2012 Chess Olympiad
Reports | December 26, 2008 21:01

Great win brings Caruana next to Vallejo

CaruanaFrancisco Vallejo Pons and Fabiano Caruana are leading with 2/3 in a strong round-robin that's currently taking place in Pamplona, Spain. In the third round Caruana beat Vallejo - a great game that deserves a separate post here.

Photo: Gigi Troso

The 18th "Ciudad de Pamplona" is organized by the Institution Oberena, sponsored by the Government of Navarre and the city council of Pamplona, Spain. It's an 8-player round-robin with Caruana, Vallejo, Nepomniachtchi, Sasikiran, Roiz, Malakhov Salgado Lopez and Delchev. Tournament director is GM Jesus de la Villa. The event is held in the Iru?ɬ±a Park Hotel in Pamplona and the rate of play is two hours for the whole game, plus 30 seconds increment per move.

Number one seed Paco Vallejo, who was assisting Topalov in Nanjing last week, started with wins against Delchev and Salgado Lopez. In the third round he reached a promising position with Black against Caruana, but then he missed a tactical shot by the 16-year-old, two times Italian champion:

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Peter Doggers's picture
Author: Peter Doggers

Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.

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2012 Chess Olympiad

Comments

Sumit Balan's picture

i'm not using any Engine for the analysis here,only pure chess logic,i'm happy and to heare that Rybka agree with me!!.Anyway ,after 28.Bd4 Qd729.Qg4!Qb530.Rf3! is +=,check it with Rybka or Fritz if you like.

Peter Doggers's picture

Right...

Arne Moll's picture

Exchanging on g4 at some point is certainly the most 'human' solution, Michael, but I'm not sure it's winning for Black. White's bishop is still very strong and Black's king is more insecure than White's. Also, d6 is weaker than g4 (after hxg4) and White has a nice blockade option of Na5 with the idea of Nc4, hitting d6. I think White definitely has a strange kind of compensation in that position. It's a great position to play out or analyse with pupils, I think.

Michael's picture

Interesting position indeed, but it's hard to believe that Black isn't at least clearly better. Sumit Balan's line is a sensible try for White, but his assessment his way off the mark, of course. Black has two extra pawns and can quite easily parry White's only idea Rf5, e.g. with Qg5.The only question is how to make progress with Black, which turns out to be not so easy. The computer tends to suggest moves which just maintain the status quo and don't really improve the position. If I were Black, I would consider to simply exchange queens on g4 at some point. I lose one of my extra pawns, but I still have another one, avoid being mated and improve my knight's position. White would have to fight hard for a draw. So I think Peter was right, after all :-)

Arne Moll's picture

I wonder what the verdict from the experts will be.

Arne Moll's picture

Actually after 27...Rab8 the position is extremely interesting! It's not easy for BOTH sides to make progress. It seems Sumit's move 30.Rf3 is indeed the best move. Now, if Black makes 'human' moves (for instance 30...a5) then White continues 31.Kb2! with the idea Rf5 (now Qxd3 is not with check!) and the position is very unclear indeed. My Rybka suggests the mysterious move 30....Rb7 and after 31.Rd1 (with the idea Rf5) 31...Qe8 with a very messy position. White can't play 32.Rf5 on account of 32...Rb5! I don't think the position is winning for Black yet, but to say that it's += is also clearly insufficient. Highly recommended for serious analysis!

Sumit Balan's picture

May be += evaluation is a bit over optimistic,the correct verdict should be ,unclear with chances for both sides!!

Peter Doggers's picture

So what about 28...Qd7 then. According to Rybka 29.Qg4 is still the best move but after 29...Qb5, hitting d3, the white queen has to return. Don't see a win for White there.

Sumit Balan's picture

In the analysis it is mentioned that 27..Rab8 is almost winning for black,and Rf5 is answered by Rb5!,but,is Rf5 the ONLY way for white to continue the attack? i believe not.28.Bd4! with the idea if Qg4 and sacing the exchange in g3 or even Rf5 after Qg4 is possible,if now Rb5,Rgf1! with the idea of hitting f7 and g6 must be winning for white. +-

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