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Chess News: Your Daily Update - The magic of McShane

IM Malcolm Pein IM Malcolm Pein
November 15, 2023

 

ENGLAND got off to a great start as some of the other seeds struggled in the first round of the European Team Championships in Budva, Montenegro.
Although David Howell repeated moves in a complex position where he had a difficult win, Luke McShane managed to squeeze a full point from a drawn endgame.
Your correspondent looked on in awe.

McShane – Kacharava.

 

Position after 57.h4-h5:

How can Black draw?
Clue: 57...Kxg5! 58.h6 is forced.

 

57...Kxg5! 58.h6 f5! Only move 59.Kg2 (Not 59.h7 Rh4+) 59...Rg4+! Only move 60.Kf3 Rf4+ Only move 61.Ke3 Re4+ Only move 62.Kd3 Re7 Only move and there is a strange equilibrium. If 63.Kd4 f4 (63...Kg4 64.Rg8 Rxa7 65.Rxg6+ =) 64.Kc5 f3 65.Kb6 Re6+ 66.Kb5 Re7= the rook must attack a7 to restrict the white rook; if 57...gxh5 58.g6! wins after 58...fxg6 59.Rf8+ or 58...Kxg6 59.Rg8+ Kf6 60.a8Q).

The game ended: 57…Ra3+? 58.Kh2 Ra2+
(If 58...Kxg5 59.h6 and there are no checks to get the black rook to e7. Then if 59...Kxh6 60.Rh8+)
59.Kh1 Ra1+ 60.Kg2 Ra2+ 61.Kg1 Ra1+ 62.Kf2 Ra2+ 63.Kf1 Ra1+ 64.Ke2 Ra2+ 65.Ke1 Ra1+ 66.Kd2 Ra2+ 67.Kd1 Ra1+ 68.Kc2 gxh5 69.g6 fxg6 70.Rf8+ Kg4 71.a8Q Rxa8 72.Rxa8 Kf3 (72...h4 73.Kd2 h3 74.Ke2 h2 75.Rh8 Kg3 76.Kf1 g5 77.Rh6 g4 78.Rh8 is zugzwang)
73.Kd2 Kf2 74.Rh8 (Winning a pawn) 
74...g5 75.Rxh5 g4 76.Rf5+ Kg2 77.Ke2 g3 78.Rg5 Kh2 79.Kf3 1–0

Top seeds Azerbaijan lost to Denmark, while second seeded Romania were held 2-2 by Austria. England’s women’s team crushed Belgium 3.5-0.5

Lan Yao – H Goossens
Ruy Lopez

 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.d5 Nb6 13.Nbd2 f5?! 14.exf5 Bxf5 15.Bxf5 Rxf5 16.Ne4 Qd7 17.b3! Raf8 18.Nfg5 h6? 19.Ne6 R8f7 20.Be3 Qb7 21.c4!? (21.Qg4! Qxd5 22.Nxg7! Rf4 23.Nf5+ Rxg4 24.Nxe7+ Rxe7 25.Nf6+ Kf7 26.Nxd5 wins)
21...bxc4 22.Qg4 

22...Nxd5? (22…Qxd5! 23.Nxg7 Rf4! 24.Nf5+ Rxg4 25.Nxe7+ Rxe7 26.Nf6+ Kf7 27.Nxd5 Rxg2+ is OK for Black)
23.Bxh6 Bf8 24.Nxf8 Kxf8 25.Nxd6 Qc6 26.Nxf5 gxh6 27.Rxe5 Nf6 28.Qg6 Nd7 29.Re6 1–0

 

©Telegraph Media Group Limited 2023





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