Simon Kim Williams vs Anastasiya Rakhmangulova (2023) Ginger Spice

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Simon Kim Williams vs Anastasiya Rakhmangulova
"Ginger Spice" (game of the day Apr-05-2023)
Reykjavik Open (2023), Reykjavik ISL, rd 2, Mar-30
Slav Defense: Exchange Variation (D10) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 2 OF 2 · Later Kibitzing>
Apr-01-23		Sally Simpson: I'm in total agreement with Zygalski. Game of the year so far (at least in the best miniature category)- and it will take some beating. Wonderful.

Apr-02-23		Check It Out: Great game!

Apr-02-23		syracrophy: 17.♘xd4!! click for larger view

Apr-02-23		whiteshark: Hikaru is full of praise, calls it <Simon's Immortal> / best game of 2023 so far / reminiscences to Anderssen's romantic Immortal etc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDK... (initial 12 mins)

Apr-02-23		FSR: Former Correspondence World Champion (and OTB IM) Hans Berliner in his controversial 1999 book "The System" advocated 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nx3 Nf6 5.f3. He thought it might refute the Slav(!), although he acknowledged that it was untested. IM Jeremy Silman, in his very critical review of the book, wrote that "5.f3 is so obviously weak that it makes me lose all faith in [Berliner's] understanding of chess as a whole." https://web.archive.org/web/2013052... The line has remained an obscure backwater. Opening Explorer shows just 30 games with it (not including this one), resulting in a mediocre 10 wins, 10 draws, and 10 losses. If only the late Dr. Berliner could see this game, he'd be beaming with pride.

Apr-02-23		FSR: Simon Williams' Immortal.

Apr-02-23		Sally Simpson: Hi FSR, A good post, I noted via your link that Simon has tried 5.f3 before S Williams vs J van Foreest, 2014 sadly that is amongst one of the 10 losses. In that game Black played 6...Bf5 instead of 6...e6.

Apr-05-23		Honey Blend: It took me quite some web searching to figure out that the GotD title wasn't an allusion to Geri Haliwell.

Apr-05-23		An Englishman: Good Evening: Curious line, the Exchange Slav--sometimes considered a dead draw, sometimes considered almost a forced win. Not feeling thrilled with 6...dxe4. 6...Nc6 or 6...Bb4 (perhaps both on consecutive moves?) invites e4-e5,Nf6-d7 with a pleasant version of the French Defense thanks to that bothersome pawn on f3.

Apr-05-23		FSR: ChessBase Online shows White scoring a quite respectable 57.0% in 486 games with 5.f3. (That may seem like a lot of games, but there are over 305,000 Slavs in ChessBase Online's database.) The earliest such game was in 2000, i.e. after Berliner advocated the move in his controversial 1999 book "The System." Stockfish 15.1 says that Black is a hair better after either 5...Qb6 or 5...Nc6. The point of 5...Qb6 is that Black can - indeed must - respond to 6.e4 with 6...dxe4 7.fxe4 e5! 8.dxe5 Ng4 with a slight advantage. Rakhmangulova reacted terribly in this game, leaving her busted after 10.e5.

Apr-05-23		Cassandro: Given that Black's rating is a whopping 300 pts lower than White's, I don't think this game really gives us much useful information about the relative strength of the 5.f3 line in the Exchange Slav. Calling this "Ginger's Immortal" is hyperbole.

Apr-05-23		Dionysius1: Unlike "Morphy's Immortal" played against two aristocrats in an opera box? "Immortal" is hyperbole pretty much wherever it's used, I tell you. What's your objection to it being used here - too soon? SKW has more to show us?

Apr-05-23		Cassandro: <Dionysius> To quote <FSR>'s post: <Rakhmangulova reacted terribly in this game, leaving her busted after 10.e5.> One criterium for an immortal game should perhaps be that the opponent doesn't play terrible moves. Of course, Kiezeritzky, Count Isouard and other victims of famous 'immortals' didn't play very well, that much is clear. But their play wasn't really that bad, was it? Especially considering that back then in the Romantic era, a sacrifice had to be accepted, anything else would be an insult.

