MT Sustarsic: Win against Mary, Patrick

Win against IM Mary, Patrick of Argentina http://www.iccf-webchess.com/MakeAMove.aspx?id=297383. He is 54 years old, and works in European Central Bank in Western France.

11.Nd4 Novelty? The ChessOK opening tree http://chessok.com/?page_id=352 gives 6 games with 11.Bf4, but none with Nd4. I thought I'll vary with this move.

13...Qc8 ?! This hands over the initiative to White. Perhaps better was 13...Nh5.

14.e4 ! Losing no time to occupy the centre. Now Black makes a series of aimless moves.

20.Qg4 ! There is a shortage of defenders near the Black king.

20...g5 ? Somehow, most engines want to play this. But if you force a few moves down the line, they realize their mistake.

23...Kg7 ? 23...Bb4 was necessary.

28...a4 ? With so many White pieces pointed at the Black king, how can he make a pawn move on the other wing?

29.Bc3+ ! And Black resigned after a few more moves. This is my first win in the tournament.


But SIM Korze, Dr. Danilo continues to lead the tournament with 7.5 points, http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=22830 :

MT Sustarsic: Draw against Szczepanski, Zbigniew

Draw against Szczepanski, Zbigniew of Poland http://www.iccf-webchess.com/MakeAMove.aspx?id=297389. He is 53 years old, and works in his own management consultancy firm.

7.g4 As against SIM Sivic in the same tournament, and as mentioned in my post above, I employed the Shabalov / Shirov attack. Instead of 10...Nf8, Sivic continued 10...Nf6.

14...Nh4 14...Bd7 15.e4 Nf4 16.e5 Qh4 17.Rg3 Nxe2+ 18.Nxe2 Bf8 19.Rdg1 dxc4 20.Qxc4 O-O-O {1/2-1/2(33) Enricci, Juan Andrés (2407) - Cardelli, Gabriel (2443) / WCCC28CT06 (?), ICCF 2008}

17.e4 Novelty? http://www.chessok.com/?page_id=352 gives 17.cxd5 exd5 18.e4 Be6 19.exd5 cxd5 1-0, Computer "Zappa Zanzibar" - Computer "Scorpio", Leiden (Netherlands), 2007

17...dxc4 This move was accompanied by a draw offer, which I declined

36...b3!! I had analyzed 36...c3 for several weeks, only to conclude that White had nothing better than a draw, even though he remained a piece up. But I had hardly analyzed 36...b3. So when I received this move, I was shocked. I thought my opponent had blundered. Engines were showing high scores for White. But slowly, I realized that though I had a series of checks, they never led to mate. Anyway, I continued playing, hoping that a win will materialize somewhere. Perhaps somebody can show me a win?

 
39...Kb6! The move that engines miss.

45.Qd8 Finally, I offered the draw, which was accepted by my opponent.

SIM Korze, Dr. Danilo continues to lead the tournament with 7.5 points, http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=22830 :

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MT Sustarsic: Draw against Voiculescu, Costel

Draw against Voiculescu, Costel of Romania. He is 64 years old, and works as an Engineer at a dam on the river Arges.

15...cxd5 15...exd5 16.e4 dxe4 17.Qd6 Qxd6 18.Rxd6 f5 was 1/2-1/2, Lukacs Peter (HUN) - Wahls Matthias (GER), Budapest (Hungary), 1988 is given in http://www.chessok.com/?page_id=352

18...Nc5 Novelty? 18...f5 19.Rad1 Bd3 20.b4 Rf7 {1/2-1/2(38 ) Ernazarov,Nazar Yazdurdyevich (KAZ) (2501) - Mortarini, Marco (ITA) / EM/CL/Q15-1 (?), ICCF Email 2002.

White maintained a slight advantage to the end of the game, but I think it is not sufficient for a win in correspondence chess.

Finally, my opponent offered a draw along with 40.Nd6 which was accepted.

