Vallejo dominates on 3.5/4 after beating Short

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53rd Reggio Emilia 2010 (4)

Vallejo dominates on 3.5/4 after beating Short

Mark Crowther - Friday 31st December 2010

Leader Vallejo Pons demonstrates his win against Short. Photo ©

Leader Vallejo Pons demonstrates his win against Short. Photo © | http://www.accademiainternazionalediscacchi.com

Francisco Vallejo Pons defeated Nigel Short rather easily to move to 3.5/4 at the Reggio Emilia tournament, a point and a half clear of the field going into the rest day (where Morozevich and Navara play their postponed game). Vallejo made light work of Short's rather anaemic play as white against his French Defence. The only other winner was Vugar Gashimov who defeated Michele Godena. Vassily Ivanchuk could have won a piece on the run up to first time control against Sergei Movsesian but spurned this chance and eventually settled for the draw.

Francisco Vallejo Pons moved to 3.5/4 with a win over former leader Nigel Short. Short might well have started the event with 0/4 but escaped from lost positions to win his first two games. But this diet of junk openings is not the way forward and here he was worse before they left known theory and was completely lost in just 19 moves.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Ne2 Be7 8.c3 a5 9.h4 0-0

[9...b5 10.f5 cxd4 11.cxd4 0-0 12.Nf4 Qb6 13.fxe6 fxe6 14.Bd3 Bb4+ 15.Kf1 Ndxe5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 Bd6 18.Qh5 h6 19.Ke2 Qd4 20.Nf3 Qf6 21.Ng6 Ba6 22.Nxf8 Rxf8 23.Qg6 1-0 Sarrau,J (2203)-Russo,J (2118)/Namur 2007/CBM 119 ext]

10.Rh3 f6 11.a3 Rf7

Francisco Vallejo Pons

Nigel Short

Position after 11...Rf7. Black is already a tiny bit better. This move seems to be a novelty.

[11...b5 12.Ng3 Ba6 13.Bd3 Qe8 14.Qe2 c4 15.Bc2 Nd8 16.f5 Qf7 17.Ng5 fxg5 18.hxg5 Nxe5 19.dxe5 Bc5 20.Rxh7 exf5 21.Bxf5 Nc6 22.Qg4 Rfe8 23.g6 Rxe5+ 24.Kd1 Qe8 25.Bg5 1-0 Grecuccio,N-Mattheys,E (1965)/Bilzen BEL 2004/The Week in Chess 502]

12.Be3 Nb6 13.b3 Qf8 14.Qb1 a4 15.dxc5 Bxc5 16.Bxc5 Qxc5 17.b4 Qf8 18.Ned4

18.b5 Na5 19.Ned4 fxe5 20.fxe5 Nbc4 may well be the best option.

18...fxe5 19.Nxc6

Francisco Vallejo Pons

Nigel Short

Position after 19.Nxc6

19.Ng5 e4 doesn't help either. White is busted and isn't granted much of a chance to get back into the game.

19...e4! 20.Nce5 Rxf4 21.Nh2?!

21.Qc1

21...Qf5 22.Neg4 Rxf1+ 23.Nxf1 Qxg4 24.Ne3 Qg6 25.Kf2 e5 26.Rg3 Qf6+ 27.Kg1 Be6 28.Qe1 Rf8 29.Rd1 Kh8 30.h5?

30.Rg5 h6 31.Ng4 Bxg4 (31...Qf7) 32.Rxg4 Qf7 was better but probably wouldn't have helped in the long run.

30...Qh4 31.c4 d4 32.c5 Nc4 33.Nf1 Qxh5 34.Rc1 e3 35.b5 e4 36.Qb4 e2 37.Nh2 Qf5 38.Nf3 Qf4 39.Qe1 Qe3+ 0-1

Vugar Gashimov scored his first win beating local player Michele Godena. Gashimov had a nice advantage right out of the opening and then was well on the way to slowly converting this when the under-pressure Godena dropped the house.

Michele Godena

Vugar Gashimov

Position after 29...Rb8

29...Rb8? 30. Ne7+ 1-0

David Navara and Alexander Onischuk drew a Ruy Lopez Moller Defence in 33 moves. The game seemed about equal throughout.

Vassily Ivanchuk got a position where he could squeeze on the queenside against Sergei Movsesian. I'm assuming that there was major time trouble on the run up to first time control, else it is a little bit hard to understand how Ivanchuk avoided winning or serious advantage. They agreed a draw once time control was made.

Sergei Movsesian

Vassily Ivanchuk

Position after 36...Nd7?

37.Ra6?

37.Nxd7 Rxd7 38.Bb5 just wins buckets of material.

37...Ra7 38.Nb6

38.Rxc6 Rxa4 39.Nxd7 Rxa3 40.Nf6+ Bxf6 41.Rxf6 f4 42.gxf4 gxf4 43.Rxf4 and white has winning chances.

38...Nxb6 39.Qxb6 Bf8 40.Bb5

40.Rxa7 Qxa7 41.Qxc6 Qxa3 42.Qc8 f4 43.gxf4 gxf4 44.Qg4+ Bg7 45.Qxf4 and white is better.

40...Rxa6 41.Bxa6

After all this the players agreed a draw.

1/2

Alexander Morozevich seems to be another player with opening repertoire problems. He allowed a known position out of the Slav that is at least equal for black and probably better for him against Fabiano Caruana. They agreed a draw on move 24.

53rd Masters Reggio Emilia (ITA), 28 xii 2010 - 6 i 2011															cat. XVIII (2695)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2698	*	½	.	.	.	1	.	1	.	1	3½	3011
2.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2764	½	*	½	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	2	2702
3.	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2721	.	½	*	.	½	.	½	.	.	½	2	2682
4.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2709	.	½	.	*	.	1	.	0	½	.	2	2713
5.	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2683	.	½	½	.	*	.	.	½	.	½	2	2685
6.	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2680	0	.	.	0	.	*	1	.	1	.	2	2710
7.	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2733	.	.	½	.	.	0	*	.	½	1	2	2662
8.	Navara, David	g	CZE	2708	0	.	.	1	½	.	.	*	.	.	1½	2696
9.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2700	.	.	.	½	.	0	½	.	*	.	1	2582
10.	Godena, Michele	g	ITA	2549	0	.	½	.	½	.	0	.	.	*	1	2515

Round 4 (December 31, 2010)
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Movsesian, Sergei	½-½	41	A25	English Sicilian Attack
Short, Nigel D	- Vallejo Pons, Francisco	0-1	39	C11	French Defence
Gashimov, Vugar	- Godena, Michele	1-0	30	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Navara, David	- Onischuk, Alexander	½-½	33	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Morozevich, Alexander	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	24	D49	Queens Gambit Meran

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