6th Annual Washington International
Rockville, Maryland
Aug. 12-16, 2017
Final Top Standings
1. GM Oliver Barbosa PHL 2533, 7.0/9
2-4. GM Joshua Friedel USA 2536, GM Eugene Perelshteyn USA 2507, IM Yang Kaiqi CHN 2441, 6.5/9
5-13. GM Niclas Huschenbeth GER 2575, GM Evgeny Postny ISR 2570, GM Fabien Libiszewski FRA 2523, GM Carlos Hevia Alejano CUB 2497, IM John Burke USA 2489, GM Akshat Chandra USA 2480, GM Alexander Fishbein USA 2460, GM Denes Boros HUN 2452, IM Michael Song CAN 2419, 6.0/9
14-21. GM Samuel Sevian USA 2620, GM Mark Paragua PHL 2500, GM Darwin Yang USA 2493, IM Prasanna Rao IND 2455, IM Nicolas Checa USA 2454, IM Prav Balakrishnan USA 2427, IM Rolando Nolte PHL 2394, IM Michael Mulyar USA 2393, 5.5/9
Total of 75 Participants
Time Control: 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 20 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second increment from move 1
GM Oliver sent me this game from the 6th Annual Washington International with his notes. I believe after going through the game he might be one of the country’s best annotators — his depth and insight into the nuances of the position which he shares with the reader are very impressive!
Barbosa’s opponent in the next game, IM Raja Panjwani (24 years old), is Indian by blood but born and raised in Canada — his parents were working in Kuwait at the time of the 1st Gulf War and they moved to Canada before Panjwani was born. He has an undergraduate degree in physics and philosophy, a Masters degree in Philosophy of Physics from Oxford and currently attends a Master’s program in International and Development Economics at Yale University. In the midst of all of those studies he has managed to rise up to no. 16 in Canada.
* * *
Barbosa, Oliver (2533) — Panjwani, Raja (2408) [A45]
Washington international (5), 14.08.2017
This game was played after my loss to GM Chandra so I needed to bounce back from that.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5
The Trompowsky, an opening used to avoid most of the main lines and to quickly steer the enemy from well-known lines.
2…e6 3.e4
After 3.Nd2 we transpose to the Torre Attack. By the way, this opening is named after Carlos Torre of Mexico who beat former world champion Emanuel Lasker with the famous “Windmill Attack” in the great Moscow Tournament of 1925. It is not named after the Philippine’s El Eugenio, although it might as well be for GM Eugene plays it a lot and has a very good score with it even during the time when it was not so popular. Philippine chess journalist Bobby Ang once told me that one day he will write about this. I hope he does!
3…h6 4.Bxf6 Qxf6 5.c3
[5.Nf3 d5 6.e5 Qd8 7.c3 c5 8.Bd3 I don’t think black has a problem in this position, he has equality and all he has to do is do something to his light squared bishop]
5…d6
[5…d5 6.Nd2 c5 7.Ngf3 Nc6 8.Bb5 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bb4 10.a3 Ba5 11.0–0 0–0 12.e5 Qe7 13.Bxc6 bxc6 becomes a battle of 2 knights vs. 2 bishops. Black would probably try to open up the position while white should strive to keep it closed]
6.Bd3 Nd7 7.Ne2
The best square for the knight you’ll see the idea of this move later.
7…g6 8.0–0 Bg7 9.f4
With the knight on e2, f2–f4 is possible immediately grabbing space and trying to start an attack on the center or the kingside.
9…Qe7 10.e5
[10.Nd2 e5 11.Nf3 0–0 12.Qd2 b6 13.Rae1 Bb7 black has a solid formation and only needs to develop his rook before coming up with a plan to put pressure on white’s center]
10…b6
[10…dxe5 11.fxe5 helps white open up the f-file for his rook; 10…d5 11.Nd2 0–0 12.c4 white should have the advantage here due to his grip on the center and as this is a closed position, the 2 knights should be better than the 2 bishops]
11.a4N
A new move, undermining black’s queenside formation. The idea of this move is to create pressure if possible against black’s queenside. If black plays a5, then the b5 square will be weak and if black tries to cover it by playing c6, then it further exposes the outpost on the d6 square.
