....is the 30 year old Chinese player Wang Hoa.
This is what he looks like. (picture from chessgames.com.)
The candidates to find a worthy challenger to Carlsen will be held in
Yekaterinburg, Russia in March or April next year. So far we have
Fabiano Caruana , Ding Liren, Teimour Radjabov and now Wang Hoa.
On course to fill the four remaining candidate spots are Mamedyarov and Grischuk
who are currently leading the Chess Grand Prix. Giri looks like being the one who
will qualify as the highest rated player (based on the rating average over the past year.)
There will be one wildcard and as the event is being held in Russia that will probably
be a Russian, If Grischuk does not qualify it will be him or maybe Kirill Alekseenko
Of course with fame, winning the Isle of Man, comes the price of embarrassing forgotten
moments being unearthed and posted all over the internet (happily here is no exception.).
Wang Hao - Alexandra Kosteniuk, Biel (blitz) 2012 (White to play)
White can take the f5 pawn in three different ways. 31.Rxf5, 31.Nx5 or 31.Bxf5.
Wang became an RHP hero (‘...he plays like us!’ ) and played 31.Nxf5 Qg2 mate.
These days there is no escape from infamy. Here is a picture of that fateful moment.
There are... and I’m not kidding...currently 57,665 RHP games ending with a Qg2 mate.
First is a very recent one, ahmadh - petery1 RHP 2019
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 {I've mentioned before that it is typical RHP policy not to pay 3.d4 and enter an open Sicilian.} 3... a6 4. d3 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. Be2 Nf6 8. O-O {Straight forward habitual developing from White.} 8... Bd6 9. Bxd6 Qxd6 {This must be classed as equal and if it equal after 9 moves then Black is better.} 10. Na4 {Eyeing the b6 square. 10.d4 with Black still uncastled was an option.} 10... O-O 11. Nb6 Rb8 12. Nxc8 Rbxc8 {You have to slightly favour Black who has better central control and development.} 13. Re1 Rfe8 14. h3 {Not a pass-move. I think White thought about this and has an idea.} 14... h6 {However I think this is a pass-move. Doubling Rooks on the e-file was a plan.} 15. Nh4 {Looking to plonk a Knight on f5 and possibly hold it by g2-g4. (hence the h3)} 15... Re5 {Now I thought g4 was coming. I got the right square....} 16. Bg4 {....but the wrong piece. This move puts White into trouble.} 16... Rxe1+ {Played to get the e-file with tempo.} 17. Qxe1 Re8 18. Qd1 Qe5 {Claiming the e-file and hitting the b2 pawn.} 19. Rb1 {19...c3 to keep a Knight off d4 and maybe blast in d4 for central counterplay.} 19... h5 {The proves 14...h6 was a waster. This is a good move highlighting White's troubles.} 20. Bf5 {20.Bf3 g5 wins a piece.} 20... Nd4 {see note to 19.Rb1} 21. g4 Qf4 {Black is sneaking in with threats, hxg4 and Ne2 or Nf3 check.} 22. Ng2 {Allowing Black to get in Nf3+. However alternatives don't seem to look too much better.} 22... Nf3+ 23. Kf1 Qh2 24. Ne3 Rxe3 {Spotting the mating net.} 25. fxe3 Qg1+ 26. Ke2 Qg2 {A Qg2 checkmate.}
And how about this one for a single minded approach. Checkmate or Bust.
