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Sergey Kudrin vs Joshua Waitzkin
"Searching for Josh Waitzkin" (game of the day Jan-06-2005)
United States Championship (1995), Modesto, CA USA, rd 6, Nov-25
Scandinavian Defense: Main Lines (B01)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jan-06-05  MindlessOne: <maxurdimoritz>
what if black simply 30...Qxc3 drawing away the rook so 31.Rxc3 Nb7. Do you think white still had a win after this, or do you think that blacks pawn structure coiuld have equalised against the power of the rooks enough to draw, and then considering that, dont you think that this is why your 30.Rc8 wasnt played?
Jan-06-05  MindlessOne: <cloyboy>
if 19.BxN then 19...Qd6 threatening checkmate and consequently picking the bishop up and attacking the rook, not to mention the fact that this losses the bishop pair for white. You DO NOT exchange unless you have too, this would have given black strong counterplay oppurtunities
Jan-06-05  cloybloy: At first, I was wondering why white didn't do 19. BxN. But upon looking at the board again, there is available for black the move 19. ... Qd6 which takes back the bishop and initiative.
Jan-06-05  cloybloy: Thanks, Mindlessone. At first I was quizzed and posted a message. But upon looking at the board again. I found the available move so I decided to erase my previous message.
Jan-06-05  maxundmoritz: <MindlessOne> 30...Qxc3 loses to 31.Rdxd8+ Kh7 32.Rh8#.

<beatgiant> Yes, 29...Qe2 or 29...Qb1 with the same idea.

Jan-06-05  arifattar: Sorry, but I don't get the pun. Anyone?
Jan-06-05  patzer2: <azaris> Thanks for the analysis of the winning "passed pawn" combination 41...a3!
Jan-06-05  patzer2: <arifattar> The pun refers to the 1993 movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer," which featured a story line about Waitzkin as a Chess prodigy. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108065/ for more details.
Jan-06-05  MindlessOne: Ive seen numbers of games with the 1.e4 d5 played by waitzkin, why does he like this opening so much. Despite the fact that complication that may arise in the benoni, this opening is very simple. What does he see in it?
Jan-06-05  hintza: <MindlessOne> What does the Benoni have to do with the Scandinavian?
Jan-06-05  ragnar0C: why not 38. Kg4 ?
Jan-06-05  beenthere240: Scandanavian takes White out of a lot of opening preparation and black has a vartiety of options on his 3rd move. There's also a couple of gambits in this line after 3...Nf6. Some writers have selected this as a good all purpose defense to KP openings.
Jan-06-05  MindlessOne: <hintza> I was just making the point that the benoni is a highly tactical difficult line to play, I was wondering if Waitzkin just prefers simple lines like the scandinavian, to avoid the complication of more confusing lines
Jan-06-05  azaris: <MindlessOne> First, no opening is "simple". Second, Waitzkin is a self-professed tactical player who likes complicated and double-edged positions. Third, he describes this opening as "positional".

As to why he and so many American GMs (even the immigrants seem to have picked it up!) like to play 1. e4 d5, I have no idea. I'd never seen so many Scandinavians in one tournament as the US Championship. Look at any GM tournament played in Europe and you'd be hard pressed to see any at all!

Maybe it's just a fashion thing.

Jan-06-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <ragnar0C: why not 38. Kg4?> Maybe White thought he was winning and wanted to avoid the perpetual check of 38. Kg4 Qc4+.
Jan-06-05  patzer2: If Black plays the winning 41...a3!, in addition to the lines pointed out by <azaris>, there are several interesting combinations with pitfalls for both sides to avoid .

White should avoid making it too easy for Black by responding to 41...a3! with 42. Qa8?? g5+ 43. Kxg5 (43. Kh5 Qh3+ 44. Kxg5 Qh6#) 43...Qf6+ 44. Kh5 g6#.

Black also needs to be careful in the line 41...a3! 42. Rc7!? to avoid the tempting 42...f6?, since White can then force a draw by perpetual check after 43. Rxg7+! Kxg7 44. Qe7+ Kh6 45. Qf8+ Kh7 46. Qf7+ =.

Jan-06-05  patzer2: After 41...a3! 42. Rc7!?, Black wins easily with 42...Qf2+ 43. Kh3 a2 44. Rc8 Kh6 45. Ra8 g5 .
Jan-06-05  kevin86: How good was/is Josh Waitzkin? In this game,he was able to pull out a draw from a lost game-a little bit of Marshall. It looks like he gave up chess-ironically the opposite reason why Fischer played:He was no longer obsessed with it.

I like the movie:(Searching for Bobby Fischer)-but it puts a negative look on chess and chessplayers-treating the game almost like it was opium. Players looked and were portrayed as addicts.

Jan-06-05  Sonic Youth: Josh could have won the game but he didnt see that one pawn move
Jan-07-05  patzer2: As <Maxundmoritz> notes 30. ♖c8! would have created a winning pin for White.

30. ♖c8! ♖xc8 [30...Kh7 31. Qxb3 axb3 32. Rxa8 ] 31. ♕xc8 ♔h7 32. ♕xd8

Jan-07-05  patzer2: Of course 29...Qb3?? was a blunder. Necessary, as <beatgiant> suggested, was 29...Qe2= or 29...Qb1=.
Jan-07-05  patzer2: <Shams> I like the avatar, as Eddie Murphy is one of my favorite actors and Shrek/Shrek2 are really fun movies that I like to watch with my children and grandchildren.
Jan-10-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <patzer2 patzer2: After 41...a3! 42. Rc7!?, Black wins easily with 42...Qf2+ 43. Kh3 a2 44. Rc8 Kh6 45. Ra8 g5 .>

White may then try to exploit the stalemate with 46. Qh8+ Kg6 47. Qh7+! Kf6 48. Qd3 seems to hold (or 47...Kxh7 48. Rh8+ Kg6 49. Rh6+, with stalemate next).

So maybe 41...a3 42. Rc7 Qf4 43. Rc2 f6 44. Qc7 g5+ 45. Kh3 (or 45. Kh5 Qxc7 46. Rxc7 a2, and White's rook gets overloaded holding the threats of ...g6# and ...a1=Q) 45...Qf3+ 46. Qg3 Qf1+ 47. Rg2 (or 47. Qg2 Qd3+ picks up the rook) 47...a2, and the pawn queens.

Aug-13-05  Averageguy: In CM 10th edition, Josh Waitzkin says that he was extremely short of time but actually saw a win for himself. However, he accidently played two many moves so it was a draw.
Mar-09-13  Balmo: This is still a brilliant game, say what you like about Waitzkin, but he was a very creative and exciting player at his best.
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