King flirts in Aeroflot - Round 1

Lombardy, commenting on castling said, "Castling presents subtle dangers. The problems posed by the decision to castle are much misunderstood and thereby underrated. The old principle, enunciated by Capablanca (who incidentally advised to castle!), Tarrasch & Nimzovich, still stands unchallenged: a) Castle if you must; b) Castle if you so desire, & c) Do not castle simply because you can"!!

I was intrigued by three games, from the first round in Aeroflot, where this principle either applied or misapplied!

Shyam Sundar - Anton Guijarro, Aeroflot, 2016

The Indian GM Shyam Sundar's game against Anton Guijarro was both modern and ancient!

In the following position, still in the opening phase, Black played.....

7.....Be7?!

Though neither my database, nor my opening knowledge is good and large enough to arrive at any conclusions, the move that was made did not make sense on two counts: 1) it blocks the return journey of the Queen which is precariously placed on h4 & 2) the move that had been played in an earlier game 7.....Bb4 made more sense, as then the square 'e4' would not have been available for White's Knight.

8.h3 Nh6

Generally, when such enterprise as .....Qh4 and ......Ng4 are undertaken, the Knight is made to sacrifice its life here by .....Nf2!  But that may not be the case here, though, it disrupts the King castling and there is a prospect for Black to open the f-file as in the case of some French defence, which will add fuel to the attack after ....OO; White has sufficient resource to thwart such overtures and above all, Black is also a long away from making his other surviving Knight on b8 to enter this end of the battlefield.

9.Nge4 Be4; 10.g3

Already, that Queen has started feeling the heat!

10.....Bc2; 11.Qd2! Qh5; 12.Qc2 Qf3; 13.Rg1 Nc6; 14.Bg2 Qf5; 15.Qd1!  Bb4

Earlier, this move was an option; now it is forced as his Queen was on danger with the threatened 16.Be4!

16.g4 Qg6; 17.f4 OO?

If 7.....Be7 was a mistake, this is reckless! This move not only invites trouble, but actually makes White's job easier as it renders Black to face the relentless attack, without any counterplay!

Chess is a game of attack and defence; but one should never forget that the counter-attack is the best form of defence on most occasions!

Black is not worse on the queenside and hence may have considered the long castle and pretend to treat the pawn advances of White as overstretched on the Kingside!  And moreover, White is yet to take his King to 'safety'.

18.Ke2!!?

A move which the great Steinitz was fond of!  The move, as audacious as it may look, just forces Black to part with his dark squared Bishop, and with it, the dark squares around the King will start hurting!

18.....Bc3; 19.bc3 Kh8; 20.Be3 Rae8; 21.Qd3!

Another fine move!  If Black exchanges the Queen now, White has many trumps in the endgame and Black would be placed equally bad with not much hopes of changing the fortunes.

21.....f5; 22.g5 Ng8; 23.h4 Rd8; 24.d5! 

This break in the center is the starting point of the finish!

24....Na5; 25.Bf3 Ne7; 26.h5 Qe8; 27.Rad1 Kg8; 28.h6 g6; 29.Rd2 d6?!

The problem with the human mind is that, it cannot keep quiet!  This hastens the finish, by opening up the position when he should be waiting and let White find the way to open the position! Generally, the breaks favour the side which has upper-hand, and in this position, you don't require a rearview mirror to see what is heading towards you!

30.ed6 Rd6; 31.c5!

This is the advantage and power of doubled pawn - it reinforces the break!  I have seen games where great masters even opting to have tripled pawns!

31.....Rd8; 32.c4 e5?

This is ridiculous.  The only reason you can assign for this move, that too by a strong Grandmaster is that, he has a date and is running short of time to reach there!  White will be doubly happy if he too has such a commitment!!

And I can conclude this game here stating that Black got mated subsequently in ......moves!!  But, for those who haven't seen the game, here is the finish....

33.fe5 f4; 34.Bf2 Nf5; 35.e6 Nb7; 36.c6 Nc5; 37.Qc3 Qe7; 38.Qe5 Na4; 39.Rg4 b5; 40.Rf4 bc4; 41.Rc4 Nb6; 42.Rf4 Nc8; 43.Bg4 Ncd6; 44.Bf5 Nf5; 45.Bd4 Nd4; 46.Rdd4 Rb8; 47.Rf8 

1-0

Potkin - Wei Yi, Aeroflot, 2016

10......Be7?!

Ok, White has not castled, but what prevented Black from castling here and then do whatever he wanted!  

11.cd5 Nd5; 12.Bc4 Nc6; 13.Bd5? 

With no compulsion White parts with his Bishop for Knight, that too with check!

13.....Be6!? 14.Be7 Ne7; 15.Re1 Bd5?

Black has no reason to consider his position superior to White's, now! Hence, he could have just grabbed back that Bishop with check and with the next check on c4, could have exchanged the Queen and entered an equal ending!

16.Kc2 Qd7; 

Precursor to the oncoming blunder!

17.Nc3 Qf5??

Foregoes a piece and the game!  Black doesn't even get a check for the piece!!

18.Kc1 OOO; 19.Re7 Bf3; 20.gf3 Qf3; 21.Qg3! Qc6; 22.Kc2 Rd6; 23.Rae1 Rhd8; 24.R1e2 a5; 25.Qe5 1 - 0

You may be a wonder kid with sensational achievements at a young age.... you may have conducted a King hunt which is considered as one of the greatest.....yet, Chess can be that cruel if you don't treat it properly, the way it demands!

In the third game, both sides castled, but one side came under rapid fire!

Goganov - Jobava, Aeroflot, 2016

Jobava is known for both his inspiring attacking chess and playing out bizarre opening, at times bordering on recklessness.....therefore, also has the tendency to land into great trouble because of this proclivity! 

After the opening skirmish, arising out of a type of Old Indian defence, the following position was reached....and Black played.....

20.....Qf6; 21.Bd5 Kh8?! 

This move lands him in trouble!  Why not 21.....Be6!?  Obviously, White cannot play 22.Be6 Qe6; 23.f4?? as after 23.....Qg4 or 23.....Qg6 it will be White who will get mated, ultimately!

And the move ......Be6 would complete Black's development and put him in comfortable position!

22.Ne4 Qg6; 23.Ng5!

Now, Jobava must have regretted allowing the Bishop to stay on 'd5'!

23.....Bd6; 24.Ne6 Be6; 25.Re6 Qg4; 26.Qe3 Rf5?

This leads to a speedy loss, but it is already difficult for Black to generate any counter play or organise decent defence.

27.Be4! Rf2; 28.Rg6 Qh3; 29.Bg7 Kg8; 30.Bd5 Rf7; 31.Rg5 Be7; 32.Bf7 Kf7; 33.Rf1 1 - 0

Ok, whether you castle or not; it should be of your choice considered prudently....just because you castle, it doesn't mean that your King will be safe there......for.....as in life, the Chess King too has to die someday, whether in the corner or in the center. But in Chess, the game ends when one King dies and hence the other survives.....!