1st Prague International Chess Festival
Prague, Czech Republic
March 5-16, 2019
Final Standings (all GMs)
1. Nikita Vitiugov RUS 2726, 5.5/9
2-5. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2711, Radoslaw Wojtaszek POL 2722, Boris Gelfand ISR 2655, Jan-Krzystof Duda POL 2731, 5.0/9
6. Samuel Shankland USA 2731, 4.5/9
7-9. Penteala Harikrishna IND 2730, David Navara CZE 2739, Richard Rapport HUN 2738, 4.0/9
10. Viktor Laznicka CZE 2670, 3.0/9
Average ELO 2715 Category 19
Time Control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves then an additional 30 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added after every move starting move 1
This is one event which I missed because of my medical leave last March, and it was a crime to leave it out of our coverage, for a large international Chess Festival was started in Prague consisting of two closed invitational tournaments — Masters and Challengers — with a strong open tournament going alongside as well as multiple round-robin rating tournaments for players rated 1500-2000. It was a huge success with thousands of visitors.
The GM (Grandmaster) from St. Petersburg, Nikita Viiugov won with 5.5/9. Vitiugov is not one of the more well-known names but his credentials are solid: born Feb. 4, 1987, Nikita was a member of the gold-medal winning Russian team to the World Team Chess Championships in 2009 and 2013. Most people know him for (1) being a great expert in the French Defense — he has authored two popular books on it, and (2) seconding GM Peter Svidler (another GM from St. Petersburg) in his attempts at the world championship candidates’ tournaments.
Vitiugov only won two games in Prague, but one of these wins had a striking combination.
First, a bit of history. In the 1889 USA Chess Congress (a Congress is the same as a Festival), one of the greatest chess tournaments of all time, Amos Burn pulled a surprise on Isidor Gunsberg.
Burn, Amos — Gunsberg, Isidor [C67]
USA–06 Congress Grand Tournament New York (20), 1889
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5
The World Champion at that time, Wilhelm Steinitz, wrote the tournament book and noted that this move was first played by Mr. J.W. Baird. Steinitz himself did not approve of it and preferred 6.Bxc6. His words were wise, for nowadays 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 is what comes up on the board 90% of the time.
6…Nxb5 7.a4
The point — Black has to give back the piece. This was the first time the move came up in an international tournament and Gunsberg did not respond correctly.
7…Nd6?
IM Richard Forster: Already at that time von Bardeleben had shown that 7…d6 and 7…Nbd4 8.Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d5 should be sufficient for equality.
8.Bg5 f6
Not an improvement is 8…Be7 9.exd6 Bxg5 10.Re1+ Kf8 11.dxc7 Qf6 12.Nxg5 Qxg5 13.Qd6+ Ne7 14.Nc3 Qf6 15.Qa3 d6 16.Ne4 Qh6 17.Nxd6 g6 (17…Be6 18.c8Q+ Rxc8 19.Nxc8) 18.Rxe7! 1–0 (18) Janowsky-Ruff Prague 1902. Black was not interested in getting his king mated after 18…Kxe7 19.Ne4+ Ke6 20.Qd6+ Kf5 21.Qd5+ Kf4 22.g3+ Kf3 23.Nf6+ Ke2 24.Qd3#
9.exd6
Even better is 9.Re1 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 Be7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Qh5+ Kf8 13.Ng6+ hxg6 14.Qxh8+ Kf7 15.Qh7+ Kf8 16.Ra3 Nf7 17.Rae3 Bb4 18.c3 Bd6 19.Rh3 Be5 20.Qxg6 d5 21.Rh7 Be6 22.f4 1–0 (22) Guseinov, G (2646)-Deac, B (2572) Batumi European Championship 2018.
9…Bxd6
The bishop is taboo: 9…fxg5 10.Re1+ Kf7 11.Qd5+ Kg6 12.Re5! Nxe5 13.Nxe5+ Kf6 14.Nc3 Black’s King is not going to survive very long out in the open. For example 14…Bxd6 15.Qf7+ Kxe5 16.Re1+ Kd4 17.Qd5#
10.Bh4 0–0 11.Nc3 Ne5 12.Re1 Nf7 13.Qd4 Re8
The alternative 13…c6 was much better.
14.Rxe8+ Qxe8 15.Re1 Ne5 16.Nd2! a6 17.f4 Qf8
Gunsberg’s trap. If 18.fxe5 then 18…Bc5.
18.Nde4! Nf7 19.Nd5 Kh8 20.Nxd6 Nxd6 21.Nxc7 Nf5 22.Qf2 1–0
White was threatening both Nxa8 and Re8. Black has had enough.
That was a hundred and thirty years ago. We continue that story now, for Vitiugov also prepared something juicy for his opponent in the same line.
Vitiugov, Nikita (2726) Harikrishna, Pentala (2730) [C67]
Prague Festival Masters 2019 Prague (2.3), 07.03.2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5
I hate repeating myself but 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 is the line that Kramnik made famous when he successfully used the Berlin in his 2000 World Championship match against Kasparov. In the 2013 Russian SuperFinals GM Dmitry Andreikin allows the Berlin against the same Kramnik but chooses this sideline against the world’s greatest Berlin expert. We all know that he would not have gotten into it without a lot of preparation, and I will show you later what happened.
