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This is a text page, I could not find this game on another server. (But I looked.) You will probably need a chess board.
A very entertaining and spritely little game. (A miniature - 25 moves or less.)
Black gets knocked out of his tree ... almost before he even gets his pieces properly set up.
Scintillating tactics!!
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The ratings are those of FIDE ... and presumably are accurate for this particular game. {And the players as well.}
1.e4 e6; {Diagram?}
Normally the French Defense is a fairly reliable weapon for Black ... and not as
prone as other lines to the quick tactical knock-out.
2.d4 d5; 3.Nd2 Nf6; 4.e5
Ne4!?; {See the diagram ... just below.}
A wild, bizarre variation ... but one that has never been completely refuted.
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"An unusual line ... with a poor theoretical reputation." - GM John Nunn
[
Far better than the game would have been the continuation:
>/=
4...Nfd7; ('!') 5.Bd3,
{Diagram?}
The classical line here.
*******
( White
can also play: 5.c3!? c5; 6.f4!? Nc6; 7.Ndf3! Qb6; 8.g3! cxd4;
9.cxd4,
9...Bb4+!?; 10.Kf2!, "~" ('+/=')
when the first player retains a definite space advantage from this position.
GM Zahar Efimenko (2546) - IM Nazar Firman (2485);
ICT / Aeroflot Open ('A') Moscow, RUS;
2002. {1-0, in only 22 moves.}
[ See (also) MCO-14, page # 230; column # 67, and all notes, especially note # (g.). ] )
*******
(Returning to
the main line.)
5...c5; 6.c3 Nc6; 7.Ne2 cxd4;
8.cxd4 f6; 9.exf6 Nxf6; 10.0-0 Bd6; 11.Nf3 Qc7;
12.Bg5 0-0; 13.Bh4 e5; 14.dxe5
Nxe5; {Diagram?}
The end of the column.
15.Nxe5 Bxe5;
16.Bg3 Bxg3; 17.Nxg3 Qb6; 18.Qd2 Bd7; 19.Rfe1 Rae8;
20.h3 Bb5;
21.Bc2, "~" ("+/=")
... "and White has just a minor
edge." - GM Nick de Firmian
GM Peter Svidler (2585) - GM
Mikhail Gurevich (2605); ICT / Master's (open?)
Haifa, ISR; 1995. (1/2-1/2) {The game was a
long one, that was eventually drawn.}
[ See MCO-14, page # 227; column # 61,
& also note # (g.). ] ]
5.Nxe4 dxe4; 6.Bc4!?, {Diagram
below.}
A rather uncommon way of playing this position. (But not really bad.)
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[ Accepted theory is: (>/=) 6.Be3, "+/=" {D?} with a solid edge to White. ]
6...c5; 7.d5 Qb6!?;
(TN) (hmmm) {Diagram below.}
An interesting idea ... with a rather obvious threat. (8...Qb4+;
winning the WB on c4. - Ed.)
(Nunn labels this dubious, {'?!'} but does not bother to inform us of which line would have been better.)
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[ Previously seen
has been the following continuation: 7...Nd7!?; ('?!')
8.dxe6 fxe6;
9.Nh3!,
"+/=" (Probably - '+/') {Diagram?}
GM Aloyzas Kveinys (2485) -
IM Colin
S. Crouch (2415);
ICT / Master's Open
/ Katowice, Poland; 1992.
{White won, 1-0 in 41 moves.}
*******************
Definitely
safer was: (>/=) 7...a6!; 8.a4!,
"+/=" {Diagram?}
when White retains only a small, but solid,
plus from this position. ]
Now White continues to develop, and build on his
space advantage as well ... the first player's edge seems to grow with every
move.
8.c3 Nd7; 9.f4! exd5!?; 10.Qxd5!? Qg6; 11.Ne2!
Be7; 12.Ng3, ('!') {Diagram
below.}
A normal move - and certainly good enough for a very sizeable opening advantage
for White.
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[
GM J. Nunn points out
that the sharper move of: >/=
12.f5!,
was probably a small improvement over
the actual game. ]
12...Bh4!?; (hmmm)
Either this, (or ...Nb6); looks almost forced here to prevent the loss of a Pawn
for Black.
---> Nunn recommends the (seemingly) inferior ...f7-f5; as an improvement, but I remain more than a little skeptical.
[ Worse was: </= 12...f5?!; 13.Bb5!, "+/" with a giant edge for White. ]
13.0-0 Bxg3; 14.hxg3 0-0; 15.f5!,
(Maybe - '!!') {Diagram
below.}
White continues in true gambiteer fashion here.
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[ Not as convincing was: </= 15.Kh2? Nb6; "~" and Black seems to be OK. ]
Black - according to one old issue of a chess
magazine that I found - thought all of the next series of moves ...
were more-or-less forced.
