THE ARMENIAN GRANDMASTER VLAD …
by Lubomir Kavalek
The Washington Post
February 5, 2007 Monday
Final Edition
The Armenian grandmaster Vladimir Akopian won the fifth Gibtelecom
Masters in Gibraltar Thursday, scoring 71/2 points in nine games. The
popular annual event began like a battle of the sexes with the
women triumphing over the men. In the first round, Akopian, one of
the pre-tournament favorites, lost to American International Master
Irina Krush, and former U.S. champion Hikaru Nakamura succumbed to
IM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant of Georgia. In the end, Nakamura finished
half a point behind the winner, sharing second place with Alexander
Areschenko of Ukraine and Emil Sutovsky of Israel.
Akopian, a former junior world champion, began his rise to the top of
the tournament table with a brisk attacking masterpiece in the Petroff
defense against an Indian WGM (woman grandmaster), Aarthie Ramaswamy.
Akopian-Ramaswamy
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Bg4
8.c4 Nf6 9.Nc3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Nxd4 (This position was heavily analyzed
in the 1980s by some of the world’s best players.) 11.Qh3!
(Preferable to Garry Kasparov’s 16.Qe3+, this sharp idea of Viktor
Kupreichik is dangerous. After 11…Ne6 12.cxd5! Nxd5 white can play
the fancy 13.Bg6!, for example 13…Nxc3? 14.Qxe6+ Qe7 15.Bxf7+
Kd8 16.Bg5! Qxg5 17.Qe8 mate. And after either 13…Ne7 14.Rd1
Qc8 15.Bc2; or 13…fxg6 14.Qxe6+ Ne7 15.Rd1 Qc8 16.Qb3 white
has powerful pressure.) 11…dxc4 12.Bxc4 Be7 13.Bg5 Qc8 (The game
Kupreichik-Yusupov, Minsk 1987, continued 13…0-0 14.Rad1 c5 15.Rfe1
h6 and now instead of the unclear bishop sacrifice 16.Bxh6!?, white
could have played 16.Rxe7! Qxe7 [or 16…hxg5 17.Rxb7] 17.Nd5! with
a strong initiative.) 14.Qd3 Ne6 (The game Howell-Van Kemenade, Port
Erin, Isle of Man, 2001, finished quickly after 14…c5 15.Rfe1! Ne6
16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Qf5 Kf8 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Rxe6 Kf7 20.Rae1 h5 21.Nd5
Rh6 22.Nxf6 gxf6 23.Re7+ Kf8 24.Qd5 and black resigned.) 15.Bxf6!
Bxf6 16.Nd5 Bxb2 (Too risky, but after 16…Bd8 17.f4!, a 1999
correspondence game, Huber-Dror, ended with 17…c6 18.f5 cxd5
19.Bb5+ Ke7 20.fxe6 and black resigned, since after 20…Qc5+
21.Kh1 fxe6 22.Rae1 Ba5 23.Qf5! white wins.) 17.Rae1 Kf8 (Castling
short is punished by the fork 18.Ne7+, but the king move allows a
neat finale.) 18.Rxe6! (Smashing black’s defense.) 18…fxe6 (After
18…Qxe6 19.Nxc7 Qc8 20.Nxa8 Qxa8 21.Re1 white wins.) 19.Nf4 e5 (The
black king can’t escape. After 19…Ke7 20.Nxe6 Qd7 21.Qe2 wins.)
20.Qd5! Qe8 (After 20…exf4 21.Qf7 mates; and 20…Ke7 is met by
21.Qc5+! Ke8 22.Nd5 and white wins.) 21.Ne6+ Ke7 22.Qc5+ Kf6 23.f4!
(Bringing the rook into the mix.) 23…Kg6 (After 23…Bd4+ 24.Nxd4
exd4 25.Qg5 mates.) 24.fxe5 Rd8 25.Qe3 (A mate is in the air. For
example 25…Qe7 26.Qg3+ Kh6 27.Qh3+ Kg6 28.Nf4+ Kg5 29.Qh5 mates.)
Black resigned.
Akopian earned first place with a quick last-round victory over
Ukraine’s Yuri Kuzubov, 16, in the Rossolimo variation of the Sicilian
defense. The black king was forced to a perilous journey by a fine
knight sacrifice.
Akopian-Kuzubov
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 b6 7.Nc3 Nh6
(Designed to prevent the exchange of the dark bishops, this plan
was favored by several Dutch players.) 8.Be3 f6 9.Qd2 Nf7 10.0-0-0
(Castling long is sharper than hiding the king on the opposite wing.)
10…e5 11.Nh2 Be6 12.f4! exf4 13.Bxf4 Qd7 14.Nf3 0-0-0 15.d4!
(Akopian detects weaknesses around the black king and opens up the
game.) 15…cxd4 16.Nxd4 Kb7 17.Qe2 Qe7? (A blunder, placing black
in a precarious situation. Kuzubov had to guard the pawn on c6 either
with 17…Qc8 or 17…Qe8. The blocking knight move 17…Ne5 was also
adequate, since after 18.Nf5 Qc7 19.Nxg7 Qxg7 black has a good game.)
18.Nxc6! (A winning knight sacrifice, forcing the black king out of
his hiding place.) 18…Kxc6 (Freeing the square d8 with18…Rxd1+
19.Rxd1 Kxc6 does not make much difference. After 20.Nd5! white’s
attack is overwhelming, either after 20…Bxd5 21.exd5+ Kd7 22.Qb5+ Kd8
23.Qc6!; or after 20…Qc5 21.b4! Qf8 22.Qa6! Ne5 23.Ne7+! Qxe7 24.b5+
Kc7 25.Qxa7+ winning the queen.) 19.Nd5! (White gets an attacking piece
near the black king.) 19…Qe8 (After 19…Bxd5 20.exd5+ Kd7 21.Qb5+
Kc8 22.Qc6+ Qc7 23.Qxc7 mates; and after 19…Qf8 20.Qa6! wins.)
20.Qa6! (Preventing the black king from sliding back to safety,
white threatens 21.Nb4+ Kc5 22.Be3+ Kb4 23.a3 mate.) 20…Bf8 (After
20…Bxd5 21.exd5+ Rxd5 22.Rxd5 Kxd5 23.Rd1+ Ke6 [23…Kc6 24.Qa4+!
Kb7 25.Rd7+ wins.] 24.Qc4+ Ke7 25.Qb4+ Ke6 26.Qe4+ Ne5 27.Qd5+ Ke7
28.Bxe5 fxe5 29.Qd6+ Kf7 30.Rf1+ wins. And after 20…Rxd5 21.exd5+
Bxd5 22.Rd3 wins.) 21.Qxa7 Bc5 22.b4 Qd7 23.Qa6! (Threatening 24.b5
mate, white wins material.) Black resigned.
IM Larry Kaufman won the 39th annual Virginia Open, a five-round
Swiss system tournament, played Jan. 26-28 in Springfield. He scored
41/2 points. Allan Salgado and Jeevan Karamsetty shared first place
in the amateur section with 41/2 points.
Solution to today’s six-mover by J. Behting (White: Kb1, Rc1,Nh4;
Black: Kh1,Ng1,P:g4,h2,h3):
1.Rf1! g3 2.Nf5 Kg2 3.Ne3+ Kh1 4.Rc1! g2 5.Nd1! Ne2 6.Nf2 mate.