Sophus Mechlenburg Moller (2133) – Jason Cao (2309)
Najdorf Sicilian
World U–16 Chess Olympiad 2014 Györ round five, 16.12.2014
[By Marin,Mihail]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.f4 Qc7 8.Qe2 e6 9.0–0–0 b5 10.a3 Bb7 11.g4
A typical 6.Bg5 Najdorf position, with mutual pawn attacks on the opposite wings.
11…Be7 12.Bg2 Rc8 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.g5 Nd7 15.h4 Qc4 16.Qe1 b4 17.Bf1 Qc5 18.Nb3 Qb6 19.axb4 Qxb4 20.Kb1 Nc5
White has maintained his space advantage, but Black seems to be the first in creating concrete threats. On the next move the Danish player thought up a surprise for his opponent…
21.Bb5+!?
He must have seen it in advance, as he played it after less than two minutes.
According to the Canadian captain, the Romanian Grandmaster Gergely Szabo, his pupil had not seen this coming, indeed.
But this small oversight might have been the best thing happening to him in this game since it opened his path to the brilliancy prize!
21…axb5 22.Rd4 Qxd4
The unexpected 22…Nd3 would have saved the queen, but left White with some positional advantage.
23.Nxd4 b4 24.Na2
24.Ncb5 would have been more active.
24…Bxe4
The oversight suddenly started looking like a deep positional sacrifice. Black has excellent compensation for his queen.
25.Rh2 d5 26.Nxb4 0–0 27.Qd2 Ra8 28.Nd3?
This makes White’ centre hanging.
28.Nbc6 would have been more solid.
28…Ra4 29.Qe3 Rfa8 30.Kc1 Bxd3 31.Nc6
Trying to avoid 31.cxd3 Rxd4 but getting into other form of trouble.
31…Bd6 32.cxd3 Bxf4 0–1
Brilliant.