A short day’s work — a midsummer medley of chess miniatures

It’s a short World, after all.

Reviving a hallowed tradition for this space, we use the dog days of August as an excuse to present a parade of miniatures from recent play, saving those intricate positional battles and dreary knight-and-pawn endings for a less indolent time. And many of those minis came from July’s 48th annual World Open, played exclusively online this year.

(There was some chess news this month — world champ Magnus Carlsen barely held off American GM Hikaru Nakamura last week to take the title tournament of a summer-long series of online rapid battles, and the U.S. team has qualified for the 12-nation playoff round of FIDE’s COVID-19-modified, rapid “Online Olympiad” — but we’ll save all that for another column.)

Despite centuries of opening theory and vast game databases, it remains remarkable how quickly good players can go wrong in the chess equivalent of the top of the first inning. Watch how English GM Gawain Jones sacs a piece on Move 12 against FM Nico Chasin for a stranglehold on the d-file in the first of our World Open offerings.

Black’s queen is the only thing preventing mate on d8, which a relentless Jones deals with by 15. e5 Qe7 17. Nd5 Qc5 (desperately seeking to get the queens off the board) 18. Nf6+!, and Black resigned as 18…gxf6 19. Qd8 is mate.
Expert Raghav Venkat outsmarts himself trying to ward off the attack from GM Alexander Mista. Grabbing a pawn with 19. f5 Qxc2?, he plans to meet the mate threats to his embattled king after 20. f6 g6 21. Qe3 with 21…g5, opening a path for his queen back to g6 and counting on 22. Bd3?? Qxg2 mate. White turns the tables with 22. Rxd5!, and now 22…exd5 23. Bd3 is crushing; Black resigned on the spot.

It’s not always the stronger player on the winning side of a miniature. U.S. GM Robert Hungaski had a bad day at the office against NM Maximillian Lu, apparently trying to wipe his opponent off the board while completely ignoring his kingside development. Black’s d-pawn is the hero here, traveling from d7 to a2(!) in the space of five moves, one square away from queening when White resigns.

A single lapse in defensive concentration often leads to a quick result, as in young Indian IM Leon Mendonca’s win at a recent tournament in northern Italy. Offense and defense are in delicate balance until 16. Qf5 g6?? (see diagram; 16…Bxd4! 17. Rxd4 g6 defends, though Black’s king position is no bargain) 17. Ne6!, when 17…gxf5?? 18. Bh5 is a tidy mate. Black’s game collapses and he even colludes in the tidy finale with 21. Qg7+ Kxe6 (Ke8 22. Qxh8+ was equally hopeless) 22. Bg4 mate.

It was the “melancholy case of the wrong knight” (to paraphrase Bobby Fischer) in GM Cristhian Cruz’s 19-move win over IM Pablo Cruz Lledo at a Spanish tournament in July: 13. Bc4 N5b6?? (fatally abandoning the king, when 13…N7b6 leaves White with just a tiny edge) 14. Bxf7+! Kxf7 15. Ng5+ and the hunt in on — 15…Kf6 (Kg8 16. Ne6 Qb8 17. Nxg7 Kxg7 18. dxc5+ Nf6 19. cxb6 axb6 20. Qd4 is winning) 16. Qf3+ Kxg5 17. Qf4+ Kh5 18. Qg4+ Kh6 19. Qh4 mate.

And if there’s such a thing as three-act 19-move game, it might be Argentine master Andres Perez Candelas’ upset win over compatriot IM Lucas Liascovich from a Buenos Aires event this spring. Black blitzes the White position and nearly mates the White king, but Perez Candelas manages to survive and succeed with the counterpunch.

Both sides go all out: 7. Qb3 Bxb1? (since this doesn’t work, we have to fault it; safer was 7…e6) 8. Bc4! Qe4 (Na5 9. Qb5+ Qc6 10. Qxa5, and both 11. Rxb1 and 11. Bb5 are threats) 9. Ng5! Qxg2 10. Qxb7 Qxh1+ 11. Kd2 Ne4+ 12. Nxe4 Qxe4 13. Bb5 Qc2+ 14. Ke1 (Black is a rook and knight up and ready to trap the king, but never gets the chance) f6 15. Qxc6+ Kf7 16. Bc4+ Kg6 17. Qg2+, and Black resigns ahead of 17…Kh5 18. Bf7+ g6 19. Qh3 mate.

Jones-Chasin, 48th World Open, July 2020

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. O-O Nxb5 6. Nxb5 Nf6 7. d4 a6 8. Nc3 cxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. Bf4 e5 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Bxe5 Qe7 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. e5 Qe7 16. Nd5 Qc5 17. Nf6+ Black resigns.

Mista-Venkat, 48th World Open, July 2020

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be2 Qc7 7. Be3 a6 8. O-O Be7 9. f4 d6 10. Qe1 O-O 11. Qg3 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. a3 Bb7 14. Rae1 d5 15. exd5 Bc5 16. Rd1 Bxd4+ 17. Rxd4 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. f5 Qxc2 20. f6 g6 21. Qe3 g5 22. Rxd5 Black resigns.

Hungaski-Lu, 48th World Open, July 2020

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 Nc6 4. d5 Ne5 5. e4 d6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 c6 9. g4 e6 10. g5 Nh5 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. O-O-O Ba6 13. b3 d5 14. Na4 dxc4 15. f4 Ng4 16. Qe2 cxb3 17. Qxg4 bxa2 18. Kc2 Qa5 White resigns.

Mendonca-Lodici, 18th Spilimbergo Open, Spilimbergo, Italy, August 2020

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. Qc2 d5 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. Rd1 a6 7. e4 b5 8. d5 e5 9. dxe6 Qe7 10. Nf3 Qxe6 11. Nd4 Qb6 12. e5 Nfd7 13. e6 fxe6 14. Be2 e5 15. O-O Bc5 16. Qf5 g6 17. Ne6 Be7 18. Ng7+ Kd8 19. Qxe5 Bxg5 20. Ne6+ Ke7 21. Qg7+ Kxe6 22. Bg4 mate.

Cruz-Cruz Lledo, ITT Valencia Bressol, Alfafar, Spain, July 2020

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 g6 5. Bd3 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Nxf3 Nbd7 10. b3 Re8 11. Bb2 c5 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Bc4 N5b6 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15. Ng5+ Kf6 16. Qf3+ Kxg5 17. Qf4+ Kh5 18. Qg4+ Kh6 19. Qh4 mate.

Perez Candelas-Liascovich, Borges Memorial, Buenos Aires, March 2020

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bf5 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Qb3 Bxb1 8. Bc4 Qe4 9. Ng5 Qxg2 10. Qxb7 Qxh1+ 11. Kd2 Ne4+ 12. Nxe4 Qxe4 13. Bb5 Qc2+ 14. Ke1 f6 15. Qxc6+ Kf7 16. Bc4+ Kg6 17. Qg2+ Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.