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| Chess by Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph   Malcolm Pein writes for the Daily Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk)
you can read his chess columns along with those of Nigel Short and David
Norwood at their new
Chess
Club (to read the columns you need to register which is free).
Round 8 4th January 2004 Vasilios Kotronias of Cyprus played a model game on the black side of the King's Indian Defence to demolish the defences of last year's winner Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark and join the Russian Vladimir Epishin in the lead with a game to play of the Hastings Premier. The leaders have 5.5/8 with Jonathan Rowson on 5/8 after he was held to a draw by the fourteen year old prodigy from Ukraine Kateryna Lahno who refused to be provoked by some bold moves and played solidly until she had forced a repetition of moves. Epishin also took on the King's Indian Defence but Mark Hebden managed to draw despite having the worse pawn structure in the endgame. The last time these two contested the same variation, at the Monarch Assurance tournament on the Isle of Man, Hebden annihilated his opponent with a king side attack but there were no such opportunities this time. In the Challengers an even younger talent David Howell of Seaford in Sussex, 13, was on course for a place in next year's Premier when he defeated the Ukrainian GM Gennady Kuzmin in their sixth round game in the Challengers tournament. Howell moved into the joint lead with 5/6 but then lost to Bartosz Socko of Poland. Round eight results Epishin draw Hebden, King's Indian Defence Classical 9.b4, 42 moves; Nielsen 0-1 Kotronias, King's Indian Defence Classical 9.Ne1, 41; Kunte 1-0 Cherniaev, Leningrad Dutch, 54; Lahno draw Rowson, Sicilian Scheveningen, 26; Conquest 1-0 Gormally, Nimzo Indian Defence, Rubinstein, 50; Scores: 1 Epishin (Russia), Kotronias (Cyprus) 5.5/8; Rowson (Scotland) 5; 4 Kunte (India) 4.5; 5-Nielsen (Denmark) 4; 6-8 Hebden (England), Lahno (Ukraine), Conquest (England) 3.5; 9-10 Cherniaev (Russia), Gormally (England) 2.5; Nielsen,P (2626) - Kotronias,V (2626) [E99] Premier Hastings ENG (8), 04.01.2004 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.a4 a5 14.Nd3 b6 Black invests a couple of tempi, 13. ..a5 and 14. ..b6 to hold up White's queenside play before starting his attack on the other wing. The battle revolves around the g4 square. White does his best to hold up the pawn break g5-g4 but when it comes he misses the best chance, which was to grab a lot of material and then return some to blunt the attack. A knight on f2 usually holds the g4 square quite effectively in this line. 15.Be1 Nf6 16.Nf2 h5 17.h3 Kh8 18.Nb5 Neg8 19.b4 Rf7 20.bxa5 bxa5 21.c5 Bf8! 22.cxd6 cxd6 23.Rc1 Nh6 Note how Kotronias transformed his two problem pieces, the Ne7 which went to g8 and then h6 to support g4 and the Bf8 which defends the base of the pawn chain on d6 and later emerges to strike the fatal blow. 24.Rc4 Rg7 25.Qc2  25...g4! 26.Bxa5 Qe8 27.h4? [ Critical is 27.Nc7 Qg6! 
going for g2 ( 27...Rxc7 28.Bxc7 gxh3 29.gxh3 leads nowhere.) 28.Nxa8 gxh3 29.Ng4! is the toughest defence to crack. ( 29.g4 hxg4 leads to an overwhelming attack) 29...Nhxg4! ( 29...hxg2 the callous 30.Rxc8 attacks f8 and wins.; Another possibility is 29...Ba6 30.Rc7 Bxe2 31.Qxe2 hxg4 when black is still fighting eg 32.Rxg7 Bxg7 33.Qc2 Nf7!?) 30.fxg4 ( 30.Rxc8 Ne3!! 31.Rxf8+ Kh7 and Black is threatening mate and the queen on c2. ) 30...Nxg4 31.Rxc8 ( 31.Bxg4 Bxg4 may be best as although there is still some attack I don't believe it is enough.) 31...Ne3 32.Rxf8+ Kh7 33.Rh8+ Kxh8 34.Qc8+ Kh7 35.Qxh3 saves the day. But even a piece down in the endgame Black is so active after: 35...Qxg2+ 36.Qxg2 Rxg2+ 37.Kh1 Rxe2 and black has good practical chances. ] 27...gxf3 28.Bxf3 Bg4 29.Bxg4 Nfxg4 30.Bb6 Qe7 31.Nxg4 Nxg4 32.Bf2 f3!! 33.g3? Ne3!  34.Bxe3 Rxg3+ 35.Kf2 Rg2+ 36.Kxf3 Rxc2 37.Rxc2 Qxh4 38.Rg1 Rxa4 39.Nc3 Rc4 40.Ke2 Bh6! 41.Bb6 Rxe4+!  In the final position 42.Nxe4 Qxe4+ hits c2 and if 43.Kd1 Qd3+ wins. If 41.Bxh6 Qh2+ picks up a rook. 0-1 |
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