6…Nxb5 7.a4
The point — Black has to give the piece back.
7…Nbd4
Continuing our story on the 1889 USA Congress where Burn introduced the line against Gunsberg and won, The former operator of chess automaton “Mephisto” studied the line and when it came up again in the 38th (!) round, he was ready: 7…d6 8.axb5 Nxe5 9.Re1 Bg4 10.Ra4 Be7 11.Nc3 0–0 12.Nd5 Re8 13.Bf4 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Bg5 15.Bxe5 dxe5 16.Rg4 Re6 17.Nxc7 Rd6 18.Qe2 h5 19.Rc4 Rc8 Black was clearly better. Delmar, E-Gunsberg, I New York 1889 0–1 (40).
We know now that the best response to 7…d6 is 8.e6! Bxe6 9.axb5 Ne5 10.Nd4 Getting ready for the White f-pawn push. Simon, O (2384)-Veron, C (2092) Issy les Moulineaux 2007 1–0 (29).
8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d5 10.Qd3
In the Andreikin-Kramnik game White continued 10.exd6 Qxd6 11.Qe3+ Be6 12.Nc3 a6 13.Rd1 Qc6 14.Rd3!? First played by Gawain Jones against Laurent Fressinet, this move contains the dangerous threat of Nb5 (Black cannot play …axb5 because of axb5 and Black’s rook and queen are attacked) followed by Rc3 or Nd4. The game continued 14…Rc8 (14…Bc5 15.Qg3 f6!? looks like a good continuation for Black. Take note that 16.Qxg7?? Rg8 wins immediately for Black) 15.Ne2! Bc5 16.Qg3 f6 17.Be3 Bd6 18.Bf4 Bxf4 19.Nxf4 0–0 20.Rc3 Qd6 21.Nxe6 Qxe6 22.Rxc7 Rxc7 23.Qxc7 Rc8 24.Qxb7 Rxc2 White is just a pawn up and Andreikin converted it to a win after several hours of play. Andreikin,D (2706)-Kramnik, V (2796) Nizhnij Novgorod 2013 1–0 (84).
10…c6 11.a5 Be6 12.Nc3 Qd7 13.Ne2 Bf5 14.Qc3 Be7 <D>
POSITION AFTER 14…BE7
Get ready for the haymaker.
15.Bh6!
Quite similar to the famous sacrifice played by Walter Shawn Browne against Arthur Bisguier in the 1974 USA Championship (game given below).
15…d4?
An interesting continuation is 15…Rg8 16.Bxg7 Rxg7 17.e6 Rxg2+ 18.Kxg2 fxe6 position is unclear; Not 15…gxh6 16.e6! and the rook on h8 falls.
16.Nxd4 gxh6 17.e6 Bxe6 18.Nxe6 Rg8 19.Nf4 Qf5 20.Ra4!
Preparing to meet …0–0–0 with a5–a6.
20…Qf6 21.Qd3 Rd8 22.Qxh7
In his notes to the game Vitiugov confesses that he took this pawn “just in case” his attack did not succeed. At least he would remain a pawn up.
22…Rg7 23.Qe4 Qxb2
Perhaps motivated by the same thought that Vitiugov shared in the last note — now they are equal in material again, but the game is over.
24.Re1 Rd7 25.a6! Rg5
[25…b5 26.Qxc6 bxa4 27.Nd5 and wins]
26.h4 Rb5 27.axb7 Rbxb7 28.Qxc6 Kf8 29.Qxh6+ Qg7 30.Ne6+ 1–0
Harikrishna resigns because of 30.Ne6+ fxe6 31.Rf4+ Bf6 (31…Kg8 32.Qxe6+ Kh8 33.Re5 Qh7 34.Ref5 etc) 32.Rxf6+ Rf7 33.Rxf7+ Rxf7 34.Qxe6 with an easy win.
We have run out of space so I only give the bare notes of the Browne-Bisguier game. Suffice it to say that Browne considered it one of his best games ever.
Browne, Walter Shawn — Bisguier, Arthur Bernard [C42]
USA-ch Chicago (9), 1974
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0–0 Nc6 8.c4 Nb4 9.cxd5 Nxd3 10.Qxd3 Qxd5 11.Re1 Bf5 12.Nc3 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 c6 14.Bh6 Rg8 15.Re5 Qd7 16.Rae1 Be6 17.Ng5 0–0–0 18.Nxf7 Bxf7 19.Rxe7 Qxd4 20.Rxf7 Qxc3 21.bxc3 gxh6 22.Rb1 Rg5 23.h4 Rb5 24.Rxb5 cxb5 25.Rxh7 Rd1+ 26.Kh2 Rd2 27.Rxh6 Rxa2 28.h5 Rxf2 29.Rh8+ Kc7 30.h6 Kb6 31.Kh3 a5 32.g4 b4 33.cxb4 axb4 34.Re8 Rf1 35.Kg2 Rf7 36.g5 Rf5 37.h7 Rxg5+ 38.Kf3 Rh5 39.h8Q Rxh8 40.Rxh8 1–0
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