Hefestion - Danny k RHP 2017
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 {Bird's Defence to the Lopez, disapproved of by the top players, therefore very playable.} 4. Nxd4 {4.Nxe4 hoping for 4...Nxb5 5.Nxf7 then Qh5+ and Qxb5 is best met with 4...Qg5.} 4... exd4 5. O-O a6 6. Ba4 {I prefer playing Bc4 here.} 6... Bd6 {A tactical gamble. White can play 7.e4-e5 here. 7...Bxe5 8.Re1 with f4 coming.} 7. d3 Qh4 {Setting the scene for the whole game. Black's fixation with checkmate.} 8. g3 Qh3 9. Qf3 Nf6 {Three guess's where that Knight is headed.} 10. Bg5 Ng4 {With the threat of mate on h2.} 11. Qg2 Qh5 {Black is not taking the Queens off when there is a loose piece on g5 to attack.} 12. f4 {Not good. 12.Bd2 was the move.} 12... Ne3 {Surprised Black did not play h6 here winning a piece and bringing the h8 Rook alive.} 13. Qf3 {Queens off...} 13... Qh3 {,,,,not yet thank you.} 14. Nd2 {White is willing to give up the exchange to get rid of that Knight.} 14... Nxf1 15. Rxf1 O-O {15...h6 was still a good move but Black is preparing a second wave of attack.} 16. e5 Bb4 17. Ne4 b5 18. Bb3 a5 19. a3 Bb7 {This piece sac is not sound but it does lead to some imaginative play.} 20. axb4 axb4 21. Be7 {Not 21 Nf2 offering a Queen swap. 21...Qxf1+ wins a Rook} 21... Rfe8 {Here White has 22.Nf6+ and 23 Qxb7....} 22. Bxb4 {...but as we will see White is more interested in pawns.} 22... h6 {Played to stop Bxf7+ and Ng5 + tricks.} 23. Bc5 {Again Nf6+ followed by Qxb7 was the move. Again White is chasing pawns.} 23... Ra5 24. Bxd4 Rea8 25. Qf2 {Yes the Nf6+ shot was still on for the past few moves. Thankfully not anymore.} 25... Ra1 26. Nc5 {OOPS! White has missed the Queen Decoy Trick.} 26... Rxf1+ 27. Qxf1 Ra1 {Pulling the Queen away from defending g2.} 28. Qxa1 Qg2
Staying with blunders by the good guys we now stumble over.
Viswanathan (Vishy) Anand - Wang Hao, Isle of Man 2019. (White to play)
Vishy decided to grab the e-pawn 28.Rxe4. and after 28...Rcf6 White resigned.
The choice is be mated with 29...Rf1 mate or drop the c1 Bishop to 29.h3 Rf8+.
Shown not to gloat but to make us feel better when we play a our own gaffes.
If the super-duper players can do it without any time pressure, then so can we.
I was not at the Isle of Man, instead I sent RHP roving reporter Moonbus.
He got lost and ended up in the middle of Germany (he blames his Sat-Nav).
He sent a picture of the street where the Rock Band Led Zeppelin were formed.
(are you sure about this Moonbus?)
And he has been raving on and on in the chess forum about this...
He washed his hair with the Chess Shampoo and now has chequered hair.
He arrived in the German town of Villingen - Schwenningen he says it is named
after the opening. He of course means the Dutch coastal town called Scheveningen.
Which is a great excuse for me to show a couple Scheveningens the RHP way.
Rosson89 - The Big Fish RHP 2006
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 {Sometimes we do get an Open Sicilian here on RHP.} 3... cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 {The basic Scheveningen layout but it can transpose to other variations.} 6. g4 {The Keres Attack. 6.Be2 or 6.Bc4 are other theoretical choices.} 6... e5 {A natural reaction but White get a good game here with 7.Bb5+} 7. Nf5 Bxf5 {Too soon, undermine the Knight with h5 first.} 8. gxf5 a6 {A handy move in any Sicilian but due to Bxf5 Black is drifting into a tepid position.} 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Rg1 Qd7 {Planning 0-0-0.} 11. Na4 {That stops that idea. 11....0-0-0 12.Nb6+} 11... Qc7 12. Bg2 {Now Black should try 12...b5 then g6 to get some freedom.} 12... Qa5+ 13. c3 {Black possibly intended Rd8 here but Bb6 would be annoying.} 13... Qb5 {But this move leaves the Queen very short of flight squares.} 14. Bf1 {White spotted the flaw in the last move. Black resigned because....} 14... Qa5 15. Bb6 {The Queen is trapped.}
Another Scheveningen this time a Black win with a self mated Queen.
jtab - coquette RHP 2019
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4 {Again the Keres Attack.} 6... Be7 {Developing and ignoring the threat.} 7. g5 Nfd7 8. h4 {Now is a good time for Black to play that handy Sicilian move 8...a6} 8... O-O {A bit too early to castle for my liking. Castle because you must, not because you can.} 9. Be3 {OK but why not g5-g6 followed by h4-h5-h6 Black has Castled too early.} 9... Nc6 10. Qh5 {OK White is going in Queen first, this could work but pushing pawns looked better.} 10... Re8 {This vacates f8 for the e7 Bishop and it works out well.} 11. Bc4 {Telegraphing an intended sac on e6 but now 0-0-0 then storm the Kingside.} 11... Nde5 12. Be2 {The reason why the Bishop went back to here becomes clear in a move or two.} 12... g6 13. Qh6 {Ng4 would trap the Queen, that is why the Bishop went back to e2.} 13... Bf8 {Unfortunately White forgot about this move. The Queen is lost. White resigned.}
The thread accompanying this blog is
Thread 182964
(Thanks Moonbus)
moonbus
