The Romanian Correspondence Chess Central Commission and ICCF IM Valer Eugen Demian are happy to announce the organizing of Valer Vasile Demian Memorial (ROU). This memorial takes place on the ICCF server and it consists of 6 groups of 15 players each from a total of 34 countries.
Direct LINK to the tournament page
I am very happy to announce The Chess Improver team of:
The Chess Improver, best UK Chess Blog 2020
GM Nigel Davies
Richard James
Hugh Patterson
Ashvin Chauhan
Valer Eugen Demian
Dan Staples
Sam Davies
John Rhodes
Jaylen Lenear
Mike Serovey
Bryan Castro
has won 1st place as the best UK Chess Blog in 2020 based on social metrics, google search ranking, quality and consistency of blogging. Thank you for having me and congratulations team!
Double Queen Sacrifice
GM Nakamura beat GM Duda 15.5 - 11.5 in the quarter-finals of Speed Chess Championship 2019 on chess.com The game below is a spectacular miniature from the match where GM Duda got to sacrifice his Queen twice. The second time Hikaru had no choice but to resign on the spot because checkmate was inevitable. Enjoy!
[Event "Live Chess"][Site "Chess.com"][Date "2019.12.04"][Round "11"][White "Nakamura, Hikaru"][Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"][Result "0-1"][ECO "C42"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nd3 {An obscure choice before 2018, it has been brought back into the spotlight by the top GMs} 4... Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. Nf4 Nc6 7. c3 (7. Nd5 Nd4 8. Nxe7 Nxe2 9. Nd5 Nd4 10. Na3 Be6 {Carlsen - Caruana, 1/2-1/2 at move 80, game 6, WCh 2018} ) 7... Nf6 8. d4 Bf5 9. Be3 $5 {An interesting decision by Hikaru to avoid the Queen exchange, decision the engines did not like very much} 9... d5 10. Nd2 O-O-O 11. O-O-O $6 {Hikaru completely overlooked black's response} 11... Qa3 $1 12. Qb5 {The Queen is tabu} (12. bxa3 Bxa3#) 12... Qxa2 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Na5 {A strong and normal looking move to me. The engines do not have it in top 5 though} 15. Kc2 $2 {Probably the fatal mistake} (15. Qb1 {Forcing the black Queen out of there} ) 15... Qa4+ 16. Kb1 Kb8 {A prophylactic move Nimzowitsch would be proud of} 17. Nf3 $2 {The last straw; possibly Hikaru thought his King could run away to the King side, otherwise there is no explanation for it} 17... Rd6 $1 18. Nd2 Ra6 19. Qc2 Qa1+ $1 {A second Queen sacrifice white cannot decline. This is one heck of a finish even for a blitz game} (19... Qa1+ 20. Kxa1 Nb3+ 21. Kb1 Ra1#)