Nc5 28 Qa3 Rc8 29 Qxa7 wins a pawn without giving Black any respite. White threatened 26 Bf3 but the queen swap leaves a difficult defensive task. 25...Qf5 26 Bf3 Nb6 isn't much better, though with all the White pieces superior to their Black counterparts. Opening up a second front to create a fresh weakness for Black to defend. Black finally cracks – losing a pawn by force. The two connected passed pawns ensure the win and Black could safely resign here.
 * 1.d4 d5**
 * 2.c4 e6**
 * 3.Nc3 Bb4**
 * 4.Nf3 Nf6**
 * 5.cxd5 exd5**
 * 6.Bg5 Nbd7**
 * 7.e3 c5**
 * 8.dxc5 ---**
 * 8.--- Qa5**
 * 9.Rc1 Bxc3+**
 * 10.bxc3 O-O**
 * 11.Nd4 Qxc5**
 * 12.Bd3 Re8**
 * 13.O-O Ne4**
 * 14.Bf4 Ne5**
 * 15.Bxe5! ---**
 * 15.--- Rxe5**
 * 16.c4 Nf6**
 * 17.Qb3 Re7**
 * 18.Rfd1 Bg4**
 * 19.f3 Be6**
 * 20.cxd5 Qxd5**
 * 21.Bc4 Qe5**
 * 22.f4 Qe4**
 * 23.Nxe6 fxe6**
 * 24.Be2 ---**
 * 24.--- Nd5**
 * 25.Kf2 Qb4**
 * 26.Bc4 Qxb3**
 * 27.Bxb3 Nc7**
 * 28.Rc5 Kf8**
 * 29.Re5 g6**
 * 30.h4! ---**
 * 30.--- Kg7**
 * 31.h5 Rf8**
 * 32.g4 Rff7**
 * 33.Rg5 Rd7?!**
 * 34.hxg6 hxg6**
 * 35.Bc2 Kf8**
 * 36.Rxg6 Rxd1**
 * 37.Bxd1 Rh7**
 * 38.Bb3 Ke7**
 * 39.f5 exf5**
 * 40.gxf5 ---**
 * 40.--- Ne8**
 * 41.e4 Nd6**
 * 42.f6+ Resigns**


 * 1-0**


 * Solution:** 1 Qxg5+!! Kxg5 (1... Kf7 2 Rf4+ Ke8 3 Qxg8+ Ke7 4 Rf7#) 2 Rg4+ Kf5 3 Rh5+ Rg5 4 Rxg5#.