Jordan's last chance at salvaging the game appears to be 35. Raa1 protected the back rank and keeping his a-passer.
The July TNT winner, Alex Nikouline survived a difficult Rook endgame against Carl Pottinger, that appears losing after 43...Kxg4
After Alex's 44. Kxc6, Kf3 will provide an escort for the e pawn. However, after 44...Rc8+ White was able to scoop both the d and e pawns. Rook endings are difficult and time was perhaps a factor as well.
One half upset was James Atem drawing with Black with Edward Tang (although he has drawn Ed before). The following position occurred after 17...
So for White there are two obvious Candidate moves ---Qxc3 and gxh7+. Which is best ? let's take a look without the assistance of the computer. If 18. Qxc3 threatening mate...f6 looks forced, and White wins an exchange and still has some dangerous threats. If 18. gxh7+ K xh7 19. Bxf8 discovered check. etc. If 18...Kh8 19. Qxc3+ f6 20. Bxf8 is similar to 18. Qxc3. So my puny sub-20000 brain says it doesn't make much difference, and really there is no practical difference. What actually happened ? Well James managed to generate a stalemate partially because of gxh7. Ok, I am stretching that a bit. Go to http://www.chessmanitoba.com to see the finale.
Another upset: Waldemar Schulz flagged against Weixi Liu in a much better, but tricky position.
Another half upset: Nathan Wood agreed to draw with Daniel Oberton.
Here is an interesting variation on a common tactic in the Sicilian.
White to move in Letain - Lauritson... Black has just played 12...Qh5
13. Nxd5 looks like it wins a pawn, although it is difficult to see that knight can survive a sortie to e7 in some lines after 13...Ng4. But it is a good practical try.
No comments:
Post a Comment