Strong teamwork in Russia

With so many grandmasters and so many billionaire oligarchs to sponsor them, Russia can put on a national team championship that may be stronger than the biennial Olympiads.

Paced by the incandescent Alexander Morozevich, the Tomsk-400 Yukos team won the Russian Chess League finals, which concluded earlier this week in the Russian city of Dagomys. Tomsk-400-Yukos, backed by one of Russia’s biggest oil firms, edged out Norilsky Nickel, a huge mineral conglomerate that hired its own team of top-flight grandmasters.

One measure of the strength of the event: Termosteps, which finished in sixth place, boasted super-GM Boris Gelfand on Board 1 and an average rating of 2593.

Morozevich, one of the most inventive players on the elite circuit, was in top form in Dagomys, scoring 61/2-11/2 with a performance rating of 2900. His win here over GM Vasily Yemelin helped Tomsk to a match win over Yemelin’s St. Petersburg-LTG squad.

In a Graz Variation (5…b5 6. Bb3 Bc5) of the Ruy Lopez, the two players engage in a spirited fight for the initiative. Yemelin’s 25. Ne3 Nh5 26. Nf5+ Kf8 27. Qg4 puts the Black king in an awkward spot, and Morozevich’s control of the h-file seems at first only pallid compensation.

But just when Black seems on the verge of being overrun, Morozevich turns the tables, with the h-file proving a critical avenue of attack: 28. c5! dxc5 29. Rbd1 cxd5 30. exd5 c4!, fighting for counterplay. Black firmly seizes the attack on 31. Ne3 (Re4 c3 32. Rc4 Nxg3 33. Nxg3 leaves White’s attack lagging) Nb6 32. Nb2 cxb3 33. Bxb3 Nf4 34. Bxf4 gxf4 35. Nec4 Rh4 36. Qf6 Qh6, flushing out the White king by threatening mate on the move.

The exposed monarch allows Morozevich a series of nice combinational touches, beginning with 37. Kf1 Rh1+ 38. Ke2 e4!, when 39. Qxe4? Rxe1+ 40. Rxe1 Re8 walks into a deadly pin.

An exchange sacrifice, a passed pawn and a deadly X-ray attack all figure in the winning motif: 40…Nxc4 41. Nxc4 Rxc4! 42. Bxc4 b3+ 43. Ke2 b2! (with the nasty cross-board threat of 44…Qb6 45. Rb1 Qd4 46. Bb3 Qd3 mate) 44. Qd7 Qh5+ 45. f3 exf3+ 46. gxf3 (Kf2 Bb6+ 47. Ke1 f2+ 48. Kd2 Qxd1+ 49. Kxd1 b1=Q+ 50. Kd2 Ba5+ 51. Ke2 f1=Q is mate) Qh2+ 47. Kd3 b1=Q+!.

The White rook and king find themselves caught on the same fatal diagonal, and Black wins decisive material on 48. Rxb1 Qh7+ 49. Kd4 Qxb1. After 50. Qb6+ Ke8 51. Bb3, the pesky threat of 52. Qb8+ is efficiently dealt with by 51…Qg1+ 52. Kd3 Qg6+, forcing a queen trade and leaving White a piece down. Yemelin resigned.

• • •

Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of chess, we uncovered today’s second gem of a game from the early rounds of the Lithuanian national championships, just getting under way in Vilnius. I know nothing about Henrikas Asauskas, the untitled master who plays White here, but his impressive dismissal of GM Vidmantas Malisauskas deserves a broader audience.

Once again, the winner does not castle, and once again, it works in his favor. In a Sicilian, Asauskas as White agrees to several early trades but keeps his heavy firepower trained on the Black king. Critical to White’s success was 14. e5 d5 15. Ra4! g6 16. Rh4!, eschewing castling to get the second rook into the fray.

By 17. Rg3 Kg7 18. Qf3 (premature was 18. Rgh3?! Rh8 19. Qf3 Rb8 20. Rxh7+? Rxh7 21. Rxh7+ Kxh7 22. Qxf7+ Kh8 23. Qxg6 Qf8 24. Qh5+ Kg7 25. g6 Qh8, holding) Bb7 (see diagram), Black’s king-side is looking a little drafty, but it’s hard to believe his defense is already hopeless.

White played 19. Qf6+!! (not only winning, but the kind of tactic computer programs typically cannot find because the winning idea is simply too far beyond their calculating horizon) Bxf6 (Kg8 20. Rxh7! Kxh7 21. Rh3+ leads to mate) 20. gxf6+ Kg8 (Qxf6 staves off mate, but will cost Black a piece) 21. Rxh7!! (the essential follow-up to the original sacrifice) Kxh7 22. Rh3+ Kg8 23. Bh6, with the decisive threat of 24. Bg7 and 25. Rh8 mate.

Black tries 23…Qc7, but the simple 24. f4!, sealing off the king-side, decides the affair. If 24…Rfd8 (Qa5 25. Bg7 Qa1+ 26. Ke2 makes no difference), Black’s king still is snared on 25. Bg7 Rd7 26. Rh8 mate; Malisauskas resigned.

Russian Chess League Finals, Dagomys, April 2004

Yemelin Morozevich

1. e4 e5 27. Qg4 Qf6

2. Nf3 Nc6 28. c5 dxc5

3. Bb5 a6 29. Rbd1 cxd5

4. Ba4 Nf6 30. exd5 c4

5. 0-0 b5 31. Ne3 Nb6

6. Bb3 Bc5 32. Nb2 cxb3

7. c3 d6 33. Bxb3 Nf4

8. d4 Bb6 34. Bxf4 gxf4

9. h3 Bb7 35. Nec4 Rh4

10. Re1 0-0 36. Qf3 Qh6

11. Bg5 h6 37. Kf1 Rh1+

12. Bh4 Re8 38. Ke2 e4

13. d5 Nb8 39. Qg4 Rxe1+

14. c4 g5 40. Kxe1 Nxc4

15. Bg3 Nbd7 41. Nxc4 Rxc4

16. Nc3 Nc5 42. Bxc4 b3+

17. Bc2 Ba5 43. Ke2 b2

18. Nd2 c6 44. Qd7 Qh5+

19. h4 Rc8 45. f3 exf3+

20. hxg5 hxg5 46. gxf3 Qh2+

21. Rb1 b4 47. Kd3 b1=Q+

22. Na4 Ncd7 48. Rxb1 Qh7+

23. b3 Kg7 49. Kd4 Qxb1

24. Nf1 Rh8 50. Qd6+ Ke8

25. Ne3 Nh5 51. Bb3 Qg1+

26. Nf5+ Kf8 52. Kd3 Qg6+

White

resigns

Lithuanian Championship, Vilnius, April 2004

Asauskas Malisauskas

1. e4 c5 13. Nxc6 bxc6

2. Nf3 d6 14. e5 d5

3. d4 Nf6 15. Ra4 g6

4. Nc3 cxd4 16. Rh4 c5

5. Nxd4 a6 17. Rg3 Kg7

6. Bc4 e6 18. Qf3 Bb7

7. Bb3 Be7 19. Qf6+ Bxf6

8. g4 0-0 20. gxf6+ Kg8

9. g5 Nfd7 21. Rxh7 Kxh7

10. Rg1 Nc5 22. Rh3+ Kg8

11. Be3 Nxb3 23. Bh6 Qc7

12. axb3 Nc6 24. f4 Black

resigns

David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by e-mail at dsands@washingtontimes.com.