11…a6 12.Nd2 Bb7 13.Ng3
I played this move rather quickly. I saw some ideas of playing f5 followed by a piece sacrifice. I’d say this is a psychological ploy to scare him into castling. That way I would be able to direct my pieces towards where his king would be.
13…0–0 14.Nc4
Now black’s c pawn cannot move and won’t be able to generate counterplay to my center as it would expose the d6 square.
14…dxe5?
This move allows white to open up the file. After 15.fxe5 there is no way for black to start putting pressure on white’s center. For example he plays c5, then the d6 square is exposed. If on the other hand he plays f6 then the e6 and g6 pawns becomes weaknesses.
15.fxe5 Rad8 16.Qe2 Nb8 17.Ne4
Centralization! f6 and d6 squares are weak.
17…Bxe4
A sad move to make exchanging his only active piece because It’s going to be more dangerous if he allows Nf6.
18.Qxe4 b5?
Gets rid of black’s weakness but also makes the c5 square an outpost. 18…c5 is the only way to generate some counterplay on white’s center and queenside. 19.Nxb6 cxd4 20.cxd4 Qb4 21.Nc4 Rd5 with counterplay.
19.axb5 axb5 20.Na5 Rd5?
Again 20…c5 is the best chance he has to put pressure on my center. 21.Nb7 Rd5 22.Nxc5 Rxc5 23.dxc5 Qxc5+ 24.Kh1 Nc6 with some chances.
21.b4!
Fixing the queenside pawn structure. Only way he can break my center is to play f6 which would weaken his e6 and g6 pawns.
21…Qg5 22.Bc2 Nd7 23.Nc6
[23.Bb3 Wins the exchange but of course a threat is stronger than it’s execution. Also it would give him some air to breathe so I played a different move which restricts him more]
23…Nb6 24.h4 Qd2 <D>
POSITION AFTER 24…QD2
Find the win!
25.Rf3
Inaccurate! More to the point was 25.Ne7+ Kh8 26.Nxg6+ fxg6 27.Qxg6 Rf5 28.Rxf5 exf5 (28…Qxc2 29.Rf8+) 29.Qe8+ checkmate is coming.
25…h5 26.Ne7+ Kh8 27.Raf1
Everyone should be invited to the party!
27…Nd7 28.Nxd5
[28.Rxf7 Rxf7 29.Rxf7 Qh6 30.Nxd5 exd5 31.Qxg6 is another way]
28…exd5 29.Qd3 Qxd3 30.Bxd3 1–0
To complete the picture here is the complete “windmill attack” that GM Oliver refers to in his comments.
* * *
Torre Repetto, Carlos — Lasker, Emanuel [A46]
Moscow International–01 Moscow (12), 25.11.1925
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 c5 4.e3 cxd4 5.exd4 Be7 6.Nbd2 d6 7.c3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 b6 9.Nc4 Bb7 10.Qe2 Qc7 11.0–0 0–0 12.Rfe1 Rfe8 13.Rad1 Nf8 14.Bc1 Nd5 15.Ng5 b5 16.Na3 b4 17.cxb4 Nxb4 18.Qh5 Bxg5 19.Bxg5 Nxd3 20.Rxd3 Qa5 21.b4!? Qf5 22.Rg3 h6
Not to spoil the brilliancy, but 22…f6! is correct, after which Black is better.
23.Nc4 Qd5 24.Ne3 Qb5 25.Bf6!
Bogoljubow: One of the most famous chess combinations in history!
25…Qxh5 26.Rxg7+
[Now we get to see the windmill.]
26…Kh8 27.Rxf7+ Kg8 28.Rg7+ Kh8 29.Rxb7+ Kg8 30.Rg7+ Kh8 31.Rg5+ Kh7 32.Rxh5 Kg6 33.Rh3 Kxf6 34.Rxh6+ Kg5 35.Rh3 Reb8 36.Rg3+ Kf6 37.Rf3+ Kg6 38.a3 a5 39.bxa5 Rxa5 40.Nc4 Rd5 41.Rf4 Nd7 42.Rxe6+ Kg5 43.g3 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.
