ODT131001

=**Career highlight for Adams**=




 * Problem:** White to play and mate in 3.

GM Michael Adams, the number one English player since the late nineties, recently recorded a career-best tournament victory. In the elite Sparkassen event in Dortmund, Germany, Adams scored an unbeaten 7/9 for first place and a 2925 performance. Perhaps more notable was the fact that Adams outpaced the in-form Vladimir Kramnik, who went on to win the World Cup that started a few days later. The Russian Kramnik finished on 6½, having held the joint lead with Adams until near the end. These two left the rest of the ten-player field in their wake: No-one else scored more than 50%. Third place on 4½ - two points behind Kramnik – was shared by Peter Leko of Hungary and Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany.

Today's game from the sixth round at Dortmund was Adams' shortest win. He is playing Black against Naiditsch and cool defence carries the day. media type="custom" key="24951438" In the Queen's Gambit Declined mainline 8 Rc1 is more common, delaying the development of the king's bishop another move. The text alllows Black to exchange pawns without loss of time, as the bishop has to move again to recapture and is exposed on the c4 square. Black threatened 10... b5 expanding on the queenside and gaining time by attacking the bishop. Black has carried out the standard central counterthrust c7-c5 isolating the white d-pawn, and set about establishing a knight on the blockading square d5. White's choice of retreat for the bishop is unusual, as normally 13 Bb3 is played maintaining pressure on d5. It seems White intends to exploit the slight weakness of the b1-h7 diagonal on the kingside instead. Allowing Black to force the bishop back to b1 where it will block the rook on a1 if it stays on its aggressive diagonal. White reveals his somewhat ambitious plan to swing this rook to the kingside. Black must exchange some pieces if he doesn't want to get mated. Threatening 20... Nxe5, and provoking White to attack. White's unpinning the d-pawn also threatened in turn 21 Qxh6. Black moves to the square just vacated by the rook, as on h8 it would be too vulnerable to potential sacrifices on h6. Crowding the black king, but committting White to a sacrificial attack. The alternative was admitting the flaw in his strategy and consolidating with 21 Nc3 Qd6 22 Qf4 Nf6 23 Rd1 Rac8 with only a slight plus for Black. Attacking the bishop, this move required sound calculation. White's threats allow him to leave the bishop en prise for several moves, but eventually it proves his downfall. Defending the threat of 23 Nfg6+! Since Black was unlikely to go for 23... Nxh7?? 24 Nfg6+, a better alternative was 23 Qc4 Nbd5 24 Nxd5 exd5 25 Qd3 Bxa4 26 Qb1 rescuing the bishop and retaining some compensation for the pawn lost. Now the weakness of d4 is White's undoing. The last chance was 24 Nxc6 Bxc6 25 d5 exd5 26 Bc2 d4 when White's misplaced rook on the kingside and Black's passed d-pawn give Black a large, but not yet decisive advantage. The text runs into a double attack on White's tangled pieces. White resigns. The bishop has no escape.
 * 1.d4 Nf6**
 * 2.c4 e6**
 * 3.Nc3 d5**
 * 4.Bg5 Be7**
 * 5.Nf3 Nbd7**
 * 6.e3 h6**
 * 7.Bh4 0-0**
 * 8.Bd3 ---**
 * 8.--- dxc4**
 * 9.Bxc4 a6**
 * 10.a4 ---**
 * 10.--- c5**
 * 11.0-0 cxd4**
 * 12.exd4 Nb6**
 * 13.Bd3!? ---**
 * 13.--- Nbd5**
 * 14.Ne5!? ---**
 * 14.--- Nb4**
 * 15.Bb1 Bd7**
 * 16.Ra3!? ---**
 * 16.--- Bc6**
 * 17.Ne2 Nd7!**
 * 18.Bxe7 Qxe7**
 * 19.Rg3 Rfd8!**
 * 20.Qc1 Kf8!**
 * 21.Bh7?! ---**
 * 21.--- Nf6!**
 * 22.Nf4 Be8**
 * 23.Rf3?! ---**
 * 23.--- Nc6!**
 * 24.Rd1? ---**
 * 24.--- Rxd4!**
 * 25.Rxd4 Nxd4**
 * 26.Rd3 Nc6**


 * 0-1**


 * Solution:** 1 Qxd6+!! Qxd6 (1... Ne7 2 Qxd8#; 1... Qe7 2 Rxc8#) 2 Rxc8+ Qd8 3 Rxd8#.