15...Qxg3; 16.Bf4! Qg4; 17.e6!
fxe6?!; 18.fxe6 Nb6!?; {See the
diagram ... just below.}
Black thinks he is defending, but now he is in for a really big
shock.
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Do you think you know what White played - from this particular position?
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Now the game has become one of those
trite problems that you see in all those puzzle books:
"White to move and win."
19.e7+!! Nxd5; 20.exf8Q+!
Kxf8; 21.Bd6+!,
Really the exclam here is totally superfluous ... I did it just to enforce the
power of the double-check ...
to the student who might be trying to learn the game.
[ Not Bxd5? Ke7; "/+" ]
21...Ke8; 22.Bb5+! Bd7;
It no longer matters which move Black plays in this position ... the second
player can only choose his brand of poison at this point.
[ Or if: 22...Kd8; then 23.Rf8#. ]
23.Rf8#, (Super!!!) {See the final diagram - just below.}
A wonderful game by Onischuk ... one
that showed a lot of creativity. It even showed real chess genius, at least in
my own NSH opinion.
(It is also a useful mating pattern to try and remember.)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
I had seen this game in several different books ... and more than one chess magazine. I also looked at many different opening books - to include ECO.
But my
main source for trying to annotate this game was the book:
"101 Brilliant
Chess Miniatures," by DR. and GM ...
John Nunn.
Copyright (©) by the author, {and publishers?} in 1999.
Printed by Gambit Publications, Ltd. Kensington/London, ENG. (UK)
ISBN: #
1-901983-16-1
*** *** *** *** ***
I also looked at: the INFORMANT(s) for 1997. (# 68 through # 71.) (See my links page for their website)
---> This game is also (now) nicely annotated in the ChessBase "MEGA" database. (2005 version, or later.)
**************************************
Copyright (c) (LM) A.J. Goldsby I
Copyright, (c) A.J.G; 2000-2005.
Copyright (©) A.J. Goldsby, 2006. All rights
reserved.
---> HTML code ... initially generated by the program, ChessBase 8.0.
May, 2006: In honor of the fact that Onischuk won the U.S. Championships, I decided to dig through the database, to see if I could not come up with a few of his {other} interesting short games. (More to come??? Stay tuned ... to find out!)
A little jewel ... that I dug out of the database. (Another "shortie" ...)
1.c4 e5;
2.Nc3 Nc6; 3.Nf3 g6!?; 4.d4!?,
Forceful and aggressive.
[ The main line is 4.e3, here. ]
4...exd4;
5.Nd5!? h6!?;
It looks logical ... but is probably a little too slow. {Dubious?}
[ >/= 5...Bg7; 6.Bg5 Nce7; 7.Nxd4 c6, "=" ]
6.Nxd4 Bg7?;
(Really - '??')
This looks logical - to continue with your development here.
But the move is an oversight, >/= 6...a6; was crucial, (to prevent White's next move).
7.Nb5 Kf8; (hmmm) Nothing better?
[ Or 7...Be5; 8.f4 a6; 9.Qa4, "+/-" ]
8.Nbxc7 Rb8; 9.Nb5 a6; 10.Nbc3 Nf6!?; [ (>/=) 10...d6; 11.e4 Nge7; etc. ]
11.Bf4! Ra8?!;
(Really - '?')
One more error to finish things off.
[ Better was >/= 11...Nxd5; which is nearly forced, or so says Fritz. ]
12.Bc7,
"+/-" (A. Kovacevic Resigns.)
Black throws in the towel ... as after 12...Qe8;
13.Be7+, Kg8; and 14.Nc7,
and White picks off a whole Rook.
(This game added, May 2, 2006.)
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2006. All rights reserved.
1.e4 c5; 2.Nf3 e6; 3.d4 cxd4; 4.Nxd4 a6; 5.c4 Nf6; 6.Nc3 Qc7; 7.Bd3 Bc5; 8.Nb3 Be7; 9.f4 d6; 10.Be3 b6; 11.Qf3 Nbd7; 12.g4!? g5; 13.Be2 h5!; 14.h3 gxf4; 15.Bxf4 h4!?; 16.Rf1! Nh7?;
[ >/= 6...Bb7; "~" ]
17.e5! dxe5?; 18.Bh6! e4!?; If 18...f5; then 19.Qxa5. "+/-"
19.Qxf7+ Kd8; 20.0-0-0, "+/-"
(This game added, May 2, 2006.)
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2006. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © A.J. Goldsby, 2006. All rights reserved.
This page was created - Friday; August 27th, 2004. (Extra diagrams added: April, 2006.) Page last edited or updated on: 05/02/2006 08:06 PM
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