Author: José Antônio Fabiano Mendes
Date: 07:36:43 05/31/04
CHESS Lubomir Kavalek
By Lubomir Kavalek
Monday, May 31, 2004; Page C10
Ukrainian grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, a runner-up in the 2002 FIDE world
championship, won the gold medal yesterday at the fifth European championship in
Antalya, Turkey. He defeated veteran Bosnian grandmaster Predrag Nikolic in a
playoff after both players shared first place in the main event with 9 points in
13 games. Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian clinched the bronze medal.
Against Finnish grandmaster Tomi Nyback, Ivanchuk created a positional
masterpiece in the style of former world champion Jose Raul Capablanca. It began
with a subtle opening idea in the Slav defense.
+++ Nyback-Ivanchuk +++
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Nh4 Bd7!? (An awkward retreat,
but after 7.e3 Ivanchuk would have a choice between holding on the pawn with
6...b5 or transferring to the Queen's Gambit Accepted with 7...e6 8.Bxc4 c5.)
7.g3 (White chooses to gambit the pawn, placing his light bishop on the long
diagonal.) 7...e6 8.Bg2 c5!? (An amazing exchange sacrifice, giving black a
strong counterplay in the center.) 9.d5 (After 9.Bxb7 Bc6 10.Bxa8 Bxa8 11.0-0
cxd4 black has a good compensation for the exchange.)
9...exd5! (Ivanchuk's improvement on the game Sakaev-Popov, St. Petersburg 2004,
where after 9...Nxd5 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.Qxd5 Nc6 12.Qxc4 Be7 13.Be3 0-0 14.0-0 Na5,
a draw was agreed to.)
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.