Apr-05-23		Teyss: Spicy game from the ginger master. Not very galant though. Immortal or not? A great miniature for sure: the rating difference doesn't matter, let's look at the moves. "Busted after 10.e5" might also be hyperbolic: let's say inferior position (+2.0 at 37 ply. Yes I'll rely on SF because I'm just a patzer and there are so many variations). Definitely Black played weak moves and before 16...Nxd4 was indeed busted (+4.6 at 44 ply). This allowed the flashy Q sac which interestingly is also suboptimal: see SF eval. However in human mode it's understandable SKM played it to put pressure on his lower rated opponent. Also interestingly Black could have defended better afterwards by giving back the Q: 18...Qd7 19.Rxd7 Kxd7 20.Nc5+ Ke7 21.Nxa4+ Bb4 22.Bb2 (+3.0 at 40ply): White has B+N vs R, the B pair and an open field. But it would have deprived us from a beautiful ending. click for larger view Hence beautiful moves, including the last one, taking advantage of mistakes: the definition of a great game. "Immortal" is always a hyperbole: depends how high you place the bar. Good game and pun <goodevans>, we know you like to have recent games as GOTD.

Apr-05-23		MissScarlett: Kimmortal vs WIMmortal.

Apr-05-23		offramp: Is ginger a spice? I don't think so.

Apr-05-23		goodevans: <Is ginger a spice?...> Tricky one, but I'd say it is. On the other hand, Geri Halliwell was definitely not naturally ginger. Nor was Victoria Adams (as she was then) particularly posh, but that's the Spice Girls for you. At least Mel C was pretty sporty and I'd probably find Mel B quite scary if I ever met her.

Apr-05-23		goodevans: <FSR: ... leaving her busted after 10.e5.> <10.e5!> is a terrific move which gives White a sizeable advantage even if, as <Teyss> say, "busted" is perhaps hyperbole. click for larger view The reason why I like this move so much (aside from the fact that it's strongest) is that it's so very committal. It only gives White that advantage if followed up with <11.O-O> which is a <triple pawn sac> (Rakhmangulova could, maybe should, have played 13...Bxd4+ 14.Kh1 Bxe5). Without 11.O-O, 10.e5 would actually have frittered away the small advantage White had thus far accumulated. After <10...Nd5> Black is threatening 11...Nxc3 12.bxc3 Nxd4 and if White merely defends with <11.Qd2> (not 11.Bd2? Nxd4!) then <11...Bb6> gives Black a perfectly comfortable position. Williams spent 20 minutes on 10.e5 which suggests he was working out whether that triple pawn sac was worth it. And, of course, he would have had to calculate other possible 11th moves by Black too. Okay, he may have been just making sure he remembered his prep but I prefer to believe he worked all this out OTB.

Apr-05-23		offramp: <whiteshark: Hikaru is full of praise, calls it <Simon's Immortal> / best game of 2023 so far....> Hikaru is wavering here from "Simon's Immortal" and "best game of 2023 so far." I'd agree with Hikaru about it's "best game of 2023 so far."

Apr-05-23		Honza Cervenka: 5...Nc6 is probably better than 5...e6, 7...Bb4 can be better than 7...Nc6, and 8...Be7 could have been a lesser evil than 8...Bb4. After that white's initiative seems to be decisive, or at least it gives white clear advantage. 17.Nxd4 is a nice shot but simple 17.Qc4 Rc8 18.Qa6 leaves black in utterly hopeless position, for example 18...Nxf3+ 19.Rxf3 Bd4+ 20.Kh1 Rc7 21.Bg6! fxg6 22.Qd3 and the game is over.

Apr-05-23		ketchuplover: without error there is no brilliancy

Apr-05-23		fredthebear: Corollary: Without brilliancy, there will be errors. Good to see you again <ketchuplover>! I gotta ask, just have to ask... are you secretly #15 Patrick Mahomes of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs? https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl...

May-05-23		Gaito: A very charming miniature that will surely appear in future anthologies. GM Simon Williams has a Youtube channel that I strongly recommend to watch. You'll learn a lot! Anastasiyia Rakhmangulova is currently rated 2178, whereas GM Williams has a current rating of 2550 according to Wikipedia.

Dec-01-23		Muttley101: Current classical chess rating 2467, according to FIDE not been over 2500 since August 2013. Not to detract from the game, of course- pretty and satisfying miniature.

Dec-29-23		VerySeriousExpert: Yury V. Bukayev's new analytical article ( https://chessproblem.my-free-games.... ) shows the new and very interesting way for White: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.a3 Bf5 6.f3 .

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