pinoymaster77: But since BW articles goes into a storage site over some time, posting here the part on Jakovenko vs Paragua game :The game I’d like to look at is Paragua vs Jakovenko in the first round. Mark took a fearless stance and attacked Jakovenko’s king in an absorbing middlegame battle. After the smoke had cleared there was a Q+B+P endgame that was excellently played by Black. The decision took 67 moves to bring home but it was never boring.
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Paragua, Mark (2565) -- Jakovenko, Dmitry (2724) [B85]
FIDE World Cup Tromso (1.1), 11.08.2013
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 a6 7.0 -- 0 Nf6 8.Be3 Be7 9.f4 d6
From the Taimanov we have transposed to one of the main tabiya (battle array) of the Sicilian Scheveningen.
10.Kh1 0 -- 0 11.Qe1 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.a3 Bb7
Putting pressure on e4. Black cannot relax, as White always has threats. For example, 13...Nd7 14.Rd1 Bb7 15.Rd3! Nc5 16.Rg3 g6 17.f5! exf5 (17...Bh4 18.Rxg6+ fxg6 19.Qxh4 is no good for Black) 18.exf5 Bh4 19.Rxg6+ fxg6 20.Qxh4 Qc6? (Oparin, G (2497)-Panarin, M (2565) Yekaterinburg RUS 2013 0 -- 1 48).
Panarin should have played 20...Qd7 although after 21.Qh6 Black’s position is still critical. After 20...Qc6 White spoiled the attack with 21.Qh3? when he could have ended the game quickly with 21.Bf3! Rxf5 22.Nd5! curtains.
14.Qg3 Rad8 15.Bd3 Rd7 16.Rae1 Re8 <D>
Position after 16...Re8
17.Qh3?!
Marks’ idea is to play 18.Nd5! (stronger than 18.e5 because 18...dxe5 19.fxe5 Rxd4 20.exf6 Bxf6 21.Qxh7+ Kf8 Black’s king manages to run to safety). After 18.Nd5! exd5 19.exd5 and now the insecure position of the Black rook on e8 is going to cost him.
Having said that, 17.Qh3 is actually an inaccuracy, as it allows Black to play 17...e5! right away. If you have studied Paragua’s games you will have noticed that when he is playing Black in the Sicilian Defense he is always going for ...e7 -- e5 or e6 -- e5, so I am a bit surprised why he allowed this as White. Better is 17.Re3 g6 18.Ref3 which keeps the attack going. A possible continuation: 18...d5 19.e5 Ne4 20.Qe1 b4 21.axb4 Bxb4 22.Rh3 Qd8 23.Qe3 Nxc3 24.bxc3 Bf8 and now the grand finale: 25.f5! exf5 26.Bxf5! gxf5 27.Rg3+ Kh8 (27...Bg7 28.Rxg7+ Kxg7 29.e6+) 28.e6+ f6 29.Rxf5 Bg7 30.Rh5 Rc7 31.Qd3 h6 32.Rxg7! Rxg7 33.Rxh6+ Kg8 34.Qh3 1 -- 0 (34) Areshchenko, A (2664)-Ftacnik, L (2568) Bundesliga 2010.
17...e5! 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.Nd5 Bxd5
Jakovenko has to keep his knight on f6. Otherwise 19...Nxd5? 20.exd5 g6 21.Rxf7! ends the game.
20.exd5 Rxd5 21.Bc3
[21.Rxf6 Bxf6 (21...Rxd4?? 22.Qxh7+ Kf8 23.Qh8#) 22.Qxh7+ Kf8 23.Bc3 a5 24.Be4 Rdd8 White does not have a good way to continue the attack]
21...Bd8 22.Rf5 g6 23.Qg3 Re6 24.Bxe5?! Qe7 25.Rxf6 Rexe5 26.Rxe5 Rxe5 27.Rf1
Mark’s attack has been pushed back and Jakovenko has a slight advantage as all his pawns are on white squares giving his dark-squared bishop more scope than its counterpart. Black makes the most of his chances.
27...Bc7 28.Qf2 Kg7 29.Qd4 f6
With the idea of ...Rh5.
30.g3 Qe6
Threatening ...Qc6+, Kg1, ...Bb6 winning the queen.
31.Qf2 h5 32.Qf3 Qd6 33.Rd1 Qe7 34.Qc6 Re6 35.Qd5 h4 36.gxh4 Re1+ 37.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 38.Kg2 Qd2+ 39.Kf1 Qf4+ 40.Ke2 Qxh2+ 41.Kf1 Bg3 42.Qd7+ Kh6 43.Qd4 Qh1+ 44.Ke2 Qg2+ 45.Kd1 Qf3+ 46.Kd2 Bf4+ 47.Ke1 Qh1+ 48.Ke2 Qxh4
Let’s take stock:
Black is a pawn up but the bishops are of opposite colors, two connected passed pawns are not enough to win in an endgame with bishops of opposite colors.
In the position on the board, if you remove the queens and all the queenside pawns then the position is drawn.
Therefore Mark goes for a queen exchange, followed by c2 -- c4 or a3 -- a4 to liquidate the queenside pawns.
49.Qf2 Qxf2+!
Apparently Jakovenko, one of the best endgame players in the world, does not agree with Paragua’s diagnosis. By the way, Dmitry must have noticed that his bishop and a1, the possible queening square of his a-pawn, are of the same color, so if White manages to exchange his bishop for black’s two pawns on the kingside he can still go over to the queenside and win with KB+rook pawn against White’s King.
50.Kxf2 Bc1! 51.c4 Bxb2 52.cxb5 a5!!
Of course 52...axb5? 53.Bxb5 Bxa3 is a draw, for example 54.Kf3 f5 55.Bd3 Kg5 56.Bc2 Kf6 57.Bd3 g5 58.Bc2 g4+ 59.Kg2 f4 60.Bd1 Kg5 61.Be2 Kh4 62.Bd1 Bc5 63.Be2 Black cannot make progress.
53.a4 Kg5 54.Ke3 f5 55.Be2 Be5 56.b6 Kh4 57.b7 g5 58.Bd3 f4+ 59.Ke4 Bb8 60.Be2
[60.Kf3 g4+ 61.Kg2 f3+ 62.Kf2 Ba7+ 63.Kf1 g3 wins]
60...g4 61.Bb5 Kg3 62.Kf5 f3 63.Bc4 f2 64.Be2 Ba7 65.Kg5
[65.Bf1 allows 65...Kf3 and soon the g-pawn will give clinch the game]
65...Kg2 66.Kxg4 f1Q 67.Bxf1+ Kxf1 0 -- 1
The finish will be 68.Kf3 Ke1 69.Ke4 Kd2 70.Kd5 Kc3 71.Kc6 Kb4 72.Kc7 Kxa4 73.b8Q Bxb8+ 74.Kxb8 Kb5 the end.
Not a disgrace to lose such a game. If ever Jakovenko makes a book on his best games I reckon this one will be there.
Kibitzing
