by Assi Philosoph
As the third round started in Jerusalem today in the open and closed sections, it was the turn of the youngsters to join the party. The junior section of the Maccabiah Games plays in Haifa – it is common during the Maccabiahs to host the junior category of all sports in one city, so that the junior players can enjoy the environment all together in one place.
The host of the Junior Chess Championships is the Haifa-Nesher Chess Club, located in the city of Nesher in the Haifa District of Israel. The junior category has 30 players. The majority of the diaspora players in this category are from Europe and North America, the dominant countries being the USA with 5 players, including the top-rated Kyle Lancman, and Germany with 4 players. Before the game, all the players assembled for a photograph:
It is always a pleasure to play at the Haifa-Nesher Chess Club, not only because of the great hosting but also for the beautiful view from its balcony that overlooks the Zvulun Valley in the north of Israel (see photo below). In addition, the small city of Nesher is celebrating its 100-year anniversary, and there could be no better way to celebrate than by being part of the Maccabiah Games.
The junior category is played in seven rounds of 90 minutes with a 30 second increment per move, in a Swiss System (FIDE rated). The director is the Master and FA Vladimir Veinshtein. From here, all the rounds will be played simultaneously to Jerusalem rounds. Please follow the results via the following link:
https://chess-results.com/tnr643234.aspx?lan=1
In the meantime, the third round has come to an end in Jerusalem. The closed tournament is proving competitive, the three leaders having only 2 points out of 3 (+1). For the moment, the two players rated 2601 (Smirin and Alekseev) are not fully involved, so we can expect a great battle to come in the next rounds.
After losing in the first round, the Israeli GM Ori Kobo took some risks yesterday with the black pieces and managed to recover in the tournament:
Dvoirys,Semen I (2439) – Kobo,Ori (2534)
GM Maccabiah 2022 Jerusalem, Israel – Round 2, 14.07.2022
The position on the board after 21… Rc8 promises some opportunities for attack, despite the bishop on e7 being restricted.
22.Rhf1 the start of a wrong defensive plan (an interesting alternative would be to play 22.Qe6 Rcc7 23.Nc1 a5 24.Rhe1 a4 25.Rd3 with good control over the position).
22…a5 23.a4? Instead of solving his problems, White just opened up his king. bxa3 24.b3 a4 25.Rf3 a2+ and White resigned. For instance: 25…a2+ 26.Kxa2 (26.Ka1 Na3) 26…Rc5 27.Qd3 axb3+ 28.Qxb3 Ra7+ with a winning attack 0-1
After losing to Kobo, Dvoirys also made a recovery, in round 3, and won with the Gruenfeld Defence against Yarmanov in a technical 40-move game. What a spirit!
Parkhov, who held a draw in the second round against Postny, had the opportunity to score again today:
Parkhov,Yair (2468) – Ginsburg,Gennadi (2400)
GM Maccabiah 2022 Jerusalem, Israel – Round 3, 15.07.2022
The young IM gained the advantage after 26.Nc6 (D)
26…Qb7 27.b4
After the game Yair revealed that his original plan was to play 28.Qe5 followed by Rfe1, leaving Black powerless.
27…axb4 28.Ra7?! It was still possible to take the pawn with a big advantage, there is no need to rush Qxa7 the best chance of drawing, looking forward to a fortress 29.Nxa7 Rxa7 30.Qd4 bxc3 31.Qxd5+ Kh7 32.Qc4 Ne6 33.Qxc3 Ra5 34.Qe5 Nc5 35.Rd1 Rxb5 36.Rd8 Nb7 37.Qxb5 Nxd8
And Black reached his desired position.
The game ended 38.h3 Ne6 39.Qe5 Nc5 40.Kg2 Nd3 41.Qd5 Nc5 42.Kf3 Ne6 43.Ke3 Nc5 44.g4 fxg4 45.hxg4 Ne6 ½-½
Smirin,Ilia (2601) – Gruenfeld,Yehuda (2418)
GM Maccabiah 2022 Jerusalem, Israel – Round 3, 15.07.2022
Position after 19…Nb6
Smirin achieved a promising position after the opening and in the next 3 moves ensured that Black would not find a counterplay.
20.b3 c5 21.c4! a5 22.a4! Ra6
23.Bxh6? White throws away his advantage. There is no clear win to be had in this position, which appears to be more about domination.23.Bc3 with the idea of Be4, restricting even more the black pieces. For instance: 23…Nd7 (23…Ra7 24.Be4) 24.Bc2 followed by Rf3-d3-d5.
23…Bxh6 24.Bf5 Qc6 25.e6 it is understandable that White searched for an attack instead of repeating moves [25.Be4 Qe6 (25…Qd7 26.Bxg6 fxg6 27.Qxg6+ Bg7 28.Rxf8+ Kxf8 29.Rf1+ Kg8 30.Qf7+) 26.Bf5=]
25…Qd6! from here Black presented a high level defence, converting his material advantage 26.Re5 [26.Qh3 Kg7] 26…Kh7 27.Bc2 f5 28.Rd1 Qc7 29.h4 Raa8 30.h5 Rf6 31.Rde1 Rd8 32.Qf3 Rd4 33.hxg6+ Kg7 34.Bxf5 Qd6 35.g4 Rd2 36.Qh3 Qd4+ 37.Kh1 Rf8! 38.Qh4 Nc8 39.R5e4 Qd6 40.g5 Rh8 41.Rg1 Bxg5 42.Qxh8+ Kxh8 43.Rh4+ Kg8 44.g7
and White resigned before Black played 44…Rd1 0-1
In the open section, there are three leaders with full 3 points: Moshe Gal, Igor Berenboym and Daniel Moskovich, all of whom represent Israel. The top-rated Alexey Streltsov drew today with Yochay Vazana, leaving both with 2.5 points alongside other players.
We wish you all Shabbat Shalom, and we take the opportunity to invite you all tomorrow to play the blitz tournament at 21:00 in Ramada Hotel, Jerusalem.
Rate of play: 3 minutes + 2 seconds per move in 9 rounds
Registration Fee: 100 NIS, 50 NIS for pensioners and minors, GM and IM free of charge (until Saturday 12:00)
Prize money: 2500 NIS
Please contact IA Alon Cohen for registration: +972-522-268-8666