17 YEAR OLD INTERNATIONAL MASTER ZAVEN ANDRIASIAN OF ARMENIA WINS WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
The Washington Post
October 30, 2006 Monday
Final Edition
Seventeen-year-old International Master Zaven Andriasian of Armenia,
playing before his home crowd in Yerevan, won the World Junior (under
20) Championship this month, scoring 91/2 points in 13 games. The
top-finishing American, IM Robert Hungaski, ended in 46th place with
61/2 points.
Andriasian is progressing fast. Last year, he won the Boys’ Under 16
European championship in Herceg-Novi, Montenegro. He was only the 29th
seed in Yerevan but won the event convincingly. His victory against
IM Maxim Rodshtein of Israel in the Tarrasch variation of the French
defense reveals an outstanding opening preparation and maturity.
Andriasian-Rodshtein
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0
Nf6 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 a6 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Bg5! (The most
aggressive approach.) 12…Qc7 (Black’s position is already not easy to
play. After 12…Be7 comes 13.Nf5! Qxd1 14.Nxg7+, followed by 15.Raxd1
and white is better. Castling long 12…0-0-0 seems to be the safest,
although in the game Asrian-Wang Hao, Taiyuan 2006, the rook lift
13.Re3 caused black problems after 13…Kb8 14.Rb3 Rc8 15.Qf3 Bc6
16.Nxc6+ Qxc6 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Qxf6 Rg8 19.Bf1 Rg6 20.Qxf7 and white
later won. Andriasian was more likely aware of another queen move,
12…Qc5?!, with a double-attack on white’s bishops and control of
the fifth rank. It can quickly draw fire: 13.Bxe6! fxe6 14.Bxf6 gxf6
15.Nxe6 Bxe6 16.Rxe6+ with powerful pressure, for example 16…Be7
17.b4! Qxb4 [17…Qf5 18.Qe2!] 18.Rb1 Qc5 19.Rxb7; or 16…Kf7 17.Qd7+
and now 17…Kg8 18.Rxf6 Qh5 19.Re1! h6 20.Re5!
wins; or 17…Kg6 18.Rae1 Qf5 19.R1e3 Bh6 20.g4! wins; or 17…Be7
18.Rae1 Rae8 19.Qxb7, threatening 20.b4, white has a clear advantage.)
13.Bxe6! (The bishop sacrifice works also in this position. White
is not risking anything, having a draw by perpetual check at hand.)
13…Bxe6 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Rxe6+ Kf7 (After 16…Be7
17.Qh5+ white’s attack is decisive either after 17…Kd8 18.Qf7
Bd6 19.Qxf6+ Kd7 20.Rd1; or after 17…Kf8 18.Rae1 Re8 19.Rxf6+
Bxf6 20.Rxe8+ Kg7 21.Qg4+ Kf7 [or 21…Kh6 22.Re3!] 22.Qe6+ Kg7
23.Rxh8 Kxh8 24.Qxf6+ winning.) 17.Qd5! Kg7 18.Qf5 Qf7 (The point of
black’s 12th move: The black queen can help on the kingside. After
18…Be7 19.Rae1 Rae8 20.R1e3 white’s heavy artillery outmaneuvers
black’s pieces, for example 20…Qd8 21.Rg3+ Kf7 22.Rd3 Qc7 23.Qh5+
Kf8 24.Rg3 Rd8 25.Qg4 Qc5 [or 25…Ke8 26.Rxe7+! Qxe7 27.Re3!] 26.Qg7+
Ke8 27.h3! Rf8 28.Rc3 Qb4 29.Rc4! wins.) 19.Rd1 Be7 (After 19…Qg6
20.Rd7+ Kg8 21.Qd5! wins.) 20.Rd7 Rhe8 21.g3 (Black is in a bind and
does not have many useful moves. White simply improves his position
and slowly creates a dangerous passed pawn on the queenside.)
21…Rab8 22.h4 h5 23.c4 b6 24.b4 Rbc8? 25.Rexe7 Rxe7 26.Rxe7 Qxe7
27.Qxc8 (White is winning easily.) 27…Qxb4 28.Qxa6 Qe1+ 29.Kg2 Qe4+
30.Kh2 Qd4 31.Kg1 Kh6 32.Qa4 Kg7 33.Qb3 Kg6 34.a3 Kg7 35.Kg2 Qd6
36.Qb5 Kh6 37.a4 Qd4 38.Qd5 Qc3 39.Qd6 Black resigned.
Remember the Chinese girl who dreamed of beating the best woman ever,
Judit Polgar, and of buying real estate in Paris? Twelve-year-old Hou
Yifan is on her way to fulfilling her dreams. She tied for first in
the girls’ section of the Junior World Championship in Yerevan with
her countrywoman Shan Young, Salome Melia of Georgia and Mongontuul
Bathuyag of Mongolia. They each scored nine points in 13 games, but
the 18-year-old Shan won the title on a tiebreaker, just edging Hou.
American Tatev Abrahamyan finished 14th with 71/2 points. Hou’s
one-sided victory over Vietnamese women’s grandmaster Hoang Thi Bao
Tram in the Caro-Kann defense is very impressive.
Hou-Hoang
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 Bd6
8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Qc7 11.0-0 b6 12.Qg4 Kf8 (You have to
have Anatoly Karpov’s great defensive skills to hold this position.)
13.b3 c5?! 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Bb2 e5 16.Bf5 Bxf5?! (Usually black plays
16…h5 17.Qh3 Ne6, but now instead of 18.Bxe6, the current women’s
world champion, Xu Yuhua of China, tried successfully 18.Nh4 against
Liu Pei in Wuxi last year, and after 18…Kg8 19.Rfe1 Nf4 20.Qf3
Bb7 21.Be4 Bxe4 22.Qxe4 Re8 23.Nf5 f6 24.g3 Ne6 25.h4 Kf7 26.Rad1
was clearly better and won in 43 moves.) 17.Qxf5 Re8 18.Rad1 Kg8
(After18…e4 19.Nh4 Kg8 20.Qh3 black is still tied up.) 19.Rfe1
(Mobilizing the last piece and attacking the pawn on e5 gives white
an overwhelming advantage.) 19…f6? (Surrendering the light squares,
but after 19…e4 20.Qg4 Bf8 21.Nd4 black is playing without the
rook on h8.) 20.Nh4! Rd8 21.f4 (The move order 21.Ng6 Rh7 22.f4 is
more precise.) 21…exf4 22.Ng6 Rh7 23.b4 Nb7 24.Re7! (Playing for
24…Bxe7 25.Qe6 mate.) 24…Qc4 (24…Bc5+ is met by 25.Bd4.) 25.Rd5
(After 25…Bc5+ 26.bxc5 Qxd5 27.Re8+ Kf7 28.Rf8+ Rxf8 29.Qxd5+
wins.) Black resigned.
Solution to today’s study by F. Lazard (White: Ke3,Rh8,Ba7,P:a6,d3;
Black: Kg1,Rd6,Nd7,P:h2): 1.Ke2+ Kg2 2.Rxh2+ Kxh2 3.Bb8 Nxb8 4.a7
wins; or 1…Nb6 2.Bxb6+ Rxb6 3.a7 Rb2+ [3…Re6+ 4.Kd2 Ra6 5.a8Q Rxa8
6.Rxa8 h1Q 7.Ra1+ wins] 4.Ke3 Ra2 5.a8Q Rxa8 6.Rxa8 h1Q 7.Ra1+ wins.