ODT110920

=**Tie for Otago/Southland under 13 championship**=




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

The Otago and Southland under 13 championship was held at the Otago Chess Club at the start of the month. 36 players aged seven to 13 from all over the region contested the six round swiss tournament. Favourites before the start were Sean Lau (12, Balmacewen Intermediate), Ben Clayton (12, Tahuna Normal Intermediate) and Logan Xu (12, John McGlashan). Sean Lau took a half point bye in round 2 to attend a piano competition but otherwise the favourites won all their games against the other players. The crunch came in round five when Ben Clayton up agreed a draw when material in fear of Logan Xu's attack. This left all three in lead. In the final round, Clayton defeated Lau to tie for first place on 5½/6 with Xu, who beat Taine Box (12, Balmacewen). Ethan Lau (9, Maori Hill) won through to finish third on 5, while his Maori Hill teammate Max Lough (9) and older brother Sean and shared fourth place on 4½ points. Today's game is from the FIDE World Cup tournament just finishing in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. It features a stunning finish by current Russian Champion Peter Svidler on his way to the final, playing Black against US grandmaster Gata Kamsky, a former World Cup winner. media type="custom" key="25742716" Looking to avoid critical variations in the Ruy Lopez. Also heading for quieter, less well-trodden paths than the more common 11 Na3. The queen is well placed at the intersection of the c-file and the b1-h7 diagonal. Better was 15...Bb7 defending the attacked knight, as this move aids White's coordination. Black has had to shed a pawn to stop a lethal queen invasion on h7, but the situation is still very murky as the white centre pawns are overextended: e.g. 20 Qe4 Nxd4! 21 Nxd4 Rxe5 22 Qg4 (or 22 Qd3 Qh4! forking h6 and d4 e.g. 23 Be3 Nxe3 24 fxe3 Rxe3! winning or 23 N4f3 Qxh6 24 Nxe5 dxe5 25 Ne4 Nf4 with excellent compensation) 22...Bc8 23 Qg3 Bxd4 24 Nf3 Bxb2 25 Bxg6! Qf6 26 Bc2+ Kh8 27 Nxe5 Bxe5 28 Bg5 Bxg3 29 Bxf6+ Nxf6 30 fxg3 Kg7 with dynamic equality. Black appears lost, but by this point Svidler had seen an amazing resource. Clearly not 23... Nxf6?? 24 Qxg6+ mating. The alternative 25...Bxc6 26 Qxc6 Qh4 leaves White in the driver's seat after 27 Be3! as Black has too many loose pawns. Even after 26 Be3 Rxe3! 27 fxe3 Re8 Black gets a strong attack, so White takes the material. However Black is about to drop a bomb.... A classic position that Svidler said in the press conference reminded him of Anderssen's famous combinations of the 19th century. After 27 Qxe2 Qg3 White can only delay mate on g2 for a few moves by throwing his pieces on the fire. Resigns was playable here, but too hard for White to accept for a couple of moves.
 * 1.e4 e5**
 * 2.Nf3 Nc6**
 * 3.Bb5 a6**
 * 4.Ba4 Nf6**
 * 5.O-O b5**
 * 6.Bb3 Bc5**
 * 7.a4 Rb8**
 * 8.axb5**
 * axb5**
 * 9.c3 d6**
 * 10.d4 Bb6**
 * 11.Be3 ---**
 * 11.--- O-O**
 * 12.Nbd2 h6**
 * 13.h3 Re8**
 * 14.Qc2! ---**
 * 14.--- exd4**
 * 15.cxd4 Na5?!**
 * 16.Ba2 Bb7**
 * 17.e5 Nd5**
 * 18.Bb1! g6**
 * 19.Bxh6 Nc6!**
 * 20.exd6 Qxd6**
 * 21.Ne4 Qb4**
 * 22.Ba2 ---**
 * 22.--- Nxd4!**
 * 23.Nf6+! Kh8**
 * 24.Nxd4 Nxf6**
 * 25.Nc6 Qh4!!**
 * 26.Nxb8 ---**
 * 26.--- Re2!!**
 * 27.Qc3 Rxf2**
 * 28.Nc6 Rxf1+**
 * White Resigns**


 * 0-1**


 * Solution:** 1 Bh5+! Kxh5 (1...Kf6 2 Nd7#) 2 Qf7+ g6 (2... Kg4 3 Qf5+ Kh4 4 g3#; 2... Kh4 3 g3+ and 4 Qf5#) 3 Qf3+ Kh4 4 Qh3#.