SIM Korze, Dr. Danilo continues to lead the tournament with 7 points, http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=22830.

MT Sustarsic: Draw against SIM Sivic, Jernej

Draw against SIM Sivic, Jernej of Slovenia http://www.iccf-webchess.com/MakeAMove.aspx?id=297387. He is 26 years old, and works as a software developer for USB oscilloscopes.

7.g4 is the Shabalov / Shirov attack against the Slav, starting a premature flank attack disregarding classical middle-game theory.

18.Qc1 Novelty? 18.e4 is the move recommended by engine books, but it seemed to open up the position, so I tried a move new to me at least.

21.Be3 Here White has a number of alternatives, I think I have to look here to find a way to avoid the draw.

Since the last few moves repeated the position, I offered a draw along with my move 24.Rh1, which was accepted by my opponent.

SIM Korze, Dr. Danilo leads the tournament with 7 points, http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=22830.

MT Sustarsic: Draw against SIM Korze, Dr. Danilo

Draw against SIM Korze, Dr. Danilo of Slovenia. He is 46 yrs old and works in the University of Maribor as university assistant professor. He is also the organizer of this event. The game was a thrilling Caro Kann, that ended in a draw http://www.iccf-webchess.com/MakeAMove.aspx?id=297382.

4.Nc3 The Shirov variation, one of the sharpest options against the Caro Kann. Though classical theory frowns upon premature wing attacks, modern praxis shows g4 being played commonly at the opening stage itself.

12...Qb6 With hindsight, I might have tried Qa5 or Qc7.

13.Na4 N 13.O-O Qxb2 14.Na4 Qa3 15.c3 b5 1-0 was Kupsys, Alfonsas (2577) - Stankevicius, Lionginas (LTU) (2432) / EM/CL/Q04-2, ICCF Email 2002. Na4 does not seem to be in the spirit of this line, which is to go for an all out attack on the Black king.

16.b3 If White has nothing better than this pawn move, Black has nothing to be afraid of.

It was not without some trepidation that I received the move 25 Nxg7 , but a quick verification of my notes reassured me. 25.Bxc6 Nxc6 26.Nxg7 Kxg7 also lead to a draw.

After 28.h5, my opponent offered a draw which was accepted.

SIM Szczepanski, Zbigniew continues to lead the tournament with 6.5 points, http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=22830.

MT Sustarsic: Draw against IM Efremov, Aleksandr Gennadievich

My first result in the tournament: Draw against IM Efremov, Aleksandr Gennadievich, 34 years old, from Moscow, http://www.iccf-webchess.com/MakeAMove.aspx?id=297347.

After 13. Kb1, O-O is the usual move, while a5, c5, and Qc7 are also commonly played. I tried to enter unknown territory with 13...Qb6, based on {1/2-1/2(33) Negi, P (2603) - Vidit, S (2489) / 48th ch-IND ( 8 ), New Delhi IND 2010} which had gone 14.Rhe1 O-O-O 15.Qe2 c5 16.Ne5 Rhf8 17.Nc4 Qc7 18.Nf5 exf5 19.Qxe7. However, I deviated with 14...O-O, which has later been played by others also.

17...Qa5 Now, I find 17...Qb6 18.Ne3 Qc7 19.Rh1 Rad8 20.Qe2 c5 has been played {1/2-1/2(26) Smeets, J (2669) - Parligras, M (2601) / Schachbundesliga 2010-11 (7), Remagen GER 2011}

19.Rxe6 After this sac, a draw appears to be forced. Is that a satisfactory result for White? I don't think so. As the Black player, I was happy to agree to the draw. Of course, during the game I was very much worried there was some win for White. I breathed a sigh or relief when 26. Ng6+    was accompanied by a draw offer.

Can Black avoid the draw after 13...Qb6? That is another question to which I have to find the answer to, before my next game.

Here is a link to the crosstable: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=22830. The current leader is SIM Szczepanski, Zbigniew, who has completed eleven games, all drawn!